"Basket Weaving"

When I was growing up I always thought the idea of church denominations was peculiar. I could never understand how God's VERY Word could be divided into so many different Bible versions, or that people could so differently interpret

God's daily design for living. So much so that we would need to compose completely seperate Denominational boundaries and the logistics that follow these.

I'm reading a book right now called "Love has a face" by Michelle Perry. A Missionary in Sudan who had several different people all different ages and from different walks of life, enjoying a camp-out fire at their school and orphanage. Some were students, some were visiting, and some lived there. She remarked how they were all bonding and enjoying the presence of God and community over marshmellows. She likened it to the baskets the ladies make in Sudan, that involve different types of dried grasses and varying colours, that interweave together to make a beautiful end result.

 "How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!"- Psalm 133:1

Now, I'm not saying that different church backgrounds can't come together in celebration and be effective in the Kingdom together. Far from it. I used to work at and attend a wonderful church in Toronto that incorporated and allowed people from all faiths and walks of life. It taught me a huge lesson in the blessing and power of inclusion. But I often have this dream that everyone will just kiss and makeup, and realize that Jesus' original vision and way of teaching included lowering people through roofs in houses, preaching by the seashore, mixing mud and spit for healing eye paste, and other unconventional methods. I honestly think people simply muddle things by putting too much organization, program, and a human-spin onto Something that is entirely God-breathed. Boy I can just hear the toes crunching as I gingerly speak my mind here...

"I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved Me.-"John 17:23


I want to meet all those fellow believers across my town that I've never seen before because they attend a different church; They must have the same love for God that I do. What a wonderful way to make new friends in the faith, and what a beautiful basket would be weaved.

bakity-bake-bake-bake

I l.o.v.e EVERYTHING about baking. The way the dough feels beneath my fingers, the alone time that gives me a chance to catch up on my thoughts of the day and just take a breath.


Some of my earliest memories of baking are helping my Mom in the kitchen with pies. She would save the dough scraps for me and let me make my own little miniature pies. It always made me feel so important and special that she would take the time out to include me in making a creation. Often she would make raisin scones on a Sunday night and we would smother them in butter and jam and retreat to the basement with the whole family to watch an episode of A-Team or Magnum P.I. I guess it's no surprise then, that anything involving baking would conjure up feelings of family and togetherness.

Trying out Spelt flour for the 1st time

"How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners, and instant cameras teach patience to its young?" -Paul Sweeney

I love to bake through my Grandma's recipe book she made for all of the girl's in the family, and including another generation in the process, my son. Sometimes it turns into something that more closely represents an Olympic sport, but regardless I tell myself that we're building memories and it's the journey that matters not the end baking result. Tom and I have a kind of schedule worked out as he does a good portion of the meals and I do the breads and baking. His attempts at baking are very touching and at times, downright comical, poor guy, but I got to give him an "A" for effort. On the otherhand, his meal creations are something worthy of making the front cover of a gourmet foodie mag. I've been working at trying different low-cal options lately and trying to substitute certain ingredients, like agave for sugar, and unbleached, whole wheat, and spelt flours, low fat milk and even soy milk. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, for instance never try to make rice pudding with soy milk, and don't interchange parchment paper for wax paper (it will smoke out your kitchen) Just saying...I also noticed that tweaking some recipes doesn't work as well in baking as it does in cooking. There are some substitutions that I've learned over the years, but for the most part you have to follow it as closely as possible. It seems they may have done most of the tweaking already for you! The next thing I'd like to purchase for my kitchen is a gas range. Tom is almost finished installing the gas piping in our house, so maybe that will be an option in the near future. I'd love to get one of those refurbished old-school gas ranges from the 40's, and I've been doing some searching on Kijiji and Ebay to see if I can snag a good price. To all of you baker's out there, may this post encourage you in all your culinary and baking pursuits and never forget that baking is to life, what Chocolate chips are to cookies.

"Don't rush me!"

"I'll get my own food!"

It never ceases to amaze me how much toddler's just have no sense or care of time. It's literally just not on their radar, and nothing you say or do is going to change that for them. I read recently in a child-developmental magazine how it's important not to rush the morning routine of a toddler. They simply need time to doddle around with their pajamas on, and messed up bedhead, while sipping their bottle and mellowing out. This morning was no exception. I allowed Teo all of the above and an episode of Curious George, and he still wasn't ready to get dressed after an hour. I decided to let him be a participant in the clothes-picking out routine and he seemed to take great pride in that, and bribes of a trip to Toys 'R Us didn't hurt either!  



Morning routine, petting Gus & drinking his bottle



Copying his 2 dogs

"Honey, I said you're hat, not your underwear.."

I suppose it's not such a bad thing to have no concept of time, Tom and I have had a chance to experience this lately as we both don't have cell phones with us, and neither of us wear watches anymore. When we're out, we just enjoy our time together and don't feel the rush to get to our next appointment. It's quite freeing to not feel like time has to run all, or that we have time allotments for every single activity of the day. Just simply living and breathing in the day is good enough for a toddler and should be good enough for me too. He doesn't feel any anxiety, or a tug to perform or arrive on time, he just has to be Teo, how beautiful is that?!

Everything Construction.

Helping Mom load the dishwasher

Very dear to Teo's heart are tools, trucks, and heavy equipment. Not only is his father a construction worker, but reno's are all he's known since birth. Now on our 4th house reno, he gets his daily fix from going alongside Tom and "helping" him where Tom gets it wrong..

Daddy & Teo after ripping down the ceiling

Opened the basement door and found Teo on top of the ladder hammering with a BIG MAN hammer. Gulp.

Cornmeal works great when he misses his outdoor sandbox in Winter

Insisted on wearing his Grandpa's old hardhat at the pirate park.

His most favourite places to visit include (but certainly not limited to)

• Scrap metal yard
• Garbage dump
• Any Construction site anywhere
• Train station (which is also undergoing major renos at the moment. Double the fun)
• Grandma & Grandpa's workroom
• John Deere dealers
• Truck stops
• Lowes & Home Depot, especially the riding tractor section
• Daddy's garage and workshop
• Daddy's worksite
• Early Years Centre tool section

Tom and I find it somewhat amusing when he corrects us about the type of heavy equipment or it's function. He eats, dreams and sleeps construction and I often hear him talking in his sleep about it. Our car trips often include a DVD on Mighty Machines, and I find myself saying "heah Teo, look at the cement mixer" while driving along without him sometimes, only to have my dog or Husband give me a quizzical look. Do you ever do that, talk to your child because you're so used to them being attached to the hip that you find yourself swaying in the check-out line, not realizing you left them at home with Hubby. They grow on you something fierce in everything you see and do, and somehow, someway, they wiggle themselves into your heart and mind and every fibre of your being, and you wonder how you ever lived without them.

Daddy's a little more "lax" than Mommy

Very serious about his construction mags

Blog is the New Black..



Writer-in-Training

So here we go, it was inevitable with a college diploma in Broadcast-Journalism and several years of work in the same field, that the writing bug would return. "Blogging" they say, as to which I replied "Isn't that like a BIG commitment?" I came to the conclusion that I needed an avenue to express my many thoughts, everyday adventures and musings, and facebook only offered a "note" for my long-winded posts. Not enough..So bare with me as I figure this thing out, and I will do my best to entertain and inform you of my life with Tom, Teo Maximus our Son, and his fur brother's Caden & Gus or (Dum & Dummer as affectionately renamed by my Mother and Son) Enjoy!