Carnivore Confessions: To Meat or Not to Meat?

November 23, 2010 By

For most people, the focal point of holiday meals is the meat. Thanksgiving is no exception with the hallowed turkey.

While I would not consider us huge meat eaters, there is no better smell for me than a burger or steak on the BBQ or a brisket in my husband’s smoker.

Last summer, I tweeted about this love affair and how, while I do not disparage vegetarians, I could never live that lifestyle during grilling season. A friend replied that grilled tofo and BOCA burgers are also delicious.

Ummmm, you just keep telling yourself that while you sink your teeth into that tofu turkey on Thanksgiving.

I occasionally eat veggie burgers but tofu ranks right up there with solicitors who contact us despite the fact we’re on the do-not-call list. If I were to give up meat completely, I would do just that. But there is no way I would resort to all those weird, artificial alternatives.

When I told Jamie about my friend’s grilled tofu suggestion, he proclaimed:

Biting into tofu is like biting into a void. It’s like mixing vegetables with Jell-o. Your mouth says you should be tasting savory meat. Instead, you get a big, slimy cube.

Dude could totally rival Jack Handy’s deep thoughts.

Haddie had a few deep thoughts of her own when she brought home this art project from school.

In case you need help translating, it reads:

He looks cool. He’s diying. Run! Away from it!

I love the turkey. He is nice and he’s diying.

I don’t see her becoming a vegetarian anytime soon.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, holidays, Humor

The Scrooge of Thanksgivings Past

November 22, 2010 By

Last week, I casually posted the following status update on Facebook:

Gotta admit I’m just not feeling the Thanksgiving love because we won’t have family here (and cooking a huge dinner for just us doesn’t appeal). Can a person still feel gratitude and order pizza?

I was 1) burned at the stake 2) invited to several people’s celebrations and 3) accused of being sneaky so I would get invited to said celebrations.

Believe me, subtly ain’t my style. I’m nothing if not direct.

Here’s the deal: I get why people love Thanksgiving. I mean, there are certain elements that are great: An attitude of gratitude. Spending time with family preparing and eating a big feast. Being united no matter what denomination or creed.

My disdain for football aside, it’s just never been a holiday I’ve embraced. In Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving in October and I haven’t been home to celebrate since I went away to college. My freshman year, my best friend Lori invited me to join her family and while lovely, I felt like a third wheel. From that point on, I declined all invitations and even volunteered three years in a row to serve Thanksgiving dinner at the local food bank.

And was turned town three years in a row.

Maybe that is the root of my Thanksgiving angst. Who gets rejected for helping the homeless?!

It just seems we’ve diluted the meaning of all our meaningful holidays. Thanksgiving has become less about thanks-giving and more about football and stuffing ourselves silly. Many Black Friday sales are no longer on Friday and have been bumped up to Thursday. I’ve been alarmed how few children know the story of the first Thanksgiving and we’ve been focusing on expressing our gratitude lately.

This year, it’s just my husband, kids and me. While we have many close friends in Denver, they will be spending the day with their families. For this reason, I’m perfectly happy to do our own form of celebration that doesn’t involve slaving in a kitchen all day but rather:

1) Hauling our butterball butts up the Turkey Trot trail at Mount Falcon.
2) Serving a low-maintenance meal I actually like (no offense to the leftover turkey lovers but it’s just not a favorite.)
3) Snuggling up to my beloved family for a movie marathon.
4) Napping.
5) Calling family and expressing our love for them.

For me, those are five things that will make me pretty darn grateful.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Family, Humor

The issue with school lunches

November 18, 2010 By

If my daughter had her way, she would eat “hot lunch” from the school’s cafeteria every day.

Unfortunately for her, she has a money-saving mom who only allows that indulgence once per week and it’s usually on a day they’re serving something healthy.

Sucks to be her.

Last week, it was a particularly chilly day and she queried if this was the day she could get her hot lunch. Responsible parent I am, I extolled the many virtues of saving your money as I packed her lunch. I grabbed her lunch bag, threw it in her backpack and sent her on her merry way to school.

And then looked at the kitchen counter to where I had left her unpacked food.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Hadley, Humor

Why some days, I feel like Betty White

November 17, 2010 By

A couple of weeks ago, I read a feature on Betty White in the newspaper.

One particular part of that interview has had me chuckling ever since:

Every weekday, White gets up at 6, feeds her dog, showers, works on a book, heads to the set (whether TV, movie, or commercial) for a day of shooting, comes home, plays with her dog, does a crossword puzzle, writes some more, and goes to bed at 1:30 a.m.

How does she stay in shape?

“I have a two-story house and a bad memory, so I’m up and down those stairs all the time,” she says. “That’s my exercise.”

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Humor

Let It Snow!

November 14, 2010 By

We woke up last week to a momentous occasion: the first snowfall of the season. Both kids tried to use it to their advantage.

Haddie begged me to drive her to school. I told her she’d be standing at the bus stop in far worse conditions than that this winter.

Tough-love is my version of a pep talk.

Bode tried to declare it a “Snow Day” and stay home from preschool. Yeah, that .000005-inch of snow will wreak havoc every time.


Well, maybe if you’re woosies and live in Texas where the entire state is halted at the sign of a snowflake.

I should know. We got stuck in Dallas on our way back from our Costa Rica honeymoon for that very reason.

I love love love love the snow. I hate hate hate the heat. So I have to admit even though I’m so excited for our cruise aboard the Norwegian Epic, the timing could not be worse because I am finally getting weather I love in Denver.

But I’m willing to make the sacrifice and go anyway.

The third member of our family, Remy a.k.a. “Fat Kitty” had a rather extreme reaction. The bane to his existence is playing in the backyard with the kids. All day long, he “Meows” incessantly until one of us relents and goes outside with him.

Once granted his freedom, Fat Kitty follows the same pattern: He walks through the sliding door, does a big, long stretch and then sharpens his claws on the outdoor mat.

I don’t have the heart to tell him he’s been declawed.

He then roams around the yard in his own private utopia eating grass, lazing out in the sunlight or hiding in the shade. One time, Fat Kitty shocked us all and caught a mouse in the pumpkin patch.

It was a true revelation that he was, indeed a real cat and not just a big, lazy ball of fur.

On our snow day, I tried to lure him outside but our fair-weather cat was having nothin’ to do with it.

He reminded me of my snow-despising mother.

The woman who has lived in the Great, White North her entire life.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Hadley, Humor

My deepest, darkest secret

November 10, 2010 By

I got the MRI results back for my knee last week. The results did not surprise me. The commentary did. The official report from the lab:

History:
Medial meniscus tear. Medial compartment degenerative change.

Findings:
A small amount of joint fluid is present, within physiologic range. There is heterogeous bone marrow signal in the metaphyseal regions; this is a common finding in menstruating females.

To summarize?

1) In addition to my arthritis, I have a meniscus tear in my knee.

2) I am a menstruating female.

And apparently this is a common finding. WHEW!

I need Arthroscopic surgery to repair the torn meniscus. This is allegedly a pretty standard procedure with a recovery of about 6 weeks(though full recovery will take longer than that.)

Thus begs the much more difficult question: when to do it. I’ve been experiencing pain for well over a year now but have been able to maintain my lifestyle by hiking and biking every day (though running and volleyball are definitely out).

But our schedule is kinda tricky. Jamie and I are heading out on a cruise next week (aboard the Norwegian EPIC!), I need to be in Park City for a conference the beginning of December, then there’s Christmas and we also have numerous ski trips planned including Telluride, Echo Mountain and Crested Butte.

Right now, mid-February is about as soon as I can swing it. Maybe I’ll even do it on the 20th–my birthday.

I’ve already had lice as a birthday present.

Comparatively, a new knee sounds pretty darn swell.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Health, Humor

The new standard of birthday excellence

November 9, 2010 By

At church, I work with the 12- and 13-year-old girls. Though my responsibility is to teach on Sundays, I try to attend their weekly Tuesday night activity at the church when I have a chance.

Since Jamie is in the Bishopric, he has to attend meetings that evening so I always have the kids in tow.

I arrived last week to discover the youth disbanding to various cars to collect food donations for Thanksgiving. Knowing my kids wouldn’t want to be dragged around, we invited ourselves to another ward (congregation’s) activity.

I’m all about letting the best ward win.

Behind our church is a smattering of trees. So lovely is this grove that many people (including my classy sister-in-law Tammy) have their wedding receptions here.

Muchos trees also = muchos leaves.

For a service project, the teen-age boys from my friend’s ward chose to rake the grove, which is no small feat.

We chose to reap the rewards of their labors and spent an hour jumping, racing and burying ourselves in the piles.



Oh yeah, and inviting ourselves to warm ourselves on that dark, chilly night with their hot chocolate.

On Saturday, Bode was invited to a birthday party at his friend Noah’s house. When I arrived, his mom Sam said, unbeknownst to me, that Hadley was invited as well. I returned home to extend the invite but by that time, she was head-deep in pumpkin goop so declined.

When I retrieved Bode a couple of hours later, the boys were attacking a pile of leaves. Hadley was not pleased with their choice of activity.

“NOBODY TOLD ME THERE WOULD BE LEAVES INVOLVED AT THAT BOY’S PARTY!”

Leaf-jumping: the new standard of birthday excellence.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor

Saturday is a special day

November 8, 2010 By

Saturday marked the end of soccer season (glory, praises Hallelujah).

It’s not that I didn’t enjoy being part of the soccer mom tribe. It’s just the season seemed so dang long and by the end of it, there were a thousand different ways I would have preferred to spend my weekend. It gives me new appreciation for my folks who raised three athletic kids and attended all of our sporting events through high school.

It’s gonna be a long haul.

Bode was a pleasure to watch, attacking the ball and averaging a few goals a game. Hadley, on the other hand, regressed as the season went on. By the last game she acted downright scared of the ball.

This, from the most spirited, aggressive kid I know who throws a colossal fit whenever her brother beats her in Sorry (which is often).

I’m not discouraging her from playing again but am gently encouraging her to explore other options. She’s an ace at skiing and hiking and loves the water so I’m thinking swim team may be in her future.

This, from the mother who hates to get her face wet.

Haul=long. But it’s worth it.

=================

On another [long-haul] note, last weekend marked the end of Pumpkin Season 2010. The Great Pumpkin has been sitting in our driveway for the past month and Jamie took a saw to it on Saturday. The process is tedious and long. After salvaging the seeds (to trade with other growers), he cut it up, put it in a thousand trash bags and plans to compost it in the patch.

Ever wondered what the inside of The Great Pumpkin looks like?

Big enough to eat a small child, for sure.

As Haddie and Jamie gutted it, I went to the store. As I was backing out, I followed my usual path, not realizing The Great Pumpkin was now in my way.

I may-or-may-not have run into it.

And it may-or-may-not have been the highlight of my season.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Humor, pumpkins

Top Picks errr…Pics of the Week

November 3, 2010 By

Check out my darling twin nieces on Halloween.
(Nevermind that wild rabbits are our neighborhood pest and Jamie is constantly threatening to “break their necks” for destroying our yard.)

I finally took a picture of Bode that I love. In case you couldn’t tell, he is going through a rough patch as it pertains to smiling in pictures. As in he can’t do it. Cases in point:

At the Denver Aquarium.

On the first day of school.

In the Outer Banks.

Well, you get the picture.

And that picture ain’t smiling very well.

However, the other day I finally got one that I love. The weather has been glorious here (mid-60s, my ideal temperature). After preschool, we’ve been hitting the playground and going on many outdoor adventures.

Yesterday, we had stick sword fights along Clear Creek, trekked through our favorite secret passageway to collect branches and leaves for fall decorations and threw 100 rocks in the river. After this precious shot of Bode counting the stones, I inadvertently nailed a duck.

That’s gotta count for some bad karma.

On Monday, we biked to a water tower that is perched over our neighborhood. After stashing our bikes in the ditch, we hiked to the top where we played hide-and-go-seek, threw more rocks and counted the clouds. I’m not sure how long we were up there but it felt like hours as we both experienced a high we never wanted to come down.

As he gazed out upon the undulating landscape, I asked him to turn around to me, at which time I captured his very essence in a moment when he least expected it.

Joy.

And it made all those other unphotogenic moments totally worth it.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Humor

The Great Pumpkin’s Mushroom Kingdom

November 2, 2010 By

Halloween is almost anti-climactic after all the pumpkin patches, parties, weigh-offs and trunk-or-treats.

This year, the kids opted for a Mario Bros. theme. Bode’s hero is Mario and Hadley begged to be Yoshi, his sidekick dinosaur. Bode’s costume was easy: I went to the local thrift store where I found overalls and a red shirt. I bought the actual Mario hat from the Halloween store.

I’ll admit I wasn’t too thrilled about Yoshi so when I couldn’t find a costume in Hadley’s size, I proposed she dress up as Princess Peach, the damsel in distress in Mario’s ficticious Mushroom Kingdom.


Just pretend they are posing with The Great Mushroom.

If you know Hadley’s aversion to all things princess, you would realize what a risky move this was. Somewhere, at sometime, a princess did her wrong and these royal wenches represent all that is evil in the world.

Fortunately, due to her affection for Mario, she made the exception to be Peach.


Though she did have the pageant girl wave down at her school parade.

On Saturday, we had a busy day with soccer games and a playdate with Aunt Lisa while Jamie and I auditioned at the Marriage Ref. That night was the trunk-or-treat at the church. Knowing they would get loaded up on sugar, I fed them a healthy dinner. Thirty seconds prior, Bode professed to be starving to death and proceeded to eat half his weight in food.

“My tummy is sooooo full,” he moaned.

I thought he was exaggerating until it was time to go to the trunk-or-treat an hour later. He refused, with the same complaint.

“Bode, don’t you realize you’re going to go to a place where they are going to stuff you full of candy?” I queried.

“Don’t care. My tummy is too full.”

I don’t know how a kid like that came out of me.

He bounced back on Halloween and we joined our neighborhood revelries with a fire-truck-led procession, followed by trick-or-treating.




The local Medved dealership sponsored our parade and brought this Camero. It was love at first sight for the Lord of the Gourds.

Please don’t ask me how many times he made me retake this photo in order to best showcase his dream car.

As you can imagine, visiting the house of The Great Pumpkin makes us a VERY popular stop for picture-taking.

Next year, I’m charging a fee.

All these were fun times but my favorite moment came earlier that day when I attempted to clean up the house. As I swept the kitchen floor, the Lord of the Gourds commented:

“You’re the best looking thing with a broom today.”

‘Bout time someone recognized it.

Happy Halloween!

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, holidays, Humor, Jamie, pumpkins Tagged With:
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