On rainy days

This is what I have been busy with on our lovely rainy days. They look great and they add a punch of color to any room/space. 

Loves and Insecurities...

This is a post all about me...and all that I offer and do or have done...

1. My biggest fear(s) are snakes and water. I have mentioned my snake fear before and it is an extreme fear. Growing up on a farm infested with them you would think that I would be used to them. I think my fear started when I was little and I watched my Uncle Kelvin pour salt on one and it literally shed it's skin on the spot. TRAUMATIZED!
Water..growing up on the prairies there are very few bodies of water. The thought of going on a cruise makes me very anxious. I will likely never go on a  vacation cruise just b/c I am terrified of sinking and a whale eating me (childish I know, but that is me). Hopping out of a boat in deep water to swim makes me panic b/c i don't know what is swimming underneath me. Watching whales/fish on t.v. makes me shiver b/c they are so big and I don't know how to swim. Those of you who enjoy whale watching...you are crazy! It is rare for me to go into a body of water higher than my waist.

2. I am a people watcher. I went to a hockey game this winter and i couldn't tell you who won the game..I was far too busy watching people. I have put myself in a few situations b/c I don't realizing that I am sitting there with a smirk or a sad look on my face.

3. I LOVE babies! Babies, babies, babies!

4. My dream job would be to work in a hospital cheering up sick kids or rocking/comforting crying and sick babies. I love to see happy children and to know that I can help comfort them.

5. I believe in disciplining my children. This is a very touchy subject for me b/c I am very passionate about it and  I will stick to my guns and argue it to the death! If you don't want an honest answer when it comes to discipline...don't ask me questions b/c I may tell you something you don't want to hear. I can't watch Super Nanny b/c it makes me furious..

6. I love to sing!  I grew up going to church every Sunday and sitting beside my Grandma(who has a beautiful voice) who taught me how to harmonize and sing. This is something that I will cherish forever and forever be thankful for. It is a gift that I have been blessed with.

7. My left lung has collapsed twice and I have had part of it removed. Humidity and I don't get along very well. So, my dream of moving to Fiji will never become a reality..sniff sniff

8. I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on April 25, 2007. He was 8lbs 4 oz and 21 inches long. He was named Colton Reese Taylor and he is my pride and joy! He brings a smile to my face everyday. He is compassionate, caring and determined and tells me everyday that he loves me.

9. I run a dayhome which allows me to raise my own child and to have the joy of helping mold other children as well.

10. I don't have alot of close friends, but the ones I do have I cherish and love like family!

11. I dream of one day opening my own little bakery/coffee shop...needing to win the lottery first though.

12. I enjoy true war movies. I could watch Band of Brothers over and over again.

13. I am obsessed with baskets. My house is full of them and they keep me organized.

14. Summer + garage sales = happy Jen

15. I'm handy and crafty.

I may add to this list later but for now..this is me! Is there something unique about you that I don't know about?

Emotional Trainwreck

As a rule, I am not an emotional person. Sure there are things that make me tear up like a heart felt story or something that really upsets me like unneeded or unwanted drama. But, all in all I can hold it together quite well.  

 It has been a long week and I am tired today, but I am holding it together b/c the weekend is here. I had a couple minutes this morning so I sat down to catch up on my PVR. So, I turned on American Idol (closet AI fan) and settled in to watch who would be on the final 2 next week. This episode was about the final 3 contestants going to their home towns (first time in 3 months). For some reason I found myself tearing up over watching these kids go home and seeing all the community support for them. Well....let the water works begin! I was crying like a little baby! If the contestants started to cry I cried even harder. I had tears rolling down my cheeks and I am thinking to myself, "I am ridiculous, who cries over American Idol?"  Me, obviously! 

 I remember the first time I watched the movie 'P.S I Love You'. I was sitting by myself one evening watching the movie and I started to cry about 15 minutes in and I started to sob and sob. I'm talking gut wrenching sobs! Jeff walks in the door and I am curled up in a ball on the couch and sobbing my eyes out! My nose is running, I can't hardly talk and I was shaking. He just stood there for a second with a horrified look on his face and then said, " What is wrong with you? Are you ok?" I sobbed out an answer, "Yessss,(sniff) I'm just watching a sad movie." (cue the loud honking sound of me blowing my nose). 

 Or there are the times you laugh so hard you cry. I am one of those people and it has brought about a few embarassing moments for me and others around me. You know those people that snort when they laugh? Well, that is me when I get laughing hard and I can't help it or stop. I don't laugh that hard very often but when I do people actually stop to stare! There are times I get laughing so hard I can't breathe, I can't see because of the tears and I can't wipe the smile off my face or stop crossing my legs b/c of the urge to pee.(I know I'm not the only one, so don't judge me for saying it out loud!)

I love watching people that are having a good laugh. It puts a smile on my face to think that they found something that funny to laugh at and I secretly wish I could be laughing with them.

I love a good laugh and we all need a good laugh once in awhile. Have you had a good gut wrenching laugh lately? I haven't and I think it is about time to go out and find one!

Baby Cuddles

Jeff's sister Jen and her fiance Donald welcomed a beautiful little boy into the world this morning at 3:28am. Griffin Thomas Humphrey weighed in at 7lbs 8oz and 22 inches long. Congratulations to Jen and Donald! So wishing I was in Halifax today for some new-baby-cuddles. Wishing Jen and Donald all the joy that a little one brings and we look forward to meeting Griffin in the fall. Just a little FYI ..i love babies, and I have no intentions of sharing him once I get him in my arms! : )

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

for babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow

So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep,

I'm rocking my baby cause babies don't keep.

This poem hung in our farm house where I grew up until I moved out when I was 17. I memorized this little poem at a young age and I have never forgotten it. Now that I am a mother I can appreciate what this poem says and it is so true! Never feel guilty for cuddling your baby or holding it too much. Once they get to that independent age you have to fight for a cuddle! 

Razor or Weed Wacker?

Things have seemed rather caotic these last couple weeks and I feel like I am falling behind in everything..laundry, ironing, cleaning, organizing and me! Life has been busy but I'm not sure with what though. Summer is finally around the corner and there is so much to do. 

I hate to admit it but Mother's Day weekend was anything but relaxing but I accomplished alot. My house has been driving me crazy for a good 2 weeks b/c i have been surface cleaning and spot cleaning, which I hate doing but haven't had the time or the energy to do a proper job. So, on Sunday, Jeff took Colton out for the day and I set in to do some serious work in my house. It felt good to do a good scrub throughout the house and get things crossed off my very long list and to get my house back in order.

I thoroughly enjoyed a hot stone massage on Saturday. I am trying to remember why I stopped getting massages and i can't come up with a good reason so i figured it needs to become a monthly thing for me. 

 Saturday was also the maiden voyage for Colton's new kite! It has been sitting in a box in the entry way for awhile now and we figured we would give it a try on Saturday. It ended up not being windy enough but it was fun just watching Colton and seeing how excited he was to get his kite off the ground.

 Me...I have been putting myself on the back burner lately..I came to the realization that it is time to take some 'me time'  and I'm going to start that time with shaving my hairy legs! Yikes! I forgot how bad I am in the winter for maintaining my legs (too much information, i know, but I know I'm not the only one out there!) Summer is upon us and i have no excuses and no reason to walk around looking like a hairy mammoth so i need to get in the habit...again. Pathetic, i know! Do I hear an 'Amen' from all the other hairy ladies out there?! 

 Looking forward to getting out more now that summer is here and getting my daily dose of Vitamin D and working on my tan! Summer puts everyone in such a better mood and that makes me happy. That whole grumpy- b/c- of- the- weather is another blog post that I will save for later.

We are really looking forward to having Jeff's dad here mid June for 2 weeks...I may or may-not have started a little 'honey-do' list for him while he is here...he will be rewarded with food. : ) In all seriousness, it will be so nice to have some east-coast company here finally.

Well my daily duties are calling me (no i don't mean shaving my legs) so I gotta run for now! Get out and enjoy your day my friends!

Edmonton or Bust!

We had been planning Colton's 4th Birthday for the last 2 months. Our plan was to head to Edmonton and take him to the Water Park at West Edmonton Mall. Jeff has only ever been to Edmonton once and never to West Ed so we figured we would all enjoy it. We asked some family members to join but no one was able to make it except for my parents.
Mom and Dad arrived in Calgary Thursday evening and we headed to Edmonton on Friday morning. Colton started to come down with a head cold Thursday morning but we thought it was just your regular cold and we figured a little humidity from the water park would knock the cold right out of him...NOT! By the time we checked into our hotel room Friday afternoon it was clear that we would probably not be going swimming at the waterpark. He was so plugged up that everytime he tried to breathe or sniff, he would gag. We figured we would play it by ear as to how Saturday would go, whether we did anything or not. Friday night was the longest night EVER! Colton woke up every 20 minutes-1/2 hour b/c he couldn't breathe, he was gagging and he didn't want to sleep sitting up. There was more than one occassion that night that I looked at the little coffeemaker sitting on the table and thought about brewing a pot, seeing as how I obviously wasn't gonna get any sleep. Finally 6:30am rolled around and we were both exhausted...we staggered down the hall to G&G's room and they took Colton so I could get some sleep. Staggered back to bed at 7:00am and fell asleep...8:00am..KNOCK KNOCK..'HOUSEKEEPING'! WHAT?SERIOUSLY?! I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or go out and give the chambermaids a serious tongue lashing! I opted to stay in bed and whimper to myself  b/c I didn't have the energy to get out of bed or chew someone out right then..but I thought 'so help me if I see those ladies in the hallway they would hear it from me!' I did run into the cleaners in the hallway and they both looked very grumpy, so I figured I would let this one go..I wasn't in the mood to argue and I figured they would throw me in laundry bag and send me down a laundry shoot..so I walked by and smiled politely.

 Mom and Dad offered to keep Colton at the hotel to rest for the day and told Jeff and I to head out for a bit for a break. We hit up West Ed Mall to do some shopping. We headed back to the hotel in the afternoon and Colton was still looking peakish and was still pretty plugged up. We headed out to dinner at Eastside Mario's where I was informed that absolutely nothing on their menu was gluten free..not even their garden salad! I had to sit there and watch Jeff devour his bacon carbonara that was 'the best he had ever had'. Everyone else enjoyed a delicious meal and I sat there picking at my plate of lettuce.

After dinner Jeff and I decided to take Colton to the Hospital in Stony Plain, where we were staying. Took about an hour to get in to Emergency and we were put in a little room that was obviously used for putting on casts. Everytime Jeff looked at the cast saw he would shiver and go all pale (funny to watch). We did have the pleasure of hearing all the goings-on of all the other patients nearby. One gentleman down the hall had a major problem with flatulence and it got to the point where it was no longer funny after 2.5 hrs and we were feeling sorry for his neighbors who were probably smelling it! lol Almost 2.5 hours later a nurse came by and asked if the Dr. had been in yet. Jeff and I are sitting there half on the floor and trying to hold each other up b/c we were so tired and Colton is trying to sleep on our laps, we gave the nurse a very tired look and both said 'nope, no Dr.'. Not 5 minutes later this little Dr. came speeding in and informed us that he had no idea that this room existed! EXCUSE ME?! Why would we be put in this room if the Dr. didn't know it was there. Oh well, we received a RX for Colton and we were on our way. Of course all the pharmacies were closed for the night so I knew i was in for another sleepless night. Sunday morning finally rolled around and 6:30 had us pitter- pattering down the hall to G&G's room again so i could get some sleep. I was so happy to be heading home on Sunday afternoon. A HUGE thanks to mom and dad for being there this past weekend, we couldn't have survived without you both!

We did have a little party for Colton(who was feeling much better) on Monday and our friend Delayne came by for hotdogs and present opening. Happy Birthday to my precious Colton!!

Picky Eaters

 We LOVE meatloaf in our house, so I made it a new mission to try and 'healthify' this favorite. I have 2 boys that know every excuse in thebook as to why they can't eat their vegetables. I make it a habit to steam/puree vegetables to hide in meals. The other night I made a crockpot full of ribs and added a cup of puree sweet potatoes to the sauce....they were delicious and the ribs were devoured. Ryan, if you are reading my blog here's a little FYI for ya - there was pureed sweet potatoes in your ribs the other night...hehe

This meatloaf contains 1/2 cup cooked quinoa(mixed into hamburger), 3 servings of vegetables(broccolli, carrots and celery), 3 tbsp real bacon bits chopped up fine and 1/2 cup pureed sweet potato(mixed into sauce on top of meatloaf)

                                                     Quinoa Meatloaf
Mix hamburger as usual with desired spices, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup cooked quinoa (1/2 cup uncooked quinoa in 1 cup chicken broth), dash of GF worchestershire sauce (is there anyone that can pronounce this word properly?), salt & pepper and bread crumbs (for those of you gluten ingesting folks(sniff sniff). Once hamburger is mixed well, pat it flat onto wax paper and make it into a rectangularish shape.

 Saute desired vegetables (carrots, broccolli and celery cut up quite fine) and then place on bottom half of hamburger pattie. I add 3 tbsp of real bacon bits on top of the veggies to unhealthify it. If you are like me, I hate touching raw meat so I find the easier, cleaner way to roll it up. Use the wax paper to make your hamburger into a tight log and then pat the ends in so the veggies don't fall out.

For my topping I use 1/2 cup sweet potato puree, 1/4 cup ketchup, big squirt of mustard and 1 heaping tbsp brown sugar (which could really be made into 2 tbsp by the time I'm done with it) and drizzle over meatloaf.

Dinner....is served!