Friday Favourites

Linking up with Andrea, Erika and Narci for Friday Favourites:

As usual a few random favourite things from the past week.  Thanks for stopping by!

1.  I don't have a gym membership anymore, so I'm trying to work out more at home.  One of my favourite things of being at home is that I'm occasionally joined by Dave and E.  The other morning E came down while I was working out.  I was jumping rope and he was pretty impressed! He just stared at me smiling with his mouth open; it's nice to be thought of as so talented even if it's something simple.  Then he crawled on my back while I was trying to do push-ups.  I managed to do five with his little 40+ lb body on me.  

2.  Kelly Clarkson has always been one of my favourites.  This song came on the other day on Songza.  I love it.  I may not be the best singer but I sing with enthusiasm.

3. We made one of my favourite meals this week. We make Mix and Match Mama's recipe for Green Chile Chicken Baked Tacos often. I like tacos anyway, but this warm and crispy version is amazing!  E loves them too.  Try them, you never knew tacos could be this way.

4.  I read this clever article through a link on Facebook this week.  It is the best way to explain "consent" with the most perfect metaphor.  I won't spoil it, so click over and read. This is an important lesson to pass on to our kids, and this makes it really easy to understand. 

5.  One of my favourite things about this blog is that it's a way to remember our lives as time goes on, including all of those simple everyday happenings that may otherwise fade from memory.  One such example happened this week.  E sometimes comes into our bed in the middle of the night and sleeps with us.  He did that one night this week and I didn't think anything of it.  The next morning I realized he was wearing different pyjamas, and then I realized the ones he had been wearing were in a wet heap on the floor and that his bed was a little damp.  He had apparently wet his bed, got up, used his light, changed his pyjamas and then came to sleep with us.  I had no idea. 

Hope you have a great weekend, as Spring is making its way into our lives.  If you're off on March Break next week, enjoy it!!

"New" Dresser

I have had this dresser since I was little, my great grandfather made it.  It has moved with me to university, to law school, and then to Toronto.  It was white when I first had it, then I painted it bright pink when I was a kid (like, obnoxious pink), and then back to white.

When we moved into our new house we had a bidet in our bathroom, but since we don't use a bidet, we removed it.  We covered up the plumbing but there was an awkward space that we wanted to fill with a cabinet.  We looked around at Ikea, but then we realized, low and behold, the old dresser fit perfectly!  But it was kind of beat up and needed a new coat of paint.

E helped with the sanding

We finished it up on the weekend (E helped paint it too but I forgot to take pictures).  Here is the finished products and some shots of our bathroom.  We picked a light green to go with the brown tile in our bathroom and the blue green mats we already had.

Switched out the top handles for some leftover Ikea handles

Don't you have superheroes in your bathroom?

Media Wednesday

Our book club read "The Kitchen House" by Kathleen Grissom.

It is a story about a young Irish orphan that is put into indentured servitude at a planation in the 1700s in Virginia, and then sent to live with the slaves in the kitchen house.  I have read a few books about slavery, and seen the movies (12 Years a Slave, Django Unchained, The Book of Negroes), but for some reason I found this story one of the most heartbreaking.  I mean, you know slavery is bad and that it's pretty much the worst thing that ever happened in the Southern US, but the day to day fear and abuse experienced by the slaves was really well written in this book.  Similarly the treatment of the white women of the house was really sad.  The system in place at the time gave women so few options that they also had to live with abuse and fear.

As much as I enjoyed it, I wouldn't call it a "great novel" or anything like that.  It is an easy read with no real complex storylines.  This is the author's first novel.  She said in the end notes that this book "came to her" as if from another medium.  I'm paraphrasing here but she felt like these characters were inside her and wanted her to tell this story, their story.  Insert chills here.  Not sure how much I believe that there were spirits tell her to write this book, but it is believable that these types of events did occur.

If you're looking for an easy, heartbreaking read (and isn't everyone?), then pick up this book.

 

Weekend Recap

We both had busy work weeks last week so Friday was a welcome sight.  So welcome in fact, I think I was falling asleep on the couch by 9:00.  Whoop whoop! Dave watched the Raptors game and we may have watched one other show.

On Saturday morning we headed off to E's last swimming lesson.  He "passed" and gets to register for Preschool 2 for the next session.  He really enjoyed his lessons so we are happy we were able to register for the next session.  If you live in Toronto and have children, you will know about the death match Hunger Games debacle that is the sign up process for recreational programs for the City of Toronto.  The odds were in our favour this time and we got the last spot at a pool near our house on the day we wanted.

The weather took a turn this weekend and we were able to walk down the street to do our errands, on of our favourite Saturday activities.  We also took a trip to Home Depot and then did some stuff around the house.  E took off his "work clothes" and ran around naked for a few minutes.

I went out on Saturday evening for a friend's birthday.  We went to the Mugshot Tavern and then to their place for cake.  It was too bad that both Dave and I could not go out (no babysitter), but it was definitely nice to go out and speak about things other than children for an evening.  Plus it was so warm I walked to the restaurant.

On Sunday afternoon, I took E skiing.  He finished up his lessons last week so since the weather was so nice and we know the snow will soon be gone, we wanted to take him skiing one last time.  I borrowed a harness from our neighbours, and although I think it would have been chaos without it, it was really annoying at the same time.  Hopefully next year when E is older (and hopefully listens more) we can ski without it and he can simply follow us down the hill.   He did really well though and made his turns.

We finished up the weekend by watching the final of the Brier.  We love curling, and were happy with the win by Team Canada (including my favourite Johnny Mo).

International Women's Day

Yesterday was International Women's Day and I wanted to make sure I posted on the topic to mark the day.  Sometimes in Canada (and the United States) we think that we've got everything under control here when it comes to "women's issues/rights" and really this day is to look at women in other parts of the world.  But it is important to remember that women in North America have their own, sometimes desperate, issues of our own.  This goes from casual jokes, comments, and name-calling that are accepted and commonplace to wage inequality to domestic abuse to the disturbing disappearance/murder rate of Native women in Canada.

I'm certainly not trying to take away from the egregious treatment of women in other countries where women are denied education, drivers licences, cross-border travel, and basic safety in general.  Those are big issues that should not be ignored as "other people's problems", but I am urging you to look at our own country and realize that there are things we can do here to improve the lives of women.

I wrote about feminism a few months ago.  As one of my jobs as a parent, I need to raise a person who respects everyone, but I think I have a heightened responsibility to raise a man who respects women.  There is no manual on this, but I am aware of how my actions and attitudes are observed and interpreted by E.  I think sometimes that is all we can do, be aware.  Listen to how things are written, addressed on television and movies, and the media in general.  I have noticed, and I bet you have to, certain "accepted" attitudes toward women and how it seems strange when you really think about it.  Why is there only one female dog on Paw Patrol? Why do toy stores still have signs for "Boy Toys" and "Girl Toys"? Why are girls called "bossy" and boys are almost never called that?

Some further reading on the topic:

My friend Allison's blog posts on International Women's Day - 2014 and 2013

National Post article about a strong women's firm in Toronto.

A call led by Amnesty International Canada for our leaders to debate women's issues in our 2015 federal election.

Friday Favourites

Linking up with Andrea, Erika, and Narci for Friday Favourites.

1. I talked last week about some stuff on my to do list, and one of them is decorating my office.  I picked up a sign at Target last week and then made this other sign. I will put them on my wall but right now they are propped up on my filing cabinet.  These are my favourite things about my office right now.

2. One of our favourite things to do when we are on vacation is pick up a Christmas tree ornament.  Last weekend in Lake Placid we got an Adirondack chair and canoe.

 

3. As much as I've been trying to embrace winter this year, I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my favourite season - spring!  The upcoming forecast is promising, all above zero temperatures (that's Celsius for you Americans!).  By the way, if you live in Toronto, you should follow @JayScotland on Twitter.  He's the meteorologist for CBC and is very informative. #weathernerd

4. Earlier this week I dropped off E's registration papers for elementary school. I may have teared up a bit when I walked into the school.  I loved school growing up, so I hope it will be a favourite for E as well.  He has already started asking when he gets to go to the big school.

5. I am a sucker for most marketing campaigns, meaning I often buy products based solely on their commercials, jingles, colour schemes, characters, etc. This week was no exception. I heard a commercial for Starbucks' new "La Boulange" treats and I pretty much drove directly there and ordered a pain au chocolate (or chocolate croissant as they insist on calling it).  Now, it certainly does not measure up to the pain au chocolate I had in Paris, but it was warmed up and it was pretty good.  Plus I love the pink theme against the Starbucks green - my wedding colours!

(Our wedding cake)

Happy Friday Everyone!!

Chalkboard Wall

In our old house we had a little chalkboard where we wrote down our weekly menu.  We knew we wanted something similar in our new house.  After seeing numerous chalk walls on Pinterest, we decided to try it in our new kitchen.  

We taped off the wall and put up a sheet to try to control the dust.

First step is sanding down the wall to make it as smooth and possible and fix any little blemishes.

We used three coats of magnetic paint, and finished it with two coats of chalkboard paint.

Priming the wall by covering it with chalk.  Then we wiped it off with a wet microfibre cloth.

Aside from being a menu board, it will also provide some entertainment for E.

I'm hoping this will be a good place where he can practice his letters and numbers.  

I am happy with the way it turned out and adds a new decorative and practical element to the kitchen.