my big break

Happy World Food Day

2011-10-17T13:43:00.001-07:00

Hubby and I started watching the Food Inc. film on DVD I scored at Winners for $4.99+tax on can't remember if it was Friday or Saturday and then most of it yesterday after church.

Amazing fact we learned from the video :

Presently 75% of all hamburgers use a filler with ammonia to combat E. Coli in the ground beef. Pretty soon it will be in 100% of all hamburgers. Gross! No wonder why burgers at Fatburger tastes like cardboard with sauce.

I was going to show a screenshot of what the filler look like (frozen cardboard pulp I'd say) but Blogger keeps saying my post is over 1MB and needs to be "abridged".\

Then I was tidying things ups and noticed on my Mom's Ultimate Family Fridge Calendar 2012 that it was World Food Day (U.N.). What a perfect day to watch Food Inc.! Btw, I scored this calendar at Walmart back in late August at around 30% off the printed suggested retail. I like that large format and stickers and illustrations. One of the those things that sure adds to the charms of motherhood. I have mine resting on the countertop leaning on backsplash since it doesn't fit on my fridge.

2011-10-13T18:01:00.001-07:00

I recently joined Pinterest. I first heard about it over at The Wright House. I forgot about it until hubby found out about it and joined. He started pinning stuff for inspiration and life goals. I thought what a great idea. I hadn't put the two and two together. So now I pinning crazy. Here's one I pinned.

Happy Canada Day!

2011-07-01T14:55:00.001-07:00

I'm thankful for a great morning celebrating Canada Day with Hubby, Doddy, and Sonny. Looking forward to having date night with Hubby too, we're seeing the Transformers movie in 3D at the vintage Dunbar Theatre tonight! Look at the amazing flag. I scored it at Superstore for only $7.

What to give for a Laugh

2011-06-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

My intention was to write one ThankFullness item each day but today I just can't leave out sharing the following items:

1.

I'm thankful for a hardy chuckle right before falling asleep last night. Hubby and I had a little trouble sleeping so as usual I put some of our therapeutic grade essential oils from Young Living on myself then on Hubby. I swear this stuff gives me so much comfort like you'd see in a Vick's commercial except without all the synthetic ingredients. Suddenly I remember my nail polish and I went to the bathroom to check and sure enough some came off. I decided not to tell Hubby and let him find the red stains in the morning and I had to LOL to think how perplexed he'd be wondering if he was bleeding. He ended getting up for a leak and asked me what I was chuckling about and I told him and it turned out no polish got on him after all. Hardyharhar

2.
Thank goodness to God's wonders a hummingbird came by the new flowers I had just set up over our porch. A complete surprise and delight!

3.
This picture is seriously a beauty to me right now because I discovered on Tuesday I had lost my house keys and I had no idea when and where I could have lost them. I even went to the park that we went to on Sunday afternoon to check if there's any sign of it. I prayed to the Lord Tuesday night, last night, today. I thought maybe they might show up in the mail from the war amps tag on I got them that some good samaritan might put them in the post, oh, but would it? And when might it show up? Finally I found them!

4.
So off we went for Mexican food tonight and I felt so much lighter. And there was Mexican pop at the restaurant. Yay! I've been wanting to try it for the longest time but never seen it around and finally today I have tasted this drink all the way from Mexico.

bear

2011-06-29T22:15:00.000-07:00

There's bear in my neighborhood. A neighbor said he saw one with a cub that was at the front door of another neighbor's across from me. I'm thankful that my children are safe with me at the end of each day. I went to bed sort of late last night the night before I went to bed even later. I slept until 10am today and got out of bed quarter to 11. A luxury I know. I guess I needed to catch up on sleep. So I guess I have two things to list to be thankful for today!

I haven't been really keeping up with my blog of late. Mostly it's quite time consuming to put together the before and after shot photos. And I've been really enjoying other people's blogs and have got some great ideas for my own. I think I'm going to fill this blog with ThankFullness posts, each day something that I am thankful for.

Big break

2011-06-28T00:23:00.000-07:00

I've been taking a huge break from blogging. Sort of like hibernating through the cold seasons. It's sure been a cold year. And the sun is doing a LOT of teasing coming out then hiding away again. Yesterday we went to Belcarra lake in the afternoon and it was perfect! It sure was hot but I didn't mind, otherwise we could of moved to the shade. I was so tired though and fell asleep for most of it. Thank goodness we found a parking spot because the parking was jam packed full, it was just completely nuts. It was a really good spot too, right by the picnic area. Forgot to take a pic for the post. Sorry, but now that I'm warmed up for blogging again. I'll be sure to post one next time.

Fun Theory

2011-02-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

My two favorites

I still dearly hold onto the memory of seeing the Vancouver Science World version of this as a child. Brilliant!

And this one is just fantastic.

More at http://www.thefuntheory.com/

Life In A Day

2011-02-21T21:46:00.000-08:00

I can't wait to see this film on July 24 this year when it's due to come out in theaters.

What is happening with Gen Y (or just What is going on these days?)

2010-12-30T19:33:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I wanted to see Paula Abdul s Straight Up music video.

I love the tap dancing sequence in the intro (always feel like taking tap dance lessons when I see it), the black and white, the words Let Me Tell You, the black people and cello and Paula s wispy hair, I just love this video. I was born in 1981 so I think I have got a healthy dose of the 80s and 90s. So I went on YouTube to look for it but this video (right below) caught my eye and then I got all distracted.

Its a good video, definitely gives me ideas and "glambition" to grow my hair more just to try out the braided top knot bun. What got me intrigued though is the number of views - 478,608! That is a lot which led me to find out more about JuicyStar07 Blair Fowler and her sister Elle Fowler. Just to give an idea of how influential these two beauties are (age 17 and 21 respectively, or there about because that is just what I gather) - 24 hours after they mentioned a certain watch they got (I believe it was a white GUESS watch with some crystal things around the dial) it got sold out in every color and the store website crashed. Which led me thinking about how powerful this next generation is and could be, and of course the impact on my kids and what kinds of things they will grow up to think about or rather get obsessed about. There are so many things to get into because most everything I know are developed so well or already established. It is good and I suppose sometimes overwhelming because you feel like there isn't room to make your way. But we must always remind ourselves to think positively and not dwell on the negative. Negativity could lead to bitterness and envy which really doesn't make sense because if you are so busy being envious and bitter you are not doing what will help you be more happy, which is to really think about what you enjoy doing in life, what are your talents and interest? Believe me, it takes a lot of thinking to try and figure that one out, and when you do you will be too busy doing what really makes you happy to care about anything else. This is my goal to be positive every time I catch myself thinking negatively.

Anyhow, after learning about Elle and Blair Fowler it got me thinking about Tavi Gevinson, who I had mentioned before, and I searched her on YouTube because I haven't done that yet, just Googled her after seeing her picture in Canadian Elle magazine (I mean when I saw her picture it was seriously the first time I had seen a 13 year old in a magazine as some kind of contributor I didn't know who she is at the time). So I found this YouTube video

I think she did a pretty good presentation and I think it must be so fun to have the opportunity (whatever age you are but especially when you are what? only 13? 15? years old) present your ideas to a room full of people - adults! - who are there to listen to you intently. Indeed it is so true about what Tavi said how things are moving so super fast because I am reading this book

and it also says near the end (I am near finishing) how things are moving super fast nowadays and how we human beings need to be more than ever be able to give all that we have got to make our way and contribute in this world to come. I would also like to mention that Hubby and I are at the tail end of lots renting and watching movies from the Christmas + New Year's off work period and we watched Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps and one of the banker characters was saying that the economic crash is like the 1930s except it will happen super fast within a week. Which is a pretty scary thing. But there must be a positive side too right?

So all this led me (a 29 year old mother of two) to want to say on my blog (because blogging is really such an amazing tool for anyone to say anything so possibly anybody can have access to) is that thinking about my kids, and the teenagers of today I can see how probably from centuries old, parents have wondered whatever is in the heads of their kids. It is sort of a mystery and source of anxiety for us parents.

I think this next presentation by Tavi (below) has a whole lot of substance and fills in a lot of questions we parents would like to have answers to.

It is a relief to know that

1. Teenage angst of finding themselves is not a scary thing
2. An idea of what is going on in the teenage world since there is SO much going on these days
3. Young people today have so much access to information and therefore freedom make their dreams a reality and it is not a bad thing
4. (This might not be part of Tavi's presentation but it is my own conclusion) We "older" folks have the same access/ability (refer to #3) although of course we do have less of it in a way because we have more obligations (change our babies diapers etc.) and less energy and time but hey, I mean it is still there for us to take.

In a way this had been sort of my latest obsession, whatever the heck is going on in the world these days, especially in the heads of young people because they are the future right? And I feel I had gathered info here for me to feel OK about it for now until when I need some update again.

Lastly I just want to say to those of us that feel "older" that actually we shouldn't feel that way because life spans are longer and 40 is the new 20 and 50 is the new 30. Believe me The Element book says so too. Happy New Year!

The Pearce Sisters

2010-12-09T23:51:00.000-08:00

Aardman Animation Channel
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Being Young

2010-07-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

This month I turned 29 and not long before that I saw a picture of Tavi Gevinson in Elle magazine with "what were you doing when you were 13?". Apparently Tavi writes a fashion blog, gets to sit front row at big name fashion shows, receives free merchandise from fashion companies, and it has been rumored that Galiano snubbed Jeanne Beker but embraced Tavi! Wow which brings me back to my own memory of being 13. I remember looking at older girls (15-16-17 even early 20 yr olds) thinking wow those girls must have it all, the confidence, freedom, adventure! So now that I'm 29 I have to say I'm most definitely 29 and there's no denying because now when look at 15-16-17 even early 20 yr olds I think boy are they YOUNG and precious. I was at a friend's birthday party soon after my own birthday and everyone was talking about how when they were in their early 20s 10pm was the beginning of the night and it was time to party! Now 10pm is mostly definitely bed time. And traveling in your early 20s? Backpacking no problem, now hovering around 30, we don't have the energy to deal with getting lost and such we need the comforts of a 4 star hotel thank you very much. Ha!

Recently Hubby and I were invited to attend a good friend's wedding in Stresa, Italy with a big pre-wedding party in Nigeria where the bride is from and most of her family are. Since my Laura Bush book is still in one of the boxes I got another book from Walmart not knowing what it's about because the cover looks like this

(taken from amazon.ca)

and the excerpt given on the inside cover of the book is even more brief than online and says something along the lines of two women making a life changing decision and then they meet again two years later.

So I've finished reading the book and it's a well written book that definitely caught my attention because of it's writing style. It's about a Nigerian refugee who had a bad encounter with oil gangs in her country. It's quite a coincidence that I would read a novel about Nigeria, so we looked up for warnings against travel to Nigeria on the Canadian government website and sure enough there is a high alert put out just last week against traveling to that country. Surely we don't feel it's a responsible thing to do to take our kids to Nigeria at this time. So now we've decided to go to Italy only and we're looking forward to it immensely. It will our very first time in Europe!

This Saturday we will be hosting a friend and his family at our home for the first time. The previous owner had left us a gazebo still in original packaging and I hope we'll be able to set it up for the occasion and take a picture to post on the blog here. Until then...

Behind

2010-07-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

You know that feeling where you look around you and you feel kind of like you've fallen behind everybody else and start to wonder with a little guilt whether you've slacked off a little too much lately. Oddly enough, I've been feeling like that lately for one reason or another but then I remember, hey! I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off all morning DOING stuff. I guess, cleaning after my two babies does not really give much to show at the end of the day because everything actually look a little MORE messier than the start of the day but if I didn't do anything it'd look like Taz Mania came by.

I was checking out The-Brick-House and boy have they made great progress over there. They've even got themselves a pool! What a great idea to use a galanized livestock tank as an above ground pool. We've been tempted to get one at Walmart for the kiddos but this looks way better and perhaps could be used for other things too? I'll have to do some more investigation.

So I really should post more pictures of my house because a lot is done! But there's still a lot more ways to go and I have it all in my head just waiting it to all come together in real life. But I guess one image I can share is yesterday I went to Ikea and got 4 meters of this Majken fabric which I'm planning to make into a shower curtain for the main bath.

And that is all for now.

Move-In Date

2010-06-22T02:50:00.001-07:00

We're set to move in this Sunday. Crazy busy mode now. I haven't been able to post much lately especially about the reno progress. I guess that will have to be done after we've moved in and get settled with internet.

The tile guy and I yelled at each other today because I was firm on not accepting the 1/2 inch gap that is between the wall and kitchen countertop right by the sink. Afterwards I felt kind of like crying because men are fighters. I know that and had expected it and had already decided before-hand I would stand my ground. I talked to my contractor afterward and he worked out a solution. To be fair, the tile guy's not that bad. I know real jerks are just jerks but he was actually decent. Minimal swear words were used, of course not from me. The only one I recall was sh**. One thing I learned from working on this is all trades want to be able to come in, do everything at one visit and move on to the next job. They hate to make multiple trips. All trades blame each other if there's any damage. Well, it's not easy making a living. I will have to give a separate post for this incident and tile work in general.

But I wanted to share some happy findings. There a a few things during this reno project that were added in last minute that we had not thought of but somehow noticed right before it couldn't be done and went for it. These things make me feel like I'm being taken care of because I would have regretted missing the opportunity to put them in.

I hadn't thought of putting a ceiling fan in the living room at all but recently Design Sponge did a round up of ceiling fans then I saw a beautiful picture of one in the Restoration Hardware catalog and that finally tipped me into the idea. We were at Home Depot and then Rona late tonight getting some last minute things for the house and I mentioned to Hubby about having a ceiling fan in the living room. I would say the ones at Home Depot look slightly better than the ones at Rona but they all look like they come quite far down from the ceiling and our ceiling is not high. Then at Rona at the Grandview location they had some display ones turned on and feeling the breeze in this warm summer night was fantastic - I had to get one. I picked this one:

not only because I quite like the overall look but it doesn't look like it's coming too far from the ceiling. I hope it'll work out, which I'm pretty sure it should. For now, I just feel soooo happy. It's like getting wonderful service at a hotel, except it's amazingly divine because it feels like God is helping me with the plans.

Coconut Milk Ice Cream

2010-05-26T01:07:00.000-07:00

Ice cream made from coconut milk is on sale at Whole Foods for $3.99, $3 off the regular price. Sounds like a good deal so we decided to give it a try. It's pretty good, better than ones made with soy, still very light and not so rich like milk ice cream. See how creamy and fluffy the coconut flavor one is?

We got mint with chocolate flakes too and that was very good with the texture variation from the chocolate crisps. We went back this week and got some more cookie dough and chocolate flavored ones before the sale ends. We highly recommend it to vegans.

If I or anyone I know had ever bought a whole pineapple before I don't remember. Voila our very first!