Welcome Winter!

If you can find a better definition for incongruous, I would like to know!

We Have Christmas Lights

Finally, 2 1/2 years after we moved in, we have the Christmas lights that I want, where I want them. Last year I bought lights, but it was so bitterly cold that Mike never got around to getting them up, so I returned them. And I am glad I did, because this year I found larger LED color change lights (red to blue) and we went with those.

Mike was on the super heavy duty Rona rental ladder.....our house is sooo tall with nothing for him to stand on really. I kept reminding him of National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (my all time favorite Christmas movie) and Chevy Chase's escapades on the ladder. Those lights are up till they stop working, we should get a good 3 years out of them.

BTW, if anyone ever knows where I can buy a set of plastic Santa/reindeer like the ones in that movie, LET ME KNOW! I still don't have the nerve to steal the ones from Kandice's neighbor lol!
In the top picture you can see the Princess's head in the window, looks like one of those ghost pictures! She woke up from her nap and had to see what was going on!



So the lights are all hung, the Halloween decorations off the lawn, and now we have to tell Kade that the lights aren't going on for a couple weeks yet. When we put the Bumble (see below, everyone always looks at me like I am mental when I say that. Sheesh, no one love the old Rudolph claymation anymore??) then we can turn on the lights.

Ze bumble...

We had a heck of a time figuring out why Mr K's socks were getting holes in them. We have been on a basement cleaning spree, freecycling and donating like mad so we can perhaps start renos soon, which means lots of space. We brought in some outside toys, including the little tykes car. We finally figured out that he is dragging his feet on the cement and literally wearing holes into his socks.

On Mr K's Christmas list : new socks.

Don't You Just HATE Getting Caught Before The Christmas Rush?

Gap cancels shirt order after child labour report

BloombergPublished: Tuesday, October 30, 2007
NEW DELHI (Bloomberg) -- Gap Inc., the biggest U.S. clothing retailer, cancelled an order for girls' blouses Sunday after a newspaper reported that a subcontractor in India had used child labor to make the clothes.
The line was scheduled to be in stores in the U.S. and Europe before Christmas, the Observer newspaper said yesterday. Gap said it will meet with suppliers to reinforce its manufacturing policies. The newspaper's investigation found that children working in slave-like conditions in New Delhi were making garments with serial numbers matching those for a line Gap had ordered for sale later this year, the London-based Observer reported.
"Under absolutely no circumstance is it acceptable for children to produce or work on garments. It's a non-negotiable for us," Dan Henkle, the company's senior vice-president of social responsibility, said in a statement.


The company said it began a probe after being told of the newspaper investigation. Gap stopped the blouse order and sent letters to 2,000 suppliers calling for a meeting to reinforce its policy on child labor.
Gap requires suppliers to guarantee that they don't use children to produce garments, and has a team of 90 employees monitoring compliance through unannounced visits and other means, Henkle said.


Blah blah blah. It all comes down to "too bad we were caught before our Christmas rush! We could have sold all those shirts and been apologetic later!"

In case you are interested, a list of Gap companies from Wikipedia:

Gap
Gap Outlet
GapKids
babyGap
GapBody
GapMaternity
Love Me Gap
Love (Gap Accessories)
Old Navy
Old Navy Outlet(All stores converted to Old Navy on October 2, 2007)
Banana Republic
Banana Republic Factory Store
Forth & Towne (discontinued)
Piperlime
Gap Warehouse (discontinued)
Brands (discontinued)
Hemisphere (discontinued)
Pants %ff (discontinued)
Pottery Barn (sold to Williams-Sonoma)
SuperGap (discontinued)
Tagg's (discontinued)
You & You (discontinued)

Now so far, I haven't found anything on Loblaws (superstore and affiliated companies) and child labor, and I hope I won't because I love their new lines and have weaned myself off Old Navy and onto Joe the last few months. (that hurt, it REALLY hurt) HOWEVER, said lines of clothing are pretty new and I am just waiting for an expose on where these new Joe clothes are made....sigh. The article below says they are made in Asia...who knows.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/arts/story.html?id=05bbea15-5a36-4812-b982-5617da42afd5

Quote:

Next on Mimran's plate is swimsuits, which will debut next spring. He also wants
to improve product quality while maintaining low prices. Quality, he says, can
vary with the Asian factories where the products are made, although he
emphasizes that all of them have strict manufacturing processes, respect
workers' rights and are inspected regularly.

We shall see says I....

Betcha Can't Look & NOT be Grossed Out!!

We went to Amanda's Halloween party yesterday, and this was one of the desserts...

Cat Litter cake.

This is the only dessert I have not touched in my life. I just couldn't do it!

Fall Flowers

The remnants of my flowerbeds....little peeks of color in the dead leaves from the tree, I had to take some pictures of their happy little faces :)

Ten Things You Can Do Right Now to Love Your Body

From Courtney E. Martin, the author of Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body

1. Make the radical choice to commit to healing your relationship with your body.
2. Never diet. Never ever. It is a $31 billion industry that fails 95% of the time. That's just stupid.
3. Reconnect with your authentic hungers. When are you hungry? When are you full? What are you hungry for?
4. Move in ways (African dance, yoga, running, sex...) that make you feel happy instead of adhering to strict fitness regimens.
5. Add a compassionate voice to the chorus in your head.
6. Don't spend money on products made by companies that make you feel inadequate. Duh.
7. Stop hanging out with toxic people that make you feel bad about yourself.
8. Change conversations about weight to conversations about wellbeing.
9. Nominate someone for the REAL Hot 100.
10. Redefine your notion of success to include your own wellness--including joy, fulfillment, resilience, and self-love.

Shameless plug alert. For more ideas of how to heal, check out my book: Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body.



Add a compassionate voice to the chorus in your head

I consider this one of the most inspirational adages I have ever heard. Can you imagine how much better things would be if we tempered our thoughts towards others with compassion? Words to live by if I have ever read them.

Redefine your notion of success to include your own wellness--including joy, fulfillment, resilience, and self-love.

I like that one a lot....and I think I will be picking up this book as soon as I can, I have heard of it before, but forgot until she posted a couple days ago on a feminist blogging site I like to read. One of the best lists of 10 I have read in a while!

I want to make this a "sticky" on my blog, I am going to come up with a smaller version and keep this posted on the side permanently somewhere..

Weekend Therapy

Aaah, nothing better than a weekend full of therapy....

First, a truly enjoyable movie with Amanda...


: Three American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other -- to become brothers again like they used to be. Their "spiritual quest", however, veers rapidly off-course (due to events involving over-the-counter pain killers, Indian cough syrup, and pepper spray), and they eventually find themselves stranded alone in the middle of the desert with eleven suitcases, a printer, and a laminating machine. At this moment, a new, unplanned journey suddenly begins.

And tonight Mike is having his time out, and I, in turn, am enjoying a new wine:

Full-bodied with the perfect balance of fruit, oak and soft tannins by one of Australia's most successful wineries. A touch of spice is complemented by the ripe, juicy flavors of dark plums and black currants. Nice and easy on the palate.

My added comments : "Dries out my throat" and "Not bad but the merlot is bettter to gulp" as well as " As long as there is an alcohol content, who really cares what it tastes like??"

Really, I should be reviewing wines for a living, I am so eloquent with my descriptions.

Hope everyone is having as good a weekend as I am!

Dr's Sears and a Healthier Halloween

I received my newsletter via email the other day, and besides the usual Halloween safety tips, there were a few "health" tips that I liked as well.

How to Minimize Your Child's Candy Intake During The Halloween Season:

Out of sight, out of mind - Keep your child's candy on a top shelf of the kitchen cupboard. This way, your child must ask for it and you can keep better track of how much they eat. But even better is that they will probably forget about it. Kids tend to forget about their easter and halloween candy after a few weeks. We eventually eat some ourselves and throw the rest away after a few months.

Buy it back - Buy your child's candy back from them, then take a family trip to the toy store and let them pick out a few toys. This is a nice treat, since it's another long two months until Christmas.

Weed out the real junk - Allow your child to keep chocolate candies, but eliminate the artificially colored stuff. This will keep most of the chemicals to a minimum.

One junk a day rule - In our house we have a "one junk a day rule" that we have taught our kids from an early age. This doesn't mean they actually eat one every day, it simply means that when they DO eat a candy, they can only have one.


L.E.A.N. Corner: Healthy Options for Halloween Treats

Halloween is a once a year time for kids to have fun and enjoy getting dressed up, scaring each other and gathering treats are a part of the fun. Remember that most treats handed out are Red Light Foods and can lead to stomachaches and bad behaviour. Most Kids won't eat all their candy so a majority ofi t gets thrown away once forgotten about.Here are some non red light treat ideas to get you started thinking:

Small boxes of cereal
Cheese and cracker packages
Sugar-free gum
100% Juice box packages
Small packages of nuts or raisins
A package of instant cocoa mix
Non-food treats such as: Stickers, toys, crayons, pencils, colored chalk, erasers, baseball cards, rubber spiders, temporary tattoos, false teeth, little bottles of bubbles and small games, like tiny decks of cards (party-supply stores can be great sources for these)


You can go and visit Dr Sears L.E.A.N Start ( Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitude and Nutrition) at

http://www.drsearslean.com/

I have been reading the site, and there are some really interesting things on it, lots of good reading. Of course there is more in the books, but you can get a feel for what he is trying to convey.

I think the set is now on my Christmas want list...I am really interested in what he has to say about shaping kids tastes...and I am always interested in the latest studies and research on this.and the Family Fun book looks great!

If You Could Taste How Good My House Smells

I love fall. With fall comes cooking with fruits and vegetables from the seasonal harvest,(my favorites) hot cocoa emerges as our favorite drink, and the crisp morning air jolts you right awake first thing in the morning.

I have finally perfected my pumpkin muffins recipe enough to share it, after trying tons, all of which just fell short somehow. So I have combined the best from all I have tried, to come up with:

THE ULTIMATE PUMPKIN MUFFIN (did you hear the booming,echoing voice announcing that?)

Bear in mind that any of my ultimates are full of healthy crap and minus as much junk as possible, so you can't compare it to, let's say, a white fluffy, blueberry muffin. However, Mike claims this is the best muffin I have come up with so far, junky ones included. He might be biased. OR, my other muffins really suck.

K's Ultimate Pumpkin Muffin

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix the following together in one large bowl.

1 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup applesauce (this happens to be one of the individual sized cups from a pack)
2 eggs


Mix well/sift in another bowl (I don't sift but it would work here) :

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Take your dry ingredients, and add to the wet. If you like spicier muffins, add more spices. These are pretty spiced tho. Mix together slowly, until almost completely mixed...hard to 'splain, but perhaps just until you can see the flour still in a few places. Add in half a cup of your choice of chocolate chips, raisins, or walnuts. ALL are fantastic, but the chocolate chips really make the kids feel like this is a HUGE treat. Mix these in, stopping right as soon as the batter is mixed. If you overmix, they turn out like rubber, this is the secret to pumpkin baking. Never overmix. I've eaten pumpkin muffins that bounce off the floor like a ball!

This makes 24 mini-muffins and 4 large ones. That's just how it works out for me everytime. I would spray the pans if I were you, because with no oil, they stick.

Baking times are about 9 minutes for mini, and about 18 for large, but all ovens are different, so gauge yours.

This was all that was left tonight from my morning batch...and there's Mike stealing more lol! And I have been asked to bake some more, there's my Friday morning activity I guess.



Let me know how they turn out. And don't overmix LOL!

Shower Pics

Some pictures from the baby shower on Saturday, I really didn't get good pictures of everyone who was there, hopefully Lisa will email me the family ones she took! HINT HINT!

Proud Daddy...



Princess Ruby (I think. Unless I see them both together I have no clue who's who)

Cuddles with mom....
Mike with Ruby, (I think) He claimed that his ovaries were tingling during the shower. I told him that since he had ovaries, he can carry the next child.

Lisa and moi..
Lisa and moi plus babies....
My oh-so handsome husband and myself.
The proud parents.... and they have a good reason to be proud of those two little cuties.

Soccer Star Promotes Breastfeeding (football=soccer)

Theo Walcott's in a league of his own

Young Arsenal star Theo Walcott is back after a long injury. He talks to Simon Crompton about fitness, family and fame – and why tackling a breast-feeding campaign is his new game plan

Theo Walcott has a few points to prove. Back this season from a long-term shoulder injury, the wonderkid who was hailed the future of English football has had more than his fair share of frustration since last year’s record-breaking move to Arsenal and selection for the England World Cup squad at the tender age of 17. But events, like Theo, are moving at speed, and the “Theo to the rescue” headlines last weekend show that Walcott is well and truly back in the thick of British football.

Walcott transformed a shaky performance by Arsenal when he came on as a substitute against Sunderland last Sunday and once again showed that Wayne Rooney has a rival for the title of most exciting English footballing youngster. But there’s more to him than body swerve and pace. Today he’s telling me about the benefits of breastfeeding. Understandably, he’s not totally at ease, and his mother is at his elbow to fill him in on the bits that he forgets.

“I was breastfed, all my family were breastfed, and little Aurora here,” he says, dandling his one-year-old niece on his knee. “I see her being fed by my sister all the time. I just think it should be second nature to people.”

A footballer who thinks outside the box

Walcott has decided to lend his name to a new campaign encouraging more enlightened attitudes to breastfeeding (see panel). The fact that one so young, and earning a living in such an aggressively male world, should take a public stand on something perceived to be female territory is little short of remarkable.

But Walcott, who made a headline-grabbing £12 million move from Southampton to Arsenal last January, isn’t exactly a normal footballer. There’s a Jag in the drive of his five-bed Hertfordshire home, but it’s his father’s. His is the VW Golf, hidden behind. And he shares the house, which he bought after the World Cup, with his parents, two dogs and, at some points during the week his brother and sister, brother-in-law, nephew, niece, and girlfriend Melanie.

The siblings, partners and children are arriving as I turn up, and it’s genial chaos. “It’s always like this,” says Lynn, Walcott’s mother, with quiet resignation. Her son has had only three hours’ sleep, having returned at 5am after an European Champions League away game, but he’s making tea for everyone. “Hope it’s OK,” he says, offering me a cup. “Everyone always says my tea is rubbish.”

Not exactly Footballers’ Wives. Walcott admits that his family is hugely influential, and it was his mother, an independent midwife and former breastfeeding teacher, who suggested that he lend his name to the new campaign. Being embedded in kith and kin also seems to have given him the inner steel to be his own man. Which is impressive when you think that the public has always seen Walcott as the baby of the footballing world.

He admits to having been a bit in awe of the rest of the squad during the unsuccessful (and for Walcott, unused) World Cup jaunt (he has not been selected for the main team since, though he has been impressive for England Under21s and Steve McClaren, the England manager, has told him he has not been forgotten).

He seems unconcerned (or perhaps unaware) about the potentially lethal dressing-room combination of being baby-faced and advocating mother’s milk. “I know I’ll get the mickey taken out of me, but that’s always happening anyway. What can I say? It’s the right thing to do. It’s about healthy eating, getting healthy bones, right from the start of life, and men need to support their wives in that. That’s what I’ll be doing with my kids.” He adds hurriedly: “I’m not saying I’ll have them now!” He and Mel, 18, a mayor’s daughter from Southampton, who is about to train as a physiotherapist, have been an item for two years.

The breastfeeding manifesto that Walcott is promoting has been produced by a coalition of 39 organisations, including the Royal Society of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Royal College of Midwives. It not only calls for health-care professionals to be fully trained to support mothers with breastfeeding but also for government support for breastfeeding in public. Walcott says he’s amazed when people give dirty looks to his sister when she’s breastfeeding in restaurants.

“I just work hard and train hard”

You have to keep reminding yourself that Walcott is still a teenager. After that manic year in 2006, he has definitely grown up – wide shoulders, bucket hands and a fetching experimentation with facial hair. He also has a surprising streak of arrogance that appears in glimpses (“It shows how big I am that I can ignore the jokes”), and which you realise is essential to survive in football. Just how tough that world still is becomes apparent when he recalls the battle with injury and the long periods on the bench over the past 12 months. His shoulder first dislocated in a game against Portsmouth in December 2005. He has inherited a congenital fault, in which the shoulder ligaments are too slack, from his father, Don, who now manages his company. Until now, he hadn’t revealed how long-standing the injury had been.

“It started to pop out quite frequently in the second half of last season and soon it became an absolute nightmare. We had to keep it quiet because if the opposition heard about it, the first thing that happens is that someone will shoulder-charge you.”

Then he fell heavily in a game against Everton the day after his 18th birthday in March this year and there was no hiding the seriousness of the incident. “Everyone could see the pain I was in. Even just drying myself with a towel, or rolling over in bed, popped it out.”

Surgery to repair and tighten the ligaments became urgent and waking up afterwards was one of the worst nights of Walcott’s life. “When I woke up, I was absolutely in bits. My arm was completely dead and floppy after the anaesthetic. It’s all over now, though. They say I won’t be able to get full extension, but it’s 95 per cent.”

The injury kept him out of the game until August, so this season Walcott is raring to go. He has had six club first-team appearances, two as a substitute. “I just work and train hard, that’s all you can do really. And a smile on your face helps, too.”

“He never went through a sullen phase as a teenager,” his mother chips in, supportively.

Walcott’s just beginning to get used to the idea that he’s a role model. He’s aware that the young kids who support him from the stands want to support him off the field, too. Just how he has felt about his own footballing idols: Michael Owen and Thierry Henri. “You never see them in the newspapers doing dodgy stuff, which shows what professionals they are.”

All good wholesome stuff then. A manager’s dream, as well as a mother’s. Walcott has never been to a nightclub in his life, and Mel doesn’t like partying either. She confides that she didn’t always find it easy fitting in with the other England WAGs (wives and girlfriends) during the World Cup. Mel will be going back home this evening, leaving Walcott for a boys’ night in with his mates. No footballers mind, just old schoolfriends from his home village of Compton, near Newbury. They’ll be playing pool and computer games.

Does he ever feel an outsider? He shrugs. “We’re all different in football,” he says. But I’m wondering whether, at 18, he’s strong enough to be so different, to pull off the feat of demonstrating to young boys that you can be sensible, sensitive and talk about women’s issues, and be more the man for it.

And then, as our photographer says for the umpteenth time “just one more picture”, Walcott says: “No. You said that was the last, and that was the last” and walks off. It’s three o’clock, he hasn’t had any lunch, and he wants it over. That glimpse of steel again. “You’ve got to draw a line,” his father says to me good-humouredly. “I’m glad he did that.” And I am, too.

Breast is best

The Breastfeeding Manifesto, launched by Best Beginnings and supported by Unicef, Save the Children, the Royal College of Midwives, and the British Dietetic Association, calls for:

Better training for health professionals, so that they can better help mothers to start and continue breastfeeding.

Statutory breastfeeding breaks at work.

Governments to encourage greater social acceptance of breastfeeding in public.

Children to be educated at school about the importance of breastfeeding.

Controls on the marketing of formula milk.

For more information about the campaign, or buy a T-shirt in support, visit www.breastfeedingmanifesto.org.uk

Breastfeeding facts:

The World Health Organisation recommends that babies are exclusively breastfed for the first six months.

In the UK, nine women out of ten stop breastfeeding before the baby is six weeks old.

If all babies were breastfed for at least three months, the reduction in gastroenteritis alone would save the NHS £35 million.

I find this article so impressive because not only is he young, popular and famous, and taking a stance that I admire, but he is representing a minority group, which I feel is a focus missing SO much when it comes to promoting breastfeeding. Studies have shown that the majority of breastfeeders are white, university educated, middle class women. We are missing the mark promoting outside this box. So when I saw this, I was incredibly excited.

My fondest wish is that Mr K grows up this enlightened and supportive of his future wife. Not that she will be good enough for him, of course. ;)

Library Additions

Ah, my addiction, the Goodwill. I had far too much success again today with books, I actually had to stop myself from searching anymore.

I bought"

A Recipe For Bees - Gail Anderson-Dargatz

The Cure for Death by Lightning - Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson

While I Was Gone - Sue Miller

The Reader - Bernhard Schlink

Non-Fiction

Grading the Teacher - A Canadian Parents Guide - Nellie Jacobs

Siblings Without Rivalry - Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

When I got home I opened my hardcover of The Cure for Death by Lightening and found its signed by the author, to Tricia LOL! Cool, I will have to keep that one since its signed.

Mom and Dad are up for Thanksgiving so its busier than heck around this household.

This Friday's Therapy

Laugh all you want, but this week I found my wine between the covers of Consumer's Report. Do they do ANYTHING wrong? Man, they are even bang on with their wine reviews. This was rated very good, and it sure is.
From the Yellowtail Site:

Silky smooth and easy on the palate. This wine is a great “slurper” with juicy, ripe fruit flavors, complemented by aromas of dark plums and a touch of mint and soft vanillin oak.

Slurper is right, I had to remember to stop at two glasses. A sweet wine that Mike loves too because its not dry at all. Mmmm.

More Babies

I can't help it, they are so cute. Must post more pics.
Violet...this one is trouble I tell you. Ready to party while Ruby sleeps.

See? Still awake.I finally got a pic of them together today...adorable.

Congrats to Kandice and Dan!

I am still in Calgary, but am posting pictures for everyone to see of Dan and Kandice's beautiful blessings, born on Tuesday morning.

Here is Ruby....

and Violet....

And proud mama and papa!

Dad checking up on Violet in the NICU..but she was out of there last night and with mom.

Mom visiting Violet...
Auntie holding Violet this morning
Auntie with Ruby.

I swear Violet is smiling in this picture....sure looks like it to me. She knows that Auntie rocks. I will post more later...and will take more tomorrow when I go visit and get another fix of baby toes.

11 o'clock Escapades

Alrighty. Someone is busted. Not sure who just yet....we'll have to dust for prints tomorrow.

Mike and I were just getting ready to snooze when I saw light flashing onto the wall thru my big side window. So Mike went down to see what was going on, and sees someone taking pictures outside....who then hops into a minivan and speeds off recklessly, swerving, narrowly missing my neighbors dog, beer bottles flying outta the windows and hitting parked cars (ok I made that shit up). But yah, they drove away LOL.

So I notice all these on the lawn....(the balloon is an easter one i think..)


And written on the back of the "Be Mine" Valentine card is...
I either have some smart ass friends who were having FAR too good of a time cruisin' in the minivan, or well, a stalker I guess! The "be mine" kinda creeped me out.

Now. Melissa owns a minivan and Beckie owns a minivan. Who done it?

My guess? Brandy and Beckie had far too good of a time at the Goodwill. Am I right? Hmmm, tho Melissa does get crazy with those VBall people, and she's back in action......

So yah, I haven't had this good of a laugh since high school to be honest! Fits right in with the kinda pranks we would have pulled back then....god, Kandice, you remember the vaseline in car door handles trick?

Bwhahahahaha!

And at least I blogged it first! Hehehehe.

Friday Night Therapy

Ah. Nothing like a little Friday night therapy. Yes, wine and bubblebath, I may not get to the bubblebath as the level in the wine is rapidly decreasing, but its the thought that counts. Mike was out at Save-On and picked me up the aromatherapy stuff. Note to men: if your wife randomly mentions she loves lavender, pick her up some lavender products and she will love you forever. Mike scored a 10/10 tonight for that one. Good memory honey!

The wine? Oh, there's a good reason for that. I needed new tires today, and after talking to Father Almighty (that would be my dad) I realized that I should cancel my Canadian Tire appointment and go to Walmart. I won't get into the dry, boring tire reasons.

Anyhow, get to Walmart. Walk in, realize that its the stupid "Celebration" event, and that tires are on sale. Whoops. Now we have three hours to kill.Three hours, two kids, one stroller. But a loaded bank card!

So we walked to Superstore, picked up some fancy cheese (which I was getting me wine to go with!) some Ham that the Princess started screaming for at the Deli. We think she is addicted to sodium. Then we walked to the Liquor Store on the way out to pick out a wine for me. I could have done without that experience.

I picked out my wine after looking thru the row of Australian Shiraz wines :

Shiraz, or Syrah (Persian: شیراز), is a variety of grape used in wine. It is called Syrah in France, Argentina, Chile and most of the United States. In South Africa, Australia, and Canada it is known as Shiraz. In Australia it used to be called Hermitage up to the late 1980s. It should not be confused with Petite Sirah, a synonym for Durif, which is a different type of grape. Syrah is the offspring of two obscure French varieties, Dureza and Mondeuse Blanche. (Dureza, native to the Ardèche, Mondeuse Blanche "White Mondeuse", native to the Savoie).

Whatever, really, I just am on an Australian wine kick, damned if I know the difference. Shiraz? oooooh sounds fancy! Ok ok hook me up! And it tastes gooood.

So after the princess screams that she wants out! now! in the wine aisle,we go to the checkout. Now, I shit you not, this actually happened. I couldn't make this up if I TRIED, people.

Mr K walked over to a display, picked up a 4 pack of pretty white and red colored shots in real shot glasses, plunked them on the counter with my wine, and told the cashier:

"My daddy always buys me these for a special treat"

I just about died. Literally died. I have the Princess screaming , my 3.5 year old son plunking down shots like he's bellying up to the bar, telling the cashier that "dad always buys them for him" and I am desperately trying to find my bank card to pay for that !@#$%#@ wine I just had to buy for tonight.

The kind lady behind me took the shots and returned them to the display while I somehow remembered my PIN, paid for the wine, accepted the lollipops the the befuddled cashier handed me for the kids, (wtf?) and just booked out of there.

I had a good laugh afterwards and so did Mike when I told him, of course.

The rest of the time was just spent screwing around Walmart, waiting for the tires. I am now off to enjoy that bottle of wine that was damn well earned today.

Have a good weekend all!

Memory Loss = Success

I went to place my green tomatoes into my cupboard this morning, and found a plate of these:

HA! From three weeks ago, my little experiment. I threw them on a plate into the cupboard and totally forgot they were there. I guess the cool and dark does turn them red. They didn't rot and they taste fantastic...so now the rest of them are in paper bags (to keep the ripening gases in) and maybe we shall see some more.... mmmmm.. watch, these will be the only successful ones LOL!

Robot Chicken

"Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series produced by Stoopid Monkey, ShadowMachine Films, Williams Street, and Sony Pictures Digital, currently airing in the US as a part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim line-up, in Britain as part of Bravo's Adult Swim line-up, and in Canada on Teletoon's Detour nightly adult programming. It premiered on Sunday, February 20, 2005. Seth Green and Matthew Senreich are the creators and executive producers of the show. They are also on the writing team, and have directed some episodes. Seth Green provides many voices for the show."

from Wikipedia



Funny ass show and this is one of my favorite shorts from it. God, there's a Rainbow Brite one that makes me guffaw so hard....I will find that one too....

More Food

Yup. More food pictures. I have been on a tear lately cooking the healthiest meals I can think of. I haven't taken pictures of alll of them of course LOL! But since the artichoke chicken we have been eating so many dishes that we have never tried before.

Stuffed peppers....Mike's newest favorite, and when he heated them in the microwave at work, all the women came and asked him for the recipe because they smelled so good. They are so easy, I threw black beans with some ground beef and salsa, mixed it all together, layered some cheese in there and done! I snuck some cream cheese into the middle of mine and just about died of mouth happiness.
Grilled red peppers, zucchini and mushrooms with olive oil and greek seasoning with seasoned pork sirloin. My newest favorite.
And my newest cupcake creation, White Forest cupcakes. These are for Mike's dessert buffet at work again. These fall under the catergory "Do Not Put in My Mouth". Dammit. Off to eat a zucchini.



And my payment for making the cupcakes and generally being superwife. :) I heart Mike.

Walmart Steps Up The Evil

From a MySpace Page.....


A
Walmart security guard demanded a woman hand over her baby at checkout,
thinking it might have been a baby that was reported missing in the store,
according to a Myspace post by the mother, Stacy Arrington of Parkville, MD
(pictured):
"They are trying to tell me that Ava is not my child. She started
fussing so I began taking her out of the seat. The whole time this security
guard is asking me to "give him the baby". F*** YOU! There was no way I was
handing her over! I tried to walk away, leaving her car seat, the diaper bag,
even my wallet...they blocked me! I am screaming for them to get the f*** away
from me. I start crying, sobbing, just holding Ava near me. Everytime the
security guard put his hands near her I shifted away. Ava is screaming at the
top of her lungs by this time. I am screaming to get a manager. I started
telling them everything I could think of to prove she is mine. Her birthmark,
hospital card in the diaper bag, my ID in my wallet...pictures of her in my
wallet. I am screaming that I am going to sue the F*** out of them and God help
them when my husband and father hear about this!
Finally the manager realizes
they have the wrong person..... he gives me everything for free... he puts the
bags in my card and I basically run out of the store, still holding Ava. I
couldnt get out of that parking lot fast enough."

I understand their need to check if this was the baby missing in the store, but I would have FREAKED out myself if a security guard had tried to take the Princess out of my arms saying "give me your baby". I would also be sitting in a lawyers office this morning as well. I hope she sues the hell out of them. That's just awful, WTF were they thinking? You ASK the woman to come with you to an office nicely, not ask her to give you the baby and reach for it! I would have thought some psycho was after my baby!!

Toronto Star Article With Karen....WAY TO GO!!!

JIMMY JEONG FOR THE TORONTO STAR
Karen Speed, with Jezek, almost two, says Facebook closed her account when she asked why photos were deleted.
More than 10,000 so-called `lactivists' have signed an online petition protesting the website's policy

Sep 12, 2007 04:30 AM

Andrea Gordon Family issues reporter
Facebook is getting an online scolding after the social networking site deleted pictures of nursing babies it considered "obscene content" and closed the account of at least one Canadian mom.
Breastfeeding activists are emailing, posting and instant messaging their outrage. A new Facebook group set up to petition for a change in site policy – called "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!" – has swelled from 7,000 members to more than 10,200 in the past few days.
"I was really ticked off," said Karen Speed, 33, an Edmonton mother of three boys, ages 9, 4 and 20 months, after five of her photos were deleted last month and her account shut down.
But she added in a phone interview the reaction from the online community has been gratifying.
"People seem to be coming out of the woodwork in support of this. I had no idea there was so much support for breastfeeding and I'm really encouraged by that."
Earlier this year, MySpace also came under fire for deleting photos of a Tacoma, Wa., woman breastfeeding her baby. But the latest incident on Facebook has sparked a much broader groundswell, from as far away as Australia.
It is being voiced in Toronto by mothers like Sarah Kaplan, owner of the new Evymama breastfeeding and maternity wear shop in the Bloor West neighbourhood. A self-described "lactivist," Kaplan founded her store "to glamorize breastfeeding." She has been spreading the word and encouraging moms in her online mothers' groups to join the chorus of objections.
"The fact is, breastfeeding is supposed to be anywhere, anytime," she said, while nursing her son, 7-month-old Remy, in her shop yesterday. Kaplan says with Canadian physicians and the World Health Organization recommending breastfeeding to 2 years of age, mothers need encouragement, not to be treated as if nursing is offensive.
Speed, who runs breastfeeding support groups for new mothers, decided last April to start an online version on Facebook, inviting women to ask questions, discuss breastfeeding problems and make contact with other moms. Soon afterward, she decided to post photos that had been on the website of her other breastfeeding support group, BLISS. "I always think seeing moms breastfeeding, and especially older kids, is important," she said in a phone interview yesterday. It's not uncommon for new moms to encounter difficulties and give up in frustration without extra support or tips, she said.
This summer, she was one of several mothers who received a standard notice from Facebook that a picture had been deleted because it was considered "obscene." She wasn't told which one, but later realized a photo of her "tandem breastfeeding" her two youngest sons was gone, even though her breasts were not visible.
Within days, she received messages that four more images had been removed.
After responding in an email and asking for clarification of what Facebook considered obscene, Speed says, she could no longer log on to her account.
All discussion threads, details of an upcoming Breastfeeding Challenge event in Edmonton, questions from mothers seeking help and contacts were gone.
"After reviewing your situation, we have determined you violated our Terms of Use," a Facebook customer support representative named Anthony wrote Speed in an email on Aug. 27.
"Please note, nudity, drug use, or other obscene content is not allowed on the website." He informed Speed that "We will not be able to reactivate your account for any reason."
In the meantime, there are still many pictures of breastfeeding mothers throughout Facebook in groups like La Leche League, Canadian Breastfeeding Mommies and particularly the "Hey Facebook" petition site set up since Speed was shut down.
Facebook spokesperson Meredith Chin has reportedly said Facebook did not prevent mothers from uploading photos of themselves breastfeeding their babies, but removed content that was reported as violating Facebook's terms of use.
"Photos containing an exposed breast do violate our terms and are removed," Chin said, according to a recent report in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Kelli Roman, a 22-year-old mother of two from Fallbrook, Calif., started the petition group in the summer after Facebook deleted several of the breastfeeding photos on her personal profile.
"It offended me," she said over the phone from California. "I can't see how anything about breastfeeding could be considered obscene, especially with the other things you see on Facebook ... like scantily clad women and so much sexualized stuff."
In fact, one of the top discussion threads in the "Hey Facebook" group is one that contains links to ``offensive" material on Facebook.
In Toronto, the issue of rights of breastfeeding mothers has had a high profile over the past couple of years, following incidents in which mothers were told to cover up or leave public places while nursing.
In June, the city approved a policy introduced by Toronto Public Health that allows mothers to breastfeed in any public place controlled by the city, including its agencies, boards and commissions.

(once again, Karen's link to her website is in my favorite links on the right. Good job Karen!)

Give Where You Live!!

Give where you live on September 29

One day each year the entire TELUS team gets together to give where we live and work. On September 29th, we’re inviting you to help make a difference in our communities by taking part in the annual TELUS Day of Service.

For every text message you send from your TELUS mobile phone, we’ll make a donation to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.

So send a message that shows you care. In fact, send lots of them.

For more information, visit telus.com/community.

I am a little disappointed that I am missing out on this while being part of the company, part of the reason I will be going back when its time. They put their money where their mouths are. Throughout the year as well, Telus pays its employees $5 an hour for their work at their charity(s) up to a max I think 50 hours. I was really impressed with that, so my charity gets not only my volunteer time (which was priceless) but also gets paid $5 for every hour I work. Best of both worlds.I liked this better than companies who match employees contributions, not that it isn't great as well, but volunteer hours are a charity's most precious resource, (and a dwindling one) and I liked that employees had to give time, not money.

This is the first time I have missed work LOL!

xoxoxox Mike

Not that he reads this or even blogs here anymore LOL but he might....

I wanted to thank him for all his hard work the last two weeks helping to night wean the Boob Princess, which has meant that he hasn't had a proper nights sleep in, well, two weeks! She threw some massive temper tantrums the first 3 or 4 nights, and he literally was up every hour with her. Cause I got to sleep in our room, while he slept with her in the spare room, away from the "temptation" of mom. (and only at night, she's still nursing during the day)

She has started to wake at 10:30 now, has a drink of water, and goes back to sleep usually till 6, then I go in and sleep with her until about 7 or so. This is such a vast improvement from her waking every two hours!

Ironically, it has done wonders for our marriage. (tsk, get your minds out of the gutters!) He said to me one morning, "Wow. I understand now, why you were too tired to do anything the last 4 years. " (again, get your minds out of the gutter, we DID have a second somehow! Haha, now your minds are firmly entrenched in gutterland)

But how nice it was, for him to suffer like I did. He got a really good taste of sleep deprivation for two whole weeks, and counting actually. He still gets up with her at night, not me. Then heads to work. But my dearest love is ever so grateful that he heads to the office, and doesn't have to take care of the kids all day LOL, and admits it regularly!

So Xoxoxoxxo to Mike, I appreciate you and love you more than you could ever know. You must be my soulmate to put up with my crazy ways! And you are! *smoooch*

Now, off to go wake him up, he fell into a sleep-deprivation coma and is lying in a puddle of drool (no, really, he IS) while putting Her Majesty to bed! Aww.

F-cking Facebook

I knew this article was coming, you can see Karen (----> founder of Bliss, look at my links) is mentioned in the article. And I read her blog, and I sent Facebook an email myself .(ya i know big shock)

Here was the reply to my email... to sum up (and it was a looong email) I had kindly and surprisingly politely asked them to perhaps forward on this issue to their legal department for consideration, because one never knows when you are breaking Human Rights Laws, or states laws even.

The reply....

Thanks for the suggestion. We will certainly keep it in mind as we continue to improve the site.

Thanks for contacting Facebook,

Craig
Customer Support Representative
Facebook

You will keep it in mind? That you might be breaking laws? Craig, Craig,Craig. We all know you are a little 20 year old boy who filters through these emails, and couldn't tell an important issue from your ass.

I really love that Facebook puts semi-nude (and worse) banners on their site. Its OK to whore our own values out for money, but, no, really, Facebook users, we will stop YOU from making our mistake!Breastfeeding is so morally wrong and violates our terms. But you, Miss Honey Spanksalot, you go and put your chesty picture up there....roooowr! Thanks for the thrills!

Fuckers.

Ok ok the article. I rant no more.

Asher Moses
September 7, 2007 - 2:00PM

Thousands of Facebook members are on the warpath after the social networking site removed images of breastfeeding mums and banned others for posting "obscene content".

They call themselves "lactivists" and say Facebook's practices are discriminatory.

Facebook's hardline stance on what its members can publish on their profiles is somewhat hypocritical given that it was caught running an image of a topless model in a banner ad for a dating service.

The mothers, many from Australia, started a petition in the form of a Facebook group called "Hey, Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!". The group now has almost 7000 members.

"Absolutely it is discriminatory and it makes me angry," said group member Pru Wirth, a mother of two from the central coast in NSW.

"If actual venues can be fined up to $40,000 for asking breastfeeding mums to cover up or move on, then why not a virtual public place?"

Another group member, Sally Millwood, from Petrie in Queensland, said: "I know from first hand experience breastfeeding can be a tough road to go down and, if you have success at the end of it, it's an amazingly proud and important achievement to be shared."

Facebook spokeswoman Meredith Chin said Facebook - which has more than 200,000 Australian members and 31 million users worldwide - did not prevent mothers from uploading photos of themselves breastfeeding their babies, but it did remove content that was reported as violating Facebook's terms of use.

"Photos containing an exposed breast do violate our Terms and are removed," she said.

It's not clear what constitutes an "exposed breast", which has the lactivists baffled.

Facebook did not respond to emails requesting further clarification but several group members have reported that their images were removed despite the fact they contained no nipple.

"Where does the feeding stop and the boob begin?? A peek of nipple?," one lactivist wrote.

Wirth, who is yet to have one of her own images removed, rejected Facebook's justification, saying there was a "real difference" between a user uploading their own images of their own body and Facebook themselves violating their own terms of use for profit.

"Regarding the case of the inappropriate banner ad that was posted, we have since removed the ad as it was a violation of our Terms of Use," said Chin.

In addition to removing particular photos from the site, Facebook has permanently revoked the membership of some of the mothers.

When one, Karen Speed, appealed and asked to have her account reinstated, Facebook said its decision was "final".

"We will not be able to reactivate your account for any reason," read Facebook's reply, published by Speed on her blog.

Wirth said it was important Facebook reconsidered its policy because it was restricting users from "sharing a normal part of our lives and our babies' lives".

She said Facebook had adequate privacy settings that allowed users to restrict access to their images.

"I can't see how sharing photos of your baby feeding with friends and family, or anyone really, could be deemed obscene," she said.

"If breastfeeding was done publicly more often it would just be the normal done thing, not something women should feel ashamed about, and it certainly wouldn't receive this kind of offensive reaction."

Naan

My first ever, completely made from scratch East Indian cuisine meal. And it was goooood. Mmmm. The naan bread was my first attempt ever, and turned out great, just needs more spices, and was rather cool to make. Then a chickpea curry, which tastes like a tikka masala sauce, made from scratch too. Going to watch Angel now, I spent all my time updating the kids blog and have nothing left to say about me LOL!