a peek inside the fishbowl

Here’s my problem, I don’t like crowds very much. It’s not so bad that I’ll break out in a sweat and start hyperventilating, but it comes pretty close. Sure, I’ll do it for the kids, but in my experience, the kids really don’t like being (a) packed like sardines (b) knocked around by errant purses and elbows and (c) possibly trampled.

And as we all know, if mummy’s not happy, EVERYONE SUFFERS.

Sadly, we don’t ever get to travel to exotic locations over March Break. It’s just too expensive for us. I would love nothing more than to pack it all up and go somewhere amazing. I love to travel with my family, and I’m game to go anywhere – hot or cold – this time of year. CALGON TAKE ME AWAY.

So we make do with staying in Ottawa. It’s not so bad, right? There’s a lot to do right here in town.

My March Break strategy is this: Do one fun thing every day, and fill the rest with down time (down time is a must!), reading, outdoor play (if the weather co-operates), and I’m sorry to say… regular chores like grocery shopping and house tidying. Hey, it needs to be done, right?

(The trick is to hold off on that One Thing until after the chores are done. It works remarkably well, and you get to make declarations like: “Of COURSE you can have ice cream for breakfast! But you need to clean your room first!”)

Works.Every.Time.

All kidding aside, the One Thing We Do can be big or small, cheap or expensive, at home or somewhere around Ottawa. But I have found that by doing at least ONE THING, it makes it seem like you accomplished a lot over March Break. And I like that feeling.

Here is a list of the things I think we might do over March Break. The second part of this list (below it) will be things we’ve actually done, and I’ll update it as the week goes on. Just because.

p.s. if you have relatively crowd-free March break suggestions (whether they’re in Ottawa or not) leave ’em in the comments below!

• go to the library and take out a huge stack of books to last us the week (DONE! See below.)
• take the bus downtown to visit Mark at work, and take him out to lunch (DONE! See below.)
• pump up our bike tires and go for the first bike ride of the season
• pay a visit to T & T Supermarket (yes, this is a fun excursion for us!)
• Bubble tea in Chinatown
• walk down to Westboro Village for a cookie, maybe visit the secret garden and see what’s happening there (I’m hoping we’ll spot some redwing blackbirds)
• baking
• a special craft
• sleepover at Nana and Papa’s (for the girls that is!), which includes a mani/pedi too.
• a road trip (DONE! See below.)

Monday – The girls made KD for the first time (I kid ye not), and after a major house tidy we went to T&T Supermarket where we picked up a lot of neat treats (click to see a photo of some of our haul here). Plus we’re making sushi for dinner!

Tuesday – Road trip to my mother’s place. Included: a long drive with lots of great views, tunes, snacks, new earrings, dessert-making, visiting, fried chicken, a nature walk (I can’t wait to show you their photos), stargazing, daring feats, and a trip to their favourite playground. (And that’s because the equipment was the rare 1960s politically-incorrect and accident-inducing kind. Like this one and this one.)

This trip included some personal growth for me as well. This may sound pathetic to some, but I figured out how to put windshield washer fluid in our Prius (!) I had to pull into the Canadian Tire in Carleton Place to buy some. Sadly, I could not open the childproof cap. Thankfully a tough-thumbed samaritan helped me out in a moment of crisis. :)

Wednesday – We did a super secret thing for CBC radio interview (we were interviewed for a story!), and met Mark for lunch downtown at Lone Star for mediocre fajitas (toppings were dried out and wilted… clearly from the day before.. ugh), took a stroll around the Byward Market, picked up some fresh new kicks in a cool little shop, admired baked goods and new views (I am not including pics from all the gorgeous things I spotted at Urban Barn and EQ3!). Some people apparently had energy to spare so we did a bit of horsing around on the way home.  After a much-needed nap for me, we struck out for Westboro Village, where we undertook a serious Hot Chocolate Evaluation. If you want to get the results (and they might surprise you!), it will be available in the next issue of the Extra Helping. Sign up here if you haven’t already!

Thursday – we made chewy pretzels for dinner and had friends over for a movie… the new Footloose! :)

Friday – I dropped the girls off at their grandparents in the morning. They had appointments for manicures with their grandma, followed by a sleepover. I went to Ikea (ALONE) and tweeted and shopped and had a lovely lunch that even included a very indulgent glass of white wine with my blueberry spinach salad. Bliss! I met Mark downtown for a bite to eat and we saw a movie at the Bytowne, after which we met friends for drinks at the Hintonberg Hub. Heavenly.

I have no words left to describe this week’s craft for Canadian Family Magazine, so you will have to go read about it here. :)

But I will say this:

• The middle part of a butterfly is called a thorax. The bottom is the abdomen. (I like slipping in some science during craft time!)
• I am thrilled with the results of this craft, and it’s hanging in Sarah’s room right now.
• I got the butterfly punch for half price (!) at Michaels because I used a coupon app I mentioned in this post.
• I can’t wait to show you next week’s craft. You will looooooove it.

I guess I did have something to say after all eh?

Happy Friday everyone!

Now that I’m working more I find I need my iPhone more often than ever. It’s my mobile office, and as a busy mom I really appreciate being connected to everyone, everywhere, all the time. :)

Awhile back I mentioned a few of my favourite iPhone apps, and I wrote about some Ottawa-centric apps on SavvyMom as well. I wanted to take a moment to update that list.

Here are my top favourite apps (aside from the camera app, which I probably use most of all!), in no particular order:

Evernote
I adore Evernote. It’s is the perfect app for an ideas person such as myself. Evernote is a very smart note-jotting program. You can use your phone to make text, audio, or visual notes using your camera… which you can then save and access from any computer. Bonus: a web-clipper tool which I’ve installed on my desktop browser allows me to clip and save websites. I can also update my Evernote via Twitter too, which is very quick and handy.

I have my Evernote notes roughly divided into categories by clients, so there’s one for the Fishbowl, SavvyMom, Recipes.ca, the UsedEverywhere blog, Canadian Family Mag, Home design/reno. So when I’m standing in line at the grocery store and I suddenly have an idea for an article I know exactly where to file it. It makes me feel very organized and it’s a relief to keep my ideas all in one place.

Pinterest
Pinterest is a website that gives users the ability to create virtual (and visual!) inspiration boards and “clip” and share images across their networks. The iPhone app gives users a quick and easy way to browse other people’s boards.

There’s been a lot of hubbub in the blogosphere about Pinterest lately. Some have been slagging it as an elite and cultivated subset of the Internet, but frankly, that’s kind of the point. I don’t want to wade through a million web pages to find one good recipe. The other issue that has had fingers on keyboards is regarding potential copyright issues. Ah well. I’m just going to keep pinning. 

ShopCatch
ShopCatch is a free app and it’s already saved me money. ShopCatch allows the user to see where the sales are. I was at Michael’s the other day and found myself without a coupon (never shop without one there!). I found one using ShopCatch, which the cashier was able to scan right from my phone. (And it happened to be 50% off. Score!)

Voice Memos
I used to take longhand notes when I interviewed people for articles I was working on (crazy, I know) and I eventually got tired of not being able to read my own handwriting. I started using the native audio recording app that came with my iPhone and realized just how fantastic it was. I was worried that it wouldn’t be able to record a 90-minute interview and that there’d be issues transferring it over to my desktop, but it was easy peasy. Love it.

OverDrive Media Console
I use the Android version of Overdrive on my Toshiba tablet although it is available for Apple products as well. It is my #1 top-used app. OverDrive gives me on-the-go access to eBooks and audiobooks from the Ottawa Public Library. Browsing, reserving, downloading, and reading library books using OverDrive is incredibly easy. I find myself reading more than ever. Awesome.

Natalie Maclean’s Picks and Pairings
I found myself wandering the aisles the other day at the LCBO, wondering what wine to choose for our sushi dinner. I was feeling rather lost until I remembered I had a sommelier in my pocket. A few clicks later I found a lovely Chilean white (and only $8.95 to boot!) that she’d recommended. It’s not a wine I would have been able to pick out myself, and it was a perfect match. This app has too many cool things to mention. Seriously. (Thank you Natalie!)

Common Sense Media
Are you familiar with the Common Sense Media website? It’s a U.S. website that provides information to parents regarding the media that kids are consuming (and they are consuming more than ever). The most useful (at least to me) aspect of the website are the movie reviews. Parents rate movies for language, violence, sex etc.. and you can go and check the reviews to make sure the DVD you’re about to rent is suitable for your child. The app is an extension of the website and provides a handy link to their reviews.

imdb.com
A must for movie-buffs. Who’s that actor? What else has he been in? Is this movie appropriate for my kid? It’s been another great app for our family.

And just so you don’t think I’m all work and no play… Sarah introduced me to the Cool Faces app recently, which is very simple and very sweet. You take a photo of your fingers or toes and use the app to superimpose digital “stickers” of faces and hair on them to make your own finger families. See:

Cute eh?

What about you? Do you have a fave app? Please share!