today's new food. Dandelion greens

Did you know:::

Dandelion is in the top 4 of all green vegetables and is one of the most nutrient rich vegetables on the planet.! Dandelions are natures richest vegetable source of beta carotene and the third richest source of vitamin A after cod liver oil and beef liver

Today is a veggie-rific day. we are having besides our normal salad. butternut squash and dandelion greens.

Dandelion greens are a nutritional powerhouse. The plant has been used since antiquity as a diuretic, a liver tonic, to treat skin conditions and a whole host of other health problems.
They are packed with vitamins and minerals. One cup of cooked dandelion greens has more calcium than a cup of cottage cheese but only 34 calories. It provides 12% of the fiber, 19% of the iron and 28% of the Vitamin C that (averaging for adults and children) the USDA suggests that we get in our diets each day. Dandelion provides more vitamin A than an equal amount of kale, collard greens or summer squash, giving you 85% of the daily recommended intake.
The one cup serving also contains 2.1 grams of protein, many minerals including potassium, magnesium and phosphorous as well as vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, B-6 and folate

i am making dandelion greens three ways.
First is a simple boil in salted water
second they will be in their raw natural state as a side salad
thirdly sauteed

recipe

Sautéed Garlicky Dandelion Greens

Ingredients2 lb dandelion greens, tough stems removed and leaves cut crosswise into 4-inch pieces 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 4 large garlic cloves, minced 1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method Cook greens in boiling water for about 4 minutes, and then drain in a colander. Rinse under cold water to stop cooking and drain well.
Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium low heat; add garlic, and gently cook for about 10 minutes making sure garlic does not brown. Increase heat to moderately high, then add greens, and salt and sauté, about 4 minutes.

growing up in Newfoundland i often heard about "dandelion soup' i had no idea that something so simple could be one of the worlds greatest superfoods.

will update this post more after supper. yummy

okay so supper is done. verdict. boiled dandelions are so good. just like the greens i used to have back in nfld growing up. sauteed in garlic and evoo was also good. dandelions as a salad green was not great. It was a lot like arugula except it's bite was a lot sharper than that of arugula. i think it would be great in a mixed greens salad. but as the only green it was too in tense.

we will definitely be having it again.

some more good information to know about dandelions they are great for liver detoxification, stimulates the production of bile helping with indigestion and heartburn. also helpful in the treatment of diabetes . it contains inulin which is a naturally occurring soluble fiber known to have a positive affect on blood sugar. it also has pectin which also in relieving constipation and lowering your cholesterol. it is a natural diabetic great or pms.

i bought my dandelion at petes frootique 1.99 for what is pictured.

On to the squash. i roasted it simply with evoo and salt and pepper. iT WAS SO GOOD!!!!

because i have not had any sugar for a very long time. ( june 16th) squash tasted like candy to me. it was so yummy and i have a whole bowl in the fridge left to eat hee hee

researching buying a new oil furnace.

That is what i am doing this afternoon. oh boy they are expensive. But the furnace in this house is so old it is costing a fortune. our furnace is really old and is running at about 70% efficiency. not good. last winter it was costing us approx 700 dollars a month. !!!

we have made the decision to put in a new one because it should cost about 100.00 a month to finance it and that is also about the amount of dollars in oil we will save. so i would rather have a new furnace that runs efficiently than be blowing all the heat out the chimney.

so I am on the phone with the third company now that installs and services oil fired furnaces in my area.

what kind of home heat do you have and how expensive is it.? inquiring minds want to know.

Zellers bonus points offer coupon / want it?

i have a earn 5,000 hbc reward points with the purchase of any 2 truly items. ( no restrictions on what truly product.) valid until october 25th 2008. this is not a computer pritout. it is the smartsource ( or the other booklet) offer.

If you want it let me know and it will be in the mail.!

post a comment and it is yours.

What the heck is jicama? And should you be eating it.?

well, i know what jicama is . but i have never tried it till tonight.

We have a store here called Pete's Frootique where you can get the more obscure fruits and veggies. And i found Jicama!

Jicama is a root vegetable that is used alot in Mexican food. Some people have characterized it as a cross between an apple and a potato. it looks like a turnip has a thin brown skin you can peel. it can be used in a zillion different way.

jicama is a low calorie, low-fat, high fiber food. it's mostly water about 90% yet a cup o it contains more than 6 grams of fiber. that alone makes it one of the worlds healthiest foods. but jicama also has calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin c, vitamin a and beta carotene. with a measly 49 calories per cup.

You can bake or broil a jicama like a potato, or slice it into stir fries. great raw. i mixed it into a berry-fruit salad for my snack later. i had a few bites and it is really satisfying.

so a new recommended superfood. jicama. Try it !

Picture picture on the wall who's the fairest of them all ....... or not.

In this digital age , technology has made picture taking easier, less expensive and a higher quality. being able to make sure you have a great pic beore the picture taking moment is over is priceless.

as a mom to three kids , with a digital camera from the start. I have thousands of pictures. probably a tenth of them are what i would call quality shots. ( i really need to go through them) Oddly enough for a mom of three , with thousands of pictures in her possession, i have one or two actual pictures around the house.

has the technology of digital cameras given us the ability and ease of taking thousands of pictures that we rarely see?

Dh has our computers set up to have a screensaver that shows pictures from our photos documents. it is like have a 15 inch digital picture frame in our living room. every now and then a picture will flash by that i have not seen in years that makes my heart melt.

But getting back on topic.... do you have less actual framed pictures than years ago. Do you distribute less pictures of your kids to family and friends. or has the method of delivery of the pictures just changed. instead of mailing off a school pic to aunt jan you email her one. And is that somehow less exciting as it sits on her computer rather than under a strawberry magnet on her fridge?

I started thinking about this when my kids had their school pics done the other day and i had to sit down and pick out a package. while trying to figure that out how many I wanted to get to pass to aunts and uncles and so on. I realized I do not have any pics of my 5 nieces and nephews. now i can see them all on facebook. But seriously, has it really come to that? do i have to log on to the Internet in order to see pictures of my family.?

So . i have decided that everyone will be mailed a picture. and i will be hinting at getting an actual physical one back. seriously let's not be forgetful-lazy- about this anymore. lets get back to sharing photos.

Dh is back

Well dh's weekend was good and he came back in one piece so i am a happy wife. and the kids ae back to school tomorrow so it will be somewhat quiet here, there is still gonna be one baby here after all;) but at least there will be very little fighting and scratching unless dh and i get into it! i have to say that the hardest part of having kids is the constant fighting.

It is very windy and rainy here right now. we are experiencing hurricane conditions. it is blowing like crazy out there right now. A few years ago we were hit with hurricane juan it was devastating. i am hoping we can really avoid that this time. so if anyone out there from the east coast is reading this sit tight and stay safe.


gotta get some lunches ready just in case there is school tomorrow.

Free Kashi Honey Almond Flax flavour

get a free box for a limited time at

www.foodforchange.ca

go get yours!

i have liked all the kashi products i have ever tried.

The 150 healthiest foods on earth- jonny bowden

Ever since i started eating healthier to change my life and lose some weight. I started reading books about food trying to learn how foods affect our mood our bodies and ultimately our happiness. there are two books that really stood out to me . this one and another i will speak about later in another post.

I urge you to check it out of your library you may find it has a wait list. yes, it is that good.

My family has had the book for a few weeks now. when we sit down to eat we read the book along with eating. learning how the vegetables we are eating is boosting our bodies and minds. the kids really enjoyed it. this is the amazon spiel written better than i ever could.

Product Description
A complete guide to the healthiest foods you can eat - and how to cook them!
Why get your nutrients from expensive supplements when you can enjoy delicious, nourishing foods instead? From almonds to yucca, readers will find out what nutrients each of the 150 featured foods contains, what form contains the most nutrients, if it's been recommended to combat any diseases, where to find it, how to prepare it, and how much to eat - plus wonderful recipes using these sometimes obscure foods! Indexes by nutrient, by disease, and by food make finding what you need a snap, and the at-a-glance format makes the information as easy to digest as the foods themselves

.About the Author
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., M.A., C.N., C.N.S. is a nationally known expert on weight loss and nutrition and is a and the author of the best-selling "Living The Low Carb Life: Choosing the Diet That's Right for You from Atkins to Zone" (winner of the Consumers Choice Award for Best Nutrition Book of 2004), as well as Jonny Bowden?s Shape-Up! The Eight Week Program to Transform Your Body, Your Health and Your Life. He is the host of a popular call-in health show heard nationwide on the Health Radio Network. Jonny frequently appears on television as a health expert (including Fox News, CNN, Deborah Norville Tonight, MSNBC), and is a popular speaker at media events and seminars. He has been featured in The New York Times, The New York Post, Bottom Line Health, Chicago Sun Times, and countless other publications. Visit www.jonnybowden.com.

http://www.amazon.com/150-Healthiest-Foods-Earth-Surprising/dp/1592332285 read the reviews and make your own opinion. but i do highly recommend you read this book. This book is what i call a buyer. i liked it so much i will buy it to have. there are only a handful i have felt that way about in my life.

EXPLANATAION OF FPC

Since several people have asked me what the fpcs are. I wanted to clarify.;) I have fpc's for cheese, dove chocolates, healthy request soup, coffee mate and maple leaf foods.
I sealed all the envies up with a fpc in it. When one is won i take a envelope. i no longer know what is in it. but it will be one of the above. address it and mail it out. So what you will receive is one of the above. If you are unable to use the fpc there is a trading area on frugal or a karma section I will not be insulted if you choose to trade it or give it away it is your to do as you wish. and the issuance is random .

When i am hiding things like pampers points, pin lunchmate buck. the codes will be listed please post if you use it so others do ot waste their time trying to use it.

Don't forget to vote in the daily poll contest. check under momming daddyig poll post for information.

what do you like to do in your spare time?

We are mostly all mommies here, so we do not get a whole lot of spare time. but is there something that you make time for that is a hobby, social group or crafting hobby?

i don't really have any set thing. i like to make cakes, gift baskets and plan parties. and i have very much enjoyed writing in my blog. it is nice to put my thoughts down on paper. i am always open to new ideas on how to use my free time lol

Lunch with a friend.//Shopping

i mentioned somewhere back that i ran into a Friend i knew in university since the star of the new school year. Also the same one that asked me if i wanted to go downtown this upcoming weekend . well anyway we got together for lunch today all five kids in a room. i was really very nice. i hope to have many more lunch dates like that in the future. We have a lot in common. besides kids.
Dh is out i the woods with the army still . He will be back tomorrow night. he called and is having a good time.

Went to Walmart today for some of the anniversary sales and left with only coffee. i wasn't in the mood to shop today. toting three kids with you takes the fun out of it.

although i am going to need to go out soon and get some new jeans. I have almost reached my goal for new pants. I can hardly believe it. However i will not go int detail here but i have lost a silver anniversary's amount of weight. yay me. still a "weighs" to go yet. though another 15 on to that number ad i will be a happy girl. it is slow going but it is happening i am also going to need a new bra. is there a way to make them smaller? i am only familiar with extenders lol j/k never used one of them.

How to make an easy Pinata !

i recently posted showing a pinata we used for my son's party. it was a checkered flag.

it was so easy to make involved no papier mache. and took just a little while .

tools/materials needed.

a cereal box i used rice krispies the 700g one.

some rope/twine

some heavy duty tape- duct tape or other

pinata filler

some not so strong tape masking little bit of packaging tape.

some paper for filling the inside.

some stickers/paper/markers printed sheets for decorating the outside.

how i made mine.

I took the rice kripie box and strenthened the bottom of the box with a couple passes of duct tape. i punched two holes in it through the tape to push the string through for hanging the pinata.

then turn box over and fill alternating favors with balled up paper so that when it opens it does not all fall out at once.

when filled close the box. using whatever tape you decide .

decorate the exterior. to make our checkered flag one we taped on black Bristol board and pasted individual white squares to it.

it was so easy we made two one for the girls and one for the boys.! it ended up being really strong on the sides making the only way to get it open through the bottom so please keep that in mind when taping it up.

it is the personal touches that make it memorable.

Kids birthday parties. i am in a birthday mood.

I recently threw a party for my son's birthday. it was a racing theme. the kids had a great time. we made up diferent racing themed games lots of prices and they decorated their own t shirts it was a ball . some pictures to follow. I had so much un planning this with him and making the crats and decorations. also making the pinatas was a blast. there was very little on the market here in the theme of racing. i even had to get the balloons of ebay.!

anyway some pictures.

Happy 50th birthday to my Bil David/ inservice

Happy birthday dear Bil. hope you find a surprise in your mailbox.;0

today is an inservice day. Do you have those professional development days? so we are having a three day weekend. perfect timing with DH gone away and all lol.

so my babies are all enjoying a lazy day with no planned activities. One is in front of the computer playing games and another is watching tv and the other is reading a book. Tomorrow however is another fun filled day of running them around. and then to an event that is local. should be fun!

I got to meet both of my kids teachers recently. They both seem like very patient women. with high hopes for the school year and for my kids. and the children seem to like them. Do you like your children's teachers? do your children like them? i guess the latter being the most important. The school they go to seems very much like a positive learning environment and that they really are interested in going above and beyond. So i am happy. my son's class has been given permission from their teacher to bring in cushions to sit on. for use on their chairs as the chairs are quite uncomfortable. ( the same type we probably all had the molded back with the hole in it.) so i have to remember to send one in on Monday. other than that all is going good so far.

i am glad all the fpcs are being passed out and that people are having fun with it. I like that people are reading this blog as writing it is a great stress reliever and a great way to collect my thoughts for the day ahead or the day passed. a lot of you i have been familiar with for a long time on frugal and it is Nice to "see' you outside of there as well. there will be another fpc up for grabs today as well as a shick pin. keep your eyes open lol

don't forget to vote daily in the poll contest find ans to this in the poll blog entry from yesterday. you can vote everyday in the contest. but only once in the poll.

Foods we think are good,

I received a leaflet sometime ago about foods that we think are good but they are really not. it came from the nutrition action newsletter. it attacks ten foods for it's unhealthiness.

1) sun maid yogurt raisins -- sugar and saturated fat
2) tim hortons hot breakfast sandwiches high calorie saturated fat a days worth,
3)presidents choice sheppards pie-- high calorie high fat
4)weight watchers whitman chocolate candies malitol sweetener high calorie.
5) macdonalds milkshakes 1130 calories!!!! 28 g of fat. that is the calories of three quarter pounders and the fat of two .
6) starbucks venti white chocolate mocha with whole milk and whipped cream.high calorie high fat.
7)campbells regular condensed soups loaded with salt. one can contains a person dietary intake of salt
8)sunny d-each cup only contains a tbsp of real juice. the rest is pure sugar.
9) wendy's southwest taco salad. 700 calories 19 grams bad fat 1600 mg ofg sodium
10) Stouffers macaroni and cheese.- days worth of sodium half a days worth of saturated fat high calorie

not that i would have ever really considered any of these 'good foods" but do we really know how bad some foods are that we are putting into our systems.

it has been quite a few years since i have had a macdonalds milkshake. and i have never bought my kids one. but if in the situation I could possibly have. and i never would have thought it was That bad.

are there any other food you can think of that you thought were good or not so bad but have discovered it was horrible for you?

Budgeting. Do you have the right tools?

when i started 8 years ago to get my finances in order to start a family and to figure out how my family was going to make it as one income and myself being a stay at home mom. I didn't know where to start! i was lost. i did some web searching and i found a website that i really loved and that i got a lot of value out of.

It has a lively writer named grandpa terry, terry rigg. he writes articles that are filled to the brim with experience and trial and error wisdom. I personally have learned alot from his emails over the years. and the tips from the readers included inside them are iinvaluable.

Garandpa terry, has created some forms that makes budgeting, credit card payment, and bill payment organizing a breeze. i bought the program 4 years ago and still use them. i am no whiz with computers. so when it is the choice of these inexpensive forms or trying to figure out how to make a form in excel . my money is best used with the premade forms.
If you want a Budget that only takes a couple of hours to setupand a few minutes on payday to maintain, you have to have The "New" Complete Budget and Bill Organizer. If you've ever tried other budgets that have 15, 20 or even 50 different categories that you are required to keep up with everyday, you know it's next to impossible. You don't have time for that. Get the simple budget system that's easy and it works!

budgetandbilltools!!!


grandpa terry's website is http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/ take a look around there are lots of free things to download great articles to read and sign up for the email. i have been getting the email now for 7 years!

New poll; Hardest part of the mommying daddying job the first few years.

Well for me personally the hardest part in the early years was certainly the night time feedings. i have never felt so drained in all my life as those first few months. trying to function the next day was the worst and of course it just got harder with the more children i had. no sleeping when the baby sleeps then. Not that i ever could there was just too much that needed to be done! haha

my littlest still wakes up sometimes at night. but now dh gets up with her. it is rare. but i am burnt out when it comes to getting up in the middle of the night, even if i am only up for a minute or two it is disastrous to my feeling as if i had a full nights sleep. I think the 7 years of not getting a full nights sleep has certainly traumatized my body. and my mind and now any interruption ruined me lol. so anyway on the occasion should one of my children wake up dh takes care of it. Thanks hubby.

Giveaways, fpc, and more prizes YAY

I will be giving away more coupons and codes on my blog. The first Fpc being given away today to Anastasia who found the hidden fpc. and two pampers codes were given away successfully yesterday. I hope that finding them is as fun as hiding them, tomorrow i am going to start a contest for those that comment on my new poll. Should be up around lunch time. all you have to do to enter is say vote under the blog entry discussing the new poll. You can vote once per day. that many entries will be put into a hat and one of my lovely children will select a winner. The winner will receive a book of stamps. or a five dollar tims card their choice. stamps could come in handy for the christmas card exchange that I will be starting up on frugal again this christmas season.;)


Thank you to everyone who voted on the last poll.

1 vote for sahm is not for me.
2 votes for i need both to be happy
2 votes i want both
9 votes for being a sahm is enough for me.

14 votes total that is fantastic turnout!

the next poll should be fun.

Is rising food prices frightening the pants off you.

If it is, you are one of the Canadians who have noticed the dramatic increase at the grocery market registers.
With everyone so focused on rising oil prices and prices at the pump food companies and grocery stores are hiking prices on another necessity of life, food . While Canadians are focused on energy costs and transportation costs soaring. they may not have noticed that rice has tripled in price and the cost of flour has at the very least doubled. Leading to higher prices for the very basic in life.

A lot of people in a forum I frequently visit www. frugalshopper.ca have noticed, and we are reacting with measures to keep our food budgets buying what it was before. But a lot of people are still not quite in the know. It seems logical that unless you paid attention to what the prices were before it is hard to know how much it has jumped. Consumers just look blankly at the grocery bill wondering what they bought that put their weekly grocery bill 20+ dollars higher than it was two weeks ago. they look at the chips and cookies or ice cream and think aha! that must be the culprit! chances are it is the things like rice, flour products, milk, vegetables and meats. in fact a lot of the snack food type items are still setting lowest price ever records.

Another thing to note is even if the prices on your favorite items have not gone up you should take note of the package size as that may have gone down. A popular example of this is the big bricks of cheese. it used to sell for 4.99 on sale for 600g. And it still occasionally goes on sale for this price the package size is now 520g sneaky sneaky!

first thing anyone can do is look at what it is they buy and note what it costs. knowing your prices is key. without knowing what it regularly sells for you will not know when you come across a good deal. ie if your families favorite bread normally sells for 2.29 and you do not know this when you buy it on sale for 1.69 you may pass up the opportunity to save money by buying a few extra loaves and freezing them.

There are lots of other things you can do as well such as menu planning, stocking up , coupons , and more. but if you are new to this at first just focus on what are you paying for your favorite things . when you have that knowledge the door opens to saving money on your families groceries. Then you have the money to spend on fun things for the family or to pay for those ever rising gasoline prices.

gift wrapping station craft and challenge

With our new house we have to rebuild /organize the laundry room. in the laundry room plans dh is building me a gift wrapping station. it is super cool. but sadly it will not be ready for this christmas season.

Now i like many of you have an organizer bin i put all my wrap into ( that i usually buy after christmas) it is a big plastic thing i bought for it. but when i get ready to start wrapping. i usually sit on the floor with a few rolls some tape and scissors. during the wrapping i look for my scissors twelve times. get up 6 times for ribbons and bows. and tags.

so this christmas and for other holidays. i am making a gift wrapping take along organizer. I saw this on hgtv

one that i can load up with my things. and take with me to eliminate the time wastage and help ensure perfect parcels.

if you want to make one as well. you will need some common around the house items.

Materials:
sturdy corrugated cardboard carton

two or three cardboard cores from bathroom tissue

two or three small boxes (cut-down tissue boxes, etc.)

scissors

stapler

dowel (1/4 iuch or 1/2 inch in diameter)

Note: The size of the carton and the individual small boxes is arbitrary. The carton need only be high enough that when you stand rolls of gift wrapping paper up in it, they will not tip out. This carton was about 14 inches high, 14inches deep front to back and 12 inches across. If you want to house more supplies, use a bigger carton.The directions are for cutting and assembly. You will no doubt want to paint and decorate the carton in some way and cover the inside cardboard containers, as well, with paint, fabric, or Con-Tact paper.

i will be getting my supplies together this week. if you want to join in the crafting fun. get your supplies together and we will make it together. post a pic of your finished product and journey on your blog sending me a link and picture and be entered in a draw for a mystery gift. and look forward to a less stressful wrapping season.

EdITED TO ADD LInk

http://www.hgtv.com/cr-occasions-gift-wrap/gift-wrap-center/index.html

What kind of Sahm are you?

Being a sahm is not all its cracked up to be y'know. lol I guess it can sometimes depends on why you are a sahm. In the first place. If it's because you want to, I imagine it is fabulous and all that you want and hoped it to be,
But if you are a sahm because it is either the economical choice or the pressured guilt choice by you peer group or parents. Maybe it is a little less desired. or a little less fulilling.

i imagine those woman have quite a different take on it on what being a sahm means to them,
. i am not ashamed to admit, that I am somewhere in between economical- want- and guilt. And that is in order of driving factor.

Economically my family cannot afford to pay for daycare for 3 kids. it just is not possible and i would rather be home with my babies than work for peanuts.

want. from the begining i have wanted to be the one to teach my kids things and be there or the booboos and i am glad i have been here or that.

guilt part of me feels that it is the thing i should do. so that the kids are happy and feel safe and secure. untill they are all off in school.

does your role of sahm have any of these factors rolled up into it? it has taken me years to come to terms with the fact that it is okay to say this is not enough i need more. I felt guilty for years wondering how come i am not fully satisfied when everyone around me was insiting that i should. Well ladies, i no longer feel guilty. i know it is only a human response. just like we don't all like pickles. So i am no longer harbouring any shame. I am out and i'm proud. and you can be too.

now all that being said. My only role right now is a sahm. I know very little action for someone with awful big words one paragraph ago! it will work out for me. I know it will but those factors i mentioned are still there and they are strong. but since i have allowed mysel to be honest. everything has changed. and oddly enough i'm happier even though nothing has changed.

not every mom is comfortable talking about the challenges of being a sahm mom because we are 'supposed " to be loving it. but it is not the case for everyone. Now i am not saying being at home with the kids are a nightmare. i am just saying something extra is needed to feel fulfilled.

Long week ahead,

well today is the start of a very long week. The kids are in school, hubby has work and army, and then he is gone on an expedition all weekend. So gone from 9am friday til sunday eveningt.

Which means no days off and a long week ahead. i want to detest the army commitments. but i find it hard to hate something he loves. i do however detest the fact that it takes away from the fact that it just makes me even more certain that i cannot schedule anything for myself. Alot of the army commitments. come up with only about a week's notice. or at least that is when I hear about it! Not really sure if he is holding off telling me or they don't tell him, But it aggravates me because it just again reinforces to him that there is never a reason to take my needs into consideration because I am always here no need to consult.



This, although true, still makes me feel taken advantage of. This is why i have sat back for so long and allowed myself to be pushed to the back burner. But i have to reclaim my life or at least a small part of it. i have to do that for the good of my family.



a typical week at my house is. dh works 5 days at his full time job and 2 days of that are extended for purposes of the army takes him out till midnight . so two days he is gone from 9 am til midnight. then on the weekend. this one for example, he has to take the two days off from his regular job and use them to go with the army. which in turn effects the next week days off. so one could argue that this week I am on my own. so then i use a week like this to talk me out of trying to organize anything for myself outside the home. almost like it is destined to become unmanagebale. So my own thinking is sabotage. But there has to be some basis for this thinking. don't you think? I mean really where can i fit in a part time job. or a social group. ?



I guess the other part that gets me down is i know that he has to go away this summer for training, Yup that's right folks all summer! 8 weeks. oh boy! i cannot focus on that right now.

another reason to not get involved in something. i am afraid I may become dependant on that emotional/ social support, and then be worse off when it is taken away. I am also afraid that having to give it up ( should i start something) will make me feel more deprived/ taken advantage of.

oh boy what a conversation today!



.

Sundae sunday

I feel like having a sundae! so i ate a few strawberries with some home whipped whip cream on it. Killed the craving. We had a relaxing day today. went for a drive in the morning and then my friend came over for the afternoon and we had coffee and a bitch session ;) she just purchased her first home and while she will be moving 2 hours away it will be good for her and i am excited about it for her.



i will have to drive farther for our chats but it will be worth it i am sure.



It is only a few weeks into the school year and i am already sick of making lunches. It has to be a cold lunch no microwaves or thermos' . I try to make them healthy with a little treat. and the kids are usually pretty good at giving me ideas. but it is still a little stressful. but they are made ir another day. So i will not dwell.



Tomorrow will be a slower paced day, monday is a big cleaning day . DH is working at night so he will be here in the am and he can help.



I am looking or tap shoes size little girl 8 anyone know where to buy them.?

Saturday night at my house.

Saturday night at my house is usually the same old thing. Which i like don't get me wrong. dh and i usually watch a movie have a drink or two. and sometimes listen to music. we get a chance to reconnect and talk about our week. it's nice.

my husband and i have been married for 6 years this past July . and i believe we are still as much if not more in love now than the day we got married. We have been through a lot and we are still standing so i guess that is a testament to something.

my husband is a hardworking man. A great provider. He is an excellant husband to me and a wonderful father to our kids. I am a lucky woman. i bet he would say he is the lucky one, the cornball. :)

don't let all the love stuff fool ya, we can still fight with the best of them. a common theme is usually not having any free time to myself and so on the usual. we always come out of it smiling . arguing can be very cathartic. it doesn't happen often though.

We have very similar personalitites and usually feel the same on most subjects. It can be like talking to yourself sometimes. haha. but i wouldn't want it any other way.

Busy mommy-ing

Well after shuttling sarah to dance and chris to drawing and then to soccer all with my littliest in tow. i am fatigued. it is on saturdays so of course dh works every saturday so it is all down to me. But to see them trying new things and meeting new people is so worth it. These are opportunities i never would have had as a kid. I went and got Sarah little ballet slippers while she was in dance class. although they were too big. i will have to look for smaller ones. they would also like her to have tap shoes. but i never saw any even remotely close to her size.

Chris said he really liked his drawing class. He is a fantastic little artist. and draws wonderul pictures so i thought that class would be great for him. Then he just walks down the hall to the gym where soccer is. Our recreation department offers fantastic opportunities for a great price. maybe your local recreation has things they offer to.

so what super foods are we eating today: organic broccoli, cauliflower, salmon, and mxed veggie salad( spinach, bell pepper, cucumber, red onion, button mushroom, grape tomato. and more.

vitamins i am now taking are omega 3, and a womens one a day. i am thinking of starting a b12 vitamin. but am still researching it. Any thoughts on vitamins.

I am in the market for a recommendation for whey protein, if anyone has one they want to recommend.

Do you eat artichokes?

I am trying new vegetables all the time. but i am intrigued by artichokes. i have never had then before. If you eat them how do you prepare them? fresh or canned or bottled. any ideas would be great.

Today has been one of those days that seem to go on forever. The kids generally go to bed 7;30 and i was looking at the clock at 6pm waiting for some quiet time. lol

so i put up the bouncy castle and they went nuts for an hour on it, They love that thing. I got it in the spring from a special sale walmart had in ontario, I got mysister to send it down. it barely made it under the weight capacity Canada Post has. i pull it out as a treat and use it for birthday parties. anyway stressul times call for inflatable measures. I am happy to say we all made it to bedtime happy campers;)

Dh came home and said the veggie bouquet is a huge success and everyone loved it. i am glad i never know what to send to those things. So now we have a winner. yay!

What are your favorite things to send to a potluck.?

Funky Friday

Well another school week is over. my son is in grade 2 and my daughter just started primary. this is the first day of school. and the walk to school.

I just wanted to post up a couple pics of my kids.

I posted up some pics on yesterdays post of the veggie bouquet i made for Dh work. It came out fantastic. I am very happy with it.

Today nothing big going on Dh was home all morning so i skipped to the grocery store got a great deal on sliced black forest ham, Too high sugar content for me but dh and the kids like it a lot. it was .87 per 100 g better than half price. dh has since gone to work now and the baby is sleeping. I have about an hour to myself and here i am. got to go get the kids in a bit. it is a nice although chilly day here.

The kids start their saturday extra curricular activities. my middle has dance and my boy is in both drawing and soccer. they are looking forward to it. i am not looking forward to running them around but it is a small thing for them to be happy. my littliest is to small for any programs but i am hoping to get her in a playschool next fall. she will be three then and potty trained. which i have to start. i am so sick and tired of changing diapers. they say you change 10,000 diapers on average per child. It certainly seems like i have changed 30,000 diapers and the most of them smelly i bet!

Is just one cookie ever enough?

On June 16th I made a momentous decision to start eating healthier. Being more accountable to eating foods that were going to give me more energy and a more positive moods. and of course like most people over the age of 30 i had 5 -10lbs to lose ;) So i did some research. I realized that i was eating a lot of sugary foods to try and get that energy i needed to get through the morning , afternoon evening. but then the inevitable crash would happen and i would once again need a boost of sugary energy. the things i thought were giving me energy were actually dragging me down lower than where i started.

So the best lifestyle for me to try and adapt to my life would be one where i get rid of all the sugar that had been dragging me down. so starting the 16th of June i have not had anything sugary up to an including today and tomorrow too. high carbohydrate foods are also off the table as they are quickly changed into sugar in the body giving the same insulin response and the rush-crash starts all over again. so most carbs are also something i have not eaten.

i have read a lot of books trying to learn about what to eat what not to eat. and most importantly why,

one book i read called sugar shock ! was a huge eye opener. i recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the effects of sugar. or anyone who is curious as to why everywhere we look now children are becoming more and more overweight. adults are tipping the scales higher than ever before. Obesity is an epidemic. A very recent epidemic in my opinion and i believe it has a lot to do with HFCS high fructose corn syrup.

HFCS


'Trying to save money, food companies introduced High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) into the food market in the 1970s. Sweetening manufactured foods this way is profitable, because it is less expensive and much sweeter than sugar, yet easy to transport because of its liquid state. Today HFCS is found in a variety of foods from soda pop to ketchup, fruit drinks to salad dressings, cereals, breads, flavored yogurt, and sauces. What is Fructose? Fructose, a monosaccharide, is sometimes called “fruit sugar” because it is naturally found in fruits. Fructose is also found in honey, and is a component of table sugar (sucrose), which is a disaccharide composed of fructose and glucose.

When we eat most carbohydrate foods, the blood sugar level increases and insulin is secreted to transport the sugar into the body’s cells. Besides helping to transport blood sugar, insulin also triggers the release of a hormone called leptin. Leptin helps control hunger by signaling the brain that the body is full and therefore to stop eating. The interesting fact about fructose is that it is metabolized in a totally different way than other carbohydrates. It does not stimulate or require insulin for transportation to the cells. Since there is no need for insulin release, there is also no secretion of leptin. Therefore the feeling of satiety is altered—you continue to eat and possible overeat"
it is recommended and i agree 100%


Whenever possible, avoid food products that contain HFCS and refined table sugar. This is not a magical cure for weight loss, but the preliminary research indicates that it may play a role. These foods often have little—if any—nutritional value.
Take inventory of your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. Start reading the fool labels. If HFCS is one of the main ingredients (which are listed in descending order on the food label), scratch it off your grocery list—permanently.
Try to limit foods that have “sugar” as one of the first ingredients.
Start shopping around the perimeter of your grocery store; this is where you will find the foods in their natural, unprocessed state.
Fill your grocery cart with low fat dairy products, fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, eggs, beans, peas, lentils, nuts, seeds, whole grains, cereals and breads.


food for thought. calorie free

What to do today?

I started out writing a post this morning about my schedule for the day, or the lack of anything to put on it. and then i decided to take a walk to the grocery store to get vegetables to make another vegetable bouquet for my husbands work. Took the baby. ( of course)

it takes about 35 minutes to walk there, no sidewalks so a bumpy go. and well it takes 50 minutes back on account of the weight of the groceries and fatigue It is rather cloudy so it was a nice walk. i got a lot of superfoods, radish's , cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, grape tomatoes, baby carrots, snow peas. and more will post a pic later. so i got a lot of exercise today.
and i still have to go get the children from school.

my husband is working all day and he has the army tonight. He is a 2nd Lieut. in the reserves. Artillery. he enjoys it . It takes him out 1-2 nights a week. and some weekends. He is really enjoying it. this is a part of the reason that scheduling is so hard for things like part time work. But i am finally gonna try and fit something in.

when my daughter started primary , a little boy in her class was actually the son of someone i met in university, since school started we have had coffee and chat frequently. It is nice to have someone to chat with sometimes. she invited me to a girls night out in October. I haven't confirmed i would go but it is tempting. it is downtown and i haven't been downtown in 8 or more years, i can hardly imagine it. but i am thinking of it seriously.

New poll. Is being a SAHM enough?

I have added a new poll because i am curious what other women think about being a sahm. personally there are a lot of things i like about it and then there are the days where i feel trapped and unsatisfied.
I like being the single biggest influence in their lives. I like having to not deal with schedule conflicts all the time. Being here if they need me. and not missing a darn thing special and normal that they do.

then there is the woman in me that just wants to do something outside the house that is recognized by peers. contributes to a future career, as kids are only little while and then you have to get back out there.

When i was working before my babies I was the go to girl for information. i was comfortable and confident in my position and I felt integral. Not that i do not feel any of those things now. It is very different.

For the last 6 years i have been home , tending to the house and to the babies. i feel as if my twenties just slid by unmarked. my thirties are upon me now and again i feel as if these years are slipping away, I joke with family that my thirties are gonna suck but my forties will rock., I really believe that this is gonna be a very long decade. But hopefully , we will all come out the other end.

I have almost always wanted to go back to work part time. just to get out of the house, it has never come to pass though. there is the scheduling issues as well as schooling as well as cost of daycare. I guess you can find a lot of roadblocks if you look long enough. these are some very real issues though.
now that I have two kids in school it seems like it may be more of a possibility in the future. Although now our schedules are tighter than ever. But i did put an application in today to the superstore. I am really hoping to hear back so i can get out for a few hours make a little money to add to the pot. and just become more complete. so cross your fingers for me.

Superfood (s) of the Day!

Today i am making a veggie and fruit bouquet.

it will have apples, grapes, grape tomato's, cucumbers, green pepper and spinach.

Have you ever seen one of these vegetable creations? do a google search. they turn out so pretty. i have a half of a cabbage as the base and about twenty different skewers they will be half veggie and half fruit. 2 each! Just a little fun way to make supper and desert fun. I also wanted to practice it as i will be making one for a potluck at dh work this Friday. Tonight is a get together at my children's school. they are boiling corn and serving hot dogs, not exactly nutritious, so the reason for all the fruit and veggies when we get home.

I personally am on a low/ no sugar healthier way of eating. Otherwise known as a low carb, but i find when i say low carb people get the wrong fly by night impression so I say no sugar diet. so i eat a lot of salad and rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Post more on that later.

Quiet time!

well, i am actually sitting here in the quiet of my living room, in the daytime! two kids are at school and my baby is sleeping ahhhhhh. I can get used to this.

i have to skip out and go get them soon. but i wanted to write a little something before all my quiet time comes to an end.

Firstly, I fell the need to tell you that i am not an eloquent writer. I jump from thought to thought, i am the queen of the run on sentence, and my laptop is old and is missing some important keys resulting in misspelled words as well as lacking needed capitalization.

Now that that is out of the way. i can get down to destroying all written English rules.

have you ever had one of those days that you just feel like you are always treading water and never really getting anywhere. I have been feeling that way lately. We are a one income family with two income bills. we are not extravagant. In fact we are very frugal. i have no shopping addiction. no collections, no fancy electronics or a fancy car. i have had the same winter coat for four years for example. but we do own our house., upgraded last year to a single dwelling, it has not made us house poor but the oil for our heat sure has! it has an older furnace and is costing 600.00 a month in heating oil. it really is killing us. all spare monies go to it and it is still behind. anyway, a tale for another day. I really cannot think about it to much right now.

Healthy food, at your fingertips.

A part of being a good mother has to be making sure my kids are eating enough, getting their vitamins and minerals, experimenting with new vegetables and meats. and learning to stick to a certain, loose, schedule of eating.

Allowing kids to make choices as they get older is a great chance to teach them about healthy choices and to see how much they have learned from you already.

Now that doesn't mean that it is all healthy all the time. I treat my kids too. and in turn they always give me the benefit of the doubt when i ask them to try something new and different.

I have been doing a lot of reading lately on what exactly makes a food healthy or you.
what we think may be healthy is sometimes not the case especially when most ruits and vegetables are covered in pesticides.

my first recommendation is to buy a fruit and vegetable wash. they are commonly available now. i bought one in the natural health section of my local grocery store. my second recommendation is if you can buy organic. do so. if it is not available or out of your price range give your fruits and veggies a good wash.

here is the Environmental working group shoppers guide for level of pesticide use.

top 12 highest level of pesticide.

Peaches
Apples
Sweet Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Lettuce
Grapes - Imported
Pears
Spinach
Potatoes

are your families favorites on this list? Some of my families are. now I cannot afford to buy all organic vegetables and alot are not even available in my area, so i wash them in a natural wash and use them sparingly.

conversley

top 12 least high in pesticides are
Papaya
Eggplant
Broccoli
Cabbage
Bananas
Kiwi
Asparagus
Sweet Peas-Frozen
Mango
Pineapples
Sweet Corn-Frozen
Avocado
Onions

alot of my favorites are here too so we eat alot of these.

my idea will be to post a meal idea everyday using one of the 150 of the worlds healthiest foods . Today we had grilled fennel, spinach, tomatos, onions,mushrooms, peppers, chicken, and more

it is not hard toincorporate at least one superfood everyday. A superfood is a ood packed with nutrition. low in at and and usually high in fiber.

What is my 'profession'

While setting up this blog one of the profile questions is occupation. Usually if given the opportunity i select homemaker. (as archaic as that sounds to me.) But here there was no one classification that i fit into. instead it seemed I fit into all of them.





As a stay at home mom I am a kind of a Jill of all trades, you know the rest of the saying and 'master of none".



these were my options. I believe that i am all of them. Let me explain;



chemicals----- cleaning and the removal of chemicals or safety purposes starts at 9 months and never ends.



communications or media -- teaching your children to communicate starts before they are born. and trying to communicate your p.o.v never ends. Having to try new and innovative ways to get the message across.



construction it starts with building blocks and never ends. the building supplies may change but the need to be a construction expert is always called upon.



consulting -- Children always need your take on things. which is great. one of my favorite parts of the job.



education -- we start educating our kids right away and it is ongoing. one week it is letters the next week could be dinosaurs.



engineering -- important or construction ;)



environment-- teaching our children to be good to the environment is a necessary thing. also helping them to clean their 'environment" (room) is a conversation you will have many many times .



fashion-- Although we will never be in style our selves it seems to be our duty to make sure they are.



government-- I am the govt in this house. haha

human resources-- this is the one i selected. i have changed it mentally to precious resource manager!



Internet -- teaching them to use it and then keeping them of it all the time and keeping them safe,.

investment

banking-- i there is any let after fashion!



law --- respecting the Law and rules of any situation they are in. using good judgement.



law enforcement or security-- self explanatory



manufacturing-- everything from Halloween costumes to three meals on day. and everything in between.



maritime -- that's where i am haha



marketing-- I market vegetables to the kids all the time. i also market to them that homework can be as fun as playing games. I do both adequately. I need to work on my marketing.



military self explanatory



museums or libraries visits, visits, visits,



non-profit the entire job is non profit monetarily, oh but the joy i get is more than enough profit



publicising reports and drawings



real estate-- buying a house than a bigger house and making improvements to the house are never ending.



religion-- some of the hardest questions to field.



sciences-- all kinds of sciences are covered in this employment opportunity. Biology, chemistry, geology, health sciences, and more.



sport or recreation-- constant



student-- your children are your students but you also are their student. both have much to learn.





technology-- we have to buy it and then figure out to use it , thus finding out how cool it is and knowing inside we will never get a chance to use it before it eventually gets lost or broken



telecommunications -- learn to answer the phone and say, ___ it's for you! ALOT



tourism --- we need to know where all the hot spots are to go to on family vacations. Those same vacations everyone will be bored at and it will be your fault.



So This is what i do. I am sure there are more subcategories not covered.



above all I am a multi tasker

transportation. --Well this one is to obvious or clarification.