I don’t know where this rule came from, but I often think I shouldn’t post on weekends. Even though, really, it is the most ideal time for me to write. I’m in my pj’s, E’s working on her bricks in the living room and it’s freezing outside… so what’s the problem? But I digress… already.

If you are a first time reader or even a seasoned one to this space, you may not know that my original idea for this blog was to explore the changing relationship between music and the visual components that came packaged along with it. More specifically, I was interested in the way we think about music NOW versus when I was growing up and would involve myself throughout the length of an entire album staring at the artwork provided on the album’s sleeve. Also, we rarely need to listen to an entire album now, the technology reduces us to singles and shuffles without ever grasping an artist’s intent of telling a complete story. It’s like we’re only allowing ourselves to listen to the climactic parts without allowing for context or the complexities involved with the full plot.

Abandoning the visual component (ok, so iTunes shows the cover art of an album online… but really, it no longer acts as a secondary layer to the whole story of the album) has always felt tragic to me. True – video and remix culture has allowed a new, more interactive, way in which we interpret music that can be shared with millions, but it feels too literal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to the ways in which we adapt and change the way in which we explore our collective creativity. However, the combination of one artist’s interpretation of another artist’s composition, through a static representation that acts as a suggestive conduit to how the listener makes their own interpretation of that album is lost. I feel less participatory in the intricacies of that story.

And so it always pleases me when I find a musician/band that also feels connected to that type of visual interpretation (Arcade Fire, Fleet Foxes, Radiohead are what come to mind immediately). It also always please me when I find a new album/artist that I like, not that I’m picky about music, but I feel completely disconnected to what’s going on at most times in that area. So comes The Swell Season on replay most often in my house these days (with the occasional Black Eyed Pea and/or “I like to move it move it” request form the three year old resident of this household) – I also love their library of tour posters that you can find on their site. To replace my parents collection of milk crates stuffed of Talking Heads, Rolling Stones, Ramones, Beatles and Bruce Springsteen albums, I have taken an interest in the tour posters you can find online (and order) that can act as that static visual cue that I so obviously enjoy.

Now I have lost my train of thought… E is bringing in her Lego creations, it might be time to flip on the Swell Season and bake a sheet of cookies with her. But before I go, I suggest you go read gypsy bandito’s latest post – which is the indirect reason why I broke my rule about weekend posting today.

I went to Las Vegas for work almost two weeks ago. I’m not sure if it was the excitement of being out on my own for five days or the break from routine in such a MAJOR way, but I found myself unable to covet the time I had sleeping alone in a hotel bed. Instead I slept 3 hours a night on average. Since my return I have done nothing but covet my sleep, with bed before 11 and on the weekends ANY chance I got I was nodding off and taking a nap. Last night I slept 12 hours after my 2 hour mid-day nap. This is very weird for me. I don’t DO sleep. I like the idea of it, but the idea of having time to myself normally wins over for any real chance at a decent bed-time. I have recognized that this will probably make me look 50 by the time I am 35, but I can’t help it.

With a week of ample sleep under my belt, here I am on a Sunday night perusing all the long lost blogs I used to visit so regularly and getting caught up in this community of which I occasionally take part. I so want to be vigilant and diligent in this area… but then I also want to be diligent when it comes to cleaning the bathroom. (I cleaned my neglected and disturbingly dirty bathroom today and I’d like to know how hair gets on the ceiling? We’re tall people over here, but we’re not Guinness Book tall. Anyway, it’s disgusting.)

Some highlights from my blog-reading night:

• smittenkitchen via cochonetrouge, leave it to -30somethingwithwindchill to make me feel like anything but pasta basics and pizza are the extent of my menu plan. I can’t wait to try some of these recipes out, especially this black bean & cumin recipe (two of my all time favorite flavors)
• wikstenmade’s beautiful hat and scarf set has given me the direction I need; all my recent knitting projects were half-made and then unravelled… and thanks to her, I have found ravelry – can’t wait to explore more.
• not that I don’t love every one of Jenna’s posts, but I found this post on sweet fine day particularly poignant and resonates with my own fears when it comes to E being at school
• Jessica’s Fish Tank Chronicles on her linear ramblings is a post I read a little less recently, but since every second thing we do in our house now involves the fish tank (this weekend we added the vacuum pump and the algae scrubber as the latest additions to our growing inventory of Tank Tools), I felt like re-reading this post.
• most peeps know I love wine, but now I am going to start a little book, as suggested by Dooce.
• Uh, so, apparently Paul Rudd interviewed Jon Hamm. Paul Rudd has been good friends with Jon Hamm for 20 years. I… there are no words… for how perfect this is to me. It’s like the universe is starting to speak my language. (thank you fug girls).

mud flood

"mini" reno

after-ish

Even the smallest of changes can take up so much of the time you don’t have – especially if that time is suddenly taken by a massive flood in your basement. And painting with eco-paint (which is 99% amazing on walls because there is NO smell) , especially wood mouldings and cabinet doors, require about 5 coats a night for a period of two weeks. That’s after 3 coats of eco-primer. But its also the constant chaos you live in that tends to be more exhausting – even if you wanted to take a night off – there’s no place to really relax.

someday space makers

assembly required

eco-pain...t

dust 24/7

laundry 24/7

But you make do. I still managed to get to work everyday (thought sometimes barely) and we managed to fit a few moments for the more funside of creative projects.

Potato print cards

hand-drawn advent

discussing cookie days

the

drawing squares

We also found time to walk to the market and carry seven feets of tree home and noted , quite often, that if we had a car every project would take half as much time and getting a tree would take 15 minutes, not two hours.

tree

We enjoyed a full house full of visiting family and friends – for two weeks we rarely had less than 10 people at our dinner table at all times, and we also got out to a few parties too. I think for me, Christmas has only gotten better with age. Yes, it’s stressful, but jeez it’s fun.

20 pounds of awesome

beautiful decor - not mine

cochonet's egg candles

much loved food awaits

new residents

i will feed the fish more

Well, do I really need to state the obvious? 2010 – more commitment to this space. More commitment to the stuff that really counts.

E told me today “Mummy you are so pretty, only not when you wear your glasses.” I love my kid.

It’s getting colder, and yesterday as I walked to the train station, carrying you like I always do, I was admiring your little face cupped in the blue wool hat and how your little nose was perfectly reddened against the chill in the air. You had a mischievious and fun-loving sparkle in your eye and every time I laughed, you would laugh and say “Muuummmy, Sttaaaawwwwwwp” Not that I was doing anything but laugh, and my laughter seemed to trigger your laughter, which would only make me laugh harder. It was this moment, of many moments these days, that I find myself trying to store in my memory, so that I can bring them back at a later date (like when you’re 18). Clinging on to, replaying it incessantly, like that if I repeat it enough over and over it will be etched in all my synapses, unable to work without replaying it first.

I don’t know how this runs with other mothers, but its moments like these were I find myself up at 5 a.m. snivelling and remembering, feeling nostalgic and wistful and frankly, amazed that I am privy to such moments of inexplicably profound beauty and love. And I just want the world to slow down.

I keep coming here to post, but my last post is kind of a marvel to me as I’m not really sure what kind of headspace I was in… obviously an inquisitive one?

Who knows, but I do know that I hate taking a proverbial dump on my blog, because then I just never want to come back here. All I can think is “Buh, I can’t believe I thought that was something to write about. How embarrassing.” And then I hide and neglect and generally pretend that this space does not exist. But, oh, it does.

So I’m writing to refresh and renew and hopefully next time, have something more to offer. It’s been way hectic over here, I can hardly believe it’s mid-October. Can you? I didn’t think so.

Also, just as an aside, we have an 18lb turkey on order and 13-15 invited guests coming in from out of town etc. and a broken oven. After a lot of tinkering, D has found a way to get it working, so long as he removes the door and the bottom of the oven… and bangs open the gas valve to get it running. That’s our plan! Blow up the house! My friend suggested a “BYOT” affair and I can’t stop laughing about it. I want to make posters.

D and I watched this movie the other night and in summary, I think it’s a worthwhile flick to watch. But it kind of is disgusting.

Please read no further if you have not seen the movie – but if you have seen the movie! Can I ask you a question? Because I can’t stop thinking about it. Do you think that this is some type of metaphor for how men think pregnancy must feel? You know? Like our bodies change, our hair falls out, our skin gets patchy, our teeth get weak, our skin erupts, things swell, we get really cranky, we want to eat weird things (like cat food?), doctors kind of take over without really telling you exactly what’s going on, we find ourselves cultishly following any news in pregnancy, we have weapons that men can’t seem to figure out how to use (manipulative weaponry) and you know, generally all we want to do is just go home to the Mother Ship instead of being evicted out of District 9. Or just have a freaking glass of wine already!

Maybe it was just my experience.

boston lettuce tree

I planted quite a few seeds for the lettuce, mid-summer. Only one took root and at one time, this was actually a perfect head of lettuce but I felt a bit flummoxed about taking the whole thing out of the ground so I let it continue growing… into a tree. Great thing about lettuce trees if if you’re like me and generally only use boston lettuce in your sandwich fixings, you can just pluck one leaf off the tree and you’re good to go. No salad spinner needed.

I felt uber-accomplished with what I did this year in the garden, especially because half the time I didn’t know what I was doing.

The best lesson learned so far: grow what you know you’ll eat. Case in point: swiss chard. That stuff GROWS and thing is, the only time I have ever brought swiss chard home was a whim-purchase that ended up rotting in a bag in the fridge.

swiss chard, want some?

Carrot seeds are the tiniest things to plant and I kind of got lazy at trying to space them apart, so I poured the seeds in a long line. The trick is (as I was told later) is to continually weed out the carrots from the carrots, so that they’re spaced evenly enough to grow. I kind of did that, but I think in the end I needed more space in between each carrot.

The main issue I had growing carrots? SLUGS. Even typing the word out makes me want to gag. They are everywhere with carrots and the things disgust me. Maybe its the no eyes-no mouth thing, or the slime-factor, but then worms don’t bother me in the same way. Maybe it’s because they remind me of larger maggots. Maybe they remind me of that time I found leeches on my legs after swimming in a lake when I was a kid. HORRIFYING. I feel like the Wicked Witch of the East when they touch me I’M MELLLLTINGGGG! I’m mellllltinnnnnnngg…ssssssssssss….

slug-fest

It’s a problem. I know I should get over it, but every time I try, I find myself dry-heaving in a corner.

But I got some pretty cool carrots so far! Next year I’ll enter them into the “Weirdest Carrot” category at The Brome Fair.

could have been a contender