a peek inside the fishbowl

I’ve decided to summarize our Know More Do More campaign participation every Monday.* This is the first one.

I drew our first family activity on Rogers Daytime last week, so, much to my chagrin, I had actual witnesses. Marie Claude Turcotte (Manager of the School Age Program for Ottawa Public Health), the hosts and crew of Daytime, as well as all the people out there in TV-land watched as I pulled the following from the tip jar:

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I promise that this blog won’t become a dog blog, but Piper has been taking up a lot of space in my head lately and I can’t help myself.

I like to call this photo: Puppy in Sunshine or, Happy Girl. I’m not sure which. :)

Piper has been an amazing dog. I can’t get over how clever she is. And we’ve only had her for two weeks! She already knows how to sit, she sleeps in her crate at night and has figured out how to let us know when she needs to go outside (during the night, not yet during the day).

We all went for a good walk after dinner last night. She’s finally figuring out how to walk on her leash. (Normally she likes to sit down about 20 times during any length of walk in order to pause, look around, and enjoy the scenery. It takes a bit of convincing to get her moving again.)

She is so comical. She has us in stitches all the time. Her little personality is coming out a little more every day. I don’t know who loves her more, because she has certainly stolen all of our hearts.

New things:

• She is very much a lap dog, and loves to snuggle.
• She likes to bury her nose in your neck/armpit/other warm spot while she’s napping
• She has just discovered ice cubes. She’s so funny to watch. Her routine goes like this: suck it, drop it, suck it, drop it, suck it, drop it, HEY WHERE DID IT GO?
• She’s a kisser, and will stop and nothing in order to give you a good face wash.
• Her love of sticks has extended to the chewing and eating of every tiny bit of wood she encounters outside. (Which we try to avoid, obviously!)
• She likes having baths!
• She does not like getting brushed.
• She’s proven herself to be reliably friendly with every kid in the neighborhood. The local dogs? Not so much. She wants to jump all over their faces from all the excitement. I need to read up about dog socialization.
• She hasn’t noticed BB the budgie yet.
• I used to roll my eyes at those little poop bag attachments for leashes but I have to retract all previous eyeballrolling and admit that whoever invented the idea deserves a Nobel prize
• Shopping for a puppy is like shopping for a new baby: so.much.stuff. We’ve been good so far, but the cuteness of it all is increasingly hard to resist.

I hope you’re all having a great long weekend!

The Know More Do More campaign has had me thinking a lot about the foods we eat as a family.

Roast chicken is one of the easiest things to make at home, but not everyone has the luxury of time to do so on a regular weekday.

The next time you’re tempted to take a detour through a fast-food drive-thru on your way home from work, pick up a grocery-store roast (or rotisserie-style) chicken instead. It’s probably just as fast, and better for you too.

Skip the wedge fries and macaroni salad and serve it with cut up veggies and a tossed salad. Or you can:

1. 1. Slice it up and make sandwiches i.e. fill a pita, along with some lettuce, tomato and a swipe of mayo. Bacon is optional. (And yummy.)
2. 2. Chop it up and make chicken salad.
3. 3. Chop and add to a green salad, top with fresh mango and avocado and a bit of lime-based dressing.
4. 4. Serve it shredded on warmed tortillas and garnish like you would a taco.
5. 5. Dice it up and use it as a topping for your DIY pizza(along with BBQ sauce, Monterey Jack cheese and a sprinkle of red onion.)
6. 6. Tear it up and add to a prepared sauce and serve with rice i.e. bottled butter chicken or curry sauce 
7. 7. Make chicken stock.
8. 8. Add to your favourite pasta dish. i.e. cook up some linguine, add pesto and cubed chicken. This works great in the summertime when the basil plants are getting unruly. :)
9. 9. Chop up some veggies and add chicken for a quick stir fry.
10. 10. Add to a soup. Or cook noodles in your stock (see #7) and add cubed carrot and chicken for instant chicken soup.

Anything to add? Please share!

p.s. Piggy Market in Westboro carries rotisserie chickens. Must check them out some day!