Shit My Kids Say #1

* I think every parent has moments where their kids just say stuff right out of left field and sometimes, we need to share. So if you want to share the things your kids say without the child welfare authorities banging on your door, feel free to send it my way and I'll post it here, so we can all join in on the laughs and horrors that come from the mouths of babes.


Boy: "What is the road made out of?"

Me: "Asphalt."

Boy: "Ass Fart?"

Me: "ASHHHHH FALLLLLT."

Boy: "ASSSSSSS FARRRRRT?"

Me: "Pavement."

#DreamGift

Following up on my "I made every single gift for Christmas" post, I realized that I lied.

This is my Mom. And this is the Tassimo (a fancy coffee and other delicious drink making thingy) that Best Buy Canada sent me to give to my Mom after they read this tweet.

She loves it. I love that she loves it AND I love it when she makes me something delicious in it. It's pretty much a win-win-win-win-win.

And in case you wanted to know, my boys and I also made her some art a picture a something on a canvas with family pictures profiling 2012. It was kind of awesome. Now I just need to find someone to buy my #DreamGift for me so I can stop kidnapping my sister's fancy schmancy camera. ;)

Thanks, Best Buy!!

No Kids Allowed

I've been a mom for 6 1/2 years. And in 6 1/2 years I have had exactly 3 nights not on kid duty. My husband and I have been on exactly 1 date in 6 1/2 years... or make that 4 if you want to count the trip to the hospital to have baby #2 and the funerals we've attended. I still count 1.

But tomorrow night the boys are going to my sister's house for the night. The WHOLE night.

And I have no idea what the man and I will do. Do we even remember how to be alone with each other? Will I awake in the middle of the night hearing phantom snoring and night talking from the next room? Will I hear the baby fall out of bed from across town? Will I even be able to fall asleep if they're not here?

I'm a little anxious. I want them to go. I NEED them to go. But I miss them already, and they don't even leave for another 24 hours.

Gettin' Crafty: Jewelry Case

This past Christmas, I made all my gifts. Every. Single. One. Thankfully we have a small family.

I forgot to take pictures of most of what I made except for this, hands down my favourite gift this season, made for my sister.

She said she needed a jewelry case. So I started with a wooden box I found on the side of the road and filled in all the holes. So many holes.

Then I made a frame out of scrap wood pieces and glued them into the box. Covered that with a piece of plastic mesh from the dollar store.

Spray painted with 2 cans I had hanging around from old projects and covered in a high gloss clear coat.

Then I attacked some used fashion magazines I picked up at the thrift shop, covered the plastic mesh with a piece of fabric (again from the thrift store) and covered it with a few layers of mod podge. Add some fancy knobs I found at the surplus store for 39¢, one more spray with high gloss and voila! A jewelry case worthy of my princess sister!

She can hang her necklaces from those fancy knobs, poke holes in the mesh to hang her earrings and use the base for rings and bracelets. Total project cost? $12.

I'VE BEEN PUBLISHED!

Ok, so yes, it's a small local mag that's distributed for free. So yes, it's put out in part by my brother-in-law so I'm a shoe-in for reporter status and yes, it's more of an interview than an article BUT...

MY NAME IS IN PRINT. 

I got the chance to go see Neverending White Lights in November, smack-dab in the middle of a  snowstorm. It's a conceptual band, fronted by the über-talented Daniel Victor. Daniel's vision sees a band that's not a band. By collaborating with many different artists he's able to bring a different vocal sound with each single but keep the ethereal, haunting, alternative sound in the background. 

Sadly, apparently Daniel and I talked too much post-concert and Breakdown Mag had to cut some of my article (grrr) so here it is... along with 2 of my favourite pictures I've ever taken.

The light, the smoke... I love. The shadow of Daniel Victor's iconic hair? Brilliant.

3 days. 3 venues. 50+ bands. Just another weekend in the Kitchener music scene.

Friday night at the Chrysalids Theatre was a rocking place to be. Breaching Vista put on one of the best performances I've ever seen them do, Acres of Lions was a new band for me, a real treat to hear and Gregory Vitale with Flowerchild soothed my soul with those incredible vocals.

Hailing from Windsor and headlining the night was Neverending White Lights, the conceptual band fronted by Daniel Victor. The show was all-around electrifying and featured guest appearances by Evan Konrad of Vancouver's Bed of Stars and jDiggz jumped onstage to perform "This Time", which is a truly positive message song once you dig past the rapper slang and swears.

After being extremely gracious with his fans and signing autographs, Daniel Victor sat with me and talked music, touring and… zombies from the bible?

ME: You've recently collaborated with D-Sisive. What was different about the collaboration?

DV: I'm a fan of D-Sisive and had the pleasure of seeing him live in my hometown of Windsor. Watching him perform live changed my opinion of his talent, he's a really great storyteller. We actually wrote that song on Skype, we just put the video on, he was laying in bed (I don't know why), and I was sitting at the piano and he's just laying there saying "Let me hear something", I was playing these chords and it just happened. I wrote it in one night then came up with the idea for the video. We went to California to shoot the video and now the song is on the top 30.

ME: What's the best show you've ever played?

DV: Best show we played is really tough because every show is different and every show has it's own defining characteristic. Every show has a different dynamic because it depends on the crowd. Sometimes we play laces where people are completely disinterested and sometimes we play places where people just go crazy.

ME: Well okay then. How about most memorable?

DV: We were a part of Edgefest… with Our Lady Peace, Keane, Hot Hot Heat, all these great bands, and we were able to do that show. The reason it's my favourite performance is because before I went on stage my dressing room was shared with Keane from the U.K. and I'm a huge fan and I was listening to him play through the wall warming up his voice and I thought "wow this is so awesome". So we went on stage and the sun was going down and there was 13,000 people and it was such a great show. It was summer, it was beautiful.

ME: What can we expect from you in 2013?

DV: I have a few projects on the go; I'm producing Evan Konrad's album, coming out next year, so it's a big deal for me because I signed him to my record company. Number 2, Black Ribbons just came out so I want to put a band together for Black Ribbons and tour that album with a whole different band and a whole different sound and a whole different look. Dancers, video. Crazy stuff. And most important, Neverending White Lights Act IV. My goal is to have that album out by the end of 2013 and have some awesome special guest collaborations on it. I've already got Lights and a couple other people working on it.

ME: What's more likely to happen, zombie apocalypse or bible apocalypse?

DV: Definitely not bible apocalypse. From all my scholarly knowledge, studying and working in world views and religion I can very safely say that zombies are just as much if not more likely to reappear on the Earth than the biblical apocalypse.

ME: That's good to hear. Zombies are less scary than locusts.

DV: Yeah! And when you think about it, if the bible prophesy does come true Jesus will come down and judge the living and the dead, so he's going to raise the dead they're all gonna come out of the ground and be zombies. Either way, zombies are coming.

Thanks to Breakdown for the opportunity to write.  I'll be coming back with some real articles and spotlights on local indie bands soon.... I <3 music!

EDIT: * I apologize to DV for posting a picture under ZOMBIES ARE COMING that may or may not have made it look like he is a zombie. Because I don't think he is. A zombie. Because he didn't try to zombie-attack me, which a zombie would most definitely do. *

EDIT: ** Unless of course, the reason he didn't zombie attack me is because I'm already one myself and don't know it. **

Oh crap.

Can a Child Outgrow Autism?

An interesting read form the National Post. Are these children really outgrowing autism or are therapies working so well that differences become indistinguishable?

Would love to find out more about the socio-economic status of the families involved.... were these children receiving only government-funded therapy or also private therapy on the side? Private therapy hours have skyrocketed the gains in my son's development in a way that still being on waiting lists for government-funded care never would have.

Read it here: National Post

Snake Intestines

An after school conversation:

Boy: "Mom! There's a new boy in my class!"

Me: "Very cool!"

Boy: "His face is brown!"

Me: "Hmmm... there are many people with different skin colours and hair colours, aren't there?"

Boy: "Yes! But we're all the same inside."

Me: "Absolutely, we are."

Boy: "Yep. We're all filled with blood, guts and snake intestines!"

*runs off to play*






Whoa.

Less Traditional Learning

I'm not going to weigh my views on the teacher's job action in my parts, it's been done to death by myself and thousands of others. What I do want to do is have a discussion about what you will be doing with your kids on this unexpected day off.

Will you be home with them? Sending them to a babysitter or day camp? Using retired grandparents for child care? Pooling with friends?

After some creative rescheduling of a job interview I had booked, I'll be home with my boys. But it won't be just a day off, watching movies or playing in the snow, we'll be having fun and learning in some less traditional ways:

Julia, aka @AskMamaMOE on Twitter, sent me some books this month after hearing how we lost all of our books after a pipe burst. Tomorrow we'll be working out of this great book to make some singing bottles and experiment with mirror images.

Thank you for the books Julia, we LOVE them!

After a morning of science play, we'll be heading downtown to go to THEMUSEUM. It's pretty much my favourite place in town and we spend a lot of time there. From learning how to control the flow of water to practising our architectural skills with giant blocks, it's always a learning adventure hidden beneath a fun exterior.

And lastly, we'll take ourselves to Kitchener City Hall for a little ice skating because whether it's something they teach in school or not, skating is most definitely something that every Canadian kid needs to learn!

Here's hoping your day is full of learning and as adventure-filled as ours!