Back in the summer, we were playing one day over at the Carl Sagans, and Young Carl and his siblings were having sunflower seeds for a snack. I had recently read that sunflower seeds were a great snack because they contain Omega-whatevers and other crap that’s good for you, and all the Mothers Of Quality were serving them, yadda yadda. So I offered some to my own kids, and they both loved them immediately.

Unfortunately, these were the kind of sunflower seeds that had been shelled and roasted without a shell, which means that some kind of oil was involved in the roasting process. And in this particular case, the oil was peanut oil. So this little event quickly went from, “Hey, new food discovery!” to, “Oh boy…looks like the Captain is still allergic to peanuts. Oops.” On the plus side, Gal Smiley ate about a million of them and was not sick in any way, so looks like she is not allergic to peanuts. Or anything else, for that matter — she is by far our healthiest kid. I think we were due for some medical karma.

Anyway, since then, we have been searching for sunflower seeds that are nut-free, and last week, I found these at the Superstore, made in Canada in a nut-free facility. Yay!

The drawback, though, is that they are still in their shells. And apparently, you aren’t supposed to eat the shell part, Gal Smiley.

So for the past two days, Sir Monkeypants and I have been spending approximately 50% of our time shelling sunflower seeds. Yesterday evening after the kids were in bed I spent two hours shelling. I had a swollen upper lip from cutting it on the edges of the seeds, and I’d ingested about a month’s worth of salt. Both of my thumbnails are black underneath and sore from slipping my too-short nail into the little cracks. And all this effort, all this work, all this time, yielded…two tablespoons of shelled seeds.

Which the kids ate in about…oh, 10 minutes. And then they asked for more.

Sir Monkeypants searched online yesterday but could only find brands that had shells, that were nut-free. At the Superstore, there’s only the shelled kind. There must be a better way!

Memo to self: invent sunflower seed sheller. Make millions. Career problem solved!

Since I am now almost completely out of touch with the outside world, I just learned via a mailer that we will be having a referendum on October 10th here in Ontario. The referendum gives Ontario residents the chance to change the way we are represented in the House, to be the first province to have proportional representation for the various parties.

The proposal goes something like this. There will still be 90 ridings, and in each of those, one person will be elected — the person who gets the most votes. However, each voter will receive a second ballot, and will use this ballot to vote for a party, not a person. This second batch of votes will go into one big pot, and they’ll use the percentage that each party received of these votes to allocate the remaining 39 seats in the house. The people who get these party-only seats will have been nominated ahead of time, so you can know who will be sitting in the house before casting your vote; if a party didn’t nominate enough people, there’s some sort of complex system of approval that candidates will go through.

I’m cautiously excited about this change. There’s been growing support for the Green Party in Canada, but this new party can’t quite get off the ground, because although they receive a noticeable portion of the vote, they can’t get enough voters in one riding to get together and elect a candidate to actually sit in the House. This way, some new voices and new opinions will have their say, and may even become influential swing votes. Very exciting times.

But I’m also a little afraid at having some members of the House not be accountable to a riding. If I were head of a party, I’d use our party-only section to appoint people that I want to have in the cabinet — powerful people, my most trusted advisors — so that these people would be practically guaranteed a seat, and not have to face a possible electoral loss. But doesn’t that create a group of cronies in Parliament, who will work as a unit to promote their agenda, not having to fear answering to their local people in the next election? Will this lead to a two-tier Parliament, in which the party-only MPs are the real power players, and the rest are just back benchers?

I’m painting a pretty bleak picture here, and I don’t really think it will be like that. I believe this could be a good change. But I really don’t know much about the government or election processes, so I thought I’d throw this open for comments from the more informed and more intelligent.

The other day, suggested this careers meme, in which Career Cruising determines your ideal jobs. This could not have come at a better time, seeing as how asked me just yesterday when I plan to return to work, and what I think I might do when I get there. If I stay home until the Wee One is in JK — which I would like to do — then I will have been out of the workforce for 10 years. Going back to programming is going to be tough; my skills will be really out of date. Plus, the older two will still need after school care, and the Wee One will need almost full-time daycare, so my job would have to pay fairly handsomely for us to actually make money after paying for all that kiddy care.

Anyway, here’s the site’s recommended top 10 jobs for me:

Naturopath
Professor
Speech Language Pathologist
Music Teacher
Foreign Language Instructor
ESL Teacher
Website Designer
Acupuncturist
Nurse Practitioner
Actor

Corporate Trainer
Editor
Desktop Publisher
Cartoonist/Illustrator
Computer Trainer
Animator
Director of Photography
Anthropologist
Multimedia Developer
Director
Public Health Nurse
Midwife
Ob-Gyn
Casting Director
Comedian
Public Relations Specialist
Nurse
Art Director
Print Journalist
Critic
Activist
Market Research Analyst
Musician
Political Aide
Neurologist
Computer Animator
Writer
Health Records Professional
Composer
Translator

My list is just about equally divided between the fields of medicine, computers, teaching, and Famous Hollywood Persona. I think all of these are a good fit for me, but most of them require extensive retraining, or being 22 years old. What I really need is a job that requires little to no training, requires me to work only from 9am to 2pm each day, and pays $100K a year.

Doesn’t everybody!

Jeepers, the Prison Break premiere is tonight! I figure I better get on with posting my TV picks for this season, then.

Here’s my day-to-day breakdown of what looks interesting, and what I’ll be watching.

Mondays: The Prison Break premiere is tonight, and as I’ve said before, it has a very slim window to convince me that it’s going to be better this season, or it’s going to get cut. I’m looking for a sliver of hope in tonight’s episode, and something that won’t give me nightmares. But even then, just thinking about T-Bag kind of freaks me out. I really should give it up. I’ll definitely still be watching How I Met Your Mother at 8pm though, and Heroes at 9pm (both premiere Sept 24).

There’s not much room for new shows on Mondays, but the most promising looks like Chuck at 8pm (premieres Sept 24). It’s about a computer geek who accidentally learns some CIA info, and so becomes a spy. It’s supposed to be kind of like Alias, but with a main character who’s a Trekkie. If Prison Break doesn’t make the cut, I’ll check this one out.

Tuesdays: I’m really excited about Reaper, a new show on the CW (at 9pm, starts Sept 25). It’s about a young man who learns that his parents sold his soul to the devil as a baby. Now, to pay off the debt, he’ll work as kind of a Repo Man on Earth, finding escaped demons and other bad guys and returning them to hell. The pilot was directed by Kevin Smith, who I love, and the whole thing says “Made For Buffy Fans” all over it. The rest of Tuesday looks pretty darn slim. I might still watch House at 9pm (starts Sept 25), but it promises to be a really different show — the three supporting staff are gone, and in their place, a crew of 40 potentials will have a turn at assisting House, until two “winners” are chosen. Hm. Could be great, could be a really crappy gimmick.

Wednesdays: Sir Monkeypants is all about the Bionic Woman (9pm, premieres Sept 26), but I was never a real fan of the original series, so I’m not quite as excited. He’ll be watching it, though, so I’ll probably be watching it as well, by default. I’ll be watching Lost for sure when it returns in January, but until then, I’ll be checking out Dirty Sexy Money at 10pm (starts Sept 26). It stars Peter Krause of Sports Night and Six Feet Under fame, as a lawyer who takes on a wacky and extremely wealthy family as his only client. Also, while Sir Monkeypants watches Bionic at 9pm, I’ll be recording Private Practice, the new Grey’s Anatomy spin-off, which I have high hopes for (starts Sept 26).

I’m also kind of interested in Pushing Daisies at 8pm (starts Oct 3). It’s a new show about a guy who can bring people back from the dead by touching them — he uses his skill to help a detective, by bringing back murdered people to ask them what happened. It sounds kind of Touched By An Angel, but supposedly it’s funny and charming in an Ed kind of way, so we’ll see. It’s not appointment television, but if I’m flipping around, then maybe.

Thursdays: This summer has been all about checking out shows we missed out on last year, and for the past two weeks, I’ve been catching up on the entire season of 30 Rock. I have to say, I just love it. I adore Tina Fey — she’s hilarious, and also, she has the best wardrobe on TV. So I’ll definitely be recording the new season at 8:30pm — note to the curious, the season premiere, on October 4, features Jerry Seinfeld as himself. Other than 30 Rock, I’ll be watching Grey’s Anatomy at 9pm (starts Sept 27); no one can tear me away from that show!

Fridays: This is traditionally a dead day for TV, but there are two potentials on the horizon. First, we have Women’s Murder Club, a lightweight charmer featuring my beloved Angie Harmon as the head of a group of chicks who solve crimes. It’s at 9pm and starts October 12. Secondly, NBC has moved Friday Night Lights to 9pm (premieres Oct 5), and although I didn’t really check it out this summer like I intended to, I might try to watch some of it this year. I found last year’s season too closely stuck to the storyline of the movie, so I felt like I was just watching the same old, same old a lot of the time. I’m interested to see what they can do with a second season.

Saturdays: Nothing on.

Sundays: I was already iffy about The Amazing Race on this night, and it’s being held right now as a mid-season replacement, so that leaves me with nothing interesting. With around, that means we’ll probably spend every Sunday watching football, which is actually okay with me. I’m kind of curious about Viva Laughlin, a “musical” that will be airing at 8pm (starts Oct 18). EW predicts it’ll be the first cancellation of the year, but I do love a good sing-along. Hugh Jackman is producing and will appear in the pilot…so maybe, if I’m feeling bored, I’ll record it and see what it’s like. Sounds like it’s not a good idea to get too invested, though. In other news, Nathan Fillon and Dana Delaney — two of my favourite actors — are joining the cast of Desperate Housewives (9pm, starts Sept 30). I stopped watching back in the terrible second season, but I’ve heard last season was actually quite good. I still adore Felicity Huffman so maybe we’ll flip to DH at halftime.

Whew! Time to go and set up the PVR with this year’s schedule.

Lesson learned this week: Do not send Gal Smiley to school in her brand-new light coloured pants.

Corollary: Shout is good, but not that good.

My younger sister has a degree in food science, so I trust her to know about bad food additives and recalls and all that stuff I’d rather not think about. She says to stop panicking about this plastics thing.

And I quote:

“The component of these plastics that is a potential hazard is Bisphenol A. It is found in some aluminum metal cans, misc baby stuff (soothers, bottles), reusable plastic stuff, cd cases, etc. It is not yet a banned substance as the actual affects it has on the body and in what concentrations has not yet been determined. Health Canada is looking at these allegations for sure and if there is any health risk at all they will issue a statement and add this to their banned substances list (which can be found on their website or the CFIA website).

“In the meantime, you do not have to throw stuff out or stop using the dishwasher for things marked dishwasher safe. I recommend using ceramics or glass (glass is best) in the microwave and oven and then transfer the food to the kids’ plastic plates. For the Avent system you can always call the company and ask them if they have issued any recalls due to this issue and what their official position is on it (they’ll for sure have a statement prepared that has to be truthful).”

Thanks, LittleSis!

My Fall TV Preview edition of Entertainment Weekly arrived today, so it isn’t too long before my schedule of TV watching for this season is up on our office wall. You know, I really admire people who don’t watch much TV, or who are making a real effort to cut back on their viewing. But now that my kids sharply limit my ability to enjoy movies, I am forced to admit that I totally live for the fall TV season. I am a total junkie! So be it.

Of course, more detail on my picks for the fall season is forthcoming.

Gal Smiley is off on her second day of preschool this morning, and she couldn’t get into the car fast enough. As we predicted, she had no trouble at drop-off on Monday, dashing into the school yard to play, leaving poor Sir Monkeypants to chase after her for a goodbye hug. She’s been dying to go to school since last March, when we dropped off her registration papers. There was an unfortunate misunderstanding, where she thought that she would be staying at school that day, and when she found out we were just leaving some paperwork, there was shall we say, an incident. So although we’re a little misty-eyed at seeing our little girl growing up, she was more than ready for this transition.

Captain Jelly Belly’s first day of Junior Kindergarten is tomorrow, and he’s a little more tentative when it comes to new situations. So yesterday and today, Sir Monkeypants took him over to the school so they could rehearse the drop-off process and see other kids going into their classrooms. Have I mentioned that Sir Monkeypants is a kick-ass dad? The Captain already met his teacher at a special parent-teacher-kid interview last week, and he likes her, and we like her, so we’re all ready. It’s going to be really strange for me to have him out of the house every morning, and the Gal gone too for three of those mornings, but they’re ready, and I’m ready, and it’s going to be great.

As for the Wee One, she turned two months old yesterday and is already growing out of most of her 0-3M outfits. I’ve been packing up all the really little baby clothes to pass on to my younger sister, and it’s kind of sad, but also, I’m ready for that part of my life to be over as well. Plus, we are so delighted with the Wee One — she is really friendly and open, and smiles soooo much, Gal Smiley will have some nickname competition some day. She’s just started to look at her hands, so hand discovery and grabbing of things isn’t too far away. She loves to be sung to, and coos along with any kind of music — in the car, where she is often fussy, the Captain will sing songs to her from Thomas The Tank Engine, and she calms right down, and seriously, how cute is that?

It’s a good life.

Today the whole family went on a shopping trip to Westboro, which is a trendy neighbourhood in Ottawa filled with upscale cafes and fancy boutiques along a “main street” type road. Sir Monkeypants pulled the van into a spot along the street in a spectacularly amazing feat of parallel parking. I don’t mind saying it was pretty hot.

Anyway, the Wee One was hungry, so Sir Monkeypants took the older two kids up the road to the shop we were heading for, while I stayed behind in the van to breastfeed. I climbed into the back seat of the van and lifted the Wee One out of her car seat, and got into position. Then I went to close the sliding door on the van, but at the last second I remembered that we have the child locks activated, so if I closed myself into the back seat, I wouldn’t be able to get out without climbing into the front seat. It was cold and rainy, so I didn’t want to take the Wee One outside so I could move to the front seat, and besides, I thought it would be nice to have a little air. So I left the sliding door open and started to nurse, draping my raincoat over and around me for privacy.

After I’d started feeding, I realized that the van was parked directly in front of a little cafe (Three Bakers And A Bike). In the cafe, a middle aged man, maybe about 55, was sitting reading the paper, and he could see right into the van through the open doorway of the cafe. But I’m not embarrassed at all about feeding my kid, and I felt like I was being fairly discreet, in that I wasn’t flashing him a boob or anything.

But after a couple of minutes, he says to the girl working behind the counter…

Him: I didn’t really want to see that.
Her: Yeah, I know, she’s breastfeeding.
Him: Why can’t they take that somewhere else? People are eating here.
Her: I know! She could at least close the car door so we wouldn’t have to see it.

And they went on in this vein for the whole time I was feeding the Wee One, about how horrible it was and how shameful, and how rude of me, and how I had totally ruined his eating experience. I felt terrible, so upset and almost like crying. I rushed the Wee One through her feeding and quickly put her back in her car seat, so I could run away and join at the store down the block.

On one hand, I feel like nursing is a natural thing, and that they were wrong to make me feel so sad about it. I think if I had been an actual customer, sitting in the cafe, and decided to nurse at my table, the girl working at the cafe would not have felt comfortable asking me to stop, or to take it elsewhere. But she felt perfectly fine saying that what I was doing was inappropriate, when I was sitting in my own car, and other than the fact that they could see that I was nursing, they couldn’t really see any naughty bits or anything like that.

But on the other hand, I’ve felt like they’ve felt, like, hey, there’s a breast there!, and been unable to look at anything else. And I probably should have had a look around before starting the feed and moved to the front seat, so I could close the car door.

Either way, I feel pretty crappy about the whole thing. I need a hug and a big bowl of ice cream.

Yesterday I read this post over at Mom-101, which references this article about plastic baby bottles. It seems that all plastics, when heated either in the microwave or dishwasher, leach some chemical that has been linked to all kinds of bad diseases. And the worst kind of plastic is that which is labelled with a 7 inside the recycling symbol, or with the code “PC,” which stands for polycarbonate plastic. And plastic baby bottles and nipples, of course, are made from #7 plastic…and oh yeah, get heated a whole lot in the dishwasher, or in boiling water, and often, in the microwave, too.

The same site contains this list of recommendations, which basically boils down to, never put anything plastic in your kids’ mouths, ever ever ever. If you must have plastic dishware and/or toys, try to make them #1, #2, or #5 plastic, and never put them in the dishwasher or microwave.

To this I have to say…oops. Too late!

Luckily, our kids were never remotely interested in taking a bottle, so we never actually used the miriad Avent bottles that we own (the worst brand name, it turns out). Instead, we weaned them onto sippy cups directly, and our sippy cups are #5 plastic. Unluckily, those sippy cups have been through the dishwasher hundreds of time (only 50 washings can lead to leaching of the bad stuff), and the #5 plastic bowls and plates that we use for them, from IKEA, have also been in the dishwasher on a regular basis.

So now, I’m totally freaking out about this, because as you all know, everything you read on the internet is SO TRUE. This one does sound plausible, though. We’re trying to decide what actions to take to calm me down. We’ve already moved the Captain onto ceramic plates and glass glasses, and now we intend to move Gal Smiley onto the same “real” dishes right away. We’ll also try to take away or at least downgrade her sippy cup usage.

I would like to trash (or hopefully, recycle) all our existing sippy cups and plastic dishware, and replace it with new sippy cups (which will never see the inside of the dishwasher) and Corningware dishes. It seems like a rather radical move, but I think I have convinced Sir Monkeypants that this is a good idea. If only to shut me — and my Michael Moore-like ranting about conspiracies — up.

Meanwhile, Sir Monkeypants is having an awesome time shopping online for stainless steel or aluminum water bottles to replace the nalgene bottles we currently use when on the go with the kids (nalgene, apparently, also bad). He’s looking at Sigg and also Kleen Kanteen. They are cool and cutting edge and they sell them at awesome outdoor lifestyle stores like the MEC and Bushtakah, so he’s quite happy. Now if only I can convince him to get the one with the pretty flowered design stenciled on it, they’ll be something for everyone!