Potty training blues

On the whole Olivia is doing exceptionally well with the potty training. She is very eager to wear "big girl pants" and finally say "bye bye" to the dreaded nappy. Well today I experienced an unprecidented scenario that, I guess, could have been MUCH worse........
I had completed a load of laundry and had opened the lid to put the damp clothes into the dryer, when I noticed this creamy coloured white fluffy fabric. My mind began to mentally scan the kids clothing cupboards - I couldn't remember anything like that. Then I reached out to touch it, the creamy white fabric, which dismantled immediately to my touch. THAT'S NOT FLUFFY FABRIC, THAT THE ABSORBENT GEL FROM A NAPPY OOOOOOHHHHHH!
It was everywhere, piles of it. And it was through every piece of my maximum load laundry. After picking out and shaking each piece of damp washing to release the enlarged gel particles, I discovered the offending article; bloated from so much water. It was tossed unceremoniously into the bin - just as every nappy is unceremoniously thrown. Finally with every piece of clothing out of there, I vacuummed the incredible amount of absorbant gel out of the washing machine. I was very annoyed, but I am pretty sure the nappy was a clean one; as I said - it could have been MUCH worse.

the day I awoke in Milford, Vermont USA

Yep, stranger things have happened I guess.
Today I live in Milford, Vermont USA. Don't believe me? Well here is the town sign.
There were US newspaper stands outside the shops, which had new names. Even the historical schpeel normally outside the Delta Museum and Archives building was a piece about the City of Milford, and there was a canon out the front, which was obviously fake because a group of kids came along, one kid sat on it and broke it - I don't think that one really was in the civil war as the sign suggested! Anyway.......
As it turned out, the main street of the village was turned into a film set for the upcoming series "3 moons over Milford", which is apparently about how the people of Milford, Vermont respond when they learn that an asteroid is going to destroy the earth. I think it is about the old hypothetical - what would you do if this were your last [day/week/month/year] on earth. Apparently some crazy stuff goes on. I am sure it will either be a hit or a fizzer, as these things usually are. I am not sure if this filming is going to be a regular thing or whether they were doing some general street shots or what, but the filming has been going on all week. Only 8 episodes are being done at present - see where it goes I guess. It is kind of cool to have filming going on in your town. But I think quite a bit is done in the village - it has a bit of an oldy worldy, quaint kind of character about it. I have seen 5 film sets at various times and in various places around Ladner.

You little ripper

I went to Toast masters tonight. I had the timer role, but the night before was asked to be the word master, which means that I come to the meeting with a word, define the word's meaning and provide an example of its usage.
After frustrating myself by flicking through the dictionary at random; trying to find an appropriate, interesting and clever word and failing dismally, I decided to use an Aussie one.
"Ripper".
I explained to the group that it referred to "something really fabulous". My usage example (?)...
"Looks like the snackmaster has put on a RIPPER spread tonight", and "that joke was a RIPPER"! The Canadians loved it! They were so excited to use the word. It was pretty funny hearing them say it. But then again, I suspect they thought it pretty funny hearing me say it, because they asked me to say it alot. And of course I made it sound as ocker as possible "RRRIPPA"!

sharks circling

There is a funny ad on the telly over here about some bank. I think it is referring to an account you can get where it doesn't cost you to withdraw money and no account keeping fees either - something like that anyway, didn't take too much notice - you know banks....
Anyway, in the ad the customer exclaims to the teller "it is all free?". Then he turns to the other customers and tells them "It is ALL free!" to which the all completely strip and ransack the bank including ripping, rolling and taking off with the carpet. I like it.
Anyway.... this week was spring cleaning here. I had never really caught on what spring cleaning meant until now. All the American shows would go on about "spring cleaning" suggesting there was a mass movement of activity to clean the house once a year. And I always thought to myself.... why is it such a big deal? Why call it "spring cleaning?" And why spring? Surely they clean at other times of the year. As it turns out spring cleaning IS a once a year thing. But it is actually a service put on by the council. You can throw a seemingly unlimited array of rubbish, the kind you've had laying around the house all year, and on the scheduled rubbish day the council will take it all away for free. People had couches, lounge chairs, old TVs, bicycles, mattresses, ovens and toilets. The funny thing is, that we are able to put out the stuff the weekend of the pick up, which starts a kind of feeding frenzy. Utes galore circling slowly around neighbourhoods - on the prowl - looking for what goodies they might be able to snaffle up for free. No-one is ashamed. I think it is actually a prayer answered for the council, because others are picking up the stuff for them.
Our neighbour put out a mini ride-on lawn mower that was purchased as a "do up", but it never happened; the mower miraculously disappeared within the hour. There is big money in the junk others effortlessly discard. I am sure the second hand stores do well, but I must say, most of the couches that were tossed were exceptionally ugly.

The Vancouver Sun - Run

Sunday was a glorious warm and clear spring day - a great day overall to be spent in the garden or for a little jog in the park.
Ashley opted for the later - not so little jog in the park.
Sunday heralded the 22nd annual Vancouver Sun-Run (The Vancouver Sun is the local newspaper). 50, 700 and something crazy people, I mean, enthusiastic entrants participated in the 10 km run through the city streets of downtown Vancouver; making the 2006 event the Sun-Run with the most entrants ever.
This is a shot from 2004 taken by the Vancouver Sun (not me). From what Ashley has told me about his experience, this is exactly what it was like - an endless sea of bodies.
Well doing a run such as this was on Ashley's life to do list, so that has been accomplished now.
The winner of the race did the run in 28 minutes - a bloke from Kenya. Ashley took 55 minutes and came in at 7090th place, which when you consider tehre were 50,700+ participants - is pretty good really, one of the top 15% anyway. All the participants times and palcings were in the paper this morning - imagine being recorded as the last person to come in!

Cue the violins

"Doh!"
We are out of vegemite again. The jar I brought back from Australia only lasted one month (boo hoo.)
I am going to go out on a limb here by asking (beg) if some kind and generous (grovel grovel crawl crawl) reader of this blog (who happens to know our address) wouldn't mind sending this hopelessly vegemite addicted family a jar of the old black gold.
Pretty PLEEEEASE. I am sure thereis somewhere around here that sell the stuff, but I haven't yet foundit. We would really appreciate it. 

The dilemma

Yesterday Alex had "Career Day" at this school which involved dressing up as the occupation you want to be when you grow up.
When we got notification about the upcoming event, I asked Alex what he would like to dress-up as. Immediately he said, "Fireman". My reply, "Oh, you would like to be a Fire Man when you grow up". Alex nodded then looked blankly somewhere into space and said he didn't want to be a fire man; then he said he didn't know what he wanted to be; then said he didn't want to participate at all, which later dissolved entirely into "I don't want to go to career day"!
At this stage the day was many weeks away, so I let it slide telling Alex he could have a bit of think about it.
Sunday night I thought I had better broach the subject again - this time asking him if he would like to get a fireman outfit for his pre-school thing. Well, he did. But he didn't want to wear it to career day- he still didn't want to go. I asked why he didn't want to go go Career Day. "I don't want to grow up", was the reply. Then it clicked.....
So I asked "do you not know what you want to be when you grow up?"
"No", he said.
"Do you not want to grow up because there are too many choices?"
(eyes to the ground, nods....)
So I explained that it took me a long, long time to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, and that career day was just a bit of dress up fun and he didn't have to do the job he dresses up in, if he changes his mind later. Alex then condfidently stated that he really wanted to wear a fireman's uniform to pre-school, which he did.
Boy am I glad that Alex didn't ask me what I decided to be when I grew up, because that answer eludes me to this day!!!!! Who needs that kind of pressure at three years old, or thirty-three for that matter.

the cycle of snot

I had to take Alex to the doctor today. It seemd that Alex was relapsing back into his previous fluey state. Noooooooooo! First the good news - Alex was fine. Now teh bad news, the Doctor told me that I could expect 9-10 colds and flus for a pre-schooler - thats about one for every month they are at pre-school for the year - Great, with Olivia seeming to get whatever Alex brings home it is just one big cycle of snot.

Happy Easter 2006

We hope everyone had a great Easter break. We did, or rather, we still are having a good break. Ashley has two weeks holidays and most of that time will be spent on the house no doubt.
Anyway, it was largely a quiet holdiay time. We have had a real mix of weather. It was freezing on the Saturday adn pretty cool on Sunday too- there was even a snow storm in the mountains.
But today it is too beautiful for complaints. Everyone appears to be out in the garden, the lawns are lush and green and all the flowers are in full bloom - GLORIOUS.
Alex made this little easter chick at pre-school. I thought it very cute. The wings are cut outs of his own hand tracings. The wings move and open out to reveal the special Easter message - very sophistocated indeed. Happy Easter everyone. 

Easter Egg Hunt

Of course we created an Easter egg hunt for Alex and Olivia. I did manage to hold back on Alex's suggestion of making a map for the Easter bunny so he would know exactly where WE would like him to place the Easter eggs, so it would be less troublesome for us to find them. I suggesed that this probably wasn't a good idea on the basis that we might offend Easter bunny, and he then might not like to leave many eggs for us.
This was apparently a valid point in Alex's mind, and the idea was promptly abandoned. Alex did later confess that the Easter Egg hunt was his favourtie bit of the day, because searching for the eggs was so much fun. It did take us alot of convincing, and Alex alot of additional searching through out the day, before he accepted that we hadn't missed any remaining eggs still laying hidden in the garden. 

A very happy Easter

Couldn't resist the chocolate face picture. It is a timeless classic. 

He's at it again!!!

Ashley got stuck into some good old blokey demolishing therapy this weekend. We are known as "the rough as guts gung-ho aussies" around these parts. Neighbours beware of any free standing structures lurking shakily in your backyard - or house for that matter, we might just rock up to beat the living daylights out of it and send you off to spend a fortune on an appropriate replacement at Home Depot or perhaps Bunnings, for the Australian customers among us. 

The debris

This is what's left of the shed - a neatly stacked pile of RUBBISH. 

wheel barrowing

Alex and Olivia loved riding in the wheel barrow. I remember doing the same when I was a kid - Ah! The good old days..... 

baked richotta

I am constantly amazed by the comments I get whenever I serve up baked richotta to a friend for lunch. It really is the easiest and quickest thing to make in the world, which is really the main reason why I make it so often.
Anyway it is no secret, so I thought I would share the recipe.

One tub of richotta cheese
chuck in some chives - fresh if possible, but dried work too.
chuck in some parsley - again, fresh is possible.
clove of garlic
salt and pepper if you like
stir it all up and spoon it into a mini muffin tray
sprinkle with sweet paprika on top if you like
bake for 20 mins at 220 C (405 F) or when you think it looks cooked
Serve a couple up with a garden salad with only olive oil and balsamic vinegar as dressing.

That is really it. Enjoy.

EEEEOOOWWWWHHH!

Olivia grossed out some customers at the supermarket today by laying on the ground at the check out and discovering some fragments of smashed up easter egg, which she ate. Mmmmm nice. Some horrified elderly customers drew my attention to what she was doing, so I promptly picked her up and fished the stuff out of her mouth. She then tried to go back for more, although she was unsuccessful, despite her determination. Incident and embarrassment free grocery shopping, is damn near impossible when accompanied by a toddkler. I reckon I could start a blog on that topic alone - I could name it - Price check on insanity - aisle 5, or maybe even - fortune favours those with babysitters, or perhaps- stick your hands in the air and move away from the bulk-buy bins.....