Wednesday, March 7, 2012

March Break Begins...

in two more days!!  And I am preparing a list of things I want to get accomplished. For example, I plan to strip the old caulking from around the bathtub and re-caulk it. I'm going to clean the grout between the tiles in the bathroom with bleach. My daughter got a printer with her mactop and has never been able to hook it up to work wirelessly so yes, I'm going to solve that problem (maybe). I MUST get rolling on listing items for sale on Kijiji - that's only been on my TO DO List for a few months... ETC. ETC. I won't be twiddling my thumbs! If I get bored I have these to keep me occupied:
 Right now I'm reading a book on my Kindle AND I'm almost finished "The Introvert Advantage" (you can see my bookmark sticking out.  And Michael wants me to get started on "The Soul of Money" which a friend sent to him on his birthday - he's finished it and is raving about it. I'm really looking forward to being able to sit for a couple of hours and just read :)

Happily I am back on my bike and pedaling like MAD!! Only 120km from Philly (and no, I haven't forgotten about you Sluggy! I have a stubborn 3 pounds to lose to get to my 10 Pound Challenge goal and have (once again) renewed my efforts....sigh... Speaking of losing weight (not) I have my daughter's fave recipe baking away in the oven - it's called No Peeking Chicken (kind of a play on words of Peking Chicken just in case you didn't catch the reference!) It's the easiest recipe in the world!! You put a bunch of skinless chicken in the bottom of a roasting pan - I'm using thighs this time but any parts will do, and cover it with a mixture of a can of cream of celery soup, a can of mushroom soup, a can of water, some sour cream if you have it but that's optional (well, not optional for ME) and a cup full of either wild rice or brown rice. I had some celery stalks that were getting a little floppy so I cut them up and tossed them in too. Mushrooms are nice in this recipe too. Then sprinkle some onion soup mix on top. Put a lid on it and bake 2 hours in a 350 oven - and NO PEEKING because the steam needs to stay in the pot! Yum yum yum!! Course I'm having some chicken but only a teeny weeny bit of rice. Yeah, right!

Last night I worked on income tax as Kazi printed off the tuition forms from her university. I juggled numbers and got us both a very juicy refund. Hers will pay almost half of next year's tuition!! Plus she's mailed forms away for a tuition rebate from last year's tuition that our very in-debt gov't is offering (though probably not for long!) Mine will be put towards my line of credit though I might allow myself a new spring top as it was a robust 15c today with lots of sunshine. One of those days that are such a gift in early spring. So, tonight I file my taxes online and should see the $$ next week! Yippee!!

And finally - Today's Inspirational Moment:
Michael bought these flowers on Valentine's day and has gradually been removing the dead ones as they wilted, dried out and fell onto the table. Yesterday I took this other picture:
this is all that remains after 3 weeks. Michael's been going through a bit of a yucky time and we were inspired by how beautiful these perky little remnants looked floating around in a dish or water. They have no stems anymore and the petals are curling up but there is still a bit of life and loveliness left. Here is what we came up with after having a good long heart to heart talk:

"Even in the midst of our mess we can salvage something good." 


Whenever we go through a tough time we can ALWAYS take away something good. Whether is be a lesson learned, an inner discovery of our own strength or simply the satisfaction of knowing we did our best in a difficult situation there is always a silver lining if you look hard enough.

Here endeth the lesson.

23 comments:

  1. Enjoy your March break, Jane! Are there enough hours in the day for you to read all those?! lol! Hope things look up for Michael!

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  2. ((((hugs))) to Michael, chin up mate.

    I noticed you have an Ian Rankin novel to read, I love his books, I have been toying with the idea of a kindle but I just love sitting turning the pages and smelling a real live book.
    This is I think the first year that I will not be getting a Tax rebate, so sad........

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  3. Sounds like you have a lot planned.  Ours starts tomorrow!!!  I can't wait :)

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  4. Tomorrow? You get an extra day?? Lucky you! Hope we have some nice weather...are you going away or staying put?

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  5. Ian Rankin and P.D. James (still publishing novels in her nineties bless her!) are two of my top five! I still love turning pages too but love the kindle in bed (now that sounded kinda weird!) and in the car. But I'll never give up the real thing:)

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  6. Thanks Carla - things have majorly improved...just a dip in the road of life...I'm so philosophical lately:)

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  7. Yes!  We had a PA day before Labour Day to "earn" the day.  (Historically my board always had the Friday before March Break off.)
    I am staying put.  Hoping to go shopping with some of my Christmas gift cards ;)

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  8. Have a great week off!!! You have a heck of a list to knock out, hope you will take some me time to read that lovely stack of books.

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  9. I'm more likely to finish the stack of books than I am to finish my chores!

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  10. That's a nice tradition - have a marvelous break!!

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  11. Woo Hoo a refund!  Great!  Spring break starts here for our University kids but our little ones don't go until the 1st week in April.  I am living for that week!

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  12. I hear you! I've been just dragging my sorry butt in each day this week - I swear it's the longest week of the year!

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  13. Enjoy your break!!! Ours is the first week of April

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  14. I'm more likely to do just about anything but clean house and other chores! I'm curious about the introvert and money books..will have to look them up on amazon!

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  15. I too am on Spring Break after tomorrow (Friday).  I have an extensive list as well, but I like your plans better....maybe I need to tweak the schedule. :)

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  16. We need to look after #1 - it's all about refilling the well so we can go back to work feeling refreshed!! I'll do one job each day and then the rest of the time is for MOI!

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  17. I have found the introvert book very empowering - I highly recommend it!

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  18. You'll make it, are you going somewhere?

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  19. well done on the weight loss Jane, it's not easy! how long is the march break?

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  20. Thanks Louise! We have one week for March break...years ago it was two weeks but right about now even a long weekend would be welcome!

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  21. Lena at FrugalandthankfulMarch 8, 2012 at 5:43 PM

    Oh, I have so many stubborn pounds to work on...But now I at least have a goal! Congrats on a nice refund. Half of a tuition is REALLY good!

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  22. I read recently that getting a refund is just poor planning - that we should ask for less tax to be taken off our pay during the year rather than loaning our $$ to the gov't interest free. I get the point but I still love that lump sum!

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  23. Jane,
    Your recipe sounds yummy, I must try it someday soon.
    Sounds like you are going to have a very busy March break.
    I don't think you will get the flu or a cold this year you have been exercising and honestly it doesn't seem like many people are sickly this year. Here's to positive thinking!!
    Hope Michaels yucky times turn around and you can sit back and laugh at it all.

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