Menu Plan Monday

Monday-Crispy tofu triangles with fried rice
Tuesday- Indonesian chicken satay with peanut sauce
Wednesday- Spaghetti bake
Thursday- Leftovers, Chili potatoes with sweet peppers
Friday- Grilled caramelized ginger salmon, veggies, rice pilaf
Saturday- Italian sausage linguine with grated carrots
Sunday- Deer roast, veggies

I think this will the last menu plan with tofu in it, as I'm not really a fan to tofu, I realized.

Menu Plan Monday- or in this case, Wednesday

It's a very beautiful winter day here in the country, although in other places of the province it's blizzard like. Winter has settled in, and I find that I've been wanting heartier meals- which isn't really that helpful for losing weight. But a well-fed Jiselle is a happy Jiselle, and by extension a happy family.

Here's the plan for the week.

Monday- Switched from Meatless Monday, to Matt's Monday- He made a chicken stirfry
Try It Tuesday-Maple glazed pork tenderloin, roasted vegetables and stuffing
Wednesday-Leftovers and snacks
Thursday- Pork chops, mashed potatoes
Fun Friday- Spaghetti bake
Saturday- Calzones
Sunday- Venison stew- Promised to be made this week.

This is my last week working fulltime, so hopefully meals will get a little more exciting!

Remembering Jason

It has been fifteen years since that horrible day. Awakened with the sounds of dogs barking, knowing something was not right...then the knock on the door. Listening from the doorway, hearing the RCMP tell the unthinkable to Mom, a scream leaving my lips. Then a day filled with phone calls, travel arrangements, visitors, people crying that I never expected to see crying, and the piano. A day that reminded too much of days 18 months before. A day that a 11 year old should not be going through.

So much has changed since then. I have grown up, graduated high school, finished three degrees, got married, and become a Mom. So many opportunities and experiences missed that we could have had. So many what ifs and what would he have become. Yet, he is always in my thoughts, he will always be a part of everything I do, just like Dad.

I choose to remember the best things- how great a brother he was, how he always treated me with respect, even when I was bothering him. How he never made me feel like I was a nuisance, even though he was a 19 year old boy when he died. How he loved music and reading, television and movies, and our family. He took on the role of the man of the house, and did the best that he could, even though the pressure was so high. He was FUNNY. Laugh out loud, great twisted view on life that I loved. He was king of parodies and quick on the draw. He loved to mock Mom, in a loving matter, never to hurt, just to point out the idiosyncrasies. He was a good friend-loyal, caring, committed. This was evident at his wake and funeral-so many people at the funeral that the church was full and people stood in doorways, halls, the basement, and outdoors-even though it was a cold February. Some friends still call and check in with Mom occasionally-and come to my wedding. He would have been a great uncle-his nieces and nephews are missing out-but he will be remembered. They know he is in Heaven with Grandpa. I miss what we could have become-not just an older brother and his younger sister- but more equals. I miss that we never got to see him find the one, get married and have children. I miss that we never got to see him grow up. He never got to see me fall in love-he never got to meet my husband. I mourn the loss of the relationships he would have had with his brother-in-laws.

We were a family of five, then four, and now three. While I understand that their deaths were of God, and there was a purpose, I miss what we had. Most of all, I miss them.

The Week That Was

I've decided it is time to start giving a weekly update on what has been happening in our household. Although often nothing exciting has happened, with the children being the ages they are, time goes by quickly and it would be nice to be able to look back and document all that has happened.

So here it goes...
This past week was filled with work, sleep and getting ready for Sahara's 8th birthday. Her birthday was Saturday, and we had them this weekend, so it was extra special, because we think it is the first birthday that we've ever had her. We got her a pretty pink scooter and cool helmit, so she was a pretty excited little girl. Matt calls her 8 going on 18, so it was nice to see her happy with a "kid" gift. She got to pick her birthday meal-hot dogs-and I made her a ice cream sandwich ice cream cake, which she thought was pretty cool. Saturday afternoon before we dropped them off was full of excited children running around playing together. I love seeing Gage interact with his siblings, and have the opportunity to be teh youngest, when usually he is the only one around.

Gage has decided to start talking a lot more. Still not where I think he should be at, but getting better. This week he has added "doggy", "Kia", "help", "please", "beep beep beep", "Gloria" to his expressive language. Yes, they were mostly repetition, but some was spontaneous. He delights in all things boy, and was a real trooper, as he got babysat by some different people this week.

I got a couple of outdoor runs this week, and realized that I really want to do a couple of races this spring/summer. Running is a great stress relief, and although I am not the best at it, I love the feeling of accomplishment when I'm done. Hopefully the weather will improve, and I'll be able to go out for more!

I'm anxiously waiting the arrival of my new niece or nephew as my siser is due in 9 days. It will be great for Gage to have another cousin, and since she only lives 7 or so hours away for this birth, I may actually get to see the baby when it is an infant!

Menu Plan Monday

It's a little late, but here's my menu plan for the week:
Meatless Monday- Tofu stirfry
Try It Tuesday- Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup
Wednesday-Venison stew
Thursday-Grilled chicken salad
Fun Friday- Homemade pizza
Saturday-Chicken Pot Pie
Sunday-Spinach Lasagna Rolls

I'm feeling rather uninspired with cooking lately. Maybe it is because I have been struggling with fatigue. Hopefully I'll get over this soon, because I do want to try a lot of new recipes that I've seen lately.

Cruisin along

I'm pretty pumped today. Today was weigh-in day, and I have now officially lost all of my baby weight. It's taken 18 months, well, really, probably only 4 or so months, but I am down 33 lbs! I have a bit more to lose until my goal weight, but still. Exciting times. This past week I got to go on a run with my husband- something that doesn't happen very often but hopefully will become more of a regular thing, and I've done a couple of Turbo Fire classes. I'm really enjoying Turbo Fire, although I don't know if I'm getting the full effect of it, since I spend a lot of time just trying to figure out what they are doing. They move FAST!!! The music is awesome, though, and the moves pretty interesting, and I'm always a sweaty mess, so I think it is a winner. Chalene is very energetic and encouraging, and it makes me think I should get doing Chalean Extreme again. Some sort of hybrid thing. I feel like it has given me the boost in endurance needed to start jogging/running again, and I plan for this to be a big part of my life from now on. I want to run a 5 K in June, and a 5 mile in July, and then work up to 10Ks and half-marathons. A lot of training and learning how to run properly, but I think that it will be worth it!

Gage has been great lately, although he is very busy. He's been going out to be babysat while I'm at work and I think he really enjoys having different people give them their undivided attention. Although he isn't really talking much, he is starting to verbalize a lot more than he used to, and copies our speech a lot. He has some words that he uses often, but it would be great if he could talk more. Talk more, less crying. He still really likes music, and has gotten a new obsession this week-Froot Loops. I know, I know, the cereal is just full of sugar, but at least he his eating something. Once this box is done, though, it'll be a Froot Loop-less house for a while. When I stop working I think it will be get Gage to expand his palate days-also to get rid of the bottle.

I did it!

I did something that I've never done before, last night. I went out for a jog after Gage was in bed. Well first I got myself dressed to brave the elements, and I set out, put my music on, and jogged 5 kms without stopping!!! I was stoked! Not bad for running in the dark and it being all winter like. I was pretty nervous I'd encounter some wildlife since I live in the country, so spent a lot of my jog thinking of contingency plans, but it was smooth sailing. Now if I can just keep this up, I'll be running longer distances in no time. It may be the year for me to run my first 5K race. Yay!

Weekly update and Menu plan Monday

So, I'm coming off another busy weekend. It was filled with travelling, children, exercising and reading and fellowshiping. A great weekend, but busy nonetheless. It was our weekend for Sahara and Aidan, so that required the trips there and back to get them. A lot of time was spent sledding down our driveway. There really are some benefits to having a very long and hilly driveway. Gage is not a big fan of the sled. We took him out on Sunday, but after a few minutes of screaming, we figured it was time to take him back in. He'd rather be in the house causing havoc, then being confined to a sled.

The week on a whole was fairly busy. I worked all week, and on Monday had my first ladies Bible study meeting. It is a twelve week program that focuses on bringing me closer to God, by focusing on how He is my Abba Father. Hopefully I 'll learn a lot from it.

I've started following a weight loss program this week too, with my neighbour. I've been following it loosely for the last few months, but we decided to work together with it and hold each other accountable, especially with consistency. I've almost lost all of my baby weight (it's about time!) but I wasn't exactly where I wanted to be before I got pregnant with Gage. I'm thinking of it as a competition, so I want to win! I've also been working out, as I've mentioned before, and I'll be giving a bit of review on that in the next few weeks.

Finishing up my catch up post, I feel the need to post the plans that I am hoping to adopt in our family life. While I'm at work, Matt does most of the household cleaning when he's home with Gage, but isn't able to get to some of the more nitty gritty parts. As I'm not a natural homemaker, and wouldn't say I'm the most anal about cleaning, I felt that it was important to start some chore lists and plans for our household. Sahara and Aidan have a chore list for the weekends they're with us, and in the next few months I'll try to get Gage doing some age appropriate cleaning. For my part, I'm going to follow a chore schedule that Darlene at Time-Warp Wife has posted, with my own changes.

Cleaning Schedule:
Monday: Kitchen
Tuesday: Garbage, Bathroom
Wednesday: Bedrooms
Thursday: Floors, and vacuuming
Friday: Groceries, running around
Saturday: Clean car

It's also Menu Plan Monday! As we've been looking in to many ways to save money and have been working on eating up our pantry, I believe it is important for me to start menu planning. Especially because after I come home from work I don't really want to have to be starting a meal from scratch.
So here's our menu plan for the week:
Monday: Potato soup and baked Potatoes (Meatless Monday)
Tuesday: Chicken Enchilads (Try It Tuesday)
Wednesday: Cheesy rice bake
Thursday: Chicken pot pie
Friday: Homemade pizza (Fun Friday)
Saturday: Spinach Lasagna rolls, Lasagna soup
Sunday: Venison stew, biscuits

I'm looking forward to some great meals this week and I have a lot of new recipes to try out in the next few weeks! It looks like it'll be a tasty winter.

And we're back...

So, 2011. A new year, and a chance to do things differently. I don't really do the whole New Year's resolution thing, but I have decided that there are a few things that I want to accomplish this year. Well, actually, quite a few things, but I don't want to set myself up to failure by listing them as resolutions. Really, I want some lifestyle changes this year, which I think will make everything in my life a little bit easier.

I've decided to adopt a theme word for the year. I know that sounds kind of new agey, or lame, but, nonetheless, I think that it is useful to have something to focus on through the year. I realize that I need to be more consistent with things, something that my sister has pointed out to me also, therefore CONSISTENCY is my theme word. I need to be more consistent with positive attitudes towards my circumstances, more consistent in my parenting, my eating and working out, and especially my relationship with God. I am great with coming up with plans and starting them, but I am not so great with the follow through. My ability to come up with excuses is top-notch, though. So if I accomplish anything at all this year, I hope it is to be more consistent.

I also want to make more connections with people this year, and to maintain connections and relationships that I have. I am not a good friend or relative. I seldom write, phone, or anything. Not because I have anything against my friends or relatives-I'm just lazy. I want that to change, and so I'm going to try harder to keep in contact with all those that I love in my life.

Fitness wise, I've got a lot going on. I was in quite the funk for a while after Gage was born, and I wasn't doing much of anything, but things have started looking up recently. I am about 10 lbs away from what I weighed before I had Gage and I am looking to lose quite a bit more this year. Along with losing weight, I'm working out again, and I'll discuss what I'm doing in a future post.

Gage is doing great, and it is very exciting seeing how much he is advancing in various things, although, his ability to be stubborn is hard to deal with at times. I think that with Gage, you just have to let everything happen at his pace.

I'm pretty discouraged regarding jobs around here. My present job's term is up the end of the month, and I don't have any real prospects until July when the job starts up again. Also, it isn't in my profession (teaching). In order to get a teaching job it looks like we would have to move, and that isn't really something that we would like to do. I don't know if I should stay with the teaching, or try to do something else. Right now I'm leaving it up to God, and hoping to find direction soon.

I slacked off again

So I had great intentions in keeping up with the blog. But then life happened. Between finishing up my Master's, chasing my busy boy, being a wife, step-mother, daughter, and sister I once again stopped blogging. Not that I have anybody to keep me accountable because I think the only person who has ever read this is my mother. Nevertheless, it is time for an update.

Gage is closing in on one and I am seeing my little baby disappear and an active toddler emerging. At times I'm excited about the changes that I see and the knowledge of where his development will be going next. At other times I miss the little baby that adored lights (especially of the Christmas variety), kicking his feet, and spending time on the floor looking around. I've been very lucky to have been able to spend the past eleven months with him, other than 8 weeks of practice teaching, and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.

Matt just finished another lobster fishing season. It's nice to have my husband back. I joke that I become a fishing widow during the season, because he's gone all day, home long enough to eat, shower, and then pretty much off to bed. Gage seems to like him being home more too, especially since he seems to think that his Dad is the fun one!

Shifting...

I am having a great day! A day where everything is pretty much going on schedule and everyone is in good moods...even Gage, which sometimes doesn't always happen. Last night I sat down and planned out today-what I was going to eat, what I was going to do, workouts I was hoping to achieve. So today I have been following that list, and I am really impressed. I get why people plan their days now, it is really nice knowing what I am going to do next. Anyway, I got a fitness video in this morning, a run around lunch, hopefully will get to do another video tonight after Gage goes to sleep. I made a great stew in the slowcooker, and left overs can be used for supper tomorrow. Life is pretty good today.

On the other hand, I have a big head. Not a "I think I'm awesome, everyone should love me" big head, but an actual physical head. I like my head, but I don't like it when it comes to hats or headbands. Headbands really are the bane of my existence. I CANNOT find headbands that fit. I'll put them on, and then they'll start sliding, and sliding...eventually they'll just fall off. So yesterday I went and bought myself some elastics and headbands (to make me look cute for working out of course) which are supposed to be no-slip. Obviously they were not designed for heads that are on the larger size, so slipping again. Nothing to kill my mood today, though.

Continued update

So, Gage is off to bed and I have a few minutes to myself to continue this update. I guess the reason I'm coming back to this blog is that I am starting to come out of the fog that I've been in ever since I got pregnant and I am feeling inspired to go out and be part of the world again. Pregnancy was kind of hard for me, due to my extreme fatigue, and I have to admit, the first couple of months after Gage was born was not the easiest. I had so many expectations on how I thought things would be, and none of it really went the way I planned. I hated feeling out of control, with the inability to gain control, so I kind of wasn't the happiest woman on the block. Everything is better now, though, and I'm really enjoying being at home with Gage, and working on finishing my schooling. I've been spending some time online lately getting inspired by all these women out there who manage to cram much more in their day than I do. It's time for me to join these ranks. So...in order to be accountable I am going to list the things that I am working on now. I'm journeying back to a closer relationship with God. I'm working out again, and plan to run a 5 mile race in July (perfect way to celebrate 1 year of motherhood). I'm going to finish my schooling to the best of my ability. I will become a better consumer...reusing things I have, trying to shop responsibly, and making things if possible. I will be a better steward in my home and will provide healthy meals for my family. I will look at the blessings in my life much more than the negatives. I'm not sure if anyone is ever going to read this blog other than me, but that's okay, because at least I'm putting myself out there.

Another purpose for this blog is to point out some interesting stuff I find along the way, such as recipes, fitness, home management, finance...anything at all really.

Update!

Well, I can't believe how much time has passed since the last time I wrote. At that point I was a newly-wed, still working on my undergrads and looking for a job. Now I am 3 1/2 years into being a wife, a new mother (Gage is six months!), working on my masters...and essentially looking for a job. So I guess not everything has changed. I am determined to keep writing this time...we'll see how it goes!

Life in Moncton

Another September, another year in Moncton. I keep thinking, maybe I'll like it better this time, but.... not so much. Matt's not up here with me yet, he's supporting us, back home, so I've been braving the city myself, unpacking all the boxes and putting them away in our first place together. Hopefully he'll like it, if not he can rearrange everything.

Last year, while I was in great excitement because of the birth of my first nephew Kai, I decided to run for the school newspaper editor. And, because nobody ran against me, I won. So I am now the Beacon editor, and a member of the Student Council, so I've been pretty busy this week with all that. But I guess that it is good, because it is making me be a lot more social than I have ever been. And I've even met some super cool freshmans that have totally passed my and Paige's test.

Today, I started applying for jobs, and I had a random interview at Boston Pizza. I went in to drop off a resume, which resulted in me filling out an application, which then resulted in me having an interview. There were lots of laughs, very few verbal diarrhea, but since I was so unprepared (and definately not looking very good), I don't know how it will go. I should know by the end of next week. I also applied at Costco, and Wal-Mart, and picked up an application for Blessings.

I have been having a lot of good talks with people this week, and one of them really hit me. My friend was telling me today that I have too little faith in myself. Which is completely accurate. And this has affected all areas of my life, so I am going to try my hardest to stop letting my doubts and insecurities affect my life, and my interactions with other people. Because really, I have God with me all the time, and He has made me a wonderful woman with talents that I have not been giving all to Him, for fear of failure.

So hopefully, people will see a change in me this year...for the better.

Happy Birthday Suava!

Today is my beautiful neice Suava's second birthday. If Matt and I had any money, I would have definately flown out there to see her, and enjoy the birthday madness. Two going on ten, it seems. The girl is soooo smart it makes my sister's life a little harder, but she loves every minute of it. So Happy Birthday beautiful Suava Amai!

Did you ever have one of those nights where some things were really, really nice, and other things were really, really bad so you don't know what to think of the night in the whole? Last night was definately one of those nights for me. At least I gained a new friend through it, and it's a girl at that!!

Still looking for a place to live... know of a place that would be great, but we think the price is a little too steep, but we'll see.

Pray for us, so we don't have to live in a car!

Okay, I am not on the ball

Well, it's been a while, at least nobody really knows about this blog yet, so they can't yell at me. But I guess to keep myself on track I'll have to tell people about it. There's been a bit of stuff going on lately, and it seems like there really aren't enough hours in the day...and it's only going to get worse this fall.

So, fish update. I was a good little wife and went down one night to fish with Matt and the various young teenagers that hang out at the wharf. At first I stayed far away from everybody because I had great images of me getting my hook caught in their hair, or skin, or something like that, but after I stopped being a chicken I moved over with the rest of them, and to my surprise I caught a fish! I was so excited, it was a little sad. I mean I'm supposed to be an adult, but it was so cool! But I, being the great fishergirl that I am, ended up catching 3 more fish that night, for the grand total of 4! Now don't get too excited...it did take me two hours to get that much. So I was happy because I got some fish, and I feel like I filled my fishing quota for a while, even though I have ended up going with him a few more times.

Matt and I are discovering that we have different ideas of fun. He thought it would be really fun last Saturday to get up early, go fishing, then go blueberry picking and then make jam. Me? I thought a good day would be to sleep in, then watch a movie or something, but we kind of have a trade off thing going on Saturdays, in which every second Saturday I get to pick what we do, so it was his Saturday, and away we went. The fish were not biting when we were there, and it was really windy, so I convinced him to give up on the fish and we went blueberry picking. After staying a lot longer then I wanted, we made it home and made the jam that night. The jam came out good, but I realized that I don't like anything that is too repetitive, and it doesn't bother him at all.

And there is a new addition to our family! No- not that, no babies yet! We have our first pet together. Matt came home on Saturday with a new kitten. He's all gray, and has enormous front paws, and we've named him Dakota Dusk. That kitten is spoiled already, but oh well. We're hoping we can have him with us when we move, but we'll see.

Oh, and speaking of moving... does anybody know where we can live in Moncton in the fall? Less then three weeks away and we don't have anything yet.

I'm thinking it's going to be a car or a tent for a while, and showers and laundry at ABU, but that would get pretty cold pretty fast! Please help!!!!

From laziness comes a blog

So I have realized that I am really lazy. This may not come to that much of a surprise to everyone else, but it is a mild shock to me. Essentially I am too lazy to write everyone emails, after completely draining my energy with all the photocopying and paper folding that I do at work (yeah I know, boo hoo for the office kid), so this is much easier. Really I'm maximizing my time, so I have more freedom to watch and think about BB7.

But as you all know, I'm not that great on the follow through, so I can't guarantee that there will be a lot of posts, or that they will be exciting, but at least there will be something.

Maybe I'll even convince my husband to write on this. If I can tear him away from the fish. I swear, he has more patience for those fish than I could have for ANYTHING! Everyday he says to me that fishing is so much fun and that I should try it out. Everyday I tell him that I would hate it if I didn't get a fish, and he couldn't guarantee I would get one. SO needless to say, I haven't been fishing, I've promised I'll go sometime, but we'll see....