putting my heart into it

Okay, it’s been awhile but I’ve decided it’s worth my extra time to actually get back to making home cooked meals instead of opening a can a zoodles for the kids and making myself a can of soup.
some reason I get bored of cooking and just stop doing it. I guess I still make food but it’s just not good. At Christmas time I tried really hard to make tasty things for my guests to eat, we had roast, with veggies, mashed potatos and gravy. Another night we had stuffed turkey breasts with the trimmings- it was all yummy! Since then I’ve been putting a little more thought into dinner times (we still do zoodles for lunch). I’ve made a really good Shepherds’ pie, lazy man cabbage rolls, and tonight I made a slow cooker stew that turned into an oven stew before dinner time. The inspiration behind a couple of those dishes were these sauce packages. What a difference they make in the taste of my cooking! Now, I’m not saying that my cooking is usually bland and tasteless because it’s not but my cooking always tastes the same- these sauce mixes help my food taste new and exciting again! I think I’m impressing myself the most, but that’s okay too. Paige ate three servings of the shepherds pie, and that is unheard of!
So, on my next shopping trip I plan to raid the ‘Club House’ sauces and seasonings sections and I’ll keep you all updated on my creations. It’s been awhile since I did a picture by picture recipe walk through… I plan to do one soon. I’m just hoping my ass doesn’t respond in a bad way to all my great tasting cooking… don’t answer that!!

On a non food related note- I want to give a shout out to Suz (the neighbor we all know and love) for writing such a touching blog post about our friendship. Rest assured hers is coming… just not for a little while.

I should be off, I need to get some kids to bed and finish up a grocery list for tomorrow…
Hugs to all,
~jen

Tis the season for Guests.

Someone stop me, I’m a cleaning machine!  Well, not really but it felt good to think that for a few moments.  I’ve spent the last few days tackling chores around the house in preparation for my good friend, Tanya, to visit.  We are all really excited to see her again, it’s been nearly 3 years!  Too long! 

halloween goodness.

This photo is so funny, it kind of looks like a movie poster.  You know when they montage the images of the actors together.  Elizabeth is so dramatic in the background as Belle.  Paige is starring as Bloom, the winx girl, and Nolan is starring as himself.  He’s himself with more facial hair.  Ken called him Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), which is quite accurate.  I snuck a little ‘words of wisdom’ in there since it is wednesday and I have been totally slacking on my quotes!

It’s a Girl!!

Just a note for those who are wondering…
My neighbour, that we all know and love, Suz, her husband Kevin and their daughter Elizabeth welcomed a new Baby girl to the family this morning!!  She arrived at 5:57 and was 8lbs 9oz!!  We don’t have a name so far, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated.  I was supposed to post something on her blog but I have no idea how to do that yet!

Congratulations Guys!!  Can’t wait to meet her!

~jen

the Real neighbor

You all are probably familiar with my best friend and neighbor, Suz.  You probably thought she was a sophisticated, sweet, nice lady and mother of one beautiful daughter.  Well, I happen to know the real Suz, and now you will too since i have got photographs to prove it.
 

Is it any wonder why we are such great friends??  Is it just me or does she make goggles look sexy??? 

I love ya Suz!

~jen

A week of excitment!

Okay, it appears that i’m not going to get photo access on my blog today (being Saturday) so I’m just going to blog about the events and include a link to Suz’s flickr slideshow.  On Wednesday i was invited to a ‘ladies night’ christmas event.  It was so nice to meet all these new people and eat a dinner and exchange some very charming gifts.  It’s amazing what you can get for 20.00 if you put your mind to it. Suz stole my first gift choice, it’s okay, I still love her!!
Thursday morning was my peak ‘head cold’ day, all i thought about all day was resting my head.  Conentrating on anything just seemed like an enormous effort.  Nolan and i laid down for a nap and Paige played in her bedroom, it was muchly needed.
Friday was prep day for the big Christmas party!!  We cleaned the house and stocked the place with many types of food and bevies.  A few people showed up for a drink and went on their merry way but most of us toughed it out until long into the evening. Much fun was had by all, well, I think so- speaking from my point of view.  The cookie/craft exchange didn’t work out as planned since some of the ladies brought all their wares on one plate, i wasn’t able to hand them out.  Of course this meant we probably ate a little too much sweets last night and this morning.  I’m packaging them up into bags and handing them out to the rightful owners!!  You wil have to check out Suzanne’s slide show since she was the only one taking pictures… i didn’t even get batteries into my camera before the night ended.  Thanks to everyone for helping make the night a memorable one.  Now, i’m really into the christmas spirit!
    Today has been a day of rest and cleaning.  I’m amazed that it didn’t take that long to tidy the place back up.   Of course most of the chaos was isolated to the kitchen and once that was clean everything looked a lot cleaner.  Tonight is the guys big Poker night.  The winner gets a big purse to take home for Christmas, my hubby is wearing his kilt for the festivities- let us hope it brings him luck.
Anyway, I’m suffering a major sugar overload attack right now and I feel tres gross.  I’m going to guzzle a litre of water in hopes of flushing my system and watch "it’s a wonderful life" for the second time this week.  Merry Christmas everyone!
Hugs and gooey Poppycock,
~jen
p.s. Mom, the poppycock recipe you gave me turned out PERFECT, it was a real hit.  actually, Too perfect.

A Party to Remember

Today we attended our neighbor, Elizabeth’s 4th birthday party.  This wasn’t your average birthday party- it was a concert party!  Bobs and LoLo were the musical guests and they also provided crafty fun too.  The kids started out making star fish name tags as well as jellyfish/octopus shakers.  After that they danced, sang and twirled their little butts off while Bobs and LoLo sang all the songs the kids love so much.  I have to admit, i was probably singing louder than they were most of the time ::blush::.  It will be a party that is impossible to top.   As Laurie (my other neighbor) and i discussed, we may as well give up throwing birthday parties all-together, there will never be a show like this one on Creekside drive.  Thanks to Suzanne for organizing such a fun time for the kids (and all of us adults too!!)  I can’t wait to see what you come up with next year! 
If you haven’t read about Bobs and Lolo on my blog before- you really should check them out their website is full of crafts and music and fun things.  They have a single CD at the moment and it is the ONLY children’s music i will allow in my vehicle.  I have even listened to it with no children in my vehicle!  Seriously, they are great.
Anyway- i took many pictures but my battery was dieing so they are mostly out of focus. Poo.  I can guarantee that Suz will have many pictures posted on her blog if not her flickr site.  I didn’t even get one of the birthday girl, how bad is that???
I should hit the sack, I drank too much coffee today and I’m completely not ready to sleep yet.  But I must try.  I’ll catch up with you later,
~jen

To Suz

Thank You, Friend
I never came to you, my friend,
And
went away without
Some new enrichment of the heart:
More faith, and less
of doubt,
More courage for the days ahead,
And often in great
need
Coming to you, I went away
Comforted, indeed.

How can I find the shining words,
The glowing phrase that tells
All
that your love has meant to me,
All that your friendship spells?
There is
no word, no phrase for you
On whom I so depend.
All I can say to you is
this:
God bless you, precious friend.

-Grace Noll Crowell