friday high five - five things you didn't know

While it may appear that my life is an open book, it's not quite. In fact there are quite a few things I deem to keep to myself, but in the spirit of the Friday High Five, I'll let you in on five more little secrets.

1. I have mad love and respect for George Strait. The dude just keeps cranking out hit after hit after hit (57 number one hits!!). I Saw God Today never fails to get me all verklempt. It's pretty refreshing to see a celeb who stays out of the tabloids, stays out of jail, stays out of rehab and has stayed married to the same woman since '71. Yeah, triple love Mr. Strait!

2. Ummmm I'm kinda hot for Russell Brand... yeah I don't get it either.

3. I actually love grocery shopping. A lot. True Story.

4. Tangled has very quickly become my favourite Disney movie. Sorry Cinderella.

5. For months and months and months I have eaten an egg white omelet for breakfast and weight watchers chili for lunch. Every day. For months. I am not sick of either yet.

What five things do I not know about you?

i got nothing

I've got nothing to say. I know.... you're all shocked, right? There's just so much going on right now. Life is good, busy, but awesome. I may be going in fifteen different directions at once, but I am 100% in love with every minute of it. There's been baking and meetings and planning committees and time with my besties and time with my family and yet when I sit down here the cursor just blinks at me... waiting. And I sit here and blink back at it. I feel like I need to post something, but nothing comes.

I think some of it has to do with the shift I feel my space here has to take. Abby is getting to the tween stage and I'm finding less of her story makes it's way on to my blog. I want to respect her privacy as she gets older. I always want her to see this space how I see it.... as one big long love letter. So it's time to be mindful of her. Being the Mom of a tween is one gigantic adjustment all around I'm quickly finding out.

Here's hoping I get my groove back soon.

what's cooking wednesday - taco seasoning

Lots of folks are talking salt these days. I have to say I never paid much attention before, but boy howdy, once you start looking it's redonkulous how much salt is in a lot of the foods we are eating. Craziness!

One of Abby's new favourite dinners is tacos! Maya hates them, but I consider 75% of the family eating it a success. Before I started on this healthier eating lifestyle I did as most folks do and picked up an envelope of taco seasoning mix.... big mistake. Oh there is so much salt in those. So a quick little google search brought me to this recipe....

Taco Seasoning

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

In a bowl mix all the ingredients together and then store in an airtight container.

Recipe Notes: The great thing about this is you can adjust to your own taste. I usually use a light hand with the cumin as Mike only likes it if it's not the dominant flavour. I use a light hand with the chili flakes too for The Abster's sake.

Totally unrelated... Maya's new favourite food is sausage. Oh my goodness she loves sausage. So Mike's Dad gave us some he'd bought at the local butcher's and we brought it home for dinner. Maya was very excited for dinner that night, but then Grandma Linda called to warn us that the sausage was very spicy. On to plan b aka cereal for the kids. Maya just couldn't help herself and insisted on trying the sausage. She pretty much had steam coming out of her ears and guzzled water like it was going out of style in between each bite, but she would not stop eating that sausage. We finally took it away from her after she'd had about a third of it... minus a bite or two. And she was mad that we did. Funny kid.




What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page.

*All front page links will be deleted!*
*Posts that aren't linked back will be deleted*
*Posts that don't include some sort of a recipe will be deleted*

Don't make me be a jerk. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday

Oh peeps my internet has pooped out tonight, so we`re going to postpone what`s cooking wednesday until... you know..... wednesday. Sucks, but so does losing a whole field of flowers in farmville. Stupid internet killing weather! Posted from my phone.
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by the hour - easter sunday

I am jumping on the bandwagon over at a peek inside the fishbowl and taking a picture an hour to show you how I spent my Easter Sunday.

8am - Uncle Dave in his new radio head robot t-shirt.



9am - Catching up with my tweeps.



10am - Time for church.



11am - Ukrainian Easter Eggs at church.



12pm - Walking home.



1pm - Laundry



2pm - Yogurt and cinnamon.



3pm - Getting ready for dinner.



4pm - Our cardinal friend.



5pm - Loading up for Papa and Grandma Linda's.



6pm - After dinner clean up.



7pm - After dinner TV.



8pm - Almost home.



9pm - Toy room camping.

where've you been

I kinda just dropped out on you there didn't I? Well a combination of things occurred to incite a wee bloggy rest. Number one.... my birthday. Yep I turned 22 on Thursday if you're getting your info from MyPie. The rest of the family is entirely more accurate brutal and according them I turned 38.

How did I spend my birthday? Celebrating the birthday of one of my most favourite people. We headed out to a surprise birthday party for Mike's cousin. She had absolutely no clue. It was wonderful because she is wonderful and so deserving all that love. Her oldest daughter... and another one of my most favourite people... flew in from the west side of the country just to round the surprise right out. So it was a night filled with hugs and laughs and food and happy tears. Lovely evening for a lovely woman. Oh and there was cake. Did I mention the cake?



Made by yours truly with a helping hand from my girl ML.



Totally loved how it turned out and the birthday girl loved it too. Win win!

And number two.... the next day Uncle Dave was riding in a road race a few minutes from here and after he finished... in the first pack... he and Auntie Mel came over here to doze and watch the Diners, Drive ins and Dives marathon before I dragged them all out to my favourite restaurant for my birthday feast.



We wrapped up the night with cards and snacks. Mexican rummy with my a few of my favourite peeps. Saturday we spent on the deck, drinking coffee in the sun while the boys played with Michael's various remote controlled toys before settling in to watch Love and Other Drugs, taking a break in the middle to have dinner at my Mama's. Where we ate entirely too much food and then I may have forced down a piece of chocolate brownie peanut butter cheesecake that Mom made me for my birthday while letting Auntie Mel in on the little secret, that yes Mom does cyber stalk all of us on the internet, so watch what you tweet about, yo! Or tweet to your advantage....... haha

This morning was saying goodbye to Uncle Dave and Auntie Mel. The part we all hate the most. Then church and after time for me to obsess over how to best spend my birthday gift cards. They give me so much anxiety... don't want to waste them. Although, I am down for a new pair of Old Navy's light weight jersey lounge pants, which are currently on sale for $14.50. Maybe I'll pick up a pair in capri length too.

random

Show of hands who is looking forward to a nice long weekend? I know I am. I even booked the Monday off so I can spend the day with the girls. Three cheers for sleeping in. Even more exciting... Uncle Dave and Auntie Mel are coming to visit. I can't wait to see them. I know they are anxious to lay eyes on our little MyPie and see that she really is a-okay. Their concern will likely be met with a MyPie sized eye roll and a "whatever" because she is well and truly over all of this.

My Sweet Valley Confidential book club is coming together nicely. Just waiting for my girl Robin to pick up her copy so we can all start reading. Who used to read the Sweet Valley High series back in the day. I loved them!!

I really don't feel like putting the clothes in the dryer. Anybody want to do it for me?

This may be the best season of Survivor ever. Who's watching it?

Big thank you to my gal ML for the unexpected help with that little project I was working on. I'll let you in on it in a couple of days. It's super duper cute!

what's cooking wednesday - oven fried chicken

I heard a chorus of angels sing during dinner tonight. I swear I did. Why? Because I made one meal and everyone ate it and liked it. Abby even asked if she could have the leftovers in her lunch. Awesome, right?




Oven fried chicken

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Take a half a cup or so of flour and put it in a shallow dish. Season it how you like. I used some fresh ground pepper and garlic.

Crack an egg in a separate shallow dish and give it a quick whisk.

In a third shallow dish put about a cup of bread crumbs. Season how you'd like. I had seasoned bread crumbs already in the pantry so I used those.

Now I had boneless skinless thighs thawed, so I used those. Dip in the flour and turn to make sure the chicken is coated. Shake off the excess and dip the chicken into the beaten egg. Shake off the excess and dip into the bread crumbs.

Arrange on a baking sheet and bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

Recipe Notes: This is loosely based on a recipe from the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry cookbook. The chicken was nice and moist and the coating just crunchy enough. Both kids loved it. Win win win in my books. I ate mine with a drizzle of hot sauce because that's how I roll.




What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page.

*All front page links will be deleted!*
*Posts that aren't linked back will be deleted*
*Posts that don't include some sort of a recipe will be deleted*

Don't make me be a jerk. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday

you gotta laugh or you'll never stop crying

There was one point once we were home Thursday night after the accident that I started to cry again. Abby was right beside me in a flash to rub my back.... it's okay Mom, she whispered... just let it out. Just let it out.

It was such a sweet and grown up moment for my almost nine year old that I couldn't help but let a watery chuckle out.

She stepped back to look at me... What?! That's what people say!

extreme couponing update #3

Lots of people dislike grocery shopping, but I happen to enjoy it. I can already see how working out the best deals can become a real addiction. Now when I sit down to do my meal plan and grocery list it involves the laptop, all the grocery store flyers for that week, my folder of coupons and most of the kitchen table.

I can't say that my heart was exactly in this week, but it was a chore that had to be done. Supplies were dwindling here quickly since grocery day came and went without us getting groceries. There wasn't much to ad-match this week, a lot of the same things were on sale at all the stores.

I did mean to take a picture this week of my haul, but really we were just on autopilot and had them mostly put away before I even thought about it. This week I picked up milk, egg whites, cheese, butter, frozen veggies, ice cream, ground beef, chicken, lunch meat, hummus, ricotta, cereal, taco fixings, lasagna fixings, peanut butter, jam, oats, iced tea, lemonade, coffee, hot chocolate, pitas, bread, buns, mushrooms, and lettuce. Non-grocery items were two decks of cards, razors, lightbulbs, vitamins and q-tips.

And how did it all come out?

Coupons - $5.00
In store savings - $6.00
Admatching - $4.96
Discount - $22.10
Total Saved - $38.06

Total savings to date - $123.04

Not too shabby!

one more thank you

Eventually life gets back to normal. The kids want to eat. There's laundry to do. The house to tidy. And Maya is so over all the loving and extra squeezes she's been getting, but please give me another minute. I can't even adequately describe to you what the past few days have been like, but I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. The scene continues to play out on my mind each night after the house is quiet and I've crawled into bed. I'd love to just shut it off, but some things you just can't unsee or unknow, luckily time heals all wounds.

I realized I left a big part of the story out in my last post. I was a mess, no two ways about it, but Mike... he was just amazing. He was so together. He talked to the cops, checked on his Mom, and figured out what needed to be done with his stepdad. He took pictures with both our phones. He got the kids and I to my Uncles, just down the road and went back to deal with getting the jeep back to my Uncle's shop. He got his Mom and stepdad and the stuff from their jeep back home. He got us dinner because by that point it was almost 7pm.

He had his moment later, but when I needed him to be together, when we all needed him to be together.... he was. Times ten. My gosh I can't even tell you how thankful I am for that man. I couldn't have gotten through the day without him.

once again so thankful

There's been an accident.... it's a call you never want to get, but I got one Thursday afternoon, not long after I got home from work. On Thursdays Grandma Sandi has Maya with her and they pick Abby up after school to go to riding lessons at 4:30. Mike and I meet them at the stable at that time. The call I got was from my sitter, she said that Grandma Sandi and Maya had been in a minor accident, so she got Abby off the bus and had her at her place.

There was some unintentional miscommunication regarding where the accident had happened so after we picked up Abby we ended up driving in the complete opposite direction of where we should have been going. Hindsight being twenty twenty, I wish we'd never picked Abby up at all, but we really had no idea what we were going to find.

Finally headed in the right direction, we could see some cars on the side of the road and figured that's where they were. As we got closer I realized that one of the vehicles was a police car, lights on and blocking the road from traffic. My anxiety was rising by the second. Somehow Papa was already on the scene and a neighbour of ours as well. I couldn't see the accident for vehicles. I hopped out of the van and took off to find my baby. Papa had her in the front seat of his truck and as soon as he saw me he called out, she's fine. I have her, she's fine. I picked her up and burst into tears. Maya was crying, Abby was crying and we were all hugging each other as tight as we dared.

Then I looked up and saw Sandi's jeep. Upside down. Way too close to the edge of road. Way too close to the pond that the very narrow shoulder dropped into. I'm not quite sure how I kept my knees from buckling. I'm not quite sure how I continued to breathe. I'm not sure how I was able to cry any harder than I already was. I was coming apart at the seams and there was sweet sweet Maya patting me on the back telling me, Mommy I'm okay. I'm okay. Looking at the car it hardly seemed like that was possible.



This is as they were in the process of flipping the jeep back over.


EMS had already been and gone by the time we got there. Maya had a scrape on her cheek, a couple of scrapes in her hairline, some small cuts on her face and a small cut on her hand. Grandma Sandi had some cuts and scrapes on her forearm and her elbow, but other than that they were okay.

If you saw it on the news and lots of people did, there was some misinformation there. It kind of came across as a single vehicle accident where speed may have been a factor. Not true, there was another vehicle involved. They were also reporting that there was two adults and a child in the car, again not true. Mike's stepdad was at the scene, but he hadn't been in the car with them. Thank goodness because the passenger side took the worst of it. And yes, Maya was sitting in the rear on the passenger side.



Flipped back over.


It took us a few hours to get back home, but when we did we had ML check her over and her opinion was to err on the side of caution and take her in to the hospital and have her checked out. We did and she got her second clean bill of health for the day. Such a relief.

By the next day the full weight of what could have been rested itself across both Mike and I. Maya and I spent the morning holed up under blankets on the couch watching Despicable Me and me squeezing her as much as she would let me. Maya for her part has been a tremendous trooper. She came through it like a champ. Bouncing back way quicker than any of the adults in her life.

There is an endless list of people to thank. The guys that were at the scene to help Maya and Sandi get out of the car. Luckily when you live in a small town it can be easy to track these angels down to offer up proper thank yous. My Uncle and his family for letting us regroup at his place while we waited for them to finish with the jeep and drop it off. ML for letting us take advantage of her nursing skills again. Her family for letting us have her for the evening of waiting at emerg. My Mom and TLP for waiting with us at the hospital, for rubbing my back and just helping us get through it. Papa who has this uncanny knack of always being where we need him to be, often before we even know we need him. I am so very thankful he was there with Maya before we got there. Grandma Linda for taking Abby home for the night when decided to head down to the hospital. HPH and TC for the texts and their offers of help. Once again we were surrounded by so much love. Thank you all for the phone calls, texts, messages, hugs... both virtual and the real life variety. We appreciate it all so very much and I hope you can all feel the hugs I am sending back to you.

someday

My kitchen! As I have mentioned everyone remarks on how big it is when they see it for the first time. And it is a big room, but it is not the best use of space.



Forgive the untidiness, I was in the midst of cleaning up after jammie movie night when I stopped to snap these. So that's my kitchen from the middle of the room looking towards the cooking area. That is the extent of my prep area. It works with a lot of juggling, but forget multiple people working in the same area.



That's the other end of the kitchen, the eatin' end. That's original art work by The Abster on the wall there. It's a painting of her swimming in the lake, just in case you weren't sure who it was of.



And this picture is from the doorway to the living room. So to the left is a door outside to our deck. Just before that, just out of the frame is a large window overlooking the deck. On the right hand side there is a doorway going to the laundry room and bathroom. Further up on the right is a doorway going to Mike's little hobby room, which I've convinced him to turn into a large pantry. Also to my extreme right is the door to the "basement". So there's just no a lot of usable wall space.

One of my bloggy besties, Karen, suggested an island...... a suggestion that she could make since she's actually been in my kitchen. Cut up watermelon and everything. It ranks up there as one of my favourite bloggy moments. And I was all for an island, until Papa suggested putting in six feet of lower cabinets and counter top along the wall where my microwave currently resides. Great idea, huh?

So we did some shopping and pricing and I cam home a tad more discouraged then when I left. Only because I'm not 100% sure which way to go. I'm having a hard time picturing the cabinets in my kitchen. It's a bit of a hurry up and wait situation. Eventually though I will have a six foot baking counter in my kitchen and I can't wait.

What would you do to make my kitchen more user friendly?

what's cooking wednesday - peanut butter granola bars

Well these taste just like nostalgia, so says Michael. These seemed pretty easy to whip up to have on hand for after school snacks... although Maya was out as soon as she heard the word granola. Not even peanut butter could sway her this time. Abby was a fan though.



Peanut butter granola bars

1 cup light peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup oil
2 cups large flake rolled oats
1/2 cup *each* wheat germ, raisins and dried apricots

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix peanut butter, honey and oil together until well blended. Mix in the remaining ingredients and press into a 9 inch square pan and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool before cutting into bars.

Recipe Notes: Mike says these remind him of those really hard granola bars we used to get we were kids. The taste anyway, there are on the soft/chewy side. They are a great little after school snack since they can't go to our nut free school. I will definitely make these again and again.




What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page.

*All front page links will be deleted!*
*Posts that aren't linked back will be deleted*
*Posts that don't include some sort of a recipe will be deleted*

Don't make me be a jerk. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday

thank you

There is nothing like facebook for making you feel the love. I usually reserve that statement for the day after my birthday and all the facebook birthday love I get, but I was so very touched by all the lovely and sweet comments people left after we posted Abby's great news. Also lovely, all the lovely words from my bloggy peeps. Folks who know us only via the interwebs, thanks for being excited and happy and weepy with me. I'm so incredibly touched.

This morning at church Abby's arm shot in the arm when our new Minister asked if anybody had any celebrations. I'm celebrating that my heart has no more holes, she announced as she dropped her change in the celebration bank. The rest of the congregation applauded and this very happy Momma got all weepy once again. Who am I kidding.... I'm getting weepy right now just thinking about it all. It was just a lovely moment.

I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge all the love and good thoughts that have been sent our way the past few days. I have read and re-read all the comments and we are just touched beyond belief. A big thank you to each and every one of you... and hugs. I've got hugs too. I hope you can all feel them. xo

extreme couponing update #2

Okay so yesterday was week two of our extreme couponing experiment. Did any of you watch the show on TLC this week? It's a little frustrating as a Canadian to watch. Coupons up here take a lot of work and I'm going to find out if it's worth it. Once again there is no picture. Like I said Mike and I grocery shop right after work on Friday afternoon. The kids get off the bus at the sitters and chill out there for an hour or so. It's a better situation for everyone... my wallet included. Anyway by the time we get home everyone just wants to sit down and have dinner, but we force ourselves to get the groceries away first. I'm sure you can imagine how much whining and complaining go along with that, but the rule is you don't help put away, you don't get to eat. To put it mildly, it's an exercise we all want completed as soon as possible.

Our meal plan for the week: shepherds pie & salad, grilled chicken, rice & veggies, chicken nuggets, veggies & salad, pancakes, cinncinati chili.

Our grocery list included: milk, cheddar, egg whites, yogurt, cream cheese and eggs. Ground beef, chicken thighs, ground beef, hot dogs, lunch meat. Beef broth, crackers, peanut butter, flour, oil, cereal, chocolate chips, wing sauce, spaghetti sauce and nachos. Wraps, pita bread, bread, buns and croissants. Lettuce, clementines, bananas, and hummus. Dryer bar, toilet paper, body wash and toothpaste. This is just a rough overview and a complete list

Bearing in mind that we had been spending in excess of $200 a week on groceries and I'd like to work on getting it under $200. How did we do?

Coupons - $11.50
Ad-matching - $7.10
In Store Discount - $2.00
10% Discount - $21.77
Total Savings - $42.37

After deducting all of that we paid $193.75 for groceries this week.

Total savings to date - $84.98

Are you making changes to the way you shop?

you capture - fun

This post got bumped in favour of our wonderful news post... good thing to get bumped for I think. I have been wanting to get back into the you capture. I haven't been taking all that many pictures these days... shocking for me, but there has been so much other stuff to do, something had to give. I just feel bad that it just so happens to be something I love. So I'm aiming to pick it up more often. To be fair I snap a lot of photos with my phone... crappy ones mostly, but the odd one turns out good here and there.




Monday night it was raining here in the village so Mike asked if we wanted to be dropped off at church for choir practice while he was on his way to his meeting. Our church is right around the corner from our house, it's less than a five minute walk. Which do you think the kids would have prefered? A ride. Or a less than 5 minute walk in the rain with umbrellas that they could maybe stretch into a 10 minute walk in the rain with umbrellas?







Riding lessons have started again! Fun for the whole family!




you capture, hosted by:

best news ever

She was days old when they sat us down in front of her NICU isolette to tell us that she had a hole in her heart. A large hole, too big to close on it's own, they said. They talked about surgery and the first few months were full of appointments with three different doctors. Then it was off to Sick Kids for tests to prepare for surgery. After tests there, they said... well wait a minute, this hole here that wasn't supposed to close... well it's closing. Let's just leave it for now and see what it does. Oh and now that there isn't so much going on in there, we've found two more holes, just tiny ones. Pinpricks. We'll check her again when she's one.

She was one, when we brought her back in for more tests. She needed to be sedated, the sedation wouldn't take. It was a long day, but there was good news. The big hole has closed, but the two tiny ones are still there. We are sent home, but asked to notify the hospital if we move or change our phone number in the next three years. We have to watch for unexplained fevers and infections. She'll need antibiotics before dental appointments.

She's four when we bring her back in for more tests. The residents crowd around her to listen to a perfect example of an innocent murmur. The doctors seem surprised that those tiny holes haven't closed yet and think that perhaps she'll just always have them. We're sent home and told to let them know if we move or change our phone number in the next four years.

Last week we went back in for more tests. Just an ecg, we didn't see the doctor. They sent us back home to wait for the results..... which we got today.

It's funny how your brain learns to cope. How you can carry baggage without realizing you're carrying it. Before this afternoon I would have told you that I had made my peace with Abby's condition. And then we got the call that her heart is a perfectly healthy and hole-free. I made Mike repeat it to me about five times, while I kept saying... for real? Like, no holes? She's fine?!

And all of the sudden there was a lump in my throat the size of a boulder. I got weepy as I sent out a massive text to all grandparents, aunts, uncles and besties. It seemed like to most efficient way to get the message to 14 people all at once. I posted it on facebook. My email pinged and my cell phone beeped and then my Mom called and that's when I burst into tears. I was not expecting that reaction at all. Even hours later, it's still right there.. that weepiness. I am so grateful and thankful and relieved I could put my head down right now and cry for a while.

Then we got to tell Abby, who fist pumped and cried a bit herself when she heard, but mostly we just walked around tonight with the world's biggest smiles on our faces.......



That's Abby just after we told her the news. We are all so happy to be at the end of this journey. Thanks to everyone who has loved and supported us along the way. Much love to all of you.

what's cooking wednesday - maple caramel bread pudding

I had never made bread pudding before, but I know it's on Papa's list of "desserts he enjoys" so I thought I'd give it a go for his treat of a month this time around. I guess it was good because I didn't manage to get a picture of it before he whisked it right out the door.

Maple Caramel Bread Pudding

• 8 slices cinnamon bread
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg white
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups 2% low-fat milk
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons fat-free caramel sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cut bread into 3/4 inch cubes. Arrange pieces in a baking dish. Whisk together the eggs, egg white and sugar in a bowl. Stir in the milk, syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Pour mixture over bread.
3. Bake in preheated oven until lightly browned on top and middle is set, about 40 minutes.
4. Warm the caramel sauce; drizzle over the bread pudding before serving.

Recipe Notes: I made my own cinnamon raisin bread for this, so that's an option if you don't want to buy a loaf of bread. Not all of my bread was covered by the egg mixture, so the tops bits were crunchy. Papa said it can go either way, but I think next time I would make sure it was all covered by the liquid, even if I had to make a double batch of it. I think it would be nicer that was. Also I didn't have any caramel sauce so we warmed up some of the apple cinnamon syrup I made and had a drizzle of that over top. It was very tasty and I will certainly make it again.




What is What's Cooking Wednesday and how can I play?

What's cooking Wednesday was born out of a desire to get out of that what's for dinner rut. Playing is easy, on Wednesday post a recipe that has been tried and tested by you and then pop over here and add your name to the Mr. Linky. When entering your name also add the name of the recipe in brackets and make sure you link to your What's Cooking Wednesday post and not just your blog's front page.

*All front page links will be deleted!*
*Posts that aren't linked back will be deleted*
*Posts that don't include some sort of a recipe will be deleted*

Don't make me be a jerk. And don't forget to link back here, the home of What's Cooking Wednesday.

So for example I would write Shan (Speedy Chicken Stir Fry) in the name section. For the URL section I would post this: http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2007/10/whats-cooking-wednesday-speedy-chicken.html

I'll let you in on a little secret, my WCW recipes are almost never made on a Wednesday. So feel free to cook and photograph whenever you have time and join us posting on Wednesday

happy anniversary

Y'all know how much I love my best girl Robin. She's just the best ever. I was so touched that she asked me to make a cake for her Grandparent's 70th Anniversary. Can you imagine that? Seventy years!! I had no idea what I was going to do and then I came up with this....



I wish the light had been better in my kitchen when I took the picture, but what are you going to do?

knowing me, knowing you - april 2011

Time once again for that monthly interview project... knowing me, knowing you.

1. Do you text?

A better question is do I ever stop texting. I love the texting, thank goodness my plan offers unlimited texting. Twenty days into last month I had sent over 700(!!) text messages. Who do I text with? Michael, my Mom, Grandma Linda, all my best girls, my brother.... whoever is willing to text me back.

2. What's your favourite kind of cheese?

Just about anything. I LOVE cheese. I don't eat it all that much anymore. Cheese eats up a lot of points. If I do indulge it's likely to be a stronger tasting cheese, because you only need a bit and that means lower points. My favourites are old cheddar, goat's cheese, blue cheese and havarti. Oh and feta and provolone and I could just go on and on.

3. Got big plans for the weekend?

We do actually. Friday night I plan on taking the self proclaimed Yahtzee King to school.

I really hope my mouth didn't just write a cheque my ass can't cash. I have a funny feeling the Yahtzee King would not let me live that one down.

Saturday night we are going bowling with our church. I predict Maya may attempt one frame and then cling to my leg for the remainder of the evening, although she is a Wii bowling rockstar, so you just never know. Sunday Mike is doing a reading at church and the kids are singing. Abby is lobbying hard to go see Hop Sunday afternoon. I haven't quite decided how I'll let that one play out.

4. How do you keep track of your families activities and obligations?

With this....



huge calendar. Everybody gets a different colour, green for me, black for MyPie, the Abster is red and Mike is supposed to be blue, but he likes to play by his own rules and grabs whichever colour is closest. I don't complain because at least he's using it.

5. Who's the last person you talked to on the phone?

My Mom. I was starting to think she had moved and not told me. Usually we talk pretty regularly, but she's been swamped at work.




So now the rules, they're pretty simple. Post your answers to these questions on your own blog in the next few days. Remember to link back here in your post and sign the Mr. Linky too, so we can all see what you have to say. Please make sure you link to your actual KMKY post and not your blog's front page. Any front page links will be deleted. And most importantly, have fun! Have suggestions for next months questions? Leave me a comment or send me an email and let me know.

my shopping dollars

Wow! The cost of groceries is getting out of control. Our budget used to be $125 per week and somehow it's crept up to $200... on a good week. It's often a titch over that. When you factor in the increase to our hydro bill. I did hang my towels out on the line yesterday and I have the alarm on my cellie set to remind me to put a load of laundry in at 9pm to take advantage of the lower rate. So take that Ontario Hydro! And let's not forget gas. Oh mah gah! The price of gas! It's time for drastic action folks.

So I took to google to see what could be done about the groceries. I used to be pretty heavy into the coupons back when I was on mat leave with MyPie. Looked like it was time to get back into it. The lovely Scattered Mom over at Notes From the Cookie Jar has been posting a series on her own Grocery Budget Crunch. Seems to me like it's a universal problem these days.

I am looking forward to watching the new TLC series, Extreme Couponing. It would be nice if coupons were as readily available here as they are in the US, but don't despair fellow Canucks, they are out there, you just have to look for them. So I've been looking and this is what I have found... Websites like brandsaver.ca, save.ca, gocoupon.ca and websaver.ca are all places where you can go and order only the coupons you want to be mailed to your house. Most come with an expiry date of 6 week-ish so you can hold on to them to watch for deals. I have ordered coupons from each of these places and there are fairly quick in shipping them out. I tend to order all the toilet paper ones because at some point someone will have a great deal on TP that I can they turn into an even better deal with my coupon.

Additionally there are some great Canadian bloggers out there who blog about flyers and coupons and how to put it all together to get amazing deals. Blogs like this one and this one and this one. It makes the whole project a little easier to take when you've got someone already doing the legwork for you. Take advantage of ad-matching if it's available where you shop. Often times it's hard to get your hands on the really great deals because the early bird frugalistas have already cleaned them out. Ad-matching improves your odds since the sale is at another store.

Now the lovely Scattered Mom has been posting pictures of her grocery shopping haul and breaking down the budget. I didn't do that, only because we shop Friday after work and by the time we get the kids and get home I just want to be done with the whole mess..... I did snap a picture of my fridge, with my cellphone so to hide it's less than pristine condition.



Might be hard to see, but there is lettuce, peppers, carrots, apples, grapes, cucumber and zucchini. Lots of yogurt, eggs, egg whites, spinach, onion, salsa, chicken breast, and ground beef. For the pantry I picked up baking supplies like icing sugar and cinnamon, peanut butter, crackers and mustard. Non food items included breathe right strips for the Abster, conditioner and laundry soap.

This week I really went over the flyers with my coupons nearby and figured out how to get the best bag for my buck. I ad-matched my sunlight green clean laundry detergent from $6.97 to $3.99 and I had a dollar off coupon, bringing it to $2.99. I love Haagen Daz, but never buy it because it's so dang expense, almost $7, but Sobeys had it on for $2.97, so guess who's going to enjoy a spoonful of HD after dinner every night this week? That's right... this gal. I'm pretty impressed with how we did this week. Our total bill came in at $189, after I redeemed $8.50 in coupons, ad-matched an additional $12.68 and factored in our discount (10%) of $21.43. That brought our total savings to $42.61.

Are you feeling the grocery budget pinch?

friday high five - the gifts i give myself

Happy April everyone! I am so excited to see that spring is arriving, albeit slowly. We had a snow day just over a week ago and we still have snow in our front yard. The forecast is calling for a high of 14 degrees on Monday, so I'm hoping that will take care it. At the risk of sounding like my friend TC, April is the month that I will celebrate my birthday. My 22nd birthday if you're asking Maya and I do suggest you ask MyPie how old I am and not her older sister who is such a stickler for details. So I guess April is my month to be a little reflective as I embark on another year of this fabulous life of mine.

So for this week's Friday High Five - the greatest gifts I have given myself.

1. Blogging. I have said this many times and it is so true. I am so thankful for the friends I have made via blogging. A couple of whom I've even had the chance to meet in person. It's just been the best. And let's not forget my "real life" peeps my friends and family who read. I love all of you that check in. Although I have to admit I am surprised when someone mentions they've been reading because I don't think I'm that interesting, but trust me I love that you do. Thanks everyone for reading along.

2. Jammie Movie Night. This was born accidentally from HPH and I watching Twilight in our jammies and it just organically grew from there. JMN is celebrating it's second anniversary this month! I highly recommend you get your girlfriends together and start your own. You will not regret it. My goal has always been to make it a low key no pressure night... hence the jammies, no wondering what to wear. Just put on your favourite comfy clothes and come on over. And if you can make it, great... if not we hope to see you next month. We watch a movie, usually something funny and not too heavy, eat our favourite treats with a healthy dose of chatting and catching up. Even Abby and Maya recognize it for the special night it is. When we started this, all of the girls except for two were connected only via me and now, at times, we break up into several smaller conversations. We've built a tight little group out of one crazy idea. I love it and all my Jersey Girls.

3. Volunteering. It just makes my soul feel good. There are endless volunteering opportunities out there and I wish I could do so much more than what I do. I just recently talked myself out of looking into opportunities with the Cactus Festival and the Food and Wine show. They both sounded like so much fun, but I know that I am at my limit. Especially right now with Michael doing his term as Agricultural Society President, which means lots of meetings, receptions and the odd work bee thrown in for good measure. Abby has been calling him the Fair Mayor which is adorable times ten. I am happy with the work I do for the school, the scarves I knit for Wesley, and the social media I do for the fair.

4. Baking. You might be surprised to hear this is a fairly recent endeavor. I'm not quite sure where it's going to take me, but I have such fun doing it. Although Mike would likely disagree with that considering I'm usually cursing out a cake as I decorate it. I love it by the end though! The hard part is getting there sometimes. I've been toying with the idea of taking a course, but I'm not sure right now is the best time. Mike was out three nights last week with obligations, so it's tough. Maybe next year.

5. Getting healthier. This is and has been a long slow process with many stumbling blocks and I would be lying if I didn't say I felt discouraged at times. I am loving the yoga and feel great when I do it. Zumba is tons of fun even if I do look ridiculous while I'm trying to keep up. I've realized that more of my grocery shopping is done at the outer ring of the store, just like they say it should. All the natural things I've learned from my girl ML have been a tremendous gift. I'm pretty much bread free these days and hardly miss it. I drink green tea like it's going out of style and feel better for it. I'm ready for the warmer weather so I can get back to walking with my ipod. So it's been a slow, but steady race and I'm happy with that.

What are the best gifts you've given yourself?