Sweet, delicious buttertarts

Finally was able to do one element of my holiday baking! Butter tarts - best known for being delicious all year round. I normally make them with my other Christmas baking, but this year moving meant that I was too tired to bake and also that most of my equipment was hidden in boxes!

Butter tarts are so easy. I use my Grandma's recipe but substitute frozen tart shells for hand-made pastry for the sake of convenience. I'm not a big fan of pie crusts and such anyway...

These are always popular - they have golden raisins, coconut and walnuts, as well as all the usual sugar and syrupy goodness! Excellent with a big glass of milk.

A life saver

Ahh, pregnant lady pillow - how could I live without you?

I have been having trouble finding a comfortable position to sleep in for the last couple of months. With the growing bump, I haven't been able to lie on my stomach for ages, and sleeping on your back is a no-no (and becoming painful). Side sleeping is recommended, but then my knees knock together and everything gets all out of whack...

Body pillow to the rescue!!! Jamie picked this up for me down in Texas earlier in December. The story of him lugging it home was so funny. He drove to Target to get it (he's not naturally a shopper!) and it's really bigger than I thought. He brought it on the plane with his other carry-on luggage and got many sideways glances from the flight attendants and dirty looks from his seat mates for his troubles! And a huge hug from me when I saw him in arrivals with his backpack, rolling suitcase and the enormous pillow with the pregnant lady above pictured on the side of it!

While sleeping is still not perfectly comfortable what with all the getting up at night and back pains, this pillow really makes a difference. You curl up around it and you can also fold it behind you when sitting on the couch or in bed. It's so squashy and cozy. I highly recommend it to any other pregnant people out there!

A new addition to the blacklist

Despite many, many chances, we've blacklisted White Spot, a west coast diner-style restaurant chain.

We used to live across from one, and we had several incidents with mysterious hair (long ones and short, wiry ones) in our breakfasts. We complained each time, named our photo website, Pubespot, as a reminder of our experiences and said we would boycott. But, either because of proximity, convenience or desire for milkshakes, we went back. We've had moist hamburgers, their disgusting "Triple O" sauce (made of who knows how many sloppy condiments) and many mediocre meals at several locations. And earlier in December Dave and Bonnie got food poisoning after a visit to White Spot.

Even still, the four of us went for dinner at the Georgia and Cardero location last week when we were moving - it was nearby, had parking and yes, I had a craving for a chocolate milkshake... We were ok with the 15 minute wait and even with the packed house full of hyper children - apparently that location is popular with families going to see the Christmas lights in Stanley Park. But, we were seated in a contained room with two large family groups at three long tables, with about 15 children and half as many babies combined. The room made the intense shrieking and screaming of these poorly behaved children echo with blinding volume. Fine - some kids are loud, and some parents don't attempt to control that... That's bad enough. But what made us decide to boycott the chain is the reaction of the manager when we asked to move before our food came.

Our waitress, a very nice girl who had enough on her plate, said she'd find us a table. Then the goateed manager came over to let us know that he had other people waiting for tables and basically discouraged our moving, despite the fact that we could hardly even hear him communicate the words... We could see several empty tables outside of the noise-dome, and I commented that he could give our table to someone else, the logic being that if he felt is was suitable for us, why would he be unable to give it to others? Get this - he huffed under his breath, rolled his eyes and walked away! Eventually our waitress gave us another table. Jamie wanted to leave immediately but being so hungry by now, we stayed. To add insult to injury, the bun on my chicken burger was soggy and Jamie's rice was crunchy.

So, long story short, White Spot is BLACKLISTED. Anyone else have an "interesting" experience at White Spot?

Christmas recap

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas yesterday! It snuck up on us a bit this year since we were preoccupied with the sudden need to move, but we had a very special one.

We stayed over at Dave & Bonnie's for Christmas eve - so we were ready first thing in the morning for Bonnie's delicious homemade cinnamon buns. We enjoyed opening our stockings and trading secret Santa presents - I didn't make a list of course, but if I had, everything that I unwrapped would have been on it! "Santa" (Jamie) is a very thoughtful gift giver!

After a little time lolling about in the afternoon we left to drive to Ian & Christine's for dinner and by then it was snowing! It amounted to a few centimetres and was such a lovely, swirlingly pretty festive touch. It made driving a little bit slower too, but it was worth it! A white Christmas is a rarity in Vancouver - no complaining here. Dinner was excellent and the jokes in the Christmas crackers seemed (ever so slightly) better this year.

Of course the coup de grace of the night is the gag gift exchange - the new family favourite for about five years running. Lots of laughter and gift stealing, plotting and mock revenge too. Of course my personal favourite is seeing who got the gifts we put in...

The best had to be Ian getting a framed photo of the nightmare-inducing New Year's baby, a creepy old doll from the antique store who is still resting at our place after making an appearance in the exchange for the last two years in a row. It was hilarious to hear Ian exclaiming his relief for not getting the baby again (he got it the first year then I got it last year) but in the end that made it so much funnier. I've made money off that photo on iStock!

And our other gift ended up in Todd's hands - the "romance" kit, including terribly cheap and undrinkable "champagne", a instruction book on wooing from the '30s entitled How to Make Love, some smoked oysters, a cinnamon candle and some heinous grocery store cologne.

I'm sure someone, somewhere will put some of these items to good use! And if not, there's always regifting for next year...

Week 23!

PJs has been getting more and more active every day. A lot of strong thumping and rolling around going on in there - not sure what he's up to, but it certainly feels like he's having lots of fun adventures. We can now see the movements from the outside too, if we're still - it's really amazing!

We're spending some time thinking about how to decorate the baby's room, now that we're in our new place and PJs room is starting (very slowly!) to look like a room and less like a box storage space! I have mainly powdery gray-blue, some grays, off-white and a tiny touch of orange in mind, with a white crib and some great hand-me-over furniture of our own and also a lovely rocking chair that Bonnie used for her babies. I think PJs will love to be rocked in the chair his Daddy was rocked in!

What PJs is up to this week:
Your baby now weighs a little over one pound/500 grams and measures about 11.4 inches/ 29 centimetres from crown to heel. His hearing is well established and he can make out a distorted version of your voice, the beating of your heart and your stomach rumblings. Loud noises often heard in utero, such as the barking of a dog next door or the roar of a vacuum cleaner, probably won't bother your child when he hears them outside the womb.

Numerous studies seem to indicate that the unborn prefer classical music, especially Vivaldi. Play The Four Seasons for your child and pay attention to his movements. Does he quieten down during adagio sections and speed up for the allegro portions? You may have a budding conductor in your womb.

Must have

Love, love, love this idea. The Huffington Post recently launched a project to graphically represent the "lunacy of the Bush years" in a series of posters. They asked the public to contribute words that captured this concept and over 1000 suggestions came back. Check out what the submissions amounted to: Bush slogans, people and events.

The end result is a series of three posters that pick the best of the best. The one above is the Bush slogans version - I must have it! They're selling litho'ed copies of the posters for $20 each and the funds will pay for large-format versions of the posters to be placed on buildings in NYC, LA and Washington, like in the concept below.

Do you love it, or do you love it? Buy yours here.

One more day in the box palace...

Well, tomorrow is moving day. Hallelujah! As you can see, we're all packed up and ready to go. Jamie and I worked like crazy all weekend to make sure that the last of the packing (meaning the second half of our stuff!) was done before he went on his business trip to Google in California this week. It is nice not to have to do any packing now, that's for sure.

In fact, the only things not packed are the cleaning supplies and two each of mugs, forks, spoons and knives. I've been living on to-go food from Capers for dinner and celebratory Christmas lunches at the office since we packed all of our pots and plates. Our house stinks like cardboard boxes, in addition to the dank smell from the water damage. It's truly a luxurious palace!

We definitely have had enough boxes. We bought a bunch of large ones from U-Haul, got some from work and my printer and Dave & Bonnie brought us an entire truckload of excellent liquor store boxes that came in very handy.

My poor back is killing me though. Jamie did all the lifting and lots of bringing things to me, but it still takes a toll, all the bending and such. I can hardly move in the morning (from our mattress on the floor in the bedroom!).

By tomorrow night, if all goes according to plan, all the crap you see above and much more will be in our new place and Jamie can come home to a different condo!

Week 22!

We went to see the doctor yesterday for our regular monthly appointment and she said that all is looking good. PJs heartbeat is 140 beats per minute (normal for a baby at this stage).

PJs is getting bigger every day - as evidenced by my growing bump! Bump photos coming soon - too lazy at the moment... Perhaps lazy is not the right word, but I'm too lazy to find a better one! Too exhausted from moving chores... Now that we know the sex of the baby, I can't wait until we get settled into our new place so I can start on some fun sewing and art projects that I've had in mind.

What PJs is up to this week:
The baby now weighs almost one pound /430 grams, measures nearly 11 inches / just over 27 centimetres long from crown to heel, and is proportioned like a newborn, albeit a thinner version since his baby fat hasn't yet developed. Although he's getting heavier every day, his skin still appears wrinkled because he needs to gain more weight. The lips are distinct and the eyes are formed, though the iris (the coloured part of the eye) still lacks pigment. The pancreas, essential in the production of hormones, is developing steadily.

Even this early, the first signs of teeth appear in the form of tooth buds beneath the gum line. Before you know it, your baby will be born, and soon after, her first teeth will come through.

Week 21!

We went this morning for our ultrasound, eager to get a first look at little PJs, and it was wonderful! We watched as the little arms and legs moved about, PJs waved at us and showed us a thumb and then played hard-to-get with the sonographer! All together we got to watch for about 40 minutes and really loved seeing our little baby. Here are some still shots from this morning:

From the top: PJ's profile, facing left and hand coming to face; PJs feet (one flat, one tippy-toe); and PJ's thumb, coming towards face.

You may be wondering whether we found out the sex... Well, a little suspense more... All we really care about is making sure that PJs is healthy - finding out the gender is just for fun. But for those curious folks out there, we now know... Should I tell you, or wait? I don't know, but then again I have never been too good at keeping a secret....

In order to thwart back-page-first readers, I've hidden the sex! Highlight this text to find out: PJs is a little baby boy!!!

What PJs is up to this week:
Your baby could measure about 27cm from crown to heel. His eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed and his fingernails now cover his fingertips. Watch what you say from now on because he will probably hear you. You can communicate by talking, singing or why not try reading aloud? Some studies suggest a newborn will suck more vigorously when you feed if you read from a book frequently heard in utero. Choose a children's classic, take a look at some of our parent's favourites or use one of your own books - whatever you prefer.

We're moving!!

No posts for a few days as I've been dealing with water issues at home! We sprung several leaks on Sunday after the snow and heavy rain, and our condo started leaking! Steady, heavy leaking from the solarium, down the walls, through to the living room, soaking the floor, and leaks in our bedroom as well. The building we're renting in is I think 11 years old, which probably puts it smack in leaky condo territory!

So, long story short, rather than stay put while our walls are ripped down and carpet is pulled up, and instead of enjoying the construction dust and paint fumes, we have decided to take our landlords up on the "offer" to move. Done!

We're so lucky though - we checked apartments on Craigslist on Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning I went to see a place. It was absolutely beautiful and brand new and perfect for us. The lovely property manager let me apply on the spot and we got news in the afternoon yesterday that we got it! From being potentially homeless (not really, but nearly!) to a brand new place in about 12 hours. A Christmas miracle!

It even has a room for the baby!!! PJs won't have to watch old episodes of Columbo and Murder she Wrote on the laptop with us late at night in our room! It's got fab stainless appliances, dark hardwood and a fireplace. It's at the end of False Creek, just a jot away from the seawall and we are so excited. We're moving December 21st!! HO HO HO!

Week 20!

PJs is really moving a lot lately, especially in the evening and after I eat. Perhaps in response to our long conversations on names! Or to thank me for eating the milk and cookies he or she is asking for at night! It's so exciting to feel the movements - they're slowly getting more pronounced and Jamie can even feel them from the outside!

One pregnancy website says that PJs is the size of a cantaloupe, but that is really misleading... PJs is the length of a cantaloupe, but not that round! The photo at left is a baby at this stage.

What PJs is up to this week:
Your baby measures about 16.5 centimetres from crown to rump and at 300 grams is steadily gaining weight. Over the next month the baby will gain about a pound!

A whitish coat of a slick, fatty substance called vernix caseosa begins to cover your baby and protects the skin during its long immersion in amniotic fluid. It also eases delivery. The baby's swallowing more this week, good practice for the digestive system. After your baby takes in amniotic fluid, his body absorbs the water in the liquid and moves the rest into the large bowel.

The baby's permanent teeth are already starting to form behind the baby teeth, although they won't mature for several years. The baby can move his or her eyes, although not always in tandem. From this point on, the baby seems to be able to differentiate between mornings, afternoons and nighttime and starts to become more active at certain times more than others.

Paper, glorious paper!

I love paper. Fancy paper, journals, art paper, cards... I was looking for part of a gift recently for someone who I don't think reads this blog (although their Mom might- shhh!!) and I needed a cool sketchbook that agrees with my personal stance on the environment. It's so hard to turn down all my favourite Japanese sketchbooks and cool journals and letterpress cards because they're not environmentally sound...

Then we found the Mirage Ecojot series!!! Lovers of art and the environment rejoice! It's not lame looking (unfortunately, still a problem - hello, designers love paper!) and it's perfectly ethical. The pads are made in Canada from 100% recycled post-consumer waste (no new trees!) and certified by the FSC. They're made at a mill that uses alternative power and the inks are veggie-based. And the paper is acid-free, so your lovely musings will be safe from the ravages of time! Oh, and a portion of the price goes to environmental causes.

Locally, they're available at Opus (probably lots of other places too). A great stocking stuffer (Dear Santa...)! :-)

PS, the one shown is not the one I'm giving, but isn't it adorable??

Wow, that's stupid!

Good gracious, this is pitiful and horrifyingly, tragically funny! I believe this dummy is from American Idol?