It may not appear so, but I do think March was less busy, or more relaxing, than the previous three months.
***
1. READ
- Phineas and Ferb: Journey to Mars by Ellie O'Ryan (read to Georgia and Madeline)
- Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet by Jane O'Connor (read to Georgia and Madeline)
- Stone Rabbit: BC Mambo by Erik Craddock (Madeline)
- Making Bombs for Hitler by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch (Sophia)
Georgia making brownies, and Madeline in her last game of the season.
2. WATCHED & LISTENED
- TV (Neil and Kim):
- Game of Thrones (Neil)
- Top Chef Canada
- Top Chef Texas
- Hell on Wheels
- The Finder
- Storage Wars
- You've Gotta Eat Here
- Brad Meltzer's Decoded (Mount Rushmore, Devil's Graveyard, and the Vatican)
- Podcasts (Kim):
- The Digi Show
- Paperclipping Roundtable
- This American Life: Retraction (retraction of the only other episode of This American Life I've listened to: Mr. Daisey & The Apple Factory)
- DVDs/movies:
- The Secret Garden (Kim & Georgia)
Madeline and Sophia performing at Spring Free From Racism.
3. EVENTS & OUTINGS
- Madeline and Sophia's ringette games and playoffs
- I took the the girls to Zippity Zoom Toys because Georgia had a gift card to spend (if you need any toys, or fake moustaches, this is a good store)
- Neil took our girls and Bronwyn to the Science Centre
- Georgia attended one birthday party (and many playdates)
- I attended five Irish set dancing classes - learned the Sliabh Luachra set and Circle Waltz; started learning the Plain set; continued practicing Connemara and Antrim Square.
- Sophia and Madeline danced at:
- their school - in costume (March 16)
- Irish Club Mini Ceili - informally (March 16)
- retirement home - in costume (March 17)
- Irish Club St. Patrick's Day Dinner - informally (March 18)
- Spring Free From Racism - in costume (March 25)
- we all enjoyed the Irish Club Mini Ceili at St. Luke's Hall and St. Patrick's Day Dinner at Queensbury - lots of fun dancing at both - set dancing (me), step dancing - reels and jigs (Sophia and Madeline), Walls of Limerick (the older girls and me), and waltzes - Circle Waltz and "broom dance" (all three girls and me)
- the girls were delighted to participate in the First Annual Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, March 21
- Spring Free From Racism - we went twice; first for the girls' performance and later (after Sophia's ringette game) to watch other groups. We ate fantastic Filipino noodles, Mexican tostadas, Ukranian perogies...
- we enjoyed a meal from Smokin' Okies at L&B's house
- we had dinner at Pasta Prima with Laurel, Bronwyn, Donna, and Lou - the four girls loved sitting at their own table
- we celebrated Donna's birthday with dinner and cake at L&B's house
- Neil went to the new Irish pub (The Knotted Thistle) with some friends who are also on the Irish pavilion committee for Mosaic
- Sophia and Madeline stayed overnight at L&B's
- 12 activities with Mom in 2012:
- Georgia chose to make brownies with frosting (we also played a game of Junior Scrabble and watched The Secret Garden on other days - I love these times with just the two of us)
- Madeline chose to walk the 3 km QCM Mini Marathon route - it was quite chilly that evening but we enjoyed our walk together
- Sophia chose ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery and a visit to Chapters (just to look) - we saw Laurel and Bronwyn there, too
On our way home from a ringette game at Emerald Park.
4. RECIPES TO REMEMBER (mostly tried-and-true faves)
- Taco Seasoning Mix
- Grilled Pizza Dough (Alton Brown, Good Eats Vol. 3)
- Brownies (Company's Coming, 150 Squares p. 134)
- Cilantro-lime butter (on steak)
- Overnight Oatmeal
- "Prairie" Irish Stew (made with bison instead of lamb - The Big Book of Soups & Stews)
- Mrs. O'Callaghan's Soda Bread – we've made this a few times and suggest using 5 cups of flour rather than 6
- burgers with apple-smoked cheddar and Classic Red Barbecue Sauce (Weber's Charcoal Grilling)
5. GIFTS
- Justice dance shorts (Sophia), ladybug pillow pet (Madeline), and Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet book (Georgia) from Bronwyn - from her trip to Texas
- cute P.S. from Aeropostale clothes from Donna & Lou - brought back from Texas
One of the monster bookmarks we made. S gave this one to her teacher.
6. SPECIAL PURCHASES
- refurbished Epson Artisan 725 printer (because my beloved PictureMate Pal quit working and this was a less expensive, more versatile replacement for printing photos) - I'm glad to have a scanner again!
- Picture Inspiration necklace (for participants of Tracey Clark's year-long class at BPC)
7. HEALTH
- my lips were (and still are) severely chapped and painful, so I stopped wearing lipstick completely (which is a big deal because it's my favourite makeup!)
- Georgia was sick to her stomach for a few hours one morning; luckily, she recovered completely before we went to Spring Free and two ringette games - strange
Wascana Lake, taken on a walk with Madeline (March 19).
8. ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- created a new website for my genealogy information (because the site I've had for 15 years will disappear when its hosting is discontinued at the end of April)
- pulled all Girl Guides photos out of large binders and put them into their own smaller theme album
- filed our income taxes, and of course it took longer than I had hoped - glad to have a refund on the way
Georgia's first bike ride of the year (March 31).
9. DISAPPOINTMENTS
- my new (refurb) printer was defective - but Epson replaced it free of charge with next-day pick up and delivery - great service!
- Georgia's iPod Touch fell out of her pocket at the Hamilton arena and the screen cracked all over. She cried and cried and cried. We were all sad for her, and wishing we had done a number of things to prevent it. Fortunately (and amazingly), the iPod still works fine.
- losing my tasks from Google Calendar and not being able to put them back - seriously bummed about this!
Sophia's activity - Cold Stone Creamery and Chapters.
10. GOALS
- processed February photos
- backed up my computer
- cleared my collection basket 4/4 weeks
- tackled something in the basement 2/4 weeks - better!
- worked on my email inbox and computer 4/4 weeks
- made 6 layouts; 5 paper/1 digital - reached my goal!
- took our monthly family photo
11. NOTEWORTHY
- I finally used a discount coupon I had purchased in March 2011 for two hours of housecleaning; the result was nice, but it sure didn't last long enough. :-|
- I registered all three girls in swimming lessons (July) and the QCM Mini Marathon (September)
- I had a stressful month at work (it's better now)
- Sophia's ringette team won another league game
- Sophia started playing centre regularly (the last five or six games)
- Donna and Lou came home from Texas about three weeks early to help Laurel and Bronwyn while they recovered from their car accident
- online classes: enjoying Twelve; won a spot in Design Challenges; registered for Picture Black & White - really looking forward to both of these! (May will be challenging, though)
- on St. Patrick's Day, CTV filmed some of my set-dancing class so I was on the news briefly
- Sophia started playing badminton
- Georgia lost her left top incisor at school (now missing both - cute!)
- I received a new BlackBerry phone for work (major difference from my old one)
- the girls and I made several cute monster bookmarks
- Neil and I took Georgia on her first bike ride of the year - still with training wheels, but we'll get her riding on two wheels soon!
- there was basically no snow left at the end of March, and we had a thunderstorm - very unusual!
