Life's Whirlwind Adventures

I know that not everyone enjoys baking, but when I bake I am in my element. I may have missed my calling as a baker but it is most definitely one of my passions.  I love baking, not cooking, but baking.  Breads, pies, muffins, cakes, cookies, English muffins, lasagna, casseroles, really if I can put it in a Pyrex dish or on a sheet and put it in my oven I will do it!!  I love making homemade bread, it helps me break out some stress relieving exercises and I get to make my house smell extra homey, AND a great treat to eat for the next couple of weeks.  Who wouldn't want their home to smell like home made bread?  Who wouldn't want to eat homemade bread for a week, at least you can pronounce all the ingredients in this bread unlike some of the store bough breads with all their preservatives. I make my homemade bread sans breadmaker.  I HATE, no I LOA(th)Ve the breadmaker.  I had a breadmaker but it always made such a mess that I only used it a fe...

I envy people that know what their passion is, I think they are the luckiest people on the planet.  I envy people more who know what their passions are and are able to make money doing what they love.  I don't know that I am one of those people.  I am not sure why, but I guess that's the way things go from time to time.  I am trying to figure out what my passions are, I am in my 30s, you would think I would know what they are, but I struggle with that.  I grew up in an atmosphere where time is money and money is time, so don't waste either.  I don't know why I keep that cliche in my head because all it does is bring me down, but I keep it in my head because I need to make money, and if I don't make money my family will struggle.  I can't do something I love if it is going to cause my family to struggle financially or so that we can not enjoy a lifestyle to which we have worked hard to earn. I went to school for 4 years because I LOVE helping people...

OMG!!! That's all I can say for that, it was so good and so tasty!!! I made Baked Potato Soup in the crockpot last week, another Pinterest idea and it turned out fabulously!!! Even Adrian liked it and sometimes he is picky about the soups he eats. I got the recipe here.   And cut it in half, with some extra potatoes.  It was easy to do and because it was in the crock pot I didn't have to stand over the stove for hours!!! Loved this one!!!

Yummy, that's all I have to say about this!!! I made some donuts with Adrian's help on Friday night.  It was a great time, we worked together and created a great thanksgiving snack to serve on Sunday when the family came over.  We used to make donuts with my mom all the time when we lived in Wakaw.  I loved it, I have so many great memories of baking with my mom, they are happy memories. I  used to think we were just baking but we were creating great memories and that's what I want to do with my kids.  I LOVE baking and stuff so I am hoping my kids enjoy doing it with me as they grow. I was in a pumpkin mood, and after the pumpkin muffins I wanted to try to make pumpkin donuts. I searched online and found a great recipe so I whipped it up and made up 45 donuts.  I struggled with the donut making as I did not have a donut cutter, nor did I have a round cookie cutter or a smaller cookie cutter to make the holes, I am telling you it was an interesting si...

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone and it was a crazy weekend at our place. We had 15 people over for Thanksgiving supper and a couple guys who stopped by afterwards.  It was  a great time. On Saturday we went to Home Depot and picked out our bathroom reno supplies.  We are completely redoing our main bathroom. It's going to be a big job, but when it's done things are going to look AMAZING!!! So lot's of money later we headed to the Rebel's game.  It was a good game, but the Rebels lost.  It was fun going to the game with everyone again, It's been a long time since I have gone to a hockey game with the family. Then on Sunday we had Thanksgiving supper.  It was a big production. Adrian had bought a large turkey.  Ok when I say large, I mean this was the largest Turkey I had ever heard of.  It was 31  LBS.  Yup 31 LBS for 15 people.  That means we got 2 lbs of turkey each.  Needless to say I have a lot of Turkey still...

Sometimes crafts are simple, so simple that you can't believe you didn't think of them before.  The craft I did today was one that seriously took an hour of my time from start to finish.  The only reason it took an hour was because I let Lil Man walk instead of pushing him in a stroller. Since this is the season to be thankful  for all we have, I thought it would be a great idea to make a Tree of Thanks.  I saw it on Pinterest  and I added it to my Thanksgiving traditions board.  It may even be something we keep around until Christmas, it seems like a fun idea. So Lil Man and I went out walking today to collect some twigs.  I collected the twigs he just walked with the dog.  It was a great walk and it tuckered him out which gave me two glorious hours of peace and quiet in the house.  When I got home I also picked up a few pine cones from under our pine trees and brought them inside.  I put some glass stones in the bottom of a vase ...

I love Thanksgiving and Fall for one reason only, and no it's not the weather, PUMPKINS!! And all the different pumpkin dishes you can create with Pumpkins.  The drinks at Starbucks, the Pumpkin pies in the store, the muffins, the cookies, and so many other things as well.  I read a tweet from @jeffschroeder that said "On our way 2 Seattle & I stopped 2 get a tasty pumpkin smoothie.  Why is Pumpkin only a delicious seasonal treat?  I vote 4 pumpkin yr round"  and I totally agree. So I am a happy baker at this time, because I can make all kinds of pumpkin treats!!! For my next Pinterest project I am made Pumpkin muffins for Thanksgiving.  I found the pin originally on my friend Becky's board and followed the link to the recipe.  Yesterday afternoon, Lil man and I made these muffins and they turned out fantastic.  FANTASTIC so tasty, my eldest son loves pumpkin stuff too and tried to eat all of them, but I froze them to save them until Fri...

I love to be Organized, unfortunately, sometimes getting to this stage is a lot more difficult than one would suspect.  I try very hard to stay organized but it's so easy to be lazy or lax in your intentions and then things get lost all over the place.  This makes things a disaster and then it is hard for you to get to that place you need to be in order to have success.  I truly believe that successful people are very organized.  I am on my way to being that. There are a lot of things I want to do with my life, so many in fact that sometimes I think they are competing for attention and then disorganization happens because I only half way complete any one project.  Trust me I know my faults, and starting things but never finishing them is definitely one of them.  So I am going to start at the basics and work my way to successful organization that I can transfer to all areas of my life, family, work, home based business, writing, I know I can do it I just h...

Thirteen years ago my exes father made us a microwave stand for our kitchen.  It was either made for us or given to us by his sister.  When we split up I inherited that piece of furniture and it has moved with me to every house I have lived in.  Three years ago it ceased to be a microwave stand and became a counter top and junk drawer where all the junk got tossed.  It was becoming an eye sore and hard to keep clean.  I am sure many of you know that most stuff that ends up in junk drawers is stuff that you think,"Oh, I'll get to that later." or "Oh this will be a good place to keep this for now."  If not well now you know my train of thought. We have so much paint in our house from having to repaint every room in this place, we aren't done yet, but we are getting there.  So I decided to refurbish my ugly microwave stand.  It wasn't ugly when we got it but after years of wear and tear it was showing it's age.  I hauled the stand downstairs a...

So I tried a new recipe out on Sunday.  It seemed like a pretty neat idea when I read about it on Pinterest so I thought what the heck let's try it. I really enjoyed it.  I took eggs and milk and mixed them together like scrambled eggs. Then I sprayed my muffin tins with cooking spray and lined them with Maple Turkey Breast.  I did it so the meat formed a cup like a muffin cup. Next I poured the egg into the turkey meat and then I added tomatoes and onions and cheese to top. Finally I baked them in the oven for 30 minutes pulled them out and served.  It was a great 40 min recipe with cooking time.  Perfect for busy mornings because they were great reheated as well!!! I suggest this for a change from regular egg breakfasts, you could use any meat, ham, chicken, which ever and any omelet additions as well.

So another GREAT pinterest find was the idea of using Chalk board paint on your pantry doors so you can keep track of grocery list and meal plans.   I loved that idea.  I also hate my white kitchen cupboards so GUESS what I did today!!! 2nd coat inside door second coat outside door I painted my pantry doors with chalk paint.  I am lucky I guess because my kitchen cupboards have some design on them that makes it easy to choose where to chalk paint.  After two coats I have some new chalk boards in my house.  I think these will be great for us and for Lil Man as he has taken to colouring on walls as of late.  Trust me I am very frustrated with this behaviour but hopefully this will help him learn where he can colour and where he can't.     I am loving this idea and when we redo our kitchen in the next couple of years I will be incorporating this idea for sure!!

So this is another of my Pinterest projects.  I made for supper Spanish Rice and what turned into a recreated Chicken Parmesean.  I didn't have parmasean cheese so I had to improvise, it actually turned out really well and I will make it again. So I learned how to make Spanish Rice from my best friend Alex.  I still think her's tastes better but I am a work in progress.  This is definitely an easy recipe to make once you know what to do. So to begin with you chop up 2-3 tomatoes (this is dependent on size).  Cut them into blend-able cubes and blend them up.  I used my Magic Bullet and it was super easy. Next take a large pan and add some oil to the pan, heat the oil up, then add rice to brown.  Stir constantly to brown the rice.  I used 1 1/2 cups of rice and 2 tbsp of vegetable oil. Now add the Tomatoes to the rice and stir letting the rice absorb the tomato juice.  You can also add onions I do this now so the onions can take on some ...

So the other day Lil Man and I went for a walk to the park.  Lil Man loves walking to the park, but it is a little heart attack inducing for me because he doesn't like to hold hands.  He's a big boy you know, almost two and he can do it himself.  However, we have gotten to a point in our walks where he will hold my hands when we cross the street or when there are large groups of people around.  Other than that, it's 'no I do it," or "no! No Hands mommy!"  So away we went down the street to Normandeau school. We live in a area where we are close to two school and there are quite a few little parks all around, but I chose Normandeau because we have to cross the least amount of streets that way.  So away we went with our plastic bag hunting for fun colourful leaves.  Lil Man loved running along the path and picking up leaves.  He didn't collect too many but he had fun!!  After we had foraged enough leaves we went home. I had seen a craft wher...