Happy Birthday

Today is my Mom's birthday! Happy Birthday Woman!!!!! I wanted to take this time to share just how incredibly blessed I am to have this wonderful woman in my life. My mother is strong beyond compare, hysterically funny, humble, gorgeous, amazingly personable, spicy, selfless and brilliant.
Now as many things as I could say I found the following quotes, all of which made me a little verkelpt,  to be so accurate and succinct I could do no better. These excerpts are so true about my Mom I think they really must have been written as an homage to her alone.

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.  She never existed before.  The woman existed, but the mother, never.  A mother is something absolutely new.  ~Rajneesh  


A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.  ~Washington Irving 



One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters.  ~George Herbert


Who fed me from her gentle breast
And hushed me in her arms to rest,
And on my cheek sweet kisses prest?
My Mother.
~Anne Taylor


A daughter is a mother's gender partner, her closest ally in the family confederacy, an extension of her self.  And mothers are their daughters' role model, their biological and emotional road map, the arbiter of all their relationships.  ~Victoria Secunda


A mom reads you like a book, and wherever she goes, people read you like a glowing book review.  ~Robert Brault


Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes, by dozens and hundreds.  Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers and sisters, aunts and cousins, comrades and friends - but only one mother in the whole world.  ~Kate Douglas Wiggin
I love you Mom - Happy Birthday xoxo.

Again with the Hair?

I have this little precious vial of cream. As you may remember I am having an ongoing facial acne crisis where my zits think I am 16 and my wrinkles think I am 70. Awesomesauce. A fugly, humiliating combination. But there are people starving so get some perspective right?! Ughhhhhhhh....

Just so you know who we are dealing with here.

Anyhoo this precious little vial has silver in it. Whatever that means. So every night I have been putting the concoction onto my face and it seems to be helping. Or I respond well to sugar pills. I am easily persuaded and have a penchant for carpet baggers and psychosomatic tendencies.

I digress, the silver potion is working. That is, it was working until my almost three year old daughter found it and squeezed the entire contents of the precious little vial into her hair. My only precious little vial. That was a gift. So its not like I can just run out and grab another. It has to be shipped from Never-Never Land.

After having a ridiculous ugly-cry overreaction to the situation I snuggled my gross, cream-covered, sticky-headed little Bean till she slept. And in the morning I brushed her dry, matted little mess. I could have washed it out I suppose, but I brushed it anyway. And it felt good.

Cook, Clean, Sleep Repeat...

I am feeling a little under the weather and am calling in sick. So who do I call? There are no sick days for the 24 hour parent. The kids have music class, then they insist on being fed, despite their decries they REQUIRE a nap and then I have to feed them again. And clean up in between. I need an extra-long weekend. 

Technical Difficulties...

It is Monday and I am feeling overwhelmed and under-researched. We were away all weekend (in the car mostly) and Mike has gone back to Vancouver to work for the next week and a half.

Not usually one to get a case of the Mondays I am finding this day particularly debilitating thus far. I have one baby to the left and one to the right - both are spewing a constant barrage of verbalization at an unreasonable volume, and being especially demanding... about EVERYTHING. I think they need some concentrated attention.

What I am saying is I will be back tomorrow guns blazing and my wits will be functioning at full capacity, so thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll be back in the morning! For now I have an arse to wipe and it is not mine.

To All the Rossland Ladies

Heather Good - www.heathergoodfineart.com

I have been so inspired by the women that populate this town since I have moved here. They are entrepreneurs, teachers, nurses, mothers, artists, adventurers, and more. Last night a new found friend brought me to Glee Club. Yes. Glee Club. And do you know who was there? Everyone, see above.

Michelle Tanguay

A few weeks ago another wonderful new friend, pictured right *gulp*, took me mountain biking (real mountain biking) for the first time since before I had popped out poppets. And do you know who we saw on the trails hiking, biking and berry picking? Other women. Again, see above.











There is a women's Roller Derby Team (Gnarlie's Angels), Women's Shuttle Night (a van takes/pulls women/bikes to the top of Red Mountain and they bike down) and on select evenings there is wine and chocolate at Mountain Nugget which is owned and operated by one of the towns  Womentrepreneurs Trish Dyer whom I featured in last weeks Artist Homage after the ride. The town is home to Stephanie Gauvin who is a a world class artist, and skier...and I am dying to meet her. There is even a town-wide ladies night out on occasion!

www.bettygohard.com

When all is said and done I am stoked to raise my daughter here surrounded by strong, compassionate, artistic, cultured, talented, athletic, self-sufficient women! The candy on the apple is really that the men of Rossland support the women and patronize (the good way!) our business endeavours. I always joke that the boys in town are ruined for life outside Rossland, the girls they were raised with could do anything they could do - and lots of times better :)

Dummy Fairy

Have you heard of the Dummy Fairy? The Dummy Fairy has been to our house once before, she will soon be visiting us once again. I am gonna go ahead and humble myself right now and confess it is not my fabulous idea but that of the Super Nanny. There I said it - but it is one hell of a notion and I have adopted it fully into my parenting arsenal.

When Jack was almost three our house had a visit from the Dummy Fairy. The Fairy came in the middle of the night (just like her cousin the Tooth Fairy will) and took away his dummy to give to a baby who needed it. In place of his beloved she left a rechargeable night light and a puzzle. That was me - I thought something for the night and something for the day would help a little man out.



Isla will be three this fall. The time is fast approaching for our next visit from the Dummy Fairy. Isla is in her "big girl" bed, she is potty trained (day and night), has slept through the night for forever, and she is already sort of weaned from her dummy. I guess it just comes down to her parents.

For all of the reasons listed above, I am the one having a hard time with the Fairy arriving presently. She is growing so fast, in so many ways but, when she is using her dummy she still makes baby noises.  Those noises stopped as soon as the Fairy came to Jack. Sigh. Her prezzies are even waiting in the closet. I am going to have to suck it up, I know, I know. I think I'll go for a snuggle.

Thursday Throwback

After meeting some pretty incredible women here in Rossland due entirely to having two wonderful poppets, I thought I would re post this article from June. I wrote it with my heart open, and expectation high, a few weeks before the actual move itself. 

Baby Mommas

There are always been those BIG moments in life when one worries about making new friends. For example changing schools or, ahem, moving.  

Making new friends is something I have taken for granted in the past. Always being in one form of institution or another, the same people day after day, has its advantages. In retrospect school is sort of a give in the friend-making department. Thrust amongst a thousand peers for years one is bound to find at least one like-minded individual. Extra-curricular activities from K-12 are the proverbial friend-making icing, being a concentrated pool of similarities and shared interest.

After graduating from University and moving out of the city where I grew up I found myself, for the first time, with no real friend generating systems. I had to pursue friend-making. It was hard. There was more baggage. Ugh. But then something miraculous happened. I pushed out a baby!!!

Having children have afforded me that coveted "in". Babies are like an institution in and of themselves.  I find spending hours on playgrounds and in playdates fosters discussion and openness with my new peers. Suddenly making friends seemed easy again. We swapped poop stories and labour tales, shared laughter and tears. The walls came down and I have become friends with some incredible women. Women whom I will miss dearly, but are the special kind of friends that no time nor distance seems to pass between.

I am banking on Jack and Isla to get me through the Mommy-door in Rossland! They really are great little icebreakers and the kids are still at that invaluable age when my friends children are their best friends as well.  I know this luxury will end one day soon when Jack and Isla begin making their own friends, but by then I should be well imbibed in Rossland mommy-culture!

Who Me?

I know that there are a million of these that float around in the Blogging sphere, but I must admit it feels pretty darn special when someone passed one along to me. Because, despite there being a gazillion Blog Awards out there, there are even more blogs that they could be given to. So thank you to Jamie at Avant Garde Parenting for gifting me, whom you have never met, based solely on the content here at ag.gray.gate. I am glad I was able to make you smile!

Here are the 5 blogs that I choose to pass this award forward to:


Jessa@ La Belle Vie : This talented designer, surrounding herself with pretty things on her journey into motherhood, bares soul as she her invites you into her home, her hopes and her dreams.


Leah@ Keepin' it Leal : Also an immensely talented designer is dangerously hysterical puts the best face possible on the "women are funny too" campaign that we are unfortunately fighting (I know that you could never post this award on your blog, but I am giving it to you anyway. You more than deserve it!)


Marzena@ Babies and Bruschetta : This brave Momma, for having the courage to move your family half way around the world and share it all with us!


Wendy@ Give Love Create Happiness : Because you inspired me to write this blog in the first place.


The Ladies of 'R' Town@ 'R' Town Stories & Blogs : A communal blog by the wonderful moms living in community. Thanks for your candour. Keep writing ladies!


Please take a minute to stop by one or all of these fabulous blogs - you will not be disappointed! 


Now, last but not least, I the final part of winning this award is to answer the question: 
If you could go back and change one thing what would it be?


There have been times when I would have been hard pressed to choose just one thing. But I have come to realize the answer is nothing. I would not change a thing. I am my choices. I am my experiences. So yes there is embarrassment, guilt, loss, anger, and (gulp) unforgiveness, but I am still learning. I am the best me I can be. I am the sum of my parts, even the ugly ones - and I am not finished. 


Thank you so very much for being here, I appreciate it more than words can say. Have a wonderful weekend.