Life ¤ Love ¤ Laughter ¤ Linds

Eavesdropping on my boys this morning... (After another petty argument) Justin:  Well, you're not real! Kaleb:  If I'm not real, then no one would tell Mommy that you fell off the deck.  You'd still be lying there and couldn't get up. You'd just be lying there crying.  No one would know where you are. (It's funny and mean all at the same time...not to mention it happened more than a year ago....boys! )

Just a quick post.  Busy weekend ahead! Today started way too early with a kid having nightmares, snowplough lights flashing on the highway, and all the fun electrical sounds related to the power flashing on and off multiple times through the night.  Kevin had fun manually emptying our close-to-overflowing sump hole beneath the stairs - it doesn't work so well when the power goes out and the power tends to go out when it's stormy.  We got hit with a (pretty) ice storm that wasn't nearly as bad as they claimed it would be!  The boys got a snow day (in April?) out of it and among the regular Friday house cleaning blitz and endless laundry, we tackled the dungeon (aka the basement.)   Do you know how annoying it is to do laundry when the power keeps flickering?  We cleaned and tidied and even found a long electric slot car race track thingy - that took waaaay too long to put together - but resulted in lots of giggling.    We ran off to church...

Chicken dinner. When Kevin & I went to Atlantic City for our anniversary a few years ago (hello cheap ocean front time share!), you couldn't walk through any of the hotels, restaurants, or lounges without hearing that cry from the casinos.  I can always hear the dealers' exclamations in my head, their sing-song chant, everytime I think about chicken.  I know it's strange, but that's just a free little peek into the wonder known as my mind as I present yet another recipe related post.   A few weeks ago WalMart had whole chicken 2 packs on sale.  I had no real use for them in my meal plan at the time but the price was right so I tossed them in the freezer. I will often use the crock pot to skow cook boneless, skinless chicken into a fall apart mess of yumminess - just toss it in frozen with some herbs, spices, and water, and have juicy shredded chicken to toss into soups, salads, wraps, and more without any fuss. I am hoping that the process will work similarl...

Every holiday seems to be be an excuse to feast.   With the various family celebrations, a bird is likely to turn up at least once... for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.  So here I would like to set the record straight and state unequivocally... birds get boring, and eating the same meal as leftovers is just uninspired!  Don't get me wrong, I've had some fabulous turkey... my brother-in-law-in-law (sister-in-law's husband) brought one amazing bird to a family celebration last year and it had a delicious pimento gravy.  So good!  I throw turkey into our meal rotation regularly but all-in-all, a big carved turkey can be just kind of blah - but the left-overs, ah, the left-overs - that's where things get fun! Thinking of all the yummy things you can whip up, I'm a little disappointed I didn't raid my mom's fridge before we left last night.   There's the usual but comforting hot turkey sandwich.  We've baked up some tasty turkey enchiladas.  We...

I am sitting in a VERY uncomfortable chair bedside in the ER with Justin.  The croup monster struck again... We've been treated and x-rayed and now we're patiently waiting under observation to make sure everything is good.  The doctors have warned it will be a very long night.  These chairs should have more cushion - it's not like anyone using them would want to plant themselves here long term. I've been browsing Pinterest, surfing old bookmarks, and seriously wondering why I left my Kobo at home. (I was lucky to make it out of the house in real clothes.) This fun link (ok probably not fun... but it's late/early and my entertainment threshold is very low....)  anyhow it's about making smart choices with ice caps.  http://www.livestrong.com/article/355579-tim-horton-ice-cap-nutrition-information/ Ice caps?  Healthy?  Probably not... but she breaks it down so you know exactly what you're getting and what it means.  I'm switching to chocolate milk...

Chicken is by far the largest percentage of meat we consume.  It doesn't seem to matter how I cook it, it's a meal the boys enjoy.  Happy dinner = happy mom!   Unfortunately, I get bored of chicken when it's the same old, same old. Some days, I'll throw a little bit of broth and some (4) boneless skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot, frozen or thawed, high or low, cook until I think it's done (3-6 hours depending on the other variants.)  I then have precooked meat for other meals. On weekends by the time dinner time rolls around, the last thing I feel like doing is cooking.  So yesterday I did some crockpot breasts - we threw two into a creamy cheesy pasta and tonight I subbed the other two in this BHG Mango Chicken Salad with Coconut Recipe . I used a whole can of coconut milk.  I was missing a mango.  I added a bit of honey to sweeten.  I served it on tortillas (wraps) instead of lettuce.  The sauce was a little runny... ...but...

We're a "north of 7" school.  Snow days when the rest of the board has bus service.  Lazy days of PJs, video games, movies, and an enforced "Go outside!" - just to keep mommy sane.  At the moment, it looks like someone cut open a down pillow and is shaking it overhead.  Huge snowflakes - at least twoonie sized - are falling very, very quickly.  It's peaceful and intriguing.  My camera doesn't capture the beauty. It's days like today that I'm thrilled with our decision to live in the country... at least until I have to try leave the driveway.