Categories
Family

Felis catus – first in a randomly recurring series

We currently have two cats living in our home: Silly and Panda

Silly is a ragdoll. The Cat Fanciers Association sums ragdolls up pretty nicely: large, laid-back, semi longhaired cats with captivating blue eyes. I usually say Silly is part-dog. He comes when called and loves to play catch/chase the ball. We got Silly at about 10 weeks old in November 2013:

Silly's first day
Silly’s first day
Early snuggles with Q
Early snuggles with Q
Silly about to pounce
Silly about to pounce

Panda – well, Panda was a rescue. She was described as a ragdoll but we’re not certain that she is. Someone suggested she might be a birman – which would fit her quite nicely.

Here she is when we first introduced the two together:

Why won't she come out to play!?
Why won’t she come out to play!?

Silly was not quite a year old and had been with us about 9 months when we adopted Panda.

And now:

stair snuggles
stair snuggles

So there are the four-legged creatures that live in our house full time. We also occasionally dog-sit for my parents and so this is Lindsay (It’s an older picture but one of my favourites):

IMG_5665

Just felt like she needed a picture too. So of course, now here’s my favourite picture of their cat, Steve. (Blame Toby for his name!)

stealthy steve
stealthy steve
Categories
Diversions Family

See you in September!

Where has the year gone? It’s already September! Funny though how September stills seems almost as much of a new year/new start time of year as January. Decades of going to school will have that effect I guess.

Q will be starting school soon – junior kindergarten here we come. But before that we had to end our summer the way I remember it as a kid – at the Ex! Or more formally, The Canadian National Exhibition.

Lights, sounds, smells, the CNE has it all. My crazy food choice this year were the deep fried red velvet battered double stuff oreos. Whew. BlogTO does a nice write-up of some of the options.

Far nicer picture from blogto.com than one I could take
Far nicer picture from blogto.com than one I could take

Q loved the rides – I especially liked the ones that I was too tall to ride with him lol

IMG_2018

I had to go on the roller coasters with him
I had to go on the roller coasters with him

And as an extra special treat we got to go to two TFC games! Thanks Nannu for being away and leaving us the tickets 🙂 Q seems to be some sort of good luck charm for our boys in Red. Two games – two wins!

What does this row of numbers mean momma?
What does this row of numbers mean momma?
mmmm ice cream on a stick!
mmmm ice cream on a stick!

One last week before school starts….I need to do some shopping stat! Rain gear, lunch box stuff, water bottles….wheee

Do you have any end of summer/start of school traditions?

goofy face ;) and I don't mean mine!
goofy face 😉 and I don’t mean mine!
Categories
Diversions Family

Q ink stamping

These pictures were taken earlier this year (end of January 2014) but I wanted to show some of Q’s favourite activities including ink stamping.

Sorting out the colours
Sorting out the colours

IMG_6359 IMG_6362

I mean really, look at that grin.

Categories
Family

My Review of Shredded Natural Rubber Pillow – Kid Size

This is a review I originally submitted over at Grassroots. They’re a local shop that carries lots of “green” products. Everything from cleaners to toys, from clothing to, well, to pillows. They had a link to automatically post the review to my blog so I thought I’d test it out.

Originally submitted at Grassroots Environmental Products

Features:100% Organic Cotton cover
100% Shredded Natural Rubber filling
Medium support pillow
Removable cover for easy cleaning
Dust-mite repellent
Antibacterial, hypoallergenic and dust resistant

Our toddler son loves this pillow

By whiskybaker from Toronto ON on 4/8/2014
4out of 5

Pros: Keeps Shape, Comfortable

Cons: Heavy

Best Uses: Sleeping

Describe Yourself: Midrange Shopper

We bought this and the wool pillow for our toddler son. He loves the size – they are clearly HIS pillows. I think he prefers sleeping on the rubber pillow but it’s too heavy for him to carry around the house (like he used to do with his old pillow). He carries around the wool one instead.

(legalese)

Categories
Family Health

Looking ahead – 2014

I don’t really do resolutions but I find myself looking ahead this year at what I want to do; what I want to achieve; how I want to feel when I look back over the year.

I want to be sure that I’m spending time with Q not just being present. Even silly things – we usually watch an episode or two of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse before bed. Instead of being on the laptop while sitting on the couch beside him, I’m going back to the “snuggle time” and playing and stuff during the show. It may seem like a small change but he seemed to really like it tonight.

I’m also going to try and be sure we get some outdoor time every week. I know he does at “school” (aka day care) but we need to get out as a family too.

Clearly, he takes a bit more after me than Toby…

low IMG_6177Spending time outside will actually be a bit easy (hopefully) now that Q is 3 (THREE!) years old, he and I are signed up for caregiver and tot skating lessons at a park close by the house. Our first lesson is Saturday morning. I’m so excited. I hope he likes it. Or at least is willing to go the second time.

I also want to spend more time with Toby. The trip to Dallas and Las Vegas over New Years was great but we should do more together at home too. Our big family trip looks to be a visit out west with Toby’s family. I cannot wait. They’re all so lovely (and I’m not just saying that on the off chance they read this!) and Victoria, B.C. is beautiful.

a relatively recent picture of Toby
a relatively recent picture of Toby

And finally I want to spend more time with myself. Ha, that sounds funny. I mean I want to do more quality things than just futz about online when I can’t sleep. I want to carve out some time to practice French, to knit and cross-stitch, and to bake – for others at least if I can’t have any!

Health wise – I didn’t meet my goal of running 1500 km in 2013 but I cracked 1000 km which I had never done before. Mostly that was thanks to the encouragement of my friends in doing a running streak through December (running at least a mile (or 1.6km) a day, every day, in December). Thanks to timing and everything I actually made it from November 30 to January 2. 34 days. Not too shabby. I was pretty inconsistent throughout the year and that’s the number one thing I’d like to improve on in 2014. I kept the same 1500 km goal though just to push myself 🙂

Weight wise – I lost, and kept off, about 22-25 pounds. I’m about 10 pounds heavier than my lightest weight in 2013, but considering we’ve just come out of the holidays, and 3 and a bit days in Las Vegas, I’ll take it.

I’m going to try and focus more on being healthier rather than just “lose the weight.” This also means I’m going to try and do other things beside running – a weekly spin class for example. Also yoga. I think I need more yoga. My hamstrings tell me so. And yea, ideally, I’d manage to lose about 30 pounds too.

Not to say running won’t be important. I already have a 10k and two halfs (one in Washington and one here at home) on the calendar for the year. I’m also hoping the 10 miler happens again this year. But I’m going to try and balance it with other things.

Anything you’re looking forward to?