Bzz'in about McCain potatoes

I'm a sucker for free products. When I had time I used to search the web for free samples and I always get such a thrill when the mailman drops off my free goodies.

Years ago, on my hunt for free stuff online I found BzzAgent. It's this cool site that lets you (well, in this case me) be amoung the first to try a new product, and for free too! The catch? You tell people what you thought. After you try products, Bzz about it (aka, share your opinion) you can go up in levels and get faster access to cool test products. I'm a Social Bee.... go figure.

My honest opinion in exchange for free products? Yep.

Sweet, huh?

So go check it out! In the meantime...

The most recent product I got to try was McCain Purely Potatoes. Sadly (or perhaps for the best) the frozen potatoes themselves did not arrive at my door one afternoon. The coupon did though. It took me weeks to go get them, which is really sad because the idea is that they save you time.

Here's the deal, they are frozen peeled and chopped potatoes you chuck in the microwave for just over ten minutes (in the package they come in). You take 'em out, let them sit for another two minutes, then dump them in a bowl, add seasoning, butter, milk, etc and eat 'em up yum.

So, two nights ago hubby and I whipped up this dinner. It was the McCain potatoes (which, p.s. are also available as sweet potatoes), some mixed frozen veggies and this new chicken reciepe I like (put salsa on chicken, toss in oven, cook, and serve - so easy).

The potatoes cooked up as easily as promised. I added some milk, butter, salt and pepper and the cheese, chive, bacon Epicure dip mix. They were really tasty. The texture was a little different than usual, but they were good. Still very mashed-potatoe-y (that's a word, right?). Hubby liked them, I liked them, and even the little guy liked them. We fried the left-overs up with some eggs for breakfast the next morning, and they were good too.

I'm lazy (or busy... either way), but I'm also cheap. I don't know if I'm willing to buy them full price as I could buy a whole lot more uncut, unchopped potatoes and do them myself. Also, we tend to scrub the potatoes and mash them with the skin on for a little extra nutrition... but this was way easier. They'd also be a great product to have in your freezer in case you do run out of fresh potatoes or you've run out of time to peel and chop them.

In all, worth trying, but probably not going to be a regular purchase in our house.

Ah, income....

I always wanted to be a mum. Always.

I’ve never really had a career, just various jobs. And I’ve never loved them. I’ve had some great bosses, and heck, I’ve had some great jobs, but be it a few months or a few years down the road I’m restless, anxious and dreading Monday morning. I thought everyone was like that, but I hear some people like their jobs, not just their coworkers and the paycheque they bring home.

So having my son Oliver last May was great. He’s way more work than I thought he’d be (and I knew he’d be work). It started with the refusal to nap, carried on with his refusal to be put down and while it’s gotten a bit better I’m still exhausted at the end of the day.


Living in Victoria isn’t cheap, so being a one income family isn’t an option for us. I started working part-time for a company based in Alberta a little while back. I do the work while Oliver naps (nap strikes are over for the most part now) and in the evenings. It’s hard. Not the work itself, but being a stay at home is a full time job and adding in a part-time job makes it harder, especially without a whole lot of separation between home and work. I pick my own hours, listen to music or have the tv on in the background while I work and I get to play with my son when he’s awake. It’s a good gig and since I do it all online and have lost the people component I’m happier than at previous jobs (I’m not a people person it would seem). Of course, I haven’t been doing it long and things can change.

Problem is, without the people component I also don’t have co-workers I like and get to chat to. My whole world is in the four walls of my house (we get out to play dates and I still see friends, but I’m talking lunch in the break room and walking up to the coffee shop without a baby in your arms). Also, since my job isn’t based on sitting at a desk between 8am and 4pm, if I don’t have work to do, I don’t get paid… like today when I find myself feeling rather useless. I’ve made pizza dough, I’ve taken my son swimming and I’ve tidied up the kitchen, but I don’t feel I’ve contributed, especially financially.

So what happens when you have an out of the blue phone call with your previous employer offering you a job? The pay is pretty close, about a dollar an hour difference. Part time or full time? Well, hey, that’d be up to me! Coworkers, lunch breaks, people thinking I actually work (people don’t get that when you work from home). It’s all pretty appealing…

Except that I’d miss time with Oliver. I’d have to leave him with someone else.
I’d have to frantically find daycare. I’d have to pay for parking and buy more gas. I’d have to know and care what time it is since I’d have places to be. I’d also have to work more to pay for daycare.

And if I kept this little p/t gig at home? Well, the hours may not be as stable… but I wouldn’t have to hand over most of my paycheque to daycare, which means I wouldn’t have to work more than I am. I’d also get to keep taking my son to the playground and to the pool.

When you get random news like this, it isn’t by chance. So I have to ask myself, am I being offered this opportunity because I should take it? Or am I being offered it so I am really choosing to be a stay-at-home mum who work a little from home?

What’s a mum to do?

I think the answer is looking obvious, but what do you think?

Feels good bein' bad

I found this blog post on Chatelaine this morning. It got me thinking about my own bad habits...


- That glass of wine at the end of a really hard day
- The really bad television I record on the PVR so I don't miss a second (hello Extreme Couponing and People's Court)
- Eating raw cookie dough or brownie batter
- Laying in bed and enjoying a few extra minutues all cozy and comfortable under the covers while Oliver calls for attention

Are these things bad?
Well yeah... eating raw eggs certainly isn't the best thing, is it?
And wouldn't a "good" parent jump out of bed and happily run to their little monkey, scooping them up into their arms instead of savouring the last moments of peace under the fluffy comfortor?
And who really wants to admit to taping bad television?

But perhaps a little selfindulgence is what gets us through the day.

What do you think? What are your bad habits?

Action Packed Saturday

Okay, maybe "action packed" is a bit of an exaggeration... but it was still a pretty full day for the parts where Oliver was awake.


After we found him standing in the corner of his crib after his first nap, jumping up and down at the exciting sound of the vacuum cleaner in the next room, we got ready to go out.

First stop was the playground. Oliver went down the slide my himself for the first time today. He scrunched up his eyes tightly, but grinned the whole time. He did manage to fall off the bottom of the slide once, but wasn't fazed at all. We picked him up and plopped him back down on the slide ready to go again.... only I noticed his facial expressions were rather suspicious. Turns out he'd managed to grab a piece of bark mulch off the ground and was eating it... yum.

Second stop was the pool. We haven't been to the Gordon Head pool before, but upon some one's suggestion thought we'd check it out. I must admit I'm a bit put off by the cost of the lockers. Any time I've used a locker at the other rec centres it has been $0.25, but Gordon Head charges $.50. I know: it's a quarter, but it's also twice the price! Anyway, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't amazing. The medium pool was too cold, but the smallest pool was very warm, which was quite nice. At any rate, Oliver had an amazing time because water was involved. We even got a few photos this time (click here to check them out on Flickr).

A day with the sun shining, some time outside, big smiles from Oliver while he swims at the pool... followed by dinner of burgers on the BBQ and french fries with garlic chipotle aoli. Sounds like a perfect weekend day to me.

How do you like to spend some of your time on the weekend?

Take a Walk

I survived quite a few of the last ten months by walking. Oliver wasn't a fan of sleeping, but seemed to enjoy the fresh air. I was exhausted emotionally, but itching for some movement. Plunking Oliver into the stroller and going for a long walk, a short walk, and meander, a stroll... it didn't matter. We went along the water. We went into town. We went to the coffee shop. It was a great system.

When he figured out napping we kept it up, we just went between his naps and he loved that too.

At some point recently he changed his mind. Our very expensive stroller now just sits under the house in our storage area - cold, lonely and useless. Every once in awhile I try again. Plunk him in it with toys, with snacks... doesn't matter. He screams going in, settles down down for five minutes and then twists himself out, thrashes around, screams, cries... the whole nine yards until I give in and carry him. Then I'm one of those parents pushing a stroller and carrying their child. I used to role my eyes at them. "Why not put your child in the stroller?" I used to wonder. I get it now.

So a friend (thanks Kimberley) suggested a wagon. She said perhaps Oliver couldn't see enough in the stroller and that's why he was fine when I held him. I scoured the 'net and made the excursion to Saanich today. As I drove home with my trunk banging against the wagon praying I'd secured the bungee cord well enough I crossed my fingers it was worth it.

We got home and the sun was shining, so I dropped our stuff off inside and loaded the monkey in. I have to say right now that compared to my Bob stroller, the wagon sucks. It doesn't maneuver well; it's heavy; I ran into stuff by accident because you can't see something you are dragging behind you; it's so loud; there's no where to put anything because Oliver would eat it or throw it out of the wagon.... but for all that, the kid loved it. We walked all the way to the park (so what if that's only 10 minutes?), played, loaded him back in and walked all the way home. He grinned, he flapped his arms, he squealed in delight. He only cried right at the end, and I think that's only because I ran into something (oops). Still, I never carried him.

I don't know about you, but I'll put up with this loud, heavy, awkward hunk of plastic if it means not carrying the equivalent of a 20 pound squirmy bag of potatoes.