Robin | Farewell Stranger

For Charity

October 29, 2011 by Farewell Stranger ·

When someone struggles, I help. When someone celebrates, I join in. But sometimes it’s a little bit of both, with hard stuff and happy stuff all intertwined, and I’m up for that too.

This is for Charity.

Dear Charity,

I know today you’re thinking back to a year ago when you admitted you needed help and went somewhere you could get it. I know it’s a hard day to think of. But it wasn’t just a hard day – it was the start of something.

Today you don’t have to worry about whether a year from now you will wish you had started today, because you’ve already begun. And you’ve come a long way, baby. Even if you still struggle, you are making progress and you’re where you need to be.

So don’t worry about this day a year ago, or this day a year from now. Focus on today.

You are where you need to be.

Filed Under: Postpartum depression · Tagged With: call for back-up, community, depression, hope, spreading the love, we're not alone

Signs It’s Too Long Since You Ran

October 27, 2011 by Farewell Stranger ·

Until Wednesday I hadn’t been for a run for a while, despite very good intentions. Then a couple of weeks ago we went to the beach and I ended up in my running shoes in the water thanks to a certain 3-year-old who wasn’t listening very well, but that was a perfect excuse to replace my way-too-old runners and kickstart the process. Which I did, and thus I present you with:

10 signs it’s been too long since your last run:

Your sports bra is so well buried you practically have to excavate your underwear drawer to find it.
Your dog doesn’t even look up when you get your runners out, because he certainly wouldn’t think to expect he might be getting a run.
Your dog also doesn’t get up from the couch when you actually put your runners on because, well, see #2.
You have come to associate your running hat with covering up (bad) weekend hair.
You put your running vest on and it’s a little, um, tight around the hips. (Stupid vest.)
When getting your running vest out of the closet, you notice that your running jacket looks awfully clean, as though it had been hanging there for a while without being worn (or something).
You can’t find the shorter leash you usually use when running with your dog, so you take the retractable one instead. Meh, it works.
When you get to the trail, your dog goes absolutely berserk. (Yes, all right, it’s been awhile. Noted.)
Running hurts.
Despite the hurt, when you get going at a decent pace your thought process goes like this: “Hey, look at me! Not bad. This is practically a tempo run! WOO HOO! I OWN THIS TRAIL! Except… Gosh, it kind of hurts to breathe. What’s that, dog? Oh, you have to pee? Okay, let’s pause for a minute. I don’t mind. In fact, let’s just walk the rest of the route. It will be good for me to properly cool down. Yeah, that’s it…”

And then, possibly, when you get to the end of the trail you’ll feel like a bit of a wuss for having quit early because, despite the pain – and the pouring rain – the run felt pretty damn great.

Lesson learned. I can’t wait to go again.

Filed Under: Happy things · Tagged With: lists, living life, running

Fall Foods: Squash & Pesto Penne

October 26, 2011 by Farewell Stranger ·

I found this recipe a couple of years ago on a group recipe blog called Bitches in the Kitchen. I’m always up for different pasta recipes and this butternut squash and pesto penne dish looked pretty good so I thought I’d give it a try.

Image credit: Morgan from Bitches in the Kitchen

One word: YUM. It’s seriously very good. And very easy to make:

Ingredients

1 small butternut squash, peeled, and chopped into 1/2″ pieces
1 tbsp butter
1 cup chicken stock
2 oz (1/4 package) cream cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 tbsp pesto
salt & pepper
1 pkg penne
shaved Parmesan

Cooking instructions

Steam butternut squash until fork tender and drain. Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.

In a deep frying pan, sauté steamed squash cubes in butter. Mash gently with a spoon as you sauté. Add chicken stock, cream cheese, grated Parmesan, pesto, and salt and pepper. Stir until combined. Cook pasta while the sauce is coming up to a boil.

Toss warm sauce with cooked and drained pasta (add a few ladles of pasta water if the sauce is too thick) and top with shaved Parmesan. Enjoy!

The pesto gives it a really nice flavour. This is a great one for kids, too. (When our kids were younger a friend of mine said her daughter would eat anything you offered her, as long as it was noodles and cheese. Ha ha. I think we all relate to that, and this dish might just pass… And it has a vegetable in it!)

Happy fall!

Linking up with Kludgy Mom for:

Filed Under: Happy things, Randomness · Tagged With: family, toddlers are weird

Snow, Polar Bears & a White Coke Can

October 26, 2011 by Farewell Stranger ·

I know, Halloween isn’t even over yet but bear with me while I talk about Christmas for a minute.

Chances are good we’ll have a white Christmas this year. You’re probably thinking, “What?! Doesn’t she live in Canada?” Yes, I do, but I live in a part of Canada that doesn’t get a lot of snow. But not for long! It looks like we’ll be in Calgary just in time to really enjoy winter. (Whose idea was this…?)

I am ridiculously excited about having more snow this winter (though feel free to talk to me in March and see if I still feel that way). Just yesterday morning Connor and I were watching Backyardigans and in this particular episode they were snowboarding. “Look, mama! Snow!” he said. Oh kid, you’re in for a wonderland of fun this winter.

There are certain things that always make it seem like Christmas to me. One of them – I kid you not – is the Christmas Coke commercials. You know the ones with the polar bears? I love those. Especially the ones with the sliding baby bears. Those ones are awesome.

I don’t know why I love those commercials so much, but I do. Maybe because they’re cute. Or because they’re happy. Or because I drink a lot of Coke…

Or maybe it’s because I think polar bears are magical. My brother spent a couple of seasons WAY up north in polar bear country, and one of my sisters was there for a season too. Their stories and photos are incredible.

Photo credit: Greg Hounslow (my bro)

After hearing about their experiences I understand more how tragic the threat to the polar bear habitat is. (And yes, I’m going to get all “do good things!” on you now.)

Coke is turning their red cans white this holiday season as part of the “Arctic Home” campaign, another thing I think is awesome. It makes total sense to me for Coke to raise awareness and funds to support World Wildlife Fund (WWF) efforts to protect the polar bears’ Arctic home.

Coke will contribute $2 million to WWF over the next five years, and donations from consumers made by March 15, 2012 will be matched – up to $1 million USD – through the Arctic Home campaign.

I love seeing companies do this. A white Coke can with polar bears on it? That will totally get people’s attention. I hope it generates donations (need a Christmas present for someone environmentally-minded?) but I think the awareness is important too.

Coke will be doing “Arctic Home” commercials as well as other advertisements and promotions, and they’re also working with Academy Award-nominated filmmaker MacGillivray-Freeman Films on a new IMAX film called To The Arctic 3D. (You can see some preview footage from the film in the video below.)

You can find out more on iCoke.ca, where you can explore, experience and learn about the polar bear and its Arctic home. You can also watch video chats with WWF scientists, track virtual polar bear sightings, and make donations online.

This whole endeavour is something I applaud, and I will be supporting the campaign, sharing it with others, and checking out the polar bears (I can’t resist photos and info about these bears). I will also totally be in the theatre for that IMAX film. Probably with popcorn and a white Coke can in hand.

Filed Under: Better world, Stuff I like ·

The Secret to a Clutter-Free Life

October 24, 2011 by Farewell Stranger ·

Thanks to Tervis for sponsoring my writing. Visit their website to learn more about the world’s first smart cup.

If you were to peek inside our cupboards right now, you’d think the most ~~anal~~ organized people ever lived here. And they do! (But there is a bunch of stuff in boxes at my parents’ house.)

I’ve told you about how we’re moving, right? And how we’ve done a ton of work around our house in preparation?

One of the big things we’ve done is get rid of stuff. Not that we belonged on an episode of Hoarders or anything; we do a fairly good job of getting rid of superfluous crap every few years, mostly recently right before Connor was born. But after this most recent spree I’ve found the formula for a clutter-free life: baskets (or containers) + trash bags = HALLELUJAH.

We already had some sweet systems in place, but by getting rid of the extra stuff we had hanging around, it really feels like we have more space. We don’t, really. We just have less clutter.

We’ve done a few things over the last few years to beat back the insanity that is a normal family’s house.

A year or so ago my husband tackled the kitchen. Our pantry basically consists of two cupboards in our island, and we had a tendency to just chuck stuff in there. (Please tell me we’re not the only ones.) So he went through and purged all the unidentifiable bulk-aisle bags, the boxes of crackers with only crumbs inside, and about 243 escaped raisins. He sorted, put everything in its own container and labelled them all. And see? Totally ~~anal~~ organized!

Then you have the hall closet. It’s been more or less like this for a while, but we got rid of a few extra coats and did the whole thing up in spanky wooden hangers and voilà!

I told you – baskets = brilliant.

Want to see the drawer formerly known as “junk?”

Little baskets! That clip on to each other! I feel more sane just looking at this. (And this, incidentally, was my system. My husband made it better by ditching some stuff… Hey! Where’s my iPod…?)

And last, but certainly not least, I give you this:

Why yes, I did just show you a picture of the cupboard in my bathroom. With baskets, thankyouverymuch. Everything I need in the morning is in that basket in the front, which means it’s not cluttering up my bathroom counter.

Baskets, I tell you. It’s as simple as that.

***

I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. To learn more about Tervis, visit their website: http://www.tervis.com.

Filed Under: Happy things, Randomness, Stuff I like ·