Of Tortoises and Hares (not really) and other stories

Boy we are getting run over in this race. First and second place is all but set in stone and, well clearly they have a plethora of readers, and they keep coming back every day to rub it in our faces! BOO! Shhhhhh. I mean... Boo!


It's all in good fun though, and I thank all of you who voted for saving us, well ME, from the embarrassment of getting no votes I was sure I was going to face.

We actually haven't done that badly, and up to yesterday we seemed to be in fourth place. So thanks again to everyone who voted, and remember you can still vote once a day until Friday afternoon. I'm still going to need your help to stay in fourth place!

*****

And in other news... In case you missed it, go here, and put your name right there if you want to be the one selected to win two lovely necklaces from Happy Haven.

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I feel so domesticated these days having taken back up crochet! I decided way too late that I would give some handmade Christmas presents. There's no way I'm going to be able to juggle everything and get any big projects completed now, but it's ok because now that I remember what's involved I'm going to start planning much earlier next year. I stumbled on Ravelry.com and am loving the patterns and tools they offer. Yarns and threads are so limited here, I decided to check out eBay and found such gorgeous stuff! They should arrive on Friday and I am sooo excited for them to get here!

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My brats darling boys are going to sleep later and later, and the only way I'm getting them to actually fall asleep at a decent time is to pretend to be mad and be all stern and mean. Sigh. Even bribing them with "Santa's not going to stop at this house if yall can't make it to bed on time..." - nada.

How are you dealing with pre-Christmas excitement? What are you doing to maintain bedtime?

Not just a Watch

 Did you have one of these?

Not just a watch. A Swatch!

Ahhh... the 80s. So many memories!

When I think Swatch I definitely think back to crazy rebellious teenage years. I had a collection of watches. All paid for with my T-shirt-painting, jewelry-making, math-tutoring pocket change.

And then I grew up, and the funkyfied watches became less and less a part of my wardrobe.

I guess Swatch must have grown up too.

 

I just found out twitter.com/SwatchUS is giving away a watch a day, every day in December.

Interested?

Follow @SwatchUS on twitter and tweet with the hashtag #SwatchADayGiveaway.

Good luck!

No I did not receive a watch, or any compensation, for this post. I just thought it was pretty cool that Swatch was having daily giveaways!

Win a Kmart $50 GC and be entered to win a $500 Shopping Spree

Kmart Bluelight Special Holiday Sweepstakes

Just a reminder about the Kmart return of the Blue Light Special, and their Holiday Sweepstakes. Sweepstakes ends on December 23^rd, and you can win a $500 Kmart shopping spree so keep tweeting with the #KmartBLS hashtag!

All you have to do is follow @KmartDealsnNews on twitter, and every time you tweet, remember to include #KmartBLS for a chance to win a $50 Kmart Gift Card every day!

Also, with the holidays upon us, Kmart hours have been extended! They’re open from 6am-12am through December 23^rd and 6am-10pm December 24^th.

 Be sure to follow @KmartDealsnNews and use these links to enter yourself for the daily drawing!

Shop @KmartDealsnNews extended Holiday hours: 6am-12am until 12/23 and 6am-10pm on 12/24! #KmartBLS

Follow @KmartDealsnNews for a chance to win a $500 Kmart Shopping Spree! #KmartBLS For more info: http://tr.im/kmartbls

 Some of this upcoming weekend’s Blue Light Specials

·         Boys/Girls Licensed Hoodies $8 (reg. $18.99)

·         Essential Home 10 pc Sets $29.99 (reg. $49.99)

·         Rollercade $49.99 (reg. $79.99)

With thanks

As I think about all that my family has been through in the past year, I know that we have so much to be thankful for.

We've lost the security of full-time jobs, but we've managed to keep going, keep the bills paid, and keep the family happily going strong.

We've had a son diagnosed with Aspergers and experienced the shock that comes with that initial diagnosis. But we've found support that works for us.

We are thankful for good amazing friends, and great family, and we know that we are truly blessed.

I feel personally blessed to have found the community and creative outlet that I have found in blogging and to all my bloggy friends - I want to say a special Thank You to you this holiday season.

I love that you guys follow me not because there's a chance to win something, but because there is some connection you feel to the experiences and sentiments I express here in my little corner of the blogosphere. To you, I offer a little token of my appreciation during this season of thanksgiving and sharing. I'd love to give something to each of you, but my little pockets don't run quite deep enough. Yet. :-) 

So to one of you, I will be sending two beautiful necklaces from 

Happy Haven's Etsy store.

She has lots to choose from, from inspirational thoughts

 

to the whimsical

 

the beautiful

 

and popular characters

 

Keep them for yourself, or give them to a special friend, or to a child on your gift list.

Whether you follow in your reader or by twitter, subscribe by email or read in facebook, you're eligible. Whether you're in Singapore, the UK, the US, Trini... Wherever! You're eligible.

If you're interested, please leave me a little comment below letting me know you're a good sport. :-)

I need to have you post a comment confirming you're interested, because you will need to share your address with me. Me choosing from you on my own might make that a little awkward!

Special request: Not necessary, but my kids will thank you!

Vote up to once per day for my kiddos' photo in PBD's contest, where they have the chance to win great Christmas prizes. (Boy the Younger has his heart set on the Crayola set.)

HOW?

* Just leave a comment on PBD's site, saying "Vote for #1!".
* Then come back here and leave a comment so I know.

Each comment counts as an extra entry.

I will choose an entry using Random.org on Friday 18th Dec at midnight so you have until then to leave me a comment or comments.
(I will make every effort to get the items to you by Dec 24th.)

Happy Holidays everyone!

More Trini Christmas Spirit!

This video makes the song even funnier, and I think it's already hysterical!
If you can't make out the accent (it gets pretty fast in places) just let me know and I'll put up the lyrics for ya...

Enjoy!

In case you didn't catch it, he's complaining that no matter how good he is, every year he only gets socks and drawers (underwear)!


Don't forget to vote for my babies! Click HERE and leave a comment saying "I vote for #1!" Thanks!! :-)

Sundays In My City - Trini Christmas (Part 1)

It's Christmas in Trinidad!

My favourite time of the year. I kid you not, there are some decorations that never come down because my husband (who may love Christmas even more than I do) tries to keep the Christmas Spirit alive in our house all year round...

There's so much tradition here that surrounds this time of the year. You get wrapped up in food and music and friends and family. Even though the seasons don't change for us... there's just something special in the air!

Pastelles and Ponche de Creme

No self-respecting Trini household can be without pastelles at Christmas. Because as soon as your guests walk through the door - it's the first thing they're looking for!

It's basically a small cornmeal pie, wrapped and steamed. The filling is cooked minced meat (beef, chicken or pork) mixed with capers and raisins and olives - or any variation you like. Wrap that all in a cornmeal "skin" and steam it. Keep it from drying out by steaming and storing wrapped in a banana leaf, and you can freeze these babies for months.

And to wash it all down - a nice glass of ponche-de-creme. Depending on whether you're a believer in the French or the Spanish origin of this yummy spiked egg-nog there are different variations on the name (punch-a-creme, punch-a-crema, punch-a-cream) but any way you say it, it means delicious!

My mother's aunt makes the best pastelles EVER! Don't even come try to test, cos you're going DOWN Bobby Flay Throwdown style! These are not hers, these are my darling husband's. Have I mentioned that he's the best cook and keeps our tummies nice and happy all year round? Oh yeh!

You start off with strip of banana leaf, and roll out the cornmeal mixture in the middle.

Spoon in your filling. It doesn't have to be meat, although it traditionally is.

Growing up I hated raisins in mine and used to pick them out. Now I LOVE them. Still not fond of the olives. :-(

Once your filling is in, fold one side of the banana leaf  over, so your cornmeal begins to make a little pocket for the filling. Kinda like a cornmeal envelope.



Do the same thing on the other 4 sides so the filling is totally enclosed in cornmeal.

 Wrap the entire pastel in the banana leaf and steam in a colander over a pot of boiling water. (Some people tie them with twine and boil them).

These accompany breakfast, lunch or dinner. They are BELOVED.

Next time around I'll tell you about our homemade wine and sorrel. But for now, I'll leave you with a local song telling you all about Christmas in Trinidad - Trini Christmas is D Best!

Okay one more... A favourite of mine. I absolutely love this song. Sung by Sharlene Flores (but not originally by her) it's called Burbujas de Amor, and it's on constant radio rotation during the holidays.

This is part of Unknown Mami's Sundays in My City. Go visit her and travel the world to visit Sundays in other cities!

Neighbourkids Update

For those of you kind enough to give me your advice on my neighbourkid situation, I know you've been wondering how that turned out. Wellll..... I haven't said anything. I've been keeping the front door closed until I'm "ready for company" And it's hot here. Usually my door is open once we wake up, and we get lovely breezes going through the house.

Boo! non-confrontational scaredy me...

It's not that I'm really scaredy, it's just that I think it would be really easy to come away with misunderstandings that would filter down to the kids and make them feel terrible. Or make the mom feel terrible. And that's not what I want at all...

So what is it that I want?

Well I want there to be that respect for the adults in the house. From my kids, and any of their visiting friends. I was raised to be polite to the parents first - Good morning! Hello! Thank you!

The younger neighbourboy used to just wander in silently and just. stand. there. You'd never even know he was there, or how long he was there. But we had a couple little chats about how I'd love to hear him say "Good morning!" when he comes in, and he does it so well and so cheerily now, that it really does make me smile, and I don't mind his visits. I do sometimes mind the HOURS of the visits, but we're getting there...

What irks me to no end though is when the older brother comes to stand just beyond my front door and sends the younger brother in to do his bidding. Which usually entails calling my oldest boy outside so that he can quietly ask him to go do something they both know I have forbidden.

What's with the sneakiness? You want to play with my kids, but you'll only approach them if the parents aren't around. You'll play with them, but only where YOU want to, even if it means they have to leave the friends and game their currently engaged in. What?! Where is this kid getting this?

Not a fan of sneakiness in children or adults, I positioned myself on the verge of their play the other day so I could hear better the whisperings of Neighbourboy. Imagine my surprise to hear:

1. Trying to convince the younger kids to gang up on the little girl upstairs to not play with her because he doesn't like her. And yet, he plays with her all the time. But her younger sister - she's cool - you can play with her. I was so mad.
2. Relentless non-step mocking of my oldest as he was practicing a new game of marbles his dad had taught all the kids to play the day before. (You STILL can't get that? You suck you know that? Oh and by the way, you suck.) Hey kid! Take a breath! 

Well NOW I understand why he never wants to try any new games we're playing out in the yard. I thought his being overweight was the barrier, but now I know he's afraid to fail. And that makes me sad. But it goes against everything I teach my boys about learning from failure... so you know who transformed into Cheerleader! That's right,

Job Description section 3A - Mommy will act as Cheerleader to encourage and motivate her brood.

Clearly this kid has some issues to sort out. And I really do feel bad for him. I don't think any of his actions are really motivated from a wicked place, but I do think that they need some attention. How exactly do you say that to a mom?


Hey! Your kid seems to be a little short on the manners and seems to be sorting through some self-esteem issues. Gonna work with him a little on that when he comes to visit, ok? Alrighty then! Nice flowers! Bye!

I have no idea how I'm going to eventually handle this one. But if they're going to be around, they're going to know what is acceptable and not in this house.

Any parents or teachers out there with advice on how to encourage more constructive behaviours and self-esteem in a kid like this? I could really do with the advice!

On a side note I have to tell you about Sakura Bloom's sample sale going on right now! These are limited quantity, seriously gorgeous, silk and linen baby slings, so they're bound to go fast. Perfect gift for mothers of little ones, and moms-to-be!

Nobody from Sakura Bloom has any idea I'm writing this - I've always admired their slings, and I found out about their sale from Stephanie at AdventuresInBabywearing.com.