Right now, my husband is off work.  He’s been off for three weeks because he’s been ill. We thought it was pneumonia but it’s not.  I won’t go into detail about what’s wrong, mostly because we don’t yet know what’s wrong.  We’re still waiting on a diagnosis but it has to do with his lung among other things and it’s been fairly serious so far and may become more serious as we figure out what’s happening.  It’s been both wonderful and awful having him home.  I don’t even know what I’m trying to say – I just wanted to put it down here for the sake of recording life.

My 5 year old decided she wanted to make her own comic book.  And so she did.  She wrote the copy and illustrated each page.  The story is about her and Sonic the Hedgehog (she’s been a fan for years) and what she does with Sonic over the course of the day.  She feeds him meals and tucks him in bed at the end of the story.  This kid never fails at making me stop and wonder who she will become.  I have to do it right with her.  I have to make sure she doesn’t fall prey to all the things kids can fall prey to because I just feel like she is going to do something big when she’s an adult.  At five years old she has the ability to decide she wants to do something, sit down and work on it, plan out the storyline and see it through.  Beginning.  Middle.  End.  Nobody told her this is something she should do. Nobody told her how to do this. She just did it.  I have no idea what she’ll do next, this child is one surprise after another and I often feel like I’m just hanging on for the ride.

It’s raining right now and I’m having a cup of tea as I write this. The cat is snuggled up with her head on my shoulder.  She purrs.  It’s dark but for the light from my monitor.  In this moment I am happy and comfortable and at ease.

I went to see The Great Gatsby the other day.  I loved it.  It was a lot of fun.  It was romantic.  It was visually beautiful and grotesque all at once and I want to see it again.  You should see it.  I’ll come with you and we’ll munch on popcorn and marvel at how Leonardo DiCaprio finally looks like a grown up.  Tell me when you’re free and I’ll be there.  My husband can watch the kids.

I’m an afternoon snacker.  I like a little something in the afternoon – usually a cup of coffee or tea and normally I’d have a cookie or scone or other treat with it.  Except now that I’m not having sugary flour based things that pretty much wipes out all of the afternoon treat options.  I’d had enough!  I wanted something yummy to have with my tea.  It’s just not right to suffer this way!

Ok, that’s a bit dramatic I know.  I really haven’t been suffering – this diet has been very simple and I don’t find myself craving anything. Instead I miss my rituals.  And afternoon tea is a ritual I enjoyed and have been missing of late.  I’m not about to kill the progress I’ve been making weight wise (35 lbs and counting!) just for want of a cookie so I got into the kitchen and whipped up something tasty that wouldn’t throw me into sugar cravings again.

I give you -

These creamy squares are just what I needed.  It’s just a little noshy bit to have alongside a cup of tea.  It’s not so decadent that you can’t have one on a Wednesday afternoon, or a Thursday afternoon or….you get my point.  Almonds and fruit and coconut.  Can’t go wrong!

Wrestling with Fertility (pt1) and Interview with an Olympian

Wrestling with Fertility (pt2)

When all you Want for Christmas is $13000 and a Baby

Did you Know?

After the Test Tube – Raising a Child of IVF

And if you STILL want more, there are some other bloggers talking about this too:

Family day Without Families? – My Organized Chaos

When Mother’s Day is Only a Dream Away - My Three Little Kittens

The Women in the Waiting Rooms – Brooklyn Berry

Images of Hope - Peek Thru Our Window

**I am a valued member of the Generations of Hope #ABHC4IVF blog team and as such have received compensation for my time in writing this post.  All opinions remain my own.

This is my son’s initial response to seeing Thomas.  He was a bit nervous and very reserved.  You can see he’s kind of sucking in his lip and that’s what he does when he’s a bit unsure of what’s going on.  But in the second video (which I shot today, 5 days after we were there, you’ll see his true feelings on the events of the day.

My oldest still had fun too even though she’s pushing six and has pretty much grown out of her interest in the tv show.  She loved getting her face painted the most and she also loved riding the train.  Who doesn’t want to ride a train?  Am I right?  Go hang out at Heritage this weekend.  You won’t be sad you did.

If you’d like to read another review, check out what Dana has to say at Calgary Playground Review

**Heritage Park provided my family with tickets to this event for the purposes of facilitating this post.  Opinions are always my own.

Where was I going wrong?  I couldn’t figure it out!

Then I went to see Peter Walsh.  He was here in Calgary with Get Real Live and their Calgary Spring Clean initiative.  Finally, it all fell into place!

Can you see Peter Walsh amongst the clutter of Calgary’s social media who’s who?
Left to Right: Kim (bottom – Two Bugs and a Blog,) Brooke (Brooklyn Berry Designs,) Catherine (The Dabels Divulge,) Peter Walsh, Leanne (Ironic Mom) ME! Leslie (bottom – Hippo Hug) Erin (Working Mother Chronicles,) Tamara (That Tam I Am)

Peter talked about the four pillars of organizing:

1. Vision
2. Function
3. Zones and
4. Limits

At the end of his show he challenged us to go home and tackle our junk drawers.  He said it would make us feel like rock stars.  He said it would empower us and so I, with a leap of faith, listened to him and took on my junk drawers.  Here is the before pic.  My drawer was basically full which meant it had really become useless to the function of our home.  There was no room to put anything else in and there was no way to find anything in there without partially emptying out the contents.

See?  Total failure.  But that’s ok, I was ready to take it on.  I emptied out the contents as Peter suggested to see what I had in there.  And then I thought about the reasons I had such a mess on my hands.  I thought about my vision for my junk drawer.  I wanted it to house various things that didn’t have a ‘real’ home.  I wanted to open the drawer and see what I needed and grab it quickly.  You could say my vision was “Easy Hiding, Easy Access.” Then I thought about the function of my drawer.  I need this drawer to be utilitarian and just do it’s job.  It just needed to hold stuff.  So far this isn’t rocket science right?

Here’s a photo of everything I hauled out of there.  Gross.  I started thinking about my zones and I began first by throwing out he things I didn’t want.  Phone book?  Please.  Next I sorted like things together and noticed I needed a zone for pet things, a zone for pens and tools and a zone for power adapters.  I also took some things away that I knew belonged in other places like my glue gun.  Nobody really needs to keep their glue gun in the kitchen….right?

I filled my drawer with little boxes as Peter recommended.  He said that cut off milk cartons or yogurt containers would work – and he isn’t wrong, but I went to the dollar store and got some containers that would fit the space better – my drawer is kind of narrow.

This is where the last item comes into play – limits.  By nature, a drawer is a perfect example of a limit and the boxes break that down even more.  There is a physical limit to what can fit in a drawer or a box so here, the limit is pretty much built in.  In other areas of the home you would need to create a limit.  I could say ‘this shelf is the only shelf that I will use to store XYZ and when that shelf is full I either have to stop purchasing XYZ or get rid of an old one.    Or, I only wish to have 20 DVDs in my DVD storage space and the same applies – if I want a new one, I need to get rid of an old one.  Sometimes limits are easy and other times they are not.  There are no limits on books in this house!

So if you’re like me and have failed at organizing in the past here are the reasons why:

You’ve not thought of a vision for the space -  In the living room your vision could be of earthiness, entertainment, coming together.

You haven’t thought of the functions you require of the space – Again, in the living room you need for people to sit, you need music, you need places for people to put down a glass.

You haven’t set zones – Where will the music related items live?  Where will you keep coasters etc.

And finally you haven’t set limits – So you have 10 sets of coasters…they don’t all fit in the drawer you set as their zone so this means you need to get rid of some.

It really is genius and now that I’ve set visions for certain spaces it’s easy to ask myself  ‘does this item support my vision for the space?’  If the answer is no, then it’s gotta go!

Now, go on, go tackle YOUR junk drawer.  You’ll feel like a rock star.  Really.

I didn’t handle it very well.  I found my pulse racing and my throat feeling tight.  I felt like I was on the brink of a panic attack all day long.  At night, I’d lie in bed listening to my heart thump in my chest as my mind ran through every possible scenario.

I went online and was reading through some quotes, looking for something that could help calm me.  Distracting my brain by making it think of things other than what was out of my control was working a little.  I came across one quote that instantly sent a wave of relieve over me.  I didn’t book mark it or pin it or write it down because it struck me so hard I wasn’t going to forget it.  But now that I wish to share it, I wish I had to be able to share the source.  Oh well, I made a graphic and hope that if you’re feeling anxious you can remember to think about the moment you’re in and how at that moment you are ok.

Driving to my doctors appointment to receive the results of my tests was a particularly bad time.  I couldn’t believe everything was alright until I KNEW everything was alright.  I stopped the frantic speculations of my mind and thought about the moment I was in.  I was driving in my car. The sun was coming through the window and warming my face.  The skies were a bright blue and weather was perfect for a nice drive. The music was all around me and the traffic was flowing.  It was a good moment.  It was a safe moment.  Nothing was wrong in that place in time.  I relaxed. I drove to my appointment not thinking of anything unless it was actually happening at that space in time.  A child walking to the park with his mom.  A dog sniffing a tree.  A bird with a beak full of string for her nest.  These things were not stressful.  These things were life, happening all around me.  And my life was happening too and it was good.

I broke down today and wandered around in a garden center.  It was glorious.  I listened to fountains and watched some koi swim and smelled the delicious blooms.  I had to bring that home with me.  I decided to make a planter for my kitchen island.  I bought two herbs, thyme and oregano.  And I bought a little lemon tree thing that doesn’t grow lemons but it smells like lemons and the bright color just called to me.  Also, I got some little purple flowers to fill in the gaps and I hope once they bloom, they’ll provide some nice color.

First I filled the container half full of soil. I likely should have had some gravel in the bottom but it totally escaped my mind at the store.

Then I arranged my plants with the tall lemon tree in the center and the herbs on the end.  The purple guys went in between.  My plants have a lot of growing to do and I hope they fill up my planter quickly.  They already smell amazing and are a welcome addition to my kitchen island!

What are you doing to cope with this crazy weather?  Is it making you crazy like it’s making me crazy?

Friday night I was beyond excited to attend the Weird Al Yankovic concert.  I really didn’t know what to expect – I’ve laughed and enjoyed his work in the past but I would never have considered myself a raving fan.   Watching him sing was a musical journey through time and pop culture.   He was laying out history right before us and while yes, it was a comical performance, there were layers of truth and social commentary to it as well.

I learned that Weird Al has a ferociously loyal group of fans who knew all the lyrics and were thrilled to be in his presence.  It was heartwarming to see that this performance was genuinely enjoyed and that there’s still room in this world for someone who is not just talented but who is also willing to be himself and do his own thing.  Loved it.

There was so much at the Expo that if you’re a fan of anything, any tv show or comic book or video game you can think of had something at the show to represent it.  For me?  The Walking Dead is where it’s at.  I’m a big fan and was starting to get a little twitchy now that the season has wrapped.  I thought I’d have to wait until next fall for another fix.  So when I learned there was to be some of the cast on site I was thrilled!  We saw loads of Walking Dead merchandise and it really drove home to me how popular this franchise is.  We saw issue #1 of The Walking Dead Comic book listed at $3200!  Crazy!

Carol (Melissa McBride) was on site signing autographs and she is a wee tiny thing with such a gracious sentiment about her.  When you see her in real life it’s hard to ever imagine her stabbing a zombie through the eye, even a fake zombie in a tv show – it’s a testament to all the magic that goes into making the show seem feasible.

My husband bought a comic that is double signed by the creators of the story.  It’s issue #100 which is a significant book – especially significant for the character of Glen.  Since Steven Yeun who plays Glen in the show was there, it made sense for us to get him to sign it.

This is a fantastic keepsake of a great day and a favorite show.  My husband and I have spent quite a few nights snuggled up in our pjs watching The Walking Dead and now we have a collectible to remind us of the fun long after the show ends (please, let it never end!)

Norman Reedus who plays Daryl Dixon was there too but we couldn’t get near the guy.  He’s a fan favorite and boy did it show.  The line up for his autographs was full, full full and while we would have loved to have met him too we were happy with our experience and ready to call the weekend a wrap.  I thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Expo and plan to go again next year.  I could write 10 posts with everything we saw this weekend, maybe I’ll share a few more photos on my facebook page.  Did you go?  I’d love to hear about your experience in comments if you did!

This is what happened when I tried to steam some squash and carrots.  I forgot the burner on high and sat down to chat with my hubby while the veggies steamed.  It happens to the best of us.  This fiasco also accompanied the driest crock pot pork roast I’ve ever tasted in my life.  We ended up going out to eat.  Thought I’d share this as a reminder that sometimes, things just don’t come together and it’s no big deal.  It’s ok. Life goes on.  Also, I need to buy new pots. 

What’s your most recent disaster story?

Our meeting started and people arrived – some in regular clothes and some in pajamas.  I wore my newest yoga pants with a purple snow flaked pajama top.  I was comfy but not sloppy however I certainly wasn’t expecting what came next.

Wouldn’t you know, the door flew open and along with a few whirling snowflakes came Will Ferguson, author of the Giller Award winning book 419 – the book we were all discussing.  He didn’t seem to notice what we were wearing, at least, he didn’t let on that he noticed.  A gregarious fellow, Will cracked jokes here and there and had the room mesmerized in moments.  He was eager to hear our thoughts and graciously answered questions from our members.  What I liked most about Will was his willingness to praise his editor, who he tells us, played a large part in the construction of the ending of the story.

From left – right:

Blissful Domesticity  Working Mother Chronicles  The Dabels Divulge Will Ferguson is Center, the one with the mic is a CBC Radio gal then Marlaine and Rightmost is Hippo Hug.

About the Book:

419 is simply the story of a man who gets sucked into one of those spam emails from a Nigerian who can transfer large sums of money to a lucky responder.  Less simple is the web of people who are affected by these dark and deceptive dealings.  This story weaves in and out and back and forth from continent to continent  and character to character.

The writing is smooth and easy to read yet Ferguson is able to reveal a depth of information with a few sharply written phrases.  I found myself pausing to reflect on this skill of saying so much with just one short line.

Although never named, the city of Calgary is showcased in this novel and it was fun to piece together the wheres and hows of the setting.

Give it a read, it won’t disappoint!