Cappuccino part 1

My husband loves coffee. He was always trying different beans, grinds, brands, slow drip, fast drip, percolated, strong, weak, sweat, creamy, black etc... Then came christmas time, we had an awesome family get together with uncles and cousins as always. We are a meat and potatoes type family. Very plain but full of life and love.  My dad and his three brothers, former school principles, don't leave the kids behind. Many short but fun coordination games were organized with a points chart, stickers and prizes. We also had to endure a very long power point of our belgian ancestors and the story about how they settled in Canada. Good thing one of my cousin's husband added a new ritual to the family Christmas party. The cappuccino machine. Just what we needed for a pick me up after learning that one of my great, great aunts had a few husbands, even quite possibly at once. Cappuccino is foreign to my dad and his bros. They don't like trying new things. Heck, one of my uncle's doesn't eat vegetables, not even ketchup. He still eats hamburgers meat and bun only. He has sworn off peas since the age of three due to being forced to eat them. The only spice in their diet is salt and pepper. I could just imagine the queer look, expression on my dad's face when cappuccino was being passed around.   Anyways, my husband was thrilled. He was like a kid in a candy shop. He watched attentively B push buttons, froth milk and pour into mugs.  Salivating, he took his first sip, and was transported to heaven. Now, for anyone who knows my husband, he's an interrogator. He asked every possible question on this machine.  When we finally left the party, my hubby had a twinkle in his eye and a bounce in his step.  I knew what this meant.  Intense research on google cappuccino makers for the next month.

Glood

So much personnality, one little person xox

I am a french canadian with two little girls to whom i speak solely french since they are slowly learning english through osmosis with the help of our modern and anglophone world. There is nothing cuter then a francophone child trying to speak english with its strong accent. More and more, my daughters come up with english sayings.  This morning happens to be one of those times. It happens about two minutes before crunch time to leave. Somehow my picky eater got a sneak peak of her lunch and withen seconds, her entire mood changed to foul. How dare her mother give her a craft single cheese slice sandwich. I now had to make a quick decision. 1) Raise my daughter properly and tell her she shouldn't complain especially when there are soo many starving children in the world and hope that she will learn to accept her lunches "as is" in the futur (but deal with a very time consuming tantrum) or 2) take the "chose my battles route" and be suckered into this situation time and time again for not being consistant with my decision. Well of course i took the i don't have time for this sh** route when I have to be in the car with child in 2 minutes. So i resentfully openned the fridge, my only quick choices were honey or jam. She swapped back and forth and finally opted for jam. As I am trying to stay calm, as to not set her off in a fit, she starts giggling and tells me the children at day care call jam glood. Did I hear correctly, glood? Are they creative or just annoying? As she repeats it a few times, I realize she is probably mispronouncing the word they are saying. I wrack my brain until it dawns on me, blood, they call jam blood.

M

Poodle nonsense

As you know, if you read my previous post, I recently adopted a poodle from the humane society.  Being a dog lover, the dogs i have been most drawn to were all breeds except the ones that have the misfortune of having a bad reputation ex: Rottweiler, doberman, pitbull and of course the poodle. That's right, the poodle with it's funny do and its yappiness was to me, a nuissence to all man kind. Being an allergy sufferer, the only types of dogs i limitted myself to adopting were the non-shedding breeds such as Bishons, Yorkies, shih tzu, maltese and the list goes on. Lots to chose from but expensive. So when i adopted a toy poodle from the humane society i thought i could "learn" to love her. She was a bundle of cuteness with her untuched shag. Maybe i could disguise her as a mutt.  When i got home, i started doing some research on the toy poodle breed since i new nothing about it.  Well, low and behold, there are growth charts, and weight charts putting lots of importance on size and color. It so happens, my appricot poodle is a saught after color that is hard to find because it skips generations. Who cares right. She is a sweethart, she loves my girls, she is docile and miraculously rarely makes a sound. I should be greatful to have what seems to be a gift from destiny, wich i am but this other side of me is wrapped up in poodle non-sense.  I started weighing her and measuring her. The humane society could only give an estimated date of birth of December 28. ESTIMATED date of birth. Not good enough. I need precise. These charts are intimidating. What if my dog is not what they said it was, a "toy".  She is on the higher end of the charts. Could i still be as proud or will i always give an explanation when people ask what type of dog she is. Maybe i will just lie and say she is a toy even if she outgrows the charts.  What ridiculousness. I love her, the way her ears flop around, how she runs in circles trying to grab her stub of a tail, her smell, how she likes to burrow before she settles into a ball to nap with me. Toy or not, i love her to bits. That's right. I love my Poodle.

M.

Cannelle 16 weeks, 9inches ( but not counting)

I won a dog ?

There are 2 catagories of people.
Catagory A) Loves most animals and are very sensitive to their well being.
Catagory B) Dosen't wish them any harm but God forbid one dwells in their home with their nasty smell, bad habits and disgusting hair loss.

My sweeties

I have always loved most animals to the exception of bats, reptiles, insectes and grouchy mammals.  As a child, i grew up with a medium sized mutt named Coquette. She was very cute and loyal.  I have missed her ever since. Half my family (dad, brother and myself) loved her to bits and the other half (two gorgeous teenage sisters and mom) probably saw her as part of the furniture, annoyed if she was in the way. I always pictured my adult household with a dog.  As an adult, things changed, I realized the commitment it involves and decided to wait for the perfect timing. See, i was suppose to be pregnant by the age of  24 on my pre planned lifeline and have a family of 4 kids minimum.  After begging my partner day in and day out for years to get pregnant, he who kept stalling due to studies, finally shut me up.  Hense, I am a mother of a charming 2 and 4 year old at the age of 32.  They are my pride and joy yet I am exhausted by their constant demands therefore i am in a counter intuitive situation where I have this desire to have another baby, not a child, a baby. I loved the first year of my girls life. The rest is more then i want to handle.  But obviously, i can`t have a baby and chuck it after its first birthday. So i had to really think things through. Why had i always planned on more kids. Is it necessary for true happines? Well, I'm not about to find out. Then the light bulb went on. DOGS!! Dogs are like babies. They never really grow up. Has the time come for a dog? Yikes. Don't jump the gun Monique i told myself. My husband, tried to reason with me that a cat may be more suitable for our lifestyle. Hummm.What to do? After lots of research i fell upon a foster program for the Humane society. BINGO! Free trials. How perfectomondo. Next thing you know i have a cat with a cast. Total sweetheart. He made me think of this scene in the movie "the Piano" when Holly Hunter played the instrument with her wooden finger. Every so often i would hear Toc. Then came a rabbit, another cat with pins in its legs and a pug with a broken leg from being hit by a car. I loved them all. I soon ruled out the cats due to allergies. Then, while a follow up for one of my injured pets at the Winnipeg Humane Society, i heard about a "lot draw" for the 79 dogs that were seized from a garage north of the city. I was on a role with my petting zoo at home so I thought why not add to the excitement and see if i could win. The pile of entries was so thick that i walked away thinking not much about it.  Then, low and behold, a week goes by and i get a phone call announcing that i was the lucky winner of a dog. OH SHIT!! Is this good, is this bad? Well, i had to see the dog. They couldn't devulge any information over the phone therefore i had to go see my prize. I hadn't won anything in ten years. My husband came for the ride reluctantly with the only motivation that we would go to Costco afterwards.  Well, the prize was a 10 week old apricot toy poodle. She was soo cute we took her home that night.  Talk about a grand prize. She is now 16 weeks, she has fequent accidents but she is perfect. I love her to pieces and she is a great addition to our family. The one that will never really grow up and that will never shy away from being cuddled and love being talked to like she is a morron for the rest of her days.

dirt patch

So i find myself lately outside in what is suppose to be a flower garden in front of my new (old) house that we moved into October 31st. I never really gardened before but thought i should give it a go. Actually, i was just annoyed by the weeds. So i started weeding. Who would of thunk there is such gratification in weeding. Its like picking your nose.  Always so satisfying when you get a good one.  So here i am knee deep in dirt enjoying unearthing those really long roots. I am getting rid of weeds, and pebbles and broken stones as well. To be honest, i'm not sure if they actually are weeds or potential perannuals. My neighbour actually told me at one point that she would take the tulips if i was just going to throw them out. So i had to re plant a few of those cause by what she was telling me, they are quite beautiful and are named hot lips or something of the sorts. Anyways, all this to say that i had a strange realization as i came in for water.  Not only was i obsessed about clearing this spot of soil from weeds and other debris, but i am loving this rich, earthy fresh look so much, that i should leave it bare.  Like that I can breathe easy every time I look at it and be proud of my thorow work. Why go and add flowers and plants, which i am not a fan of in the first place since they make my eyes water and also make me sneeze louder then a Hummers horn. I don't like pretty, i like clean and simple. That`s right folks, i will have the nicest patch of dirt around.  Dirt gardens...Why not.

M