My feelings of maternal guilt were successfully lifted by the stories of my Coffee with Julie friends. Ouch! One almost forgets how injury-prone the young can be! As for my dear little Stella, she came home with the following verdict from the hospital: buckle fracture. Buckle fracture? Okay ... never heard of this! The physician we'd first seen at the clinic mentioned the possibility of a "greenstick fracture." Beyond these two, there … [Read more...]
Monday Moments: Change
June 6, 2011 by 9 Comments
This blog post was prompted by Capital Mom and her "Monday Moments" project. This Monday's theme is "change." By the time I was nine I had lived in three different provinces and spent a year overseas. These were exciting, positive years. And I think that’s why the word change is ingrained in me as an exciting and positive thing. As child, I didn't have any control over these changes. And most research will tell that change is easier when … [Read more...]
Come on out to Dickinson Days this weekend!
June 3, 2011 by 5 Comments
Bear with me as I tread through some nostalgia .... On June 5, 2009, I wrote my first blog post ever and it was titled "Happy Birthday Mr. Dickinson!" This brings back fond memories for me because not only does it mark my 2nd-year anniversary for blogging, but our village's annual celebration, called "Dickinson Days" (check out all this year's details here), which has always been a highlight for us. Imagine our delight when we moved … [Read more...]
Liar, liar, house on fire
April 13, 2011 by 8 Comments
It would seem to me that, as humans, we like to lie to ourselves. Sometimes this reflexive instinct can, on the surface, strike me as a form of ego-massaging, but mostly I think it serves as a form of self-preservation. What kind of lies am I talking about? Oh, how about that if you don’t dress like a slut, then you won’t get raped. Or perhaps that Canada doesn't get enough sun to even bother worrying about skin cancer. And surely, you've … [Read more...]
Feeling mildly ashamed of myself
April 1, 2011 by 10 Comments
The other day, Stella and I popped into Chapters-Indigo to pick up some new books for her. We were looking for some chapter books that she could really sink her teeth into. So imagine our delight to come across a line of books published as “Wordsworth Classics” that were only $3.99 (!) each. We had to limit ourselves since there were so many great titles to pick from! Here are the four that we took home: The Swiss Family Robinson, Alice in … [Read more...]
Are you guilty of labelling people?
March 16, 2011 by 1 Comment
I think it's safe to say that we've all been guilty of labelling someone -- consciously or subconsciously -- according to a stereotype or just simply out of ignorance. So it's precisely for this reason that I found this video created by Mabel's Labels so valuable. It gives me that reminder to constantly challenge labels ... of those that come to mind when I meet someone as well as those that I place on myself. In the video, which was made … [Read more...]
Admiring the Tiger Mom
March 13, 2011 by 13 Comments
I have been sitting back in fascination for some weeks now watching the scathing reaction that has continued to out pour towards Amy Chua, aka the "Tiger Mom," for some weeks now. In case you missed the brouhaha, Chua is a Yale professor who recently released a memoir titled Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom. The flames were first fanned with an excerpt of the book shared in the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ titled the article "Why Chinese Mothers … [Read more...]
Artifacts and the passage of time
February 8, 2011 by 14 Comments
My colleague and I were talking about great outings for toddlers, when I asked if he'd ever taken his young son to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. He paused slightly before explaining that he didn't quite enjoy pointing out all of the "artifacts" on display: "Daddy used to use this ... and this was the phone Daddy used to have ... oh, and here is the television I used to watch ..." and so on. That got me chortling. I … [Read more...]
I may not be writing, but I’m always reading
February 3, 2011 by 2 Comments
Between work, and illness and, oh ... that little time-consuming thing called child-rearing, my moments of blogging bliss have been very infrequent. But just because I'm not blogging, that doesn't mean I'm not reading blogs! Blogs are perfect for snack-bites of exquisite writing. And one of the best things about blogs is that you can find writing that is not found anywhere else -- topics that mainstream media simply doesn't cover. The intimate … [Read more...]
Just do it!
January 25, 2011 by 9 Comments
You may have noticed that in my right-hand column, there is a lovely advertiser by the name of "LVS Consulting." This consulting practice is run by someone I've know for quite some time now: Lisa Sansom. In fact, Lisa introduced me to the whole big wide world of organizational development, and then more specifically, change management. We both used to work in the same company, but long ago went our own ways and have kept in touch over the … [Read more...]
Get creative and “re-purpose” to reduce consumption (Guest post!)
January 18, 2011 by 5 Comments
I am really excited to bring you an awesome guest post today! You might recall that about a week ago, in a post titled "Consumption to the point of destruction," I wrote: I need your help. I’ve got a couple of ideas brewing for posts, but I want to know what things irk you about our over-consuming nature? Tell me (either in the comments or by emailing me directly) and together we can look at those things and dig a little deeper into them. One … [Read more...]
Confessions of a Real Estate Junkie (and a giveaway for the National Home Show!)
January 15, 2011 by 16 Comments
When I was a kid, I can distinctly remember being in the car on a weekend afternoon, usually in the spring, and asking my parents "What are we doing -- why are we driving around like this?" And the response of "Oh, we're just looking around at these neighbourhoods" never ceased to perplex me. I'd ask "Are we moving?" But, no, we weren't moving, we were just looking. Now, I am following in my parents mother's (let's face it, my father was … [Read more...]
On the topic of new year’s resolutions
January 11, 2011 by 4 Comments
In yesterday's National Post, an article titled "America is losing the war with itself" spun out a number of topics we've been discussing here related to the obesity problem that Canada is facing (I first wrote about this here, then again two days later here, and then because the comments gave me so much food for thought, a third time here.) Of particular interest to me is the connection that the author, George F. Will, makes between North … [Read more...]
The lady sitting alone in the movie theatre
January 11, 2011 by 4 Comments
When I was younger, there was no way I'd walk into a movie theatre alone. Because ... What if someone saw me? What would they think? And I would wonder to myself about that lady sitting alone in the movie theatre ... Is she lonely? Does she not have a partner or friend to come with her? And despite having a house full of love and a pocket full of wonderful friends, I am often that lady sitting alone in the movie theatre. When I have a night to … [Read more...]
Consumption to the point of destruction
January 9, 2011 by 15 Comments
Okay, so I've spent two posts complaining (first that the "obesity epidemic" in Canada was not really an epidemic, and second, that if it is really an epidemic, it's downright embarrassing when you put it in perspective to other epidemics around the world) and now I think it is probably time to do something helpful. Your comments on my post have been particularly insightful and have given me lots of food for thought (pardon the pun!). Many of … [Read more...]
Five resolutions for 2011
December 28, 2010 by 6 Comments
I certainly don't need any new resolutions to keep for the year ahead because I am finding it hard to keep the ones I've already made! They are: 1. Make time for girlfriend time This is a resolution I made back in a post on November 9, 2010. At that time, I called it a "small change" but it is remarkably difficult to maintain since my girlfriends and I have all generally have young families and jobs. But I will keep at it! For example, … [Read more...]
Christmas and the Marshmellow Test
December 26, 2010 by 6 Comments
I was driving into work a little later than I normally do a few days ago and the CBC radio show "The Current" was discussing reader feedback to a piece they had aired. In the piece, a "famous marshmallow test" was discussed. I had never heard of this test, but it is really interesting and directly related to my post on giving my kids the gift of anticipation. It was an experiment conducted by Stanford University in the 1960s with children on … [Read more...]
My friends are making me fat.
December 19, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Or at least that's my story -- and I'm sticking to it -- over as a guest blogger on Losing it in Ottawa today. If you'd like to deflect my blame, head on over to this great (and supportive) site and tell me it's actually my inability to get off the couch that is keeping me chubby! … [Read more...]
What does it mean to innovate?
December 16, 2010 by 3 Comments
I thought I knew the answer to this one. Easy. In my sleep. But actually, I had the pleasure of getting into a really engaging discussion on this last night. One of those rare adult conversations where your brain is thinking and excited (as opposed to the usual mundane ones of car repairs, car-pools and what to eat for dinner). Okay, let me back up .... I got in late last night. I put in my full-day at the office, then drove to meet my husband … [Read more...]
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