christmas rehab....

A few years ago I admitted myself to Christmas "rehab". Yes...I needed some work because the season was no longer enjoyable to me.....I was leaving everything to the last minute and having meltdowns because of the pressure. Something had to change......so I decided to do a complete rehaul of my Christmas habits. Number one on the list was dealing with the shopping...I would no longer leave my shopping to the week prior to Christmas. Full parking lots, empty shelves and long lineups be gone.....my new plan involved completing my shopping by December 1st...and NOT only would the shopping be done...but the WRAPPING as well. The decorating...well this too was to be done sometime between the day after Remembrance Day and December 1st.The baking projects....I plan those in November and compile a list of old favorites and new recipes to try and add whatever pantry items I need to my grocery list. The Christmas cards.....the photo would be taken in November and the cards mailed out in the first week of December. There are hidden benefits to this plan....if you stay out of the stores in December...you avoid impulse buys and items not in the budget. Plus, you really think twice about taking something home that must be wrapped when the wrapping is all done. So far, my Christmas rehab has worked well.....only a few slip ups here and there...but nothing a martini and a little chocolate can't fix. Our first little snow this year found me dragging barely out of the pyjamas kids to the backyard for some shots. Now off to cross some more projects off my list...

getting ready for the season...

I recently read a blog post about how November is all about preparing for Christmas and December is for enjoying Christmas. That idea really resonated with me......I try to have my Christmas shopping complete, my decorating done and gifts mailed off by December 1st. December is so much more enjoyable if all the hustle and bustle business is finished and the days become about doing whatever makes you happy......be it baking a special treat or getting together with friends. My sweet Mom made this urn for me before she left...I love it and my front door is all ready for Christmas.

hello november....

always be grateful......

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so.

~Mary Jean Iron

Menu Plan Monday...

I love when fall arrives and the menu can move to warm, spicy soups and fresh fruit cobblers and muffins. It so much easier to get inspired in the kitchen when the weather is cool.

Monday:Dad cooks.

Tuesday:Shepherd's Pie and Salad.

Wednesday: Vegetarian Night: Spicy Corn Chowder & homemade bread.

Thursday: Pork Tenderloin in the slow cooker with veggies.

Friday: Fish Night: Quick Fishermens Stew (Shrimp & Clams) and biscuits.

Pickled Beets project: completed
Baking Projects: 6-8 apple pies..some for the freezer and some to give away. (Mom! STOP laughing! My mom knows that MAKING pies is not my favorite thing...however...eating them...different story! I am trying to break out of my comfort zone. Lis, wanna help me make pies?)

In other news....I got a crown today. I wish I could say that it was the kind that was all sparkly and full of diamonds. It was actually the kind that was white porcelain and goes in your mouth and costs mucho dollars for something smaller than the size of a nickel. Hello laughing gas.

Menu Plan Monday....

Since I have been re-organizing and de-cluttering our home, I have discovered many lovely blogs devoted to this topic. One idea I came across was that of 'Menu Plan Monday'. I used to do weekly planning of meals....but I have fallen off the the wagon lately. So here goes:

Monday: Bad mommy day... hot dogs...I had a quilting class to get to tonight and today was my marketing day....so I only had time to make a quick meal....normally hot dogs are NOT a meal choice.
Tuesday: Beef tips in red wine in the crockpot with potatoes, carrots and green beans.
Wednesday: Homemade chicken & veggie pizza with bread machine wholewheat pizza crust.
Thursday: Vegetarian meal:Homemade macaroni & cheese & salad as per Hunter's request.
Friday: Fish night: Grilled Shrimp with Sweet Chilli Lime Drizzle (new recipe) & couscous.
Saturday: Sweet & Sour pork spare ribs, baked pototoes & salad as per Tyler's request.
Baking: Spicy Brownies, Cranberry Orange Muffins, Bread Machine Maritime Brown Bread ( you cannot buy it in Alberta).
Home preserving project: Pickled Beets. This requires wearing a PURPLE shirt!

missing my hometown...

It is the time of year where I miss my hometown the most...indeed my whole home province. I LOVE the Fall in the Valley. I miss the colors of the leaves, the crisp mornings and the warm afternoons, the smell of apples just picked and the loud snap of biting into a fresh Macintosh apple. I really would give anything to go home during this season....but our budget allows for 1 trip home each year...plus with school in session... a lengthy visit would not be possible in the Fall. How I miss going to Gates' U-Pick for a hayride throught the apple orchard and admiring all the trees heaving with beautiful, fat apples. Picking apples from the trees in my Mom & Dad's yard. The pumpkin display at Hennigar's Farm Market. The smell of apple cider in the air. My Mom's apple pies and applesauce. But you have to be happy where you are...right? So I will carry on....I have been offered apples from a tree in my friend's yard....I am so excited to receive this gift. The greatest part is that I can actually go and pick the apples myself....and maybe just for a few seconds......close my eyes and pretend I am in the Valley.

our junior high girl......

Can't believe our girl is 12! She made her own "flip flop" birthday cake...because...well, it was just such a fun cake to make. She started "Junior High School" this week...so there are lots of changes taking place in our house...a new morning routine, a taking-bus-to-school routine. Then the parents inquisition when she gets home....who'd you eat lunch with?...make any new friends?....any cute boy in yer class? ....(to which I a get a curt "MOM!"). Her father loves to tease her..."so Hunter...what was new in JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL today? Any cool people in your "JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL?" He drives her to the bus stop in the morning and she gets to sit in the FRONT now...because...she is tall enough. Daddy was even teasing her this morning, "Hunter...a boy named Joey called for you this morning." He just gets a GLARE back. He gets away with more teasing than I do...cause only a FATHER can do that.

6 weeks vacation....

waiting forever for...

this movie to be made and released. I loved the series and have it on DVD, but to see it again on the big screen will be amazing. I have plans to go on Friday night, opening night, with a girlfriend. I never to go to opening nights of movies....I am just never excited enough to see it on the busy Friday night.

there's a grandma & grandpa in the house....

Well...let me see... since Grammie has been here, she & Hunter have been in the kitchen baking together. So far they have made cupcakes for Grampie(made with Splenda and no sugar added chocolate chips), crepes, chocolate sugar cookies and date squares. Grammie & Tyler made a cake for Grampie...also made with Splenda. Lots of Crazy 8's games happening too!

project quilt.....

Here is my quilt.....almost done.....I just have to add the binding. This is my very first quilt....I signed up for a beginner class for the month of March and managed to put this quilt together. It has a lot of Amy Butler fabrics.... which I love. I love fun & funky.... I may never be a tradional type of quilter in the sense that I love the more modern types of fabrics...but it is fun to play. I have the same passion for quilting that I have for scrapbooking.... there is lots of cross-over between the hobbies...in one paper is cut apart & put back together...and in the other fabric is cut apart and put back together. The choices of color and pattern are endless... many scrapbook designers have had their designs picked up by quilting manufacturers & vice-versa. Amy Bulter was an illustrator turned textile designer who has now had her designs picked up for the scrapbook industry by K & Company (Michaels carries an impressive 12 ft. section of everything Amy Bulter you could ever want for your scrapbook). Anna Griffin is a paper designer whose designs are brand new to the quilting world. Love both of their work... however, Amy Butler is almost single-handedly responsible for bringing a new look to the quilting industry and opening doors for other designers such as Joel Dewberry, Valori Wells, Heather Baily, and otherswho have followed her into the industry in the last decade.

perfectly scrumptious.....

We got the new Martha Stewart book this week... COOKIES.... Hunter is turning into quite the awesome little baker and she made these perfectly scrumptious chocolate sugar cookies by herself. She has marked lots of recipes that she wants to try in this book. Many of the recipes that I have saved from MS Living mag are in this book...which I am totally happy about!

this one is for Danie....

Let me explain first.... I love reading blogs. I read scrapbooking blogs for ideas & to see what is new in the industry. I read sewing blogs for inspiration & motivation to try new projects...most lately quilting. Two of my fav sewing blogs are Anna Maria Horner and Heather Bailey. I read cooking blogs too.....for the same reasons. One of my favorite cookings blogs is Cookie Madness....she posts the most amazing cookies recipes. I also read travel blogs.....which brings me to Danie. She is the sister of a friend of mine who now lives in India. I read her blog because not only do I love her writing....but also I get to experience the sights, tastes, smells & beauty of India thru her most observant eyes. Recently she posted about how "India" is so "in" right now. Keen observation....... when I opened the April issue of Canadian House & Home mag....I found a feature article on a designer whose designs are inspired by India. Holly Dyment has been to India many times and each time brings back inspiration for designs for her clients who are daring enough to inject the bright hues of India into their homes. Thought you might like to see this Danie! (You can check out her blog...."Earth to Danie".. you won't be disappointed).

having fun...

winter carnival.....

The kids' school put on an amazing winter carnival......and we enjoyed the absolutely perfect weather for an outdoor day. Warm, bright sunshine and just cold enough to keep the snow for sledding, skiing, snowshoeing & maple syrup taffy. I wandered around with my new camera and snapped pics. The pic at the top is Tyler's teacher.....she is the most amazing woman....she is sliding with a student and as you can see.... she's all about fun and the kids!! Tyler had a great time doing all the activities....the bottom pic is him snowshoeing his little heart out!

our skating season is over..

to give........

Leo Buscaglia : The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn a life around. It's overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt.

today....

There is an Indian proverb or axiom that says that everyone is a house with 4 rooms: a physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person. ~ Rumer Godden

I am really looking forward to tonight....I am spending some time in my emotional/spiritual rooms with the help of a beginner quilting class. I will be attempting to use some of the fabric I have been collecting in the last 2 months to start a lap quilt. The pattern is called "6 1/2 inch strip quilt" since it is constructed with 6 1/2 inch stips of 20 different kinds of fabric. I have lots of Amy Butler's fabrics, polka dots and florals and I am sooo looking forward to putting them together. The fun & funky colors get me excited!

February has been such a "wash" for me.... very busy with the peak of the skating season and Tyler's birthday and then throw some illness in there for two members of the family... and there goes the whole month.

I plan to get "caught" up on my blog here in the next few days. I do have some half-completed posts that are not published that I want to finish.

Some things going on around our house today:

Tyler had tears this morning as he knew that he was going to have "substitute teacher" at school today.....he is not fond of subs stemming from a bad day with a sub last year. *sigh*

Hunter went off to school still looking tired from the busy skating schedule on the weekend. Did I mention that Skate Canada had their first practice scheduled for 5:30 am last Thursday? That meant a 3:45 wake up call to do hair and eat breakfast to be on the bus at 4:15 am.

Ron is working in his office at home today.... I heard him on the phone at 6:04 am this morning. So far, he has only been upstairs to "bug" me twice. ;)

I am: cleaning, catching up on laundry, changing bedsheets and I have started supper.... a roast beef in the slow cooker....sweet potatoes and yukon potatoes peeled and in pots....I just plan to steam some broccolini and make a salad later.....love it when I have supper ready so early in the day.... just makes my afternoon so much better.

birthday boy at home....

birthday boy at the bowling alley...

getting treat bags ready for the Ty's birthday..

my quilt-lemma...

One of the things on my "ways to grow" list for 2008 was to sign up for a class and learn something new. I was excited about an upcoming beginner quilting class that my friend Laurie and I signed up for and I had gone ahead & purchased really fun & funky prints from Amy Butler's Faded China collection to make my quilt. I was SUPER excited about this. Well...... the class was cancelled because the minimum number of students required was not met. [insert big groan here]. This is just MY luck. Sure....I can sign up for another beginner class but this class was the right price and the right location.... right here in town with the continuing ed department. Now we have to go elsewhere, except a lot of beginner classes have already started. The quilting store here in town has some classes available but I did not purchase my Amy Bulter fabric there because they don't carry it....and I feel it would be a major faux pas to show up for a class there with fabric purchased elsewhere. *Sigh* This means I will probably have to purchase more fabric. I am considering being a bit of a rebel and making my own quilt with the help of a online quilting site which offers a free beginnner quilt pattern complete with tutorials.
I won't be so arrogant as to say "how hard can it be?", but I think I may just go ahead & try it. Women were quilting at home long before fancy classes, and machines, and fabrics, for that matter.

supersize me...

Hunter & I went to Blockbuster one day and came home with this. I have wanted to watch it for a long time, and I convinced her to watch it with me. To my surprise, she remarked that most of her classmates have already seen this documentary and that it was "really gross!".

What surprised me the most was how interested Tyler was in watching it with us and how much he understood what the message was.

I was especially interested in watching this since I have been on a "food theme" lately, with reading the books," Fast Food Nation", "The 100 Mile Diet", "The Omnimore's Dilemma" & watching CBC's show Marketplace with the episode on our "Health Check" system for recommending healthy foods.

As if I didn't have any doubts on the "Frankenfood" that is served up at McDonalds, this documentary proved the actual negative effects of consuming high fat, sodium-laden food with little nutritive value on one's body as proven by Morgan Spurlock's bloodwork prior to and after completion of his 30 day McDonalds diet. Mind you, no one in their right mind would intentionally eat McDonalds for 3 meals a day for 30 days straight, but lots of people do eat fast food a couple of times a week. I am sure that the health affects are just as detrimental in the long term. Fast Food joints have really honed into the fact that you can attract huge numbers of the population by selling cheap food and placing stores everywhere in sight.

I am lucky....both my kids are not fond of McDonalds and seldom ask me to go there. After watching this documentary, I asked who wanted to go to McDonalds for supper and they both cried, " NO!" "YUCK!" "GROSS!!"

reading this fascinating book....

For three centuries, a magical tree stood in the rain forests of the Queen Charlotte Islands, in British Columbia. It was a Sitka spruce, as perfectly shaped and covered in golden needles. It was 16 stories tall and more than 20 feet around and held sacred by the Haida, the Northwest Coast Indians of the region. Tourists gazed at it in awe. One night in 1997, when no one was looking, a man with a chainsaw made a series of deep surgical incisions around the tree's trunk. Two days later the golden spruce came crashing to the ground.

Grant Hadwin, the man who brought down the golden spruce, was a local logger. In love with the outdoors, he dropped out of prep school at 16, and he joined a fraternity whose members were sometimes referred to as "bush apes" and "timber beasts." Mr. Hadwin fitted right in and was known for buying vodka by the case and going on spectacular binges that, even in freezing weather, would leave him unconscious in the back of his Studebaker pickup, or passed out in a snow-filled ditch, dressed only in slacks and shirtsleeves. Two things made Mr. Hadwin different. First, he was expert in sizing up wilderness tracts and laying out the roads that would allow heavy logging equipment to get to prime trees. Second, he was deeply conflicted about the environmental damage that his job entailed. Loggers, paradoxically, love the woods. Most of them learn to turn a blind eye to the consequences of their work.

Mr. Hadwin, as time went on, could no longer do so. He became obsessed with stopping the indiscriminate clearing of virgin forests. His field reports back to the home office contained critiques of logging methods and suggestions that certain forest tracts be left untouched. As the forest disappeared before Hadwin's eyes, he became more & more disturbed.

The book goes on to detail Mr. Hadwin's deep decline into mental illnes, culminating in his cutting down the golden spruce.... he remains 'missing' to this day.

With my long family history in the forestry industry... I find this book especially interesting as I have loggers in my own family and am familiar with the tough scrabble attitude required to work in the forests on a daily basis.

some ways to GROW for 2008...

So the word I have chosen for myself this year is GROW. I mean GROW in a lot of ways...both in the creative sense and in the character sense. Here are some ways I want to GROW for 2008...

• get daily physical activity.... this one is important!
• eat healthier in this house...althought we are pretty healthy already...skim milk, whole grain breads, no trans fat, no fried foods, lot of fresh fruits & vegetables, homemade baked goods, avoidance of artificial flavours, colours, preservatives...
• get comfortable using my new serger...
• take a class and learn something new. My friend Laurie was kind enough to suggest we take a beginner quilt class together. I have always wanted to try my hand at a quilt, plus I need something to keep me busy in the evening when 'Cakes is away travelling for work.
• finish the 9 aprons I have in various stages of completion. Yes, I said 9!!
• make some fun bags AFTER the aprons are finished. The type of bags I want to make shown above.
• spend more time teaching Hunter how to sew & cook. She is cooking supper for us one night a week. This goes back to the eating healthy thing. Our society is losing the ability to cook for ourselves since fast food is on every corner and it is cheap.
• get caught up on some of my scrapbooking projects. I still have the school scrapbooks to complete for the kids. The birthday theme books are done, as well as Christmas.
• teach a scrapbook project for my friends.. by request the project is the canvas wall hanging.
• make gifts more often for friends and family...this goes back to the 9 aprons.
• make more baked goods for gifts.
• devise some sort of house cleaning plan.
• grow something... even if it is just a few herbs. Get more knowledgeable about the perennial gardens in our yard.
• make a 6 week menu for our family.
• grow my parenting skills for the new age that Hunter is entering. The bratz-playing, barbie-collecting, pink-pig-tail ribbon days are completely gone for her. I need a new set of skills which take into account how she is growing to make her own decisions about hair, fashion, friendships, etc. and helping to guide her in this. Back to reading some books on this.
• Ever since I have read the book 'Julie & Julia: 365 days, 524 Recipes and 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen', I have been intrigued by the idea of taking a favorite cookbook and making every single recipe in the book. I love to cook and this is one way of forcing one outside of the comfort zone. I think I have just the cookbook for this project... more on this later.
• teach my children more about being grateful by visiting a homeless shelter or soup kitchen. There is such attitudes of entitlement and priveledge in this city... I want my childen to learn empathy & compassion for others down on their luck.

One way I do not want to GROW is in the waistline. That would not be a good way to grow in 2008.

one little word......

"One little word ....a single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything. It can be sharp and biting or rich and soft and slow. " ~ Ali Edwards

Last year I began a tradition of chosing one word for myself each January - a word that I can focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as I go about my daily life. For me, it was a lot about living without fear - about being more open to experiences with an attitude of playfulness and being brave.Even though I have been living in a new city for more than 2 years... there are alot of days I still walk out the door with a lot of fear....like everytime I need to drive to a new arena that I haven't been to before to take Hunter to skating.... or when I have to drive a road I haven't driven before.... or go to a meeting of some kind for the first time. There is a constant dialogue that runs through my head... will I get lost...will I make the wrong turn... will we get there on time.... will I know anyone.....will the people be friendly or will I be in a corner by myself? My goal for 2007 was to take that dialogue down to a very dull roar. I think I did a good job of doing that. Living without fear is a constant struggle for me and I have learned to handle it so much better that when a curve ball gets thrown my way.... I can deal with it. I can laugh about it. For example, last week when taking Hunter to skating, we hit a detour because of a very bad accident. The detour was a road that I had never been on before AND left me in unfamiliar territory...but I just kept going. I knew that general direction we should be headed and I kept going east until I hit a road I knew and then went south. Normally, this kind of thing would send me into a panic. I would have to pull over and consult the map to get my bearings.... but this time I just let it go.

"Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2008?
It can be something tangible or intangible. It could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you.
One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities." ~Ali Edwards

My word for 2008 is GROW.