From my honeypot to yours!

Christmas means parties, late nights and rich foods. Coming up with the perfect dish to take to your umpteenth party can be a challenge. Here is one of my favorite recipes: Lupe's Fresh Salsa Mexicana. It is delicious, and healthy (well, depending on how many tortilla chips you eat with it.) Enjoy.

Lupe's Fresh Salsa Mexicana

3 tomatoes, chopped

1/4 onion, chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, chopped

small bunch cilantro (5 or 6 branches), chopped

Salt to taste

Juice of one navel orange

Cut tomatoes, onion, peppers and cilantro into very small pieces. Add salt and orange juice, mix well. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips as a snack.

If you like your salsa on the milder side, remove and discard the seeds from the jalapeno peppers.

Note: Always wear rubber gloves when chopping jalapeno peppers!

Do the Renovation!

My darling hubby gave me the best birthday present ever! A week of slave labour (Canadian spelling) on my current renovation project. We laid laminate floor, put new baseboards, wainscot and chair rail in our baby girl's room. It looks amazing by comparison to its previous incarnation.

I wanted a somewhat sophisticated look that could grow up with my daughter. It is hard to find the right mix that can be little girl or big girl, but I think we have done it. Her walls and flooring are a chocolate brown (adding a sense of warmth to a cool north facing room) and the ceiling, trim and wainscot are a pristine white. Her room will be decorated with pinks, reds and whites (delicious with the brown background).

Want great step by step instructions on how to install wainscot? Follow this link to the best how to video that I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xXzho457nk&NR=1

Oh Remember, Remember

So tomorrow is Remembrance Day in Canada. I love Remembrance Day. I love taking my kids to the ceremony and having the opportunity to talk about our nation's past history. I love getting to hear the military bands play. I love to hear and sing "O Canada". And, I love the minute of silence. I love how everything becomes so still. I am alone with my own thoughts about war -- its great and terrible costs -- and peace.

For me Remembrance Day is all about peace. I wear a poppy and think about those who sacrificed not because I think war is somehow romantic or necessary, but because I think that we will never achieve peace unless we remember the costs of war and conflict. I hope to pass that understanding on to my children.

I try to remember that peace begins at home and if I cannot achieve a semblance of peace in my home it is hard to imagine how peace can be achieved on a global scale. I am going to strive for a day where my children solve their conflicts in a constructive way (ie. no hitting or screaming), because it is unrealistic to assume we can have a day without any conflict.

The Year of Living Biblically

I am behind on my book reviews, but I will review the book I read this month. "The year of living biblically" by A.J.Jacobs is a non fiction account of Mr. Jacobs attempt to follow the Bible literally for a year. He performs sacrifices, stones an adulterer, wears clothing made of non mixed fibers; you get the picture. It started out as an entertaining read. Jacobs has a fun tongue in cheek style of writing, but I must admit that after the first 100 pages or so it just felt too much the same.

My biggest complaint with this book though is that as a reader I felt like the only reason Jacobs was writing this book was to do just that; write a book. Forgive me for wanting the writer of a book about a spiritual journey to have one. Mostly I felt like Jacobs (a professed agnostic) poked fun at those who take their faith in God seriously. He is slightly kinder to members of the Jewish faith (he comes from a Jewish background).

The book may make those who are religious look at their own faith in a new way and for that reason I don't think it is a waste of time to read it.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars

The Perilous Princess Pit

So it is pretty funny that this is my next post after I review a book about a princess! Let me just start by saying that I enjoy a good princess story as much as the next person, but I have issues with the whole "princess" mania in our society.

I hear parents often refer to their daughters as their little princess. Little girls wear disney princess clothes, carry princess lunch bags, and backpacks. So why is it that I have a problem with this? I honestly believe we are raising our daughters to be more self-absorbed than any generation that has ever come before it (and children are naturally self-centered, we are appealing to one of their least desirable character traits). By encouraging them to believe that they are "princesses" the message that we are sending is that somehow they are special compared to everyone around them. Take notice of the other motto's on girls clothing as they get older and move out of the princess phase, "spoilt", "diva", "brat". I can tell you that I have come in contact with a few of those kids too!

There is nothing more annoying than throwing a birthday party for your child and having some other little diva arrive and demand to be the centre of attention. Your child is not the center of my universe and quite frankly I usually don't think they are all that remarkable. Your child should be  the center of your universe, they should know that you think they are wonderful and special, but with a healthy dose of "everyone has gifts and talents etc..."

And if by the way you feel tempted to fall into the perilous princess pit with your wee girl; take a look at the lives of some true princesses, try Princess Diana for instance... It isn't always the Disney happy ending. Remember we get to make our choices we don't get to choose the consequences.

Book of a Thousand Days

Book review #2

This story is loosely based on the Grimm's Fairytale "Maid Maleen". Hale has chosen to put her tale in a Mongolian setting. I have to give Hale her due the book seems very well researched and Hale uses a consistent voice throughout the novel. Unfortunately, I think that many people find the first person diarist style that is used in the novel less pleasant to read. Couple that with the fact that the main character Dashti's voice is somewhat halting and voila many people say that this is a disappointing work by Ms. Hale.

But I didn't read the book the first time I "read" it; I listened to a audio copy of the book and I have to say that the book is very well designed to be read aloud. I loved the story and thought that it was Hale's best book yet. So this month when I chose it for my bookclub to read and actually "read" the book I didn't enjoy it as much as I  had when I had listened to it. The book didn't flow as well when I was reading it as it had when I had listened to it.

I still think that this is one of Shannon's great books and I would recommend it any young female reader. But if the child (or adult) that you are recommending the book for isn't much of a reader then perhaps have them listen to this one instead of reading it. The story is definitely worth it!

I give this book 4 stars out of 5.

Great Expectations

My youngest child started grade 1 this past September. I thought to myself,  "now that I have 6 plus hours a day to myself I am really going to get some things done". I made the lists and set the expectations...

So why may I ask did I think that I could accomplish two to three times as much just because I didn't have little miss mouse tagging along with me? I really don't get much more done at all it is just that I feel less guilt about ignoring my child while I am working since she isn't here to be ignored.

Making Toast

So, I am in a book club. I love being in a book club; I love reading, I love learning and I love visiting with other women one night a month and hearing about their ideas, joys and struggles. I also love being in a book club because it means I read books that I did not choose and sometimes I really like those books and they open windows to the world for me. So I figured that I would do some book reviews on my blog of the books that I am reading in my book club.

This month we read the book "Making Toast" by Roger Rosenblatt. This book is a memoir written by a father whose daughter unexpectedly dies at the age of 37. He and his wife move in with their son-in-law to help him with their 3 small grandchildren. The book is very touching in some ways. The love that Roger and his wife have for their daughter and son-in-law is very palpable throughout, but I have to say that I found the book somewhat disconcerting. I am almost exactly the same age as Roger's daughter Amy who passed away. It is hard to read about someone your own age in your own situation dying and leaving behind their children. I found it especially difficult to read about Amy's children's experiences after her death and to think what would happen to my own children in the same situation.

 I also found the book difficult to read because of the lack of hope in the Author, Roger. I am sure that it is true to his experience because I think that he did and does feel hopeless about the loss of his daughter, but I do not believe that this life is the end of everything so I found Roger's bleak outlook rather depressing. Everyone works through the grieving process differently; I just don't know that I will always benefit from reading about that experience.

I would give this book 2 1/2 stars out of 5.

Happiness is...

So I just finished listening to Jian Ghomeshi on CBC. This man drives me nuts! He is the furthest thing from plain; he loves all things superficial and pretentious as far as I can tell. So he is interviewing this woman who wrote a book called the happiness project where for a year she did sort of normal low key stuff that made her happy. So Jian says to her, "does having a bestselling book help the happiness quotient?" of couse the woman responds that it does, but she says that she loves writing and that the process of writing makes her happy. With some incredulity in his voice Jian says, "so you would have been happy even if no one bought your book?"

I can't believe how shallow this man is that he can't even imagine something making someone happy unless it turns some sort of a profit. I sing every day -- it makes me happy. I do it because I love it and it makes me feel wonderful both emotionally and physically. No one pays me to sing, no one even listens to me sing, and yet it still makes me happy. Happiness is something inside of us not something that we do that others recognize. I'll hop down from my soap box now.

Snow

We have had a ton of snow here in my hometown. Three times more snow than we normally have in the month of January and it is only the 18th... The snow has completely covered over my hedge; it's like it doesn't exist anymore.

Me? I like snow, but everything in moderation. I am not sure when the kids and I will get to go tobogganing again simply because who is going to try to slide the hills with this much powder on them? It will take forever to get a good snow pack again, by then it may have started snowing again...

At least my home isn't underwater. You gotta be grateful for small blessings.

Spiritually Plain

So I had a wonderful "aha" moment when I was reading my scriptures yesterday. Our Heavenly Father and the prophets praise plainness too. In the Book of Mormon, Nephi quotes the prophet Isaiah and then says this to his readers:

"Wherefore, hearken, O my people, which are of the house of Israel, and give ear unto my words; for because the words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless they are plain unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy. But I give unto you a prophecy, according to the spirit which is in me; wherefore I shall prophesy according to the plainness which hath been with me from the time that I came out from Jerusalem with my father; for behold, my soul delighteth in plainness unto my people, that they may learn" (2 Nephi 25:5).

I feel like the prophet Nephi. My soul delights in plainness, in simpleness and in that which will help me return to my Father in Heaven when I have finished my work on this earth (the most important bit of which for me is raising 4 beautiful children to be lovable and loving human beings.)

Sick Days

So, one of my children is home sick from school today. The weather has turned incredibly cold outside and so I must admit that I was happy to keep her home. We have stayed in our pajamas and cuddled in mommy's bed. We have watched movies and sipped hot lemon to ease sore throats. I realized part way through the morning that there is a positive side to having a sick child. It forces me to slow down and while everyone else is out of the house my little girl and I have had an opportunity to bond together. I also realized that some of my most positive memories from my own childhood are times that my mother was caring for me while I was sick.

What's in a Name?

I will tell you what is in my blog's name; I get weary of feeling like my children and I somehow have to be remarkable, different, extraordinary... Isn't there some virtue in just being ordinary people who do ordinary things? For example today is a beautiful sunny day in a cold northern city, the snow is glistening on the ground and it is warmish outside; wouldn't it be great just to go out tobogganing? Perhaps after school instead of getting right to the grind of homework and practicing music we will enjoy a few runs down the hill on a sled, maybe we will giggle a little and then come home and make some hot chocolate.