Thanksgiving Car Crash

The Friday of the Thanksgiving weekend, Cole went out to pick us up some lunch and got into an accident within view of our house.  He was sitting, waiting to turn onto our street when a lady in a van behind him crashed into him- wasn't braking or anything.  She forgot the cardinal rule of driving- look forward and if someone is stopped in front of you, don't keep driving.  She totalled our car and probably hers- not sure if ICBC decided it was write-off or not.  She had a little boy in her back seat, who seemed ok.  She was in worse shape than Cole, but both were taken to the hospital on stretchers and treated for c-spines.  Cole was cleared with x-rays but had really bad whiplash that is only just started to feel like its getting better now. 

The accident was late afternoon on the cusp of a long weekend so everything moved slowly.  The lady didn't even call in till Tuesday afternoon to make her claim.  She tried to claim that Cole backed into her- but ICBC didn't buy it, nor did the cop on scene who gave her a ticket for reckless driving (AND a ticket for an expired licence!!!). 

There was a fiasco with the car rental that I don't feel like recording because it was so stressful I prefer to forget the whole thing.  Cole bought a new car on Saturday and insured it today, so that part of it is done.  We are still waiting till he's completely better before we settle with ICBC in case there's long lasting damage that isn't apparent right now. 

This has been such a pain.  Cole has had to take time off work and school right in the middle of the semester, losing some of his momentum.  We lost a car we really liked and was working well for us, along with the $1000 of maintenance we put into it the week before.  We are saving to upgrade our vehicle to something bigger next year but we weren't prepared to make that upgrade now so we had to buy another small, cheap car in the interim and pray that it doesn't need anything substantial done to it in the next 18 months since that's all we need it for (the prayer is on top of mechanically getting it checked out before we bought it, we didn't just buy it on a prayer...). 

This is the second time in 4 months Cole has called me to tell me he's been in an accident (both times rear ended).  Thankfully he's been ok both times.  It sucks that the car didn't make it through this last accident.  We've been married 4 years and gone through 4 cars (2 were totalled).  People are supposed to be able to keep their cars longer than a year.  We've had such bad luck.  Who are all these crazy people allowed on the roads?

The car aside, this Thanksgiving I was thankful my husband was alive and that my girls weren't in the back seat when that careless lady crashed into our car!

I won't post the picture of the damage of the other vehicle because it has her licence plate in the picture and even though she crashed into my husband, didn't have a valid licence, and tried to blame it on him-  I will respect her privacy.

Bye Bye Sooze, Bye Bye Nap Time/ Introduction of Quiet Time

Cole was in a bad car accident two weeks ago (details in another post) and that night we were hanging out in bedroom before the kids' bedtime and K was searching for her soother (she calls it her sooze) so she could go to bed and she couldn't find it.  I knew the living room was a huge mess and it was unlikely we were going to find it soon.  K started having a huge fit and we decided since she was already mid-fit we would just go with it.  So she had a 5 minute temper tantrum, then we brushed her teeth, sang her bedtime songs and said night time prayers and put on her music and she went to sleep.  She was sad but we told her she was a big girl and she didn't need her sooze.  She should snuggle her baby, listen to her music and go to sleep.  We weren't expecting it to work.  We anticipated many nights of troubled sleeping and big tears.  Turns out, she just needed the five minute tantrum and she was good to go.  She looked upset and for a night or two she still asked for it, but there was no more fits, no more big tears. The cord had been cut and she decided to deal.  She's always been our trooper.  She takes new, difficult situations in stride.  The funny thing is, Cole found her sooze wrapped up in her blankets before bed but decided since we had already committed to just slip it in his pocket.

The big downfall of no more soother has been no more nap time.  She's not tired enough to fall asleep right away but when she had her sooze she could lie there and soothe herself into a sleep.  Now she has nothing to do and isn't falling asleep.  So we're instituting quiet time.  She gets the personal DVD player with a movie and a blanket set up on her floor of a few toys and she gets to either chill on her bed with the movie or play with some toys for an hour and half every afternoon.  It's going pretty good.  The set up is special enough that she looks forward to it everyday and she's getting really good about staying in her room without asking to come out.  She LOVES The Jungle Book and even though I offer other movies to switch it up, she wants The Jungle Book everyday.  I know this is typical of toddlers, but it is super nice raising kids this generation because they can watch the same movie over and over on a separate device than the family room one so us parents don't have to listen to the same movie everyday.  Today she even asked about "nap time" (that's what she calls quiet time) two hours before it was even time for it.  So she's happy, I'm happy, and I still get some peace and quiet to myself while B naps. 

Bye-bye sooze!

the last sooze picture I took

Park Play

These last couple weeks have been surprisingly clear and beautiful.  We've been out enjoying the parks.

K has upgraded to the big swings now and this is very exciting.  She's learned how to pump her legs and get off the swing herself.  She has discovered how to swing on her tummy and I don't have to deal with her legs getting caught every time I try to put her in or take her out of the baby swing!

B sits up well enough and is sturdy enough now that I felt comfortable letting K hold her on the slide.  K thinks this is so cool. 

B hasn't shown any particular love or disinterest in the swings but K sure loves to push her. 

She loves that she can climb on them herself.  I taught her where to put her feet and hands so she can boost herself up.

Loves climbing ladders. Still proclaims "I did it" after most trips up- even though she's been climbing ladders for many months now.

The slides at this park are small enough that she has found another way to make them more exciting.

B often takes her morning nap while K plays at the neighbourhood park.

K is getting good at pushing along her new bike.  She also has no problem wearing her helmet (her "hat") and even kept it on to play at the big park.  The way she climbs and falls, I thought this was a good idea.

She's just precious all the time!

The one day I brought my camera out in weeks, and she won't smile for me.  But she did give me this "are you ever going to give up and put that camera away mom?" look.

Almost a smile- love my beautiful bald girl!

Nanaimo Restaurant Reviews

Cole and I often miss Victoria when we have a dinner date.  We've had a hard time finding decent non-chain restaurants.  But in the last few months we have had two very delicious dining experiences that I felt I should share. 

First, Asteras: We tried to go to The Nest Bistro (which I have also heard is very good and the menu looks promising), but we were sent away because apparently this tiny little place took reservations and they were all full up.  So we headed to Asteras, which we had heard was good and is often packed at dinner time.  We were not disappointed.  It was super busy but everyone who worked there was moving as fast as humanly possible, while still paying attention to everyone.  It was a funky, noisy environment- what you would expect at a greek place.  The food was divine! We had pita, tzatziki, and spanokapita to start- all of it very flavourful and well done- and they didn't shy away from the garlic, which I loved.  Cole had the special, a beef tenderloin and scallop dish, while I had the roast lamb.  Both were superb- Cole's plate was so clean by the end of the meal it looked like it could have gone back into the cupboard.  Both dishes were so good, but we both agreed mine was the best.  So if you like lamb, this is the dish for you! Served with rice, potatoes, greek salad and veggies, these $20 plates are worth the money.  If you haven't tried this place yet, it should be the destination of your next dinner date!

Next, K attended her first birthday party where I didn't have to stay.  So Cole and I (and B) had a brunch date at 2 Chefs Affair.  A small place downtown that serves affordable, familiar food done in a gourmet way.  It is evident from the flavour profiles and presentation that the quality of the food is of the utmost importance.  We ordered the eggs benedict and french toast from the breakfast menu.  The hollandaise had a beautiful lemon note and the hashbrown had a homemade ketchup accompaniment that was nothing like the ketchup you know.  The french toast had real maple syrup and a berry cream cheese spread.  The couple beside us had the waffles and those looked like a dessert masterpiece.  Cole went back a couple weeks later with a friend for lunch and had just as positive of an experience.  $10 plates- you can't beat that price for food this good. 

If you have been to a good restaurant in Nanaimo, I'd love to hear about it!

Meal Planning

We have an almost processed food free home- I do all the cooking and it's from scratch.  Occasionally a can of mushroom soup may slip in or K might have some KD for lunch- but these events are few and far between.  As I have stated in lots of my blogs, our budget is tight.  So it can be a challenge to find delicious, new recipes that fit within our limited meal budget.  This past month I tried something new- usually I do week by week meal planning but this time I did the whole month. 

Now it did change a bit as the month carried on and I saw different things on sale or our budget got smaller or whatever.  But it was helpful to have a better idea what was going on in the month so I could stock up on good sales and prepare for the upcoming meals.  It cut the cost of the protein portion of our meal down considerably.  Also, you can group meals with like ingredients close together and take advantage of places like Costco for bulk produce. 

Here is our meal plan/recipes for September.  Maybe you can take some of my ideas and use them for your own families.  We aim for an average of $10/dinner and this generally feeds a family of four (I like leftovers for lunch).  September we bought a lot of chicken and ground beef to portion out and for October we've bought one of those full pork loins from Costco for $16 and portioned it out for 7 different meals- that makes the protein cost less than $3 per dinner...can you beat that??  We would love to always shop at places like Nesvog, but at this time in our life we can't.  For September I managed to make a different recipe for every meal- the reason there aren't 30 is some of them weren't worth mentioning, I was out of town for 4 days and some of them we had 2 nights in a row.  I took pictures for almost all of the recipes.

Click on the name for the recipe:

Lime Mustard Chicken + Cheesy Zucchini Rice
Southwest Quinoa Salad
Greek Meatballs and Toasted Feta Orzo
African Palava + Salad with homemade Avocado Dressing
Chicken, Bacon, Brie Salad
Pulled Pork + Potato Salad
Broccoli Cheddar Soup + Jalapeno Popovers
Hot Sausage & Chicken Stew
Korean Beef
Tortilla Soup
Salmon Cakes
Burritos with Roasted Salsa and Black Refried Beans and Mexican Rice
Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
Cashew Quinoa Salad
Chicken and Dumplings
Perfect Autumn Quinoa Salad
Roasted Garlic Potato Soup (add cumin) + Cheese Biscuits
Chili and Buttermilk Cornbread
Chicken Bruschetta Melts

For October we've already had:

Sweet Tomato and Basil Bisque
Sweet Potato Latkes with Poached Eggs
Spicy Thai Peanut Stir Fry

Our meal plan for the rest of the month (it may change, but if you see anything you like check my food blog occasionally- I'm keeping it pretty up to date these days):

Shredded Pork Tacos with Mango Salsa and Pico de Gallo
Shredded Pork Quesadillas
Cheesy Cauliflower Soup
Shepard's Pie
Cheesy Corn and Potato Chowder
Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad
Lasagna
Shrimp Scampi
Homemade Pizza Pockets
Challupas (crockpot mexican pork and beans)
Garlic Chicken + Zucchini Cakes
Chili+Cinnamon Pork Loin with Apple Salsa
Tuna Melts with Homemade Garlic Cilantro Fries
(plus a bunch of repeat soups/salads from last month + Korean Beef *we have this every month*)

Entering Hippy Territory

Have you seen THIS article floating around on Facebook- or others like it?  It makes me so mad- why can't I walk into a store, buy something marketed to clean my children gently without having to worry that it's actually not good for them or the environment?  So many products are like this- I watched a Marketplace episode about "green" products that turned out to be not green at all.  So frustrating.  Consumerism often infuriates me.  But what are we supposed to do? We can research all we want but companies can still trick or mislead us.  If your family has the budget, better/natural/organic/green products can be invested in but not every family can afford that.  Ours, for instance, is a family of four living off not even one full income since I am at home full time with the kids while Cole is in school full time.  We can't afford some of the more health-conscious/environmentally responsible companies.  So I started researching homemade products- so I can be sure of the ingredients. Thankfully it's 2013, and the internet is a vast resource of such things. 

I already make my own homemade laundry soap- have been for over a year.  We love it: it's easy, ridiculously cheap, and as effective as all the commercial laundry soap I've tried.  That's the thing- if you're going to make your products, you don't want to sacrifice the result.  And I have had 2 babies during my laundry detergent switch- I wouldn't still be doing this if it didn't get out the spit up, poop and other food/dirt stains that come with the territory.  I still buy a stain remover for the really tough stuff (stains your commercial detergent wouldn't get out either).  I've read about homemade stain remover and even homemade dryer sheets.  But I haven't gotten to that yet- one step at a time.

Recipe for Homemade Laundry Detergent

1 cup Borax (the box lasted us a year)
1 cup Washing Soda (the box lasted us longer than a year)
2 finely grated Sunlight Bars (we have to buy a pack of 2 every month probably)

Mix together and keep in a container by your laundry.  1-2 tbsp per load.  I use a dry detergent- there's recipes out there if you like liquid.  I just use an old formula scoop to measure my soap.

So when my "poisonous" products are gone, I will start trying some of these new recipes.  I will have to start getting familiar with the health food stores in order to find the best deals on bulk castile soap (I hear Dr Brommer's is the best) and essential oils.  Thankfully things like vinegar and baking soda are dirt cheap.  Here are some of the links I'm looking at for recipes.  If your family already does some of this and would like to share your experiences, I would love to hear about it- also any recipes you have tested.  I will post once I have tested some of these out. 

Cole said he's on board for whatever I do- he will use whatever I make.  I've talked to him about cloth diapers before but he's always maintained he won't help change diapers if they're cloth (his family used them and had no desire to go back to that).  But the night I was talking to him about all this, he said if I wanted to try cloth diapers for the 3rd baby (who is hopefully a long ways off), he will comply.  But he warned me that I am entering hippy territory with all this. 

Maybe so, but I'm tired of being lied to and wondering what all these strange chemicals are doing to ourselves and the earth.  But things take time, one step at a time.  I have made the laundry change, next I will look into these recipes and we'll go from there.  I like that I will know how to make things that we use everyday.  Also, it feels like a way I can help our family be self-sufficient/reliant at a time when I'm not contributing money to our bank account. 

http://matthewandemmavickery.blogspot.ca/2013/07/no-poo.html
http://mymerrymessylife.com/2012/10/homemade-moisturizing-baby-shampoo-recipe-free-printable.html
http://mymerrymessylife.com/2012/02/the-magic-and-reality-of-dr-bronners-castile-soap.html
http://mymerrymessylife.com/2012/04/baking-soda-body-scrub-and-soap-100-green-and-gentle.html
http://www.organicauthority.com/sanctuary/3-best-essential-oils-for-cleaning.html
http://liagriffith.com/make-your-own-organic-castile-hand-soap-printable-labels/
http://www.diynatural.com/homemade-toothpaste/
http://sarahhearts.com/2013-08-06/diy-hand-soap/
http://www.diyhomeworld.com/diy-toilet-bombs/
http://tipnut.com/household-baking-soda/
http://fountainavenuekitchen.com/orange-vinegar-a-green-cleaner/

My First Shower and What I Want to Do When I Grow Up (or when my kids do..)

Along with me, a bazillion of my friends are having babies this year.  I don't know how it's happened, especially out here in Nanaimo -land of the pregnant- but I had yet to throw a baby shower.  That was rectified last month when I hosted for my dear friend Laura and her beautiful little girl. I spent a good deal of time on the food (big surprise) and was pretty happy with how everything turned out. 

Menu (click on the name for the recipe):

Apple Strudel Muffins
Dark Chocolate Mousse
Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Spinach Feta Puffs
Crunchy Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad
Warm Brie with Apricot Jam and Toasted Hazelnuts
Veggies with Hummus
Fruit

apple strudel muffins, chocolate mousse, peanut butter cookies

spinach/feta puffs, quinoa salad, chocolate zucchini cake,
vegetables/hummus, brie/crackers, fruit

brie

spinach puffs, salad

apple strudel muffin

chocolate zucchini cake

peanut butter cookies

dark chocolate mousse

quinoa salad

I love prepping food for events and trying out new recipes and sharing them with other people.  My budget for investing in cooking and food presentation is seriously low right now while I'm a student wife but my cooking improves every year. I have lots more to learn and definitely need a ton more practise on presentation, but my interest and enjoyment seem to be on a steep incline. My love of food does not seem to be waining- it doesn't appear to be a passing hobby.  I think I would like this to be a permanent fixture in my life. 

Currently my title is stay at home mom.  I finished my Bachelors degree in English literature intending to enter a career in that general vicinity.  I didn't intend on getting married so young, or marrying someone who hadn't even begun his post secondary studies.  But I did.  So now we are letting Cole catch up and finish his own Bachelors degree and I am at home with the babies.  We've decided that I will be home full time as long as we have kids at home full time (by full time I mean not in school).  It was an easy and hard decision.  But I still desire to work outside the home and I am grateful for some of the examples around me of women who have re-entered the work force after being at home for a decade or two.  Women who have spent nights and years continuing their education and preparing to go back out into society.  It's a scary prospect- taking that much time off and trying to claw your way back into jobs amongst others who have been there the whole time. 

The last year I have been seriously thinking about moving away from my teaching/literary goals and focusing on another love: food.  I think I would like to pursue catering.  I like the idea that my age isn't going to be a hindrance, that it can be on my terms- as small or big scale as my life allows.  I like that it would still allow me to be at home most of the time- that my growing/grown kids could be involved.  I like that I would be doing something I love and that I wouldn't be fighting a hundred 23 year olds for one position.  I like that I would be setting an example for my girls: that women can be at home raising their kids but also, when the time is right, work and be self sufficient- run a company and follow their dreams.  Even if I failed, I like that I would be setting an example for my girls that to try for something we believe in and fail is ok- heck, I'd like to set that example for myself. 

The thought is a little daunting- mostly because the onus would be on me.  And because I'm not really trained yet.  But this is a foodies world now: food trucks and blogs and Masterchef home cooks are everywhere.  There is a growing need for companies that cater and the market isn't just for traditionally trained chefs now.  I would love to take some classes and improve and add upon what has already been self-taught.  But I think I have the important skill- making food taste good.  The rest I can learn and things like creating a better blog, web page and photographs I can hire people for and use their talents.  There are classes and programs specifically designed for future caterers.  I already have a Bachelors degree so I'm primed to do an MBA with a focus in entrepreneurship (which would also satisfy my desire to do more post secondary work).  I also have time, while I'm having babies and toddlers, to continue to hone my skills and take some classes and work up to this new, long term goal.  So now I've said it out loud.  Sometimes it sounds ridiculous to me that I could suggest I could cook for a living- but I suppose it's no more ridiculous than a 19 year old who says he wants to be a doctor. Time and training.