one + one = change

I got this from The Campaign to Make Poverty History last week. I thought it was a brilliant idea. We are going to do it and make it a fund raising evening.

By ourselves it is hard to make a global difference but if we all put our voices together we will make a difference. My $5 adds to your and yours and yours and soon we have enough to change not just one life but whole families, communities and countries. First of all, we need to change ourselves and our attitudes. Every life on this earth has value. It’s time we stepped up and honoured that with action.

Will you do something with me?

Add your voice or wear the wristband here.

Consider sharing some of your overflow. If you live in North America, trust me you likely have overflow. Here is a brilliant Canadian idea. One website where you can donate to many. SMRT!

God is challenging me to do more than ring my hands or change the channel when disturbing images of extreme poverty, war, rape etc. come across my path. These images are jarring, rightfully so.

If you read this, why don’t you consider what ONE thing you can do this week to make a difference? When you do it perhaps you could share in the comments section?

kiah

Shortly after his third birthday, my son woke up one morning and asked for a dog. He explained ever so sweetly that he, in fact, needed one. I explained to him equally sweetly that I had a three year old, an eleven month old and a husband who was never home and it would take more than a sloppy kiss for me to let another living thing that needed caring for into our home. Being the intelligent lad that he is, he went straight to “break her down” guerilla-esque tactics that he was sure would force me to change my mind. Every morning for over a YEAR he would run into our room and ask expectantly, “Is today the day? Is this the day you are going to buy me a dog?”. It felt like a cheesy Friday night sitcom!

About 6 months into this little routine a new couple moved in next door. They brought with them a sweet little baby girl and a georgeous Nova Scotian Duck Toller. N immediately fell in love with the dog. He would play out in the yard for hours with him or hang around the window waiting until he came outside. N would throw a ball over our fence into their yard. The dog would get the ball, climb onto their deck and then drop it over the fence so N could throw it back. After a while, cute poochy figured out how to get into our yard by crawl under the fence. This lead to hours of fun throwing balls and chasing each other. Even I, the unsympathetic mother who didn’t want to have to clean up after or feed another mammal could see that our boy did indeed need a dog. He was meant to have a dog and I would see to it that he would get his puppy!

Unbeknownst to our son, we began to research breeds. T and I wanted a larger dog. We needed a dog that was smart (read: easy to train), good with kids, mild mannered and didn’t shed since I am super allergic to dogs! We also didn’t want an ugly dog so that ruled out most of the hypoallergenic ones. Finally, we came upon the Labradoodle. A brilliant mix with a ridiculous name (my husband prefers to call it the Pootriever… much better, no?). One night I came across a breeder who had a beautiful puppy for sale. One look at her and I knew that she was our dog. Within a week we had her in our home. We officially named her Kiah, an Australian Aboriginal word meaning “from the beautiful place”.

Having a puppy has been everything I anticipated. Wonderful, chatic, messy, frustrating… We’ve had her for nearly 5 months now. Our kids just love her. They wrestle with her. Feed her waaaaaaay too many treats. Drop food at meals so she can eat the stuff they don’t want. The other day I found N and Kiah huddled together in Kiah’s kennel. N had a bowl of peanut butter and was feeding it to Kiah off his fingers. Too cute!

The one thing that drives me really crazy about this dog is her fetish with eating disgusting, sorid items. She has a serious love for garbage, dirty socks and poopy diapers. I can’t tell you how many times I have found her hidden in the corner of the yard chowing down on poop and diaper gel. There is a reason we call her Shit Face! The fact that I run a day home only serves to fuel her addiction. You might wonder about loving a furry beast who hungers for fecal matter. So do I. Never the less, love her we do. I just keep the diapers locked up and a supply of vinegar on hand in case she gets one.

Having a dog who eats so much yuck, leads to some interesting finds when we are cleaning up her poop in the yard. I’ve found tinfoil, paper towel, bits of lego and Little People dolls, to name a few things mixed with her, um, refuse. Usually I roll my eyes and wonder how on earth she got a hold of said item. Same as I used to do when I found sparkly stickers in my daughter’s diapers. A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning up the yard and I nearly died when I came across one pile of delight. Imagine my shock when I found a condom in her pooh! Yes, my dog ate a CONDOM. The super crazy thing is there is no way it came from this house. Not possible. Kind of makes you wonder? We are never going to the park again.

You may go throw up now!

pretend it’s friday

I forgot to post a recipe yesterday so here is one of our favourites.

Green Curry Chicken
(based on recipe from http://101cookbooks.com)

Chili paste
1 tsp dried galangal
1 tbsp lemongrass (we buy it prechopped and frozen)
1 tbsp dried krachai
1/4 tsp roasted cumin seeds
1/4 tsp roasted coriander seeds
1/2 tsp salt
2 kaffir lime leaves*
1 tsp finely grated lime rind
2 Thai chillies (whole)
1 tbsp chopped shallot
1 tbsp chopped garlic

The Goods
1 can coconut milk (not cream)
3 uncooked chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces**
1 cup water
1/3 cup sliced onion
1 cup green pepper chopped in large squares
1 small zucchini chopped
1 cup sugar snap peas
1 cup small, whole mushrooms (optional)
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp + 1 tsp fish sauce
3 kaffir lime leaves finely sliced.
large handful of sweet basil leaves coarsely chopped

First of all:
Place first 6 ingredients in mortal and pestal and finely grind. Add lime leaf and rind and grind. Add last 3 ingredients. Pound and bash until it’s all mixed and ground. Now your kitchen will smell amazing!

Putting it all together:
Pour coconut milk into a wok on medium. Stir until it is warm and looks shiny on top. Add curry paste and stir well. Add the chicken (or meat of choice) and cook in liquid until it is almost done. Add onion, vegetables and water. Cook until veggies are al dente. Add sugar and fishsauce. Add more salt or sugar to taste. Add basil and lime leaves. Stir and let cook for about 2 minutes.

Serve over rice with chopsticks and spoons to sup up the last of the sauce!

*we buy a branch of frozen leaves from our local spice shop. Dried will do in a pinch.

**Can substitite chicken thighs, beef, shrimp, tofu etc

a conversation

Me: So how was school today, buddy?
N: Good. I did a new song.
Me: Cool. What song?
N: Mary has a vigature!
Me: Mmmmmm, do you maybe mean little lamb?
N: Uh, no (said emphatically)! Mary has a vigature.
Me: So how does it go?
N: (to the tune of Mary had a little lamb) Mary had a vigature. A vigature. A vigature. Mary had a vigature and Gabriel was his name.
Me: (Assuming they were practicing for the Christmas concert): Do you maybe mean “visitor”?
N: (Big sigh). Mom, watch my lips (and moves in very close so I can fully appreciate his facial movements). Vig-a-ture. Vig-a-ture. Vigature. Not lamb. Not visitor… VIG.A.TURE. Ok? Now do you understand?
Me: Got it!

i have no words

I am speechless.

feeling the burn

A. LOD, I’m so feeling it.

B. Oh, come on. Should have been Mario.

That’s all I’ve got today.

not much

I don’t have much today. It was a pretty crappy day. I woke up with a headache and things just kept getting worse until the grande crescendo this evening.

I still haven’t gotten my period. I am feeling sick. I have the ultrasound I first mentioned “here(here)”:http://betweenmeandme.com/article/14/feeling-a-bit-freaked tomorrow. I am hoping they don’t find anything. I still don’t have anyone to look after the kids so that is another worry. I’m trying not to fuss or make a big deal out of it but I can’t help but feel a bit worried.

For the last few months we have been a two vehicle family. We really don’t need two cars so we have decided to sell our car. Our friend is going to sell it for us since he really likes that sort of thing and we kind of hate it. T e-mailed our friend all the info this afternoon and then on his way home from work got into a four car pile up! He seems to only have a bit of whiplash and the car doesn’t look too bad which we are thankful for. Seriously though, what gives? This is not what we needed. We have tried to sell this car two other times with no success so we are starting to wonder…

Oh and for the record, I know that when you click on my article titles that the pages are all messed up. I’ve got my resident programmer on it. The little girl *finally* asleep on his chest is making it a challenge. As is his snoring.

feeling guilty about feeling relieved

So about #3 from Sunday night, I am not pregnant. I took a pregnancy test today and it was negative. I am feeling a bit guilty about how relieved I was. We are just so not prepared to have another baby.

Having children has been a given for me for as long as I can remember. It was a “when” as opposed to an “if”. I have always loved children and have desired to be a Mom since I was young. When T and I decided to get married, having kids continued to be a “when”. We never had the heated discussions or months of angonizing that some of our friends and relatives have had. To be honest, I wouldn’t have married T if he hadn’t wanted children. To throw a little Dr. Phil in there, it would have been a deal breaker!

As much as we both wanted kids, T and I have been rather overwhelmed by how difficult it has been. Our kids are kicking our butts! I still can’t believe how constant it is. There is never a moment when we are free from responsiblilty and concern for these little people. Our children are delightful, smart, witty and incredibly loving. We are proud to be their parents. They make us laugh (like tonight when N annouced that a cemetary is like a big train with lots a lots a lots a lots a cars where people go to ride around) and smile and cry with joy. They also drive us completely crazy and bring out ugly parts of our personalities that we never knew existed. They are exhausing and non stop. It is seriously hard work to be the kind of parents we strive to be. We know that it is worth it but we are pretty much worn out.

A couple of summers ago T and I left our kids then 3 and 1 with my parents and went up to my family’s cottage for a few days ALONE. We could not believe how free we felt. It’s like the responsibility of parenting is a literal weight we are constantly carrying. We chose to carry it and are happy to, it’s just that sometimes it gets, well, heavy. Those few days were amazing. We got to sleep in without having to debate over which one of us would get up with the kids in the morning. We ate when we wanted, napped if we felt like it, listened to whatever music we wanted to. We got to be blissfully selfish. I remember crying one of the days because I was starting to feel like a person again as opposed to a Mommy. It was so wonderful to not have to change diapers, keep to a schedule, lug 300 things down to the beach just to swim for three minutes and be done, deal with crying, discipline or be consistant. I cherish those few days we had alone. It renewed our marriage and reminded us that we don’t just love our family, we love each other. In fact, we are still very much in love with each other.

When we talked about having kids, T and I wanted to have 3 or 4. We liked the idea of a larger family. Once we had N and realized how hard this parenting gig is, we downsized a little in our minds. Even now that we have decided not to have anymore children, we still flip flop occasionally. We have the love and resources for another child. Our kids would love another sibling. I am really close to my sister and feel sad sometimes to think that G will never have a sister or N a brother. Part of me wonders if we’ll regret not having more kids when our kids start having families of their own. I hope not.

What I do know is that I have a responsibility to give my best to the children I have now. I don’t think I could handle another baby right now. With where our kids are at I don’t know how I would survive another pregnancy and newborn stage. I used to feel like I was drowning but most days now, I swim. Sometimes it’s slow, sometimes it’s more of a thrashing about but it’s swimming with forward motion, none the less. I just want to keep swimming.

sunday night

Very tired so this post will have numbered points. Very lazy too.

1. I had a bad weekend. Very stressful. No sleep. Husband with the flu. GRUMPY kids. Family visiting.
2. My husband has a consultation for the BIG V on Tuesday.
3. My period is 5 days late.
4. #3 coud mean absolutely nothing cause it’s not unusual for my cycle to get out of whack. My period has a tendancy to be uncooperative.
5. #3 could mean something that would change the look of the future rather, uh, shall we say, dramatically.
6. It is highly unadvisable to wear crocs the the grocery store when it is icy, snowy, slushy or a lethal combination of all three. I did today and had very wet, cold feet that slid around in my shoes making me trip and then drop the twelve pack of ginger ale I had just purchased for my sick husband . One can flew out of the box and burst open spraying said ginger ale all over my face, jacket and the inside of T’s car! I let out a little scream which sent “very nice man” running to help me because he thought someone was hiding in my car. I was laughing so hard I could hardly speak to tell him that it was just a pop can that was asaulting me.
7. I do not have hypothyroidism. Guess I am just breaking down.
8. Cuuuuuuuuuuuuurtiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis (that’s for the one person besides my husband who knows I have a personal blog).
9. Even though only two people whom I know personally know that I have a blog, I still can’t write about a lot of things that are on my mind.
I0. I finally mastered creme caramel tonight! I’ll post that recipe one Friday.

Good night.

Jambalaya

It’s food Friday. I thought I would offer an easy but good recipe. From my brain to your kitchen…

Crock Pot Jambayala

4 italian sausages
1lb chicken thighs or breast (whatever is in your freezer)
1lb shrimp (deveined and shelled)
1 medium onion-diced
4-5 cloves garlic- peeled and diced
28oz can whole tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
good shake of hot sauce/tobasco (or to taste)
1 cup water
2 bay leaves
1 tsp thyme
3 whole all spice
3 whole cloves
salt and pepper to taste
1 red pepper- chopped into chunks
1 green pepper- chopped into chunks
3 large carrots- peeled and chopped
3 stalks of celery- chopped
1 zucchini- chopped

Cut sausage and chicken into bit sized pieces. Put chicken, sausage, onion and garlic into a frying pan and cook until well browned. In the mean time, cut up all of your veggies. Put tomatoes, paste, hot sauce, water and spices into crock pot and stir. Add browned meat mixture. Cook on low setting for about 3 hours. Add veggies and rice, stir well and then cook on low for another 3 hours. About 45 minutes before serving, turn crock pot up to high. Add thawed shrimp, stir and let cook.

Alternatively, brown the meat and then place all ingredients in the crockpot. Cook on low setting for about 5-6 hours. Follow directions for shrimp. This works just as well the only difference is that everything is softer.

You could prepare this the night before, let it cook while you sleep and then refrigerate it until you get home from work.

Lastly, you can do this on stove the top as well. Just brown the meat, onion and garlic then add all ingredients except rice and shrimp and let simmer for an hour or so. Stir rice in and let simmer for about and hour. Add shrimp 15 minutes before serving.

Done and done.