Pandemic life has bestowed blessings as well as challenges. Working and schooling from home for over six months hasn’t been the easiest, but our family unit is certainly closer. What we have missed deeply is a change of scenery. When BMW reached out to have the family test out the 2020 BMW X3 30e for a couple of day trips, we jumped at the chance!
During pregnancy, increased pressure on the abdominal wall can cause a condition called diastasis recti. I wish it had a less scary name. Diastasis recti looks like a gorge running vertically down the middle of the belly area. It stretches from the bottom of the breastbone to the belly button, and increases with muscle straining. The middle muscle, the ‘linea alba’, is where our 6-pack usually lies. Chuckle. When the muscles on either side of this line pull apart, women may develop 2 finger’s width of separation (2.7cm or greater) of the abdominus recti muscle (down the centre line of the belly). The area between these two muscles may stick out like a vertical pouch. It’s important to realize that this area is not torn – just temporarily separated.
I know. We are all renovating and beautifying our spaces right now. Because we will be at home FOREVER it feels like. And ever, and ever. Sorry – ‘Hamilton the Musical’ reference, because isn’t everyone watching it twice a day on Disney Plus? I digress. After my Mom passed away, I inherited a 1780’s farmhouse in Nova Scotia. I got married there, daring Torontonians and Floridians to shell their own lobster dressed in wedding finery whilst looking out at the 365 islands of Mahone Bay. As a charming two-bedroom cottage filled with asbestos, mice and rot, however, it needed some work.
We always tend to do back to school at the last minute, and not because I’m lazy. It’s more that I can’t possibly bear to let go of summer.
Laundry can feel like an Olympic event. In my house, laundry is like my inbox – it’s never quite at zero. While we can teach kids to re-use towels and make sure clothes are ‘actually’ dirty before tossing them in the hamper, there will always be stains that need a bit of extra time to deal with. With the right tools, stain removal tips and Bill Nye the Science guy techniques, though, stains shouldn’t slow you down too much. If you deal with stains right away, you save a ton of time. Another trick is to mark stains with a clothes peg so that you don’t accidentally miss them and (worst possible outcome) put them in the dryer to really set the stain. We have a great LAUNDRY LABELS for common laundry room stain removers so you can make gorgeous jars. If you have to do laundry anyway you should be surrounded by beauty!
One of my big pandemic activities (like everyone else!) has been developing a sourdough starter, and playing around with bread making. With little yeast or flour in the stores, I went directly to a local flour mill, then spent hours learning how to develop a good sourdough starter out of simple flour and water.
Setting the scene… It’s a night like any other you’ve had for the past couple of months – your newborn gem has awoken at the typical hour of 5am after you had just gotten back to sleep following her prior wake-up and feed at 3am. Except that this time, you feel ready to cry, and wish fervently that she would somehow feed herself and go back to sleep all on her own.
As a woman and a mother there are a few things that top my priority list. One is health for the whole family – being active, having regular checkups and doing a mental health scan every so often. The other big priority I have is to be a well-rounded, confident woman. My kids need to see that. I want to be a role model and inspiration.
Road trip season is upon us and while we understand why you’re considering faking a flat tire to avoid the imminent whining from the back seat— we challenge you to put aside your fears and create lifelong memories along the ribbons of roads that cross North America. CTV Morning Live invited me on set to chat about these trip tips, and—while organizing for the segment—the nostalgia swept over me and I wanted to share some of my personal family road trip tips with you.
It’s the first day of summer vacation and we are still on lockdown. What do the kids want to do? Game. It’s the BANE of my existence. We’ve been in self isolation for three months (but who’s counting). While we were fortunate that their school kept them in Zoom classes from 8:30-3:30 daily, it’s a whole new world now. I have this Mom-guilt thing, where gaming is never a problem if they have school or activities all day and want to ‘chill’ in the evening. But balancing it all can be an issue. The blessing is that they have been connecting with friends through gaming, but I feel as if I’m losing my own connection with them. Because I can’t beat them, I will try and join them – with Apple Arcade.
