a peek inside the fishbowl

… isn’t tea at all.

I’m experimenting with moss transplanting. This is my first stab at it:

I might try to kick start my own batch. Did you know that you can whirl up moss in a blender along with some buttermilk and then spread the mixture onto whatever surface you want to become mossy?

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Although Sarah’s official birthday isn’t until the 11th we are hosting a party for her tonight. I’m getting ready today and am starting to freak out a bit. The cake broke coming out of the pan last night (BOTH layers!) and there is much I need to do to get ready. Why do I always get so stressed about it? It’s just hot dogs and veggies for cryin’ out loud.

Wish me luck!

ETA: Help! I have a question!

I bought a bag of  hard plastic (not foam) hair curlers at ValVill yesterday. I’m soaking them in hot soapy water (and a second soak with bleach!) right now. Parents: would you be grossed out if I put a few of them in your child’s hair during a pyjama party?

Where do you stand on loot bags?

Last year for Sarah’s birthday the kids went home with a bunch of stuff they’d made during the party: potted plants with kid-sized gardening gloves tied together with raffia, beanbag ladybugs, frosted cupcakes tucked into easter baskets… At the very end one child asked that dreaded question (dreaded to me at least):

WHERE’S THE LOOT BAGS?

*sigh*

It’s that time of year again, and Sarah has another birthday party coming up. It’s all planned out. It’s going to be a sleepunder, basically, a sleepover without the sleeping. There’ll be dinner and root beer floats, balloons (we have a great source for party balloons), popcorn and a movie.

The lootbag/party favour question came up during the planning stage of this party (which was originally going to be a science party) and I had to consider where I stood on the issue.

In the past I have tried my best to make the lootbag a memorable one, because I have to admit, everyone loves a nice lootbag and it makes a nice parting gift.

I tried not to include any items I wouldn’t like to see in my own home.

I tried to take it easy on the crappy candy.

I tried to abstain from making purchases at the dollar store, avoiding the worst offenders: cheap jewelery, toys with lots of little losable parts, and things that look like they might break in 2.5 seconds and end up in the garbage.

I tried to consider things like packaging, requirement for batteries, and re-usability when making my loot bag purchases.

Not everyone does this.

Well, I have decided not to make loot bags at all, instead, we’re going to exchange it for a nicely wrapped (as yet undetermined) tiny gift.  Trust me. This is easier.

Right now I’m brainstorming lootbag alternatives.

– a small plant in a pretty pot
– a skipping rope or special ball
– sidewalk chalk
– a homemade gift (?)
– a book
– wind-up toy
– ?

Any other ideas you could add to the list?

The party’s on Thursday. So I better get moving.

The Diefenbunker, located just outside of Ottawa near the town of Carp, was one of seven nuclear fallout shelters built across Canada at the height of the cold war. They were created to provide emergency government headquarters in case of nuclear attack.  The one in Carp, the largest at four storeys deep, was designated Central Emergency Government Headquarters (CEGHQ) and was to provide a very select list of people (500, I think) living space for 28 days.

For what it’s worth, 10% of the people on the list were women.

It’s like visiting another time, a freaky reminder of that pervasive fear we all had of being cooked in our beds by the Red Army. (Remember those old Emergency Warning System warnings? And how in school we were told to hide under our desks? Ha. Like it would have made a difference.)

Here’s the blast tunnel, made of metal and a thick layer of concrete.

Rotary phones, big black ashtrays, mint and pink paint. It was all strangely familiar and somehow disconcerting at the same time.

There’s no point wondering why they would have allowed people to smoke in an enclosed area which depended so heavily on filtered air (which came from outside).

I liked these clocks. I might set my watch to Zulu time and see what happens.

Here’s the CBC studio. During a nuclear attack Lorne Green would have been invited to give the emergency broadcast (they were able to take over local stations for a national broadcast) and then leave the building when the broadcast was over.

Here’s the Prime Minister’s bedroom. It is luxurious compared to the other quarters, which consisted entirely of bunks which were shared between shifts. Note that his bed sleeps one.

Prime Minister Diefenbaker was invited to tour the building, but never did.

This is the Bank of Canada vault. Check out the size of that door. There is also a smaller one next to it, designed to release pressure from the interior (otherwise the big 20T door couldn’t be opened). There were seven combination locks, and seven different people were assigned one of the combinations.

CBC.ca has some more info about the Diefenbunker on their website, including a television clip from 1994, the year the Diefenbunker was decommissioned.

Worth going? Yes.
Wheelchair/stroller friendly? No.

Here’s their official website if you need more info or to book your reservations (which you must do if you’re planning a visit.) Combine it with a trip to the Carp Farmer’s market and you have the makings of a pretty nice day.