Monkey Silliness

As I dropped the basket once again over Monkey, I realized I have to share this funny thing with y'all.

Monkey is a strange bird. She never ceases to amaze us with her silliness. It started with a bag... you know, the old stuff a cat in a bag, swing it lightly, and watch the cat wobble. That was Jenny's favourite game! She'd dive right back into the bag when you opened it! Monkey is the same way - always looking for a new ride. So I put her in the laundry basket one day while I was running up and down the stairs doing laundry (as one is likely to do on laundry day, which was today coincidentally). She loved the ride and didn't want to jump out immediately or when we got to the destination. I eventually just started dumping laundry around her to carry.

Soonafter Robin discovered that Monkey LOVES to be trapped UNDER the basket. Yes, all I have to do is flip the basket and lift up a corner and she dashes under. She then proceeds to either play with a toy I provide outside the basket or figure out to get out. I suspect the game is beginning to get old for her (or maybe not) since she is very skilled at getting out. Sometimes she is very clever and moves the basket so it hangs over the stairs. Sometimes she uses Darla's bed as a slop to lift it. And the rest, I guess she just wedges her paws underneath and lifts.

Today, as I was putting away dishes she did her usual attempt to hide in the pantry. I removed her, but as I was getting up to reach the door handle she darted back in half-way, stopped, turned to look up at me... and was removed again. But the cheeky brat did it on purpose and then looked at me! lol

Life with Monkey is never dull. Heck, life with Gryphon and Darla was never dull either. How much more excitement can I take???

Better Photos

You don't really want to look at the photos in the previous post! You really want to see my nephew Dorion. Oh, I know it's true. Everyone loves to see the baby.

Now don't start asking me questions about... well you know what you were thinking. I told you already, you'll know. It will happen. If I can be patient (hahahahaha) so can you. Just enjoy my nephew.

Profiling us

As I posted to Jen's blog just now and saw our wedding photo come up to accompany the comment... I wondered if it's time to update the picture... we're not newly weds anymore :)

Here are some possible alternatives:

This is the most recent from January when we were at a party to see our friend from Tennessee. Then we have the following photos from November. This is my friend's newborn son.

I could confuse everyone with these. Wouldn't that be fun! See that adorable rainbow pointed hat? I made that :)

Looking through the options I realize now why I hadn't changed the photo yet - there are few other options. We don't take many photos together. Now, if this were a blog just about Robin, I could use the photo above. And if Robin knew how to log in I bet he'd remove it! lol Those are my PJs he's wearing to pajama day at work. He won a prize too - damn well better have with that getup.

Here's Robin again with the same baby from above. There's a series of similar photos - but I don't want to scare you with them.

That's about all I have for photos of us. Since I rarely point the camera at myself there are few of me. And since I'm writing this entry I don't have to include any pictures I don't want to - like pictures of me! Now, if you wanted cat or dog or plant photos, I've got that covered!

So, what do y'all think. Should I keep the same photo or change it up - likely to the first option. Or maybe I should wait for a better photo option.

I'm tired - hence the strange randomness of this post. I have to stay up to record tonight's episode of My Unique Family. It features a Wiccan family. I taped it once already at 10 for myself and will tape again at 1 for a friend. I had to borrow her VCR to record. That's team work! I've got the channel (she doesn't) and she has the VCR (I don't) and we both want a copy of this episode. Unfortunately, I missed the recent Wife Swap episode because I didn't hear about it until after it aired. Hopefully I can catch it on a re-run. I also hear that Wiccans were featured on ER this week. That's a lot of Wiccans on the networks lately.

Welcome Dorion

My sister (finally) gave birth to 6lb, 10oz, 19" baby boy yesterday evening. Dorion is his name.

I think this is the cutest first picture my dad sent. And it only took 72 hours of labour! Only 20 minutes of pushing. And some of that 72 hours was very mild contractions. But still - 72 hours of "could be any time now" and the rest of us waiting at our phones! :)

Robin and I celebrated with Sushi at Niko Niko.

Mandy writes a post

Wow, so much was said in that one word.
Now we know why I'm the one leaving posts for y'all.

What's new with everyone? We're watching Red vs Blue on the Xbox. I must confess it's pretty fkn funny. We may just have to add that to our DVD collection...

It's cold here - but I think that's pretty common everywhere (in the northern hemisphere).

To all of you in Winnipeg - I hope you enjoy Festival! Have a Caribou for me and make a toast to the health of my sister's (soon to be born - hurry up baby V) child.

Robin writes a post

YO!

Cake and Cats

At long last I finished the baby blanket for V. I pulled it apart several times before deciding on what you see. As I lay it down to photgraph, big ol' Gryphon decided this was a great place to role. This may be my favourite picture of him to date - you can see his seafoam eyes clearly.



In the next photo, Monkey is enjoying her first taste of catnip... Then Gryphon came in and found it... Poor Fenwick, if she wants to play with the new toy she'll have to venture upstairs...



Robin's been feasting at a workplace potluck today and I'm heading out soon to a departmental potluck. Good food day. I baked my famous vegan chocolate cake. I even tried an alternative ingredient - frozen berries. I haven't tried the cake yet... but I imagine it's fabulous! I also topped it with the accompanying vegan glaze-frosting (the best recipe I've ever come across) and THEN I took the microplane to a bar of 'Endangered Species' chocolate (fairly traded) with raspberry (the 'Grizzly Bear' one).

Oooooh yummy.

The only thing that kept me from cutting a slice already was that I got to lick the frosting bowl!

(Post-potluck update: the cake was a hit! And I enjoyed hearing from several colleagues that they can always count on me to bring the best baking. See, I told you my baking is famous!!)

Boa Nova

OMG
Brunch was absolutely DELICIOUS!
Boa Nova has, hands down, the best brunch of anywhere I've ever eaten.
The buffet was amazing: Imagine french toast (that's not soggy), waffles (with whipped cream and fruit to add on top), sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, etc - the standard stuff.
Add pastries, cereal, bread, cheese, fruit, and so forth (still pretty standard)
Add shrimp, smoked salmon, mussels, fish cakes, pasta salads, of a vast variety that I could not describe.
Add desserts (which I didn't even have to try)
And you have the BEGINNINGS of the buffet.
But that is just the beginning of the brunch!
I had a fabulous omelette made to order (red pepper, ham and cheese for me).
And in rodizio style, they bring to your table skewers of peameal bacon (which is juicy and crisp and oh so good), chicken drumsticks (which was not my thing, but Robin enjoyed) and roasted pineapple that is pure heaven.
Add the best coffee I've ever had
and you have the best brunch ever.

You'll find us back there again soon!!!

We can't wait to try dinner!!!!!

Video Fun - Kitchen and Kitten

Kitchen Reno in 360


Welcome to my first video blog. After attempting my first youtube upload (above) I decided to try another (below).

Enjoy.

The Joys of Kittenhood starring Monkey.

Message Received Sabrina

Okay Okay, I get the message Sabrina. If you're commenting on a post from two years ago then you must be desperate!

What can I say? Tomorrow I will post new photos of the kitchen. Everything is in place now. Not everything is functional, but it's in place!
This evening I made my world famous oatmeal-chocolate-chip-coconut cookies. First baking since before the reno. Tastes all the yummier.

Also, this afternoon I bought coupons for a new restaurant in Kitchener called Boa Nova. It's a rodizio grill house advertised as Portugese dining with a Brazilian twist. It's essentially an all you can eat buffet according to North American descriptions, but is quite different from a standard buffet. Robin's been talking about it since he noticed the new restaurant and looked it up online. It's all you can eat MEAT (plus salads etc). But at $35 each for dinner, we've been waiting for a special occassion... Today for $30 I bought a promotional card that gets us 50% off a meal (up to $100 value) plus 4 x buy one get one dinner free, plus 6 x buy one get one lunch/brunch free. Usually I send these sales people away (someone tried to sell me one for East Side Marios, yuck), but as soon as he said Boa Nova I was sold.
So guess where we're going for Sunday brunch this week! Robin's excited.
I've never been to a rodizio before, but apparently they are everywhere in Brazil. This is the first in the area. I'll let y'all know how brunch was.

I also took some cute videos of Monkey today. Maybe I'll try my hand at uploading a video to youtube or something similar tomorrow and embedding it here. I missed the really funny stuff when Monkey and Darla were playing tag/chase around the couch.
So stay tuned for images.

What else can I mention?... My sister is being treated to a baby shower this weekend. I'm excited for her. But I didn't know the date until recently and I've not quite finished her baby blanket. I've restarted it several times now... She's due in a couple weeks, but realistically it could be any time now. She's having a home birth at my parents' house. Poor mom - she's supportive, but I know she would feel much more comfortable if V was at St. Boniface.

I've also recently learned that I need to get a flight to New Zealand in the next couple years because my friend is moving there to teach in March. She just got back from England where she was teaching for the last two years. I'm very jealous!!