Getting home to my Nest. Motherhood discrimination.

Dear bus driver, all the rude persons that pushed me out of the way so you could get on the bus first and especially the BITCH who complained loudly on her phone to her friend about my stroller. (I was standing right there) I am sorry if YOU "hate the inventor of strollers" right now, but that is just the way it is.

If it makes YOU feel any better I am not liking YOU very much either.

I have 3 1/2 yr old twins and for me that means a stroller. I will  probably use it longer than most because I have two children at the same age and stage of development (neither listens to me right now- I thought language development would help with that, but instead it means they can talk back and say NO). One will run off into traffic and the other into a crowded mall.

I don't use a mountain buggy or a side by side but have found an objectively small folding stoller that sits one child up front and the other down below, akin to stadium seating. In the last 3 and half years I have discovered that the world is not set up for strollers let alone twins strollers and I have made my footprint as small as can be. So much so, my stroller is smaller than most single newborn strollers or people who use their off road running/bike strollers as their primary vehicle (come on you know you don't like those people as they bombard their way down the sidewalk taking out the sandwichboard signs and cafe seats as they swagger by). Using a stroller is my ONLY choice on longer outings when I am on my own.

This was going to a be a 'nice' posting about a family outing, but it's not. The outward journey was easy, until we tried to get home in time for nap. We left for the bus stop a little after 2pm just before the afternoon rush.

One bus came, after I let some of the knapsack/tote/laptop carrying persons get on first,  it became full. We decided to wait for another bus, we would still get home in time for nap 2:30. A second bus came and throngs of boots, hightops, and heels shoved us aside and piled on, leaving no room for myself, my children or the elderly with walkers. A third bus came and again throngs of tweeners,  hipsters and young business persons elbowed their way in. But this time as the bus was filling, I grabbed my stroller and started pushing my through. Yes I was kinda bitchy- you were actively pushing me aside. Why would you not expect that I would push back? Is it because I am mother? I have children? What would your mothers' have done? Nap time was nearing and my diaper-less children were squirming in their seats, should I have stood back and taken it? NO.

So once again, Bitch, you still got on the bus right? Stop complaining and I hope that when you have children and you need to take the bus and people are passing by you because they know you are unable to maneuver like them, that YOU will remember me and what I did to assert myself. To the bus driver, don't look at me like that. I have every right to be on the bus. And all those others people that had to get on the bus right then, I needed to get home to.

A bit of a plug for Phil & Teds, this is an awesome stroller fot twins,  two children close to the same age or singles. The bottom seat comes off to become a 'regular' stroller (just incase one twin or tot # 2 decides to stay home with daddy). It is narrow and light weight. I originally bought it because of the dimensions, according to another bus driver my original stroller, a side by side was too wide to go on the bus (even though when I took it home and measured it, it was smaller than the dimensions he quoted me) but to save further hassle and awkwardness I decided to upgrade! And I was so glad I did. I can fit down most store aisles, through all standard doors, it gets on and off buses easily when they are not filled to the gills, and I can push it with one hand- yes that means I have a hand free for coffee or an umbrella! 

Check out more Fabulous Nests at Housewife Bliss and her blog about all things home, family and diva! 

photos by me.

Wordless Wednesday

A recipe for disaster...

The first time  I found a crayon in the dryer I nearly had a melt down. With toddlers in the house all sorts of things end up in the washing machine & dryer; crayons- melt, chalk- dusts, little men- lose the paint off their smiles and dimes make a hell of a noise. Today I found a tightly folded piece of paper, a recipe for something. Paper can some times be the worst, it shreds and scatters and I am left picking tiny pieces of paper from all of our clothes!  Yuck, more work on laundry day.

December 31 2009

I spent close to three hours in a car yesterday with my children. To dull the constant screaming I turned my attentions to the radio. Being New Years Eve, CBC radio had special after special of resolutions, traditions, parties etc. I don't usually buy into the whole NYE thing. My husband and I like to keep it simple, a good meal, some bubbles and a relaxing evening. Party pooper's that we are, we don't even pretend that we are going to stay up until midnight. For us nothing can compare to Amsterdam 1998/9, and as my husband says "it just ain't New Year's until someone's hair catches fire".


But then I started to listen as one woman explain how we pin our hopes on the the single moment in time when the clock ticks over and we are frozen in place. How we are when the NYE bell's start tolling is how we will be in the year to come. What?! Really!! I didn't know this? Does that mean then I will sleep through the next year; should I stay awake?  What do I do to prepare? The closer I got to home the more the anxiety grew and it turns out with good merit. My un-potty trained three year old poohed in his diaper and I was just too close to home to stop. The smell was retched and soon filled the car. At home as I was changing him the potty trained three old peed her pants. I think they gang up on me. As I was cleaning up the floor and her, the other was tearing through the house at speeds not seen since man broke the sound barrier. With equal strength as speed he crashed and burned not once but twice - really those bruises are self inflicted. By now I am into dinner preparations, and the husband gets home from work, takes one look at the the mayhem and declares "I am making an executive decision, we are having the good bubbles now" and with that he popped the cork. At once I am relieved, the festive sound southed my soul and I began to cook.


Nothing says New Year's more than Paella... Well maybe not but once again I had to clean out my fridge and wanted to do something creative for the last meal of 2009. I have nicknamed it Bottomfeeder Paella after the BC Spot Prawns that my husband and I bought at the docks a few days ago.

Bottomfeeder Paella

• roughly 1lb shelled shrimp
• 1 medium onion
• 1 cup chopped leeks about 1 medium, white and light green parts only
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 tbsp butter
• 5 whole roma tomatoes, peeled and chopped (fresh or canned)
• 2 cups stock, chicken or vegetable
• 1 tsp salt and more to taste
• fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp spanish paprika
• 2 tbsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1 cup short grain rice, rinsed

Preheat oven to 425 F. Heat stock and keep warm until needed. 

Melt butter in large oven proof 10-12 inch skillet or a paella pan if you have one, over medium heat. Cook, onion, leek celery about 5 minutes until translucent, add in garlic cook for another minute. Add and mix well salt, pepper, thyme, and paprika, stir in rice and fully coat, cooking until rice glistens.

Pour warm stock over rice, add bay leaf, tomatoes, parsley, and shrimp. Put the skillet in the oven, bake for 10 -15 minutes. Check the liquid level, and add more stock if needed to keep the rice moist.

Remove from oven cover with tinfoil for 15 minutes to finish cooking the the rice. Use more parsley to garnish.

Open the best bottle of bubbly you have and enjoy a home cooked meal. 

photo by me.

Ricotta Affair

My family jokes only because they love, but I think the home made cheese really did make the lasagne special..... or it may have been my little helpers who took turns stirring the curds and whey!