Curling fever thanks to @TeamBradJacobs!

It's been an exciting few weeks in our household. As I mentioned in an earlier post we've been watching a lot of curling over the winter, which for me is not unusual, but its the first winter that my big boy has also taken more notice of my love for the sport.

We watched Rachel Homan's run to the top of the Canadian podium and the a short week later, we tuned in faithfully to TSN's coverage of the Tim Horton's Brier to see Northern Ontario and Team Brad Jacobs put on a stellar performance to win the Canadian championship. 

Growing up just outside of Sault Ste. Marie, it is only natural that my support goes to Team Northern Ontario. In the last few Briers its been fun to watch Team Jacobs evolve and improve and advance themselves into this year's Brier final.  It was truly a lot of fun to watch the curling coverage all season long and see a range of difficult shots executed under tremendous pressure.

While my boys have always been around when curling is on the TV, I was overjoyed to hear my smart kindergartener asking lots of questions this year about the game.

'How come they have brooms, how come that guy holds his broom like that, how can she move like that on her shoes, how come they kicked the rocks'.

These questions were exciting to answer and I have to say by the end of the Tim Horton's Brier and Team Northern Ontario's reign, I would say we definitely have a future curler on our hands. E was pumped when I brought out my brooms to demonstrate the sweeping and the boys got right into it with their 'hurry haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard' and 'dig boys, dig dig dig' impressions.

It was a great couple of weeks watching the boys from the Soo work so hard to win the Brier and then to see them bring home a silver medal from Worlds was the icing on the cake. I truly admire their work ethic and commitment to the game of curling. I know they are still young and have many years ahead of them, but as a parent of future curling enthusiasts, I am so excited for the future of this game. Its great to know that there are excellent role models involved in the sport that my boys will grow up learning about and striving to be like - so thank you for all the fun this winter Team Jacobs - Team Northern Ontario - Team Canada.

Busy living life!

I can hardly believe its mid-march.  The days seem to meld together and before I know it another week has passed and I have yet to even think about making a blog entry.

I'd like to say that this upsets me, but in reality, when I don't get to blogging, it means life is busy, and busy is good.

The past couple of months we've just been enjoying our hectic schedules of raising two boys. Nothing too overly exciting but we've gotten out and about with the kids, and now that spring like weather is almost here, I imagine we'll be spending out free time outdoors as much as possible.

This winter, we did a little sleigh riding, and although we skipped our annual canal outing, we did hit Snowflake Kingdom during Winterlude which did not disappoint any of us. The canal is closed for another year, and although it would have been nice to get out for a family skate, I know there will be many other years to enjoy this feature of the nation's capital!

 Last weekend, E wrapped up another season of CanSkate. He is moving and shaking so well on both skates now. I have a feeling he'll be a great asset to any hockey team next season! H is about the only member of this family that wants to keep on shoveling. He is obsessed with his shovel and throws a royal fit if you rush him the house at the end of the day without a few minutes to 'chovel'! As much as I don't want to spend another second out in the cold at the days end, it is a pretty cute phase that I know won't last long.

Being the curling fan that I am, this time of year I am almost always half-glued to the tv. The Scotties was in Kingston this year and we managed to get there in person on closing weekend, just in time to see Team Homan from Ontario, in top play-off form.  The Brier followed a week later, and the excitement was high in this household when the boys from the Soo, Northern Ontario, Team Jacobs took home the Brier Tankard! Now, it's going to be an exciting few weeks of World Curling viewing!

I can't promise that blogging posts will be any more consistent, but I do hope that you are enjoying life as much as I am these days!

Bring on Easter! I could use some chocolate!

Is it just me...

or do you see the resemblance???!!!!

I mean... look at those cheek bones!


Okay... so no resemblance!!! But you gotta admit... two good looking boys in these pics!

E and I had an eventful Saturday night watching the Men's Gold Medal game for Olympic Curling. Perhaps it was a 'tad' more eventful for me, then it was for E. I had to basically keep the food and snacks a rollin' through the entire game... but E didn't seem to mind, and neither did I.

I think E actually likes watching curling... take these shots for example - he's pretty excited about K-Mart's call here! And who better to execute the shot but Mommy's fave - Johnny Mo!

In the end it was GOLD for Canada... and I think it may have been beginning of another curling enthusiast in our household!

Nothing but dust!

Apparently the author of this blog... is MIA.

SHOCKING, I KNOW!

There is nothing but dust on the 'Desk of Sara' - its pathetic, even by the standards of the world's worst housekeeper (I'm sure)!

February has been a shit month. Sounds harsh... but its the truth. The nasty flu bug hit me at the beginning of the month, and then our daycare had a similar bug at her house, and last week E had it too. This bug has been around the block and back again, and has really taken the life right out of me.

Slowly but surely I am climbing back into regular life, but from a blogging perspective, I haven't felt like blogging in a while - and I haven't even felt guilty about it either. A bold statement I know... but I hope you aren't completely offended.

Lots has been going on. At the end of January, I attended the Scotties Tournament of Hearts opening weekend in Sault Ste. Marie and had a great time. The curling was good, and I just enjoyed being 'home', spending time with my family. PC and E didn't make the trek to the Soo... so it was kind of weird being their on my own, almost taking me back a decade - weird, but nice.

The first week of February was when I was attacked by the flu bug, and it stayed with me for a good 5 days. When I did come around, PC and I did manage to take E out on the Rideau Canal, for his first taste of Beavertails and Winterlude. He loved every minute of it, as did PC and I. We haven't skated on the canal since before we were married, so it was really nice to finally do it again, and with E - I want to make it an annual tradition.

Mid-February I got away for another weekend (PC if your reading, put down the calculator, I know I owe you a weekend or two - and I know you already have plans in the works to collect'!). This weekend getaway wasn't too far... just to Cornwall, for a fun ladies spiel. I curled with some old club mates from the Rideau CC, and we had so much fun... we lost in the final, but I did take home a great prize - a new fancy schmancy coffee station, that I LOVE. And, it was so nice to see some friendly curling faces that I have missed over the last two years!

Speaking of which... back in the day (Janaury 14th) I turned the big 3-0 (which to my credit, I drafted a post on 30, but haven't yet finish it, but I digress). So... the big 3-0 happened, PC threw me a surprise party, and I was surprised for sure - so much that I took it upon my self to become the party's designated shooter girl - not a good move when your 30 - you end up paying for it for the next day week month! Beyond the party, and just a little over a week ago, my 130-O crew reunited for our traditional b-day dinner, and they all chipped in to get me a Tiffany's bracelet. I LOVE IT!!! My most favourite piece to date, in addition to my wedding rings. These ladies are AWESOME friends, let me tell you! I almost can't wait to turn 40 - KIDDING!

Overall, February has just seemed run down yet busy. Work is busy too... and I guess when you are either off sick, or home with a sick child for a good third of the month, it gets even busier. I have also had play dates in there, 130-O activities, family functions... and when you put that all together in the shortest month of the year, plus two weeks of steady Olympic coverage on the tube... you get ... Dust on the Desk of Sara!

There may have to be a name change for the blog if this keeps up - but don't worry you'd be the first to know! Hopefully March is an all around better month... although I definitely don't like the sounds of March Madness - yikes!

***NOTE*** Thanks to many of you for inquiring about the status of blog in the last few weeks... and especially to Mr. Wall tonight for making public mention of it on Facebook! That really got me going Darcy! The readers owe this post to you my friend!

This and That

Its been several days since my last post, and I wish I could say I had a valid excuse for not posting, but as it turns out I have no excuse! I have had tidbits and partial posts floating around in my head... but just never the time to sort them out on the blog, so I thought I would just throw out these random updates and thoughts, and let you take what you want from them... if anything at all!

• Two weekends ago, I took E on his first over night roadie... to a cottage just past Bancroft. My roomies from University (130-O ladies) planned a get together as one of our members (shout out to Bee) is moving to Texas, and we wanted to have one last weekend together, before she departed. It was quite the adventure... packing for this trip for me was nothing, but packing to take a baby to a cottage in the middle of winter ... WOW! The things you have to remember to take... I don't think the term 'packing lightly' was meant to be applied when a baby is involved.
  

The weekend was quite good... as per usual when I get together with these ladies, we always have a good time... reminiscing about old times, and then adding new memories with our silliness!

Here is a quick pic from that weekend...

• Then... last weekend, I went to a SURPRISE goodbye party for little Miss Texas... in Oshawa, as her sister had planned this party in addition to our previous ladies weekend. This meant, a second roadie with E, for a second weekend in a row. This was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I wanted to go, but wasn't sure about taking E all that way just to go there and back. But then my BFF Kristy was going to be at her place that weekend in T.O. so I decide to go to the party in Oshawa with E, and then in T.O to stay the night, see her new condo, and get in a quick visit. It was a fabulous trip... Bee was so surprised when she showed up and we all jumped out to welcome her, and seeing Kristy was the perfect bonus to the trip. On top of that.... taking E in the car was awesome! He's a good little traveler... so our next trek will be definitely be the 8 hour jaunt to Thessalon!

Here's a quick pic from last weekend... the boy toy in the picture is Bee's boyfriend Ryan - the reason she is moving to Texas!

• Tomorrow... we visit E's family doctor for the mommy are you feeding him enough monitoring session weight check up. I think its going well... I am hoping he will have gained close to another pound this round. The bottle feeding is going really well... and I have actually come to see that its a hell a lot more convenient to bottle feed on road trips than it is to breast-feed, so while I was at first a little bitter about the whole situation, I have since discovered the silver lining in it all.

• This week, the Tim Horton's Brier in on (curling for sports challenged)... and its been fun to watch (minus the fact that I have issues listening to Linda Moore and Ray Turnball for more than 20 minutes at a time. I won't go into a long rant on these two... but the older they get, the worse they are! Thank god for Vic Rauter... he's still got it)!

This is why I love curling so much:



Honestly... best shot I've seen in a long time, and so glad it came from Team Ontario!

• The time change has been kicking my ass this week... and its only Tuesday. E somehow got his signals crossed and is acting like we will fell back instead of springing ahead an hour. I... being the confident mother I am, was so sure that the darker mornings would translate into longer sleep-ins for E, but he apparently feels the need to wake up almost an hour earlier than he was previous to the time change. This has me being extra tired and thus being a little cranky by the day's end. I am hoping to get back on schedule ... by the end of the week (if the good lord knows what's good for this world)!

• Our PVR is on fritz... somehow, PC and a party who shall remain nameless (JULES!), were screwing around with the dish while I was away on the weekend, and the somehow the PVR quit working in the middle of this necessary repair. I could literally lose my mind. I heart my PVR... it allows me to keep up to date with my key shows, but not have to be restricted to the TV schedule, because as we all know... babies have this way of keeping you on THEIR schedule, which doesn't happen to be the same schedule as the TV guide. I grilled PC on how long the repair is going to take... as I was secreting loading the gun behind my back and removing the safety for emphasis.

• Before the PVR went on the fritz... I managed to take in the finale of The Bachelor... and the After the Final Rose, Part I and II. Oh the drama. I swear this is why I have faithfully watched this show, I love stuff like this. He dumps the one he proposed to, to ask for a second chance with the one he originally dumped... and its all on TV for my viewing pleasure. Someone at ABC obviously had me in mind when they thought up this show - I just can't get enough. And too boot, the Bachelor himself, Jason Mesnick, is now on Twitter... so now I can keep tabs on him and Molly as often as I want. God, I love when reality TV and social networking unite! LOVE IT!
  

• Baby bottles... HOLY complicated. I went to Toys R Us this week to look at getting some larger baby bottles for E, as he is outgrowing the 6 oz. bottle and fast. I am using breastfeeding bottles right now, and really like the nipples on these bottles. I want to keep the same type of nipple just on a larger bottle but do you think it could be that easy - NO! I must have starred at the bottle wall for a good 10 minutes just overwhelmed at all the options. Its crazy... slow flow, fast flow... even flow... air flow, drop-ins, plastic, BPA Free... the options are endless. I think taking the brakes off the Escape and putting them back on would be an easier job then selecting the right bottle and nipple to transition into!

Okay... there are other random thoughts floating around in my head, but I will have to cap it off at that for now as I am one tired cat! Feel free to comment on anything that may have peaked your interest... especially if you have some suggestions in the bottle department.

Cheers!

Curling in HD!

Today I have been taking in the Casino Rama Skins Game on TSN... and I think its the first curling event I have ever seen in HD. I have to admit... it's AWESOME!

A few years ago when we got our HD TV, PC would often have this conversation with his male buddies.

Buddy: Did you see the football game yesterday?
PC: Ya, it was good.

Buddy: Ya, it was a great game... did you see when X made the play on Y, it was freakin awesome.
PC: It was awesome ... but you shoulda seen it in HIGH DEFINITION.

It was the running joke around our place ... I would often mock PC by saying 'but you shoulda seen it High Definition', after just about everything he talked about. It got old fast... and to be honest, I never really got what he meant by that line, as it all looked the same to me (probably because I don't like football, and don't pay attention to it either). But today when I turned the TV to TSN ... and skins game was in HD... well - I GOT IT.

HD and curling are a great match... all the games should be broadcast in HD. For me, it made me feel like you are practically on the ice. I have never before seen the actual pebble on the ice so clearly than on these broadcasts. I loved the crowd too... I saw a few people I knew in about the 10th row up... and I know I would have never recognized them without the HD.

From viewing the games in HD... I learned the following:

• Randy Ferbey has the face for radio (honestly... I knew he wasn't the greatest catch in the curling world, but queue the HD and all I can say is WOW)!
• HD is Johhny Mo's friend - he cleans up nicely!
• Dave Nedohin really fills out that uniform... he's obviously been to the gym in recent years.
  
• just how little hair Glenn Howard actually has on his head!
  
• what beautiful complexions JJ and her teammates have...
• Craig Savill put some effort into his faux hawk hairdo...
• Jill Officer was in need of some lip chap!
  

What I didn't need HD to tell me is that Tow Truck in a Box is available at Zellars - I figured that out after the first 20 commercials!!! I also didn't need HD to realize just how much I did not miss Linda and Ray in the non-curling season. I don't know what it is... but as the years roll on, they never seem to come to a broadcast with any new material. As you may recall, I am a bigger fan of CBC's Joan & Mike... Mike Harris says it like it is... and I love that. Ray and Linda are so monotone... and tonight if I hear them say 'its all about reading the ice' one more time .... honestly (even little E was rolling his eyes at them!)

However... for a new Mom being confined to the house on a Saturday, I was lovin TSN Curling (minus Linda & Ray) in HD!

I've been hanging around!

Well... its been a week since my last post, and while I wish I could say I won a free vacation and was whisked off to some tropical island for the past week, the truth is I have just been hanging around, doing nothing much at all.

Sad, isn't it?

The truth of the matter is that the Scotties took over my life for the last week. The Scotties, being the Canadian National Women's Curling Championships. With two draws everyday being televised, plus keeping tabs on the morning draw online, it was all very time consuming, yet entertaining.

I spent every free waking moment in front of the tv catching all of the live action on TSN and CBC, and what a great week it was. Now I know most folks don't get too aroused at a game of curling on tv, but nothing getting me energized like a nail-biting game of curling.

Manitoba prevailed this weekend, and I was extremely happy for Ottawa-native Dawn Askin - but it was fairly heart-wrenching to see Alberta lose such a close game after curling well all week long. That's how it goes though, you win some you lose some!

But - I won't bore you with curling details any longer.

The rest of the weekend was spent rather leisurely ... at home doing laundry, groceries, etc. and at my in-laws putting in some quality time there.

I am hoping that since the February curling blitz is over, I can get back to more regular blogging now (that is... until the Brier starts on Saturday!).

How was your weekend? Did you do anything exciting that you would like to share?

Short Weekend Recap

This will be short as I am tired... but I am slowly recovering from a looooooooooooooooong, yet entertaining weekend.

PC and I curled in a fun mixed spiel this weekend... and of course, it was a great time. As many of you may know PC is not a curler (although I must say his shot making was pretty impressive this weekend), however seeing as this spiel was sponsored by Mr. Keith, as in Alexander Keith... it didn't take much persuasion on my part to get him interested. To make a long story short, there was free beer Friday evening (all evening long), and by the end of the night PC had become a real estate agent, ripped a good pair of jeans, cut his leg wide open, and bruised his hand. Needless to say he doesn't remember a thing, and the details are little sketchy for me as well, but we concluded our conversation late last night by saying we had a good weekend, and we are leaving it at that (even thought I believe it would have been cheaper to buy all of our beer that night than to replace PC's wardrobe and pay the medical bills the next day)!

This morning, we bolted up at what we thought was 9:00 AM to get ready to take Grandma Coleman out for brunch for her birthday. However... our satellite alarm clock radio had a mind of its own, and although Daylight Savings Time kicked in three weeks ago, our clock decided to spring itself ahead another hour last night, making it 8:00 AM instead of 9:00 AM, losing another hour of sleep in my lifespan (I believe the DST patch was never applied to our clock!). PC made a few phone calls at 9:00 AM wondering why some people were annoyed... only to discover it was really 8:00 AM. Oooooooooooooops! It was a great start to the day as you can imagine (and it was a coincidence that it was APRIL FOOLS today... right?), however, at least we were ahead of schedule for once in our lives!

In other news, I just spent an hour on the couch watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition and sobbing on and off over the story of a family I don't even know. I now have a headache and I am exhausted beyond the point of repair. These reality shows don't usually get to me, but the Extreme Home Makeover one takes reality to a whole new level. You just feel so helpless for these parents and their children, but its so great that Ty and the gang at ABC can really change their lives. I love it and hate it all in the same breathe.

Its pouring rain outside right now, and its fitting for my mood - time to call it a weekend.

Who said curling was boring?

Thanks to Mr. Savill... there is now a solid case to prove curling is pretty darn interesting!

Know when to fold 'em!

As Kenny once said:
You gotta know when to hold 'em
(when to hold 'em) ...
know when to fold 'em
(when to fold 'em) ...
know when to walk away...
know when to run.

Today was one of those days.... of knowin when to fold 'em.

My competitive curling team has endured some hardships recently... mainly due to the fact the not all 4 members can get on the same page, at the same time, stay on the same page for an extended period of time, and go home at the end of the day satisfied.

Lately, it has become such a charade, that I really don't enjoy curling... every time we would step on the ice, you almost had to hold your breath, in hopes that everyone would get through the game still speaking to one another... and often times that didn't even happen.

Its disappointing because we had sooooooo much potential.

After carefully weighing the pros and cons of my options, I realized that I was really the mediator on the team, the person who carried the bottle of glue in her pocket and after each team session I would use it whenever necessary to repair the damage... but this week, the bottle ran dry and today was the day I threw in the towel.

I told the team that I was not into curling in our zone playdowns under the circumstances. Its hard to find four women who get along on and off the ice, and although we thought we had found 'THE' combo... it seems to have fallen apart somewhere along the lines.

Its one of those things that doesn't feel good no matter what you do... if we stayed together as a team, it was bad, and if we dismantled the team, it was bad.

Its a hard thing for me to swallow, because its almost like giving up -- and I don't give up easily. But this team put up a fight (while providing some entertainment for the rest of the curling community), and at the end of day, it just wasn't worth it anymore, for me.

Although we will still have our league games, getting out of the competitive scene was for the best. There is no longer any pressure... and I can go back to curling for the enjoyment, instead of the stress!

Tomorrow is a new day.... and finally I'm looking forward to it!

Curling Update

Well, it was one loooooooooooooong weekend of competitive curling ... thus the reason there was no post yesterday.

We managed to win some cash this time around, which was a long shot goal given our roller coaster team status this season, but many positives for the team were established, including a three game winning streak on Saturday, which allowed us to qualify for some cash!

Our next event takes place in Carp, December 1st-4th and then our zone playdowns are the following weekend back in Gananoque. So I will definitely keep you posted on the results of those events, and I know many of my faithful readers live and breath for the update on curling!!

This morning I was also greeted with an email (thanks K. Broom) containing a link to various curling pictures of my team from a recent spiel in Kemptville taken by Bill Hall.

Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure: