My friend Emily has a Commitment to Loveliness challenge on her blog and I have decided to give it a go, I'm one of those people that does better with a list, makes me more accountable to myself.
I love that Emily tells you to only list 5 things, in the main scheme of things 5 things is a very doable task and for that I am grateful.
So without further ado here is my list of 5.
1) Make fruit bars for the kids snacks
2) Make and list one new item for the shop
3)Make the curtain to cover up my bottom kitchen cabinets that are falling apart
4)Re-do a Directors chair that has seen better days
5)Finish weeding the vegetable garden
Monday, June 30, 2008
She comes by it honestly
Often people will ask where Reagan got her crazy wavy/curly hair from and generally the answer will be "Well when I was little my hair was fairly wavy and Marc's Dad had curly hair, so I guess maybe from one of us."
Yesterday after swimming I got out and read, allowing my hair to dry naturally, generally I blow dry it and it's pretty straight once I'm done so you can only imagine my shock when I went upstairs to change later and caught sight of myself in the mirror and saw that I have the same super wavy/curly hair as Reagan does.
Now when asked where she gets that wavey hair from I can tell everybody " That would be me."
Yesterday after swimming I got out and read, allowing my hair to dry naturally, generally I blow dry it and it's pretty straight once I'm done so you can only imagine my shock when I went upstairs to change later and caught sight of myself in the mirror and saw that I have the same super wavy/curly hair as Reagan does.
Now when asked where she gets that wavey hair from I can tell everybody " That would be me."
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Summer cooking
I love to cook and each season it seems, brings with it it's own pros and cons. Summer cooking means being able to cook with fresh locally grown produce, some of which have being tended to with our own fair hands. Is there anything better than eating a dinner filled with wonderful produce from our own gardens ?
One of the not so fun things about cooking in the Summer is a hot kitchen. I try to avoid long stays in the kitchen at all costs. I'm not one of these people that likes to run my air conditioning continuously on a hot day and so keeping my home as cool as possible without resorting to turning it on is key.
I love to grill and do that a lot but on days like today when the heat index hits 100 degrees, I really don't relish standing out in the heat over heat and I don't care to slave over a hot stove in the kitchen either, so unless it's salad for dinner, I try to find as many shortcuts as possible to making a warm, nutritious, tasty dinner with as little effort as possible and Cappellini Pomodoro is one of those meals that can be rustled up in no time and with very little cooking involved. I like to add chicken to mine and we eat a lot of chicken, so what I will do to cut down time in the kitchen is buy a package of fresh chicken breasts, season them and then grill them in the morning when it's not too hot, once they are fully cooked and have cooled down I cut them up, put them in freezer bags and toss in the freezer for days such as today.
Here is the recipe that I came up with after eating it at Olive Garden, I've added some extras to make it a little more to our liking.
CAPELLINI POMODORO WITH CHICKEN
Angel hair pasta
8 tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 green onions sliced
3 crushed garlic cloves
10 Fresh Basil leaves chopped (fresh is key, dried basil won't taste near as good)
6 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
Sliced chicken breast (optional)
Parmesan cheese
In a mixing bowl toss together the tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, cover and refrigerate. I like to let mine sit in the refrigerator for about 30 mins to really get the tastes intermingling together.
Meanwhile cook chicken if you haven't done so already.
Cook pasta.
Once pasta is added to the pot add tomato mix to a pan and heat through.
Drain pasta,spoon tomato sauce over the top, add sliced chicken and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
You can have this dinner on the table in 45 mins tops, having spent only minutes over a hot stove. If you precook the chicken before hand just heat it through in the microwave at the same time you are cooking the noodles and tomato sauce.
One of the not so fun things about cooking in the Summer is a hot kitchen. I try to avoid long stays in the kitchen at all costs. I'm not one of these people that likes to run my air conditioning continuously on a hot day and so keeping my home as cool as possible without resorting to turning it on is key.
I love to grill and do that a lot but on days like today when the heat index hits 100 degrees, I really don't relish standing out in the heat over heat and I don't care to slave over a hot stove in the kitchen either, so unless it's salad for dinner, I try to find as many shortcuts as possible to making a warm, nutritious, tasty dinner with as little effort as possible and Cappellini Pomodoro is one of those meals that can be rustled up in no time and with very little cooking involved. I like to add chicken to mine and we eat a lot of chicken, so what I will do to cut down time in the kitchen is buy a package of fresh chicken breasts, season them and then grill them in the morning when it's not too hot, once they are fully cooked and have cooled down I cut them up, put them in freezer bags and toss in the freezer for days such as today.
Here is the recipe that I came up with after eating it at Olive Garden, I've added some extras to make it a little more to our liking.
CAPELLINI POMODORO WITH CHICKEN
Angel hair pasta
8 tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 green onions sliced
3 crushed garlic cloves
10 Fresh Basil leaves chopped (fresh is key, dried basil won't taste near as good)
6 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
Sliced chicken breast (optional)
Parmesan cheese
In a mixing bowl toss together the tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, cover and refrigerate. I like to let mine sit in the refrigerator for about 30 mins to really get the tastes intermingling together.
Meanwhile cook chicken if you haven't done so already.
Cook pasta.
Once pasta is added to the pot add tomato mix to a pan and heat through.
Drain pasta,spoon tomato sauce over the top, add sliced chicken and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
You can have this dinner on the table in 45 mins tops, having spent only minutes over a hot stove. If you precook the chicken before hand just heat it through in the microwave at the same time you are cooking the noodles and tomato sauce.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
And the Winner is ......
ME !!!! ;-) Remember this bloggie giveaway ?
Well I was the winner of the cute little peg bag. I LOVE it and as you can see it has come in very useful.
Thanks Bean, you're the best ;-)
Well I was the winner of the cute little peg bag. I LOVE it and as you can see it has come in very useful.
Thanks Bean, you're the best ;-)
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Don't make the 4 y/o mad
Victoria's B/F is always teasing Reagan and so she's always telling him how much she doesn't like him.
Today we went strawberry picking, Bill LOVES strawberries, so Rea asked if he'd like one, he told her yes, so she came in here found the biggest, reddest, juiciest one she could, and gave it to him, not before dunking it in the toilet first though.
His face was priceless once she told him what she'd done, AFTER he'd eaten it LOL.
Today we went strawberry picking, Bill LOVES strawberries, so Rea asked if he'd like one, he told her yes, so she came in here found the biggest, reddest, juiciest one she could, and gave it to him, not before dunking it in the toilet first though.
His face was priceless once she told him what she'd done, AFTER he'd eaten it LOL.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Blog giveaway
Check out this blog and the wonderful giveaways she's offering up right now to celebrate her 1 year Etsy store.
WTG Bean and congrats on a great first year !!
WTG Bean and congrats on a great first year !!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
We're leaving on a jet plane
First thing in the morning. I'll be without internet for a whole 8 days and I have to admit it feels pretty freeing.
We need this vacation really badly, the kids are giddy that they have an extra few days off of school, Marc and I are just glad to be going somewhere to relax.
We leave home tonight to drive as far as the airport and then we'll be up bright and early at 5:30 to catch our flight.
Have a great week and I'll 'see' you sometime after the 14th
We need this vacation really badly, the kids are giddy that they have an extra few days off of school, Marc and I are just glad to be going somewhere to relax.
We leave home tonight to drive as far as the airport and then we'll be up bright and early at 5:30 to catch our flight.
Have a great week and I'll 'see' you sometime after the 14th
Monday, June 2, 2008
Happy Anniversary to us
WOW !! 18 years have flown by, yet at the same time it seems as though it has being forever, and I mean that in the nicest possible way.
I remember the night we met as though it were just yesterday. May 13th 1989 my girlfriend Becky and I were going to a nightclub in a neighboring village, I balked about going, I'd just gotten out of a really abusive relationship and wasn't yet up for fun, but she wouldn't hear of it, we were supposed to meet a crowd of our other friends there but when they showed up apparently the Bouncers didn't like the look of them and sent them all packing. Becky and I were already there and enjoying a few drinks. We noticed and laughed a little about the 2 'Yanks' sat at the bar, they looked so out of place, really short haircuts and one was wearing cowboy boots. A little later out the corner of my eye I saw one of them saunter over towards us and said to Becky "Oh wait for it, here we go all mouth and trousers" He asked if he and his friend could join us and if they could buy us a few cocktails, not ones to pass up a free drink we accepted and ordered Harvey Wallbangers We moved across to a cozier corner and there began our relationship.
That night I learnt that the good looking one Scott, had the personality of an old shoe, the not so goodlooking one, affectionately know as "The Ugly One" Thanks to my friend Sue was a great conversationalist and we talked all night long, never once getting up to dance, which was just about unheard of for me.
As the night was drawing to a close they asked if we knew London very well. My Mum grew up in London and I used to go up there all the time, when they heard this they asked if we would join them there the following day and we did. Things started off ok, Marc drove me crazy making it obvious that he liked me, so many times I would swerve in a different direction just so's his arm wouldn't go around my waist. One of the places they wanted to go to was Trafalgar Square, if you know anything about that place then you know it is FULL of pigeons, I warned them that more than likely one of us would get shat on and I was counting on that someone not being me. Sure enough it was Marc, he flipped out, kept wiping at his hair cussing like a sailor, me I just about wet my pants laughing so hard. That was when I knew there was no future between us (A week earlier Becky and I had gone to see a Psychic and she told me I'd meet my future husband within the week.... Yeah right) After that we found a nice little Italian restaurant and had a lovely dinner and then it was time to leave. They dropped Becky off first and she invited them in for coffee, that's just something we Brits do after we have spent the day with someone, we don't want or expect anything else, it's just a pleasant way to say thankyou. Marc barked "No thankyou." and that was it, they took me home and as far as I was concerned that was that, I didn't invite them in I thanked them and told them to have fun in France. Marc handed me a business card and told me it would be great if I kept in touch, me, I had no intentions of doing so.
A couple of weeks later when I got home from work there was a huge bouquet of yellow roses and Babies Breath waiting for me, they were from Marc. After much thought and discussion with my Mum, I dropped him a line thanking him for them and that was that. We kept in touch via telephone calls and letters, I came to the States to visit him October '89 and it was then we decided to get married, it just seemed right, in December he came over to visit and spent Christmas with my family and we were married the following June in the same church that my Grandparents and parents were married in.
The last 18 years have being an adventure to say the least,like most couples we have had our ups and downs, but at the end of the day when I have envisioned what life would be like without him I get a sick pit in my stomach and know that without a shadow of a doubt we are in it for the duration. He truly is my Soul Mate.
Marc, if you read this, just know I love you with every ounce of my being xoxox
I remember the night we met as though it were just yesterday. May 13th 1989 my girlfriend Becky and I were going to a nightclub in a neighboring village, I balked about going, I'd just gotten out of a really abusive relationship and wasn't yet up for fun, but she wouldn't hear of it, we were supposed to meet a crowd of our other friends there but when they showed up apparently the Bouncers didn't like the look of them and sent them all packing. Becky and I were already there and enjoying a few drinks. We noticed and laughed a little about the 2 'Yanks' sat at the bar, they looked so out of place, really short haircuts and one was wearing cowboy boots. A little later out the corner of my eye I saw one of them saunter over towards us and said to Becky "Oh wait for it, here we go all mouth and trousers" He asked if he and his friend could join us and if they could buy us a few cocktails, not ones to pass up a free drink we accepted and ordered Harvey Wallbangers We moved across to a cozier corner and there began our relationship.
That night I learnt that the good looking one Scott, had the personality of an old shoe, the not so goodlooking one, affectionately know as "The Ugly One" Thanks to my friend Sue was a great conversationalist and we talked all night long, never once getting up to dance, which was just about unheard of for me.
As the night was drawing to a close they asked if we knew London very well. My Mum grew up in London and I used to go up there all the time, when they heard this they asked if we would join them there the following day and we did. Things started off ok, Marc drove me crazy making it obvious that he liked me, so many times I would swerve in a different direction just so's his arm wouldn't go around my waist. One of the places they wanted to go to was Trafalgar Square, if you know anything about that place then you know it is FULL of pigeons, I warned them that more than likely one of us would get shat on and I was counting on that someone not being me. Sure enough it was Marc, he flipped out, kept wiping at his hair cussing like a sailor, me I just about wet my pants laughing so hard. That was when I knew there was no future between us (A week earlier Becky and I had gone to see a Psychic and she told me I'd meet my future husband within the week.... Yeah right) After that we found a nice little Italian restaurant and had a lovely dinner and then it was time to leave. They dropped Becky off first and she invited them in for coffee, that's just something we Brits do after we have spent the day with someone, we don't want or expect anything else, it's just a pleasant way to say thankyou. Marc barked "No thankyou." and that was it, they took me home and as far as I was concerned that was that, I didn't invite them in I thanked them and told them to have fun in France. Marc handed me a business card and told me it would be great if I kept in touch, me, I had no intentions of doing so.
A couple of weeks later when I got home from work there was a huge bouquet of yellow roses and Babies Breath waiting for me, they were from Marc. After much thought and discussion with my Mum, I dropped him a line thanking him for them and that was that. We kept in touch via telephone calls and letters, I came to the States to visit him October '89 and it was then we decided to get married, it just seemed right, in December he came over to visit and spent Christmas with my family and we were married the following June in the same church that my Grandparents and parents were married in.
The last 18 years have being an adventure to say the least,like most couples we have had our ups and downs, but at the end of the day when I have envisioned what life would be like without him I get a sick pit in my stomach and know that without a shadow of a doubt we are in it for the duration. He truly is my Soul Mate.
Marc, if you read this, just know I love you with every ounce of my being xoxox
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