Canadian Blog Awards now open for nominations!

Hey all! It’s that time of year again. The Canadian Blog Awards are now accepting nominations of your favourite blogs and bloggers.

Once again this year, I’ve been honoured with the task of helping Northern BC Dipper and SaskBoy administer the awards. Some fun stats from last year: In 2007, more than 700 blogs were nominated in 28 categories, and more than 45,000 votes were cast — an impressive number, considering only one vote per IP address per round was permitted. And did you see some of the great videos they put up to announce the winners? (I can’t decide if my favourite was Jack Layton, the bobble-head doll or the talking ball of yarn.) I was at the end of my pregnancy and totally bailed on the end of the competition, but the organizers did a fantastic job in making the awards presentation fun and funny in a lot of the categories.

I’d love to see even more great blogs nominated this year, so don’t be shy. You have until November 22 to make your nominations!

Christmas in the Capital, 2008 edition

Edited to add: Click this link for the 2018 Santa Claus and holiday parade info!

With Halloween barely put to bed (with a sore belly from all that candy, no doubt) we’ve nary the time for a breath of air before the season of Santa Claus parades is upon us. This is the third year I’ve scoured the internet and a handful of community papers to bring you details of the Santa (or, if you prefer, “Holiday”) parades in the neighbourhood. Can you believe this is one of my most-trafficked posts of the year? Turns out a lot of people love parades as much as I do!

Without further ado, and in chronological order, here’s the local 2008 parade information:

Kanata Santa Claus Parade
Saturday November 8, 2008, starting at 10 am. Parade runs from Castlefrank to Abbeyhill Drive to Hazeldean Mall.

Gananoque Santa Claus Parade
Sunday November 16, 2008. Join us at 2:00 to welcome Santa to town to kick of the festive holiday season.

Barrhaven Lions 12th Annual Santa Parade
Sunday November 16, 2008, starting at 5:30 pm. Follows Strandherd Drive from Beatrice to Greenbank. Note the new Sunday date this year!

39th Annual Ottawa Help Santa Toy Parade
Saturday November 22, 2008, starting at 11 am. The parade will start at 11 a.m. at Elgin and Laurier (City Hall), head West on Laurier Street, turn South on Bank Street, and finish at Landsdowne Park. Please note that the parade will only accept donations of new, and not used, toys. See their website for more details.

Smiths Falls Santa Claus Parade
Sunday November 23, 2008, 1 pm. Location: Downtown Smiths Falls.

Gatineau Santa Claus Parade
Friday November 28, 2008, starting at 7 pm. “There will be fun and games for you and your friends starting at 6:30 pm” at the marina on Rue Principal in Aylmer.

Brockville Santa Claus Parade
Saturday November 29, 2008, starting at 2 pm. “The Magic of Christmas.” See their website for parade route and details.

Carleton Place Santa Claus Parade
Saturday November 29, 2008, starting at 5 pm. The theme for 2008 will be “A Toy Box Christmas”. The parade will travel from Townline Road down Bridge Street. It will then travel down Lansdowne Avenue and end at Coleman Street.

Santa’s Parade of Lights, Orleans
Saturday November 29, 2008, starting at 6 pm. Once again the Ottawa Professional Firefighters Association will be hosting Santa’s Parade of Lights on St-Joseph Blvd. in Orleans.

Stittsville Parade of Lights
Saturday November 29, 2008, starting at 7:30 pm. Edited to add: The Stittsville Village Association will again organize the annual Parade of Lights on Stittsville Main Street. The Parade starts at the School Board grounds and ends at Carleton Cathcart Street. When Santa arrives at the Village Square the lights on the trees will be turned on for the duration of the festive season. Hot beverages will be served and everybody is invited to join in singing festive songs. (Thanks to Kristi for the additional info!)

Richmond Christmas Parade
Saturday, December 6, 2008 starting at 11 am. Starts at South Carleton High School (3673 McBean Street) and travels to the Richmond Plaza.

Pakenham Santa Claus Parade
Saturday, December 6, 2008 starting at 1 pm. Parade begins and concludes at the Stewart Community Centre, Pakenham. The parade theme this year is Ole Tyme Christmas. Santa and Mrs. Claus will make their way to the Upper Hall of the community centre following the parade where they will be available to meet with children of all ages. Complimentary hot chocolate and hot dogs will be served. There is also free public skating from 2 to 3 pm following the parade.

Perth Santa Claus Parade
Saturday, December 6, 2008, starting at 6 pm. The Annual Perth & District Santa Claus Parade of Lights starts from Sunset Blvd. Please Note: Parade route only goes to Cockburn Street.

Almonte Santa Claus Parade
Sunday, December 7, 2008, starting at 1:30 pm. The parade begins at the Almonte Community Centre Parking Lot. Santa and Mrs. Claus will make their way to the Upper Hall of the community centre following the parade where they will be available to meet the children. Hot chocolate and hot dogs will be served compliments of the Almonte Lions Club. There will also be free public skating from 2 to 4 pm.

In addition to the parades, here are some other ideas for Christmas fun in the national capital region:

Upper Canada Village – Alight at Night
Thursday, November 27, 2008 to Sunday, January 4, 2009
4:30 – 8:00 pm Monday to Thursday until December 18
4:30 – 9:00 pm Friday to Sunday until December 14
4:30 – 9:00 pm Nightly from December 19 to January 4
Bundle up for an evening stroll around the this gorgeous 1860s-era village, and see heritage buildings all magically lit, with over 200,000 lights – a true winter wonderland! For an additional fee, take a horse-drawn carriage ride, skate outdoors under the stars or ride on an illuminated toy train!

Christmas Lights Across Canada
December 4, 2008 to January 9, 2009
Launched in 1985 by the National Capital Commission (NCC), Christmas Lights Across Canada is one of a host of unique programs which was created to liven up the winter months. Canada’s Capital will come alive as more than 300,000 dazzling Christmas lights illuminate the heart of Ottawa-Gatineau.

Canadian Pacific Rail Holiday Train
The Canadian Holiday Train will embark on its two-week journey on Saturday, November 29 from Montreal, Quebec, finishing up in Port Moody, B.C., on Friday, December 19. Local stops include Smiths Falls on November 30, and Perth, Belleville and Trenton on December 1. Check out their website for schedule details!

Don’t forget, you can write to His Jollyness and get a reply, too! Send snail-mail to before December 18 to:

Santa Claus
North Pole
H0H 0H0

Or you can send an e-mail through canadapost.ca/santascorner.

Got any other tips or ideas to share? Leave a comment or e-mail me at danicanada (at) gmail (dot) com and I’d be happy to add them to this post.

My deal with the devil – er, with Batman and Darth Vader

I’m trying out a new experiment this year. I’ve made a deal with the big boys: they can go trick-or-treating as usual, but they’ll trade all of their Halloween candy, save for a very tiny bit, for a new Webkinz each.

I have no idea if this is going to work. Beloved and my mom both gave me a look that was a cross between ‘Are you kidding?’ and ‘Hey, good luck with that!’ But the boys are enthusiastic about the deal. Heck, I think they would have traded in their baby brother if I’d thrown in a Bakugon or Pokemon into the deal!

There may be a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth (on the part of the kids, perhaps, but most likely on the part of Beloved!) come Saturday morning when there is no candy to be had. I have reiterated the deal several times, so they understand they will get to keep only two or three bites of candy each and give up the rest, and they didn’t even hesitate to agree. We’ll see!

I must admit that a small part of me is rolling my own eyes at me, thinking ‘Oh great, she’s become one of those mothers. Next stop, hemp underwear and no TV.’ But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that we simply don’t need to have several pounds of candy in the house. Part of it is my new family healthy eating kick, but part of it is purely selfish. I’m within five pounds of my goal weight on Plan B, and there will be enough room for sabotage come Christmas — might as well eliminate as much temptation as I can.

What do you think? Would your kids go for it and would you subject them to it? What would be a sweet enough deal to entice them to give up their candy?

And, most importantly, any thoughts on what to do with an extra two sackfuls of candy? I’m thinking the last kid to show up trick-or-treating at our door is in for a delightful surprise!

Searching for a nanny. Again.

Sigh. I should have known it was too good to be true. When I first started looking for a new nanny for the boys back in September, the first two people to reply were so awesome that I danced for two days. One was an ECE grad, one had a little daughter but tonnes of nanny experience. I was delighted that I’d have to choose between two fantastic candidates.

The ECE grad bailed the day of our first interview, saying she was sick. No problem. Then she missed the second one, claiming she thought it was the following week. Then she stood me up last night. The second one disappeared, too. One e-mail she was very interested, and I haven’t heard from her since.

(insert colourful curse words here)

So now I’m back to scouring the ads, placing ads of my own, sifting through the reams of applicants who I wouldn’t trust to take care of my garden let alone my kids, and hoping against hope that we get lucky again. It’s the most helpless, frustrating feeling.

You know, I really think this goddamn childcare search is the hardest, most painful part of parenting. I’d happily endure another 24 hours of labour if it meant I could be guaranteed a decent, caring, reliable person to care for my boys. So much for looking forward to going back to work.

I’d’ve loved to have our old nanny back, but she’s eight months pregnant with baby #2 for her, and I just can’t see her taking on my three boys plus her own two year old plus a newborn. You couldn’t pay me enough to do it, anyway!

Oh, and to add insult to injury… remember the woman who took care of the boys for two days and quit with no notice by dropping a judgmental letter in my mailbox in the middle of the night? Guess whose daughter is in Simon’s JK class? I get to see her twice a day, every day. I tell ya, the fun never stops around here.

Lucas the amazing interactive baby

I’ve always said that six to nine months old is one of my favourite baby ages. Old enough to sit up but not old enough to creep around; old enough to love you obviously and joyfully but not old enough to be prone to tantrums; old enough to babble but not old enough to talk back yet.

Lucas at almost nine months is a delightful baby – if you don’t mind the 32 minute naps. I forgot how early babies become interactive, instead of just slobbery little blobs. He is fascinated by the boys and the pets, and loves when the boys pay attention to him. The other day, I was putting his coat on telling him that we were on our way out to get Simon at school, and as soon as I said “Simon” he started craning his head around looking for him. Way too cute!

He’s very talkative. I’m really so very not surprised about that. Hell, you have to be vocal to be heard around our house. What’s cute is how he imitates us. He not only repeats one of three varieties of babble (ahhhh, ba-ba-ba, or da-da-da) but modulates his voice to mimic us. We’re working on ma-ma-ma, but he’s not quite there yet. And there’s no doubt he understands a lot of what we say. I just about fell over the other day when I said, “Lucas, where’s your toes?” and he reached over and grabbed them.

My absolute favourite baby trick, though, is this. About a month ago, I was rocking him to sleep and singing to him when I realized that he wasn’t just cooing softly to himself — in itself almost heartbreakingly endearing — but he was humming along with me as I sang to him. At which point I became a gelatinous ooze of maternal love and forgave him a years’ worth of 32 minute naps.

DSC_2613

Isn’t he delicious?

Memo to McDonalds: Are you kidding me?

So we’re in McDonalds the other day. (Granny came with us to skating lessons and offered to take us all out to lunch at McDonalds as a special treat for the boys.) While there is room in my Plan B diet for a rare treat of hamburgers and fries, I’d rather they be really tasty home-made ones than the crap that passes for food at McDonalds. Besides, I’m not even particularly hungry, so I decide to order a salad. I know they have salads at McDonalds, because I’ve ordered one before. They suck, but at least they’re guilt-free.

I’m looking at the menu boards above the cash registers, but after carefully perusing each of the half-dozen or so menu blocks, I can find no mention anywhere of salads. They have giant pictures of the burger combos, and a placard for the Monopoly game. There’s not even a board with the kids’ meals on it. That sign standing by itself, propped in a corner.

Remember the good old days when the menu boards in fast-food restaurants used to actually show you all the items that were on the menu? This has been a gripe of mine for a while. I first noticed it outside at the drive-through. I figured maybe they don’t put all the items on display out there because of a lack of space or something, or because the menu boards have to be further away thus limiting the text they use. But here I am standing inside the restaurant, and I still can’t find any mention of foods that I know should be available. I actually step out of line and go read the microprint on the nutritional information poster near the condiment stand to find out whether they still carry salads.

We eat our lunch, but it’s still bugging me, so I go up to the counter and ask someone who seems to be in a position of authority. All of about fourteen years old, from the look of him, but he’s so quick with an answer that I can tell he’s either been practicing or has answered this one a few times before.

“Oh yes, we still carry salads,” he says. “But head office knows they aren’t very good, so we don’t promote them.” I’m too gobsmacked by all that is wrong with this answer to even begin to reply, so he continues. “They’ll be some fantastic new salads unveiled soon, though!” he says with evangelical zeal. “You’ll love them, and we’ll have lots of new signs then.”

Uh huh. So the takehome message for me is this:

(1) McDonalds has salads, but they’re too embarrassed by the quality of them to admit it publicly.

(2) I’m only allowed to order a salad if I know to ask for one. And I’m not allowed to know the price in advance, either.

(3) Instead of providing patrons with a list of actual food items available in its restaurants, McDonalds would rather display ginormous pictures of their most popular but least healthy items.

(4) McDonalds would rather you just forget about the whole salad thing entirely and have a supersized Big Mac and fries instead. (That’s 1090 calories, more than three-quarters of my entire daily calorie consumption.)

Nice, McDonalds. Very nice.

Barenaked in Ottawa

Yay! I’m getting good at cracking Ticketmaster’s presale codes. Last year I got advance Rush tickets by searching the Rush fan site. Earlier this year, I guessed the presale code for Spamalot tickets by looking at the presale codes for other venues (it was “grail”). And just now, after a rigourous course of algorithms, analysis and contemplation, I cracked the super-complex presale code for the Barenaked Ladies’ Snacktime concert in Ottawa on December 13. Tickets go on sale to the general public tomorrow, but if you want yours today, try “snacktime”! Brilliant code breaker, aren’t I? CSIS is sure to come calling for my services any day now.

The kids will be beside themselves. Snacktime is still our #1 favourite kids CD and I’ve been a long-time BNL fan. The only thing better than BNL live in Ottawa is BNL live in Ottawa for the kids at Christmas time!

(This post and ticket purchase brought to you courtesy of half a box of Cheerios and four Baby Mum Mums.)