My apologies for not posting this sooner; I was felled by a nasty headache last night, and we’ve had a rather busy week. There will be more giveaways and promotional activities coming up in the next few weeks and I’d better get my act together to manage them properly.
According to random.org, the winner of the Fujifilm camera is…
Which by my counting is Colleen C! – I’ll be in touch to get your contact details to pass on. Thanks for playing, everyone.
I’ve been off of work for a week, and I’ve still got another week to go. This was planned well in advance, this August. That we would move at the end of July, and then Mark would take the boys to England for two weeks, and then I’d take two weeks off to cover most of the rest of the month with no one else yet lined up to look after them. I’d use the time to settle them in to the new neighbourhood, and look for a nanny to cover our childcare needs for the next few months until maternity leave begins, with a little extra coverage so that I can rest with the baby during the month of November.
As my days off approached, I sort of began to dread it. What the hell was I going to do with the children all day? I’ve never actually spent that much time with them at home since my last maternity leave. On vacation, yes. On staycation on my own? No. I bought up some Groupon-type deals on attractions and meals. I collected other coupons. I made a list of things that I could occupy them with. I worried about how much they’d end up driving me crazy compared to the relative peace of my office.
Well, turns out spending a bunch of time with my kids can actually be okay! Who knew?! (shut it, all you parents who don’t outsource your childrearing to other caregivers) I’m actually mostly chilled out. I mean, they’ve certainly tested my patience about 57 times a day, but we’ve been sleeping in, spending a bunch of time in our pajamas, and taking things relatively slowly. We’ve been able to visit with loads of friends (including a number of fellow bloggers) and go on adventures big (a visit to the ROM and dinner in Chinatown) and small (a subway ride to see my obstetrician!). And I’m probably being more active at 30 weeks pregnant than I was previously – for better or worse (ouch, my pelvis).
I thankfully managed to find a nanny. There seems like such a risk in placing all our childcare needs on the shoulders of one individual, but unfortunately I don’t really have a choice. The only school-aged childcare in this neighbourhood has a 78 year wait list, approximately (I may be exaggerating, but only slightly) - and I live in a neighbourhood that apparently has one of the highest birth rates in Canada. We’re screwed. So we hope our seemingly perfect (for now) nanny will work out for the next few months. And we will search again next year.
There’s still much to do – so much unpacking left and house-setting up, and we’ve got a tenant moving into the basement apartment, and a couple of adventures that will take us further afield, but it turns out I’m glad to have had this time. We’ve had some fun. And it’s been a bit of a practice run for my maternity leave that will start in October. Oh, except for the newborn-to-take-care-of part. Crap. That.
Well, maybe that’ll be less worrisome than anticipated as well. Right? Right? (Just nod.)
Mott’s Fruitsations – them with a burst of fruit, a burst of fruit (you love the earworm, you know it) – is offering my readers the chance to win a Fujifilm Finepix Z70 digital camera by leaving a comment on this post. I’m a fan of Mott’s unsweetened apple sauce products for the simple convenience factor – handy for baby food and for snacks for growing kids. I know I can make my own apple sauce but it’s nice to know that if I don’t have time (and I often don’t), I have a product on the shelves I can grab without the guilt factor.
Before we get to the giveaway here, let’s talk some more about their own Face of Fruitsations contest running on Facebook.
The New Face of Fruitsations
Mott’s is looking for the New Face of Fruitsations and your child could be it. It’s easy to enter. All you have to do is “Like” their Facebook page, click on the contest tab, and then, if you’re the parent or legal guardian of a child aged between 1 and 13, you can upload a photo of your child and complete the caption telling them why your child loves Mott’s Fruitsations. There is one Grand Prize to be awarded. The New Face of Fruitsations will be featured in their Mott’s Fruitsations National advertising campaign online and in consumer’s magazines such as Today’s Parent, Elle Canada, and Chatelaine.
The Grand Prize also includes:
Further details/terms & conditions can be found here. The last date to enter by photo upload is September 23, 2011.
Whether or not you decide to enter a photo in the contest, everyone can vote for their favourite Photo Submission through the Facebook contest for a chance to win one of 360 Fujifilm Finepix Z70 digital cameras, like the one I’m giving away here. And you can use the integrated ‘share’ buttons on the contest to ask your friends and family to vote for your entry.
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So, would you like to win a fancy new camera to help you take more pictures of your kids – or anything? Here’s how to enter on my blog:
Disclosure: I have been compensated for this post in exchange for promoting the contest.
I was a little panicked a few days ago, after moving (don’t talk about the move), that not only could I not find my new Black & Decker Convection Countertop Oven, but that I would never be able to find counter space for it. I may be unpacking for the next 6 months, after all. But then with the help of a friend I found my counter top, and there was my lovely new oven waiting to be unpacked.
And then I realized how perfect it would be for this week. My family is away so I’m cooking for myself and it’s got ample space for one meal – or more. It heats up super quickly so I won’t get the whole kitchen hot in this already sweltering weather (our new house has no air conditioning…yet). Best of all, it’s on my counter, so I don’t have to bend over to put things down in the main oven (I have a 28 week baby bump in the way).
When I was challenged by Black & Decker and Mom Central Canada to come up with a recipe for the ‘ultimate sandwich’, I thought back to an old favourite of mine. When I was living in the UK and on maternity leave for the first time, my mother-in-law used to take me out to a pub that had simple but delicious panini sandwiches for lunch. I thought I’d take a spin on one I used to have there, with a couple of additional ingredients. Improvements, I’d like to call them.
So voilà, my ultimate sandwich:
Open Faced Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwich
Ingredients:
French crusty loaf (or bread of your choice)
1 tsp Olive Oil
Goat cheese (amount to your taste)
Jarred or fresh roasted red peppers (1 pepper per person)
Basil leaves (4 per person)
Black pepper
Instructions:
1. Cut yourself two pieces of bread per person, and spread some olive oil on both sides. You might try a brush. I have no idea where my pastry brush is so I used my fingers.
2. Pop it in your countertop convection oven on toast/broil. Watch it, don’t walk away, it will brown quickly. You want it lightly toasted at this point. Once there, remove to a plate.
3. Cut yourself some goat cheese in the amount that suits you. I love goat cheese so I was generous, using about a third of this small log.
4. Put the cheese on the bread, put the bread back in the oven onto broil/toast. And I’m telling you again, don’t walk away from it. Watch it while you remove your roasted red peppers from the jar (if not using fresh) to drain and dry them on a paper towel.
5. Broil until the cheese is nice and melty (that’s a technical term). Remove back to your plate.
6. Add some of the drained roasted red pepper – if yours came in pieces as large as mine, I sliced mine in half for the two sides of the sandwich. Add a couple of basil leaves (conveniently provided to me in the form of a Mother’s Day plant gift from the 3 year old from daycare). Drizzle a bit more olive oil over top so the basil won’t dry out or burn.
7. Put the sandwich back in the oven on broil one last time.
8. Remove to your plate. Crack some black pepper over top. Enjoy. It’s delicious.
Black & Decker would like you to know that the Convection Countertop Oven is cooking made easy and affordable (retails for about $60, available at Walmart Canada later this year). It has features like a 60-minute timer, a removable crumb tray/bake pan, an easy-view glass door and a 2-year limited warranty, convenience is at your fingertips. Or rather, at mine, since I have one now.
Disclosure: I created this post as part of the Black & Decker Ultimate Sandwich contest as part of a Mom Central Canada program. I received a Convection Countertop Oven courtesy of Applica Canada Corporation, exclusive licensee of Black & Decker Home. I also received a gift card to cover the cost of groceries. The opinions on this blog are my own.
I never posted in detail about Oliver’s birth story because, well, I couldn’t. I had a bit of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from that experience. It involved losing the ability to breath due to too much epidural, thinking I was dying, not being sure how the heck they were going to get him out, and delivering a baby with so little body fat and jaundice it was insane. Okay, so now I’ve talked about it, almost 6 years later. Hurrah for trauma! (Callum’s birth was a walk in the park, comparatively speaking. Redeeming, really.)
Our house move is the latest thing we shall not speak of. Last weekend was quite…awful. I walked into work on Monday basically brain dead. My boss returned from bereavement leave giving ME sympathy. People kept asking me if I was okay, and I was vacant. I’m thinking I looked like this:
Except I hadn’t eaten any brains. My own brain had just been scrambled.
It wasn’t supposed to take 2 days and 3 truck trips. It wasn’t supposed to be a week later with furniture in the wrong rooms and not re-assembled. It wasn’t supposed to be that much work.
On Thursday night, I drove Mark and the kids to the airport for a long-planned trip to the UK and found myself much more emotional than ever before at saying goodbye to them – which, okay, may be partially blamed on pregnancy, but can mostly be attributed to ‘ohmygod how am I going to sort this house out by myself?’.
Thankfully, I’ve had some help. My parents, my brother and his girlfriend came over on Saturday and shifted so much stuff around that I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. They were amazing. Other friends have stopped in, either to help or to entertain me.
It’s going to be fine, and of course I’ve known that all along – but seriously, that was rough. I will recover from my PTSD but it’s a little fresh right now. And it’s ensured that no matter what, this is a forever home. NEVER MOVING AGAIN.
“Welcome to Fawlty Towers and I would like to welcome you war, you war, YOU ALL and I hope your stay will be a happy one.”
