No More Pencils! No More Books!

My kids are done school in two more days and I'm figuring out the logistics of childcare for the next two months. I'm not sure if I'm AS excited as they are to see the end of Grade 2 - but I think it might be close. Don't get me wrong. The Wonder Twins were very happy Grade 2 kids this year.

I loved how much they loved their "madam" - she was engaging and encouraged them to achieve goals. When you compare the attitudes of the kids last year (read: NOOOOOOOOOOO! I don't WANT to go to school on a daily basis) vs this year (Madam says we're going to [insert activity here] today to help us with our math), I know their experience was a pretty fantastic one. That said, the daily grind of waking up early (really early for my kids - I bring them to work with me for 7:30) and getting everyone dressed with brushed hair and teeth etc. is um... overdone. I'm ready to not worry about reading all 4 books for a total of 30 minutes each per kid, making sure the "plan a travail" is done, asking them to count by 2, 5, 10, 100 while asking math questions at traffic lights and/or when they're trying to tie their shoes.*

This Mom, Jen Hatmaker, writes a blog I have only recently discovered, and she is my new favourite person.  There is a recent entry where she laments lunches and dials in the required reading time. This woman is a professional writer that I imagine takes things like reading very seriously - and for her to tell the rest of us that she has officially gone on "summer vacation mode" makes me think it might just be okay if the rest of us have done so on occasion as well.

I wrote (and did not publish) a whole crankypants blog post the other day about how I'm obviously not as organized and/or fantastic as some of the other moms out there who have time for all the activities and who create flowcharts to track progress and award stickers made from organic glue and sparkles they made by mincing natural rock formations in their Vitamix blenders - but it was a little too bitter and I'd hate for you to think I weren't a sunshine and lollipops kind of girl. Suffice to say, I'm glad to be done for the summer - and while I understand we'll have to reintroduce school-type activities soon, I'm going to let my kids be on vacation for a few weeks...

*I discovered the other day that my kids don't know how to tie their shoes. It is a skill they didn't master because I never bought them shoes with laces. I'm fairly certain there's a special place in hell for parents like me.

Not Quite A Year - Ramblings of an Errant Blogger

I keep thinking there will be more time. People with lives WAY busier than mine blog regularly. Regardless, I have been an errant blogger. I suppose it is just not my thing? In the past year I've agreed to and taken on three other writing jobs and have taken on a personal (and insane) project to write a novel in a month... starting in June. (If I blog again this year, I'll let you know how it is going.)

In addition to this pitiful blog, I also have an equally sporadic food blog I write. Yesterday, I promised a post on Facebook and I do always try to honour my promises. The Lunch Tramp (my truly fantastic moniker) Cooks is my food blog. I suppose it is a bit of an inside joke which may not translate well to strangers - but those who do know me know that before I opened Dish Cafe and Food Shop, I took a year off work - and I lunched with people as often as possible. I like to think that since I feed so many people lunch these days, my lunch tramp ways continue in another form.

In any case, I'm trying to figure out if my blogging suffers as a result of my frequent use of Twitter and Facebook. I can't say for sure - but I definitely spend more time "writing" there than I do blogging.

What do you think peeps who blog in addition to having a social media presence? I think if there were some sort of app that combined my Instagram pics with my Facebook posts and tweets (if there isn't already), I could have, at the very least, a weekly post!

I daydream about having a job where I got paid to read blogs, books, magazines, talk to friends while eating and drinking delicious food. I suspect there ARE jobs out there like that - for people who have a bit more of a commitment than a bi-yearly blog entry. Perhaps if I spend a few more moments blogging and doing all of the things I mentioned above, I could convince someone to let me do these things as a job. (she says wistfully)

Weekend-tastic

Even though I was at work for a few hours this weekend, I'm a pretty big fan of the last 48 hours. We had friends over for dinner (and a cocktail or two) last night. How fantastic that their kids and our kids got along and basically let the grownups hang while they played with Legos, bubbles, water guns, Barbies, not necessarily in that order.

Our day today started with a bacon breakfast (a staple around these parts) and took us to my parents pool AND included sangria. Sangria is my summer "thing" and after tweeting about it recently, I'm beyond thrilled that some friends are tweeting me pics of their sangria, paying homage to my "go to" drink. Last night alone, two different people sent pics and another told me he'd switched up the recipe to be a white wine alternative. (Happy sigh)

I made a commitment to be a more dedicated blogger - but have discovered one of the things that will surely impair me is my lack of ability to remember to take pics of cool things as they are happening.

One of our guests had the foresight to take this picture shortly after I delivered her first margarita.

As we began to eat (Fajitas!!!), it occurred to me I should have taken a pic. But then I started making a fajita and the moment was gone. 

I see the "kids these days" taking a zillion photos and subsequently post them on facebook for all the world to see. (Seriously - all the world. It seems that young people don't care to have privacy settings on their profiles... Why would they not?)

I have a serious lack of photographic evidence from the last decade or so, my kids notwithstanding. My sister-in-law was our official photographer at a family trip over the Christmas holidays which is a good thing because I took less than a dozen photos - and half of them were crap. So... I shall endeavour to be a more consistent photographer. I suspect it will make my ramblings that much more readable. It is sort of imperative for my food blog (but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Babysteps.).

Lunch Tramp

It seems like it was longer ago that the Lunch Tramp was born. An impromptu lunch with 3 lunch dates - and there I was...

I've taken another luncher into my fold. There will soon be another Lunch Tramp to call by name. I won't tell you her name yet. (We're in the process of designing her card!)

I promise to have more information soon - and more talk of food - and more blogging about food. Pretty soon it will be part of my job description. (Details to follow)

In the meantime, I googled "Lunch Tramp" tonight and my card came up as the first image. It made me so proud!

What I SHOULD Have Said

BizFest is winding down tonight with a performance by Graham Greer and Tyler Kealey. The week was full of workshops and presenters, including Gerry Visca and Dennis Van Staalduinen (or DenVan as he, thankfully likes to be called). Last night BizFest put on BizShow, a twist on the Trade Show, featuring local businesses and entrepreneurs in the community. In addition to their booth spaces, exhibitors were encouraged to come up to the podium and speak to the group about why they're awesome. Gerry, and event organizer Joey Gault dared me to tell the crowd about "my brand" which for those of you who may not lunch with me, is The Lunch Tramp.

Never one to back down from a dare, I did venture on over to the microphone and in a minute or two, I did tell everyone who was listening that I was known in the #CornwallTweetup world as The Lunch Tramp. (Feel free to follow me on Twitter at @keithatweets.)

What I SHOULD have told the crowd was that the Tweetups are important, both for the social element but - and more importantly, in the way they bring people who would never know people otherwise together. There are AT LEAST a half dozen people I didn't know a year ago that I consider my friend now - all because they were following me on Twitter - and came to the table one day.

Not only that, I've learned things, connected with people who've helped me in many ways, including giving website advice, where to find really delicious coffee beans, donated door prizes for charitable things I'm involved in and more. The Tweetup is important - and if I get a title from it, so much the better!

I'm not going to pretend it is any sort of official meeting nor do we go with the intent to "network" - but that's what makes it better. There are no expectations and when something cool comes of it, well, to use @iamjoeygault's favourite hashtag, #awesome.

Get out there and be SOCIAL with the people in your social media circles. You never know where it'll take you.

What I Did(n't) Do During My Summer (non) Holiday

For those of you who may not know, I spent my summer managing the Cornwall Farmers' Market in downtown Cornwall. Of course, I had intended to do a tremendous amount of blogging, both about the experience of being part of the market as it was in grown stage and also about meeting the vendors etc. That didn't happen and I'm not writing today to dwell about it. Instead, I'm going to take a few minutes to ask to the blogging universe for suggestions slightly more convincing than "just do it" to get me off my (ahem) procrastinating behind.

Until then, I shall just say I attended BizFest today. It is the first annual event put together by Cornwall's Chamber of Commerce. The speaker today, and in fact, for most of the event, is Gerry Visca. I'll write more (I'd say I promise but well...) about my experience shortly but first I promised some people I'd actually update my also errant foodblog.

Back to School/Back to Blog

Okay... so errant blogger implies that at some time there is actual blogging that occurs. I'm beyond errant. If I were still in school, the truant officer would be after me.

I just blogged about food and now I'm heading over here. Two blog posts in one day. Hopefully that doesn't mean it is the end of the world.

This short and sweet post will, I hope, lead to some conversation about what I've been up to. The Cornwall Farmers' Market has taken up a lot of my summer. I've been a stay-at-home Mom this summer too and we embarked on a lot of adventures I hope to capture before I get too caught up in homework and the fall.

We're approaching my favourite time of year - leaves turning, harvest coming in from the fields and I hope that'll be the inspiration I need to share my (erratic) musings with you.

Until then, I hope you're as excited about back to school (and my blogging intentions) as I am.