Oct 27

I haven’t posted in a while because I haven’t had much to write. But a couple of things have annoyed me recently and this is always good blog fodder I guess. But first…a cute picture of my kids. Dawn, as you can see the outfit fits Kieran perfectly. Six to twelve months! Ha! ;)

Rant #1: Lenore Swystyn recently ran for mayor in Saskatoon and while I thought she had a few good ideas (such as an implementing a curbside recycling program and improving our transit system), overall, I had the feeling that her campaign was a bit fruity. And this was confirmed when I received a phone message from Ms. Swystyn’s campaign office encouraging me to elect Saskatoon’s first female mayor. I felt this was a huge cop-out. I believe that I vote for a person, male or female, based on my belief in their ability to do the job and my confidence in their knowledge, experience and expertise for the postion. I would venture to say that the majority of the citizens of Saskatoon vote this way as well. I do not vote for a person because of their gender and although I believe that there is no reason a woman should not hold the office of mayor, the reality is that women don’t run for this position as frequently as men do. Is that because women have been discouraged from being involved in politics in the past? Maybe. Do some men believe that women can’t do as effective a job as a man could in the same position. Yes, very likely. But really, my philosophy is, if you act like a victim, you will be treated like a victim. Don’t tell me to vote for you because you are a woman. Don’t treat me like I am prejudiced or stupid. Give me the information and let me make my own decision. If your ideas are as good as you say they are then let them speak for themselves. In my mind, Ms. Swystyn took the “victim’s role” and I lost respect for her just from that recording. Better luck next time Lenore!

Rant #2: When is the madness on Circle Drive going to end? I am ready to bomb the Circle Drive bridge. Why does construction always seem to take soooooooo long? And WHY is the right lane of the circle drive bridge closed when they are doing absolutely NO work in the right lane? I seriously am so mad about the whole situation. I have no knowledge of construction processes or why things are done the way they are and I know that it is probably being done according to some unknown order but I am so pissed off about the traffic hold up it’s insane. I would lose my mind in a bigger city.

End of rants. Thanks for listening. :)

Oct 18

Soothers. Thumbs.Various other objects of questionable origin. My kids are obssessed with sucking. The pacifier was Avery’s lifeline. Kieran has chosen the always-available thumb as his particular passion. This is good and bad. I will never have to get up in the middle of the night to pick up a soother off the floor and give it back to him. His thumb is always accessible. However, it is slightly more complicated to take it away when the time comes.

Oct 16
 

Pants Down Davy! (How appropriate.)

Oct 16

Fiddler on the Roof is one of my all-time favorite movies.  If you aren’t a fan of musicals you probably wouldn’t appreciate it but I absolutely LOVE it.  One of the main themes of the movie is the stabilizing force of tradiiton in our lives and how and when it is appropriate, and even necessary to break with tradition.  The idea of family traditions has popped up in some different parenting literature that I have been reading recently and so it has been on my mind.  These different sources have suggested that traditions, whether as big as an annual family vacation or as little as eating pancakes on Sunday morning, create a sense of safety and stability for children.  So I have been considering the rituals of my childhood and wondering which of these are traditions I would like to carry on with my own family and which new traditions might be worth introducing.

Many of my favorite family memories involve our Christmas traditions.  My mom would bake with us and make chocolates in preparation for Christmas parties, decorating the tree at the beginning of December, the home-made advent calendar that we reused, year after year, the Christmas eve tradition of attending church, then touring the city to look at Christmas lights and then home to eat special goodies by the light of the Christmas tree, enjoying Christmas music and each other’s company.  In these times, differences were laid aside.  Or at least any squabbling or other negative happenings do not inhabit my memory of those times.  It elicits feelings of warmth, contentment and genuine appreciation of my family.  When I consider these times now I feel that they somehow help counteract the blatant commercialism of that time of year.  They are rituals that I will attempt to continue.

Of course many traditions take place around holidays but there are some other ones that stick out. My mom took me (and my sisters) each on a special weekend trip when we hit age 13 as a sort of “rite of passage” into adolescence.  It wasn’t anything crazy – just to Regina to stay in a hotel and do some shopping. But it made me feel special and grown up and it spoke words of reassurance to me.  I knew I could always trust my mother and that I was very important to her.  In fact, our very common ritual of going out for “coffee” taught me the same thing on a smaller scale.  It was, and still is, in that setting where we learned about our family, the history, the secrets, where we learned about life and death, joy and sorrow and God and friends and expectations and disappointment and love and compassion.  We fought and laughed and cried and sighed and shared.  I still look forward to these moments with my mom and sisters and I already enjoy them with my daughter. This is one tradition that is very important to me and I intend to continue as long as I draw breath.

In earlier years, before sleeping in became exceedlingly important to keeping the teenage hormones under control, my dad used to make breakfast most Saturday mornings.  I have some fond memories of watching the Bugs Bunny & Tweety show to the smell of hashbrowns cooking.  It was a small thing but I think I agree with the “professional” assessment that it makes kids feel safe to know what’s coming.  The world can be scary and unpredictable.  It makes a big difference to have certain things you can depend on.  Family should be one of them and if these little moments can birth an atmosphere of protection and love for my children I’m going to do my best to make it work.

Oct 14
 

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how to blog more than one photo from Flickr and I cannot figure out how to upload pics from my computer so I can post them. I am technologically inept. And the man is not here to instruct me in the ways of geekhood. So I will just post this cute picture of my girl and be gone.

Oct 13

  There was an explanation of each of the factors that was extremely accurate.  I won’t bother pasting that info in here but if you feel so compelled…give it a try yourself!

My Personality

 
Neuroticism

88

 
Extraversion

13

 
Openness To Experience

26

 
Agreeableness

62

 
Conscientiousness

75

 

 
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Find your soulmate / pysch twin 

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Oct 11

Tonight, as I sat reading Avery a bedtime story and holding Kieran on my lap I had this surreal feeling. “Are these really my kids? Am I really sitting here with these two precious babies who are telling me they love me in their own ways?” It felt good to have them there and I felt really content. It’s a good feeling. Cuddling my kids is good therapy for the thoughts weighing on my mind recently.

I’ve been in a weird mood lately. I feel like my life has gotten more “gray” in the last few months, if that’s possible. I’m going through a time of frustration and searching. I’ve always been very involved in our church but my personal spirituality has been evolving and changing. The usefulness of all the Christian ritual is lost on me. I don’t want to throw myself into the “worship” and “bible studies” in order to create a feeling. I doubt the ability of these rituals to really connect with the authentic spirit of God. I feel like people have so stretched, twisted and abused the bible that I no longer feel like I can trust it. Too many have made it say what they want it to say or argue that it is all completely true and seem not to be troubled by the many troubling parts of scripture that I don’t even want to confront my doubt anymore. It feels easier to ignore these unnerving questions. God exists. I believe this and I feel it is logical and right. I just wish I could figure out how to go about knowing Him.

Oct 10

I think my husband has been fertilizing our garden with something other than compost, if you know what I mean!

Oct 5

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” – Kahlil Gibran

Oct 5

We watched the season premiere of LOST last night.  It continued it’s long standing tradition of answering just enough questions to keep you hooked and creating about ten thousand new ones.  It drives me crazy but I just can’t stop watching.  I enjoy the writing and it definitely keeps me interested.  Here’s to another season of waiting for each new episode only to be driven to new heights of madness when the hour ends with yet another cliffhanger.  Cheers.

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