Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas from Us to You!

We have a very simple Holiday Season at our house.
In preparation for the holidays, we do a little baking ......

And we make a few homemade gifts ...

Once the holidays are here, we like to relax.
We eat Christmas Dinner in our Pajamas
Do a little light reading ...


And take the time to thank God for all our blessings!
Merry Christmas to all!
Love from Wendy, John, Liam,Sara and Lily

Monday, December 13, 2010

The City Awakes ...


This is the scene outside my hospital room this morning. Cities never cease to amaze me. This picture is, essentially, the city asleep. Yet it is so alive! It is not a very good picture as I took it with my cell phone. I wanted to show you The Bow, which is the Encana building (Oil Company) that is being built. It is the tall building on the left. It has 3 cranes on top of it!!! Isn't that amazing??!!! How did they get up there? Too much for this little prairie girl to fathom. Apparently, the first thing to be built in these tall buildings is the elevator, then the cranes just catch a ride on the elevator to the top, then build the rest of the building around it. I am in awe.

Airdrie and Calgary are about 15 km apart, so not very far. They built a mega mall in between the two cities. It takes me about 7 minutes to get to it from my house! (I'm just sayin'. In case shopping is in your blood and you want to come visit!) Very dangerous!! Anyway, because of the mall, they built a new interchange/off ramp thingy. It was amazing to watch it being built! I would be travelling on this very busy 3 lane highway (The Deerfoot) and they would be digging and building a road UNDERNEATH me! Yikes! Then, when they were done that, they built a road above the traffic! Wow! I have much respect for the vision of the engineers!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Nurses don't make good patients!

I'm writing this from the family room of the Foothills Medical Center. I have been here since Friday afternoon. My heart was hurting, so I thought I better check it out. You might remember that it broke about 2 1/2 years ago ... Trying to figure out if it broke more. Meanwhile, I am very bored. Seems like being in this place has made me sicker, what with all the drugs they are giving me. Want to go home so I can feel better. And of course, there are 3 little people who need me there. Oh well, God knows what's best and I trust that He will straighten all this out.

Really I am a model patient, but boredom does tempt one to get into a little mischief! Like last night I was texting in the dark, under my blankies, so as not to be caught by the nurse. I was going to say "big bad nurse", but that would be totally unfair. She's quite average in size and seems to be a very good nurse. I've had her for three nights in a row! I am also finding myself, as always, craving contraband food! Like a great BIG double double from Tim Horton's or a BIG Mac from "you know where" (minus the fries, I've got to think of my heart for Heaven's sake!), or a BIG bowl of Vietnamese noodles from the Vietnamese restaurant next to my place. Are you catching the "BIG" theme I've got going with regard to food? I'm not really complaining about the food, just about the size of the food! But really, it is a good time to pare down my serving sizes. It is Christmas and I challenged L'Dene to lose 10 lbs. before January 1st. (what the hell was I thinking?!)

Lily was here with me today, but had to call my sis to come get her earlier than planned. The poor little thing has had to withstand formula for the last 3 days. She is not a happy girl! Poor little belly is not feeling so good. Needless to say, she was fussy and the man across the hall kept yelling to shut my door, he couldn't stand the noise! LOL! Poor old fart!

Plotting my next escapade into mischief .... hmmm ... might try doing wheelies in the hallway in a wheelchair. Maybe the night nurses will be up for some races?????

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

tuesdays with lily

it is 122 pm and i am still in my pajamas. holding a crying baby, feeling guilty for just feeding her 2 ounces of formula cause i seem to be out of milk. needed to journal cause i had to get these feelings out, thus the one handed typing, baby in other arm, with no capital letters and limited punctuation. was feeling overwhelmed and tired this morning so went back to bed, nursing lily in bed. now am stressed over messy house and very much needing a shower. could break down into a puddle on the floor very easily. but still thinking this is right where i need to be ...

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Blessings ...


Lily is 4 weeks old now. She has already made such an impact on our lives. Soon we will not be able to imagine life without her. I feel such a calm and a sense of purpose to my life right now. There is just something about pacing to calm her crying, breastfeeding her hungry body, or just rocking her to sleep. It makes the rest of the world go away and brings me to that exact moment. I know that nothing else matters.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

South African Dish: Bobotie

Okay, so dish #2 was a hit! It is from South Africa, and is called BOBOTIE. It is kind of a twist on meatloaf. Very interesting blend of spices and ingredients. I fed this to my Sister, her husband and their son. Everyone loved it! Deanna brought a rice pilaf to go with it, and I served mixed veggies on the side! Great meal!!!

Minced lamb or beef, or a mixture of the two (I would use 1 1/2 to 2 lbs. meat)
butter, vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 slices bread, crumbled
1/4 cup milk
finely grated rind and juice of 1/2 small lemon
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt, and milled black pepper
3 oz. dried apricots, chopped
1 Granny Smith apple peeled, cored and chopped
1/4 cup sultana raisins
1 1/2 oz. slivered almonds, roasted in a dry frying pan
6 lemon, orange, or bay leaves

Topping
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation
Set the oven at 325. Butter a large casserole. Heat butter and oil in a saucepan and fry the onion and garlic until translucent. Stir in the curry powder and turmeric, and cook briefly until fragrant. Remove the pot from the heat.

Mix in the meat. Add the crumbs, milk, lemon rind and juice, egg, salt, pepper, apricots, apple, raisins and almonds. Mix. Pile into the casserole and level the top. Roll up the leaves and bury them at regular intervals. Seal with foil and bake for 1 1/4 hours. Increase the oven temp to 400. Mix together the topping milk, eggs and salt (double the recipe if you need more), pour over and bake uncovered for a further 15 minutes until cooked and lightly browned. Serve with Yellow Rice (or Pilaf) and Blatjang (apricot,raisin chutney).

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Scrapbooking ....

So I've been alone now for what ... 5 weeks? I've got a little over a week left until the kids get home. What to do ... What to do? Hmmmmmm ....

I finally, after using every excuse not to, have brought out the scrapbooking supplies. For me, scrapbooking is very rewarding, and I LOVE reminiscing on old pictures. I love stressing over how to make the perfect page and display the pictures in all their beauty and "cuteness" (since, really, they're mostly just pics of my kids). Even found a couple of the Farmer's wife in there. You'd think I would have kept up with the task all these years!

But NOOOOOOOOOO ... I've found that it is also the easiest thing in my life to procrastinate about. For one thing, it takes up a lot of room and makes a big mess! It also takes a lot of preparation to get to the point where I can put the pictures on the pages. There's the picture sorting and the inventory taking and the shopping for new paper and supplies! Not to mention the preparation of the house in order to make enough room for scrapbooking. One needs to clean up the everyday mess in order to have enough room to make the mess of scrapbooking! Huh?

Of course, it is totally possible to complete 10-12 years of scrapbooking in 9 days! Isn't it? I started working on Liam's book first, I got about 3 pages done then arrived at Christmas 2002 .... What? No pictures? Do I even remember where we went that Christmas? Was that a Christmas that the kids were with their dad? Did we go to Saskatchewan? Did ANYBODY TAKE PICTURES??? HELP!!! Well, I obviously can't go on with Liam's book until I figure out what happened to those pictures...

DAY 1: 3 PAGES SCRAPBOOKED, KICKING SELF FOR NOT AT LEAST KEEPING THE PICTURES ORGANIZED IN THE BOX! BUT AT LEAST LIAM'S SCRAPBOOK IS ONLY 8-9 YEARS BEHIND ... THAT'S DO-ABLE!

On to John's book ... he's got a whole drawer full of pictures, but none are in order! Spend one entire day sorting pictures and still not done! Am really seriously thinking about pitching some pictures in the garbage! Yikes!!

DAY 2: 3 PAGES SCRAPBOOKED! THINKING, WOW, DID I EVER TAKE A LOT OF PICTURES OF MY FIRST BORN ... ISN'T HE CUTE? ... JOHN'S SCRAPBOOK IS ABOUT 12 YEARS BEHIND WITH A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF PICTURES TO SORT THROUGH. HAVING SERIOUS WORDS WITH SELF ABOUT KEEPING PICTURES NEATLY ORGANIZED IN BOXES!!

I am looking at Sara's pile of pictures. Oh my Gosh! Her pile is very small! Did I forget to take pictures of her?

DAY 3: 3 PAGES SCRAPBOOKED! BERATING SELF FOR NOT TAKING ENOUGH PICTURES OF SARA. I MEAN, WHAT KIND OF A MOTHER AM I ANYWAY?!! (BUT WON'T IT BE EASY TO PUT HER ALBUM TOGETHER!) SWEAR TO TAKE MORE PICTURES OF HER FROM NOW ON.

I am thinking DIGITAL photo albums for Lily! Are you picking up what I'm laying down?

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Lumpia (Phillipino Spring Rolls)




So I'm following a blog on Epicurious.com called "Around the World in 80 Dishes". This is the first recipe I have tried. It is a very good recipe for Spring Rolls and I like that it is not deep-fried, so it is a much healthier food choice. I did not make my own wraps, I bought frozen ones at the Asian Market in Calgary. Much easier as they are very thin, crepe-like things that I'm quite sure I wouldn't have the patience to make. In this recipe, I used chicken, cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic and bamboo shoots for the filling, and romaine lettuce leaves to wrap with. So here I am at 10:30 at night, eating Spring Rolls! Very Yummy! Here is the link to the Recipe ...

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/cuisines/aroundtheworldin80dishes/philippineslumpiarecipe/recipes/food/views/Lumpia-Rolls-352989

TIP ... I used lots of water at all the edges so the wrap would seal.

Friday, July 23, 2010

If you're not from the prairie ...


For my Farmer friends ...

If you're not from the prairie,
You don't know what's flat.
You've never seen flat.

When travellers pass through across our great plain,
They all view our home, they all say the same:
"It's simple and flat!" They've not learned to see,
The particular beauty that's now part of me.

If you're not from the prairie,
You don't know what's flat.

From "If You're Not From The Prairie ..." by David Bouchard

This field of Canola took my breath away this morning. I had to take a picture of it. Beauty like this can only come from God. It makes me feel wonder, homesickness, gratitude and thanks. Although it is a picture from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and not that of the Flat Prairies where I grew up, it still makes me homesick for Saskatchewan and the beautiful "checkerboard" of fields that the farmers create for God to play checkers on. God Bless the Farmer!

For the Farmer and his Wife in Montana ... Hope you liked this post!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Shuckin' Peas

I went to the Farmer’s Market today. I didn’t really know what I wanted or needed, but knew it would hit me when I got there. The very first thing to catch my eye was a bag of peas, still in the shell. Of course my mouth watered thinking about how they would taste, both raw and cooked. Mmmmmmmmmmm! But what I yearned for the most was to sit on my couch in my cool house, watch television, and mindlessly shuck peas. My mom always had a large garden when we were kids. Sometimes she even had two gardens! I remember shucking lots of peas and tipping lots of beans! It was a chore left to my two sisters and I, and we usually chose to do it in the cool comfort of the basement, out of the hot Saskatchewan sun, while watching “Days of Our Lives” or some other silly soap! Ah, the lazy days of summer!

Of course, I bought a bag of peas! Then proceeded on to gather up all the ingredients to make a pot of fresh Borscht! Can’t wait to have a bowl!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Month 8

The eighth month of pregnancy includes some interesting twists and challenges. Apparently, one gets a bit off-balance, so to say, during normal physical tasks! Last Sat. I met Deanna F and her girls at a Stampede Breakfast. There were a thousand or more people there, horse rides, live band, etc. Well, forgetting that I am shaped much more like a watermelon, than the pear I am used to, I stepped up onto an 18 inch girder. Seems harmless! But the rocks at the top of the girder did not give me adequate support to gain my balance at the top! A few staggering steps (No worries, I’m going to gain my composure!), then ... “Uh Oh!” here comes a very large pregnant woman, careening out of control, towards a crowd of innocent bystanders (The poor things are just waiting in line to get their breakfast!} An audible “Gasp” comes from the crowd! Then, luckily, gravity kicks in and I fall to my knees! No one gets hurt ... PHEW! Except me ! No worse injury than that to my pride! The feeling is so surreal, as I have experienced this same crazy fall in previous pregnancies. But each time, after the initial stumble, I feel like I will easily gain my ground, but some unknown, unforeseen force suddenly begins to pull me down and there is nothing I can do!! Except laugh, of course!!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Al a Carte???

The first week that my kids were gone, my food consisted of toast, eggs and tea. This was accompanied by a few salads to round out my nutrition. Oh yeah, and I made one trip to OPA!, for a lamb pita and lemon potatoes, and also included a BBQ steak this week when I camped overnight with Collin and Carry! Not a horrible week as far as nutrition goes! This last week, I had a craving for a hot dog, so I bought a package ... and of course, ate them all week! My concentration was more on fruit this week than vegetables, unless you count the sauerkraut on the dogs! This last week also included a stampede trip at which I ate a chicken donair and fresh lemonade! Mmmm ... What shall I eat next week?

Sunday, July 18, 2010

The Gifts ....

I've been pondering a blog for about a year now. I knew it was going to be a blog about me. But wasn't quite sure what twist it would take. But after much deliberation and a few surprises on the way, I decided that this blog was going to center around my job as a mother.

I am good at many things, and have developed a passion for helping others. Thus, the drive and struggle to get the education to become a nurse. But there is one thing that I know I am good at, and that is being a mother.

So here goes .... My attempt at a blog, starting with the 4 Gifts that I have received from God. Those 4 Gifts that strengthen me, give me hope, and keep me on stable ground.