By Beck I was busy making breakfasts and school lunches this mornings – and I HATE the time between 7 and 8 am on weekday mornings, really – and I overheard my oldest daughter telling my son how to make bannock. “You mix together flour, a bit of baking powder and water and some salt,” she…
Author Archives: Beck
Almost
By Beck It is almost springtime here – the snowbanks are beginning to recede, leaving in their wake dog poop and Tim Hortons cups and deep muddy puddles that The Baby has been instructed not to jump in. Kersplash! she jumps. And brown water splashes all over the legs of a middle-aged woman walking by….
Coffins
By Beck We went to a wake earlier this week, driving through freezing rain in the evening’s soggy darkness. We looked at my husband’s great-uncle, who was wearing his jacket from the business he ran with his children. “Dad” was embroidered on the jacket, which made me have to whip my head away, my eyes…
It’s Over, March.
By Beck It will be March Break in slightly over a week, which fills me with ominous foreboding. We have an unfortunate health history regarding March Break, and while I think it’s largely coincidence, another part of me believes pretty firmly that we have some sort of March Break Curse. Let’s see the proof! 1)…
Little Babies Everywhere
By Beck I held a friend’s newborn baby yesterday and The Baby hovered nearby, half sweet-hearted (gently stroking the baby’s ears and fingers), half jealous (getting a little TOO enthusiastic in her ear-and-finger stroking) and I was amused by how automatic it all was to me – the calm hand guiding The Baby, the feel…
candlelight
By Beck I nearly burned down my house this morning! It was unintentional and involved a CANDLE LEFT BURNING IN AN EMPTY ROOM – just like the PSA! – and I came in and found that flames were just moments away from beginning to lick the wooden wall. Good timing on my part, I suppose,…
Cute Lil’ Cupcake
By Beck The Baby is attending a Valentine’s Day party today, which means – oh, OF COURSE – yet another batch of elaborate cupcakes for me to stay up late making. Someday I will be better at managing my time and will figure out how to make cupcakes during DAYLIGHT HOURS, but by then I’ll…
Nudie Patootie
By Beck My husband told our boy that the word “gymnasium” comes from the Greek “to exercise naked“, which struck the kid as uproariously hilarious. So hilarious, in fact, that he just had to share it with his whole math class today and that is why I had a phonecall from his teacher this afternoon….
Cabin Fever
By Beck I’m really static-y right now. Every time I’ve kissed my kids over the past week, they’ve managed to get a considerable static-charged shock from me. It’s a blessing that we don’t have carpets – particularily SHAG carpets – or the static build-up might have reached dangerous levels by now. Winter comes as a…
Midway
By Beck I know a lot of women expecting their first babies right now (like, NINE. What’s up, my fecund friends?), and so I’m surrounded by one of the things I find funniest in this whole world: expectant first-time parents. That combination of idealism – horribly misplaced idealism – and bravado and high, unrealistic expectations…