Confession Time

Confession: I am a bad mummy. An evil mummy. And I am okay with it!


See, I like to dress my child up in stupid costumes and take photos. Then show them to anyone who will pause long enough to look. It makes me happy. It also makes me feel better about all the terrible things that pregnancy and child birth did to my body. And for all the terrible things that he will do as a teenager – which, given that he is a HE should last from when he is 12 though to 50.

For Halloween this year, I dressed him as a duck. Quack Quack. But really – how cute is this??

Check out the tights!!!

For Christmas – I tried to dress him as a reindeer with a flashing red nose and all. Unfortunately, the red nose was not a hit and we ended up with some irritated crying from him. However, as it is only Dec. 16th – I still have time to convince him.

I was also at a store today and saw a sweatpant set that would make a child look like a snowman – hoodie and all. Sadly, it wasn’t in his size….

Bieber Beatle? Or Little Boy?

I love my boy's haircut photos. He is just too cute! Even if the actual process of getting his haircut can be somewhat traumatic and usually results in my buying him a toy. Ahem.

So here is K's new look!  First we must show the pre-hair cut photo....what I like to call the Bieber Beatle.  Essentially, shag....

Im handsome, I know it. Ladies love me.

And here is the after photo.  Note that I have discovered that the key to get a smiling child in the photo is to take the photo while feeding him...

I got me some eggs....

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

Dear niece of mine is now 7. My how time flies.  Once again I was asked to make her birthday cake.

She requested a bright purple, rainbow cake.  I obliged.

Ta da!!!

Road Trip with a Toddler? Why not!!!!!!!!

As I type this blog posting, I (and the boys) are in our car heading towards to the Canadian border.  Hurricane Irene is heading this way but no hurricane is nearly as scary as taking a toddler on a road trip I say!

Lets go away Rob says…..

Our most loved day care provider goes on vacation for three weeks every summer. Rather than look for alternate arrangements, Rob and I decided to take the time off to spend with the boy.  We did not foresee a gap in my employment so the original intention of going to Mexico or some other exotic locale had to be shelved for the time being.  Instead, we spend quite a bit of time at the family cottage…K playing in the kiddie pool while Rob and I stared at the lake.

Subsequently, we decided to retile the fire place.  Alright, alright I DECIDED to retile the fireplace but I do have Rob’s endorsement that it was a good choice (see previous posting).  After a few days of this exciting and yet oh so frustrating task, Rob proposed that we “get away for a few days”.  I jumped at the chance being a  supportive spouse who fully realized that if he didn’t get the chance to “get away” I would be in the proverbial dog house.  Moving on….Rob suggested Lake George in New York State.  “Sounds great!” said I – not having ever heard of it but …well see previous point.  So, we packed up all the things we needed (re: diapers, diapers, more diapers and hey….diapers!) and headed south.

The sound I will hear while going insane…

The town of Lake George is located in the Adirondack mountains, five hours away from casa Campbell-Renaud.  We didn’t tell K this before strapping him down in his car seat as we know what he sounds like hysterical….it aint pretty.  So I counted. A full hour from the house the whining began … “ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma mamamamamammaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.” (As an aside I couldn’t wait to hear this special word….be careful what you wish for!). For the next three hours to entertain the child we played – and sang along to – Raffi and both CDs of Silly Songs.  Combine the sound of “mamamamamamaaaaaa” and the vocals of Silly Songs together and…..INSANITY!!!!!!


Here is a picture of K before the insanity began...

This drive is HOW long???

Lake George

We finally arrived in Lake George and what a sight! It’s a gorgeous 32 mile long lake smack dab in the middle of a national park.  Added to this natural wonder is my favourite thing in the whole wide world (no, not coffee)  KITSCH!!!!! Wax museums!!! Indoor amusement arcades!!! Tacky souvenirs!!! I LOVE IT ALL!!!!!!  We checked into the EconoLodge (only the best for us!), let K booty scootch around the room for a while and headed out in search of dinner.

What the HELL is that?!?!

After walking the strip in Lake George we decided on the Moose Tooth Grill for dinner.  I admit, I was drawn by the kitsch and the fact that it had ‘grill’ in its name. I have the mistaken belief that anything with ‘grill’ in the name should be good. I was wrong. Oh so very very wrong.

Rob ordered the tenders and tips – chicken tenders and beef tips – with the plan of sharing it with the boy.  I ordered crab cakes and a side salad.  While we waited for our meal we listened to the sounds of loons, owls and wolves on the restaurant sound track. Did I mention the ‘grill’ was a cheap ass version of the Rainforest café?

After a while, our ‘food’ arrived.

Lets start with my meal shall we?  The side salad was iceburg lettuce with a few cherry tomatos (maybe four?) and a few sliced cucumbers on top. No carrots, no nothing.  The crab cakes were more like warmed up tuna salad masquerading as crab. Gag worthy.

And then there was Robs meal…..

We don’t know what it was. We don’t WANT TO KNOW what it was.  Bloody diarrhea anyone?

Good thing they gave K a cute hat to distract us…

Beach anyone?

The next day we headed down to the beach with the boy.  Before we departed we headed across the street for breakfast. It is there we learned that Lake George’s motto should be “come for the Lake, not the food”.  Rob ordered a blueberry muffin.  It was greasy. We are pretty sure it was deep fried. The waitress did offer to grill it for him…but he declined.  On the up side we did get to see what the Jersey Shore cast of characters will be like in about 40 years by observing a table of elderly folks from NY at another table.

But back to the beach…..it was fun!!!!

How to outrun a Hurricane….

Ironically, this is our second trip to the US as a family and the second time that a natural disaster is about to happen in the same area.  The first time was the spring of 2010 when we went to Memphis. I remember sitting in our hotel room watching the water hit the windows while watching tornado warnings on tv and listening to tornado warning sirens going off while Rob noted that perhaps coming to Memphis during tornado season was a bad idea.  Now….Hurricane Irene….she is a-coming!  

Dear Irene is on her way and everyone in Lake George is in a tither.  So we are on our way back to our home and native land with Irene at our tails.  Sounds more exciting than it is.  What it translates into is a drive on a cloudy day – with chance of showers.

K is asleep in the back seat. Sweet sweet silence.  Poor little guy is tuckered out from all the fun he has had and his late night at the BBQ place (Smokey Joe’s – EXCELLENT FOOD!)….and maybe a little gravol to help him out.

Looking forward to family vay cay next year!!

Damn that Mike Holmes!

I want a beautiful house.  I blame it on all those Mike Holmes shows and HGTV.  And I have house envy. That’s right – I go to visit other peoples houses and hate them for having beautiful hardwood floors, granite counter tops and bathtubs that fit two.

Since I am between work contracts I have had plenty of time to watch all those home renovation shows and come up with projects to do in the house.  What can I say, it keeps me from eating bonbons while watching soap operas.  Project #1 was to clean all the baseboards in the house.  I finished the front hallway. Then got distracted…

I decided that the fireplace surround needed to be retiled. This wasn’t a hard decision.  The fire place had black tile with a black mantel. The room is bright yellow. It looked like a giant bee’s butt.

The husband, Rob “I got degrees so I could pay others to do this kind of work”, said to go to it wifey! And so I did…

Step One:  Pick out Tile

I took my pal Kimberley  went to Home Depot to look for tile one afternoon.  We found a sample of laminate flooring that looked similar to what we had in the sun room, picked out sample tiles, mixed and matched and found the perfect tile. Yay! Step one complete!

Step Two: Remove Tile

What this really should say is “get pissed off and remove tile.”  Luckily, a lady at my former work kindly obliged by insulting my son one day when we were visiting the office.  Next time I punch her. This time, I came home and removed all the tile from the wall in about two hours.  With Rob helping out with two tiles due to my overwhelming need to put big gouging holes in the wall.

Step Three: Pick out Tile

Upon reflection, or upon our friend Jeff pointing out that we could cut WAY less tile by using a 8x8 inch tile – Rob and I went back to the store to pick out new tile.  Couldn’t find any 8x8 tile except at Rona which sold the most hideous looking tiles I have ever seen. Deciding that I did not want bright teal tile was easy. Spending a few hundred dollars at a specialty tile store to buy slate tile was hard. Oh but it is so pretty!

Step Four: Repair Gouges in Wall

See step Two. What can I say, I was pissed!!!

Step Five:  Start Tiling

Step Five sounds easy. It was not!  We measured, remeasured and measured again.  Note that for some reason all measuring tapes are in inches and feet.  I work in metric. Oh, and I almost failed grade 10 math and promptly stopped taking it as a course.  Thank god for Rob and his mathematical/scientific mind!  He did the calculations and we started to tile.

Step Six: Call for Reinforcements

We quickly learned that this was a three person job. One person to do the tiling, one to criticize the person doing the tiling, and one to watch K who would sit at the French doors to the sunroom and cry “mamamamamamamaaaa”.  Once Poppa was convinced to join the fun, the tiling began again.

Step Seven: Kick Out the Perfectionist

Tiling a wall sucks.  The tile tends to slide down screwing up your grouting lines and those pesky tiling spacers insist on popping out.  We had to send the perfectionist out of the room and have the “good enoughers” finish the job.  Once Rob was safely cleaning the garage, my dad and I could focus on the job at hand.  First things first, got rid of the stupid spacers.  They were just an exercise in frustration. Nope, we found nails did just as good, if not a better, job.  Second, swear a lot.  Third, get a case of the giggles. This is mandatory.

So the tiling is done and now we have to do the grouting.  Ta da!!!

Step Eight: Pray

Now, I just hope they are all where I left them when I get back from Lake George…

New Pleasure for your belly!!!

Poutine made with....get this....timbits!!!!! HOW GOOD WOULD THAT BE!?!?!?!?!?!

Caffeinated Cheese anyone?

Ive been thinking....there is a clear lack of creativity in food production. And I think those in charge of all the big mega food corps need my help.

Why no caffeinated cheese? Think of it – you could drink wine and eat cheese and yet never get that sleepy feeling that happens after a glass or two of some good vino. It’s brilliant!!! Now don’t get confused and think “oh, coffee flavoured cheese” – no that is just madness (and grossness?). No, I’m thinking cheese with some caffeine added to it. Mmmmm mmmm delicious!!

They should also make peanut butter flavoured yogurt. They make dessert flavoured yogurt. Even coffee flavoured yogurt! But no peanut butter flavoured yogurt – its a tragedy really.

And Canada should really start importing more of some of the delicacies that the US has access to – but we are sorely lacking. Like the peanut butter Oreo. (Yes, this is the second time I have mentioned peanut butter in this post but can you really be surprised? I AM a peanut butter addict!)


We should also start deep-frying more of our vegetables. During a recent trip to the US I tried deep fried corn. Weird, I know. But oh so good! Why cant we do that with say – peas?

Just some food for thought...ha?

I Run, I Ran, I Hurt....

In my efforts to return to my pre-pregnancy body - such as it was - I have been running and taking a duathalon course.  I do not have a particular talent for either of these things - in fact it is quite the opposite - but I do enjoy a challenge.

Last weekend was the Ottawa Race Weekend in which I have run the 10k for the last four years. Excluding the year I was pregnant of course, when my friends husband ran it for me (and I got my best time ever!!!).  Last year was a bit of a bust.  I hadnt trained and some six months out from giving birth to my lovely boy - I was horribly out of shape.  But this year, oh this year, I trained my tooshie off (as is evidenced by the saggy butt pants).

Race day came around and I felt confident. Oh so confident.  I had NOT factored in that it would be humid. Disgustingly so. But I truly thought I could over come the challenge.

I was wrong. 5k into the race, I discovered that humidity is not good when one has no access to water. Or an energizing refreshment.  All I could think about as I struggled along was how cool the Rideau Canal looked (cool, not clean) and how I would sell my husband for some kool aid.

Finally, I stumbled across the finish line and....lo' and behold....I was seven minutes faster than last years time!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYY.  YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Now - to be able to do it without wanting to vomit.