Bookworm Wednesday (on a Friday)

With everything that has been going on in the last little while in has been hard to find time to read, or to write.  However this week's review is

Heart shaped box by Joe Hill

Our story follows the trials of ageing rockstar Judas Coyne.  Judas is a collector of oddities, a witch's confession, a snuff film, and other morbid memorabilia.  He purchases a dead man's suit that is supposedly haunted.  The ghost that is 'attached' to the suit arrives in a heart shaped box.  After the suit's arrival it becomes obvious that the ghost is less than friendly, and perhaps has a personal vendetta against Judas.  Judas and his girlfriend flee to hopes of figuring out what the ghost wants and how to stop it.

I really enjoyed this book, in most parts because there were parts that were actually quite scary.  I consider myself to be rather jaded in the "scare me" department, but several times I felt like perhaps I should stop reading until daylight hours.  A certain hallway scene was particularly creepy.  The plot is hardly innovative to regular horror-reading folk, but it is well written, the characters are enjoyable and the creeps are enough to spook but not too gross.

All in all a great read and a high recommendation.

Christmas pretzels

So it is Christmas eve which means the festivities are soon to be in full swing.  I have cleaned (well mostly cleaned the house) and I have finished a bunch of baking, my normal present for the extended family since it is way too much to go out and find store presents for all of  them.  So I made a slew of cupcakes and muffins and these wonderful little pretzels that I saw on Pinterest.

So here I share the tasty sure to be traditional Christmas pretzels.

First have pretzels

Then in a bowl mix together a little butter, some peanut butter and icing sugar until it is crumbly.

Roll into balls

Smoosh balls between two pretzels

melt chocolate in a double boiler.  (I don't recommend using the microwave)

Dip pretzel sandwiches in chocolate, once it is melted, Make sure the pretzels are sandwiched together well or they will fall apart in the chocolate.

Refrigerate until solid

Enjoy

 These are so good make sure you make enough that you can keep some for yourself.

Books on Tape (please sing this title to girls on film)

Recently I have had many places to drive to.  I had a couple of trips to Toronto for work and fun, and a visit down to St. Catherines.  All this car time gave me the thought that I should get a book on tape.  I like music but I find I am always flicking channels and searching for stuff I like, and I am never organized enough to prepare Me-approved music beforehand.  So I thought a book will be good because I won't have to flick and it will make the time pass quicker.

First book I got was

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Read by Tina Fey.

This is a bunch of stories starting from Tina Fey's youth and ended up at 30 Rock.  The stories are short and fast paced, and interesting enough.  She is funny and self deprecating which I found enjoyable.  She does go into some of the trials of being a female comedian but nothing is heavy.  I enjoy the book a lot, I actually think I would not have enjoyed reading it, listening to Fey is kind of like just listening to a friend go on about their crazy life.  I highly recommend the audio book.

Next I read

Next by Michael Crichton

Read by Dylan Baker

Crichton's novel is about the precarious nature of science and how genetic modification and gene sciences are going to bring up a lot of ethical questions.  The story is told from many different perspectives, in fact there are many stories going on.  There were scientists, talking apes, talking parrots, kids, lawsuits and more scientists and more lawsuits.  The characters were not well defined and sometimes I had a bit of trouble remembering who was doing what.  Also there were many chapters that were scientific reports, newpaper articles and bulletins.  Overall the book was very boring, and I only stuck with it because I had the audio book and I hoped there would be some sort of pay off in the end.  I do not recommend this book. 

I will say Dylan Baker (an actor you would recognize if you google him) did a fairly good job.  In other words he did the voices.  Not good enough to save the book, but he should probably get other jobs.

All in all I am enjoying the books on tape (and by tape I mean DVD cause who has tapes anymore). 

Bookworm Wednesday (on a Thursday)

Wasn't quite finished my book yesterday, too much Christmas business going on.  But fret not, I finished it today and so this week's review is

Miss Peregrine's home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Jacob's grandfather has told him fantastical stories his whole life.  Stories about the home he lived in for a short time during he war.  This home was for peculiar children, children that could float, were super strong, and could light fire with just their hands.  Of course Jacob loved this until he got a little older and began to doubt his grandfather, none of it could be true...  or could it?  After his grandfather dies he leaves to find this island home and the perhaps the truth behind his grandfather's stories. 

The novel also uses vintage pictures to help illustrate the story, and show the peculiar children.

I was really excited to read this book, it seemed like something I would really like.  However I was rather disappointed.  The story itself was really slow going despite its weird aspect, it was almost not weird enough.  I felt that it was trying to appeal to a wide reader base so it strayed away from its stranger aspects, but then threw them in as needed with mixed results.  The photographs were slightly interesting, though often described in words as well.  Their appeal was short lived.  I had to look up several words, which is odd since this is aimed to children, or many I am just dumb.  I found the main character read as if he were 12 even though he was supposed to be 16, which made certain things confusing.  The ending was odd, and not in a good "think about it way"  more like a lets wrap this up, but leave things open so I could write a sequel.  A sequel I won't be reading.

Overall I don't recommend this book, for adults or children.  It just fell flat for me.

In my head

Sometimes there are songs that get in my head and just won't leave.  There are the catchy ones like this morning when I showered to an off-key rendition of "holly jolly Christmas".  Sometimes there are ones passed on to you from others, like this afternoon when a client left the office humming "we wish you a merry Christmas" thank you oh so much for that hour of repetition, really that song does not have that many words.  Sometimes it is the last song I heard on the radio and sometimes songs randomly appear of there own accord.  Sometimes songs get in my head and I can only remember one line, or I can't think of who sings it, or what it is called.

Often times when a song is really stuck in my head I sing "Teddy bear picnic" as a way of clearing it out.  I think it was my friend Peter who told me to do that.  

Oddly enough today's song isn't exactly what you would call catchy, but when I was making dinner the video played on much more music and its been repeating itself in the back of my mind ever since.  Hopefully after I play it for you I can pass it on.

Enjoy

It by Rich Aucoin

Christmas pageantry

Tonight I went to the Christmas pageant at one of the local grade schools.  I went because some of my favourite little people were performing.  E in the band with a rousing flute rendition of "up on the house top" and A in a delightful choir version of "I'm getting nothing for Christmas". 

Now E played right off the bat, with the junior band.  They were off-tempo, off-key and a little squawky, in other words they were wonderful.  There really is something magical about seeing how excited 12 years olds can get about the fact that they have learned to play an instrument.  I had been helping E with the flute playing before the big debut and I have to say, despite the fact that I haven't picked up a flute since high school, it brought back many great memories, and I am glad to say I wasn't too bad just a little rusty.  I think music class is so important it gives kids such a sense of accomplishment, and its fun to see them really excited about learning.  It doesn't have to be math and grammar all the time, though I sometimes think they need a little more of that.

A sang a funny little song about being bad, on the way over I told him he wouldn't have to act too hard since he is always naughty.  He laughed and told me I was crazy cause he was too good.  Nine year olds are funny.  When the class was done singing, A continued on for a few bars and then loudly said, "oh sorry we're done"  he wasn't embarrassed, just happy and smiley.  His enthusiasm is greatly appreciated.

I sat through other kids singing, and playing instruments and plays that were too quiet to hear.  I sat through slide shows prepare with bad spelling and stock photos.  It was a lovely evening and I am glad I got to be a part of it. 

Sadly I have no pictures, I took my camera but forgot I had taken the memory card out and since my camera does not have internal memory I was unable to take any photos. 

Crafty as a Fox

Yesterday I enjoyed a day long marathon of Work of Art.  It is your typical reality contest like Project runway except they have to make pieces of art.  This inspired me.  I just wish I was better.  I am not exactly the most artistic person, I have great ideas that seem to have trouble finding their way from inside my head to the page.

However I do make a mean Christmas ornament and since it 'tis the season, I thought I would share.

To do this project you will need.

Six sided snowflake beads                                                  Small coloured round beads

 Craft wire

Take your snowflake bead as your centre.  Base the size of this bead on how large you want the snowflake to be.  Take the craft wire and pull it through the centre of the snowflake bead twisting it so it sits between two prongs on the snowflake bead.

Repeat this step until all the spaces are fiilled

Using the round beads fill the wires.  You can leave the wires together or separate.  You can plan them in a pattern or make them random.  I started with the wire together for two beads, then pulled them apart to make the arms.

Next I filled the separated arms in an alternating pattern.  Once you have the arms out far enough you bring them back together with a large bead.

Repeat until all the arms are done

Wrap the wire around the large bead, effective 'tying' off the end.  Then cut off excess wire and voila you have your ornament.

I make these almost every year.  You can hang them on the tree, or use them to fancy up your present wrapping.  My tree is blue and silver but you can make them in just about any colour or pattern you can imagine.  For a more complicated look you bring the wire together and separate it more often.

Merry Christmas 

The story of us

On the eve of our ten year anniversary it has been very interesting looking back over the last decade to remember all the wonderful and even not so wonderful things that we have been through.  To marvel at all the things that have changed, and to really cherish the things that have stayed the same.  So tomorrow I will take the day off to celebrate. 

Whether you have been together ten days, ten years, or ten decades,  enjoy the love of those you hold dear today and always.

Colorful by The Verve Pipe

I love the line "I know this loser's living fortunate cause I know you will love me either way"  It is quite a comforting feeling to know I can be exactly who I am and still be loved. 

Side note : Marky Mark is not really singing. 

Bookworm Wednesday

Today's book is

The Waterproof Bible by Andrew Kaufman

 The plot is one of those coming at you in many directions yet eventually intersecting and coming to an epic conclusion.  We begin with the death of Lisa, Lisa is the centre point which connects the other characters.  The story goes on from there follow her sister Rebecca who has the unfortunate ability to project her emotions onto others.  Rebecca learns to put these feelings into objects but how long can she keep this up?  Lisa's husband confused by the death of Lisa takes the fight or flight instinct literally and begins flying around the country to get away.  Stewart Rebecca's estranged husband has moved to the prairies to a dismal hotel and starting building a boat.  Stewart works for a lady who is a former aquatic, people who according to their bible believe they were meant to live underwater, her daughter is seeking her out. 

All the plot lines intersect at various times and with varying results.  The book is really a look at what we think about before we die, how we feel about belief, religious or otherwise.  Though it has many fantastical aspects Kaufman's writing is sensible and logical and never seems too off base, it looks at the beginning and the end of both life and love.  It was very thoughtful and thought provoking. 

A very easy read and a definite recommendation and good Canadian content.

The story of us

While living in our tiny little apartment we got Ozzie, and at the time we had Chloe (Len's cat) our tiny little apartment began to seem a little tinier.  We decided to buy our first home.  We looked all around town to find a place, this took quite awhile.  Finally we found a house that we both really liked.  However the day that we were supposed to move in the whole thing fell through.  Luckily we have awesome friends, and Len Oz, Chloe and I moved into our friend's attic while we looked for somewhere new.

Even though it was crowded and a little crazy I can't say those were particular bad times.  Living with them was really fun.  They have the cutest kids.  Their at the time six year old, would sneak up into our room so I could read him bed time stories and snuggle, and then he would watch movies with Len until they fell asleep, it was most adorable. 

Luckily we didn't have to outwear our welcome and soon we found a better house to live in, in a great area of town.  Right before Christmas 2007 we moved in.  We painted (terribly it really needs to be re-done) and settled in.  This year will be our fifth Christmas in our happy little home.

This song is unrelated to that story, but a song both of us thought of.  Len and I are both born in February, therefore we ARE February stars.  If I should ever get a tattoo it would be two small purple stars behind my ear, for the two of us.  I am however fairly scared of needles so that won't be any time soon.

Enjoy

February Stars by Foo Fighters.

Sidenote:  I am pretty sure the lyrics are exactly "loving"  though there are a couple good lines.  "right where I belong"  but when I listen I love the tune, and the February Stars are really the two of us, I can imagine all the romantic meanings I want. 

The story of us

Sometimes I think about losing the people I love.  I know this sounds morbid, but in some ways it is a really positive idea.  You think about someone being gone and you realize all the wonderful things you love about them. You think about the things that you would miss and perhaps the mere thought of missing those things makes you more appreciative of that person while they are still here.  I know if for some unforeseen reason Len died I could never really explain to anyone all the ways I miss him.  I take this as a simple reminder to let him know everyday what he means to me.

This song is what I want played at my funeral, and what I would play for Len.  Hopefully when we are very very old, and by then it will probably be hard to find a copy for our holographic MP7s to play. (ha future humour)

This is where my heart is by Thornley

Side note.  Len and I both picked this song, We actually picked the top three the same.  I am sure he likes the songs for different reasons than I do.  but this is where my heart is.

Second side note.  We love Thornley.  Have all the albums and have been to many concerts.  Sadly they don't actually have a video for this song but enjoy!

The story of us

I can honestly say that I think Len and I are a great pair.  That is not to say that we like all the same things, not by far.  Len likes computers,video games, playing guitar, thrill rides, biking and really loud music.  I like reading, hiking, drama shows, science fiction, baking and what could be described as "sad" music.  We fight over what to watch on tv, I have dragged Len to see sappy movies, and I have seen my fair share of action packed borefests.  We rarely agreed on the volume setting of.. well of anything

The reasons we come together aren't because we are the same.  The differences make for interesting conversations.  On the surface there may be these differences but deep down, I know our core happiness comes from a very similar place.

As an example of our differences, today's song is a double feature.  I will let you guess who picked what.

Stay the Night by James Blunt

The best line of this song is "if this is what we've got...  then what we've got is gold"  That is how I feel about what I got.

I believe in a thing called love by The Darkness

Whenever this song comes on the radio it is sung very loudly, and believe me neither of us can hit those high notes so our apologies to those who happen to be within earshot.  Its meaning is fairly obvious.

The story of us

I am a very lucky person.  I was born into a great family.  I have brothers that I like, and even liked when I was little.  I have cool funny parents.  I have great aunts, uncles and cousins.  I was lucky enough to live around the corner from a family of seven kids who became some of my very best friends.  I have the devotion of an awesome dog.  I have enough money to be comfortable (though a bit more wouldn't bother me).  I am healthy.  I live in a wonderful country.  I have had the opportunity to travel.  Life is good.

Len and I have gone to Cuba to celebrate the fourth kid's wedding.  and we went on a truly amazing trip to Switzerland and Italy.  In February of next year we are going to Panama.  Oh and two of those trips we didn't have to pay for (cause I am lucky).

Today's song is Say Hey (I love you) by Michael Franti and Spearhead.  I always thought if I got married I would walk down the aisle to this, cause it is funny and romantic.  But the reason that it makes me think of Len is the line "my mama told me, don't lose you, cause the best luck I had was you".  Len is the best luck I've had.

Enjoy

 

the story of us

When school was finished I moved back to Owen Sound, and luckily got a job right away, actually I got two jobs.  One in my field working a few days a week and the photo lab in Walmart.  It was good that I was working in my field and I actually made some really great friends working at Walmart.  But it was very time consuming.  Len worked the night shift at Goodyear at the time.

I lived in a tiny apartment with my friend Jacq and when she moved back to Kitchener I moved upstairs into an even tinier apartment.  Eventually Len moved in with me, in that very tiny apartment.  We never really had big relationshipy talks and everything just sort of happened naturally.  We were crowded, we were kind of poor, we were tired from working. Looking back I can say it was a very happy time in my life.  That tiny crowded apartment has a lot of really wonderful memories.

One of the very adorable things about Len is his guitar playing.  He often serenaded me in that tiny little apartment, now most of the time his lyrics consisted of descriptions of what I was doing at the time.  "she's sitting on the couch"  "she's stirring a pot on our stove" "she putting on her shoes to go out siiiiiiiide"  It is far more adorable than I could really explain.


Today's song is Somewhere over the rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.  It is a Hawaiian version with a very plucky little guitar.  The guitar makes me think of Len, and the line "dreams really do come true" makes me smile.

Enjoy

On a side note.  I really would like to go to Hawaii.

Vegan Bakery

I had the great pleasure of staying with friends down in St. Catharines the last few days.  While there I thought I would check out their local vegan restaurant.  There is a cool website thehappycow.com that you can put in where you are and they will tell you all the vegan and vegetarian restaurants close by. 

Unfortunately there were none.  However there was a vegan bakery, so I thought, I like bakeries lets check it out.  So we stopped by, after a small amount of confusion as to where it actually was and I picked up some lovely treats, mainly vegan donuts of several varieties.

Conclusion.  yummy, well I have only eaten the cinnamon sugar one (I actually ate it in the car, sadly it didn't make it long enough to be in this picture).  It was good, slightly thicker than Tim Horton's or Crispy Creme, more like a homemade donut, which is what these are.  I can't only assume the rest will taste just as good. 

So if you are Niagara check out Rise Above Bakery on St Paul street or check out the happy cow for other restaurants near you.

The story of us

When I was living in Toronto, I was also doing a placement in Owen Sound.  This meant that I would come home Friday nights, then have placement Monday and Tuesday, and go back to school for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday...  repeat.  This is a lot of travel, especially since I did not own a car so it was all done by bus.  Bus trips take what should be a three hour trip and drag it out anywhere from four to six hours.  That meant each week I had anywhere between eight to ten hours (more if it was snowing..  which is almost always was) a week on a bus.

Now bus time can be used in many ways, catch up on sleep, do your homework, read a book, listening to music...  or stare out the window and think way too much about things.  As you can guess I was doing that last one.  A big thing to think about was "is dating Len going to ruin our friendship?"  We had been friends for almost ten years, and though this new relationship was happy and easy and totally fun, I kept thinking about "but what happens when it ends?"  Because up to that point all the relationships I had ever been in had ended so it seemed reasonable to think that this one would eventually end as well.

This song I believe is actually about breaking up, and not regretting the choices you made to be with someone cause whatever happened during your time together it was amazing.  That you can't give up all these amazing things just because there may later be hurt.  Now I am happy to say that I never had to worry about ruining our friendship because we didn't end, and ten years in I am still very much in love with the guy.  So forget the "were" part of the story, and remember that taking chances can lead to the most Amazing things.

Amazing by Alex Lloyd

Side note when I told Len of my friendship concerns his reaction was "don't worry about it" have I mentioned the boy is smart

The story of us

Not everything is crazy romantic... or really even all that meaningful.  As anyone who knows me can attest, I am hardly what you would call a really girlie girl, or overly romantic.  When you are with someone for ten years, everyday is not going to be roses and silk sheets.  Sometimes laundry has to get done, sometimes you are going to argue (mostly about whats for dinner and who is going to make it, if you us anyway).  I think one of the wonderful things about a real relationship is the real days.  Knowing that someone likes you, loves you, heck just wants to be around you even if you are grumpy, mean, have bad hair, or morning breath, someone who will happily watch baking shows, or storage wars, and eat popcorn  for dinner just because you are too lazy to make anything else.  I am happy to be romantic, but I am just as happy to just be.

I love to dance.  (not a great segway, but it leads up to today's song choice).  I used to be a bar chick, not because I like to drink, or meet people, but because I loved to dance.  When we first started dating, we were still young enough to spend a lot of our weekends at the bar, and I love this song and got Len to request it for me all the time.  So this is Len's pick of a song that reminds him of me, because I like to dance...  oh and yes the meaning behind the song works too :) 

Bookworm Wednesday

This week's review is 

Calculating God by Robert J Sawyer

The novel takes place in 'present day' with the arrival of aliens.  Unlike many alien novels and movies, there isn't a great war.  The aliens already learned English (or whatever language they need) and have come to speak with specialists in many academic fields.  The novel centres around Thomas Jericho a paleontologist at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.  The alien, named Hollus, is a large spider like creature that has come to discuss Earth's past in hopes of further understanding God and over specific events occurring throughout the universe.  This of course leads to many discussions about belief, religion and science.

The book is mostly a "talking" book.  Hollus the alien, believes that the existence of God is obvious by everything that has happened throughout history that made it possible for life to exist.  Jericho has his doubts, especially since he is currently dying from cancer.  They have interesting theories.  One such example is water.  Water when it freezes, it freezes from the top down, not the bottom up, if this were not so life could never exist.  Water actually has seven properties that are unique in the chemical world.  Hollus argues that the chance of this is almost nil, and therefore an indication of intelligent design.

Overall I enjoyed the novel thoroughly, the prose is simply written and the story flows quite naturally and quickly despite the overall lack of "action".  The deeper questions are intriguing and make you think, I thought about this book long after I had finished it.

Like most science fiction, the major flaw is the ending.  Where the book spends most of its time in philosophical debate, the ending is quite fantastical, and perhaps a little unbelievable (I understand that with Sci-fi there is a certain level of suspension of disbelief) but the ending left me a little disappointed.  However I highly recommend this book.

The story of us

When Len and I were in our first thralls of love (by which I mean, when we were hanging out and it was more than regular friendship)  I was living in Toronto going to school at George Brown.  I lived all alone in not the seediest but not the greatest apartment out on the Danforth.  At the time I was spending pretty much all my money on rent for less than wonderful apartment, transportation and tuition.  This left little money over for anything else.  So at night when Len would call to talk to me, and inevitably when we ran out of things to talk about since we had already knew each other for ten years, he would ask "what did you have for dinner?"  The answer was almost always the same, toast and peanut butter, I was quite the culinary wizard.  There was one unfortunate incident with what I thought were pre-cooked sausages, thank goodness I am now a vegetarian. 

That year for Christmas I gave Len a six dollar book, which I am pretty sure he had already read.  It was the first Lord of the Rings,  to this day he still says it was one of the best Christmas presents he has ever received (did I mention he was very kind).  He gave me a gift certificate to a grocery store.  He wanted to make sure I was well fed, though I probably just bought more peanut butter and bread, the fact that he wanted to take care of me didn't go unnoticed. 

So tonight's song is Armour by Blue Rodeo.  I cannot seem to find a video to share, but the reason this song reminds me of Len is one line, near the end of the song "I can't say I can save you , but I swear I won't leave you alone".  It sentiment is sweet, No one can make your life perfect, no one can fix all your problems, or somehow make you complete.  But what they can do is make sure whatever happens in your life good or bad you will have someone standing by your side to share your joy and lessen your pain.

I really wish you could listen to it.  Probably you should go out and buy it :)

The story of us

In ten days we will be celebrating our ten year anniversary.  It is crazy to think it has been a decade since Len and I got together.  In some ways it has passed in such a blur, in other ways I feel like I have been with him forever (and I mean that in the very best way.  Len is the kind of guy you would want your daughter to pick, and believe me my parents would attest to that.  He is kind and caring, he is funny and smart, he is loving and loyal, and incredibly cute to boot.

So for the next ten days I am going to do a little count down of ten of "our songs".  Now most people's "song" is the first song they danced to together.  I met Len in highschool, and neither of us have any idea what song we may have danced to, which probably isn't a terrible thing since we most likely danced at a high school dance and it probably would have been like Mariah Carey or Savage Garden or TLC or something I don't really like.  The good thing is we get to pick our "song" and so this list is songs that remind of us each other, and they all have their own special meanings.

Now Len and I actually met in high school, though we didn't start dating until ten years later.  He has very slow game, but its paid off in the end, so I am not one to criticize.  He says it should have been obvious back then that he liked me, since he walked me home from school all the time, even though it was many blocks past his own home.  I assumed he was just being friendly,  he tells me I was being dumb.  He then encouraged a friend to ask me out, and I dated that guy for a year, whose being dumb now?  Len dated another one of our friends for two years.  I left for university and dated a classmate for five years, Len stayed home, got a job and dated a girl for three years.  However suddenly in 2001 we were both single at the same time, and despite the fact that I now lived two and a half hours away we finally had a chance.  Long distance phone bills aside, it was a great time, and I have never looked back.  I am glad he was shy and I was dumb in high school, because we came together as adults and it worked out, how shall I put it.  Marvelously.

So to start it off we are actually going to go with one of Lenny's picks.  He says he thinks of me when he hears "kiss from a rose" by Seal.  Apparently at prom, we danced together (although we both would have been dating other people at the time.)  We didn't just dance either, we apparently sang at the top of our lungs and believe me, no one really wants to hear me sing.  This makes Len smile, as I said he is very kind.  Now I say apparently because I don't remember this happening at all,  I asked him many times, if he was sure it was meet and not some other girl.  He assures me it was me, and since it does sound like me, and since Len isn't known to be a liar, I guess I will choose to believe him. 

Enjoy

Sunday at the movies

Not to become redundant or boring, but its been a slow weekend, and with the Vegan challenge over I have yet to decide where I am going with the blog.  So today I had the great pleasure of taking four kids to the show.  It was rainy and blah out and we decided a Christmas movie might cheer us up.  So off we went to see Arthur Christmas.

Now I can totally see why parents don't want to cart a bunch of kids to the movies, one there is all the wrangling to get them going and then there is the fact that it is very expensive.  I am lucky that these are some of the best behaved kids ever so I had no qualms about going, and their aunt gave us the tickets, though concession cost almost 30 dollars, but the good kids all wanted frozen yogurt and not candy so good on them.

The outing was lovely, the movie, not so much.  General plot, Arthur wants to deliver a forgotten package, much hi jinx ensues and we all learn a lesson about how we are all important.  It just wasn't that funny.  But at least it was short.  I would have much rather taken them to the Muppets, but I was overruled, silly toddlers.  I say wait for the video

Friday night at the movies

Tonight I had the great pleasure to hang out with my favourite twelve year old.  We had a little movie date and went to see Breaking Dawn. 

Now I have read all the Twilight books and yes I have seen the other movies, but unlike its predecessors breaking dawn was actually pretty good.  Now by pretty good I don't mean I would rush out to see it twice, or want to own it but I definitely better then the terribleness of the first three.  Kirsten's Bella is far less awkward here, perhaps it is the character's mommy storyline that made her less stunted, she had to have a certain amount of fierceness and fragility in the role and I have to say she pulled it off.

There is something that doesn't translate well from the books to the screen.  The over the top romanticness of the book comes off plain creepy in the movies.  This sequel seem to have much less of that. 

The phenomenon perplexes me.  The novels are adequate and easy reads, but the story is hardly in depth and in some places it is down right bad.  The message seems to tell girls that they need to be loved and without a boyfriend they will or should fall apart.  The idea that love is somehow so all consuming is beyond me.  However I get the idea of wanting to feel super special and accepted.  and hey sometimes you just want a nice piece of fluff.  

I would recommend the books over the movie.  But I had a lovely time with my young friend, who by the way was slightly grossed out by the movie's more graphic scenes.  So maybe wait for fourteen?

The dilemma

Well as the vegan challenge comes to an end there is this dilemma as to whether or not I want to make a life long commitment to this, or least for the foreseeable future.  The simple answer is, well no, but the process of coming to that conclusion is slightly more complicated. 

I have seen the movies, Food Inc, Forks over Knives, and I have read the books, The Kind Life, Skinny Bitch, Sugar Blues.  There are many reasons to live a vegan life.  There are health issues, that by removing meats and dairy from your diet you allow your body to perform in better ways.  There are environmental issues, the production of meat, especially red meat puts an incredible strain on the environment.  There are social issues, a world without the meat and dairy industry could provide more food to more people given the funds and lands currently dedicated to those industries.  There is the animal issue, that there are many animals dealt with cruelly, raised and killed for consumption. 

Knowing all of this can weigh heavily on one's mind but there are also reasons to eat a more omnivoric diet.  There are proteins and vitamins easily accessible through meat. There is the fact that it is tasty.  There is the fact that it is easy.  There is the fact that it is readily available, and in many ways can support local economies.


Part of my problem with labeling yourself a vegetarian, a vegan, a pescatarian or whatever is that you are is defining yourself but what you are not.  I won't eat beef, I don't eat cheese.  It has an inherently negative connotation.  One that people are all too happy to jump all over, like they just want to catch you in some sort lie to prove they are right in their own choices.  If a "regular" person does not eat broccoli because they don't like it, then how is it different than that fact that I won't eat a hamburger.  To be fair some vegans act superior to everyone around them and gladly berate people for their choices, all because they are a fifth level vegan who doesn't eat anything that casts a shadow.  I guess my main problem is with jerky people.

 So here is what it comes down to for me.  I will continue to omit beef, chicken, pork, turkey and such from my diet.  I will try to greatly limit the amount of dairy I consume.  I will however not panic about it.  I won't skim through all the ingredients and reject something based on the fact that skim milk powder is an ingredient.  If you bake me a muffin, I will eat it, even if you used eggs.  If its pizza night, I may or may not have cheese.   I will occasionally eat fish.  I will not judge those around me for their choices.  I chose to live positively, I believe for my part the planet might be a little greener, an animal may live a better life, and I won't feel the heaviness of something dying just so I can have a snack (and yes I have incredible guilt when I eat fish cause he could be swimming in the ocean and like Avatar I do offer up a little thanks I am just that nerdy)

So in the name of science I weighed myself today and I lost two pounds.  Sad because I felt it was more, and I thought my clothes were fitting a little better but perhaps that was all in my head.  Frustrating, reading all those books about how "oh being vegan I lost thirty pounds in three months"  "oh I have never felt better my diabetes is gone"  It doesn't surprise me that my weight is the same but I also believe there are more important things than weight, and that health and my conscience feel just fine.

One final annoying thing. Len who cheated many times lost 13 pounds.  My only conclusion is boys are stupid or he is a witch.


 

Bookworm Wednesday

I almost forgot that today was Wednesday, but with a few hours left I am here to get my bookworm on.

This week's review is actually a trilogy which includes

The Forest of hands and teeth

The Dead-Tossed Waves

and

The Dark and Hollow Places

by Carrie Ryan

While the books are meant as a trilogy they don't actually have the same main character, though they are interconnected.  The first book is The forrest of hands and teeth.  In an undefined future after some sort of zombie apocalypse, Mary lives in a tiny village that is hyper religious and surrounded by a fence that keeps them "safe" from zombies.  Mary's mother was from "outside" and she always told her daughter of the sea.  When a zombie attack goes terribly wrong the village ends up in a lot of trouble and Mary and a few of her friends flee into the forest in hopes of finding safety.

The next book, The Dead-Tossed Waves, moves many years further into the future and stars Gabry, who lives in a well protected city by the sea.  In a moment of teenage weakness, she follows some friends and her crush over the wall into a zombie infested park and of course terror ensues.  While Gabry escapes her friends find trouble with the town's officials and are banished to military duties outside the town.  Gabry decides to search for her crush and spends time travel back towards the village from the first book and then in search of the Dark city, which offers possible 'safety'.

The last book, The Dark and Hollow Places, takes place in the Dark city, and stars Annah.  Annah is alone, her brother having left with the military and she fights to survive.  In the third book characters from the other books begin to meet and storylines conclude, well as much as anything can conclude in such a world.

My personal opinion is that the first two books are amazing.  By far the The Forest of Hands and Teeth is my favourite. Mary has such a longing, that Ryan writes in such a striking manner that you really feel her urge to seek out something, anything that has meaning, even in the face of overwhelming odds her spirit carries her forward.  The Dead-Tossed waves has a completely different feel, where Mary was adventurous, Gabry is cautious.  Gabry has no wants, no desires outside the safe life she has always known.  Her fear is palpable but she is no less brave than Mary.  As for Annah in The Dark and Hollow places, which was my least favourite of the series, she is strength personified.  Her hopes and fears take a back seat to the simple act of surviving and when she discovers things outside of survival it is both sweet and fragile.  

Small complaints, yes this is written for teens, but the love triangles are slightly forced and sometimes take away from the movement of the story and also seem a little cheesy.  

I love me some zombies.  and Ryan doesn't try to event the wheel here, her zombies are traditional and scary, and secondary to her characters who are the main focus.  They are scary and satisfying but should not deter those who are not horror fans from picking up these books.  While the last book doesn't have the same emotional impact as the first two.  All in all I highly recommend the series.

Day 30

And so we have arrived.  Day 30 of the 30 day vegan challenge.  It some ways I feel like it has gone by super quick and in other ways I feel like it has been forever. 

For breakfast today I ate an apple.  I ate an apple because it snowed last night and that meant I had to rush around to clear the car off and I didn't have time to make anything else for breakfast.

For lunch I had an Amy's burrito and some cabbage salad.

For dinner I decided that I needed to end with a grand finale.  While at work I decided I would make the acorn squash empanadas.  Upon my arrival home I realized that I didn't have any cornmeal.  This didn't prove too much of a problem, I just made a regular kind of dough.  Being the lazy kind of cooker I am, I also didn't bother getting out the recipe and just threw a bunch of stuff in the frying pan.  Acorn squash (I baked ahead of time) onions, zucchini, mushrooms, yellow peppers and some garlic.

I decided not to make individual empanadas and went with this cool braided loaf that I saw on pinterest (my new obsession)  Now the person who posted it used it to make a pizza but I thought it would work just as well for this so I rolled out the dough and cut the sides into strips

I filled the middle part with my frying pan concoction and then folded the strips over

Finished braiding and then rubbed the top with a little oil and garlic

Now the smarter thing would have been to roll the dough out and then put in ON the cookie sheet, fill and braid.  I however did not think of this and had to move this lovely loaf over to a cookie sheet.  I managed with it only falling slightly apart.  I then baked it at 350 until it was baked,  I believe this was probably like 30 to 40 minutes.  I made some cucumber and yellow pepper salad with pesto dressing.  and voila dinner!

Conclusion.  Good.  It was kind of like a meatless meat pie.  This however is far too much.  I think I ate half.  The salad was yummy as well.  Len liked it as well, though he doused his with ketchup.

Day 28 & 29

Hello everyone, I am sure you missed me very much yesterday.  I was away on a work related course, but also I had the great pleasure of staying with my friends Peter and Aaron and their super adorable puggle Elton.  So here is a quick recap of the last two vegan days.

Monday breakfast I had an english muffin with peanut butter and bananas
Lunch I had vegetable soup and leftover stir fry in a wrap. 
Dinner.  Well I didn't exactly eat dinner, I left after work to drive to Toronto, in Orangeville I realized I was too hungry, so I ate a small french fry from McDonalds (tasty but hardly healthy). 
My GPS stopped working, I took the wrong exit, I had a weird detour, and when I arrived on Peter's street I found out the number in my cell phone was outdated.  luckily Peter's mother's phone number has been the same forever, and after a quick call back home, I got a hold of Peter and all was good. 
I then ate some chips and salsa, watched some Gigolos and went to sleep.

Tuesday morning Peter and I headed out to the Eaton centre and there, at their very fancy food court we had some crepes at Crepes Delicious. 

This was my breakfast.  It is called the black and white, and it is a crepe filled with bananas and hazelnut spread.  The restaurant didn't lie, this crepe WAS delicious, though I totally could not finish it.

Here is Peter about to dig in to his tutti frutti, which was bananas, strawberries and hazelnut spread.

Then we got our shop on, and within ten minutes I found exactly what I was looking for. 
Kill some more time

Then ate lunch at Extreme Pita

Veggie pita... tasty but hardly extreme. 

I ate dinner at C5 which is the restaurant at the ROM.  This is a very fancy restaurant with an amazing view of the city.  It was however very meaty.  The hors d'oeurves were meat sticks and fois gras (so gross) but also sunchokes, which though I am slightly unsure what they are, were super tasty.  Then we had a small salad, with apples and bitter greens (ok) Then I got risotto, since everyone else was having lamb and beef.  The risotto was fine but kind of boring.  Lastly and probably the saddest was dessert, I got sherbert balls.  These were super gross, they tasted fermented or something.  He told me they were apple and pear, though one was green and one was brown, and both were gross.  Everyone else had lovely Chocolate mouse cake with caramelized white chocolate (I don't know what that is but I am pretty sure I want it in my mouth).  Despite its appealing nature, I stuck with it and didn't cave, even thought the vegan dessert was gross.

Now I didn't feel comfortable whipping out my camera at this really fancy restaurant so I don't have any pictures to share.

Christmas cheer

I love Christmas.  There is something about how festive it is that just makes me so very happy.  I love the decorations, the songs, and even the hustle of a over crowded mall.  I love the snow (though we don't have snow right now)  I love getting together with family and friends, I love the food, and the traditions.  It is cliche to say it is my favourite time of the year, but it is also true.  (Though I have to say that Canada day is a very close second)

Tonight I decided to decorate the tree, well one of the trees, since this year we have decided to have two, since I mostly live downstairs and previously the tree has always been upstairs I wanted two so I could enjoy it more.  So since there was going to be two trees and I didn't want to just split the decorations, but I didn't want to spend a lot on new stuff either, so I made some decorations and raided the dollar store.  We have gone with a blue and silver theme, and I got a pretty star for the top, I always thought stars made more sense then angels. 

It does not seem to matter how nicely you put Christmas lights away they always seem to come out of the box a tangled mess.  I had bought new LED fancy ball lights, that didn't work, so I returned them and bought myself a cute sweater.  Good for me, bad for the tree.  However we got enough blue ones working to make a sparkling tree.  I will attack the upstair's tree sometime soon and eagerly await everything that this season has to bring.

Day 27

This morning I had the great pleasure of sleeping in, and by sleeping in I mean really sleeping in, it was almost 11 when I finally rolled out of bed.  Thanks Len for taking the dog out so he wouldn't bother me. 

So for breakfast I finished off the Sunrise cereal. 

Lunch, well I sort of snacked as the day went by.  grapes here, nuts and dates there, and some chips with this really great garlic dip we bought at pumpkinfest in Port Elgin.  (the dip is from cinnamon hill farms) 

Dinner, I made an Amy's burrito, normally I buy the black beans and cheese, but since cheese was out I bought the vegan rice and beans version.  Then I cooked up some more beans (well I needed to finish them from the other day) and then made a little veggie stir fry, and voila dinner !

Conclusion. Yummy.  Though I would have to have to say I prefer the burrito with cheese, it has a better texture, this burrito was quite tasty.  Now Len had a slightly different version of burrito and his was a little spicy, though he likes spice so it was a good thing he got that one.  Veggies and beans were also yummy.

For dessert I made some banana ice cream and cut a very slim slice of the 'cheesecake'

Conclusion.  Yummy, Having a very small piece was a much better idea and the ice cream was a very good addition.  The banana flavour went really well with the peanut butter chocolate. 

Day 26

Good morning.

Wonderful Saturday morning meant I got to sleep in.  Then in an odd series of events, I went out to run errands and didn't eat any breakfast.  So when I came home I had some waffles, mostly because I stopped by the farmer's market and picked up some maple syrup, so I felt the need to use it.

Lunch was more like a snack cause I had breakfast so late, I ate bunch of grapes.

For dinner, my friend Cathy came to visit and so we went out to Kelsey's.  I had their seven vegetable fettucini with pesto and a house salad.  I am going to say that it was good but not great.  I liked that the broccoli was cooked properly and not mushy, but there was a lot of onions, and not too much sauce.  Cathy totally ate cheesy dip and cheesy bacon covered pasta, poor little piggies. 

For dessert we came home to have my homemade Chocolate peanut butter 'cheesecake'.  I made a graham cracker/oreo crumb pie crust, and filled it with Toffutti cream cheese, peanut butter and chocolate chips.  Baked for forty minutes.  and voila dessert

Conclusion.  way too crazy sweet!  It was like a seven layer sugar mess.  The cake itself tasted like cookie dough, which is good, but pretty much only for bite, after that you begin to worry about cavities and diabetes.  Cathy and I managed almost half our pieces, Len ate all of his, but I am pretty sure he would eat a sugar cube. 

Cathy and Len 'enjoying' a little sugar rush, at least we won't have to worry that Cathy will fall asleep on her ride home.  Notice that heavenly aura around Len's cake.

Day 25

Ran out of the house this morning with no time to make breakfast so I grabbed an apple.  better than nothing I guess.

Lunch I had baked beans, and a toasted tomato sandwich.

Dinner, after 25 days of making our vegan dinners tonight I am tired have a headache and still this stupid little cough.  So Len is making me dinner which is sweet.  He is making some Tofurky pizza, which I haven't had yet but my conclusion prediction is tasty. 

Day 24

So we are getting close to the end of the month and things are going just swimmingly except I have a stupid little cough that won't go away.

For breakfast I had some Vanilla Sunrise cereal.

Lunch I had last night's leftovers, minus the awful vinegar potatoes.

Dinner.  Well tonight is our first repeat.  I was going to make a stir fry with some tofu I had marinating in the fridge, but we still had two crusty buns leftover, So I decided to just make a tofu sandwich.  Then I cooked up some corn, and veggies and voila dinner!

Conclusion: tasty, and Len really enjoyed it as well.

for dessert I had some oil of oregano and a halls.  :(

Day 23

Hello all.

For breakfast this morning I had an english muffin with peanut butter and a banana. 

Lunch I had red pepper and black bean soup, with cut up veggies and a tomato sandwich

Dinner, I made "chicken" burgers with coleslaw and tomatoes on some great buns.  Then as my something new I made salt and vinegar potatoes.   First boil the potatoes in vinegar for five minutes, then remove from heat and let sit for 30 minutes.  Just a warming when boiling vinegar there are very dangerous vinegar fumes that when inhaled cause some choking and eye burning.  Place potatoes on greased cookie sheet and salt.  Bake at 425 for 30 minutes, flip and bake another 10.  I also made some green beans, broccoli and cauliflower.  Voila dinner!

Conclusion.  My sandwich was delicious, chicken is the obviously the easiest of the meats to fake cause it was super yummy.  The potatoes on the other hand were all kinds of yuck.  The vinegar was over powering.  and inside the beans were an explosion of vinegar.  Sadly I think the better idea would have been to make regular potatoes and then if you wish add a little vinegar.  Even Len who douses his french fries in vinegar thought the veggies were too vinegary. 

Bookworm Wednesday

Happy Hump Day.  Today's book of choice is...

The Psychopath test by Jon Ronson

This book is a bit of a departure for me, for it is non-fiction.  Ronson takes a look at psychopathy.  He speaks with both psychopaths and the psychiatrists who diagnosed them as such.  He looks at the system devised by Robert Hare in deduces who has psychopathic tendencies, and visits a young man imprisoned in a psychiatric unit for being a psychopath.  He meets with the heads of corporations who have been dubbed "psychos".  He also delves into the sometimes odd treatments used on psychopaths. 

The best part about this book is Ronson's writing style.  While some research books read like textbooks on extremely boring subjects, this book is written more like a novel.  From a first person perspective Ronson describes his travels and meetings.  I never felt like I was 'studying', the book was kept light despite its rather heavy subject matter and I moved through it quite quickly. 

This book was actually quite fascinating.  First there are the riddles and conspiracy theories, there are the psychopaths themselves, and there are some really whacked out psychiatrists who had some very odd ways of dealing with these "mental conditions" including a whole lot of LSD.  Surprisingly Canada plays a large role in treating psychopaths, Robert Hare being a Canadian himself. 

Overall I found this book to be a really interesting, and educational read with the feel of a mystery novel. 

Day 22

Short post today.

Breakfast I had cereal, in a hurry as I ran out the door

Lunch, toasted tomato sandwich and roasted pepper soup.

Dinner.  We had to go to Len's uncle's tonight because Len was doing some computer work for him, and we were changing to our snow tires, (even though the snow is all gone) So his uncle made us dinner, and since he is a meaty kind of fellow, I ended up having a salad.  Funny, he made pea soup, which I didn't eat because I thought I am sure that has cream, and upon a further look I am pretty sure it had ham, not sure how he thought that was a good choice for me,  but hey no complaints when people do the making, and my salad was tasty.  Needless to say I was a little hungry when I got home so I had a peanut butter english muffin.

No pictures tonight.  See y'all tomorrow.

Day 21

This morning I had as I believed I would a very hard time getting out of bed.  I did get up in time to eat a bowl of cereal.  This time I bought Vanilla sunrise instead of maple.  It was good, since it was made with real vanilla it didn't have an overwhelming vanilla flavour.  Still I think I like the maple better.

Lunch I had last night's leftovers.  still good

Dinner.  Tonight I decided to make yesterday's perogies.  This turned out to be quite intense.  First I baked some potatoes, then I made the dough.  Dough is fairly simple, flour, water, salt, and a little oil.  Once the potatoes were ready, I mashed them up with some cook mushrooms, onions and garlic.  Then you roll out the dough and use a glass to cut out circles (like you are making cookies).  Then you fill the circles with the potato mixture and pinch together.  Boil this perogies for about five minutes, then fry with a little garlic.  After awhile I had a system going to filling, boiling and frying.  I also cooked up some carrots, plantains and made a bit of cabbage salad.  After all that work voila dinner!

original perogie recipe from theppk.com

Conclusion. good.  The potato filling was delicious, tasted like thanksgiving (most likely the seasoning, had a distinct stuffing flavouring).  The outside dough was not quite as pleasant.  I think it was the quinoa flour perhaps if I had regular flour it would have tasted better.  I loved the plantains.  Len thought the perogies were good, but wished the insides were more mashed (not realizing how long it took me to make dinner).  This dinner took a very long time, definitely should have made on Sunday, and really I can just buy premade perogies and they are tasty.

For dessert I made Vegan gingerbread men.  Now here things got a little interesting.  The recipe called for ginger, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon.  check check and check.  molasses, check, baking powder and soda, double check.  sugar (well it asked for sweetener but I just used brown sugar) and flour,  well now I have a little quinoa flour left but my dough is very sticky, I need more.  Now I could go to the store and get some, but instead I just used some pancake mix.  Now one could have adjusted for the sugar and baking powder in the pancake mix, but no, I  just added it until the dough seemed the correct consistency.  Then I rolled in icing sugar since I had no more flour (or pancake mix at this point) cut out some men and baked for 8 minutes.

Original recipe from peasandthankyou.com

Conclusion: tasty.  The best part is that they were soft.  I dislike it when cookies get too crunchy.  They weren't overly gingery but I liked that.  Len and I had fun decorating them, I know you are probably shocked that those weren't decorated by two year olds.

Enjoy my sexy cookies.

Day 20

Sunday morning sleep in.  I am going to have trouble going back to work tomorrow.  So this morning it became very evident that I needed to buy some groceries.  So for breakfast I repeated yesterdays waffle breakfast.

As I write this I realize that I didn't actually eat lunch, which is probably why I ended up having dinner at 530.

So for dinner the plan was to make homemade perogies, however when I got home from running around I really didn't feel like making something that was going to take that long.  So I cooked up some spaghetti and made a vegetarian scallopine.  It kind of is like chicken parmesan but of course without the chicken. Covered with tomato sauce and voila dinner!

  Conclusion; very tasty, as you can see by the dirty fork that I started to eat it before I realized that I hadn't taken a picture.  However this is the third time I have made a pasta dish.  The funny thing is I always complain that when you go to any sort of event the vegetarian option is always pasta.  Additionally pasta can add on the pounds, so I will try to make more interesting and possibly healthy options for the next ten days. 

I went to have some dessert but the cashew frozen pie had developed freezer burn, and also was a little watery.  So we shall skip dessert tonight.