Olivia? Chronicles of Narnia, or Diary of a Wimpy Kid? No matter what your favourite children’s book, buy, or bring a gently used copy, to Health Minister Deb Matthews office and you can share it with a child who might not otherwise have a chance to discover your memorable childhood read. For the seventh year running Health Minister Deb Matthews children’s book drive is in full swing. This is a local literacy initative that Londoners support wholeheartedly every year. This year, like last year, I will take my children with me and encourage them to donate a new book to the…

Hi there, Monday morning again and I am with laryngitis. Hence the lovely voice quality here. Anyways don’t forget to leave your comments here and have a great week. This is a meme started by Jennifer at Eighty MPH Mom. Join in and have some fun.

 When my oldest daughter was a toddler we loved to sit with the Baby Einstein series of videos, and later DVDs, and watch as new words and worlds came to life for half an hour or so each morning. And if I needed 20 minutes to throw myself together I knew I could pop the video on and she could safely watch from her activity centre. Now there are a few different baby DVDs on the market. Back then, there was really only the one option. My oldest child is now nine but she fondly remembers the cute videos and was oddly thrilled…

I am not the world’s biggest fan of diets. I was somewhat weight obsessed in my teenage years and had a mother who was perpetually on the latest “fad diet.” Yoyo dieting was the norm, as our weathered old Kodak pictures, now yellowing around the edges, will attest. I threw my scale out when I was about 23, so let’s just say that was a few years ago. I prefer to be happy and healthy. When I became a Mom to two girls, well I knew they would never catch me standing in front of a mirror asking (cue whiny nasal tone)…

Dear January: Bite me! This is us looking all cute last year at this time with my sweet little nephew Taiga. Those were fun times for sure. Nostalgia of course somehow paints everything a bit prettier than it really was, but nonetheless aren’t we cute? January is such a lovely idea of a month. Fresh starts. Kids back to school etc. Won’t I be so productive. Won’t I get so much cleaning done, so much writing. Life will be grand. No more pine needles in my socks. Now, I am no fool for January’s crazy fickle ways. I knew darn well…

Deck your halls with two brand new beautiful Christmas ornaments! This marks one of my coolest giveaways yet. I am so excited to launch this one with my new friend over at Deirdre and Company. Deirdre and Company makes truly lovely unique ornaments and jewelry for everyone on your list. I blogged about their Christmas ornaments and beautiful jewelry before and have even purchased a couple of these ornaments for my children this year. It’s a tradition here for us to set aside one special ornament each year for each of my daughters. The two girls love this and enjoy…

Now this is the kind of story I love to read. An aboriginal couple has won Canada’s second largest jackpot ever $50 million. Not only is the couple incredibly deserving of good fortune, but reports indicate they spent essentially their last $10 to get the winning ticket. Kirby Fontaine, 40, of the Sagkeeng First Nation told Canadian Press he suffered a stroke one year ago and felt very fortunate to have won. His wife Marie, 36 works as a personal care attendant and they are reported to have two children as well. The area where they live north of Winnipeg, Manitoba…