Disappointment

At J's daycare they teach the kids to say things like "I'm disappointed" when they're upset that it's someone else's turn to have a toy or a book or a turn on the bike instead of yelling or hitting or pinching.

Tonight, I'm disappointed. I hoped, hoped, hoped that the Canucks would win the cup tonight. But they didn't.

I'm more disappointed by the behaviour of the Canucks fans in downtown Vancouver. It only took minutes for fans to light cars on fire, break things and start fighting. AndreaClaire was here and we cried in our beer together. Now there are sirens racing past our house.

So instead of rioting, I'm going to read some bedtime stories with my baby and then organize my house and clean my kitchen and get some food ready for the rest of the week...

And it all comes down to one game...

...and maybe one goal.

A season that started on October 7, 2010 is ending, finally on June 15, 2011...that's a long time for hockey. It's pretty much summer now, even in Canada. But we're still playing (and cheering wildly for) a winter sport.

Regardless of the outcome of tonight's game, I am glad to see this craziness come to an end. It's been two months of elevated heart rates and blood pressure, gnawed off finger nails, ground down teeth, queasy tummies, late-night horns honking, lack of concentration and focus craziness.

Don't get me wrong, it's been spectacular! But I'm ready for normal (and hoping that normal now includes a Stanley Cup for the Vancouver Canucks). My daughter is ready for regular bedtimes - they have been few and far between since the playoffs started because we live on a major street and jubilant fans walk by cheering and drive by honking their horns. I learned early on not to fight this and now J hangs out at her window or sometimes on the deck and yells GoCanucksGo to them.

I am certain employers will be glad to have productive employees back...the early game times haven't affected me much because I start early and leave early to pick J up at daycare, but I know lots of people who have been leaving work half an hour to two hours early, pretty much every other day since April. That's a lot of missed time to make up...

And days like today, well, I know my mind keeps flitting back to questions of what will happen tonight...what if...what if not...

Seventeen years ago I was seventeen. I had been away at boarding school for the first part of the playoffs in a state where hockey isn't really followed. But my dorm mother graciously allowed me and the other lone hockey fan (who was cheering for Chicago...we made a deal, as long as our teams weren't playing each other, we'd cheer together) to watch our beloved teams in her apartment on her tv during study hall. I came home in time for the last two series. Our house was full of yelling, cheering, screaming people. I was at my friend Michelle's the night of game 7. It was heart wrenching, then heartbreaking, then devastating [I know, I know, first world problems] but we recovered. And the Canucks recovered. And seventeen years later, here we are again. It's not the same team, but it is the same team.

And so, I am leaving my desk now. Yes. Early. Yes, I'm blogging from work. Yes, my boss told me to leave over half an hour ago. [I didn't...I have to wait for J to wake up from her nap at daycare] I'm going home to cheer loudly for the Canucks with J and with AndreaClaire who is here to cheer all the way from Victoria. And we might venture into the party zone. And hopefully we'll have lots to be excited about. And tonight, tonight I hope the noise and honking and cheering lasts well into the wee hours of tomorrow. And I hope there is a parade for us to go to later this week.

So, boys in blue and green, please:
Play hard
Play safe
Play clean
Win it for the ones you've lost through these series and the late season - Samuelsson, Hamhuis, Rome, Raymond. Win it for the seventh man on the ice - Bourdon. Win it for the fans who have cheered for you since before they really understood the game. Win it for the fans who jumped on the bandwagon, drawn by the excitement and insanity of the playoffs. Win it for the guys of 1982 and the guys of 1994. Win it for yourselves. And your families. And your friends. Heck, just go out there and win it! I believe!

And fans, please:
Cheer hard
Cheer loud
Cheer long and late (or is it early)
Cheer respectfully
Ignore the Boston trolls and welcome the more respectful Boston fans [but let them know we're going to win]
Have fun
And please, please, please, no matter the outcome of the game, don't ruin our city or all the good feelings that have piled up and grown through this playoff run.

Mixed Up Menu Week

I planned my menu on Monday. Really. And I went grocery shopping. But the Stanley Cup Finals are happening and, who knew, that means life has been wholly unpredictable and strange.





This was the plan on Monday, updated today.

Monday: Nachos with taco meat, beans, salsa and homemade guacamole, coleslaw, chicken strips, homemade hummus with pita chips and veggies. Extras: beer, quesadillas, pb&j for toddlers who didn't understand why we weren't all yelling GoCanucksGo. By the time it was time to eat, we didn't want to but knew we should. Somehow it was the meat and the veggies that got knocked off the list first

Tuesday: Leftovers - sort of...I cooked the taco meat and we had slapped together quesadillas before going to the pool. Toddler wanted to know why there was no hockey tonight.

Wednesday: Perogies. Hockey play off food. Likely more nachos, maybe that coleslaw from the other night, more hummus and hopefully some veggies. Oh and probably beer. But it won't be salty from sad tears. I hope.

Thursday: Salmon Perogies with veggies and coleslaw (regardless of the outcome of tonight's game, I'm done with grocery stores for a few days...somehow I've been to the store every day this week)

*Friday: Homemade pizzas

*Saturday: Something quick for J and her sitter, out for me and Alex

*Sunday: Probably burgers for Father's Day but it depends on whether or not Alex's family is over...


*Subject to being totally tossed out the window for a Stanley Cup Parade

Next week, back to normal. For more (less wishy-washy, hockey dependent) menu ideas, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Dear NHL and Boston Bruins fans - you suck

So, normally I wouldn't wade into the mud on something like this but I'm annoyed. I'm beyond annoyed. I'm disgusted.

DISCLOSURE: In case you didn't know, I'm a Canucks fan, as is my two and a half year old.

My Vancouver Canucks are in the Stanley Cup Final. But I'm ready to stop watching. There has been so much nonsense in this series, it's unbelievable. I'm not going to defend the Canucks or the Canucks fans - diving, biting and beer and peanut throwing are hardly positive attributes. Aaron Rome's hit on Nathan Horton was horrible. I felt so sick after that happened. While I find it hard to believe there was malice in the hit, I do think it deserved a suspension.

Boston hasn't been much better - hacking, sucker punching, blatant (unpenalized) cross-checks by the goalie, racial slurs to fans, a Boston restaurant telling Canucks players there's no food for them.

The officials, well, I think they have been downright horrible. The inconsistency is unbelievable. The non-penalty calls (anyone remember a puck being DEFLECTED over the glass that was called a delay of game?), the non-calls, the "this cross-check doesn't count, but the next one might" calls. And it's not like they're necessarily favouring one team over the other - I've seen things go both ways.

But what really got me was the hit last night on Mason Raymond. I'm not even talking about the hit, I'm more disgusted by what happened immediately after the hit.

First of all, hockey is about rivalry as much as it is about the game. But, in my experience, no matter where two teams are playing, when someone gets hurt, typically, the arena goes silent. Then when the injured player gets up and shakes it off, gets up and is helped off the ice or in the most chilling cases, is wheeled off on a stretcher, the fans applaud politely and players on both teams bang their sticks on the boards or the ice. They do not chant "flopper." Not only that, you can still hear them chanting after he's been on the ice for over a minute. Instead of clapping, they start chanting "Let's Go Bruins" and booing.

Secondly, where was the spinal board? WHERE WAS IT? When a player hits the boards like that a spinal board should be MANDATORY. One of the first lessons you learn in first aid is to NEVER EVER EVER move someone suspected of having a head, neck or back injury. Unless of course they are potentially in more danger if you don't - electrocution, falling trees, you know, things that weren't an issue in the hockey arena. My back has been aching in sympathy all day. I don't care who it was on the ice - Bruin, Canuck, who cares - injuries need to be treated with care. I sure hope that moving Raymond didn't injure him more or prolong his recovery time.

Third, back to those Boston fans. They are trolling the message boards and commenting on new articles and telling the Canucks to suck it. The Vancouver Canucks got what was coming to them and they deserved it. No. That's wrong. No one deserves to be injured like that. Horton didn't deserve to be injured on the play with Rome. While some Canucks fans didn't agree with the suspension (either the length of or the suspension in general), I didn't see any of them saying, good, Horton and the Bruins deserved that.

Fourth, Mike Murphy, you are so inconsistent and make the NHL look like a goon show. When you commented on the Horton-Rome incident this is what you said (from the Globe and Mail):

This has nothing to do with Rule 48. This is just an interference penalty, an interference hit. If it was immediate after he released the puck, it would be a legal hit. We have them all the time.

AND

So the key components are: the late hit, which I had it close to a second late. We have our own formula at NHL Hockey Operations for determining late hits, and it was late. We saw the seriousness of the injury with Nathan on the ice last night.

That's basically what we deliberated on. We tried to compare it with some of the other ones in the past. But it stands alone. It's why we made the ruling.

So according to NHL rules it wasn't head shot and the suspension was determined by (1) a late hit and (2) the severity of the injury.

I'm not disputing the severity of the injury. A concussion is bad news all around. And the hit was late. Fine. Now you've set a precedence.

Let's now apply those same two rules to the Raymond-Boychuk incident. Which was (1) a late hit and (2) caused serious injury. I don't know when Horton will be back but four to six months is a long time and that sounds severe to me. Also, having experienced a fractured vertebra myself, I know it's a painful and difficult road to recovery.

But Mr. Murphy, instead this is what you had to say about that hit (also from the Globe and Mail): [It was an] awkward collision between two players battling for space/room. Come on Mr. Murphy, you suspended Rome for what you called a legal hit because it was late and there was serious injury. In the same vein then the Boychuk hit should warrant a suspension. I don't care how long, but suspend him.

I hate to jump on the conspiracy train, but some consistency would be nice. I won't even get into the Marchand pummeling of Sedin which resulted in a misconduct for Sedin and the resulting comment of "I felt like it" from Marchand (around 2:15). Or any of the other inconsistent circus side shows that have gone on (for both sides) in this series. There's all this talk about how the NHL wants to eliminate blindside hits and goonery, but it's just talk. This hit and non suspension prove that.

So NHL maybe over the summer break you can figure out a way to officiate the game in a fair manner. Because at this point, it looks like it might be more fair to let the teams police the ice themselves. And while you're at it, get a good, solid policy for using spinal board. Please.

Week 23: Command Centre Necessity

Okay, I’m not caught up, I think I’m at week 19, but I’m jumping ahead here…Maybe I’ll have time tomorrow to sort the rest out…



This week the 52 week challenge at I'm an Organizing Junkie was all about a command centre. I read about other people’s command centres ALL THE TIME and lament the fact that our house isn’t big enough to have one. Except. Um. Yeah. Here we go with the questions…I actually do have one!

Week twenty-three questions:

1. Do you currently have an area in your home for a command center?
YES! It surprised me! We do. It’s called the kitchen counter.
I cleaned it up back in February…before that it looked like this:


On good days it looks like this:


And it’s really our command centre. Over on the left are two binders (there are three now) – our kitchen book (which is really a manual for everything and anything to do with our home and our lives) and the recipe binder (now there are two recipe binders – one with everything we use and one of ideas to try). The basket holds phone and camera chargers, the letter opener, tape, scissors. The porcupine holds the pens and pencils. I have an idea of how I would really like this to look, but it involves using a piece of furniture we don’t yet own for the binders…so it will just have to wait a bit longer. I’m hoping by the end of the summer I will have done enough contract work that we can buy our wall unit...

2. Have you had any luck implementing any of the tips from my book, Clutter Rehab?

Maybe…I read it a long time ago and I’ve implemented a few things in it, so I think so…but I had to give it back to the library.

3. Have you been able to maintain the spaces you have already organized?

Yes. I just need to think about it and the maintenance doesn’t end up taking long. It’s so nice to get up to a more clutter-free home these days!

Boooo Boston...Go Canucks Go

Our apartment looks out over a main street. When the Canucks won tonight a few things happened.

1. We could hear a dull roar from the fans on the street across False Creek

2. Horns started honking and people started yelling.

3. J got very excited and decided this was the time to tell the world who her NHL hockey team is.

She stood at her window and yelled anytime horns honked or jersey clad people went past.

Somewhere along the line, she learned thumbs up and thumbs down and (mostly) used them correctly.

Tonight was unreal...I can't imagine what it will be like if the Vancouver Canucks win the Stanley Cup!

It's Wednesday

Which means we're a lot closer to the weekend than we were on Monday.

I wrote a very lengthy post to the universe about the gong show that has been my day - you know, barometric pressure migraine, bed sheet laundering, toddler bathing, milk curdling, disappearing bike, and toddler-daycare-meltdowning all before 9:00 am (most of it before 6:45 am) - and then deleted it.

Because, whoa, way too much whining.

Tylenol and a latte with an extra shot calmed the migraine and fixed the caffeine deprivation brought on by the lack of uncurdled milk. The washer and dryer and Alex will ensure the sheets are ready to be put back on the bed before bedtime, the toddler is clean and has, by now, I hope, forgotten her bike was left at home and that I am horrible for leaving her at daycare.

The sun is shining. We've been whining about our extended winter for so long, it's good to have some vitamin D streaming down on us. It means the sun is out when I get up in the morning and J and I can play at the park for hours after dinner. It means summer is coming (I'll try not to whine too much about how hot our place gets) and summer is good.

And it's Hockey Night...I am hoping for a better outcome (on a few levels) than Monday night's game...so GO CANUCKS GO...let's go into Friday's game up 3-1....

Blerg

I'm supposed to be watching the Canucks game, but I can't watch...I've felt somewhat sick to my stomach since the first five minutes when Horton hit the ice. I don't care about the "was it late or wasn't it", the "was it a legal hit or wasn't it", I just hate seeing players not moving on the ice. I felt a little better when the CBC announcers announced that the Bruins said he was in hospital and moving all his limbs, but it was still scary.

And now I can barely watch the game. Which is probably a good thing since they're trailing 4-0. I'm hoping we'll tighten the score before the game is over and maybe win games 4 and 5...Stanley Cup win at home? YES PLEASE. [I can hear the game...it's on in the other room and I keep dashing in to see what's happening]

I also haven't done a menu plan yet today because ugh. It's summer here finally. And our place faces due west. It's hot.

And I hate making food in the summer. So if you have any suggestions for toddler friendly, warm weather food, I'd love to hear them....please. Or we'll be eating granola and yogurt all summer.

GO CANUCKS GO

Netherlands - The Garden Swing

Postcard from Nancepost from the Netherlands

Description: The Garden Swing. By courtesy of the David Shackleton Gallery, Edinburgh
PERCY TARRANT (d. 1934) painted figurative and genre subjects as well as contributing to several periodicals such as The Illustrated London News, The Quiver, Cassell's Family Magazine and The Graphic. He exhibited at several London galleries, including the Royal Academy, and lived in South London for many years before moving to Leatherhead and then to Gomshall in Surrey. His daughter, Margaret Winifred Tarrant was born in 1888 and due in part to his encouragement she followed in his footsteps by becoming an artist and a very successful illustrator.

United Kingdom - Kate Middleton and Prince William

Postcard from Firefly1971 from the United Kingdom.

Description: The marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton, Friday April 29th, 2011