a peek inside the fishbowl

It’s a new year, and I’ve decided to approach this whole resolution thing a little differently. So much of what I’m reading in the blogosphere is rooted in self-loathing: “I hate my body and I need to lose 20 lbs!” but I am coming at this from a different angle. LOVE. I am going to spend two weeks reintroducing some healthy habits that I know work for me. (Two weeks! YES, that’s it. Two weeks. BABY STEPS PEOPLE.)

I have decided to focus on my guts because I love them, and if ya ain’t got good guts, you ain’t got much.

And here they are (eek!), well, at least the exterior shot:

(WARNING WARNING, this is dangerously close to being WTMI (Way Too Much Information):

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I was at Karen’s blog recently when I was suddenly reminded me of the blogger’s year in review post. Here’s hers. (Have I mentioned that Karen is one of the nicest bloggers I’ve ever met in real life?) The bloggy year in review is something I love to read and do myself and had totally forgotten about until this very minute. (Thanks Karen!)

Here’s what you do. Just take the first line of the first post of every month and repost them in one big post. (Ha. That isn’t very clear, is it?)

Here’s mine. The name of the month links to the first post of that month (in case you’re curious and want to click through and read the rest):

January – Despite what you may have thought after reading out our lack of plans in that rather desperate-sounding post, our New Year’s actually turned out pretty good.

February – Mark left the grocery store and walked across the parking lot towards our car.

March – How did it go?

April – Good grades Hard work deserves a reward.

May  – … is at Dow’s Lake, RIGHT NOW.

June – You turned ten on May 15 and here we are on June 1.

July – [first post didn’t contain a single word!]

August – A few months ago I read a book called Food Matters in which author Mark Bittman wrote about his decision to become a part-time vegan, that is, turning two out of three daily meals (i.e. breakfast and lunch) into vegan meals.

September – I’m using my phone to snap and upload a photo every hour for the entire day.

October – Last night Julie and I went to see Beyond the Score, an innovative show at the NAC.

November – When I was a kid I remember collecting Halloween candy in giant pillowcases, making my own costumes (that is, unless you count the time time I wore this costume … although mine was Snow White!), and I remember the candy.

December – I made my envelopes last weekend and pulled together our list of activities just last night.

A quick follow up to the last time I posted…

On December 31st I took Sarah to the emergency dentist (there’s apparently always one on call somewhere in the city). He took some x-rays and took a long look at her bruised gums. It looks like won’t lose any teeth or need a root canal. Thank god. Sarah can’t even deal with REGULAR dental appointments. I can’t imagine how she’d cope with a root canal.

The inside of her lip looked pretty bad. It’s still swollen and is scabbing over. Mark and I suggested she tell kids that she was in a fight. She didn’t like the idea of lying. (Sheesh. “It’s not lying! It’s just having fun! You can tell them the truth later!”) So we suggested she say that she got into a fight with the ICE and the ice won, because that’s not lying.

The accident didn’t happen going down on her sled or at the bottom of the hill. She did a faceplant while walking up the hill. Her feet slipped from under her. A helmet wouldn’t have helped (unless it was one with a face and mouth guard).

Sidebar: lessons learned include (1) walk up the non-icy side of the hill with ARMS OUTSTRETCHED and (2) memorize mummy’s cell phone number.

She bled all over her snowsuit, which was close to being too small anyway. I threw the coat and pants into the wash, and I think something snagged on the pants.  When I removed it from the dryer they had torn open … too much be salvaged.

Fortunately, after the visit to the dentist we went to West End Kids to check out their snowsuits and  snagged a great sale. I got 50% off a pair of grey Columbia pants and 40% off a gorgeous black North Face coat for Sarah. (Her favourite things about the coat are the faux-fur trim around the hood and a belt.)

We needed to get a snowsuit that day because we were making our annual New Year’s pilgrimage to Alight at Night at Upper Canada Village. We did it all. We rode the horse-drawn wagon, the girls rode the toy train, we saw the gingerbread house and the light show. At some point we realized that Sarah’s snowsuit is the blackest of black. Oy, is she ever hard to see in the dark now. I am mildly worried that she’s turned into the invisible pedestrian, and am seriously thinking of adding some kind of reflective strips, like a removable armband or two.

Alight at Night was prettier than ever. This was the first year I didn’t bring my camera. I only had my iPhone.

Sarah brought her camera. She was pretty excited to have it and to be able to take photos whenever she wants. Here are a few of her photos (she was particularly entranced with the “fireworks” setting on her Coolpix):

We got back from Upper Canada Village around 11:00 p.m. The road conditions were pretty bad – cars in the ditch and all of that. We had just enough time to cook up some coconut shrimp, watch the Grinch, and ring in the New Year. We were all groggy and tired, especially Emma, who, unbeknownst to me would be throwing up at 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. She is better, but still in recovery. I am crossing my fingers that I’m not the next one to get sick. Gah!

Anyway, I hope everyone out there had a peaceful and barf-free New Year. Here’s to good health in 2010!