Lent

Ash Wednesday I believe is this week. I don't often observe lent, or at least not in any major way. However, letely I've been thinking a lot about my relationship with God and His Holiness (see my 15 minutes with G blog).

A number of years ago my pastor said that if we want to do something for Lent to examine our lives and see if there is anything that stands in our way of our relationship with God or spending time with him, then for Lent endeavour to remove (or insert) that objective.

This year, I'm going to leave my laptop at work, over the last 18 months that I've had a laptop I've spent fairly regular time on it at home, so I'm going to leave it at work so that I can put other relationships before work. I do have to make a few exceptions. Firstly for the next release, I'll probably have to bring my laptop home that weekend. I may also bring it home if a snowstorm is predicted so I can work from home the next day, lastly if I'm on call I need the computer. Other than that it stays at work, I'll even endeavour not to work late as whatever it is can wait for the next day.

Funny puppy

I think I have mentioned before that I think it's very funny how Drake sleeps on his back. Although he does it very often as soon as you bring out the camera to snap a photo he stretches and rolls over, losing the shot. Well we finally got 2 shots, yes he woke up and started stretching. As you can see sleeping against this particular wall in the basement is where we spends about half his sleep time, and he sleeps on his back with his paws on the wall as you can see from the chipped paint and scratch marks (I painted this wall in late September, and the marks have been there for awhile now, I wonder if the chipping was him eating it or not).

Anyway on to the pics.

Works For Me Wednesday

Well I was going to post this last week, but since that was a themed WFMW, I'll post it this week.

I redid my filing cabinet one night when I couldn't sleep because it was taking me too long to file.

First I put all the files I likely wouldn't need again at the back of the cabinet behind the divider (i.e. non current tax years, I have to keep them in case I'm audited).

Then in front of the tax year folders I put folders that I need rarely, like insurance (I only get one letter a year), car repair bills (4 times a year). Investment files from previous years etc.




In the front on the drawer I have the following 6 hanging files:
Household Bills (hanging file) with folders for: water, gas, telephone, electric, property tax (shred old bills)
Credit Card - Each card in it's own folder (shred old bills)
Banking - Each bank in it's own folder by year (i.e. CIBC - 2007 moves to the back of the cabinet at the end of the year)
Investments - each company with year in it's own folder i.e. "Fidelity - 2007" then that file moves into the Fidelity folder at the back at the end of the year
Pay Stubs - usually moves into the tax folder for the year
Taxes - 2007 - folders for me and hubby


This makes my filing easy for me, it took me about 2 hours to rearrange things and complete a few months of filing (not much, since it's bills and paystubs). Now it takes only 2 minutes to do a month of filing, whoppee!

For more Works For Me Wednesday solutions head on over to Rocks in my Dryer.

Menu Planning Monday

Monday: Slow Cooker Pot Roast with potatoes and carrots, salad (OK so I mofied this by cooking on low for 8 hours and adding the cut up potatoes and baby carrots, peas too)

Tuesday: Steak Fajitas

Wednesday: Ground Beef Stew

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Dinner with the girls

Saturday: Chicken Cordon Bleu in slow cooker

Sunday: Irish Stew in slow cooker

Head over to Laura's blog to participate. By request I've added all the slow cooker recipes, which by the way I get from Sandra's blog on Thursdays, I also haven't tried any of these! :)

Green Earth

Reading over Chrissa's and Julie's posts, I too think I should do something for the environment on a regular basis, especially considering that's what my degree is in (Environmental Science and Biology). Actually I'd like to encourage everyone to do something for the environment in 2007. Here are some ideas:

1. Take public transit on a regular basis if you don't already (i.e. if you drive everyday, try once a month on the bus)
2. Walk to the store on a nice day, if you normally drive it
3. Eat fewer convenience foods, good for you, less processing and less waste
4. Volunteer on a rehabilitation project (like plantings in a marsh that's being rehabilitated)
5. Take a daily walk and pick up one piece of litter that you see on the ground, even better if you can recycle that litter.
6. Turn off/unplug appliances you don't need regularly (do you really need to see the time on your microwave if you're not using it several times a day? Stereo?)
7. Turn the water off while you're brushing your teeth
8. If you have a large tank toilet put a full bottle of water on the side of the tank to help reduce the water consumption 500ml or 16oz bottle (provided this doesn't start to mean you have to flush twice).
9. Wash your pots in the sink rather than the dishwasher, means you can fit more in your dishwasher and you use less water and electricity
10. Let your dishwasher air dry rather than heat dry your dishes (if you can)
11. Choose an energy star appliance the next time you have to replace one.
12. If you have a radio alarm clock change to one you have to wind up
13. Get rechargeable batteries
14. Don't fall asleep in front on the TV with the lights on at night, go to bed
15. Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs (next time you change one and if they fit in your light fixture).
16. When doing the laundry hang hard to dry clothing for awhile so it doesn't take your dryer as long to dry them (i.e. towels, jeans). Choose a quicker cycle on the washer, you're clothes are likely not that dirty, if they are, pre-soak in a bucket of hot water, then wash. Also wash in cold water.
    
    If you have more ideas let me know!

Tzatziki recipe

For Chrissa. I don't actually make my own dip, but if you want to try this recipe is from About.com Home Cooking.

Ingredients
1 container (16 ounces) plain lowfat yogurt
1/2 English (seedless) cucumber, not peeled, seeded and finely chopped plus a few thin slices
1/1-2 teaspoons salt
1 to 2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint or dill plus additional sprigs (use dill preferred)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper


Instructions
Spoon yogurt into sieve lined with cheesecloth or coffee filter set over bowl; cover and refrigerate overnight. Transfer drained yogurt to medium bowl and discard liquid.

Meanwhile, in colander set over bowl, toss chopped cucumber with 1 teaspoon salt. Let drain at least 1 hour at room temperature, or cover and refrigerate up to 8 hours. In batches, wrap chopped cucumber in kitchen towel and squeeze to remove as much liquid as possible. Pat dry with paper towels, then add to bowl with yogurt.

With flat side of chef's knife, mash garlic to a paste with remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add garlic, chopped mint, oil, vinegar, and pepper to yogurt and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 or up to 4 hours. Serve chilled or at room temperature, topped with cucumber slices and mint sprigs.

Yield: about 1-1/2 cups

Per tablespoon: about 17 calories, 1 gram protein, 1 gram carbohydrate, 1 gram total fat (0 gram saturated), 1 mg cholesterol, 182 mg sodium.

A to Z(ed) Meme and other things

A - Available/Single? Married
B - Best Friend? Hubby
C- Cake or Pie? Pie, apple please
D - Drink Of Choice? Coke
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday? Touthbrush, if you don't ... ewww!
F - Favorite Color? Red
G - Gummy Bears Or Worms? Neither, but bears if I have to choose, the sour ones preferrbaly
H - Hometown? Thornhill (borders Toronto on the north side)
I - Indulgence? Poutine
J - January Or February? February, it's short and then it's March.
K - Kids & Their Names? None yet, but I have a high fever
L - Life Is Incomplete Without? Hubby
M - Marriage date? October 23 2004
N- Number Of Siblings? 1 younger brother
O - Oranges Or Apples? Apples, baked please :)
P - Phobias/Fears? I don't like spiders, a baby sitter told me that they could bite me, lay eggs, and a red welt would appear and get bigger over time and the doctor would cut it open and baby spiders would come out. Now I imagine baby spiders that some of those baby spiders would get into your veins, how gross!
Q - Favorite Quote? I love you - anyone
R - Reason to Smile? Hubby and puppy cuddling
S - Season? Autumn
T - Tag 3 or 4 people? Chrissa, Val, Jenn, Karen
U - Unknown Fact About Me - How about a little known fact - I have 3 moles I want to remove because they get pulled by my clothing sometimes.
V - Vegetable you don’t like? Mushrooms (They usually make me throw up)
W - Worst Habit? Not flossing every single day (getting better though)
X - X-rays You’ve Had? Teeth, once a year. Feet, once when I broke one, twice for orthodics. Abdomen, gave me x-rays instead of an ultrasound for the gall bladder, stupid med centre.
Y - Your Favorite Food? Currently Dante's pizza
Z - Zodiac Sign? Virgo accurate for me, I'm also a Rat in the Chinese zodiac, similar to Virgo, so I'm doubly blessed with being detail oriented.

Well to end off my vacation I have a cold, I don't feel too awful right now, just under the weather and weak.

Personality Traits

Hmmm, mine sounds a lot like Laura's

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations.A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you.You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness.Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life.Most things in your life are organized and planned well.But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness.You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly.Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone.You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism.You are very emotionally stable and mentally together.Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly.Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high.In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas.You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits.A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Eight Things Meme

These are eight things about me:

1. I've never been passed out drunk, came close to falling down once, I had to hold the walls, it only lasted about 15 minutes, but I found it very funny. No hangover the next morning, felt like I hadn't had a drink 2 hours later. Don't you wish you were me? Until I tell you it took 1/2 a mickey in an hour to get there, and another 2 hours from consumption to process it enough to have to hang onto the wall.
2. I've never smoked a cigarette, and I'm still not sure what MJ smells like, although I know I have smelled it on more than 1 occasion.
3. I don't drink coffee for the caffeine or the taste, I drink it for the sugar hit and cream, take that away (as I have over the last month) and I only drink it to ward off the withdrawal headache. Really should get myself off coffee, maybe on my next vacation.
4. My favourite colour is dark red
5. I love animals and wish I had a cat.
6. I need to get a library card to a decent pleasure reading library, I've been reading a lot lately, and it's becoming an expensive habit.
7. I would love to try more home improvements, but 2 things hold me back - one, the time, I'm afraid I'll take on something too big and it will take too long, two, that I won't do it perfectly enough that it will bug me to no end :)
8. I miss my mother's backyard garden, it's very lush and green. I never appreciated it while I lived there, but it really lifts my spirits to spend a few minutes back there with the dog when we visit.

I tag Jenn, Hope, Laura, Karen and anyone else who wants to that hasn't already done this meme.

Tackle it Tuesday

By request, my tackle today shall be something for me, I'm not really sure what yet, but here's where my thinking is right now:
Relax
Do not take the laptop home and think about doing work
Watch Doctor Who (taped it last night)
Either go to the gym and workout and/or take the dog for a walk

No cleaning, no fixing, no organizing :)

Back to 5 minutes for mom for more tackles!

Menu Planning Monday

So didn't get through all the meals I planned for last week, and I still have to do a grocery shopping.

Meal 1
Salmon with mustard sauce (mustard, mayonaisse, vinegar, sugar, I think I might throw in a few capers). Rice and veggies

Meal 2
Honey mustard chicken, rice and veggies

Meal 3
I think I'll make another spinach and ground beef dish, but this time I think I'll use ground tofu. (Heat tofu in large pot, add spinach, cooked rice, pasta sauce of choice and pine nuts, stir until well blended, serve as a hearty stew).

Meal 4
Tofu tomato and pork with rice and veggies (a little olive oil in the skillet, cook meat of choice, season as desired, add soft tofu cut up and tomatoes cubed 5 minutes towards the end, sorry there's not much more detail than that, I usually make it lightly flavoured with garlic salt and paprika).

Meal 5
Cajun chicken stew (Cajun chicken, or regular but then add paprika and chili powder, 2 cans of cream of anything and the corresponding water, frozen veggies and egg noodles).

Menu Planning Monday

For more recipes, head on over to Laura's blog.

Monday: Ground Beef and Spinach stew (Ground beef, frozen spinach, rice, pine nuts, something tomato based and garlic salt - basically a clean the fridge of leftovers recipe, everything can be substistuted for something else).

Tuesday: Tofu tomato and beef (cook beef strips add tomatoes and tofu at the end)

Wednesday: Honey mustard Chicken and snow peas (honey mustard is 1 part old style dijon, 1 part honey, 2 parts regular dijon, spread over chicken before baking, reserve some for meal)

Thursday: Salmon with mustard sauce and veggies (bake salmon sauce is equal parts dijon mustard and Miracle Whip, white vinegar about 1/4 cup, sugar to taste).

Friday: Pizza or leftovers

Saturday: Anti-Hestivus (Girls whole day out, while the boys do Hestivus - eat junk and watch Charleston Heston movies).

Sunday: Chicken Rouge (in a casserole dish combine chicken fillets, canned, diced tomatoes, green pepper, onions, spices of choice, cover bake I think it's about 50 minutes at 350F - Dr Bernstein recipe). Serve over rice if desired.

House Keeping

An hour ago I was telling hubby that I appreciate that he swept and dusted the dining room yesterday and I'm sorry I didn't tell him then. Also how I wish I could keep the house as clean as my mother did, but I'm not that kind of woman (yet) and perhaps my eyes are now more critical than they were as a child to young adult, it's not until I had my own home that I started noticing. Although my apartments were cleaner than this, although I think in part I kept my mess and disorganization confined to my personal living space and not the common areas which helped alot. Anyway, I've been feeling lately not only do I eat like a pig, I live like one, so I've decided to add a daily cleaning challenge to my kick the pig blog. Today's shall be cleaning the master bedroom and bath, which will include doing the laundry, although since hubby's downstairs I'll take it down, he can do the switching.

Promised Before & After Pictures

Ahh, ladies here they are the promised pics, bigger if you click on them:

The Basement Bedroom

Before

After (yes it's a slightly lighter colour, I was going to do it the same colour as the living room, but it ended up problematic around the door frames for the closets, so I tried to match the original colour)

The closet in the basement bedroom with the gift area for Laura (left side only, right side is Laura's wonderful odds and ends solution, I have tape, lightbulbs, pest control, power bars, and child safety electrical outlet plug covers in mine. Looking for more items to fill it).

The living room for Chrissa (so she can see the Ikea rug) , you can see where I'm in the process of finishing this blog on the left there :) well not me obviously, I'm taking the photo, but the laptop and water bottle.

Today I've actually been hanging a lot of pictures, like our wedding pic you see in the living room above. Most of them are gifts we gave each other for various anniversaries (dating and wedding). Monday is our second wedding anniversary, we'll be going out to dinner tomorrow, but seeing, framing and finally hanging a lot of these beautiful momentos (2 of which hubby drew himself) has made me feel rather sentimental and romantic today.

Sunday Funday

(Updated with rug pic below for Mrs. Happy)

So this morning hubby and I went to Ikea for breakfast, and we picked up a rug for the living room. Drake, like a lot of little ones, wanted to explore the new item before hubby and I had finished placing it down, so imagine us moving the rug around with an 80lb golden retriever on the rug. Eventually I did put him outside for 5 minutes where he barked to let me know hoe thought it was unfair that I tricked him into going outside by going out first myself. Hey, whatever works, and I didn't pretent to say hi to Soup, the neighbours dog who sticks his head under the fence to say "hi". They are digging holes under the fence to one another, but I think they've reached some roots or hard earth, because they haven't dug any deeper for about 6 months, and it would need to be pretty deep to get Drake or Soup under there. Soup is about 10 pounds less than Drake, but a better digger, he's husky and black lab.

Anyway, have about half the room in the basement back together. It's painted and the bed, side table, lamp and phone are back in. I do have to empty out the closets and hang some shelves and decide what else is going back in there before I take a picture. Hopefully later today I'll update this post with pics. In the mean time to avoid doing the work, I think I'll start the story board with the old pic :)

Hahaha, Drake's doing the baby thing with his rope toy where he lies on his back and holds the rope in the air over his mouth and chews on it. That's one of my favourite things he does. :)

It's beige (seisel like) rimmed with dark brown. When I take a pic of the basement bedroom, I'll also take a pic of the living room so you can see the carpet there.

Inspiration

So many inspiring and heart felt posts today, I feel the need to share them.
Hope in frustration
Julie in Beauty and Prayer
Laura in recognizing your limits

I feel so much love, hope and peace flowing through me and from me. Have you felt the empowerment? What can I say? I often have the heart to reach out and to stand with the others, but not always the written word. So this is me, taking to you, something wonderful, so that you can participate too and have your day uplifted, and feel united with people across the world. If only we could all feel so united across the miles, maybe there would be more peace and love and understanding in the world. If we could remember that everyone has a story, a hurt, something to share, value. We are all equal, may we put principles above personalities and love each other in a very special way, even if we can't love ourselves yet.

Reach out to someone today that maybe you wouldn't have reached out to before, let your heart and soul move you, not your head. Commiserate with your fellow traveler whom you might overhear speaking of a hurt they've experienced, because we are all responsible for those hurts, even if we didn't directly commit them, the survivor may need to hear, an apology or that not every person that fits an archetype is like their experience, to break down barriers that separate us. There is more that unites us, than separates us despite what our natures may say.

Update on my Tackle

So yesterday what I did for my Tackle it Tuesday (I was going to use the acronym and then decided against it). In the first picture, see the white Beaumark box in the lower right and the brown cardboard box beside it? I went through those 2 boxes and tossed stuff. The white box actually contains all of our manuals for things. The manuals and warranty cards were filling up my fling cabinet, and I wasn't good about filing them, so now we just throw them in here, works for me (i.e. my Works for me Wednesday - unofficially of course). The other thing I did was to quickly look into every drawer and cabinet and box and if I saw something that I didn't want, need, or recognize, it was chucked out (don't worry hubby I can at least recognize it as being mine, if I wasn't sure it was mine I kept it). I also finally took the clothing donation to the local pickup station and dropped it off as well as doing the grocery shopping.

Tackle it Tuesday

My Tackle it Tuesday will be organizing one dresser, box or bag in this room:



It actually looks worse now because I brought all my sewing, crafting, candles and Bible Studies into the room, the rest is to go out. That little bit of floor space you see in the middle of the second picture, that is now stacked with my stuff and the only remaining space is maybe a discontinuous strip of 8 inches width on each side of the bed. This room will be many Tackle it Tuesdays and weekends. I'll take pics of exactly what I tackled when I do it tonight.

P.S. Yes that is a life size Darth Maul to the right of the first picture. His light sabre is somewhere else in the house, I think probably the room next door to this one known as "the office" that room is another week long project.

Cleaning Day

Today is cleaning day, and hubby is going to help me clean at the same time that I am cleaning. We've never done cleaning at the same time (or at least the same amount at the same time), so I'm wondering how we'll do it. Often I tend to break it out using Julie's 10 minute regime. i.e. I'll do something for 10 minutes. Here's what I have:

Tidy every room (bedroom, master bath, kitchen, dining room, living room, TV room
Sweep (kitchen, dining room, living room)
Wash Floors (3 bathrooms, kitchen, living room, dining room)
Vacuum (2 stairs, 2 halls, TV room, bedroom)
Clean 3 washrooms
Clean kitchen counters and stove
Dust (living room, dining room, TV room)
Vacuum furniture in living room and TV room
Wash laundry
Wash walk out window (muddy paw marks)
Wash front door (muddy paw marks)

I'm tempted to get started with the bathrooms and washing the 2 doors while hubby sleeps, but maybe I'll go ask him how he wants to clean first (by floor or by task), then I can get started on mine. Well hubby's too sleepy to respond, so I guess I'll just pick. I think I'll go by task. Usually when he helps he sweeps and mops, I hate vacuuming, and it's kind of like sweeping and mopping, so I'll leave him those three things and get started on the rest.

I shall begin with tidying.
Tidied kitchen, cleaned kitchen, cleaned bathroom, cleaned front and back doors, dusted dining room. THis took me 2 hours, and hubby actually did the dusting part. Now I'm taking Drake for a long walk while hubby does the washing of the floors.

So the main floor is clean, I might do the bedroom and bathroom while getting ready to go see my in-laws. Then that will be all for today most likely, but it will just leave vacuuming, the basement and laundry to do.

A meme from Ravenbajan via Mrs. Happy

I can't sleep, so I thought I'd fill out this meme. Why is it called a meme anyway?

I am thinking about: This meme, and why I can't get to sleep, my to do list for tomorrow and the one I came up with for my whole vacation (wishful thinking).

I just said: Nothing, in the last 10 minutes, although I did ask the dog if he wanted to come curl up with mummy. He doesn't, he's not the cuddly sort. Good thing I suppose because he weighs 80 pounds.

I want to: go to sleep and organize the guest room by pulling every paper, book, box and empty all the drawers into the hallway, hubby would freak :)

I wish: the filing would do itself and the dog could be trained to do chores. I know I can teach him to put away his toys and sort laundry. I'd love to teach him to vacuum, I hate vacuuming, I think he likes it though, he tries to jump on the vacuum and then when it goes near him he barks and jumps away. He also tries to chase the broom and mop and eat them and with the broom he'll grab his piles of hair that come off the floor.

I regret: That I'm not asleep because mom's coming over to help me paint tomorrow and I'll be too tired. That I didn't do better in university, but I think I would now because I know better how to apply myself for longer periods and what to apply myself to.

I sing: When I'm very happy, I make these silly little la la, da bum bump sounds when I'm happy. Hubby laughs at me, I only noticed that I did that when we started dating, I guess I wasn't really really happy before that :). My brother does it too, only much much much louder than I do :)

I hear: the dog sighing and the laptop humming and my keyboard clicking, and huuby just burped.

I am: mindwarp or warpie or war pie. I think I need a new nick, my mind isn't as warped as it used to be.

I dance: in my living room

I'm behind: on cleaning, as usual, I hate cleaning, domestic goddess I am not.

I cry: at movies and books. I cry cery easily at these things, so if a movie doesn't elicit tears from me, it must have really sucked (unless it wasn't supposed to, but most have the hero go through a down part)

I am not: a guy. One of my male friends in university thought I was just one of the guys, made me choose whether I wanted to be one of the guys or a girl. I choose girl, since I know all about that.

I forgot: What day of the week it is, a good vacation should be like that :)

I confuse: the dog I think. He still doesn't get excited at the words, "walk" or "car ride", and he's just started responding to treat in the last few months. I think it's because I take so darn long to get ready that until I get the leash he doesn't respond, and then, he usually actually jumps away like a game when I try to hook up the leash, or he rolls over and shows me his belly if he was napping on the floor.

I write: when I'm confused about something, or it's on my mind. I'll write out my thoughts in a journal.

I need: Food, tummy is growling still.