Treating Me Right!

My birthday was a good one!  It had all the elements needed to feel like it wasn't just another ordinary day.  I received thoughtful gifts, my meals were served to me instead of me serving them to others and mostly I felt loved.  That's about all I consider necessary for a perfect birthday!

I did have to work on my birthday but that was fine with me.  The entire student body was away on various field trips so the school was empty and we could be as goofy as we liked in the office.  Heather took Marci and I out for lunch which is a rare treat.  I love these ladies!  It was a sunny, gorgeous winter day and we stopped at Mill Lake for a quick photo op on our way back to school.

 I came home after work to find Keith making me a birthday cake!  I was very impressed and it sure tasted good too.

 He also made one of my favorite suppers...taco salad.  It was super delicious!

 And to top it off he served up one of my favorite drinks, a tequila sunrise.  The kids all had shirley temples. 

To top it all off, Keith bought me this framed print to hang above our bed.  It's exactly what I had been looking for.  Thanks, Keith for listening to my hint dropping....you are learning well!
I also had a beautiful orchid dropped off for me by my brother, a quilted table runner made for me by my mom and some silly cards from the kids.
Tonight, Keith will take me out for supper and then it'll be done!

Cresting 'That' Hill!

It's finally happened.  I am starting to feel my age.  Oh, I know you people who are 'older' will likely scoff at this.  But truly...it's starting to show.  The wrinkles are still at bay but the greys are sprouting and multiplying like bunnies.  The make up under my eyes cannot be scrubbed off....oh, that's not mascara, those arepermanent dark circles!  I look in the mirror and always look 'tired'.  I need my sleep much more that I ever did.  I feel really rotten if I don't eat properly.  Yet, I am thankful that my health is quite good, my brain is still sharp-ish and I have energy to get through the day!  Yes...nothing to complain about at all.  These were mere observations.  Am I ready to start coasting down the hill?  Let's chat again next February but for now I am going to enjoy this LAST year of my thirties.  Hello 39!

I'd guess 1979 in my bedroom with my beautiful wall paper!  Just a little peek at what I looked like about 33 years ago.  Sheesh, how can this be?!

Do You Think It's Gross?!

Okay, okay,  so I have a guilty pleasure.  It's cheez whiz.  I like it.  I really like it.

I only will buy one small jar per year and it lasts me a very long time.  But boy oh boy is it good! Please spare me the lecture about how it's plastic cheese and not a real food.  I know this.  I mean, look at the name of the product: 'cheez'.  That is a dead give away!

What is your guilty pleasure, food-wise?  Is there something you enjoy that a lot of people think is nasty?

Early Celebrations





Just happy to have another year....let's not add them up, shall we?!





 

My parents arrived home from two weeks of sun and sand in Mexico. Liam loves his new 'spinner'!





Take Me Back Tuesday

My 17th birthday with my two side-kicks.  How's them bangs?  Curling iron masters!  Oh and I did indeed LOVE my Club Monaco sweatshirt.  I had two and kept them for a long time.  Did you ever have one...or more?
My mom's country kitchen is pretty retro!

True Appreciation

Liam enjoyed this leftover cupcake soooo much that he paused in the middle of eating it and said, "Thank you Jesus for my cupcake".

Soon Baby, Soon!

I had a shower to attend today for my sis-in-law Suzanne.  Her baby boy is due next month and we are very excited.  She had bragged on my baking and therefore I was asked to bring something to contribute to the shower.  I felt a bit of pressure to bring something 'fancy' but I don't do fancy.  I do plain and basic.  I put in a call to my 'fancy' baking friend and Kori was ever gracious and offered to help me out!

 She helped me turn ordinary cupcakes into beautiful cupcakes!  And they tasted great. 

 I'm sure looking forward to meeting this little nephew of mine.  And my children are most thrilled to actually have their very first 'first' cousin.  They've plenty of second cousins but not first.

 She was positively spoiled with wonderful items.  We also we able to write down some words of widsom for her in a keepsake book. 

I think grandma was hoping for a grand-daughter but it seems that boys are the way things happen around here.  We will love this little guy lots and hope to meet him in a few weeks! 



Take Me Back Tuesday

Our sweet little family in 2002. 
Keith is so thin....and where's all that grey hair?  Those were some cute boys.  Now they are large and gangly and often smell less than sweet.  Good thing I've got my little Liam to cuddle when I need a fix.

Slurp

And now the snow is melting.  This is an ugly stage.  Puddles, slush and a general mess for several weeks while this stuff disappears.  I know the kids enjoyed the snow staying for more than one day for a change!  And I will be happy to not have mitts, pants, hats and boots drip drying all over my house.

Snowy Days

Potty Talk

Liam is fascinated with potty talk.  Bathroom talk.  Bum talk.

He loves to say poop, pee, toot, and let's not forget his all time favorite.  Bum-crack.

Somehow we've discovered that by letting him say all these words to his heart's content the novelty is wearing off.  The catch is that he can only say them while he is physically in the bathroom.  So, basically at bathtime he's saying all his favorites in a sing-song voice and telling me what a good boy he is because he's in the bathroom doing this.

He does obey quite well at times!

Anyhow, this my friends is where my life is at right now.

Bum-crack.

Take Me Back Tuesday

Halloween 1990.
My really good friend, Shawna and I heading out to a youth function...I think?!  Anyhow I thought we really rocked those clown outfits!

Snow Day

This morning I had to be at school for early bird registration at 6:45 am.  It was difficult to put it mildly...getting up at that sort of unholy hour.  Anyhow, as I drove to work it was snowy madly.  We successfully registered 100 new students and learned that MEI was closing the campus for the day.  Nate was very happy to stay home, Liam was happy to have a 'mummy day' and Chad still had to go to school.  Who said life is fair?!  Anyhow, there is plenty more snow forecasted so maybe we'll repeat this again tomorrow.  Minus the early morning!

Flying!

After standing around watching my kids have fun sledding I decided it was my turn!  It was just as fun as I remembered but it certainly did nothing good for my five day headache.

Gone Squirrelly Yet?

In my endevour to bring up my kids on nutrious food I have discovered a great new bread.  I'm sure many of you have heard of Squirrelly Bread that is made by Silver Hills Farms.

My mom has been eating it for years but I never really paid much attention to it.  I don't often eat bread or toast.  As a side note, I have an attraction to unhealthy and soft white bread which I almost never buy.  But I will always order white toast if we eat breakfast out!

Anyhow, I have always bought my toast-loving family regular old brown bread from either Superstore (their own brand) or McGavin's three pack from Costco.  This bread is pretty blah....nutritionally and taste-wise. 

Even though I knew how much healthier Squirrelly Bread was, I was put off by the price.  It runs between $3.50 - $4 per loaf!  

I didn't really realize that you could buy the bread directly from the outlet for $1.50 per loaf.  They are their 'seconds' so perhaps they were sliced imperfectly or the loaf is slightly misshapen but they are 100% still edible.  I went to the outlet last week and picked up 9 loaves for $13.50.  You can't even get the regular blah bread from Costco for that price!

So I am pleased that my family is eating highly nutritious bread and I am able to do it on a dime.

They have many other types of bread I am looking forward to trying as well.  Check out their website  www.silverhillsbakery.ca/.

That Boy Can Cook!

On the way home from school Wednesday afternoon, Nathan asked if he could bake something.  I did not say no to that!  If he's keen then I am all for supporting that.

And this is what happened.....

Yes, he also cleaned up after himself!

Meatless Supper: Lentil & Brown Rice Burritos

Joseph's Grainery: Lentil Brown Rice Burritos:

Click on the link for the recipe.  It doesn't LOOK that awesome but it really tastes great.  We used soft flour tortillas and topped them with fresh salsa, cheese, chives, lettuce, sour cream and tomatoes.  Everyone enjoyed them!  Even Liam ate an entire burrito.
The cook time is rather long so next time I am going to do this in my crock pot on low while I'm at work.  Prep time is minimal.  We try to eat meatless once or twice a week but still have some protein to keep the tummy satisfied. 
And if you are on a post-Christmas budget you'll love how inexpensive this is to make!

Rats!

So this past weekend I realized that we had run out of bread.  I thought it would be easy to just whip up a loaf in my breadmaker.  I don't often make bread in the machine.  I mostly use the dough setting and make buns.
As you can see it was a dismal failure.  I followed the recipe to a tee!  Very frustrating and yet rather amusing.
I hate wasting good ingredients...shouldn't this sort of thing be fool-proof?!

Take Me Back Tuesday

Maybe 1986 or 1987?  I do believe this was our first Japanese student in a long line of them.  Yuko was her name and she was such fun.  We truly enjoyed her company!

New Things

This past weekend, Nathan had an appointment to get contact lenses.  This was more my idea than his and I was to find out that this did not help the process.  I don't have glasses or contacts so my knowledge of all things related to vision correction is limited.  I thought popping in a contact would be a breeze. 

We were told thta the appointment could take up to 90 minutes.  They would not let Nate leave with the contacts until he could properly insert and remove them.  So we get there and I was a bit disappointed to have a trainee looking after us.  And a trainee with limited English skills.  This was the first strike against us.   We had to first watch a 10 minute video and then it would be time to practice.  So, after the video, the contacts were set in front of Nathan and he was told to just start trying.  The fitter didn't say much...he tried to be encouraging but it wasn't doing much good.  With each failed attempt Nate got more and more frustrated and I got more and more tense.  After a good 30 minutes of this, Nate pretty much gave up.  He told me this wasn't his idea in the first place and he didn't want to try anymore.  So I handed him back his glasses and told him we were getting out of there.  Well, he didn't like that either and said he would try one more time.  Meanwhile the fitter had left the room mumbling about 'our chemistry' not working together.  As Nate was about to attempt it for the final time we had an  experienced professional come into the room (which the trainee had run out to find...thank goodness!) and the whole atmosphere changed.  He was so encouraging, positive and upbeat.  He made Nate want to try again and gave me hope.  At this point I coudn't even watch anymore.  Lo and behold, Nate popped it in his eye and had success! THEN, the fitter realized that Nathan had the incorrect prescription lens and so Nate would have to take it out and put in the proper one.  Sheesh! So he removed it first attempt...again success!  After that it took a few tries but he was able to get them both inserted with many helpful tips from the fitter.  Then they tested his vision and it was all good.  I could tell at this point that Nate was still not sold on the idea as his eyes were adjusting to the lenses.  We left the opticians and I told Nate that after that stressful 90 minutes we both needed a drink and if he had been 19 years old I would have taken him for a beer.  He was aghast and said he didn't ever want a beer :)  It was cute.  I offered a blizzard from DQ in lieu and that put a big grin on his face.  As we drove home he started to grudingly admit he was enjoying not having glasses, and it was pretty cool to be able to see without glasses on his face.  Hmmmmm...I told him that he could say 'Mom, you were right' at anytime!

So, I'm glad that's behind us...I proud of us both!