Ages ago, Suzi Blu made a video where she sanded and gessoed a child's board book and made it into a book of her own. I thought this was a brilliant idea. So much scope for the imagination!
As most of you know, both of my sons were diagnosed last year with general anxiety disorder, along with Aspergers and ADHD. Life is tough for them sometimes, and fears and stresses loom large every day. I thought that maybe we could use Suzi's board bo… Continue
Since my IRL name is both a regular noun and a verb, I got some interesting answers. (still using E as an abbreviation to protect my secret identity)
Q: E needs a Lead Acoustic Guitarist
Q: E looks like a great place to start your career after college.
Q: E says No - Please help!
Q: E wants to reach the largest number of people possible with these important messages.
Q: E does not get highlighted
Q: E hates me as much as i hate you
Q: E Asks about Buddha
Q: E likes carrots, apples, and g… Continue
...with the windchill. I just wanted to say it...-50C. Now that's cold...bitter, crushing, merciless cold. It makes each breath catch painfully in your lungs. It makes your eyelashes freeze together. It makes your bones ache and your toes and fingers numb within minutes, no matter how warmly you are bundled up. All of the children will be kept inside at recess and at lunch, because it is just too dangerous to play outside. Heaven forbid a scarf should slip down or a mitt get lost, at these tempe… Continue
It's that time of year again, and my thoughts are turning to all the smells and tastes of the season...cinnamon and ginger, butter and vanilla, nuts, chocolate, turkey-roasting, cookies-baking...house elves bustling merrily around the kitchen...or if you're short on house elves, yourself in there, up to the elbows in chocolate truffles and gingerbread dough, humming "God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs" as you whip up a little batch of comfort and joy. Yay Christmas!
Yesterday was chilly, and felt ev… Continue
Today's the big day! Time to get out there and make sure we don't get stuck with a Conservative majority government...I mean, to vote whatever your conscience dictates. *cough, anything but Conservative, cough*
If you're still undecided but care about the environment, here is a great website to help you vote smart.
It's so important to know what's going on in your own riding, so that your vote has the maximum impact on the issues you care about.… Continue
We caught the last half of the US presidential debates last night, and were pleased when the little NFs showed an interest too. So we let them stay up late wrapped in blankies on the couch and they watched with steady attention for almost an hour, as we answered their questions (“What do they mean torture?!?” *sigh*) and discussed some of the differences between the Canadian and American political systems. When it was done we were not surprised to hear that they both liked Obama best. Of… Continue
I have never subscribed much to this whole Santa thing. Growing up we didn’t keep Christmas, there were no presents, no tree, no plum puddings and certainly no round, old elf with a white beard. And to my child’s mind, completely unclouded by visions of sugarplums and the potent lure of a stocking full of loot, I thought the whole thing was rather absurd and mean. How could parents lie to their children? How could they purposely trick them year after year, spending huge amounts of money and effo… Continue
So really, honestly…summer has not been so great for me so far. And I say that hesitantly, very, very hesitantly, because if you don’t have cancer and you aren’t living in a refugee cap somewhere, how much complaining are you actually entitled to do? Here I sit in my comfortable home, well fed, safe and surrounded by people who love me, which is more than most people would even dare to hope for. But the fact remains that it has been a lousy couple of weeks. I had a surgery in July, and then abou… Continue
So, why fritter away your summer sunbathing, BBQing, fishing, drinking margaritas by the pool and the like, when you could spend it stumbling in the long dark of Moria, trudging wearily through the Dead Marshes and battling blood thirsty Orcs? Why indeed! That would be a sad, sad waste. So nerd up my friends, it’s Tolkien time.
This is the new blog spot, as promised to Me and Elizabe… Continue
I thought it was pretty exciting to finally have a blog when first I signed up for this ning thing. I like blogs, especially food blogs. I envisioned myself finally having an outlet for discussing the ins and outs of my quasi-vegan baking adventures, a place to soliloquize about the wonder of a perfect, darkly gleaming eggplant or the enticing, woodsy elegance of our locally grown mushrooms, and maybe I’d even post a favourite recipe or two. I am after all, a food nerd (not a foodie with… Continue
As I sit here by the phone with my stomach in knots and my head throbbing from tension...I thought I'd write something to distract myself. My son's teacher called a few minutes ago. He has red splotches around his mouth and his face looks "a little swollen". So I went through the mental checklist of what could be causing it...he has an anaphylactic (life threatening) allergy to eggs, but I know that he didn't have any new or unusual foods for lunch. He also has severe environmental allergies (no… Continue
A couple of months ago we started an assessment for one of our sons. He’s been struggling in school, and we’ve wondered for a long time if ADHD or something similar might be a problem for him. We’ve been discussing issues like “social immaturity” and “lack of focus” with his teachers and doctors since kindergarten, but have been assured that he would catch up, or that the difficulties we were seeing were likely due to his severe allergies and the anxiety that stems from them. However his struggl… Continue
1. First you need a plan and a schedule. Spend at least half a day arguing over which museum to go to.
Recommended materials: ruler, highlighter, various colours of pens and pencils and at least one computer for researching possible destinations
2. When visiting the museum spend time pretending to be an animal which is featured in the exhibits. For example climb in the dam and pretend to be a beaver…for a really, REALLY long time.
Recommended materials: 2 patient parents and juice boxes
3. Go… Continue
I have been itching for a Harry Potter reread for a while now, and since my sister is also wanting a reread the time is ripe! Ripe for the glory of Potter!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!
Yes, I am only halfway through the first book, but am already getting all wrapped up, like the Weasley's in their Christmas jumpers...I am ensconced in the lovely warmth and comfort that these wonderful books hold for me. I find myself walking around absentmindedly humming the tune from the first HP movie. Toting my book ever… Continue
My husband does some web design, and my sons have been bugging him for a long time to make them a website. I think they were picturing something like Lego.com with games and passwords and the whole 9 yards...and while I think DH is pretty talented, that's way OTT and he doesn't really even have the time for something simple. And we had some concerns about privacy, safety and how much time they spend on the computer.
However many months later, they are still really enthusiastic about the idea. A… Continue
I know that I'm a little slow on the uptake, and that all you rampant HP fans out there have probably seen it ages ago and are long over it, but I just saw Wizard People, Dear Reader yesterday and it was awesome, AWESOME! And it's killing me because I don't have any HP friends as geeky as I am to quote it to! So I come to the ning where I can say...
"Harry feels right with himself. He’s down there, a new god who has found his calling… Continue
Like most Nerdfighters, I really like words. I don’t always know how to wield them, being a complete dunce at pesky things like grammar and punctuation, but I really, really like them.
I often got laughed at when I was younger for using “big” words, and I admit that having read way too many Victorian novels than is good for anybody, I had a tendency to use a complicated and/or antiquated turn of phrase when simpler would be better. But I’m glad I have a large vocabulary. It is fantastic, wonder… Continue
I don't tend to just read a book. I devour it. I luxuriate in it. I get deeply… Continue
