say cheese

So the odds are pretty good that Abby had a big hand in the premature demise of my laptop. I am not entirely without blame, I should have taken control of the situation at the time, but I didn't and I paid for it in the end. So when Abby asked me if she could take my camera to school for camera day, you can imagine I was more than a little hesitant. My instinct was to straight up say no and that's what I did. Abby was more than a little upset with that so I switched gears and told her to convince me to change my mind.

And she said..... I feel that by breaking your stuff I have learned to be more responsible.

Ha ha! Hard to argue with logic like that isn't it?

So we laid out some ground rules, number one being not to let anyone else touch my camera and we sent her on her way.

At the end of the day the camera came home safe and sound. Abby told us she was very careful with it and at no time did anybody else touch it.

Then we uploaded the pictures.....




That's Abby in the pink shirt walking across the playground at school.




and that's her under the basketball net.




and there she is again.




and there she goes....




The best part is she has no idea who even took those pictures nor the dozen or so close ups of various kids in her class. Actually the best part was how shocked she was to see these pictures... but Mom I only put it on the picnic table to go to the bathroom..... then clearly forgot all about it and headed to the playground. Oh Abbers! Never a dull moment around here.

tractor canada

With Mike being President of the fair this year, I'm sure you can imagine that we talked to dozens upon dozens of people this weekend. We talked to volunteers, friends, vendors, committee chairs, folks participating in the fair, those just visiting and so many more. Then we got a call on the radio.... the tractor guy is here. Mike was thrilled and I absolutely no idea what anybody was talking about.

Turns out the "Tractor Guy" is former MacMaster University professor Dr. John Varty who Mike had just read about in our local paper. Which would explain why I didn't know anything about it. I gave up reading the paper sometime ago. Reading the bad news was not gelling well with my insomnia. Now I count on twitter and my family to keep me informed with what's happening in the world.

In a nut shell the Tractor Guy along with his New Yorker fiancee have ditched their jobs and are driving across Canada in a tractor with a little farm house they've built on a trailer coming along behind. Why are they doing this? Well, to raise awareness about agriculture and family farming in Canada, to let the farmers have a voice, maybe bring about some change.





When John and his fiancee, Molly, were on the grounds we went over to introduce ourselves and I have to say I was truly awestruck. It's no secret that Mike and I do a lot in our community. We have our fingers in lots of different pies and I am always on the look out for ways we can give even more back, but taking on something like John and Molly (and their camera man Michael) are doing... well I'm not sure I have that in me. That is a true leap of faith, at the end of the day you have to be okay with the outcome, no matter which way it's going to go.




Having spent some time with John and Molly (Michael, their camera man, was on a little holiday) I know what a huge investment this trip is on many levels. When I do have the opportunity to meet some one like this I spend days afterwards wondering what it is that is missing in me. To be clear, I'm not getting down on myself in any way, but I just find it curious. It really is remarkable, don't you think? Meeting people like John and Molly inspires me, it makes me want to be better, to do more, to teach my kids the value in giving back. I was expecting a lot from this past weekend, but I wasn't expecting an experience like that. I'm thankful for it.




Thank you John and Molly for doing what you do. If you have a moment consider visiting John, Molly and Michael at Tractor Canada and consider making a donation to help them along their way.

what's cooking wednesday - tikka masala pizza

This is a great recipe for leftovers. I came up with it one very rare night when there was nobody but me home. I have my brother to thank for introducing me to Indian food. He showed up here when newborn baby Maya was in the hospital and made us some chicken tikka masala for dinner.... after going to the hospital and checking on his brand new niece of course. I can't remember if Auntie Mel was with him that trip or not, some of the finer details during that time are a bit fuzzy. Bottom line is they were both a tremendous support during that time.

Anyway......

chicken tikka masala.....




There's no real recipe here.

I just took some naan bread and topped it with the tikka masala sauce, grated mozzarella and some grilled chicken. Then I put it over low heat on the barbecue and waited for the cheese to melt. Quick and easy dinner not to mention a great way to use up some leftovers.




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

and that's a wrap.

There are so many people to thank for this weekend. All the volunteers, there is a literal army of them to pull everything off. They are a tremendous group of people. Closer to home though, there is the people that helped Mike and I pull this weekend off........in no particular order...

Grandma Sandi who kept Maya busy and ran Abby to riding lessons and a birthday party. Kept them over night and brought them out to the fair along with their cousins.

Grandma Linda who kept the kids busy and over night and brought them to the fair.

Papa who works like a dog through his birthday every year, but is still never too busy to explain things to me or listen to me ramble on about whatever new "great idea" that's popped into my head.

Jake, gosh I am so ready to adopt this kid, for serious. He is such a testament to what fantastic parents he has.... aunt and uncle too! Jake worked like a dog, the whole weekend, going wherever he was told to go and doing whatever he was told to do, without complaining.

ML, my girl, gosh we had a blast together! Of course we always do.

Debbie for the laptop, it sped my social media time up tenfold. Thank goodness.

Maureen for helping out with facebook...... she's my girl too!

My guy, Michael, for taking me along with him. It was an amazing weekend from start to finish. So glad I got to share it with him.

The Abster and MyPie, who are so great about the time away from home and us. Of course hanging out with Grandmas ain't such a bad gig!

All the fantastic people we met and talked to, all the volunteers, the staff and I'm sure there are more... many more.... thank you for everything you do. I am so proud to be a part of it. Until next year friends!

inspired

I am wiped right out. I must have walked a gazillion kilometres today... times ten and I am on my way to climbing into my bed, but before I do.....

I am in awe of people with the ability to take a true leap of faith. It's so awe inspiring.

Cryptic... sure, but that's all I got for ya tonight. Trust me, though... there is a post there and I can't wait to tell you about it.

And also happy birthday Papa.

friday high five - the fair

So we're in the midst of the busiest time of the year for us... it's fair time! Mike has been an active volunteer at the fair since he was a kid. As for me, volunteering at the fair is a relatively new thing. My big contribution used to be keeping things running at home while Mike was busy with fair business and then.... well I'm not quite sure how it happened, but somehow I ended up with my finger in a lot of pies. Ever wonder what it is I do around that place? I thought so......

and that brings us to this week's Friday High Five - What the heck does Shanny do at the fair.

1. I tweet. Yep. And facebook. If you happen to follow the fair on either, that's me behind the keyboard. Well I do have two other very cool facebook chicks that can post as well, but the lion share of the postings come from me. This weekend I am live tweeting the fair, posting pictures via facebook and doing some fun... find me here... giveaways.

2. My great fair passion is the school fair. I love love love dealing with the kid's artwork. I know what a thrill it is for them and also how proud the parents are. So I hang artwork after it's been judged, making sure the display boards aren't too crowded and that the kids can easily find their names.

3. I record results on judging day. The judges come in and... well they judge. Then we come along and record who scored first, second, third and staple on the appropriate ribbons.

4. Once all that recording is done I take the sheets home and sit down in front of my computer for weeks on end and figure out how much each kid needs to get paid. Then, of course, I pay them..... with much help from some friends. It's a very large project.

5. Pitch in when I can, where I can. Last night I accompanied Mike to the opening ceremonies to snap some pictures. I hung out with Papa and kept and eye on the school fair building. Went patrolling the perimeter with ML looking for fence jumpers (Papa caught 8 himself tonight).

Mike thinks it's pretty funny that I'm carrying a bigger workload than he is as President. It's been his favourite story so far this weekend.

on the news

This was a big day around the Blogmother Ranch... which is in no way a ranch, we just like to live with illusions of grandeur....... my Michael represented our local fair on the local news. Poor guy had to get up at an ungodly hour to be ready to be on air at 6:20 and again at 6:40. He followed that up with a long day of getting the school fair building ready and then addressing the crowd at the opening ceremonies this evening. All in a day's work when you're the President of the local agricultural society.

He was fantastic at all of it. So proud of my guy today.

sunday randoms

So we are 4 days away from the fair. I expect to be logging a lot of computer hours this week, what with the tweeting and the facebooking that is required of me.

The weather has been beautiful. I would be happy if it was fall all year long.

Okay did anybody else watch the Emmys? I'm watching right now. Soooo funny! Also Kate Winslet had the best rack of the evening. True story. Ty Burrell's speech was equal parts sweet and funny. I want to watch that Office bit again. And kudos to Charlie Sheen and his kind words about his former show. Anybody else surprised by that?

Can't wait for Grey's and The Office next week. Also Michael wants to check out Two and a Half Men now that Ashton Kutcher is on the show.

Got to go to a baby shower for one of my favourite girls TC. It was such a fun day, looks of laughs with some of my favourite girls, great food and no shower games other than pass the baby!

Capped with day off with a tour of our dairy farming friend's new barn. It is huge and state of the art! Can't wait to see it when it's all done. I know they're ready for it to be all done too.

Mike thought he was being funny by pinching my nose between his knuckles. Poor guy forgot I have a still healing nose piercing until he ripped the stud right outta my nose. A little blood. A little swelling. A new nose stud. Ouch.

Anybody else kind of excited about Pan Am? I am definitely going to be checking that one out.

i'm pretty sure that's not possible

This afternoon riding lessons started back after the summer break. Abby moved from her half hour private lessons to a full hour group lesson. She was a little unsure of the change, but of course once she got going it was fine.

So then there was Maya. She got a minor case of ants in her pants towards the end of the lesson.... watching her sister ride a horse around in circles had lost it's luster. So climbing the gate to the arena seemed like a good idea.... to her. To me, not so much.

Me: Maya, get down from there.
Maya: Why?
Me: Because you are in the way and I don't want you to hurt yourself.
Maya: I wish I had never met you! You take all the fun out of me!

Awww she's a peach isn't she?

what's cooking wednesday - greek chicken

Oh my gosh I love Greek food. The other night I was trying to come up with something a little different to do with my usual boring old boneless skinless chicken when I cam across a Greek inspired spice blend in my cupboard.

I made a marinade of that, following the directions on the jar, coated the chicken it in stuffed it back in the fridge until dinner. At which point I tossed it on the ole George Foreman-esque grill. Ours is actually the Griddler brand grill/panini press. While the chicken was doing it's thing I sauted some peppers and onion in a drizzle of olive oil.

After everything was cooked I sliced the chicken and served it on Greek style pitas with the pepper/onion combo, feta and tzatziki and then Mike fell in love with me all over again.

Yeah it was that good.

sunday randoms on an almost tuesday morning

Oh my gosh how did it get to be this late? I've had my head down working on Touch a Truck stuff for hours. Totally missed my window to call Papa and politely decline his offer to babysit... seeing as he's supposed to be at the same meeting I need to be at and hence need the for a babysitter.

Today is Grandma Sandi's birthday. We celebrated last night with lasagna and cake and cupcakes. Happy birthday!

On Sunday at church they had a special "bless the backpacks" service. All the kids brought their backpacks with them and Charlie blessed them for the coming year. It may have been the best service I have ever been to. I know I don't often get all religious on ya, but truthfully.... if I were Oprah I'd tell you I had an ah-ha moment Sunday morning.

Like I am sure many of you did, we spent the weekend huddled around the TV watching endless 9/11 documentaries and specials. Even 10 years later it was still incredibly hard to watch. I was thankful for the Spielberg series Rising: Rebuilding Ground Zero. It injected an incredible feeling of hope and healing into the weekend. You really should watch the entire series if you have the chance. Oh and before you drive yourself crazy for six episodes, like I did, it's Ed Harris narrating.

I know some people who's first language is Spanish, not surprisingly when they get together they often start talking in their native tongue. I mentioned to Grandma Linda, in front of Maya, that I was going to secretly take Spanish lessons and surprise them one day. To which Maya replied..... I can teach you Spanish Mom! Hola is Hello, gracias is thank you and uno is one. So I'm good!

I think I shall exceed my goal of donating 12 scarves this year. I'm working on scarf number 10 and I have about ten face cloths knitted up as well.

Thought I would get my Mom to teach me to crochet in the hopes of crocheting up some baby blanket to donate to our local NICU. I'm not quite sure who was laughing harder... my Mom or me. Who can figure out that dang one needle thing? I gave the ole college try until we were both laughing too hard to see straight and then went back to my two needle knitting where I belong.

friday high five - the real deal

I'm a lucky girl, ya know. I've got some really great people in my life. People who make me smile. People who are the real deal.

So for this week's Friday High Five..... real deal peeps who are making me smile this week.

1. Maureen. Who read this post about Maya always looking for mail and took the time to mail a card and HORSE!! stickers to BOTH my girls.

2. TLP, my Mama's world class BFF. She's so great I may forgive her for buying herself a Kobo... she did bring it over and let me play with it.... then she bought my Mom one for her birthday. She is certainly the ying to my Mom's yang and I'm happy to have her as part of the family.

3. Abby & Maya's former kindergarten teacher, who's been keeping in touch with me. She is an amazing teacher and a lovely woman that I am having fun getting to know outside of school. I wonder if her new school knows how lucky they are to have her.

4. All of our parents, who have been tremendous in helping us transition into our new life.

5. My work girls, who have just been on fire this week with the funny. I love funny chicks!

Who's been making you smile?

happy happy

Today is my Mom's birthday! If any of you have had the chance to meet my Mom in person, then you know what an incredible person she is. She is the best Mom anybody could ever ask for. Not to mention a top notch Granny. I am so thankful for her today and every day.

I love you Mama! Happy birthday.

what's cooking wednesday south western sauce

Well the weather is turning colder and it's time to start making pasta and soup. mmmm I love this time of year. I'm ready for the shirt in cooking. Bring it on. I was tidying up some recipes and came across this one I had ripped out of a magazine. Yesterday seemed like a good day to give it a try.

Yes I do have a picture, but the cable is missing from my camera and I am not in the frame of mind to look for it right now.

1lb lean ground beef
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
700 ml jar of pasta sauce (preferable spicy)
1 cup salsa
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp tabasco (optional)

Brown beef , onions and garlic until cooked through and drain off any excess liquid. Next add the sauce, salsa, spices and tabasco. Bring to a boil while stirring often. Reduce heat, cover and gently simmer for 10 minutes or so to let the flavours develop. Serve with pasta and top with shredded cheddar, sour cream and/or avacado if desired.

Recipe Notes: Mike and I both really enjoyed this. I cooked it earlier in the day and then reheated it for dinner. I like the flavours to have a long time to marry together. Making it the sauce the day before would be better still.

knowing me, knowing you - September 2011

Can you believe it's September? Boy that summer went quick! It's back to school for Abby tomorrow and she is not impressed that Maya doesn't start for another two weeks. Yay for staggered entry in kindergarten.

I hoped to have this all ready for the first, but I'm still using Mike's computer. Gosh I can't stand typing on this thing. I've been pretty much ignoring my emails unless it's ultra urgent, so if you've been waiting for me to answer you and I haven't, be patient for another day or two and I'll be with you.

So it's time once again for that monthly interview project... knowing me, knowing you.....

1. What's on your bedside table?

A stack of books I've finished reading and haven't put back on the shelf, a Littlest Pet Shop hamster habitat, some Little Pets, a Little People tow truck, some Barbie clothes, an alarm clock and my sexy lamp.

2. What is your favourite kind of cookie?

A nice soft chocolate chip cookie.

3. How long does it take you to get ready?

Not all that long. I'm a wash and wear kind of girl, especially now with my new short hair cut. Then it's just a swipe of eye liner and some mascara and Bob's your Uncle.

4. What would your like to be doing right now?

I honestly have no idea. I mean there is so much I need to do for this committee and that committee and then there's laundry and just general house work, but blah. Just blah. Crawling into bed with Valley of the Horses sounds good. Maybe a cup of tea, but there's no room on my bedside table for it (see number one).

5. Is your kitchen sink empty?

Ummm, no not at all. It's pretty much full of dirty dishes. Who wants to come and unload my dishwasher?

friday high five - covet

So my Mom was texting me last night to tell me that she was setting up her BFF, TLP's, new Kobo ereader. Oh the jealousy.

So for this week's Friday High Five - the five things I am currently coveting....

1. A Kobo.... ovi. My sister-in-law has a Kindle, that she loves, but after doing some research I think I'd go with the Kobo, only because the Kindle isn't compatible with the public library and I am all about the free books!

2. An iphone. I shall have one.... I think. The blackberry is still an option. As it turns out most of my peeps have a bberry and obsessive addictions to their bbm. I still really want that iphone though. Just waiting for life to settle down a bit before taking the plunge.

3. That couch in the HOH room on Big Brother. It looks so comfy. I really think I need that in my living room.

4. Selena Gomez's hair. I blame Abby and all the Wizards of Waverly Place she makes us watch.

5. ML's new camera. So pretty. So fancy.

What are you coveting?

now anxiety free

By and large I'm a pretty easy chick to get along with. I'm not easily offended, not too demanding, I'm pleasant and not one to get easily stressed. All that being said, there are some things that can send my anxiety levels off the charts.

Number one...... Halloween. Oh yes, Halloween, my arch nemesis. What a stomach ache that can give me. I do not like people dressed in costumes. Doesn't matter if it's grown ups or little kids. I feel incredibly anxious when there is some one in a costume near me.

Funny story....... the first year we took Abby to the Santa Claus parade doesn't TC, the Tiger Cats mascot, make a beeline right for me. I'm sitting on the curb with my baby and nowhere to go as this giant headed tiger comes right at me. I was beginning to hyperventilate and then he touched me. Oh my gosh, I nearly died on the spot. He leaned down so his giant head was close to mine and I heard him say..... I know you! Then he walked away. Walked away! Ack! What I didn't realize at the time was a friend from high school was inside that Tiger costume. Last I'd heard he was rocking it as Bruiser for the Bulldogs and now he's Pigskin Pete. Super great guy and he's just awesome at what he does. He'd probably die if he knew he almost killed me that day.

So yeah, no love for Halloween... or so it seems. Last year I willingly went to a Halloween party, in costume, without my social security blanket.... aka Michael. Even better, I didn't know anybody outside of the hosts and ML & T, who I'd gone with. What? Craziness! I had a blast trick or treating with ML and our guys and all our kids. Then just a couple of weeks ago I was in Michaels going crazy over all the cool Halloween decorations. Who am I turning into?

Then there is back to school. Oh my gosh, the anxiety I suffered over going back to school. You would think that would all end once I finished school, but nope. I could feel my anxiety levels creeping higher and higher as soon as I saw the shelves being stocked with reams of paper, back packs, duotangs and trapper keepers. It didn't matter I didn't need any of that stuff, just knowing it was that time of the year was enough to put me on edge.

Then the other evening the girls and I were discussing going back to school. Not surprisingly we've got one all for going back to school and another one who would rather hang with her friends and ride her bike for another month or two. I'll let you work out which one is which. So as we sit there discussing teachers and such it hits me. I feel not one iota of anxiety. Abby goes back to school on Tuesday and I haven't had to breathe into a paper bag about it. I can't even tell you how awesome it is, but really who am I turning into? I'm not sure, but gosh I really think I love her.