Gettin' Older

Well, Happy Tuesday.

A friend recently reminded me that "gettin' older ain't for sissies."

So true.

We've been working hard for the last day or two to put the finishing touches on Sonwun's new bedroom. And we're just about there. Last night he slept in it, all alone, for the first time. To our surprise, he even requested we shut the door.

This is a kid who wanted a night light in the hallway, outside his shared bedroom, only a few months ago.

Oh, but the gettin' older thing. On Sunday, we were finally ready to lay the new laminate floor. It's not that difficult a task, physically or otherwise. Yeah, you gotta bend down and get up a couple hundred times, and run up and down the stairs to the garage to cut pieces down to size. But that's no biggie, right?

Wrong. My legs, my butt, my back . . . all feeling stiff sore and, well, old on Monday. Nevertheless, I managed to get most of the baseboard in place, complaining a lot, before running out to get more. I expect to get it all finished today.

This means that Sonwun now has the Batman dream room he's always wanted. And Sontoo's Cars-themed room is pretty much complete as well. And that means there are only three rooms in the house that are still in some stage of demolition/reconstruction. Not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel just yet.

Oh, and speaking of getting older . . . Tomorrow Sontoo will celebrate is first real birthday and his fourth year on the planet. Yes, a Leap Year baby. A party is planned and it should be a good time.

I was gonna rant a little about Chicken Little Bob Rae and about the Liberals having to deal with one of their people using a House of Commons computer to harass a Conservative Member of Parliament. Boy, gotta suck when you're trying to piss on the other party's ethics and something like this pops up, eh Bob?

Anyhoo, we'll save that for another day.

Have a great Tuesday.

A Day

Another day, another blank page, mocking me.

I'm into another block phase. Not inspired to write. I hate it when this happens.

So, about my day. Spent the morning prepping the ceiling in Sonwun's room for painting. Then I painted it. Exciting stuff huh? Then I cleaned up. Then I checked on the date of Neomom's next doctor's appointment. 

Can you feel the excitement building? I know you're on the edge of your seat. What next, Neodad? Tell us more.

Well, then I tried to find a dry cleaner in Portage La Prairie. Apparently there isn't one. There you go, you learned something from today's blog. 

I cleaned up the kitchen and then, wait for it, I made lunch for Sontoo. I know you're dying to ask, so I'll save you the trouble. It was a pastrami, salami, pepperoni, ham sandwich. He loved it. I just had pastrami. On rye.

After lunch, Sontoo went down for his nap. I tried to follow suit and failed. So, eventually Sontoo woke up, I loaded him into the van and we went to school to pick up Sonwun. Then we came home. Then I put a second coat of paint on Sonwun's ceiling. 

Now I'm wondering what to make for supper.

Have a great day.

The Real Riel

Well, Happy Monday. Or, if you live in Manitoba, Happy Louis Riel Day, I guess.

This has me a little confused. Cause I remember, in Grade 7 or 8, I had to write an essay on Riel and the Red River Rebellion. I got a history book or two from the library and I read them. And then I wrote my essay concluding, based on the books, that the man was an insane traitor who was quite rightly executed for his crimes.

And yet here we are today, celebrating Riel's day and his role as one of Manitoba's Fathers of Confederation. Today, in Manitoba, in some circles anyway, he's a hero.

So what's changed? Is it just geography? Are we still teaching he was an insane traitor in Ontario? Is it politics? I mean, he was Metis and this is Manitoba. Has history itself changed?

I don't know. But I do know it makes me a little uncomfortable. Especially when Sonwun comes home telling me he has the day off school because it's Louis Riel Day. I have to wonder what they're gonna teach HIM at school. Glorious hero or insane traitor? 

Or is there a middle ground? Let's be honest, there's a pretty big gap between the ideals. How could my Grade 8 history books have been so very wrong? Or how screwed up is Manitoba?

I'm no historian. I acknowledge that. I honestly don't care enough to do much research on the topic. I just find it fascinating. I know that "they" say the winners write the history books. Is that what this is about?

Bah. Too much thinking for so early in the morning. Why didn't Manitoba follow suit when everyone decided that February needed a holiday. I mean, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta all agreed to call it Family Day. I like that. I think we can all get behind it and find a way to celebrate it accordingly. 

In Manitoba, especially considering my Ontario education, I have no idea how to celebrate this day. Must be how Muslims feel at Christmas.

So I'll follow the PC route and just say, Happy Holiday!

And Happy Monday!

Great Day!

Okay, that was a great day!

After a week of being cooped up in the house, Mother Nature granted us a beautiful day yesterday; perfect for a trip to the toboggan hill. As usual, I posted our plans on Facebook, hoping we'd get a big ol' party together on the hill.

As usual, the response was not huge. But, as is not usual, we actually did get one family out to share the day with us. And it was AWESOME!

I mean, the boys enjoy tobogganing and all, but after about 20 minutes on the hill yesterday they'd had enough and were ready to head home. It was then that our friends showed up. And with two new kids, close to their own ages to play with, Sonwun and Sontoo got their second wind.

It was so much fun to watch them all sliding and tumbling and crashing and laughing their way down the hill, over and over and over. And this time, the batteries were fully charged in my camcorder so I could catch the action in HD splendour!

We tuckered 'em all out and then headed back to our place for hot chocolate, a good chat, and some quality time with my movie editing program. It's Apple's iMovie and, honestly, it makes me look good. So easy to use. And the clips, when thrown together, with a little Ozzy for background music, looked great. 

Unfortunately, I can't upload it to YouTube with the Ozzy music. Something about copyright, blah, blah, blah. So I had to redo it with some generic muzak, but I still think it looks pretty cool.

Sontoo had one good wipeout on the hill with a friend, but he's fine. Just a little pissed off about getting snow in his face.

Anyhoo, looks like another great weather day here in Portage La Prairie, so we'll probably be heading out for a nice walk on a frozen creek nearby. Oh, and here's yesterday's video. Enjoy!

Tweet

The knives are out of place. The dishwasher's loaded wrong. I slept on a sliver of the bed last night, pushed out by another body and too many pillows.

Yup, Neomom's home! Wouldn't have it any other way.

So I feel pretty good this morning. Even though I really didn't sleep all that well. But the head cold is gone. Well, apparently not gone. It has shifted to Sonwun's nose this morning. He woke up sniffling and coughing. Crap! It's supposed to be a nice day today and it would have been great to go for a nice walk up the creek. 

My cold has kept us in the house all week. And now, with Neomom home, I was really hoping to break out. Well, we'll have to see how it goes.

Why can't we all just get sick at once. Then we can all lie on the couch, sniffle, complain . . . and rest . . . together.

Ah well.

So this morning at about 3 o'clock I was pondering social media. The trigger was a meaningless post I left on Facebook last night. It was a line from The Princess Bride: "Hello! My name is Indigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Honestly, I'm not even sure why I posted it. I guess I liked the movie and thought it was kinda funny. But, to my surprise, a bunch of people responded to it. Didn't realize the movie was that popular.

What struck me was one line, also from the movie, posted by a fellow SAHD from Illinois: "No more ryhming now, I mean it!"

And then a Mom friend, from here in Portage, responded with the next line from the movie: "anybody want a peanut."

I just kinda thought it was cool. Two people who don't know each other, have had no contact of any kind, sharing a laugh over a movie they'd both seen and enjoyed.

And I guess I find it kinda cool because this kind of thing just didn't happen when I was younger. The world was so much smaller.

And, like it or not, this is the world in which my kids will grow up. So I must do my best to stay on top of this stuff - to the best of my ability. I admit, I do not own a smartphone. I do, however, have an iPod with WiFi. Kind of a smartphone lite.

So I've got some of this stuff figured out. But I was recently reminded that I opened a Twitter account a while back. Had forgotten about it. But somebody started "following" me, so I got an email notification. 

I'll be honest. I don't "get" Twitter. Pretty sure I don't know how to use it correctly. But I see some of my younger "friends" on FB (that's how we say Facebook, apparently) who are using it. 

But with FB, and texts, smartphones and all that stuff, where does Twitter fit in? What's the attraction? What's the catch? Is it just so that we can all see what the celebrities are thinking in the morning when they wake up and get a coffee? Or is it just that we are able to tell all of our "followers" that we had a peachy day today, all at once. 

If any of you twitterers want to explain it to me, please feel free. I guess I'm just not one of those guys that can express himself in 140 words or less. Which is why I do the blog thing.

Anyhoo, it's the weekend. Enjoy! I plan to. (Maybe I should Tweet that last line!)

Maturity

Hump Day. Day 3 of single parenting. Day 3 of feeling like crap.

But, in spite of it all, I'm seeing a couple of things that make me smile.

First off, Sonwun. Yesterday he woke up and realized it was Valentine's Day. We'd spent the previous evening filling out little Spiderman Valentine's cards for his classmates. There were five left over from the 28-pack.

One of the first things he did in the morning was disappear into the kitchen and return a few moments later with a Valentine for his little brother. To Nick, From David. That warmed my heart in a big way. 

For the last few years, he's refused to accept, as a friend, his younger brother. Sure, he'll play with him when there's nothing else to do, but he does the eldest sibling thing, ensuring he always wins the games, changes the rules of the games and ends the games when something better comes along. 

For a while, he often said stuff like, "I love mommy and I love daddy and I love Sabra (the dog) and I love Ollie (cat) and I love Paws (cat) and I love Puffy (cat)." 

And that's where it would stop. It broke my heart a little that, even with prompting, he wouldn't add Sontoo to the list. 

But he seems to be coming around. In the past, he would have filled out the first Valentine for me. With a little pushing, he might have grudgingly made one for Sontoo. But Sontoo got the first one yesterday morning and I was the afterthought. I'm good with that.

His maturity level just seems to be soaring these days. This morning, before breakfast, he asked if he could make his own lunch. Between my coughing fits (the latest phase of the plague) I gratefully granted permission. And he did a great job. Ham sandwich, juice, banana and a couple of treats.

After breakfast, he did his chores. Okay, that took a little prompting and then a little reminding. But when he was done making his bed, feeding the dogs and getting his backpack ready for school, (the chores) he cleaned up the front hall (he'd made the mess) and then cleaned up the living room before school. And when it was time to go, he helped his brother zip up his coat. All without being asked.

Guess I better enjoy this stuff while it lasts. And I am enjoying it.

Have a great Wednesday.

Still Sick

Day 2. Head cold still holding strong. Can't taste coffee. Can't taste what I believe was curdled cream in coffee. Gonna be a good day.

Yeah, Neomom's still in Dauphin. She's struggling with the same head cold, but she's a day or two ahead of me. I can't wait until she starts to feel better. It will turn on the light at the end of my tunnel. 

The boys are behaving fairly well so far. Probably the fear of poking the angry, sick bear that is hiding in the basement. Whatever works.

So, on top of the snot fest that has invaded my face, and the fact that I'm single parenting for a week, it's I Love to Read Week at Sonwun's school. And that means, in my Nyquil-hazed, tasteless, hearing-impaired state, I must remember the daily activities associated with this little festival, and remember to prepare Sonwun each morning.

Last night, we filled out the Valentine's Day cards. And if I wasn't so tired, I'd rant on about getting children started on their Hallmark-inspired addiction to meaningless paper sentiment. ("Swinging By With A Valentine Hi!" *picture of Spiderman*) But I am too tired.

I think they're also going on a hayride today, weather permitting. (Short pause and sound of Dad checking weather) And the forecast says +3 today. Looks like the hayride's a go. I think they said they'd have to call it off it the temp hit -27C. Good to have standards.

Oh, that reminds me. He's supposed to wear red today. Note to self. Find red stuff.

Well, 6:06 a.m. and Sontoo is up. 

"You know what I want to do this day Daddy?"

"No."

"I wanna go on a roller coaster ride."

What a sense of humour this kid has.

Well, that means I gotta start the day. Gonna be another long one.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Snork

So, Neomom took off yesterday. Five days in Dauphin for some training course thingy.

But she left us a little gift on the way out: a lovely head cold . . . for all of us to share. 

So far, I'm the only one enjoying the free-flowing phlegm, plugged ears, desire to sleep for 10 years and dead taste buds. And I'm hoping it stays that way. Not the disease, the fact that I'm the only one with it.

Last night I fed the boys leftover spaghetti, made with my hydroponic basil and oregano!! I wanted to make myself a nice cucumber, tomato, red onion salad with more of my basil. But I would have had to empty the dishwasher, and cut stuff up, and pour stuff in. Too much work for something I wouldn't taste anyway. Maybe today if all goes well. 

I do love this salad. I throw in a little olive oil and rice wine vinegar, salt, pepper . . . good to go. Delicious! When you can taste it.

Anyhoo, not motivated much this morning. To write, or to do much beyond fall on the couch. So I'm gonna keep it short. Must stock up on hot dogs and Kraft Dinner. Boys won't eat much beyond that anyway. Maybe some bananas and apples, for the vitamins. And maybe some chicken wings. The boys don't like them, but when you've got a head cold, there's nothing like hot sauce to clear things up.

Have a great Monday. 

Life goes on

You know, the older I get, the less amused I am by the whole celebrity thing. Especially at times like this.

Whitney Houston died. Hmm. Speculation as to why runs rampant . . . well, not really. Everything I've read seems to indicate that everyone writing about it has already seen an autopsy report. Pretty sure they haven't.

You know, I don't wanna piss on her grave. Why would I? I didn't know her. No idea who she really was. I liked a couple of her songs in the 80s. Enjoyed the movie The Bodyguard. Beyond that, she means nothing to me. I won't miss her, I'm not feeling any personal loss here.

But as I read around the blogosphere, I am amazed at how many people seem to think Houston was their best friend. Tributes to her amazing voice and talent and how a light has gone out, a candle has been extinguished. Blah, blah, blah.

Yeah, she had a nice voice, as do thousands, probably millions of unknown people in North America and around the world. But she had something they didn't. Celebrity. And, I'm sorry, in this day and age, celebrity does not necessarily mean that you've got more talent than the other thousand that didn't get the publicity.

Celebrity means you look good, or can be made to look good. Celebrity means you've got a PR machine working full time for you, to keep you in the public eye, to trumpet your success, your brilliance, your white teeth, your spectacular (and well paid for) fashion sense. Celebrity means, at its peak, the PR machine works to bury any negative, to retouch the photos, to burn the arrest report - unless of course the arrest report can work in your favour.

But celebrity is a cruel bitch. When your star starts to fade a little, the same mechanism that had you walking on water will do it's best to drown you in the same pool. The photos may still be retouched, but now they show you without makeup, at the bar a little bleary-eyed, wearing a few extra (normal) pounds and wearing an off-the-rack sweatsuit. (Gasp!)

And this crap is about as real as the original complimentary crap. Believe it or not, it's the same person.

But it's all headed downhill now. And, try as you might to stay with the in crowd, it just ain't happening. You just end up looking pathetic on Celebrity Apprentice with the other C-listers, desperately trying to hold on to an ounce of notability. 

The smarter ones, it seems, go underground for a while. Get out of the public eye. Head to rehab (the one without cameras).

And then, when you're all but forgotten, you go for the comeback. Maybe you can land a spot as a judge on one of those star-maker television shows. And here, you can help find the innocent, starry-eyed folks who are talented enough and, more importantly, good looking enough, to warrant a ride on the celebrity train. You can feed the grist mill that chewed you up and spit you out. You can get them started on their over-inflated egos, train them to believe the press releases and get them into the best restaurants and clubs. Cause that's where all the quality people are!

The circle of celebrity life.

Well, look at me. I'm doing the same thing as those other bloggers. Blathering on about something that I, honestly, know nothing about. I've never been a celebrity, never been anywhere near Hollywood. (New Orleans is about as close as I've been). And no one has EVER asked ME who I'm wearing.

But I guess I've watched the news, watched the movies, listened to the music and hey, as a stay-at-home Dad, I've read the headlines and seen the pictures at the grocery store check-out. In my more than 40 years on the planet, I've seen many come and go. Most fade away, and a few die by misadventure. The misadventure, it seems, gets the big headlines, warranted or not.

Whitney Houston is dead. Life goes on. And, give it a minute or two, a fresh new face will be on the scene with a voice like an angel, perfect teeth, perfect clothes, a perfect life. And then, give it a minute or two . . . 

Happy Weekend!

And the winner of the Best Belching Scene EVER in an Animated Children's Movie is . . . envelope please . . . Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius. ( APPLAUSE  APPLAUSE ).

Watched this little gem last night with the boys on Netflix. Sonwun, the elder, loved it from end to end. Sontoo, the younger, found it briefly "boyring" (still having a little trouble with the Rs) in the middle but found new interest toward the ending. 

If you've got kids in the 4-6 age group, I recommend this one. Without being a spoiler, it's about boy genius Jimmy Neutron, who sends a message into space. Evil aliens get said message, kidnap all the parents and it's up to Neutron and his friends to track them down, all while discovering and conquering their insecurities and relationship issues. But it's cute and the message is well disguised.

And the tacked-on belching scene, at the end, when Jimmy's parents accidentally consume his burp-guaranteed soda invention, had my minions in stitches.

So, Happy Weekend. Seems like a pretty good Saturday already.

Went to make Neomom's lunch this morning. Grabbed my home-made bread and went for my Henckel bread knife. You know where it was?? Middle slot, on the left, in the top block. EXACTLY where it was supposed to be. You know it's gonna be a good day when . . .

Discovered something strange though. Didn't know this about myself. But I'm pretty sure I've been making sandwiches the same way for about 40 years. 

See, after I laid out the bread, butt-end to butt-end, as is my way, I buttered the piece on the right side. But it occurred to me that I was making a ham sandwich and the mayo was supposed to go on the right. Butter on the left. No problem, said I, I'll just do it backwards. Honestly, my hands got confused. They were just not accustomed to doing it this way and they, all by themselves, started rotating the cutting board in an attempt to make things right in the universe once again.

But I wouldn't let them. I was becoming aware of the situation and I wanted to make the sandwich backwards. No, I don't know why. I just did. 

This really isn't going anywhere, I just found it weird. In the end I made the sandwich backwards, just to prove I could. I must remember to ask Neomom if it tasted any different.

Anyhoo, I have a lot of plans for this day and should really get started. The boys are getting pancakes for breakfast. As I type this, Sonwun is standing beside me reading along. He just realized he's getting pancakes for breakfast and he's pretty excited about it. So I'd better get started.

Have a great day!

Trash Talkin' Boo

It's not enough to win. You gotta hammer it home with a little trash talk.

So sayeth Sontoo.

Had a lot of work to do Thursday; shopping, bread making, room painting. And Neomom had some painting of her own to do. And, after Sonwun's departure for school, that left Sontoo to fend for himself. To his credit, he spent some time with conventional toys in the morning, before succumbing to Mario's beckoning from the Wii.

The game du jour is MarioParty 8 - a recent acquisition. I like it. It's simple enough that Sontoo can play, it's interesting enough to keep Sonwun entertained and you can play one through four players at a time. Nice.

But as with everything in an almost-four-year-old's life, he offers a running commentary as he plays. If no one is in the room, he'll find you to report on his progress. Or he'll just yell loud enough that everyone in the house can hear.

"Daaaadaaa . . . It's mini game time!"

"Daaaadaaa . . . that plant is bad, because that plant ate me!"

"Daaaadaaa, I'm mad at Peach, cause she won this battle!"

"I'm zappin' Peach. (Maniacal laughter) That was funny!"

"Daaadaa . . . Boo and Yoshi are getting chased away by Big King Boo!"

I guess you have to have played some of the Mario games to appreciate the names.

In any case, Sontoo, who uses the Luigi character whenever he plays, seems to have decided that Boo is his nemesis on this particular day. He is upset when Boo wins and overjoyed when he defeats him.

"Too bad Boo-Boo Head!"

Yeah, the trash talk needs a little work.

Two ways to do things . . .

Neomom's back to work tomorrow. After a mini-vacation of 12 days.

It's been nice. We've gone tobogganing, skating, walking . . . a lot of the stuff that we just don't get to do, as a family, all that often. We need to remember to make time for this stuff on the regular days off.

But, you know, as a stay-at-home dad, I gotta say having her home full time throws my schedule and routine off, just a little. (It's okay, I told her this already).

I'm not complaining, really, but there's just some stuff she does . . . that's not the right way. Meaning, of course, not my way.

She doesn't know, for example, how to load a dishwasher. She puts the glasses in the wrong places, the plates in the wrong spots, and don't even get me started on the coffee mugs. And I'm not being anal here. I've loaded the thing so many times that I know how it all fits together. If you put the plates near the back, the pots don't fit. If the glasses are in the centre on top, the bowls don't fit. 

She's the same way with grocery carts. There are two ways to fill a cart. My way and the wrong way. When she joins me on a shopping trip, she not only ignores my well-thought-out list, she spends way to much time pondering which pasta sauce to get, which bacon is best and which crackers to buy. I know this stuff, I have a list and I buy what's on sale. Easy.

And, when loading the cart, you must keep in mind things like the fact that the milk is at the back of the store. You must leave a milk-sized space in the cart, or you will be reorganizing everything in front of the cooler in the dairy section. 

You gotta keep the fruit and veggies (which are at the front of the store) stacked up a little so that you're not putting the large peanut butter or the laundry detergent on top of them. Grocery cart space management. It's my life.

And finally, but most importantly, know where my knives go. In the past few weeks, my knives have been re-organized twice. This is not a good thing. There are three blocks - two for the cheap knives and one for my Henckels. Don't mess with this.

The cheap knives were earned by saving little stamps at the grocery store. They're okay, but they are not my good knives. They don't deserve the same status as the Henckels and they CERTAINLY don't belong in the Henckel block. I mean really!

Oh, and the KitchenAid Santoku knife? It falls somewhere between the two others. I like it more than the cheap stuff, but my favourite knife is the Henckel chef's knife. Always will be. Don't mess with it.

As such, the Santoku has earned the top spot in the cheap knife block, closest to the Henckels, above the lesser stamp knives.

It's all very simple. And if she'd just take the time to study my systems, instead of vacuuming the stuff I missed, dusting the stuff I didn't dust and reorganizing all the stuff that doesn't matter, my world would make more sense. And, most importantly, all my knives would be exactly where they should be when I need them.

Have a great Thursday.

Pull Off to Drop Off

Wednesday . . . morning.

Was up for about a half hour before the boys crawled out of bed. It's now 6:25. Coffee in hand. Blend of regular stuff with some French vanilla. Cream only. Extra large mug.

Fire up the iMac.

Poke John. Poke Gail. It's just what we do. Read comments on comments.

One message of blog encouragement - thanks Kim. One and a half of chastisement/encouragement - sorry Heather, sorry Justin.

Boys begin fighting over how to use the coffee table in the living room. Sonwun is feeling motivated. He's off to get dressed for school. Sontoo apparently won the coffee table battle and is playing his toy piano and singing and dancing. Too loud. But cute.

Okay, brain starting to work. I've been wanted to talk about the school parking lot for a while. It drives me nuts on a daily basis. It's too small and some people just refuse to follow the rules. Now, I remind myself a little of Michael Keaton here, in the Mr. Mom movie of the 80s.

(Quick aside here. I belong to an on-line community of Stay-at-home Dads. Pretty sure I've mentioned it before. Anyhoo, there are many of them who despise the term Mr. Mom. Personally, doesn't bother me. And I liked the movie.)

In the movie, Keaton loses his job and becomes a SAHD. In the beginning, as he struggles with the new role, he causes problems in the school drop-off zone because he just doesn't understand the rules. By the end of the movie, after his transformation into "Mr. Mom" he's the one with the stop sign, directing others in the proper parking procedure. (There's more to the movie, of course, but this is somehow relevant to me this morning).

Okay, cool, just found the video:

Now, parking lot at Sonwun's school. It's basically a three-lane loop. The PROPER procedure is for cars to enter the lot, pull either to the left or right (leaving centre lane of loop open) and drop off the kids. Then pull back into centre lane to drive around and exit. Pull off to drop off. Pretty simple.

See, this way, we don't all have to wait while each car stops in the centre lane to drop off the kids. There is simple logic here. But, every morning, after I pull over and boot Sonwun from the manly mini-van, I pull back into the centre lane, only to find three cars stopped while the kids unload back-packs, sleds and lunches; struggle with doors and kiss their parents good-bye.

This slows the rest of us down and has a tendency to back the traffic up right to the street, making entrance and exit dangerous and difficult. I realize it's a small thing, but it pisses me off. It chips away a small piece of my sanity each morning. And I don't have much to spare.

I think this morning, when I take Sonwun in, I'll bring my video camera. After all, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a video . . .

Okay, it's now 9:03 a.m. Took the video camera in the manly mini-van to drop Sonwun off at school. And, as Murphy would have it, everyone followed the rules. So just forget it.

Okay, only a thousand more words to go: Hydroponics day 22.

Have a great Wednesday!

I blew it

Okay, it's official. I blew it.

My 90 blogs in 90 days took a dump at Day 36. Bummer. Really thought I'd pull it off. And you know what else? I bought a loaf of bread for the first time this year. Didn't make my own. Wow, big failures all around.

Oh well. It's Tuesday. And I have a new culinary quest: fish and chips. We bought some halibut recently and last night tried a batter recipe that, well, didn't cut it. I mean, I love fish and chips . . . if done correctly. I don't think I'm alone in this, but "when I was growing up, there was this place . . ." near our house. Mr. Chips and his Fish, I think it was. Maybe it was Mr. Fish and his Chips. Whatever. They had a giant deep fryer that ran full-tilt on Friday nights. They wrapped the product in newspaper and it was a treat every time we had it.

I want to find a way to recreate that. It's not easy. Those countertop deep fryers you can buy just don't hold the heat. And the amount of oil needed in a stove-top pot makes things too expensive to be worth it on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, I have not located any quality fish and chips here in Portage La Praire. Most places have it on the menu, but I haven't found one I love. Maybe I need to open a take-out place. But first I need a good batter recipe.

If any of you are fans of fish and chips, and cook your own, and have a great recipe, please share. Would love to try it.

Other than that, not much to tell you. I will attempt to continue here and do 89 blog posts in 90 days, or 90 in 91. We'll see. The key is the morning. Must do it in the morning. Lacking motivation and inspiration later in the day. 

Have a great Tuesday.

Superbowl!

Okay, gonna be pretty short, but not as bad a last night.

Superbowl. I wanted the Giants to win, and they did. Yay for me. Reason is, I had several key players in my fantasy football league play a big part on the Giant offence. I had Manning as my backup QB (hey, I had Aaron Rodgers too!). I also had Hakeem Nicks and Ahmad Bradshaw. So I kinda had to go with the Giants.

Now then, let's talk about the important stuff. First off, commercials. My favourite, far and away, was the Kia Optima spot. If you didn't see it, here it is:

I like it because it promised all the sex and rock and roll of the others, but threw in a twist that I loved.

Second and third place were close. It was between the 2102 Chevy Apocalypse and the Audi Vampires. 

The Apocalypse takes it, for me, because the Audi was touting their headlights. All that for headlights? Really?

On a side note: Coke, you guys gotta let the Polar Bears go. Old and tired and really not all that amusing or even interesting,

And finally, speaking of old and tired, the halftime show. Gotta say it provided much more style than substance. But it was, I'll call it "watchable" because the style was really well done. The substance, Madonna and friends, just seemed tired on so many levels. Sorry Madonna, but you kinda looked your age. Pretty slow. But the tightrope guy was pretty cool.

Anyhow, that's all I've got for tonight. Hope y'all enjoyed the game. I did.

Have a great week!

Chears!

Oh crap. Forgot again. Dromlomng mpw/ 

Must write bettered tomorrow. Chears!

The Sky is Falling!

The sky is falling, the sky is falling. Elderly people are going to be fighting dogs for scraps in the streets, while the rest of us live large! Run, run!!

Good lord. The Conservative government is saying Canada's Old Age Security system needs some work. And, if you believe the NDP and Liberals, it will mean mass starvation, forced euthanasia and soylent green on every retirement home menu.

So far, I can't find too many details on the Conservative plan to reform the OAS pension. I do find plenty of speculation by Chicken Little Rae and his friends, but very little concrete. But hey, why should lack of facts stop the opposition parties from criticizing and projecting doom, death and destruction.

The Conservatives are saying, simply, that the pension plan, in its current form, will not be sustainable as the Baby Boomers move more and more into retirement. I think we've all heard this, in one form or another before. Very soon there will be more people in the collect-it age, and less in the pay-for-it age, than at any point in Canadian history.

So do we bury our heads in the sand and adopt the attitude that everything is sustainable? I mean, if you're willing to go deeper and deeper into deficit and debt, the answer is a clear, "yes!" Personally, I say no.

I was speaking to what I will call an "average" senior citizen about 15 years ago. He had worked all his life, received a good pension, owned his home and was looking forward to seeing more of the world in his retirement. He laughed when he told me he'd qualify for the OAS soon. Didn't need it, he said, but he'd take it. Why turn it down?

Now, I'm not saying every senior is in an equally solid position. There are those in a better position, and those in worse. In its current form, OAS pays those 65 or older, with a net income of $69,562 or less, the maximum of $540.12 per month. It scales down as income increases, up to those with a net income over $112,772, who get nothing.

Considering that those of us who are working full time these days, with significantly less-impressive and less-available pension plans, are doing pretty well if we net $69,562, while paying mortgages and child-care costs, do ALL of the seniors making this amount really need that extra $6,000 a year from the public purse?

I'm gonna say no. I'm gonna say there's room for reform here. But, as is typical in our stupid system of government, if those in power suggest black, those in opposition say white. Those in power say reform, those in opposition say it will kill us all. Well, not all of us, usually, as is the case here, it will kill "the most vulnerable people in our society." (Insert hysterical Maude Flanders: Think about the Children!!)

As though everyone 65 and older is crawling through life, begging for food and in need of constant supervision, diaper changes and feeding.

Support should and must be there for seniors who need it. But not everyone who is getting it, needs it. There is room for some tinkering here. And, so far, that's all the Conservatives have said. Why is that so wrong?

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” 

- Aboriginal Proverb

Stars Aligned

When I first entered the working world, with a part-time job at a gas station, I loved shift work.

I loved being awake, and a part of the world, when most others were sleeping. I loved seeing what went on during the hours I slept for the first 16 years of my life. It was pretty cool!

Now, not so much a fan. Neomom works shift work. She doesn't like it either. She's not a fan of sleeping during the day, and switching back and forth every few days.

I don't like it because we don't enjoy the "rut" that everyone else seems to, you know, work 9-5, Monday to Friday, every evening and weekend off. It's not just the working spouse that works shift work, the stay-at-home spouse does too. So do the kids, in a way.

Neomom's not home for supper every night. She's not here for breakfast every morning. She doesn't get to tuck the kids in every night. And she does not get to enjoy every weekend when Sonwun is home all day long.

But every once in a while, the stars align and we get to enjoy it all. And this week it started, as these things often do, with an uncontrolled discharge of raw sewage into the school basement.

Neomom had just finished three night shifts and had enjoyed a full day to recover. And Tuesday morning we got the call from the school. Cancelled. Day off. Two stars aligned.

No one in the house was sick, mom was off, Sonwun was off and, believe it or not, the weather was beautiful.

On Tuesday, we hit the toboggan hill in the morning, enjoyed a leisurely nap in the afternoon, and then Neomom and Sonwun enjoyed a "date night," consisting of dinner out, a new toboggan and lots of time to talk, one-to-one. Good stuff. (Sontoo and I enjoyed hot dogs and Cars 2).

On Wednesday, the poo problem continued at the school, giving us a second day to toboggan, skate at a local outdoor rink and enjoy a fine dinner of greasy bird bits, courtesy of the Colonel. 

I had every intention of getting some great video footage of the family tobogganing at Garbage Hill yesterday. But after a quick "establishing shot" of the hill, and a recording a run by Neomom and myself, the battery died before we could tape the boys enjoying themselves. The only star that failed to align.

But I'm not complaining. We've had an awesome couple of days together.

Sonwun returns to school this morning, and life returns to our version of normal. 

So here's the video: I added some music and a cool title page to make up for the lack of good footage. Have a great Thursday!

Garbage Hill

Wednesday . . .

Another day off for Sonwun. Got a call last night from the school's phone tree. Seems it wasn't a broken water main, as was reported to me yesterday. Seems the sewer backed up in the basement of the school. That can't be good. It also explains the "honey wagon" I saw parked there yesterday.

So I've been told we have today, and maybe tomorrow as well, with Sonwun at home. Sounds like another toboggan day to me!

We went yesterday to what is affectionately called "garbage hill" here in Portage La Prairie. I'm told it's an old dump. But it's a great toboggan hill. It even has a couple of large lights installed for night-time sliding. Cool! And so much better than the ditch in the front yard.

So last night I put out a Facebook call for my friends in Portage, who have kids at the same school, to join us on Garbage Hill again today. Hoping for a good turnout! Plan to bring the video camera today to capture some of the fun. If I'm successful, I'll try to post some of it here so that you too can experience the joy that is Garbage Hill of Portage La Prairie!

In other news, my hydroponic experiment continues to flourish (but not flounce). All of the seed pods have sprouted, but thyme and basil remain in the lead. Dill is way behind and oregano has a good start. (I mislabeled the last photo, calling the thyme oregano. I know this news probably changes your view of the world this morning. Sorry about that.

And finally, I'm one full month into my 90-day, blog-a-day commitment. For the most part, I'm proud of myself. But I have posted a few filler pieces. Not proud of those.

And so far, this year, I've had readers from 11 different countries, believe it or not. My analytics program tells me my blog has been visited by people in Canada, U.S., Brazil, United Kingdom, Cayman Islands (Hi Steve!), Germany, France, India (hmmm), Italy, Netherlands and Russia.

In total, I've had 449 visits. Each visitor has viewed an average of 2.34 pages and spent two minutes and 30 seconds doing so. Most of you use Internet Explorer to browse, with Google Chrome coming in second, followed by Safari, Firefox and Opera. Three visits came through and Android Browser.

I could go on, but it gets a little monotonous. 

So I won't. 

Have a great Hump Day. Celebrate as you see fit.