the story of Ethel....

My mom brought some very special things to me on her trip out here this time.

Ethel & some christmas ornaments.

Ethel is a very special, vintage 1920's doll. She belonged to my Grandmother Ada's only sister, Ethel, who died sometime in the early 1930's when she was 14 years old of kidney disease. My Grandmother kept her sister's doll for many, many years until her death in 2002 when she left "Ethel" to me.

My family lived with my grandparents Clifford & Ada during my preschool years when my Dad was finishing his university education. I have very vivid and fond memories of those years and I remember it as a happy time. I was extremely close to my Grandmother Ada and miss her deeply still. I have memories of my Grandmother getting "Ethel" out of the attic closet once a year to clean her with a soft damp cloth. Ethel was stored in her original box and in her original clothing and I can still remember Grammie chatting to "Ethel" as she cleaned her...."now let's clean her face....".

After my grandfather passed away in 1989, Grammie left the farmhouse to move in closer to town. She would visit the farmhouse often (it was not sold, just sat empty) and on one of her visits to the farmhouse, she discovered that the mice had gotten to Ethel. The mice chewed the original box, chewed the original outfit and left mouse droppings all around poor Ethel. Grammie was terribly upset by this, and she showed me the damage when I visited next. Grammie had already thrown away Ethel's original clothing and box because they were beyond repair. I offered to take Ethel to see if I could find some clothing for her, and Grammie trusted me enough to let me try. At that time, there was no ebay of course, so I went to the local fabric store to secure a doll clothing pattern and some fabric. I decided that Ethel was not a flashy kind of doll, so a simple dress and bonnet would do. The pink outfit that she wears now is that outfit I cobbled up for her from the fabric store and it was sewn by my great aunt from a different side of my family. Ethel still has her original socks & shoes.

I left Ethel behind when I moved because I was too overwhelmed to deal with her. I didn't want anything to happen to her and I had enough to worry about. (I am ashamed to admit that I hand-carried every photo negative (over 200 films) of the kids to this province in my carry-on luggage because I could not bear the thought of anything happening to my kids' pictures during the moving process.....strangers pawing all over our stuff.....). And when I go home for the summer (twice now), I am too loaded down with stuff on the way back to have room for Ethel.

I was truly delighted when Mom lifted Ethel out of her suitcase.

I know her story; she and the memories that she embodies are dear to my heart.

She belongs here with me.

pretzel hugs....

Thought I would share this recipe. We made these today with Grammie. If you are having a bad day, go make yourself some pretzel hugs! You won't regret it. Super simple and great to make with kids. All you need is:

1 bag of small pretzels

1 bag of hershey's hugs

1 bag of m & m's or smarties

Place desired number of pretzels on cookie sheet. Add a hershey's hug on top. Place in 300 oven for about 5-8 minutes, depending on how hot your oven runs. Watch carefully as the hugs melt over the pretzels. Remove from oven and press m & m's or smarties into melted chocolate. Let cool! Place in fridge to cool if short on time. Warning.... these are hard to resist!

Halloween Dance tonight....

Hello Superman...... & "Hairspray" Girl!

Friday night is martini night at our house......

I have Mom to blame for this.... we got into drinking martinis when I was home this summer. First we started indulging every night... then we scaled it back to Fridays only. One of the first things I did when I arrived back from our visit was to purchase martini glasses, a cocktail shaker and some mixes. Ron's favorite martini is pomegranate. I am partial to green apple martinis. Mom likes a dirty martini.

There is something very fun & celebratory about having a drink to recognize the end of the work/school week. It's a time to wind down and relax. Hang out and spend some time together. I think next week I am going to host a "partini" after school at my house for some of my girlfriends...invite them by for a quick drink after school before they head home. It's a nice way to kick off the weekend. Cheers!

live deliciously......

"We will do the shopping, chopping, preparation and yes, even the clean up. In less than 2 hours you can assemble up to 12 delicious, healthy, ready-to-cook meals to be taken home to your fridge or freezer to be served at your convenience. An exciting new menu of meals is available every month."


I have been reading about the new meal assembly businesses for a few years now. They are a huge hit in the States, and it was only a matter of time before the notion spilled into Canada. We have 3 of these ventures in our city now. All of them opened within the last 2 years and have gained a popular following of dedicated consumers. I love to cook and making meals is not an obstacle for me since I don't have a work schedule to contend with.... however, I am still intrigued by the whole idea. My mom and I have booked a session for tomorrow afternoon.... we will make 6 meals in 1 hour! The meals will be ready to take home.... containers for taking home provided and all... we are excited to try this fun new approach to meal-making.

For those of you not familiar with this concept......

"When you arrive at our kitchen, you will be welcomed by our friendly staff. We will provide you with a coffee, apron and a good orientation to get you started.
You will move from station to station and prepare one entrée at each station. Every station is equipped with a recipe, all required utensils and is stocked with fresh ingredients that have been washed, chopped, minced, sliced, and otherwise prepared as required.
You will follow simple, step-by-step instructions to assemble your selected entrées.
Upon completing an entrée, place it on your designated shelf in our fridge, leave the mess for us to clean up, and move on to the next station.
The process continues until you have finished your order, at which time your entrées are moved from our fridge to your cooler/container to be taken home to your fridge or freezer."

I am excited by the idea of having these meals ready for us this weekend because it seems whenever Mom visits we spend a lot of time in the kitchen... and my kitchen here really isn't suited for 2 cooks at once.... we seem to butt butts often. And if we are going to spend time in the kitchen together.... I would rather be doing fun stuff like brownies...or apple pies.

I thought I should also mention the meals that we are "assembling"-:

Autumn Steak en Baguette. Balsamic Pork Tenderloin. Ginger Crusted Ham. Pad Thai with Peanuts. Roasted Sweet Potato and Zucchini Chicken Thighs. Tumbleweed Chicken.

(okay, now I'm hungry!)

the joyful simplicities of October...

potted mums. making caramel apples.

enjoying fresh apple cider. getting out the flannel jammies.

watching the kids get excited about Halloween. the cool fresh mornings.

making pumpkin muffins. the feeling of getting ready to nest for the winter.

a brisk walk in the afternoon sunshine. the beauty of the leaves.

the flu shot episode...

This is what I found last night on my way to bed.... my little one curled up next to my big one.

He had a hard day yesterday. Flu shot day.

It started as soon as I told him after school. The pleading. The begging.

As I parked at the building, the sobbing got louder. The pleas more desperate.

He started fighting when I was filling out the forms. He fought me all the way to the nurse's station. We struggled for 10 minutes. (Where does this 6 year-old get this strength?) Everyone was looking at us.... the protesting got louder. Cries of "No Mommy! I don't like needles! I will run away! I'm gonna die! " Things I have never heard him say before.

He had a complete & utter meltdown.

Not a proud mommy moment. More like a hide-under-the-chair moment.... a Mommy's gonna-need-dark-glasses-to-wear-around-town moment.

The moment the needle goes in.....he stops! Relief. The fear & anticipation gone. Silence.


I breathe a sigh of relief. I am hot with sweat. My hair is all askew. My underwear is wedged. All from the struggle.

It's okay, buddy.
We all have our fears. Mommy too.

(Then on the way home, he asks, "Why didn't you tell me it didn't hurt?" Huh.The nerve!)