Well, November was Thanksgivibirthdaykah (Lily's birthday), then comes Christmas/New Year's/Paul's birthday, my mother and brother have birthdays in between that don't correspond to any holiday and now St. Purim's Birthday (my father's birthday). So we had all things Irish...and Hawaiian? A theme Lily cooked up. Paul fell asleep during Lilo and Stitch so Lily, my parents, and I played a game of Anomia, which was recommended to me by a staff member at Snakes and Lattes. I wanted to get my father a game for his birthday that we could all play together. So, after the gingerbread (my father's favourite cake), green Kool-Aid (in the 2L glass boot- that used to contain beer from a previous excursion to the Pickle Barrel before boarding the bus), grapefruit-flavoured San Pellegrino because it came in green cans -hey I even dyed my white wine green- we munched on Purim candies from Israel that my Aunt had packaged up for us and had an abbreviated game night. I think we will have to have pt. 2 next weekend when we are all together again. I have made green hamentaschen using cake mix...they kind of fell apart because I used a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I've asked Paul to bring his rat mask for the occasion. To be honest, I can't remember the sequence of events but I do know Paul and I watched another Netflix movie, Prince Avalanche. This is a quirky and off-beat saga of two men whose job it is to paint the yellow line down the middle of a remote highway after it had been destroyed. Some factoids about the film are: 1. The director, David Gordon Green, also worked on Pineapple Express, a movie we saw recently and enjoyed. 2. It's based on an Icelandic film, Either Way, made in 2011 by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigur∂sson. 3. Lance LeGault, who played the old man, passed away shortly after the film was made, hence it is dedicated to him. (And what is the significance of one of the main characters being named Lance?) Paul thinks that he as well as the woman that everyone but him can see (sorry minor spoiler) are the ghosts of people who died in the avalanche. 4. It was based on a real fire. 5. A band called Explosions in the Sky recorded the soundtrack. And I just bought tickets online with a Pizza Pizza movie deal to see The Grand Budapest Hotel. We're going to go when I get off work! Yay!

So March didn't bring the warmer weather we were all hoping for...it's finally starting to warm up a little now but it sure took a while!! We celebrated my mother's birthday with cake and great company!! And tomorrow is my father's birthday. Yesterday was Pi(e) Day. I went to the communal house known as The Mudhouse. It was really great to see them all again. It was Pi(e) day so there was nothing but pie. Cherry, blueberry, lemon, apple, butterscotch, pumpkin, and pizza, oh yeah, and salad...and I brought a little chocolate pecan pie from Wanda's Pie in the Sky. Ok, so I think I counted 8, that's close enough to 9. When I was in Kensington Market I also went to Spiritwind for Yoga from the Heart and The Grind House for coffee. I took a detour up to the Annex to Piya's Boutique for incense, The Kandy Shoppe for wine gums, and, of course, David's Tea. My parents took Lily on a vacation to the Dominican for March Break. They will get back tonight and I can't wait to hear how it all went. So, Paul and I are all alone in the house on Saturday and what did we do? Laundry and groceries!! It was a little cold when we went outside but the sun shining in the bay windows is truly exquisite. And we are getting that beautiful low late afternoon light characteristic of longer days. Oh and we watched Crystal Fairy and the Magic Cactus on netflix. I enjoyed it, kind of a silly premise perhaps but really good characterization and dialogue. Paul fell asleep and while I was folding laundry a telephone surveyor called and I did the survey. That's how exciting I am these days. We've been looking for books on step-families...I still haven't found one that jumps out at me, not that we're having problems per se, it would just be nice to have some insight. I found some articles by searching 'step-parenting' on Yummy Mummy which I look forward to reading. Also 'Being Precious', 'Rocketbride,' and 'Life with Georgia' are all bloggers on Bunch that are in step-family situations, either they are stepparents or their partners are. I really enjoy Rocketbride's other blog too. Tomorrow we have a bowling lane reserved for 1pm!! And it's my father's birthday. And Purim!! Yay!! We shall celebrate indeed. Oh, so now I will walk of with Walk Off the Earth. This is what we've been listening to lately.

OK and another February post... A lot of people think February sucks. However, February becomes March and March becomes April. Actually, February is as close to April as it is to December, if you think of it. We made a trip to the Thrift Store in New Hamburg, which I love, which happened to have a great selection of books for Black History Month. Right now I am reading The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. I also got Sula by the same author as well as Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. What I am really gathering from this book is how internalized racism affects every aspect of life for the characters in the book. Maybe that's really obvious, but I never realized it in quite the same way. There is much talk of how marginalized populations are affected by tangible things such economic access but Morrison really hits home the notion of how the root of the problem is something much deeper and less tangible. And this happens as my daughter discovers "Full House" reruns...no doubt the Olsen twins were my generation's Shirley Temple...The Bluest Eye makes references to Shirley Temple as an ideal that all girls were to strive towards. Full House had the added twist of being three blonde girls raised by three men, who, though definitely white, were mostly not blonde. We went to the Thrift store because Paul was looking for a new sweater, which he found, and I found Things Fall Apart. i went back for the Toni Morrison books and saw a Valentine's Day mug that I liked but didn't get. I went back a third time for the mug and I got the 9th Season of Roseanne!! We have the first season on DVD and Lily has seen all of it. The 9th was the one where they won the lottery so it's a bit silly, but I do hope to acquire the full collection some day. Roseanne is another sitcom from a similar era as Full House, and with lots of social commentary, of course. Eventually, I made it back to Toronto with the Valentine's Day mug. I was going to get some Valentine's Day candy at Bulk Barn but by February 13th they were out and had moved on to Easter candy. Can you believe it?? Not that I mind thinking that spring might be that near. So, I got Paul some regular pink and red gummies- cherry and blueberry-pomegranate, which he really liked, especially the cherry, they were shaped like cherries and had real cherry juice in them. I worked 'till midnight on Valentine's Day but got out a little early so we decided to go out somewhere. We were looking for somewhere we could eat AND drink at midnight. We left Riverside and went well into Leslieville, and, not finding what we were looking for, walked back to a place just about across the street from us, called Comrade. It was not too thrifty but it was fun to be so spontaneously extravagant. We shared a platter of specialty cheeses and cured meats and mustards and stuff (Paul ate all the deviled eggs) and then Paul had a Manhattan and a fancy Quebec beer and I had a cardamom coconut rum cocktail that came with crushed ice and looked like a milkshake as well as something called a Lillet Blanc. (pronounced Lily Blanc). It was so dark inside except for a lit-up retro motel light, and it felt surreal. The next morning we went to brunch at Prohibition. The food was great. There were lots of babies, and a TV showing Olympic Skeleton boarding even though there was a hockey game on, much to Paul's chagrin. But he had a Rolling Rock and I had a Spanish coffee so all was good. Then on Monday we met my family again at a great Indian restaurant in Milton, about halfway between my two homes!!

Ah and February is almost over... Not that I am sad, the opposite in fact. Paul has a tradition of celebrating Groundhog Day!! However, on the first weekend of February, he was not feeling well (he's been feeling much better since then and it's been confirmed it's not likely to be anything too serious- YAY). His tradition is to make Buffalo chili. That is, chili from ground buffalo meat, or bison, as the stores call it. So, the second weekend in February, we were going to be out of town visiting my family. I ordered the bison from Vincenzo's. The problem was, our train was scheduled in after 7 and Vincenzo's closed at 8. To make matters worse, the train was a bit late. Well, all's well that ends well. We found out you could buy Sleeman's on the train, so everything was good. And we JUST made it to Vincenzo's on time. Then, we met my family and we all went to Starbucks for much merry-making. It was Friday and Lily had "college-night" where she got to stay up as late as she wanted. We watched the Fairly Oddparents movie and then the "New Brian" episode of Family Guy. Paul made Lily a late-night grilled cheese sandwich which she said was the best grilled cheese she'd ever tasted!! Paul decided that, since it wasn't technically Groundhog Day, he wouldn't make buffalo chili after all!! But he did make buffalo burgers and homemade french fries on Sunday night so all was well. Then, on Monday, we got the news that Lily had been accepted to an arts-oriented high school as a dance major!! Yay!! So that will be next year. What an awesome weekend.

This is another post from November that I never published!!: Well, and now Lily is officially a teenager. No matter how many times someone says 'it goes by so quickly,' it never becomes a cliche. We celebrated with dinner at her favourite local restaurant as well as watching this show. Also, this coming weekend is the big move. My brother is having two different Hanukah things and it looks like I will miss both of them. Speaking of which, happy Thanksgivukkah! That doesn't happen every day!

Well, it's been a while again, but here is a November post I never put up: My Toronto home is moving from here to here And I have been putting on crock pot lunches here at my other home!! Today it was pumpkin soup and I have a spicy spinach lasagna dish for next week!! In the country, we've even had a few snowfalls. Tomorrow major MAJOR cleanup in my room out here. Fortunately we hadn't accumulated much stuff in the city apartment. Went to Lily's dance class today but parent viewing day had been moved to next week so we all came home. Tomorrow she goes to something called We Day with her Global Issues group. Oh and we had another shopping spree last Friday, this one just me and her, in Waterloo...mostly at a store called Icing where she got makeup. We had all-you-can eat at Spring Rolls beforehand.

Well, it's been fun. We had a trip to Pittsfield in September and a mind-blowingly fantastic Thanksgiving with a trip to Canada's Wonderland in the rain (no line-ups) where Lily and Paul rode the Leviathan twice, the Behemoth, and pretty much everything else. I loved roller-coasters as a kid but- it might have something to do with an ear condition- ever since Lily got old enough to ride roller coasters (i.e. when I got old) I have found the deep plummets really unpleasant. So I stood in the rain and had a blast watching my loved ones get tortured. Then we had dinner at Red Lobster- a place none of us had been in ages. We had to take most of our food to go as Lily and I had to get on a bus back to Kitchener. That was Sunday, Paul was in an accident that Friday just as he was about to go home for the day. This isn't Paul but it's interesting. Paul had a sprained thumb and road rash, pretty minor for a guy who has two scars on his arm from where a bone exited almost twenty years ago when he was just beginning his career- and many scars acquired since then. However, he hasn't been so excited about going back to work since Friday's incident. Roller coasters were no issue, though, they are safer than being in a car, indeed. We decided the most dangerous part of the whole day was the taxi where the driver talked on his phone the whole time and couldn't understand why buses slowed down at bus stops. Today I went to a gathering of friends and family in Waterloo and now I am at my country home. Paul is in Toronto and he's sick. I think it's just a bug, but I feel badly about leaving him nonetheless. However, it was really important for me to see everyone tonight -it seems like my niece and nephew have changed every time I see them- and I will be spending time with Lily until tomorrow afternoon when I head back into the city. Lily is having a Hallowe'en party tomorrow. Honestly, I think Paul will appreciate the quiet time in the bedroom to sleep.