From the category archives:

Life

Weekend Cooking: Vegan Planet, by Robin Robertson

September 19, 2010 Blogging and Blog Events

Last month my daughter Hayley announced she’d like to give a vegan diet a try.
So, the next time Ward and I found ourselves in a bookstore, we decided to buy a copy of Vegan Planet, by Robin Robertson. Well, okay, it was more like Ward browsed around for a vegan cookbook and found Vegan Planet; [...]

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All Grown Up

September 7, 2010 Life

Yesterday we moved my son into residence (dorms) at the university he’s attending. I handled it quite well, really – no crying, just a lot of sighing.
During the drive there, I kept thinking about walking him into his classroom on his first day of grade one.
It feels like such a short time ago. And now, [...]

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In Memory: “Untitled”, by Joy Wong

August 6, 2010 Life

In my shapeless sundress, with no makeup – hair all back for practical reasons… going tanning of all things! You shared time with me, engaged me in your conversation and made me feel like I belonged. I did not know your names, or where you came from or anything about any of you. Nor did [...]

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Living with a Teenaged Filmmaker

August 1, 2010 Life

We have conversations like this one all the time …
Me: I noticed your green eyeliner in the bathroom. We should probably get you a new one, because this one doesn’t have a cap.
Daughter: That’s all right. I’m not using it.
Me: Good.
Daughter: It’s only for my videos.
Me: Oh. Well, we should get you a new one [...]

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A-Camping We Went (Plus Some Luxury Living, and a Bit of Thomas the Tank Engine)

July 27, 2010 Life

Our camping trip at Long Point, followed by a night in Port Stanley: rain, a beautiful lightning storm, gorgeous sunny afternoons on the beach, trains and fine dining!

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When It’s Hot Out …

July 7, 2010 Life

Yes, it’s the kind of day where I want to (a) stay inside, where it’s nice and cool and (b) drink a lot of A&W root beer.

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Talent!

June 8, 2010 Life

I’ve been following Britain’s Got Talent on YouTube, and just loving it.
I have always enjoyed talent shows, and one of my favorite YouTube videos of all time is the one of Paul Pott’s first audition.
It’s always those first auditions that really inspire me, the ones where people walk onto the stage, and bring with them [...]

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Anticipation

April 29, 2010 Life

As Eloise would say, I love love love spring!

Lilies of the Valley
Last year, we had just a scattering of these beautiful lilies of the valley along our rock wall. This year, they’ve migrated to the soil running along the top of the wall and at the base of the tree trunk – huge drifts of [...]

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Morning Ritual

April 26, 2010 Life

The past two months have been very significant months for me; after so many years of being one role or another – mother, wife, daughter, sister, breadwinner, friend – I finally asked myself, really asked myself, who do I want to be?
This one question has lead to a lot of interesting revelations.
I’ve discovered, for example, [...]

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Camping (Gulp …)

April 23, 2010 Life

I’m sitting here right now, wondering, What did I just do?
You see, we just went online and booked a campsite at Long Point provincial park – for an entire week this summer.

Yes, I know – it’s a beautiful place. But I’m taking deep breaths right now, because I’m not sure I’m ready for this.
My kids [...]

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Strawberry Bread (Or, Another Reason I Really Like Twitter)

April 21, 2010 Life

Strawberry bread.
Up until a few days ago, I’d never even heard of strawberry bread. And there I was yesterday, sinking my teeth into a taste of summer to come.

The picture doesn’t do it justice. It was good – and, I think, will be even better in the summer, when we’ll be able to buy really [...]

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Ever Have a Bad Haircut Day?

April 17, 2010 Life

My worst haircut ever still stands out in my memory. It might have been a few decades ago, but seriously, I remember it as if it was yesterday.
It happened the summer before I began my high school graduating year. I’d flown out to Vancouver to spend a few weeks with my old classmates. While there, [...]

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Focus, Focus, Focus

March 23, 2010 Life

It wasn’t until this weekend that I realized I’ve been journeying through my life these past few years without a whole lot of focus.
And one thing that can happen when you stop remembering the power of focus? You start living reactively.
That’s not what I’m wanting, that’s for sure.
So once again, changes are afoot. I’ve [...]

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Alice in Wonderland Music Video

March 10, 2010 Life

On Saturday my daughter Hayley saw the Alice in Wonderland movie. On Sunday, she and her best friend Heather began filming, and then she spent the rest of the day editing. This is the result – enjoy!

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The Energy of a Room

February 23, 2010 Life

Home Dojo/Meditation Room
With all the room flipping we’ve been doing, I’ve been thinking about how rooms have their own individual “feel” to them.
Has this ever happened to you? You walk into a gorgeously decorated room, something beautiful enough to grace the covers of a home decorating magazine – and standing there, surrounded by all [...]

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No More Wasted Space: Some Room-Flipping Results!

February 18, 2010 Life

We are extremely pleased with our recent round of room flipping: we’ve created a beautiful dining room from wasted space!
I wish I’d thought to take pictures of the “before”. This truly was a “nothing” space (it’s the space at the bottom of the stairs, right outside the kitchen), and so we weren’t particularly inclined to [...]

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Chinese New Year

February 14, 2010 Life

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone!
When I was younger, I thought of Chinese New Year more as “red envelope time!”, because my parents’ friends would give me red envelopes containing money as part of the New Year celebrations.
So I thought a picture of a red envelope would be a fitting accompaniment to this post!
It’s the Year [...]

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Not Sweating the Small Stuff

February 10, 2010 Life

Thanks to a nice, long talk with a good friend of mine (she also does this professionally, if you’re interested in having a session to clear up obstacles in your life – I highly recommend her facilitation sessions), I find myself finally clear of the listlessness and lethargy that has challenged me for most of [...]

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When Is a Dining Room Not a Dining Room?

February 8, 2010 Life

We’re doing it again.
In preparation for having a small home dojo in conjunction with our new rented room at a local church, we’ll be moving our rooms around.
Have you ever done this?
It’s something I indulge in every now and then; it helps cure that stagnant feeling I get when I’ve been living in one place [...]

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Me and Social Media Marketing

February 5, 2010 Life

Sounds like a song, doesn’t it?
So, with my, uh, vast knowledge of social media, I appear to have been promoted to the role of Social Media Marketing Director for my husband’s martial arts dojo.
(Fine. I did promote myself, but someone had to.)
One of our intentions, in light of recent changes we’ve decided on, is to [...]

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Time Management Games: A Major Misnomer

February 2, 2010 Life

I recently stumbled into a whole series of games called “time management games”, a name which I think is terribly, terribly misleading.
“Time suck games” is more like it.
Let me just say, none of these games have helped me with my time management issues, although they’ve been quite good at adding to my time management challenges. [...]

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The Courage to Change

January 21, 2010 Life

Recently my husband made a decision that seemed very practical to me; practical, and in my opinion, long overdue.
As a martial arts instructor, his passion has always been in teaching people to be the best that they can be, and so he’s never cared about the number of people he’s training, only about how well [...]

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A Matter of Voice

January 19, 2010 Life

We get a lot of telemarketing calls, and often, this is how the ensuing conversation goes:
Me: Hello.
Caller: Hello. Is your mom or dad at home?
Me: No.
Caller: Okay. I’ll call back later.
I’m usually grinning when I hang up the phone. A three second conversation with a telemarketer and I didn’t even have to lie!
You see, ever [...]

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Living with Teens

January 15, 2010 Life

It’s a weird sort of phenomenon. I co-exist comfortably, easily and happily with our two teenagers in this lovely household of ours. My husband also co-exists with our two teenagers in this lovely household, just not always as comfortably or as easily as I do (although he swears up and down that he is quite [...]

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The Bath vs. Shower Debate

January 13, 2010 Life

I love baths.
Back when my older two were much, much younger and I was in a far less egalitarian marriage than I’m in now, the bath was my sanctuary. It was the only time and place in an otherwise hectic day when I could lock out the outside world, and sink deep into scented [...]

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Welcoming Change

January 12, 2010 Life

Happy new year, everyone! I know, I know – it’s nearly the middle of the month, and you might all be feeling the new year is already feeling a bit old. But since I’ve been so busy, I haven’t really had a chance to do “the new year thing” – and I figure I can [...]

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PJs Rule!

January 6, 2010 Life

I’ve been working from home for fifteen years now, and amazingly enough, until one cold morning last month, I had never worked in my pajamas.
I’m not really a very traditional sort of person, so I’m not sure why I never thought about working in my PJs before then.
And the fact that it happened was actually [...]

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Reflections

December 31, 2009 Life

It’s a tradition of mine, so I set aside some time this morning to think back over the past year.
What always astounds me is how many things happened that, on first acquaintance, seemed to be problems but turned out to be gifts in the end. This year has seen quite a few of these gifts, [...]

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Merry Christmas!

December 24, 2009 Life

Merry Christmas, everyone!
Christmas for me is one of the most beautiful times of the year. I wish you all the very best for this holiday season: lots of fun, merry-making and love!
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Saturday Ramblings And Some Links

December 12, 2009 Life

It’s Tapas Night here tonight – which means I am, once again, cleaning house to get ready for the people who will be dropping by. Have you noticed I seem to do this fairly frequently?
My question is, why doesn’t the house stay clean in between get-togethers?
Anyway, I’m sitting here and procrastinating, like normal. Writing a [...]

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