Yes, a sparrow flew into my head today, got a little caught in my hair, and bounced off the, erm, cup I was holding. You can read my interpretation of the event, and the sheer significance (perhaps even irony) of where it took place, at my new “Fit and Fab” blog over here! If you love me, you will read it. Even if you just like me, you will read it. If you can hardly stand me but are strangely, mysteriously, reluctantly, minutely, or even regrettably intrigued my me, you will read it.

Go and come back. I’ll wait! Tap, tap…. Tap, tap, tap, tap.

Yes, a sparrow flew into my head this morning, and it bounced off my Starbucks cup, and YES I’m reading into it. Wouldn’t you?

Also, I’m not quite sure if I should take as a compliment the recurring response I’m getting when I tell people my sparrow story: “Only you, Haley. Only you.”

One of the truly bizarre things about this story is that it didn’t even occur to me to blog about it until about 2 hours later when, during our weekly Todaysparent.com meeting, I, literally out of nowhere, blurted, “I was hit in the head by a sparrow this morning.”

Just like I’m, literally out of nowhere, going to show you some snow shoeing photos from this weekend. CHECKIT! (As always, click to enlarge.)

Also, healthy rice crispy squares! Yummm! AND someone desperately needs a haircut….

He’s been keeping up at night again: “Mama, my doggie needs a banket.” Yes, it’s cute, but grrrrrr….!

Love!

xo Haley-O

P.S.: If you go read my “Fit and Fab” blog? You’ll see how epically Josh-O FAILED this Valentine’s Day. Grrrrrrrrrr…! Sic ‘em, Gorgeouses!

P.P.S.: Boo, I’m not getting my new tooth this Friday. Because my dentist has to go to ISRAEL, literally out of nowhere, he’s had to cancel my bridge appointment this Friday. I now have to wait until APRIL. Waaaaaaaah…!

UPDATE!!! I’m getting my new tooth TODAY! Dentist CANCELED! HOORAY! (Hooray doesn’t quite cut it — there ARE NO WORDS!)

I don’t know if I have the energy to write this post. I’m writing tonight because I feel obligated. Yes. Because it’s almost been a week since I last blogged, and I refuse to let an entire week go by ever.

Some of you are rolling your eyes at me because you know how hard I can be on myself. But a little pressure isn’t a bad thing. And there’s nothing wrong with feeling obligated to keep up with your blog. If I didn’t feel any pressure — self-induced or not — I’d never get around to writing and this place would die a sad, lingering death.

The excuse: I’ve been working around the clock (I know, as usual). I just finished some massive articles, and I have two more articles due Wednesday. My writing muscle is a little overused right now. It needs a rest day. Maybe tomorrow….

Or maybe the next day….

Or the next day….

Or maybe it’s a good thing to spend your life writing, and to routinely exhaust that muscle. I love words. And there’s no shortage of reality TV to keep me laughing in the process: the new season of Jersey Shore (just airing now in Canada), The Bachelor, American Idol with JENNIFER LOPEZ and, of course, Bethenny Getting Married, which I finally scheduled on my PVR.

Yes, the not-so-secret to my success: Reality TV.

DON’T GO! It’s background noise, okay? I don’t actually care if Jersey Shore‘s Sammi and Ronny stay together or if the hot funeral director makes it to the end of The Bachelor, or if there is an end to The Bachelor at all this time…. Okay I do. (Also, I may or may not have a teeeeeny not-in-a-Clive-Owen-kind-of-way crush on The Situation.) But I couldn’t get through all this writing without some candeh. And these days it better be calorie- and chai-tea free reality TV….

Because…. I’m doing something MAJOR with Today’s Parent Magazine (both online and in June’s print issue). So you better be ready for it, Gorgeouses. I have to be as slim as possible, too, or this might be embarrassing. And that’s not being hard on myself.

So lots of sweaty ashtanga vinyasa yoga, and no CHAI…. And HAIRCUT and FACIAL and BABYSITTER. I need a BABYSITTER for the photoshoot and VIDEO. Did I mention VIDEO? Help.

Let’s not think too much about it yet, though, Gorgeouses — lest we start to freak right out….

To take our minds off it, I give you UNFLATTERING SNOW SHOEING PICS (to match last week’s Unflattering Skater Pics) from another weekend at my parents’ beautiful cottage. Checkit:

I love being on the frozen lake — in the middle of the frozen lake. At dusk. Who knew I would THRIVE being outdoors in that cold? It’s just everything is so VAST (I can breathe), alive, still, spinning. Maybe I was an explorer in a past life…. That jacket is still awful though.

Karate snowshoe mama. Hyuhh!

Betteh White…at dusk.

The Rascal in mini snowshoes — OY!

This blog is looking very Canadian lately, eh?

Love!

xo Haley-O

I’ve been interviewed over at the Canadian Weblog Awards website! And you know what? I totally talk about YOU. I talk all about how much I love you and how much you drive me and support me and make me want to be a better writer.

Pretend I’m holding the award badges in hand and that they say “BEST READER” on them and I’m reaching them way out to you beyond this screen…. Here:

FOR YOU. And YOU, YOU, YOU and YOU. And YOU. All six of you. Heh. Well, there are more than six of you. A lot more than six of you — that’s what happens when you’ve been blogging for 5 years and have such awesome, supportive readers.

In addition to the badges, I give you Very Unflattering Pictures of me skating on the frozen lake last weekend….

I haven’t skated in 20+ years, okay?

I’m not sure why my hands are out like that. I mean, I’m trying to balance, but I actually look like I’m trying to fly. Maybe I am trying to fly. Who really knows? And, I’m telling you, all the photos are like that….

My 3-year-old nephew (above) is a better skater than I am. He doesn’t need WINGS. He also happens to be very TALL…. *Cough.*

Also. That jacket. It’s over 5 years old. It’s survived 2 pregnancies. The zipper is broken.

And how about those SKATES? (Unsolicited advice: Don’t try to figure out what’s going on up there with my scarf/hat….)

And, of course…, BETTY WHITE (you may have to squint your eyes to see her below)….

I think I told you she follows me EVERYWHERE, didn’t I?

Wait?! WHY are you still here? Go read the interview! I hope you enjoy it — because you’re awesome and I love you. (I also love Schmutzie for asking really fun questions and making me look like a rockstah! I was NOT going to send her that picture!)

Love!

xo Haley-O

I can’t come to the computer right now because……..

Ha! HAPPY NEW YEAR, GORGEOUSES!

While my cat is sitting on my computer (actually, it’s Josh’s computer, and that picture was taken last week), I’m here beaming ear to ear and over the moon because this blog — my baby, my Cheaty Little Monkey — has won two Canadian Weblog Awards.

FIRST PLACE for Best Life Blog!

Third place for Best Written Blog!

I’m honoured, grateful and verklempt, of course. And all the other winners are amazing. So go check them out. There are of course so many other awesome blogs out there — please find my personal favourites in my links.

When the awards were announced New Year’s Eve, shortly before the clock struck twelve, I may or may not have done actual somersaults, possibly a full back flip, and lots of rolling around kicking my legs up in the air on the living-room floor in front of our little New Year’s party. Josh, my sister and her husband were very confused when I broke out of nowhere into all that gymnastics and “OMG OMG OMG”s. Half a glass of wine does do funny things to me, but still.

What a way to start the new year.

When I learned I was a finalist a few weeks ago, I started thinking about this blog in a different way. Like it was an entity separate from me — breathing and expanding and contracting on its own while I went about my day. There it stood, more poised than I could ever be, as the jury read it, judged it, graded it. I’m proud of Cheaty Monkey…. And I’m very grateful for everything “she”‘s given me. Seriously.

Sighh. I’d love to stay and chat (believe me), but I really shouldn’t be at my computer writing about life right now. I should be enjoying this brand new cottage with my extended family before we head back to the city.

I also have a Betty White to bark “COME. HERE. NOW.” at — before she gets eaten by a wolf or black bear, or before she dares step dainty paw on the (cracking) ice that’s coating our beautiful lake. I better go…!

Mind you, OMG!, someone’s SKATING by our cottage right NOW. CRAZY! CRAZY! LOOOOK (bottom right)!

It was the best picture I could get, bygones. That person is…CRAZY! And now I can’t even hear my thoughts because the 6 dogs who are here with us are barking at him.

Happy New Year, Gorgeouses! Thank you, as always, for being here.

Love!

xo Haley-O

Depression’s a weird, complicated thing. There’s still a stigma attached to it. Everyone just wants it to go away. Everyone around you gets concerned and starts doing the Tom Selleck “sympathetic head tilt” from Friends. Remember that?

I probably shouldn’t blog about being depressed because my neck is a little stiff from all the “I’m okay head bobbing.” No. It’s actually stiff because the Rascal has been climbing into bed with me every night at 2am. I wake up as stiff as a board trying, in my sleep, not to fall off the bed.

Rascal. Who threw an EPIC TANTRUM at the giant bookstore today…. All I could do was laugh. He shrieked at the top of his lungs because I wouldn’t buy anything for him — this, of course, after 8 days of Hanukkah presents — red face, snot everywhere, and did I mention shrieking? “Shrieking.” Where are the dictionary people? I need to submit a PHOTO. You had to laugh. Everyone laughed. Poor thing is too cute for his own good.

Even though I’m still feeling depleted, I’ve come out of this depression I think. I still wake up with a subtle sense of dread every morning, but I dash out of the house to my beloved yoga “shala” and sweat out all the pain. And it is the best thing ever to start the day doing something awesome and magical and surprising.

I’m lucky I get to do that every day. It’s a little gift I’ve given myself — and everyone around me.

When you’re depressed, everyone gets concerned, and they tilt their heads and you bob your head. But the thing is depression is okay. As long as you can function and care for yourself and your family, it’s okay. It might even be a good thing.

Just like when you get a cold, people say it’s your body telling you to rest. I get sick in emotional ways because my nerves get so depleted from all the anxiety and worry and constant-doing and overwhelming responsibility and I-want-I-want-I-want and no-no-I-said-no that comes with motherhood. When I get depressed, it’s like my soul has a cold; it tells me I need to rest and nurture myself.

So I didn’t go to the basketball game with Josh and the kids, and I didn’t blog, and I slept in until 11am, and I walked my dog, and I called a friend, and I made a soup…. And I watched a Real Housewives marathon…. And I felt better. I feel better. I’m lucky.

And, Gorgeouses? Before you know it, I will be skiing for the first time in my life because I’m lucky….

And this is the landscape I’ll be gazing at for many weekends to come….

Because….

My parents bought a cottage….

And it’s hard to be down and out when you’re surrounded by family…and forest and lake…and when you’re skiing!?

They are lucky, my kids.

I’ll never discourage them when they’re feeling depressed. I’ll never insist that they be happy when they’re not. Because depression can be a gift if you use it wisely. Kind of like a winter lake. Dark and cold — but sparkly in the winter sun, and rife with reflection.

Love!

xo Haley-O

P.S.: Check out pp.64-65 of the January issue of Today’s Parent Magazine! My article “Resolutions for Real Parents” is there! Should be on stands later this week. Hope you like it!