Not To Be Trusted With Knives

The neurosurgeon said the nicest word that one can hear when you have a tumour: benign. My dad will get an MRI tomorrow and then they will book a surgery – and I’ll book a flight to be there. From the sounds of it, the surgery will be very long and, well, it’s brain surgery, so it’s dangerous, but the fact that it’s operable and benign is the best we could hope for in this situation. We aren’t out of the woods yet, but he sure could have given us much worse news than this.

Also, apparently my dad’s brain tumour is 1/4 the size of his brain. I think this is one time when our family motto of “go big or go home,” is *not* working in our favour. The neurosurgeon said it’s probably been growing for long time to be that big. My dad’s reply was that he wished he’d known because he could have blamed so my things on that brain tumour over the years: “It’s not my fault! It’s my brain tumour!” So he still has his sense of humour! Also, when I talked to him on the phone today, he said that the doctor remarked that my dad was pretty optimistic while many people in his situation would not be. His reply was “Would it help anything if I panicked? What good would that do?” I guess I know where I get my positive outlook from!

And thanks to everyone who has sent me emails/texts/comments/etc. of support. It really is helping me get through a difficult time knowing that people care about me and my family and that I have lots of people to lean on when I need it. You guys are awesome.

Tags: brain tumour, family, health

My sister called me last night to tell me that something was wrong with my dad. She got him to go to the hospital – no small feat, as my dad is not a big fan of going to see doctors¹ – and we were worried he may have had a stroke, but after much waiting around at the ER, when he finally got admitted and had a CT scan done, we found out that he has a brain tumour. Today he was transferred to a bigger hospital and is waiting to get an MRI and see a neurosurgeon in the morning. We really don’t know anything more than that at this point and I’m trying to remain optimistic that it will be operable. I’m waiting to find out what the prognosis and plan is to decide when I should go there. If he goes into surgery right away, I’m getting on a plane immediately. If it’s not that simple, I’ll figure out when is best for me to go there. I really wish it was tomorrow morning already, because the waiting is killing me. It’s hard to be so far away, because I can’t be there with my family for this. It’s hard even writing this posting, because all I can think is that my Dad isn’t at home to say to my Mom, “Hey Ann, come see what Bethy wrote on her blog today.” So I’m doing the only thing I can think to do right now – I’m adding Toronto Maple Leafs players to my hockey pool team.

I just need my Dad to be OK. I love you, Dad.

1. Which is a huge understatement – I don’t think my dad has seen a doctor in more than 20 years. [↩]

Tags: family, love, sad

I’m freaking exhausted from a day of Christmas baking, so today’s posting on my Christmas-baking-while-chatting-online-with-my-family-who-was-also-baking is going to be mostly photos and short on words. I’m too tired for typing words.

Meringue Snowflake

Chocolate Mice

For the record, here’s what everyone baked:

Beth

• shortbread cookies
• meringue snowflakes
• chocolate mice (white and dark chocolate)

Mom

• cranberry nut clusters
• chocolate lollipops
• reindeer cupcakes with Madeline
• butter tarts
• Muskoka tarts
• whipped shortbread

Nancy

• peanut butter fudge
• rocky road drops
• pecan pumpkin cookies
• pumpkins pie squares
• oat butter brittle
• key lime cheesecake squares
• blue cheese walnut crackers

Daniel¹

• lemon squares
• graham cracker cupcakes
• thumbprint cookies
• banana chocolate loaf

1. Nancy’s friend Daniel; not to be mistaken for Dr. Dan [↩]

Tags: baking, Christmas, Christmas 2011, Christmas baking, Cyber Cookies, Cyber Cookies '11, family, food, Nerdery

My dad emailed me this photo yesterday:

It’s the odometer of his truck, which he bought on the same day that I bought my car, and yes, that is showing that he’s driven 100,000 km! In 944 days¹.

In contrast, here’s my odometer:

53,683 km². Or 54% of the distance my dad has driven.

Further, 9,806 of the kilometres that I have driven have been for work³. Meaning that I’ve only driven 43,877 km on my own time⁴, compared to my dad’s 100,000! Clearly, my dad is superior to me in the field of putting mileage on his vehicle!

One area that my dad doesn’t beat me though, is in winning bets on Canucks vs. Leafs games. Such as the bet we have on tomorrow night’s game. I expect to be the proud owner of a lottery ticket purchased by my dad after the Canucks beat the Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada!

1. Mathletes will note that works out to 106 km per day!! [↩]
2. That’s 57 km per day! [↩]
3. Not commuting to and from work, but driving to meetings, interviews, focus groups, and other such work-y events. [↩]
4. Or 46.5 km per day. [↩]

Tags: cars, hockey, mileage, sports, trucks, Zaphod Beeblebrox the Car

After a year’s hiatus¹, the Snow family Cyber Cookies is back!

For the uninitiated, Cyber Cookies is where I bake “with” my family with a little assistance from our webcams! That’s right – I bake in my kitchen in BC and my family bakes in my sister’s kitchen in Ontario and then it’s kind of like we are baking together except that we don’t get to try each other’s baked goods. So, not quite as good as baking in person, but it’s the best I can do!

I still have to decide on what I want to bake, but so far I thinking making some of the following items:

• shortbread – this is for sure, because I bake the world’s best shortbread
• gingerbread
• sugar cookies
• peanut butter chocolate unsurprise cookies²
• coconut squares
• fudge
• meringue snowflakes
• chocolate mice

Cyber Cookies ’11.
Friday, December 23, 2011.
Toronto & Surrey.

You know you are jealous

Except for the Surrey part. No one is jealous of that.

1. The hiatus was because I was actually in Ontario last Christmas, so I could bake with my family in person. [↩]
2. I call them “unsurprise” cookies because the name of the recipe was originally “peanut butter chocolate surprise cookies,” but the surprise was supposed to be that there is peanut butter surprise but (a) it’s not very surprising, since peanut butter is in the name of the cookie and (b) if someone has a peanut allergy, there’s going to be one hell of a terrible surprise. [↩]

Tags: baking, Christman, Cyber Cookies, Cyber Cookies '11, events, family, food

It seems like only yesterday that my sister gave birth to a tiny baby girl, but today that baby girl turned seven years old. SEVEN! And in the seven years that Ms. Madeline has been my niece, just like her mother, her grandpa and her grandma, she’s taught me a thing or two.

Enjoy The Moment

Everyone says that having kids teaches you to stop and enjoy the simple things in life. When you see the wonder that a kid has as they look at the world, it reminds you to appreciate how wonderful and amazing things really are. When they ask questions about things that you don’t normally give a second thought to, they make you realize what you have been taking for granted. My niece was the first kid that I really had in my life that I have gotten to watch grow up from the time she was born, so she’s the first person that I’ve gotten to experience this with. Also, since I live so far away, I don’t get to see her nearly as often as I would like, and so when I do get to spend time with her, I treasure it. I treasure every conversation we have, no matter what it’s about. I treasure every smile, every laugh, every hug. I enjoy each moment that I get to be with her and I learn from her how to see the world with new eyes. I make sure that I’m really present in that moment, because I know that I’ll only get to have this moment with my niece once. She’s growing up so fast.

There Is Something Good and Pure in the World

When my niece was very small, I went through a really rough time in my life. And when I was really sad, I would think of my niece, a tiny sweet baby, and just thinking about her existence made me feel a little better, because I knew that there was something good and pure in the world. Someone so new, so full of potential. And that gave me hope.

A Surprising Number of Facts

I like to think of myself as a pretty intelligent gal who is well-informed on a broad array of topics. But hanging out with my niece, I always learn new things that I had no idea about before. Like what an okapi is. Or the meaning of the word “lugubrious.”  Which she taught me when she was four years old. For reals. Or that there are more than five kinds of dinosaurs. Seriously, when I was a kid, we were taught about five types of dinosaurs: Tyrannosaurus Rex, triceratops, stegosaurus, brontosaurus, and pterodactyls. Then Jurassic Park came along and we all learned about velociraptors. But if you go over to my sister’s house, it will not be long before my niece will sit you down with one of her two encyclopedias of dinosaurs and you’ll be learning about dozens and dozens of different kinds of prehistoric beasts. That kid is freaking smart.

Being Happy Makes Me Happy

After  I blogged my list of 100 Things That Make Me Happy, my sister suggested to my niece that she make a list of the things that makes her happy. I loved her list because it gave me insight into how she sees the world. And one of her items, in particular, really struck me. In amongst the other things that made her happy, she wrote “Being happy makes me happy.” So simple, yet so profound. It makes me think of Dr. Brown’s talk that I blogged about not too long ago (and which I can’t seem to stop talking about!), particularly the part about how we often squander our moments of joy by thinking “This is too good. When is the other shoe going to drop?” instead of just experiencing the joy. Rather than doing that, I’m striving to follow Madeline’s lead and just be happy about being happy.

I love you, Madeline. I hope you had a very, very happy birthday!

Tags: aunty blogging, birthdays, family, love, Madeline, NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo2011, niece

I can’t believe my trip to Montreal is over already!

On Saturday, we started the day with breakfast at Cora’s and then did some more shopping. Did I mention how freaking fashionable everyone in Montreal? We looked at lots of stuff, but didn’t buy a tonne – I only bought a few accessories¹, as I didn’t have a lot of room in my suitcase and had to leave room for Christmas presents that my family brought for me so they wouldn’t have to ship them, plus a case of spruce beer, which, as far as I can tell, you can only buy in Quebec. Mmmm, spruce beer. But I’m getting ahead of myself. My mom bought some clothes and my sister got a hat at Ogilvy’s and stuff for my niece for her birthday and a few other things at Forever 21².

My poor nephew – he was so tired out from all the shopping!

After shopping, we headed out to my mom’s cousin’s Susan’s place in LaSalle, where we got to see my Auntie Maureen, Auntie Barbara, Uncle Michael, and my mom’s other cousin, Leanne. It was great to see them – I haven’t seen my aunts and uncle since my last visit in 2005, my mom’s cousin Leanne in many, many more years than that, and we think I might never have met my mom’s cousin Susan before! If I have, I would have been very little. We had a tonne of fun – had a great time catching up, ate a delicious meal from a Greek restaurant, the name of which I must have asked 16 times but I still can’t remember what it was, and had a super delicious birthday cake that my Auntie Barbara made for my mom. I’d love to show you a picture of it, but my camera batteries died, so we were taking photos with my mom’s camera, but it uses some sort of proprietary Sony card instead of an SD card, so I couldn’t get the photos off the camera. My mom said she’ll get my dad to email them to me when she gets home, so I’ll post them once I get them. In the meantime, picture a cake shaped like a book, with little mini books on top, plus two bookworms in the shape of a “6″ and a “5.” Adorable! And did I mention delicious?

While in LaSalle, we also picked up some spruce beer at the grocery store. Spruce beer, for the uninitiated, is a type of pop that, as far as I can tell, you can only get in Quebec. I remember my Grandpa Snow making us spruce beer ice cream floats when we were kids³. It tastes like drinking a spruce tree and I’m sure it’s absolutely disgusting to anyone else but I *love* it so much!

The next morning, my mom, sister, and nephew were going to leave mid-morning, as they had a long drive back to Toronto ahead of them. But I may have pointed out that we hadn’t yet had a Montreal smoked meat sandwich and that I’d just go get one by myself before I headed to the airport for my 3 pm flight. And my sister may have taken pity on me and so the stuck around a bit longer! We had a lovely coffee at Cafe Java U and then went to Reuben’s for smoked meat. I have “Have a smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz’s” on my list of 101 things to do because I’d mistakenly thought that Schwartz’s was the place we used to go to get smoked meat when I was a kid. As it turns out, we used to go to Adam’s in LaSalle and Gregory’s in Verdun, neither of which exist anymore. And since the sentiment of the “smoked meat” item on my 101 list was to go to the place we used to go for nostalgia reasons, it makes the Schwartz’s part less important and so I’m counting “having smoked meat in Montreal” as “achieved” on my 101 list!

Me and my delicious Montreal smoked meat sandwich.

My smoked meat sandwich was exactly as I remembered them to be. Giant and delicious. The fries were a bit of a disappointment – I remember the fries we used to get with the smoked meat sandwiches when I was a kid were chunky and freshly made, whereas these were thin and clearly from a bag in a freezer – but the sandwich itself more than made up for that. And the coleslaw and the pickle totally completed the meal! My sister ordered a slice of cheesecake which was insanely huge and we shared it, plus she had some left over to take home. Also, freaking delicious.

And after that, it was time to hit the road. My family dropped me off a the airport, which was on their way home to Toronto, and I hopped onto my plane, which also happened to be going to Toronto, as I had to catch a connecting flight to Vancouver from there. And I nearly missed my plane in Toronto, because there were so many people with too much carry on luggage⁴ that the flight attendants took a good 15 minutes to figure out where to put it all and I only had a 45 minute turnaround time at YYZ! I ran from the gate where my Montreal flight landed to the gate where my Vancouver flight was leaving from and, happily, arrived just as the last of the passengers were boarding. We had the same issue of too much carry on luggage on this flight, so we were delayed about 10 minutes while everyone tried to stuff their luggage in to the overhead compartments, so I hope that gave my checked bag enough time to make it’s way on this plane! (Oh yes, I’m writing this on my flight from Toronto to Vancouver and will post it when I get home)

Anyhoo, I’m home now and I’m freaking tired! I’ve been fully adapted to Ontario time (i.e., living in the future) since I got to Ottawa and went to bed super duper early, so it feels like it’s three hours later than it is here in Pacific time (a.k.a., the past). I’m hoping that being on Ontario’s future time will help make it easier for me to get up early in the morning!

Other random stuff:

• There’s a place in Montreal called “Club Super Sexe.” True story. Here’s a picture to prove it:
  
• Did I mention how fashionable everyone is in Montreal?
• Did I mention how excited I am to drink my spruce beer?
• I did, in fact, convince my mom to have a Caesar so that I could try it. Verdict: delicious!
• I really do love Montreal, even in spite of its frigid temperatures. I hope I don’t have to wait another six years before I go back!

 Thomas and I came prepared for the cold Montreal weather with our matching hats!

1. Two pairs of earrings, two bras, and two headbands, to be exact [↩]
2. Yes, we realize that they have Forever 21 in both Toronto and Vancouver. Minor details [↩]
3. Both my parents grew up in Montreal and we have relatives from both sides of my family who still live there, so whenever someone would go back to Montreal to visit, they’d bring back spruce beer [↩]
4. Which ticks me off, because I had to leave behind some of the Christmas presents my sister brought for me because I couldn’t fit them in my bag, what with all the spruce beer and the other Christmas presents. But if I’d known they’d let me walk on with three giant carry on bags despite the rules saying you only get two carry on bags, like I saw another lady do, I’d have done that too! [↩]

Tags: 101 in 1001, auntie blogging, family, food, Montreal, Montreal smoked meat, NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo2011, planes, Reuben's, spruce beer, travel

Today is my 65th mom’s birthday and, in the nearly 35 years that she’s been my mom, I’ve learned a thing or two from her.

Save Your Money!

My mom was a banker for her entire career. And thus, my sister and I had bank accounts from an early age and we saved our money so that we could afford to get a postsecondary education someday. In order to have money to save, of course, you have to have a job, which I did from the time I got my first paper route, around age 8. All of this taught us a valuable lesson about working hard, valuing money, and delayed gratification. The latter of which, I’ve learned recently, is one of the key predictor of success in life.

Education Is Never A Waste

My mom knew that getting an education was a way that my sister and I could get to do the things we wanted to do in our lives. I’m not sure exactly how she did it, but I don’t remember a time when I didn’t just assume that I’d go on to a postsecondary education after high school. It was just a given, just like how you assumed that after grade 6 you’d go onto grade 7. And we all know that I took that lesson about education to heart!

How To Cook

Of the many things I’m arrogant about, my ability to create culinary masterpieces is at the top of the list. And I owe my love of, and ability to, cook and bake to my mother. From the time we were tiny kids, my mom taught my sister and I the skills we needed to whip up masterpieces and make it look easy. She taught us the importance of using good quality ingredients – there was no artificial vanilla extract or margarine going into her cookies, I can tell you that! She taught us when to improvise and when we needed to follow a recipe precisely. She taught us to keep an eye out for new ideas that we could recreate in our own kitchens. And she demonstrated the fun that can be had by cooking together!

Appreciation for Shoes

While we like very different kinds of shoes, I have gained my appreciation for footwear from my mom, who my dad likes to refer to as Imelda Marcos.

People Are Stupid

Whenever we complained about something someone else had done, my mother would say, “What do we say girls?” And my sister and I would say the standard reply, “People are stupid.” It seems, on the face of it, an odd thing to teach your daughters, but it meant much the same as my sister’s saying of “Good for you. You get a gold star.” The point of it is, while other people may have done something that annoyed you, you don’t have any control over their actions and it really won’t help to complain about it.

Life is Fun

Whenever my family gets together, there is always a lot of laughter. And whenever you see a photo of my mom, she always has a big smile on her face. I think I get my positivity from my mom and that’s probably the best characteristic I have!

I love you, Mommy. I’m glad I got to spend your 65th birthday with you in La Belle Province!

Tags: birthday, Mom, mother, NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo2011

Since we happened to be in Our Nation’s Capital¹ this morning, which just so happened to be Remembrance Day, we went to the ceremony being held at the War Memorial². The ceremony was very cool – there were fighter jets and helicopters flying by and cannons being fired and all sorts of wreathes laid upon the War Memorial monument. It really was quite a cool experience – if you ever get a chance to be in Ottawa on Remembrance Day, I highly recommend it.

Next we headed off to Montreal, enjoying some delicious scones from the Scone Witch on the way. Our Montreal adventures so far have included enjoying a fine dinner of burgers at Mister Steer, doing some window shopping (everyone in Montreal is so freaking fashionable!), and now we are relaxing in the hotel, enjoying a glass of wine to celebrate my mom’s last day as a “regular” citizen (as opposed to a “senior” citizen, which she’ll be tomorrow).

And now, in a very not surprising turn of events, I’m going to head to the hot tub!

1. Nancy insisted that we all refer to Ottawa as “Our Nation’s Capital” for the entire time we were there. And it had to be pronounced in a big, important sounding way, such that I feel she was pronouncing it capitalized. [↩]
2. Props to Sarah for pointing out to me when we were talking on the phone the other day that it would be Remembrance Day while we were in O-town and thus, we totally needed to check out the Remembrance Day ceremony [↩]

Tags: family, Montreal, NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo2011, Ottawa, people who are cool enough to travel with me, travel

I can’t believe that my trip to Ottawa & Montreal is almost here! I’m going to Ottawa for a two-day workshop on Wednesday & Thursday, but due to the length of the flight, the three hour time zone difference, and the fact that my workshop starts at 8 am sharp, Tuesday is my day to travel. I get in to O-town around 2 pm, which gives me time to check in, enjoy the hot tub, grab dinner and go to bed early, since 8 am Eastern time is going to feel like 5 am to me! Wednesday and Thursday are full days of workshopping, and because Friday is a holiday, I decided that I may as well stay out east for the long weekend. My mom, my sister and my nephew are going to join me in O-town on Thursday night, where we’ll have dinner with our friend Shelley¹ and then we are going to head to Montreal to visit some of my aunts, uncles & cousins that live there. Also, it’s my mom’s 65th birthday on the 12th, so we’ll get to celebrate it in Montreal! So. Excited!

And now – a list. Because who doesn’t like lists?

Things I’m Excited About For My Upcoming Trip (in no particular order):

• hotel hot tubs
• learning a whole bunch about Outcome Mapping (the topic of the workshop)
• seeing my family
• going to Montreal for the first time since ’05
• eating a Montreal smoked meat sandwich at Swartz’s for the first time since my childhood!
• poutine
• drinking some spruce beer!

1. Sadly, Sarah & Dave will be on a cruise. Well, not sad that they are enjoying a nice cruise, but sad that I’ll be in their town and won’t get to see them [↩]

Tags: family, Montreal, NaBloPoMo, NaBloPoMo2011, Ottawa, people who are cool enough to travel with me, travel