Category: Food

It’s Nice and Convenient, Like That!

So today is day 7 of the 30 Days of Nothing – or whatever it is that we are doing. It’s so convenient that the day number matches up with the date of the month….means all I have to do is figure out what the date is today and we’re good to go.

I thought that I’d take a moment to explain my reasoning behind doing this.

There are so many others in the world who do with so much less than we have on a regular day-to-day basis. I don’t even necessarily mean me as in our family personally. I was meaning “us” as in North American but yes – even us personally, too.

We are not rich by “normal” standards, and yet we live comfortably. Sometimes more comfortably, and other times it’s a bit tighter….

There is also so much waste. It’s sickening to think that we throw away food, clothing, toys, books, etc. without a second thought when others are going without. Even people here in our cities and towns are going without proper food and clothes and “stuff”.

It’s the sheer amount of our “stuff” that get to me. I’m guilty of it too. “Oh, I want that. I deserve this. I need this.”

I’m not saying that “stuff” is bad or that if you need or want or desire something that you don’t have the right to go out and get it.

I’m just wanting to be “AWARE”. Aware of what I need, and what I want and what I have and what i can give.

I want to be able to have extra to give away. I want to have spent less money on crap that I didn’t really need so that I have the extra to buy a hot chilli and a sandwich from Tim Hortons when the guy in the parking lot at Michaels asks me for money. I want to not be so consumed with being busy that I can’t take a moment to walk across the parking lot and get something for him.

I want to be able to give. To give money, support, time, a shoulder to cry on or an ear to just listen. I want to be able to see the person behind the outstretched hand.

I want to not be so consumed with myself and my own needs. I want to be aware and so SO thankful for what I’ve got and for what I’m able to give.

So, this month is me taking account of what we’ve got. Taking advantage of how blessed we are, and trying to be wise with how I spend my money and my time and my energy. It’s about me making sure that what I buy is what we need, and not a waste.

Having said all of that, today I easily doubled my money spent so far this month. But it was money well spent.

We hit the Farmer’s Market and bought $79.41 on Fruit and Veggies. In case you were paying attention, I’ve already bought 10 pounds of apples this month, and so I figured that I’d just get ’em, for cheaper in bulk and so I bought 20 pounds of apples today. They won’t go bad at my house before they get eaten and I expect that they will last for the next two weeks. I’ll need to stash half of them away or my kids will plow through them way too fast. I also got bananas, broccoli, purple cabbage, celery, carrots, cucumber, grapes, oranges, pears, snow peas, peppers (red, yellow and orange), potatoes, plums, acorn squash, butternut squash, yams and zucchini. I also bought a bag of pot barley, some natural tortilla chips and some roasted salted chickpeas.

It seems like a lot to spend on fruit and veggies, but remember that this is primarily the bulk of what we eat.

Then I stopped at the grocery store and picked up some more Almond Milk, Ener-G Egg Replacer (I’m wanting to bake, but I’m trying to not eat eggs right now until Siah settles himself down – allergy wise), Raw Cane Sugar, a 3 pack of Pork Roasts, and some Lean Ground Beef.

The Pork Roasts had 3 in a pack (like I previously mentioned) for $11.62. That’s less than $4.00 in meat for our family for a meal, and there should be leftovers. And the Lean Ground Beef was $1.87 a pound and that’s a great price.

The Egg Replacer, Almond Milk and Cane Sugar were not absolute essentials, but if we want anything to “snack on” then I have to make it, and I can make a whole lot more by buying the ingredients – even specialty ones than if I just went and bought a snack AND…Siah can have some too – that way!

So, at the Grocery Store, I did exactly $36.01 in damage. Combined with the amount that I spent at the market it brings our monthly total up to…….$217.77. Nice!

In meal related news, I realized that I didn’t post the meals from yesterday and so you’ll get another 2 for 1 right now.

Monday’s Meals
Breakfast – Eggs and Toast
Dinner – Grilled Chicken, Baked Potatoes, and Peas (Geli cooked tonight so we were lighter on the veggies than I’d have liked)

Tuesday’s Meals
Breakfast – Eggs and Toast
Dinner – Ground Beef and Gravy over Brown Rice Noodles mixed with Peas & Broccoli (We had run out to the market and were late getting home and so I threw together what I lovingly refer to as a “Garbage Meal”)

And……Actually I have the next three days meals planned out and so here they are “In Advance” oooo I’m doing good.

Wednesday’s Meals
Breakfast – Cereal
Dinner – Roast Pork with Roast Potatoes and Yams, and Roasted Mixed Veggies

Thursday’s Meals
Breakfast – Super Porridge
Dinner – Chicken Stirfry over Brown Rice with veggies

Friday’s Meals
Breakfast – Eggs and Hashbrowns
Dinner – Lentil Soup

Apparently, we eat a lot of eggs and a lot of apples. What can I say?

Well, I’m off to finish off a few new necklaces and then I’m headed to bed.

I’ll leave you with a question….

What is your position on people who are down and out asking for money?

I’ll share my thoughts on Friday.

Ammendment to Day 4 and some WICKED FUN!

So yesterday, we did end up needing to pick some food up and that birthday present that I mentioned.

Jon and the kids went and picked out the B-day present while I put Siah to sleep for his afternoon nap. They spent a bit more than I would have, but it’s still okay. The Model Airplane and Cement Glue cost a total of $17.78 which brought our total to $51.95.

Then we needed to pick up some stuff that I hadn’t thought of in my bleary eyed stupor when I posted yesterday. I had made a list and stuck to it except for 2 things…..rice cakes & cereal….both things that the baby can eat.

I needed to pick up some non-dairy butter because Siah has a Dairy Allergy and while some of the family can use butter, it makes it difficult to always be on top of everyone to not share their popcorn or toast and I have to be extra dilligent about what goes into Siah’s mouth and what has dropped on the floor so, it’s just easier in our family to get the non-dairy spread. We use Earth Balance. It is DELICIOUS and it is actually cheaper than organic butter by $2 for the same amount of “spread”. Another bonus is that I can use it in my baking just like butter and the baking comes out just as good as if I’d used butter….no weird spreading or greasy texture.

So, we went to Pricesmart and I decided that if the prices weren’t GROSSELY inflated compared to Superstore that I’d just pick up what I needed there and save the gas money.

So, we got Almond Milk (for myself and Siah – he can’t handle large amounts of soy either…more on that in a moment), bananas, 5lb bag of apples, Earth Balance Spread, Puffed Kamut Cereal, Rice Cakes, 10lbs Potaotes, Espresso Coffee Beans…..all for $42.00.

So that brings our total up to $93.95.

While I was at the store I realized that there were a few more things that we need. I need some more veggies – celery, peppers, lettuce, zucchini…..that kinda thing, but I’ll get those next week at a local Farmer’s Market, and Brown Rice. On the list they go!

Saturday’s Meals:
Breakfast – Grand Slam Breakfast (eggs, hashbrowns, mini pancakes, farmer sausage)
Dinner – Coconut Curry with Tofu over Brown Rice

Sunday’s Meals:
Breakfast – Oatmeal with Soy Milk
Dinner – Veggie Chicken Soup with Brown Rice

So, I’m pretty certain that we are staying away from the stores today, and for more than one reason.

Onto the the “WICKED FUN” aspect of this post….

Siah had an allergic reaction to something last night and I spent the whole night cradling and cuddling him and then holding him over the top of a bucket while he retched his little guts out.

Yah, he spent the whole night either puking or dry heaving.

It was EXACTLY the same as the two times when he had some dairy tinged probiotic when he was 2 and 3 months old minus the watery diarrhea – so last night was only half the fun it could have been.

It was awful and finally around 5am his stomach was finally settled enough that he wanted to nurse and then he fell asleep until 6am and then nursed again, and so far everything has stayed down. Jon let me sleep until 11am, and then I nursed him again and he is sleeping right now.

I think that it was the tofu…..

– POST BREAK –

I had to stop posting to take a “potty break” (either this is a SUPER LONG post or I’m just a really REALLY slow typer) and when I went into my ensuite to take care of business I realized that my bedroom door had been shut, the blinds drawn, and there was a lump under the covers. Xandra is dressed in a beautiful princess dress, and is under my covers..all the way under the covers watching a movie on her iPod. When I asked her what she was doing, her response was that it was warm and dark in my room, and especially under my covers and that she was just relaxin’….what a little sweetheart!

– RESUME POST –

I think that it was the tofu and I knew that he couldn’t handle big amounts of soy, and in my excitment to “try” a meatless meal – I never put the two together…stupid me. Do you know the guilt that racks you knowing that you most likely caused your son to have a brutal night? It’s not fun! NOT! AT! ALL!

So, I’m tired, and hoping that I can snag one more nap today sometime. We skipped church today because I wasn’t getting up and I definately wasn’t taking Siah anywhere. So, the other two kids are bored and Jon has just settled down to have a “video game tournament” with them.

I’m going to go and have another coffee and try to wake up….fun times, people, FUN TIMES – I tell you!

Day 4 today and all is well!

Well, yesterday had its difficult moments.

I did go out to the store and spent some money on something business related, BUT….it was totally necesary.

What wasn’t necessary was the Subway sandwich combo that I needed because I had been very bad with my time and ended up with a major blood sugar low, BUT….I didn’t get it. I wanted to. OOOOOOHHHHHHHH! How I wanted to! I managed to resist by asking Jon how much lunch for the two of us would cost, and when he said $14, and I knew that I could go home and make $2 worth of soup for the two of us (plus baby) – well, we just drove home. I’ll admit, though, if I could have justified the expense somehow, I would have – and I was trying to figure out a way to justify it. I was trying REALLY hard!

I made it past that temptation and carried on with my day.

Just for posterities sake (and to get it over with)

Thursday’s Meals
Breakfast – Eggs and Toast
Dinner – Vegetarian Chili & Brown Rice

Friday’s Meals
Breakfast – Eggs and Toast
Dinner – Veggie Stirfry with Chicken over Rice Noodles

Today we have to go and buy a birthday present for a 10 year old boy. I’ve already determined that we are going to Michaels with their 40% off coupon and getting a present for under $20 which means that it will be around $10 with the coupon.

Aside from that I don’t have anything on my Shopping List right now and so my total spent still stands at $34.17, and for us – that is pretty mch a miracle….even though it is only 4 days into the month….let’s see how well I’m doing at the end of the month.

***< STORE STUFF >***

I mailed out the first few orders yesterday – so a huge THANK YOU to all who bought. It feels amazing to have this working out. There are just 3 more days in the buy 2 get the 3rd (of equal or lesser value) for free sale – so if you were thinking of getting in on that deal…that was your reminder.

***< /STORE STUFF >***

Yesterday was a bit of a rough day for Siah, he seems to be falling over quite a bit, and I’m not sure if he’s just getting more confident or if he’s fallen one too many times and I need to take him back to the chiropractor for an adjustment.

He really smacked himself up good yesterday. He was playing by the block box and bopped up and down and smacked his lip on the corner. Then he started screaming – A LOT! and the BLOOD….oh my goodness the blood. When I got close enough to check things out there was a split on both the inside of the lip and the outside of the lip and it looked like he had put his little razor sharp bottom tooth right through his bottom lip. NASTY!

So, it bled…he cried….I mopped up blood and tried to comfort him, but I imagine that it hurt brutally bad. You can see the bruise under or inside the lip all the way through from the inside to the outside. It looks awful, and if it feels as awful as it looks, is it any wonder that he was up as much as he was last night. Fun times, let me tell you, FUN TIMES!

He also managed to fall over and hurt himself about 4 other times yesterday, but just general bumps and hurts – nothing major like the lip. Poor little kid – or maybe I should say poor mother….he is seriously a crawling machine and it takes a ton of energy to just stay on top of him and to make sure that he hasn’t made it up on top of the fridge to get to the cereal boxes, eh Momma?

Well, I’m gonna go and started cutting up the potatoes to make our BIG SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST. We usually eat a big breakfast a bit late on Satuday mornings, and it is both breakfast and lunch. Today we are having hashbrowns, eggs and Farmer Sausage. YUMMY!

This is the NON-BARFING edition

So, yesterday was a pretty good day. I guzzled water until my eyeballs were floating, and I felt pretty good aaaaaalllll the way up until I crawled into bed last night.

I even managed to make it into bed before 10:30pm. I could tell that my musles were a little bit sore, and so I did some stretching to try and work them out a little, but then my head hit the pillow and I was GONE.

I woke up at……are you ready for this…..4am – yup, Siah slept from 7:15pm until 4am, and at that point if he didn’t nurse, then there was no hope that he’d sleep for Jon after I left. So, I went and got him and brought him back to bed with me.

I just kinda dozed between 4 and 4:45am, and then I popped outta bed before my alarm clock went off and got ready to go.

I drank two HUGE glasses of water, and ate a banana to try and ward off the whole barfing thing…and ya know what….IT WORKED!

I made it through my second session – all the way through – and although I was tired and my body is not used to being asked to work a little bit harder – it went well.

I can feel that my muscles are feeling sore right now. I’m a little nervous about how I’ll feel tonight, and especially about how I’ll feel tomorrow.

I’m still planning on going tomorrow, even if I can’t do as well as I did today. I’m pretty excited about just getting some exercise, let alone 90 minutes two days in a row….

As I was driving home today musing about just jumping in feet first, I started thinking about exercise and what it was that I liked about the Bikram’s Yoga compared to other forms of exercise. I think that the dry breathing, panting so you can’t catch your breath, and feeling like your heart is going to explode out of your chest…..yah, that’s the feeling I dislike…and seeing as I’m terribly outta shape, if I try to do other forms or exercise that’s what I end up feeling like.

I like the idea that this class is for beginners and for those with experience and that you are always only competing with yourself.

Right now, I’m in the learning stages, and am flailing around trying to find position, and am not so fluid, and well….I’m definately just learning, but I talked with the instructor today after class, and she said that about 5-6 classes into it, I should have more of an idea as to what’s going on, and of the poses, and that about 10 classes into it, that I should start to find my rhythm and a nice sense of flow. I’m looking forward to that ’cause right now I’m feeling a little bit stiff and sore – but in a good kind of way.

In other news, We have been eating some unbelievably amazing food for the last little bit. I recently bought a couple of new books and from them, have made a Thick Potato, Cauliflower, and Dulse Soup….sorry no pictures, but it was AMAZING, and even Geli, my MOST picky eater, LOVED it and has asked for it every day since I made it.

Dulse is a dark red sea veggie that is full of highly absorbably iron, and in the soup it justs adds the right amount of flavor.

Last night we had Nori-Wrapped Wasabi Salmon which is salmon wrapped in a sheet of seaweed, and again. So, SO good! I didn’t make that for the kids, they just got plain marinated salmon, but Jon and I LOVED the seaweed wrapped salmon and will definately be making it again..

And – I have pictures for you –

Nut Burgers

on Tuesday night we had Nut Burgers, and again with the deliciousness. They would have been DIVINE on a bun, but we just ate them plain. The recipe I used calls for sunflower seeds and walnuts. I had walnuts, but I had no sunflower seeds, so I made two batches – one with pine nuts – in place of the sunflower seeds, and the other with pumpkin seeds. You grind up the nuts in a food precessor and then mix in a bunch of spices, add a finely ground carrot and them some brown rice with a tiny bit of tomatoe sauce to hold it all together. Make your patties, and then let them sit for an hour or so in the fridge. Heat up your skillet and use either butter or oil and brown the tops and bottoms, and serve.

Burger Close Up

These are seriously yummy, and with the edges all crunchy….mmmm…we saved a few overnight that we didn’t cook, and had them for lunch the next day, and they were just as good even after sitting in the fridge for a while.

Between the nuts and the brown rice, you end up with a complete protein, and so all you need to round out the meal is a salad or some veggies.

I’m still going through my books, and am sure to come up with more yummy food for us to try.

well, that about does it for today….Geli and I are going to make some chocolate coconut macaroons.

It’s All A Bit Messy

Yesterday seemed to be a messy day.

Siah was into EVERYTHING.

I had given the kids a green smoothie with Breakfast, and Jeremy downed his and gave me the cup Xani finished hers and put her cup in the sink. Geli is my fussy eater, and usually needs a little encouragement to finish her green smoothie.

Apparently I never paid that much attention, and she left her cup on the coffee table in the TV room.

I came around the corner to this……

Found a Green Smoothie

Awesome, isn’t it?

Siah is not a fussy eater at all. He LOVES green smoothies.

But, seeing the slimey, slippey mess that is on his fingers…is it any wonder that this happened….

Dropped it

Love the face, though!

Then in the afternoon, Geli had made some peanut butter and honey sandwiches for herself and Xandra and I’m not sure, but maybe the cupboard was left open a crack or something because when I came into the kitchen….this was what i stumbled across.

Found the Bucket 'O Honey

Look at the look on his face. Cute, eh?

Well, I was even less impressed by than the smoothie. I mean, I did have to get out the steam cleaner to clean up the carpet, but HONEY…..YUCK! At leas it was on the linoleum and not the carpet, eh?

He was not too impressed that I was taking him away from his fun.

Not Happy

This picture was taken just before he had a full on back arching, screaming, melt down…because seriously. How DARE we take him away from his bucket of honey? He found it, so that makes it his, right?

Needless to say, it was a long day and I was thrilled when they were all asleep and I could just sit in the peace and quiet.

And now we’re doing it all over again…hopefully not!

On Being Unconventional……

I read this comment on this website the “Happy Foody” everytime I check over there and it always gets me thinking.

“I don’t understand why asking people to eat a well-balanced vegetarian diet is considered drastic, while it is medically conservative to cut people open and put them on cholesterol lowering drugs for the rest of their lives.” – Dean Ornish, MD

and then while I was already thinking about that quote again for the umpteeth time, I floated over to “Owlhaven” and read this post on “What do we owe our children?” It stems from her recently sharing about her family of 9 and sharing some ideas on being frugal and being able to eat well for less.

She talks about how some have just recently critized her and have insinutated “…..that in keeping our food costs low, I might be somehow depriving my children or feeding them subpar food.” She goes on to say, “…I only have to look at a plate of food at an average dinner to know that our diet is varied, healthy, and delicious.”

I think that some of what is said and even not said between the first quote and the second situation summs up a bit of how I end up feeling in regards to our whole way of eating.

I’m not planning of becoming vegetarian, but I will admit that I’ve been looking into some well balanced vegetarian meal ideas. I’ve thought about doing a vegetarian meal 2 or 3 times a week. As long as it’s balanced, I’d be interested in giving it a try. Not to mention, that it would cut the grocery costs a little bit, and every little bit helps, right?

I’m not talking about a meal of just lettuce, but of taking into consideration protein, carbs, veggies, oil and finding a good and delicious balance.

See, we’ve already cut most processed things out of our diet. We mainly eat veggies and fruit with grains and then some lean meats. I don’t buy too much of anything that is boxed or packaged besides things like Almond or Soy milk, and some Brown Rice Pasta from time to time. I don’t buy cookies or snacks for the kids….I make granola bars or popcorn or once in a while I will bake something with honey or brown rice syrup or maple syrup as the sweetner instead of sugar.

Compared to “normal” North American diets….we eat so bizarre. But going back to that quote from the beginning and just recognizing that TO ME it’s bizarre to think that a diet filled with chemicals and additives and processed food and gallons of sugar and all the other crap that is out there is considered normal. That it’s normal to be on drugs to fix or maintain issues created (in a large part) by our diets….that it’s normal to eat chemically created food so that you can lose weight on a lowfat diet…that it’s normal to eat food that is just not normal ……I can recognize that some would say that we (in our family) eat strangely, but I think that most “normal” choices are strange.

I know that our choices are unconventional, but to me it makes so much sense.

I’m not trying to deprive my kids from the “wonders” of life….as in sugar cereal and sugar snacks and pop and everything else out there. I do try to come up with healthy alternatives….Frozen Fruit Juice or Fruit Smoothy Popsicles or Homemade Granola and Granola Bars or Popcorn flavored with spices or Homemade Crackers or Cookies made with ingredients in fairly close to their natural state. You can make Chips and Popcorn balls with honey and nuts…..the possibilities are endless, and the food is healthy for you. I have a HUGE fruit basket and a TON of veggies in the fridge and the kids are allowed to eat whenever they are actually hungry (as long as it’s not in the hour before a meal).

I would however love to deprive them of a life of obesity and diabetes and heart problems, and thyroid problems and fertility issues and any other of the various problems and issues that can be traced back to our diets.

My kids eat. They eat well and they eat a pretty balanced and varied diet.

Would they like to eat sugar cereal day in and day out or eat countless boxes of candy and pizza and McDonalds? They probably think they would, but considering that because we don’t eat like that, on the odd occasion when we do cheat, they end up feeling gross and they are starting putting two and two together that the gross feelings are actually tied into the crap food.

I’m trying to make the best choices for my family and I’m trying to teach my kids to make good healthy choices. It’s a process and one that keeps evolving as we go along and learn new things. I’m surprised at how far we’ve come over the past almost 2 years, and I expect that I’ll be even more surprised at where I’m at in another 2 years…..

So, Do you eat “healthy”? What is your standard of “healthy” eating? Why are you making the choices that you are making? What prompted you to evaluate your diet? Or have you not really thought about it?

I’d love to hear what your choices are and why you are making them, and what you think about all this.

Two Medium Pizza’s, one and a half pieces of Cheesecake and Five Pounds later…..

Apparently, that’s how much dairy is too much.

I feel BRUTAL today.

I’m supposed to be trying to add some dairy into my diet to see how it affects Josiah (and myself). We are both on some naturopathic “stuff” to help us to deal with the different affects that it has on us. And apparently I’ve figured out how much is too much.

‘Siah has a tiny bit of a rash on his cheeks, and while it could be the starting of exczema, it could also be from teething and his fingers and slobber in and out of his mouth ALL FREAKING DAY. But….he has been dealing with what seems to be acid reflux, and has actually been barfing a little bit. All of that would indicate to me that it would be okay for me to injest a little bit of dairy if I came across it at a restaurant or even going to someone’s house for a meal or even if I wanted to cheat a little, but apparently 4 days of cheating with a half a piece of cheesecake, and then splitting a medium pizza with Jon , and then splitting another medium pizza with Jon because the first was just that good, and then my veryown piece of cheesecake…..apparently that it where the line is drawn….somewhere in all the middle of that.

And for me….I feel bloated, and people in the next city can hear my stomach as it grumbles its complaints to me feeding it that horrible, terrible, no good dairy….and I just feel sluggish and have a headache and feel like I’m in a brain fog, and not to mention that I’ve gained 5 pounds. Nice, eh? It was so not worth it.

So, I think that what I’m going to do is to just go back to taking it easy on the dairy in our own house and with the way that we normally eat. I feel SO MUCH BETTER off of it, and apparently, so does ‘Siah.

In Jeremy related news….

He had another good day. He was thrilled to bring home 4 stickers, AGAIN, and even more thrilled to bring home a friend. Yup! He actually brought home a friend from school, and they played so nicely together for about two hours, until the kid’s father came to pick him up. That is the first time that J has brought a kid home from school, and again….it could all be coincidence or not.

Now, after my whole…..no negative side effects blah, blah blah from yesterday….

We found his lunch from yesterday (almost the entire thing) in the front pouch of his backpack….so that’s not good, especially seeing as I found almost his entire lunch in his backpack again today….so appaerently lunch is not going so well.

We’re going to go in and talk to the principal tomorrow and we’ll mention that, and see what he says about it all; and see if he can help us out with it.

Jeremy seems to be eating well at home, and if lunch is the only meal affected, then Oh Well! He’s eaten an apple and a muffin and some popcorn since he came home, and we’re just about to have dinner so we’ll see. I still think he’s eating enough during the day, as a whole, just not “in school”.

Oh well! I’m sure it’ll all work out. Right?

Water Rats

We went into White Rock on Wednesday to see some friends of ours, and to have fish ‘n chips and to visit down at the beach.

They have 4 girls, and we have 4 kids so between the two families that is…..YUP…..8 kids. Wow, we really took that whole “Be Fruitful and Multiply” thing to heart, eh?

Here, you can see 5 of the kids, and the baby’s head….the two older girls were sitting at their OWN table AWAY from the LITTLE KIDS!

We went to a cute little resaurant – Moby Dick’s – with, obviously, a whale/sea theme, and it was pretty cute, except that when we sat down, we were overwhelmed by the BRUTAL stench of the toilets. Now, I don’t like to cause a scene, but I was willing to get up and leave even though we were already seated and ordering drinks because IT. WAS. SO. BAD!

We did end up asking if we could go out to the patio and when we got out there – the patio was just basicallly big enough for the 12 of us, and so it was awesome private dining.

The food was delicious – going down – but after about half an hour felt like CRAP in my stomach. We don’t eat a lot of fried food, and so this is a BRUTAL amount of grease to subject out systems too. But, like I said…..DELICIOUS going down…

We sat around and ate and talked and ate and talked some more until they very blatently started hurying us along and Honestly, we had JUST finished our meal and it wasn’t like the inside of the restaurant was full, so I’m not sure what the deal was.

Regardless, it was so nice to sit and chat with our good friends. We’ve missed them tons. These are the type of friends that are “life-long friends” I’ve been friends with Lala for our ENTIRE lives, and we’ve known the men since we were 14/15/16 years old. We have the kind of friendship that we “just love”. If we’re close, then we get together. If we’re not so close, then we call or e-mail….or not! There is no pressure, there are no hurt feelings…and even if it’s been a while since we’ve talked, it always just falls right back into that comfortable talk about anything kinda space. No Judgements or pressure – just friendship, acceptance and love….it’s not very often – if ever – that you will find yoursaelf with friends like these, and I am so thankful and grateful to have you guys in our lives. You mean more to us than you could possibly know and so much more than I could ever explain in words.

After dinner we headed out to the beach, and even though it was a grey and overcast day, the kids were DESPERATE to play on the beach, and once down on the beach, the water was just too enticing, and so they had to wade, and well…..once they were in wading…..you just have to swim, and SWIM THEY DID.

We could hear them screaming and splashing around in the freezing cold ocean water, but they were just having so much fun together. I LOVE White Rock Beach because it jsut spreads on and on and on and on and the kids can go WAY out and you can still see them, and it’s shallow for them to be able to play in, and SOOOOO SANDY!

They have a few more days down here on the Coast, and then they are headed back up North, and I’ll miss them, BUT….I’ll see them soon, and it will be as if we were never apart.

Trying – I’m really trying….

Okay, so I have a minute and I find that there is something cathartic about being able to get all my thoughts and ideas down onto paper and seeing as i don’t keep a “paper journal” it all goes here.

So, I have a choice, the baby is sleeping and the kids are outside playing and I could be doing laundry or……I could brain dump here.

Brain Dumping, it is!

Like I mentioned last post I am really trying to find a balance in my life.  I’ve spent a huge amount of time in front of the computer and I’m trying to be wise about my computer/Internet time.

I started last week by planning out our breakfasts and dinners.  I think that eventually we might plan out the kids lunches, but ofr right now they are just making them on their own on a day to day basis, and we’re supervising to make sure that they take a protein, a carb, a veggie and a fruit instead of 6 fruits and calling it a lunch.  It made a HUGE difference in so many ways.  I was able to plan out our meals using food that we aready had on hand and to make sure that our diet was varied and then I was also able to make a shopping list of what we actually needed and then stick to it…..WAAAAAAY better than just winging it.  AND…..the kids didn’t ask ONCE, “what’s for dinner?”  and i was getting that questions (no joke) about 20 times and it started first thing in the morning – before they’d even had breakfast.  It was unreal.  Now they can just look on the fridge and see what’s for dinner and there are no surprises and I don’t even have to think about it except for on Sunday nights when I’m planning the weekly meals. 

I also did breakfast because we don’t just eat cereal and so we rotate between porridge, eggs and toast, pancakes, eggs and hashbrown and usually have cereal once a week.  I planned that out and once again,the kids seem to be so much happier knowing what to expect and how to help out in the mornings (like either making the panckae batter from scratch or by cutting up the potatoes for hashbrowns).

Jon and I also sat down and worked out a weekly schedule so that he can get ahead a bit this month.  He has a ton of work, and if we can get a few extra hours in per day that would make a big difference in what’s coming in as far as the monthly earnings.  So, I know what to expect, and he knows what hours he’s working and what hours he’s “at home” with me and the kids and even the kids know when to leave dad alone and when he’s free, becuse we sat down and wrote it all out on the white board for them so there could be buy in from everyone.  the bonus in this comes in that we vaguely planned out the next 2 weeks as well (Spring Break) and if all goes according to plan, Jon will be able to take Wedesday’s off and we’ve told the kids that we’ll have Wacky Wednesday’s and Super Saturday’s where we’ll plan to do something fun with them….now I just have to come up with some options of “stuff” that we can do.  Stuff that they can choose from.  More planning….so much fun!  I say that with rolled eyes, but there is an element of fun in knowing a little bit of effort can alleviate a WHOLE ton of stress.

Moving on…….I did get ‘Siah immunized yesterdayand he’s got a fever now….I hate that.  i have more say on that topic, but i feel like I always have more to say and not enough mental and physical and emotional energy to actually get it out.  So, hopefully that will be my next post…maybe!

Frustration

‘Siah had a flare up of ezcema last night.  How frustrating is that? 

We have  an appt with the naturopath today and i’m hoping to get some answers and hopefully some “options” of things we can try to do.  We also should be getting the results of Jer’s Hair analysis and that might be able to offer some insight into his world as well. 

I’m actually taking all 4 kids AT THE SAME TIME into the Dr. office.  Nuts, eh?  I think that jon is coming with me although he seemed quite stressed out about it all this morning so we shall see.  I just cant fathom all of them at once in the little office.  Eeeeek!

The whole eczema thing is bugging me…..he also barfed ALL FREAKING DAY yesterday. So obviously something I ate hit him funny, but what..and why???  It annoys me that I was the healthiest with him and thathe seems to have it the hardest of the kids……maybe that isn’t really the case.  He’s the happiest, and most easy going of my kids, and he’s sleeping through the nights and nurses like a champ.  things are actually going really quite well.  It’s just the food intolerances and eczema….so frustrating.  And I’d really like a HUGE piece of cheese right now or a giant piece of pizzza.  Can you tell that I’m frustrated?  I want to self-medicate with food….not good.  Maybe this wohle food restriction thing is not  bad thing after all..I have to learn different ways to cope with my stress rather than just stuffing my face with food  it never makes me feel better anyway, but it sure tastes good.

Hmmmm….well, I’ll update ya if there’s anything good to update.  Later!