Monday Mish Mash 3-12-12

In a strange turn of events I did not cook one thing this weekend.  My biggest effort at making food was spooning yogurt into a dish and pouring granola on the top.  Guaranteed the no cooking thing will not be happening again this week so I best get on with the menu plan.  So this week's table will be graced with, in no particular order:

-Crockpot Beef and Gravy
-Oven Baked Sour Cream Chicken
-Tuna Patties
-Paprika potaotes
-Savory Pork Chops
-Chicken Nuggets

We had Daylight Savings Time here in Alberta this weekend.  The infamous "Spring Ahead" occured on Sunday 12:00 A.M.  I'd like to know who had the bright idea of losing an hour sleep every spring.  I'd like a few words with said person.  On top of it Younger Girl worked until 1:15 in the a.m. on Saturday morning.  She should have been off at 11:30 or so.  She was able to get a ride home but I still stayed up because (1) she didn't have her key because I would have normally picked her up and (2) who can sleep when they're "baby" is out that late?  So to say I'm a wee bit tired this Monday morning is an major understatement.  Where did I put my extra large coffee mug?

Sunday after church hubby and I and some friends saw "The Iron Lady".  In spite of mixed reviews, all four of us really liked it.  It provided for much conversation at the restaurant afterword.

So that's about it for our weekend.  How was yours?

Monday Mish Mash

It is finally starting to look a bit like spring around here with some sun and blue skies poking through.  On the weekend, we just had to take advantage of those moments and took some walks with the dog who very much appreciated getting out there.  We took our first walk in the riverbottom park yesterday.  It started off beautiful but within minutes of getting going the wind came up and clouds rolled in.  But because we were fairly protected by the trees it was still a nice walk.  The dog thought he was in heaven.  So much to sniff he didn't know where to go first.

Saturday I got my monthly massage.  This is something that is a need for me due to some neck and back issues so don't be too jealous because it is not necessarily a relaxing experience.  This session was one of those times where it was not so much fun.  She beat me up good.  Not really, but it sure felt like it when she was working some of those knots out. I almost felt myself automatically calling up the breathing exercises they taught in prenatal.   She told me I'd feel tender but better the next day and I told her I'd better or I was looking her up.  We laughed but I wonder if she thought I was serious.  I was.  No, not really, I'm kidding.  But I was thoroughly exhausted for the rest of that day.  Whew.

Hubby was a sweetheart and treated us to supper that night.  We couldn't decide between pizza and chinese food so we ordered pizza from a place in town that has really unusual kinds of pizza.  They compete in the international pizza competitions in Las Vegas and have come in as high as Top 13.  We got one of our favorites with ttomato sauce, mozza, provolone, feta prosciutoo, tomatoes and fresh grated parmesan.  My mouth waters as I type this.  Then we tried a new one to add a bit of "chinese" food flavor in there.  It had honey garlic sauce (instead of tomato sauce), chicken, pineapple, bacon, sliced almonds and cheddar.  It was really different and really good.

I've finished reading 5 books off my Spring Reading Thing challenge.  I'm three behind from how many I've read at this point last year, but that's okay because I've done 3 non-fictions in the last month which if you know me, is a minor miracle.  If you're interested at all, the reviews are here.  Scroll to #'s 6 through 10.  I'd love for you to comment (I always love to hear what you think about different titles) but please mention the name of the book you are commenting on in your comment.  The blog is set up so that one year's reads and reviews all end up as a running post.  It's easier that way to link in my sidebar. But if you don't mention the title it gets a little confusing.

So that's about it for my rambling thoughts on a Monday morning.  How was your weekend?

Monday Mish Mash being late on a Tuesday

There was lots going on this weekend.  But don't you just love when you can look back over and feel you accomplished something instead of just letting a weekend push you along and then you don't feel like you got anything done?  That's how it was with me this weekend.  Very busy, but I felt like I had actually done something.  Sometimes I just get so bogged down with getting the regular housekeeping under control and running around doing what I can't do with working working full time that I Sunday night I feel exhausted but don't know what I've actually done to get me that way.  With the extra day off this weekend, though I can actually look back and say I accomplished some stuff.

This is a big birthday weekend for us.  My MIL's birthday was on Friday, my daughter's yesterday and my Sis-in-law's today.  I can't even describe how sad it makes me not to have my girl around on her birthday.  It's just not the same trying to co-ordinate a phone call as it is having her here to celebrate.  Just another thing of learning to let go of our children and letting them live the lives they are choosing.  Sigh.  So I spent her birthday painting the hallway.  Good times.  I was very thankful to have hubby do the cutting in for me.  That's the hard part.  Rolling paint on the wall is easy.  

I finished a great book last week. "Her Daughter's Dream" by Francine Rivers.   My thoughts and review are here on my book blog. It was a really great read along with the first book in the saga:  "A Mother's Hope" which I finished last year and is #24 in last year's reviews. A thought about this second book that I didn't mention there but I will hash out here, is that the cover bothered me for the longest time and I couldn't figure out why.  And then it finally hit me last week.  The insert picture of the mother pushing the child on the swing is all wrong.  There is no way a person would be standing in that spot pushing on the front upswing of the swing, if you know what I mean.  The swing would be in the opposite direction heading back where the mother would be waiting to give it a push.  A person would get creamed if she was standing in the spot that the picture depicts.  How did that get by the editors? There were sleeping on that one.  There, that is my pathetic petty observance, and I feel so much better now for voicing it.  LOL.

Right now I've started reading a book on Anne Boelyn, second wife of Henry the VIII.  I'm only in the second chapter but am feeling very bogged down in it.  Detailed heavier writing, reading more like a text book is slowing me down considerably so I'm going to give it to the end of the chapter and if I can't get engaged more into it, I think I'll let it go.  Too many other books waiting in line that I want to get to for me to struggle through one.  I might pick it up another time when my mood is more for a book I need to really concentrate on.

So now I must go and get my week started.  Kids are waiting.  Groceries need buying and new books need reading.  How was your weekend?  What are you reading right now?

Monday Mish Mash & the Double Chocolate Bundt Cake

As you can see, we have had a whole lot of snow around here. The chinook that started the big melt at the end of last week didn't hang around for more than a couple of days and then it snowed all day yesterday again.  So the roads are super slick from the melted mush underneath covered by a new layer of snow on top.  And tomorrow it again is supposed to be above freezing.  I have never seen so much snow in November, this is more what February might look like.  And I don't recall the weather ever being so bizarrely back and forth from one extreme to the next constantly.  Weird times.

With all the cold and snow and with December approaching this came out of hiding:

It's the file.  The RED file.  The file that contains all the holiday recipes that I use or want to try.  Every year I pull it out around this time and go through and choose what I, in theory, would like to bake or cook.  I have my traditional favorites like Almond Roca Bars, Scotch Shortbread and Spiced Nuts, and Crustless Quiche but I also like to try something new too. Then I make the Christmas grocery list so that I don't make myself crazy by not having the ingredients I need on hand when the mood strikes to bake something.  Wonderfully low cal stuff like butter, lots and lots of butter.  Nuts, lots and lots of nuts.  I usually end up making 3 or 4 batches of the spiced nuts by the time we eat them and I give them as gifts. Cheese, lots and lots of differend kinds of cheese.  And of course what is the Christmas season without a little antipasto and some kind of dip. Who needs a turkey, we can just graze all day all month long?!

Friday night my youngest had some friends over to celebrate her 16th birthday coming up.  Having a Christmas Day birthday is hard.  We've found that celebrating with her friends in November seems to work best before the Christmas  over busyness starts.  Mind you now that she is older, it is so much less stressful for me.  The girls just want to hang out, so as long as I keep the food and pop flowing, they amuse themselves with the Wii and watching movies and basically being silly.  Way less pressure than the parties of their younger days where I had to provide the amusement too.

And the cake requested actually turned out very well.  My Youngest Girl had requested a chocolate cake from, *gasp*, the box mix.  Okay, fine by me, nice and easy.  But that was just too everyday for a birthday cake for me.  So when I came across a recipe for Double Chocolate Bundt Cake in my travels through Food Gawker, and saw that even I could handle this one, I talked Younger Girl into it.  And then kept my fingers crossed that I didn't mess it up.   Everybody said how good it was and even hubby and son really, really liked it.  It wasn't anything fancy, but yet elevated the humble box of chocolate cake mix.   And maybe that is why it worked so well for me.  But it was moist and delicious.  I am so not a great baker.  So for those of you who struggle with ye olde birthday cake too, here's the recipe. I highly recommend it.  You can dress it up as you like.  My girl wouldn't even let me put a candle on it, much less sprinkles.  Oh how they change when they get "cool".

So, I'm off to start the week.  Lots going on this week, Parent-Teacher interviews, Ladies Christmas Party, my sister's birthday, Christmas decorating on the weekend.  All added to the regularly scheduled program around here so I better hop to it.  How was your weekend?

Monday Mish Mash

-It is frigid here.  -19*C or -2F.  It's been snowing since last Tuesday.  Some days we've been shoveling twice a day.  I like to shovel.  But not twice a day.  I made my teenagers do it.  One of them may or may not have been grumpy about it.  Hard to believe I took this picture a mere month ago.

-The sudden cold and snow has put me in the mood for Christmas shopping instead of hiking in the riverbottom.  I'm almost done!  It feels so good.  I feel so much more relaxed.  Now I just need to not even look in the flyers as they come or I'll second guess myself and make myself crazy.  Of course I also have a Christmas day birthday I need to buy for.  That child's party with her friends is this weekend coming up.  Yikes, I have to bake a cake.

-Hubby's birthday was yesterday.  We gave him what he wanted and that was a relaxed, no stress day.  We holed up in the house in our jammies, yes we skipped church.  I know, I know.  But I had woke up with a huge headache.  But my son, who is faithful as all get out, went with his aunt.  I love him for that.  Anyway, hubby opened and enjoyed his gifts, then we had a nice lunch at a new restaurant, and came home and relaxed and watched a movie of Hubby's choice.  I didn't bake a cake.  He got free dessert at the restaurant.

-A comment from last night's Amazing Race had me and son cracking right up.  After an excruciatingly hard task the all girl team was exhausted but trying to get to the next point before the other team who was not far behind them.  The one girl kept talking and nagging the other girl to hurry up, etc.  The second girl took it for so long and then finally told her hyper team member:  "I won't make a very good team mate if I'm passed out!"  The other girl promptly hushed up.  LOL.   Made me wonder if if I push my kids like that sometimes and all they want  is to tell me they won't make good teens if they're passed out.  Hmmm, food for thought.

-I've decided I hate grocery shopping in the frigid cold.  It's all to do with pushing the heavy buggies in the snow packed parking lots.  Ugh.  I also need to make a new plan for my grocery shopping.  What I'm doing is no longer working well for me.  It needs shaking up.  Shaking things up is hard.

-Love the new posting edits for Blogger.  Now that they have the kinks worked out.  I love that you can make your pictures extra large if you want.  And how easy it is to put them where you want them now.  Thumbs up!

So that's about it for my mish mash of thoughts and happenings from the weekend.  How was your weekend?

Monday Mish Mash, with a Recipe

This weekend went way too fast for my liking. It was busy from the get go which I don't really like but at least it slowed down enough for me to watch the Amazing Race last night. I am now officially sad as one of my favorite teams ever got eliminated. Sigh. Why do I get so emotionally invested with these people? Now I don't know who I want to cheer on. I'm thinking maybe the father/daughter team or the doctors team. Such a dilemma.

Braving the crowds at Costco on Saturday was officially not a favorite thing this weekend. I always say I'm not going grocery shopping or to Costco on Saturday but somehow I found myself there. Oy, it was crazy in there. And I spent way too much money, blowing most of the grocery budget there. Ugh. I did get a few Christmas gifts I wanted though, and at a good price too, so I guess that made the horrendous crowds and lineups worth it. So far I have been really blessed with the Christmas shopping. I have been finding great deals on things I had in mind and I'm so glad I've been looking early. Can't tell you about the great deals though 'cause you never know just who might be reading. Ahem, family, cough, cough. And don't bother looking people, it's nowhere on the property! The elves have it stored off site.

Hubby and I watched a program on raw food diets. It was very interesting that's for sure. Now I am not anywhere near the point where I am ready or willing to go that route but it sure did make us start thinking about the variety of vegetables we eat. And how we tend to automatically cook them all especially in the winter time. Raw food advocates believe that cooking of foods and bringing them higher than 115*F kills enzymes naturally found in the food that your body needs to function and heal itself properly. I don't know about any of that but then I watched a food network program that mentioned briefly how important it was to have some raw food everyday because of the enzyme thing. So yesterday instead of cooking up the beautiful bag of brocolli florets that I just had, I made a salad out of it. And it was delicious and everyone, company included, raved about it. Nary a spoon was left out of a big bowl. So I thought I'd share it with you. Sorry no picture, it was gobbled up too fast and I think the company would have thought I was a little "touched" if I had been taking pictures of our food.

BROCOLLI SALAD

-approximately 6 cups of raw brocolli florets (bite sized pieces)

-1/2 cup raisins or craisins

-1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted

-6 medium sized mushrooms, cut in slices

-1/2 cup pecan or walnut pieces, slightly chopped

-1/2 small white or red onion, cut in thin slices

-3/4 cup lite mayonaisse

-1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp. sugar

-1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp. vinegar

To toast the sesame seeds just throw them in a small fry pan. Toast over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally until nicely golden or light brown. Don't leave them as they turn color all of sudden.

To make the dressing, start with the smaller amount of sugar and vinegar and then adjust according to your taste. You can also use raspberry vinegar to add a dimension of flavor. Whisk together well and let sit a few minutes. Dress the salad starting with about 1/2 cup and then add more as desired.

So do you guys eat lots of raw veggies or do you tend to automatically fall to cooking them. Or do you eat veggies at all?

Moday Mish Mash

Well Halloween is gone and done for another year. Thank goodness. I have to be honest, I actually hate halloween. There I said it, wrote it for posterity's sake. Now I don't have to think about it for 365 more days.

I actually started some of my Christmas shopping on the weekend. It's a nice defense mechanism against Halloween weekend 'cause I do love Christmas! And throw in the fact that it's also Younger Daughter's birthday on Christmas Day so an early start is pretty essential for me to keep me sane. I couldn't believe all the people who had the same idea as me. The Christmas aisle at Costco and the Toys 'R Us were full of people literally loading their buggies with Christmas items and gifts. I have to wonder if they were out to avoid Halloween too. I was out to find hubby a birthday gift also because it's his birthday in November but this year I have no clue what to get him. I saw some radar detectors at Costco which I thought he'd want for sure, but he shot the idea down, as he did the GPS idea. Two things I thought he'd really like. Sigh.

I finished the book "The Help" this last weekend. What a great read. I'm really glad I finally got around to it. If you want to read my review of it it's up here at my book blog. Just scroll down to #39. Holy smokes, I've actually read 39 books this year. That's a record for me. And I have to say I've pretty much enjoyed every minute of it. I don't know how I went through those couple of years in the '80's where I didn't read anything unless it was a heavy duty Christian teaching book. Now, looking back, it doesn't even sound like me. Interesting.

And speaking of book blog, is anybody else having trouble with Blogger and adding colored text? Since they brought in the newly revised posting test, I'm having a heck of a time on the regular version getting colors to work. My book blog's gone from cheerfully colored to boring black text. Anyhoo, if anyone's figured it out, let me know.

So that's about a wrap from my exciting weekend. How about you guys? How was your weekend?

Monday Mish Mash, Recipe Included

This weekend I made a monumental decision. I am going to get back to menu planning more consistently again. After a summer of "winging" it, I think I'm ready to for a bit stress free meal decisions. I'm going to start to get back into it with just picking a week's worth of meals and then picking out of that list each morning or the night before.

I'm in a bit of a decision dilemma with how to do my grocery shopping. I get a lump sum of grocery budget twice a month. I've been doing the whole of the shopping when I get these lump sums. But I tell ya. I'm getting a bit tired of the marathon grocery shopping trips, and the marathon packing away of said groceries. Then invariably I'm always running back at some point in the middle of two trips because I don't have something I didn't think to add to the list or I run out of milk and fresh produce. Which is a given with teenagers and a dayhome. I just cannot stock enough of it to last. But if I go to a weekly plan I'll lose the "free items" that my grocery store offers if you spend a certain amount of money. Usually you have to spend either $150 or $250 to get the free item. And sometimes it's really worth it. Last time I got Rubbermaid Premier storage containers worth $30. This week I think it's a free turkey. But on the other hand, going once a week, meal planning would be so much easier, the trips would be so much simpler, and the packing away of it would take so much less time. So you see my dilemma. What to do, what to do?

Isn't my weekend news exciting so far? LOL. We had a pretty laid back weekend. Hubby was home Saturday, his first Saturday off in over a month. When that happens we just go with the flow. And watch movies. And make popcorn. Lots and lots of popcorn. Now the gross microwave stuff. But on top of the stove popped in olive oil stuff. The stuff you can't stop eating. This weekend's showings included "Flight of the Phoenix (2004)" one of my favorite movies ever. Prince of Persia followed, and on Sunday evening we wrapped it up with "Star Trek Insurrection". So I'm pretty movie'd and popcorn'd out for awhile.

Now we did have some real food too. If it was up to my hubby, he'd make a meal of the popcorn, but me? I need the real thing. Sunday was burgers on the grill, 'cause now that summer's over, we actually had a nice warm day as opposed to the crummy ones we've had all summer. On Saturday, because I was lazy and popcorning, I threw together a very simple chicken casserole called Chicken Bruschetta Bake. It's chicken breast, tomatoes, lots of garlic and stove top stuffing. Oh what the heck, here's the recipe:

-2 pkg. Stove Top Stuffing mix Chicken flavor (the original recipe calls for one but I find it's not enough)

-1 28 0z. can of stewed or diced tomatoes, undrained

-2 large cloves garlic, minced

-1 1/2 lbs (3/4 kg) skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized peices

-1 tsp. dried basil

-1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400*F. Mix together tomatoes, garlic, and stuffing and stir just until moistened.

Place chicken in 13x9 baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese and basil and pepper to taste. Top with stuffing mixture. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes until chicken is cooked.

Done. Can't get any easier than that.

Exercise came in the form of a nice walk to the neighborhood Starbuck's for their fall coffee. I had my Pumpkin Spice Latte and Hubby had the Toffee Mocha Latte. Yum. And our barista turned out to be an old family friend so our coffee was on him. Thanks Teigan!

Oh and I can't forget I vacuumed. Be still my heart.

Pretty exciting weekend, eh? What did you do?

Monday Mish Mash

Did ya hear the big news? Bloglines will be no more as of October 1. To say this set me into panic mode is an understatement. I spent all of Friday night transferring my links over to Google Reader, which I've heard is really good by the way. But as is par for the course with me and anything new in the computer department, it wasn't easy. There is always such a learning curve for me. I couldn't figure out how to get all my feeds transferred over. So guess what I spent Friday night doing? Transferring all the URL's over. One. at. a. time. All 66 of them. And of course after I'm done it all is when I find the button that says to import/export feeds. Sigh. That's my life.

So Saturday I figured for all that work I was going to get some kind of treat and went for my first pedicure ever. An exiting dayhome family gave me a gift certificate for one at the beginning of summer and I kept putting it off thinking I'd be greebled out by it. But guess what? I went and I loved it. It was so relaxing. I was going to take pictures but I thought I'd freak out the young lady giving me the pedicure and I didn't want her to think I was some weirdo. I mean, who takes pictures of one getting their feet done. But I know you bloggers get it? You do, right? Hellooo? At any rate, I think I'm spoiled now. Better start saving my sheckles so I can get one at the beginning of summer next year.

Saturday afternoon Youngest Girl had to pick something up at the Christian book store. I knew I should have stayed in the car. I even said I'd be waiting in the car. So how on earth did I up in the store? And once in the store, I looked. I tried so hard not to. But how can one not look? Two books and some kind of Caribbean coffee later, which was yummy, I exited the store giving myself what for for going into the store in the first place. Where was my discipline? Where was my rock solid "no" when I needed it? Sigh. I just can't help myself. I'm weak, oh so weak, when it comes to books. But now this and this are going to be on my Fall Into Reading list. And shhh, don't tell, but it does make me happy.

Sunday we actually bbq'd. Hard to believe but it's so. The weather this year has been so weird I have hardly used the bbq at all. Usually I use it at least 3 or 4 times a week in the summer. We just had burgers. But burgers made extra delicious with my very own homegrown tomatoes on them. Were they ever good. Something about homegrown tomatoes just makes my mouth water thinking about them. The tasteless ones in the store just don't compare.

So that about sums up my greatly exciting weekend. Nothing earth shattering here. But it was nice to just hang around without having to be somewhere continuously all weekend. I like those once in awhile.

How was your second last weekend of the summer?

Monday Mish Mash

Ahhh. Back to School. The words kids never want to hear. But it has arrived. And our weekend and my bank account proves it. It was the last days rush of finding those things they just have to have to go back to the grind beloved classes. Things like the perfect pair of jeans, shoes that don't look like they've walked to Mexico and back, last minute forgotten off the list that we went shopping for last week school supplies, and the bag. The all important bag. A back pack won't do now that we're in grade 11. But neither will just any old "messenger bag". It has to be just the right one. It needs to hold papers and the lunch and possible gym strip. Not necessarily books though, because now that we're in grade 11 we carry those in our arms. And it has to look great. And we actually found one that fit the requirements. For a steal of a deal. Regular 50 bucks. On sale for $15. And it was the only one buried beneath the way more expensive messenger "ugly" bags. Sold.

Here she is giving me the "must you take a back to school picture, I'm late, my ride is waiting" look. (Isn't she gorgeous? Not that I'm biased or anything.) Notice the bag. Notice the lunch in her hand and not in the bag. What's in the bag then?? Notice the dog in the background with the confused look. He can't figure out why there is so much action going on with the Younger Girl so early in the morning. And he's wondering where the dayhome kids are. Day off on the first day of school for me. Yay me.

We actually got away with some really great deals this year so that was really helpful as was having only one child left in school. I can't believe I actually wrote that. Only one? How did that ever happen? And how did it happen so fast?

So off the youngest girl went this morning with her new school bag, still in shock at having to get up before the crack of noon.

Monday Mish Mash the Day After Vacation

And a very sleepy Mish Mash it is. Holidays are wonderful things. Until that first day back to work. And then it hits you. All the late nights. All the food you don't usually eat. All the sleeping in way past your normal wake up time. All the out of routine activities one tries to cram into a week away from home.

And then comes Monday. Baam. Reality hits right between the eyes. No more lazing around. Have to be up by 6:30. Bed by 11:00. Kids arriving, diapers need changing, hungry tummies need feeding, hugs need to be given, playing needs to be done and fights need to be refferee'd. It's almost like culture shock from one's very lazy week before. But would I give up that holiday time just to stay in routine? Not on your life. Because then I couldn't have memories like this:
or like this:


And where else do you get a shot of your kid like this except on vacation:



As you can tell with this being posted halfway through the afternoon, though it was quite the introduction back into work this morning, I'd say it is so worth the week of family fun!

Monday Mish Mash...

...in point form.

-youngest daughter (15) attended a huge youth conference out of town on the weekend

-she arrived home at 1:45 a.m.

-last night

-I still had to get up at 6:30 a.m. for work

-hence the point form

-my brain, it's a bit sluggish

-whole sentences, not happening

-or proper punctuation

-the girl, she is still sleeping

-I spent the weekend covering my flowers with sheets and buckets

-because it was barely 1* above freezing at night

-and it snowed

-yes, you read that correctly

-I want spring

-and sun

-and some warmth

-my brain is also "Lost-ified"

-watched 10 episodes of Lost season 1

-it's all Linda's fault

-she's a Lostie, or whatever you call them folks

-she even had a party

-I'm a little behind on the whole Lost craze

-I didn't get the cleaning done on the weekend

-oh well

-wish our long weekend (last week) was this weekend

-how was your weekend

Monday Mish Mash & The Week in Words

It's a long weekend for us Canadians. Yipee! Is it for you guys too? It's funny about long weekends. I always have these visions of doing absolutely nothing. But somehow it never works that way. It seems I have hit the floor running every weekend for the last I don't know how many weeks and I thought finally I would have a Saturday with nothing to do. But as the month progressed appointments were scheduled into this Saturday too. Sigh. Between a hair cut, which was earlier, so there went sitting around in housecoat with coffee and book in hand, and appointments with the grad photographer and grocery shopping and blah, blah, blah, my Saturday totally got away on me.

Finally, I said "Stop the bus" and I phoned my friend and we had what we call a Girl's chip and dip night. These nights involve a movie or two, usually a Starbuck's coffee, lots of much needed conversation and of course chips and dip. Onion for her, herb and spice for me. I am so thankful for a friend that I can do this with. We feel free with each other that when either of us needs a night like this we are there for each other and find somewhere in the weekend to do it.

Sunday was church, more running around and I finally got around to trimming the cedar bushes at the side of the house. By the time I was done my back and shoulders were aching from holding the darn trimmer at should level so I just walked away from the clean up. So guess what's waiting for me today? Sigh. And all the flowers are finally going to be planted today, I think, I hope. It looks like the nights for the rest of the week will not dip to freezing so I'm getting it done.

And hopefully somewhere in there is my book and some fresh, hot coffee.

So before I get the shovels out here's the Week in Words.

Barbara at Stray Thoughts hosts a weekly meme where we share our favorite quotes from our reading over the previous week. It can be anything that spoke to us, challenged us, made us laugh or cry but it has to come from reading. Join us and share your quotes from the week.

"What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you're saying".

Ralph Waldo Emerson

From a new blog I have found as I was going through some of the archives

Wow, so convicting.

Have a happy Monday everyone!

Monday Mish Mash

It's Monday. And it's a beautiful spring day. It's actually going to be really warm here today and all week. Yay. Some nice heat and sunshine is due us. And I'm going to enjoy every moment of it. We started off soaking in the sun at the lake on Saturday evening. The majority of Saturday was taken up with the dress rehearsal and the Spring Concert for T's youth orchestra. The kid's did great and I love listening to an afternoon of great strings orchestra. But it did make us antsy to get out in the sun after being inside all morning and afternoon. So as soon as we finished dinner we grabbed the Furry Wonder, also known as the dog, and headed to the lake for a walk.
Mr. & Mrs. Mallard gave us a nice pose in spite of the Furry Wonder prancing around the shore.
As did this guy, though he was keeping a firm eye on me and what I was up to.


Then we found this strange duck along the shore. Never seen this kind around the lake before. We're not quite sure if she was signaling others of it's kind or trying to get us to see something.

You just never know what you will find on a nice spring walk around the lake.

Monday Mish Mash

It was a pretty quiet weekend here at Living to Tell. Nothing really exciting happened which was just fine with me. It was just a kickback kind of weekend. No where to be, no running around, just being. Works for me.

Friday I got a delivery of chickens from a Hutterite colony. Their chickens are sooo good. And so big! Puts the ones in the grocery stores to shame. I ordered 6 of them and it came to just $51.00. Super cheap for the size that they are. Five I froze and one I made "Sticky Chicken" with. It is so easy and the chicken comes out delicious and super tender. I'll even give you the recipe.

The night before or early in the morning, in a small bowl mix together the following:

2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp black pepper

Rinse the chicken inside and out, drain and pat dry. Rub all over with spice mix. Place in plastic bag and refridgerate overnight or for at least 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 250*F. Yes, you read right. 250*F. Remove chicken from bag and fill cavity with 1 chopped onion and about 3 or 4 the inner leafy sticks of celery. Place on rack in roasting pan breast side down and roast for 5 hours. When there is 1 or 1 1/2 hours left flip chicken over so the breast side skin can get crisp. Remove from oven and let sit for about 10 minutes before carving.

So easy and so incredibly good. You can feel free to play with the spices and you get a bit different of a chicken every time. This time I used Blazin' Pepper Bourbon Seasoning, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. It's fun to play and know I'll still end up with a really great chicken. I added garlic mashed potatoes, some mixed veggies and made homemade gravy. One chicken fed the four of us with lots left over for sandwiches or a pasta meal. The grocery store chickens don't feed us that well.

After some housecleaning the younger girl and I went to the Christian bookstore for a look around and a chai tea. It was fun doing something with her that was just the two of us. And you will all be so proud of me, other than the chai teas, I didn't buy one book. Not a one. I was tempted but I didn't do it. It's a miracle. LOL.

Sunday was a totally relax day. Church, then just heating up the already cooked chicken lunch. It gave me time to do lots of reading, play a few rounds of Scattegories with the kids and basically be a bum. LOL. A weekend like that does a girl good once in awhile. It was perfect timing as I'll be busier than ever this coming week with a new 1 yr. old starting in dayhome. I finished the book "Tallgrass" by Sandra Dallas. It was so good. I am loving this author who was new to me this year. For a review of the book you can visit my book blog here. Just scroll down to number 12. I can't believe I've already completed 12 books this year.

A decision was finally made concerning the job. After much talk, tears, prayer and deliberation,and more tears, it looks like for now the dayhome will still be going. I was really hoping for a change but the timing is just not on my side right now. Although it is not the result I was hoping for, I do feel like a heavy weight has been lifted and now I can move ahead and focus on what I want to do in the dayhome rather than everything being on hold and up in the air wondering if I was going to close it. I know God is in control and in the right time a change will come but until then I will be content and be thankful that I have a good job right now and will do my best to glorify the Lord in what is placed before at this time.

And on that note, I must get ready for the kid's to arrive. Have a great kick off day to your week!

Monday Mish Mash

If I were to pick a word that would encapsulate and describe my weekend I would probably have to pick "junk food". I know. Technically that is two words. But it sums it up pretty accurately. I could blame it on the Super Bowl, if I just would have been eating it during that 3 hour period, but it started before that. Much before that. Like a day ahead. It must have been the nachos for supper that kicked it off. (Hey I just made a funny. Get it? "Kicked it off", you know, super bowl weekend, football? Okaaay, moving along). Anyway, it continued with no breaky 'cause I couldn't get my act together before church. Then hubby wanted people for lunch and to give me a break he ordered chinese food. Very yummy, but probably not the most nutritious. And to make sure I topped that off well, daughter broke out the chips and dip for the superbowl game. And chips and dip is my downfall. I cannot ignore or walk away from those. Sigh.

So today I'm feeling pretty sleepy and sluggish. I can tell it's gonna be a day of drinking lots of water and trying to get on track with eating properly. I'll have to hide the leftover chips and dip and get it out of my eyesight or I'll be sabatoged again. Maybe I'll force myself to do that little workout I'm supposed to be doing daily but got derailed with a week a half ago too.

It was a bit of a so called "star struck" week for some of the kids. Oldest daughter was at a dance conference on the weekend where Nico, the first So You Think You Can Dance Canada winner, and Twitch, the 2nd place finisher from season 4 on the American SYTYCD, were teaching. She was pretty excited. They should be heading back today to her city so I'm waiting to hear how that all went. And son used those tickets he got for his birthday and attend the Mythbusters event. He said it was awesome even though they didn't blow anything up. He even got to meet the guys after.

Guess which one is my kid. LOL. He fits in pretty good with them, doesn't he? Something interesting he found out about these two was they both worked for George Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic. Grant, on the right, is a handful of people who has operated R2D2 and Tory of the left built the models of the pod racers and Federation Battleship used in Star Wars I & II. Not many can put that on their resumes.

On a much more important note than meeting tv personalities, a bloggy friend is in need of help. You many remember Kelli from Living in Grace. It's been a seriously long road in her journey for kidney transplant and the news has come that she is finally ready to move ahead with it and they are testing for live donors. To catch up with her story you can go here.

There are several ways as a community to not just read about Kelli but to somehow help her if God is laying it upon your heart. Of course, there is being tested for the match for the donation of a kidney. Now that is serious stuff. You can contact Kelli through her site. Or if it is upon your heart to give financially you can go here. Organ transplant is a horrendously ongoing expensive thing and insurance does not cover all the costs. Though they do cover all the costs of the donor. And if nothing else, we can all pray for Kelli and her family and send her words of encouragement. They need all of that we can offer them, too. So we can all do something, right?

Well, Monday is chugging along. So I need to get myself into it. And I need to drink another glass of water. I wonder how many it will take to flush all that junk food goodies like salt out of my system?

Monday Mish Mash

How was everyone's weekend? It was a pretty darn good one here in Living to Tell the Story land. Friday saw the chinook arrive and blow with a vengence during the night hours. If you don't know what a chinook is, it's a warm wind that comes off the mountains that Southern Alberta is famous for. It can at times literally raise the temperature from -20*C (-4*F) to 5 or 10*C (41*-50*F) within hours. The sky is totally covered over with a grey cloud cover during the chinook except the very edge of the horizon to the west where there is a blue strip of clear sky. That is called a chinook arch. It's very windy but we welcome it after sitting in frigid temps since before Christmas.


Of course, along with the nice sudden warming comes major melting. And that is something we Southern Albertans grumble about even while praising the chinook. It makes for extremely slushy, wet, dirty sidewalks, roads and parking lots. One never knows when that innocent looking pile of snow on the pavement will actually be a melted puddle underneath the snow cover and all of a sudden you are up to your ankles in cold water. The roads become swimming pools as the fast melt cannot get to the drain holes because of snow that hasn't melted yet




and piles of snow along the sides of the roads are very dirty as cars spray up the wet, mucky dirty gravel that they lay when the roads are slick. It goes from a white, pristine landscape like this
To a yucky dirty look like this

Main roads like ours that have been plowed before will clear really fast but side streets become treacherous when all the slush then freezes overnight when temps go down below zero. They are a rutted, solid ice mess.


But the wind, the wet and slush does not stop us hearty Southern Albertan from much. Especially not going shopping with a friend when there is a gift certificate to spend! Remember I mentioned the gift certificate and hoping to score a good deal here in #5? Well, after literally combing the store I scored an awesome deal with this cute wool coat. (If you zoom on the pic you'll see the cute weave in the coat). And notice the price? Well guess what I got it for? Go 'head, guess. A cool $79.99. How awesome is that? By the time I pooled the gift card and birthday monies, the only cash I put out was $12.99 for a cute scarf to go with it. Whoo hoo, I actually have a nice coat now, rather than just a bunch of casual type sport coats. I modeled it for my youngest whose comment was: "Wow, Mom, you look in stlye now". Which I think was a compliment. LOL. And what's a shopping trip without reviving ourselves with a nice cup of coffee at Starbucks?

We wrapped up the weekend with a great church service on Sunday, learning all about letting the Word of God be sown on good soil in our hearts and then a nice Chinese food dinner with some friends who treated us. Wow, reading back on the last week I have gone out more with friends than I have for months. And you know what? I liked it. Really, really liked it. I definitely have to make more of an effort in that department.

So anything fun in your weekend?

Winter Wonderland to the Extreme

I love a White Christmas! There is something about having snow for Christmas that is just icing on the cake of a wonderful holiday. It just doesn't seem the same if it's a "brown" Christmas.

But seriously now. This was just a tad extreme. Not quite what I had in mind. Friday morning it was beautiful outside. By noon the sky turned grey and the wind started to pick up a bit. By afternoon the snow started. As all of Alberta was under a blizzard warning we weren't surprised.

But then by Saturday it got crazy. Winds got up to 70 km/hr (about 43 mph). The problem wasn't so much the falling snow, but that plus the blowing snow combined. Highways were shut down. Cities came almost to a stand still. At least 6 cars got stuck by Saturday afternoon in front of my house as they tried to make room to pass each other and the snow on the side out of the worn path sucked them in. Bad news. More bad news? Minimum 2 hour wait on a tow truck.

The drift. Oh the drift! You had to be here. That is snow blowing off my roof onto my deck. Yes, it's up to my patio table. My poor dog held it in. I'm sure I saw his legs crossing at some point. Then he braved the blowing snow and it was a quick trip out let me tell you. He had a little path we managed to shovel out for him. And he did not waste anytime.

I don't know if you can see by this pic but the drifted snow is higher than my deck. How many days it'll take to shovel that out no one knows. No going through that gate for awhile, I guess.

I noticed none of you all sent a dog sled or a St. Bernard to my rescue like I requested. So no Christmas shopping for me even though my to do list was a mile long for this weekend. But a sweet young man with an ATV with a shovel on the front came around and helped push my friend onto my driveway when she got high centered. He used that thing to shovel the end of my driveway off so that that wouldn't happen again and then he did a few passes in front of our house so cars could park without getting stuck and then that young man literally shovelled off his whole street so that cars could get in and out without getting stuck. Bless his heart! I'm sure there were angel wings tucked under his winter parka somewhere.

So instead of shopping, I spent the weekend inside. I lit my balsalm candle, my youngest made us frothy hot mocha's, we turned on the electric fireplace (hey, it's better than nothing!) and we put up the tree and watched "The Secret Garden", "It's a Wonderful Life" & "Christmas with the Kranks". Now that is cozy comfort to the extreme. And I do have 2 shopping weekends left, right?

Monday Mish Mash

Fall is officially arrived in Southern Alberta. And I love it. It's cold and crisp in the mornings. And it's been raining on and off, which I also love. Although I imagine the folks in the big city aren't too happy with the snow they got on the weekend. Nothing that stayed put, mind you, but still there is something about the thought of snow in the first weekend of October that is a bit disconcerting, even for us Albertans.

My girlfriend and I grabbed us a warm jacket, stopped at Starbucks and with chocolate truffle espressos in hand we headed off to do the rounds of showhomes on Saturday. There is one builder in town who always has the best showhome of the bunch. This year we started off with that house. It did not disappoint. But we thought after we should have saved the best for last. The others were nice in and of themselves but nothing compared to the that first one. The family friendly ideas and the gorgeous way they put everything together always leave me applauding them as we leave. If they would let pictures be taken I would, but they don't.

While I'll pass on the idea of striped walls, or stainless and glass everything, or the green paint that looked black, or the "monster mash orange" paint (yes that is the name of the color) in some of the homes I did decide that yes, I do want a cork floor in my kitchen (so nice and warm on the feet and very forgiving), and I found a counter top I love. While it's not granite, not in the budget, it is a really, really nice Formica laminate.

Sunday started with a headache and ended with me totally wiped out. After lunch I fell asleep on the couch for more than 3 hours. I never, ever, ever do that. Eight ibuprofens spread out over the day and a big bag of classic Lay's potato chips and Philidelphia Brand Herb & Spice chip dip later, I finally shook that thing but it left me wiped out and I still went to bed at my normal time. Now I know what you're thinking. Don't laugh. I'm not joking with the chips and that particular brand and flavor of chip dip. There is something between the two that they really do cut the severity of a bad headache for me. That headache didn't go anywhere until my sweet son went to the store and picked me up some. An hour or so later, the severity wasn't there anymore. Hmmm, maybe I can patent it somehow.

This week is shaking up very, very busy for me. Thanksgiving is this weekend in Canada and Kay is coming home. I see lots of cooking and baking in my week which means grocery shopping too. I love Thanksgiving. And I'm determined that the prep is not going to overtake the attitude of thanksgiving I want to maintain.

So on that note, I'm off to get the to do list and the grocery list together. And I'm thinking it will include a brick or three of cream cheese.

Monday Mish Mash

It's 8 a.m. and I'm sitting here with coffee in hand and still in my jammies. I'm off this week on my annual maintenance week. The week wherein I do all the fiddly jobs and chores that concern my dayhome that are next to impossible to do with 6 preschoolers running around. Things like wall washing, carpet cleaning, toy repair, reorganizing, etc., etc. This is also the big week where I take all the toys and dump them into the middle of the playroom and start the big sort. Throw out, 2nd hand store and keep are the names given to the three piles that I will end up with by the end of the day. You wouldn't believe how many toys get accumulated in a year. The same will happen in the craft room. That needs major organization as all sorts of paraphenelia finds it's way in there. When you do crafts with that many preschoolers all sorts of goofy things get kept because you never know when you can use them for a craft. And they all end up in this room. Well, this week that will all be purged and organized too.

It's also the week of maintaining our health around here. Every single day has some kind of doctor, vision or dental appointment lined up for me or the kids. So it's a week off, but definitely not a week of rest. I did manage to squeeze in a fun lunch with a friend though, and if I have anything to say about it, we will not be talking work. LOL. Thank goodness, school supply shopping got finished on the weekend, so we are good to go in that department.

While I'm typing this I've got a blanket thrown over me. It is chilly this morning. This is typical Southern Alberta. After a hot day yesterday, we had a cold front blow through and we woke up to the temperature being 4*C, which 37*F. C-c-c-cold for August. Now you know why I don't run any air conditioning at night around here. But it's supposed to be warm with today at 23*C (73*F) and a few days going into 28*C (82*F) range during the week. Nice and hot. And I know relatively speaking compared to some of you who hit temps of over a hundred, which by the way, I cannot fathom living in, 82 is quite toasty for us. And in truth, I do like that we have some cooler days in there. But this year really has been on the extreme side for weather. Really up and down. Not a lot of really hot, in our definition, weeks strung in a row. Lots of massive thunderstorms rolling through. I know we are going to pay for that in September though, when our Indian Summer gets rolling. We'll have lots of days in the 30's (80'sF) then. Which makes the kids crazy going to school in weather like that. Poor things. ;v)

A fun bit of local area news. Remember last summer we were all caught up in Canadian Idol because the local area fella, Theo Tams, was making a huge splash on the show. And in fact went on to win Canadian Idol? Well, this summer, a local area gal has made the top 20 in So You Think You Can Dance Canada! How exciting! And so much fun watching the local kids talent shine through on a national stage. I guess I better get my dialing fingers warmed up to vote. And a really interesting note, a Canadian Figure Skating champion from the past, Emanuel Sandhu, has also made the top 20. If you are into figure skating you will know who that is. Skating wise, he was very inconsistent, at times brilliant, and at other times totally choking. Should be interesting to see how he does with dance.

So that's about it for my mish mash? How was your weekend?