It's Winter!

In case there was any doubt -- it's winter in Toronto.

(I borrowed that image from CityTV)

Talk to you soon,

B.

Ok..Enough with the House Already

You're bored of pictures of the progress in the kitchen, right? Yeah.. me too. At least for now. However, I'm sure there will be a couple more before the weekend is out. You can distract yourself with the splendor that is the image I attached today.

It's very close (past?) my bedtime and since I haven't blogged yet - and I am trying to blog through Advent - I thought I'd better say a little something. This reminds me that while Rob and I have been trying our hardest to stick to our Advent plans, tonight was the second night we were unable to proceed with the 'event' of the evening. We were supposed to go for a walk after dinner to look at Christmas lights (and why the decorated house pic is relevant today) but he was working downstairs and I was working upstairs and neither of us had energy for anything else.

I've been trying to do little odds and ends of things around here but it was tough because I feel very pregnant tonight which for me means feeling pretty tired. I decided to take it easy on myself and took lots of breaks and chatted on the phone as I worked to nearly anyone I know outside of the city who would talk to me. Incidentally, I had a very nice chat with Eve's mom for about 20 minutes; since Eve wasn't home when I called her. I think perhaps a busy week at work coupled with lots of reno stuff in the evenings coupled with a bit of a Christmas shopping marathon yesterday got me a bit worn out.

But now (!!) I'm off to la la land, the land of zzzzz's, to rest up and prepare for the day ahead tomorrow. It's going to be a great sleep!

Talk to you soon,

B.

More Subfloor

We took the night off of our home renovations tonight so that Rob could go to a goodbye party for a coworker and so that I could do some Christmas shopping for our relatives in BC. I'm hoping to ship the gifts out on Monday at the latest.

Here's what we did last night though --

(you should know that all the screws in this plywood are precisely 6" apart)

It's the second subfloor, the top subfloor, and the last stage before we get to start laying the bamboo. And I got to use Rob's new circular saw! What fun!

Talk to you soon,

B.

Heat!

Last night, Rob laid the heating cable in the kitchen area. While it's not yet connected to power, I'm very excited at the prospect of having heat on the first floor. He did a great job!

Talk to you soon,

B.

Some Progress

I have some non-house related progress to report (mostly all accomplished on my commute, which admittedly I've been using to doze so it's kind of surprising any progress was made at all!) --

Bean's blanket is about 40-50% finished:













And I made Bean a hat too!













Talk to you soon,

B.

Yummy!

Caroline and I have been working on a cosmetics project slowly and in bits and pieces over the past couple of months and we're almost done! We've been working on putting together sets of soap, body butter, and scrubs to give as Christmas gifts to our friends and family. We prepared the soap a while back because it does take some time to cure. We also made up some shea butter based body butter. We weren't sure about the the method for the body butter and actually, it didn't turn out as well as we'd hoped. Then, a couple of weeks ago we cut the soap and wrapped most of it. Tonight we finished up our set. We prepared some sugar body scrubs and then melted down and reworked (whipped) the body butter. Actually there was so much whipping that we started to burn out the motor of the stick blender! Now, we've got enough for each of us to give away 8 complete sets of 2 bars of soap, 4 oz of body butter, and 8 oz of sugar scrub. We have a lot of body butter leftover - in fact we didn't even bother melting it all down and reworking it tonight. We've got about 12, 4oz jars and 2, 8oz jars extra. All that's left is packaging and labeling. And let me just say - the scent is so delicious! Even more delicious is how close we are to being finished!

I was thinking back tonight to when I was a younger girl. I used to watch The Young and The Restless with my Nana and would daydream a bit about being like Ashley Abbott when I grew up. Remember her? She was John's daughter and she worked for Abbott cosmetics in the lab as a chemist dreaming up new formulations for perfume and make-up. And now, here I am tonight, putting together a batch of scented lotions and scrubs and soaps! Makes me feel like a kid again!

Talk to you soon,

B.

34 hours later

This is what the living room looks like --


This is what the kitchen looks like --


And here's what took 20 man hours to do yesterday: the door and threshold area --


And all of our food is either outside in our shed or in boxes in out tv room!

Talk to you soon,

B.

On our way!

Our construction project for the weekend is well underway!

I'm not sure that we've managed to keep the schedule that Rob had been hoping we'd keep but we've made so much progress, it's been great! Of course, none of this progress has much to do with me. My job today was to go to Home Depot - similar to my job on Wednesday - but today I went about 3 or 4 times (it's late, I've already lost track). Our helpers are great! So far they have brought with them not only their time and energy but also some invaluable expertise. There is just no way Rob and I could have figured out how to get it done without everyone's help. Yay Team!

The big challenge today was our back door. Since the floor inside is getting higher, and the back door opens inward, the door needed to be cut. Since the door needed to be cut, we needed a new threshold, and had to build-up around the base of the door. And man, does it look even harder than it sounds!

But now, it's done and we can get to laying all the floor.

Talk to you soon,

B.

An Innocent Mistake

When I was at an appointment tonight after work, I parked on Clinton Street near Bloor. When I got back to my car, there was a note on my windshield (edited for content, if you get my drift):

"Hey A$$#0le, See that lane you're parked in front of? That's a DRIVEWAY! Move your car! Merry F*$%ing Christmas!"

So, I looked around. Lane? what lane? Uh oh.

Sure enough, I'd parked in front of someone's driveway. I hadn't seen it at all. I felt very apologetic. The worst of it possibly was that it wasn't really even just 'someone's' driveway but actually the driveway to a parking lot of an 8-plex type apartment complex. I almost wish that I could have knocked on someone's door just to explain that I didn't do it to be jerky - that it was just an honest mistake. In fact, when I pulled into that space there was so much room around that I could have parked in any of 3 other spaces. I really just didn't even see the driveway.

So, I wasn't really upset about the note or anything. It was a little harsh but I would have been equally angry if I was the person who's driveway was blocked. In fact, it made me wonder if perhaps I should get quite so angry at the anonymous folks who appear to be doing things that are jerky. Maybe they really just made a mistake. You know - don't attribute to malice what could be attributed to ignorance. I wondered if people would be better off if they could actually meet fact-to-face with the people who'd upset them and if they got an apology.

Next time somebody does something that really gets me angry, I hope I can think that it was just an innocent mistake.

If you're out there - and I blocked your driveway tonight - I'm really, really sorry!

Talk to you later,

B.

Hospital Tour

If you haven't guessed by the title of today's post, Rob and I went to our hospital today for the tour. There wasn't too much that was surprising for us there I don't think. The woman who was our prenatal instructor was the same woman who gave us the tour (our prenatal classes weren't affiliated with the hospital, this was just a coincidence) and there was another couple from our prenatal class on the tour. Janice, our instructor/tour guide, is really fantastic and all through our class she would refer to how procedures work at TEGH so that we'd be prepared. It kind of already felt familiar because Janice and our classmates were there. Besides that, Rob and I have been to this hospital before - after Adam's birth and after Sophia's. One of our good friends is an OB/Gyn at this hospital too, though we haven't seen her at any of our trips there so far. Also, another friend of mine who just recently graduated from medical school did her maternity ward rotation at TEGH. All of these things feel comforting to me.

So, as I was saying, there wasn't too much that was surprising, not too much new information. I did learn a bit more about the birthing beds that I had been kind of curious about and was also not expecting the delivery rooms to be so big. All in all, it was fun though.

After we got home we (and by we I mean Rob) sealed the concrete in the new area on the first floor and I prepared us some dinner treats as we met our Advent Calendar 'duties'. The activity today was 'meet up after work for dinner'. We decided to go more with the spirit of the directive than it's more literal meaning - we met up after work for our tour, then picked up dinner things, then ate at home.

Talk to you soon,

B.

2.5 hours and $220 later

I went shopping tonight. We needed to get lots and lots of stuff to get through all the work that's planned for the weekend. I'd offered to go since shopping is something I can do despite my size and current 'condition' (lots of the heavy lifting and chemical work that will need to get done this weekend is strictly off-limits). Here was my shopping list:
vapour barrier, concrete sealant, rigid styrene insulation, 10' flashing, 12' baseboards, 6' ABS piping, deep-pile rollers, window caulking, all the parts necessary to re-plumb under our kitchen sinks and reinstall the dishwasher, sidewalk salt, ABS glue, plumbers putty, teflon tape, polyfil, tile cutter, grout cutter, saw slide.

I tried to use my belly to my advantage while I was there but didn't do a very good job. I forgot about the 'mom-to-be' parking spaces, very few HD employees were around to offer assistance, and the guy who was enlisted to help me load my car really just carried out the rigid styrene insulation and then watched me load the car.

The flooring was delivered today, Rob and Kevin picked up the plywood on Tuesday and Rob and I got the rest of the stuff we needed from Home Depot last Sunday. Seems like we're nearly ready to go!

Talk to you soon,

B.

Bisphenol A?

A friend alerted me to the bisphenol A controversy that's been brewing among parents and soon-to-be parents of newborns and very young children. Well, to be honest, I'd heard some rumblings about it before but only after she mentioned it did I start really looking into it. To summarize briefly, bisphenol A is a chemical used in the production of polycarbonate (ie. Nalgene) that is leached into food or beverages that are stored or served in the container. Parents are particularly concerned because a) most baby bottles are made of polycarbonate and therefore contain bisphenol A; b) baby bottles are heated and therefore more bisphenol A is leached compared to containers that are not heated; c) babies who drink formula or pumped breast milk get daily exposure to plastic leachables and d) babies have a small mass so even low levels may be more dangerous. Plastic manufacturers argue that the doses leached are more than 500x below dangerous levels.

As usual, it's been a serious case of information overload. I believe in making educated decisions but this is one of those cases where I feel a certain level of expertise would be required in order to understand the nuances of the argument. I don't believe that I would be able to acquire the necessary expertise to make a decision in a timely fashion. Now, I have some background in plastics and plastic manufacturing - and their biological effects. If I can't figure out what's going on in this argument what is everyone else supposed to do? What are we left with? I suspect most people make their decision based on a combination of risk aversion and trust/mistrust. Most people know to some extent or another that all plastics leach small amounts of some chemicals. Most people know that you shouldn't heat your food in plastic containers. However, most people do it anyway. The reason, I think, that this issue has raised such alarm among bottle users is because most parents seem to be extremely risk averse if the risk will be assumed by their child. Comingled with this is an inherent mistrust of big corporations by the public and an inherent trust in government or non-profit organizations.

In my own mind, this risk aversion often leads to a bit of hysteria and is the 'cause' of the huge fads that come and go in parenting. Does that mean I'm not susceptible - no way! Even for myself (and at the urging of my husband) I have recently switched to 'unleaded' dishes and carry my lunch to work in a glass container. How should I weigh the 20+ studies by plastics manufacturers that say levels of bisphenol A in polycarbonate are safe against the less than 5 studies by non-profit groups that say they aren't? Do the higher number of studies that claim polycarbonates are safe mean they are 'more likely to be accurate' or are they 'less likely to be accurate' because they were reported by the people who profit from plastic sales? Ahh the dilemma!

I'm open to allowing people to make their own choices and won't even suggest that I know enough to make a recommendation to anyone. I do suspect, though, that my own risk aversion and the relative ease of switching to glass bottles will likely have me looking into bisphenol A free bottles that are compatible with my pump. "You never know!" and "Just in case" are phrases that are quickly becoming common in my vocabulary.

Talk to you soon,

B.

Belly Update

These photos were taken today at 32 and a half weeks pregnant. The photos come at the request of Cynthia. Not sure how I feel about them.. they are definitely more unflattering than I'm normally comfortable with. And, not to mention they don't show the parts of me that didn't get bigger - they only show the parts that did!

Actually, normally I'm pretty comfortable with my new shape. It only really comes as a bit of a shock when I see the photographic evidence.

Belly shot #1 also shows off the new haircut!

Belly shot #2 makes it obvious that I'm having a bit of trouble keeping a straight posture!

See - being pregnant isn't so bad!

Talk to you soon,

B.

Retraining

Rob and I are trying to retrain the cats. We feel, for the sake of safety, that it would be better for the cats not to be left unsupervised with Bean. This is going to mean making some changes to the sleeping arrangements around here for a little while. Currently, the cats both sleep in our room and Mackerel even sleeps in our bed most nights. But if Bean is going to sleep in our room for a time, then Mackerel and Molly are going to have to find another cozy spot to catch their z's. Rob and I decided a while back that the new rules should be enforced well before Bean's arrival so that the cats wouldn't associate one event with the other. Last night was the first night that they were locked out of our room. Mackerel didn't take it well. He cried outside our door, pawing at it for a good 30 - 60 minutes. We're hoping that he'll have accepted his fate tonight and go to sleep downstairs without so much fuss. Wish us luck!

Talk to you soon,

B.

Happy Advent

Last November, many of us participated in National Blog Posting Month. This November I thought I'd try to out do myself by not posting any single day in NaBloPoMo. Just kidding! It wasn't really on purpose (nor was I completely successful) - I've been busy busy busy. It's ironic how keeping busy gives you lots of blog fodder but not enough time to actually post. Since I last posted I got a new haircut, started a new fitness class, got a new piece of foundation for the part of the house that needed it, and got my very first new employee!

Know what else is new? It's a new month and the beginning of Advent and I bloody love advent calendars!! Perhaps you can remember from last year that Rob and I made our own advent calendar? We've done the same again this year. With any luck, I will provide a bit of Advent fun around here by actually posting for every day of Advent. Not sure how ambitious I should be. So, in the event that I'm unable to satisfy all of your Advent calendar needs, you can check out this fun one from Santa in Greenland.

Talk to you soon,

B.

Pregnancy Brain?

Ever since I did Rich and Sarah's cake a few weeks back I've been looking for my wedding rings. I usually take them off for baking and I couldn't remember where I'd put them. Luckily, a couple of mornings ago I remembered where I'd put them -- in the purse I'd carried with me to the reception site. I immediately put them on and that evening set them on the bookshelf were I keep them sitting overnight. The next morning I walked over to the bookshelf to get my rings and !! they weren't there!! I asked Rob if he'd seen them and he swears he'd seen them on that shelf at bedtime the night before. I looked all around the room, on different shelves, on my nightstand. I even pulled the bookshelf away from the wall to see if they'd fallen behind. I crawled onto hands and knees to look underneath. And while on my hands and knees, I looked at my hands. Oops! There they were - on my fingers! Apparently, I'd put the rings on my fingers and then promptly started looking for where I'd left them. Could this possibly be another case of 'pregnancy brain'?

Talk to you soon,

B.

Happy (belated) Halloween

Hi Everyone!

Last week was so so so busy. Sorry I couldn't post the pics sooner. But here they are now!

(Rob's pumpkin)

(my pumpkin)

(the dead body we found under our deck this year! Ha ha!)

(Rob's other pumpkin!)

Popped

My navel has popped. Crazy! And this is what the website, WhatTo Expect.com, says about the navel: “And speaking of your belly button, have you noticed that it’s taken on a life of its own — a larger-than-life life? Protruding navels may not be your idea of forward fashion (especially when you’re in a bikini, or when your once innie belly button now bulges through tight clothes), but it’s de rigueur for the pregnant set. And it’s easy to understand why. Beginning somewhere around the middle to end of your second trimester, your enlarging uterus swells enough to push your abdomen forward, making your navel pop out like a timer on a well-done turkey (even though you have a way to go before your baby is “well done”). Your belly button should revert back to its regular position a few months after delivery — (though it may have that stretched-out, “lived in” look. Until then, you can look at the bright side of your protruding navel: it gives you a chance to clean out all the lint that’s accumulated there since you were a kid.”

Talk to you soon,

B.

Sarah and Richard

I've sort of 'been away' for a little while. At least that's how it feels. That I've been gone and I'm finally back to real life. I'm at the end of yet another cake week. I got a bit behind schedule early on, so the past week and a bit has been intense. I'm now relaxing and recovering and trying to get caught up with everything (including this blog).



First and foremost -

Menu for the week:
Monday - Cheese tortellini with green beans in an almond, olive, and pesto sauce
Tuesday - Eggplant Paremsan
Wednesday - Meatloaf, potatoes, carrots, asparagus
Thursday - Potato Leek Soup
Friday - Eating out
Saturday - Out of town

Last but not least -

Rich and Sarah's Wedding Cake

The cake was a vanilla butter cake, filled with lemon curd and lemon buttercream. Covered in rolled fondant and then adorned with gumpaste flowers, gumpaste leaves, and buttercream vines. Inspired by a cake from Martha Stewart Weddings.

Again, I learned some tricks and techniques that I will carry to the next cake. And again, I didn't get the final presentation exactly as I'd hoped but the process was enjoyable and I just love that I'm still learning.


And here's one last close-up of the flowers


Talk to you soon,

B.

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Vanilla Pastry Cream Filling and Caramel Icing

I made cupcakes for a friend's birthday a couple of weekends ago. I am only just getting around to posting about it now. Inspired by what's been happening at the Cupcake Bakeshop Blog and tracking down some recipes that I felt would go well together, here's what I came up with ...




Gingerbread Cupcakes with Vanilla Pastry Cream Filling and Caramel Icing

Gingerbread Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 deg. F
Melt ½ cup butter and let cool

Add and beat well:
½ cup sugar
1 egg

Sift together in another bowl:
2 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 generous teaspoon each, cinnamon and ginger
½ teaspoon salt

Combine:
½ cup molasses
½ cup honey
1 cup hot water

Add the sifted and liquid ingredients alternately to the butter mixture until blended.
Line cupcake tins with paper liners and fill 2/3 full. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until cupcakes are springy but not dry.

Vanilla Pastry Cream

Have a strainer set over a small bowl near the stove
In a small bowl, whisk together:
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons cornstarch
Gradually add ¼ cup of half and half, whisking until the mixture is smooth and the cornstarch is dissolved.

In a medium heavy non-reactive saucepan, place
½ cup sugar
one vanilla bean split lengthwise
Using your fingers, rub the seeds into the sugar.
Stir in
1 ¾ cups of half and half
a pinch of salt.
Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a full boil, stirring occasionally.

Whisk 2 tablespoons of this hot mixture into the egg mixture. Pass the egg mixture through a strainer through a strainer into a small bowl. Bring the half and half mixture back to a boil over medium heat. Remove the vanilla pod. Quickly add all of the egg mixture, whisking rapidly. Continue whisking rapidly for about 20 to 30 seconds, being sure to go into the bottom edge of the pan. The mixture will become very thick. Remove the mixture from the heat and whisk in the butter. Immediately pour the mixture into a bowl and place a piece of greased plastic wrap directly on top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Allow it to cool to room temperature and then refrigerate until cold.

Thick Caramel

1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
6 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Bring the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk to a boil over medium-high heat stirring to combine.
2. With a wooden spoon, stir all ingredients together and then slowly add the heavy cream.
3. Continue to stir for about 20 minutes until the caramel reached 248 degrees. It is important to continuously stir the mixture and to allow it to reach temperature.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and salt. Transfer to a bowl and continue to stir for 2-3 minutes allowing the caramel to cool slightly.

Assembly

1. Prepare the pastry cream while cupcakes are cooling or up to 5 days in advance
2. When cupcakes are cool, using a small knife cut a cone out of the top of the cupcake
3. Fill the hollow in the main part of the cupcake with a scoop of vanilla pudding
4. Cut the cone away so that only a ‘top’ for the cupcake remains and use it to top the filled cupcake. (look here to see for yourself)
5. Prepare the caramel after filling the cupcakes
6. Using a small offset spatula, frost each cupcake with the caramel.
7. Top the cupcakes with slices of candied ginger.
   
8. Continue frosting and topping the cupcakes and try to work fast. As the caramel cools, it becomes less spreadable. If possible work in pairs and let your helper top the cupcakes and transfer to the storage container.

Presents!

Some presents arrived this week. Woo hoo! Both of the presents are sort of for Bean but given that Bean won't really care about any of this, they are really presents for Rob and I. The first is the highchair we ordered in Rochester that was delivered to us via Caroline and her parents. The second is the crib bedding set that I also ordered. I found BabyLovin.com through Etsy and contacted Jen about having a set custom made for us. We chose and ordered the fabric from Purl Soho.

Here are a few fun pictures (click on any of them to make them larger) -

This is a picture of the crib bedding set. On the left is the crib skirt (aqua). The middle piece is a crib blanket, the reverse of which is red fabric that matches the ties on the bumpers which is the piece on the right.

Here's a close-up shot of the set so you can see the colours and the ties a little better.

Here's a close-up of the blanket and bumper fabric so you can see the pattern. I didn't take a close-up shot of the skirt fabric; it's a subtle polka dot pattern. All of the fabric is really good quality and the quality of the finished product is excellent too. I'm so happy with how it turned out and so happy that Bean could have something handmade (on top of all the handmade things that will be gifts from other family and friends, of course) even if I couldn't make it myself.

Here's a pic of the highchair still in the box. Some assembly is required. Since we don't actually need a chair for many months, I think I'll leave it in the box for a little while. But at least you can see the stain colour we picked.

Talk to you soon,

B.

Behind schedule a little –

I have a couple of things to post about today, mostly because I'm a bit behind in the posting. As a general note though, things are good. Bean keeps kicking me regularly and I'm getting bigger and bigger so it seems like things are great. I can feel that the next few weeks are going to be very busy though. So, I'm going to have to try to steal some moments of rest wherever I can. For now though, here's what has been going on:

The Official Dinner

Meredith and her partner at Leisure Projects were commissioned to curate an exhibit and dinner at the Drake through the Alphabet City organization. Alphabet City organizes an annual multidisciplinary festival that addresses one topic of global/urban concern (more on Alphabet City here). This year's topic was 'Food'. It's a bit of a challenge for me to describe what she was asked to do exactly, but it essentially boiled down to Meredith coordinating a dinner with the chef at The Drake that is a throw-back to the official dinners of past and in particular to the Royal tours of the 1950's, including princess Elizabeth's visit in 1951, the visit of Princess Margaret as well as Queen Elizabeth's (the Queen Mother) visit in 1959. The bottom line for me was that I got to go to this very elegant event, enjoy a superb meal and visit a smidge with Mer. The RCMP had representatives at the door, guests were piped in by a bagpiper, we received handmade (by Leisure Projects) corsages for the evening, and we enjoyed a truly fabulous quartet. Rob was sick, so I took Caroline with me as my guest for the evening. I ate so much food that I could hardly sleep from the discomfort.

Rob's Birthday

Was fairly uneventful - the poor fellow. His birthday was Sunday and so we went out for dinner and I made him a Boston Cream Pie Birthday Cake (using a modified version of this recipe). I shopped for his gift on Saturday while he moved the concrete and construction waste from our house out to the big bin in our back yard. I should mention that he did all of that while he was suffering from a cold which meant coughing, sneezing, fever, while hauling many many pounds of concrete into a big metal bin! Since he worked so hard, I gave him his birthday present on Saturday night: a thermal travel mug for work and road trips and Bioshock. On Sunday Rob cleaned up the last of the construction waste and tried to recover from his cold while I went to Mac's field lacrosse game in Orangeville.

Thanksgiving

Rob and I didn't get to spend much time with our family this Thanksgiving but we did go to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner on Monday. It was Rob's first turkey in quite a long time and I think he enjoyed it. The food was really delicious. Everyone who contributed did an excellent job - nothing fancy, just tasty. Everyone was happy to see me all nice and round and both Mac and my mum got a chance to feel Bean kicking around. Christian called and everyone got a chance to talk to him for a bit too. Rob's parents and sister also called us for Rob's birthday and of course we called his dad on Dad's birthday (they are only one day apart). All in all, a really nice day.

I did hear, however, that my aunt sort of collapsed after we left her place. She is getting a bit older now and I think all the work exhausted her. She was also a bit dehydrated. It was scary for those who were there since about 25 years ago, she collapsed during a Thanksgiving dinner (which is always at her house) the cause of which was a stroke. We're pretty sure that she's ok now though. However, I think next year there's going to be a new Thanksgiving tradition in our family - somebody else hosts (maybe me?)!

Happy Anniversary!

To Us! And to Gina and Kendrick I hear as well. It was Rob's and my 3rd anniversary this past Tuesday. We haven't done much in the way of celebrating yet. It really is a busy time right now. We don't normally do too much anyway - just try to spend some time together that's a little 'extra'. Our trip to Rochester counts but we are still planning on an evening out this coming weekend. Now that Rob has given up vegetarianism I thought it would be fun for us to go out to eat cataplana. We honeymooned in Portugal and the cataplana nearly did Rob in. He wanted to try it very very badly and was quite disappointed that he'd given up the opportunity for his vegetarian lifestyle. Now that he's freed himself from the shackles, it seemed like the perfect time to reminisce about our wedding and our honeymoon and to gorge ourselves on seafood! Conveniently, there is this highly recommended Portuguese restaurant right in downtown Toronto.

House Update

No, not an update on "House"... an update on our house (I'm funny today, non?). There is a pit in our living room. There is water running from outside one wall, through the pit, to the outside through a different wall in our living room. The construction waste is gone. We've had a couple of contractors come and look at "the problem". So far, no one is available to actually fix it but they all agree that while it's not a huge it's a big enough job that concrete will be poured. Any more detail than that will require it's own post.

Bean Update

No, not an update on beans, an update on our Bean (hilarious, yes?). I had another of the monthly midwife appointments yesterday. As I expected, everything is great. Current stats are:
My blood pressure - 100/58
Sugars - negative; Protein - negative
Fundal height 24 cm (exactly right for 24 weeks pregnant. Karen, contrast how you looked with how I looked at 24 cm, eh? Crazy!)
Bean's heartrate - 150 bpm

I have started to get a bit of swelling in my feet and ankles and some calf cramping at night so we talked about that (it's normal and there's no great solution). We also talked about a few other things that, frankly, I wish I didn't know about, am sure you don't want to know about, and therefore I won't mention here. Let's just say though, that I was put somewhat at ease by the answers to my questions. On a different topic, the midwife did explain that since Bean has enough room to move around still (current estimated length is 12 inches and weight is around 1.5 lbs) that my belly shape might change noticeably. For example, sometimes I look like I'm carrying 'high' and breathing is difficult from pressure on my diaphragm while other times I look like I'm carrying 'low' and there is pressure on my bladder. This stuff is all dependent on whether Bean's stretched out, head-up, head-down, etc.. I thought that was pretty neato. I also learned that the pulse I can feel on my stomach often is actually the pulse of blood in the placenta. When I'm sitting still and if I apply even a bit of pressure on my belly, I can feel the pulse there as strongly or more so as if I'd checked the pulse in my jugular.

I've also recently purchased a pregnancy wedge to keep me sleeping on my side at night. It's reasonably annoying right now but I suspect I'll get used to it.

Well, I think that's all I've got for now. I realize that I haven't posted my weekly menu in a while. We were doing fine last week - I just forgot to post. This week has been almost entirely leftovers from a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. I'll post again starting next week.

Talk to you soon,

B.

Rochester Part Three: The Next Day

Rob and I took the opportunity of being in a hotel with black-out curtains and no cats to sleep in on Friday morning. After that, we had a busy day of shopping with our very strong Canadian dollar. One of my friends grew up in Rochester, so she pointed us in the direction of Java's Cafe - easily one of the best coffee bars I've ever seen in North America. It likely helps that it's next to a music school. We fueled up on scones, peanut butter cheesecakes, and warm bevvies. So yummy!

After that, again guided by my Rochester friend along with Board Game Geek, we found Millenium Games. MG is just about the last place I'd want to spend an evening but for an hour during a weekday I was able to tolerate it. Especially since the games were quite affordable and they did stock some of my favorite ones. We left with Bohnanza (already a hit with the friends), Settlers of Catan, and Fluxx and then made our way down the street to Marketplace Mall. Marketplace wasn't the best mall in Rochester but it did have a few good stores. Namely, Bath and Body Works where I bought my favorite lip gloss (only available in the US), The Children's Place where I bought sleepers at 3/$25 instead of the Canadian 3/$40. We went to Macy's because I'd never been before but they don't have a maternity section and I wasn't in the mood for purse shopping (shocking, I know!). Rob was disappointed that the CDs and video games were price matched so well to Canada - almost no discounts were to be found there.

From Marketplace, we skipped across to DSW shoes - definitely my favorite discount shoe store. Rob got a nice pair of Clarks and I picked up a pair of Steve Madden black ballet flats both for a good price. From there, it was on to my American Mecca - Target. Rob got jeans and I got some maternity clothes to round out the wardrobe that my mum started for me (to which Carolyn and Karen have both added by lending). We got a CD and a book and lots of candy. We checked out the Babies R Us next door but didn't see anything too great. Rob went to Best Buy and got another CD and some Xbox game card thingy.

From there, we went to Pittsford, a suburb of Rochester but still only a 15 minute drive. We went there hoping that the Tripp Trapp highchair we'd ordered from Simon's (that mum and Ron are buying us) would have arrived - but sadly it had not. Instead, my friend's parents will be bringing it to us this coming weekend when they come to Ontario for Thanksgiving. We hopped across the street to Rochester's biggest Barnes and Noble and shopped around. Rob kind of pooped out, securing only two books (1 and 2). I found lots I wanted to buy but was nearing the end of my budget so I also pooped out and only got two books (1 and 2). The books are definitely a better price in the US right now. Plus, my friend lent me her B&N discount card so we got all four books for about $25.

Then we grabbed a quick dinner, stealthily packed many of our new things into a suitcase and headed for home. Quite a consumerist weekend overall!

Talk to you soon,

B.

Rochester Part Two: The After Show

(part one of this story was posted yesterday. Check it out by scrolling down if you haven't seen it yet)

So, after the SYTYCD show I wanted to try to meet the cast. Last year, Kelly got autographs and photos and I wanted some too. So, when I heard in the ladies room from an 8 year old girl that they'd be signing at the stage door I got all the info I could from her and then followed the small crowd to the back of the building. There were probably 400 or so people there waiting to meet the cast along with Rob and I. The majority of them were from Buffalo - dancers and their parents from Neil's studio. We all waited a long time for the cast to make their way outside but eventually they came out. I was about 4 rows of people away from actually getting to meet anybody. This is the picture of how sad I was when I thought there was no way I was going to get to meet any of the cast.


But I was very patient and waited and waited. Then, finally, it all worked out! I got pictures! I got autographs! And here they are:




































I missed pictures of Danny, Neil and Dominic but otherwise I think I did pretty well. We had to wait until 12:30 just to get these and I think those other guys were tired and had to get on the bus. Well, Neil was pretty busy with all of his fans there. And he was still signing when we left but everyone else had climbed on the bus. I did manage to get a tummy rub from Sabra. I asked her to bless Bean with some of her dance talent. I sure hope it works!

Talk to you soon, B.

Rochester Part One: The Show

Our Rochester trip was a blast! I had a lot of fun and so did Rob, which is surprising when you read all about what we did. I'm going to blog the trip in parts so that there aren't so many pictures to upload all at once. However, the next few posts are going to be very photo heavy. You've been warned!

We left Toronto with time to spare before the show, arriving in Rochester at about 5:30. Sadly, some of the 'excellent' time we made driving to Rochester was eaten up by getting lost in Rochester while trying to find out hotel. I'd used Google Maps but there was some sort of glitch and the instructions were entirely wrong. After hoping to stumble upon our hotel while driving around downtown - but failing to do so - we stopped and asked for directions and were set on the right path. We got to the hotel, checked-in, freshened-up, grabbed a quick bite to eat at the hotel restaurant and then headed off to the SYTYCD show. In case you're unfamiliar with how this works, after the end of filming the season the dancers who made the Top 10 with a couple of 'guests' from the other 10 in the Top 20 go on a very fast, one show in each city tour where they perform the audiences' favorite (as determined by show producers) pieces. The Toronto show was sold-out before I could get tickets and so - to Rochester.

As we approached the arena, I was getting pretty excited at this point, gotta say. We bought the program and grabbed our (cramped) seats. We were definitely not in the biggest demographic for the show. The arena was filled with mostly girls and a few boys between the ages of about 7 and 17 accompanied by their parents. Rob said that he'd never felt so old. Still, I nearly lost it with all the little girls when the lights when down! The show was fantastic! They had some prerecorded stuff put together from Nigel and Cat that was played on a couple of big screens but the focus really was on the dancers, who also MC'd for each other. Because of that, it had a kind of concert feel rather than a show feel. There weren't really any sets, the costumes were the same as used on television. I guess, given the short run, keeping the budget low is a financial necessity. Dominic was the biggest ham when MC'ing and he actually did a bit more of it than any of the others. When the performing started - I was impressed. The choreography wasn't new, so some of the pieces that I loved for their originality weren't as exciting this time through but it was great to get to see the whole piece and not just what the camera presented you. I found this particularly relevant with the large group numbers. The duets were also very high quality. I expected the intensity to have dropped, now that they aren't in competition but the energy for the performance was really very high. I admit, everyone danced like they were a bit more relaxed and maybe having a bit more fun but it really only helped the quality of the performance, in my mind. Due to a bit of miscommunication, Rob and I had left our zoom lens at the hotel - so I didn't get very many pictures of the show. The 'special guests' were Anya, Shauna, Jesus, and of course, Hok. For those who watched this season, they performed: Mia and Joe, The boardroom number, Two Princes, Butterfly and Hummingbird, The Matrix, Triplets of Belleville, Benji's choreographed swing piece (danced by Sarah and Pasha), Dmitry's choreographed Samba (Hip Hip Chin Chin with Danny and Lacey), The Lion King, You Can't Stop the Beat, The Black Mask Piece, Pasha and Anya's Samba, The Angel and the Devil, Cameron and Lacey's duet to Mia's piece, The Transformers Piece, Anya and Danny's Waltz, Pasha and Sabra's Quickstep, one new breaker piece, as well as each dancer in the Top 10 performing their best solo. There were a few others but I can't think of them right now. I have lots that I could say more technical about the dancing and the choreography and everything but I think I'll wrap up for now and save the details for a 'dance audience'.

Talk to you soon,

B.

P.S. If you can believe it, I thought this would be a post where I didn't have too much to say! Ha!

Canceled

Rob and I were supposed to go camping in NY this weekend but we're going to cancel our vacation to stay home and work on the house.

The So You Think You Can Dance show is not canceled, however! Rob and I will leave today in the early afternoon and drive to Rochester to catch the show tonight. This is the live tour with the top 10, dancing the pieces they performed on the show this year. I missed last years live show so I'm extra excited about this one! I hope Rob will let me hang around the stage door to get autographs and pictures!!!

I can post some reno updates on the weekend but the plan is to finish with the destruction and see if we can't get started on laying the insulated subfloor. And we may just eat like we're camping (since I already bought the groceries!).

Talk to you soon,

B.

Time Traveler's Wife - Filming in Toronto

Did any of you see the front page of Metro News this morning? Check it out here.

I feel like I'm the last to find out about all these exciting events! The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Nieffenegger is possibly my favorite book. It was sort of a wedding present from Rob and we read it together while on our honeymoon 3 years ago. If we ever have a daughter and name her Clare - a reality that becomes ever more possible these days - it will in fact be an homage to the title character of that novel. That's how much we loved that book! (**see note below)

I knew that Brad Pitt's production company had picked up the story before it was even published and that there was a chance that it would become a movie, but I hadn't heard anything else about it until today. As far as I knew, there was no screenplay or cast or director. Apparently, they have all of these and started filming in Toronto on September 8th. According to as much information as I can find online now, they'll be here until the end of November.

I'm really excited about getting to see this movie. I know that there is no way it can live up to the book but I'm excited nonetheless. I think Eric Bana as Henry was a good casting choice. I can totally picture that. I am however, a bit disappointed about the casting of Rachel McAdams as Clare. I'm not sure she's got what it takes to play Clare. In my mind she was always a bit more like Sophie (as in Julian and Sophie) and I just can't see Rachel McAdams playing someone as interesting as that. Perhaps she will surprise me. And, well, we'll just have to see if the guy who directed "Flightplan" can do something right this time.

Now, I'm just so curious that I want to try to catch a glimpse of the set. I'd love to see some of the filming. I'm not sure where exactly in Toronto they are filming but the Ontario production website lists their location as in one of the studio houses near Carlaw and Lakeshore. I might have to drive by sometime next week!

Talk to you soon,
(this is, in fact, my second post in 12 hours..be sure to scroll down and read about our adventures in home destruction!)

B.

** Note: Yes, Rob and I are weirdos. We have already named one of our cats after a character in a book, a cat named Mackerel from Haruki Murakami's The Wind -up Bird Chronicles .

Home Repair - Part One

Rob and I had an active and tiring weekend. We started the work on the house that we want to get done before the end of October. Well, to be honest, Rob has the bigger and more 'urgent' job. He's started the process that will eventually mean that we'll have more reliable heating this winter. You'll likely recall from some posts last February that our heating failed us and it got quite cold in our house. Part of the problem is that a couple of our windows leak heat (more than average) - but that part of the problem won't be fixed this year. What we are doing is adding more heat by installing radiant floor heating on our first floor. This floor was the one most in need of heat and, if the 'hot air rises' theory works, it will hopefully provide enough additional heat to the 2nd and 3rd floors that our house will be nice and toasty. After the radiant heating is installed we'll be covering it with new sub-floor and then some engineered bamboo flooring.



So - this weekend was step one: remove the baseboards and the elevated living room area to allow for the installation. Rob was successful in removing most of the baseboards and he made a good dent in the elevated living room, but he didn't quite get it all finished. This is what the living room looks like right now.


Meanwhile, I was working upstairs moving furniture and our things around. My goal: clean up the office area and make room for our guest room furniture, thereby making room for Bean. While I did get a lot done, I wasn't able to get the office cleaned out. I was trying to write out how I'd describe where all the furniture was and where it's going to. However, not only is that kind of boring it's also almost impossible to imagine properly if you've never been here. It would be much better if you all just came for a visit sometime after I get it all done, ok? Meanwhile, I'll attach a few photos as I get things done. The first picture for today is the desk/office area I created for Rob on our 2nd floor.

And do you remember that picture of my pregnant belly from last week?That blank wall I was standing in front of now looks like this:

And of course, last but not least, we got groceries and planned our meals for the week. Despite all that we have ahead of us this week and all that we did on the weekend, we're trying not to sacrifice our home cooked meals. We just tried to keep it simple:

Monday - Falafel, rice, and cucumber salad
Tuesday - (Harvest Moon) Chinese vegetables sauteed, fried rice, perhaps some pork
Wednesday - Spaghetti with mushroom and tomato sauce
Thursday - Eating out in Rochester!!
Friday - Fried Chicken and Couscous salad
Saturday - Hot dog cookout
Sunday - Steak, baked potatoes, and corn

Talk to you soon,

B.

Chinese Jumping Bean and a Crazy Mum

I think I’m growing a Chinese jumping Bean! Bean’s movements have gotten strong enough now to be somewhat startling, actually. It feels like Bean’s jumping in there! It’s going to take a bit of getting used to. Rob’s been able to feel them from the outside a few times. These periods of activity don’t last too long – maybe 15 minutes - and they seem to have some regularity to them. I usually can feel them just after breakfast, again at around 11 – 12 or so, sometime in the afternoon or just before dinner, then again in the evening, 9 – 10 pm. Roughly, I think that’s the timeline. I had a bit of trouble sleeping the other night and noticed that I could also feel Bean moving around 1:30 am and 5:30 am.

Otherwise, I’m starting to feel a bit more ‘pregnant’ again. I’ve needed more sleep this week and catch myself out of breath these days with less exertion than is normal for me. It’s all very slight, very subtle stuff, but I notice.

I also notice that I’ve been obsessing over the stupidest things. However, this is quite normal for me and likely not a result of the pregnancy at all. Hugo gave me a massage and accupuncture treatment last weekend and I realized the dramatic contrast of the ‘before’ and ‘after’. I thought I was relaxed before – but clearly I wasn’t. I was extremely relaxed afterward. And, sad to say, I’ve just been ramping up over the course of the week despite my best efforts. Work has been busy, I reacted quite badly to some disappointing casting at PushPull last weekend and I’ve been nearly making myself crazy over trying to pick a bloody stroller. I don’t know why I can’t just be normal about this stuff. At least with the stroller, I can understand where it comes from – my inability to make a decision and yet prolong the torture of trying to make the right decision. I think I might have even found the specific flaw in my decision-making process which I need to try to correct. Awareness is the first step, though, right? All I can say about the rest of it is that at the least, I’m better this year than last and hope the trend continues.

I’ve also been reading this book: The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp. At one point he describes the innate ability of a baby to ‘calm himself’. According to the book, the easiest babies are the ones who, despite the enormous shock of moving from womb to world, are the best at calming themselves. He refers to that internal switch 'on/off' switch and the ability to control it for times of activity vs. inactivity, stimulation vs. calm. Apparently, by about 6 months of age all babies have developed the control to enough of an extent that they should be sufficient at calming themselves. So – as I’m reading this, I’m thinking, wouldn’t it be nice if I had better control of that switch? Don’t plenty of adults still have trouble controlling that switch? And does Bean even have a chance with a crazy mum like me? Could be trouble!

Last night Tiffany and I (mostly Tiffany) worked on my website and I think I’m going to really really love it! Also, we made Buttercream together. Fun, fun, fun!!

Oops! I just realized that I forgot to post the menu for this week! Here we go:

Monday -- Leftover pasta bake
Tuesday – Slow-cooker BBQ Pork Ribs, Spicy Tomato Parmesan Polenta and Squash
Wednesday -- Chinese mixed vegetable noodle soup
Thursday -- Trout with shitake mushrooms, tomatoes and ginger, rice, snap peas
Friday -- Eating out for date night
Saturday (Mum and Ron are in town) -- Homemade pizza and salad
Sunday -- Roast chicken, potatoes, carrots and steamed broccoli

Talk to you soon,

B.

And the Bean Grows

At the request of Rob's family, I posed for a pregnancy photo this morning. So, here I am at 20 weeks pregnant. That's my morning face. Ack! Anyhow - more important than my physique or my morning face is the fact that we had another check-up with the midwife yesterday. Everything is going well with Bean and with me (Bean's HR 150, my BP 98/50, fundal height 20cm). Esther did also get the results from our ultrasound from a couple of weeks ago. Everything there was absolutely normal too. And who knows why the technician took so many photos of my left ovary - it's apparently quite normal. So, Bean is just right. The technician was wrong about one thing though - the sonographer did make a decision about gender. So, we found out!! They qualified the answer, claiming that the shot made it difficult to say with certainty, but in their opinion, Bean is in fact, a ... If you want to know, you should email me! I don't want to post it just in case there is somebody out there who doesn't want to know.

Also - I auditioned for this season of PushPull on Sunday night. I felt pretty good but these extra pounds and 3 months of inactivity had my jumps a little more laboured and a little closer to the ground than usual. I think it's gonna be fun though and you should see me in my bodysuit and yoga pants! I've really been missing dancing. Still, I think I'm going to have some trouble adjusting to being so much less involved than usual this season. I don't adjust well in those kinds of situations. I'm really going to work on it though! Could be a whole new kind of experience for me! Anyway, there were quite a few good dancers who auditioned this year. It looked like about 40 or 50 people were auditioning and Kelly's only taking 25-30 dancers. Could be some tough decisions for her.

And finally, while I was at rehearsal, somebody called for me and left a message for me to call her back. By the time I got home, Rob had forgotten who it was!! So, if you called me on Sunday night and I haven't called you back - you'd better try calling again. Or, send me email and I'll give you a call on the weekend.

Tomorrow is my first dance class in months. It's an open class being offered by PushPull until they finalize the cast on Friday.

Talk to you soon,

B.

Potluck

Well, a frustrating day at the you know where, hot on the heels of pretty fun and exciting weekend with cake has added up to much daydreaming about the future of my cake business. I know, I know .. all talk no action! Well, we'll see. I'm feeling inspired and driven to move forward at this point in time. I've contacted Tiffany and we're going to meet tomorrow to try to set-up my website. I'd like to launch it in about 2 weeks. Fast enough that I'd feel ok about sending the link to Gary and Michelle's wedding planner. The 'trouble' so to speak is that it means committing to a business name. So, that's today's particular fascination. Trying to really decide, once and for all, what I will call my business. That and looking around online for samples of sites I like and what other folks do for content when they are low on content (like I will be!)

And of course, it's Monday today. Which means posting our menu plan for the week. I'm a little uninspired this week, I have to say. But here we go:
Monday - Phad Thai (food court fare, I was running around after work)
Tuesday - BBQ chicken, polenta, salada
Wednesday - Taco night!
Thursday - Penne primavera
Friday - Roasted mahimahi with tomatoes, onions, and a tapenade vinaigrette with parmesan couscous and sauteed greens (likely swiss chard)
Saturday - Hopefully out with the team
Can you tell which day I got the menu off of Epicurious?

Lastly, there's been a flurry of activity for me on Facebook. A guy who I went to school with from grade 6 - 8 has found me and is doing his darndest to connect the old class. I had the same class (more or less) for all three years. I was hesitant to connect at first but then I gave in. There has been a lot of 'catching up'. It's kind of weird but sort of fun too. We were a pretty close class, really. But no one has kept in touch much since. I think Rhys and I might have done the best job at staying in touch.

Well, that's the update for today!

Talk to you soon,

B.