An afternoon at Fete des Neiges

What a great day! The weather was sunny and warm, so
we packed Ben into the car and headed for Ile Ste Helene. On the way to the parking lot, a nice guy heading out flagged us and handed us his parking pass,
saving us $10! What a fantastic thing to do! Good
humour was in the air today, tons of people were out enjoying the event .
There were lots of kids in sleds
all bundled up, and lots of activities and warming stations. You could slide, sled, make snow sculptures, climb, tunnel, and take dog sled and horse sled rides.
There were also some pretty amazing ice sculptures. Ben had fun running around and looking at all the people.

Zzzzzzzzzz

Zzzzzzzzzz
Originally uploaded by dina the mundane and oblivious.

Ben and Steve couldn't resist a sleep in this morning. Aren't they cute?

Hey ya Charlie Brown

I know this is probably old, but I just saw it and it made me surprisingly more energetic on a Tuesday afternoon.

Bread!

img_5817
Originally uploaded by dina the mundane and oblivious.

In response to Lisa, this is why you should make bread. You always know what's in it, it's fresh, it smells great, and Ben prefers it to store-bought stuff anyday :-)

Start me up

This past week has been really freaking cold. I know that it's not very environmentally friendly, and some people say that it's bad for the car, but I love my car starter. If you live somewhere where it never gets as cold as -36 with the windchill, it's probably hard to appreciate the feeling of leaving the house and getting into a nice warm car, but let me tell you, it's heaven. Since having it installed, I no longer have to endure the icy cold seat, the defrosters throwing frost out on my face, and the gear shift that won't move for 10 minutes. I park my car where I can see it from the windows at the office so I can start it up before I leave work too. It's my favorite winter accessory, especially since having Ben.

Ring ring!

Steve and I are getting new cell phones! Steve wanted to change phones anyway, and I'm not loyal to Telus-after 7 years of using their service, the only thing they've ever done for me was give me a small, blue iguana last Christmas - woohoo indeed! I saw an ad in the paper this morning for a family plan and when Steve checked it out, reported that after all the fees and taxes were included, we would save $7/mth with this family plan with Rogers. That's $84/year! We are also getting new camera phones! They aren't free, but they were pretty cheap, and hopefully will last a while if Ben doesn't find them (he broke Dan's phone while we were visiting them in San Francisco last September). One of the things we get is 500 text messages per month to each other. I've never really done text messaging, but I may learn to appreciate it now. We also get three months of free picture messaging, so we can send each other pictures of whatever is sitting in front of us at the time. Maybe this will turn out to be a bad thing, I'll let you know.
So I called Telus to cancel my account and spoke with a charming lad who begged me not to leave and then told me that my account could be reactivated within 90 days when I changed my mind. He also told me that I could tranfer my account (which is special because it's old and still charges per second instead of per minute) to anyone else if I could find someone that wanted it. Geez! They're desperate to keep you as soon as you tell them you're leaving, but before that? Have a blue iguana and don't ask for more you non-deserving customer!

The end of last week was a bit of a trial. Thursday I wasn't feeling well, so I stayed home and rested. Friday morning at around 2am, Steve and I woke up with food poisoning or a stomach flu. Let's just say that Friday was very unpleasant and a bit hazy. Ben didn't get anything, thank goodness, but we were very tired, droopy caregivers that day. By Saturday we were much better. Sunday we went to see my folks. They got him a hippo that you can ride on and it picks up blocks, it's very cute. When I got back to the office, my plant was half-dead because no one watered it, and some people didn't even notice that I wasn't at work. This has given me the idea to replace myself with a cardboard cutout and see how long I can get paid before they find out. I'd just have to get an artificial plant. Ben had his checkup and he's nice and healthy and average. The one new problem that we've been having is that every time we lay him down to change him, he throws a huge fit and it takes a good 20 minutes to calm him down. He was good enough to demonstrate this when the doctor was trying to measure him on then exam table, and he said that Ben's just being willful. Steve's started changing him standing up, which he seems to hate less. I don't know where his stubborn streak comes from (cough). Steve and Ben were going to go to a playgroup today, but the cold weather has not been good for Steve's car, so they're staying home instead. We're looking forward to Ben hanging out with other kids though, maybe next week.
We watched The Amazing Race last night and I was a little torn about Jonathon and Victoria being eliminated. They are the most awful people, and the screaming and crying was really annoying, but they were very entertaining. At the start I felt sorry for Victoria because Jonathon's very aggressive and abusive, but then I realised that Victoria is crazy in her own right. I just hope that these two people never have children. AR was also pushed back to 10pm because of American Idol, which meant staying up until 11-I'm old, I can't stay up that late!

Which File Extension are You?

The charge of the salt brigade

A few days ago, we had some rain and mild temperatures followed by cold temps which turned the sidewalk on our street into a treacherous ice slide. It's been unsanded and unplowed ever since, so I decided to find someone to complain to. I found this number on the city of Montreal web site:
Emergencies and public works 514-872-3434
I called and this guy answered. It sounded like he was in a truck. I told him about our street and he said that he would send someone. I'll keep you posted.
Update: Two days later and nothing, so I called them back and they said that they would send someone. We're supposed to get 10-15cm today, so maybe they'll consider sending one of their little sidewalk tractors down our street.

Lego Prodigy (Protegy)

Ben figured out how to stick two plastic building blocks together last night. Is it too early to call Harvard?

Resolutions?

I don't have any official ones, that's too much pressure, but I do have a few to dos.
Now that I have a new sewing machine, I'd like to make more clothes and things for Ben. I've started a pair of dinosaur pj's, and I have this neat idea for a puppet theater for when he gets a bit older. I would like to try a little harder to find different things that Ben will eat. I'm thinking about trying to make pasta. The top three resolutions are getting organized, exercise, and diet, all of which I desperately need to do. I'd like to get rid of lots of extra crap that I don't need. What else? Save more money instead of spending it on dumb things and give more to charity. Oh, and maybe learn how to juggle.

What I did on my Christmas vacation

We had a great holiday. The inlaws arrived on the 20th and my folks showed up on Christmas eve. Ben was in a tizzy with all the activity and people. We put up the tree and decorated it. All the fragile ornaments went over the four-foot mark. We put the plastic ones on the bottom, which Ben pulled down and piled on my desk chair in the office, leaving the tree completely bare below four feet. We had a nice meal, started a fire in the fireplace, and had some good family hang out time. It's the first time that we've had the whole family together for the holidays. We definitely need a bigger livingroom. We borrowed an air mattress so that Scott could sleep in Ben's room. Ben discovered that the best game ever was to run down the hallway and jump on it and roll around. He's also discovered that he can stand up in his rocking chair, he's such a little boy! On Christmas day we all got up and settled in with some coffee and unwrapped presents. I got a new sewing machine (I got it a bit early), and a slow cooker. Steve also spoiled me with Cirque De Soleil tickets and the new Bill Shatner CD. Ben got me the second season of Spongebob Squarepants. Ben got some toys and a mountain of clothes. Steve made an amazing Christmas dinner complete with turkey and veggies. For dessert we had my mom's apple pie. My folks headed home on Boxing day, and Steve's family left on the 28th. We had some friends stop by over the holidays which was a great way to get rid of all the extra cookies. Melissa dropped by on New Year's Eve with some terrific books for Ben. It's fantastic to catch up with friends who are far away. I also heard from Caroline who spent Christmas travelling around Tasmania. For New Year's Eve we stayed in and watched Garden State and Steve played some video game.
Today I am back at work and it is less than fun. I miss my baby and my bathrobe - curse you paycheck!