On Friday we had a few friends over and Wildchild found our convo boring. So…
A little lip balm and a lot of Kleenex and voila! A zombie in our midst!
Life With Dawna Has Moved!
After running this blog for a few weeks, I have received some great feedback and I’m definitely in it for the long haul. I’ve moved the content of the blog to http://www.lifewithdawna.com
If you’ve been following me here, please come along and follow me there.
Shelf Elf – volunteering at the school library
There are lots of parent volunteer opportunities at the school my son attends. Field Trip Supervisors (yikes!), Classroom Helper (eeps!), Parent Council (oih!), but my favourite is Library Helper. This wonderful job requires one afternoon every other month. You spend your time re-shelving returned books – picture books (easy), chapter books (fun), and reference books (think dewy decimal!). If you enjoy order and tidy shelves, this is the job for you.
I find it quite relaxing to sort out the books and then put them away. Deciding which will be selected for display at the top of the shelf and neatly stacking the rest in hopes of making it easier for kids to find what they are looking for. There is a satisfaction in the work.
There is another benefit. Classes come with their teacher for library time while you are volunteering. You get to observe their interaction and gain insight into the goings on at the school and what the teachers are like – knowing that your kid might end up in their class. It has been very enlightening.
Cake Craze
Birthday cakes for kids have gone so crazy! When I was a kid, having a cake baked by your mom was special enough. My mom often spelt out our name in chocolate chips or put coins wrapped in wax paper into the cake. My brother-in-law has fond memories of his cakes have Jello poked into it.
Maybe its thanks the food shows and blogs or Pinterest, but these days kids cakes are sometimes as intricate as wedding cakes! I have not been immune to this trend. From the time my oldest son was 2, I have been making the kids’ birthday cakes based on a requested theme. I have made most of them myself. The few that I havent’s done, I’ve bought from local moms who bake cakes for others to make some income.
The kids and I start talking about the cake a few months before their birthday to try to nail down a consistent theme and so that there is time to figure out how to pull it off. The good news is that t doesn’t have to look like it came from a bakery. Kids aren’t critical of the product (just look at the accuracy of their own drawings!). They are happy with being able to come up with the idea and/or help with the cake. They are also proud that their mom made it just for them.
Horse made from a 13X9 cake. Found a pattern on http://www.kraft.ca
Simple 13X9 cake decorated by piping gel icing onto wax paper that was overtop of a drawing of this Pokemon. Flip the wax paper onto the cake and the icing sticks to the cake. Then I filled it in with sprinkles.
General Grievous from Clone Wars done using the same technique as the Pokemon cake.
Yoda! Used two round pans and one square pan. Drew on the face with a toothpick and then piped on the icing.
Brains! For my son’s zombie phase I baked two round cakes, stacked them and rounded them with a knife. Then I piped on the icing with a star tip.
Self Care – an afternoon with interesting women working on our manis
In this digital age where we keep up with people’s lives through social media and technology, and everyone seems so busy, personal contact and visits seem to fall by the way side. I don’t mean playdates for the kids. I mean real-time for yourself with friends. This past Saturday was the exception to that rule.
I spent the afternoon with seven women whose ages varied from 16 to 49. We sat around my dinning room table getting to know each other, spinning tales, laughing and working on our manicures. Two of these women were self-professed tom-boys, but that didn’t really matter. The company was good and the activity was fun.
Have you heard about Jamberry Nails? They are one of the latest home based direct sales companies to hit our market recently. They are heat and pressure activated nail wraps that take the place of professional manicure and messy, smelly nail polish. Full disclosure: both my sister and sister-in-law are Jamberry Independent Consultants. To get the whole scoop check out http://www.hjm.jamberrynails.net
After attending a few parties, my sister and decided that we would invite people who had Jamberry Nails and those who were interested in them to come to a tutorial session once a month. There is no pressure to buy – there are plenty of freebies floating about. These events aren’t about buying or selling. They are women sitting around discussing, selecting, and putting on nail wraps amid conversation and the commandery of womanhood.
A Day In The Mountains – for no reason but FAMILY!
On Sunday we headed out to the mountains to get together with the in-laws and cousins for burgers cooked over a fire and kids playing in the snow. Sometimes we cross country ski and sometimes we snow shoe, but today we just played in the snow and slid around on the ice.
This Week’s Supper Menu
We sit down and eat together. Activities are planned around family not the other way around.
Based on the weather forecast – its Monday and I’m updating the Menu to allow for BBQ!
Sunday: Buffet of Leftovers (we came home late from spending the day in the mountains)
Monday: BBQ Cheese Smokies on buns served with sweet kale salad
Tuesday: Pork Carnitas served with Green Salad and avacado dressing
Wednesday: DIY Individual Pizza served with assorted raw veggies
Thursday: Hong Kong Chicken Wings (cooked on the BBQ) served with Bazmatti rice and steamed broccoli
Friday: Jamie Oliver Mint & Pea Pasta (Food Revolution)
Saturday: BBQ Chicken, Bacon, avocado Roll Ups (adapted from http://www.lifewiththecrustcutoff.com/ranch-chicken-club-roll-ups/ )
Cousins & Kittens
My sister fosters kittens and cats for our local Humane Society. At the momment she has a mama and five kittens. This is a pic of my 10 yo getting some night time kitten therapy. He’s over there for a sleep over with his cousins – and their kittens.
Meal Train: a genious tool in a time of need
A little more than a year ago I fell seriously ill from H1N1 and was hospitalized for more than a month. This came without warning and left Hubs struggling to split his time between taking care of the kids, work, and being with me at the hospital (I was in a coma and fighting for my life). Not only was he trying to make medical decisions and cope with traumatized children – from a practical standpoint I was the grocery shopper, meal planner, and cook and I was gone.
We had a lot of family and friends that wanted to help, but Hubs couldn’t even say what help was needed. Luckily one of our friends found out about Meal Train, a website that enables someone to set up a schedule for people to bring meals to the house. www.mealtrain.com
Meal Train was just what we needed. Our friend created our train and sent out the invitations through our contact list. Anyone
could invite others to join. The website creates invitations, sets up times and drop offs, and even makes notes for allergies or picky eaters (like the 2 yo who was missing his mom).
It was genius, people signed up to drop off meals and food was going to the house 5 days a week. Part of the genius is that when people sign up they note what they plan to make so you can let the kids know what supper was going to be.
The meal train started a few days after I was in the hospital and carried on for about 3 months afterward. So many people who participated told us how great it was to be able to do something when they felt so helpless about our situation.
It was also very moving to see the number of people involved especially the friends of friends or the parents of friends. It was a great experience of community for everyone.
Meal Train advertises that they are there for hospitalizations, extended illnesses, welcoming a new baby, military deployment, and condolences. It really is an amazing tool – an example of how technology can bring people together, solve problems, and build community.
We Take Our Wisdom Where We Find It
I grew up a Minister’s Daughter in a small town. My father is an intellectual and spiritual man. He led church congregations for most of his adult life, but he is not church people. He studied religion, not Christianity, so we were brought up respecting and giving consideration to all religions. It is with this broad view of the spiritual world that I went off to university as a science student taking religious study courses as electives. I took courses on Islam and Buddhism as eagerly as those on geography.
As a parent I am often thinking about what place religion has in our family. The Hubs was raised in the Anglican Church, but does not consider himself religious. We do not attend church. We do, however live our live by fairly universal religious beliefs. Be kind. Take care of others. Serve the community. Do no harm. Love each other.
We have chosen to instill these values in our children because they make sense to us and we can model that life for them. We will take our wisdom where we find it – today it’s from the Dalai Lama.
Life With Dawna 