Category Archives: P365

Project 365

Charity, Moose Heads and Homemade Pizza – P365

I had a working date with the girls on Monday night. A group of my very talented women friends are organizing the 2010 Iron Bartender benefit to support a local charitable organization called the Children’s Relief Nursery. We’re all mothers, so the organization’s mission to prevent abuse and neglect for at risk children is something we all support wholeheartedly.

We’re also a group of working mothers so we enjoy the monthly opportunity to get together and talk and… ok… have a drink or two. But I promise – we are extremely efficient. We have to be. The event is in about three weeks. Eeeck!

If you’re in the Portland area then I encourage you to buy a ticket. Besides feeling good about the support you are giving to this wonderful organization, you will also have the opportunity to eat great food, sample a few cocktails and have a lot of fun in the process. We’ll also be crowning the 2010 Iron Bartender from a group of Portland’s most talented drink mixers.

So what does this have to do with Moose Heads? I saw this hanging on the wall in the bar where we had the meeting last night. Isn’t he beautiful? The perfect subject for day number 4 of my P365 project.

Day number 5 has nothing to do with moose heads or charity.

Kei and I are on a quest to live a little healthier and try to save money. Enter the homemade pizza. Thomas and I made it together tonight – his side without vegetables of course. Disclaimer: I didn’t make the dough myself. I’m far too lazy for that.

The Beginning of P365 2010

3 days in and going strong. I am going to try and publish my P365 photos each week. It got to be too much when I tried to post them each day last year, so we’ll see how this goes.

Note: Apparently I am drawn to the photos that tell a story rather than the best photo of each day. It’s just the way I roll.

Appropriate that this is one of my first images of the year. It was some whiny combination of “Mummy” and “Uuuuuuup”. I have to say that I prefer this neediness over the Daddy obsession of a couple of months ago. Doesn’t make it easier to listen to all day though.

A new year means trying out a new local coffee shop. This one has adorable miss-matched dishes, good food, a children’s playroom AND free Wifi. I think we’ll be visiting again.

Bowling today at Thomas’ request. It’s funning how the 10 pin bowling experience remains the same regardless of where you are in the world. The same shoes in the same patterns and colours, same dingy faded “carpet”, same musty, stale smell and the same desire to liberally apply Purell as soon as you leave… Good thing we all had a great time. The most enjoyable part was waiting for Thomas’ ball to slo-o-owly travel down the lane, bouncing off bumpers along the way. In terms of the time it takes to play a game, we definitely got our money’s worth.

Happy

Yes, we had Thanksgiving and a day off today and many, many other activities between my last post (whenever that was) and now…

So, while Curious George is buying me a precious five minutes between loads of laundry, I thought I’d post a couple of fun photos taken the other day while Thomas was “helping” me strip the bed.

I’ll be back with more appropriate holiday-themed photos shortly. We’re pulling the Christmas books out of the basement tonight.

 

Pure Joy… well, I’m working on it.

Heading to Seattle for a girls’ weekend tomorrow. I’m sure Samuel won’t look like this while I’m gone, but I’m pretty sure I’ll have a smile on my face after a few cocktails and a night on the town.

I’ll miss my boys…but every mama needs some girl time. And it’s well timed after the week I’ve had. While I don’t expect to return refreshed (it takes much more than one night away to do that), I do hope to come back with a renewed appreciation for the fun parts of life. Sometimes work takes control of my emotions. This weekend is about getting them back to where they need to be.

Oh and Thomas knows just how to cheer me up. I was telling Kei a story in the car on our way to dinner about something that happened at work today – something that was not my fault, but that really upset me. Thomas kept trying to interrupt to tell me something, but I kept telling him to wait and be patient. He interrupted about 3 or 4 times and each time I told him to wait – each time a little more forcefully.

Finally I had a break in the conversation and I turned to Thomas and told him he could tell me his story now. Without a beat he replied “I want to get some roller skates”.

I have no idea where it came from – I didn’t even know Thomas knew what roller skates were – but the comment was so random and unexpected that it made me laugh and completely lifted me out of the funk.

Talk about bringing me back to the true priorities in life…

Benema Part 1

My brother (Ben) and his fiancee (Emma) were here for a short visit. I’ll call them Benema whenever it’s more convenient and, well, because it’s funny. It was the first time either of had been to the US, and over six months since we visited them in Australia, so we had a lot of catching up to do.

Of course I knew Thomas would “catch up” quickly – especially because I had prior knowledge of the little gift that was coming his way all the way from Australia.

Nothing like a Fireman Sam costume to make sure your Nephew remembers you well after you’re gone. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Thomas so excited.

The rest of the first day of their visit was spent bonding. It didn’t take long. Apparently Benema are very likeable.

Oh, and we drank a little bit of alcohol. It continued through the five days that they were here and this is the last time I will mention it…Let’s just say that someone drove by in a van to collect the bottles for recycling. A van.

Getting Closer

Since Samuel was born, I have been dreaming of the day when my two boys would become best friends, play together and … stop driving me crazy! I am happy to say that as we near Samuel’s first birthday, they are finally getting there. I know, I know, it’s hard to play with someone who lies around like a bump on a log, but now that Samuel is crawling and can say “up”, “mum”, “dada” and “uuuuuuurgh”, there really is no excuse.

Thankfully Thomas has begun to see the value in having a 24/7 playmate. And he’s tried to get Samuel engaged in his Star Wars games (don’t worry – he hasn’t seen the movie), but Samuel seems to be stuck on putting “Dark Spader” in his mouth rather than make him fight Luke Skywalker.

Every now and then, however, I get a small glimpse of what is to come and it makes me happy to know that these two boys will always have a playmate – and that sometimes those moments of playtime won’t result in someone ending up in tears.


[OK, that last photo really has nothing to do with my little story except that it was taken on the same visit to the zoo – it was a mistake and, for some reason, I really like it].

I Look at These Photos and See Piles of Laundry – April 24th, 2009

I am grateful for happy children, a large yard for them to play in, a vegetable garden that is beginning to sprout and the fact that the weather has warmed up enough to enjoy some outdoor time.

It’s very hard for me to look past the dirt, but I’m trying. 

I am also trying to stop this one from eating the dirt. 

Headbut – April 23rd, 2009

One of Samuel’s favourite things to do right now is to put his forehead up to ours and giggle. It’s so adorable.

Only one downside – I now have a scratch at the top of my nose courtesy of an overly affectionate infant with two very large baby teeth.