room with a view

For having been in Bogota almost two weeks, I haven't spent much time describing our new life here. So here are a few tidbits...

the neighbourhood:

• In our neighbourhood, there is a crazy mix of homes with VERY traditional Spanish colonial architecture... sitting right next to the most stark, uber modern homes you've ever seen. There is no such thing as a developer buying up a whole neighbourhood and building cookie-cutter homes. EVERYTHING here is custom. From the home itself to the garage door to the sidewalk outside the home. I love it.

• Most appliances here run on natural gas, but homes don't seem to have natural gas lines. Instead, trucks come by, stopping every few houses and ring a bell on the back of the truck. It's full of huge tanks (think the size of those big helium tanks at party stores) that they exchange the empties for full ones. The other day, I saw the poor guys who have to unload these giant gas tanks from the bed of a truck... did not look like easy work.

• Everywhere I look, I see these amazing terracotta pots. They're huge and thick and worn and have this age and patina to them... they're everywhere. On balconies, in patios and courtyards, flanking doorways, lining walkways... and they're full of the most amazing plants. A few I recognize, but most are totally new to me. I want some. Both the pots and the plants. Our balconies (yes, we have two) are bare and bleak and boring. I want to be part of the Big Beautiful Terracotta Pot Club.

the food:

• Groceries here are so expensive! A 200g box of cereal is about $5, as is a small jar of pickles. A can of coconut milk (around $2 back in Canada) is over $4 here. And I paid almost $10 for a small jar of feta cheese! Bread, condiments, and dairy products are also about twice the cost of similar items back home. 

• Thankfully, fruits and vegetables are much more reasonable, especially given that most things that were expensive imports back home are locally grown here. Infact, I hardly recognize half the fruit at the stores. The other day the boys and I picked a few new fruits to try... with mostly amazing success... except for this thing.  I think it might have been a passionfruit. Whatever it was, it was AWFUL. I couldn't even swallow it. Maybe we weren't supposed to eat the slimy, greeny-orange gelatinous seed pod things, but I couldn't see a way to eat the skin. It was thick and hard. Either way, yuck. 

does this look normal, Patrycja??

• Most Colombians seem to drink ultra-pasteurized milk, at least that's what the huge aisle of un-refrigerated milk -compared to the tiny shelf of normal milk- would have us believe. Ultra-pasteurized milk?? Yeah, yuck. After finally finding a source of raw goat's milk in Gatineau, the thought of ultra-pasteurized milk makes me more than a bit squeamish. Unfortunately, the source of goat's milk we've found here is $4/L... almost four times what we were paying in Gatineau. Ouch.

• Not food, but toys are soooo expensive. SO. EXPENSIVE.  For example, this Bobba Fett ship Lego set is $89.99 US or  $109.99 CDN at Toys R Us, and just under 500,000 Colombia Pesos at a local toy store. That's over $277 CDN and $270 US. More than twice as expensive! In retrospect, I'm thankful for the ridiculous  (for us)  amount we spent on costumes/art supplies/Lego/other toys before leaving Canada. It will save us a bundle for birthdays and Christmas.

our apartment:

• Even though it's so empty that most rooms echo when we talk, we're really liking our new place. The windows are huge (the light is amaaazing), the rooms are big and the closets border on the obscene. 

• The furniture we've been provide with here is really nice. Too nice. I'm not sure whether or not the person who did the shopping for us knew that we have kids, or if they've just never met the likes of our boys. In the handbook we were given it states that the life span of embassy-supplied furniture is assumed to be eight years... well after less than two weeks the dining room chairs ALL have stains, one of the love seats was thrown up on (and the cushions don't come off for proper cleaning... who makes a sofa like that??), and the dining room table has all sorts of little dents from the end of forks, etc. Eight years??  There's no way. This is clearly not the season of life for nice things.

• We were supplied with a "Welcome Kit" of necessities to tide us over until our shipment comes. Included were bed and bathroom linens, a set of Corelle Ware dishes, some glasses, a few pots, basic cutlery... you get the picture. Well after 10 days, we've already suffered two casualties... a glass tumbler and a coffee cup. Welcome to life with three little boys.

• We have our own water heater, but it takes sooooo loooong for hot water to reach any of the taps, especially the ones in the bathrooms furthest from the heater. I feel guilty every time I run the water, but there are some things that you just can't do with ice cold water. But I feel so wasteful.

• Our kitchen has all stainless steel appliances AND stainless steel counter tops. While I think it looks pretty cool and the seamless countertop/skin is wonderfully easy to wipe crumbs off of, the brand new stainless appliances are not so wonderfully easy to keep clean. Sticky-fingered, running-nosed, dirty, slobbery boys LEAVE MARKS ON EVERYTHING. Is there a trick I'm not aware of??

• We have so much empty wall space -huge expanses of gleaming white walls that we're not allowed to paint- that I'm at a loss over how to fill it up. We have a massive hallway that runs the length of our suite (think bowling alley and you'll be close) that I have no idea what to do with, in addition to the huge living room and the separate family room. And there's also the boys' room and play room. I want to do something fun in both those rooms, but am really struggling to decide on a theme (even a loose theme) that would suit all three ages (7, almost 4 and 20 months) but that isn't too corny... and isn't Lego or Star Wars... or Star Wars Lego. 

Now want to see a picture of our building complex??

that's Peter walking in the bottom right corner

Our floor is the second from the top. The balcony without any lovely terracotta pots is ours... the door off it leads to the TV/family room. The huge expanse of windows to the right is the living room, and to the left -next to the tree with the lovely yellow flowers- is the window to the master bedroom.

It's pretty, right?

We were a bit jealous when we saw the huge patios that the folks on the first floor have. It runs the whole length of that side of the building! But for security reasons, embassy staff have to be on the third floor or above. So we'll make do with the little outdoor space we have. We'll fill it up with terracotta pots full of hibiscus and jasmine vines (a smell I will forever associate with Colombia now... one of my favourite smells HANDS DOWN) and succulents and some of these crazy tall grass-like things that are really common around here...

these grow 6-7' tall! any idea what they are??

So yeah. All in all, life here is good so far. It'd be nice to be able to call and talk to my family and friends a bit more easily, and we will all be super excited when our shipment finally arrives (it should have been here by now, but some mix up with paperwork that needed to be completed has delayed things by about three weeks), but other than that we're settling in quite nicely. 

Thanks to those of you who are joining us on this adventure. It will be fun to share this next year with you all.

Oh and for those who are still wondering about the pictures I posted yesterday, THEY'RE FOR GARBAGE! People put their garbage bags in them and garbage is picked up several times a week. For something so... um, utilitarian... I find them really interesting and kind of pretty. 

two things with sexy legs

Even though I still have so much to blog about Peter's parent's visit (I'm overwhelmed by the amount of pictures to go through!), I wanted to quickly post this "before" picture of a couple of pieces of furniture I picked up off of kijiji last week. The seller had bought an amazing house right in downtown Ottawa that was furnished. 

With pieces he didn't want. 

With pieces that he clearly didn't realize -or care- the value of. Or maybe he just wanted them gone quickly. Either way...

Lucky me.

I have big plans for these two.

The first, while not an antique (it has a magnetic clasp and some fancy hardware inside), has a super nice shape... and check out those sexy legs! Can a piece of furniture be sexy, you ask? Clearly, the answer is yes.

Sorry the top is so dusty, I'd already begun sanding before remembering to run get my camera. 

(Also, see that pile of rock? We built a deck last week.) 

(And by "we built a deck", I mean that Peter and his dad slaved for 12-14 hours a day building a deck.)

(It's a life-changing deck.)

(More on that later.)

And now... what you all really came to see...

Could this dresser be any more awesome?? And it was only $40! 

(I know that some people visiting here might live in an area where antiques like this sell for $10-$15, so might shrug at my excitement over this $40 dresser (*ahem* sorry mom... this CHEST OF DRAWERS), but I assure you that -for here- this is an amazing deal. I read some US-based blogs that seem to be based in a parallel universe where it rains antiques and everywhere you look people are practically giving away timeless treasures covered in charming rust and patina and age worn paint. THIS IS NOT THAT PLACE. )

signs of age and use

unique detail

and just look at those curves

Every time I see those curves (THOSE CURVES!), I'm torn between sighing contentedly that she's mine-all-mine and giving a big ol' construction worker wolf howl.

It wasn't until after taking these pictures that I noticed that the hardware doesn't match. When I started this post, I thought I'd just pop over to Lee Valley's site and find a couple options to post here... Uh, have you ever checked out the hardware section of Lee Valley?  I hadn't. It's a bit overwhelming! If any of you painting/decorating/refinishing mavens have ideas, I'd love to hear them. 

At first I was thinking of doing something similar to what's on there, like some of these on the left hand side,

But maybe I should fill the holes and go for some drop pulls (the ones in the middle above), like on this dresser by Holly from Life in the Fun Lane (her before and after)

Cute, right?

This will be my first attempt at refinishing furniture and I get all giddy even thinking about it. From the great price, to the labour put into it, to the time spent choosing the little details, this dresser is going to have a lot of me in it.

I can't wait to finish and post the end results.

(Hopefully it won't take all summer.)


If you've ever attempted anything similar and have any tips or advice, or if you've written a post about something similar, I'd love to know.

This post is linking up to these great parties.

    

P.S. Now I want my own button. I have button envy.

a new obsession

I first saw this idea over a year ago over at Sassy Monkey Reads. She'd posted an amazing picture of a weekend project she'd just completed (click to go see for yourself). I was delighted with the end result, but never really considered a similar undertaking. 

It seemed waaaay too contrary my Type A personality way of organizing and arranging things... 

But it looked so pretty! 

No, I told myself, I'd never be able to find anything... 

My kids would wreck it...

But... soooo pretty!

Then, not surprising, I did nothing. But I never forgot that picture. And last week when I decided to do a search on Flickr for "rainbow books", the same smile spread across my face. As I spent the better part of 30 minutes clicking through image after image of books arranged by colour, it became impossible to resist. I mean, just look at these:

1. Camdyn's colorful bookshelf!, 2. New library, 3. Rainbow, 4. Bedroom book rainbow, 5. Rainbow of Books (Explore #93)., 6. Rainbow Books

Amazing, right? So. Much. Better. So much better than books arranged by author or subject or simply by height *yawn*. I think every room can be improved with the presence of a rainbow. The colours are so bright and fun and cheerful. Dewey Decimal who??

At first, I wasn't sure we had enough colourful books to even make a rainbow. There was a lot of white and pale yellow, not much pink or purple (not surprising) and lots of blue (also not surprising). What did surprise me is that we only have one (one!) orange book*. I mean really orange. ORANGE IS MY FAVOURITE COLOUR. 

Speaking of colour, sorry about these pictures... A good reminder before my photo session this afternoon TO ALWAYS CHECK MY SETTINGS BEFORE SHOOTING. Ah well, these pictures will do for now. I'll take some more after we paint the walls grey and the shelf itself white. The antique dresser next to the shelf will also be getting a fresh coat of paint.

(Yes, that lamp shade is broken (thanks boys). And yes, those are knitting needles** sticking up out of those lovely alabaster... vases? jars? candle holders?... lovely nonetheless. Peter's parents bring them to us from Egypt.) 

So. What do you think? Peter thinks I'm a bit crazy, but thankfully he's used to it/me by now. I happen to love it. I smile every time I look at the bookshelf (and can't wait to tackle the big shelf in our bedroom and the two full shelves in the boys room).

* It's George Orwell's Animal Farm. That tiny one right in the middle of the top shelf, between Ewan McGregor's Long Way Down and Ayittey's Africa in Chaos.

** I taught myself to knit over Lent! I've actually made some things too! Another post I haven't gotten around to writing yet...

(I'm working on a page to show where this post is linked to. I'll be back! Promise! My kids need lunch now though... how annoying. *wink*)

dilema

I have a dilema. In the last two days I have decided that I COMPLETELY DESPISE the layout/function/design/lack-of-design in our house. Despise. Hate even. Despise in a can't-stop-thinking-and-scheming-long-enough-to-fall-asleep-so-lays-in-bed-for-hours kind of way. I could hardly sleep last night because I COULD NOT get my mind to stop thinking of all the ways I would change things, how I would do it... what it would cost...

One of my biggest issues right now is organization. A place for everything and everything in its place, right? That saying used to make me roll my eyes, but now... now with three kids, homeschooling, a getting-busier-every-week photography business, I need for things to have a place AND TO BE IN THAT PLACE.

Cause when things don't have a place, they invariably get left/thrown some place that IS NOT their place and then all THAT STUFF just looks like JUNK. And when I feel like I'm surrounded by junk, I have little motivation to keep things tidy BECAUSE WHERE DO I EVEN START?

I've come to the conclusion that this family and open shelving DO NOT go well together. We have open shelves in our kitchen, all open book shelves in our living room, the boys playroom used to be a kitchen (there was a basement suite) so there's a fair amount of counter space... The problem? Every square inch of available surface space seems to be covered in Lego.

I kid you not. I could spend half the taking every last thing off our book shelves, putting everything back in its place, returning stray objects -at the very least- to the room in which they belong, cleaning, dusting, organizing, then re-loading my now sparkly clean shelves... only to turn around AND FIND LEGO.

And if it's not Lego, it's Playmobil or GI Joes, or Nerf darts or wooden fruit and kitchen utensils. Or... OR Andrew has pulled every last thing OFF the shelves.

I just can't win.

I need furniture pieces WITH DOORS. Doors and drawers and other things to hide things behind. Preferably these things will lock... and be treated with some sort of anti-Lego spray.

(sigh)

This need for closing/locking/hiding type furniture, however, leads us to the next problem...

I've spent some time scouring Kijiji, Used Ottawa and similar sites. I've feasted my eyes on some of the loveliness to be found on various design blogs. And I've come to a somewhat surprising (to me) conclusion...

I like antiques.

I like big, thick, wooden furniture that has personality and character and a story to tell. I love the idea of hunting for amazing pieces that have history. The thought of Ikea and its clean, simple, modern lines leaves me feeling cold and sad.

I love antiques.

So what's a girl to do? We do definitely need some new (to us) pieces of furniture. But where do I start? Keep checking Kijiji obsessively? Antique stores? Are there any good flea markets in/around Ottawa?? Also, I'd love to hear about your favourite design blogs. I think I'm well on my way to kinda/sorta figuring out "my style" but I could always use more inspiration.

Show me the magic!

A few years ago, there were some emails going around the net telling stories of children who had been badly burned by Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. I'm pretty sure that Snoops.com disproved the rumours (they were actually about a different type of scrubbing pad), but I've remained leery of them. These "magic" erasers seemed too good to be true... What exactly is in them that makes them work so well? 

Enter our increasing shift towards more green and eco-friendly personal care and cleaning products, these mysterious and magically effective cleaning pads became unwelcome entities under our kitchen sink. They got the pitch in early 2007 when Simon was still a newborn.

Unfortunately, that newborn grew into a toddler who likes to colour on walls.

After several valiant attempts to clean the walls, using admirable amounts of elbow grease and a small arsenal of green cleaning products, with tired elbows and pleading eyes, we turned once more to the Magical Mr Clean.

And he did not disappoint.

This morning, I discovered that Magic Erasers are also great for cleaning marker off of iBook covers.

Don't ask me how I know that...

Ask Andrew.

Apparently drawing on plain old walls is SO. LAST. DECADE. This new set of trouble makers toddlers prefers expensive electronics* as their canvas.

Where was I when this computer colouring was going on Peter you may be asking? First off, I was only gone for a second, and not far. In the time it took Liam and I to walk to the kitchen to see if his 3 dimensional salt dough map of Egypt was dry, Andrew managed to pull himself up onto the chair of Liam's desk, to where the laptop was sitting. Kid is fast! Second, I have no idea where he got the marker. It's an old, odd one from who-knows-where.

I guess that's where the real magic lies... A magically quick and nibble one year old and a magically appearing marker.

Magic is clearly the ONLY EXPLANATION.

Wondering what Liam liked to colour on as a young lad? Check out this video from October 4th, 2007, when Liam was 4 years old and Simon was 10 months:

Aw, listen to his squeaky little voice! AND CHECK OUT THAT HAIR!

*The "expensive electronic" was actually a 10 year old iBook that we brought back from Regina. It hadn't even been turned on in almost two years. We were never sure if it was the screen that died, some internal wiring, or just a faulty power cord that was preventing the thing to charge. So I found a new power cord on ebay for $11 (including shipping) and the thing works perfectly. Mac really knows how to build them! We only use it for email and internet and a couple of the boys' games, which even at 10 years old, it can handle easily. Plus it only "cost" $11! Wishing you'd kept it now, Lynette??

playroom tackle

Before:

No I didn't empty all the toys onto the floor just to make a good "before" picture. It really was this bad. The nice weather we've been having makes me even less enthusiastic than normal for house work.

If that's possible.

Since it was SO NICE this weekend, there really isn't a room in the house that doesn't need some work. I hardly even know where to start really... Top to bottom? Back of the house to the front? Prioritize somehow?

Instead, I chose to tackle the room where I could make Simon help spend time with Simon while I tidied. Thankfully it gave me that chance to discard a bunch of junk that Liam's brought home from school. Cheap, junky, plastic trinkets that he would've claimed were his "most favorite toy. EVER." if he'd been around. And after almost two hours? BEHOLD.

After:

(sigh) Makes my heart sing.

One of these days SOON, I'm going to go through the toys and pack away at least half. There's so much. They don't play with the majority of it. I want to simplify their choices.

And make it easier to clean up.

For more completed projects, check out Tackle It Tuesday over at 5 Minutes for Mom.

Works For Me Wednesday: laundry

This morning I wrote how the sun was shining, the birds were singing and everything seemed right with the world... then I walked downstairs. Although I'd love to spend the day outside frolicking, I'm starring at NO LESS THAN SEVEN LOADS OF LAUNDRY.

(I'd take a picture for you all, but I don't own a wide angle lens.)

Why do I do this to myself?

For a while there, I'd gotten into the habit of doing a load of laundry every day. While this might seem excessive or wasteful to you, a family of five can easily create a load of laundry each day. Especially with three boys: one comes home with paint and marker on his clothes almost daily, one can't eat a meal without needing a bath afterward (despite him wearing only full-coverage bibs WITH SLEEVES), and one spits up several times a day and drools constantly. Peter and I? Well we're either being spit up on or being used as human tissues (Anyone else who can't go a day without finding snot or food residue smeared across their pants around thigh level??).

Between clothes, towels, bibs, receiving blankets, muddy mitts, wash cloths, etc, there's ALWAYS enough for a load. And since I hang dry the majority of our clothes (it's more gentle on both our clothes and the environment) I run out of space quickly if I'm doing load after load...

After load...

It helps that I wash everything together (except cloth diapers) and everything on cold.I'd say that 95%+ of our clothes are 100% cotton, so I don't worry about special care instructions, especially knowing that most items will be hung to dry.

So, what works for me? NOT LETTING LAUNDRY PILE UP FOR A WEEK. Doing a load each day saves me from having to waste a B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. day inside washing, drying and folding.

But as disheartening as a day full of laundry is, the prospect of using my backyard clothes line for the first time IN MONTHS is enough to make me positively giddy.

confessions of a lazy housekeeper

Just for Catherine, who asked if anyone else would admit to their laziness regarding housekeeping, or who was losing the battle of the mess and ready to surrender...

I don't know if I'm quite ready to wave a white flag, but I do realize that there's a time for everything and that having young kids is not the time for an always (or even often) tidy house.

(There's also a time for showering each day and changing out of your pjs on a daily basis, again, not always possible with kids.)

What I've found works for me is to either have a playdate each week or to invite another family over for supper. This forces gives me the motivation I need to tidy up.

Now for the photographic evidence...

(Truthfully, this is my house ON A GOOD DAY. A day when TWO families are expected for dinner.)

The kitchen counter

Besides being ridiculously small, it's also currently covered in last week nights dishes, a bowl full of carrot peels and celery tops, three leftover containers of icing (that I sent to school with Liam, along with a container of cookies to decorate for St Patrick's Day), a big bag of almonds, and -oh lookie here!- not only are there a pair of scissors right near the edge but also a ceramic knife that is so sharp that I still have all my ten finger but for the grace of God!

(I cropped out the chair that Simon had pushed up to the counter to look for anything that might be fun/breakable/dangerous like scissors, knives or butter.)

The bedroom

(sigh) Always the last room to be cleaned. Why is that?

The laundry hamper in the background is actually full of clean clothes (til Simon throws them all over the room and mixes them up with the dirty, thus forcing me to rewash everything). The one in the foreground is dirty. Oh, and there's a baby somewhere in that bed...


And finally, the playroom.

For those not familiar with the layout of our house, it used to be divided into up and down suites, so there's a full kitchen -minus appliances- in the basement. The extra sink and all the cupboards are really handy. I'm actually okay with this. More than okay. THIS is doable. It is a playroom after all, and I'm thankful to have a place where I don't have to worry about the mess.

However, this is how I like it.

But it rarely, if ever, looks like that.


I do feel slightly better after this little confession. That being said, we'll be having guests tonight, so I will be frantically cleaning everything this afternoon. I've already vacuumed the upper level, have ribs slow-cooking in the oven, fresh bread dough rising and a load of laundry in the wash.

And I'm wishing I could have a nap.

In all honesty, doing these big cleans makes me feel justified in letting things go (ie. totally slacking) during the rest of the week.

We used to try to do a big cleaning day on Saturdays, but I don't like to spend one of Peter's only days off bent over the edge of the tub or doing 10ish loads of laundry. Better to do it when I'm home with the two little boys sleeping so I can do it my way the right way myself.

Thanks, Catherine, for the confessional.

(Catherine is a super talented, honest and often hysterical blogger. AND SHE'S ALSO CANADIAN. Check out her post, Her Bad Mother: Good Housekeeping: Totally Slobtastic Slackermom Edition)

no sense of humour?

That's right, I'm Canadian and I spell it H-U-M-O-U-R. Unlike our N-E-I-G-H-B-O-U-R-S to the south.

So seriously. How can no one have left a comment on the sleep walking dog video? That's some funny stuff! Liam watched it at least eight times consecutively and laughed EVERY TIME. Am I cruel for thinking that a dog running into a wall is funny? IT. IS. FUNNY.

Moving on.

I should have written and posted Andrew's letter today, but I've been doing our taxes. Honestly, I love doing taxes and this year has been no exception. In fact, for the first time in five years, we'll actually be getting a refund. A big one too. Although the majority of it will be going towards paying off our line of credit, I think we'll treat ourselves... to a... new bed!

What? No trip? No new TV or jewelry? NOTHING FUN?

This might not seem all that exciting to most of you, but we've been sleeping on a futon mattress since we got married almost nine years ago, and Peter bought it almost two years before that. A futon mattress that's over 10 years old.

AND IT'S A DOUBLE.

If I get my way, we'll buy an organic latex mattress... a queen. A king size would be lovely -especially given the fact that we always have (at least) one child in our bed for the majority of the night- but I'm not sure that our room is big enough. But even a queen size will feel VAST after our piddly little double. Double FUTON. With curved edges. That's resting on just the box spring so that it's not a far drop should little ones fall out.

We live like college students.

We're also looking at getting the boys bunk beds for their room. Although I'm hesitant to take Simon out of the crib -it's necessary for containment- we'd really like to get Andrew used to sleeping someplace other than burrowed into either of our armpits.

Do you hear that sound, Peter?

It's Ikea calling.

not-so super mom to a super little guy

While I'd like to be able to write that Simon and I are doing all sorts of special mother-son things together to celebrate his all-important 2nd birthday and taking advantage of this time that Liam's at school and he has me all to himself, such is not the case.

Yesterday, in what -in retrospect- can only be described as a FIT OF INSANITY, I decided to not only strip all the beds in the house, but also flip our impossibly unwieldy mattress and switch the comforter in our duvet cover. We're still living like college students, sleeping on a futon mattress, cause it's the most comfortable mattress we've slept on in the last nine years. However, even Peter has a hard time moving it on his own. It's big and bulky and there are no handles or way to easily fold it for carrying. He usually ends up a sweaty mess and I end up needing to change my pants.

I'm not sure what possessed me to not only vaccuum it, but move it off the box spring (which was embarrassingly still wrapped in plastic from our move OVER FIVE MONTHS AGO), take off the plastic, manhandle it back onto the box spring, FLIP IT OVER, vaccuum the other side, then remake the whole bed, including changing the blankets and comforter. I'm sure that part of it had to do with the the lure of the cuddly, warm flannel sheets that I intended to put on. So please tell me I'm not the woman to temporarily lose her pregnant mind when faced with the temptation of soft sheets!

And today? I can barely move! My poor back. And arms. And hips. Sure it was lovely to climb into that bed last night, but I probably should have waited for Peter to get home and help.

So I will be doing A WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING today. I will sit here on the couch with my feet propped up, and from this lazy perch I will do my best to remind Simon how loved and special he is. And I'll look at all the pictures from two years ago and remember when you looked like this:

I'll write his letter this weekend after his party on Saturday. Should be fun!

what a difference a good night's sleep makes!

After barely sleeping Monday night, I was so cranky and grouchy and felt like I was yelling at Liam and Simon all day. Clearly I don't parent so well on 3 hours of sleep. So I put myself to bed at 9:30pm!

Today, well rested and ready to take on the day, I was able to get the following things done:

- made pancakes for the boys for breakfast
- grocery shopping after dropping Liam at school
- separated all the meat I bought into useable amounts
- did the dishes - an embarrassing amount of dishes. All the crusty pots, roasters, bread pans, muffin tins... the stuff that Peter and I try to hold out doing until the other breaks down and does it. I guess it was my turn.
- made a big 2L pitcher of green smoothie (to keep Peter from complaining about not having any for break at school)
- made whole wheat bread FROM SCRATCH! I didn't even use the bread machine! Now my grandmother I am not, but Liam's on his third piece!
- made a double batch of creamy potato leek soup
- did a load of cloth diaper laundry
- reorganized the freezer

All that by 5:30pm! Now if I'm honest, I'll tell you that my feet are throbbing, my lower back is killing me, and I've been having contractions on and off all afternoon, but I do feel good about having a productive day for once. Time to put my feet up and let Peter get me a bowl of Candy Cane Ice Cream (I thought of you, Sara, when I bought this... or is it the After Eight that you like?).

Imagine how clean my house could be if I went to bed that early on a regular basis?? But then Peter wouldn't have anything to complain about and I know he'd be bored at home... I'm doing it for you, honey.

house pics - part one

I've decided to finally indulge my mother and post a few pictures of our new house. I know these are just the playroom, but it happened to be the cleanest room this morning... Hurricane Simon went through not long afterwards and it now looks markedly different!

Simon's two favorite spots are the floor infront of the book shelf -usually on top of a mountain of books- and the little table. His current obsession is puzzles, and we spend most mornings doing them while Liam's at school. ALL. MORNING. It really is fun to watch him though. He's so deliberate with each piece. He can have five or six puzzles out on the table at once, but rarely makes a mess of them (a true miracle!). He loves to take a piece out, tell or ask me what they are, then put them right back, precisely how he found them. We really need to buy the game 'Operation'... I bet he'd do great.

Sorry these pictures are so small. You might be able to click on them for bigger images... I haven't tried.

As you can see, the playroom is set up for a full kitchen. This house must've been divided into two separate suites at some point. All of the cupboards are great for storage: extra food, toys, craft supplies, etc. The crazy/sad thing is that this kitchen/playroom (in the basement) has about four times the storage and three times more counter space than our actual kitchen on the main floor. The upper one is SO POORLY laid out! The bane of my existence. It was clearly designed by a blind man or a crackhead. We're working on it though.

I had to throw a couple Lego pictures in there since, in addition to puzzles, it occupies a large space in each day. If you look in the bottom right of the first set of pics, there's a six drawer unit FULL of Lego. Not only that, but it's been carefully -and neurotically- sorted by color: red and brown, yellow and orange, green and blue, white, all greys, and black.

(Take a guess whether Peter helped with this fruitful and satisfying endeavour... ha.)

It really was therapeutic, and Liam loves it (he's so like me!). He loves being able to find pieces he wants. It also beats our old storage system hands down. I don't miss the three huge Rubbermaid lids taking up all the floor space, nor do I miss stepping on dozens of tiny Legos each time I walk in the playroom. Three cheers for organization!

P.S. Hey, a post where I didn't talk about food!

newest kitchen additions

Today was 50% off at Value Village or, as the Quebecois call it, Savers. I picked up a few pants and long sleeved shirts for Liam, but my best find were these canisters that now reside on the top of the shelves that Peter and his dad put up in our kitchen.

Aren't they pretty? They didn't photograph well/this was the wrong time of day to try to take pictures of them... they're actually a light, bubble gum pink alluminum. I don't even really like pink! But these caught my eye and I love them. I looked them up online and they're from the 50's or 60's and normally cost around $60USD. I only paid $2.50 +tax!!

Now to decide what to put into them. And redesign my entire kitchen around them... in my head of course.

(Think Peter would go for a pink kitchen??)