I’m still working on my new movie list – in fact we are thinking about having a regular Family Movie Night, maybe once a week or once a month. Last week we watched The Karate Kid because the whole wax-on-wax-off thing came up somehow while waiting in a line at Disney. Now everyone around here is doing the crane kick. Hi-ya!

Anyway, in the meantime, here is the book list I made for my friend Lee Ann. This one is less about The Classics and more about books that my kids loved and read over and over and over, so now I consider them must-haves for any new parent. In the older age groups, the titles are those that I personally loved as a kid (I was a Serious Reader) that I’m hoping to introduce the kids to soon.

I welcome all suggestions and additions! We are at the library frequently and always looking for new titles to pick up.

Also, here’s a good list of the top 100 children’s books of all time that I often refer to when looking for something new.

Age birth through age 2 (board books)

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton
Zoe’s Snowy Day/Sunny Day/Rainy Day/Windy Day by Barbara Reid
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin and Eric Carle
Jamberry by Bruce Degen
Each Peach Pear Plum by Allan and Janet Ahlberg
Ballerina! by by Peter Sis
Chicka Chicka ABC by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard
I Love My Mommy Because… by Laurel Porter-Gaylord
I Love My Daddy Because… by Laurel Porter-Gaylord
A Boy and His Bunny by Sean Bryan

Age 3-5 (storybooks)

Tikki Tikki Tembo Arlene Mosel and Blair Lent
The Hockey Sweater by Roche Carrier
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura J Numeroff
George Shrinks by William Joyce
Rollie Pollie Ollie by William Joyce
Miss Lina’s Ballerinas by Grace Maccarone and Christine Davenier
Stella books: Stella Star of the Sea, Stella Queen of the Snow, Stella Princess of the Sky by Marie-Louise Gay
Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive The Bus by Mo Willems
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Cowboy and Octopus by Jon Scieszka
Crictor by Tomi Ungerer
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
Sheep in a Jeep by Thomas Allen
Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox
Curious George by H.A. Rey
The Big Honey Hunt by Stanley and Janice Berenstain
Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
Olivia by Ian Falconer
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt
Russell the Sheep by Rob Scotton
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Wild About Books by Judy Sierra
Stanley’s Party by Linda Bailey
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
The Mitten by Jan Brett
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers (all his books, really, are so beautiful)
The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers
Ninja Cowboy Bear by David Bruins
Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner and Mark Buehner
The Gingerbread Pirates by Kristin Kladstrup and Matt Tavares

Age 6/7

These are still to read aloud to them, too hard to read themselves:
Winnie the Pooh stories (the real ones, not the Disney ones) by A.A. Milne
Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
Pippi Longstocking (highly recommended!) by Astrid Lindgren
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang by Mordecai Richler
The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Clementine by Sara Pennypacker
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCillo
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus

Can likely read themselves:
Ricky Ricotta books by Dav Pilkey
Ivy and Bean books by Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackall (precocious readers)
Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown

Age 8

Read aloud books:
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
How to Train Your Dragon (and many sequels) by Cressida Cromwell
Stuart Little by E.B. White
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, if you can stand to read it out loud without sobbing
The Wonderful World of Oz – L. Frank Baum
* (we have a picture book abridged version of this that the kids adore, suitable for all ages – illustrated by Charles Santore)
Rolling Harvey Down the Hill by Jack Prelutsky
Firewing and Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel

Read themselves books:
Captain Underpants books by Dav Pilkey
Wimpy Kid books by Jeff Kinney (borderline in terms of literary value)
Bunnicula by Deborah Howe
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Freckle Juice by Judy Blume
Uncle by J.P. Martin

Age 9-10

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
The NeverEnding Story by Michael Ende
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
The Great Brain by James Fitzgerald
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater

Age 10-12

Hatchet by Gary Patchet
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O’Brien
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
This Can’t Be Happening at MacDonald Hall (and other Bruno and Boots books) by Gordon Korman
Holes by Louis Sachar
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riodan (whole series)
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Superfudge by Judy Blume
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key
Escape to Witch Mountain by Alexander Key
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Age 13 and up

Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling (I know, everyone is reading these at age 6 nowadays, but my kids found the first one difficult to get through with all the new language, and a little scary – we are saving the rest for when they are older)
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe books by C.S. Lewis
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Each year at Christmas and birthdays, Sir Monkeypants’ mom gives our kids a little money to buy themselves something nice. Usually I take them to the toy store and give them (mostly) free reign, because I think people who give money like to hear that their loved one treated themselves, don’t you?

In the past year or so, though, I’ve been talking to the kids about trying to save up for bigger items. I’m sure we already own every single $20 dollar Lego set in existance, and it would be such a great exercise in money management to convince the Captain to save up for something bigger and better, you know?

The kids haven’t been exactly receptive to this idea. Gal Smiley in particular is the worst impulse shopper ever, I really worry about the day that child gets herself a credit card. The Captain can see the logical nature of saving, but when confronted with an exciting new Lego set in the store he can rarely help himself.

But Little Miss Sunshine, now that’s a kid with discipline. A few months back she was watching TV and saw an ad for this:

That is the Disney Princess Ultimate Dream Castle. When she saw this castle, she just about passed out. “Ultimate” is an understatement. It is the BEST. TOY. EVER.

But I looked it up online and it turns out it costs $200. TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS. My mother-in-law is generous, but not THAT generous.

I had to explain to the Little Miss that it was outside Mommy and Daddy’s budget, even for special occasions. If she saved up her money, she was allowed to buy it herself – but it would take a LOT of saving.

She was undaunted. Every penny she got for a present went into her castle fund. Every time she asked if she could use her pocket money to buy gum at the Superstore, I’d remind her about the castle and she’d immediately decide in favour of saving. It’s been several months now and she has almost $100 saved up. I was impressed but I still thought there was no way she was going to make it.

And then! Today! We were at (ahem) WalMart, browsing the toy section for the Captain’s upcoming birthday.

And LO! There were Disney Princess Ultimate Dream Castles ON SALE FOR FIFTY DOLLARS.

I still cannot believe it.

We grabbed one. We ran to the cash. The cashier said we were the third person to come through with one in the last 15 minutes – so if you want one, GO NOW (the Kanata Centrum WalMart).

Seriously, the Little Miss is SO lucky. And proud – she now has her castle and she even bought it with her own money.

I spent all afternoon putting this together:

BEST. DAY. EVER.

So last week we were in America, and sure, Disney was fun and everything, but you know what was the best thing?

Our hotel got Turner Classic Movies. AWESOME.

It’s a TV station totally devoted to showing old movies, and if we got this channel here at our house, I would literally do nothing else. The house would devolve into a slovenly pigsty, the kids would have to make their own food and get to and from school by themselves (if they felt like going), because I would be BUSY. I adore old movies, I’ll never be able to watch everything on my “want to see” list in my lifetime, and TCM would basically be like crack to my fake-film-student brain.

We did the Disney parks from early morning to late afternoon, and were home in time for dinner and bedtime each day, which left me free to run to the TV and watch delightful old movies each night. I saw There’s No Business Like Show Business (Ethel Merman is 12 kinds of fabulous), Wait Until Dark (Alan Arkin! A bad guy!), and Top Hat (instantly one of my all-time favourite movies, ever – Fred Astaire is THE MAN, sorry Gene Kelly). I was in heaven.

It got me thinking about my kids’ movie-based education. A while back I started keeping a list of book classics that I wanted to share with my kids, both books that are cultural touchstones and books that I just loved when I was a youth. It’s an ongoing work in progress but every time a birthday rolls around, or we’re down to the last few books on the bedside table and off to the library to refuel, I pull out the list and pick out a few titles. We’re building a great library here and it’s a real thrill to me when my kids love a book the same way I did when I was their age. (I should probably post this legendary list, shouldn’t I? Note to self.)

So I’ve been thinking, I should start a similar list for movies. When I was growing up, my mom was also into old movies and I saw dozens upon dozens of classics at home, either rentals or on Saturday Night At the Movies on TVO. When the American Film Institute came out with their list of the top 100 movies of all time, I took it very seriously, and started working my way through – I’m still not done, but I’ve seen 3/4 of the list and the remaining ones keep getting bumped for other stuff I want to see more.

A year or so ago, I showed the kids The Wizard of Oz because it happened to be on TV. Little Miss Sunshine fell in love with it, and likes to dress up as Dorothy, and now reads the book version we bought her on a regular basis. But just as importantly, we’re all surprised at how many references to that film still exist in modern pop culture – Phineas and Ferb, one of the kids’ favourite Disney animated shows, even had a whole episode that was an Oz take-off. The kids were SO exicted at the Phineas and Ferb episode, because they got all the in-jokes, and actually understood the theme, and man, did they ever feel so so smart. It was a great pop culture junkie moment for me, let me tell you.

So all this is to say, I’m going to start a classic movies list and keep it alongside my classic books list. My books list is dividied by age suitability, and the movie list will be too. Comment with your suggestions, and I’ll add my own, and I’ll post the results soon.

(Along with that book list. Note to self.)

So, we just got back from a week at DisneyWorld. Surprise!

It was a surprise for our own kids, too. We booked it back in the fall with FameThrowa and her husband, Mr. Chatty, who came with us. We didn’t really plan to keep it secret but Christmas was coming and the kids were wound up enough about that, and there never seemed to be a good time after Christmas to make the announcement, so we decided what the heck, let’s just…not tell them. Surprise!

We almost caved in a few times in the week before we left, because there was packing to be done and that’s hard to hide, but everyone around us was so invested in the surprise we felt we had to stay strong. We had to tell the kids’ teachers and school, and people we work for, and some friends who were going to help us out while we were away, and our parents and sisters, and suddenly everyone was all, “How is it going? Do they know? Did you tell them yet?” and so we hung in there.

And in the end, they were surprised but considering we were waking them up at 2 a.m. to go to the airport, it was hardly a big shriekfest. It did help them get out of bed cheerfully, though.

The trip itself was fun although hampered by some poor weather and the fact that I had a major toothache the whole time (root canal booked for later this week, THANK GOD, at this point I would pay my plumber to come by with a giant-ass wrench and pull the thing out). I am now a certified expert at a) parking at Disney; b) grocery shopping in Orlando, and c) getting character autographs. Go ahead, quiz me!

I always find it weird travelling to America, because I assume it’s going to be just like here, and yet it is subtlely different in many different ways. For example, every food we bought had extra sugar in it. The yogurt and cereals, even though they were the same brand as here, had extra sweetness. And other foods, again same brand, were just a totally different product altogether.

Something else that’s weird – the driving. The roads look like roads and the signs seem normal. Yet everyone was doing crazy unexpected things and we had a hard time predicting exactly what would happen every day as we drove over to Disney and back. It was very exciting, though. Between Space Mountain and the commute, Orlando really got my heart pumping!

Minute zero: I’m so nervous. That guy looks like he’ll be able to hold a plank for 10 minutes. And have you seen the rippling arm muscles on the chick next to me?

Minute Five: Look at me! I’m totally doing it! Hanging in there! Plus this stretching feels so good.

Minute Ten: Ow ow ow. But it’s good for me. And I’m right in there with the rest of the class. Hey world, check me out!

Minute Twenty: WHY do I do this to myself? I hate yoga. Why am I even here? Everything hurts. You want me to do WHAT with my WHAT now? AS IF.

Minute Thirty: I hate my instructor. She is evil incarnate. I bet she trained in a prison. I’m totally going to egg her car on the way out.

Minute Forty: Dear LORD, how many more minutes? How much longer? I’m going to die. Screw child’s pose, I’m moving right on to fetal position whimpering.

Minute Fifty: Hey, almost there. And you know what? I feel okay. My hips are freer. I may actually be stretchier.

Minute Fifty-Five: Ah, corpse pose. Sooooo good. I feel tingly all over. Yoga is awesome.

Minute Sixty: Head rush. But in a good way. I may come back next week. MAYBE.

Did you know that Betty Crocker makes gluten free cake mixes?

(Disclosure: Betty Crocker gave me nada to write this post. Geez, thanks a LOT, Betty.)

These cake mixes are not widely available but I found them at the Loblaws in Barrhaven, in the regular cake mix section, thanks to a tip from my good friend LuckySevens, who has a celiac husband and daughter.

It was Sir Monkeypants’ birthday last week so I gave the chocolate one a try. The mix itself is safe for Captain Jelly Belly but to make the mix, you are supposed to add 1/2 cup butter and three eggs, which you know, kills people around here, so I thought I’d skip it.

Instead, here’s how I made up the mix. I put the cake mix powder in a bowl and added three teaspoons of powdered egg replacer, then stirred to mix. Then I mixed one cup water (as directed) with 1/2 cup canola oil and 6 tablespoons applesauce (which is exactly the size of one of those little applesauce cups you put in your kids’ lunch, in case you are wondering). Then I poured the wet stuff into the dry stuff, mixed it a couple of minutes with a hand mixer, and baked according to package directions.

Once they were cool, I iced them with this:

Which is “buttercream icing” that contains no milk, which is kind of scary. In fact, between the icing and the cake mix, there are tons of ingredients in there that make this a decided “sometimes” food. I usually make my own icing from sugar, shortening, and vanilla, so it was kind of a shock to see all the weird artificial stuff in this can of icing but MAN, did the kids ever love it.

In fact, after seven years of making my own egg-free, milk-free cakes, this totally fake gluten-free cake was declared the best birthday cake EVER made in this house, by the kids AND by Sir Monkeypants.

So to sum up: big hit. Go make some.

I live in Kanata.

We have a problem here. An explosion of new homes has built over the last 10 years. These homes were almost exclusively bought by families with young children. The population is skewed, and that means that our English public schools are overcrowded. Very seriously overcrowded; some public schools are over 150% capacity. This puts a heavy toll on students, parents, and staff as they attempt to teach using limited resources, sharing facilities meant for half as many children, and trying to build a school community when they have three rows of portables.

More than a year ago, the Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) set up an ARC – an Accomodation/Program Review Committee – to address this problem. An ARC is made up of parents, principals, and other community members that do not work for the Board. The purpose of the ARC is to look at the numbers, brainstorm solutions, gather feedback, and then make recommendations to the Board.

Over the past year, the ARC has held a series of public meetings in Kanata, asking parents for their opinions on various solutions. Obviously, the best choice would be to build new schools, at least one for Kanata North and one for Kanata South. However, that’s the least likely answer as no land has been set aside for new schools in Kanata, and to buy a parcel of land from a developer for that purpose would be prohibitively expensive.

Instead, they have been looking at ideas like removing the kindergarten kids from some overcrowded schools and busing them to underpopulated schools (actually already happening in Kanata North), moving around the various French Immersion programs to help balance the populations, and changing school boundaries.

Lastly, they also thought about moving all the Grade 7 and 8 students out of the K-8 schools, and adding them to the high schools in the area.

This last idea was the most unpopular of all. Many, many parents expressed their concerns. I personally attended meetings and wrote to the ARC on this issue. The high schools were not prepared for an influx of students, and the portables/facility sharing problems would just be pushed from the elementary schools to the next level. The 7 and 8 students would be moved out of a leadership role, a chance to shine at a time when they are just starting to figure out who they are, into a position of being the lowliest students at school. Mixing 12 year olds with 16 and 17 year olds would create social situations that they were not ready for. It was forcing them into a situation where their education would be compromised, their development would suffer, and their safety would be a concern, all because of the city’s poor planning.

The ARC heard our concerns. They understood that this was not a good idea. Their final recommendations left the door open for moving grade 7 and 8 students to Earl of March High School and West Carleton High School, but if and only if certain accomodations were met. These including building a new wing on the high schools to keep the grade 7 and 8 students separate, and to make sure that appropriate facilities and room for them existed before they were moved. You can read the ARC recommendations for Kanata South here and for Kanata North here.

The Board has seen fit to take the recommendations made by the ARC, based on careful listening to the community, and throw them out the window.

Instead, the Board’s “senior staff,” having listened to no one and made no effort to take into account the ideas of parents in Kanata, came up with their own plan. They know what is best. The ARC was, apparently, a powerless sham.

The Board’s plan includes not only moving grade 7 and 8 students into the high schools starting in September 2013, but out of nowhere, has also included A.Y. Jackson in the plan.

There’s no funding in place to build new wings and new facilities at the northern Kanata high schools. But the students are going to be moved in anyway, and the Board “hopes” to find funding sometime in the next few years.

Unlike the other high schools, there’s no funding plan or construction plan at all for the move to A.Y. Students in feeder schools for A.Y. Jackson – including the school where my children go – will be moved to Glen Cairn Elementary School as an “annex” to the high school. Glen Cairn will suddenly balloon from an underpopulated school to a school that is at nearly 150% capacity. It will be expected to make use of facilities at the high school, which is several blocks’ walk away. Our grade 7 and 8 students – my own children included – will be moved from a leadership role at an established school with great facilities, to struggling to learn in portables, making do with substandard facilities, while trying to battle a mature social structure that they are not ready for.

Several years ago, the Ministry of Education for Ontario recommended phasing out dedicated Senior Public Schools. That was a decision made in the best interests of the students. The Ministry suggested moving to a K-8 model for the benefit of grade 7 and 8 students. There, they would experience their first taste of adulthood with a message of leadership, maturity, responsibility. It was a chance for them to feel like they could make a difference in this world, to become part of the community with a hopeful outlook and the spirit to make change in this world.

This decision, to move them to a 7-12 model, is not being made for their own good. It is not a decision based on quality of education. It is just a numbers game, a way to move bodies around. It is not a smart decision. It is not a carefully considered decision. It is not the right decision.

I attended the public meetings. I sent emails to the recommendation board, expressing my concerns about moving the grade 7/8 students to the high school model. I suggested alternative solutions. I understood that these were the proper channels, that this was the way to make my opinion heard, that I was a partner in this difficult decision.

Now the community based decision has been placed aside for a “solution” that had never once been discussed or mentioned in any meeting, never once been put on the table. Years of talking with parents just ignored, tossed out, in favour of a new idea that you think is for the best. We get a nice pat on the head and a there, there, dear. It feels more like a slap in the face.

The plan you are trying to force happen is not in the best interest of our students. If it were, you’d be selling it as an improved education plan for the entire board. Instead, you are dealing with your poor planning by putting our students in an unacceptable, dangerous situation where learning takes second place to being able to make numbers look good on a balance sheet. Your plan is unsustainable and cannot be funded. Your plan is a poorly thought out last minute Hail Mary that has no place even entering this conversation.

Your plan is a bad plan.

Your community is angry. Your community is frustrated. We know you have the power to muscle through your plan and make the lives of families and youth in Kanata an absolute mess. This is your chance to restore our faith in you. This is your chance to show us that when we elected you, when we trusted you to listen to us and make the best decisions for our children, we didn’t make a mistake. This is your chance to do the right thing.

Don’t screw it up.

If you live in the Ottawa region and are concerned that the Board plans to move grade 7 and 8 students into the high schools in this area, please join the fight. Write to your Board Trustee and be sure to copy the chair and Kanata representative, Cathy Curry.

You can also register as a delegate. This means is that you can speak at the “special committee of the whole” meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on March 8, 2012 at 133 Greenbank Road. To register, contact Maureen Strittmatter at maureen.strittmatter@ocdsb.ca or at 613-596-8211 ext.8641. You also need to provide her with a written statement on the issue before 4:00 p.m. on March 1st.

Yesterday a note came home from school regarding Senior Kindergarten. We had to indicate whether we preferred to put our Junior Kindergarten kid in mornings or afternoons. Little Miss Sunshine is already in mornings so I checked off “mornings,” and then there was space where you could plead your case. This is because 99% of families want mornings, probably for very good reasons.

I didn’t have a very good reason, so I panicked. With the older two kids, I wanted mornings because I had a baby/toddler who napped in the afternoon, and it fit our schedule better. Apparently this is a good reason, because we always got mornings, and now I’m just used to it, I like mornings, it fits my lifestyle nicely, GIVE ME MY MORNINGS.

So I thought I better make up a reason, but I really couldn’t think of one, and I couldn’t really bring myself to lie. I mean, I could say the Little Miss still naps in the afternoon, because there was that one time back in September when she was sick and she went for a lie-down for half an hour after school. That has a truthiness, doesn’t it? Maybe we should just have another baby so I have a good excuse. Kidding! I kid! Mostly.

(Man, I hope the principal at her school doesn’t read this. We are getting shunted to afternoons fo’ shizzle.)

The real reason that mornings work best for me is that I’m a super morning person, and getting more morningish all the time. If there is something on my to do list for the day that does not get done by 3 p.m. that’s it, it’s getting pushed off to tomorrow. After 3, I’m into making dinner, cleaning up dinner, homework, putting kids to bed, then curling up in a ball on the couch while whimpering softly with exhaustion.

My sister works, and do you know what she does? She comes home from work and serves dinner, then cleans up dinner, then puts her kids to bed, then MAKES DINNER FOR THE NEXT DAY. Like, she gets the kids down and it’s 8 p.m. and instead of flaking out, she gets into the kitchen and cranks up more pots and pans and cutting boards. If I had to do this, I’d have checked into a loony bin a long, long time ago. Don’t even MENTION the idea of making lunches the night before. Or making an evening run to the gym, DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH, I’m drinking hot tea and tea through the nose is not a good thing.

I prefer to get up in the morning (crankily, I’m not Superwoman, geez), then tidy the kitchen, make lunches, and hustle everyone out the door. Then comes my two-hours of power activity time, where I run from errand to errand, or write write write, or work on websites, and generally Get Stuff Done. All this even though my kids have an Early Start school, which means my power time is from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., and many very annoying shops don’t open until 9:30 or even 10. What up, shops? Even my BANK opens at 8 a.m., which is actually kind of freaky given that other banks are barely open between 10 and 4, like what is that, banker’s hours? Oh…right.

Don’t take away my Power Hours, school! Dare me to write that on the SK form.

The other day I came home with the kids from school only to find that the plow had been by, and there was a huge dumping of hard, icy crap filling in the end of the driveway. I managed to ram the van through the mess and since we had a skating playdate with friends down the street, I resigned myself to digging through the mess when we got home.

About two hours later we came home, and HOLY COW, someone had cleared out the end of our driveway. And not just ours – every one on the street. We’re talking about 100 houses. Judging by the tire tracks, it was one of those little snowplows that clears the sidewalks.

(People in places like Florida and Seattle and Toronto just had their MINDS BLOWN by the fact that here in Ottawa, there is so much snow that we actually have wee little baby snowplows devoted to just clearing the sidewalks and pathways. We are SERIOUS about snow removal here.)

There’s no sidewalk on either side of our residential crescent but I did see a sidewalk clearer working on the main street next to ours when we went off to go skating. So I’m thinking he, what, took extra time at the end of his day to come around our street and clean out the end of everyone’s driveway?

NICEST. GUY. EVER.

So since I have no way of finding this man and offering him my thanks, a generous cut of my investment portfolio, and possibly one of my children, I thought I’d just blog about it and say hey, dude, someone out here noticed, someone appreciated, and someone thinks you’re a stand-up kind of guy.

Thank you.