luck o' the irish

A farmer named Muldoon lived alone in the Irish countryside except for a pet dog he owned for a long time.

The dog finally died and Muldoon went to the parish priest, saying "Father, the dog is dead. Could you possibly be saying a Mass for the poor creature?"

Father Patrick told the farmer "No, we can't have services for an animal in the church, but I'll tell you what, there's a new denomination down the road apiece, and no telling what they believe in, but maybe they'll do something for the animal."

Muldoon said "I'll go right now. By the way, do you think $50,000 is enough to donate for the service?"

Father Patrick replied "Why didn't you tell me the dog was Catholic."

tick tock

I'm pretty lucky in that I don't have to wake up to an alarm clock.
Those days are far behind me.
Thank-g-d.
I find it all so unnatural and cruel.
Then again, that's life I suppose.

Instead, these days I have a built in alarm clock.
Actually I have two.
One is 6 years old and full of energy and loves to come skipping into my room first thing on most mornings.
The other is my bladder.
Note to self- must stop drinking so much chamomile tea right before bed every night.

Anyhow our day starts around 7-7:30 am which is pretty respectable I think.
The morning routine is pretty calm and easy.
I'm pretty grateful for that seeing as I'm really not a morning person.
I like to ease into the day slowly and not feel rushed first thing.
How I ever survived getting up at 5:30- 6 every morning to go to work in my twenties & thirties I'll never know.
I do know, that I don't think I could ever go back to that.
I already mentioned how lucky I am right?

But it's amazing that a mere hour time change can make it so much more difficult to get out of bed in the morning.
I'm thrilled that it's light out longer, don't get me wrong.
But for some reason every year I have a hard time adjusting to the whole "spring forward" thing.
I could have kept on-keepin'-on this morning.

Is there anything better than a good nights sleep?
After all...

Sleep is the best meditation.
Dalai Lama

Can't argue with him..

international house of

Lately dinner has become a bit of a geography lesson around our house.
Monday we had Middle Eastern - Falafel & Tabbouleh Quinoa salad
Tuesday we had Indian- Chicken Tikka, basmati rice and green beans
Saturday we had Japanese- sushi take-out plus Italian Panini's for lunch (see previous post)
And one of my Favourites- Korean on Sunday.
Yummy Kimchi.
We found an amazing new Korean grocery store that has everything you'll even need to make the perfect Korean meal.
I'm dying to do some BBQ Korean short ribs now that the weather is getting nicer.
I think it would be great to have friends over (not the ones mentioned in the previous post of course) and do a traditional Korean Barbecue.
Its all so simple and delicious.

I love that Lulu is pretty adventurous when trying new types of food, and quite honestly prefers Asian, Middle Eastern and Italian food to typical North American food.
The bonus is that it's all so tasty and healthy.
Over dinner we discuss where the food is from, where it is on the map, what the culture is like etc.
It makes for great dinner time discussions.
And it's such a fun way to teach her about the world, yet not have to get on a plane and go anywhere.
(not to say I wouldn't love to take her to these places some day)
But for now it's geography 101 here from the comfort of our own dinner table.

How about you, what's your favourite food and country of origin?

miss manners

Is it just me, or are kids becoming increasingly rude these days?
I've really noticed a complete lack of manners lately.

For example, a few weeks ago I had a bunch of Lulu's friends over for a special Valentine's day lunch.
The place was decked out with cute decorations, I had heart shaped sandwiches, special cupcakes, heart shaped cookies, the works.
Out of all six kids, only one actually said thank-you for having her over and for the yummy food.
One girl actually jumped up on the furniture with wet muddy winter boots on.
Did I mention most of our furniture is cream coloured and not exactly from The Brick.
I mean seriously?! WTF?
What kid does that?
I could maybe see if the kid was like...Two.. but Seven? really?
Do her parents let her do that in her house?
Or should I say, does the nanny let her do that at her house?
Lulu was a bit horrified by it actually, and kept apologizing on her behalf to me later in the day.
I'm so glad that she gets it.
At least I'm doing something right.
I will also add that Lulu couldn't say thank-you enough for throwing her the impromptu lunch party.
Bonus that she is also grateful.

Then this weekend we had some friends over for lunch.
I made Panini's and homemade tomato soup.
For the girls I just kept things simple with Ham & Cheese.
The grown-ups had roast beef, arugula, apple wood smoked cheddar with a horse radish aioli.
Pesto & buffalo Mozzarella.
And brie & royal gala apple on fresh Epi walnut raisin bread.
mmmm paninis.....

What was I talking about?...right...rudeness.
Well when I gave this kid her fresh pressed sandwich, she freaked out.
"I don't like my grilled cheese with lines on it!!!!!! wahh!!! wahhhh!!"
Lulu just looked at me in shock.
I was totally taken aback as well.
This kid is almost EIGHT! Crazy right?
Mom just kind of told her to settle down (in a pretty wishy washy way I might add)
I had to leave the room I was so insulted.
She also kept freaking out over our puppy who is super mellow & calm and pretty much not bothering her at all.
Interesting, considering that they were dog sitting a big dog at their place for the weekend.
Poor Lulu. I felt so bad for her.
She just adores Chelsea and gets pretty upset when anyone insults her puppy.
Not to mention her mom's cooking.
Thankfully she handled the situation with a maturity way beyond her six years and I couldn't have been more proud of her.

The last time we had this kid over (Halloween) she pulled the same crap.
I made home baked individual Mac & cheese. Nothing fancy, just kind of cute.
Special meat and cheeses cut into bat shapes and some little tomato, bocconcini & basil bites.
She was so rude and refused to eat any of it.
What's not to like here people?



If I went to someone's house when I was a kid and they served me this (see above) I would have been thrilled.
Not yelling (or maybe it was screaming) "I hate this kind of macaroni & cheese!!!"
"I don't want to eat this stuff!!!"
Really?!
wow. I was flabbergasted.
I have yet to meet a child that does not like Mac & Cheese.
Though apparently that was a first according to her dad.
Was it all an attention getting act?
Like I said- Drama is this child's middle name.
What really gets me, is that they didn't even apologize on her behalf.
On the contrary they kind of ignored it and made us put up with her nonsense all night.
Thus ruining Lulu's Halloween.
grrr...just thinking about it makes me so mad.

The only reason I keep having them back is that these are old friends of big daddy's so we kind of put up with it.
This kid keeps getting progressively worse and they keep turning a blind eye.
No wonder they have such a hard time finding play dates for her.
I end up feeling kind of bad for them and keep getting sucked into inviting them over.
Anyhow, I don't think I'll be inviting them over any time again soon.
I'm done.
Oh and do you think they would have maybe sent a quick email to say thanks for a lovely lunch and afternoon?
They are after all, completely attached to their blackberries being the "uber fabulous power career couple" that they are..
Nope.
nothing.
I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree in the manners department.
So maybe I shouldn't be too surprised by all that rude behaviour.

So last but not least.
I'm needing to vent so bear with me.

On the way home from school today we were walking with another girl from school and her dad.
Her dad & I were chatting about the school play last week etc..
I even complimented her on her performance.
Great job etc.
The girl starts yelling "stop talking daddy! I just want to walk alone with you!! no more talking!!!"
wow..
I mean I get it when you just want to walk alone with your child and they want to have you all to their selves, but really?!
Lulu would NEVER pull that crap.
In fact she just held my hand and looked at me wondering what in the heck was wrong with this "friend".
Worst of all is that the dad said nothing.
We live on the same street and go in the same direction, so what were we supposed to do?
Lulu & I kind of said adios and walked as fast as we could to get away from this manner-less and clue-less duo.

Anyhow I am just floored that so many parents let their kids act so rude and disrespectful.
Whatever happened to being polite.
Not interrupting.
Being respectful and showing gratitude?
We are not perfect in any shape or form, but there is a zero tolerance for that kind of behaviour in our house.
Lulu would never, I mean NEVER get away with acting like this.
On the contrary, she is a pretty sweet and polite child.
Perfect. no.
But she knows how to behave and be respectful and gracious especially towards adults and when in someones home.
I kind of insist she's that way.
It's not really an option not to be.
And if she's not always on her best behaviour, Big daddy & I don't waste any time setting her on the right track and reminding her what is and isn't an acceptable way to act.

I will add that there have been many times that we were at someone else's house for dinner or lunch and Lulu didn't particularly like what was being served. But rather that blurt out "I don't like this!" we have taught her to just quietly wait until everyone else is finished and say she isn't really that hungry. I get it when kids are little and they are just learning proper meal time etiquette,
but I think by the age of at least six they should have a handle on how to act.
That's just my two cents.

So is it just me, or are the majority of kids just completely without manners and rude these days?
What is happening to our society?
And are the words "Thank-You so hard to say?
Or at the very least, email?

Oh and it goes without saying that if I know you and your kids and you read this blog, I am obviously not talking about you.
Most of our friends have really sweet & polite children, except for the above mentioned of course.
I guess at the end of the day, I just find it all so disappointing and unfortunate.