update

I am still pretty sick. I don't remember the last time I have been this miserable. I have been talking to Prince Charming and due to health reasons I am going to back off of my vegetarian diet for a while to see if things improve. I am pretty miserable right now and I can't sit up too long. Hopefully I will be better tomorrow and I will be able to post properly.

Little Update

I am sick today. I seem to be having some kind of really bad allergic reaction to something. I will be back tomorrow with a better post.

Rare

Theme: Rare Become a Photo Hunter View Blogroll

Before I get started, I would just like to send my best wishes out to our hostess, TNChick.

It is rare to see Little Princess being quiet and still and serious. She is such a happy, musical, singing, dancing, happy child that these rare moments of solemnity are worth catching for me. I love the beauty of her face when she is serious in a different way than I love the sparkle in her eyes when she is laughing.

Friday Feast

Click on the picture to join in the Friday Feast Fun! Have a Great Friday!

Appetizer

How fast can you type?

I can type 60 - 70 words per minute

Soup

What is your favorite online game?

I don't play on-line games but if I did it would be tetris type game. I like those.

Salad

On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 as highest), how intelligent do you think you are?

When I was tested it was really high but I will say 8 because lord knows having a kid let me know how much I didn't know.

Main Course

Name three of your best teachers from your school years.

Mrs. Brooks, Mrs Maloney (I called her Mrs. Baloney), and Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Brooks was my favorite. She always made me feel special. Mrs. Maloney was my kindergarten teacher. When I think of her and how much of an impact she had on my life, I think about the fact that Little Princess will be attending kindergarten this fall. I think about how much of an impact her impression of school in that beginning stage can have on her feelings about school in general. She is really not liking preschool and so far is really looking forward to kindergarten. She has met her teacher and really likes her. I hope it stays that way. I want her to love her early education as much as I did.

Dessert

What are your plans for this upcoming weekend?

Not too much. Enjoy the weather, hopefully we get paid, so I can pay some bills, not too much.

Dreams

I had the weirdest dreams last night. I dreamed I called my grandmother and she was at my Aunt's house. My Aunt, my uncle, my cousins were all there and my grandmother said that she they had all mutually decided that they didn't approve of me and that they weren't going to talk to me anymore. Huh? Weird.

Money

I hate that money becomes an issue when dieting. When I want to eat healthy, I should have to decide between having healthy food and having enough food. That just sucks. I guess it is partly because when I buy the healthy food, it is in addition to buying all the things that I buy for Prince Charming and Little Princess.

Little Princess

Speaking of food, the daycare driver told me today that they are having a heck of a time getting her to eat at daycare. He asked me to try to talk to her to convince her to eat. I will try and I did but her reaction when I mentioned it is pretty much what I get all the time. "But MOMMY, if they give me yucky food that I don't like . . . then I don't like it!" I would send food in that she likes, but truth be told, I really don't know what to try anymore. I was thrilled this week to learn that if I disguise food with cheese, I can get her to eat it. I was thrilled this week that I got her to eat big suppers, three days in a row. She is sooooo stubborn. If she doesn't want to eat it, There ain't nothing on this good green earth that will make her eat it.

Book Fair

I went to a book fair yesterday to support our local community center. We spent $6 and the books were 12 for $1. We got 15 books each for me, Prince Charming and Little Princess and then Prince Charming also got a set of books about renovating and constructions. I swear it was like Christmas here yesterday with all of us sitting around with our books and little Princess running over to get me to put aside my book to read book after book to her. I got a couple really amazing cook books that I am thrilled with. Two of them were published in 1953; The Joy of Cooking and the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. I love old classics like that. I also got a little cookbook with a newspaper clipping inside about the author. It is a Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook and it is filled with little anecdotes about the authors life and experiences as a Pennsylvania Dutch Old Order Mennonite. It is wonderful and the recipes are simple and look wonderful. I can't wait to get into them. There are a surprising number that are vegetarian/vegan friendly.

Persistence

This week's theme is "persistence." Take time to visit and comment on others. It will be fun to see how everyone interprets this word and all the quotes that are possible.

Journalling reads:
Heard during this photo shoot:
"here sit next to the bear"
"No, sit next to the bear"
"No don't hug the bear, sit next to him"
"Don't suck your thumb, I want a picture
of your smile"
"Don't suck your thumb."
"Put down the bib”
“don't suck your thumb."
"that's pretty hugging the bear,
but i want a pic of you sitting next to
the bear"
"give me your bib"
"sit next to the bear"
"No, don't hug"
"sit up"
"Oh fine . . . that'll do"
In the end, this is what I got,
NOT ONE SINGLE PIC . . .
of her sitting nicely next to the bear.

Thursday Thirteen

EDITOR'S NOTE: my links appeared to have been messed up, but I have fixed them now.

Thirteen Random things about Twisted Cinderella

I was really impressed with American idol last night. I was moved to tears (or at least damp eyes) by a few of the performances. The daycare that Little Princess attends had a incident today. A four year old child was upset with a change that was made and left the daycare. He walked out, and was found at LEAST 45 minutes later wandering down the highway "walking home"! Now when I put my child in your care, the one and only thing I am interested in is that you keep my child safe. HOW COULD YOU LET HIM WALK OUT!? There is a bell on the door when it opens. I don't know how it happens but it scares the heck out of me. And if that were my kid, I would be as pissed as hell! A couple of my friends are were interviewed by me. Go on over and visit her: Shelly. I found a cool recipe site that I thought I would share. I used the search feature to find recipes suitable for little Princess. I had some eggplant in my fridge and I thought I would figure out something new to do with it. I went to Allrecipes.com and found this recipe that I made. I didn't take a pic as it wasn't that pretty. But it was really yummy!: Roasted Eggplant and Mushrooms Cook Time: 45 Minutes Ready In: 55 Minutes Yields: 2 servings INGREDIENTS: 1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed 2 small zucchini, cubed 1/2 small yellow onion, chopped 1 (8 ounce) package mushrooms, sliced 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste 1/2 cup water 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon dried basil salt and pepper to taste DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). 2. Place eggplant, zucchini, onion and mushrooms in a 2 quart casserole dish. In a small bowl combine the tomato paste with the water, and stir in garlic, basil, salt and pepper. Pour over the vegetables and mix well. 3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until eggplant is tender, stirring occasionally. Add water as necessary if vegetables begin to stick; however, vegetables should be fairly dry, with slightly browned edges. I was watching Rachel Ray and she actually had a show where the entire show appeared to be vegan or at least easilty altered to be so. I have just found the website, and I am really excited to go check out the recipes. I can easily switch the cheese out for a soy cheese and I am pretty sure maple syrup is vegan. I LOVE her show and it is nice to stumble on a vegetarian freindly day. Looking through her site, I also found out that she is scheduled to have another vegetarian day on May 1st. Here is the info I found: Episode TM1227 AIR TIMES: May 01, 2007 6:00 PM ET/PT May 08, 2007 2:30 PM ET/PT No Meat, No Worries Rachael is making a hearty vegetarian meal that will satisfy the hungriest meat eaters as well. I got a fun email which let me to a site that you can use to guess how tall will your child be. I am thrilled to have discovered I can get Little Princess to eat a few new foods if I just put a little cheese on top. She loves cheese so now we are experimenting with what foods I can get her to eat. So far: chicken, chicken soup, spaghetti, tuna melt and we are still going. As long as she eats plenty of apples to counteract all that cheese I am not worried. The calories don't matter, she is the tiniest kid I have ever seen. On that note, I also found a site that you can use to get lunches your kid will eat. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! Leave a comment and I will add you here

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants


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First Park Play of 2007

Click the pic above to get to other Wordless Wednesday Participants.

Tackle It Tuesday

It's Tackle It Tuesday, again! I am actually starting to really enjoy this weekly kick in the butt to get some of the big things in our place done. Today I tackled out spare bedroom. Here are the befores:

Here are the afters (Please note, I still need Prince Charming to check the nuts on the bed and make sure everything is tightened up enough, but at least it is looking presentable again. I have another tackle for later if Prince Charming wakes up early enough):

Weight Loss

Here are some smart substitutions to make healthier choices:

Instead of : Regular potato chips Pudding Ice cream Cream Whole milk Nachos w/ the works Chocolate Bagel w/ cream cheese Boiling w/ butter Ground beef

Try: Baked potato chips Applesauce Non-fat frozen yogurt Evaporated milk Skim milk Tortilla chips & salsa Cocoa Apple slices w/ peanut butter Boiling w/ chicken broth Ground turkey

Little Princess

Little Princess LOVED kinderstart. In this session, she was in the room with the teacher and other kids, and I attended a meeting with all other the parents. She had a great time and enjoyed herself thoroughly. Given her issues with preschool, I asked the teacher how she seemed. Did she seem overly hyper or active, did she seem to have a short attention span. The teacher said she did wonderfully and that she seemed perfectly normal. So I am going to just wait for a while and see how she does in a kindergarten environment. Maybe she is just a really active normal five year old. That would be wonderful.

The interview (and other stuff)

Fantastagirl is being interviewed by Tug and I asked her to interview me:

1) Your Little Princess is the prettiest little girl - when you look at baby pictures does she look more like you or Prince Charming. (love the photo-pages you put together - they are awesome!!)

I think that when I was bigger I thought she looked more like Prince Charming. She has his big brown eyes. But now that I am losing weight, I can see that she had and still has my face shape and my eyelashes.

2) You've recently lost a lot of weight - (congrats btw - you are looking fantastic!) What advice could you give to someone who is trying to lose weight?

My big word of advice is never give up. It gets tough. Just believe that you can do this and that whatever happens with those darned numbers on the scale you are living in a healthier way now than you were before.

3) Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up when you were 5, 10, and 20?

I wanted to be a teacher when I was 5 and 10. When I was 20, I wanted to be a writer or a teacher. But I liked my job as a cake decorator back then too.

4) You live in Canada - what is one of the best things about living in your Country?

The people. I love how people are here. There is a quiet dignity and a friendly openess about people here that I love. I also love the mountains and the oceans but I hear that they have those in other places, (imagine that!)

5) You are granted three wishes - what would they be?

1. 
   To have enough money to have all of my family's and my best friend's bills paid off in full and to live comfortably without worry.
2. To have access to whatever it took to make Little Princess a well-rounded happy adult.
3. To have another child.
   
   
   If anyone else wants to play along:

• Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
• I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
• You will update your weblog with the answers to the questions.
• You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
• When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
  
  

Photography

In an effort to feed my interest in photography, I have decided to do a little research to see what I can learn about it. There are an almost infinite number of sites with lots of helpful tips and information for anyone wanting to look into to.

In just a few minutes I found these sites:

1. Photo Secrets: has good information for beginners on how to take better photos.


2. Photography tips: Features information, tips and hints on all aspects of photography.


3. Electric Teacher: 11 Tips To Taking Quality Photos


4. MacDev Center: Top Ten Digital Photography Tips


5. National Geographic: Adventure Photography Tips


6. PictureCorrect: Digital Photography Tips and Lessons

I am really looking forward to investigating and really digging through and learning how to improve my pictures.

Little Princess

Little Princess is going to kinderstart when she wakes up. She is sooo excited. Her only complaint is that she hates that she only gets to go for an hour. She wants to stay all day. She loves it so much and she can't wait until kindergarten. I keep telling her that her teacher isn't ready for her yet but that she can go soon.

Sunday Stuff

Little Princess

I have been having issues with Little Princess peeing the bed. She does it a lot. I am not sure how much of this is normal. She stays dry and never pees her pants outside her room. But once you put in her room and close the door she seems to feel no need to get up and go pee. Maybe she is sleeping, I have no idea. But I am at a loss as to how to proceed and I am starting to wash the colors out of her sheets.

THREE MONTHS!!

I have been vegetarian for three months now! woohoo! I have had a couple of rough days where I would look at the food I was cooking for Little Princess and Prince Charming and really really really want it. And there have been some concerns about the cost of me eating a completely different meal than the rest of the omnivores in our house. But for the most part, I am enjoying the good health and the challenge of finding healthy yummy food to eat.

Sunday Silly

I read this on a parenting board I read and I had to share it here. It just completely cracked me up.

This is a column in Esquire every month, in case you didn't know. They have some celebrity woman give her list. They're usually pretty humorous, and MSN has some up today. This one is from Courtney Cox:

1. Pull your pants up. You're not 15, you're not a rapper, and we need to see the shape of your ass.

2. Pull your pants down. You're not 85, you're not an accountant, and we don't need to see the shape of your balls.

3. Breasts are not a speed bump to the promised land.

4. Yes, we want you to be more verbal. No, burping doesn't count.

5. Kissing is something that you need to stay engaged in, even if all the blood is rushing out of your head and into other parts of your body.

6. Speaking of which, though it might make for a cool carnival sideshow, our entire face will not fit inside your mouth, and thus this makes for lousy kissing.

7. If we're crying and you're holding us and get a hard-on, we automatically deduct points.

8. And getting a boner while we're sleeping next to you is not an excuse to wake us up. This is not what they mean by serendipity.

9. We pay closer attention to your hands than you think. It's bad enough if you don't have manly hands, but if your nails are
longer than ours, forget it.

10. You don't get a vote in the preferred shape of our pubic hair. Until you've had hot wax poured all over your crotch, you're merely a passenger on that flight.

Photography

I love photography. I sometimes wish I could take a course and learn more about it. I love taking pics, photo editing, playing with lighting and subject matter, taking portraits and landscape shots. It all makes me happy. years ago, I used to take my camera everywhere so I could capture things that caught my eye. I have stopped doing that lately and if I do, I am only taking pics of Little Princess, but I am thinking that maybe I should just start taking my camera with me, just in case.

Steps

Theme: Steps Become a Photo Hunter View Blogroll

To me the steps outside my front door and the steps of the houses on my street, are the first place I notice that spring is coming. I look up and down my street and on a nice day, everywhere I look, I see people sitting and chatting and kids playing. I love it. It feels like home. It feels like a neighbourhood. It is wonderful. So for my steps pictures today, I thought I would share some pics from the front steps I share with the best neighbours in the world that were taken last summer.

Friday Feast

Click on the picture to join in the Friday Feast Fun! Have a Great Friday!

Appetizer

What is your favorite kind of bread?

Multigrain. I love the nutty flavor of a lot of multigrain breads.

Soup

When was the last time you bought a new pillow?

About 4 years ago. But I really need to buy a new one.

Salad

Approximately how many hours per week do you spend surfing the ‘net?

Oh brother, who knows. More than I should, less than I want to.

Main Course

What’s the highest you remember your temperature being?

I don't know. I remember there have been times it has gotten really high, but I am usually too sick to really track it.

Dessert

Fill in the blanks: When I ____________, I _____________.

When I am stressed, I have bad dreams.

Path

I have decided to participate in Themed Thursdays for Scrappers! Each Thursday begins a new theme. Post a layout (new or already created) on your blog or any gallery. Visit other entries to see how they have interpreted the theme. Be sure to leave comments and have fun!

More details in this post. Be sure to see what next week's theme is!

This weeks theme was Path. My first thought was of this first page. This pic was taken on her first visit to her preschool last summer. She was so excited.

This second page is from last summer as well. It is of Prince Charming and Little Princess. I love to watch as he takes her little hand and they walk down the path together.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Random things about Twisted Cinderella

Here is one of the Easter chocolates that Little Princess got for easter. I thought it was absolutely adorable. Little Princess has been missing Notsosnowwhite more than usual this time. Yesterday morning she got up and drew faces for how she felt. The first one, "Oh no, I don't want her to go." the second one, "I love her." and the third, "I am sad." I am having difficulties with lack of groceries. This is the result of me inventing something on the go. I had onions,broccoli and cabbage in the pot and I still had no idea what it was going to be when it grew up. It was really yummy though. I topped it off with chopped almonds for a little added protein. I loved this video by Meatloaf. It gave me goosebumps. I found this great website called: Eat Better America. Eat Better America is a free web site that offers fitness and health tips, healthy recipes and a support community. One of the main features is called "Healthify My Recipe," where you can submit your favorite recipes for a healthy makeover. I made this scrapbook page. I am not sure I like the colors but it is kinda cute. I am seriously, completely, absolutely broke. I am so glad that I horded groceries when I knew that this was going to be a bad month because if we don't get money soon, things are going to be bad. I hate times like this. UGH. I think I am getting a cold. I have a sore throat and a stuffed sinuses. UGH Little Princess fell asleep on her bed at 7 last night. She was up half the night before playing and carrying on and being a general nuisance, so I am not surprised. Heck, I fell asleep at 6 on the couch. I hate it when I do that because I always end up with a headache. About American Idol. Who is your favorite? Who would you like to win the whole thing? I love Jordin and Melinda and I would love it if Melinda won the whole shebang. On Tuesday, after cleaning out my cupboards, I went on a cleaning rampage and cleaned out my hallway closet, scrubbed the floors, tidied the whole house and did 4 loads of laundry. You would never know I cleaned the floors now. Welcome to life with a five year old. Little Princess told a joke to me yesterday that was the first time she ever spontaneously told a joke that she got right. Her jokes are usually funny because they make no sense at all. But this time she looks at me and says, "Mommy . . . why was the broom late for breakfast? . . . . . . Because he overswept!" I laughed and was proud of her too for telling the joke right. She makes me laugh daily, she really does. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! Leave a comment and I will add you here

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants


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Gingerbread Fun

Tackle It Tuesday

It is Tackle It Tuesday. I decided to tackle my lower cupboards in my kitchen. I don't use them much except to gather junk and store my cleaners and garbage. I am pretty ashamed of the before pictures. But I have to say that is partly because they have been pretty bad since before I moved in. Gross, I know but there it is. So today, I decided to get them clean. My ultimate goal is repaint them but for now they are much better. Now I feel gross and dirty and I can't believe I let it get this bad. I feel like a candidate for that show, "How Clean in Your House".

Here are my before and afters:

My extra glasses, plastics, and cookbooks

My garbage, cleaners, and grocery bags

Corner cupboard with storage supplies

Cupboard with bags of dried goods