In the coming New Year

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.

I have decided that 2012 is going to be a year of change for me. Throughout my life I have tried to do things for people and taken care of people and never really taken care of me. I have had a lot of people in my life that have been negative and somewhat hateful.  I have to start surrounding myself with positive energy, love and kindness. I believe that family is NOT whom you are related to through blood but with those that are caring and loving to you. I will be separating from those that are not loving, kind and caring of others and me. I have started this already.

I am very luck to have a loving husband and two wonderfully sweet children. I want them to have a whole and centred person for a wife and mother. I would like to have friends that are caring and kind around me. I already have some but wish more to be included into that circle.

I am going to work on me. I am going to leave the negative and bad in the past. I can’t change the people and things that want to be that way and am tired of dealing with it/them. I am going to focus on the positive in my life and surround myself with it. 

I need to put me first, when it comes to my health and happiness.

I am not going to stress about things I can’t control. I am Not going to be used anymore without receiving care and love back. I enjoy helping people and making others happy and I am going to continue this. Sometimes the littlest things you do for another person can make a world of difference to them. 

I hope that 2012 brings only good things and happy times into everyone lives!

Fall and Pumpkins!

Well this is my Favorite season! Fall has all the good stuff. The change of temperature, falling of the leaves, Thanksgiving, and my all time fav Halloween!

I was in the market this week and what do my eyes land on but sugar pumpkins!!! If you ever see them pick one up they are great for making anything that calls for "canned pumpkin". They are sweeter than your average jack o lantern pumpkins. I only use the sweet sugar pumpkins for cooking. I usually buy a few and steam them and put the puree in bags and freeze them. This way I can have fresh pumpkin pie/cheesecake/muffins really anything that takes pumpkin all year.

So today I thought I would share with you the simple steps of processing the pumpkin to use in any recipe that calls for "canned pumpkin".

These are my two beauties that I brought home! :) (I think I need to go and get a few more before they are all gone)
So to start all you need is a knife, spoon, steamer (either a plug in one or a steamer pot on the stove works fine) and some time.

Wash off your pumpkins so we don't have any dirt on them.

Then cut it in half and scoop out the guts. (if you want you can save the seeds and cook them up as a nice snack after)

Cut the pumpkin into small slices and pop it skin and all into the steamer. It took two steamers full for this pumpkin. I set my steamer for 40-45 min. This is pretty simple isn't it :)

Then you want to let the cooked pumpkin cool off and when that is done just take a spoon and scoop the meat off the skin and plop it in a bowl.

Doesn't it look good! And believe me it smells so good in the house right now :) It's so simple you will wonder why you bought canned pumpkin in the first place! Each pumpkin makes (depending on size) approximately two or so pies worth of pumpkin

Mmmm...now the only thing I have to figure out is what am I going to make with the pumpkin first :) 

Happy cooking everyone!

The Challenge won

OK I give up on the 30 day challenge. There is just too much going on in life right now to get it done. I will try it again some day :) Sorry for anyone that was following it.

30 Day Photo Challenge :day thirteen

A picture of your favorite band or artist.  Well at this time in my life I guess I would have to go with Danko Jones.

Here is a picture of him I shot at his last concert in Vancouver BC. He has a cocky attitude and a great stage persona. If you like rock and roll check him out :)

30 Day Photo Challenge :day twelve

A picture of something you love. That is easy :)

My Kids :)

30 Day Photo Challenge :day eleven

 A picture of something you hate. I hate that their are people out there that can and sadly do treat animals poorly to the point of killing them with out a second thought. It makes me sick!

I don't want to put up some of the graphic and horrible pictures that are out there of animal abuse so here is a image to stop the abuse.

30 Day Photo Challenge :day ten

A picture of the person you do the strangest things with. LOL My best friend and hubby would be the one to fit that bill :)

30 Day Photo Challenge :day nine

 A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most. My Mother for most of my life has helped me get through the good times and the bad.

30 Day Photo Challenge :day eight

A picture that makes you laugh!

Wow there are so many pictures that I have that makes me laugh. To share one is the hard part on this one.

 Hope you got a laugh out of this like I did :)

30 Day Photo Challenge :day seven

A picture of your most treasured item

Hmmm.......... I would give up most everything that I own for the right reason. The only thing I think I couldn't let go would be all my photo's. They tell where I have been, what I have gone through, and what I was thinking or feeling at times throughout my life.  Now how to show a picture of this??

Well this isn't my image but I think it conveys what I am thinking when I think of all my photos.

30 Day Photo Challenge :day six

 A picture of a person you’d love to trade places with for a day.
 This is a hard one...... I am happy being myself. I guess I would want someone famous that had an exciting life. I guess if I had my choice (which today I do lol ) I would want them to have a ton of money so I could have some fun :) Can I choose a time in that persons life? Well since this is my post I will say yes to that :) Ah just for the fun of it I guess I choose.........

Madonna in the 80's or 90's

 I think it might be fun she had a lot of fun and adventure in her life both good and bad. It would be interesting to be in her shoes for just a little while.

30 Day Photo Challenge :day five

 A picture of your favorite memory. Well I can't just have one for this. Both of my children's births are my favorite memories. They are my world.

when my son was born

when my daughter was born

30 Day Photo Challenge :day four

Day four is a picture of your night.

This is a hard one. 

My night is sleeping some of the time. It is a lot of times star/moon lit (at least right now in the summer). It is spent feeding my daughter at odd hours. It's cuddling on the couch with my husband and watching a little bit of TV or a movie. Since I am in or doing most of those things it's hard for me to get a picture of that. The last chance I got to take a night shot was months back so here it is :) hope you like it.

It's off my back porch. I haven't had time to edit it but it's not to bad the way it is :)

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day Three

 Day three is a picture of the cast from your favorite show. So here are some images of the cast from the show Red Dwarf. It has been a long time favorite of mine :)

this is most of the members of the show out of costume 

 

This is one of my favorite little snippets :) hope you enjoy

Oh and by the way..... anyone want any toast?

30 Day Photo Challenge :day two

Day Two : A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.

Well that is an easy one :) There is no other person that I have been closest with the longest. He knows everything about me :)

My Husband

Love you sweetie :) He is going to love that I used this photo of him :) But I love my corny man :)

30 Day Photo Challenge :day one

The first challenge is a picture of yourself with ten facts


The Facts!

1.   I am a Real redhead
2.   I have two children whom I love with all my heart
3.   I have a small dog named Buster and no he isn't brown
4.   I don't seem to like to stay in one job for too long unless it is always changing and challenging
5.   I like most anything Muppet's
6.   I have a collection of Mr. Potato heads
7.   I prefer a Truck (not a ford) to a car and will never own a mini van!
8.   I can be a little spacey at times
9.   I have a wonderful loving husband
10. I like to create things/art/ food.

Me

30 Day Photo Challenge

Ok I am going to start doing this on the 16th of Aug and see if I can post each day for 30 day. It will be a little bit of a challenge but I think I can get it done. If anyone wants to join me the more the merrier :)

 

Here is the list

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with ten facts
Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest
Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show
Day 04 - A picture of your night
Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory
Day 06 - A picture of a person you’d love to trade places with for a day
Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item
Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh
Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most
Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the strangest things with
Day 11 - A picture of something you hate
Day 12 - A picture of something you love
Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist
Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without
Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die
Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you
Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently
Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity
Day 19 - A picture of you when you were little
Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you’d love to travel
Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget
Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at
Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book
Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change
Day 25 - A picture of your day
Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you
Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member
Day 28 - A picture of something you’re afraid of
Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile
Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss

Monday Loves and Likes

Over at Filth Wizardry she has some great ideas for art, crafts and teaching. I am in LOVE with her idea to reuse the first step big building blocks to learn to spell and create sentence structures. I can't wait till my little ones are a bit bigger. I will defiantly be doing this one with them! I have some blocks but I know I am going to be hitting the thrifts and garage sales with getting more of these blocks in mind :)

Monday Loves and Likes

Well where I live was the towns festival this long weekend. So this Monday there was a parade and a whole bunch of activities. This was the first year that I took my son to them. Passed years I thought he was to young and most of the things were on right when he was napping. So we got to spend some Mother son time today which I loved :) Dad was nice enough (that and he doesn't really like parades and crowds) to stay with our little girl while she took her naps and we went and had some fun. My son loved that there were motorcycle cops and fire engines at the parade but he thought that the bagpipe band was a little too loud.

he even stopped for me to take his picture.

At the park later in the day he got to go on his first pony ride. HE LOVED IT! 

my little pony rider :) on Apache 

 

Over all it was a good day :) Though I (the whitest woman on the planet) got burnt :(  But still worth it to see the smile on his face.

Monday Loves and Likes

I just saw this today and had to share :) I LOVE these pigs!! If I had a farm I would be getting a few that is for sure!

Are they not cute!!!!

Mangalitza is a name for three breeds of pig grown especially in Hungary and the Balkans known also as a curly-hair hog.


Now all I need is a winning lotto ticket (as does everyone else in the world) and I will have me some furry little Mangalitza piglets!  Hmmm.... I think the male would be named Herbert :)

Girly goods

We are going to a little girls 3rd birthday on Sunday. Now I am usually in the boy mode for what to get when it comes to 3 year olds (since I have one) so I had to think on this one. I finally came up with what I think most every little girl needs :) A tutu!! Now I could have just gone and bought one from the store but they are expensive and not that great. So I did as any person would do and said I can make that! And so I did! Really it wasn't hard at all. Around 4 yards of tulle, some ribbon and I had it made in about an hour or two.

 I had to try it on my own daughter just to see how it looked. What do you think? She seemed to love it.

Ok I will admit this isn't a good picture, but you try to get a ten month old to stay still with a tutu on lol  I think I will be making her one very soon :)

I hope little B likes it and has many fun dress up days :)

Join The Great Kindness Challenge!::

 Join the Great Kindness Challenge!!
I think this is a great opportunity to give back a little and teach your children about being kind to others in their community. On the 13th of August this year why don't you see how many things you can check off the list of kind things to do with your children. I know I will be doing it with  mine :) Really you don't even need kids to do this :) It's a nice thing to do at any age! Here is the list !

Hope to hear what some of you did if you do do it. I will be posting about what my children and I did.

Monday Loves and Likes

Well since I didn't do this last week I will do two today :)

I am in Love with Pixar's movie Brave that is going to be out in 2012! Finally a female lead role! From the teaser it is looking great!

 

 Now I just need to read the book first. The story is an old Irish tale so it should be a quick interesting read :)

Secondly I am getting into Pinterest. There are a lot of interesting things to follow and find. If you want to follow me (granted I am just starting and don't have to many things tagged) here I am pinterest

I will try to post more things soon. I just seem to be really busy lately. My son just had his third birthday last weekend and as all parents know it take a lot to put together a party :) and with the nicer weather the family is out of doors more.I have a few things that I am working on for here so don't worry more is to come!

Monday Loves and Likes

I am liking this! I so am in the mood to go on an adventure. With living in BC an adventure is always just right around the corner. We have the best of most everything in BC. Ya I know everyone says that about where they live :) This is the next place I think I want to venture to. I haven't been over to the Island in a long while and this place in Tofino caught my eye.  Ocean Village Resort  . This place has these little cabins that look so nice and it's RIGHT on the beach. To open your door and look out onto the sea would be a wonderful wake up. To see the sunsets as you ended your day Heaven. There are a ton of hiking trails around there too. Hmmm.... just have to figure out when we can go :)

Happy Canada Day!

I love my Country! Happy Canada Day everyone :)

Monday Loves and Likes

Loving that the Strawberry season if finally here! When I was young my Mother, sister and I would go every year with ice cream buckets in hand off to Westham Island in Ladner BC to go berry picking. The farm that we use to go to and my family knew do not produce strawberries any more I think they do potato now a days. I remember the owners of the farm telling us that if my sister and I didn't come back with red (from the strawberries) all over our faces from eating them she would send us back out. Of course as kids we were more than happy to oblige her.So it was one for the bucket and one to eat! :)  Now a days we go to Emma Lea's Farm. 

 

Just remember when going to pick strawberries have at least one or two very sunny days before you go get them :) Then you get the nicest, yummies and sweeties berries!

Happy Berry Picking and the best part Eating!!

Carrot Raisin Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing

 

Ingredients

1½ cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

½ tsp salt

2/3 cup canola oil

2 eggs

1 cup carrot

2/3 cup crushed pineapple drained leaving some moisture in it

½ cup raisins

Directions

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Make a well in the centre of the dry mix and add oil, eggs, carrot and pineapple and mix. Lastly add the raisins. Don’t over mix. Spoon mix into greased muffin pan and bake for around 25 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Makes 12.     

Cream Cheese Icing

1 package of cream cheese, softened

¼ cup butter, softened

1 cup confectioners sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

Directions

 In a bowl cream together the cream cheese and the butter until creamy.  Mix in the vanilla and then gradually stir in the confectioners’ sugar. Keep refrigerated after placing on muffins.

Lifes Little Questions

Through a friend I was led to a woman's blog who has cancer. She found a lump in her breast back in January of this year and has expressed what she is and has gone through on her blog. Her cancer is an aggressive type that was driven by the estrogen in her body. So she has had both breasts removed and she is also getting a full hysterectomy done. She did a guest write up telling her story on hugsforstrength.com  Her story is amazing and brave like most people with cancer are. She is only 36 and has 4 young children.

Her story got me thinking. What would I do, how I would feel if this fate was mine. How would I tell my children, family, and friends.Would I be as brave as she has been. To have your whole sense of being as a woman taken away from you (breasts, ovaries, uterus, cervix and fallopian tubes) so that you can live. It would have to be done but she has decided ("for many reasons") not get reconstruction of her breasts done. She states that "once you have cancer, sometimes things that were important to you before no longer are."  I wonder if I would feel the same way. I have quite large breast. I am not all about looks as people that know me know but I don't know if I could live life the same way without them. I know my husband would be there for me whatever I chose but to go though that would be very life altering.

I wish only the best for the women out there suffering with this horrible disease. I hope that I never have to make the tough decisions that they are faced with every day.

Hopefully one day they will find a cure.

Monday Loves and Likes

I Like this video. Sisterhood by Kate Wilson  Her slam poetry is from the heart and is poignantly stated. It talks to me on a few levels. One, of how I felt/was growing up and in some ways I still am to this day. Two hoping and searching for ways that my daughter and son don't have to go through problems/complexes of their own be it body or mind. I want them to feel secure in who they are and what they can do in life. The world is theirs to create a life in and I hope it is a happy and healthy one.

Monday Loves and Likes

Saw this video today and thought it was really cool :) totally liked it. Hope you do too.

Dog drinking X-ray

Weekend Walk

As is on a lot of weekends at our house we try to get out. Even if it's just for a walk around the neighborhood. This Saturday we went around the block to the local school so my son could play on the equipment.

On our way over we came across the new construction starting at a house (that is used by the parks board for meetings) that burned down a while back. They are going to be making a newer bigger meeting house for groups in the area. Can't wait to see what it is going to look like.

What kid doesn't like big trucks and excavators. So I took a picture for my son :)

It seems they had their sports day at the school on Friday so there were some remnant of what went on. 

these were all, as a sight read, done by Div 5 from Cliff Drive Elementary

I thought this one was quite unique

From what I could read this said "The Very Hungry Cup Cakepillar " I love children's imaginations

Loved the work on this one :) GO Canucks GO!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was off to the swings, slides and teeter toter!

Its funny my son has to go on each one of them :)

My daughter wanted to join in on the fun but she is a little to small yet :)

After at the fun we headed back home for some hot chocolate and snacks. I know what you are thinking hot chocolate in June??? I make up hot chocolate for my son and then mix it with a WHOLE lot of milk. What he gets is more chocolate milk. For some reason he has to have it after nearly every walk we go on right now. Ah what doesn't hurt you right :) It's just nice to get out and spend some family time in the sunshine.

Monday Loves and Likes

There are a lot of things that I am coming across and thinking about lately that I love or like so I thought I would start a weekly Monday post of those things.



 So here we go :)

Now I can't start this of without starting with my #1 thing that I LOVE!  My Family :)

My Daughter

My Son

My Hubby :)

and I can't forget Buster our dog