Things I Love Thursday: a ring, but no ordinary ring

This blog carnival is called Things I Love Thursday. The rules are simple: “pick an actual thing that you love. Feel free to do a product review, but make sure to let your readers know that you have been supplied with the product to review so we are keepin’ it honest.” This Thursday the thing I love is a ring that I can imagine on my finger right now, but sigh, it isn’t. This week’s item could also go under the catchy title “Things I Covet,” you know, things that I love that are completely, utterly, 100% unattainable by me, and even if I were given one, I likely couldn’t afford the insurance? I am not a social climber (well, if someone holds the ladder steady, I have a day to prepare and someone invites me…), so chances of me eventually owning it and being able to claim it is my favourite piece are zilch. I love this Dior ring, the Diorette. Isn’t is sweet? It is a perfect combination of sweet and over-the-top. It’s from last year’s collection, and can you believe it? No markdowns planned, not even for Black Friday. It is so insanely pretty! And from a mere $2,550 to $15,000 (this one, the one I need, is in the upper range) (of course). Sapphires, diamonds, amethyst, citrine, pink sapphire, amethyst, mandarin garnet, tsavorite, yellow sapphire, aquamarine. Aaahhhh! You can click here to go to the official site. QUESTIONS FOR YOU: what doth thou covet most? A finger bauble, a rope of Tahitian pearls, Jimmy Choo shoes, a shiny Porsche, or a killer 4 x 4? I want answers, here. Make it unattainable in this lifetime, like “teens who don’t fight” or “a husband who insists on doing the floors.” Over at The DiaperDiaries.net, Jill and her family are celebrating American Thanksgiving and so no links to go exploring on. So, then jump back a day or two to enter a contest to win a beautiful book about babies. The closing has been extended to December 7, so enter now!

Works for Me Wednesday: lunch for breakfast

It takes a long time for brilliance to strike sometimes. Like, after raising two kids to high school age, and working on the third child in Grade 3, and BAM! There I was in the kitchen cooking up KD for his school lunch when I burnt the toast and dropped the grapes on the floor. Then, no warm butter. Aragh! I called out and said, “Luka, I am so sorry, but it’s Kraft Dinner for breakfast today!”

He came racing around the corner and hugged me ferociously around the legs. “I love you Mum! I love KD!”

And so began lunch for breakfast. Why was I killing myself making a different breakfast and a completely different lunch five days a week? Once we talked, and Luka said he had absolutely no problem having the same thing, it was toasted egg and cheese sandwiches for brekkie and then for lunch, KD, ham and cheese sandwiches and cucumber. He still has a bowl of cereal or pancakes or toast sometimes, but by combining the breakfast and lunch into one meal served twice, I’ve saved tons of time and stress. I even have time for coffee and food myself sometimes!

It works for me!

QUESTIONS FOR YOU: Any other lunch ideas that work equally well for breakfast?

Leave me a hello if you can, and then check out tons of other tips of all kinds on Shannon’s blog. Now, click here so you can enter my contest to win one of two hardcover copies of Desmond Morris’s stunningly beautiful new book, Amazing Baby.

See you tomorrow!

Rant list #3: step on up and join the raving!

Taberon Kaiju, Tokidoki Version, is Italian designer Simone Legno’s contribution to the Kaiju For Grown Ups project. My oldest son, Graydon, is fascinated by these. I’ve chosen this one as my rant visual.

The weekend is over and it’s time to detoxify for the week ahead!

My list (for public consumption, mind):

1. ludicrous advertising slogans—”Change your TV, change your life.” I’m in;
2. 65 firing days at the Franklin Mint or wherever they churn out commemorative plates, cars, mugs—HOW MANY UNITS PER DAY? 100 or 100,000?? OMG. What’s the 1-800 number for that Obama plate?
3. people who berate their children instead of taking care of them: Zellers, 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, kidswear department. The child was wiped out, crying that she was hungry and tired, mum’s cart was jammed with stuff (they’d been shopping a long time), mom was blabbing on the phone about the new movie Twilight, and she yanked her attention from the phone three times to snap at the child to “Hurry up and pick out your damn underwear!” “Shut up that whining!” and I couldn’t believe my ears at this one: “I’ll give you something to cry about! Hey! Anybody want a spoiled rotten brat??” I wheeled my cart right up to hers and gave her the most astonished look I could muster. Another woman showed up at the exact same time. Motor-mouth mom snapped her phone shut and started flipping through the undies. I took my time looking at little socks. The scene still makes my blood boil;
4. getting home and seeing the item that was marked $2.09 on the store shelf rang in at $2.99 on the bill;
5. realizing I bought five of those $2.99 items, which means I’m out $4.50, and driving back and stating my case and factoring in the time it’ll take makes me figure it’s not worth it. Toys ‘R’ Us, shame on you!
6. kids who cannot put wrappers of any kind in a garbage receptacle of any kind (my kids, my kids’ friends, your kids?).

Got a rant? Leave it here and cruise into the week having got it out of your system!

QUESTIONS FOR YOU: what’s pressing your nerve these days? Would you have said something to the mother in point 3 above? Devil’s advocate: how do I know that was her mother? Maybe it was mean Aunt Jean or even an older sister. Can a TV change a life? Why would a TV manufacturer use this line?

Rant on! Then jump back a day or two to enter a contest to win a beautiful book about babies.

Friday Foto Finish Fiesta 4xF

This is my first time on Candid Carrie’s Friday blog carnival. The theme is simple one—post a favourite photo and say why it’s a fave. That’s her spelling up there in the title, and when you visit her site to see the other photos, you’ll see tons of creative Phriday spelling!

My entry:

This is Luka, my seven-and-less-than-one-month-away-from-eight year old and Lizzie, one of our two bunnies. This a favourite photo of mine because this is exactly how Luka is—gentle and full of love. This isn’t a staged photo; it’s a combination of Tessa’s talent with her camera and her timing, and Luka being himself.

Leave a comment, then click here to zip back one day so you can enter to win a harcover copy of Desmond Morris’s new book from Firefly Books. I can’t say evough good things about it—tons of beautiful photos and wise writing from an expert. And you can use the photos as inspiration as you document your amazing baby, and maybe the pic will end up in a Friday Foto Finish Fiesta 4xF!! (I’m hearing the strains of “The Circle of Life” in my head!)

Then hop (ha, ha, ha! I kill me!) on over to check out Candid Carrie!

QUESTIONS FOR YOU: what are you doing with these dang digital photos? Are you saving them on your computer? On a photo-sharing site? Actually saving them over on CDs or memory sticks? Heaven forbid—are you getting prints and still slipping them all in photo albums? Is scrapbooking happening in Canada the way it has in the States?

Things I Love Thursday: Amazing Baby by Desmond Morris PLUS a contest!

This blog carnival is called Things I Love Thursday. The rules are simple: “pick an actual thing that you love. Feel free to do a product review, but make sure to let your readers know that you have been supplied with the product to review so we are keepin’ it honest.” This Thursday the thing I love is a book, Amazing Baby by Desmond Morris, and the publisher—Firefly Books—has given me two copies (hardcover, $40) and they’re both up to be won! Read on!

This post could also be called People I Love, and right there beside Tessa, Graydon and Luka (my three babies) would be Desmond Morris. It was his book The Naked Ape that made loving my babies as easy as it was. This new book—Amazing Baby—will do the same for every parent or parent-to-be who reads it. It is sumptuous to look at and hold, with the most beautiful photography and glassine paper overlays, and so freeing in the text that if you don’t have a baby to hold, I’m pretty sure you’ll be visiting a friend with a baby to get some cuddle time. I tried Ferberizing my first baby, and quit after about, well, one night. Morris gave me the permission I needed to respond to her cries and need to be held and fed when she wanted, not when a silly routine said to. He said we were the only mammal on earth to intentionally separate mother from baby, and that it was unnatural. That sounded sound to me. I responded to my babies’ cries, coos, outstretched arms, all on their schedules, not mine. Family bed, too. Attachment parenting is a lovely thing.

Amazing Baby traces the first two years of babies, with insight on their biology, development and behaviour. It’s an unmitigated lovefest of babies. You know who can say it best? Mr. Desmond. Click to see his two-minute spot on YouTube—again, I love this man.

Can you tell how much I love his book too???

So, how can you win one?

Answer this question: What is the most amazing thing about a baby in your life?

A panel of three will choose two lucky winners next Friday, November 28 December 7. I forgot my American readers will be having Thanksgiving and their Black Friday frenzy, so I’ve extended the contest a week. Grab a coffee and think about those warm, wonderful, trusting little humans and get writing!

For more excellent things that bloggers love, check out The DiaperDiaries.net.

Works for Me Wednesday: grocery shopping sorted!

This recession thing has finally gotten to me. My three kids and I (and the cat, puppy, two rabbits and 17 fishy things) have been weathering our own personal recession for the last three years, the last six months being the worst. Trendsetter that I am, the whole world seems to be following in my wake (no illusions of grandeur here, sir!). I started getting frugal ages ago, doing crazy things like stockpiling butter when I could find it half price and there was room in the freezer.

Once upon a time I shopped only at Loblaws. I bought every new thing they could throw at me. I did use a green grocer for some greens, but that was about it. Now, I’m shopping the way my mum shopped, glancing over the flyers, seeing who has what on sale and stopping by three or four grocery stores to get the specials. But that was in smalltownsville, where your four grocery stores are within a half mile radius and between a few of them there wasn’t even a stoplight.

Here, now, shopping for the loss leaders requires tactical manouevres, and I have them for you:

At this site (www.flyerland.ca) you can access zillions of flyers, all by entering your postal code. You’ll get the regional one that is right for you and the one that is time-effective for now. You can choose flyers by category even—grocery, hardware, clothing.

Then open up this site (www.DontForgetTheMilk.com) and create an account for yourself—super easy, I did it. There are fields for the item, the price, the store, the neighbourhood, if you have a coupon for the item, even additional comments (because another feature lets you email the list to a spouse, friend, teen, and you might want to add some commentary like “get bell, not jalapeno, peppers”).

Go between your flyers and the list and enter what you need. The site will sort your grocery list by store so you, or any other lucky shopper you appoint, can march into the right store, get the right stuff and even have a list of which coupons need to be presented at the checkout. And you can create more than one list, or even set a default list of the basics that you can add to each time. Works for me!

This was passed on to me by Tessa, my 17 year old and a list maker from a way back. Makes a mother proud! Leave me a hello if you can, and then check out tons of other tips of all kinds on Shannon’s blog. Come back tomorrow for a fabulous contest giveaway: a copy of Desmond Morris’s stunningly beautiful new book, Amazing Baby, of which you can have just a taste of below.

See you tomorrow!

From the mouths of babes: wot the !!*%%!

Limping in from the car last night, Tessa, Luka and I carried/dragged between us two backpacks, three bags of groceries, a dance bag, one happy puppy, one cup of coffee, one cup of tea, two purses and a briefcase-type-thing. As we jostled for position on the porch, I said, “Get out of the way, you guys, I have to do the door!” Immediately the path cleared, I unlocked the door and we all plowed through, me first to the kitchen.

I hear gasping behind me. It’s Luka, having a seizure of some kind—no wait—he’s laughing so hard he cannot breathe. Tessa and I stare at him.

“Are you OK? What’s so funny? Calm down and get some air!”

“Mum, Muuum, you are aaaahhhhhahahahahahah!!!!!”

Yes, I am a laugh-riot.

I’m curious, but not that curious, and I turn to return to the kitchen. Tessa presses on with the questioning, and finally Luka chokes out, “Mum, you said you had to do the door!!!” Whereupon Tessa shrieks and laughs and falls down on the stairs and the two of them carry on like, well, I don’t really know. Like it was the funniest thing in the world for a mother to say.

Memo to self: up the radar for double entendres.

I can’t believe a seven year old would get that out of what I said.

Can you?

Meet-a-Blogger Monday

And the winner of the “Seriously folks, how much do you want to know?” readers poll is—Jen. And she has gotten back to me and lo and behold, she’s a blogger and a crafty girl and an Etsy shop–owner. She also writes a mean intro, so I’m not going to rewrite her and paraphrase her, I’m letting her take it away!

First off, sorry I didn’t respond quicker. Your email was in my spam and I didn’t notice it.

I live in a small city, one small enough that everyone lives in each other’s back pocket. As a transplanted Toronto girl, I still have to get used to that.

I have a blog (http://abagofhammers.blogspot.com) but it’s not very entertaining. The impetus was to have an online journal for far away family and friends to read, so when they email me and ask, “How’s things?” I don’t have to write the same stuff all the time. And I swear in it because I have a potty mouth in real life.

A friend had me set up an Etsy store (www.unbeige.etsy.com) for my purses [editorial note: Jennifer makes bags, wallets and purses from recycled juice boxes, record sleeves, old books—they are amazing, and gift-giving season is right around the corner, so check her site out], if you’re more willing to post something like that.

My bio? Ew. I earn money off the English language and other people’s poor grasp of it. In other words, I write, edit and tutor. I’m a Ryerson Journalism grad, which probably explains everything. I read blogs like yours because great writing begets great writing and it’s nice to know I’m not alone in Momland. I’m kicking my middle age in the teeth by training to be a fitness instructor. I make my kooky bags and accessories out of recycled materials (Jammers, record albums, and books mostly). I’m a married mother of three (a girl, 10, and two boys who are 8 and 5). And I aspire to have the calm, wisdom and grace that my Etsy-building friend possesses.

Keep on keeping on. You do a fantastic job.

Jennifer

So, there you are, the winner. I’m starting another contest Thursday, in my Things I Love Thursday post. The prize is a copy of Desmond Morris’s new book Amazing Baby ($40). Check back and enter!

Some things are too big to write about

I have been absent from my blog here for a few days. I’m back and picking up the pace now.

My excuses:

I took a course.

I went on a vacation (oh, sorry, I thought this was a wishlist) a laundry eradication spree.

I had child doctor/teacher/talk doctor appointments EVERY DAY.

I had blogger’s block. This is when everything in my head is too big to say. When stories in the news seem terrifyingly real because they deal with parenting, something we all know there are no exams to pass or qualifications to meet before we take on the job.

• 15-year-old Brandon Crisp‘s death—traceable to his parents putting their feet down and making a parental decision that might just have resulted in their son getting angry and slamming some doors, but instead kicked off a tragic series of events.

• An eight-year-old boy in Arizona admits to shooting and killing his father and a co-worker who boarded in their house. His parents had shared custody. His mother says the child had become withdrawn in the last few months. The father had spanked the boy the day of the shooting. In their town, it’s the norm for children and parents to shoot together for sport.

• 13-year-old Hannah Jones in England, diagnosed and treated for leukemia at age five, developed a hole in her heart as a result of her chemotherapy. The heart transplant she needs would only prolong her life if it didn’t kill her and if it didn’t bring on a relapse of her leukemia. She has won the right to refuse the transplant, with her parents’ consent. She wants to die at home, not in a hospital.

Such huge issues. Each one of them strikes close to my home, and most likely to some of yours. They give rise to valuable discussion at the water cooler, the dinner table and the car ride to the mall.

So, blogger’s block to me is stuff too large to handle on a one-way dialogue. There’s never enough information on the news. I’m leaving the commentary on these stories to the replies on the news sites.

My heart goes out to these parents and the depths of their despair. I close this post the way I close my posts on Graydon’s CaringBridge cancer battle blog: hug your kids tightly.

Next posting here: Meet-a-Blogger Monday!

Our Mom-to-be blogger is!

Here’s a big hello to the super-cute newborn of Helen, my web editor and Mom-to-be-Tuesday guest blogger!

From my computer to your screen:

Hi Jacquelyn!

I had a baby boy on October 20th at 9:15pm (note the date, that’s the next working day after I took my mat leave. I didn’t even get a whole day off cause I had contractions before 4pm!)

His name is Cillian Christian McGee, 9 pounds 3 ounces (!).

Sorry I’ve taken so long to write, I had a difficult but thankfully short delivery and subsequently it’s taken me a while to recover. Feeling much better now. Now I’ve got my very own labour horror story – replete with extreme screaming and forceps – to terrorize expectant moms with!

Here’s a picture of the little squeaker. He’s a really good baby, I’m very lucky.

Hope all is well with you!

—Helen

OH MY GOD!!!!!

What a beautiful baby!!

Can I please put him in the blog, please, please, please? Of course you could introduce him to the readers in your Tuesday slot… If not, I could just intro him with his first name and weight, which is exactly the same as Luka was. If you were able to blog about it though, you could include some of the gory details (screaming and forceps sound great). I think you and I are made of the same cloth–

Tessa was born the day I went on leave–induced–and Graydon and Luka were both born on work days! Then my leaves started!

I’m so happy for you! He is too precious,

——xoxo Jacquelyn

Well, I’m not quite up to blogging just yet, what with the 7 hours I log in ye ole nursing chair these days, which, btw, I have taken to calling “the electric chair.”

(I suspect your sense of humour must be as dark as mine, too, I hope…that, or you’ll think I’m a lunatic).

But feel free to blog about baby, and use any of my comments in these past emails online, I don’t consider them too personal!

——Helen

So here’s Cillian, and what a perfect little boy he is. Makes me wish I had a newborn too. You know, for an afternoon or so. Maybe I should offer to babysit. That way, Helen could get a little blogging time in after all…

ONLY KIDDING!

QUESTIONS FOR YOU: Did you have photos of your baby taken in the hospital? Did they turn out? How many times did you have to tell your birthing story before you got it out of your system? I told (and still am) it about a thousand times—I never get tired of it—do I hear moans out there?? What is it about the top of a baby’s head that is so addictive?

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