Nothing Truer Than Truth

This is a weekend I don’t have Mason, he’s with his Dad until Monday.  I slept in today because we were at Children’s hospital until almost 11pm (3 hour wait).  Mason has the flu and was vomiting non stop throughout the day so his Dad wanted to get him checked out.  He seems much better today!

As I woke up at 10:30am (finally a decent sleep in!) I heard the rain pouring outside and thought it was best to stay in bed, read the 7 books I got from the library and just have a jammy day.  My house is in immaculate condition as I’ve spent the first week of January really tidying and organizing.  I am normally a very tidy and organized person but there were a few items on my to do list that I was avoiding so I finally tackled them.

When Mason and I moved into our new home together, I opted to his crib in my room as it was a huge master.  The came the toddler bed and I never moved him into the second bedroom which was created as a great playroom.  I had my reasons; it was a cold room (if you shut the door there is no heat), it was his playroom and of course the biggest reason, I didn’t want him to sleep in another room on the other side of the suite (which is a bit of a distance as the suite is 1000+sq ft. 

At Mason’s other house, the home he was born into, he’s always had his room and his Dad was not a fan of co-sleeping.  We used a baby monitor to be able to listen to Mason when he needed something. 

This isn’t the case here and while I always put him into his own bed for bedtime, more often than not he wakes in the middle of the night and wants to sleep with me.  Personally, I have no objections with Mommy/Son snuggles in the night.  Mainly because I only get him 50% of the time and I cherish every moment I can get with him.  There are times where I just need a better sleep (and his little body is squished up against me pushing me off the edge) where I’ll scoop him up and he’ll sleep the remainder of the night/morning in his bed. 

Today I woke up and while I wanted to spend the day in bed, my mind doesn’t quite agree with my body’s desire to relax.  So within 15 mins of said decision, I had made a new one.  I wanted to move my bedroom furniture around, this was actually a thought I had last year but never got the motivation to do it.

I love change,  I love making things look new and I like new environments and by moving furniture around, you get a whole new look to a room.  And what better time to do it than the start of a new year!  My other reasoning behind moving the furniture was doing some research on Feng shui. 

Wikipedia says:

Feng shui (/ˌfʌŋ ˈʃweɪ/ ( listen) fung-shway,^[1] formerly /ˈfʌŋ ˌʃuːi/ fung-shoo-ee;^[2] Chinese: 風水, pronounced [fɤ́ŋ ʂwèi]) (or Fung shui) is a Chinese system of geomancy believed to use the laws of both Heaven (Chinese astronomy) and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive qi.^[3] The original designation for the discipline is Kan Yu (simplified Chinese: 堪舆; traditional Chinese: 堪輿; pinyin: kānyú; literally: Tao of heaven and earth).^[4]

In the past year I have become a lot more spiritual due to experiences in my life that I am not yet ready to share with you.  As a whole, I wanted to rid my life of any negative energy and even went to a therapist that studied a specialized therapy (sorta like Reiki) to rid my body of negativity (not sure if it worked…) so next was the home.

I had read two things that stuck in my mind:

1. Your bed should never be up against a wall with a window unless the window is completely covered.
2. Your foot board or bottom of the bed should never lead to a door.

My room used to look like this:

*Door behind me when this picture was taken.

And funny enough, I love this layout and if it wasn’t for Feng shui, I’d keep it like that.  But due to these beliefs and my desire for change, I am moving stuff around!

With a closet and entry door being on the same wall and a windowed wall, leaves two walls.  The old way and now the new way, so ultimately I only have one way I can move the bed.

So I proceed.  I vacuum the dust bunnies who mated under the bed and find random hair ties on the floor.  I’m starting to like this idea.  I move my art on the walls and place Mason’s ‘space’ at the foot of my bed.  Before, his little toddler bed was up against a wall, however now, that isn’t possible and his bed looks funny in the space.

I survey the room.  By shifting everything over, I’ve created a huge space.  It’s not really what I wanted.  Mason’s area looks out of place.

So I get thinking, maybe it’s time to move him out and give him a real room here.  So I drag his bed out, bedding and stuffies and survey the room once again.  It’s clean and feels a lot bigger.  We’ll see how I feel tomorrow.

Here it is..the new ‘no child’ bedroom:

* Door to the Left

* Door is behind me on my right

What you don't see is a giant area of space at the foot of my bed.

My bedroom makeover is complete!

Can't say the same for Mason's room.

His playroom used to look like this:

Behind me is a wall (with door) and another door (leading into the Landlord's house) behind the door to my suite so it creates this little nook that isn't accessible unless Mason's door is shut.

I drag the toddler bed into Mason’s [former] playroom which at first glance, is quite full with toys.  I never wanted him to have this much and am a bit disappointed that he was so much.  But I remind myself that he still has a lot of baby toys that he still plays with.  It may be time to downgrade the playthings.

Again, only 3 walls in this room to move things around.  One wall has a recess in it which is perfect for his drawers.  He has a giant playhouse that sits in the corner and then a little table set (from my childhood) and toy storage.  Hmmm there isn’t much room to move anything.  I need the drawers and not sure I’m ready to give up the playhouse.  I guess I could put it outside but I’m not sure he’d play with it then.

What it looks like now: (clockwise from the my suite entry door)

So this will be a second project…creating a beautiful room for Mason (with less toys). 

Mason will be back here on Monday night and I will show him my room (devoid of his stuff) and his new room with his bed.  And from there we will see if he’s excited to have a big boy room with his bed or if he’ll be back in with me on a permanent basis lol.

I’m fine with it either way.

For now.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, how awfully small are your branches!!

The fireplace all decorated with the 'Mr & Mrs Clause' I bought my parents in the 90's.  Can't forget treats for Santa & the Reindeers!

Spoiled!!!

Mason & Mommy on Christmas Morning

The beautiful drawing my Dad made of Mason based on a picture of Mason from his Uncle Dennis & Auntie Katy's wedding.

Mason playing with his new garbage truck!  Papa is watching him play.

The plan for today was to check out the Vancouver Christmas Market that has been advertised all over the place.  When Mason and I went to see Yo Gabba Gabba at Queen E there was a guy dressed up as a Gingerbread Man handing out flyers.

Ginny (Mom-in-law) and her sister Cora (Mason’s auntie) invited Mason and I to join them but upon hearing the endless rain all night, we questioned if it was even worth going to the outdoor market this late morning.  We decided to skip it and have breakfast anyhow.  After breakfast the rain stopped and we made a decision to brave the skytrain full of crazy BC Lion fans and go to the market.

Mason hasn’t had too many rides on the skytrain as I drive mostly everywhere but we thought it would be a smart idea to avoid traffic, expensive parking and take the train in.  Besides, Mason loves trains!

We all met at the Lougheed mall so it made sense to take the skytrain from there.  We parked near the entrance to the skytrain station and as we walked down the path I noticed several parking violations on cars parked beside me.

“Uh oh..what is that?” I nervously asked.  Considering my luck with parking tickets and towing, I didn’t want to risk it.  If they towed my car, we wouldn’t have another car seat to transport Mason in a vehicle and his Dad is out of town!  Cora mentioned there is a Park and Ride lot just a bit west of the station so we left Mason and Ginny to head to the skytrain and we parked the car.

Now with the push to have people use their vehicles less and use public transportation more, there has to be some sort of incentive.  Well at least, you’d think so.  Owning a car is expensive and so is insurance.  Taking public transport isn’t exactly cheap but combining both on occasion is just plain expensive.  So imagine the look of SHOCK on my face when we approach the lot which ironically is owned by evil IMPARK and I see the ‘Did you buy your ticket yet’ sign.

BUY? Like PAY for? How freakin’ ridiculous is that? I’m not downtown Vancouver or even in Yaletown.  I’m in BURNABY. 

Then the next surprise is woops, I left my wallet in Mason’s stroller.  I sheepishly ask Cora to cover the parking.  We walk to the meter, we have three options.  The first two I didn’t see the cost because they were 1 and 2 hr options and we clearly needed more time.  For anything after 3 hours the lovely parking fee was:

EIGHT DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS.

Seriously IMPARK?  Thanks for gouging.

So I grumbled all the way to the ticket meter at the Skytrain and realized once again, I didn’t have my wallet.  Another $2.50 shelled out for 1 zone to get downtown.  (Thanx Cora).

The ride in was nice and long and no transfers were required.  Mason played musical seats, hopping from my lap to Ginny’s to his own chair to eventually he had of the caboose for an unobstructed view!

The skytrain had many passengers all dressed up in black and orange with crazy wigs and a few guys in orange unitards (oh my).

Once we arrived at Stadium station we had a short walk to the Queen E and we were ready to see the market.  I assumed (wrong) that the market was free entrance since it was outdoors but who was I kidding.

Mason was free (as per usual) but adults were $5.00 each.  The ticket agent calmly informed us that the beer garden was closed today (guess they didn’t want rowdy BC Lion fans ruining the German ambiance) and she told us that there was a tiny 92 old woman that she told about the no alcohol rule and the lady walked out! LOL

The merchants were set up in beautiful wooden booths that snaked around like an obstacle course.  I expected the pricing to be high but I was shocked at some booths and quickly smiled and exited as they were all so friendly but I couldn’t afford their wares.

Aside from gifts, jewelry and Christmas ornaments, there were a few booths that offered German food.   I didn’t bring cash so I used their cash machine and felt the sting of the $3.00 service fee.  Ouch. 

My faves were anything chocolate and actually stopped at one of the booths to buy a cup of warm fondue with bits of fresh fruit.  Small cup = $5.50 but it was yummy and not overpoweringly sweet.  Mason was getting hungry and I couldn’t really feed him sauerkraut so I opted for a fresh cheese bun $1.50 and he devoured it.  (not a healthy lunch today and it was right after breakfast).  The whole place smelled wonderful!  The waffle hut drew me in but once I saw the $7.00 price tag for one waffle, I quickly retreated. 

A booth I was drawn to was Braden Hammond's custom jewelry which had beautiful pieces.  If I had a man in my life, I'd surely send him back to the market to buy me a pretty for Christmas!

We walked past the booth that had hand knitted hats and booties and I contemplated getting a new toque for Mason.  They had those adorable characters on them (penguins, bears etc) and they were fleece lined so not as itchy as the other ones I’ve seen.  Price tag = $19.99 (tax included).  They were one size fits all and Mason must have a big melon because it fit him fine and hopefully it lasts forever so he can wear it forever.  I wanted him to pick something with nice colors and a cute ‘face’ but no…he has to pick the orange and black tiger.  Geez.  At least he matched the BC Lions fans!

For fun, there is a huge horse carousel which Granny and Mason had a ride on:

It didn’t take long to walk past the booths twice and I had planned to get Mason’s picture with Santa but the booth was closed, I guess they only run it during the week? Kinda odd since there were quite a few children there.  Speaking of children, it was time to change Mason’s diaper.  While they had ample clean porta-potties (including two larger ones for the physically challenged), I was quite annoyed none of them contained a change table.   I guess they assumed all kids coming into the market were potty trained.   We made due by having Mason stand up but if he had a messy diaper, this wouldn’t have been a good scene.

After a few hours, it was time to head out!  A neat experience but I’m not sure I’d go again.  If you want to go, here are the details:

www.vancouverchristmasmarket.com

650 Hamilton Street  Vancouver, BC

• Bring an umbrella if it’s raining
• Santa is only there on weekdays
• Bring cash before you show up
• Come with an empty stomach, lots of free food samples
• Bring cloth bags for any purchases
• Lots of room for strollers
• Changing the kids may prove difficult

I was starving but felt no motivation to make something to eat.  The budget is tight with Christmas coming up and so my temptation to buy a meal was out of the question.

While I was reading my 'old lady magazine' Chatelaine (which seriously is a good mag, they've modernized it quite a bit).  I came across a recipe that looked yummy and I happened to have most of the ingredients!

My version is below:

Tofu & Noodles ala Jodes

1. Pat tofu dry. Cut block in half and then into 4 squares.
2. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high. Add 2 tsp oil, then add tofu.
3. Cook until tofu is golden, 4 to 5 min per side. Transfer tofu to a serving platter. Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining oil to pan, then spinach and pepper. Cook until tender.
4. Rinse noodles well and saute for 2 minutes.
5. Whisk peanut butter with 1/3 cup hot water, hoisin and chili sauce.

Serve sauce over tofu & vegetables.

The Verdict?

LOVED the sauce, I am a huge fan of PB.  I ate a lot more of the sauce than I should of.  I actually used red onion instead of the white onion the original recipe called for and the flavor was overwhelming so I don't suggest either.  It was a tasty dish, I'd make it again and experiment with the veggies!