As many people know I am no domestic diva. I have never been admired for my culinary prowess and have, on more occasions than I'd like to admit, made huge fiascoes of seemingly simple dishes. Chef Ramsey would never be proud of me. Last night however, it all turned around....could this be a new leaf or was I just lucky?? In what can only be described as a lapse in sanity, I volunteered to host an early Christmas with T's family. This meant that I had to plan and prepare the requisite turkey dinner. To be honest, as a vegetarian, I don't understand why everyone expects some sort of meat on a bone and all the fixings on special occasions, but I was game to try. And in the spirit of a little healthy (and private) competition, I decided that this could not be the simple dinner of days gone by. No, this dinner had to rival even my own grandma's turkey dinner. Those are some pretty lofty expectations as my grandma could kick Martha's ass in the kitchen. I made a list, went to the store, planned and prepared and in the end, I think I pulled it off. The 18 pound turkey was stuffed and cooked to perfection. Nothing came out of a box, even the salad dressing was made from scratch! I'm sure there are people out there who can recall my very first attempt at making a Christmas dinner in 2001. The poor chicken was so dry that there were concerns that the friction from the carving knife would some how cause it to self ignite. Copious amounts of wine were needed to choke back that meal. I'd love to say that I'm sitting here all pleased with my accomplishment, but to be honest, I'm waiting for someone to call saying they've come down with food poisoning.

You can play with her....but never invite her in

We have new neighbors, nothing out of the ordinary given that we live in a new development, but these ones are kind of odd. We never see them.....ever. Their lights are usually off and they don't seem to come or go. In fact, if they didn't continually send their daughter out to play after dark, I probably wouldn't have realized that anyone moved in at all. We never see her before dark, but frequently, after 8pm she comes out to skip or ride her bike on the driveway. It's kind of strange. Skylar was hopeful that maybe they could play together someday as they seem to be of similar age. That would be nice.....I think I will start cooking with more garlic.I wish that I had more time for a real update, but alas it will have to wait....

Sweet justice

My oldest daughter has been obsessed with going to Calaway Park all summer. Ever since the flyer came in the mail depicting throngs of smiling children merrily walking the midway and going on rides she has been talking about Calaway Park and it's "all you can ride buffet". Interestingly the frazzled parents carrying bags laden with sunscreen, bugspray, ritz bits etc and covered in sticky cotton candy/candy apple finger prints are somehow left out of the advertisement. Since then she has taken to writing the words "all you can ride buffet" on various paper like surfaces. When I was cleaning the kitchen the other day I noticed her childlike printing scrawled on the back of a photo. Sure enough, it was the aforementioned phrase. Curious, I turned the photo over and there centred in the middle and taking up most of the space was the well endowed derriere of my ex-mother-in-law. (The kids had taken a disposable camera with them on their last trip to MB and for some bizarre reason thought they needed a picture of their grandmother's butt)It was one of those sort of satisfying moments, so much so that I had to keep the picture. Now, if things get nasty with my ex-in-laws as they so often seem to, I can pull out that photo with the words printed on the back and smile.

She's here!!!

It's kind of been a surreal sort of week. Last Thursday I was enduring the sympathetic comments of T's co-workers and trying to do anything possible to bring on labour in order to avoid an artificial induction (can anyone see the irony there?), this Thursday I take my almost week old baby girl for her one week check-up. Apparently all my efforts Thursday past were not in vain. By midnight I was in labour and by 3am I was bailing on a conversation with a friend and debating whether or not to make the 40 min drive out to Stony Plain. I'll save the gory details for another time and just keep to the basics. After a relatively easy labour and delivery we welcomed Alexandria Elizabeth Katrine to the world at 11am on July 15. Interestingly, she was not as pleased with this event as we were and was declared to be one of the most pissed of babies ever delivered in that location . She weighed 9lbs 9oz which was significantly more than I was expecting and made stepping on the scale the next morning all the more fun. I've got to hand it to midwives, they really know their job. By 4:00 that day, we were headed for home -baby in the backseat, well earned tim hortens iced cappuccino in hand. All in all, I felt pretty good. Since then, the baby's mellowed significantly and life has sort of settled into a slightly elevated state of choas.

One down, two to go

Well, the due date has come and gone, the eviction notice has been posted and still there is no indication that this baby would like to make her appearance any time soon. I'm not at all surprised but I am getting tired of well meaning strangers making comments like "oh my god...when are you due?" and "is that really a baby...i've never seen anyone with a belly so perfectly round before"The midwife's orders this morning were to go home and have sex 3X in the next 24 hours and then take a specified homeopathic tincture every 5 min for the 2 hours following with the hope that it will induce labour. It's going to be a very long night. You all really wanted to know that didn't you?

It's amazing how far away the floor can seem when you're only 5'2 (and 3/4). I've adopted a new policy. If it can't be picked up with my toes, it was never meant to be off the floor.

Moving Day

I never want to move again! If there is a next time I plan to be in a position to afford movers or maybe professional cleaners, or some sort of coma inducing medication, or at the very least, able to see my feet while standing. Once the mind-numbing fatigue disipates and all of my possessions have been freed from the cardboard which encases them, and my dreams are no longer haunted by abrasive scrubby sponges and orange scented Mr Clean, I will return.

Once again my hands are stained with the ink of many newspapers and the house is covered in cardboard boxes. I'd like to say that I'm excited about this move, but to be honest all I feel is exhaustion. In some ways i keep waiting for something else to go wrong. Nothing has gone smoothly yet.I also have a whole new appreciation for my family. The last time we moved, they helped out when they could. This time, its just me and Yanna doing all the packing and she's much better at unpacking and playing with the boxes and tape. On the upside, we're moving into a brand new and spotlessly clean house. This means no scrubbing walls or cupboards, no finding the left behind garbage of previous owners stashed in unlikely places, no needing to paint or clean up the yard.....I can appreciate all of this.The other advantage to moving now, and I realize that I'm totally leaving myself open to all sorts of interesting comments, is that I can't get pregnant. The last two time that we have moved I've been pregnant within 2 months of unpacking. Needless to say once we found this house, we made haste in getting an early possession date. :)

I'm fat, I can't see my feet anymore and doing up my belt (which ironically I still need) has become more challenging than should be allowed. Time, which had previously flown by, has now started to crawl at an inhumane snail's pace. These next 13ish weeks are going to be fun. I think I'd better go find some cheese to go with that whine....and maybe some salsa....

I've sort of avoided putting anything in my lj as of late to spare all of you the emotionally volatile ramblings of one suffering from pregnancy induced psychosis. Did you know that a woman's brain actually shrinks during pregnancy (they tell me it returns to normal in the post-partum period, but frankly, I'm inclined to disbelieve) I'm barely coherent at the best of times, imagine what occurs with the decrease in grey matter. It's frightening.

After over a month and much frustration, it appears that we may once again become home-owners. This pleases me to no end....especially because our new neighbors have a dog and a distinct liking for cheesy metal played loudly. I wish I could say that I was more mature and could ignore their inconsiderate behaviour, but alas, I'm not. I've chosen to blame that one on the pregnancy as well. T went out and bought himself a subwoofer for the surround sound on the TV and damn but the LOTR trilogy sounds quite amazing when played at higher than considerate decibels. I've also noticed that their dog only barks when they arent' there so I've found a sadistic sort of pleasure in knocking on the wall in various places when she does bark thereby sending her into a frenzy of growling and running around their house. I think it's safe to say that I've sunk to a whole new level.

"I'm sorry, it's a girl."

To be honest, I'm not sure how to feel about that comment. Somehow "it's a girl" doesn't seem to be the proper diagnosis that is preceeded by an offering of condolence. However, it does appear that T and I are to be the proud parents of another girl. (Much prayer...or valium will be required when all 3 have hit puberty...and I should probably go now and buy one of those hair colouring kits for people with excessive grey. T's going to need it.) I'd love to say that the anticipated event should occur during the first few days of July, but anyone with any knowledge of my previous record knows not to expect to hear anything for quite some time after. So far everything looks good...the correct number and placement of body parts, organs etc. I can appreciate that.