Thursday, May 15th, 2008
Setting: Loblaw HQ. The office of Galen G. Weston, CEO.
Opening shot: Sandra, a youthful, trim, friendly, executive assistant enters the office of Galen G. Weston. She knocks lightly on the doorframe.
-
Sandra: Mr. Weston?
GGW: Yes?
Sandra: We need to sit down and discuss the Healthy Eating Challenge we ran with the bloggers.
GGW: Bloogers?
Sandra: Bloggers. It’s a term for people who keep journals on the Internet.
GGW: Ah yes, of course.
Sandra: We gave Loblaws gift cards to certain individuals and asked them to take on the Healthy Eating Challenge. The idea was they’d write about the products they really liked…
GGW: Oh yes. And they’d tell their friends in their bloogs, I mean blogs. Blogs. That’s really a stupid-sounding word, isn’t it?
Sandra: Yeah…
GGW: Remind me why we did this again?
Click for more…
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
Emma, I can hardly believe that I’m writing this, but you are nine years old today.
This photo says it all. You are tall and confident. Friendly and generous. You have your own sense of the world and I love that about you.
- you are a wonderful caregiver. I’m already singing your praises to potential babysitting customers. I’m not sure if you know this, but you’ve always had great leadership skills. Even when you were in preschool, at two years old, you’d be the one showing the new kids around or comforting someone if they were sad. You’re a natural shepherd, and anyone younger is naturally in your flock (whether they like it or not, unfortunately.)
- you are turning out to be a great swimmer. You love to read. You love being outdoors. All of these things are shadowy reflections of my own self. And that amazes me. How much of you is you, and how much of you is me? I’m still wondering how it all works.
- you have a can-do attitude and are so confident about conquering certain things, like swimming, and stilt-walking, and reading. Math? Not so much.
What does it feel like to be nine? I tried asking you about it last night but wasn’t able to get a straight answer.
I’ll tell you. You are changing, and finding out more about yourself and about the world around you. You’re still very much a little girl, but there’s a bigger girl inside of you who is eager to get on with it already. I don’t want to rush it. I love you very much the way you are, but I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.
Love,
Mumma
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
The kind folks at Knock on Wood Communications have given me the green light to give away a pair of tickets to the opening night production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. It’s coming to the NAC between May 27 and June 1. (Read up on it here.)
Sound good to you? Leave your name in the comments below and I will do a random draw for the winner.
Easy huh?
The rules (because there has to be a few):
- The draw is for two tickets for opening night on May 27.
- Please, only one comment per person. Duplicate entries will be deleted.
- I’ll do a random draw at noon on Monday May 19th, 2008.
- I’ll post the name of the winner and contact them by email.
- I will give the winner contact info for the promoter
- It’s up to the winner to coordinate pick up of the tickets.
That’s it! Good luck. It looks like a good show!
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
This appeared in my inbox recently. Anyone out there interested in helping out? (Send me an email if you are.)
I’m working on an article about kids and cheating for Parents Canada magazine. Here’s the scoop:When the whole Ryerson Facebook controversy came up, we talked about whether or not kids these days view cheating the same way their parents do. We’d need some studies that examine if cheating is more prevalent now than when we were kids, some interviews with kids who share their views on cheating, and if parental ‘help’ is cheating. What we think is that too many parents are over-helping, they see athletes taking drugs, musicians getting away with bad behaviour and reality TV showing how to ‘win the game’ by devious methods.
I’m looking for parents and kids to interview for this story about the above. Anyone game? Anybody willing to sacrifice their kids to the cause (or your kids’ friends)?
Personally, I find the concept of parents “over-helping” their kids really interesting. My kids have been doing big projects for school for a few years now. The level of, shall we say, parental involvement some children receive is really really clear when you see all the projects displayed side by side. Is parental “help” cheating?
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
This morning, I set out to wash our sheets and hang them on the line to dry.
- I ran out of detergent.
- I went to buy some detergent … it’s only available at Rainbow Foods, a local health food store.)
- While I’m there I pick up some sunscreen
- And hey, there’s a SallyAnn across the street. I drop in for a quick browse.
- I sneak into the fitting room with more than the maximum three items.
- two t-shirts fit the bill, as does one pretty skirt which is a size 12 and needs some taking in. Who will do that? I do not know.
- I pick out some books for Emma and Sarah.
- I arrive home.
- Make lunch and continue with laundry.
- Before I can hang it out on the line I need to (a) wipe it clean and (b) cut some BRANCHES from an imposing evergreen.
- the pruning shears are too small for one of the branches. I consider finding the saw.
…
No, the laundry isn’t done yet.
And now it’s almost time to pick the girls up from school. Where do the days go?
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
One of my favourite things to do with my kid(s) is …
Monday, May 12th, 2008
Mine started on Saturday - which is just how I like it. Mother’s Day?!? I prefer a Weekend for Mother instead. Yesindeed.
The photos in the previous post were from Saturday. In the morning the girls and I participated in a park cleanup in my neighborhood. We were going to check out the children’s film festival but my stomach was mightily upset on Saturday morning and I couldn’t stomach the idea of sitting in a dark theatre. Instead we brought a picnic lunch to Dow’s Lake to enjoy the tulips.
We parked the car aways away and walked across a huge field to get to the lake. There were were, walking lah-dee-dah enjoying the peace and tranquility around us, nary a person to be seen. And then we arrived at Colonel By. Good lord. The cars! The people! I had totally forgotten that the Tulip Festival was in full swing and the tulips were at their peak. (See?) We made our way through the throng of people to admire the flora and finally found a place to sit and eat.
Our dinner: fresh baguette, cheese, bananas, grapes, peanuts, water, and a bag of “all natural” cheezies.
(”This is my FAVOURITE DINNER EVER,” announced Emma happily.)
I sat on a park bench while the girls fed the ducks. I was more than happy to sit in the dappled shade and watch the girls lob pieces of stale pita at the extremely fat mallards. It was heavenly, that is, until I felt a stabbing pain in my right bre@st. WTH? Subtly trying to investigate the source of the pain without exposing myself proved to be a challenge, but I soon found the culprit. A nasty red ant had fallen from the tree overhead, and right down the front of my shirt. Yowza. I wonder what the folks sitting next to me thought I was doing?
The fun continued on Sunday. Mark picked up some fresh bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon and made me a coffee. I unwrapped several lovely cards and my gifts: a concrete mixer and a bird house. Yay!
We spent an hour wandering around ArtsPark where I donated money in exchange for an original poem which I love love love. Read it here. (I had to pick a word for the poet-in-residence to use as a starting point. I chose “rocketship.”)
It was the opening weekend of the Parkdale Market. We chose a hanging basket for Mark’s mom. The girls busily collected fallen blooms. They made us sneeze a bit, but it’s a small price to pay for such beauty:
We finished the day at Mark’s parents, where the girls had their own house to play in (their design):
The boys cooked dinner while the ladies relaxed. I think this is my favourite part of Mother’s Day. The relaxing. I hope you moms out there had a few minutes to put your feet up too.
Saturday, May 10th, 2008
Wishing all you mothers out there
tranquility
beauty
and sweetness
this Mother’s Day.
Enjoy your day! I know I will. :)
Friday, May 9th, 2008
I have just returned from a spur-of-the-moment trip to ValVill where I found an item that is both AMAZING and INCREDIBLY USELESS at the SAME TIME. I love it.
First, I have to drag it out of the car. Then, take pics and post. EEeek!
*dance of excitement*
ETA:
This very vintage toboggan cost me ten bucks.
The thing weighs a ton.
All it needs is a little wax on the bottom and we’re ready. For next winter:)
