i know you're out there

Did you know that today is delurking day? The internet is full of lurkers and today is your day! How many blogs do you read that you don't bother to comment on? I read lots and I'm trying to be a better commenter, but google reader, while it is fabulous for reading blogs is not really great for commenting on blogs. That extra step of having to click on through to the actual web-site seems like way too much work some nights.

So lurkers of the internet.... today is your day! Click on through and leave a comment today because as every blogger knows, comments make the world go round.

Not sure what to say?

Just say hi.

Or tell me I'm awesome.

Or tell what your favourite book, movie and TV show is.

And all my facebook friends, don't think you're off the hook either. Leave me a comment and say howdy. Let know me know who's reading over there too.

Happy delurking day, everyone.

the ongoing food revolution - the lunch version

It's back to school time... wannna talk back to school lunches? One of my bloggy BFFs The Scattered Mom sure does and she's having a party with prizes!!



School lunches throw me for a bit of a loop. Our school is on the balanced day program where the kids get two 40 minute nutrition/recess breaks. There was a real learning curve when Abby started school. but now that she's headed into grade three I think we've got it figured out. For Abby anyway.

Now we have Maya starting school and I feel like I'm starting all over again. Maya is a very picky eater and she would happily go without food rather than try something she's already decided she doesn't like. She's lived on peanut butter sandwiches pretty much her entire life and that phase is about to come to an abrupt end because peanut butter is a no no at our school. Now what?

She recently started eating grilled cheese, so that will be making an appearance. Yep, my kids love cold grilled cheese. Luckily she likes yogurt, but only the kind that has two flavours in the same container. She likes KD, the kind that has the cauliflower in it. She doesn't eat cheese or lunch meat or any meat at all really or granola bars or muffins. She will eat gold fish crackers, rice crackers and rice cakes.

Abby will typically have a sandwich, either ham or a grilled cheese. Just last night at dinner she asked if she could have grilled chicken on a *multi-grain* wrap with some ranch dressing in her lunch this year. She also likes granola bars either the ones I make or the high fibre ones, blueberry or corn muffins, biscuits, goldfish, homemade cookies, cheese and crackers and cheese strings. Occasionally she'll take a juice, but she has a refillable water bottle at school and prefers to drink water.

Our school used to have pizza day once a week and sub day once a month. There will be changes to those this coming year with what the schools will now be allowed to offer for lunch. Schools will be required to have a food committee and a log book will have to be kept regarding what we offered the students on which date. Food being offered to the kids will have to fall within certain nutrition guidelines, so for example pizza will be allowed, but only on whole wheat crust and either veggie or plain cheese. I'm not sure if sub days will make the cut.

My kids lunches aren't perfect, but the get a little bit better all the time and it's those little changes that eventually add up to something big.

i'm here for the party

Welcome all you 2010 Ultimate Blog Partiers. Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the interwebs. Please help yourself to some punch and a cookie or three.

Now a little about myself... gah! I hate public speaking. My name is Shannon, but you can call me Shan or Shanny. I am a soon to be 37 year old wife and mother of 2 gorgeous girls. Michael and I have been married for 13 years. And we're having huge amounts of fun raising our seven year old, Abby and our four year old, Maya.

Besides all the laundry that a family of four requires me to do, in my spare time I like to cook and bake. I also knit, mostly scarves and hats for a local agency. It's my way of making some good come out of all the trashy TV I watch, like Dancing With the Stars, American Idol, Survivor, Parenthood, The Office and Greys. I host a monthly movie night with my girls friends... we just celebrated our 1st anniversary. It's the best thing ever. I highly recommend it. We also like Family Movie Nights with themed snacks. And we love to play board games of all kinds. Not surprisingly we call those, Family Game Nights. I truly love social media and waste copious amounts of time of twitter and facebook.

Mike and I both enjoy volunteering, giving back and paying it forward. We are both on the parent's council at our daughter's school. He as co-chair, I as secretary. We are both active with our local agricultural society and the fair it puts on every year. Mike is 1st vice president this year as well he sits in on other committees. I help out with the society's social media stuff (more time for twitter and facebook, heaven!) as well as looking after prize tabulation for the school fair.

Wow, once I get started I just can't stop.

And when I'm not doing all of that I also find time to be -- be it by blood or by marriage or by choice -- a daughter, sister, Aunt, best friend, niece and cousin. I am currently in the midst of making healthy life changes - which for us means being on weight watchers. Between Mike and I we've lost over 50 lbs - the difference being split 80/20 for him. I love my crocs, my yoga pants and my jammies - not necessarily in that order. Also the Wii, my kitchenaid mixer, sprinkles, royal icing and my barbecue... oh and Chef Guy Fieri and his show Diners, Drive ins and Dives. I'd love to own a diner or a drive in or a dive one day. Or a bakery. Or small general store.

Thanks for stopping by.

today is the day

Yes, I realize that delurking day was actually on the 14th, but what the heck.... I think we can extend it through the weekend at least here at the Blogmother's. In my bloggy life I have amassed a few friendly followers, lovely folks that can be counted on to comment here and on facebook. Holla! to my ladies and a few gents. Thanks so much to all y'all for taking an interest in what I have to say here. I have been continually surprised at the response and feedback I've gotten from my little patch of the interwebs. You guys are truly rockstars.

Here's the deal though, for the comments that I do get, there are many more folks that just pass through with out a peep. Most are popping by for my taco salad recipe and recipes in general, but the taco salad...... that my top search nearly every month. Weird, huh?

So why not speak up today, all my silent visitors? What have you got to lose? I'll even give you a topic... since I'm heading off to decorate MyPie's birthday cake when I'm finished here.....

Which do you prefer - cake or cupcakes?

And this isn't limited to the newbies, the old guard can feel free to weigh in on this too. Thanks guys, for making blogging so awesome!!

just another random monday

After a week of lazy mornings and late bedtimes today was back to our regularly scheduled programming. Mike and I were back to work and the kids were back to the sitter's. Mike slipped out to a meeting after dinner, Maya crashed on the couch a good two hours before bedtime and Abby had a meltdown of epic proportions. I'm pretty sure the Mommy Project heard it at her place.

Speaking of the Mommy Project, she's back blogging again.Yay! I always miss her when she's gone on one of her hiatuses. She's actually blogging double. Check out her new photog blog. She's all kinds of talented.

And speaking of returning bloggers. My wicked talented bro, Uncle Dave, is taking another crack at the whole blogging thing. This time for his company, Page Design. Check him out soon, he'll probably only be blogging for the next ten minutes. Oh and if you can believe it he's twittering now too.

Movie night with the Jersey Girls this past weekend. We watched StepBrothers. I've seen it before, but it's always great to laugh a lot with your best girls. My favourite line -- Did we just become best friends? -- Classic! So very very funny.

Looks like warm, but rainy weather coming up. Hate that. Hopefully it holds off long enough for Papa and Mike to trim the tree that's blocking our satellite reception. Right now it's a question of what *can* we watch on TV, not what do we *want* to watch on TV. Treehouse wouldn't come in today which did not help Maya's sunny disposition at all.

And by the time most of you read this it will be Robin's birthday! Happy birthday to the best friend a girl can have. The Oprah to my Gayle. True sister of my heart. I love you, happy birthday!

lucky one

I am a very lucky girl. So lucky it's almost embarrassing.

First I got a very nice award from the wonderful Betsy. I am always touched and thrilled to be given an award. Especially one that is as sweet as this.

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”

And then I got another one from my real life bestie Darlene.

Uber (synonym to Super)
Amazing Blog Award is a blog award given to sites who:
~ inspires you~ makes you smile and laugh~ or maybe gives amazing information~ a great read~ has an amazing design~ and any other reasons you can think of that makes them uber amazing!The rules of this award are:* Put the logo on your blog or post.* Nominate at least 5 blogs (can be more) that for you are Uber Amazing!* Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog.* Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

And that wasn't even the best part of my week. As I mentioned a few days ago, Darlene recently had a total bloggy makeover and ended up with a delicious new site. It's so pretty I can't even tell you. So today I'm going about my business when I find a little piece of paper tucked into a spot only I would look in. That piece of paper was from four of my biggest bloggy fans and four of my real life best friends. And it's good for one blog makeover from the same incredibly talented lady that did Darlene's.

What a perfect gift. I really couldn't be more excited! I am incredibly blessed. This really is the perfect gift for me and I am so very thankful for it. Darlene, Kathy, Heather and Lynn.... love you all. Thanks so much!!!

maybe one day?

Oh why do you tease me so, high speed internet? Over and over again last night I see the slick new commercial for Roger's new Rocket Stick. Mobile high speed internet in stick form. Internet, which according to the tv, has that young lady high speed surfing in a canoe in the middle of a lake. On a hay bale in the middle of a field. On an iceberg in the Arctic Circle. In a space station as she circles the earth and so on. You get the gist.

I'm not sure how exactly it works, but I'm guessing it has something to do with magic internet fairies that carry the signal very fast to this little jump drive looking thing you plug into a USB port. Call me niave if you want, but the commercial led me to believe this product have a vast coverage area. I mean she's using it in a canoe folks. Turns out the high speediness stops about 10 kms from my house. What is up with that?

Of course they promise that the coverage area will be expanding soon. Yeah sure it will. Let me tell you a little story about that. Twenty-five years ago, my parents bought this house. As a family we were making the big move from the city to a more rural area. There was no cable. I distinctly recall my father asking the cable company when we could expect cable to be available out in are area. The answer........ soon. Twenty-five years folks and there is still no cable out here! That may tell me all I need to know.

widney wednesday - the canadian edition

It all started when I clicked on the link for Widney Woman (Simone) in The Mommy Project's (Normie) blogroll. I'm not sure why except that I had begun to notice her commenting on Normie's posts. As it turns out the Widney Woman and the Mommy Project are friends from way back. Me, I'm just a Mommy Project newbie friend, but that was enough of a connection for me to keep reading over at the Widney Woman regularly. Then she's commenting here and I'm commenting there and before you know it we're facebook friends too.

There was so much I enjoyed about her blog and the lady herself. I loved the fun things she had planned for her kids, things like Widney Wednesday. A day that looked like so much fun I wished I could go myself, but the commute to Chicago would be a killer. Then the Widney Woman came to Canada. Not only to Canada, but to my hometown. And extended to my family a Widney Wednesday invitation. I was thrilled. And flattered. And nervous. Remember I'm the shy and socially awkward one. The idea of actually attending Widney Wednesday was as terrifying as it was exciting. I waffled back and forth on whether or not I would actually be able to go. Talking myself into it, only to talk myself back out of it again.

In the end I went, after a pep talk from both Mike and Auntie Yoli (ack! what am I going to do without her?). Oh and the promise of Michael to come along and be my "wingman". And not just because Simone had promised me a surprise. Jiffy corn muffin mix y'all! She knows me so well! What can I tell you? I am so glad I went for my first official blogger meet up! The kids, (yep the girls went too, Widney Wednesday is a family affair) made construction paper popsicles before chasing each other around the house and then wrapped it up with a little make your own sundae bar. I did manage to snap a few pictures before the white screen of death showed up on my camera. It seems to be working "okay" now, but totally crapped out on me when I needed it. Here's is the one sort of okay picture I got that shows, Abby, Normie's girls and Jazz. Paris and Maya were busy still making their sundaes while the bigger kids were eating theirs. Hopefully the other ladies got better pictures that they will be posting soon.



And Simone? Well she was terrific. Exactly as I imagined she would be from reading her blog. Her kids are absolutely adorable. Abby was thrilled at the idea of meeting new friends and wasn't yet ready to leave when the time came. I'm sorry we didn't get more time to visit. So your next visit to Canada Simone, please know you have a standing invitation to the Ranch. Which really isn't a ranch, we just like to live with delusions of grandeur.

a grand

It seems hard to believe, but Monday marked my 1000th post in three years. That's pretty impressive I'd say. I still can't believe I've had that much to say or that anybody is even remotely interested in reading it. Blogging has been such a wonderful gift to myself and to the girls. They don't know it yet, but it's here waiting for them. I hope they appreciate what a true labour of love this is. This documentation of our lives. I'd be lying, though, if I didn't admit this was as much about me as it is about them.

I definitely get a lot out of my little corner of the internet. I've "met" people I never would have met otherwise. Wonderfully funny people I am so happy to call friends and I am better for it. Just as rewarding are the friends I have introduced to the blogosphere, my real life homies who have joined me in telling the world all the little details of their lives.

I think in the last three years I have, at times, written things I am truly proud of. Things that still make me cry when I go back to read them. Things that make me laugh out loud, still. And What's Cooking Wednesday is a bit of a hit. All very astonishing when you consider that less than stellar post that began my blogging career. So in honour of this blogging milestone I'm bringing out the champagne to celebrate. And just for kicks, since it's my party, let's call this delurking day as well. So leave me a comment or drop me an email and say hey!

spreading some linky love #2

Poor Suze, she's been busy digging out from the big snow storm of oh eight. I'm just thankful she was prepared.

You hear a lot these days about body image and how girls are taking notice of how their bodies look younger and younger. Obviously as the mother of two young girls I worry about this and wonder how I can make it better. At least in my own home. We're all so quick to list what we don't like about ourselves. What about what we do like, there has to be something. Think about it for a moment and go let Chantal know.

You know what's overrated? This stuff and I agree with 11 out of the thirteen. I'll let you try and figure out what makes up my eleven. On the flip side, here's what's worth the hype. Anybody know which five I agree with?

Everybody has an opinion on baby names, so go weigh in on Meg & Critch's selections. Word to the wise, a vote for Slim is a wasted vote.

I once heard losing a parent being described as a club and you don't know it until you're in it. I'm paraphrasing, of course, but it's true. You have no idea what it's like until you do. Karen's post yesterday was all too familiar.

sending out some linky love #1

Sognatrice, my favourite Italian citizen, has the distinction of being my very first What's Cooking Wednesday participant. Frankly, at the time, I was shocked that anyone else was even remotely interested in playing along, but she did and she continues too and I look forward every week to reading her recipe and the great story that always goes along with it. Today is a big day for her, today she's moved on over to her own domain, so go check out the all new bleeding espresso.

On the Upside, only Kellan could take something as scary as a potential heart attack and turn it into something chuckle-worthy.

I'm not sure how she did it, but some how Merry got a hold of my parent's pillowcases from 1978 and turned them into an apron. I think she may have a time machine. A time machine called Value Village.

Darlene over at Auntie Dar's life is one lucky lady. Find out why, here.

My gal pal Suze may have made me laugh my head off today, hypothetically of course.

nice to meet ya

Well folks, today is delurking day. Okay, really delurking day was yesterday, but if Dani can celebrate it today then so can I because I'm a follower like that.

I know you're out there. Really, I do. I mean I check my stats fairly regularly and by that I mean no more than once a day. Granted, there's not an overwhelming number of you, but I'm okay with that. Just maybe take a second out and say hey, how are ya? I don't want to tell you what to write, but maybe you could slip in how awesome I am. Whatever, it's up to you. The important thing is you do it.

sweet relief

Turns out I was freaking out for nothing. After a online shopping session tonight I can safely say I am pretty much finished my Christmas shopping. I have mentioned before that the lack of online shopping sites here in Canada really ticks me off. I don't understand why we, as a nation, cannot get on board with this. You can shop online at WalMart, Old Navy and the Children's Place in the good ole U S of A, but can't at their Canadian equivalent sites. That is if they have Canadian based sites. WalMart does (information only), but the other two do not.

Tonight I somehow stumbled upon a "new to me" website that sells gift cards. Over 250 of them. I was so excited to find it I may have danced a little jig here in my office. I splurged and paid $10 for the courier shipping to ensure I'd have gifts in hand before Christmas, but it was definitely worth it for the time it saved me. I got gift cards from six different places. That represented the bulk of the shopping I had left to do. What a relief not to have to worry about that any more. Now I can concentrate on wrapping and baking and picking up the few remaining things on the list. Which can be done during my grocery shopping trips to Wally.

This is the best! The love is definitely back!

do people still fall for this

Now I don't want to brag her, but according to my kind of working email I have been the winner of various European lotteries no less that 8 times in the past week. Yes, yours truly has personally won millions upon millions of Euros. Don't worry I promise not to let being rich and famous change me. I have to tell you I cannot believe my luck. I can't tell you what a feeling it is to walk out on your job. I felt just like one of though Lotto 649 commercials. Oh the freedom.

So winning many million Euros is an amazing story right there. I could wrap this up and you'd be fine with that, but wait, there's more. I guess it's what they say that good fortune attracts good fortune because apparently and I think it's due to being a European millionaire, I am considered trust worthy enough to help out various European and African dignitaries move millions of secret dollars from their country to mine. All I need to provide them with is my banking info and, in one case, $1o5 security keeping fee that will net me a cool $4.5 million. So, really, how could I say no to that? And what better time for all this to happen then right before Christmas. I am a lucky lucky girl.

not cool sympatico

Okay Sympatico I give. I am waving the white flag over here. Please have mercy on my soul. You see I had heard the vague rumblings of an email upgrade. I quickly skimmed the emails before resigning them to the recycle bin. At some point while I quietly banged away on my keyboard the internet fairies worked their upgrade magic on my email account. My primary email account. Which is great. Many thanks for taking care of that. A little note would have been nice though. You know just to let me know you'd been here. Maybe explaining that you'd only bothered to upgrade my main email address and not the ones I use for facebook and blogging. Then I wouldn't have wasted most of a day trying to figure out why in the world they weren't working. That would have been helpful.

Know what else is helpful? Having a website that actually works. That is easy to navigate and allows me to correct the problem myself. Judging by your discussion boards there are a lot of customers out there that feel the same way.

awesomeness

Somebody please remind me to send a thank you note and a basket of mini muffins over to Here In Idaho to thank her for this gift.

Now you may be asking yourself what in the sweet hell is this? Well apparently a large quantity of publicity shots from the 70's were found in a Dumpster in California. They were rescued, scanned and uploaded to the internet for our viewing pleasure. Our extreme viewing pleasure. Go look. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

what i'm reading

Oh you know I'm not above it, I will tag myself. Even though I have done this meme before in it's original state this one is different because it has a shocking twist. Okay it's not so much shocking and not even much of a twist. Just a different take on the old Seven Random things meme. It's also an idea I totally stole from Suzel's Sass, who I love and not just because she said some very nice things about me.

So who am I reading? Well in no particular order;

bleeding espresso....: One of my first regular commenters (I do so love the comments). She shares my love of cooking although she is clearly a better cook than I. She also takes pictures that make me want to move to Italy. Although I have to admit it would be easier, for me, if she just moved here. She could take awesome pictures of here and we could totally hang out together.

Auntie Dar's Life: Oh my Darlene, one of my real life BFF's. It was me who gave her this peek into the blogging world and now she is totally addicted. Her blog is an eclectic mix of her life, what she finds on the internet that amuses her and pictures. I love her even if her blog won't let me comment 95% of the time.

Merry and Dewey in Canada: My blogging friend from the prairies who has the sweetest brand new baby boy (such hair that kid has) and let's not forget baby's big brother and sister. If she lived in my neighbourhood we'd be hanging out in each other's backyards, taking the kids on walks and sharing books. She'd probably be sick of me in five minutes.

virtually there: Another blogging buddy who needs to live closer because she bakes bread, has a funny funny three year old and her baby doesn't sleep at night either. We must be soul mates, except I don't have the patience for the bread thing anymore. Also I have it on good authority that she's an all around nice person. Just the kind of people I like. Also she's a Karen and I have yet to meet a Karen I didn't love.

Sass Attack: She lives in New York city. That instantly makes her the coolest person I "know". Plus I kind of like to imagine her life is just like Friends. That may be because I've just watched the last 5 seasons on DVD, but whatever. She's cute and she's funny.

Heather Speaks Her Mind: This is as close as you get to family without technically being family, Heather being my sister-in-law's sister and all. She is incredibly funny and I have never spent time with her that I haven't laughed my face off. And since her sister (and my brother) steadfastly refuses to move any closer I figure I could start working on Heather. Maybe I can get her to crack and move into my 'hood.

Suzel's Sass; Oh my she's a funny one. Sometimes she almost makes my apple cider vinegar water come out my nose. Now if she was the girl next door, you better believe we'd have a standing weekly date to watch The Office together. Oh and Office marathons to kick of the new season. I'll even make the snacks, you bring the Dwight bobblehead.

So, that's my seven. For now. I do read a ton more blogs than that. Way more that I probably have time for, but you guys are all so awesome. Don't be surprised if you see this meme pop up again so I can share the love.

yeah, that would help

All I can say about this is WOW! and I hope I win!!

Over at Ashwin’s blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!

*Thanks to sognatrice for the 411 on this!

Taking care of business.

First off I must offer a very public apology to sognatrice over at bleeding espresso. What with all the barfing, pooping, cleaning up said barf and poop, not sleeping and trying to fix the problem with my blog in IE I totally zoned out on Wednesday and forgot to link to her for What's Cooking Wednesday. I am so sorry for the oversight, especially since this week's recipe was breaded veal cutlets. One of my favourites. Anyway dear readers here is the link, don't forget to stop by and visit my favourite Italian citizen.

Also the peeps tell me there are still issues with my blog in IE, but it's on and off now. Well folks, I'm at my wits end. I've also used up all my tricks. I'm at a loss. I have no idea. So if anybody out there can tell me what the problem is, well now would be the time to speak up. Really. Don't be shJust shout out the answer.

Functionally illiterate, technically speaking.

So word on the street is my peeps are having troubles viewing my blog while using Internet Explorer which was news to be since I've been sitting with the cool kids for lunch and using Firefox. So one of my goals tonight was to try and fix the problem. HA! That's funny.

I'll let you in on a little secret. People with little knowledge about computer type stuff think I'm "really good with computers". I'm not. It may look like it, but I'm so not. I know enough to get by and I "smoke and mirrors" the rest. Yes I do maintain my blog, but to be honest I'm just copying and pasting bits of code.

So here I am trying to fix the problem with IE which doesn't happen in Firefox. Have I mentioned what a superior browser Firefox is? Because it is and you should download it now. Like right now. I'll wait. I really had no idea where to begin. After doing some searching through some message boards I happened to find the answer I was looking for. It appears that a photo was causing the disruption. I have since deleted it and my blog on IE works just fine. Can y'all let me know if you're still having issues? You know who you are.