Fully Alive…Ready to Smile

It’s just that kind of day. I know it’s hump day, but it’s just a really good day…so far. It’s not the day, per se, but the week and I just have a bright shiny attitude today. Let’s see…

Monday started out not so good, just kind of blah, but it progressively got better. Then Philly kicked Montreal’s butt…WOOT WOOT!!! That was such a fun game to watch. Although I’m not entirely sure if it was the game that was fun to watch or my pathetically grumpy husband who kept glaring at me and throwing pillows at me every time I’d jump up and scream or do a little cheer. Yeah, I rubbed it in good.

The evening got even better when Louise, Jackie and Tara came to watch the Bachelor with me. That is always a rip roaring good time. That show is the bottom of the morality tank, but so enjoyable to watch. Especially when you have a fun group of girls who can make you laugh and smile and go crazy together : ) Thanks girls, you are awesome. I can’t wait until the season finale potluck!

Yesterday I went in the morning for a foot cleanse…a what? I went to my chiropractor’s office where I sat with my feet in a tub of hot water and a machine that draws the toxins and icky stuff out of your body. Let’s just say it looks pretty gross. I’m supposed to go every week while I’m on my cleanse. It will speed up the yeast exodus in my body (if I stop eating cheesecake, lol).

In the evening I took my dear Becky out for coffee for her birthday. It was fabulous to connect with her and be able to visit one on one. This woman is just a sweet, lovely person. I always enjoy spending time with her and she never ceases to make me smile.

Today I’m making mini cheesecakes (recipe to follow) for our “Philly gonna kick Montreal’s arse” party tonight. Chris and Tara are coming over and we’re making Philly cheese steak sandwiches to go with the cheesecake (made with Philadelphia cream cheese, of course). Boys are gonna eat Philly while we watch Philly eat Montreal! YEAH!!!

I had a sweet morning with Aidan while Ella was in preschool today. She played with her new sticker book for a long time and then she “helped” me make the cheesecakes. Then we just snuggled for a while.

The icing on the cake is it’s only 2 more sleeps until we go to Grand Forks with Bentley and Helen and all our girls for the weekend. I’m so excited! Hot tub, here I come…woohoo!!! I’m not sure who’s more excited, me or the girls. They ask me every day how many more sleeps and today I came dancing into the kitchen singing “2 more sleeps, 2 more sleeps!”

Tomorrow after swimming lessons with Ella we go to pick up the new kittens my mom and dad are getting for the girls. I’m so excited for the girls to get to play with them and I’m even more excited that I don’t have to take them home with me. The best of both worlds. It’s like having grandchildren…you can play with them but don’t have to take care of them : ) I’m going to have to remember my camera.

Then Friday we leave just after lunch for the States! Yippee.

This is why it’s a good day.

And so I dance.

That’s all I have to say!  : )

I don’t do sports. I don’t watch sports. In fact, this is my first and likely LAST post in reference to a sport. I don’t give a flying rip about sports. Unless it’s the Stanley Cup Playoffs and Jer has a team he’s cheering for…then it’s all about the competition, baby. Against Jer and his friends. Whichever team he’s cheering for, I cheer for the opposite team : ) Just to be a pain in the arse. Oh, what fun!

We invited Bentley and Helen over to watch hockey on Saturday and I was told that during the game, “YOU.ARE.NOT.ALLOWED.TO.TALK!” (Like I talk too much or something, pshaw). The boys wanted to play dirty and be mean, fine then. I decided if I wasn’t allowed to talk for the sake of talking I would talk for the sake of the game and thus I decided to cheer for the opposite team. The guys are cheering for Montreal because it’s the last Canadian team in the playoffs and they want to be patriotic. Screw patriotism, I say. Especially when Quebec doesn’t even WANT TO BE Canadian (sorry if there are any Quebecers out there reading this…this is purely for hockey’s sake, no hard feelings…don’t really care either way)! I’m better off cheering for the Flyers. And besides, I think my team has more French players than the Canadiens do! HA! And my team WON (this time)!! So there. I did the happy dance and the chicken dance just to make them mad. Apparently I’m playing with fire. I gave them some chocolate fondue to appease them and keep them still liking me.

Next game…cheesecake…PHILADELPHIA cream cheese, bwahahaha!!! Maybe I’ll even attempt the cute little Flyers symbol in chocolate on top, happy sigh : )

In your face, boys!

Go Philly Go!!!

**update: since I opened my big mouth and ah, blogged about this, I’m stuck watching hockey tonight. Apparently if I want to roll this way, I was told I have to follow through. Ugh! I hope Philly cleans up quickly so we can move on to other less sucky past times…like reading blogs : )

I was sitting here looking cell phone ring tones when I had a crazy flashback!!! I was looking in the “Top 90’s” tones and I sampled Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and it hit me. I SAW RICKY MARTIN IN CONCERT!!! I cannot believe I forgot about that. Lindsay and I went to see him and oh how my heart almost failed when we got tickets. He came onto stage on this convertible car on a rotating stage shaking his Bon Bon in tight leather pants and I decided then and there that I was going to be one of his booty dancers. I can shake my bon bon with the best of them and I figured that was better than getting a real job : ) Well, my aspirations never came to fruition, but one can dream, right? Since then I have raised the bar and decided to be one of Justin Timberlake’s booty dancers.

I’ve just spent the last half hour looking for the picture of Lindsay and I holding a white eraser board that says “Oh my goodness! We’re going to see Ricky Martin!” It seems to be missing. Maybe the Paparazzi got a hold of it. Who knows. It appears I’ve been a concert fanatic for many years.

I just realized what a kinky sounding title that is, hee, hee. Anyway, I’ve decided to award myself the “Wife of the Year Award” or at the very least the “Wife of the Week Award.” Last night I sat through the entire 3 hours of the first “Lord of the Rings” sitting on a folding chair! And I paid $80 for that bum numbing experience. $80 per ticket to watch a movie that I’ve see 2 times already (once in the extended version because 3 hours of science fiction is just never enough, not to mention we own ALL THREE in the extended edition which if added up comes out to something retarded like 12 hours of movie). The reason we paid so much was because we were attending a special event. The movie was played on a 700 sq ft screen accompanied by a live orchestra and 100 piece choir. All the music was removed from the film itself and replaced with the live music. Actually quite impressive. I can’t imagine how the conductor bobbed his arms up and down for THREE HOURS!!! And let me tell you how hideous an already hideous Orc is in 700 sq ft high definition!

We decided to drive in and have supper with some friends of ours who were attending the concert/movie. They suggested a wonderful bistro in one of the hotels and what a culinary experience that was! I love trying new restaurants and this was no disappointment. The atmosphere was lovely and cozy, all done in dark colors with beautiful paintings and a fireplace. Our server was really friendly and helpful, attentive and accommodating. I’ve been on my cleanse now for 4 weeks and even though I did do some cheating last weekend while Rachelle was here, I’ve tried to remain on course the rest of the time. The diet is quite bland which means when you finally do eat something rich and flavorful it is like music in your mouth.

To start our server told us the wine special which sounded quite lovely, but alcohol is a big no no on my cleanse. Our friends ordered a glass each and the server asks if either Jer or I would be interested.

“No, thank you, I’ll just have water.”

“Are you sure? It’s a really a very nice wine.”

“No, really, I’ll save any major cheating if we have time for dessert.”

“Alright, but it really is good.” (Maybe he gets paid extra for getting customers to drink, I don’t know).

So he brings out their wine and glances at me when I mutter “Mmm, that really does look good.”

“It’s not too late, I can bring you a glass.”

“No, no, really, I’m good.”

“Okay if you change your mind let me know.”

I take a sip of Lisa’s just to see if it really was as good as he seemed to think it was and I let out a little “Mmm”

Mr. Wine-pushing Waiter is by my side “So a glass for you, Miss?”

“Oh, fine.”

“Very good.”

Well let’s just say that I enjoyed THAT dinner more than most : ) I’m not a cheap drunk by any means, but you go and clean out all bad stuff out of your body and have a glass of wine before dinner and tell me how you feel…it hit me right between the eyes in about 3 minutes flat. And then I got this lovely floaty feeling. I REALLY enjoyed myself.

We started out with a basket of warm bread with our choice of a whipped flavored cream cheese or these cute little butter blossoms (I love when food is pretty). Next we ordered Cheese and Roasted Garlic Ravioli which MUST be eaten with a sliver of roasted garlic and wilted arugula on each bite. It was a little flavor explosion in my mouth. We also started with a piping hot skillet of garlicky mushrooms and asiago cheese. I don’t know if the flavors and experience were all enhanced by my slight state of intoxication (and I mean very slight), but sweet heavens, I was ready to take them home to meet my parents!

Jer ordered a steaming bowl of French Onion Soup which I would totally order for myself if it came sans onions. It would work! I always swipe bites off of him minus the onions and personally, I find nothing lacking. I don’t know what they would call it, though…French Non-Onion Soup? French Soup? Yummy Rich Broth with Bread Chunks and Cheese Soup? I guess naming menu items won’t be in my near future for a career.

For dinner I ordered the Sicilian Chicken which was sauted in a Marsala wine reduction and served with spinach, tomatoes and pearl onions. There was this cute little twice baked potato swirl which actually had a fancy name, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was called (possibly because I didn’t understand a word in the description or because of the wine tickling my brain), whatever the case it was yummy. There was also beautifully done asparagus on the side.

We managed to escape without dessert, which is probably a very good thing as there wasn’t much that I put in my mouth that I should actually have eaten. We were late in arriving for the concert, which I hate, mostly because of the awkward fumbling in the dark as you try and hunch down and sneak into your seats, which are inevitably in the middle of the row right in front. “Excuse me, sorry, pardon me, sorry.” Yeah, yeah, I know, be on time.

I suppose I can’t complain too heavily about sitting through the movie because I HAVE dragged Jer to Michael Buble and Josh Groban concerts and he was very accommodating! So other than the tingly derriere, it was all quite good and Jer was so excited. Granted he didn’t go out and buy new shoes for the event and then proceed to name them (since Hobbits don’t wear shoes, I’m not sure who he’d name them after, but that’s besides the point).

For the grand finale of the evening we stopped at Tim Horton’s and once again life was good.

Chocolate Brownie Iced Capp Supreme…I’m in love.

Gosh, it seems I love food, since my longish post was mostly about dinner and not about the concert…just don’t tell Jer : )

Our fabulous weekend was jam packed with many wonderful times! We had an absolute blast : ) Movie night, shopping, Italian food, Italian opera, more shopping, brunch at the nicest hotel in the city, did I mention shopping? Mexican food, wandering around one of our local outdoor hot spots, pedicures, boob jobs, polar bear attacks, canoing with a black bear, finding a picture to go above my mantle, shopping, shopping, shopping…okay, maybe we didn’t shop THAT much, but I sure spent enough money (shudders).

Oh, you want some pictures to back up my story? Probably of the boob job and the polar bear attack, right? Real proof? Okay, okay…

First off, Rachelle arrived at 9:20 a.m. on Friday and we were off. We spent Friday at home, chillaxin’ and catching up. The girls were soooo excited for her to be here and they talked her ear off, showed off, and dragged her into all their little craft making, which I must say she participated in with good humor! We made supper together and once the kids were in bed we watched a movie and just talked. Being that she had been up since 4:00 a.m. we were off to bed not too late.

Saturday we slept in and then got ready to do some shopping. We came home to get ready and then we were off for “Opera Night”…so much fun!!!

Here we are posing in the only spot outside that looked half decent. We look like we’re in the desert. We thought about photo-shopping in some palm trees since the weather was so amazing.

We started off with dinner reservations at this great little Italian restaurant. Such good food and a nice cozy atmosphere made for a great dinner. The opera itself was grand. I’d never been and so I was in for a real treat. I’ve decided I would love to go again and I may have to drag Jer with me : )

On Sunday we had brunch reservations at one of our amazing hotels. The brunch is renowned and it is so worth the money. They have everything you could possibly eat and eat we did (did I mention I kind of blew the cleanse on that one? Oops.) Well with a dessert table with mini creme broule, mine chocolate raspberry mousse, mini cheesecake, chocolate fondue, truffles, tarts, etc. etc. who can resist? So I didn’t : )

Not to worry, common sense kicked in along with a headache right around the middle of the chocolate mousse and I didn’t even touch the tart, mocha square or truffle. But I must say that delectable mousse and creme broule was worth every ounce of guilt!

We decided on Saturday while shopping that we wanted to dress up for brunch because we wanted an excuse to buy new dresses, so here we are lounging in the beautiful bathroom at the hotel : )

After brunch it was off the “The Forks” where we browsed in cute little shops, wandered about outside in the beautiful sunshine and took some pictures in the travel center. Who could resist?

Hee, hee…

My “boob job”…

Sorry, rather anti-climactic!

The polar bear attack…well played I think.

Rachelle encounters a black bear on her foray in a canoe…

After our adventure there, we went to do some more shopping. Fun, fun, fun. Rachelle did splendid with her hip having been so bad the week before and I’m happy to say (as I’m sure is she) that she was in tip top shape all weekend.

We did the Mexican food for supper and that concluded our busy and quite tiring day.

This morning we were off bright and early for Paraffin Pedicures (happy sigh) which was such a great idea because it was cold and rainy today. We enjoyed visiting while being pampered.

I’m not really sleeping here, but our chairs were so close together that every time she took a picture it look like I had a double chin and so I decided to look relaxed. So vain, I know.

We went home for the afternoon, spent some time with the girls and then I took her to the airport early in the evening. Everyone was sad to see her go. It was so great to catch up with her and have such amazing fun. We’ll have to do this more often because I’m going to miss her.

I managed to transform my 4 year old’s very little girl bedroom into a guest suite this afternoon.  I’m happy with how it turned out.  Thank you for all your suggestions.  I was right along the same lines as most of you, but it was really fun to get all your suggestions and why you suggested them : )  I see we all like a little luxury.  Here’s what I got together…A toiletry basket on the bed, complete with new toothbrush, toothpaste, shave gel, a new cup, lotions, lip balm, shower gel, body spray, new face cloths and towels and chocolate.  A little box I made on the pillow with chocolates in it.  A fun tissue box that I found with a cool pattern on it.  A nice candle on the night stand. Two new pillows.  A new duvet with fresh new white cover and pillow cases.  Two fun magazines.  Fresh flowers on the dresser.

I’ve converted our main bathroom into a guest bathroom (for the weekend the girls will use our ensuite with us).  I put new soaps, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and puff, more new towels, and lotions.

Maybe she’ll want to come back again one day : )  And now that I have all this stuff anyone else want to come visit? : )

In preparation for my dear friend to come visit, I’m trying to think of things that will make her stay more enjoyable and make her feel special.  If you were going to be a guest in someone’s home, what little things would make you feel really at home and comfortable, not to mention a little pampered or honored?  Have you ever been in someone’s home overnight where you have been treated to anything special?  I’m really looking for some ideas here.  I have a few fun things up my sleeve already, but I want this to be a very enjoyable relaxing weekend for her.  I’d love to hear your ideas!

Since according to the post below I have nothing of any import to say, I will give you some pictures of things that made me smile. Enjoy.

We’ll start off with the Mommy portion of this post (a.k.a. “things that make my heart melt”). One afternoon last week I was sitting by my computer (okay that was more than one afternoon last week, but it was on this particular afternoon) and it was very, very quiet. Aidan usually sleeps a lot of the afternoon and this leaves Ella flitting around like a little butterfly (a noisy butterfly) imagining, make-believing, creating, playing…but on this particular afternoon it was silent. I looked up to see this.

fast asleep on the chaise lounge. So sweet.

For the culinary portion of the post I give you something I like to call “Ooey, Gooey, Scrumptious, Yeasty, Icing-ey Goodness.” Feast your eyes, cause that’s all you (and I, unfortunately) will be getting of these…a little eye candy. If they taste as good as they look, I must pat myself on the back and say I made a pretty good first batch of cinnamon buns.

Next we move onto the decorating segment of our post in pictures. I was given a lovely bouquet of red roses last week by my dh and as they are starting to droop, I could not bear to just throw them out. So how to put a droopy rose to good use?

A small bud vase does the trick. And where to put it?

A little piece of luxury in the bedroom : )

And lastly, but most certainly not leastly we move on to the “Embarassing, I can’t believe I’m going to show you, my dear internet, this picture” part of the post. One evening I decided to go out for a walk and I sauntered into the kitchen and Jer looked up and started laughing. I, a little miffed, asked what in tarnation was so extremely funny. He walks over flips my hood up onto my perfectly beautiful hair and says, “What, are you off to do ninja stuff?” and grabbed the camera to capture my fashion prowess. I couldn’t help but pose a little. So there, that’s me at my best : )  And apparently our fridge has some super awesome glowing powers or something.  Maybe it’s just my wicked ninja aura.

Yeah, I know…I’m HAWT!!! : )

There are just days or weeks where there is nothing wandering around in my feeble brain that is blog worthy.  It appears this is one of those weeks.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s lots going on in my cranium, resulting in many sleepless nights, but nothing that will make it’s way out and onto the screen.  I could bore you with mundane details about potty training, non-cinnamon bun eating, chest colds, floors that need washing, etc., etc., but really, what’s the point?  There are so many other blogs out there with interesting, witty, intelligent things to say.  So go there and maybe I’ll come up with something soon.  A bright note is that it’s only 3 more sleeps until Rachelle arrives.   And even though she is currently experiencing some rather nasty hip issues (almost cancelled her trip due to them), I still anticipate a wonderful time catching up and visiting with her.  Not to mention my very first opera experience : )

Even though I’m on this whole “no yeast, no sugar, no gluten, no dairy, no food-resembling-real-food” schtick, I still like to bake. I still like to see people enjoying things I’ve made and so I bake for other people even though I can’t eat it. Okay, maybe I’m just buying friendship and love with food or looking for another form of affirmation, whatever, call it what you want. In the two weeks that I’ve been starving detoxing, I’ve made mini banana chocolate chip muffins, cinnamon biscuits and cookies and have not eaten any of it. It’s enough to put any woman over the edge. I haven’t even stuck my finger in the batter/dough for a little taste. Honest! Yet I insist on torturing myself and baking. I can’t help myself. Today I’m going to attempt to make real cinnamon buns. Real ooey, gooey, scrumptious, yeasty, icing-ey goodness (oh, yes, with cream cheese icing!!!).

I went grocery shopping yesterday and as I was unpacking my groceries Jer is watching. I pull out a small container and he’s like “what is that?”

“Yeast!” I answered.

His eyes bugged out of his head and his jaw drops, “YEAST? You are on a yeast cleanse and you buy YEAST?!? That, right there, is a little container of pure evil!”

Yeah well, you can’t have ooey, gooey, scrumptious, yeasty cinnamon buns without yeast!

You know, this time around I haven’t had any cravings. Weird. No “I must have chocolate or I will die!” episodes. No “You’re killing me by eating that ice cream in front of me” moments (oh, yes, people do that…Jer!). It’s been so easy. I don’t know why. Maybe It’s going to get harder, maybe it won’t. Whatever the case, I’m not feeling driven to eat anything I shouldn’t. We’ll see if I can say that later today when the hot cinnamon buns come out of the oven : )

I went shopping yesterday all by myself. No rugrats. No complaining hubby. Just me. How lovely is that?!? I left at 5:00 p.m (the minute Jer walked in the door) and I didn’t come home until like 10:30. It was so fabulous. I wandered the mall for 2 1/2 hours and looked for a dress to wear to the opera. I searched and searched, tried on about 20 different dresses, perused about 10 different stores and finally found 2. I tried one on. Then the other. Then the first again. No decision was coming to me. So I did what any good woman would do…bought both with the intentions of bringing back the one that I don’t choose, of course. Like THAT’S going to happen!  And I felt like such a good mennonite girl because they were both on sale.  So really, I’m saving money, right?  I feel so good in both of them. By the time I got home I was pretty sure which one I would wear to the opera, but now after trying them on a few more times, I haven’t made up my mind. I’ll wait until Rachelle gets here and see what she’s wearing, then decide. I could even change my mind a few times on the night of the opera. My prerogative. I’m a woman.

Dress 1 - the one I thought for sure I would wear…it’s a little fancier, has a small crinoline (which seems to be all the rage this year) and a small piece of netting sticking out the bottom (also out in full force in the fashion world). It fits like a glove and feels so feminine on. LOVE it! It’s Jer’s pick for me to wear to the opera. It looks a lot prettier in real life, Jer’s taking the pictures, so it may not be the best angle, but eventually I just had to settle for a picture because he had to go back to work…NO, I didn’t pull him away from work to take pictures of me. He was home on his lunch break.

Dress 2 - super sexy, slinky, so comfy. I feel beautiful in both of them. Makes it kind of hard to choose. I told Jer to cut my head out of the pictures because my hair is all greasy and yucky. Kind of takes away from the dress : ) Not to mention, I was all self conscious and didn’t know how to pose, so I look all awkward and…Okay, dress 2…

I think they are both neither too dressy or too simple. I can wear either of them again to weddings, or parties, or around the house to do my cleaning, cause I do that sometimes, you know. The shoes too! Way more fun to mop floors in stilettos! Oooh, speaking of shoes, I found a pair of shoes on sale yesterday online and ordered them for $24.00. What a steal! I don’t know if they will look good with the dresses, or even fit me, but they were too fun to pass up. And they have 4″ heels. Happy, happy sigh!! So very happy : )

Cute, no? If you haven’t already guessed, I LOVE them! Dearly. I’m working my way up to owning 12 whole pairs (as opposed to 12 partial pairs?) of shoes all at the same time and I think this would put me at 8 (if we’re including winter boots, one pair of runners and a pair of flip flops). What kind of woman am I? Not to worry, I will rectify the situation this year. If I have anything to say about the matter…which I would since I’m the one who has to shop for them…I will own more than 12 pairs by the end of the summer. Just you wait!!

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I “HEART” pizza!!  I could literally eat pizza (or Mexican food) every day.  Not so good for me to do that, but doesn’t change the fact that I love it.

One of the things that really, really sucks about this cleanse it not being able to eat pizza.  But, if there is a way, Erin will find it.  And find it I did.  How do you make pizza crust sans flour, yeast, sugar, etc, etc?

I found a pizza crust mix that is used by Celiacs.  It’s made with rice flour.  Yeah, admittedly it doesn’t taste the same as yeasty, floury pizza crust, but it’s an oasis in the pizza desert!  I also love lots of cheese, so it’s a sacrifice for me to only have a little bit.  I will take what I can get at this point.  I was told I could use small amounts of mozzarella if I really needed to.  Well, people, I really needed to.

Behold, my pizza…

Doesn’t that look scrumptious?  Chicken sauted with chili powder, spinach, broccoli, red peppers, green onions and homemade pizza sauce.  Once you can get past the different tasting crust, it’s not half bad.  And it made me feel like I was participating in family pizza night.

I was contemplating announcing the winner of my Epicure Giveaway somewhere obscure in the middle of my post so that you have to read my whole post to find out, but I’ll be nice : )
So without further ado, by selection out of a bowl of names by my 2-year old…

The winner is…

TCC from The Campbell Corner.  Congratulations!!

I had a fabulous weekend.  How about you?  Do anything fun?  Exciting?  Out of the ordinary?

On Friday we were invited to a dinner party at my cousins Clint and Elin’s place.  It was so great.  The theme was ugly shirt and I think we pulled off ugly.

Here’s Jer, hot stuff…

and here’s mine, it’s the only picture of me since I forgot to get someone to take one with my camera.

My shirt had absolutely no shape to it, it was a thick yucky material and it just looked bad.  Kathy says to me at one point while I was talking “Erin, I can’t take you seriously in that shirt!”

The food was fabulous (what I had of it, but the rest looked awesome).  They served steak and salmon, twice baked potatoes, salad, veggies and dip, cheddar biscuits, lemon meringue and chocolate cream pies.  And guess what?  I DIDN’T cheat!  I brought my own brown rice, I had salmon and a little bit of steak, and some carrots.  That’s it.  No pie.  No biscuits.  No potatoes.  I am a rock!!

Saturday we went out for yummy Mexican food with Bentley and Helen.  I find it really hard to eat out at restaurants when on my cleanse because there is almost nothing I can eat.  But at this restaurant I was able to eat without cheating.  The only thing on my plate that I really shouldn’t have had was a little bit of cheddar cheese sprinkled on my taco.  So yay me!

Then we went to see a local kid doing a comedy act.  It was so funny.  My cheeks were numb by the end of the evening from laughing so hard.  We all thoroughly enjoyed it.  He is hilarious!  All in all a really fun night.

I’m very happy to report that I have not had very bad “die-off” symptoms this time around on my cleanse.  I hope that means that the candida levels in my body haven’t gotten as bad as the last time I did the cleanse.  I’m still a little tired, but other than that, feeling good.

It’s only 12 days until Rachelle arrives.  I am so excited to see her.  I’ve got some preparations to make before she arrives and I still haven’t gotten a dress for the opera.  I’m thinking I’ll try to go one day this week to start looking.  My cleanse has reduced so much bloating in my stomach, so I’m actually looking forward to shopping (that’s rare for me).  I keep getting told by my mom and a few friends to wear the bridesmaid dress I wore in my friend’s wedding before Christmas, but I think it’s just a smidge too fancy. You can click on it to see it larger.

Although, I would really love an occasion to wear it again.  At the same time I really want to go buy a new dress…I mean what girl doesn’t love to get new stuff?  : )

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted my cousin’s daughters, Jenny (16) and Lindsay (13) to come for a weekend. We decided that since it was spring break this week, they could come from Tuesday to Thursday. As the days got closer to when they were going to come, I started to panic. What do I do with a 16 year old and a 13 year old? I have 2 little girls. I don’t know what the teenagers of today enjoy doing. It feels like a long time since I was that age.

I used to spend weekends at their house when they were 4 and 1 years old and I was 15 and it felt so cool to be repeating history. I remember we would just hang out. They didn’t have to plan anything special and I loved it. I was just there and did daily life with them. So, I thought, maybe they would be good with that. And you know what? They were. It was so great having them here for 2 days.

They entertained my girls. In fact, life with my girls was so much easier than normal because there was something different and new. Maybe we’ll have to do this more often. We did one special thing on Wednesday night. I took Jenny, Lindsay and Ella out for a “girls night.” We went for supper and then we went to see the Hanna Montana Concert in 3D at the theater. It was so great. The girls had a great time and so did I. All in all, a very successful sleepover and they asked if we could do this often. I said, sure why not. Maybe they can come for a week on summer holidays. How fun would that be?

My cleanse has been going pretty good. The day we went out to the theater it suffered a little because it’s limited what I can eat when we are out anywhere. I did the best I could and decided to not feel guilty about it. Having the girls here for those couple days definitely helped me to not focus on how I was feeling and it was good for me. Kept me busy.

I’ve been on a quest to find some bread that I can eat. Kind of difficult when you can’t have yeast, flour, gluten, sugar or dairy : ) Maybe some invisible bread?!? Yesterday I found some. It’s spelt bread and it’s so yummy. It has nothing in it that I can’t eat and it settles that craving for bread.

Yesterday Louise and I went out for an adult girls night. FABULOUS!! We decided there were just too many movies that we wanted to see at the cheap theaters so we would see two. We picked “27 Dresses” and “Fools Gold.”

Now I have to interject here and say that the regular seats at the Famous Players theater have recently gone up to $9.50 per person. That is HIGHWAY ROBBERY!!! To go out with a family of 4 it’s over $40.00 with taxes! And that’s without any food from the concessions. You could do lots of other things for that much money. Louise and I went to the cheap seats and for two movies, a popcorn and drink I paid $9.50. For everything. My mom had found me 2 coupons so I got one movie for $1.00 and one movie for $3.00 (that’s the regular price). Isn’t that great?

And for the movies? AWESOME!! Both of them. We started with “Fools Gold” and were not disappointed. Matthew McConaughey is HOT as usual. Kate Hudson is quirky and cute. They have such great chemistry together and I think they should be together in real life. The story line was fun and kept me very interested. I would say that we were slightly uncomfortable that some parents felt it necessary to bring their children to see it. It’s definitely not appropriate for kids. It’s not really bad or obscene, but it’s got mature content. There’s one part in the beginning where a woman is on a boat and she flashes her breasts and they show it for a few seconds. So yeah, not appropriate for kids. Other than that, so fun.

“27 Dresses” was nothing short of adorable! I just loved it. I’m going to buy it the minute it’s out on dvd. I don’t know what else to say except go watch it for yourself. Great stuff.

And here’s our movie action shots…

When we were buying our snacks for the movies, Louise bought Glosette Raisins.  I was staring at them longingly and she offered to share them with me.  Oh, don’t worry, I didn’t break any rules on my diet…she just sucked all the chocolate off and I ate the raisins : ) Just kidding. I think it was that conversation that had me giggling like a school girl in the second picture.  That or Louise’s penchant for crazy poses.  Ah, so much fun. We think maybe we’ll do this more often. I mean with the price of gas sky rocketing, may as well make our trip to the city worth it!

And now for another fun recipe that I CAN eat!!

Tortilla Soup

• 2 stalks green onions
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• oil
• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 can beef broth
• 1/2 cup brown rice
• taco seasoning to taste (I use 1 tsp Epicure’s Pueblo Bean dip mix and 1/2 tsp Epicure’s Mild Salsa Seasoning)
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• corn tortillas (either soft ones fried until crisp in oil, or just tortilla chips crushed)
• Original non-cleanse friendly ingredients that I omitted or changed, but taste awesome: grated cheddar or montera1/2 cup frozen corn, 2 tsp worcestershire sauce, and instead of a 28 oz can crushed tomatoes, it calls for 1 (14 oz) can crushed tomatoes and then a can of tomato soup.

1. Saute onions, peppers and garlic in oil.

2. Put all ingredients tortillas, lime juice and cheese in soup pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer covered for 1 hour.

3. Add lime juice to soup.

4. Add crushed chips and cheese to individual bowls.

I really wanted to give you a break from all the memes that have been cropping up here lately, but I’ve been officially tagged by Corie and Jimaie.Marie and I figured I’d just tag myself at PinkPaperPeppermints because I’m already doing it anyway and she hadn’t tagged anyone.

1. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
2. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged and to ask them to play along and to read your blog.

What I was doing 10 years ago - 1998

1. Just coming back from Mexico where I had my first kiss : )  Maybe a future post…maybe not.  If I didn’t know that lots of people I know for real read my blog I might share.  Which brings me back to the conclusion that I might one day start an anonymous blog just to dump all the fun things in my head that I don’t want my real in life people to hear : )  Just kidding.

2. Getting ready to leave for my school trip to Italy and Greece, where a passion for everything Italy was birthed.  Okay, I think it was there before, but it just made the passion an obsession!

3. In the middle of trying to get Jer to love me…seriously.  I pursued him until he couldn’t remember not wanting to be with me.  Not really a proud thing for me, but hey, I got the guy.

4. Waiting in anticipation for June so that I could graduate and grow up…didn’t work.

5. Asked Jer to be my grad escort right before I left for Italy, hoping that a magical night of me in a beautiful dress, all dolled up with big hair and makeup on (that would be him with the big hair and me with the makeup…I’ll find a picture) would help him make up his mind.  It worked, by the way.

Five things on my to-do list today (well since it’s almost midnight, we’ll talk about tomorrow’s to-do list)-

1. Write interesting blog post

2. Make healthy cleanse friendly supper

3. Take my cousin’s daughters, Jenny and Lindsay, home after having them over for 2 nights.

(picture of me and Jenny from Christmas. She’s 16 and beautiful!  Her and her 13 year old sister, Lindsay stayed over for 2 nights since it’s their spring break and they really wanted to come over.  We had a fabulous time…I’ll post about it yet.)

4. Go to see movies with Louise.  Yes, I said movies, we’re doing a double whammy.  Too many good ones to choose from so why not see 2?

5. Make mini banana chocolate chip muffins.  Not for me, sigh.  But I’m still a good wife and mother and make these things for my family even when I can’t eat them.  Whatever doesn’t break me completely makes me stronger : )

Snacks I enjoy -

1. Ketchup chips

2. Popcorn

3. Tortilla chips and salsa

4. Crackers and cheese

5. Mini banana chocolate chip muffins

Things I would do if I were a billionaire -

1. Give lots of it away.  The “Big Give” is totally wearing off on me.  I end each episode a weepy snotty mess wailing “I wanna do thaaaatttt!!!”

2. Buy a villa in Italy

3. Show my kids the world

4. Pay off my family’s debts and build them houses

5. Have more than 5 pairs of shoes : )

Five of my bad habits -

1. chewing the skin around my fingernails until they bleed

2. not folding my laundry, just leaving it for the magical laundry fairy to take care of.  By the way, who’s been keeping her so long, I need her, too!  You have to share!

3. sitting by my computer for hours on end and refreshing my email inbox to see if anyone has emailed me.

4. staying up way too late

5. saying “Seriously!”  It’s a new bad habit and it annoys the bajeebees out of me…SERIOUSLY!!

Five places I have lived -

1. 2nd Street North in my town

2. in the country 7 miles out of my town

3. Ashgrove Crescent in my town

4. Cobblestone Court in my town

5. Errington Way in my town

(possibly I like my town…just maybe.  In fact they should have named it after me…Erinville…I’m getting closer what with my current street being Errington way, maybe I’ll change my spelling to Errin.  I went to school with a girl who spelled it that way)

Five jobs I’ve had -

1. Shipper at a book warehouse

2. Receptionist at the Faculty of Education at our university

3. Office Assistant at the Dept. of Psychology at our university

4. Financial Assistant for the Natural Resources Institute at our university

5. Mommy

Five bloggers I tag -

Since the entire blogging universe has done this meme, I tag no one.  If you want to do it, go for it.

Happy April Fools, everyone. I’m not going to do anything nasty this year. Last year was fun, especially when one person didn’t scroll down and three weeks later they were still thinking I was pregnant : ) Ah, that made me so happy and it was well worth the punch in the arm I received for the little white lie!

In current news, it’s been like 67 hours on this cleanse and I’m still encouraged. We’ll see how I am at hour 72 or hour 361…although maybe that will land up in the middle of the night and it won’t matter, but I digress. This IS the third time I’ve done this extreme cleanse so I have some past experience and knowledge under my belt on all this. I know what to expect, I know it’s hard, and I’m ready for it. No cravings as of yet, even with Louise tempting me and talking about Dairy Queen Blizzards and chocolate chip cookies and what not. It’s friends like her who make me stronger : ) Love you, girl! She knows I can handle it.

I’ve had such good food the last 3 days that I haven’t missed anything yet. I made an awesome taco casserole for supper on Sunday. Yesterday I made Tilapia fish fillets drizzled with butter and seasonings, and rice topped with a yummy stir-fry on the side. I’m eating enough so I don’t feel hungry and thus not giving into temptations (the biggest mistake I made the first time). I’m also making sure to make enough supper so that I have leftovers for the following day’s lunch. This way I don’t skip any meals. Very, very important.

And that’s my very boring update. I’m just staying accountable. And if you’re wondering how long I’m going to keep this up, 5 weeks. Until we go to Grand Forks in the beginning of May. I will be cheating a couple times like when Rachelle comes to visit in 17 days, but I’ll keep it to a minimum. I’m going to try not to bore you too much with these updates. If you have questions feel free to ask. Hopefully really interesting things happen to me so that I can keep you all entertained. I mean what’s not entertaining about sitting in the bathroom for hours on end talking to a 2 year old wishing they would just pee already so you could go back to checking your email? Or locking myself in the bathroom for 50 minutes pretending to be having a poo so that I can escape the gazillion questions from little people and have some time to myself (don’t worry, no children were neglected during that episode, Jer was home). See, that’s entertaining stuff!