Bloggity Summer Camp: The Hobbit In High School

Hey Humble Readers...

Day two of Bloggity Summer Camp and I'm having a blast. (scroll down to my second post from yesterday if you want to see Day One)  If you don't know what I'm talking about, make sure to swing by Creating Motherhood and sign up!

So today our lovely Camp Director Calliope asks: What were you like in high school? What extracurricular activities, if any, did you take part in during high school? Did you consider yourself a writer?

So who was the hobbit in high school?  Well...

Pure and simple, I was a geek... I loved boy bands and let myself get lost in books.  I enjoyed school, but I didn't stand out as an all-star student.  I loved classes like English and History, and did remarkably well in Biology.  I totally sucked at Math and Geography.  I also took a lot of useless classes just to get my credits for graduation. 

I spent a lot of time in the library and had many philosophical debates with the very patient Mr. Gradin.  I was such a book geek that I would get let out of classes to help conduct the annual inventory in the library.  And I loved it. 

One thing that was extraordinarily out of character for me was that I really enjoyed drama class.  I think it was the one place where I could be myself without fear of being ridiculed.  I participated in many assemblies and even competed in Fringe Fest with a monologue about a very self-isolated girl named Emily. 

I have pretty much always considered myself a writer, even though I rarely finish anything I start (a terrible TERRIBLE trait I still work to overcome).  I started writing stories when I was 7 years old and it hasn't stopped yet.  In high school I took a creative writing class and found it very frustrating as it was far more structured and a lot less creative than I was hoping for.  My biggest challenge is moving an idea from my brain to the page.  I have all kinds of plot lines and characters rattling around in my poor brain.  They just don't seem to want to move out through my fingers. 

Well... I'm off to go check out what other campers are talking about today!  :)

Bloggity Summer Camp: My Bloggity Space

Hey Humble Readers...

Welcome to Bloggity Summer Camp!!!  Calliope at Creating Motherhood had this fantabulous idea to get the bloggy mojo flowing through the summer.  Here's how she describes it...

"Think of this as summer camp in the blogosphere. We’ve all been dropped off at a month-long camp with fantastic cabins and great wifi. Each night we gather at a looooooooong table over a yummy meal. And as the fireflies dance outside someone puts on some sweet sounding Bessie Smith and we talk about something. We get to know each other better."

Cool idea, eh?  And you can join in any time you want! 

*****
So, today's topic... My bloggity space!

I love my little netbook, and it and my lap-desk reside on our big comfy red couch.  It's not the prettiest piece of furniture... it's definitely showing some abuse (too many dinners eaten in the living room, a wee girl who likes to chew on the pillows, and two not-small adults who lounge in front of the tv too much). 

What does your bloggity space look like?

Foodie Fridays: Premier Edition

Hey Humble Readers...

In an effort to improve my bloggity track record, I have decided to have a couple of weekly features here in the hobbit hole.  So, going forward, Friday will henceforth be known as Foodie Friday.  (I know it's not very original, but if you can come up with another name for it, please be my guest!)

Today I'm sharing my new favourite salad.  Like everyone, I often get into a rut with my meal planning and tossed salads are a go-to for me for pretty much the entire spring and summer.  But I get sooo sick of them after a while that I need to get creative. 

(Not my best photography ever.  Sorry)

Rainbow Black Bean Salad

1 lg can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 large tomato, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 1/2 cup frozen kernel corn
2/3 oil (olive or canola work well)
2 limes, zested and juiced
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin

Optional:
1 avacado, diced
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

In a large bowl wisk together oil, lime zest and juice, chili powder and cumin.  Add in beans, tomato, green pepper, corn, and cilantro (if using), and stir gently ensuring to evenly coat all veggies with the dressing.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes to overnight.  If using avacado, add just before serving.  This salad stands up well in the fridge for up to two days (without the avacado).  Another option is to mash or puree the avacado and incorporate it into the dressing, although that makes the salad's appearance a little muddy. 

This salad is great if you're going to be outdoors or taking it to an event as it doesn't have a mayo or cream based dressing.  It's also really great for breakfast the next morning.

If you try it, please let me know what you think!

*****
So ya, Wednesday's post didn't materialize like I planned, but I have a great excuse... Ginny and I ended up spending the whole day out and about (so rarely happens).  We went to the library for a couple of hours, and spent some time in the park downtown before heading to Beloved's office.  The wee girl had a doctor appointment and we had to go to the public health clinic to get her 6 month shots. 

As I suspected, her weight has completely leveled out, but she is still growing like a stink weed... 2 inches in two and a half months.  She did really great with the needle too, just a little whimper and that was it.  Less than five minutes later she was her smiley happy self trying to wrap her fingers in my hair.

*****
Happy Canada Day!!!! :)

Ginevra @ Seven Months

Hey Humble Readres...

Again, a too-long gap between posts, but I do have a few ideas for things to keep me on track.  I have plans and hopefully starting on Wednesday, I'll be able to put some of them into effect.

But in the mean time... it's that time of the month again (no, not AF, thank heaven!).  Ginny is officially 7 months old today.  I just can't believe it.  I swear to heaven above that I was just in the hospital in labour yesterday. 

Ginny is such a little person now.  She's outgrowing the baby stage so quickly.  I was actually just going through some pics from November when she was first born, and the changes are quite pronounced. 

It seems like she's always in motion.  She army crawls all over the house, and currently is infatuated with the tower fan we have in the living room.  She can't get into a sitting position on her own unless she's got something to hang onto (like the side of her crib), so she's developed this funny little lounging position. 

Just the other day, she decided that it was time to give Mommy a heart attack.  Because she hasn't been able to sit up on her own yet, we hadn't lowered her crib mattress and we still had the bassinett level in the play pen.  The other day, I had set her down in the play pen and after a few moments she started playing peekaboo with me.  I was taking some pics of her looking like that little cartoon Kilroy dude, and then all of a sudden, she just STOOD UP!  I was snapping pictures and ended up dropping the camera and diving across the room to grab her before she took a tumble.  Now she's trying to pull herself up all over the place. 

We started her on solid food a month ago and she loves most of it.  Her favourites are avacado and banana, and she's not so fond of carrots.  Every meal time is an adventure now.  There was one particular occasion when she had a mouthful of avacado and then sneezed.  I ended up covered in the green sticky mash.  Ick!

One glorious side effect of being on solid food is that Ginevra now naps during the day.  It's been quite some time since that happened.  She usually goes down for a long nap in the morning (about 2 hours) and then a shorter one (45 minutes to an hour) in the afternoon.  Quite often I will cuddle with her in our bed for her morning nap, and I will read while she sleeps.  The thing that I love most is the way she fits perfectly snuggled up against me.

In terms of weight gain and growth... well, I'm not really sure.  We go to the doctor and for her six months shots (yes, I'm late) on Wednesday, so we'll find out then.  I'm pretty sure that she hasn't gained much weight in the last few weeks, likely due to the fact that she's so active.  I do think she's gotten a fair bit taller though.  It's been hard to gauge her growth since we stopped using the cloth diapers, because I got so used to her big padded behind.  I can't use her clothes as a gauge any longer because many of them got stretched out by the cloth diapers. 

Her hair is still a point of amusement.  She's sporting a kind of reverse male pattern baldness.  The hair she had at birth around the sides and back fell out but the mop on top is still original.  I've taken to putting it up in a Pebbles Flintstone-esque pig tail.  The really humourous thing is when I take the hair elastic out, it often still stands on end.  The colour changes daily, definitely much lighter than when she was born, varying from light brown to blonde to red. 

She's more vocal now than what she was a month ago.  Her laughs are still rare, but slightly more frequent now.  I often find her, in the morning, talking to the two stuffed bears that reside in her crib.  I can't help but wonder what stories she's telling them. 
Well, Humble Readers... the hour grows late, and our wee girl will be up with the sun.  Thank you all for your comments on the last post.  I so appreciate your support and kind words. 

These Days...

Hey Humble Readers... (if there are still any of you out there who haven't given me up for dead)

I'm here.  I'm alive.  And I thought I'd give you a peek into where I'm at these days.

These days...

I'm in awe of a beautiful little girl who amazes me just by being.  Ginny is officially mobile, rolling and army-crawling everywhere and getting into everything.  Her growth seems to have slowed down (finally!) now that she's burning calories galore.  It's hard to believe it's been almost 7 months since I first saw those big blue eyes and tht mop of dark hair (which isn't so dark any more... somedays it's more red and blonde than brown). 

These days...

I'm reading a lot more than I have in the last few years.  It feels good to get lost in a book for a time.  And now that Ginny is napping during the day (thank you solid food!) I get a bit of time each day and my reading muscles are getting a work out.  Now I just need to work on not reading until the wee hours of the morning so that I'm not a slug during the day.

These days...

I'm watching less tv.  Many of you may recall that I am a tv junkie.  I have been since I was a kid.  Now, due to our welcome-to-parenthood financial wake up call, there is much less to watch as we have cut our cable back to the bare minimum.  We've also changed service providers, so I don't know what channels have what on any more.  Another reason to just turn the idiot box off. 

These days...

I'm spending an inordinate amount of time trying to reconstruct and reorganize my computer.  I was hit with a doozy of a virus last month that resulted in the hard drive of my trusty little netbook being entirely wiped.  Thankfully, all the pics from the last few years are still on the memory cards, cds, and flash drives, but it's taking some time just to get the most recent things reloaded and organized.  Once I have them all back, I'm going to transfer them to an online photo storage site so that I don't have to go through this again.  And I won't even mention trying to find all my bookmarked websites.  *sigh*

These days...

I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to stretch a buck.  Diaper service is gone (*sob*), as is the cable, eating out, and just random trips to the store for whatever I feel like having for lunch.  Our cell phones are next on the chopping block, but we are stuck with them until our contracts expire.  Beloved will keep his in a very scaled back form... likely pay-as-you-go.  I'm trying to find good sources for Canadian coupons, and good cheap recipes.  I still have my mat leave benefits until October, but we are working on getting our budget in line with what Beloved makes now, and using my mat-money to try to lower our monthly debt payments.  It's no joke, it's going to be tight, but we will make it.  It's more of an mental/emotional adjustment than anything right now. 

These days...

I have stopped tracking my cycles, put my FF account on hold, and am trying hard not to think about the fact that we have had to put trying for Halfling 2.0 on the back burner.  Our condo is just too small to add another person, and given the upside-down nature of both our mortgage and our car loan, we don't have the option of selling and moving up.  This has been the hardest part of the last month, coming to terms with the notion that while our family isn't yet complete, and I feel my eggs expiring every day, we have to wait.  I know that a baby doesn't take up much space, but just thinking about a baby and a toddler in this small place is frightening.

These days....

I spend a fair bit (too much!) time navel gazing.  Pondering who I am now, and what I'm doing.  It's nothing new, but all my adult life I have defined myself largely by my work.  I know that working retail doesn't seem like a huge contribution to society, but I enjoyed my work (most of the time) and my customers.  I took pride in helping people find what they were looking for and discover something new.  I know that I have a new and better job now... but still...  Honestly, I think I just need to fill my time better, so I can't get so self-centered.

These days...

I'm searching for my mojo.  I lost it somewhere this past winter and I want it back.  My bloggity mojo, my confident mojo, my cooking mojo (I've ruined far too many dishes lately), and by gum, my sexual mojo.  (Sorry, TMI) 

That's life in the hobbit-hole. 

I'm not making any promises (because I would hate to let you all down AGAIN), but I'm hoping to be back here again soon... with pics, with recipes, and with ramblings.