The shot I've been after for years

As Jack and Kamden have gotten older, they are far less interested in having their picture taken or alternatively far too interested such that they made the most ridiculous faces known to man.

Sometimes, if they are busy doing something, like say teetertottering (how is that spelled anyway?), I can sneak up and catch a natural smile. Like this one.



I have been trying to get a shot of his gorgeous smile for years. It makes me proud, matching buck teeth and all. I know he'll grow into those teeth.

How do I know? Um. Well. Let's just say that I know exactly which parent those bad boys came from.

Canadians go North for Summer, news at 11

Anyone who follows me on Twitter may have noticed me grumbling last weekend about packing to go further north on summer vacation. Yes, us Canadians are crazy like that. We already live in the Arctic so for vacation we go further north into the Arctic. I think the cold is getting to us, don't you?

The summer here has been, well how can I say this without cursing? Awful. Cold. Fall like. And some other expletives that aren't appropriate for this here family site. As a result, I packed our winter jackets. Yes I did. I didn't do it without grumbling under my breath about why in tarnation we live in this God forsaken place, though, believe you me.

But then we got there and I saw things like this:

And I remembered that this place that has more winter than Antarctica (had to give the South pole some air time, can't play favourites), well it's pretty damn beautiful.

And you know what also helped? The hot, hot gorgeously hot sun. That's right folks, we had 5 (FIVE) hot sunny days. In. a. row. Stop the presses. This is big news from the Khlopchyk house. And at some point I will pick myself up off the floor from the shock of it. Mostly likely when I look outside tomorrow and see the cloudy rainy day that is predicted for the duration of the last week of school holidays.

We also consumed a few bush pies. If you want to know what in the world those are, refer to last year's trip.

Did I mention that both boys, (yes that's right, my baby is going to freaking kindergarten), start school in 11 days?

If you are looking for me, I'll be in the vodka.

Subjects that don't make faces

Last weekend, Jay and I had the pleasure of looking after one year old twins while their parents went out for some much needed couple time. Rachel and Alex belong to my good friend, Candace and are so. much. fun.

They also hold still long enough to let me get a picture without making a face. Bonus. So while they were playing, I pulled out the old camera and set about snapping like the best of 'em (well not really like the best of them at all but a reasonable facimile thereof). Because I might look a little freakish hanging multiple photos of someone else's kids in my house, I am going to post them here. So not the same thing, right? RIGHT?

Here, Alex is laughing hysterically at his big brother (Oh yes, Logan and Hannah were also here, the twins older siblings - they, however, do not hold still for photos). There is nothing like the belly laugh of a baby. Nothing.

Rachel did not appreciate us keeping her from going outside to climb up the slide. She walks right up it like nobody's business. Did I mention she's one. As in 12 months. My heart could not take it.

Kidding, like I didn't have both hands on her the whole time (neurotic, yes I am), we kept them in to save them from the blood sucking parasites, aka mosquitoes. And I know what you are thinking, "you could deny that adorable face?" What can I say? Heart of stone over here.

This one was really hamming it up for the camera. This just shows how different their personalities are. Alex is all about the hamming. Rachel, the climbing. Hamming fits perfectly with the camera, climbing not so much because it requires both of my hands on her, at all times. Ain't no broken bones happening on my watch!

Dude is going to break a million hearts one day. Those blue eyes go on for miles and miles.

This one just cracks me up, she's all, "What you lookin' at Willis?"

Why don't my double chins look this adorable?

Together, these two are going to rule the world.

Bedtime, it's all about routine

Today I have a post up over at Canada Moms Blog about
bedtime.

Don't hate me because bedtime is peaceful and relaxed in our house, m'kay?

Something is Everything

“I am only one. I cannot do everything but I can still do something. I will not let the fact that I can’t do everything stop me from doing the something that I can.”

- unknown author

These words are so powerful to me and sum up how I feel about my Mother Earth Crusade. Honestly, I do get overwhelmed with the futility of it all. Sometimes I feel like whatever I do is so overshadowed by what I see so many people around me doing. I won’t lie, I get angry and have been tempted, on more than one occasion to pick up the cigarette butt tossed out the car window at a red light and return it to the owner who “lost” it. But in the essence of safety (can you say road rage?), I haven’t. Yet. Only the good Lord knows what the hormones might make me capable of in the future though.

If it happens, I’ll try to alert the media, you know, so I can link the footage of my arrest here for your entertainment pleasure.

In all seriousness, it’s been awhile since we made any changes to the cause, the clothes line has been working out really well except for the lack of, you know, SUMMER weather. Not that I am bitter or anything. Turns out clothes dry on the line in fall like temperatures even in August, in case you were sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for the verdict on that.

It’s time to get some composting going around here because about 60% of our trash is compostable materials. Throwing that into this pile is just wrong.

Photo courtesty of 123RF

On so many levels.


PS the votes have been tabulated:
stay long - 8 votes
something in between - 4 votes
buzz it - 4

And because yesterday was a stellar hair day, I think I am in agreement. We'll see what I tell the stylist to do when I get there later today.

Hair, Hair, it's all about the hair

Last March, I decided that I liked my hair, that I was going to keep it the way it is because clearly, based on past results, it was the best "look" I had going for me. And I have come a LONG way, trust me (click if you need a good laugh).

Recently, thanks to my long-time stylist, I discovered this Redken product and I am loving it. I am not really a salon product kind of girl because I find that they work worse than drug store brands and I have to leave behind my first born as payment. This one, however, lives up to the $20 per bottle cost.

Last week, Amy challenged her readers to take a photo, right out of the shower. Here's me after my hair air dried. Brace yourselves.

No makeup either proven by the glowing orb that plants itself in the middle of my forehead.

Now to get the after shot. Yesterday, Jay and I had a date night out (Thanks Candace for watching the boys) so I set up the self timer and attempted to get one without a flash. Someday I am going to conquer the manual settings, clearly based on the following, it just won't be today. Here's me after take 1,500:

My eyes, my eyes! Mental note: metal glasses and a flash creates retina burning images. Your welcome for that.
Try again. A little less glare but why oh why does the camera focus immediately when I push the button so that by the time I get posed it has focused perfectly...on the wall behind me...

Alright, not such a bad shot of the back of my hair. Now let's do the front - take 1,765.

Too dark. Use flash.

And then I spontaneously combusted. Too bad I didn't get a shot of that, huh?

But really, the hair doesn't look any different from the before picture and really it's not other than I ran the curling iron through my bangs to straighten them. Not that you can tell. And the floofed the back a bit and scrunched with hair spray.

And I put on buckets of makeup. Don't I look like a hoochie mama? No? Right, you can't even tell I spent 20 min trying to get pretty for my date. I look the same. *throws all her expensive Arbonne cosmetics out the door* I'll keep the skin care line though because it must be doing something if I look the same before and after.

Which brings me to the point of this post (yes, there is a point, alleluia!). My hair is getting boring after five years of the same old same old. I have a hankering to go back to this style that I had around ten (10? when did I get old enough to say that?) years ago. Excuse the quality of the photo, it has been riding around in Jay's wallet for ten years.

I have a hair appointment booked for Thursday. What do you all think?

PS Jay is silently wishing you all vote for it to stay long, just so you know.

Why I should go to NYC

So I mentioned how I might want to go to BlogHer last week, but how I am all kinds of scared it would be recurrent of high school. Because I am woman, hear me roar, I also have the distinct right to change my mind, right?

After hearing that this lovely lady, whom I just recently met in real life, is going to BlogHer 2010 in New York City, I am very strongly rethinking my fear. But I read this and this, two very different takes on the whole to go or not to go and what to do while your are there topic and I get even more confused.

Luckily, I have the privilege of knowing Angella in real life and Elaine, Tracey and Karen MEG on line. How do I decide such a momentous decision (you know besides begging Jay that we really need to take a trip to NYC next year, say around August 5, 6 and 7th, 2010)?

Well I interview these lovely ladies of course!

Here is what they had to say to my amateurish questions (FYI interviewing skills are not taught to accountants, generally speaking):

1. This was your first BlogHer, what made you decide to go?

Tracey: I have been blogging for almost 3 years and have been watching the connections made by everyone who attended previously. I was SO jealous that it burned me up! I managed to save enough money from ads on my site and articles for magazines to pay for 80% of my trip. It was my first time doing anything by myself, FOR myself. I felt it was my time.
Hmm, while I am ecstatic for Tracey, I am not sure I can get away with the never taking me time excuse, because, um, well, I pretty much get my fair share of me time me thinks. I am super lucky, that I know.

Karen MEG: I went because I wanted to meet my blog friends, that's for sure. And last year I attended as a head on the Immoral Matriarch's popsicle stick, so I felt obligated to bring the rest of my body this year. But seriously, BlogHer is something completely different than I've ever experienced. It was a challenge for me and something I wanted to "conquer"; I'm one who finds it almost terrifying to talk to people sometimes, and have rarely ever approached anyone I don't know, to talk, chat, whatever. It was a stretch for me to do something totally on my own for a change too; no husband, no kids, no colleagues and entirely UNrelated to work- out of my element. Granted I had met a couple of the bloggers before in Toronto, but it was still intimidating, I mean we're talking 1500 bloggers en masse!

Karen, you and I are a lot alike me thinks and I think it’s high time I conquered this too, what you say, you, me and a few martini’s?

2. Were you all kinds of nervous? Was it anything at all like you expected?

Elaine: I actually was not that nervous. I think it was really cool that the first night OhMommy recognized me first (it was probably mostly the belly, but still...) and I sort of regard her as a bloggy "celebrity" but I immediately felt comfortable talking to her, just like I have in comments and emails via her blog and mine. Since that happened within hours of my arrival I was more laid back about it all after that.

Hmm, mental note, maybe grow a belly before next year so someone (anyone!) will recognize you? Scratch that, my glasses will do it. I hope.

Karen MEG: Well, it was a little as expected, in terms of being completely overwhelming when I first arrived. And I also expected it would be a bit like high school, or even a reunion, because you're always looking around for a familiar face, hoping that you'd recognize someone from their tiny avatar. There were tribes, groups of people milling around together with familiarity, much like you would see the "popular" kids, you know? Because for many it was a reunion. I found the sheer size of it, though, was what made it difficult. As you're only there for a couple of days, you're hoping to find/meet as many of your blog friends as possible, and I found it a little tough as you're feeling very thinly spread. And I hope to heck I didn't act rudely because of it, as it was so easy to get pulled in various directions as you'd see familiar faces go by who you didn't want to miss. There were some that I saw only at the beginning and then at the end, so although I got a hug, there might have been very little conversation and interaction, which was a drag. I did surprise myself, however, at my ability to shout across the room, across a sea of strangers to yell at a face I recognized, and fling myself with open arms into the comfort of those I'd only seen on my laptop screen. I'm a nut, I know. But you gotta do what you gotta do :).

See this is what I imagine and it terrifies me, I am not the type to yell across a room (no one would hear me) but maybe I could run across the room?

3. I am considering going to NYC next year, why should I go?

Tracey: There are a million reasons to go. The main ones, for most of us, is to hug that person you have talked to online. We all want to hear the cadence of the voice that is behind the written words we've enjoyed. The sense of camaraderie was definitely something I hadn't experienced in a long time. I mean, everyone there (except the sponsor/promo dudes) was a writer. We all love to write and read and comment and connect. We all understood the draw that a good blog can have.

Angella : It's NEW YORK. Aside from that, I know that you have a lot of blog friends who you are close to that you would love to meet. Plus, considering that you and I didn't get our work meet up in Vancouver this year, we may have to rely on BlogHer for the chance to say, "hi." :)

Reason enough for me.

The one and only reason I would go would be to meet some of the wonderful women I have connected with online. Because many of them live far far away from the quasi Arctic (have I mentioned they are also very smart?) the opportunity will not arise unless I buck up and head to this here event everyone has been talking about.

Will I go? I still don't know. Obviously it would be expensive to get from here (flip flapping Arctic) to NYC so it's a decision Jay and I must make together and if I told you now, what would I blog about in the future?

I'm nice like that.

But here's the deal, if I go, you go, capiche?*

(certain exepmptions can be made, approved only by me - moohoohahahaha)