Talking a mile a minute

My kids came home from their 2 week Spring Break Vacation. From the time they walked in the door to after dinner, they were talking about a mile a minute. They had so much to tell me about how much fun they had. When they were on the Island for Easter with their Grandma, they did a Zelda play and made a DVD of it. I watched the DVD and laughed my head off. They certainly were having a great time. It was nice too see them act out their roles and the costumes were great for put together from what ever was available at the house. They also got to see their Great Grandma Kay, who lives in Parksville.
This morning they had a dose of reality and headed off to school. It wasn't that bad because I made them go to bed at a decent time. Now life is getting back to normal around here, or as normal as it can be. We are having Kels' birthday party on Friday night. She is having a few friends over for A Nightmare Before Christmas Sleepover Party. Of course they will be watching the Nightmare Before Christmas Movie. I've made a Banner with some pictures from the movie on it and I dressed our scarecrow up to look like Santa Jack Skellington. Kels still loves eating Japaneese food, so we will be having tempura seafood & veggies with rice. I've ordered her an Ice cream cake with a Jack Skellington picture on it. Her actual birthday is on Wed. April 2nd and we are going to take her out to dinner at a restaurant of her choice. So far she's picked Boston Pizza or McDonalds. It should be a fun week. I'm waiting for a few items to come from ebay this week for her b-day gifts(: I hope they arrive before Friday.

Yay Weekend

I am soooo glad that the weekend is here. It is always tough to work after a long weekend. Plus we play catch up for missing a day of work. I cannot believe that It's month end already. Where did March go? The weather has been cold and miserable, so I am hoping that April will be better. April usually is rainy, but at least it won't be snowing, I hope(: I"m looking forward to April and Kels' birthday party. We are doing A Nightmare Before Christmas Theme. Kels really likes Jack Skellington ever since we were in Disneyland. She sent me several emails of items she found on ebay that are Jack Skellington/Nightmare Before Christmas stuff. Good thing the Canadian Dollar is so close to the US dollar. That makes ebay shopping much cheaper. Let me tell you there is a lot of Jack Skellington stuff on ebay and it's very pricey too. I did get a few deals, but I can't say yet, just in case miss Kels is reading this post(:
I have a couple of appointments tomorrow. One is for my eyes. Things are going good sight wise, but I am required to get a check up every 6 months. Better to be safe than sorry(: The only thing is they will put those drops in my eyes and I won't be able to drive for a couple of hours): Sunday we will be counting inventory at Windsor. Then the kids will be home. Monday everything will be back to as normal as it gets around here(:
Have a great weekend everyone!

City of Williams Lake buys Cariboo Lodge for $10

The City is purchasing the Cariboo Lodge for 10 bucks and plans to use it as a temporary home for the the arts community.

Williams Lake City Council made the announcement at a specially called council meeting Tuesday evening.

The arts community has been searching for a new home as the City is planning to use the Williams Lake Community Arts Council’s current site at Skyline for the new fire hall.

While the arts community uses the Cariboo Lodge, the City will try to find it a permanent location.

In the mean time, the City may explore other possible uses for the building, including allocating it for affordable or seniors housing

I must be CRAZY!

This morning I woke up and decided that I am tired of wearing winter clothes. Sean bought me a new pair of capris for my birthday, so I decided that it was time to wear them. I am wearing my capris, a tank top and my brown sandals. I did pack a pair of socks just in case my feet get cold. It is very cold outside, but by this afternoon it should warm up. My ankle is still swollen and so it is better for me not to wear my socks. If you wear it Spring will come??? Maybe I'm just crazy(:

Gas costs are driving us crazy!

I am insuring my Golf Convertible today after work. I think we are going to park Sean's Jimmy until winter and he can drive the car. Gas is getting way too expensive and it's supposed to go up even more this summer. By driving the Golf, Sean will save at least $100 a month on gas. Plus it is a lot less money to insure, even on a 6 month term. He tells me I can drive the Golf whenever I want. I'm getting a pretty good deal because he's paying for the insurance, gas, 2 new tires and any repairs. Then, in June I'll be able to drive the Golf to Kamloops to visit my friend and celebrate her birthday. We might even take the Golf on holidays to the Island this May because it's better on gas than my Neon. Do you think we will ever see gas less than a buck ever again? These gas costs are driving us crazy! $1.239/L right now.

Over the hump and on my way to 40 and still content

First I wanted to say how choked I am that I woke up to snow this morning! Grrrr! Today I am another year older and it just feels weird. I guess I am just thinking about life and how I am now creeping up onto 40. When you are 35, you still feel like your in your thirties, but now I'm over the hump and on my way to 40. Let's not rush it though because I have 4 more years to go. Since my Friend Robin will turn 40 in March 2012 (hee hee hee she's always 22 days older than me), we've decided to go on a Disneyland trip to celebrate our 40th birthdays. I just realized that my daughter will graduate when I'm 40. My goal is to have a house by the time I am 40 (because I'm tired of living in a mobile home and being so squished).
Sean is treating me to pizza tonight. I want to try the new pizza from Panago with the green olives. Then we will enjoy the nice bottle of wine that I bought at Missions Hills, well maybe not the entire bottle(;

Gramps ichats for the first time

Today my grandpa came over to my house for a visit with my parents and my Uncle. My Grandpa lives in Salmon Arm and came for a visit with my Uncle for Easter. My Grandpa will be 94ys old in August. Up until last fall he was driving, but now is suffering memory loss, so he had to give up his driver's license. After Christmas, he moved into a care home and is doing quite well. He is very sharp minded and looks healthy. He's just very forgetful. We do OK with that. He didn't remember me or my kids, so that seemed a bit weird. Last time I visited Gramps (a year and a half ago) he could only remember me as a kid. He kept telling me how Huge I was and that if I walked up to him on the street, he would have walked right buy and not realized it was me. He kept telling me how huge I was. At least this time I am not huge to him(:

We decided that since my sister wasn't here to visit with Gramps, we went onto ichat. Well, Gramps was blown away. He sees her and talks to her but he just can't believe it. He was amazed and talked about it for a while after we were done ichatting. He wants to get one for his TV. My Uncle told him that my computer is not a TV and that he would need a computer and the internet. Grandpa was just amazed how technology could go from zero to this. Back in his day they didn't even have phones until his was older. It really was funny and we all had a nice visit. Grandpa asked me how old I was and I told him that iI would be 36 on Monday. He told me he would take me to lunch on Monday, but they won't be here anymore. Now they are off to town to buy Grandpa a t-shirt. We are going to go visit him tomorrow afternoon and have Easter dinner with him at my parents house.

The book my sister bought me for my birthday

I think I will really enjoy this book. When I'm done reading it, I'm sure my friend Brenda would like to read it too. She loves Italy(:

Potluck Supper Last Night

We were invited to a Potluck last night at Cariboo Bethel Church. My hubby told me at lunch time (yesterday) about the potluck, so after work I whipped home real quick and made a tuna noodle casserole to share. The meal was wonderful. Afterwards we played a game called do you like your neighbor. It was a lot of fun. It's like playing musical chairs and at one point I ran so fast to the empty chair that when I sat down, the chair tipped over. It was too funny. Others had done the same thing before I did, including Sean, so I wasn't that embarrassed. We had a great time and we met to new people. Mike's teacher (Mr.Smith) was their with his family, including their new baby girl Mackenzie Jane who was only 5 days old. Mrs. Smith was Kelsey's teacher in grade 5 and her dad is my dentist. We are really enjoying going to this church and meeting new people.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day
March 17th

St. Patrick's Day is Ireland's greatest national holiday as well as a holy day. The date marks the anniversary of the death of the missionary who became the patron saint of Ireland. It is a happy holiday for the Irish wherever they may be - in Dublin, New York City, Boston, or San Francisco. The day celebrated with parades, speeches, festive dinners, and dances. Green is the color of the day, with thousands of little cloth shamrocks worn even by those whose forefathers never touched the shores of Ireland.

It is known that St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century. At the age of sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate. They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity. During this time, he worked as a shepherd, outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian.

The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place not in Ireland, but in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers to reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as fellow Irishmen serving in the English army. Suddenly, annual St. Patrick's Day parades became a show of strength for Irish Americans, as well as a must-attend event for a slew of political candidates. In 1948, President Truman attended New York City 's St. Patrick's Day parade, a proud moment for the many Irish whose ancestors had to fight stereotypes and racial prejudice to find acceptance in America

Today I played teacher from 9am-5pm

Let me tell you, I have a new respect for teachers because it is very hard work. I spent all day today helping my son get caught up on some of his school work. The French was a breeze, but then we got into the novel study. This meant that I had to read the entire novel if I was going to help Mike with his homework. I read Where the Red Fern Grows while Mike was doing his math. I helped him in between reading with his math. Then we had to work on his novel assignment. Mike did really well, but I was really glad that I had read the book so that I could steer him in the right direction. His hands are sore from writing and I am exhausted. He still has 6 pages of math to complete, finish off a summary of The Summer of Monkey's, do 10 responses to his home reading, and write a 3 page essay on a topic of choice. I didn't realize how far behind Mike was in school and how much he was struggling.He leaves for spring break tomorrow, so I am hoping to get a majority of this work done because it is due 9 am on the Monday back from Spring Break. If he doesn't turn in this homework he could end up with some failing grades. Yikes! I was really proud of him today doing the work. He was frustrated but pressed on. I am thankful that my mom has invited us over to her place for dinner, but we can't stay long because Mike needs to work some more on his home work. Poor kid,his eyes must be boggled from all this work. At least he was given the opportunity to get caught up.

Mike's Bone Cake

Bone as in the comic books that he loves to read. Mike will be away for his birthday next week, so we are having a small party for him tonight. He originally asked me for a rainbow bit cake, so I bought all the supplies. Then Sean and Kels are talking about ice cream cakes and then Mike decided he would like that better. I told him it was too late because I had already had the rainbow bit cake ingredients. Little does he know, I have ordered him an ice cream cake (from Safeway because our DQ is closed). So he didn't get suspicious, we made the rainbow bit cake last night and he helped decorate it with his Bone characters. We are having pizza for dinner and cakes afterwards.

Eating healthy feels good

I was inspired by my friend to try a change in my diet.( Mostly because I felt like a giant beside her LOL(: )
So, I decided to try one of the recipe ideas she shared with me. I lightly covered my vegetables in extra virgin olive oil and roasted them in the oven. She suggested egg plant, zuchini, mushrooms, red onion and I threw in some red & green peppers and garlic. I served it with breaded in cornmeal sole that I baked in the oven. There were no left overs, so my family must have really enjoyed it. I know I did. Then the next night I made spaghetti with a vegetable sauce. No one seemed to miss having the hamburger in the sauce and once again there were no left overs. I've been snacking on vegetables in the evening and staying away from chips and chocolate bars. (here's a side note: the lady in the office beside me just started selling chocolate bars at work and she has a big tub of them, but I can be strong. Right?) I'm eating healthy and I feel really good. I also have cut back on coffee and teas with caffine. At first it was hard and I had a bad headache, but now it seems fine. I'm drinking more water and I have a cup of decaf tea in the morning. Now if the snow and then the mud would disappear, I would be able to get some fresh air and exercise. I miss going for hikes and bike rides): Soon; I keep telling my self, soon it will happen.

Some Helpful hints to share

My friend emailed me this and some of them I already knew about, but some I didn't and would like to try. So here they are to share with you.
 
  HELPFUL HINTS!


Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little
"stringy things" off of it. 

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave
them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh
much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the
grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls
of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in
double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful
minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic
and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simple
chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples.
Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the
apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice
cream.

1. Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set
heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No
soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really
works.

2. Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all
broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up
mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg.
Just throw bag away when done easy cle a n up.

3. Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with
your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to
frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar
and calories per serving.

4. Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place
them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will
keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

5. Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet
newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with
mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening
plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

6. Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you
can't see easily.

7. No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

8. Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with
cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the
squirrels won't come near it.

9. Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an
empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be
bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

10. Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a
clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when
wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static
is gone.

11. Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot
water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your
ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it co mes right
out.

12. Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove
box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better
than a cloth!

13. Reopening envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include
something inside , just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an
hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

14. Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than
shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way
to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it
in your hair...

15. Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with
Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You
will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

16. Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it
"home," can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so,
especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about
pets or small children being harmed!

17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things
around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and
he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean.
(I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He
told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to
the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh
material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like.
well,...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through
it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh
that's what burns out the heating uni t. You can't SEE the film, but it's
there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and
static free -- that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy
when you take them out of the box, well t his stuff builds up on your
clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer
units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said
the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep
your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot
soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six
months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!
How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know
dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!
Note: I went to my dryer & tested m y screen by running water on it. The
water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all t he water in the
mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had
it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right Thru
the screen! There wasn't any pudding at all! That repairman knew what he
was talking about!

Yay Spring!

As most of you know at this time of year I cannot wait for Spring to come. I like winter; I was married in the winter. The snow is very pretty, but this time of the year the snow looks dirty and gross. I was happy to see that snow had melted some while I was gone on the weekend. We didn't see much snow in the Okanagan. Now I am dealing with the mud, but I don't mind because that means that Spring is here and before you know it it will be sunny and warm. So I say Yay Spring!

Mission Hills Winery

I had such a wonderful time in Kelowna this weekend with my friends. We took a tour of Mission Hills Winery. It was such a beautiful day and the winery was such a peaceful place. The tour was very interesting and I learned a lot. I just loved the smell of the place. At the end of the tour was the taste testing. It was awesome. I had never taken time before to actually smell the wine before tasting it. It was amazing how you could pick out the fruit by the aroma of the wine. I would love to go again in the summer when the vines are alive and perhaps take in a play in the outdoor theater and enjoy lunch on the terrace.




I bought some reserve wines there to take home. I can hardly wait to try them.

Kelsey's Food Coloring Paintings

And it snowed and snowed....

Need I say more?