It’s shaping up to be another busy weekend at Casa Simpson. Between dance lessons, birthday parties, skating dates and the usual grocery shopping/cleaning/baking extravaganza that seems to punctuate most weekends, we’ll be hopping.
Lisa has not one, but two birthday parties – one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Lisa just turned 7 and now all of her classmates are turning 8 (not fair! she cries in vain). The one on Saturday is a swimming party (indoors, obviously). FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, it’s bad enough that I have to worry about the summer swimming parties, now here’s one right smack dab in the middle of a Canadian winter. GAH! Is no one else paranoid of kids and pools? I mean, there will be 20 kids there. Sure, there will be a lifeguard and the parents of the kid, but that ratio is far too low for my liking. Are you with me on this or am I truly a nutcase?
I usually don’t mind shuttling my children around to birthday parties, as it usually spells at least 2 hours of time to myself between the time I drop off and the time I pick up. I usually spend it shopping or running errands, but at least I’m alone, which doesn’t happen too often on a weekend (or ever). The swimming party means that I’ll have to stick around, at least until the water part is over. At least the Sunday one is in the kid’s house (sensible parents), so I’ll get a little time then.
I was calculating the other day that I have spent $1,404 (lifetime) on Lisa’s dance lessons (probably because she needed a new pair of shoes and I got a deal by buying them used for $20). She does Highland Dancing, which Homer thinks is stupid (because he hates bagpipes), but I think it’s kind of cool. It’s different, there is an opportunity to compete at Highland Games across North America and Britain and there’s a very strong cultural connection. Anyway, my $1,404 investment has paid off (in Lisa’s eyes anyway) because she was asked to play a special part in her school’s opera (yes, opera) this spring. The details are a little fuzzy, but the gist of it is that she will be dancing the Highland Fling (holding birds?) while the main characters make googly eyes at each other. Eat that, Homer. Highland Dancing is going to make our kid a star!
A long time ago (like before Christmas) Artemisia asked me to post some recipes that were not ruined by substituting whole-wheat flour for white flour. I have a whole list of them, but keep forgetting to bring them to work where I write most of my posts. I’m going to make a concerted effort to get to that post this weekend, because everybody loves a recipe post, right?!
Have a great weekend!
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16 comments:
I love a good recipe post, and I am very interested substituting whole wheat flour.
Good luck with your busy weekend.
I don't worry that much about kids and pools, assuming the kids know how to swim and the parents are nearby, but maybe once I have kids of my own I'll change my mind.
Have fun with your busy weekend!
Sounds like a busy weekend! My worry level is directly proportionate to the kid's ability to swim. Can't wait for the recipes!
Those recipes would be fantastic because I am trying to use as much whole wheat flour as possible, but somethings just don't turn out right.
Highland Dancing! That is SO COOL! I would love to read the recipe post(s) as well. Best of luck posting from home; I myself have never been able to master the art.
I used to Highland dance! It was a lot of fun - way better than ballet:)
If it makes you feel better I spend that a year on my six year old's ballet and Jazz so...not a bad price really.
Congrats on your star in the making.
Oh and have you tried Spelt? It's similar in color to whole wheat but tastes better (imho) more nutty. Anyway, it seems to substitute nicely. The only thing that has to have white flour is...white cake:) oh and white sauce.
I'd love to see some recipes. As you can tell I love to bake!
(sorry for the ramble)
I've thought of Highland Dancing for my kids...we have some Scots (and Irish, for that matter) but it's, like, four or five generations removed that it seems a bit pretentious to claim a cultural draw, kwim?
As for kids and pools, my 7yo is a strong swimmer so I don't worry, but I wouldn't send my 4yo to a pool party unless I was prepared to suit up and go in with her. Have you seen that crazy video of the baby in the pool? The one who was trained to kick and float on his back and survive alone in water for like, 25 minutes or something?
Freaky.
I have a very good friend that is TERRIFIED of the water-kid combintion. So no. We all have our "things".
The Highland dance thing sounds really really neat. Way to follow your gut on that one. All we have around here is ballet/tap/jazz- complete with 3yr olds wearing makeup and gyrating their tiny hips. GAAA. We do gymnastics instead. At least there my kids aren't made to look like Barbie. =) IF ONLY we had Highland dancing...
Kids and pools.... I would NEVER leave the monkey in/at a pool without Josh or me there to supervise. She's taking swimming lessons, now. But, she's not near able to swim on her own. So, Josh or I must be there to monitor and swim with her. end of story. :)
I'm with you on the kids and pools....I want to be there watching. My mother-in-law always telling the story of watching her daughter's swimming lessons from the balcony above the pool. Angie was 3 and when the instructor was busy with another child, got so excited that she jumped in. And started to drown. Obviously they got her out, but can you imagine the fit my MIL must have been pitching from upstairs?!
HOpe Lisa has fun!
Pools do scare me. My neighbour puts one of those temporary ones up every summer and I get all nerveous. I always tell her when they forget to close their gate. It freaks me out. Although I am not quite a freaked out about public pools. Probably should be.
Looking forward to the recipe post. I always use WW to varying degrees of success. I am anxious to hear how you have done.
that's great about the opera role! i think highland dancing is so much more interesting than the usual dance school offerings and the cultural exposure is great. i tried to put my daughter into an indian bollywood dance class but at 2.5 i think she was too young (or she just hated it!). i'll try again next year!
Hey Lori, if Lisa cannot swim well, I would worry, too. As it is, I don't really like birthday pool parties, because accidents can happen so quickly - a bump of the head, crazy jumping, etc. I say this having a pool of my own.
I'm sure the kids will have a blast, but an extra set of eyes and ears never hurt, right??
Good luck with Lisa's Highland Dancing. It sounds like she's doing really well.
Heidi
You know what? Pool parties scare me. My son (almost 4) is still too little for them, but I know one day he won't be.
I know I'll be the parent hanging around watching. I'm pretty easy going about most stuff, but swimming not so much.
Pool party = Me staying, the end.
I can't quite believe that some parents just blithely drop their kids off at a pool party.
Highland dancing is spiffy - I'd love to have MY girls take lessons, too.
Hope your weekend was lovely! I think the highland dancing thing is really cool. Neat and different. Better than soccer. Everyone plays soccer, but Lisa can be spectacular and unique...
Yeah. I like it.
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