A little sniffle for my first incarnation

Hi everyone,

The new version of my blog is up and running!  It’s not quite where I want it to be yet, but I’m not good at being in limbo, and I don’t like not blogging either… so any new posts after this one will be at… wait for it………..  http://itsdilovely.com! How exciting. You folks are the first to know.

And still, I feel a moment of sentimentality for my first-ever, easy-peasy, Spring Loaded, rookie version. I shall never forget you, FEEPSLR blog. And I don’t have to say goodbye to WordPress, because it’s installed on my new blog, yay!

I really hope you’ll join me over in Newblogland. It’s pretty.

Random News

• As of yesterday, March 1st, 2010, two new teeth were noticeable in E’s mouth! Lower right outer incisor, upper left front (as it turns out, the first one he cut on the top was not right in front, but off to the side). Good story, eh?
• I am writing a big post about the Olympics, coming soon. Dilovely admits to and analyzes Canadian pride.
• I am sheepish for not writing more this past week or so. Je m’excuse.
• E has not been napping very well this week… which may have something to do with above-mentioned blog neglect. He has his navy seal duties to attend to, and drama to practice.
• Beautiful sunny days, two in a row, walks with the stroller, blue skies, rushing water in gutters, snow melting, faint smell of earth. (We’re bound to get a cold snap any time now.)
• New blog is getting organized! Soon to be available on an InterWeb near you.
• Since this post is pretty boring, check this out for something more interesting (but not right before bedtime because it will scare you).

Baby Bits XII

Latest BEST TOY EVER:

The Booger-Sucker.

A few squirts of air in the face from the nasal aspirator can transform E instantaneously from a grumpy, crying baby to a euphoric, laughing baby – you won’t believe your eyes, folks! I’m hoping to catch this phenomenon on video very soon.

This is a great discovery, since in all honesty this little gadget is not that great at sucking boogers.

Yes, I cleaned it first.

Taking the Elephant by the Tusks Before it’s in the Room

Hello, dear readers,

I apologize for my absence the last few days. I am in the process of a sea-blog-change.

As the end of my maternity leave creeps closer, I am wishing more and more fervently that I could only go back to work part-time (or, since I’m wishing, how about not at all?). I know that teaching full-time is a large expenditure of personal energy, and I would come home and only want to spend time with my own kid. Blogging would definitely fall by the wayside.

And yet, I hope not to give up blogging, because I’ve discovered that having an reason to write on a regular basis, even if it’s just a wee post, has been a joy to me. I used to write obsessively when I was a kid: stories, novels, poems, and especially journals. It’s good for my soul. But lately, all those things have been neglected because I have other priorities. I can’t spare time to write just for me.

Then I started a blog on a whim, and a few people enjoyed reading it! Now, even though just you couple dozen people witness my posts, it’s enough to justify me writing… and I get to benefit from that process. Thank you for reading, so that I can write.

There is a bigger (more awkward, elephantine) point to be made here. I am soon going to move my blog to a new independent site… it will look all different… I will be able to do more things with it… and… there will most likely be ads on it. I don’t know in what form yet. I hope they will not offend your sensibilities, readers.

I know to some bloggers that’s a sell-out/cop-out/travesty. I’m sorry about that. I would probably feel the same, except that I can’t afford to. Is it better not to blog at all? Not in my mind.

As it is, I have no idea if this will pan out. Some bloggers end up with a decent income this way, and many don’t whatsoever. I am looking at it as an experiment similar to the one I initiated when I started blogging in the first place: let’s do this, and see what happens.

In the meantime, I am pretty excited about my new blog, as I will get to use my own header art, and a domain name of my choosing, and put up videos and so on. I think it will be aesthetically pleasing and fun to use…

and I hope you’ll keep reading.

What a Festrogabulous Idea!

Yesterday I attended my first official clothing exchange party. It was smashing! (The good kind.) Now, read on, and see if you can guess what that big F-word up there means.

I’ve been at events where clothing was exchanged, but this was hard-core. A belly dancer friend of mine invited me – and I guess this is a pretty long-standing tradition for her, because she clearly knows how to throw a clothing exchange. The invite just said to bring any clothes, shoes, accessories, etc. that you don’t need any more, and bring a salad, appetizer, or dessert that you love, and that’s it. Who knew that’s all you need for such a successful event!

I walked in with my bags, about half an hour after the technical start of the evening, and was amazed. My first impression was that of a feeding frenzy. Clothes were piled up on the various pieces of furniture and a dozen women (out of at least double that) were immediately visible, rooting through the loot, yowling and scratching as they fought over cuter items, stripping naked and flinging garments willy-nilly.

Okay, no, I’m letting my imagination run away with me. (Maybe I just wanted an excuse to use the word willy-nilly.) They were rooting through stuff, and it was a curtains-drawn, ladies-only event (except for Waldo the puppy), so there were women getting down to their scanties in order to try things on (though some used bathrooms). And they were all shapes and sizes, and all exchanging opinions and making recommendations, having a gab-fest, and creating an instant, if temporary, community. And wow, the sheer volume of cast-offs was impressive; not just clothes, but shoes, bags, wallets, scarves, books, jewelry, cosmetics, you name it. Also, the kitchen was packed to the gills with yummy food, especially dips (five-layer salsa dip, at least two kinds of hummus, and that cream-cheese-caramel apple dip, to name a few).

Now, I’m not the biggest clothes horse out there, but I can’t deny that an opportunity to give one’s wardrobe a boost for the cost of some brownies is highly appealing. Mostly, I wandered around and looked at stuff, and gave solicited opinions on people’s choices. Several of my fellow belly dancers were there, a few of whom seem to be sartorially blessed to look good in everything they try on, even the iffier pieces.

The two best things:

1) finding a pair of jeans that fit like they were made for me – does that ever really happen??

2) watching the two little girls of one of my dancer friends. Both beautiful, with outrageous mops of brown hair and chocolate-brown eyes. One is about ten months old, the other two years. The former got stolen away by two older moms in need of their baby fixes (actually I know them both from Parent Council at my school, and come to think of it, they did the same with my baby at the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon), and fell asleep in-arms, adorably. The latter got right into it, trying out the snacks, scoping out garments and obviously preferring the pretty bras, holding them against her stomach and then dropping about a dozen of them into a bag (for her, for Mom – who knows?), and finally succumbing to the untamed estrogen in the atmosphere and stripping naked (see? I told you!) at a rate of one item of clothing per ten minutes. Without a doubt, cutest bum in the room.

So to sum up: festrogabulous! Go in with whatever you want, come out with whatever you want more. Try it yourself!

A Totally Random Question

Have you ever had a baby upchuck almost his entire carefully homemade dinner because of an immature gag reflex, and upon observing the warm, still-very-fresh food that looks exactly like it did on the way in, fleetingly think, I could just re-feed him this!

I haven’t, not me. No sirree.

But if you did, don’t you think you’d feel a little bit validated if said baby then reached to plunge both hands into the puddle of puke?

I might. Hypothetically speaking.

BANG Movie Review – Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes Review By A Normal Gal

I know many many people have already seen this film, since it was in theatres forever, but I don’t get out much. Oh well.

Here’s what I liked:

• Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock. Yum (and I’m not usually into “older” movie stars… but wait, he’s only 13 years older than I am… I seem to be getting old myself).
• Jude Law as Watson. Yum again, even with the beardless moustache (not into those either). Both of these men would be on my “laminated list“, if you know what I mean. MOTL.
• Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler. She’s delicious too. (She would be on my “if I happened to swing both ways” list.) And she was raised just down the road in li’l old St. Thomas, Ontario, which is crazy, because now she’s hanging out with/kissing the likes of RDJ and JL.
• Grey, gritty, London underbelly atmosphere. To be relished.
• Those crazy, analytical, medically-oriented, step-by-step explanations of how SH will beat up that guy.
• An interesting mystery – and it’s supposed to be a mystery, so if I feel like I’m not fully getting it – that’s okay! It will all become clear in the end.
• All mystery elements explained in snappy, satisfying speech by Sherlock to the villain. I feel certain cinematic/literary clichés such as this were used to great effect in this movie; after all, that’s what I came here to see – Sherlock successfully using his brilliance and sharing it with the audience.
• No deerstalker cap. Apparently this symbol of Holmesian detectivity was the contribution of an illustrator, rather than springing from Conan Doyle’s actual stories. I think this was a very good move: if you’re going to re-imagine a legend, you have to take some bold steps away from the public’s expectations. Kinda like Heath Ledger as the Joker.
• RDJr.’s ownership of the role. I know Jeremy Brett is considered the quintessential Holmes, and he basically gave his life to the role – far be it from me to belittle his version. Still, I liked the one I saw. I found RDJr. very convincing in all his eccentricity, wacky charm, chaotic anti-social tendencies, seething passion for detail, dark sense of humour, etc.
• Cool, swashbuckling-yet-mysterious score by Hans Zimmer.
• Tableau shots that become drawings during the credits. Neat idea, whoever thought of that.

Here’s what I didn’t like:

• Some kind of weird film technique during scenes of mayhem – as if every other frame were missing or something. A choppy visual effect that annoyed my eyes.
• Ummm… I should really think of something else I didn’t like…
• Nothing comes to mind. After all, I’m not a critic, my reviews are BANG-on, baby.

Alors, overall: not a particularly profound or poignant movie-going experience, but a firm, hearty Huzzah! Dilovely LIKED IT.

Traduction anglaise

I was thinking perhaps I should provide a translation of these Valentine verses (especially since my hubby and prime Valentine has great mastery of only certain words in French), and then I had an idea for an experiment. How about I try my hand at translating… and then let the InterWeb have a go… and see which one we like best!

First, the original again:

Lorsque tu seras vieux et que je serai vieille
Lorsque mes cheveux blonds seront des cheveux blancs,
Au mois de mai, dans le jardin qui s’ensoleille,
Nous irons réchauffer nos vieux membres tremblants.

Comme le renouveau mettra nos coeurs en fête,
Nous nous croirons encore de jeunes amoureux;
Et je te sourirai tout en branlant la tête,
Et nous ferons un couple adorable de vieux.

Lovely stuff. Now, here’s my amateurish attempt – I don’t feel comfortable yet straying from the translation to do rhymes and such:

When you are old and I am old
When my blond hair has become white hair,
In the month of May, in the garden bathed in sunlight,
We’ll go warm up our old trembling limbs.

As the renewal puts celebration in our hearts,
We’ll believe ourselves young lovers still;
And I will smile at you as I shake my head,
And we’ll make an adorable old couple.

Here’s the attempt by Yahoo! Babel Fish:

When you are old and that I will be old
When my fair hair is grey hair,
In May, in the garden which shines upon,
We will heat our old trembling members.

As the revival will put our hearts in festival,
We will still believe ourselves of young people in love;
And I will smile you while shaking the head,

And we will make an adorable couple of old man.

And finally, Google Translate:

When you are old and I am old
When will my blonde hair white hair
In May, the garden s’ensoleille,
We’ll warm our old limbs trembling.

As the revival will our hearts in celebration,
We will believe even young lovers;
And I’ll smile while shaking his head,
And we’ll do a couple of lovely old.

******

Huh. Now that I look at these… I’m pretty sure I didn’t win. But at least it proves my proclamation to my Grade 9 French students from back in the day: if you use an internet translator, I WILL KNOW.

Baby Bits XI

I wonder if this is a common problem. Apparently, I’ve got a baby with too many plans.

As I write this, I feel quite sure this is a common problem. Tracy Hogg (the Baby Whisperer) even said so, and what a relief to see it in print: at this age, you just need to “ride out the inconsistencies”. We’ve basically gotten rid of the catnap, but recently the tendency is for E to stay up all evening, much longer than he used to, then sleep for the length of a catnap and wake up again. He’s all yawny and eye-rubby, but also arm-wavy, air-strummy, and rolly. (Except when he’s very very sleepy, he is intolerant of his swaddle, the thing that most helped him settle.)

Tracy has solutions for the not-sleeping thing – her method, which is preferred by someone like me who wants my baby to be able to fall asleep independently but doesn’t want him to cry alone, is called Pick-Up-Put-Down. The trouble with this method is that it’s based on a crying baby. In theory, when E cries, I pick him up, and put him down again as soon as he stops crying, and repeat as necessary. We do this sometimes; however, most of the time E isn’t crying. He’s strumming or rolling.

Ah, well. I guess we’ll figure this out as we go, and do our best for now. Thank goodness for maternity leave.

In other baby news: today, February 16th, there is finally evidence of tooth #3! Teeth #1 and #2 have been waiting almost four months for upper counterparts, and now, at long last, there is a tiny ridge of toothiness on the upper left. Woo hoo, top teeth! Gonna be so cute!

I just hope he doesn’t suddenly remember about nipple-biting. We’ve been doing so well on that.

Most of the hair lies down these days...

Best Family Day Brunch Ever

I hope all you Ontarians who get Family Day had a great one!

We are one of those families who relishes a good collective feast.

Here’s what we had, to feed fifteen (well, fourteen – one was eating carrot purée instead) lovely people at my sister’s apartment (it was potluck):

Homemade by those in attendance…

• nut-and-seed granola
• garlic hummus
• rosemary-flavoured farmer’s cheese
• pineapple-mandarin salad
• cranberry cheese ball
• count ’em – four varieties of mini-muffins (forming a continuum: banana-oat, banana-chocolate-chip, orange-chocolate-chip, and orange raisin)
• vegan valentine chocolate layer cake

Not homemade but still delicious:

• cocoa-cinnamon raisin swirl bread (from With the Grain)
• crackers and cheese
• potato perogies with fried onions
• vegan sausage
• mini cinnamon rolls
• candied ginger slices
• roasted cashews
• real organic maple syrup
• yogurt (dairy and soy)
• oranges and grapefruit
• coffee, white tea, herbal tea, orange juice, blueberry pomegranate juice, and various spiking liquids (Kahlua, Irish whiskey, etc.)

Special food on holidays: SO great. Let’s all be inspired and eat food worth eating today!