You don’t know me.  But I do know you.  How I love your store.  The beautiful outfits you have for girls AND boys.  Everything matches!  Everything is cute! Everything is pretty!  Even the boy’s clothing is super cute and not plain jane boring.

Yes your prices are pretty high.  But if there’s a sale the prices aren’t so bad.  And your stores in the US do have some amazing deals.    But us Canadians don’t always have such good deals.  But I digress… the quality of the clothing truly stands the test of time.  So I go and look and buy and always sigh when I enter your stores.

Do you know why I sigh?  Because Gymboree why must your stores all be so teeny tiny!  I have been to 3 of your locations here in Toronto and they’re all the same.  Claustrophobic!  My husband hates going in there and so do other parents.  I’ve heard them.  And if you’ve got a stroller! God help you!! And if it’s the holidays, sale time or Gymbucks time it’s doubly worse.  So why do you have such tiny spaces?  It can’t be that you can’t afford the rent.  So why Gymboree must you force us shoppers to shop in such confined spaces?

And don’t get me started on not having any change rooms?  When you’ve got a daughter that flip flops between sizes in different stores it’s not fun to have to keep going back to exchange for a size.  Or maybe that’s part of your plan.  Have us come back to exchange something and pick up another item.  Worked on me yesterday.

Sincerely

Your biggest fan!

Look how cute!!! Look how cute this would look in a BIGGER store!!!

Image courtesy of Gymboree.com

Somewhere in my home there is a box filled with my baby clothes that my mother sewed herself while she was living in a one bedroom apartment with my father down on the Kingsway in Toronto.  Tiny, delicate and sweet outfits in shades of yellow, pink and white.

Somewhere in my home there is a large Rubbermaid container filled with my artwork, notebooks, stories, assignments and essays from kindergarten all the way through to university.  There are diaries and random objects kept from my teen years; a feather from my grandmother’s parrot, a ticket stub from a Platinum Blonde concert, a subway token from Paris.

Now there are new boxes being filled, boxes with clothing kept from S when she was a baby, boxes with birthday cards and Christmas cards from her and to her, boxes filled with her artwork and assignments from school.   A tiny box being started with a few clothing items from L.  Birthday cards from his first and Christmas cards.

J is not sentimental at all.  He has nothing from his childhood.  His parents kept a few items but he has no interest really in looking at them.  He tells me if we’re not actively using the items why keep them?  Good question I guess?  I don’t really go down and look at the stuff I keep.  Sometimes I do browse through my old diaries and cringe in embarrassment but they go back in the box.  I haven’t looked through S’s clothing that I kept since putting them away.  So why do we keep them?  Will S & L enjoy looking at them when they’re adults?  Before the holidays I went on a mini cleaning spree of our computer/den/office and threw away my wedding cards!  At the time I was thinking they’re just cluttering up this room and I really don’t need to look at them year after year.  So out they went.  I don’t miss those at all.  But those boxes in the basement filled with my mom’s letters, my stuff and S & L’s those I’ll keep.  For sentimental reasons, for good luck, for remembering.

Do any of you keep things for sentimental reasons or do you just throw it out if it’s not being used?

Sounds crazy huh!  But it got to be very overwhelming last weekend and I needed to step back and focus on other things happening around me.  Take more time to read, blog, watch movies and play with L while focusing 100% on him.

That said I do miss it.  I miss the interactions, the instantaneous connection with someone when you tweet out something that’s bugging you.  It’s a world of instant gratification right at your fingertips.  Now I laugh because there’s so many moments during the day when something happens or I have a thought and I wonder who can i share it with?  Like this morning while watching CBC Kids, on their KidCanada segment I swear I heard them say one of the kid’s name’s was Dude!  Dude! But I just chuckled to myself and moved on.

I miss the #zombiemoms group immensely!  They were a group of women, and men too probably, all over the world who banded together to talk about anything baby related or parenting woes or anything else.  It was nice having that connection.

I’m sure somewhere down the line I may rejoin again.  Promise not to get sucked in all over again though!

I finished reading Kathryn Stockett’s bestselling novel, The Help, last night.  I believe from what I remember when I quickly scanned her bio on the back page that it is her first novel.  I may be wrong.  If it is, what a hell of a first book to publish.  I could not put it down.  When I finished it I was sad because I wanted to keep reading about the characters.

The Help is several stories intertwined with one another set in Jackson Mississippi in the 1960′s when racial segregation was prime.  The stories are told from the point of view of 2 colored women, Abilene and Minny, who are the hired help and from Eugene “Skeeter” Phelan, a white woman who came up with an idea of writing a book with true stories of how the “help” was treated in the homes that they worked for.

It took a few minutes of reading only to get used to the dialect that was used for Abilene and Minny while telling their stories but it was well worth the effort.  If I closed my eyes I could see them in my mind and hear their voices speaking.

I cannot imagine growing up in such an environment.  Mississippi at that time was one of the worst states for racial discrimination.  It is hard to believe that a simple thing as the color of one’s skin determined how a person could live.  Incredible.  That’s not to say that it’s even over.  In pockets all over the world it still exists.

For those who don’t know my entire family, on my mother’s side, resides in Rio and Sao Paulo, Brazil.  While I was growing up here I would spend my summers there and was basically taken care of during those summers by my aunt’s domestic help.  They were all colored.   I grew up with those women and formed friendships.  I have stayed in touch with one of them over the years.  The situation however in Brazil was/is different of course than what happened in the US during the 60′s.  Domestic help there was very cheap during the 70′s and 80′s.  I’m sure it still is but I don’t really discuss it with my cousins so I’m not sure.  But when I was there in my childhood it was very common.

I’m curious now to see the movie and see if it lives up to the book.   Has anyone seen it and read the book?

Our sad and unused slow cooker

Today though I’m trying out a slow cooker recipe for orange glazed chicken wings.  Stealing it from Gav Martell’s blog.  Should be tasty right? I mean you can’t screw something up in a slow cooker??

Here’s the recipe taken from his site:

• 3lbs chicken wings
• 1 jar of orange marmalade (500ml)
• 1/2 cup of soy sauce
• 2 green onions sliced
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp minced garlic

Place the wings in the slow cooker.  Combine the other ingredients and pour on top.  Cook on low for 4 hours.  If you like your wings crispy, take them out, throw them in roast pan under the broiler for 15 minutes!

Of course I have no idea how much 3lbs of chicken wings are, I just bought a big pack from the store, and of course my jam jar was only 310ml so I cut down on the amount of soy sauce that was called for.

So tonite that’s our dinner with some basmati rice and a salad.  Here’s hoping everyone eats it or else it’ll be a pancake dinner night

Update!

After the 4 hours were through I opened up the lid and saw…chicken with a very soupy liquid.  It didn’t look anything like a nice thick gravy coating the chicken.  It was cooked wings with soup.  I could already feel J’s eyes burning on my back knowing that it looked crappy!! But, but, it smelled good!!! So I put the wings in a roasting pan, coated them with the soupy liquid and threw them under the broiler for a few minutes.  And voila!  Nice crispy wings that tasted delicious!!!!  Even S loved them.  I think the soupy conditions came from not enough of the jam and too much soy sauce.  J said he couldn’t even taste the orange that much just soy.  So next time, more jam and a tad less soy!!!

I’m still thinking/mulling/dissecting what happened over the weekend.  I truly am at a loss as to how she can say I was often rude and condescending.  I have no idea where that was coming from.  But I won’t dwell on it any longer.  I was hurt but am getting over that.  I told everything to J and he was just as shocked but mentioned he never understood our friendship.  He found her odd for his tastes.  He brought up something that happened when we met at McD’s for dinner one night just before Christmas and upon our leaving he said to her we should try to get together over the holidays.  Her response was just a shrug of shoulders and a smile.  That’s it.  Oh well.  Toughest part was having to explain to S we weren’t going to see the movie with her daughter any longer.  She understood.  I just told her sometimes our choice of friends isn’t always the smartest.

Tonite is our school is having our first Bingo Family Night.  S is super excited.  She loves bingo.  We sometimes play here at home with her Dora Bingo set, when L is asleep or he takes all our chips and runs, so she’s really excited to go tonite.  I tried getting my mother in law to come over and watch L so both J & I could go but she’s busy with my nephews tonite.  So one of us will take her.  Not sure which yet.

S has started skating lessons at the local figure skating club.  She loves it!! Picked it up so quickly too.   She’s been 3 times already, missed one lesson as she was recovering from strep throat, but in those 3 lessons she’s doing well.  I like watching the tiny kids learning.  Some are happy, some cry and some just sit and watch.  But the teachers are so patient with them.  But it’s made me rethink when I’ll put L in.  Thinking maybe after he’s 3 is a better age.

Did I mention I fractured my elbow skating a month ago?  Yep!  We had been taking S to skate on Sundays at the family skate during November and December and just on the last Sunday before L’s first birthday,I was skating  but caught a chip and fell flat on my back.  I couldn’t move my arm at all.  So on the Monday I googled broken elbow symptoms and I had them all.   I went to our local clinic where they xrayed it.  The attending dr couldn’t see anything but said even if it was broken they can’t splint it.  I just had to keep moving it and take pain meds if necessary.  The radiologist would get back to me if they saw something.  Fast forward a month later and I got a call from the clinic asking me to come in as the radiologist found something.  They mentioned leaving a message on Dec 14th at home but we had no message.  I went in and they confirmed it was fractured.  It’s healed now but whenever the weather changes I get a little jolt of pain.

Ahhh must end now, L’s up from his nap.  Quicker than usual lately.  I think I’ll give him a few minutes maybe he’ll resettle himself.

See you soon

Back in the spring we went to visit friends of ours who had just finished renovating their laundry room.  It was gorgeous.  That’s when I noticed on their wall a key holder.  It was a glossy white, with 3 hooks, and in a country/rustic style that appeals to me.  It was something you’d find in Pottery Barn.  I asked my friend where she got it, fully expecting her to say Pottery Barn.  It was from THE DOLLAR STORE!  She had bought and spray painted it a glossy white.  It was originally a brown wood stain.  I loved it.  She picked me up one the next week and dropped it off.  Of course as life goes, it sat in the closet for a good 6 months until this past Christmas break when J finally got around to spray painting it.

Before

After

Oh and just as an aside, J thought it would be safe to spray paint it downstairs in the basement.  Please go out in the garage to do it.  We had to open every single window in the house and go out for 3 hours to air out the smell!  The positive side is that the house got a good airing out

]]> http://clovesandcinnamon.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/hang-here-please/feed/ 0 Green Eyed Girl DIY Key holder (1) Key Holder (After) 003 http://clovesandcinnamon.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/angry/ http://clovesandcinnamon.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/angry/#comments Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:06:30 +0000 Charmedone17 http://clovesandcinnamon.wordpress.com/?p=1012 Continue reading »]]> Imagine this scenario:  you have plans to see a movie on Sunday with a friend and her daughter.  The Saturday morning before she tweets that her daughter threw up in the morning and had a fever.  What goes through your head?

In my case it was oh no that’s too bad, guess we need to reschedule our plans.  So I tweeted to her that S too had been feeling under the weather on the Thurs and Fri and had stayed home from school and dance to rest.  I tweeted to her that we had plans that Sat night and Sun so I wanted to her to get rest and feel better.

Friend tweeted back and said

“aren’t  your Sun plans with us? I can keeper away from ppl at the movies in case she has a virus”

I tweeted back and said

“um yes…but if she’s got a virus I don’t want us catching it either…”

Readers, apparently that sentence there that I wrote was very condescending to her.  Which to this day I don’t know why.  Well from there the whole thing just escalated in her stating I was rude, and often am rude and I should’ve just ignored it and walked away.

She was actually condescending to me by stating to me that “even patiently explained why, very clearly. You are in fact often rude. Other ppl would ignore and walk away.”  Um no she was not patient nor did give me any explanation.

I am beyond angry here.  This was someone who I invested a year in being a friend; finding her a rental home, introducing her daughter to a great school, listening to her complain how she has no friends nor her daughter, listening to her complain how husband treats her like shit etc etc etc.

Please tell me readers was my inital response to her condescending?  I am at a loss here.

By her own admission she actually stated before that she has trouble maintaining friends.  I can see why now.  She has no regard for feelings of others, she sees things in black and white only, is completely self centered.  She actually tweeted once that she pours her heart and soul out on Twitter but no one responds back to her with any advice.   Yet that’s all we do is respond to her neurotic tweets about leaving her husband, how she gets no time for herself, how she needs snow tires and doesn’t know what to do etc.

I am so angry about this whole situation.  Angry that I can let someone treat me like shit when I have treated them with nothing but kindness; even having my husband help install her car seat because they could not do it themselves.

Those of you readers who have known me for long please tell me if I was rude or condescending?

At this meeting we discussed future fundraising events that we’re holding.  We’re having a dance a thon on Valentine’s to raise money for more technology equipment in our school; netbooks and Ipads.  Our school population has grown to almost 675 students!  That is so much more than they were anticipating.   So the need for more techie stuff has grown.  Gone are the days of the blackboard!  We’re using Smartboards in classes now.   Last year’s dance a thon raised over $10,000.  Amazing!  It is nice to have our kids growing up in this community where we are fortunate to be able to provide for our students.

And the students themselves are so much more socially aware than I ever was in grade 6,7 or 8.   Before Christmas the students organized a warm blanket drive for our northern community; mainly the Attawapiskat First Nations.  More than 15 garbage bags filled with blankets and gently used winter clothing was collected.  Our students have also created the Eco club in the school and have come up with celebrating Earth Day every month rather than once a year.  On Wednesdays at lunch, the Eco club goes around turning off lights, making sure things are being recycled etc.  S is in the club and she loves it.  She’s also doing it at home.  She’s always reminding me to turn off the lights if I’m not in the room.

Our school was Gold certified last year and we are working on getting it again this year.  Here’s a link if you want to see if your school is participating.

The latest project that are students are involved in is building a one room schoolhouse in Sierra Leone.  What a wonderful project that our school is involved in.  The cost of building a school is $8500 and we are confident that we can reach that this year.  If we meet the goal it is matched by another corporation.   The organization running this program is called Free the Children and is the brainstorm by a fellow Canadian who was also a York Region student.   So far we’ve raised quite a bit already and S is excited when she goes by the school office and sees the bulletin board on the wall that shows each time a brick is added.

I am so glad I joined the council this year.  I’m getting to see firsthand what goes on in the school and getting to know the principal, other teachers and fellow parents.  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to join again next September when I go back to work but I’m glad for the opportunity this year!

Yet with all this great stuff happening no one has yet figured out a way to ban the germs from entering .  A week back in and S has been home 2 days already with a fever and sore throat! Boo!

I’m not making any resolutions this year.  I rarely keep them anyway.  I do want to focus on making this year better than last though.  Last year was not the best year for me.  Coping with a newborn and all that comes with it is not easy for me.  Couple that with fighting at least 90% of the time with J was not pleasant either.

But this year I would like to focus more on me.

• Continue eating healthy.  I’m still following the 5 for 15 diet I did back in November.  I managed to lose 10lbs that way and I am not struggling as much to stay away from sugar.  I rarely do now.  The odd chocolate will find its way but for the most part its easy.
• I will try to grab a shower every day.  Even if I’m not going out.   Changing out of pjs too will help.  Washing my face before bed, removing makeup and moisturizing also.  I bought J a moisturizer from Kiehls ”Facial Fuel” and although its for men, I tried it on me and it is amazing.  My skin has never felt softer.
• Read more.  This is fairly easy for me.  As long as I’m not suckered into Twitter late at night.
• Get out for walks again once spring arrives, one day.
• Try to get out once a month for a movie.  A blogging friend moved into the area last summer and she goes quite often so I’ll try to join her as much as I can.  It is hard though as when J gets home from work its a mad scramble to get dinner ready, homework done, and a lot of times J is tired too.  But I think once a month may be feasible.
• Enjoy the last 9 months with L before I return to work.  I am lucky enough that my job is held for me if I want to take unpaid leave after my mat leave ends.  My mat leave ended in December so I’m now on unpaid leave until roughly September.  It’s a huge struggle financially but I cannot fathom putting L in daycare at this age.   As much as I look at the clock each day and wish for naptimes I will make an effort to enjoy these months with him.
• I will focus on living each day at a time and not think too far ahead.

So those are a few of my goals for this year.  To focus on me and listen to what my head and heart are telling me.  To trust my instincts and to live for me.