Haircut Day!

The kids and I have been talking about haircuts for a while and we have spent quite a bit of time browsing through pictures of hair on google. Dorian actually wanted a liberty spike mohawk but I refused due to the amount of effort and product needed and tried to convince him into a short mohawk. We compromised with a medium length mohawk. Rowan desperately wanted a liberty mohawk too, also refused and her back up choice was Matt Smith hair. I managed to convince her into this cute a-symmetrical bob. Rowan danced around the shop in glee until Dorian finished, profusely thanking the stylist she was so happy. Dorian spent the remainder of his night trying to make punk rock poses with his camera. All in all, good choices for hair I think!

Shopify!

Yesterday Andrea gave me a tour of Shopify and it BLEW MY MIND! Let's put aside the fact that they have conference rooms named after the races in Starcraft, the fact they have a room dedicated entirely to silly hats, a nap room, a room filled with just bean bag beds, the comfiest balls pit I have ever been in and a FRIGGIN SLIDE!!! Just the art work blew me away! And the art posted above is just the smallest sample of what I saw. I kept snapping pictures like I was at some sort of museum! I don't think my mind can fully accept the awesomeness that is Shopify. I am totally not cool enough to work here! Thank you Andrea for the tour!!!!!

Sea Change!

Sea Change at Zaphods Beeblebrox! I seriously cannot get enough of Carlo's band! They are so so so so great! Front row center groupies heck yeah!

And a Good Day was Had by All

Had an awesome day with Nicole! We got our hair cut, did some clothes browsing, found me my new favorite sweater, watched Divergent at Silver City and then had dinner at East Side Marios. Turns out, ESM has a gluten free menu and it is filled with pizzas and pastas and all kinds of good things! Long day but great fun! And tomorrow will be even busier!

Reasons I did not like Divergent: I feel like they skimmed just the surface of the book and failed to include any depth for any of the characters along with changing key portions of the book. All of the secondary characters were "fluff" if they were even mentioned at all.

Apples to Apples

Sometimes even comparing apples to apples doesn't work.

Breakfast!

I might need another cup of coffee after this one!

Pistachio Squares

For the base a basic sugar cookie recipe:

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9x11 baking pan. Blend together the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.
3. Spread evenly on the bottom of the greased pan. Bake 30 minutes of until cookie bottom has turned golden brown.
4. Allow to totally cool.

For the top:
1 1/2 package of cream cheese at room temperature.
1 cup powdered sugar
1 package of pistachio pudding
1 cup roughly chopped pistachios
1 cup milk

1. Cream together the powdered sugar and cream cheese. Add the pistachio pudding, milk and 1/2 cup of the roughly chopped pistachios until smooth.
2. Spread mixture onto cooled cookie bottom and top with remaining chopped pistachios.
3. Refrigerate for two hours or overnight before serving.

Lego Love

I found this beside my bed when I went to go to sleep last night. Made me cry. I miss them already!

Dance! Dance! Dance!

Friday night was family dance night! It was a ton of fun and the kids jumped around and flailed their arms about wildly in hyped up enthusiasm. I was delighted to realize that my kids are not completely embarrassed to be seen in public with me yet and were totally willing to flail around on the dance floor with me :-) It was also really great to see all the other moms that I haven't seen in months.Unfortunately, the $20 I took out for this occasion fell out of my pocket on the way to the dance which put a little damper on the evening but overall, Friday was completely awesome!

Fire Fire Burning Bright

Been saving up for several months for a new media center. This one went on sale 50% off and I fell in love! Took me over five and a half hours to put together, there were some mistakes, some backtracking, a few curse words were used but all in all I think this is FANTASTIC! Now if only I could figure out how to get the surround sound working....

Killer Bunny Alert!

Apparently a bunny had the audacity to step its little paws onto our driveway. I have spent the last twenty minutes trying to calm the dog down and assure him that the bunny will do us no harm. Post man? Fine. Flyer people? Great. Bunnies? BUNNIES MUST DIE!!!!!

Pear or Heart?

The light just happen to hit my popcorn bowl in just the right way today. Perspective. Now I has it.

Price Match on Isle 4 Bob!

So today I decided to put aside my fear of public embarrassment and do something that I have been thinking about doing for months. Price matching. The Great Canadian Superstore (where I shop) matches all competitors advertised prices and I have seen several people do price matching while I was in line with my own groceries. Until today I was too afraid to embarrass myself to do it. The pressure of people behind me in line, the cashier who rolls her eyes as she has to do extra work, the other customers who scowl or just plain think that I am poor single mom who can't afford crap. Well, this week, when the fliers arrived in the mail, instead of just shunting them off to the recycle bin without even looking at them, I decided to take a peek. I only circled things in the flyer that were "big ticket" items, or items that I would like, but usually cannot afford. 

And yes, when I got up to the cash, I held my fliers in my hands, my face bright red with mortification, glancing out of the corner of my eyes at the customers behind me in chagrin and whispered to the cashier "I have some price matching stuff", I was feeling overwhelmed and humiliated. But as the cashier smiled and said that I just need to shower her the item and the flier, and the lady behind me in line gasped and exclaimed that she had no idea that they did that there and the lady behind her smiled indulgently, I realized that what I thought would be about public embarrassment actually came down my own opinions and judgments of others. **I** have been that woman who sighed in frustration about having to wait an extra two minutes in line. **I** have been that woman who looked at a price matcher with pity, thinking that they were poor and had to lower themselves to coupon cutting. **I** have been the sanctimonious idiot with skewed view about others.

So as I sit here, drinking my coffee flavoured with International Delight (saved $2.80), about to put some laundry in to wash (saved $10 on the soap!) I realize that I need to change my perceived notions about others, myself and society. I like to think that I am quite liberal and excepting of others but things like today make me realize that being accepting of others and myself is an ongoing value. That opening your heart and mind is really what breaks down the barriers between others and yourself and working towards that is an admirable goal for us all.

P.S. -- I saved over $50 on groceries! GERONIMO!

Shamrock Cheeks

Missed out on St Patrick Day with the kids but still got cute shamrock tattoo pictures! That is, before Dorian's started to have an allergic reaction to his. Apparently several kids from their school reacted the same to the tattoos. Also, baby oil on a cotton pad takes temporary tattoos right off.

My Newest Addiction

I am suffering massive World of Warcraft wants so instead I have booted up my old Gameboy Advanced. I blame Nathaniel for my new addiction to Pokemon, which, previously, I had viewed as a little kids game. Now I gotta catch them all!

Empty Rooms

I woke up late this morning and my first thought was SUNDAY! I both love and hate Sunday because they mean my kids are either coming or going. Except this Sunday is different. This Sunday my kids are staying at their fathers for an extra two days. Which turned my SUNDAY! into a Oh. Sunday.

My life seems to exist in two realities. One is hectic and fast and seems to rush from one set of circumstances to the next without a breath in between for a moment to savor. Swimming lessons, homework, cooking classes, playdates. Reading, lullabies, argument settling, pouters and cuddling. There never seems to be enough time to get anything done properly at all. And what does get done has a vaguely rushed feeling about it. Hurry up and enjoy this so we can move on to the next activity.

The other half of my life, when my kids walk out my front door, seems to exist in between the static of a hold button. Like someone has pressed pause and is waiting for my life to que up again. A void opening and swallowing my life till the next time, when my kids walk back in my front door once more and life fills my house again.

PAWER!

Kismet has taken to actually crawling under the covers to sleep at night.This would be okay if I wasn't constantly being awoken by him kneading his sharp claws into my back to tell me he loves me.

Erin and Eddie

Doctor Who morning marathon with pancakes! Eddie knows what a softie Erin is and takes full advantage! "RUB MA BELLY!"

Pillow Wrestling

So all of the pillows and covers on my couch were washed recently and today I decided to put all the covers back onto the pillows. As you can plainly see, the covers are small. The pillows are not. "These aren't the pillows you are looking for." It is amazing how much easier it is to take things apart than to put them back together.

Jonesy

She looks so peaceful and sweet! Somehow, when I pet her, I always feel like she is on the verge of biting my hand off...

Screw You Winter. Screw. You.

I cannot even articulate exactly how over winter I am. DIE WINTER DIE! The Starks are officially my least favorite family. In fact, Joffery is looking mighty fine next to you!

Bunny Suicides

Why do I feel like this would totally be me if a TARDIS showed up in front of me? Also note, that this is a bow-tie wearing Matt Smith....

More Sheep!

And the staying up late trend continues! This time to include a rousing game of Settlers of Catan. Rowan had Dorian and I beat for 3/4 of the game!

She Wears Her Sunglasses At Night

March break madness means staying up past bedtimes!

Writing

"Oh, I am sorry. Are you trying to work on your book? It is a shame that I am in your way. Perhaps you can pet me instead of writing?"

Penguin Pancakes!

Missed International Pancake day by one day! Also, my berry juice looks like my penguin plate is bleeding from the head, no?

The Round Things

Ten: ’I love the round things’
Eleven: ’What are the round things?’
Ten: ’No idea’

It was a Lousy Day

Yesterday was a pretty lousy day. Upside. All towels are now clean!

Jade Flowers

My Nanny was 94 when she passed away and I was 25. Just before she passed, I got a clipping from her jade plant that she had kept and pruned to remain small and containable. The clipping is now three feet tall and growing like a weed and I do NOT have a green thumb! This week is the first time EVER the jade has sprung flowers. I feel like my Nanny is trying to tell me spring is coming. New beginnings are on the horizon.

Accidental Selfie

When I was downloading the pics from what was supposed to be my picture of the day I found this. I have no clue when this happened or where. Also, are my nostrils really that big??

Silence!

So I went to see Carlo's band Sea Change play and this was the stamp at the door. As soon as it was on my hand I yelled out "Oh no! The Silence!" No one else with me knows my Doctor Who reference. I had sad face.

Carlo!

I went to see Carlo play yesterday and it was AMAZING! I cannot rave enough. And the melodica!!!