Serenity Sunday

It was a calm morning as my oldest was away at a sleepover, and my son was whisked away to grandma's house for his own sleepover.  It's a really surreal feeling to wake up at 7:15 to a quiet and empty house.  I found myself holding back a few tears as it's just sad to think that the little ones are growing up enough to be away overnight from mom and dad.  Or maybe I was trying to hold back the tears from the fact that I had no kids in the house and I was STILL up at 7:15 AM.  

It was so nice to be able to attend church this morning.  My son was there as he came with grandma, but we got there at such a time that the kids were only with us in the sanctuary for about 5 minutes before they were dismissed to Sunday School.  It was nice to sit in a quiet sanctuary and enjoy listening to the music and being able to focus on the sermon.  Today it was about giving up everything on earth to gain our heavenly treasure. 

I found myself surrounded by serenity today and as my first ever Serenity Sunday post, I found it only fitting to share the Serenity Prayer with you.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; 
Enjoying one moment at a time; 
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it; 
Trusting that He will make all things
right if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life 
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

Whether you believe in God or not, it is still important to be reminded to not stress about things that we cannot change, and even us believers need to be reminded of this OFTEN.  

Blessing to you all!

Saturday Surprise - Movie Review

Growing up, I loved reading, until it was a requirement at school that is.  I can distinctly remember NOT reading the required books for most of my English classes from 9th grade until 11th grade when I actually enjoyed reading the required books.  Some of the books I distinctly remember NOT reading were The Scarlet Letter, The Good Earth, and The Great Gatsby.  Huh, now that my love for reading has returned I should probably reattempt these books.  There are 2 books, however, that I remember reading.  They are Lord of the Flies (which I actually wouldn't mind reading again) and The Hobbit.

The Hobbit sticks out in my mind the most because I can remember crying when one of the characters dies.  I couldn't believe how involved in the story I had actually become.  I hadn't felt that way ever about a book.  I can remember watching the animated Hobbit movie growing up and both myself and my siblings really liked it.  My favourite part was always anything with Gollum in it.  He was just that weird and creepy character.  I also liked the part when they were all captured by the spiders.  I went out of my way to purchase that movie and have shown it several times to my own children and they too enjoy it, mostly.

I was excited to go and see the hobbit tonight with my husband, but alas, we decided not to go see it.

SURPRISE!!!

We instead spent a wonderful evening in eating cake and watching the movie Pitch Perfect.  It's a romantic comedy about a collegiate acapella group and it was a great movie.  I love that the humour was just sprinkled throughout in the right amounts.  I could have however done with a little less vomiting   This is a great light movie to watch and still gets you swooning near the end.  A great movie for both a "date" night or a girls night.  You should see it!  Pitch Perfect is out now on DVD!

Meal Planning

MEAL PLANNING FOR THE WIN!

This week, I want to focus on Meal planning.  My family lives off of a budget of roughly $100/wk.  This is for a two adult and two child household.  Granted my kids are not very old yet (3 & 4), but man can my 3 yr. old pack it away.  I find that on the weeks when I really need to go grocery shopping I feel overwhelmed and walk into the grocery store only to want to walk right back out.  No game plan = lousy food and usually over budget to boot.

This week I knew that today was going to be grocery shopping day come hell or high water.  I needed to get groceries in order to get back on track with my weight loss goals as well as to be able to feed my older daughter healthy meals when she returns to school on Monday.

The following is what I came up with for Dinners as well as a few links to the some of the recipes that I use personally for these meals.

Tonight's dinner is brought to you by the wonderful people at Kraft Foods.  That's right, it's Kraft Dinner for the family tonight.  Normally we us KD as a lunch option, but it's easy enough that my husband can make it and since I'll be out getting groceries, this is an important factor.  Also, both kids like it (a rarity with my picky, but overly hungry 3 yr. old).  No Brainer.

The rest of the week is as follows:
SATURDAY: Waffles w/ Fruit & Bacon - This will be frozen waffles that we toast covered with cut up fruit and likely some yogurt and maple syrup.  Served with a side of bacon.  This sounded so tasty that I put it first on the list!

SUNDAY: Stracciatella & Meatballs - The Stracciatella recipe that I use is Chef Carm's and it can be found HERE.  I actually found out about this recipe on a fluke.  My 3 yr. old turned on the TV and there it was being made on Steven & Chris (love that show!).  Easy, I had all the ingredients already, and it was tasty!  I add meatballs to it to give it more UMPH and to stretch it just a bit.  This would go served well w/ garlic bread or a nice crusty loaf.

MONDAY: Pizza - I hate Mondays!  This is definitely another no brainer dinner.  Plus my local grocery store has Delissio on sale for $3.99.  Much cheaper than ordering it!

Photography by Tom Szuba Photo Inc.

TUESDAY: Borscht - I found THIS RECIPE (scroll 1/2 way down the page as there are other soup recipes in the article too) in a copy of the Sun sometime in the fall of 2011 (after looking up the article, apparently it was on 9/23/2011).  I remember it only because I was sitting in a Kettleman's bagel shop reading the paper that happened to be on the countertop and I actually ripped out the recipe, which I rarely do (especially in public papers).  Plus I remember it was 2011 since I was working at the Halloween store in Place D'Orleans Mall and this Kettleman's was right across the street from it.  Love this recipe since it's so cheap to make and full of veggies!

WEDNESDAY: Pork w/ Curry Rice (AKA: Pork Chop Casserole) - this is a recipe of my Mother-In-Law's and I really enjoy it.  I usually throw whatever extra veggies I may have in with the rice which helps with the nutritional aspect as well as filling out the meal more.  Pork Chop Casserole - Jill Davis's Recipe

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350

4 Pork Chops
1 C rice
Beef Bouillon & 2 C water
diced green peppers
diced tomatoes
diced onion
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp curry powder (increase to taste)

Grease casserole. brown chops on both sides quickly. put rice and curry powder, salt, and pepper into casserole.  lay chops on top, overlapping if necessary. add diced veggies. pour boullion mix over top.  cover and bake 1 hr. at 350.

Another simple recipe, but big on flavor.  I add LOTS of curry, but I like it much spicier than my mother-in-law.

THURSDAY: Chili - there is no recipe for this other than: Brown 1 lb. ground beef w/ 1 onion diced.  Add 1 can of Tomato Sauce, 1 Can Each of Red Kidney Beans & Black Beans (drained & rinsed), 1 Can diced tomatoes, and whatever else you like in your chili.  I will sometimes add corn kernels.  You can also be very flexible with your bean types.  I've used cannelli, black, chick peas, bean mixes, etc.  Also, for seasoning, add Chili powder, some sugar (just a bit), cumin, and a dash or two of cinnamon (yes really!).  I really season it a bit and taste it.  It's all eyeballed now.  This is another favorite cause it takes about 10-15 min. from start to finish to make.

FRIDAY: Grocery day so likely will be KD again!

Hoping to come in under budget enough that I can afford the $7.92 12 pk of KD.  Great price!  We shall see! UPDATE: Didn't come in under budget, but bought the KD anyway.  I think I just need to up my budget to $125/wk.  It'd be just enough.

Thanks for reading my blog today!  

Throwback Thursday - Books from my Childhood

This week's Throwback Thursday is going to focus on the books I grew up reading.  This will cover an age range from about 2 yrs. old until my early teens.  I actually had to email my mom for a few reminders of the types of books I used to read, and also about the books she used to read to me as my memory at 2&3 yrs. old wasn't that stellar.

Just wanted to say that if you think any of these books would be great additions to your personal library, please hunt them down.  Visit your local Good Will, Used Book Store, or, if you just want to read them and not store them, check them out from your Library!

Ages 2-8

One of my favourite childrens authors of all time has to be Mercer Mayer.  I took a shine, particularly to his Little Critter series and read them to my now 3 & 4 yr. olds.  The Little Critter series follows the adventures of, yep, you guessed it, Little Critter and his Critter family.  Depending on which book you read, Little critter has a little sister and/or brother that he regularly does sibling-esk things with.

The Little Critter series is great in that the books often deal with a topic that is highly relate-able to children.  For example, a sibling wanting to be "just like" their brother/sister, going to the school/hospital/dentist, a new baby, trying to do things on your own, etc.  What I love most about these books is that they are timeless. I can read these stories to my kids and not worry about if they are going to "get it".

The illustrations are wonderful and also done by Mercer Mayer himself.  The look of Little Critter has evolved over the years, but I'm partial to the earlier versions.  I see a library trip in my near future!

My Top 5 Favorite Little Critter Books:
5. I was so Mad
4. Just a Mess
3. All by Myself
2. Just Me and my Little Brother
1. Just Go To Bed!

To learn more about Little Critter and for some fun activities to share with your kids visit:

http://www.littlecritter.com/

Two other books that were favourites of mine, from what my mother tells me, are Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst and Harry and the Terrible Whatzit by Dick Gackenbach.

Ages 9-12
Ah yes, the "tween" years.  Though I tend to try and forget this time of my life, I do keep a small file in my brain for the literature of those days.  I went from reading cute and cuddly to dark and spooky right around the age of 10ish.  I have a few favourites from this time in my life.  Let's start off with the less scary Bunnicula series of books (huh, I wonder if this is where my obsession with Vampire Diaries and True Blood stems from?).


Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery, written by Deborah and James Howe, is a book about a Vampire Rabbit that drains vegetables and the hijinks that ensue between him and his housemates, a cat (Chester) and dog (Harold).  The Monroe family visits their local theatre to watch a Dracula movie and finds Bunnicula there.  They bring him home with them and then strange things start happening.  What strange things exactly?  I can't remember completely, but you should pick up a copy and find out.  I may just do the same.

There are more books in the Bunnicula Series, however, the ones I remember from my era are: Howliday Inn and The Celery Stalks at Midnight.  There have been more books since the initial trilogy and spin offs from the books as well, but I can't vouch for their awesomeness.

Another series of books (guess I liked series...heck...I STILL like series... *ahem* Charlaine Harris *ahem*) that is great for this age range was the R.L.Stine books.  There were two separate series that I liked from R.L. Stine.  The first series was the Goosebumps set and the second was the Fear Street series.  I, in particular, liked the Fear Street Cheerleading series.

I found the Goosebumps series to be less scary than the Fear Street series and thus geared towards the younger end of the 9-12 age range.  These books would each have a different horror story and I can remember reading through them REALLY quickly.  They were an easy read and there were many of them.  According to www.goodreads.com (if you aren't a member at goodreads yet, and you like to read, I HIGHLY recommend checking them out...plus it's free!!), "Sixty-two books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title from 1992 to 1997, the first being Welcome to Dead House, and the last being Monster Blood IV."

Fear Street also has quite the number of books in it (52) and these ones were much scarier, to me at least.  If memory serves me, they dealt more with Junior/Senior High students.  I fell in love with the Cheerleading books from Fear Street and went on to do Cheer in High School.  Fortunately, there were no demons or deaths associated with my squad.  I wish I could tell you a lot more about them, but I haven't read these books in 15-20 years!  Please check out your local library and share some of these "classics" with the youth of today!  

What are some of your favourites?  I'd love to hear about them.  Please leave me a comment.

Thanks for trudging through this post with me, and I hope I brought back some memories, or helped you to find ways to create new ones!  Thanks again for reading and join me tomorrow for Fun Food Friday.

Getting Organized - Blogger Style

Isn't this just a great picture of an Owl?  I love Owls...now
you know and knowing is half the battle ;)

So this morning I managed to crawl out of bed at 6:28 AM and wrestle myself into my work out gear.  I completed my morning walk, made myself a mean cheese omelet & a Bodum of coffee, and then after sitting down at the computer and reading my emails, I decided I wanted to figure out what I was going to actually blog about this month.

I like the idea of themes as they keep me organized.  I've seen such things as Wordless Wednesdays while perusing others' blogs, but I wanted to do something differentish.  This is what I've come up with so far:

Music Mondays - I'll take a look at and share about a musician I love or even a style of music/CD that I'm particularly fond of.

TV Tuesdays - I'm going to talk about a TV show/series that I enjoy and this may include talking about specific actors within a show and past work that they have done.

Healthy Hump Day - Going to talk about something health related.  This could be a website/company that promotes health, a healthy recipe, a new trend in exercise, or even an article that talks about preventing or helping with a particular ailment.

Throwback Thursday - I'm looking forward to these posts.  I'll talk about things from my childhood (which would focus on the 80s and 90s).  Specifically looking at toys, tv shows/movies, and other fads.

Fun Food Friday - This will be a day to share a wonderful recipe that I've either tried or plan to try.  I may even just share about some new cool kitchen gadget.  Something food related for sure.  Maybe I'll even share about some odd use for normal food items.  Who knows...

Saturday Surprise - This is basically going to be my whatever goes day.  The subject will likely be a surprise even to me LOL

Sunday Serenity - I'm planning to use this day to share some peace invoking thing.  Whether it be a scriptural verse, a peaceful photo, or just some words of peace and blessing, it will be something to just calm you and bring you to a better place.

Those are my thoughts on how I want this blog to go for the month of January and I intend to start my themed days up with tomorrow's post.

If you have any ideas or suggestions on posts you'd like to see please feel free to comment and let me know.  I'm always looking for new and interesting things.  Thanks for reading, and have a very Happy Hump Day!

New Beginnings

It's January 1st, 2013.  I really like fresh starts.  I think it's the control freak in me.  I feel like I can forget about everything that happened last year and just look forward.  The last 4 months of 2012 had been difficult for me for several different reasons.  Summer had ended, my "baby" started school, I was thrown into some job responsibilities that I wasn't anticipating, and I was gaining weight again.

I tend to suffer from what I like to call "seasonal lows" during the winter months and there are multiple contributing factors to that.  I live about 6-7 hours away from my parents and I find that I miss them most during the last 4 months and I'm blaming it all on the holidays.  I'm reminded how far apart we are and how much I miss them constantly.  It starts around Canadian Thanksgiving in Oct. while I'm "celebrating" family and togetherness and they aren't there.

Then, because I'm American, I start my Christmas shopping since, you know, thanksgiving is over now.  Christmas shopping always brings your family to the forefront of your mind as you are reminded of them every time you see something you know they'd like.

End of October, Halloween.  I get sad wishing that my parents could be here to see how cute the kids look in their costumes and how much fun they are having for real instead of just what they can glean from the pictures I post.

Then comes November and American Thanksgiving.  This hits me most as we always had family together for a wonderful meal, and I'm sad that sometimes I don't even remember that it's Thanksgiving and it just passes me by even though it was such an integral part of my upbringing.

Christmas, however, is the worst.  I always get this insatiable urge to just pack up everything and move back to NY, but I just push through and amble on.  I just wish that my family could get to spend more time with my kids and that I had more support surrounding me.  I tend to get overwhelmed easily, and I haven't quite figured out why yet, but I'm guessing it's also associated to my control freakness!

Add to all the holidays the grey and dismal weather and the COLD and you've got the perfect recipe for emotional eating. LOL.

Well, we're passed Christmas now and I'm starting to feel a bit better and a bit more in control.  The Vitamin D that my mom suggested has been helping :D  

Today, as for many, is the first day of that new "diet" and exercise routine.  I decided to watch 1 episode of a show (right now I'm working through the Vampire Diaries seasons 1-3, again LOL) while I walk (hoping to run again soon) on the treadmill.  It worked so far this morning.

I had every intention to set an alarm and get up at 6 this morning, but decided I'd get up when my body was ready.  My husband had other ideas (unbeknownst to him) as he startled me awake at 6:26 this morning.  I took it as a gentle nudging from God to get my butt out of bed and back in gear!

I almost died only once this morning when I stepped a little to far to the right and stepped 1/2 on and 1/2 off the treadmill while it was on.  Twisted my body a bit, but seem to be okay.  Guess I should drink my coffee BEFORE trying to do anything that requires minimal concentration...or maybe I just slipped on my drool over the vampires LOL

Well...I'm going to finish sipping this coffee down and then grab a yogurt and some grapes/apples for breakfast and then who knows what next.  Maybe I'll try to get some house work done.  Anything to be less sedentary today.  Even set a timer for my internet time, which I ignored about 10 min. ago LOL.

Better get going now.  Wishing the best luck to all in keeping those resolutions this year!

MIA for Two Days!

I'm not going to start this post off by saying, "Sorry I haven't posted in two days", but rather I'm going to say, "My life gets busy and I'm absent minded so just deal with it!"

Where the heck did this weekend go?  Are you sure today isn't just a ruse or some government conspiracy?  I'm pretty sure I don't remember having a Saturday this weekend.  Oh wait, right, worked a 13 hour shift...that's why I missed it LOL.

Had a great and busy day at work Saturday selling lots of make up and accessory items and slowly watching our daily totals eek towards our goal.  Made the minimum goal by the end of the night, but not nearly the goal we'd hoped for as our high end goal.

It was a little sad as there were some employees that were working their last shift and I likely won't see again until next year if they and/or I decide to return.  It's always interesting how you get used to seeing people.  Sometimes I wish I worked with a bunch of people that were boring just so I wouldn't miss them when they are all done.  This weekend will be the hardest as it's my last shift and I likely won't see any of these "kids" any time soon.

I find it a bit refreshing to work with younger kids (mind you these "kids" are ranging from 15 - 25), but also a bit frustrating.  You begin to think, "Was I really like that just 5-10 short years ago?" Then you think, "Oh My God...I was just actually able to say 5-10 years ago and it still doesn't cover high school!" LOL  Life...you are so funny sometimes.  I like to reminisce about when I was at that age and I didn't have any kids or major life commitments.  I was attending university and staying up until all hours of the night just chit chatting with my friends.  Heck...the thought of staying up past 11 these days is just too daunting for this old heart LOL.

I really do miss the freedom of not having kids.  I miss not being able to forget about eating a meal without somebody whining the ever present "I'm Hungry" in my ear.  I miss the spontaneity of life without kids.  Not that I did a whole lot, but it was time for me.  There is no me time any more.  I miss not having to hide my "treats" from the kids and the ability to be who I am and say what I'm thinking without fear of little ears hearing and, God forbid, repeating!  *sigh*

Let's not dwell on what I miss.  I'll tell you what I love.  I love being missed!  I love big hugs and kisses and someone to love me no matter what.  I love little concerned faces when mommy is having a nervous breakdown and crying in the middle of the living room.  I love the hilarious things that my kids do.  I love being surprised by what comes out of their mouths.  I love gaining a new respect for all the things my mom did for me as a kid.  I love hearing compliments from a school teacher and encouraging words from friends that I wouldn't have met without having my kids.  I love being able to vent and bounce ideas off of other parents facing similar life circumstances.  I love just being able to be present now.

Then lets not forget the things I'm thankful for.  I'm thankful for dirty laundry because it means my kids have clothes to wear.  I'm thankful for dirty dishes because it means we have food to eat.  There was a time in our life where we didn't have those things.  We have had to rely on the food bank and the Christmas fund before.  It takes a lot of humility to accept those services, and I've been thankful each year since that we haven't had to use them.  I try my hardest to donate an item here or there to these services because I know what it's like.  I've been there and I hope I don't have to go back.

Well...I'm off to be thankful for my laundry again so I'll write some more when this senile brain remembers too ;)  Remember to take care of yourself today and find at least one thing you're thankful for!