...GMBOA!

Thanks to all my little cheerleaders, we've made it to the end of the GMBOA and a winner is about to be announced....

Pic nabbed from Sharenator

It was an awfully close contest, but Whimsy wins by 1 point - looks like the GMBOA is heading home for a visit... Thanks for playing everyone! I'm looking forward to filling the box with goodies and sending it back to it's original mama...I think I have big shoes to fill!

And what does that spell?

The GMBOA is coming to a close... tomorrow the winner will be announced. This evening's question is more of a request. What goodies would you like to see in the box? Since my readership is split between Canada and the US, I'm hoping to include some local goodies or trinkets. What just screams Canada to you?

I've had a lovely Mothering Day today. Got to sleep in a bit later than normal (7am) and was allowed to lounge in bed, reading, until I was brought breakfast (an omelet, fruit, tea and toast). Then hubby packed both boys into the stroller and took them to Elliot's gymnastics class. I lounged some more in the quiet house and had a long, hot shower.

That was certainly the highlight of the day. And exactly what I wanted. This afternoon I read a book on the couch while Elliot napped. Felix refused to nap and so he ended up going to the grocery store to buy bread and chips with Jay, and they came home bearing flowers and a practical filing cabinet someone was tossing away. So now I really have no excuse not to get my horrific office space tidied up. Thanks hon.

The witching hour was spent on supper prep and refereeing the boys while they played in the back yard. Oh, and saving worms. Turns out they don't like to be stepped on, clutched tightly in little hands while climbing up the slide and they cannot fly, no matter how far they are flung off the deck. Trying to teach the boys to be kind and gentle to all creatures, but the message just wasn't getting through.

Now the day is coming to a close. The boys are headed up for bathtime, stories, lullabies and much needed rest. Then I'll hop on the treadmill in an effort to burn off the overabundance of calories I've consumed today. (Really, when hubby leaves the house he should put his M&Ms under lock and key.)


So, I pass the floor over to you. Share your Canada stories, your requests, your questions. I'll do my best to answer them. (No we don't all live in igloos, travel by dogsled, eat blubber and/or speak French.) Bonus points to anyone who has any funny/sad/unbelievable stories to share - like the time(s) when I worked in a shoe store and all the tourists were offended that I handed them back their change in local currency.

Pssst: It's not too late to earn points on the previous questions - check them out here and here and here and here and respond accordingly. Make sure you're a follower over at the creamery and then you'll be golden!

Gimme an A!

This is it peeps, we're almost at the end -after today, only 1 question left before a winner is announced!

Yesterday's points go to Whimsy ~ congrats!

Everywhere I look today, I see ads for Mother's Day. Or blog posts about Mother's Day gifts. Or Facebook memes with pictures of mothers. It's everywhere. When I worked in a restaurant years ago, Mother's Day was the biggest day of the year; maybe even more so than New Year's Eve, since we opened early on Mother's Day and kept going for 12 hours and NYE only got a paltry 8. After a few years at the restaurant, the thought of Mother's Day left me with a twitch.

Elliot has told me in confidence that he made me a card but that's it's still drying. I asked him if it was supposed to be a surprise and he sagely responded that the card itself was a surprise, not the fact that there was one.

I remember as a child, wanting to bake cakes or plan breakfast in bed for my mom. This usually worked out, I don't have any memories of chaos or hilarity ensuing during such endeavors.  And these days, well, I tend to give my mom a phone call and leave it at that. It's just not really on my radar. My own bah-humbug. I blame the day full of salads and desserts and little old ladies all dolled up because it was the only time they got to see their (also elderly) children.

But I still love hearing stories of other Mothers' Days, past and present. So today's GMBOA question is brought to you by dear old mom. Remember something hilarious you presented your mom with? Did it all go horrible wrong - or right? Or are you in that receiving stage yourself? Do share!

And have yourself a relaxing and special Mother's Day tomorrow! Check out these blogs posts for some special reading: Less Cake, More Frosting, MotherhoodWTF, Pregnant Chicken

Pssst: It's not too late to earn points on the previous questions - check them out here and here and here and respond accordingly. Make sure you're a follower over at the creamery and then you'll be golden!

Gimme an O!

Points to Elizabeth! (And if you haven't checked out her blog yet - what are you waiting for! This girl is funny!) I loved reading everyone's answers to yesterday's question - underhanded compliments seem to seek me out. And I've done many a faux pas of my own... so glad I'm not alone!

I was reading this morning about another blogger's experience in the principal's office. Very timely, because we're headed there this morning.

Elliot isn’t in school yet (come on, September!!!), but his current preschool is concerned, as are we, that he’s going to be labeled in school and that it will follow him forever. His main teacher said that in her twenty years in the daycare/preschool/school system, she's only run into kids like Elliot a few times. And in most cases, things turned out badly. Elliot is an exceptionally bright kid (seriously, we’ve had him tested) but his emotional and social skills are lacking. We were advised to keep him in a program with children his own age so he could learn social skills, but that he needs to be intellectually stimulated or else he'd get bored and act out. He’s sweet and loving and happy, until he gets frustrated, whether is due to being challenged by an art project or a friend or whatever, then all bets are off and he goes feral, jumping on the closest outlet, fists swinging

Oy. There have been parent complaints. And many incident reports.

The preschool is worried that the public school system – even though we’re in one of the best districts in our city – won’t have the time or resources to handle him and that it will all go badly, quickly.
Hence the meeting today. And we’re waiting for a meeting with the director at a private school. ($$$$$ ouch, but worth it if he flourishes.) I'm even thinking about home schooling him, but that will do squat for the socializing part. And I reallllly don't think I'm cut out for home schooling. I was taught that way, for all of grade 1 and part of grade 2, and it was incredibly rough making the switch to public school in grade 3, when all of the cliques and lines had been set. I never did grade primary/kindergarten and I never did finish half of grade 2. My little brother maintains that he will always be smarter than me for that reason.

We've been reading books about spirited children and watching Elliot's diet to see what might be influencing things. (Chocolate/sugar is a huge factor, poor kid. The more frequently he has it, the more frequent the outbursts.) Hubby is recognizing many of his own traits and coping mechanisms being repeated in Elliot, the good and the bad. I guess this is what happens when 2 spirited children grow up, marry each other and start producing more children. For now, Felix seems spared. For now.

So, onto today's GMBOA question... we've talked about self-parenting but what is your parenting technique or style? Do you hover in the helicopter style? Are you free-range? Authoritative? Permissive? Has it changed as your children age? Is it the same style you planned on having, before you had kids? If you aren't a parent, how would you imagine yourself to be? Do you parent your pets?

Pssst: It's not too late to earn points on the previous questions - check them out here and here and respond accordingly. Make sure you're a follower over at the creamery and then you'll be golden!

Gimme a B!

Congrats Kelly on scoring 3 points! I'm awarding 1 point just for posting and 2 points for whichever response strikes my fancy.... stay tuned!

Still struggling with self parenting. Obviously, it's not going to be an overnight fix. And I will have to work on it - looking through to next week, I've scheduled or promised every minute of my time. Most of it is fun stuff, like lunch with a friend. But some is work. Some is boy stuff. And the house ain't gonna clean itself. I'm about to run a bubble bath, so maybe that's something. Of course, the boys will be up to join me before too long. They love it - such a treat for them when I'm in the tub. But it's hardly relaxing.

I took Elliot to the dentist today. The hygienist, who I haven't seen in at least 7 months, gaped at me and asked how I managed to lose the weight, that I looked fantastic. I told her about counting calories and how hard it was and that I hated it because I love to eat and blah blah blah. People must remember me fat, or I must have been a huge cow before because I still don't see the change. Sure, the number on the scale has dropped and my clothes are fitting me different, but I just don't see the change when I look in the mirror. Everyone says that you can really see it in my face. Which must have been rounder than a full moon for them to be so amazed at the difference.

I found a picture of myself from Christmas time. It makes me cringe, mostly because I know my posture is terrible and so I blamed that for the fat. Until I took new pictures tonight in the same outfit. Can you see the difference?

Granted, I'm not hunched over as much...

Posture - it's important!

November 2010

May 2011 - I don't think I lost any weight in my nose.

Which brings me to tonight's GMBOA question. What is the most memorable underhanded compliment you've ever received - or dished out? How did you deal?

Gimme an M!

Phew. Tax season is over and done. Such a relief! I had actually applied to continue working in the off season at the district office (I did last year, all the way up to November.) But I realized that I was stressing myself over it waaaay too much for only being available 2 days per week. It wasn't worth it, so I withdrew the application. Kind of a good thing, since my office leader also applied and was accepted. So now I'm rid of him, too.

I spent today catching up on phone calls - the boys now have dental appointments booked, I got myself back into my locked online credit card account (I apparently didn't read their message about trying twice, then ask to have the password reset. Instead, I kept at it until I got the locked message.) And I called about my school situation in the fall. They haven't gotten back to me yet, but at least I got that ball rolling, sort of.

I also saw my naturopathic doctor today, to talk about the boys and their current non-dairy situation. She agreed that it's time to ease up a touch and so I am now stocked up on goat milk, cheese and yogurt. We'll see how they handle those proteins. It's a risk - in the 3 months they've been off dairy and with all the sicknesses, there haven't been any ear infections. Which I thought was frickin' impossible! But the proteins in goat's milk, while still animal based, are easier to digest that those in cow's milk, so hopefully it will be a safe gamble.

She also had a good talk with me about my weightloss, my mood swings, my mental health, my ongoing furtive sneaking of chocolate. I have issues with self-parenting. I wouldn't let the boys pig out on chocolate or candy before (or instead of) supper. I wouldn't let them laze around, spending the day staring mindless at the tv or computer screen. So why do I let myself do it? I give in, I have no willpower or self-control. If I want it, then I do it/eat it/watch it/drink it...

So my prescription is to spend the next 2 weeks resting and working on self-parenting. Nap whenever I want. Limit myself to 1 square of chocolate a day. Have daily bubble baths. Take it easy on housework and responsibilities. Just relax.

Sounds awesome. We'll see how well I cope with it.

So, in the spirit of the GMBOA (don't know what that is? Check here for a starting point) I'm going to start my questioning off by asking you: How do YOU self-parent? What is your parenting style and is it the same for yourself and your children (if present.) What do you do for yourself?

Tomorrow evening, I will award random points to everyone who responds to my question and will put up a new question. By the end of the week, points will be tallied and a winner will be announced and the Golden Minion Box of Awesomeness will be on it's way to a new home, restocked with goodies just for you.



Huzzah!

Gimme a G!

I am such a blog slacker! Things have been hectic around here. Elliot's tummy bug lasted for 2 freakin' weeks and ended with us collecting a stool sample. What a fun little activity kit that was... barf! No results yet, but it cleared up on his own so we're assuming he doesn't have a parasite or a vile disease. But he is sick again - both boys, actually. Started with low grade fevers and nasty smoker's coughs over the weekend. Fun times at our house!

It's been raining here for days. Work is getting more intense, as we're down to the final crunch - the tax filing deadline for Canada is May 2 this year and, like every year, the number of people who leave it to the last minute astonishes me. But hey - I'm one of them, this year. Shhhhhhhh.

To make my rainy day a bit more enjoyable, I made it to the post office this afternoon to pick up a parcel that had been waiting for a few days. It was certainly worth the wait.... the GMBOA is in da house!

So pretty! This is the outer wrapping....

So what is the GMBOA you ask? Well, it's the Golden Minion Box Of Awesomeness, of course! It's a fun little contest started by Whimsy over at The Creamery.  Quick - go check out the rules - and become a Creamery minion, er, follower. The GMBOA has been all over the place. I first tried to win it from Bethsix, and then followed it around for a while - I missed it at Eight-Twenty-Eight but then it was my turn for Awesome over at Amy's.

I *love* the pink duct tape

I brewed myself a cup of sinfully delicious Bengal Spice tea (I've been drinking buckets of this stuff. I'm addicted!) and started going through my goodies...

Such an odd little lady, caught my eye right away. She's red. Elliot's going to claim her if I'm not careful.

Look at that haul! I feel very spoiled. Can't wait to go through it all in more detail to get the full effect, but I'm pretty excited. I'm also excited about the next step. The GMBOA will be leaving me within 3 weeks, which means it might be coming to YOU. Look for a contest post on May 3rd, once tax season is over and done with and I can sleep again without seeing shoe boxes full of receipts and blood-thirsty staplers that have a mind of their own. Then you can win it and it will be yours. Full of all new goodies of course,  I'm not parting with these!

In other news, my weight loss has stalled. In fact, I've gained back about 4 lbs. I'm discouraged but not giving up. My FitOrbit membership expired a week ago. I'm not losing any sleep over that one, that's for sure. I just joined a new site, a free site called My Fitness Pal. It had been suggested by several people and I'm finding it very user friendly and informative. I'm set at a 1200 calorie day, but on the days I work out, I can eat more. Just as long as my calories in minus calories burned doesn't total more than 1200, I'm golden. Day 3 and still hanging in!

I've been working out in the mornings, finally, thankfully. Give the boys their breakfast and then hubby monitors them while I hop on the treadmill. This is strictly necessary as otherwise they tend to clamor too close. I won't be paying to fix a boy-sized hole in the wall, thank you very much.  I am up to running an impressive (to me) 6.0 mph. I can only sustain that for 5 or so minutes, but I've been maintaining a run at around 5.5 for a full 22 minutes. This is awesome!! And impossible for me for the last 5 years.  I'm in a wedding in less than 4 weeks, wearing a rather form-fitting dress. I don't want to be getting dirty looks for being the irresponsible pregnant lady chugging wine at the reception. I need that belly to disappear! Or at least to shrink enough that strapping it in with Spanx for a day won't kill me. Oh the things we do for beauty.

Happy Easter, everyone! Eat lots of chocolate for me. But don't tell me about it.

I won! I won! I won!

Months ago, a fellow blogger was giving away the GMBOA - Golden Minion Box of Awesomeness. Sadly, I didn't win. But I've been following that golden box around, biding my time. And my time has come! After 3 days of answering questions over at Amy's blog, where she awarded random points to everyone, my name was put into a number generator and I won! Woot!!

Soon, it will arrive in the mail, and seeing that my birthday is in 3 weeks, February is shaping up to be a great month!!*squeeeeee* When it arrives, dear readers, it'll be my turn to give it away. To you! Stay tuned... and in the meantime, check out Whimsy's lyrical and evocative writing over at The Creamery - become a 'minion' by following the blog (read Bethsix's tutorial here) and then you'll be one step closer to qualifying to win the GMBOA for yourself when the time comes.

*happy dance*

So speaking of awesome, I'm spending the day making dairy-free yogurt and cheese for my now dairy-free family. Following the guidance of The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook, by Jo Stepaniak. I'm going to try my own brie, made with cashews and nutritional yeast. I might even try a mocha fudge pie - which would hopefully turn out like my favourite Chocolate Tofu Pie at a local organic restaurant. This stuff is addictive.

I've got soy milk in the crock pot right now, for yogurt. It might be an epic fail - the last time I tried a dairy-free yogurt, I used almond milk and gelatin, which curdled and looked disgusting. But Silk brand soy milk has some binding agents added, so it might be more successful. And this time I'll be sure to actually follow the instructions on the gelatin packet. So I'm cautiously optimistic. Plus, I know it's been done before, I found this neat allergy food blog that modified the original crock pot recipe.

I'm excited to try a Mac & Cheez sauce from the book... I hope they eat it. Mac & Cheese is on our family meal plan for later this week. And a huge favourite for the boys. I usually make a white sauce from flour, butter and milk; add lots of cheese and spices, then pour it over cooked noodles and broccoli and bake it. Delish!  So we'll see what this 'uncheese' tastes like. Eep!

Until then, we'll just keep on keeping on. The boys actually ate, without comment, grilled cheese sandwiches made with Tofutti cheese slices. So maybe I'll be able to pull this off.

Or maybe these guys will get me:

I love the sharks in the tub.

I wanna win!

So I've entered a blog giveaway, of sorts. The GMBOA - Golden Minion Box of Awesomeness contest. I'm excited! Wish me luck, peeps. And then, maybe oh just maybe... YOU can be the next winner! See, win-win for everyone!

So, it's Thanksgiving here in Canada. Pretty low-key, compared to the Thanksgiving celebrations that will happen next month in the States. We rented a car for the weekend but besides visiting Jay's ailing grandparents, we only managed to do one of our planned events. I'd wanted to visit the Children's Moonlight Maze, about an hour out of the city. But, the boys were sleep-deprived lunatics Friday night and so we (smartly, in hindsight) stayed home. New new plan was to visit that same maze the following day on our way to visit the great-grandparents, except I discovered last minute that the farm didn't open until an after we would have been arriving. Boooo - they have a phenomenal corn maze, a petting zoo, hayrides, a giant Jumping Pillow (think trampoline that's on the ground instead of those free standing death traps), pumpkin patches... I, um the boys, would have had SO. MUCH. FUN!!!

We were sad to have missed it. We were also very thankful to have made it to our destination in one piece, seeing as the holiday traffic was heavy and impatient. We missed getting clipped by the flatbed trailer of a paving company's truck by a couple of feet as he very quickly (And not at all wisely or safely) weaved his way in and out of traffic.

Then yesterday, the plan was to skip the boys' soccer class and head an hour out of the city in the opposite direction to go ride on the miniature steam engines. It's a by donation, simplistic track, run by hobbyists how have about half a dozen trains - some steam, some electric - that run a short course around the property. There's always a line up. They have limited hours. Yesterday was the last day of the season. So we packed up and arrived there fairly early (parking was scary. I don't do parking lots. Luckily, one of the conductors was out directing traffic and guided me into a spot. And then out of it when it was time to leave.) It was FREEZING. We were so not prepared. The boys were in long-sleeved shirts, sweaters and puffy vests with bucket hats, but should have been in puffy coats with winter hats, scarves and mitts. So we went for 2 rides then high-tailed it out of there in search of hot chocolate.

Today is turkey dinner day. I'm making a pumpkin cheese cake from (mostly) scratch. I have a package of mixed spices, but otherwise, I've roasted and pureed the pumpkin and am waiting for it to cool down before adding in the cream cheese and eggs. I should probably also start making the graham cracker crust, too. We're all still in our PJs, well, sweet hubby is dressed and doing dishes. So the plan now is to go for a nature walk. Then home to continue baking.

I am thankful for the love, health and happiness of my family. The kindness of friends and strangers. And for cruise control for keeping me under the limit and out of that speed trap. What are you thankful for?