Tag: Life

Design Halloween

Yesterday my son Sprout helped me carve our Jack O Lanterns. Well, I did the carving. He helped me clean out one of the pumpkins while I did the rest. He also helped design the first one. By design I mean I showed him a website with some stencils and he chose one I could actually carve.

Anyway, here are the Jack O Lanterns that were outside our house for Halloween. The first one was Sprouts chosen design.

I’m very happy with how they all turned out.

I also have to say that Halloween in our neighbourhood was pretty lame. Sox and I figured we would have lots of kids coming by so when we were at Costco the other week we picked up 2 150 count boxes of candy. We had about 15 kids come by. They each got a big handful which was about 6 pieces each, meaning we still have 2/3 of what we bought. Woops.

LOTD – Meatloaf Gruesome

BoingBoing has an awesome Halloween dinner idea. Meat hands!


Take your favorite meatloaf recipe, form to a hand shape in a mold, top with onion bones and fingernails, ketchup blood, and cheese. Bake until gruesome, served with mashed potatoes. Mmmm. This is something I’d love to try with the kids when they are older. Sprout may not eat the potatoes, but I know he will eat the meatloaf.

via BoingBoing

Break Caffeine

Last month when I was really sick I went a whole week without coffee. I was too sick to even think about drinking coffee, which if you know me says a lot about how I was feeling.

After I was better I noticed when I woke up in the mornings that I wasn’t feeling groggy like I used to. I began to notice that while at work I still didn’t need caffeine, but it was a strong habit to go get a coffee when I needed a break.

I decided that this was an excellent time to cut back on caffeine, and to seriously consider cutting it out entirely.

Since I got back to work I have allowed myself one caffeinated coffee at home in the morning. At work and any other time I am out, I drink decaf. So far so good. I enjoy coffee a lot, and really don’t want to give up that part of my life, but I am prepared to give up caffeine, as long as I still get the rich taste I have become accustomed to.

The best part about giving up most of the caffeine is that I am now staying up later than I was before, still getting up at the same time, but feel relaxed and refreshed in the morning. My sleep quality must have improved once I drastically cut back on caffeine.

Now I am nearing the end of my regular Kicking Horse Cliffhanger Espresso. I think I might start looking for their decaf version here in stores. If I can’t find it, I may just order some online.

Movember Attention

I signed up for Movember this year. This is a global movement that is bringing much needed attention to prostate cancer. I’m doing this by growing a Moustache this Movember, the month formerly known as November. My commitment is to grow a moustache all November. I will be documenting my progress on my website, and posting daily pictures on Twitter. The last time I was without facial hair was approximately 6 or 7 years ago.

Here is my starting point prior to Movember:

I am hoping that you will support my efforts by making a donation. The funds raised go directly to Prostate Cancer Canada.

What many people don’t know is that 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer to afflict Canadian men with 25,500 diagnosed and 4,400 dying from the disease each year.

Facts like these have convinced me I should get involved.

To make a donation, you can either:

  • Go to my Movember page and donate online using your credit card or PayPal account , or
  • Write a cheque payable to ‘Prostate Cancer Canada’, referencing my Registration Number 108877 and mailing it to: Prostate Cancer Canada, 145 Front Street East, Ste. 306, Toronto, ON M5A 1E3, Canada.

All donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Prostate Cancer Canada will use the money raised by Movember for the development of programs related to awareness, public education, advocacy, support of those affected, and research into the prevention, detection, treatment and cure of prostate cancer.

For more details on how the funds raised from previous campaigns have been used and the impact Movember is having please go to http://ca.movemberfoundation.com/research-and-programs/.

Now to decide on what style of mo to grow.

Tractor Pumpkin

This morning we drove out to Galey Farm to get our pumpkins. It was a little colder than we were expecting, but we dressed the kids appropriately. Gloves would have been a good idea all around.

The kids enjoyed the tractor ride.

All of us wandered around the pumpkins checking things out.

Sprout found the perfect pumpkin, and here he is showing it off.

Family picture time!

Some partially artsy shots. I am very much out of practice with photography. I know there were lots of photographic opportunities there, but I could not capture anything I felt I liked.


Municipal Tunnel

Yesterday felt like a busy, busy day. In the morning the whole fam was outside in the sun, and we got a bit of yardwork done. We trimmed back a couple shrubs, and hauled all the debris to the municipal yard. While I was trimming, Sprout was helping move some of the branches around with his dumptruck until he got tired of that, and then started running around the yard. Also, it wasn’t just me that took the yard waste to the yard, Sprout and I hauled it there. He loves to go for truck rides, so we do this once in a while.

After the work was done, he and I headed down to Macaulay Point Park. Sox and I had heard about some proposed changes to the park which would affect the off leash access there. We wanted to learn more. The tent they had set up was pretty loud, but I managed to convinve Sprout to let me read a few signs. I grabbed a couple comment forms, then he and I were off for a walk in the park. He wanted to run through the tunnel.

After the tunnel he had a play on the beach. It was lots of fun to watch him running around in the water and playing in the sand all by himself. By the time I decided it was time to go (it was close to lunch time and I was starving) his pants were soaked, and I had to pour the water out of his boots.

Once lunch was done we did some more things around the house including hanging a mirror in the master bedroom, something that has been on a to-do list for probably 10 months.

I love days that are lots of fun, yet feel like we got a lot accomplished.

Leaves Manageable

‘Tis the season for leaves to fall. We have a few in our yard from the cherry tree, and a couple others, and this makes it difficult to clean up after Yoshi when it is dark out.

The other weekend I was out walking with Beet and Yoshi, and we strolled past our old house. The Gary Oak trees had covered the ground with leaves. Suddenly I remembered the hours spent cleaning up the yard, and the several trips to the municipal yard to get rid of them.

Ahhh, I am so glad I don’t have to deal with those any more. What we have is much more manageable, and doesn’t have to be dealt with yet either.

Trainer Workout

I’ve been wanting to ride for a while now. The timing this weekend for me to go mountain biking just didn’t work, and I wasn’t feeling up to a road ride. Instead I popped the road bike on the trainer and stayed home for a spin.

There are some things about riding a trainer that I forgot since last time. First, no matter what, get a fan blowing across yourself. A constant spin like that generates a lot of heat and without actual wind blowing over you, there is no heat dissipation.

Second, don’t wear a jersey. This just traps in the heat even more.

Third, a headband would be a good idea for keeping sweat from running down your face.

Fourth, wear gloves. This may sound odd, but I have never worked up a sweat like I have on the trainer. Everything gets soaked quickly and gripping bars with slippery wet hands is not easy. Gloves give traction.

My workout today was 5 minute warmup, 30 minute hard ride, followed by a 5 minute cool down. It was a good workout, and I think I will try to get back into the trainer once a week again.

In the new house, I have a space downstairs to ride which helps keep the noise down. Downside is no TV to watch, but I will just have to create some good playlists for my ipod.