Breanna turns six!

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Sherry

Today, although I tried to be in denial, Breanna went and turned six years old. When she woke up, the first thing out of her mouth after stretching and looking down at herself was, “I didn’t grow!” I guess she was expecting to actively grow in a noticeable way but I assured her that based on the things she’s been outgrowing lately she has indeed been growing!

This afternoon we had some family over to celebrate her special day with supper (spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad), cake, and good times. She was very eager to open her gifts but she managed to hold off until after we ate – but before the cake!

She got some very nice gifts including cards with money to buy her own presents, a cute outfit, a bathrobe, some DVDs, and a dinosaur Play-Doh kit. Hayley gave her a pink Yoshi doll which she loves, and George and I got her Just Dance 3 for the Wii; Breanna loves to dance and enjoyed the first one so she was very excited to get this version.

Breanna had asked for a chocolate cake from the store so we got her one with her name on it and she was very proud to have us all sing to her and bring it lit up for her to blow the candles out.

After people left I went down into the basement with the kids and the three of us played four rounds of the new Wii game and although I did win twice, Breanna kicked ass and scored more than double what I did on one of them. I’ll bet she’ll be playing it after school tomorrow.

Six years ago I went through a fast labour that was under four hours from start to finish and I always said that Breanna was just too eager to get on with life to wait any longer. That was more or less the way she treated today – too eager to have fun to bother with sitting around waiting for fun to come to her.

It was a good day. Breanna said it was the best birthday ever. That’s good enough for me.

I went downstairs

Parade of Lights in downtown Halifax

Posted on November 19, 2011 by Sherry

Tonight we ate an early dinner and then headed out right at 5 pm with a good friend of ours and his kids so we could catch the Halifax Parade of Lights which is essentially a Christmas parade. It’s filled with floats, marching bands, majorettes (I *love* majorettes, I always wanted to be one when I was a kid!), and of course the Big Guy, Santa Claus.

It was a great night for our first parade in Halifax. It wasn’t too cold, just comfortable for the most part. I was a little chilly by the end of the parade but overall it was very nice. There was one “huh?!” moment though. They had a float sponsored by one of the fitness places go by and they were pole dancing. I’m no prude whatsoever, believe me, but pole dancing in a parade for kids and families? Really?!

The kids had a blast. They sat with their friends on the curb and watched everything go by. Hayley got a candy cane from one of the floats and Breanna got a hug from Cookie Monster, so all was good. And much to my amusement and glee there was a Stormtrooper doing the Running Man. That just pretty much filled me with joy.

And much joy was also had courtesy of the Grinch and Kermit the Frog, consecutively.

Also, every once in awhile I see a person on the street that makes me wish I could get over my shyness and just go up and ask them if I could schedule a whole photo shoot with them. This Native American girl in a Mic’Maq float was one of them. She was just so photogenic and beautiful that I would love to spend an hour taking pictures of her. And the man in the amazing traditional costume behind her for that matter.

Next week there will the the lighting of the big tree downtown and I’m not sure if we’ll go or not; they figure that about 100,000 people showed up for the parade, and I can’t imagine a large crowd showing up in one small park for a tree lighting, but we’ll see. In the meantime I had a lot of fun tonight and took almost 200 pictures. Good times! 🙂

You can see the rest of them over here.

TGIF

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Sherry

Things that are making my Friday awesome:

1. It’s officially the weekend now.
2. Exceeding my monthly work goals and the month isn’t even over yet.
3. A new episode of “Blue Bloods” on tv.
4. A glass of wine and some cheese to enjoy while watching it.
5. Planning a nice weekend of seeing the Santa parade and celebrating Breanna’s 6th (!!!) birthday on Sunday.
6. A nice call home to my parents this evening.
7. A chance to do some longer yoga routines than I can do during the week.
8. The thought of sleeping in past my usual 7:30 mornings for two whole days!

What’s making your Friday rock?

Chop chop

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Sherry

A few days ago I saw an intriguing recipe that required a large food processor. I have a smaller one that works really well for chopping up onions, garlic, and peppers for stuff but it wasn’t big enough for the recipe and it doesn’t have the multiple blades, so I sent George a link for a food processor saying that I’d like to get it at some point. I also have some grand plans to chop up a metric ton of vegetables for stir-frying.

And so today I was pleasantly surprised to get to come home to that very food processor!

It’s a shame that it’s not quite the weekend yet because I won’t have time to play with it until then but it is only a little longer. Then I can try out the recipe I saw (basically it’s a raw food recipe that uses cauliflower to imitate mashed potatoes), and I also want to try out a recipe in the manual for potatoes au gratin. I can make pizza dough in there too with the dough blade and that would be fun to try.

I’ve got a few ideas already but what’s your favorite thing to do and make with a food processor? Please share!

George’s curried beef recipe

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Sherry

By popular demand (*wave*) here is George’s curried beef recipe. It’s also very delicious with cubed chicken breast, we just happened to have beef this week. We usually alternate depending on what’s on sale at the time.

– 1 lb ground beef (lean is best)
– 1 large green pepper, chopped
– 1 medium onion, diced
– Garlic cloves to taste, minced
– 1 can chick peas, drained
– 1 can kidney beans, drained
– Curry powder (we use a Jamaican curry powder, nice and zingy)
– Cooked rice (I love it on brown rice but it’s also good on basmati which is George’s favourite)

In a large pan or wok, heat a bit of oil then toss in the onions, beef, pepper, and garlic cloves. Sprinkle with about a tsp of curry powder. Cook them all right through, then drain any leftover fat. Return pan to burner and add in chick peas, kidney beans, and more curry powder, at least another tsp worth, if not more. We really like curry here.

Let simmer for a bit while you cook the rice. Serve the curried beef over the rice with or without hot sauce. George always adds hot sauce from Barbados to his, I like mine without (I save the hot sauce for chili).

(Shown with potatoes instead of rice, which is also really good too!)

It is delicious, it really is, but as is often the case with spice-driven meals, it tastes even better as leftovers once the seasonings have really sunk in overnight in the fridge.

Enjoy and let me know if you try it!

Making me smile

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Sherry

Here are things that have brought a smile to my face today in no particular order:

1. Coming home from work and finding that three hours after supper, the whole main floor still smells like George’s delicious curried beef.

2. Knowing I have a huge container of the aforementioned curried beef for lunch tomorrow.

3. A glass of wine post-work.

4. While taking the bus home with my friend after work, I closed my eyes “for a moment” and promptly fell asleep; I then nearly jumped out of my seat when my cell phone rang, scaring the crap out of me, which brought her and I to convulsion-esque laughter.

5. Stopping by a clinic at 11:45 today and being back out less than 20 minutes later – with no appointment. What speed!

6. Having been working (properly working, as opposed to the weeks and weeks of training we had) only one month, possibly a little less than that, and already getting a customer commendation, where the client spoke to my manager to tell her how awesome I am. THAT felt good.

What made you smile today?

Passions

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Sherry

I’m a bit brain-fried tonight because I had a crazy busy day at work today, so I can’t think of a darn thing to write about. As a result I decided to check for a prompt on the official NaBloPoMo site, and settled on the one that asked, “What is your secret (or not-so-secret) passion?” I have more than one passion, so I’ll give you a few.

1. My family. Obviously this has been a passion of mine for years now but now that I work during the hours that my kids are home from school, I try to focus on a lot of fun things during the times that we are together. I read to them in the mornings before school, and on weekends we try to do things like playing at the park, visiting interesting places, or even just watching movies as a family.

2. Photography. My interest in photography has shifted a bit due to time constraints. I have less time now to play with post-processing so I tend to just go more for the stories and worry a little less about playing around. I’ll still use some post-processing filters and actions to have fun with my pictures, but I fiddle less with each individual shot. Still, I love creating lasting memories and telling stories from photos.

3. Yoga. This a big “no kidding!” thing to anyone who has been reading for more than three seconds, but it just really is. Fitness in general can get me going (lately I’ve been really interested in Tabata) but yoga in particular is what I love. I love the way it makes me feel physically, and I love the way it makes me feel emotionally too. It has helped me with aches and pains and it’s helped to tame (not eradicate, but tame nonetheless) anxiety issues. I do a little bit almost every day whether I have time for an hour or whether all I can squeeze in is ten or fifteen minutes. I can’t imagine not doing it.

What are your passions?

Great three-day weekend

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Sherry

As I already mentioned, on Friday the 11th I was off but I did crazy things outside in the rain all in the name of good fun and a healthy little challenge. Then, as implied yesterday, our Saturday included a nice family movie and some good times with family and friends when George’s cousin and his girlfriend came over.

There were other things this weekend though, and having three days just made it all the more awesome. Saturday was chilly but sunny and so we headed out to Sanford Fleming Park, also known as The Dingle. It was spectacular out there and I’m not surprised to learn that houses out there cost roughly half a million, if not more.

This would be one of the extremely expensive rich-people houses. I don’t even like it, the architecture just isn’t me:

It was really beautiful there though. Lots of trails, plenty of people walking dogs, a couple of small beaches, and a play park for the kids.

We were pretty cold by the time we left to come home but we had a great time and would like to go back again. Preferably in warm weather.

Today, Sunday, I took the kids to the park where I did some more Tabata (outdoors is even more fun!) and then I played with then on the slides and climbing structures. This is one good reason to exercise – having energy to just play!

How was your weekend?

Things that make a Saturday awesome

Posted on November 12, 2011 by Sherry

1. Sleeping in until 9 am.

2. Thinking it’s Sunday but then realizing that it’s only Saturday and the weekend is really only just beginning.

3. Some good Tabata workouts followed by a bit of yoga.

4. Having cold temps but sunny weather and therefore enjoying a day out at the Dingle by the water.

5. Going to Bulk Barn and getting healthy stuff like organic red quinoa (which was delicious with our steak and salad dinner), flax seeds, and maca powder.

6. Spending the evening watching a movie as a family.

7. Having family/friends over for some seriously good hard laughs that night.

8. Knowing that you can still lay low tomorrow.

What I do during tropical storms

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Sherry

Today Halifax was whomped by the tail end of Tropical Storm Sean which brought sheets of monsoon-like rain and gust of wind up to 90 km/hr. Seeing as how it was also Remembrance Day it was a bit disappointing since I’m sure a lot of people missed out on the various ceremonies around the city. On the other hand, it was especially heavy rain right at the time I would have been leaving for work on a normal day so I must say I was relieved that I didn’t have to go out in it.

Except that I did go out in it! Willingly! I’m somewhat of a competitive person (and by somewhat I mean borderline maniacal) and so when I saw that one of my favorite fitness people was doing a special giveaway I had to take part. The challenge was to film a video doing plank, and after the contest is over she’ll pick her four favourites and give them each a prize. I want that prize, let me tell you, so I was in. And I figured if I had to make my plank video stand out from the other contenders then I needed to step up my game just a bit.

Which is how I ended up filming three segments of plank pose variations out on my back deck in a heavy downpour.

As a bonus, enough water blew in thanks to the wind that my kitchen floor got a good mopping!

I needed a hot shower and some dry clothes afterwards but it was so silly that I couldn’t stop laughing afterwards. Fitness routines can help boost your energy and mood but when they’re as goofy as this they will DEFINITELY improve your mood!

Chaos Theory

Monthly Archives: November 2011