I'm Not a Geek!

20% Geek

Surprise! Well, I had my suspicions. I know that I'm not very geeky.

Adventures in Babysitting

Child care has been ... varied since I returned to work in August. We found a nice lady nearby for 3 weeks and then their Aunt Eiryn came to watch them for about a month. I think that they had fun. Erin also likes to take photos... and who can resist wonderful photos of the boys?



Yes, Anders is peeking through luncheon meat - the kind with macaroni and cheese in it. I didn't buy it - it was leftover from Isabelle's reception.





Be prepared. The following photos may cause heart palpitations. That was my reaction when I walked in.

Where to Start?

How do you catch up on 2 months of happenings at the Jakob household?
Konrad loved playing soccer this summer. He loved to be a goalie and LOVED scoring goals. It was a lot of fun. During their 'Family Fun' year-end tournament, Konrad quickly abandoned his position on the field when he saw a parent eating rice chips. He darted straight for the bag and begged a snack. One boy on his team professed his love on the field. He kissed one of the girls on the team and then ran victory laps. They also made 'grass angels'. It was a fun day.


AND my boy started school. He was nervous about getting on the bus alone but I advised him to grab onto the railing and walk up the stairs. Everything else would be fine. I guess it went fine because he has loved the past month of school.

Konrad is a very social boy. Our neighbours know him well. If he sees Ben, the boy across the street, he yells out from the house, 'Ben! Ben! Ben!...' (and so on) until Konrad can make his way outside. If Konrad sees our neighbour Fritz, he shouts, 'Fritz! Fritz! Fritz!'. Konrad will go to the fence daily and negotiate with Fritz for his daily vegetable ration. Konrad has managed to receive 4 cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots and rhubarb.

One day, Konrad was inside the house doing what boys do... when he spotted Fritz walking down the road. Fritz does a daily walk down to the mailbox at around 3:30. Konrad ran outside to greet him but was too late. I suggested to Konrad that he talk to Fritz when he returns from the mailbox. Konrad flipped the recycling bin over and waited......




If you look closely enough, Fritz is in the distance returning from the mailbox. My son is social ... and tenacious.

He's Got Wheels...Two of Them.

Can you believe it? Konrad is riding a bike without training wheels. He's already been on hour-long bike rides since then. He was so excited... can you see the smile on his face? There never was a prouder boy than Konrad.

Anders Birthday! (from July 18th - A delayed post)

Anders birthday was in July but I hadn't downloaded the photos until yesterday. Anders turned two and we spent a day at the Toronto Metro Zoo. Isn't that what every family does in the summer? The kids had a blast.


















Anders loves animals right now. He's all about the animals. Elephants are one of his very favourite animals so we had to take a photo!

























I was getting a few requests for proof that I had actually made the most amazing raspberry lemon cream cake ever. Here it is. The cake that I will never make again.




And the end to a great birthday for a 2 year old - swimming with Grandpa Jakob. It was a great day.

Jakob-Binch Family Reunion in Elk Lake

I know that I have a lot of other things to catch up on BUT I actually have photos for this event so I will document it. We arrived Thursday night with two large bass in our cooler. Yum-yum. Eric's Uncle Karl and Aunt Patsy hosted the reunion at their home in Elk Lake. Nearby, at their local landfill site, the bears feast on garbage. Sometimes there are more than 8 bears. I think it's sad but the bears are particularly hungry this year since the blueberries aren't as plentiful. Anders and Konrad had so much fun. There was a trampoline, lots of fishing, boat rides, fireworks and lots of cousins to play with. I should probably explain Eric's family to those of you whom do not belong to the clan. Grandma Christa Binch came to Canada from Germany with Eric Jakob and had Eleanor, Karl, Klaus, Martin, and Erica. After her husband died, she remarried Henry Binch. Then she had more children - Wally, Johnny and Ray. That's a lot of kids and there are MANY grandchildren who have followed. There's much more to this story and I am new in the Jakob clan so I don't know a part of it.



This is a photo of Grandma Binch at the beach with the family. She loves the water.




Here's Uncle Martin with their new speedboat. It was a lot of fun EXCEPT when you tried to speak to someone next you. The spit and drool would then fly out of your mouth. Speed.



Here's a great photo of some of Grandma Binch's grandchildren and great-grandchildren.






We had a great time. Eric and I took the boys out fishing Saturday evening and we caught several small perch, pickerel and pike. The kids were pretty excited about that. I read a short history of Elk Lake and it was very interesting. Ojibway peoples claim that there were elk and caribou here. There is a long history of mining silver and logging. There was a notable logging baron, J.R. Booth . He logged the Montreal River and sent the logs downstream toward Lake Temiskaming, then the Ottawa River. His lumber mills were in Ottawa. Like many small towns in northern Ontario, Elk Lake was once a hubbub of activity when mining was at its peak. I can vouch for the fact that it's pretty sleepy these days.

Happy Birthday Anders!

Unfortunately, I can only give a written account of this past week's festivities as Eric has ALL of the photos. Sorry! What fun is a blog entry without photos?

Last week we went to the Toronto Metro Zoo to celebrate Anders' second birthday. We had lots of fun and the boys particularly enjoyed the seal, elephants, hippos and giraffes. Afterwards, we had dinner at the Chaggares home in Newmarket. It was nice to see Jen. She's due to have a baby in a week or so but she is oh-so-lucky. Her belly is probably less than half the size of mine towards the end. Ah well.

We also enjoyed a couple days at Grandpa and Grandma Jakob's home. I spent 4 hours making a birthday cake. It was a Raspberry Lemon Cream Cake - absolutely delicious. The eggs needed to be whipped for 10 minutes, bake the cake for an hour, prepare the cream on the stove for 20 minutes, cool for an hour, then mix the cream with whipped cream and assemble the cake. THEN it was supposed to set for 4 hours in the fridge. I will never make this cake again.

During our road trip back home on Thursday, we raced the monsoon blowing in from the west. We stopped at several warehouses to visit Eric's clients (actually, we were in the car while Eric visited), ate lunch at Frankie Tomato's and visited Viceroy Homes in Port Hope. Meanwhile, the monsoon was gaining ground on us. In Port Hope, it overtook us and due to a pit stop in Kingston we didn't regain the lead until we were nearly in Ottawa. Ah well. It rained for a good 24 hours on Friday anyway.

A Delayed Tag ... But I'm not Passing it On.

Places I worked...
1. Babysitter Extraordinaire
2. Chinchilla Farm
3. McDonald's
4. The Arthritis Society

Movies I can watch over and over...
1. I do like Pride and Prejudice...
2. I
3. don't
4. know.

Places I've lived...
1. Codrington
2. Toronto
3. Hamilton
4. Ottawa

Favourite TV shows...
1. So You Think You Can Dance!
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Lost
4. The Office

Places I've been...
1. St. Charles bridge in Prague
2. bull fight in Nimes
3. cabin on Galliano Island
4. green, leather couch in a hostel in Utah.

Favourite foods...
1. sushi
2. good salads
3. fresh veggies and berries
4. chocolate.

Majors I've considered...
1. law
2. engineering
3. international development
4. peace and conflict studies

Places I'd rather be...
1. asleep in my bed
2. in a clean house
3. in my garden
4. Morocco

There! I don't think this information is very revealing, though. Random information that most people would guess to be true anyway. I won't be challenging anyone to do this. I make it a point to NEVER forward chain emails... or anything like that. Instead of bringing bad luck on myself, I feel I am improving the world by de-cluttering e-mail inboxes.

Does God Live Further Than Space?

I haven't done the 'Question from Konrad' segment for many months. Here's another question from the mouth of Konrad. Does God Live Farther Than Space? and within the same breath, he told me that God's mother is older than him. This kid is intense! I do know some things but - how do you explain the precise domicile of God without making some part up? And how much can a 4 year old really grasp? Obviously a lot.

The French Conclusion...Really.

And THEN we rented a car in Monaco and drove all over France. Really. We drove to Bourges (where the cleanest public toilets were - the smell of bleach was strong and it was super-clean), visited some Chateaux Chambord

and Chenonceau,

then drove to LeMans to stay for the night. THEN we drove to Mont St-Michel,

visited the monastery,

drove to Caen and stayed for the night. THEN we visited Juno Beach Centre along the Normandy Beaches. That's where we lost Eric's camera - very sad. Thank goodness we didn't lose many pictures. From Normandy, we drove to Paris in record time. The speed limit is 130 km/h and we were pushing it to make the deadline to hand in our rental car at Place des Invalides in Paris. Anyone who knows where Place des Invalides is, knows that we also had to drive through Paris. If we were in the Amazing Race, we would've come in first place. With Jessica's directions and my driving, we made it on time. I was actually quite proud of myself - I drove like a true Parisienne. It was a fun challenge. We spent the weekend with Sister Janet Stone who was the most hospitable hostess. We truly felt like we were at home. We shopped for... 6 or 7 hours. I bought some nice shoes. We went on a touristy boat ride and took lots of funny pictures of other tourists falling asleep.



We had lots of fun, lots of good food and lots of good memories. Thanks Jessica for being a great travel partner. I appreciated your calm when I had a few moments of anxiety (ie. lost camera, lost Bed and Breakfast in Bourges). And then I came home and was in a car accident within half an hour. Bummer.

France Part II

I ended the last entry in Avignon, a nice city. We attended an interesting event Friday night - a bull fight in a Roman coliseum where gladiators fought to the death. I was expecting to leave quickly after the first bullfight (is it one word or two?) BUT I came to appreciate it for what it is. I don't know very much about the history of bullfighting but there is a lot of tradition and pageantry. I was reminded that this tradition originated in a day when life was dirty and nasty. People died all the time simply because they didn't brush their teeth.. (abcesses...) Anyway, if we were to imagine ourselves ranching in a hot, dry place 200 years ago, perhaps a bullfight held significance other than what we may consider today. It was actually interesting. The crowd loved the second ranked bullfighter in the region (or perhaps the world, for all I know). People were wildly jumping with excitement during the 'fight' and threw shirts, hats, flowers and other varied objects into the ring. I noticed a system - if the audience was happy with the round they waved white handkerchiefs. When people were unhappy about the bull suffering or whatever, they'd whistle and yell.



The next stop was Marseille. We visited Notre Dame de la Garde on the highest point in the city.



Everywhere we went, there were celebrations and parties. Feria Whitsuntide in Nimes, league title soccer match in Marseille, Grand Prix in Monaco, D-Day Anniversary in Normandy (well, we were a couple days early) and the French Open in Paris. It made finding accomodation difficult. In Marseille, we were lucky to get the last 2 rooms in a hotel downtown for a reasonable price since our previous B&B hostess (Andree Roustan) knew the hotel's owner's parents. (Did that make sense to you?) The rooms were small - not much bigger than my bathroom. BUT at least we had a place to stay. For the second time, I could not visit Chateau D'If off the coast of Marseille. It was too windy. How many times do I need to visit Marseille before I can actually get to this island? Chateau D'If was a place to hold prisoners - The Count of Monte Cristo was written/supposed to be there. I did do something in Marseille that I'd missed out on last time - eating bouillabaise. Here it is -



YUMMY!!!

Next stop was ... Menton. Menton is past Monaco-Monte Carlo but just before the Italian border. It is a beautiful town without as many of the flashy cars. The first night, our waiter actually poured us shots. After much protesting, I challenged him to drink it (I wasn't going to). We went to an Italian restaurant the second night and I had the best gnocchi of my life!!! After eating it, I wondered why we hadn't thought of making time to take a train into Italy for a day. Ah well, another time. Menton was beautiful, though. Monaco was good too.





Ok. That's all I can write tonight. Thanks to Grandpa Jakob for stopping by tonight to eat ice cream. Happy Father's Day to my dad. I don't have his new phone number yet which probably sounds horrible but it isn't really. Oh - and for those who heard of my plight in the garden (well, one of many), I don't think that I have marijuana growing after all. I'm not sure whether it will end up being cherry tomatoes but at least I'm not raising illegal cash crops in my back yard.

France, In Retrospect

So, here's a rundown. I travelled with a friend of mine, Jessica Lee Wen. We actually travelled really well together and are still good friends. We flew into Paris on separate flights, met up, and travelled by train to visit with Angelina Luigi Booth's family in Castelnau Montratier (near Cahors, near Toulouse). Jessica got a kick out of the idea that you need to PAY to use the toilets in Europe. We arrived in Cahors where Henri (Angelina's mom's boyfriend) came to pick us up. They live in a beautiful part of France, surrounded by forest and farms. We had a great meal at their home - charcuterie, pate and cheese.

We spent the next day lazing about and eating great food. I loved the fresh cherries everywhere. Eric would've been in heaven, picking fresh fruit from the trees and eating it. We had such a feast that night. More family came bringing quiche, more homemade pate and we contributed with a flan and tarte aux pommes for dessert. We left the table at 11:30pm.



We travelled to Nimes and Avignon the next day (Thursday). We stayed at a fabulous Bed and Breakfast 'Beaupertuis' where Andree Roustan welcomed us and helped us plan some of our trip. On Friday, we explored more of Avignon. It's a beautiful city. We toured the Palais des Papes and the Pont Benezet (or more commonly known 'Pont d'Avignon'). We danced on the bridge at the request of Jessica's kids. We danced and we sang... I felt a bid self-conscious but we did it.

Welcome Home!

For those who are anticipating fabulous pictures or stories of the food in France, you'll be waiting. After travelling for a loooong time on Monday, I finally made it home to the Ottawa airport. On the drive home, we were in a car accident. The kids were fine, Eric was fine. I was turned looking at the kids when Eric slammed on the brakes so I have some soreness and bruising across the neck, chest, etc. I'll be in physio 3 times per week until it's better. I've generally been feeling pretty tired and spacy - whether it's from jet lag or after-effects from the accident, I'm not sure.

Not to worry though, you'll see photos in a couple of days.

Happy Birthday Eric!

Eric turns 30 on Monday. Since I'm flying out on his birthday, we decided to celebrate it today. Although I didn't plan his Birthday BBQ in advance, lots of good friends made it out to our house for a good time. There was meat... and salads and cookies and mosquitos. Oh! - there was also the hockey game. We were all in the living room when the Ottawa Senators won the game, thereby winning the Eastern Conference. On they go to the Stanley Cup. Thanks to everyone who came out today - whether it was golfing or eating. It was reminiscent of last year's Canada Day BBQ. Last year, everyone watched the World Cup - this year it was hockey. The kids were remarkably well behaved - lots of little ones running in and out, playing soccer, riding bikes, eating hot dogs. I even got to hold Scott Wride for the first time ever. He fell asleep on me despite the children crawling on me and the shouts when the Senators won the game. He's sweet.

Congrats to Eric for living the first 30 years of your life. I've been there for... 8 1/2 of them - the best ones, right? I hope so. Happy Birthday! and there is more... I just can't divulge the rest of the birthday secrets yet.

Depressing Season Finales

So, what's the deal with depressing season finales? First, Grey's Anatomy. I am totally tired of George and Izzy's moping. It's painful to watch. And what's the deal with Meredith not wanting McDreamy? And THEN the show was topped off by Burke leaving Christina at the altar. These people are not normal. I know it's a show and must be entertaining but this goes beyond entertaining - this is just depressing. I can't believe that I anticipate watching this show every week - am I sadistic?

After Grey's Anatomy, I watched ER. Another depressing show. I don't remember all of the character's names but one guy has his legs amputated and then Neela gets trampled at a war demonstration. This was a sad ending to a sad night of TV but ER has had crazier storylines in the past. Someone's arm being severed by a helicopter, then a couple seasons later, a helicopter lands on this same individual. Helicopters had it out for this guy.

Should I stop watching. Probably. Will I? Hmmm...

He's a Boy - and he's Four!

He's our boy - and he's four. His proper birth date is April 23, 2003. His entry into this world was difficult and he was a difficut baby as well. After he became a year old, things seemed to get easier and easier. He's energetic and intense but these are positive characteristics if we can have the patience it requires. Answering the fiftieth question before 7am is difficult some days. And don't think that these are siimple questions - these are scientific, philosophical questions. Anyhow - his birthday. I let Konrad decide what to eat for his 'birthday dinner' and he chose Daddy's lasagna. Daddy's lasagna has chopped broccoli, carrots, etc and meat. Konrad agreed that he wanted this meal despite the beef. Daddy wasn't there to make the lasagna but I tried my best to replicate the dish. Konrad helped me make fresh bread, lasagna and his chocolate birthday cake that day. He's a lovely boy. He's become a wonderful boy. I know... every child is special. But this is when I get to speak about my Konrad - it's his birthday. He loves math, numbers and learning about all sorts of things. He has everyone's age memorized in his 'filing cabinet brain'. We love him. He loves to keep his room tidy and he is the best big brother to Anders. We can't wait to see him learn and grow even more.

The Saturday following his birthday, we had a party for him at the MFRC. It was a joint party with a little boy named Lucas from his nursery school class. We had Tom from 'Reptiles Rock' come in and it was a great time. Yes, that's a tarantula on Konrad's hand and a boa constrictor on Eric. I've never held so many snakes in my life. Eric tried to smash the pinata but it just fell to the floor where ERic repeatedly beat it with a bat until it finally opened. That was the toughest pinata I've ever seen. Thanks to all the friends who made the day special.

I just spent 40 minutes writing a great blog entry. I'm a little unhappy that it has disappeared. Sorry guys, but you're going to have to wait a little longer. I will blog soon about the eventful month we've had.

Today, I accompanied Konrad on his school's field trip on the O-Train. It was a long trip... and I DO have photos... one day. BUT not tonight... SORRY!!!

Lovely Night, Girls

Lastnight was great. Tiana was in town for just a day or two before a short course and another deployment with the US Navy. I am so glad we could all meet up for sushi at Festival Japan. It's been 4.5 years since she left, but it's as if no time has passed when we get together. We were also out celebrating Jessica's birthday. Girls, we must do something other than sushi next time. We must diversify our palate. I so wish that I had browner skin. The flash is bouncing off of my white skin. Ick. You are blessed, Tiana.

Otherwise, the week has been slow. Eric was out of town for a while and I got a head cold. Oh - and the laundry pump broke and flooded our basement. Thank goodness for good friends who helped me out in a pinch. I hate breathing through my mouth while I sleep. BIG pet peeve. The boys are good. We went to see the Ottawa Puppeteers Group yesterday. They performed 'Stone Soup' and a few other fables. My parents bought the old farmhouse on Manitoulin Island lastweek. They'll be moving at the end of next month - probably. AND we are finally painting and updating the house a little. It's about time. Nina tore the wallpaper off my front hall last fall. The plans are there - we just have to get it done.

So much to say...

Easter Weekend is over. Here's the recap. We all drove up to Barrie Thursday afternoon. When we got out of the car along the 400, we could not believe how cold the wind was. And then there's the snow. Barrie is known for snow, but it didn't stop for days. We hadn't had such a snowfall in Ottawa this entire winter. Unfortunately, I didn't plan for blizzards. No boots, mittens, or hats. Oops. We got to spend some time with the in-laws and a lovely visit with Jen C. and the kids at her mom's home in Barrie. She's becoming larger with child and due to have another babe in...??? (I don't remember).

Eric and I got a night away. Yes, just the two of us. This is an event worthy of record-books. We had a wonderful time. We checked into the Westin Trillium House at Blue Mountain village. It was nice and they still have ski runs open. Can you believe it? Skiing or snowboarding on Easter Weekend. Not I, though. This was a spur of the moment thing and I was not equipped for a ski weekend. We didn't ski, but we certainly spent some time in the outdoors at 'Le Scandinave'.



The baths were excellent. I loved the hot pools, the Norwegian steam room but did not love getting into the cold pools of water. Eric was crazy and got into the 51 degrees Fahrenheit pool. Yikes. It was great sitting in the hot pools of water with snow falling on your face. Lots of fun. It reminded us of Sorenson's cabin on Lake Temiskaming where DW introduced us to the tradition of 'Russian slapping'. There was absolutely no slapping going on this weekend.

The next day, we travelled from Blue Mountain to Cambridge to see Jason and Julie's new home AND to eat an Easter dinner, of course. Plus, Grandma and Poppa Jakob had our children so there were many reasons to hook up in Cambridge. Eric and I stopped at a small teahouse in the village of Hillsburgh. It was great. I had a cucumber sandwich with butternut squash soup. Classic tearoom fare.



We had a fabulous day at Julie and Jason's home. The kids had an Easter Egg hunt outside and then the traditional Easter meal of steak. The night was pretty rough. Konrad vomited at 3am (too much chocolate, too little food).

THEN we travelled to Dundas to visit my sister Lisa and family. We had a nice visit and ate the more traditional meal of turkey(the most traditional being ham or lamb, I suppose). The dinner was fabulous... altogether yummy. The best part was... I think we'll be buying a new dining table soon. Our table is something of a hazard. I apologize to my friends before sitting to eat, just in case the table spontaneously collapses onto their kids. Once Eric saw Lisa's table, he decided it's time to buy a new Mennonite-made STURDY table from St. Jacob's. Let's hope we get this table in the house before there's an accident.

THEN, we drove home. We made it from Dundas to Ottawa in less than 5 hours. The kids were asleep within the first 5 minutes. Eric and I talked most of the way home - we even argued for about 45 minutes. At least it helped the time pass - even arguments are welcome if they pass the time.

Happy Easter to all!!!

Happy Fool's Day!

I haven't updated for two whole weeks, I think. Not much happens, though. Eric's parents were in the Honduras. They had a great time - Klaus did some zip-lines that were super-long. Heather enjoyed being pain-free for the week. Eric's in Florida right now golfing. Nice for him. I'm here with the kids all weekend. We're starting to get bored. We have routine during the week but the weekend can be a little long. I'm glad that Tandice and Jessica came over Friday night. We're getting pretty excited about France. Speaking of France, Angelina is in Paris this weekend with Cecile Mines. An impromptu trip to paint Cecile's friend's new apartment in Paris. The perks of being an esthetician, I suppose. Reminding me, that Eric went winter camping last weekend in Val-des-Bois. They all had a great time and there was still lots of ice and snow for skiing around the lake. My biggest concern was their toilet situation. I don't want to go up there next month and find treats underfoot.

I just found out that 12,000 people wrote the exams for the foreign service recruitment. That's crazy. I can hope for the best but I have absolutely no expectations. I've been working with a new trainer the last couple of weeks. We're doing hour-long sessions and she is kickin' my body. Afterwards, I am sore for 2-3 days (but loving it). I meet wth her every Monday morning - I tried to do some push-ups Wed morning but my chest was still pretty sore so I gave up. My weight is still decreasing BUT I must remain vigilant. I need to keep calorie-counting just as a measure to ensure that I'm not overeating (or eating the wrong foods). Food can be very deceiving but yummy.

The kids are enjoying their swim classes. Dovercourt is a wonderful recreation facility. They are both enjoying playing outdoors again. There's only so much one can do in the wintertime. Now that the snow is gone, they can pretend to fish in the ditch, play basketball, ride their trikes, play hockey and golf. It's great. I'm loving it. I can't wait until I can start gardening.

And the winner is...

For all the poker players out there, here's an entry for you. I've never played poker ... before last Friday night. Eric and I went out to the Stevenson's, not knowing we were in for a poker showdown. Of the six playing, only one had ever played poker before. I can understand how people want to keep playing just one more round, hoping that the next hand will be fabulous. And the winner was.... ME!!! Well, technically I won but realistically I'll let Jeremy hold the trophy. He was dominating the game until the very last hand when we put everything in - all or nothing. I won the hand so therefore I technically won the game. I wouldn't want to brag on a technicality, though.

More on the games - Eric is doing an NCAA basketball pool. So far, Brant Caughill is in the lead but I'm faring well considering I absolutely do NOT follow college basketball. OTHER than the Carleton Ravens who just won their 5th straight national title. They're a good team. The only game we went to this season was their game against an NCAA team in the pre-season. It was close.

Otherwise, the RS Ensemble performed Saturday night without the violin (hope you're better, Jess!) AND I think that we did alright. We were a quartet and the piece repeated without giving me more than a beat's rest. This was problematic the second time through when the spit build-up started affecting the positioning of my mouth on the flute. We did well, though. The RS Anniversary Dinner went well, even if I nearly had a meltdown moment. Once the meal was served and we had performed, all was well.

Here are the pics of the day. I think that kids could live in laundry hampers. The boys read books together, make forts out of them. We even found Anders nearly asleep in one.



Here's a lovely picture of Konrad last Sunday. We were in Wal-Mart looking for a belt. Sounds easy, but I'm not a lover of Wal-Mart and I quickly give up searching. As we were walking down the aisle, Konrad starts blurting out indistinguishable sounds to a male employee. Apparently, Konrad was trying to yell out 'Belt - I need a belt' to the employee. Konrad explained that he needs a belt to keep his pants up. The employee was so nice - he took Konrad to the boys department and helped him choose a belt, a tie, and a shirt. Those other items were not on our shopping list, but that's okay. While Konrad was dressing Sunday morning, he was so proud. He took extra care to comb his hair properly and strutted around the house like a preening peacock.

Bring on the Ketchup!

Dinner. We need to eat it. Some people prefer the grab'n'go, for some it is a sensory feast. Recently, I was eating dinner at a friend's house. She had made a wonderful stew the night before and it tasted wonderful. It had such great flavour and was delicious. The kids were eating something else and partway through the meal, the kids wanted ketchup on their dinner. Ok, I know that kids like ketchup. (We usually reserve ketchup for grilled cheese.) Then, both adults proceeded to squeeze ketchup all over their stew. I couldn't believe it. I then pronounced them the official 'Ketchup Family' (or 'famille de ketchup'). I had never seen anyone put ketchup in their beef stew before. Perhaps there is another family out there who squeezes ketchup on meals such as stew???

Another dinner. The stew was so good at the 'House of Ketchup' that I decided to make it. We invited some neighbours to enjoy dinner with us. The guy told me that his wife wouldn't be home for awhile but he and his son would love to join us at 6:00. I also invited their son over to play for a bit prior to dinner. As soon as his son comes over to play, I notice him driving away. He calls me from his cell phone at 5:45 reporting that he needed to run an errand and to start dinner without him if he was late. Dinner with the neighbours began to unravel in my mind. An acceptance to our dinner invitation was looking much more like we were being 'stood up'. All's well that ends well. Both he and she came at 6:30, we ate dinner, and had some good conversation. Although, I don't think that my stew tasted as nice as the 'Ketchup Family' 's stew.

We're Healthy! - I Think.

I think we're healthy. Konrad hasn't had a fever all day today although he is tired. As for myself, I'm feeling much better. The doctor prescribed some sort of medication for a bacterial sinus infection (my head killed!). Firstly, the pills were huge. Once I saw how big they were, I called the pharmacy for a change. My parents can attest to the fact that I have always had trouble swallowing pills. Some of the most traumatic memories from childhood include ingesting medication. Methods my mother tried was ... mixing it with jam, mixing it in a strawberry milkshake. Any way you mix it, it's always gross. After having both my legs surgically broken and realigned, I stopped taking pain killers 7 days after the surgery. I think that my mother felt sorry for me when I couldn't sleep because it hurt so much. That surgery really was painful - I had morphine shots every couple hours for 3 or 5 days (I can't remember much from that time). That's how reluctant I was to take pills.

Back to the present - I returned to pick up my smaller pills later that same night. All was well until a couple hours later. I laid in bed with intense gastro pain and nausea. Apparently these pills have side effects. I'm coping. It's better than having a terrible headache.

We're on the mend.

Updates

So, here are a few updates and photos.



Konrad is growing taller every day and doesn't have very many pj's so I decided to sew him some flannel pj pants. I made a matching pair for Anders. They're actually pretty simple to make - good thing for me!!! As for the other photos - Konrad loves his Leapster from G-ma and Poppa Jakob. We had to set time limits for a couple months but he's starting to diversify. The poor boy is sick right now. He hasn't eaten for 2 days, has a fever and brings up anything he tries to eat or drink - even the tylenol or advil I give him. Don't worry though, we're taking good care of him. The picture below shows Anders doing something he absolutely loves right now. He loves playing with animals. He'll do it for a LONG time.

You may have noticed the new items along the tab on the right. I've included a meal section. Since I am trying to cook lower calorie meals and am actually cooking good quality meals much of the time I thought I'd share. I like the recipes from the 'Crazy Plates' cookbook.

Oh - and in response to D's blog, my movie is Easy Rider and my leader is Mother Teresa.

Wish us health!