Stacey's Sunday Bandcamp #3

Refresher:

My Definition of BandCamp: reference to American Pie when the Michelle Flaherty character goes on and on and on "and this one time at band camp....". I've somehow adopted that expression over the years to refer to my rambling when I hear myself talking and I can't shut up or stop for air. I just realized how based on the American Pie reference, some might assume that BandCamp refers to something inappropriately sexual, but I assure you- it does not. So in this blog, you now know that BandCamp means 'Stacey's babbling and won't shut up'.

And we begin...

1) We had Sex in a Pan for dessert tonight. I should perhaps feel guilty that my 8 year old son says it's his favourite dessert. Today I told him that when people are around, he is to call it "Good Food in a Pan". I know. Not very original. But I need him to protect the virgin ears of grown-ups around him.

Here is my recipe (stolen from Auntie Barbie):

a) Mix: 1 cup chopped pecans

3 tbsp white sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 cup flour

- press into 9x12" greased pan

- bake at 350 for 20-25 mins or until golden and let cool

b) Beat: 1 package (8oz) cream cheese

1 cup icing sugar

1/2 tub Cool Whip

- pour over crust once it has cooled

c) Blend: 1 pkg of vanilla instant pudding

1 pkg of chocolate instant pudding

2 cups of milk

- pour over cream cheese/cool whip mixture

d) pour remaining Cool Whip on top and let set in fridge for a few hours overnight.

e) grate chocolate pieces on top of Cool Whip

2) Speaking of sex. Tonight we had the talk with Jake. It wasn't on purpose. Jonathan doesn't think it should happen until the 5th grade. I think it's because that's when he found out himself, how babies were made. I personally believe that it's because Jonathan was looking to buy two more years before he had to come up with the words to say. I wasn't ready to have it either. But Jake was. I think he knew he had it all wrong and he was too proud and too embarrassed to even talk about babies, because he knew he didn't have the right information. He's a smart kid. I wasn't in the room when Jonathan had the initial conversation. But by the time I got to Jake, he thought that the man gave his wife a drink of fertilizer that came from his (ahem) penis and it travelled to the eggs in the woman's stomach to make a baby. So I set him straight. An hour or so later, Jake was reading a book about sea turtles. He says to me, "Mom- what does M-A-T-I-N-G spell?" I said "mating". He asked "what does it mean?". All I had to do was raise my eyebrows. Jake screams "oh my gosh! Now that I've learned about this, it's EVERYWHERE!!!!"

* * * *

**Jonathan is sitting across from me as I write this and just found out I'm writing about this topic. He freaked out. Not because he thinks it's an inappropriate topic, but because he doesn't want people to know we talked to Jake about this stuff, at his young age (of 8!!!). But I've been reading up on the subject in my trusty guide 'Speaking of Sex', and it sounds like we are way behind in talking to Jake about this stuff. **

What do you guys think? I'd love to see your answers and I'll offer my opinion in a later discussion post.

3) I am currently living part-time in Guernsey and part-time in London, England. There's nothing like a good book that makes you feel almost homesick when you shut the book. That makes you google all the references to places and events that you want to learn more about. Or that makes you feel like you know and care about all of the characters in the story. I am currently reading 'The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society' and it will be a sad day for me when I finish the last page. I love a book that makes me feel like I've learned something. Because of this book, I've just added Guernsey and the Channel Islands to my list of places I wish to visit. I hope to meet Juliet, Dawsey, Elizabeth, Eli, Isola, and Kit and on and on. It may prove to be difficult since it takes place in 1946 and the story is fiction. If you feel like disappearing into another time and place and learning about a little British Island that was occupied by the Nazis during WWII.. or moreover, learning about the spirit of the people who survived the occupation with spunk and humour, pick it up. It's worth the read.

But that's not all! I've also got another book on the go. I've read all of Philippa Gregory's Tudor themed novels, but thought I would try out her Wideacre trilogy. I just thought it would be another gripping historical fiction- a different time and place maybe, but the same type of story and writing. Set in 18th century England, I didn't expect that it would be so racy! Don't leave this one on the shelf just because there are no Henry's or Boleyn's in it.

4) I had a mini scare this week. Nothing to worry about, especially because it (*thankfully*) amounted to nothing. But it got me thinking about fears that I have now that I never had when I was younger. Health concerns were an inconvenience, but never anything I really stressed over. I don't like pain - who does? But I can tolerate a lot, especially because you know you can usually get through to the other side of it. But it has never scared me. Afraid of getting in trouble or getting caught, or disappointing people maybe. I have always had a genuine fear of not being able to breathe with a bit of claustrophobia thrown in. Besides that, and spiders, mice and bats.. I think my fears were pretty weenie back then. I realize now that having kids changed all that. It's subconscious, but it's real. When the plane takes off, I find myself picturing each of my children in my mind and wishing them my love. When I have a close call on the highway that leaves me white knuckled and damp with sweat, my heart is flopping for my kids. Whenever my doctor sends me off for testing for this, that or the other, my first thought isn't "I can't bear to deal with a sickness". It's "I can't get sick. I need to be here for my kids. I need to live forever." I'm also afraid that Will is going to get up at 4am again like he did yesterday, so I should hurry up and get this written up.

5) We've seen a couple of movies this past week. I pulled out Jennifer Garner in 13 Going on 30. Cute silliness. Then last night we watched Daniel Craig in Defiance and the night before last Jonathan and I snuck out for a late show to see the cheapie-been-out-for-awhile-movies. We saw Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor in Angels and Demons. I had read it a few years back, but couldn't remember any of the details. The movie was dull. I remember the book being a heck of a lot more interesting, with more twists and turns and puzzles. The most annoying part of the night was the fact that there was only one person working the box office. No one to take tickets. Only two at the concession stand. I stood in line for over 20 minutes just to buy our ticket. Jonathan, 25 for some popcorn. This to me, is proof that Calgary is still not hurting too badly from this recession. There are still a ton of jobs out there for front-line, service and food industries. Retail and restaurants. I think that the cheapie movie theatre still ranks with McDonald's in jobs that aren't good enough, even for the unemployed.

6) This will probably cause an eye-roll from my friends and family, because I haven't shut up about it for the past few days, but I'm kind of proud of myself. I rode a bike! I understand that this is not too interesting, but may I remind you that it has been over 15 years since I've sat on a bike. How does that happen? I think of the things I used to do without a second thought. No fear, no hesitation. When we were kids, Steph and I used to hop on our bikes and ride from the burbs into the city, around the zoo and back again and my mom was none the wiser that we had crossed city limits. Not only was I never afraid, but I wasn't even tired! Somehow since university, I have convinced myself that I would be too out of shape to try it again, so I never did. That's how I know I'm old. When you give up on things that you enjoy just because you think you can't. How stupid is that? So Jake knew that I hadn't been bike riding in forever and he tells me before our ride, "I know you'll be falling over and stuff, but it's okay. I'll go slow for you." I think I surprised him because I had to wait for him. I am so lucky to live alongside a Provincial Park, with paved trails along the river. It's impossible not to take advantage of it, when it's so easy. So I thought I was hot stuff until I went for a second ride for the day with Jonathan, who had Owen in a seat on the back. This time I wasn't keeping up with an eight-year old with a small bike with crappy gears. We went for a short 5 km ride and I came home exhausted. But exhilarated. Can't wait to go back out today.

7) Speaking of bike rides, Jonathan is training for his first triathlon. He already makes me sick with how athletic he is. He can have a 35 pound belly dragging him down, but if he decides he's going to run, off he goes for an hour. He hasn't been on his bike for a couple years and on his first ride, he went for a 40km jaunt. I wasn't too happy in the beginning of this decision, because I knew it would mean at least two hours a day of disappearing from the house. But it has worked out nicely. He takes each of the twins each trek out; he either pushes one of them in the running stroller or rides the bike with one in the seat. The kids love it. I'm proud of him, because I can't even imagine how difficult it would be to put in that kind of mileage on your body. But if Jonathan puts his mind to a sport, he can do anything. His first race is August 9th. He's terrified of the swim, but I'm sure he'll do great. Kind of reminds me of this video we posted on the blog a couple of years ago:



You can check out this story from the Sports Illustrated Vault to learn more about this remarkable and inspiring father-son duo.

8) OCD Sucks! Not very mature of me, but it's true. Jake just ran down the stairs yelling "Did you know that in the Mario Kart game..." and it caused Will to bolt from his perch at the computer in the basement and up a flight of stairs, to thrown a royal meltdown on Jake. Right before he reached to bite him, I said to Jake "quick. Say the words "I don't know". He said it to Will and Will instantly calmed down and ran back downstairs. The reason? Since April, Will has been grabbing on to phrases or words that he wants to hear repeated after their initial utterance. If you don't repeat it for him, he goes crazy. Absolute obsession. It used to be the words "are you okay?" or "to/two/too". Do you know how many times a day you say the word "to"? It's a nightmare. It gets to the point where you quit saying the words, because you know Will will catch it and hunt you down. It's not just words though. It's his love of dandelions at the moment as well. We have to pull the car over if he spots one in the grass and Jonathan takes him on runs just to fill the need to search for them. He likes to smell them, leaving a yellow glow on his upper lip. The list of OCD behaviours is sooooo long that I think it warrants a post of its own. I'll save it for another time.

9) The weather is gorgeous right now and I think I'm going to take advantage of the last few minutes before we get into our night-time routine. I'm going to turn on my current fave, Darius Rucker and sneak in a few more pages of my Guernsey Potato book. Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine!