Adieu, Adieu to Yieu and Yieu and Yieu...

Okay, so I've been dilly-dallying with this last post. For one, I wanted to give all the lurkers a fair chance to be outraged. Also, I figure when I post it I'm done and thus, won't be visiting your blogs anymore either, so I wanted to give myself a few more days.

Here is one more fabulous vintage Sesame Street video for you all. Have a tissue ready. (unless you are NOT a total sap like me, but I've read your blogs and I know most of you are...y'know, in a good way.)



So, farewell. *sniff*
I'll miss you.

So long, farewell...(the Penultimate Post)

Hmmmm.

After much and careful deliberation I had decided to take an indefinite leave of absence from blogging*. For a number of reasons, including the following...
-too little time
-too little to say

This has been fun, and, who knows, the Call of the Blog may be too strong for me to resist. I have enjoyed getting to know you. My list of daily reads was small, but lovely. And thank you very much to my few faithful readers and commenters.

This will be my second last post because there are still a few things that I really want to share with you all.

This is one of them...



I laugh at this EVERY TIME. I don't actually know why I find it so funny, but I do. (and as a bizarre side note, you will be interested to know that one of the muppets in this clip reminds me of Bren J.'s husband. Any guesses on which one?...)

And if you want to have even more fun with it, try this one. Aack! I just went to find it on YouTube, but it IS NOT THERE any more. It was really funny. I guess I might as well tell you - it was the same video reversed. Sorry you have to miss out.

So I will just have to share with you my new favourite joke.

A kindergarten teacher gave her class a show and tell assignment. They were each to bring something that represented their religion. The first student got up and said, "My name is Benjamin. I am Jewish, and this is a Star of David."
The second student stood up and said, "My name is Mary and I am Catholic. This is a Rosary."
The third student got up and said, "My name is Tommy. I am a Mennonite. This is a casserole."

*barring any unseen outpouring of objection by dozens of disgruntled lurkers. although, probably not even for that.

This IS Awesome!

"This is awesome!" Monkey exclaims as he walks down the sidewalk pushing his Fisher Price Bubble Lawn Mower.

"This is awesome?" I question, to verify that I heard correctly.

"My lawn mower is awesome," he replies.

If you say so, not-quite-23-month-old.

Plays well with others

I have been witnessing an exciting new stage in Monkey's development this week. I saw it on Tuesday when my La Leche League Leader came over with her 3 1/2 yr old daughter, F. I saw it last night when we went to visit his little friend A who is now a big sister. I even saw it with his "best" friend T last Friday when he was over for supper with his family.

Monkey has learned to play with other kids.

He has always gotten along with, and had fun with these kids, but they were always just playing near each other, not WITH each other. It is so neat to see him letting himself get bossed around by the girls and chase around with T. This opens up a whole new world for him. Well, and for me too. I won't have to be constantly refereeing when kids come over ("It's okay if she plays with that toy, Monkey, you have lots of others"). And T's mom and I can relax a bit when the boys are together. Good times.


This weekend is our town's "Random Food Item Festival" (you know, like Plum Fest, Corn and Apple Festival, Sunflower Festival, Pumpkin Fair, Honey Garlic & Maple Syrup Festival - is this just a Southern Manitoba thing or do you have food name festivals where you live?) We will try to get to the petting zoo this afternoon and take in the parade tomorrow morning. Monkey will be equally excited about the fire trucks as the pipe bands.

This boy has a vast knowledge of a variety of musical instruments (no surprise I guess.) Give him two sticks and one becomes a violin and the other a bow. He has three lengths of pipe insulating foam that make a remarkably convincing set of bagpipes. ('Poor boy,' you say, 'does he have no real toys to play with?') He even sets up a pretend gamelan to play. I'm not kidding. "Playing gamm-o-lans!" he exclaims. His creativity astounds me every day.

Wishing you all a great weekend. Here's hoping your kids are all as fun as mine!

ooohh, my side!

I came across a new blog. And it is the funniest thing in the history of hilarity.

If you have some time, read a whole bunch of posts. There's a cumulative effect with the funny.

I am not kidding. Very. Very. Funny.

Row, Row, Row your Boat

So, I should be posting about all the stuff we did on holidays this week, but there are more pressing matters. As I'm sure you are all aware, the Olympics will begin in 3 days. I'm not a huge Olympic follower (and will not be watching much of it at all this year, seeing as we don't get CBC on our TV.) The summer Olympics, especially, have never held much interest for me. But these Olympics, the 2008 Olympics, hold a special place for me. And for Bren.

It must have been during the 1996 Games in Atlanta that the two of us, enjoying our summer break between grades 11 and 12, got really excited about rowing. We watched all the races on TV. And somewhere in our research we discovered that rowers usually reach their peak at around 28 years of age. "Well", we said, "there will be summer Olympics in 2008. We'll be 28 and 29 then. We should TOTALLY become rowers."

Now, the two of us, I am not ashamed to say, were choir geeks. (The picture is from a photo of our high school choir executive committee, which we were both on, of course.) We were not jocks. Sooooo far from it. (well, Bren did play JV Basketball) But for whatever reason we thought we would be cut out for rowing. We decided that we would join a rowing club, learn to row, and compete in the 2008 Summer Games. (Then we could get tattoos with the Canada flag and the Olympic rings. Cool.)

Unfortunately, for all our enthusiasm we didn't get very far with our plan. We drove to Minnedosa one Saturday to watch one race. I seem to recall fashioning some sort of elaborate strength training gizmo out of rubber bands. And now it is 2008 and we are the farthest thing from rowers you could ever imagine.

However, we have had a stroke of luck! Because of the fact that the Olympics are in China this year, and, if we were actually Olympic caliber athletes, we would have boycotted the games anyway, we are able to say: The reason we are not rowing in the 2008 Olympic Games is officially NOT because we don't know how to row.

That's our story and we're sticking to it.

It's not the heat, it's the humidity.

It's true. We hadn't used our air conditioner at all until yesterday, and it was only about 22 degrees (Celsius, of course.) Unfortunately the humidity was about 687% and out poor little dehumidifier couldn't keep up. Now, I know we didn't *have* to turn it on, but I was getting a little sick of the feeling of my feet sticking to the floor. Today it is supposed to be hotter, but still very humid, so the air is running again. Boo-urns.

The thing is, it really IS the humidity. We spent three weeks in a city in Central Asia in July, 2004 and it was HOT. We are talking 40 degrees, 50 downtown. But it wasn't humid. We certainly still felt the effects of the heat, but it was quite bearable. It is NEVER hot without being humid in Manitoba.

In other news, Monkey is quite taken with this chap these days. I'm afraid that's my influence. Did anyone else watch this when they were younger?

In other news, the Music Man has holidays this coming week. Yay! We have some small-ish plans. The Folk Fest in my home town, a couple days of tenting (we'll see how that goes. Otherwise known as a blog post waiting to happen...), and, hopefully, some time to just chill out.

Take care. Keep cool.

a cup of sugar, or two

Alack, posting has been slim once again. This despite the fact that we have been up to lots of exciting* stuff around here. (Grandma's Miniature Farm! New Sandbox! Strawberry picking! Resulting Jam! THE ZOO!) But something just happened that made me (almost) stop doing the dishes to come post about it immediately...

Our neighbour came over to BORROW TWO CUPS OF SUGAR. I thought that only happened on TV. But apparently, it also happens in Manitoba. Just thought you'd like to know. (His wife was making jam. That's how it would happen at our house too. Me: I'm out of sugar. Music Man: Go ask the neighbour for some. Me: No, you go.)

* in relation to our regular activities, such as Watching Bob the Builder and Walking to the Mailbox.

I was tagged by Bren and Beck for this meme. (tagged by Beck, I'm, like, a real blogger now!) This post will continue on the theme of me being boring. Enjoy.

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was working two jobs while on summer break from university- (really crappy) waitress and toy store clerk. I was also mere months away from meeting my future husband.

2. What are five things on your "To Do" List?

1. Have more kids.
2. Pay off debt.
3. Learn to play the violin (my Grandpa was an old-time fiddle player and I now am in possession of one of his fiddles, but I can't play it. Well, technically I can play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
4. Perform in a musical, preferably Little Shop of Horrors.
5. finish hemming the curtains that have been sitting in my laundry room for weeks.

3. What are five snacks you enjoy?

1. chocolate chips.
2. chocolate chip cookies.
3. chocolate cake.
4. chocolate ice cream.
5. chocolate.

4. Name some things that you would do if you were a millionaire.

Pay off debt (see above). Give some money to my family. Set my kids up for university. Do a bit of traveling. Give the rest away. (Frankly, I don't think I would ever want to be a millionaire. Too much responsibility. A hundreds-of-thousands-aire, maybe.)

5. Name some places you've lived.

A whole bunch of places in Manitoba (including such metropolises as Grandview and Otterburne). Edinburgh, Scotland.


6.Name some bad habits you have.

N/A

7. Name some jobs you've had.

K-Mart Cashier. Toy Store clerk. Waitress (see above). Camp Counselor. Administrative Assistant. Educational Assistant. Piano Teacher. Voice Teacher. Cleaner.


8. Tag some people:

Heidi and Pieces

(help! I can't un-italicize this post!)

i'm a slacker

It's true. At least when it comes to blogging. So here is my attempt to make up for all my non-post-y-ness. (it's a new word. I made it up myself.)

• Monkey is still on asthma medication. We're doing a three month trial. Since the doctor thinks it is seasonally triggered, this makes sense. It seems to be working. Unfortunately, he got a cold this week, but it is much better now.
• We are painting our garage. Wohoo! This weekend.
  
• The Music Man is taking some holidays (today and Monday = 5 day weekend) to do so. Also, his parents are coming to help us.
• If we have time, we are also building Monkey a sandbox. The lumber is in our back yard right now, just waiting to be put together.
• It's summer.
• You can tell, because it is hot.
• I am (slowly) working on my application to become a La Leche League Leader. My enthusiasm for this endeavour waxes and wanes. I do a lot and then nothing. I'm like that.
• We've seen some good movies lately. Like Dan in Real Life and Lars and the Real Girl.
  
• The Music Man and I have fallen completely out of love with So You Think You Can Dance. This is no great loss to us.
• Writing this list has made me think I am VERY BORING.
• It's probably true.
• But Monkey is not at all boring, so I'll write about him.
• Last week he learned to say "Paul Bunyan" and "Kentucky blue grass."
  
• He remembers everything and makes connections we would never think of. I mention "farmers' sausage" he thinks of "farmers' market" (because they sound the same, I think, but we also bought them there...)
  
• He is increasingly cute and is in desperate need of another hair cut.

Umm. That's all I can think of. If I don't "see" you before then - Happy Canada Day!

ETA: I totally stole this "witty bulleted update" idea from Heidi. Just so you all know.

Edwina Froehlich 1915-2008

On June 8, 2008, Edwina Froehlich, one of the founders of La Leche League passed away. Thank you, Edwina, for doing so much to help the breastfeeding women of your generation and all generations since. We are very grateful.

the old man is snoring.

It has been raining all day. A steady, hard, cleansing rain. Unfortunately this rain has revealed a leak in our roof. We have an ice cream pail slowly filling on the kitchen floor. The Music Man will crawl up into the attic to have a look-see when he gets home from work. It's all rather dreary.

Monkey and I took a drive in the rain to the next town over this morning to go to the mall. Unfortunately this revealed that the local bookstore has closed. Dreary indeed.

On the bright side, Monkey has been drinking some cooled-off decaffeinated green tea out of a porcelain mug with a bright pink straw and reciting "Mmm, something smells good", a line from a very poorly written adaptation of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It all balances out, I guess.

Seven Years Ago Today...

Happy Anniversary, Music Man. I love you.
xxoo

in which my faith in the American Public is restored, and what-not

Well, for all the mistakes they made along the way ("they" being American Idol voters), at least the right David won last night. My faith is restored...for now.

In other news, our dear little Monkey has had a cough for seven weeks. (yes you read that right. hey, why is this all underlined? stupid blogger.) On Tuesday we spent the evening at the clinic and came away with a tentative diagnosis of mild asthma. This is not what we wanted to hear. I know that lots of kids grow out of asthma by the time they start school, and I know that there are lots of worse things that could be wrong, but it feels like it's going to be a long haul. On the upside, he was prescribed medication and after only the first dose, he slept through the night until 6:30. This is nothing short of a miracle. The poor thing has been waking up from his cough multiple times per night. But the great thing about my Monkey is that he is always in good spirits.

And in other other news, we got new neighbours across the street. Last night our street was swarmed (I really mean swarmed) with people who had come to help them move in. My guess is that they are here straight from Germany. They had what appeared to be a shipping container filled with pallets of stuff (seriously, stop it with the underlining....) There is a very large German community in this area which is growing all the time. I'm sure their helpers were recent immigrants themselves. I'll tell you one thing, they made short work of the unloading. We weren't able to discern which people would actually be living in the house, but I saw a 7 or 8 year old boy there this evening. I will have to go over next week and introduce myself. (There, I wrote it in my blog, now I'll have to do it.)

Take care, happy weekend. We're planning our first wiener roast of the season tomorrow.

Vive Quebec!

Bonjour! Nous avons retourner de notre voyage a Quebec. Je pense que je veut ercrir c'est poste en Francaise. Bonne idee, non? (Je suis tres desolee. La qualite de mon Francais est mal. Aussi, un tableau c'est merite mille mots. :) )

Monsieur Musique, le Singe et moi s'en aller a Quebec pour une conference de la profession de Monsieur Musique. (en 2007 nous allons a Victoria.) Il as une bonne conference. Sur vendredi, Bren, Monsieur J et le petit chevre s'en faire connaissance avec nous. Nous avons une fin de semaine tres bien. (Allez lire l'histoire de Bren ici)

mmmm. chocolat

l'eglise Saint-Roch

il fait FROID!

notre auberge de jeunese, L'Auberge de la Paix

Merci beaucoup.

(I might get around to writing a post about this trip in English, too. maybe.)

No Faith in the American Public

What were you thinking people? Carly leaving American Idol? That's just wrong. I will now have to stop watching for the rest of the season. Because clearly the best singer is not going to win. Lets look at our options from this week again....

Syesha - She had fun with a Broadway song and sang it well. She's not my favourite, but she wasn't the second worst!

David A. - Thank you Andrew Lloyd Webber for finally telling him to open his eyes. I don't really like him, but at least he did something interesting with the song.

Brooke - Um, I want to like her because she is interesting, but I'm getting a bit sick of her wounded dear look and her need to explain everything. She was okay, but not great, and probably should've been in the bottom two.

David C. - He should win the whole thing. But I was a tad disappointed in him this week. I told the Music Man when I heard it was ALW week, "As long as nobody sings anything from Phantom we should be okay." Hmmm.

Carly - Um, hello people. This girl has a voice. She sang a great song that suited her perfectly and she did it well. My only possible theory is that the Heartland of America was offended by her song choice, being from JCSS and all. (As an aside - There was a girl in my high school who would say "Superstar" really quickly whenever someone said "JC" as a curse. Like that cancelled it out or something. Bren, do you know who I mean?)

Jason Castro - aka Jason Castrato. (well, okay, not really, but eeeeeew. He looks like a girl.) Ugh. Please stop voting for him! He chose a song that is super well known, and has a bit of a reputation for being typical "cheesy musical theatre". And he didn't even know it. And then, he sang it like crap. Come on, America. Get it right next time.

Thus ends my American Idol rant.

thank you.

Here I am. Did you miss me?

It has taken me a week to get around to writing my first post-Lent post. I feel like I'm starting over, and I don't know what to say. Lent was good for me. I missed blogging for the first, um, two days. After that, I almost don't want to admit, I was happy to not be blogging. I am still not sure if I have come to any firm conclusions about continuing to blog, so until I do I may not post that often if at all.

On the other hand, think about everything I missed being away from you all. I don't know very much, because I haven't read (and don't plan to) many "back-posts", but from the few a have read I know that

*babies have been born
*loved ones have been lost
*delicious recipes and beautiful crafts have been made
*babies and children have gotten older and cuter.

And then, if you can bear it, think about all the stuff you missed in my life these past weeks!
We have been

*splashing in puddles (and, on alternate days, slipping on frozen puddles)
*growing up so fast I can barely believe it (my Monkey that is, not me)
*watching lots of vintage Sesame Street on YouTube


*and watching the best movie ever
*doing our taxes
*stressing out about a new volunteer position with our local Festival of the Arts (okay, just me)
*enjoying family and friends

I think that's about it. And soon the snow will all be gone.

Taking a Break

Ash Wednesday is this week.

For Lent this year, I am giving up blogging. I have been having some thoughts about blogging and whether or not to continue, for some time now. I will use the season of Lent as a time to take a break and reevaluate whether it is something that I should continue. I plan to limit my internet use to checking email only. So I will be away from here, and I won't be around your places either. May you have a blessed season of Lent and Easter.


a random picture from our archives. while I'm gone you can entertain yourselves by figuring out/guessing where it was taken.

Visions of Sugar Plums

So, here I am, at the end of January, finally getting around to posting about my Christmas baking. Get your index cards ready, there will be recipes. I don't bake a huge variety, because my Mom and MIL still do lots of baking and, really, we can only eat so much.

1. Sugar Cookies.
(point of interest: this recipe is from the set of Sesame Street Encyclopedias that we had when I was a kid)

Cream together
3/4 cup butter/margarine
1 cup sugar

add
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla and blend.

In a separate bowl sift together
2 1/2 cups flour (this year I substituted one cup whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

add to first mixture. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Roll out to 1/4 inch and cut with cookie cutter.
Decorate with coloured sugar or sprinkles (red and green sugar is classic)

Bake at 400 for 6 to 8 minutes.


2. Almond Roca
(This is super easy and delicious. It also makes a great gift, except people often think at first glance that it is peanut brittle.)

Line a cookie sheet with foil.
Cover with graham wafers.

Heat, but do not boil
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar

add
6 oz flaked almonds.

Pour over wafers.
Bake at 325 for 10 minutes.
Cool. Break into pieces.

3. Chocolate Balls
(my mom stopped making this years ago, but it was my favourite, so when I got married I resurrected it. Try to enlist some help. The dough can dry out and become hard to work with if you don't roll them fast enough. It has raw eggs in it, but that has never stopped me. Just make sure you refrigerate them.)

Melt together
4 squares unsweetened chocolate
4 tbsp melted butter/margarine

Add
2 cups icing sugar
2 eggs
2 2/3 cup graham wafer crumbs

Mix well. Roll into balls. Roll in table sugar.



4. Peppernuts
(This is the Music Man's specialty, reflecting his Mennonite heritage. I don't actually have his permission to share this recipe, so I may be retracting it later when he reads this post. Oh, and we don't use the spices exactly as listed, because we don't have all of those on hand.)

1 1/2 cups margarine
2 cups sugar
1 cup syrup
1/3 cup sour cream
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp each of cardamom, cloves, mace, ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp anise powder
3/4 tsp peppermint oil
1/2 tsp black pepper
6 to 7 cups flour

Cream margarine and sugar and add liquids. Mix together dry ingredients and add to first mixture. Knead thoroughly. Refrigerate to blend flavours. Roll dough into thin ropes and slice (the pieces should be quite small, maybe less than two cm) Bake on cookie sheet at 350 for 8 minutes or until brown.

5.Christmas pudding.
I have already posted this "easy four step recipe".
Here is a picture of the finished product. Unfortunately I don't have one of it flaming as I carried it to the table.



Oh, and one more Christmas related thing...
I hinted a long time ago that I was doing a sewing project for Christmas. I couldn't say what it was at the time because the recipients of said project occasionally read my blog. I made cloth shopping bags for my mom, MIL and SIL. They each got two, one red and one blue. I used a pattern that I first sewed in junior high home ec. Luckily for everyone my sewing skills have improved a lot since then.

Can you follow directions?

If you can, then you can watch a funny video clip.
Go here.

On the left hand side choose "Episode 11".
Then choose "Mercer: Last guy to get his own blog"

Congratulations, you did it!


~enjoy

On Health Care

I would never trade Canada's free health care system for anything. It does has its drawbacks, though. I always had to laugh when reading pregnancy books that said things like "Make sure you choose a health care provider that you are comfortable with and shares your views on birth." Around here it should read, "If you don't already have a doctor, good luck finding one who is accepting new patients." I considered myself fortunate when, finding myself pregnant with Monkey, and in a new community, I was not only able to find a Doctor, but one who I really liked. So you can imagine my disappointment when my Doctor announced that she was leaving at the end of the year to move to The City for her husband's work. The clinic got a couple of new Doctors in fall, one of which was to take my Doctor's patients. So in November I had an appointment with this new Doctor. But I didn't like her. I can't say exactly why, but I didn't. I had been worrying for the last couple months about what I would do when I actually needed to see this Doctor for a medical reason. I couldn't imagine making an appointment with her.



So last week I called the clinic to ask, rather apologetically, if there were any other Doctors accepting new patients. The receptionist on the phone reassured me that it was not a problem that I was asking about other doctors, and that, in fact, it was a good thing that I was taking responsibility for my own (and Monkey's) health care. Yesterday, after another hour long waiting room visit, I met another Doctor. She was sweet and lovely and I can imagine taking Monkey to her for even a small concern. I mean, she's not my old Doctor, but she'll do.

I am interested to know - - do you have a choice in Doctors where you live? Do you have to wait months for an appointment? How is the balance of male and female physicians (our clinic seems to have an unusually high number of "Lady Doctors")? Do you like your Doctor? Just some thoughts.

Shot in the back of the leg

In case you haven't noticed, I thought I would draw your attention to some new links on my side bar. In my blog section (hilariously renamed "Brothers and Sisters") I have added The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. Go read it when you need a good laugh.

In my newly created Music section (Open your hymn books) I have added my brother's myspace pages. Now, my brother is one of the best and most creative musicians I know. The Nifty Sounds is a group that he has with my cousin. Go and listen to his songs. Pay special attention to "Floating out of Here" on the Mike Mulligan page and "Shot in the Back of the Leg" on the Nifty Sounds page.

I hope you all have a great weekend.
Posts coming soon on News from Whitekirk....
-a post about doctors
-Christmas treat recipes



p.s. my brother doesn't actually have an afro. That is a wig.
p.p.s. see if you can find me in the list of contributers on the Nifty Sounds page...

Clearly the posting has been on the slow side around here lately. I know I don't need to explain that it has been a busy holiday season and blogging has not been my top priority. However, I feel I should explain that I have been a walking zombie lately, due to Monkey's decision to boycott sleep. Some of you may recall that I've been through this before. However, Monkey will be 15 months old next week and well, frankly, he should be sleeping a lot better than he is. He loves going to bed, he just hasn't quite got the knack of staying asleep. For longer than three hours at a time. Oh, I'm tired.

We've had a good start to the year, though. Well, other than the kitchen sink that wouldn't drain and Monkey's first band-aid (other than for immunization shots...). His chin had a run in with the wrong side of a metal penny-whistle (yes, I know, this could only happen at our house), so he has a nice semi-circular cut on his chin.

Some really good things have happened already this year too. Like I made my first loaf of bread in the bread-maker that I got for Christmas. And it turned out perfectly. We've had visits with two couples that are very dear to us. And we had a family gathering yesterday with the Music Man's "K" family. It was a lot of fun. This is what we got in the gift exchange, which made me smile.



It was from The Music Man's cousin who lives in Texas, but was up for the holidays. Too funny. Some of you may also recall that I've already learned my lesson about messing with Texas.


One of these days I will get around to posting about our holidays, and maybe sharing some of my favourite Christmas recipes. (Yes, I know I should have done this BEFORE Christmas instead of after...) I hope the New Year is going well for all of you.