52 Lists for 2010 - List 8

This is a list I could keep adding to, the more I think about it. List the people in history you'd like to have a conversation with. Then post it to our ever growing flickr group  There's some fabulous stuff there. Check it out!!

Who Do I Cheer For?

Why Canada, of course!

One of Gaby's classmates' moms asked me this on Tuesday at the class Valentine party. She seemed genuinely concerned, as if it was a serious dilemma.

If I'm watching an event in which Canada is participating, I'll always cheer my countrymen (and women!) on. However, if Canada isn't in contention, the U.S. is who I'll always root for!

Living in the U.S., if you're the least bit interested in Olympic coverage, you can't escape the personal stories of many of the favoured atheletes. I do know more about Shaun White, Evan Lysacek and Lindsay Vonn, than Alexandre Bilodeau and Maelle Ricker. They're all gold medal winners, but I'm more familiar with the stories behind the faces of the American athletes. It goes with the territory, quite literally!

Facebook helps. I'm a fan of Canadian Olympic Team and Vancouver 2010 Olympics. They allow me to stay on top of what's happening in my beautiful O Canada.

And of course I've been staying up much much too late every night, to catch the coverage. Network television is frustrating. My kids would love to be able to see more of their favourite events, but can't stay up that late on school nights. Some of the coverage isn't even live -- they're running events when they want to get the most people viewing. We already know who's gonna win; I can't stay away from the spoilers on the internet, and FB doesn't even try to keep it a secret!



So here's to another week and some of late nights and groggy days. It's only once every four years!




(Thanks Lin for the Olympic gear. We love it!!)

52 Lists for 2010 - List 7

List the top attractions in the city you live in. I live outside of Philadelphia, and while my town is wonderful, there really aren't any attractions to draw visitors, except maybe the grandparents!

Don't forget to post your art in 52 Lists for 2010. Or at least come see what we're up to.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We don't buy into the romance and hype that is Valentine's Day -- for our family, it's simply another excuse to buy and eat a variety of heart-shaped chocolates and candy! Sour lips, red, pink and white candy corn, and of course, heart-shaped chocolates, gummies and jelly beans. No photos because there's not much left to photograph!

Gaby does a fabulous job of cards and decorations, doesn't she?!

The snow isn't melting too fast, and we're trying to preserve the mound on top of the BBQ so that Gaby can make the most authentic SNOW CONES ever! Instead of syrup, she sprinkles them with jello powder and says they're even better that way.

And there is one more day left of this 6-day President's Day weekend. Happy Valentine's Day!!

Our Own Narnia

Our backyard, at the height of Wednesday's storm, reminded me of Narnia. When Lucy steps out of the wardrobe and walks into the snow wonderland that is Narnia.

We had our own version. Of course I cropped out the picnic table and heater -- they detracted from that magical feeling!

The Tale of A Snowman

Our school district made a wise decision, calling for a snow day yesterday evening,  rather than sending their usual pre-dawn, day-of, message. Even though the alarms were off this morning, Gaby and I were out before 9, building a snowman in the front yard.
Not every snowfall brings the ideal snowman-making-snow, so that's why we were out there first thing this morning.

It didn't take us long to assemble three lumps of snow, and Gaby put together a combination of nature and her wardrobe, to dress him.

He got a kiss from his creator.

She even tried the tango, but worse than two left feet, he has no feet!

And so we left him, shortly after 9 a.m.

We ventured out again around 1:00 in the afternoon. It was already the second or third round of shoveling, and we decided to check on our unnamed frosty friend.

He looked a bit more frosty indeed. Gaby cleared his eyes for the pictures. And remember, his hat is black.

Another kiss.

Of course a snowball fight!

We decided to pay our snowman another visit on our return walk home from Tequila Joe's, where we had walked for dinner. And here's what we saw:

If you look closely, through the snow-laden, sagging branches, you'll see a lump of snow that is our frosty friend, and Gaby standing beside him.

One more, which is a better view of the snowman. You can't see Gaby's face, but if you can find the dark spots on the snow, that's her legs! The moral of the story is, wait for the snowfall to end, before you build a snowman. Or at least, before you dress him!

I'm planning to post more photos of this record breaking blizzard tomorrow. We're just too tired from all that shoveling.

Oh, and tomorrow is another snow day. With this Friday and Monday already scheduled days off for Presidents' Day weekend, these kids have 6 consecutive days off!

52 Lists for 2010 - List 6

For this week, my list of websites (& blogs) I visit most often. This is just an itty bitty part of my huge list of blog favourites.

Blogs are dangerous -- the more you read them, the more new blogs you discover. I wish that when I had started reading the first few of the many blogs I read now, I had kept track of how I discovered them. So many of the new ones are linked to the older ones. I have several favourites that I label as brave women/mothers. They write with eloquence, grace, bravery and wisdom , with a strength I admire. Catching up and keeping up with these blogs is as regular a part of my day as I can make it. With Facebook, there's now more of an overlap, but in a good way. When I go to FB, I see  that some of my favourite blogs have been updated recently. 

I know that the one thing I find the most difficult to do without for extended times, is the internet. We've had power outages. No lights -- we've got candles.  No heat -- we have the wood stove. No television -- we've got games. No phone -- no biggie. No internet -- not so good! My access to the internet is a combination of have to's (emails, documents, photo editing/sorting/backing up, research) and want to's (blogs, FB, shopping!)  Interesting how we've evolved.

Now That's a Snow Storm!

There's always a huge dramatic build up when snow is in the forecast here. Grocery stores are mobbed, running out of bread, milk and sometimes eggs. At hardware stores, it's ice melt and shovels. Now, everything but shovels would be considered consumables of sorts. But the shovels? Where do all of the shovels go? It always makes me laugh when interviews are conducted at Home Depot prior to the snow, and it's always the same -- they ran out of shovels! What does everyone do with the shovels they bought for the last snow?
This time, as forecast, the snow started falling lightly late afternoon. There was a beautiful dusting of snow by midnight. By morning, it was a true winter wonderland.

 Front yard

Roxi 'rescuing' Gab!

Snow angels of course!

She likes to be buried in the snow.

And Roxi likes to 'help' her out!

The trees look so pretty wearing snow!

Carole calls this our backyard cold tub!

                 

It stopped snowing by the middle of the afternoon Saturday, and there's more snow in the forecast for Tuesday. Loving this snow!

GOventure Challenge 2010

Last Friday,  Kal Barteski announced a week long challenge she and Elise Blaha were doing, starting Monday. A word a day. They set up a Flickr group for everyone to post their goodies. The first word was WANDER. On Monday morning, the second word, INVISIBLE, was announced. And so on. Tuesday's word was COINCIDENCE, Wednesday's PERMANENT and Thursday's, WHOLE. It wasn't as difficult to keep up as I thought it would be. Getting the new word in the morning gave me the entire day to think about it, and I was then able to put it together once the kids were in bed.
I loved seeing what other people were doing with these words. Painting, photography, digital works, hybrid stuff, there's a bit of everything. Check it out! If you can't play along, it's fun to look!
I discovered that one of my favourite participants in this challenge was a Winnipeg girl -- small world! Though Kal's in Winnipeg too, so that might have something to do with the number of Winnipeggers in on the challenge.
Art can be anything. And art is everything.

I took both of these photos after I had tossed the pieces back onto the dining room table, and actually like this picture better. But it doesn't have the Candian bear license plate peeking through the window. That was intentional!

This Is NOT A Snow Storm!

Check it out. MAYBE, an inch of snow overnight. This is what we woke up to. And this is what the news and weather folks keep referring to as a snow storm. ????? Now, it was enough to have the UDSD call for late arrival, which is a 2 hour delayed start. The phone rings before 6 a.m. with a lovely pre-recorded message from our superintendent, telling us school will be starting two hours later, due to the weather. I get up, shut off three alarms, usually make a stop in the loo, take my synthroid, and then I'm awake. I also wonder if many of the high school girls are already awake and primping by the time Dr. Pladus' call comes in.

 I mean, Nick leaves for the bus at 6:40 a.m., and lately, hasn't been getting up til 6:20. But he showers the night before, so all he does is get dressed, eat, and sometimes make a lunch. But the girls are doing hair and make up  in addition to the usual morning things. I think Dr. Pladus should be calling just a big earlier.

This morning, my kids did go back to sleep for a little while. Nick awoke again at 7, forgot about the late arrival and thought he had overslept. Both Nick and Gaby were still up fairly early -- we stayed in bed later than they did! And at least they took it easy during that extra time at home.

52 Lists for 2010 - List 5

So this week's list is a list of times you've had an audience. Personally, I think my list is a little lame, but it's pretty much all I could come up with. I would imagine others to have a bit more interesting content on this one!