Sue from Gresham, Oregon - who will now receive her choice of hat!
Congratulations...now everyone else needs to go back to Raspberry and Lime and place your orders!!! Be sure to tell Beth I sent you!
Sunday, October 17
Raspberry and Lime Hat Winner!
What a fantastic response to the Raspberry and Lime custom-made hat giveaway!
The lucky winner, as chosen by random.org:
# 66 out of 133 entries
Sue from Gresham, Oregon - who will now receive her choice of hat!
Congratulations...now everyone else needs to go back to Raspberry and Lime and place your orders!!! Be sure to tell Beth I sent you!
Sue from Gresham, Oregon - who will now receive her choice of hat!
Congratulations...now everyone else needs to go back to Raspberry and Lime and place your orders!!! Be sure to tell Beth I sent you!
Friday, October 15
Debbie Travis: The Momterview
"All For One with Debbie Travis" is a new hour-long reality series which brings the home-renovating icon to a different Canadian city each week, surprising the locals with with plans for a reno project to reward a local hero. The twist is that Debbie brings only her ideas, materials and tools... but no team to carry out the job. That's what the locals are for, and she calls on community members to step up and pitch in, sometimes with disastrous results! The sneak preview episode aired on CBC in September, and Debbie is back on Sunday October 17th with the next entertaining episode.
I had the opportunity to chat with Debbie about her new show, as well as motherhood, marriage and the latest decorating trends for kids. {By the way, Debbie had to turn down her first invitation to visit Oprah, yet she eagerly made time for This Mom Loves. I'm just saying.}
This Mom: I definitely want to discuss the new show, but before we get to that I'd really like to ask you about your book "Not Guilty", which I read this summer and really enjoyed. You seem so confident now about the choices you made as a mom and a businesswoman both, and the tradeoffs that had to be made. Do you think it's actually possible to not feel guilty?
Debbie Travis: I think women, it doesn't matter what you do, you could be sitting at home knitting and you're going to feel guilty. None of us have enough time, and you're guilty if you put them in daycare and you're guilty if you don't. Even a stay-at-home mom feels guilty. It's just ingrained in us, and there's no point telling a young mom. I started the book with the end of the journey, sending a 6 foot boy to his room, and the sadness of "Is it over?" and you look back on those 18 years of bringing up your kids, and you just can't tell this to a new mother. What I liked about the comments on the book was that these are everybody's stories, everyone's mistakes, and no matter how precious we think our children are, we're sitting at home thinking "Oh God, I did it wrong!" We all lose our tempers, we all cry ourselves to sleep. In the end, the kids are own their own path really, and unless you tie them up in the basement they're really going to do what they want to do.
DT: Now! I think actually the older they get the tougher it is as a parent because you have less control. They're young men now, but you never stop worrying. They were at the Munich Beer Festival, and it was 6:00 a.m. here, and I'm calling Munich to try to make sure they're sober enough to walk down the street. What next? With a toddler you've got control, you're in charge. I think the reason parents are so frightened of teens is that they are big, and they do talk back, and it's very hard to control them. You have to do it through guilt! {Personally, I already love using the "Mommy is very disappointed with you" line, though I often get the "You're the worst Mommy I ever had" reply.}
TM: In your book you also try to debunk the "yummy mommy" phenomenon.
DT: I try and give these cartoonish pictures of the mothers at school, "The Volunteer Vulture", "The Yummy Mommy", and there are mothers wishing they could be more like the yummy mommies, and wondering "Why can't I look like that? I've got vomit down my back, and they look so smart. How do they put themselves together?" You're always trying to compete with the other mothers, but if you actually sat down with them they probably have the same vulnerabilities you do. We're just all trying to get it right.
TM: As a decorating expert, what sorts of trends are you seeing these days for kids' rooms?
TM: Your new show is all about communities. How would you describe your own community in Montreal?
DT: Mine really links up to your mom story in that a lot of people live away from their families now. You don't have that nostalgic street with your granny at the end of the street and your mom next door. {Actually, I do have my mother-in-law next door, but I'll save that for another post.} A lot of people have moved away from family, so in my neighbourhood we have eight moms, and we're all there for each other. My next door neighbour is a surgeon, and she'll call me and say "I'm late in surgery, can you pick up the kids?" "Yeah, sure, I'll just drop everything!" We're there to help each other. Somebody will come around and say "Can you take my kids for the weekend, because if I don't spend a night with my husband we are in deep trouble!" We are a little community of support on that street for the last 15, 16 years. Even if it's just a bottle of wine and a good cry. It's the most valuable thing I've got.
I grew up in a small village, and really the community was the backbone of the way we were, and often community doesn't really show itself until something bad happens. When I was 12 my dad died and my mother was 33 and had four kids under 12, my brother was six months old, and the community came together to bring the food, bring clothes, pay my school fees, be there for her until she could get back on her feet. It's expected, and in that area it was a church group, that's what they did, they were the backbone of the village.
TM: What else should we know about "All For One"?
DT: It's a very funny show, because people are funny, and especially the nightmare of the volunteers - I could write another book! But it's about the community coming together for this particular unsung hero, and I have everyone standing in front of me and we show the back story on this person, and people say "Oh I didn't realize everything she did, she's so amazing", and I say "Look what I've planned, we're going to rip her house apart and here's what we're going to do....only I'm not going to do it, you are!" That's when they start backing away! Sometimes we don't finish, and people don't turn up.
We've had some really hilarious situations where people think "Oh, you know these television shows, as soon as the cameras go down at night she'll bring in her own people and finish it!" and that's not what happens. We supply the materials and the tools, and the money for food, but they do the work. It's really a modern-day barn-raising. People coming together laughing and crying, and being tired, and creating a bit of a legacy in each place. I'm just the circus master with the whip!
TM: Do you have a favourite out of the seven communities you shot in?
DT: The show this Sunday takes place in North Preston, Nova Scotia: the oldest black community in the country. Our director, who has directed Survivor and The Apprentice, lives in Los Angeles, and he said it was worse than east L.A. here. This community has been dumped by this country. They don't have a shop or a bank, no taxi driver or ambulance will go in because it's too rough. Yet, these people are there and someone needs to help them. One of the guys who came to work on the house was a newly trained doctor from Nigeria, and at the end of the show after working on the house with these people he said to me "There's no doctor here for 4000 people. I will come and be the doctor here for the next ten years." And oh my God, talk about tears, and I'm praying there's a camera on this. I couldn't have written it. If I never do anything again, we got a doctor for North Preston. These people were the nicest, funniest, kindest people I've ever worked with, but what a place. A lot of drug dealers and pit bulls...we had to be protected to be in there!
Each show has a little story within it. Oakville is hilarious. I thought it would be boring, but that show has full frontal nudity! What I do to get volunteers is so embarrassing!
TM: How would you complete the sentence "This Mom Loves..."
DT: I love London, Tuscany. I love wine. A lot. Prada shoes - they are the comfiest shoes ever! {I'll let you know if I agree whenever I get my first pair.} I love getting dirty. I actually really do like jumping in and puttering in the garden, which is why I have no nails. On the show I don't even care about the cameras, I find it really hard not to grab a brush. "I will not help you! You have to do this on your own! Alright, give it to me, then, I'll do it!" I love to read. I love food. Too much probably. I love women, and mums, and chatting, as you can see. I love a girls' night out: a bunch of women, no men, a bottle of wine, nobody calling "mummy". That's the best night out for me.
TM: My two girls are upstairs right now, and they haven't interrupted an interview yet but I can just see my two year old barging in and insisting on saying hi! {Actually, Maggie's favourite telephone question is "Doin'?"}
DT: Ah, but you'll get your revenge when they're teenagers and sitting with their friends, and you'll come in and plop yourself down, and your daughters will look at you like you're covered in dog poo, and say "Yes? What do you want?" and you'll tell them that you just want to sit and interrupt their conversations like they did to you for years. Oh, and you'll get to wake them up at 7:00! Revenge, it's called!
TM: I can't imagine having to wake them up at 7:00! That doesn't sound like things getting harder! {I am actually excited that I will be able to live out this revenge fantasy, PLUS say "Debbie Travis told me to do that." Although they'll be too young to know who Debbie Travis is. Even Justin Bieber will be old by the time my girls are teens.}
In conclusion, I'd like to offer you one of my favourite Debbie Travis quotes that I fail miserably to live by: "Love the chaos. Praise your messy house daily, even pray to it, because before you blink, your children will be gone and it will be way too tidy!"
I had the opportunity to chat with Debbie about her new show, as well as motherhood, marriage and the latest decorating trends for kids. {By the way, Debbie had to turn down her first invitation to visit Oprah, yet she eagerly made time for This Mom Loves. I'm just saying.}
This Mom: I definitely want to discuss the new show, but before we get to that I'd really like to ask you about your book "Not Guilty", which I read this summer and really enjoyed. You seem so confident now about the choices you made as a mom and a businesswoman both, and the tradeoffs that had to be made. Do you think it's actually possible to not feel guilty?
Debbie Travis: I think women, it doesn't matter what you do, you could be sitting at home knitting and you're going to feel guilty. None of us have enough time, and you're guilty if you put them in daycare and you're guilty if you don't. Even a stay-at-home mom feels guilty. It's just ingrained in us, and there's no point telling a young mom. I started the book with the end of the journey, sending a 6 foot boy to his room, and the sadness of "Is it over?" and you look back on those 18 years of bringing up your kids, and you just can't tell this to a new mother. What I liked about the comments on the book was that these are everybody's stories, everyone's mistakes, and no matter how precious we think our children are, we're sitting at home thinking "Oh God, I did it wrong!" We all lose our tempers, we all cry ourselves to sleep. In the end, the kids are own their own path really, and unless you tie them up in the basement they're really going to do what they want to do.
TM: Your sons are now 22 and 23. What would you say was the hardest phase of parenting?
DT: Now! I think actually the older they get the tougher it is as a parent because you have less control. They're young men now, but you never stop worrying. They were at the Munich Beer Festival, and it was 6:00 a.m. here, and I'm calling Munich to try to make sure they're sober enough to walk down the street. What next? With a toddler you've got control, you're in charge. I think the reason parents are so frightened of teens is that they are big, and they do talk back, and it's very hard to control them. You have to do it through guilt! {Personally, I already love using the "Mommy is very disappointed with you" line, though I often get the "You're the worst Mommy I ever had" reply.}
TM: In your book you also try to debunk the "yummy mommy" phenomenon.
DT: I try and give these cartoonish pictures of the mothers at school, "The Volunteer Vulture", "The Yummy Mommy", and there are mothers wishing they could be more like the yummy mommies, and wondering "Why can't I look like that? I've got vomit down my back, and they look so smart. How do they put themselves together?" You're always trying to compete with the other mothers, but if you actually sat down with them they probably have the same vulnerabilities you do. We're just all trying to get it right.
DT: I just got back from London and I saw a lot of patterns and colours and textures. A lot of fun in rooms. There's a new product out called "IdeaPaint", and it's a paint you can use to turn a surface into a notice board {a dry erase whiteboard}. People have been doing this with chalkboard paint for a while, we did that in my day, but chalk is messy, and this is just a white surface that you can use markers on. I thought that would be very cool for maybe the back of a door in a children's room.
TM: You and your husband work together on your projects {Debbie and husband Hans Rosenstein are partners in their production company}. What are some of the pros and cons of being in business with your spouse?
DT: Don't do it! {Laughs} I think the pros are you've both got the same goals in a way, and when you're in a similar business you understand each other, whether you're both baking cookies or you're both running a television station or whatever, you understand why the other is so tired, or in a bad mood. You understand the bones of your industry, and really that does help. If I were married to an accountant, I don't think he'd 'get' me. He wouldn't understand what on earth was going on. On the other hand, a huge danger is if something goes wrong, like the dreaded "d" word, it's incredibly complicated. {My apparently dyslexic mind heard "b" word, and immediately thought she was talking about bankruptcy. Which would be worse?}
Sometimes it's a bit harder for staff. Mine are used to it, but it's hard for them hearing a blazing row, and it's a different type of row when it's your spouse. You can threaten "I'll never cook for you or have sex with you ever again!" but then that's not what we do in the boardroom! It's sometimes hard on other people. I think with any partnership, when you have a business, what you need to think about before anything else is who you take on as a partner, because most partnerships don't work, and you think "It's my best friend and we're going to start a cookie business" or whatever {why so much talk about cookies? We were chatting at dinnertime...} you have to think about what you're going to do if it doesn't work, how do we get out of this?
Sometimes it's a bit harder for staff. Mine are used to it, but it's hard for them hearing a blazing row, and it's a different type of row when it's your spouse. You can threaten "I'll never cook for you or have sex with you ever again!" but then that's not what we do in the boardroom! It's sometimes hard on other people. I think with any partnership, when you have a business, what you need to think about before anything else is who you take on as a partner, because most partnerships don't work, and you think "It's my best friend and we're going to start a cookie business" or whatever {why so much talk about cookies? We were chatting at dinnertime...} you have to think about what you're going to do if it doesn't work, how do we get out of this?
TM: Your new show is all about communities. How would you describe your own community in Montreal?
DT: Mine really links up to your mom story in that a lot of people live away from their families now. You don't have that nostalgic street with your granny at the end of the street and your mom next door. {Actually, I do have my mother-in-law next door, but I'll save that for another post.} A lot of people have moved away from family, so in my neighbourhood we have eight moms, and we're all there for each other. My next door neighbour is a surgeon, and she'll call me and say "I'm late in surgery, can you pick up the kids?" "Yeah, sure, I'll just drop everything!" We're there to help each other. Somebody will come around and say "Can you take my kids for the weekend, because if I don't spend a night with my husband we are in deep trouble!" We are a little community of support on that street for the last 15, 16 years. Even if it's just a bottle of wine and a good cry. It's the most valuable thing I've got.
I grew up in a small village, and really the community was the backbone of the way we were, and often community doesn't really show itself until something bad happens. When I was 12 my dad died and my mother was 33 and had four kids under 12, my brother was six months old, and the community came together to bring the food, bring clothes, pay my school fees, be there for her until she could get back on her feet. It's expected, and in that area it was a church group, that's what they did, they were the backbone of the village.
Debbie shooting an episode of "All For One"
We found that on the show, ethnic communities have an incredible support system because when you come to a new country it's scary. Rural communities do it, too. The places we found the hardest {to rally community volunteers} were the big urban centres like Toronto. People are so busy and they don't see the value in it until something goes wrong. A neighbourhood is not a community. Somebody said to me that she lived in a great Toronto neighbourhood, people would walk by and say hello, but it wasn't until her husband got cancer that people really rallied around, and the neighbourhood from that day on became a community.
TM: What else should we know about "All For One"?
DT: It's a very funny show, because people are funny, and especially the nightmare of the volunteers - I could write another book! But it's about the community coming together for this particular unsung hero, and I have everyone standing in front of me and we show the back story on this person, and people say "Oh I didn't realize everything she did, she's so amazing", and I say "Look what I've planned, we're going to rip her house apart and here's what we're going to do....only I'm not going to do it, you are!" That's when they start backing away! Sometimes we don't finish, and people don't turn up.
We've had some really hilarious situations where people think "Oh, you know these television shows, as soon as the cameras go down at night she'll bring in her own people and finish it!" and that's not what happens. We supply the materials and the tools, and the money for food, but they do the work. It's really a modern-day barn-raising. People coming together laughing and crying, and being tired, and creating a bit of a legacy in each place. I'm just the circus master with the whip!
TM: Do you have a favourite out of the seven communities you shot in?
DT: The show this Sunday takes place in North Preston, Nova Scotia: the oldest black community in the country. Our director, who has directed Survivor and The Apprentice, lives in Los Angeles, and he said it was worse than east L.A. here. This community has been dumped by this country. They don't have a shop or a bank, no taxi driver or ambulance will go in because it's too rough. Yet, these people are there and someone needs to help them. One of the guys who came to work on the house was a newly trained doctor from Nigeria, and at the end of the show after working on the house with these people he said to me "There's no doctor here for 4000 people. I will come and be the doctor here for the next ten years." And oh my God, talk about tears, and I'm praying there's a camera on this. I couldn't have written it. If I never do anything again, we got a doctor for North Preston. These people were the nicest, funniest, kindest people I've ever worked with, but what a place. A lot of drug dealers and pit bulls...we had to be protected to be in there!
Each show has a little story within it. Oakville is hilarious. I thought it would be boring, but that show has full frontal nudity! What I do to get volunteers is so embarrassing!
TM: How would you complete the sentence "This Mom Loves..."
DT: I love London, Tuscany. I love wine. A lot. Prada shoes - they are the comfiest shoes ever! {I'll let you know if I agree whenever I get my first pair.} I love getting dirty. I actually really do like jumping in and puttering in the garden, which is why I have no nails. On the show I don't even care about the cameras, I find it really hard not to grab a brush. "I will not help you! You have to do this on your own! Alright, give it to me, then, I'll do it!" I love to read. I love food. Too much probably. I love women, and mums, and chatting, as you can see. I love a girls' night out: a bunch of women, no men, a bottle of wine, nobody calling "mummy". That's the best night out for me.
TM: My two girls are upstairs right now, and they haven't interrupted an interview yet but I can just see my two year old barging in and insisting on saying hi! {Actually, Maggie's favourite telephone question is "Doin'?"}
DT: Ah, but you'll get your revenge when they're teenagers and sitting with their friends, and you'll come in and plop yourself down, and your daughters will look at you like you're covered in dog poo, and say "Yes? What do you want?" and you'll tell them that you just want to sit and interrupt their conversations like they did to you for years. Oh, and you'll get to wake them up at 7:00! Revenge, it's called!
TM: I can't imagine having to wake them up at 7:00! That doesn't sound like things getting harder! {I am actually excited that I will be able to live out this revenge fantasy, PLUS say "Debbie Travis told me to do that." Although they'll be too young to know who Debbie Travis is. Even Justin Bieber will be old by the time my girls are teens.}
In conclusion, I'd like to offer you one of my favourite Debbie Travis quotes that I fail miserably to live by: "Love the chaos. Praise your messy house daily, even pray to it, because before you blink, your children will be gone and it will be way too tidy!"
You can visit Debbie's official site at http://www.debbietravis.com/, follow her on Twitter and learn more about "All For One" at www.cbc.ca/debbietravis. Be sure to catch it Sunday evenings on CBC.
Wednesday, October 13
Power of Print Recap # 2
Entertainment Weekly
September 10, 2010
I love this quote from Ben Affleck, from an interview with Chris Nashawaty:
"My wife is a world-class mom. We understand that being parents is the most important job we have. And she still manages to be beautiful and sexy, and I don't know how she does it, and I'm not going to ask questions."
Just as a sidebar, EW is by far the best entertainment magazine out there (and by entertainment, I don't mean "Angie tells Jen to back off!", and "Guess Whose Cellulite?", I mean actual entertainment news.)
Today's Parent
October 2010
I really enjoyed an article by Randi Chapnik Myers called "Alone At Last: The joy - and challenges - of bonding one-on-one with your kids". It talks about the importance of each parent having alone time with each child, which is something I know we should do more often. It seems like our circumstances are either: 1. the whole family together
2. girls at daycare/with sitter, or
3. one parent with both girls
We often run errands, etc. together, forgetting that divide-and-conquer could not only be more efficient, but give the girls some special mommy or daddy time.
The author points out that kids are more comfortable talking openly in a one-on-one situation, and I can remember that as a child. A drive or walk with Dad (who practices the sort of therapy where he remains silent, prompting you to talk more and more) would often lead to a heart-to-heart, and I always jumped at the chance to run an errand with my mom, in order to get her undivided attention. As Frannie and Maggie get older, we're going to have to make this more of a priority. Also, it seems like attention shifts depending on the phase: a breastfeeding newborn trumps everything in terms of mommy's attention (followed closely by the "I have to go!" potty-training preschooler).
Parents
(Photo from http://www.parents.com/)
September 10, 2010
I love this quote from Ben Affleck, from an interview with Chris Nashawaty:
"My wife is a world-class mom. We understand that being parents is the most important job we have. And she still manages to be beautiful and sexy, and I don't know how she does it, and I'm not going to ask questions."
Now, I think there's a mistake here, because it was actually my husband who said that, and Ben must just have heard it somewhere and repeated it. Regardless, it's still very sweet.
(For anyone who knows us, couldn't this be a picture of my husband and I at the supermarket?
More or less? We always snuggle while carrying out the groceries, don't you?)
Today's Parent
October 2010
I really enjoyed an article by Randi Chapnik Myers called "Alone At Last: The joy - and challenges - of bonding one-on-one with your kids". It talks about the importance of each parent having alone time with each child, which is something I know we should do more often. It seems like our circumstances are either: 1. the whole family together
2. girls at daycare/with sitter, or
3. one parent with both girls
We often run errands, etc. together, forgetting that divide-and-conquer could not only be more efficient, but give the girls some special mommy or daddy time.
The author points out that kids are more comfortable talking openly in a one-on-one situation, and I can remember that as a child. A drive or walk with Dad (who practices the sort of therapy where he remains silent, prompting you to talk more and more) would often lead to a heart-to-heart, and I always jumped at the chance to run an errand with my mom, in order to get her undivided attention. As Frannie and Maggie get older, we're going to have to make this more of a priority. Also, it seems like attention shifts depending on the phase: a breastfeeding newborn trumps everything in terms of mommy's attention (followed closely by the "I have to go!" potty-training preschooler).
Parents
October 2010
"Rock The Bake Sale" by Karen Cicero, shares tips from New York City event planner Amy Atlas, whose treats involve simple recipes, sensible portions, a nut-free policy and good prices. The photos in the magazine are yummy, and can be found with the complete recipes on the website.
I also took something away from "Remedies For The Witching Hour" by Beth Howard, where she shares tips for that awful time period before dinner. My favourites? "Put on your own oxygen mask first". Usually I do the drop-off, and hubby does the pick-up, so I can often make it home before them to change my clothes and get dinner started. I then feel so much fresher and able to focus on the girls when they arrive home. Another great tip? (Not rocket science here): "Give kids what they want - you". It's so very hard to do when you want to start supper and sort the mail and empty the backpacks, but I know from experience that when I do it (read a quick story or just give a cuddle sitting right there on the kitchen floor), the investment pays off.
I'm trying to encourage magazine-reading here, but really by bringing you highlights on a regular basis, I am eliminating your need to ever pick up a magazine again. You're welcome?
Winner: Bugalug
There were 90 entries in the Bugalug Cuff and Gift Card contest, and random.org chose....
#12
Chelsey, from BC!
(This woman has now won three prizes from This Mom Loves! Please be assured that I have never met her before in my life...random.org must really like her!)
Thanks to all who entered. Later this week I'll be giving away Scholastic books with a hockey theme, and keep an eye out for a terrific personalized CD giveaway coming soon!
#12
Chelsey, from BC!
(This woman has now won three prizes from This Mom Loves! Please be assured that I have never met her before in my life...random.org must really like her!)
Thanks to all who entered. Later this week I'll be giving away Scholastic books with a hockey theme, and keep an eye out for a terrific personalized CD giveaway coming soon!
Monday, October 11
Caillou On Tour!
Where would we be without Twitter? Not too long ago, I noticed that a company called Koba Entertainment had started following me on Twitter. Curious, I linked to their site to see what they were all about (exactly what they were aiming for, I'm sure!) and lucky for me I discovered that they produce original family musicals, starring some of our favourite characters, such as Max and Ruby, Franklin, Doodlebops and the Backyardigans.
I was even more excited when I realized that their "Caillou's Greatest Skate of All" production will be coming to my area in December, and will be visiting many other cities across Canada before and after! (See Tour Schedule.) I had been looking for an opportunity to introduce my girls to live theatre, and this couldn't be more perfect!
We have several Caillou board books, and I had assumed the character was meant more for really little ones. However once Frannie started watching the television show (you know, on the oh-so-rare occasions we allow her to watch TV), I realized that he appeals to an older audience as well, and I was actually quite impressed with the content. I especially like the fact that Caillou's parents are very visible, and help him to make good decisions (and rectify the not-so-good ones). By the way, one of my friends finds him whiny, but when you have preschoolers of your own, AND you're a teacher, you become a bit immune to that!
In Caillou's Greatest Skate of All, everyone's favourite preschooler is looking forward to meeting his favourite hockey player at Winterfest. He also crosses paths with an Olympic skater, and decides to give that sport a try as well. Koba Entertainment promises a show "filled with original singalong songs, thrilling rollerblade displays and and lots of audience participation" in this "charming celebration of a Canadian winter". I can't wait to take Frannie and Maggie to their first ever live production!
For information on this production, or any of their other great live shows, check out Koba Entertainment's website.
Disclaimer: My family and I will have the opportunity to see Caillou's Greatest Skate of All in exchange for sharing this information with you. Opinions are, as always, my own.
I was even more excited when I realized that their "Caillou's Greatest Skate of All" production will be coming to my area in December, and will be visiting many other cities across Canada before and after! (See Tour Schedule.) I had been looking for an opportunity to introduce my girls to live theatre, and this couldn't be more perfect!
We have several Caillou board books, and I had assumed the character was meant more for really little ones. However once Frannie started watching the television show (you know, on the oh-so-rare occasions we allow her to watch TV), I realized that he appeals to an older audience as well, and I was actually quite impressed with the content. I especially like the fact that Caillou's parents are very visible, and help him to make good decisions (and rectify the not-so-good ones). By the way, one of my friends finds him whiny, but when you have preschoolers of your own, AND you're a teacher, you become a bit immune to that!
In Caillou's Greatest Skate of All, everyone's favourite preschooler is looking forward to meeting his favourite hockey player at Winterfest. He also crosses paths with an Olympic skater, and decides to give that sport a try as well. Koba Entertainment promises a show "filled with original singalong songs, thrilling rollerblade displays and and lots of audience participation" in this "charming celebration of a Canadian winter". I can't wait to take Frannie and Maggie to their first ever live production!
For information on this production, or any of their other great live shows, check out Koba Entertainment's website.
Disclaimer: My family and I will have the opportunity to see Caillou's Greatest Skate of All in exchange for sharing this information with you. Opinions are, as always, my own.
Thursday, October 7
Getting Out With Baby
Once you get past the newborn blur and actually start to feel like venturing outside the house, the next step is to figure out what to do. Sure, there are always errands to run and places to kill time, but what if you're looking for something a little more enjoyable?
For tips, check out "Getting Out With Baby" : my new article in the October/November issue of Peterborough, Northumberland and Lakeridge Kids.
Thanks to all of the moms (and dad!) who helped me out with this one, including Kamerine of The Life of K, Meaghan, Louise of Mommycrat, Jen of Jen and Joey Go Green, and Nick of CanaDad. Your contributions are greatly appreciated!
Other articles in this issue (all available on the website) cover topics like school breakfast programs, flu-fighting foods, and reading to your kids. While the advertising and community events are locally-geared, the editorial content would be of interest to all parents, no matter where in the country you may be.
Go ahead, get clicking!
Thanks to all of the moms (and dad!) who helped me out with this one, including Kamerine of The Life of K, Meaghan, Louise of Mommycrat, Jen of Jen and Joey Go Green, and Nick of CanaDad. Your contributions are greatly appreciated!
Other articles in this issue (all available on the website) cover topics like school breakfast programs, flu-fighting foods, and reading to your kids. While the advertising and community events are locally-geared, the editorial content would be of interest to all parents, no matter where in the country you may be.
Go ahead, get clicking!
Monday, October 4
What Are Your 5 Words?
If you could eavesdrop on someone talking about you, what adjectives would you hope to hear used? I've seen this asked before as a "what would you want on your tombstone/in your obituary" kind of question, but I'm talking right here, right now, how would you like to be described? How do you deserve to be described?
I've picked five descriptors which have value to me, and which I hope I've earned. As you read mine, try to think about yours!
Smart - I might as well profit from being a nerdy teacher's pet for most of my life! I think I have people pretty well fooled into believing that this adjective suits me, although I may throw a few misspellings into this post just so someone can correct me.
Classy -Most of the time, I try to be classy in the way I dress, speak, and behave. I did swear on the last day of school, and a colleague remarked that he had gone 194 days without ever hearing me curse, so I think that's pretty damn good.
Talented - At what? Doesn't matter, but everyone should be known for being good at something. Teaching, writing, editing, organizing, parenting (?),...I'd like to think I have some specialities. (Notice I'm least confident about the most important one?)
Hard-working - I feel very confident that this one applies, and that others would see it too. I work hard at school, and just as hard at home. I'm rarely lazy, but I'm not a busywork person; I also pride myself on being efficient.
Lovely - I like this one because it could refer to personality as much as appearance, and therefore doesn't necessarily make me seem shallow. But honestly, I would love to hear from you if you are a woman who does not care about her appearance, because people like you are few and far between. I've never been "hot" or "stunning", and I think I detoured past "gorgeous" somewhere between glasses/acne/braces and fine lines/cellulite. "Pretty" seems too surface...as well as a little too young. (However, if my husband knows what's good for him, he would vote for all of the above!) I think I might be able to get away with "lovely".
Now, what didn't make my list?
Funny and/or fun. I have my moments, but these words wouldn't be used frequently to describe me.
Sporty and/or athletic. I'm fit, but athletics, especially competitive sports, are not my area of expertise.
Easy-going. I have actually relaxed a bit over time (new acquaintances may wonder how I could possibly have been any worse before!) but I'm pretty sure that no one on earth has ever said "That Kate Winn! She's such a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants kind of gal!"
Now it's your turn. What are your five words? Or even just one? Do any of my choices have little value for you? Leave a comment and let me know. As for my fellow bloggers, maybe this would make for an interesting topic for you to write about. If you do, leave your link below so we can all check it out!
I've picked five descriptors which have value to me, and which I hope I've earned. As you read mine, try to think about yours!
Smart - I might as well profit from being a nerdy teacher's pet for most of my life! I think I have people pretty well fooled into believing that this adjective suits me, although I may throw a few misspellings into this post just so someone can correct me.
Classy -Most of the time, I try to be classy in the way I dress, speak, and behave. I did swear on the last day of school, and a colleague remarked that he had gone 194 days without ever hearing me curse, so I think that's pretty damn good.
Talented - At what? Doesn't matter, but everyone should be known for being good at something. Teaching, writing, editing, organizing, parenting (?),...I'd like to think I have some specialities. (Notice I'm least confident about the most important one?)
Hard-working - I feel very confident that this one applies, and that others would see it too. I work hard at school, and just as hard at home. I'm rarely lazy, but I'm not a busywork person; I also pride myself on being efficient.
Lovely - I like this one because it could refer to personality as much as appearance, and therefore doesn't necessarily make me seem shallow. But honestly, I would love to hear from you if you are a woman who does not care about her appearance, because people like you are few and far between. I've never been "hot" or "stunning", and I think I detoured past "gorgeous" somewhere between glasses/acne/braces and fine lines/cellulite. "Pretty" seems too surface...as well as a little too young. (However, if my husband knows what's good for him, he would vote for all of the above!) I think I might be able to get away with "lovely".
Now, what didn't make my list?
Funny and/or fun. I have my moments, but these words wouldn't be used frequently to describe me.
Sporty and/or athletic. I'm fit, but athletics, especially competitive sports, are not my area of expertise.
Easy-going. I have actually relaxed a bit over time (new acquaintances may wonder how I could possibly have been any worse before!) but I'm pretty sure that no one on earth has ever said "That Kate Winn! She's such a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants kind of gal!"
Now it's your turn. What are your five words? Or even just one? Do any of my choices have little value for you? Leave a comment and let me know. As for my fellow bloggers, maybe this would make for an interesting topic for you to write about. If you do, leave your link below so we can all check it out!
Award
Just wanted to give a quick shout-out to Crystal from Three Jewels In My Crown who recently honoured me with the Versatile Blogger Award.
If you want to meet Crystal's little Sapphire, Opal and Pearl, or if you're looking for some fantastic craft ideas, pop over to Three Jewels In My Crown and pay her a visit!
If you want to meet Crystal's little Sapphire, Opal and Pearl, or if you're looking for some fantastic craft ideas, pop over to Three Jewels In My Crown and pay her a visit!
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