Thursday, February 28, 2019

My Current List

This is what I'm currently trying to achieve (outside of work):



First Aid Course - I want to sign up for a weekend first aid course but am waiting until skiing is over so Dave will be home.

Renew Nexus - My Nexus card expires in June of this year and I need to get it renewed before that happens.  I have said it before, but if you can get a Nexus pass, get one. Even if you don't travel a lot, when you do travel (both domestically and internationally, even beyond the US) you can go through the faster security lines and it can be worth its weight in gold. 

Thank you cards - I still want to write thank you notes for our Christmas gifts, and I subscribe to the notion that it is never too late to send a thank note or a sympathy card

Register for Summer Camps - This is always a fairly onerous task to plot everything in the right weeks, taking time for vacation, and making sure we pick fun ones for E.  Lord help me when I need to do camps for two kids!

Haircut for Q - His hair is looking a little sloppy and it's time for a trim.

Get a new bag for work - I want to get a non-leather bag that will fit my wallet, laptop, lunch, and shoes, and that has a shoulder strap.  I think I have it narrowed down to a Hershel bag, maybe even the diaper bag version because it has inside pockets and a shoulder strap.  

Meal plan - I've got to get back on the healthy eating train.  I ate out every day last week and this week as well since I was away.  But it's not just going out that is my problem, but also the snacking in the evenings.  


Wednesday, February 27, 2019

What's Up Wednesday


What we're eating this week...
Sunday - Chicken rice casserole
Monday - Lasagna
Tuesday-Thursday - I'm away so probably Boston Pizza twice and Subway on the way to the airport
Friday - I know I will want to have some vegetables!
Saturday - not sure

What I'm reminiscing about...
I am travelling this week for work, and travelling by myself is something I never do.   One of the last times I stayed in a hotel by myself was when I was articling (in 2007-08) and spent a week at the Moncton office.  The weather here in Timmins is very similar to the weather I had in Moncton that year. 

What I'm loving...
I follow @hrhofsussex on Instagram, a fan account for Harry and Meghan, and they were just in Morocco. I love seeing the photos of what they are up to.  I love the Royal Family!

What we've been up to...
We had my mom and aunt visiting this weekend which was great.  We unfortunately did not get to attend the celebration of life that they came up for (it was postponed due to the weather), but we did get to see all of the family on the weekend.


What I'm dreading...
Can I say paying for summer camps?  I know we can afford it, but the costs add up and it seems strange to pay for them all in February/March.  It is nice to have it all paid off when the camps start up, but then we end up paying for skiing in July, so it all evens out.  

What I'm working on...
The aforementioned summer camps.  City of Toronto camp registration is this Saturday so once I can plot one of the two-week camp then I can fill in the rest of the weeks. 

What I'm excited about...
I am excited about my new job.  This is only my second week but I really like learning about the industry, meeting everyone, and figuring out my role in the company.

What I'm watching/reading...
I downloaded some Netflix things to watch on the plane when we went to Lisbon and they ended up coming in handy this week when my flight was delayed.  I watched two episodes of Fat, Salt, Acid, Heat.  I love food shows, they are my favourite.
Image result for fat salt acid heat

I'm reading Educated.  I actually bought the book since my other library holds were not ready yet.  I'm only a couple of chapters in but so far it reminds me of The Glass Castle, which is fine, but nothing unique yet. 

Image result for Educated

What I'm listening to...
I am still obsessed with the soundtrack for A Star is Born.  The Oscar performance renewed my love of the music.  I hum the songs all day.

What I'm wearing...
My new winter boots.  We may be done with winter, but winter is not done with us.  Happy to have some cozy boots to bring me to the end of the snow. 
Image result for uggs

What I'm doing this weekend...
It is the last week for E's skiing so Q and I may go up and see his race.  And then on Sunday he has t-ball evaluations. He's already made a team, but they want to spread out the kids by skill. 


What I'm looking forward to next month...
March Break (even though we aren't going away), St. Patrick's Day, and Dave's birthday. 

What else is new...
Q is developing his own little personality; he likes to boss us around and has lots to say, even if we don't always understand him.  He is also way more emotional than E ever was. 

Favourite board game to play with kids...
Catan Junior or Quirkle.  (I'm actually not a huge board game fan, but I'll play every once in a while.)
Image result for catan junior
Linking up with Shay and Sheaffer today!


Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Weekend Recap

On Friday night Dave went to the Raptor game so E, Q, and I watched Lego Batman for movie night.  After the boys went to bed, I watched basketball, curling, instagram stories, the news, and YouTube videos of Lady Gaga.  It was a pretty exciting night for me!

On Saturday morning Dave and E set off for skiing and Q and I went to swimming.  My mom and aunt were flying in that morning and when we went up to the airport to pick them up, Q fell asleep. 

After skiing, they did some tubing. 



Meanwhile the rest of us drove up to Shelburne (ON) for a family dinner.  

Q did a little sledding before supper.


Everyone fixing themselves a plate and finding somewhere to sit.


Then we got a group shot, and this one captured the dog trying to be a part of it!  It was so great to see everyone, we don't see them enough!

We went to church the next morning where E and I did the opening liturgy and then I did the Gospel readings. 

After church Mom and Margie took the kids home while I stayed for the annual general meeting.  When I got home I went out to do some errands.  Mom and E did some painting.

Q helped me make the salad for supper. 

After supper we watched the curling and the boys ran around and had a great time playing with the light sabres and tackling each other.




We got the kids in bed and then settled in for the Oscars.  I absolutely loved the Shallow performance.  The award was so well deserved and Brad and Gaga sold that performance!

Monday, February 25, 2019

Little Things

Celebrating the little things in life, that are really the big things when you think about it.

Having time to read my book.  I love reading but I don't often have long periods of time where I can read without feeling like I should be doing something else.  Now that I take the subway to work, the only real option for passing the time is reading.  It is nice to just sit (or stand most of the time) and read.


Preparing for overnight guests.  My mom and aunt are here this weekend (although for a funeral, sadly) so I made beds, cleaned the bathroom, and thought about what we would eat.  

Great fans. Our former Raptor, Demar Derozan, came back to Toronto this week to play with his new team after being traded.  The fans gave him a rousing ovation and the organization put together a great tribute video that they played during the game. Everyone says Toronto has the best fans, and they were certainly that on Friday night. 


Conversations in the car.  When I was driving to E to choir on Thursday night I mentioned Nana was coming up for a funeral.  So then we got to talking about dying and funerals and stuff.  It is very interesting to hear how his mind works and to answer his questions. 

Reading in church.  Our church has a lay reader every week and this week it was me.  I like to participate in the service when I can and share the Word. 

Friday, February 22, 2019

Friday Favourites




This edition of Friday Favourites/Friday Loves is basically brought to you by my new job!

On Tuesday when I got home from work there were flowers and gifts waiting for me, plus cupcakes!


It's hard to get a good photo of the view from my new office (the boardroom actually) since it has been so bright.  I am right downtown now, across from Union Station. 

My new water bottle and coffee mug.  Dave got the water bottle for me, it's a Corksicle bottle, and the mug was a parting gift from a friend at my old office, it's from Starbucks. 

I ate out everyday this week to get a sense of what the PATH (underground connections between all of the buildings with lots of places to eat and shop) has to offer.  Kupfert and Kim is kind of a PATH cliche but it was so delicious.  I could see myself eating there a lot.  

This guy greeted me in the bathroom when I came home from my exercise class on Wednesday.  Q had been playing with them before bed but I think it was E that set it up there for me to see.

I wrote about my new favourite cookbook yesterday

Excited for the Oscars this weekend! I have no sweet clue about who will win anything and mostly excited to see Gaga. 


Happy Friday!

Linking up with AndreaErika, and Narci for Friday Favourites
and The Blended Blog for Friday Loves. 





Thursday, February 21, 2019

Clean Enough

I got this new cookbook right after Christmas and I was so excited to finally see it in print.  The author is my cousins' cousin and I knew how hard she worked on it as I followed along with her writing journey on Instagram.  Katzie (or Kathryn as I have always known her) is a trained pastry chef and has experience in a variety of different culinary settings.   Her cookbook is a combination between "Clean Eats" and "Dirty Desserts".  It's a good philosophy, eat clean food on a regular basis, but when it is time to have a dessert, as part of a celebration or otherwise, enjoy it and appreciate it.  It is a balancing act but one worth pursuing


Setting aside the actual recipes for a minute, I love the stories that accompany each recipe; Katzie is so well travelled and she borrows ingredients and techniques from all over the world.  I also appreciate the glossary of ingredients; there are some things I had never heard of or knew very little about, so I was glad to read about the health benefits, use, and reasons for including them in a recipe, and from a reputable source.  She even mentions our mutual Uncle Robert, an inspiration to her in many ways as she trained in this field, and I could hear his voice when she quoted him  and remembered family meals he cooked for us over the years. 

I have only made a few things so far, but I wanted to read through the whole book first and I will gradually work through them.  One thing that makes an appearance in my regular rotation of breakfasts is a scrambled eggs, radishes, and toast.  It sounds simple enough but Katzie's method of lightly scrambling the eggs and her addition of lemon juice and poppy seeds sprinkled over top makes all of the difference.  


Check out Katzie's website here and buy her cookbook here.

With the author herself last year when she visited Toronto.  

By the way, she did not ask me to write this post and I bought the cookbook myself.  I really do like it, although of course I am biased ;)







Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Lessons from an adult

(Or rather I should say the adult part of me, I still do kid things too like sneak chocolate chips.)

Send people condolence messages privately and quickly.  It does not matter what you say exactly, but reach out and make sure they know you are thinking of them.

Eat your vegetables.  Or whatever thing you used to refuse to eat as a kid.  There are so many tasty things out there and if you stay set in your ways and never try new things, you'll never know. There are things I don't love, like sushi, but at least I've tried it and know I don't prefer it.

Don't be afraid of the hospital.  When people are unwell (and it is appropriate to visit them), go.  They are the sick ones, go and see them.

Thank people for a job well done.  Whether that is someone serving you food, a co-worker, or someone in your family, say thank you.  Little notes or words mean a lot.

Read the news.  Don't be ignorant to the world around you.  I don't read the newspaper cover to cover, or watch the news every night, but I stay informed by listening to the radio, following reputable sources on Twitter, and checking Google News to see what's going on.  This helps you carry on conversations with the other adults you'll run into throughout the day (and understand how to explain things to the kids in your life too).

(No good photo to add to this post so just a photo from Barcelona!)



Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Weekend Recap

Friday was my last day at work but I was still there for most of the day.  I was treated to lunch, wrote a few transfer memos, and made my rounds to say goodbye to everyone.  I picked up the kids from school and we had leftovers for supper.  

On Saturday morning Q and I skipped swimming lessons and we all headed to the ski hill.  We decided to put Q on some skis and see if he liked it.  He was excited to get suited up with his helmet, boots, and skis. 


We took him over to the bunny hill and set up him up on the magic carpet.  Dave jus wore his ski boots and guided him down the hill.


He did okay but did not love it.  He started saying "too tight" when we presumed was his boots.  I mean, ski boots are supposed to be tight, but he doesn't know that and it's not like you could reason with him.  Dave decided to try and get him some bigger boots, so E and I took off to do a few runs. 

We caught up with them after a couple of runs, and we tried getting Q back out on his skis.  He just screamed and said "too tight" and although we hate giving up, he was basically just torturing everyone around us (along with us torturing him) we we stopped trying.  We aren't sure if he just didn't like being bound into the skis, since he was walking around fine with just his boots, but he got it in his head that something was "too tight" and that's all he said.  Dave took him inside while E and I did some more runs before lunch. 

Happier guy inside.


So not a great day for Q (or for Dave who didn't get to do any skiing) but E and I had some great runs and conditions were perfect.  We will try Q in lessons next year and I'm sure it will be more successful once he understands a bit more.

We headed home, made supper, and then got settled in to watch Christopher Robin. We gathered together every Winnie the Pooh stuffy we have and they joined us. 

We let E stay up late with us to watch the NBA All-Star Skills Competitions, our favourite part of All-Star weekend. 

On Sunday morning we hit up Rennie Park for some sledding.  It was very icy but we found a spot that wasn't so steep and was pretty smooth.  It was really fun.



Home for lunch and a nap.  I went to get my haircut and when I got back, we went to the movies to see the new Lego Movie.   We weren't sure how Q would do but he paid attention to the whole movie, ate his popcorn, and alternated between sitting in his own seat, with Dave, and with me. 

We were full after eating all that popcorn so the boys had grilled cheese sandwiches for supper and I had scrambled eggs on toast rather than making a big meal.  I went to yoga and the boys got to bed at a decent hour.

Q and I began our Family Day holiday watching Paw Patrol (I read my book actually).

It had snowed overnight so when Dave and E got up we went outside to shovel, and then did some sledding right by our house.



We came inside to watch Planes and then did some tidying up, while E practiced some writing. 

After lunch, Q napped, Dave did a Pelaton workout, E played his video game, and I made muffins and meatballs.  

After some curling, we went to Terroni on Queen for supper.   We had a delicious meal and everyone was well behaved.








Ryder got in on some gelato.


Great family day weekend spent with my family!