Sustainables

mugs

2012-01-25T20:46:00.000-08:00

Wow, how do I do this again? I'm going to slowly see if I can get back into it, starting with a bit of an archive of creative things I've done over the last year. I often give them away and would love to have a record I can reference.

A white glossy mug with a band of "snowflake" crystal glaze. Some pin holing on the snowflake glaze, glad I kept it to the outside.

I've made a lot of mugs that like this this year. It's a really dependable glaze and it's a shape I enjoy holding (although the top is distorted by the camera angle). This one happens to have a fresh americano ready to drink.

A pair of mugs glazed in purple haze and "key lime", an interesting experiment. I love the effect of the glazes flowing together, but unfortunately, the purple also ran off the bottom and I had to chip them off the shelf. The lime has crazed, you can see details in the second picture off to the right. I love the combo but it will need refining to be functional.

Fall Class Update

2011-08-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

The fall class schedule has been finalized - please note slight changes in time and a switch to W/F instead of M/W. This is due to hall availability and I hope it doesn't cause too much inconvenience!

Summerland Fall Classes

September 14 – Oct 21

Wednesday/Friday @ 6:15am OR

Wednesday/Friday @ 9:15am

$125 - 12 classes

Location: Local parks, my yard (depending on class size) and/or the IOOF Hall

August Class

2011-07-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

It's coming up so fast - strange how summer slips by so quickly! I am, however, rested up and ready to roll again on August 8, at 6:15am. The class will run M/W through the month down at Peach Orchard Beach, ending on the 31st. The cost is $85 for the 8 classes. We don't have a rain location for this month so we'll have to tough it out or move under the shelter if we need to. I've had some requests for adding the Friday in for 3 workouts in the week. Hopefully by the end of the workout on the 8th we'll have a better idea if there are enough interested women to run this option.

The next session after that begins on Sept. 12, and will run for 6 weeks. The time, days, and location will stay the same and we'll see how long we can keep the outdoor workouts going before moving in. I am also offering a 9am class but need a minimum of 6 participants. The 9am class runs outside at my place. Kids are always welcome!

Please let me know if you are planning to return for the August session or are new and want to try it out!

Thanks and enjoy the summer!

Last month before summer break!

2011-05-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

I'm always slow at getting this up but I DO get around to it...

It's the last month of bootcamps before summer and here's how the schedule looks:

M/W/F @6:15am, May 30 - June 29

W/F @ 9am, June 1 - June 29

You can mix and match between the different times. Any 2 classes a week for June is $85 (8 classes). Three times a week is $125 (bonus 13th class on that one!). There are no classes for either group on June 10, as I am away for training.

All classes are outdoors now, so dress for the weather! We do have access to the IOOF Hall through the month though if it's truly miserable. The 9am is on my yard and the 6:15am may move around a bit until we find the right spot, so email me if you're interested and I'll send you details.

You don't need to have any experience or be in good shape to start - that's the point of the whole thing! If you need more of a challenge I usually have enough variations to keep you sweating too. You can see Amanda's blog about her first classes and Angella's post about starting the fat shredder if you want to hear about other local women who've experienced it!

Kids are always welcome to come along with you. There's a lot of space to play in the yard and my 3 year old is generally a pretty good host. If you're also looking at making some changes in the way you eat, info on the Fat Shredder program is available though the Tyson Method bootcamp4moms member site - check it out! My bio is up there too if you want to learn a bit more about why I love teaching.

UPDATE:
The 9am class is off to a bit of an odd start with missing 2 Fridays. The dates that leaves us with are June 1, 8, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29, for a total of 7 classes. If you want to add on an early morning on a Monday to make up for the lost Fridays, let me know. Because of the lost days/late starts we'll do a straight up 7 classes for $70.

Ella's Citrus Room

2011-05-13T20:29:00.001-07:00

Mother's Day

2011-05-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's an annual post requirement, isn't it? Sadly, this one corresponds to the fresh-in-my-mind tax season. I don't freaking get paid for all the work I do. Just needed to get that off my chest. No mom (or dad) ever does. It's nice of Harper to give me $100/month but that hardly pays for my cigarettes, booze and popcorn. Oh wait, I don't smoke. I could take advantage of the public schools, yes, but I'd still have a 3 year old at home.

I really do feel privileged to be able to spend these years at home, don't get me wrong. It just feels odd that I could technically make more money slinging drinks than teaching my kids how to count money or cook healthy meals. Lucky to have the choice right now.

On Mother's Day I was treated to some sweet hand made cards that took them at least an hour to make apparently, and they were awesome. Jeremy presented me with my favourite consumable gift, wine, way higher rated than chocolate in my books. He had apparently also predicted with great accuracy what I would like best about each card and comment on.

We joined Jeremy's parents for a truly decadent picnic & ice cream in the afternoon. To polish off the day I snuck out to the pottery guild to throw for the first time in almost 6 weeks. It was deleriously fun and totally demoralizing, all at once. Too much time off but so good to be back. Which reminds me that I'm now the official "vice pres" of the guild. Eep.

Home Schoolish

2011-05-10T22:55:00.001-07:00

Not much energy for my own blog but once again, it's coming up on reporting time and I've put a few tidbits up on the home learning site. Haven't caught up with photos yet...

Kite Runner

2011-04-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a long week with my wee boy. I've been feeling like a failure of a parent who is raising a sociopath. No regard for the pain of others (mostly sisters) and kicking strangers at random in stores. He totally turns on the charm to a cheesy degree when he knows I'm angry.

Then today we had a date, a humble hour in town with just the two of us and no agenda. He requested a steamed milk and kite flying in the park. We had tried his kite in the yard in the morning and when the wind wasn't sufficient, I vaguely promised to try in the park with him "sometime". He didn't forget. The breeze in the park was stiff and I have never seen a little kite pop up like that and stay up. I had instructed Ezra to run away from the kite, against the wind to help get it into the air. Once it was up he couldn't stop grinning and running in wild circles with it. He was so genuinely relaxed and joyful that it gave me new hope and energy. He's a challenge yes, but he also shines brightly.

Part of me regrets not having a video of his unrestrained excitement but the other part treasures it for it's not having been captured. I hope I carry the precious image of his smile and crazy kite running with me for a long, long time.

Travel Status Updates that didn't get posted

2011-04-14T23:39:00.000-07:00

So...I had a lot of time to think, sort of, while I crossed the country. If I had twitter and a willing accomplice, these are some of the updates you may have seen or might have been censored out:

- Bucking wind! Or there may have been an "f"...not good for mileage or relaxation.
- Melville SK. Huh, who knew? What's an extra 64km when all you have is time and a wiggy 3 year old?
- Prairies for 15 hours + PMS = bad
- You have to pee, NOW?!? Chaplain SK has the most misleading rest stop. Worse? Not the first time I've made that mistake there.
- windmills kick ass
- 8 dead deer at the side of the road in less than 2 hours.
- famous last words "this should be the last snow we see..."
- "well, Calgary is NOT boring" (based on the 10cm+ of snow we woke up to today)
- "Because mama needs to stop for a coffee". Often.

happy kids

2011-04-08T20:25:00.000-07:00

Happy kids but guess who's missing her bed? We're also missing daddy-o a lot and are really looking forward to being reunited. He'll have to do some post-trip retraining of the discipline and routine variety. I mean with the kids, not his own.

triplog .001

2011-04-08T19:52:00.000-07:00

...and possibly the only entry, you never know. This is a brief account of what we've done since leaving home with unedited, uncool snapshots. Not riveting reading but a record of our trip at least!

Day 1

Hammer down from home (6:42am) to Calgary. We met Mark and Roel for ice cream but mostly I chased Ezra around a mall. He did great in the car but once he was loose he was wild. Then I fed him ice cream. Back on the road, late dinner/night snack in Medicine Hat and a change into jammies. Shut down for the night in Swift Current. Slammed my finger in the car door on the way up to the room and bled all over the suitcases, scaring the tar out of the kids that were awake. I kept my cool most of the day and didn't have to referee a single fight. The kids travelled fantastically, I was proud. The stretch between Calgary and Medicine Hat was stunning. Shiny, icy white fields reflecting the setting sun. It woke up my prairie spirit and I felt like a younger version of myself (until about 10pm, at which point I felt like a much older version of myself).

Day 2
We took FULL advantage of the "continental" breakfast the Best Western put on. Waffles included. Then we went for a swim and hot tub before packing up. Rolled into Winnipeg at 9pm and stopped by my brother's place to get keys and say a quick hi to the family. Mom & dad arrived from the Dominican Republic at 1am!

Day 3
We stuck close to home and enjoyed catching up with mom and dad, running basic errands and stocking the fridge. The kids did not want to leave the house or yard, having had enough of that whole car thing.

Spreading the snow so it melts faster!

baking with grandma

Day 4
I roused the troops early to head out to the country to attend Lisa's bootcamp. I loved being there and meeting some of the women I know from online. They let me do a little belly dance warmup so we started with laughs! I even had the luxury of hanging out with that lovely lady and inspirational trainer for a while afterwards too. Related: my legs are sore.

Another sunny afternoon spent on the yard, playing hard in the snow and mud. Ivy got a "snow booter". The old geezers in the house (myself included) were mystified by the shorts/snow combo as well as the barefoot mud/ice appeal. Well, actually I get it but wasn't brave enough to do it anymore.

Then we were off to see Chad, Crystal & the girls. They treated us to a huge taco salad feast, we watched Roel on a game show re-run (go Roel!), and factored in some wii dancing. Ezra got some good quality guy time playing mariokart with Chad and getting chased around.

     Chad had a really cool artifact to show us from one of his co-workers - a snake skin!



Day 5
We started the day slowly with coffee and lounging at home. We puttered on over to the Forks for a full breakfast (bacon and eggs for $3.99 - they know how to party on the prairies), a bit of shopping and river watching. The tourist info centre there is like a mini-museum and we wandered around there happily for a while too.

       Dad was kind enough to give us a lift on his sweet ride, a replica of the first tractor he learned to drive!

There was some serious consternation about the Kids Museum being closed for reno's but luckily we knew that ahead of time. In the afternoon mom & I headed over to the pottery shop and I ruminated about supplies and bought a few tools. I'll be heading back there to pick up some clay. Tonight we watched slides from when I was wee, the kids thought it was pretty cute. It was crazy to recognize that my parents were younger in those photos than I am now. These moments really are priceless.

If you've made it to the end of this post you'll see that the spacing is gibbled and will assume that I'm too exhausted to care enough to fix it. You are right. Have to stay awake to put the kids to bed!

Quiet Moment

2011-03-19T20:29:00.000-07:00

Jeremy posted this photo of me this week and some sweet words. It sums up my week and the wonderful support I have, in all I do.

Precious

2011-02-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

New bootcamp next week!

2011-02-16T22:26:00.000-08:00

February 22 – March 18, 2011

Tues & Fri 6:30 am or

Wed & Fri 9 am

Location: IOOF Hall, Main St. Summerland

Cost: $80

Happy Birthday!

2011-02-02T21:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my amazing husband and closest friend! He wears a lot of different hats...

In his happy place, mountain biking in the birches.

Another happy place, behind the camera (not usually this one though). He had a fantastic year photographically, having his first and second shows.

That second show at Red Rooster also included the debut of his "Summerland Suites" composition. I was so proud I teared up. I'm allowed.

You wouldn't know it to look at the above pictures, but most of his non-work time goes into being a dad and husband. We are all very thankful for his energy, love and playful spirit!

It's not easy to find many pictures of Jeremy since he takes them all, but here is a shot of all 3 kids beside the rink he's put a lot of hours into. Technically the rink is a pool in this shot but you get the idea - it's a labour of love to get it going again after every thaw cycle.

Here's to another fantastic year!

Tim numbers

2011-02-02T11:07:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a bit of research for the nutrition component of the bootcamp website and got curious about the actual stats for take out. Summerland doesn't have a whole lot of fast food options, which I guess is a good thing. I tend to choose Tim Hortons when I do partake so I looked up some of the food ideas and thought I'd share (and scare). The fat & sugar in a lot of these is astounding. They have a calculator on their site to see other foods.

Coffee:

Black coffee: -
Large with cream: 70 cal, 6g fat
Large with milk:   20 cal, 1g fat

Hot Chocolate Supreme (med): 330cal, 10g fat, 49g sugar
Hot Chocolate (med): 240 cal, 6 g fat, 38 g sugar

Iced Capp (med, cream): 360 cal, 15 g fat, 47 g sugar
Iced Capp (med, milk): 220 cal, 2 g fat, 46g sugar

The difference between a large original iced capp with chocolate milk and a small original iced capp with white milk is 160 calories!

Breakfast:

Breakfast sandwich with bacon, egg and cheese on a biscuit: 430 cal, 24g fat
Same thing on an English muffin:                                        330 cal, 15g fat
Egg & cheese on English muffin:                                         280 cal, 11 g fat
Egg & cheese wrap:                                                           270 cal, 14g fat
( I like this one without the mayo, don't know what the stats are for that)

Low Fat Blueberry Muffin: 290 cal, 2.5 fat, 32g sugar
Wheat Carrot Muffin: 400 cal, 19 g fat, 26g sugar yikes.

Oatmeal with mixed berries:                                           210 cal, 2.5 fat, 14g sugar
Low fat vanilla & berry yogurt:                                      160 cal, 1.5 fat, 25g sugar

Lunch:

BBQ Chicken Wrap Snacker - 190 cal, 4.5 g fat
vs.          Turkey Bacon Club - 390 cal, 18g of fat

If you skip the sauce the BBQ would be even lower but they don't have stats for that. A sandwich bun alone is 200 calories!

Snacks:

Timbit, old fashioned glazed: 80 cal, 5g fat, 5 sugar
Chocolate dip donut: 260 cal, 10 fat, 20g sugar

That's a lot of junk in 2 bites! I can't believe how often I've popped in that "little" snack without thinking.

New Territory

2011-01-26T21:58:00.001-08:00

You know I'm a conservative eater, right? Check out what the girls and I were up to this afternoon, it was quite something! Pictures of the result to come....eventually.

Home Learning

2011-01-21T22:25:00.000-08:00

It's been a quiet year in the home learning department. I kind of feel like we have this system figured out. There are always a few glitches but it's been a really relaxed year (so far). I love hanging out with my girls and not having to rush them off in the mornings. Ezra's been learning from them and is crazy about figuring out letters and numbers right now. I've sometimes wondered if he's getting ripped off because he doesn't get a lot of individual time but this seems to be working. The girls are old enough now that they're happy to stay home "alone" (Jeremy's home but working), while Ezra and I go on short outings together.

It's a lot of togetherness and we have our days where we all think we're nuts, but for the most part, I just feel really lucky. If and when the kids choose to go to school I think there will be advantages to that too, but I'm so thankful to have this extra time with them at home for as long as it lasts.

There are a few new posts on the reporting site (mostly for grandparents!).

Eating Journey

2011-01-21T21:55:00.000-08:00

I'm part of a group of women over at The TysonMethod4Moms that has committed to eating as healthy as possible (and being accountable!) for at least 6 weeks. The goal is to change some habits to improve & maintain overall health. I am NOT in this to lose weight, in case anyone is concerned! Another priority is to figure out why we're eating when we're not hungry, and what our triggers are. I don't usually spend time reflecting on what/when I eat so it feels a bit obsessive at first, but it is helping me see patterns. I've been posting about it over on the members site but thought I'd re-post some of the ideas here (in reverse order of writing).
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Grocery Aisle Confusion: Marketing 101
By Tannis
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I live in a small town with two grocery stores and one bulk food store. Specialty health food items aren't necessarily easy to come by or super affordable so I headed over to the nearest city to shop. It was a disaster. I didn't realize how much of the processed/junk food aisles I tune out altogether in my usual routine. In a new place I had to wander around and walk past all kinds of tempting items I hadn't remembered really seeing in ages! It turned out fine but took longer and I felt pretty frustrated by the time I made it out. On the plus side, they had a good variety of Clif bars, turkey bacon, and low-fat cheese. I stuck to the list!

Jan 15th
Grumpy
By Tannis
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Yes, I'm grumpy and would love to blame it on my diet. I must be low in fat and salt!! Quick, emergency chips! Yes, I'm probably PMS'ing but it happens every month for a few days. There are no chips in the house for a reason. I keep focussing on all the things I DIDN'T manage to do perfectly this week. I feel down on myself for willfully not cutting out all caffeine, it's my favourite crutch. I thought I was feeling buffer a few days ago and then I must have fallen off the wagon big time, because today feels puffy.

Then I looked back over my diet for the week and said "holy crap I mostly ate really well, what is wrong with me?"! If you have the same tendency to look at the exceptions, mentally compare your week to the week before you started. Is it looking pretty good now? Thought so!! We've all made changes, so bravo! Next week will look even better, we'll gain strength as it becomes habit.

Jan 13th
People Pleaser
By Tannis
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I'm a people pleaser. I want everyone to like me. I understand the limitations of this and have figured some things out but I'm just learning that this even applies to eating! If someone has me over for dinner or makes me cookies, I will gladly eat what they lovingly prepare. Often it's not something on my healthy list. Yes, I try to control portions and fill up on the veggies but sometimes I cringe when I realize how easily it could have been made over. Then I feel ungrateful and guilty. I do like my treats too though and that's generally how I look at it, then I feel thankful and am able to enjoy it. I eat well most of the time so that I can afford to have those nights out. Can anyone else relate?

Kind of along the same lines, I realize that I take on other people's issues about food. I am okay with passing on a dessert most of the time, but get upset when other people make a big deal of it, like I must have an eating disorder. I need to get over the over-sensitivity. Ideas on how to handle that gracefully without preaching a sermon?

Jan 13th
Up and Down
By Tannis
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Today was seriously up and down. My schedule didn't go as planned and the meals I had in my mind didn't materialize. It made me grumpy and I had an extra cup of coffee in the afternoon. On the other hand, I did still eat pretty well other than the bite of cookie I caught myself sampling.

By 6:30 I was winding down and getting into relax mode. I was justifying not working out b/c I had a lot of exercise yesterday. I kicked my own booty out of the chair and turned it on. I technically had the 20 minutes. It turned out to be my best workout in a long time. I did the fit test and measurements afterwards and felt fantastic. I had new music on my mp3 and went hard (sorry Tami, wasn't listening, just watching!), it's amazing what a difference that can make. I snacked on a few frozen blueberries (one of my strange go-to snacks), had a cup of tea and am looking forward to my sleep!

Jan 10th
Shredder - Day 1
By Tannis
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It's 9:30pm and I'm hungry. The growling belly type, not just bored. Grr. I don't think I need a bigger dinner, nor do I want to eat it later (usually around 6). Normally I'd try to have a small bowl of yogurt or something around 8:30 but I thought I'd attempt to go without snacking after supper. Advice or ideas?

I did a program similar to this in spring and lost about 11 lbs, most of it fat. I've done pretty well with sticking to some of the bigger changes but realized I've been letting the little nibbles creep back in. I'll be doing a slightly different variation of the diet as we eat primarily vegetarian and I have quite a number of strange food sensitivities. I'm recording it all though and it will get posted!

I'm both a "grazer" and a "liquid lover" and I thought I'd share a couple things that have helped keep me on track.

- distraction. I'm not so different from my 3 year old sometimes. If I walk into the kitchen looking for a snack and then see my note beside the fridge about grazing I first try a drink of water. Sometimes that's enough and I wander away. Staying out of the kitchen unless I really need something is a way better idea.

- substitutions. I seem to have constant cycles of cutting down/ramping back up on coffee. I love it, but thank goodness I love it black. I'm weaning off the caffeine part again. I also enjoy tea so I'm substituting that when I want a hot drink after noon. Right now I'm drinking hot water. Sounds lame but it works for me. I crave cheese but find that cottage cheese totally takes the edge off, phew.

- patience. when I'm tempted by a fancy dessert in front of me I just try to buy a few minutes of time before I grab one. If I excuse myself briefly and come back to see everyone else half way through it doesn't look as tasty anymore. I know I'll feel better if I don't and the temptation won't last long. Alternatively, if it's something I really love, I try to take a small sample and eat sloooooowly to really appreciate it.

Next Round

2011-01-11T20:46:00.000-08:00

Here we go! Always late with the new years post. My big focus right now is getting the bootcamps running again. This morning was the first class of the new year and it felt great to be back. I'd missed the social time and supportive friends. For reference here's the info - next time I'll try to get it up before the classes start. I'd love to post photos of us working out but the class is a bit shy (so far). I have a feeling that might be about to change...hello Amanda and Angella!

Jan 11-Feb 18 (12 classes)
Tues & Fri, either 6:30-7:20am or 9-10am.
IOOF Hall on Main St. in Summerland

Tami at TheTysonMethod4Moms has put together some extensive nutrition info on her website. Some is for all members but there's also a really detailed section for those who sign up for the "Fat Shredder Challenge". I'm not attempting to lose weight but am doing this one along with them to reinforce the better eating habits I learned in spring. It's disturbing how some things have crept back in.

I've found out that I am a "grazer" and "liquid lover" when you look at emotional reasons for eating. I nibble at anything in front of me. I don't binge, but grab little bits all day. I caught myself 11 times in one day eating something I hadn't been planning to and didn't necessarily even want that badly. Anyone who's spent any amount of time with me will probably picture me with coffee, wine or tea in my hand. No surprise there but luckily my drinks of choice aren't too laden with fat/sugar or I'd be a very different shape. The underlying reasons we develop the habits that we do are fascinating to me and essential to understand if we want lasting change.

sustain

2010-12-27T22:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't enjoyed the title of this blog since...oh right after I picked it. The idea of starting over or changing the title but leaving the address didn't appeal to me though. Out of curiosity, I looked up synonyms for "sustain". I liked most of the words that came up, antonyms are in brackets. Being nourishing and supportive sounds good. Prolonged aid sounds less awesome.

sustain

maintain
continue
carry on
keep up
keep going
uphold
prolong
protract
(quit)

nourish

keep you going
support
feed
help
aid
assist
(sap)

Still no brilliant blog title ideas. I also need to do some serious maintenance on my links, as if anyone notices.

Blue November

2010-11-29T20:44:00.000-08:00

It's been the worst month around here in recent memory. I've felt completely snowed under. Death, sadness, stress, workload and a seriously worn out body. Today I feel like I'm slowly coming back into myself. I've been too busy to feel as deeply as I know I will. Protecting myself for a time, to absorb it in degrees.

Neither of these amazing women was a close part of my daily life in the past while but both had great impact and are sadly missed.

Marj, mother, grandmother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt and friend to so, so many. Always happy to have a baby on one hip and camera on the other. The survivor who taught us how to grieve. Her beloved family left to muddle their way through the dark days, again, but without their matriarch and cornerstone. Her kids had the most amazing tribute at her funeral. She and Jim done good and they have all chosen wisdom over bitterness. It is inspiring and heartbreaking.

My dear children are used to a quiet life, as most of the people around them are somewhat introverted. They were never quite sure what to make of it when they heard Marj was coming to town. I remember how she howled when she saw us dutifully strapping our firstborn daughter into a highchair that was nearly impossible to fall out of in the first place. Several of Ivy's first foods came courtesy of Marj when mama wasn't looking. She teased them with great glee and once actually had them believing a black feather boa was a severed cat's tail. By the time the kids got a bit older they caught on to her games and they had a rousing round of "space garbage" going on one of her last visits. It involved kids getting stuffed into a toy bin of some sort with lots of shrieking. She and Ezra understood each other right from the start.

And then so shortly after, Gayle left this world. We lost a beautiful, courageous, quirky woman who was a powerful, fiercely protective mother to her 8 year old son, Spencer. She was sick for less than two years. It probably felt like an eternity of treatment, hospitals and pain for her but still, so short. So young. One of her later facebook status updates was this:

clearing my schedule left right and center. simplifying. sticking to the essentials. remembering to dispense tickles, hugs and kisses.

She knew where her priorities lay, and the closer she got to the end, the more she stuck with it. Gayle had a clear sense of how she wanted to spend her very precious days and I admire her all the more for it.

I will never forget when Spencer was pre-school age and it was common to see Gayle sitting patiently with him on a bench at a busy 4-way stop, checking out cars. He could name nearly every one. She took the time to do what he wanted and I suspect she put in more hours of lego in the last few years than most of us combined.

Two amazing, strong women. Gone. I have so much to be thankful for, and to go and do. May I always remember to play, take time for friends and focus on what is really important.

I raise my glass (preferably Blasted Church Pinot Gris)to Gayle and to Marj. They are loved and sorely missed.

Porcelain

2010-11-04T21:29:00.000-07:00

I had my hands on this clay once before but now I'm smitten. I started my class with Trezlie Brooks today and loved it. The homework I was given was to find 5 artists I admire and find 5 of each of their works I particularly like. I'm going to collect links here that catch my eye and see what I come up with over the week (not necessarily all porcelain, but forms that I like).

The first 5ish are ones that I found tonight. This post is a mess of bad spacing, I realize. I'm linking back to the artists whose pictures I use and hope that's politically correct. I'd love to contact them all but can't promise I'll get to that!

Porcelain Pro's "Zen Garden" series and Smoked Porcelain Vessels

Brenda McMahon

- Vessels

Shannon Garson

- Nests

Karin Eriksson

Mudstuffing - Keith Phillips
Etsy store

Tom and Elaine Coleman

Creative Creek Artisans

Costumes

2010-10-31T22:08:00.001-07:00

Four out of 5 Hieberts dressed up for Halloween. The 5th member kindly took our photos, even though he wasn't really into the whole thing.

The grad dress, revamped into some sort of goth inspired ensemble. Although I'm delighted I can still wear it, it says something about my age that it's become a "dress-up" dress, not "dressy".

Both girls chose characters from favourite books
(Tonks from Harry Potter and Holly Short from Artemis Fowl)

The dreaded pirate underbite.

Nymphadora Tonks casting a mischievous looking spell...

Holly Short, first female officer of the L.E.P. Recon Unit. You'd have to read the book to understand but maybe it's enough to know that Ivy chose to dress as a character that's a laser-toting, groundbreaking, spunky feminist elf.

Fall Habits

2010-09-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

When I did the Challenge over summer I was really excited about the changes I made in my diet. I feel better when I eat well and got very quick results. Lately though I've been getting lazier and I feel it. I'm trying to figure out why, since it's obviously good for me! I've concluded that a fair bit of it has to do with the changing season for a few reasons.

- I'm drinking less water. When the weather cools down, I drink more coffee and less water. That's not a good combo for me and I'm more often tempted by sweet snacks when I'm sitting down with my coffee.

- I'm busier and eating LESS. That leaves me feeling hungry/thirsty pretty often when I'm on the run between kids classes (or my classes). I don't tend to reach for the best snacks under these circumstances. I'm not either spending the same amount of planning time on meals and it shows.

- When the weather cools down and it gets darker out I crave more carbs. They're still good quality food but my balance shifts away from fresh fruit and veggies and tips towards whole grain breads, rice & potatoes. I don't think that's a bad thing overall but something I need to be aware of throughout the day to keep things even. Once in a while I still go back to log a few days on Vitabot. It gives me a clear sense of where I've been missing nutrition and of course, I eat better on days I know I'm logging!

Now that I've spent the time thinking about it, it's much easier to go back and remember those fantasic habits I started months ago but have somehow let slide. I want to encourage everyone that feels like they're not "on" with their eating to let yesterday go and start fresh now!

September Madness

2010-09-19T22:55:00.000-07:00

Between starting this blog and getting back to this blog, I haven't taken much time for this space.

We're sorting out our back-to-routine fall activities - Ella wants to take voice lessons and a gymnastics/hip hop combo class, Ivy is going to return to violin/Fiddlekidz and possibly take a dance class too.

On top of that I've started the boot camp. We're having fun and working HARD, I love seeing the effort everyone is willing to put into getting fit(ter)! The space has been great so far and the kids have been doing well with the format - phew. I love grabbing a coffee (black of course) and hitting the park with friends afterwards. We'll have to do something about healthier snacks though!

And hockey started last night. This is the least sore I've ever been after the first skate of the year and I attribute it to the boot camp plyometrics. Then again, tomorrow morning might feel different!

Boot Camp

2010-08-31T22:25:00.000-07:00

I think I'm finally organized...I'm ready to start running the Tyson Method BootCamp4Moms! After getting such great results I chose to take the training and am now excited to teach!

The clases are a fun way to get in shape, spend time with other women and let the kids play, all at the same time. It's often hard to cram fitness into the spaces of time before kids get up or other stolen moments during the day. I love this class because you bring them with you - no need for a babysitter or working out at awkward times. It sometimes takes the kids (and moms) a few sessions to get used to it but for the most part moms end up with a workout and the kids end up with friends. All women are welcome, just know that this is a child-friendly atmosphere! I'm hoping the Tuesday time slot means that moms & kids who are interested can take advantage of both the boot camp and Tumble Time just 2 blocks away.

Here are the details:

Days: Tuesday/Friday
Time: 9-10am
Location: IOOF Hall (Rebekah Lodge)
9536 Main Street, Summerland
Start date: Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Cost: $99/month

The cost for the first half month of September is $49, payment is on the first of the month after that. You don't need to decide more than one month at a time...however we do have an incentive to sign up for the 90 Day Challenge! By committing to 3 months you give yourself a good start on healthy, lasting, habits. You also get access to all e-bootcamps (live, skype style) and the library of class videos online. It's perfect for someone that wants an extra workout a week or can't always make that time slot. There is a promo on the nutrition program as well, I had great success with that and can highly recommend it from personal experience.

The classes incorporate a variety of disciplines which keeps your body guessing. This is more than just a straight up fitness class - we integrate personal training principles like spending time going over your needs & goals. I ask everybody to do a fit test, a "before" picture, and take their measuements at the beginning, it is so worth it. We are emotional creatures and on any given day, can feel like super heroes or lazy lumps. Those concrete numbers and pictures can really help us keep our perspective on how far we've come or let us know if something isn't working the way we'd hoped.

If you want to get a flavour of what classes are like and what women are saying about them, check out this video. We won't have this much gear and might not get outdoors much until spring but it's where we're headed! All you need to bring is a mat or towel for floor work and some days we'll use light weights (3-5lbs).

The Tyson Method blog has success stories posted as well as updates from other trainers and sessions that are running in Canada and LA.

I realize that a lot of moms work and this time slot isn't convenient for you - if there is enough interest I will look into running an earlier morning on the same days, probably 6:30-7:30. I'd need a minimum of 6 people so let me know if that's a better match for you.

Update: Marketing guru over here forgot to put in the part where I ask you to contact me if you're interested. So just in case you don't have this info...

Phone: 250.494.8929
Email: tanhiebert@gmail.com

more rash talk...

2010-08-21T21:53:00.001-07:00

...because that's all that's going on for me these days really. Today I feel like I made some progress (in the right direction) and have some hope of re-joining the world in a normal way by Monday. I hope. This crazy skin thing has been so up and down though that I'm not counting on anything.

Through some fancy short cuts (ie showing up in his office and bursting into tears), I managed to get in to see a dermatologist on Friday. He confirmed that the poison ivy was spreading under my skin in some way, I didn't quite grasp the concept, I was so exhausted. That explains why all the psychotic washing of bedding, clothes and anything I touched wasn't helping. I reluctantly agreed to start taking oral steroids in order to keep my mind. I reacted really badly at first but seem to have it mostly sorted out now. I don't like being on them or dealing with the side effects but heck, I can sleep and wear clothes. Always a trade off. I'm going to keep looking into alternative options and know I'll be needing to build my body back up after all this. I so rarely need medication of any kind that I feel humbled.

I felt good enough today to do most of a tae bo workout and it was very pleasing to release so much frustration with punches and kicks.

atopic junk

2010-08-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a long week here at the Hiebert ranch. I acquired some sort of "atopic dermatitis", which is fancy lingo for "itchy rash that morphed into hives and is driving me mental". According to two different doctors it's either definitely NOT poison ivy or certainly IS. Could be an allergic reaction to bug bites or something in the lake water (ie swimmers itch). Nobody has a clue and I've been miserable. The worst of it is slowly healing I think but new spots keep appearing. Ivy has a few patches now too and we hope it doesn't spread like mine. My family has been very tolerant, I hope to be less whiny again someday soon.

Despite feeling physically very low there were lots of good things about the week. We hosted an informal meteor viewing night on the lawn and had a great time. Good company and a clear, warm evening. The Perseids were kind and we saw more "shooting stars" than usual. I don't think the kids had had that experience before. Even Ezra stayed up until 11 snuggling on the futon-on-the-lawn and was delighted.

I had a few hours to myself late this afternoon while Jeremy took the kids to the beach. I relished the quiet time and puttered in the garden and cooked a mean pasta sauce (tomatoes, zucchini, basil and oregano all freshly picked). I followed it up with a glass of wine while I sat outside in the golden light and gazed out over the lake.

I've had to put exercise on hold most of the week and found it hard. Sometimes I'm happy for an excuse to take a day or two off but I sure don't feel that way now. I did a half workout today so that's progress. It's a bit limiting to have to find clothes that don't rub on the waistline and to do only exercises that don't require lying down, bending at the waist or impact of any kind. That kind of left me with mostly naked push-ups but the neighbours didn't call the cops so we're okay.

Big thank you's to Jeremy & the kids for extending me all kinds of grace this week, to my parents & siblings for checking in with me every few days and to Gerald & Dianne for the unexpected gifts and a visit to cheer me up!

moderation

2010-08-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks, I'm turning on comment moderation, at least for a while. Tired of the foreign spam that keeps turning up.

general update

2010-08-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

This is one of those blanket posts about nothing and everything. The kids pottery class did go well, about as expected. They were well behaved, creative and funny. And I was exhausted. Ten awesome kids with wonderful ideas is a lot for my brain. They are picking up their treasures this week and in between all the various firings I've slowly started working on my own things again. I am really enjoying getting back into that groove, I've missed pottery during the time I've focussed on the class. The irony is painful.

I finally got out on the bike trails again this weekend, thanks to Kim. I've been working out regularly, enjoying working on the Tyson Method certification for teaching the BootCamp4Moms but haven't been out riding nearly as much. The certification process is refreshing the theory I learned when I took my personal training course in the late 90's. It is a different way of looking at things though, it's a cross between personal training and teaching a group class. We encourage moms to bring their kids along, that is a unique challenge too! Based on the reports of women already teaching this, it takes the kids (and moms) a few times to get the hang of it and then they look forward to the playtime. I'm hoping to start a 6 week boot camp in fall so let me know if you're up for it! Still working on locations...I'd love to do outdoors as long as possible and then move in when we have to. Here's Tami talking about the method they've created, with glimpses of the classes and a few kind words from clients.

On other fronts, Ezra turned 3 last week! He's starting to get much more creative in his play, incorporating pretend stuff all over. We're loving his relative independence and the fact that he's so reliably potty trained. The hitting, yelling, and general belligerence we could do without. Can't have it all.

The kids have been doing a few summer camps in addition to the pottery class. Ella participated in a one week, full-day drama course and loved it.

This week she's busy at her half-day gymnastics camp and begging to stay the full day, her energy is astounding!

Ivy's been reluctant to commit to the full day scene, as she gets tired of so much action around her for that long. She is looking forward to taking the next level of the whittling class next week though. The girl loves her jack knife and makes some pretty cool stuff!

My family has committed to meeting in Canmore at Thanksgiving, a la 2008! It's a long ways off but fun to look forward to.

crazy potter

2010-07-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

I signed up to teach a kids pottery class that happens next week. What was I thinking? I'm moderately prepared but have no idea what they're going to throw at me, hopefully not literally but it happens. The theme is "magical quest" and it could be a lot of fun...if presented properly and I'm prepared. We'll make wands, goblets and then wing it from there. Plates, candle holders, sculptures, amulets, or full suits of armour (kidding). The demand for this class was so high that they added another section and it's also full with a waiting list. Thank goodness someone else was willing to take on the teaching, I'm not up for committment level yet.

It's guaranteed to be an adventure -I guess that's why I'm doing it, I bet we'll have a blast playing with mud!

Did it!

2010-07-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

Here's the scoop on the boot camp. It was over last week and I did before & after fit tests and measurements. I lost 5 1/2 inches and 11 lbs! Most of it came off the hips & thighs, and that is a good thing. I can see a lot more muscle than I used to. I'm back in what I consider my ideal weight range and feel fantastic. I can do 26 push-ups instead of 5. I've really improved my eating habits and although it's always easy to be critical, I'm really pleased about it in general. I've had so much fun and am so happy about how I feel that I'm going to stay on with Tami and learn to be a trainer! Good times...

This is evidence of how much I love Tami - I'm going to post the before/after photos. I tried to keep the same pose although I'd rather show off my "new" arms. The difference I feel in strength and confidence is a lot more dramatic than photos can show. It's not ALL about looks. Really.

Bike Camp

2010-06-06T22:03:00.000-07:00

Fun. Tired. Busy riding, few photos.

Bridges, manuals, dirt jumps, rocks. Sore muscles.

Meet the instructors. Two hulas and a nun. Awesome.

Sunday morning muster, feeling a little tired but ready to roll.

This is what you wear for "bling" day at a bike camp. Apparently we wanted to be distinguished in some way from the guys on BMX's nailing the huge gap jumps beside us.

Bush Pilot Biking photos from last year if you want to see the style of trails we were riding.

The Tyson Method Challenge

2010-06-01T19:29:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I talk tough about getting really fit. Right now, I'm actually doing it. My friend Tami and her husband Charles have developed The Tyson Method of fitness. She's been running her Bootcamp4Moms in LA for years and it has been a great success. I was fortunate to get in on her 6 week bootcamp challenge. I work out with her and a small group of women online, 3x/week. The workouts focus a lot on the core muscles and she keeps the cardio rocking. I was dripping sweat yesterday. Did you want to know that? After the first class I was sore for 4 days and quite happy about it. To switch things up Charles teaches some of the classes or portions of them. I've only done one with him and he also got me working hard but on different challenges - keeps it interesting! Have you ever done a spiderman pushup combined with yoga moves? Me neither.

The exercise is only part of the program though. I, for the first time in my life, am tracking my nutrition. Whatever I eat gets logged into a program online and it shows me not only calories but vitamins, minerals etc. I've always avoided counting calories like the plague, having seen so many people whose enjoyment of food seems to have been ruined by it. It has been an awakening to realize it can be used for good, as well as evil. I needed to know that I get almost no vitamin B12 in my diet and that I don't eat nearly as many carbs as I thought. My calcium and iron both tend to be low too.

I knew Tami was a great instructor 15 years ago already but she's built on that to become amazing! Her ability to connect with each person, her passion, intuition, feedback, knowledge and attention to detail (on form) are all remarkable. Thanks Tami! She's passed on some of her secrets and wisdom to Lisa, who is now teaching in Rosenort...I know that she'll be awesome too but I'll have to wait a while before getting to one of her classes.

I'll try to post updates occasionally. A head cold hit me hard today so I'm feeling blah, glad it was a recovery day. All I wanted to do was sit in bed, read, drink tea and eat a bag of s&v chips. I got a short nap and some tea so I think that went rather well.

fashion

2010-05-05T21:29:00.000-07:00

Not my strong point but it didn't stop me from enjoying a wonderfully staged show in Penticton this week. I went with a good friend and met a lot of other people I knew there...good times, small town.

Andrea Hill (below) was the mastermind behind it and the show was in her mother's honour. Knowing a bit of that back story made for some emotional moments, even without knowing the family personally. Andrea's sister Jana was also modelling and they were both fantastic. Yes, that's my head slightly below and left of the beach ball, just to prove I was there.

As I understand it, the clothes were largely provided by Vintage & Vogue on Main St. in Penticton. The retro vibe was refreshing, if that's not an oxymoron. To my untrained eye it was high style but not in an "I'm a cooler designer than you" kind of way.

This pseudo-film shot captures the mood of the show.

A few of Jeremy's Flickr friends were down in the paparazzi pit and that's where these great shots came from. Check out this set and another to see more clothes and how much fun the models were having. If there are more photos around I haven't seen them yet. I am amazed by all of these - I have trouble with any lighting less than perfectly diffused daylight, I have no idea how they do it. What's even worse is when I read the explanation of how they did it, I still don't get it.

mud madness

2010-03-28T14:25:00.001-07:00

*With apologies going out to Mr. Baker for the desecration of the sun porch. It looks fine now and we've got the splash pan set up properly for next time.

One of the founding members of the guild needed a temporary home for her old school (but motorized) "Wrangler", as the wheel has been dubbed, and was kind enough to offer it to us. I spent the afternoon doing some wheel coaching with the family. The girls each got a bowl out of it and are looking forward to trimming them. It was fun to introduce them to my obsession but I'm secretly hoping nobody else loves it as much as I do, I'm selfish with my wheel time!

Thanks to Jeremy for taking the photos...none of him on the wheel but I'll get some one of these days.

I don't even know what to say to that

2010-03-22T19:05:00.001-07:00

I took the kids to the big city today (that would be Kelowna to us country bumpkins) so I went a little crazy and wore my hair down, put on hoop earrings and a little bit of makeup. I got the stare down and 3rd degree from Ivy. Turns out that when I do things like that I look like I'm trying to be the same as all the other moms out there which is boring and conformist.

Princeton tournament

2010-03-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

Here's the hockey team I play on, in all our post-tournament victory glory. I'm pretty sure we were laughing and not in severe pain, as some expressions may imply. One tournament left on Easter weekend before we retire the gear for the summer.

raku

2010-02-15T19:20:00.001-08:00

Last weekend I had a chance to participate in my first raku firing where we use the reduction process. It was the kind of event where it feels like a party, you get to play with fire and ideally get something cool out of the deal. It was sunny, plenty of coffee was consumed and we enjoyed pizza for lunch. And possibly some cold beverages were involved.

(this vase is NOT mine but was one of the better pictures...will post mine if I remember to take photos in daylight).

The temperature of the kiln when pieces come out is about 1800 F which requires good nerves and steady hands. The items are in the kiln until the glaze is molten, then when they are taken out we place them in the garbage cans that are lined with newspaper (in this case). The paper ignites almost immediately and the flames draw the oxides out of the glazes, causing what's called a reduction. The lid is closed before the fire burns down so that the pieces don't have a chance to re-oxidize. They are opened about 20 minutes later when they are significantly cooler. The water spraying cools them rapidly down to air temperature so once again, they don't have a chance to re-oxidize (which would change the colours significantly). At least that's the way I understand the process so far. Feel free to research...

slow posting

2010-01-18T21:40:00.001-08:00

Not much to report that is out of the ordinary and warrants a post. Still enjoying home schooling and pottery when I can get there. I occasionally read when the house is quiet in the evenings and am limiting screen time to a certain degree. Life is good, I like the routines we're in. We've even seen the sun twice this week and that's good for the soul.

I have a few books out from the library that I believe I may have commented on before but the search on my blog stinks and I don't have the gusto to dig through it. The theory I had was that if I'd blog about them I'd be able to find them again someday...hmm. Better tags would help.

"Food Not Lawns" by Heather C. Flores. Pretty self-explanatory. There's a whole network that been developed along with it and encourages doing the activism thing in your own home town. It's something I'm passionate about but need to either start small or stop being afraid of hard work and/or failure.

"Superbia - 31 ways to create sustainable neighbourhoods", Dan Chiras and Dave Wann. I've read it before and get a kick out of their scathing opinion of suburbia. What I like even more is that they try to come up with ideas to make it more functional. Similar vibe to Food Not Lawns.

"Off the Grid Homes: Case Studies for Sustainable Living" by Lori Ryker. Beautiful, carefully crafted homes that incorporate alternative energy ideas and smart design. It's generally as lame as all the other pretty books showcasing executive-priced homes well in excess of 2000 sq. ft that claim somehow to be the paragon of "sustainability". There are neat ideas but if you have a budget and want to build small it would be a discouraging.

the theme

2009-12-04T22:28:00.000-08:00

The pottery glaze seems to be going with a theme here. I've done a lot of experimenting but few results are as pleasing right now as the "tried & true".

the real seasons

2009-11-25T09:27:00.000-08:00

The Okanagan First Peoples Sylix calendar of seasons. I love this one because it represents the local ecosystem. "Fall" can't possibly cover the range of experiences we have between September and November but I know the difference between the time of salmon spawning and the time of cold weather!

hmm, it's not displaying properly...will try to fix that at some point. Maybe. Click on the link to see the whole thing for now.

mug

2009-11-13T14:13:00.000-08:00

I need a new coffee mug and can't seem to make one I like without giving it away or breaking it. My issues. I love this one made by Erika Lyn O'Rourke at Elm Studios just a little too much. I did some pottery glaze research yesterday and am so intimidated by how bloody much I have to learn and how many years I'm going to have to put in to be good. If all goes well though I'll have the required decades left in my life to get there...

gorgeous

2009-11-09T21:48:00.000-08:00

This is the amazing painting Karen dropped off at our house - a complete surprise. What a beautiful gift, thank you!

awfuls

2009-10-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

"So good awfuls!!"
- Ezra Milagro

Waffles, that is.

Padme costume

2009-10-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

I'm NOT pregnant but came across a pretty cool prego costume idea today and decided to blog it for complete lack of writing ideas. Odd that I was never visibly pregnant over Halloween with any of my babes.

koi quilt

2009-09-01T22:21:00.000-07:00

It's been nearly two years since I made a quilt but I was inspired about a month ago. This little guy is a family friend that is really close to Ezra's age and I couldn't figure out what to get him for his birthday. Once I got into it, it took less than a week and I really enjoyed the process. Colours and patterns are so much easier than with pottery. I can try things out to see what works before I sew them together, unlike the glazing and kiln which seem like crapshoots and can't be undone.

kiln goodies

2009-09-01T22:10:00.000-07:00

The guild has been very quiet over the summer, with only 3 of us coming in even occasionally to work. I've been really happy with a few of my most recent items and feel like the style I've been hoping to express is finding it's way out. Or in.

Once again, full disclaimers for the rank amateur photography - colours are not really what they appear on screen in some cases. Because I spend my time making the stuff, not editing or working on lighting.

Rice/dessert bowl

Small vase (8"?)

Experimental goblets

Small serving tray and 2 coordinating dessert size plates

My new favorite combo.

Chute Lake

2009-09-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

While the Hildebrands were out, Nada proposed (and organized) a KVR bike ride from Chute Lake Resort down to Red Rooster Winery - 40kms but all downhill grade. Naomi came back from a decade-long bike hiatus and joined us while the guys did drop off/kid duty. Many thanks are in order for that! It was fantastic, I loved the experience and appreciated the good company.

Here are a few photos, generally in chronological order but in their unedited/unformatted glory. I only have so many hours in a day.

Rock Oven

2 years

2009-08-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

Ezra turned 2 this week. Jeremy wrote a little summary of what he's into and included some photos. It's a bit of a mind bender in a good way. I didn't dwell too much on memories of his birth this year, like I sometimes do with all the kids. He's fascinating and hilarious and well...two. He's got so much on the go that I was thinking ahead more than back. Yesterday afternoon he looked at me quite seriously and said something like "My birthday, want do it again!".

On his birthday I was picking up one of the last items in the baby section that I expect to ever need there (for myself) and it felt odd. I felt like I didn't belong in that world anymore and it was OKAY by me. I know at some point I'll miss these years but for now I'm ready for the next stage. I got to rock and snuggle Ezra to sleep last night, he was so wound up. I'm enjoying those moments while they last.

I don't care what any research says (and I haven't looked) but it takes my body, mind and hormones about 2 years to come back to "normal" after having a baby. No matter how long/short I breastfed. It was less pronounced this third time around because I had a better idea of what to expect and how I cope with it, but it is still undeniably physical.

Along with the improved reasoning faculties comes restlessness. I need to channel that in a functional way. The last time we were at this stage we ended up selling our townhouse and moving into a sweet rental with our eye on extended travel. I found out I was pregnant a few days after moving into the new place and all bets were off.

I think it will be an interesting year.

addendum to rant

2009-08-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

The peak of PMS has passed and I'm back to taking responsibility for my own life and analyzing the choices I made along the way. My mom called to chat and gracefully pointed out that yes, my memory is very selective. There were sympathetic teachers and I realize that I wasn't often discouraged from doing things but wasn't self-motivated to come up with a lot of cool things on my own.

Other people didn't think nurse was a good match for me necessarily either but were kind enough to be supportive of what I said I wanted. It creeps me out a bit that that's the kind of friend I am. If you say you want to do something, it is my job to support what you say you want. Who am I to question it? It's particularly frustrating when my gut is saying it's all wrong but I'm not brave enough to confront a friend. It's easier through work in a professional relationship but it will always be a challenge for me.

My mom reminded me that I considered taking a recreation degree...now that would have been a great match. I don't recall a lot of support and ultimately rejected it because it seemed too frivolous (not serious academic study!) and impractical - no obvious job at grad. Say WHAT!? I can't come up with any other reason I didn't pursue it. And to think I ended up with a psych degree that time around. That's super practical and about a tenth of the fun.

No matter how inaccurate my memories are, I'm left with my impressions and how they've shaped me. Learning from it, adjusting those perspectives and growing from there are the challenges. It's all good.

self serving therapeutic rant

2009-07-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

This is an odd quote to have rocked my world, but it did. It's from an article that Jeremy found.

4. Children and adults can be assessed at any age. However, the ideal age for testing is between 5 and 8 ½ years. By the age of 9, highly gifted children may hit the ceiling of the tests, and gifted girls may be socialized to hide their abilities. Unless they are absolutely certain they are right, gifted girls are often unwilling to guess, which lowers their IQ scores. (emphasis mine)

I don't know if I was ever in that category or not but the concept of having that socialized into girls by 9 is ominous and rings true for me. I have never figured out how to be proud of my accomplishments, abilities and gifts without the perception that I'm making other people feel bad. Bragging. Showing off. Guilt, the everlasting guilt. A lot of that training happened through school. I understand why it was done, but it's affected my concept of self permanently.

Net result? I second guess things all the time that I know. I did not notice this until I read the above quote and now I see it many times a day. Part of me went underground. I tried to downplay it and certainly never, ever went above and beyond what was (is) required. I'm often able to learn things really quickly, but when I don't it has been clearly pointed out to me that I'm not-so- perfect after all and oh thank goodness she sucks at something. This must where my fear of failure developed so strongly. I don't recall many times where I was genuinely encouraged to take on more, follow my nose and challenge myself with harder material. It was always about slowing me down. I may have selective memory.

I desperately wish that someone would have opened my mind to other options back when I was applying for university at the very least. I always got "you could do better if you put in more time" but never had any reason to care. I wanted to be a nurse for a while. Nobody said hey, that's cool but if you applied yourself to your science and math courses you could shoot for physio or doctor! I am also from a small, conservative town and that's a huge part of it as well. You're a smart girl, do you want to be a teacher, nurse or social worker before you have kids? *sigh* Social worker? Check. Kids? Check.

I don't know if it's too late to learn to trust that part of my brain. I fear it's mostly sawdust by now and don't even know what I'd apply it to anyway. I haven't really learned to work hard, don't have good study habits and am terrified to try new things because I might not get it right and other people will enjoy that (in my mind). I have this vague but looming sense that I had something special and lost it. Wasted it. Failed. I sound like I'm 90. Other days I feel more inspired by possibilities but don't know where to focus the energy.

All this baggage and I'm supposed to help my girls navigate these waters successfully?

beachy

2009-07-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

A "low" of 21 tonite, this is summer at it's peak. I embrace it but I'm running out of ideas for suppers to pack for the beach. We normally spend part of the morning outdoors gardening/playing, head in for lunch, naps and reading, then off to the beach by 4 at the latest. Home for bedtime. I love my glass of wine on the patio in the warm, quiet evening air. Come to think of it the crickets are crazy loud this year but it's a good background noise.

This week's been a bit busier as Ivy is in art camp (loving it) and Ella is taking an intro to Irish dance class (loving it). That is the extent of our special programs for summer. It's a vivid reminder of all we're NOT doing by opting out of traditional school. Lunches, deadlines, schedules, driving, driving, driving.

Yes, we're going to home school again in fall with the same program. We're getting the hang of it a little and understand more clearly which hoops need to be jumped through and to know which ones are worth it. That will continue to evolve of course as we gain experience but it feels good for it to be familiar for fall. I don't want to do anything differently because we all enjoyed last year. Not every moment of course, but overall it was fantastic. Towards the end of the school year we met a few more families in the area that work with the same program and have kids of similar ages. Looking forward to doing some collaborating in fall.

Pottery has tapered off for the summer. The building that the guild is in is old and the wiring can't handle the kilns when there is a heavy a/c draw. Fall will come soon enough I suppose and I have a lot of work drying, ready to be fired when the time comes.

I've been slack on the canning front so far, better get on that cherry thing before they're gone!

Time to head out to that patio and enjoy the stars...

status update

2009-07-10T21:54:00.000-07:00

I was going to try to compose a beautiful essay on the deep emotional content of my trip home to Winnipeg but I'm sick, irritable and in need of more sleep. And possibly I didn't think that deeply anyway while I was driving between engagements and chasing children down the streets. Jeremy's version of the trip is great though, so go read his posts and enjoy the amazing photos while I cash in early and continue to ignore this blog.

can't

2009-06-19T09:53:00.000-07:00

Ezra Milagro -

"I can't open Ivy's flowers." (package of fake flowers)

"I can't read it all."

Not my favorite word, but if he's going to use complete sentences with proper pronouns - without whining - I'll take it.

end of year celebration

2009-06-02T16:08:00.001-07:00

The school year has been winding down for weeks for us, but yesterday we officially celebrated the end of it in Osoyoos. I don't expect this to interest a lot of people but I've updated the home learning blog I keep for the girls' supervising teacher.

real people

2009-05-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

I've had the pleasure of running into a few people I really like in town this week that I know through blogging. Not that I'm much of a blogger but Angella and Amanda do it justice. They are all cool people and it's kind of sad that I have to "bump" into them, rather than actually planning to see them.

Other than realizing I'm lame for not making more of a social effort, I noticed that I'm the only one that dresses as if I was still online. The aforementioned ladies looked great and I was wearing a ratty old cap and gardening clothes. I'm cool with that most of the time but I'm thinking I should dress nice more than my current once a month.

Personal grooming is not a priority in the Hiebert household and it's painfully obvious. On that note, I feel brilliant for thinking of booking a hair appointment with my absolute favourite stylist of all time when I'm in Manitoba at the end of June. I have very happy memories of hanging around her salon when I was in/just out of high school. How cool is it to graduate and start your own business within a year or two? I may have hero worshipped her. I might still. I wonder how irritating it was for her in retrospect. It's going to be fun to get my hair styled, catch up on years of living and meet her kids. Too bad it's still a month away, it might almost be worth finding a new hat.

bowls, plates & mugs

2009-05-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

Set of two mugs, sugar bowl, creamer and um...urn. Small cookie jar? Coffee beans? Tea bags?

Kid sized bowls

Appie plates with one larger serving plate.

mud

2009-04-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

I've been inspired by the pottery decoration of Archie McCall over the past week. I couldn't find many examples of his work online but I did find a few video clips of him teaching a seminar. Pretty amazing to see his stuff in a book, read his bio and then see him in action online.

My time at the guild has been pretty meager since I've been working more but I do have some new pieces that I'm really happy with. The favorites are a set of mugs with matching creamer & sugar bowl in a brown/denim kind of glaze. Pictures might be added eventually. The guild was clearing out a few boxes of low-fire underglazes & glazes so I took home the ones that didn't have lead and were usable on food surfaces. I also have a line on some *free* low-fire clay so I think I know what direction I'm headed for a while. I like the price, we'll see how I like the process. When I get to it.

important notes on my life

2009-04-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

- I am alive and well, just choosing to do other things than blog. I finally decided to make a post and lost the whole thing in the publishing stage. Bleh. Spare time is spent reading or at the guild for the most part.

- Gardening is ramping up. The willows are leafing out, the daffodils and violets are blooming and the forsythia is about to pop. This is the time of year when I wish I had been diligent about cleaning up the yard in fall.

- I blow up approximately 8 balloons over 780 times a day, I swear. Ezra gets rather angry when we tie the knot in it.

- My personal boot camp effort started last weekend. Four hockey games in four days. Probably not be much of an achievement if you're 17 and play 5 times a week. I'm not close on either of those counts. I haven't done well at keeping the intensity up on the workouts since then but at least I've gone for a few short runs. Time to haul out the shiny baby blue and suck wind all the way up Giant's Head.

moon, gardens & clay

2009-03-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

Lantern house for candles that I made in my class.

Ezra likes it and the girls keep stealing it for little creature games.

It's a full moon, I can feel it, there is weirdness all around. Also it's as bright as daylight at night, that was another hint. It's been pretty up & down around here. Mostly down as we've done the sick routine over the last two weeks. School expectations got ignored by all of us and it's been a slog getting back into it. Same old dilemma of books vs. stuff we want to do. Yesterday we did bookwork and today we had some fun. Ivy & Jeremy are playing simple but beautiful duets on their violins, a lovely milestone in their learning as far as I'm concerned.

Ella recently finished the Magic Treehouse book "Dawn of the Red Dragon" (#37) and it was beautifully illustrated. We all loved the pictures so we used it for our "art inspiration" this week. We drew & painted interpretations of gardens and traditional looking Japanese houses. When we finished with that we attempted some rudimentary Haiku and short poems. It was sunny, fun and relaxing. We might even have learned something, who knows?

I've been spending a few hours, several times a week down at the guild. I'll find any opportunity to announce that I belong to a guild. I think it used to be more meaningful in that you actually had to be trained in the particular trade before you could join. It's taken more focus than I'm used to to go there and practise, rather than create. It's a very different mindset with different rewards and frustrations. Several times I have thrown and recycled my clay all evening. I don't always have the willpower to destroy it all though and will keep my favorite item to turn into something.

A work in progress

Still on an artsy note, I volunteered to be part of the committee putting together the kids summer art programs this year. I didn't contribute a whole lot (yet?) but it has been fun to be in on the process and be able to provide some feedback about my children's experiences in the courses.

trails

2009-03-09T22:29:00.001-07:00

So far in the last quiet half hour I have followed google trails leading to both funeral urns (pottery) to UFO's (Falcon Lake, ON). So much extraneous information, so little time.

swear word

2009-03-05T20:43:00.001-08:00

"MOM, Ezra smells like a swear word. Like rotten broccoli."
- Ella

first samples

2009-02-19T21:20:00.000-08:00

I couldn't wait until next week to see samples from my first pottery firing so I stopped by the guild today. I hardly recognized my own pieces. The glaze changes them dramatically and you wouldn't believe the flaws it can hide.

My absolute first bowl. It is hard to see but I put a freehand design on the bottom and was very happy with the result. I have to come clean, I copied the idea & glaze from someone else.

This is one appie plate in a set of 4. There is also a serving size plate that I'm going to glaze to match. I winged it with the green/brown combo and it turned out a lot like I intended it to.

With all the excitement I decided to sign up for the guild. For a very modest fee I have my own keys and can go and use the equipment any time I want. In return, I agree to participate in all of their fundraisers by contributing pieces (once they're classified as acceptable anyway). Starting in March they have set aside one night a week where more experienced potters are willing to casually mentor beginners. It sounds like a good setup so we'll see if I take advantage of it.

I've decided that my first solo mission will be a coffee mug. Unless it turns into something else, I'm flexible.

Do try this at home

2009-02-16T11:23:00.000-08:00

Ivy is enjoying some freedom from curriculum science, having ground her way through the required elements of her unit on "Matter". We found a fun science book at the library on the weekend and she has read a lot of it already. I love seeing her engaged in learning and watching what she gravitates towards. Often it's a matter of having information easily available in the right format and making it optional. Of coures we all love optional. She came to me this morning with recipes for gluep & ooblek. It was a smashing success and we had a lot of fun doing it. The gluep was really fun and the ooblek was just...odd.

Gluep
Dissolve 1 tsp borax in 6 tbsp water. In separate bowl mix 1 tbsp white glue with 1 tbsp water. If you want it coloured, add one or two drops of food colouring to the glue mixture. Add 2 scant tsp of the borax solution to the glue. Mix until it turns into gelatinous goo and then play with it.

Ooblek
This was was a little trickier as the instructions were vague. Fill a small bowl half full of cornstarch and add water. There's a magic sweet spot where it's in limbo between solid and liquid. If you try to stir quickly it chunks up like a solid, but when you put it back down it oozes together. Ivy's assessment was that it was like it was "...on a timer for solids. It's solid for a few seconds and when time runs out it turns into a liquid".

From the book: Science Smart: Cool projects for exploring the marvels of the planet earth, Gwen Diehn, Terry Krautwurst, Alan Anderson, Joe Rhatigan, & Heather Smith

glaze

2009-02-12T22:13:00.000-08:00

I was initiated into the art of pottery glazing this evening. It's a dark art, I swear. Here, dip it into this pink and it will come out blue! Really! That may or may not actually be true, but suffice it to say that the colour of the liquid glaze does not resemble what will come out of the kiln. I have no idea what I've done to my pieces. The good news is that I only did half of them so I can check these out before I do the next batch. I took a picture of one of them pre-glaze but may not bother posting it until I get them back.

The blue/brown combo on these mugs is something I'd like to replicate but the local guild doesn't have a blue anywere near that. The glazing experience has awoken a faint spark of excitement about all those chemistry classes I took sometime in the early '90's. They may come in handy!

The style of this artist is wonderful. I love the colours and the movement of some of the vases. I've got a long way to go...

In my hunt for glaze information I somehow stumbled across these painted houses and found them lovely. What is it with our culture and pink stucco and plastic siding?

brush

2009-02-07T16:43:00.000-08:00

I've spent the occasional evening moments trying out my tube watercolours on rice paper. I post this up here to have a marker for progress, not primarily to embarrass the reader or elicit encouraging comments. I need a placeholder.

Gifted

2009-02-07T16:01:00.000-08:00

I don't recall what I've posted about this before and frankly, I'm too lazy to check. I've been reading "Creative Home Schooling: A Resource Guide for Smart Families", by Lisa Rivero. It echoes a lot of the reasons we chose to keep Ivy home this year. I've been very emotional about it, fighting tears while reading. I'm sure I could use some personal psychoanalysis to sort out issues, but really, who has that kind of time? I'm trying to get over my guilt of saying "gifted" out loud, but that's as far as I've gotten. The general sense is that we're not alone or unique. There are lots of practical ideas and approaches that resonate with me. Other resources we've found useful are the Gifted Exchange blog and the ugly but info-filled Hoagies Gifted Education Page.

still learning

2009-02-07T15:02:00.000-08:00

Yes, we're still home learning. I think I don't report about it often because it just flows as part of the day. It feels normal.

Parts I love:

- No alarm clocks unless I set the coffee maker to brew at 8am
- Home lunches
- General control over social situations. I'm not such a control freak (maybe?) but I love being the architect of which interactions get supported and which lapse. Lots of good ones have lapsed, by the way, as total number of engagements/obligations is crucial to harmony around here. Large groups of young, aimless, lost children at recess? Should be outlawed, not labelled "social learning". My kids are not any more socially retarded from home schooling than they were before. Maybe less because they're not under stress to fit in.
- "Extra-curricular" pursuits. Ivy had nothing to give when she got home from school last year.
- Creative outlets. Of all the bonuses, this is possibly the biggest for me. Time & energy for free play and personal projects, of which there are many.
- Learning more about my own children. I have insights into their personalities I would probably otherwise have missed. It's more challenging as well, but in a good way. I think we're getting a good understanding of Ivy's modus operandi, but Ella is still a bit of an enigma, to go with the latin theme (eds. correction..."enigma" is Greek, thanks Holsten for your contribution). Ella is FIVE! Isn't this age about play dough and getting along with others?). Her advanced abilities in reading, writing, math and drawing have far outpaced her ability to understand abstract concepts & complexity in plots. Sit down to puzzle with her or dare to play "memory" and you see how sharp those senses are.

Friction:

- Ezra. The girls and I put up with an excessive amount of background noise and interruptions. I swoon to think of what we could explore without that responsibility. I know I signed up for it, I'm just sayin'.

- Curriculum. First of all, I had to learn to spell it. I knew this was going to be tough for me, and it is. I still haven't shed my teenage aversion to doing what someone tells me to. It's a constant background tension that Ivy has totally capitalized on. Of course she doesn't want to do it and she knows it's an Achilles heel for me. "I don't see WHY I need to do this. WHEN am I ever going to use this in real life? WHY can't I learn at my own pace? WHEN I need to know this, I'll pick it up fast." Shit. I can't answer those. The best answer I have it that we committed to this for one year and we're going to stick it out. We'll re-evaluate over summer. It's a constant toss-up between bailing because neither of us likes it and trying to demonstrate seeing through something that you've started (not a real strong point for any of us around here).

- The gap between text expectations and BC "Learning Outcomes" is stupid. For example, Ivy is apparently supposed to learn telling time, fractions, money and multiplication tables, according to her (dull, repetitive, ugly) text. Learning outcomes for her age? Money notation ($ signs) and "increasing familiarity with adding & subtracting to 18". Page 50 if you're still with me. Really? I've checked in with parents of children in her old school class and they're working on *drumroll please* addition & subtraction UP TO 10!

- Organization. Reporting. See aversion to authority above. I feel okay about pacing and knowing were we're at in our learning but I'm terrible and keeping track along the way. I'm in a stage again of gathering bits of paper and photos from all corners of the house to "prove" that we've been busy priming our academic brains and not say...watching MTV or engaging in child labour all day? I dunno.

*Sponsorship notes...Thanks to Blues Clues videos, Triscuits, Armstrong cheeses and Holsten Maibock for allowing me to make this post enjoyable.

Beem beem!

2009-01-26T11:46:00.000-08:00

Or "How to clip the nails of a 1-year-old". Plant him on your lap and sit in front of computer with his favorite video playing. It's the crazy frog thing so if you don't want it stuck in your head, don't follow the link.

(Credit to Jeremy for this idea)

randoms

2009-01-13T21:44:00.000-08:00

I may be having a mid-life crisis. I just signed up for a pottery class. And I'm really looking forward to it. Basket weaving, anyone?

I'm trying to get into the habit of baking our own bread. Chris tipped us off to the recipes of Richard Bertinet and they are rocking my world. My fougasse(s?) weren't quite as lovely as Chris's but they tasted wonderful.

I had a fantastic day in Kelowna last week. We (the kids, Dianne & I) hit the Bohemian Bagel Cafe for second breakfast, then the downtown library and a brief browse at Opus. That place is heavenly. We had a leisurely afternoon (for me, that is) up at the house and then a Mennonite feast for supper. Yum.

Opus inspired me to take out The Chinese Brush Painting Bible from the library again. I also have a crochet book on Amigurumi out and an intense desire to FINALLY make something with my beloved silks. I will not have time for even a small portion of this.

Ella & I found a cute little fish tank at the thrift store. Although Ivy was happy with her sea monkeys she is exponentially more thrilled with little fishes. Six hours in and they're all still alive. Ivy's longed for a pet for years and her crusty parents won't do it. She noted that of all the pets in the world she wouldn't pick FISH, but if it was that or nothing she'd be very delighted to have them. Good answer.

I recently read the series of The Books of Ember. Book 1 - City of Ember, grabbed me, 2 got a bit more dense but I stuck with it. I doubt that I'll ever go back to book 3, but 4 was back to the style of the first. Still with me?

I think I sustained a whiplash injury at my last hockey practise. When I fell over.

the uncool eco tips

2009-01-06T22:07:00.000-08:00

These are the uncool and semi-humiliating ways I battle to save the world from my doorstep.*

Wear semi-dirty clothes on a regular basis. This saves water and keeps nasty detergents out of the water system. It's a bonus that clothes last longer (even though they look bad).

Give up entirely on fashion. It's hard on the ego but easier in every other way. See above treatment of clothes.

Rarely "clean" floors, sinks etc. A quick swipe of a cloth to spot clean and maybe a bit of baking soda should do it. If in doubt, dump some vinegar down the drain for good luck. Keeps chemicals out of water system and my home. This may however explain the general lack of visitors here.

Convince the children that using my wasteful very hot and deep bathwater when I'm done is a treat, if I have to run a separate one for them it will be much cooler and certainly more shallow.

Let the grass grow wild. I've heard it eventually chokes out the weeds or something like that. I also happen to like the violets, buttercups, clover and possibly dandelions that appear.

*In case of confusion on the part of the reader, this is a separate issue from my laziness and general lack of interest in housekeeping, I swear.

holiday bonus

2009-01-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

For the full Christmas rundown go here. I'm just adding few extra Christmas photos in their unedited glory.

Ezra apparently has an extra face in this one, he was very excited about his monsters (still is).

Ivy posing with "Pepperico" the dragon.

Waffles with strawberries on Boxing Day, courtesy of Grandma Hiebert.

Ella holding "Annie" the hobby horse. This is one of the few gifts I made this year. It was fun to do this one and I was more than happy with how it turned out.

the far flung Friesens, Canmore edition

2009-01-03T12:48:00.000-08:00

Although I had a very relaxing Christmas, it was a bit odd. None of my family members got together this year. On one hand, it took off pressure of any kind for us to travel. On the other hand...it just felt kind of "off".

Here's the Christmas postcard we got from mom & dad, who are enjoying the amenities of the Dominican Republic.

Mark came up for a visit a few days before Christmas so I did get a bit of a family fix. We had a mellow time and enjoyed the snacks by the fire and a few rounds of dominoes. He built a really sweet lego tower. It is also apparently the only photo we took while he was here (sorry Mark).

Chad & Crystal and the beloved cousins spent their holidays in Winnipeg, with all of us having abandoned them. They don't seem to hold it against us.

I did mention back in October that I'd met my family in Canmore for Thanksgiving weekend and I'm thinking it might be time to post those pictures.

After years of half-promises, I finally took the girls to The Enchanted Forest. Oddly enough, it DID live up to expectations. Who would have thought that possible? I'd love to go back and try out the adventure park someday.

The pool & waterslide were big features of the trip. The jury is still out on who made the biggest splash - this is either dad or Chad since Mark is watching in the background.

Mark, looking smug about his table tennis skills while watching the match.

Crazy cousins. This is the best photo of the four of them.

a sign

2008-12-29T15:10:00.001-08:00

When I left the coffee shop this morning I turned to lock the door behind me. A sign that I'm spending too much time there? As much as the blog has languished, my paper journal is filling more rapidly than usual. I try to spare public readers my narcissistic rambling. Or I might post some soon, just for the thrill of making a post.

the season

2008-12-15T22:28:00.001-08:00

I'm staying up late sewing Christmas gifts for the girls. Can't reveal them here (yet)since they can both read. They wanted to give each other something this year so we've been scheming and picking fabrics for various projects - nothing too ambitious.

I'm pleased to report that I have been fully enjoying the festive season without a shopping frenzy. I picked up the few gifts we had planned to buy and not much else. I fight the cultural mania every year, but it's the first time I feel like I'm succeeding at tuning it out. It's getting easier and I'm enjoying my time more.

We had our very first Hiebert jam session a week or two ago. Jeremy on violin, Ella on keyboard, Ivy singing, I played guitar and Ezra raised hell in his own way. I daresay we mostly sounded brutal but it was so pleasing to hang out together, making noise and laughing. I've had a complex about playing the guitar since I was a kid. I didn't (and still don't) really understand the flow of music. I can read notes but refuse to stray from them and actually try anything on my own. Something I'm working on. This is a fantastic winter pastime that I hope we repeat.

At random:
Some of my favorite seasonal treats: caramel popcorn, mandarin oranges and peppermint ice cream.

snow

2008-11-28T13:57:00.000-08:00

It's a good day. I got up early to play hockey, the snow is drifting down, friends coming over for wine & cheese tonite and then Light Up. Mmm, looking forward to the "horse blankets", also knows as "beaver tails" in other parts of Canada.

home learning ideas

2008-11-11T22:57:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that I haven't been thrilled with the curriculum we've been provided by the school district. I had a chance to look at the Home Learners lending library a few weeks ago though and there was some great stuff. I've been looking for inspiration for integrated lessons/learning rather than segregated subjects. I stumbled across two books, First Nations in BC: Comparing Interior and Coastal Cultures, and First Nations Art Projects and Activities. From what I can tell they've been put together for the Greater Victoria School District and have easy to follow lesson plans. It integrates language arts, science, history, music, art and obviously socials. Most of it is aimed at a higher grade level but the concepts themselves are giving me ideas. I'm certainly not well versed in First Nations history, traditions or anything really, but I value the holistic approach and respect for the earth. I want to learn and understand.

The books don't specifically focus on the Okanagon/Okanagan region so I've done just a small amount of digging and already found some great stuff. An Okanagan First Peoples site has a calendar of the Sylix seasons that resonated with me. Why yes, it is "the time of the cold weather", or possibly moving on to "the time of the snow to fall". What a lovely way to engage the yearly cycles and watch for changes around us rather than having an arbitrary date inform us what is supposed to be happening. We look forward to nature walks that highlight the various native plants noted.

The same site has a section that summarizes the role of children in their society and how they learned about their world. Ivy's eyes lit up at the thought of reading about it. Some portion of this will be the jumping off point for discussion tomorrow.

Children are the heart of the Syilx and have always been taught the necessary skills and Syilx laws they needed to learn in order to survive, as soon as they began to understand. They are taught skills such as; fishing, hunting, tanning hides and making baskets to songs, stories, dances and prayers. They are taught that every living thing has a right to be a part of our lives and our community-even if it's role isn't easily understood. They are taught to respect life and all of creation and that disrespect would lead to certain consequences.

Children are not forcibly taught or punished for not understanding, they are taught with patience and only what the teacher thought they needed to learn or were ready for. Harshness was not a method used in teaching children. Learning has always been made to be very easy at first and gradually becoming harder and only as much the child could understand .Therefore, when the children became ready to do the harder things they did so without fear.

Teens and young adults were accompanied by the older family members to become trained by them in a special area. While, the foundation of their training remained the same, only the intensity changed. An example; as children they learned which plants were edible, which ones were not, which ones contained healing properties and when they were in season. As teens and young adults training in medicines, they went back to the same plants and learned when to pick, how to prepare, when to use the plants, why to use them and most importantly when not to use them. They were taught the hundreds of uses for every portion of every plant.

Each youth and young adult was not only trained in a special area but they were also taught the lifestyles and laws of the community at large. They understood that everyone had a role and a responsibility to ensure the survival of themselves as individuals, to their families, their community and even their people as a whole. They were taught to love, honor and respect each other's roles and their own roles and taught the role of children, youth, adults, elders and as a man or a woman. Each Syilx person understood what it meant, to be in the role of a warrior, a teacher, a hunter, a healer, a chief and a singer. Each Syilx person understood what it meant, to be a child, a sibling, a parent, a grandparent, an aunt/ uncle, and a husband or wife.

vulgar spanish

2008-11-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

I can't believe the cojones of the man that my riding elected to parliament (no thanks to me). I saw this headline in the local news today:

Obama can learn from us: Day

*sigh*

up a pear tree

2008-10-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

I miss blogging occasionally and have lots to catch up on someday. In the meantime this is what I've been up to instead.

Four sick Hieberts
Three paying contracts (after 6 months of almost nothing)
Two fantastic trips (Canmore & Tofino)
First-term reporting (girl's homeschooling)
...and a partridge in a pear tree (seemed to go with the counting theme and all the brackets)

the bounty

2008-09-24T20:38:00.001-07:00

Since late July we've been trying to fill the pantry. Here's what we have so far.

crab apple jelly - 15 jars and still going
plum jam - 15 jars
peach chutney - 10 jars
canned cherries - 14 pints, 6 quarts
canned peaches - 20 quarts
frozen cherries, peaches, blueberries
frozen zucchini, peppers, swiss chard, basil
garlic stored
drying hot, hot peppers to make into flakes
drying apples & tomatoes
salsa - 10 jars canned and about the same amount frozen
applesauce - 8 jars with more to come
pears - to be announced

hawking cookies

2008-09-23T20:57:00.000-07:00

Jeremy's last comment reminded me of the three cases of Girl Guide cookies Ivy brought home today. She's in her first year as a Brownie and couldn't be more thrilled, especially about the selling. Whose kid is this anyway?

So...if anyone local is itching to buy the fall chocolate/mint cookies please leave a comment here. Ivy would be so thrilled, and so would I to be honest. They're $4 a box and here are some recipes of things you can do with the cookies in case you don't like them straight up and end up with a few extra cases.

the unexpected (...or Life As A Mom)

2008-09-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of unexpected things I can remember that happened today.

- The girls got up a full hour earlier than usual.
- Ezra slept two hours less than on a good day.
- We ran out of milk. Yes, I should have anticipated this one.
- I broke one of Ivy's rented violin's strings and the first class isn't until tomorrow.
- Ezra got his toe fully bloodied and bruised minutes before I had to head out to work.
- Ezra was very surprised to get a whole cookie before supper while I tried to clean him up.
- I was late to work due to interminable construction on the local highway and the fact that Jeremy had to pick up a new violin string on his way home from work.
- Supper was late due to aforementioned bloody toe incident. Hmm, I didn't actually eat any supper now that I think about it.

- The sun shone brightly and with some warmth. We spontaneously raked up a big pile of leaves and jumped out of the (low) tree onto them.
- We threw in the towel on school books when Ezra wasn't napping and had a fun time building doll beds from scraps of wood. Shop class.
- There were a handful of ripe raspberries on the bushes.
- The caterpillar the girls caught a few weeks ago had made a chrysalis almost immediately after capture - it emerged as a butterfly today!
- I listened to part of "The Hobbit" on CD today while doing routine chores (this was unexpected because I borrowed it for car listening and it was a bit of a brainwave for me to try it inside).
- Work went well despite the crazy rush to get out the door.
- I stayed relatively calm all day.

Notes on weeks 1 & 2

2008-09-14T21:35:00.000-07:00

Wow, have two weeks gone by already? We're starting to sort out this home school scene a bit. The first week I made up whatever I wanted for the girls, that was a nice way to ease in. This past week we were given all kinds of work books. At first flip through, the math and science look good, some of the English stuff is okay but the socials...we will probably be charting our own course on that one. While the books lend much needed structure (for this random soul), I've found that they distract us from doing the things we really want to do fairly often.

Some "extra" learning we've done:

Ivy decided it would be cool to build a Barbie house - full scale, two floors plus loft. Where is Papa Larry when we need him? I asked her to draw up a design for me of what she had in mind. We went over all kinds of factors and got out a doll and some wood to see what proportions would be appropriate. That's as far as we got that day but I want to follow this up. Problem solving, design, math, learning to use tools...all good stuff.

Worm relocation mission. Our compost bin is packed with happy worms. The mission for the girls was to redistribute some worms into the various garden boxes. We followed up on the internet and figured out the basics of how worms actually break down food.

Paper boat building. I'd always wanted to make an origami style paper boat so on one of our first days (it was sunny), we printed off instructions, packed some paper and headed down to a local beach with a stream. We made a few boats and watched them run the "rapids". We learned that they are useless once they've capsized but if they do well, they could manage up to three runs before they were soaked. It was fun to speculate about why they stopped in certain places or went backwards at times. We also learned that I cannot hold a baby, video, and save boats from being washed out to sea all at the same time. The video suffered by the way, the baby and boat were fine, although a tad soggy.

A (lame) scavenger hunt in the bird sanctuary. I thought this would be a clever way to get the girls excited about going out. What happened was some weird frenzy of rushing around the trails, moaning about not finding the items and wanting to get it over with and go home. Normally they love to run the trails and they discover lots of cool things. Interesting.

Planet Earth videos. The timing worked out so that this series we've had on hold for months showed up this week at the library. That's been our afternoon down time the past few days. I ask the girls to draw a picture and make a few notes on what they find most amazing on each one.

The girls had a fabulous day with Dianne (Jeremy's mom). She worked on some introductory Spanish with them, helped with workbooks, made lunch together, letter writing and sticker making. There was probably more but I can't keep track of it all! Ah yes, she took Ivy shopping for her Brownies uniform, which she's over the moon with excitement about. The uniform! The friends! The campout!!!

Making pancakes, baking soda volcanoes, the list goes on. As I document this it's becoming clear why I'm so blessed tired every night.

I hope the reader isn't lost in some rosy haze about all of this. Did I mention the raspberry-crazed and somewhat intolerant toddler lurking around most of the time?

These are cool things (to me) but don't get the idea that the girls are always on board. They think my ideas are lame or they don't want to go out. Often they run out of steam before the project has reached the conclusion I'd like to see it get to. I suspect my expectations of attention span and depth of analysis are too high for their ages. I have to be careful not to take the fun out of everything by making them document it. They love to learn and explore. It's painful to sit down after every adventure and make notes.

The classroom portion of this deal starts for Ivy tomorrow morning, at 10:30am, sharp. Heh heh. I'm very curious to see what it's going to look like.

home schooling lite

2008-08-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

Jeremy spilled the beans on this one today - it wasn't a secret but it's been an intense few weeks leading up to the decision and I wanted to feel sure before I posted about it. It comes down to the fact that my bright, intense, creative, curious daughter has a wicked time adjusting to school in fall. What is even worse is to see her a month or two later, coming home either gray and monotone or feverishly bright eyed and manic, wildly assuring us that it's all good. Which it's not. I'd like to avoid starting Ella in the system altogether although I suspect she'd have an easier time of it (does that make it better or worse?).

For Ivy school is academically dull and socially isolating. I wonder if that applies to most kids, judging from what we've heard from other parents. Why is this something we should be adjusting to? Because it's "good for us" to "get used to the way the world works"? Ivy will have no trouble learning at home and will not become a social freak, as so many people seem convinced will happen with home schooling. She has some good friendships outside of school but the free for all that is called recess hasn't been "good socializing" for anyone we know. Can you feel the cynicism through the quotation marks?

We are enrolling both girls in the home learning program through the district this year (hence home schooling lite). They will go in to a class one day a week with other home learners from k-grade 7. The kids go on field trips together and are provided with other learning opportunities like music lessons. The other bonus of staying registered within the district is that Ivy can still go to her gifted class one afternoon a week - she didn't want to give that up. The thought of being given curriculum that I'm supposed to "teach" gets my back up but I'm willing to acknowledge that it's a reasonable starting point - I really have no idea what I'm getting into.

It feels good. Terrifying and exhilarating. I need to stay focussed long enough to quell the occasional panic and get the paperwork done, then I'll level off. Before long it will settle into the new normal and that will be the real test. I'm hoping I'll be motivated to provide honest updates once in a while. At this time it really feels like the right choice but who knows until you've done it? This has all lead to a lot of reflection on my own school experiences, or is it the other way around? I'll save that therapeutic spewing for a late night when I'm alone with a bottle of wine. Which isn't likely to happen anytime soon.

computer time

2008-08-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

I've spent more time on the computer this week than usual, maybe because it hasn't been hot enough for the beach. I fancied up my template, updated some links and am working on tagging old posts. My poor "Local Bounty" blog has been languishing. Not sure if I'll revive it. I love the idea but time and energy are not forthcoming. Maybe another year.

Oh yes, and I finally joined Facebook, a few years behind the curve. Part of me still wants to run screaming from the whole mess but the other part wants to check in with friends and family I haven't seen in years.

But really, who has the time for all of this if they don't "work" online?

Ezra's one year list

2008-08-04T22:17:00.000-07:00

He's one today and I've had a lot of "a year ago today..." moments. A year ago at this time I was feeling Ezra's head coming down while knowing the midwife was still a few minutes away. Now that's excitement.

There have been so many rapid developments in the last weeks so I'll throw a list out there for posterity.

-He took his first steps last week. Five at a time, twice in a row without falling. He just stopped mid-room and sat down. Hasn't done it since although he stands alone and yells when he's thinking about it.

- Communication. This is bliss. He understands some common phrases and actually responds to them. He's known things like "don't touch" for a while but now he's getting things like "where's your ball?". He's figured out shaking his head for "no" (along with furious screams, that works too) and can point to what he really wants. His talking sounds are developing great inflection and more interesting range. It's more babble instead of screeches and grunts and that's a most welcome development.

- He has started waving although it's a bit random. His first real wave in response to somebody else's was to a stranger in a truck that wasn't even waving at him unfortunately.

- The kid has a wicked throwing arm. He damaged my knee this week with a large rock. I am shocked by his strength and coordination on this front.

- Up and down stairs like a pro and happily climbing ladders. This has been an issue with both the playhouse and the girls' bunk bed. The bed ladder is removed during the day and we've taken the bottom rungs out of the outdoor ladders (thanks to dad for thinking ahead on that one last year when he built it!).

- He's been exercising his right to refuse food/drink. Even when he wants it. It's like he's bound by some internal compulsion to loudly reject it the first two times it's offered and then he voraciously accepts. And then sometimes spews it dramatically in our faces. Kids.

- He's snuggly. He's been this way most of the time but he's getting better at giving snuggles. When he wakes up in the early morning he'll often crawl onto my chest or rest his head on it to fall back asleep. He's used to sleeping with someone and likes to have some contact, even if it's just a toe touching me. He's a great hugger and gives very excited, soggy cheek kisses. With the occasional bite.

- 7 teeth. They all showed up in pairs except for one of the lower ones, it's still waiting for it's mate...rather odd since it's been about 3 months.

- Balls are his absolute favorite toy (see "throwing" above). He is best at entertaining himself when he has a ball he can throw or roll around and then chase.

- He has recently caught on to books. We despaired for a while because he showed no interest at all but now he's really into being read to for short periods of time. Maybe it has to do with his sisters having their noses in books a lot.

- He's nearly weaned. I waffle on this one but for better or worse he's down to one early morning nurse every day. It's very cozy and sweet but it's almost over. I've celebrated our smooth nursing relationship and am trying not to get overly emotional about moving on. I know there's no rush but on the other hand I really crave the transition to having my body and hormones to myself. Not that I share my hormones exactly but they will be more predictable if aren't constantly readjusting to new demands.

I'm sure there's more but if you made it this far you probably know him well enough that you already knew this all about him anyway!

As I sign off a year ago at this moment I was pushing and less that 10 minutes from meeting my babe.

Update: Jeremy put together a 1-year tribute video of Ezra

bed building

2008-08-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

I've wanted a frame to replace the old metal bed frame & box spring that we had for years so when my dad was out in July he built one for me. I'd like to say he helped me build it but I didn't do much aside from consulting and holding the occasional piece of wood. It was fun to work through the process and see it come together. I love the finished bed and can't believe how long I put up with the old one. The tools we used were a drill, skill saw, small square, measuring tape and a basic mitre saw (not required but made some cuts much easier). I love the simplicity of it.

The main frame (that became the inside rails) was built of 2x4 studs.

We added 2x4 legs and a mid-beam with two legs for extra stability.

For appearance we nailed pine 1x8 boards around the outside of the 2x4's.

The slats are on the beefy side - 1x6's tacked together with thin plywood to keep them from sliding and to make assembly/disassembly easier.

After this photo my dad added pieces of 1x6 pine around the outer edges of the legs so they look thicker and more finished. I have yet to sand down the edges to soften the look and make it a little more baby (and toe) friendly. I'm not sure yet if I'll put any finish on it.

I'll have to do this justice with a "finished" photo someday. I'm certainly not about to take a flash photo late in the evening with a messy room so you're out of luck.

fitness update

2008-08-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

Hmm, yeah. I guess "4's" was aiming too high. The good news is I've had 2 or 3 good workouts a week since the last post and it feels great, even if it falls short of the goal. It leaves room for improvement, right?

the rule of 4's

2008-07-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

I dreamed up a crackpot plan yesterday as I was finally getting some exercise. The rule of 4's. I am going to get 44 minutes of exercise, 4 times a week, for 4 weeks. Just for kicks. I'm not going to set criteria on what it is I need to do, all I know is that I have to sweat for it to count. I'm feeling unmotivated because my clothes fit but I feel weak and lame.

I threw in a few bonus 4 minute sessions today, why not? Rather than just dunking in the lake I swam around for a while before drying off. I'll try to keep that up and develop some good habits to replace my lazy ways.

Why 4's? I needed it to be simple and 3/3/33 seemed like too low of a goal and 5/5/55 too overwhelming. There you see some of my high end problem solving skills at work.

work

2008-06-20T22:10:00.001-07:00

I never write about my work but my profile will tell you I'm a social worker for a non-profit. It's a pretty big part of my identity although I don't put in very many hours right now. The problem is that it's hard to talk about my job when everything I do is confidential. I certainly can't just hop online and vent when I'm stressed. Here's the basic job description though for anyone that might find it interesting.

I work in the adoptions field as a contracted social worker for a private agency. Sounds fancy but basically the government of BC oversees all adoptions related to child protection issues, older children, and/or children who have or are expected to have special needs. They contract out what they call "low risk newborn" adoptions and any out of country applications to non-profit agencies. That's where I come in.

The three main areas I might get called for are the home study, birth parent counselling or post-placement visits. The home study is the biggest piece and I generally spend an evening a week for 8 weeks with a couple/family that wants to adopt a child. We dig into all kinds of personal issues like their family history, motivation for adoption and how they deal with stress, anger and conflict. It's all over the map and requires a high level of engagement. At the end of that I write a long report and essentially either approve them for a placement or not. I feel that stress sometimes but for the most part I deal with fabulous people who are looking to provide a stable home for a child who needs it.

Birth parent counselling is the least predictable work. I meet with the birth mom and occasionally the dad prior to the adoption, often through the final months of pregnancy. We go through the emotional, financial and social pressures they are under and try to figure out if it's the most appropriate choice. If they want to continue we go through the procedure of selecting adoptive parents and then often meeting them. I support them through the time of placement and meet with them a few times afterwards, depending on their needs.

Post placement reports are the icing on the cake. I meet with families that have had children placed with them. I've been doing this long enough in this area that I've often done the home study for the families that are getting placements. In those cases I know them quite well and it's cool to visit them in their home and ask them to brag about their children. It's obviously not always all good but the majority of placements I see (at about 6 months to a year in) are positive. I would love to see how the families are doing years later but don't usually get those updates.

So that's what I'm up to when I'm "at work".

Rossland Devine

2008-06-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

I had the most glorious weekend at the Devine Ride mountain bike camp. I took off for Rossland on Friday afternoon with 4 other women - I haven't done anything like that in years. The first night we had dinner at the Colander in Trail. The food was wonderful but the service truly bizarre. I was so punch drunk from hunger and driving I got delirious giggles. Having sobered up with the fantastic lasagna we headed for the Gerick's wine & cheese event. It was an odd combination of bike fitting/maintenance, schmoozing, shopping and wine. We capped off the evening with a soak in the teeny but wonderful hot tub at Greene's Family Guest House.

I woke up ridiculously early on Saturday and couldn't get back to sleep. I grabbed my mp3 player and went for a gorgeous walk down main street. One of the cafes was just opening so I had a quiet, sunny breakfast on my own. We spent the morning at the local elementary school working on skills like riding skinnies, lunges (small drop offs), wheel lifts, braking, switchbacks and oh yes, stairs!

It was warm & sunny and I loved the instruction and practice time. Lunch was provided by the Flying Steamshovel, which was our central meeting point and looked like this when we were in!

After lunch we went on our first group ride on on terrain similar to this and included an insane assortment of trails ( map). Here they are in no particular order (and possibly completely inaccurate) water tower to upper and lower pale ale, milky way, cemetery, back of KC, green room, Roger's and back. It wasn't nearly as long as it sounds. I attempted something I'd never done before that I had to work up to.

I cleaned it and then made myself go back up and do it again for good measure. I was so beat at the end of the ride that it reminded me of the university days when we'd come up for a week of snowboarding at Big White and could hardly walk after the first day.

The post-ride event was similar to the night before, only at the local Revolution Cycles bike shop. We wrapped up the day with a visit to the local Mexican restaurant. It had a great authentic vibe and it was fun to hear the Spanish rolling off the tongues of the employees. Technically all one family I think. The mole sauce was a little more than I had bargained for though and we were all breathing fire. Thank goodness for those super pricey margaritas. Maybe that's their marketing plan?

Sunday we woke up to pouring rain that didn't really let up so I didn't have my camera along. I had a very, very happy morning at the bike park. We worked on more little stunts and I had a chance to try some dirt jumps. My face was sore from grinning, I kid you not. The afternoon ride was on Crown Point. The rain certainly added some challenges but did not dampen the spirits. This trail also had a section I was hesitant to ride but with a few spotters standing by I rode it and, you guessed it, did it again to prove to myself that it wasn't an accident.

The weekend ended with a short wrap-up at the Steamshovel and then we packed our weary bodies into the car for the drive home. I could keep gushing about the weekend but you probably get the idea. I might possibly have irritated the people I was with by constantly exclaiming about how happy/lucky/delighted I was with my life. There were covert shuttles, exquisite Mr. Freezies, hot tub sessions and plenty of laughs. I'm sending out a huge thank you to the "girls" for inviting me along and putting up with me mooching all of their food.

It was my first time away from Ezra for night and only the third time I've been away on my own since having kids. That's nuts. There were the usual emotions when I left but it didn't take me long to get over them. It was great for me to go and good to come back. The biggest thanks goes to Jeremy for the encouragement to go and for his brilliant competence on the home front. I came home to a mellow husband, sleeping kids and a clean house!

Metaefficient

2008-05-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

Metaefficient - The Optimal Green Guide

This site has great organization (see topics on left sidebar), ideas, reviews & links. Plus I love both the words "efficient" and "optimal".

the big day

2008-05-13T15:17:00.001-07:00

I think I may be the last mom in the blogosphere to post about my Mother's Day. The highlight was the scheme of Jeremy and my parents to have my mom here for the big day. It's been fantastic to share the time with her and she's lightened my daily responsibilities considerably. She'll need a vacation to recover from this one - thanks mom for the love & support you give us every day (all day). Having mom here has made us miss my dad a lot, he's back in Manitoba seeding fields in the cold. I love you too dad and wish you were here, summer seems a long time to wait for a hug.

This is what the girls were up to first thing in the morning.

Yes, I'm a lucky mom. Later on in the morning Jeremy kept Ez at home so mom, the girls & I could take a leisurely trip to Penticton. We ended up doing a bit more shopping than I had hoped and I got a *bit* grouchy. Incidentally, every mom I talked to had a grouchy stretch at some point on Mother's Day. Odd. Anyhoo, I talked some sense into myself and found somewhere to stop for lunch. French fries, a deep fried veggie burger and a milkshake. The excessive calories did the trick.

We ended off the day in a most amusing and unexpected way. It was 10pm by the time the kids were all asleep (Ez for the second time). I wandered into the living room to say goodnight and somehow got caught up in Star Wars on tv. Jeremy reminded me that we hadn't cracked my Mother's Day wine yet so the three of us made a cheese & cracker tray, worked our way through the bottle and giggled at the movie. We finished up the night with a game of dominoes which I apparently won - Ez woke up again and they had to play out my tiles.

I got lots of love & well wishes and the celebrating goes on with mom here for another week!

new wheels

2008-04-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

Remember this dreaming post? We made it come true and this is my shiny new precious. Well, it's not super shiny and not brand new but it is awesome. I was sick the first day I had it but managed to wring a 20 minute test ride out of my tired body. I was pretty nervous that it wouldn't feel different enough from the old ride to justify the expense. Sometimes I love being wrong. I can't believe I waited so long to try a new bike (10 years to be exact). The old one served me well but it was never quite right. It took me a whole season to get used to and was always too stiff and sketchy on the downs for my liking. It did climb like a dream though.

I don't know how to explain it but this one just tracks right. The weight is in the right places and it behaves when I point it somewhere. Not that I've pushed it much yet, I may rescind all of the above statements eventually. Here's a fun thing - despite the extra bit of weight I cleaned a short climb today that I never managed on the old Kona, must be a traction thing. Or a stoke thing.

I got one of the best calls ever today. I wrote about the women's mountain bike camp I'd like to attend but didn't do anything about it. I answered the phone and it was a pre-Ezra riding buddy asking if I'd like to join her and a few other Summerland women at that exact camp. Um...let me think...YES, I'd love to. I might have to wean the little guy by then or figure out some alternate arrangement but I am very, very ready to have a weekend away. I always get jitters when I say my goodbyes to the little ones but it passes quickly and I know I need the break. Just thinking I'll probably go to this will do wonders for my fitness and motivation to ride. It's a good kind of pain.

The back story:
My bike was getting very weary. Forks pooped out and drivetrain in rough shape. We tossed around the idea of fixing it up - the frame and many parts are fine and it would be fiscally more responsible of course. Jeremy was kind enough to keep an eye out online for me though, just in case. Bikes like this in my size aren't that common so when one came up on pinkbike we paid close attention. I sat on the fence for over a week until he scored a very sweet new bike on ebay. I have to keep up with the Joneses you know. Suddenly I was committed and planning a trip to Nakusp.

me too

2008-04-10T15:41:00.000-07:00

I'm going to keep a link to this reasonable request and use it on my boss someday.

sanity

2008-04-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

Or a lack thereof.

Jeremy's done a great job of capturing Ezra's cuteness and insane demands so I won't elaborate too much. Suffice it to say he (Ez, not Jeremy) saps almost all of my time and energy. Otherwise known as my mojo. He makes the girls look like angels but I'm frustrated by how little I have left to give them.

For the record I don't think I'll ever bother posting about the eczema issue again. Partly because although it's important to me it must be unbelievably dull to read about but also because at some point between the time I hit "publish post" and the time it shows up on a feed it takes a dramatic turn for the worse. I spent the day in doctors offices again yesterday and it sucked.

Given the above two paragraphs, here is some light reading on stupid things I've done as a result of this state of mind. I had an evening "off" to hang out with a dear friend and was anxious to get an early start to meet her. I knew the car on "empty" though so I started the outing at the gas station. It had a lineup of vehicles desperate to pump that liquid gold into the tanks. So I backed out and headed to the next one down the road. It didn't have pay at the pumps which always irritates me because I have to guess how much I'm going to use and pre-pay inside. I walked back out and started filling but it kept clicking off unless I slowed it to a trickle. I used to work as a gas jockey and tanks like that drove me nuts. It didn't occur to me that I've never had that problem before until gas splashed out all over my hand, car and feet. It cost me $4 to TOP up the tank and bathe in gasoline. On a normal day I would have noticed that Jeremy had driven the vehicle and filled it up a few hours earlier. I had to go back in, red-faced and stinky to ask for a refund because I didn't actually need gas.

Yesterday I hustled Ivy out the door before she was finished chewing her lunch because we were late for her class. I had to pack up Ez and take Ella because Jeremy was in a phone meeting. Everyone was feeling grouchy and rushed and there were sharp words all around. We showed up at the class and something was wrong...all the other students were still outside and her teacher wasn't waiting at the door. I STILL didn't figure it out. I walked Ivy up to class after getting the other kids out of the car and finding a parking spot. The classroom was empty except for the teacher calmly planning her lesson that wasn't going to start for another 15 minutes.

I'm used to feeling at least baseline competent but these two incidents have shaken my confidence. I've been late to appointments and meetings more often that I would like since having #3 but I usually have a pretty good grip on the actual time. I know sanity will return. I only hope it's sooner rather than later and that I don't do something really damaging before then!

4 in 1

2008-04-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

A normal person might blog more often and craft this into at least 4 separate posts. You're not so lucky and get in all in one big spew.

- All that good stuff I wrote in the update to the Eczema post ended up being a pipe dream. Ezra got better for about 3 days and then it got bad again. That cycle continued - a few days up and a few days down but the lows were getting lower. Last weekend I was nearly in tears, at night I had been awake for an hour pinning his arms to his sides so he wouldn't rub his face raw. By morning he was bleeding anyway. I took him to the walk-in hoping for fresh insight from a different doctor and was rewarded. The reason nothing was working was that he had a bacterial infection on his cheeks for almost TWO MONTHS. Not sure why my doctor didn't pick up on it. I'm not a fan of the overuse of antibiotics but I was so relieved to find a way out of the mess. In the afternoon I went to a health food store and got some supplements to support our immune systems in general. We only needed the antibiotics for a few days and his cheeks are looking lovely a week later (apparently it's not the kind where you have to take the whole course to make sure it's effective). He still has underlying eczema but it's not nearly as bad as we thought. That's something to be thankful for.

Doing:

- During spring break I took the kids up to Apex for a sleepover at a friend's cabin. It was a short vacation but it was really fun. The girls got to play with buddies and I got to stay up late chatting with a friend too. I'm pretty sure we stayed up longer than the kids but I can't guarantee it.

- Starting to clean out garden beds, rake, pick up sticks and distribute compost/manure. I also went to the local Seedy Saturday today and picked up some garden seeds.

- Jeremy and I got out on a date today (thanks Dianne!) and I attended my first Fest of Ale after running taxi duty last year. I was pregnant anyway so I wasn't too hard done by. I've confirmed that my favorites are all brown ales. Mt. Begbie's Tall Timber Ale and Fernie Brewing' s First Trax Brown Ale were my picks. Crannog Ales is the most fantastic brewery. It's organic, most of their beers are awesome and they are working towards a "zero-waste" system. While we were there we happened to catch a performance by Get Bent Belly Dancing. It made me miss those drop in classes but I can't do everything!

- Not enough exercise. Hockey ended on Easter weekend and I've only been out for a few walk/runs since then. On the upside I did fix my bike tire and took the kids into town in the trailer this week. The goal for tomorrow is to ride Giant's Head.

Reading:

- "Ecoholic" on a tip off on A Life In Progress. I agree with her assessment that it is overwhelming - there is no realistic way for me to make all the changes I'd like to right now. It is great to keep in mind that there are alternatives to the way we shop though. When we do need to make a big purchase (mattresses come to mind), I'll use the book as a buyers guide to do my research.

- I've got a few books out on permaculture again, the most interesting read is "Food Not Lawns" published by Chelsea Green .

Courses/Camps I'd like to sign up for:

- Devine Ride's Women's Mountain Bike Camp

- Kootenay Permaculture Institute - Intro to Permaculture

- hockey camp

INFP

2008-03-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

Jeremy posted about the Myers-Briggs personality test - a very simplified version that lets you choose what you feel best describes you. I've done a lot of these but take away different things depending on what's going on in my life. Here's a summary of my type.

INFPs, more than other iNtuitive Feeling types, are focused on making the world a better place for people. Their primary goal is to find out their meaning in life. What is their purpose? How can they best serve humanity in their lives? They are idealists and perfectionists, who drive themselves hard in their quest for achieving the goals they have identified for themselves.

INFPs do not like conflict, and go to great lengths to avoid it. If they must face it, they will always approach it from the perspective of their feelings. In conflict situations, INFPs place little importance on who is right and who is wrong. They focus on the way that the conflict makes them feel, and indeed don't really care whether or not they're right. They don't want to feel badly. This trait sometimes makes them appear irrational and illogical in conflict situations. On the other hand, INFPs make very good mediators, and are typically good at solving other people's conflicts, because they intuitively understand people's perspectives and feelings, and genuinely want to help them.

INFPs are flexible and laid-back, until one of their values is violated. In the face of their value system being threatened, INFPs can become aggressive defenders, fighting passionately for their cause. When an INFP has adopted a project or job which they're interested in, it usually becomes a "cause" for them. Although they are not detail-oriented individuals, they will cover every possible detail with determination and vigor when working for their "cause".

When it comes to the mundane details of life maintenance, INFPs are typically completely unaware of such things. They might go for long periods without noticing a stain on the carpet, but carefully and meticulously brush a speck of dust off of their project booklet.

INFPs have very high standards and are perfectionists. Consequently, they are usually hard on themselves, and don't give themselves enough credit. INFPs may have problems working on a project in a group, because their standards are likely to be higher than other members' of the group. In group situations, they may have a "control" problem. The INFP needs to work on balancing their high ideals with the requirements of every day living. Without resolving this conflict, they will never be happy with themselves, and they may become confused and paralyzed about what to do with their lives.

INFPs are usually talented writers. They may be awkard and uncomfortable with expressing themselves verbally, but have a wonderful ability to define and express what they're feeling on paper. INFPs also appear frequently in social service professions, such as counselling or teaching. They are at their best in situations where they're working towards the public good, and in which they don't need to use hard logic.

INFPs who function in their well-developed sides can accomplish great and wonderful things, which they will rarely give themselves credit for. Some of the great, humanistic catalysts in the world have been INFPs.

I find this the most accurate assessment of my personality I've come across to date. Of course I don't agree with all of it. I CARE if I'm right or not but will rarely care enough to provoke a confrontation. I'd rather let it go and be content knowing I was right than to wade into the mess and stress of trying to prove that to someone else - touche. It means I get along well with others to an extreme. It's pretty dysfunctional at times when I should really step up and deal with issues. I am relatively easy to walk all over (please don't consider that an open invitation). I always want to believe the best in people and they learn pretty quickly that I'm not too likely to call them out unless my ass is really on the line.