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.

Big News

There is BIG NEWS coming into our blogging world but I am keeping it to myself so that you can all be surprised!! And yes, it's a GOOD surprise. And yes, that's all I'm going to say...tee hee....

Moving on...today, in the province of Ontario and a few other places, it's FAMILY DAY!! I, for one, thank our provincial premier - Dalton McGuinty - for creating this provincial holiday. At least he kept one of his election promises!

My New Family - tee hee!

So, that begs the question, where is my family?? Here it is, 10:56am and I've been up for several hours and have yet to SEE a family member except when Michael walked by MY ROOM to use the washroom (I know, TMI!!).  Aren't we supposed to spend FAMILY DAY with our family?? Sheesh!! Therefore, since my family members are still in their beds I am selecting a substitute family with whom to spend the day!! They look like they could really use a bit of FUN in their lives, don't you think??

So, on the agenda for today:

• the sun is shining so we are going to head out in the car to a local trail for some hiking - I'll be sure to take LOTS of photos for your viewing pleasure! It should be a hoot because my NEW family hasn't ever been in a car!!
• next, since the kids are looking a little peak-ed, I thought I'd take them for some great treats at Tim Horton's!! Some caffeine and sugar ought to put a little pep into their step!
• And can you believe they've never gone to the movies?? I know eh? So we're off to Silver City to see "John Carter: A 3D Imax Experience" - go big or go home right?? This movie takes place on Mars - this should really blow their minds!!
• At this point we're going to come home as for some reason they seem to be a little out of it. I'll put some "DISTILLERS" music on so they can relax while I whip up a little dinner. It's really too bad that Kazi is still in bed because I'm making her favorite: it's called NO PEEKING CHICKEN and involves chicken, wild rice, cream of celery soup and sour cream. You throw it all in the oven for 2 hours and then voila - DINNER! I really hope my NEW FAMILY will enjoy it - then I'll give them the rest of our cookie dough/brownie nuggets icecream. By then I'll bet we see some smiling faces!!

OK, gotta go get ready for hiking!! This day is too beautiful to waste for a second longer!!