I think I obviously missed some core teachings in my role of Mother…primarily, bed-making 101.  My daughter asked me to change her sheets for her the other night.  I put on our favourite winter flannel sheets, and tucked everything in well, including her .

The next morning, she said, “Mom!  I was trapped in my sheets last night and couldn’t get out of bed to go to the bathroom.”

I was confused and asked for more details.

All innocently she said, “The sheets were trapped under the mattress.”

I refuse to take this as a dig against my housekeeping skills

My 7 year old son really does make me laugh at least once a day.  I just love his view of the world.  I asked both kids yesterday if they were allowed to bring a brownie to school for lunch.  When they were younger they were only allowed healthy items and I wasn’t sure if that restriction was lifted yet.  I had a home made batch of brownies so I thought I would give them a treat for lunch.

My son said that yes he could have a brownie for lunch, why was I asking?

I said, “Because I want to put one in your lunch bag tomorrow.”

He asked, “Can you put it in a plastic bag please?”

I said, kind of puzzled, “Yes, I guess so.  Why do you want it in a plastic bag?”

He answered very seriously, “Because otherwise Mommy it will make a big mess in my lunch bag.”

I laughed…

With the kids’ food allergies I am always looking for healthy options that are different, yet quick to prepare.  A while ago I got this recipe from Kraft.com (really!) and it is quite good.  We had it again last night and the whole family enjoyed it.

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Zesty Shrimp Pasta

Enjoy!

Grey’s Anatomy is killing it this year!  The first two seasons of Grey’s were fantastic…every episode was just amazing.  And then the third and fourth season happened.  Not so fantastic.  But good enough to keep watching.  So this year, I was thinking that maybe I would watch a few episodes and then if it kept not being fantastic I would just move on to other shows…

This year the show has been steadily improving each episode. I feel like the last three episodes absolutely blew my mind.  Eric Stolz’s story arc was truly outstanding and he deserves an Emmy for that portrayal.  I have never liked Meredith Grey but these last three episodes I thought she was really fantastic.  Cristina always blows me away, and this season is no exception.  I love the new doctor, Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd).  Bailey is, as always, stealing all the scenes.  That woman can act.

The episode that aired on January 22 had me crying for the last 15 minutes.  Jackson almost dying, Izzie finding out she was dying, Meredith crying after the execution, Derek going to get Cristina to comfort Meredith…seriously good drama.  All I can say is that I hope hope hope this season continues at this level…I am really enjoying it, even though I am going through a lot of kleenex.

Don’t ever mess with a woman, even if she’s nine years old.  Here is a conversation between my daughter and I:

I arrive at dance class with her brother and I holding Starbucks cups (hers is in the car), and she walks up to me and starts to sulk and says “I can’t believe you both got Starbucks and I didn’t!” in that tone of voice that only seems possible from a  nine-year-old girl.  I look at her and say, “Have I ever gone to Starbucks and not gotten you anything?”  (meaning Have I ever gotten your brother a Starbucks and not gotten you one?)  She looks at me with defiance in her eye and says, “Yes.”  I shake my head and give her the hot chocolate I got for her when we get to the car, thinking it is over.

With a woman (even a pre-teen woman) it is NEVER over.  Every conversation is stored away for later use.  Two days later, I am bringing her to dance.  It is a Monday night class, I always hang out and read in the Starbucks next door while she dances.

My daughter looks at me all innocently and asks, “Will you be going to Starbucks today while I dance, Mom?”  I answer, “Yes,  is there anything you need me to do?”  She says, “Will you be bringing me a hot chocolate?”  I respond automatically, “No, it is late and you go to bed right when we get home.”  She looks at me all smug and victorious, “Well then Mom, you see, you DO go to Starbucks and not bring me a drink!”  I honestly just had to laugh.  Have I mentioned she is me???

Yesterday was a weird day of extremes for me.  On the one hand, you have the historical occasion of Barack Obama becoming President of the United States.  This event was remarkable and wonderful and hopefully ushers in a new era of tolerance and peace for our world.

On the other hand, I was at an NHL game last night.  It was a really fun game and the home team actually won.  I had the fortune to be sitting in a 100 level box, so was nice and close to the ice.

A few rows up from the ice, two men were partaking heavily in alcoholic beverages, and definitely consumed one too many.  They started off quite amusing, yelling insults at the opposing team whenever they were right in front of them.  And then one of them used the F word.  Not the swear word, but the even way worse F word that I can’t even bring myself to write here.  If you still aren’t sure which F word, I will say that it was the same F word that Isaiah Washington used before he left Grey’s Anatomy.

With that one word, those two guys went from a little boozy to completely-discrimatory-all-around-yucky-human beings.  I am honestly surprised that anyone still uses that word in this century.  It is completely unacceptable by all standards and hearing it screamed out at someone in front of 20,000 other people completely shocked and disgusted me.  I am glad my kids weren’t with me to hear it.

So there you have it, on one hand, a joyful historical sign that better days are ahead, and in the very same 24 hours, a dark ugly word that shows prejudice is still alive and well.

The last selection of our book club was  “Not Quite What I Was Planning-Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure” published by Smith Magazine.  It was a pretty neat read.  Some of the memoirs were really funny, some were uplifting, some were sad, some were complicated.  There were memoirs in there from well-known people, like Steve Carrell and Nora Ephron and also many by regular people.

The book inspired us as a book club to write our own six word memoir.  I found this at first to be a bit daunting.  Then mine just popped into my head, while I was reading the book.  “Strive to be better at everything.”  I really am always trying to do my very best and put out the most effort I can to improve in all areas.  I often hear myself wishing I could do something better, or be a better X.  Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes it is a disaster, but really that is who I am right now.  I recognize that my six word memoir is who I am right now.  Not necessarily who I will be in 6 minutes, or 6 weeks, or 6 years.

The other thing that has come out of reading this book is after I say anything, I mentally  count to see if it is 6 words.  I have had many fun runner-ups to my six word memoir such as:

Mom is always cooking for someone.

I am reading leave me alone.

Must catch up on tv tonight.

Worry worry worry worry worry worry.

I could go on for days…

Wee Wii – that is what my nine year old daughter is calling the latest addition to our home.   The Wii came from their grandparents, and was a late Chanukah gift.  We set it up right away, and the kids were able to get playing.  I was pretty skeptical about this gift as I feel like they already have a lot of electronics in their life and this will end up being one more thing to fight over.  However after playing with it for a few hours my 7 year old had worked up quite the sweat!  I started to think that whoever thought this up was a genius.  Essentially they are still playing video games, but happily they are moving while they do it and even working up a sweat sometimes.  We just have Wii Sports right now, and are looking to get Wii Mario Kart as well.  Mario Kart is a favourite game of theirs on the Nintendo DS so I am hoping it will be equally fun on the Wii.  I haven’t tried it out yet, but I have a feeling tonight we will be giving it a whirl.

I LOVE David Baldacci.  I am currently reading Simple Genius, and it struck me how quickly I was sucked into this book.  I am mostly done it and really want to just crawl into a quiet place today to finish it.  I am pretty sure I have read all of his books up to Simple Genius, and I think a few more have come out since this one.

Simple Genius is the third book for Michelle Maxwell and Sean King, and basically picks up where Hour Game stopped.  Hour Game was so intense, and Simple Genius just jumps right back into that insanity.  The first chapter was a bit much for me, but other than that it has been a superb read.

Post a comment and let me know what you are reading now and if I should read it or avoid it…Gotta find something to do while I am hiding out inside during all this crazy cold weather!

When we started thinking about getting a puppy, everyone said we should read “Before You Get Your Puppy” by Dr. Ian Dunbar.  I did some searching and found a copy of it free for download on a website and printed it off so my husband and I could read it.  It pretty much saved our lives with our puppy.  Yes he is a bit dramatic in his writing style, and very black and white about how you should raise your puppy.  But his information and advice all makes sense and is very helpful.  We did mostly everything he suggested and our puppy was really easy to handle the first few months we had him.  He never destroyed anything of value and didn’t pee all over the house.  I think the guy is a dog genius!  He also has a book called “After You Get Your Puppy” which is also a very good read.   Right now both books are available for free download at DogStar Daily.  Enjoy!