13 posts tagged “family”
This is Jaws, my sister and brother-in-law's dog.
He was hit by a car and killed on Saturday. Kyla and Chris are devastated, and so is the rest of the family, especially their other dog, Cujo.
He was four years old and very loved. This is one of my favourite pictures of him. I took it a couple of years ago while the two dogs were running around my mom's yard.
We will all miss him.
I've been keeping my distance from this place lately. It's been hard to share what's going on in my life when the biggest, most life-changing-est event ever to happen to Sean and I was something we wanted to keep to ourselves until we were ready to share it, first with our families and friends, then with the world at large.
Sean and I are incubating a little critter. Said critter is due around September 8th.
We are starting to get really excited. We're a whole lot of other things too, but happy and excited are the big ones. It got easier to be excited and happy once we passed the first trimester and started telling people. My mother is ecstatic - this is her first grandchild, and while she has never pressured my sister or I for grandchildren, she admits to feeling relieved that she finally gets to be a grandmother. Sean's mom is happy too, and has already begun knitting and sewing for me and the critter.
We don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet. We want to find out as soon as we can - we're dying to know! I ask it if it is a boy or a girl and it doesn't tell me. Maybe we'll work out a system of "one kick means yes and two kicks mean no" and I'll get some answers.
I'm just over three months so I'm not showing much yet. I'm a big girl so I had a good-sized set of boobs and belly to start with. I did look at my belly today, and while I don't think it's bigger, it does seem to be changing shape a bit. It feels a little different too.
I still can't believe that I am going to be someone's mother in less than six months. Mothers are smart, mature, organized and generally have their acts together. I hope I can rise to the occasion.
I won't tell you how old she is, but she is older than me.
I've tried to call her a few times, but she's not at home. I'm just hoping she's out doing something fun, and not working a night shift.
Happy Birthday Mom.
love melissa
Sean and I split our Thanksgiving weekend between his mother's house, my mother's place and finally my sister's house. We had lasagna at Sean's mum's house, and the big turkey dinner at Kyla's house, which was a team effort between her and my mom. Food was enjoyed by all.
Leia had some interesting adventures too. Sean's mum's kitten was constantly pestering Leia. Leia took it very gracefully, and only growled at her a few times.
The kitten was so cute, it was hard to stay mad.
Sean tried on a mullet wig at my sister's place:
No, wait. That's Brindell, the guinea pig that belongs to Kyla's workplace. (She babysits on the weekend). I think he looks like a walking toupee.
To celebrate Canada Day, Sean and I visited my parents and sister (who all live in Prince Edward County). Traffic was still very heavy when we left Toronto on Saturday morning. We saw this guy's car (couldn't really not see it because of the flags), and saw his bumper sticker, I had to get a picture of it.
Because traffic was so heavy, we ended up getting off the 401 (a high speed, multi-lane highway) and taking Highway 2 (a regular highway) from about Port Hope to Colborne (about a half an hour drive on the 401). We managed to drive on the slower highway at the posted speed limits (mostly), stop at the The Big Apple to pick up an apple pie and lunch, and when we decided to try the 401again at Colborne, we ended up seeing the Wanker On Board car again! So yup, traffic was definitely slow on the 401.
By the time we got to my parents' place, it was raining so our plans of boating and water-skiing went out the window, which was a bummer. We also discovered we weren't actually allowed in the house yet anyway; it is up for sale and someone was coming to look at it later in the afternoon, so it had to stay clean. After hanging out in the garage with my stepdad for awhile, Sean and I drove up to my sister's place to hang with her. We took my dog and my parent's dog with her, so the pet total at Kyla's was four dogs, four cats and a guinea pig she was babysitting for the weekend. (Brindell the guinea pig was very cute - he looked like a walking toupee!)
The dogs were shockingly well behaved considering they were gated off in the kitchen for awhile (to keep from bugging the guinea pig, who was out to play and socialize). Once the weather cleared up, we went outside and Sean decided to get brave and go in the pool. He was trying to sit in Kyla's newest pool chair, but he was having a hard time getting on it. This montage sums up about three tries. Our dog was trying to drink the pool water, and was also quite puzzled at Daddy looking so goofy.
The water was warmer than the air so it was a chilly swim. Kyla and I did not join him. It started to rain again so we went back inside. Now that the guinea pig was back in his cage, the dogs could come out and play. Sean got kisses from Cujo, Kyla's youngest pug.
On Sunday, the five of us (Kyla, my parents, Sean and I) went out in my parents' boat to go to Kingston. We saw this boat along the way:
Once we docked at Kingston, we wandered around the arts and crafts show that was set up by the harbour. When we went back to the boat to have a snack, it started to rain, so our timing was great for snacking under the covered boat. Sean used his new fishing rod, but didn't get anything more than a nibble.
As we made our way home, we watched rain clouds wreaking havoc on other places, but we had a rain-free trip the whole way home. We also got to see a rainbow on the way, and it stayed long enough for me to get several pictures with both my and my mom's cameras:
We went back in the boat to go and see the fireworks in Bath from the water. Sean decided to watch the fireworks from the shore by the fire. He made the wrong decision because once the fireworks started, we ended up being able to see the fireworks shows from Bath, Amherst Island and Kingston in the far distance. We hardly knew where to look! Once the show ended (and all the shows seemed longer than the average fireworks display) and we turned around to go home, we discovered that we could see Picton's fireworks in the distance too! So we ended up seeing four official fireworks shows in one night. We also saw some mini-shows from people who were doing it in their yards. So we definitely got a better show than Sean did - less mosquito bites too!
Sean and I left my parent's place at about 7:30 this morning to beat traffic. We didn't see the Wanker car again so I think we succeeded.
Hope everyone else had a good Canada Day!
It was a busy weekend for Sean and I. We both took Friday and today as vacation days, and I'm really glad we did. I don't think we could have crammed everything in otherwise.
I went to my annual girl's weekend with my mother's side of the family. It was a smaller crowd this year but much fun was had. The weather was a little chillier than we would have liked though. We were in sweatshirts or under blankets for most of the weekend. However we were troopers and spent pretty much the entire time outside. Of course, we all forgot to take pictures, but my sister did take some video. She's not sure how to hook up her camera to her computer, so I don't think we'll be Youtube stars anytime soon. This is not a bad thing, cuz she kept filming us at inopportune times.
Sean's weekend was spent doing several things for our friends who are getting married next month. Friday was Jason and Amanda's Buck and Doe party (otherwise known as a Jack and Jill). It sounds like they had a lot of fun. Sean ended up having to eat a minnow because he didn't buy something called "fish insurance" and they called his name. So I guess he got his protein fix then. Saturday was spent at a stag party for Jason. They played paintball in the afternoon, and I hope everyone else isn't as bruised as Sean is. He's got nasty bruises of varying sizes all over him. The evening was spent doing more traditional stag party things, which I don't have first-hand information on, so I won't share here. It sounds like it was a fun night, so I'm glad for that. Sean spent a lot of time planning the party, and it sounds like he did a good job so I am proud of him.
To top off this busy extra-long weekend, today is Sean's 30th birthday. We had planned to go to Canada's Wonderland today, but given the bruises he got from earlier in the weekend, we decided not to go. Instead, we spent the day hanging out, doing errands and having a steak dinner here at home. Sean barbecued using the spiffy new barbecue that my parents and I went in together on and bought for his birthday. He got the BBQ back on Victoria Day weekend, so he has been using this birthday present for about a month now. Sean is getting to be a really good barbecue-er, and dinner was delicious.
I'm really happy that we changed our plans and decided to just hang out at home today. We got some rest from our busy weekends and we'll go back to work tomorrow feeling like we got some rest.
Yesterday I was talking to my mom on the phone. She was getting ready to go out so she told me she had to get off the phone so she could cover up her wrinkles.
I managed to stop myself before I responded with "good luck with that". When she noted my too-long pause, I told her that that was the first thing that came into my head, but I didn't want to say that because it sounded really mean and that wasn't my intention.
Fortunately, she laughed about it.
I'm glad we have a good relationship.
Book: Show us one of your favorite cookbooks.
I tend to use cookbooks more for inspiration than for actual cooking. Everytime I look at a cookbook, the conversation in my head goes like this:
"Oh that looks good...oh wait, I'm missing that ingredient. And that one. Crap - can't cook that today." If I'm really intrigued by the recipe, I'll make a list and buy those things the next time in the grocery store. If I'm just curious, I'll make a bastardized version of the recipe. Or I just say screw it and make an old favourite that requires no recipes.
I rely on those favourites a lot.
That said, I love reading cookbooks. These are a couple of my favourites
Joie Warner's No-Cook Pasta Sauces
I love pasta, and this book reminds me that the simplest recipes are often the tastiest. The books photos and design match that simplicity and it really appeals to me. The book even smells good to me!
This book introduced me to the power of fresh herbs mixed into a hot plate of pasta. I may not stick to the recipes precisely, but I live by lots of fresh herbs and her rule of "when it comes to garlic, when in doubt, add more!" and it always turns out good.
If I was to have a dinner party (which is difficult as my kitchen table only seats two people), I would probably cook something out of this book. Easy, elegant and tasty!
Kraft Kitchens: Dinner on Hand
I have cooked things out of this book. I substituted where I needed to and things turned out well.
As is the proper thing to do, I've saved the best for last.
This is the cookbook that the women from my mother's side of the family produced six or seven years ago. The cover art is a painting done by my second cousin. This cookbook contains lots of family recipes from all the different branches of the family tree. They range from simple stuff (Easy Curry Dip: Mix sour cream with curry power until it is a mustard yellow colour. Refrigerate. Yes this is verbatim from the book.) to my grandma's icicle pickles that take 11 days to finish. (They really stink up a kitchen!)
It's got a surprising amout of recipes in it for the size and there is lots of variety. There is one recipe I make out of this for almost every party I go to - Feta and Garlic Paté. Remind me to post the recipe sometime! I only contributed one recipe to this book, which was actually a (heavily) bastardized pasta recipe from the first cookbook I listed here! I wanted to contribute more, but I didn't do a whole lot of cooking when I was 22!
We talked about doing another one last year, but I haven't heard anything about it since. I do hope it happens sometime though because I want to design it and really wow my family with the results. I may not be able to contribute a lot of recipes, but I can make everyone else's look even better!
Audio: Share a song that fits the moment you're living right now.
Inspired by cherè.
This may be a more "what I want to be" than a "what I am" kind of song, but it's inspiring so I'm putting it here anyway.
Back in August 2004 - not long after this album came out - I started having health issues that I couldn't figure out. My stomach was always hurting and my digestive system was all out of whack. I was always nauseated and never wanted to eat. I lost 30 pounds in less than four months. I went to my doctor several times and she kept putting me on different medications thinking it was an acid issue. It wasn't, and didn't go away with the meds I was taking (ranitidine and Prevacid). An upper GI exam revealed nothing.
Not knowing what was wrong with me was really beginning to freak me out. It began to get really bad in December when I started having anxiety attacks that were just making my stomach issues worse. When I told my doctor that, she prescribed me Zoloft and told me that it would help with the anxiety, and to start taking it on the weekend so I'd have a few days to get used to it while it was kicking in before I went back to work.
I spent the next few days reacting really badly to it. My palms would not stop sweating, the nausea would not go away, I was dizzy and every time I laid down to go to sleep I felt like I was actually lying on a 45-degree angle, which was really frightening. I went in to work on the Monday and by the time I got there I turned around and went home because I knew I couldn't handle it. By this time I was phoning my mother every morning between 6 and 7AM because neither Sean nor I knew what to do about any of this, and I was beginning to feel like I was losing my mind. My mom reminded me that Zoloft (like most SSRIs) take a couple of weeks to really kick in and the side effects would diminish. I decided to go back to the doctor anyway, cuz the cure was feeling worse than the pain at this point. When Sean and I got off at the Bloor subway to transfer to the Yonge line, I looked at him and said "maybe I should just jump in front of the next train. That would be easier than all of this." I really scared Sean, and myself at this point. I didn't want to jump in front of the train, but the meds were fucking with my head.
When I got to the doctor's office and was waiting my turn, my doctor saw me and told me to come right back (versus the usual procedure of waiting for a nurse to take me back to one of the examining rooms). I think she was surprised to see me so soon. I told her about the side effects I was having (I didn't mention the thought of jumping in front of the train). Something in my eyes must have told her something because she told me to stop taking the Zoloft. She prescribed me a low dose of Ativan and told me to take it 1-2 times a day with half a Gravol (for the nausea) for the next few days, take the next 2 weeks off of work and come and see her in early January. (Did I mention that this was a week before Christmas by this point?) I went and got it filled and came home, ready to just go back to bed.
Once I started taking the Ativan, things began to calm down. I saw my family and hung out at Christmas and was almost normal. I stayed off of work for about 12 days, and returned in the quiet time between Christmas and New Years, which was a good time to do that. When I went back to the doctor, she referred me to a relaxation therapy clinic which I truly believe helped save my life. I went there for about four months. Each session began with a guided relaxation session which had the participants lying on cots in a darkened room with soothing music. The leader would then take us through simple stretching and breathing exercises, as well as meditations. The second half of the session was spent with the group discussing a different stress management issue each week.
Once I finished all the topics, I stopped going. I felt like a different person. Like I could handle things. My attitude changed. I really felt more relaxed in general, and more importantly, when I didn't I could use the tools I learned to calm myself down and deal with it. It's been just over two years since my nervous breakdown, and I haven't had a relapse since. I'm not ashamed of what I went through, and told people about it when they asked where I'd been. What surprised me the most was just how many other people had been through it too. So many people I knew, of all ages and backgrounds, went through the same feelings of helplessness and got through it. You'd never know if you didn't ask them and I admired their strength. I wouldn't wish this kind of illness on my worst enemy.
When people asked why I thought it happened, I told them that the year had just worn me out. I had spent 2004 preparing for my wedding, getting married, dealing with roommate issues and going through an extremely stressful time at work. The second half of 2003 was spent looking for and buying our first home, and adjusting to the homeowner's life and the joy and pain it brings. So the year before the symptoms first showed up was a little stressful, and looking back, I'm amazed at everything we pulled off.
This is a really long post to explain my choice for "song of the moment" for today's Vox Hunt. But a line in this song that gets repeated over and over is "My nerves are made of steel". When I was feeling fragile, that was something to aspire to. Now that I'm more aware of myself, I don't necessarily want nerves of steel, but nerves of tin foil were no fun to have, and I don't ever want to go through that again.
When Sean and I went to my parent's place last weekend to hook up their new Internet connection, I walked into their garage to see this lovely shelf. My sister has a similar one in her kitchen that I have admired for some time, so my parents decided that they should make one for me. So my stepdad, being the handy guy that he is made it based on the measurements that he took from her shelf. It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but they ran out of time. I'd say getting it done by the end of the year was pretty darn impressive.
As my stepdad was telling me about how he put the shelf together, he mentioned that he had used tools that used to belong to my dad that my mom had kept after he died. Upon hearing this, I blurted out, "So it's a present from *both* my dads! That makes it *extra* special!"
He said "Yes, and your father's combination square is a piece of shit, but I couldn't find mine. I did use your dad's white mallet though, and it worked fine." That made me laugh.
We're a sentimental pair, my stepdad and I.
I'm thrilled with this shelf, and I stained it yesterday. I loaded it up with our stuff today (the dog treats are up high so Leia doesn't go sneaking). Since the shelf covers up where our clock used to be, I nailed it to the front of the shelf. That covers up the non-existent hole in the top that would have made the shelf more like a birdhouse.
It's funny what stuff sticks around people's homes. Shitty tools never seem to find a place to die, but can anyone ever find stuff like scotch tape and a pen that works consistently without tearing apart the house?
