Our Girls Day Out!

A week ago today, a few girls and I travelled to St. Jacob's to take in the Farmer's Market and Antique Stores - we had a blast! My feet were killing me by the end of our big day, but it was well worth it. If you know me, you know I love old stuff and I already have enough in my house but I could not help but pick up this awesome re-purposed window jam cupboard - I freaking love it and fell in love with it instantly! 

I also would like to share Jamie-Lee's amazing hats she tried on - she's likely going to kill me if she ever reads this blog, but for the time being.. for your own enjoyment.. check this out!! Aren't they purdyyy.. 

We also had wee Archer along for the day, he was so well behaved and kept competing with Eric (I'm such a bad Auntie and didn't get a picture of Eric) - both boys were angels, and Mary Beth was such a well behaved girl too. We had an awesome day with the kids. Here's Archer completely pooped out on Mommy! 

 Amanda found this cute little toy vacuum cleaner with my favourite gal and quote "I'm no Suzy Homemaker!!" Love it - I may go back and buy it - it's so cute!

That sums up our amazing day! We're doing it all over again July 19th if you want to join us! We're a ton of fun and know how to find good deals! haha! 

bouncing baby boy..

Our cousins from the Cowan side, Tori & Rudy, welcomed their first baby together into the world yesterday morning. Zander was born at 0621 on July 4th, 2012 and the perfect peanut size of 7lbs 2oz. Mommy and Daddy are doing great and big sisters Kennedy and Autumn, and big brother Trent are loving Zander to bits! 


Congrats Rudy & Tori, we are so happy for you guys and cannot wait to watch little Z grow up! 

Today's Garden Update.. GROWING!!

my thumb is getting greener.. go me!

My garden is turning out pretty awesome this year. My mother is an amazing gardener, and so is my Grandma - so naturally I want to be too. Last year with the wedding, well - let's say it started out well and ended poorly. I planted a lot of pumpkins and gourds for decorating at the wedding and those darn vines ended up completely taking over my garden.

Well another item that has helped out a lot, is that we bought a little rototiller. This thing has made keeping the weeds down a breeze, and so much easier to have to weed within the rows instead of the whole darn garden!

You might also be impressed to know, I have "year two" potato plants growing with abundance. I "may" have forgot about digging them up last fall, and then this spring with Neil was rototilling he said there was a lot that got thrown about with the rototiller. Well, let me tell you that this is the way to plant potatoes! I have nearly hip high potato plants growing now - I have no idea when I should dig these brutes - but I am thinking within the next month I will have one heck of an early harvest of potatoes! 


We also planted a bunch of other veggies.. you ready for this? Potatoes (obviously), decorative corn, sweet corn, zucchini, english cucumber, green beans, sugar snap peas, peas, carrots, beets, radishes, broccoli, green onions, hot peppers, green peppers, red peppers, plum and big boy tomatoes, romanine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, spinich, buttercrunch lettuce, and a big herb supply. Woweeee! I'm a green thumb!! I took this picture a couple of weeks ago. 

I will take another today to show you the difference!


I was down to spend the day with Haley while Dale had surgery last week, and we spent the early part of the afternoon at Ikea and the later part of the hot afternoon in the pool - she is so much fun! 

Neil and I also went camping last weekend, for what is likely our last trip in our tent trailer. We have actually upgraded to my grandparents 5th wheel camper, which is awesome! So if you're in the market for a tent trailer, ours is for sale! We went to Meaford, and it was a beautiful weekend.. here is our Lenny-girl all tuckered out from playing in Georgian Bay all afternoon. She loves the water!! 

I love Meaford, one of my most favourite camping places.. amazing sunsets, warm water for swimming, Lennox friendly park, and close to my family.. love love love.. 

We're going camping again (in our new quarters) for our next camping trip, really looking forward to going back to Meaford again and joining my Aunt & Uncle, and Grandparents there! 


Last but certainly not least, I tried curry this passed week at home and we both loved it! Keri had made it one night I was there, and the rice(see beside - we did not use spinach or raisins, we used corn it was good!) and chicken were amazing! I would make this again and again, it was a big hit in our house. I'm just going to post the picture of the recipe I used as I don't have time to post it - it's really good, and if you haven't tried curry - this is a good place to start as I "didn't like it" until I tried Keri's when she made it. So go ahead and give er' a whirl.. urgh I cannot get this picture to upload the correct way, hope I don't hurt your neck. :( 

Thanks to all who read my last post and for all the sweet comments and personal messages. I am thankful for the support and the outlet to be able to talk about it. 

Something worth talking about..

Well, I have thought long and hard about how I'm going to do this - and it's not easy topic to talk about, and most people could not possibly understand. Though, having started going "through this" now, I realize that it's absolutely astonishing how many other people are in the same situation as we are. 


When we were dating, the questions everyone asked.. "when are you getting engaged?" "married?" "Are you going to move in together?" Then you get engaged, and it's "when's the wedding". The wedding is over, and now it's "when will you have kids?" 


If you know me at all, you know I adore children. From a very young age, I wanted more then anything to be a Mom. I had nothing other then what a perfect example of what a mother should be, growing up with my mom and my grandma's close by - I always had a constant example of an amazing mom, and I want(ed) to be that person. 


Something worth talking about.. getting pregnant is not all that easy. We're seeing a specialist for fertility. The amounts of people in that office every single day is staggering. I absolutely feel like we're NOT the only ones going through this. It's been a eye opening experience. When I first got the referral, I was sad, upset and just wanted for us to be a "normal" couple. Then once I started talking about it, I learned about friends, family and people I grew up with - people our age, going through the exact same thing too.  


Not everyone shared stories of people they knew who also received help getting pregnant. Not everyone was supportive. Some were surprised, shocked and asked questions or made statements like "you obviously haven't tried long enough" "maybe you're not doing it right" and "why do you need to go there, you're so young?" - well as much as those were not what I had expected, I realize - the majority of people have no what to say, and have no idea what it's like to be "us" - "us" meaning, the percentage of couples who do need to get a little, or a lot of help to become pregnant. 


So the long and the short of it was, that we did try before we got ourselves in to see the specialist. It's not just like something you sign up for, it's a referral process and it can take time. 


When I was 19 years old, I began seeing a family doctor that I worked with at the hospital. After assessing my overall health and well being I brought up some concerns, and she brought up some of hers. Mine were my extremely heavy & irregular periods, that I had a hard time losing weight, I never felt like I had a whole hell of a lot of energy, and a year prior to that I had a very painful ovarian cyst that had ruptured. 
It didn't take long for her to write up a requisition for me to do some blood work, and an ultrasound. She followed me closely for about 6 months, and then it was decided I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). She told me that that time, that I have a high probability of needing assistance through medications when it came time to start a family. Obviously at 19 that wasn't exactly in the "near" future plans, but of course it's always been in the back of my head. For the sake of consistency, I was put on birth control for medical reasons. 


And 8 years later, here we are. 


It's not my intention to broadcast our story in great detail. If you have questions, just ask. I'm not hiding anything and willing to talk (you know me) about my experience. I may from time to time share some things on here. The point of me sharing our story, is because people need to know there are many people in this world who are wearing the same boots as me right now, some hide it - some share it, some choose to share with close family and friends. 
We shared with close family & friends, until now, but in order to receive support and awareness for people struggling with infertility, our friends and family needs to know that the amounts of couples needing help is staggering, and with these statistics it is more than likely in your family, or group of friends may need the same support we are getting now. 


I really feel like this is something that is worth talking about. Hope you didn't mind. :) 

Sooo what's new & exciting...

Hey Everyone... have you tried any of the recipes I have posted? 


Well being that I just posted the Crispy Honey Sesame Chicken one last night, I'm sure you haven't tried that one - but I'm interested to see if anyone has tried the goat cheese chicken and, did you like it? love it? want some more of it?? Does anyone like that I post recipes, if so I'll keep doing it...


Has anyone else like "had it" with winter, even though we really, in south-western Ontario, have really barely had a winter! I just hate this in-between stuff. Blatantly because for like two weeks I have had this lingering cold, sore throat and sinus pressure that just will not go away! I'm chalking it up to being the damp cold weather we have been having! 


Sidenote: Did anyone else have like, crazy winds this weekend.. I swear, I'm surprised our roof did not blow off.. our neighbours JUST had their roof shingled and let's just say they are missing quite a few now! 


Needless to say, Neil has worked quite a bit with the icy and windy days, it's kept them quite busy. Last week he was on his 'early week' which has him into work at 4am, and home by 12:30pm - needless to say, he needs a nap by the time mid-afternoon rolls around! He does this once every three or four weeks. 


Sooo a couple of weeks ago, my Uncle was up to visit my Grandparents on Family Day, we were putting together a puzzle while Grandpa Jimmy coached us, Cam, Neil, Wayne, Grandma and I all slaved away.. it brings back memories, when we were little and Grandpa was always telling us how to do something.. because you and I both know, he knows better. Well my friends, now it's as simple as a frickin' puzzle - anyway, it keeps his mind going - and it's kind of cute. 
Anyhow, back to the point of this - a while ago this young lady popped by the farm with my Uncle, to take pictures of our cows - I wondered at the time why our cows, and what she was going to do with the pictures - well some time later, she sent my parents some sketches - WOW - is she ever talented! Her name is Sarah Hillock, and cows are her main focus, which obviously I love. This time I got the pleasure of hanging out with her while she took pictures again, this time though - it was of our newest and cutest babies! Oh my goodness, we had a lot of fun.. I cannot wait to see her work this time!!  
Check her website out - http://www.sarahhillock.com/ 


I'm looking forward to having this week slightly slower then most of the weeks this year - I have a few plans, like SEWING - really wanted to do more sewing this year, and yet it's March and I have done NONE - I have a lot of cutting done, but no sewing - productive? Somewhat. I have a few friends requesting some, so I will get on it this week. I do love doing them. Did I tell you, we bought a treadmill? Yes, so this week I'm spending more time on that aswell. Neil says we're going to have a competition. I will let him write the rules, because sure enough I will lose anyways. He is slightly competitive, to be honest! We are both trying to be healthier and eat better before we start to have kids! Of course, we're not perfect. ;) 


I'm looking forward to meeting Jamie-Lee sometime this week - we've been trying to get out for lunch for a long time, I have my photobook to show her and we need some time to catch up - we spent so much time together last summer, perhaps she needed a break from me! Though I see she's doing a couple more weddings this summer, so I must not have ruined her totally for wedding decorating!! Though I will say, we made a good team - and I loved my big day!!


It's a pretty exciting time right now for a few of our friends, some are buying houses (or intently looking) and some are having babies! For those of you who are, we are so excited for you and cannot wait for it all to happen for you!! 


Okay, I think that is all for today.. hope you're all doing well. 
Love,

Dinner - Crispy Honey Sesame Chicken {aka Jack Astor's ~ my version}

Ok, so apparently as of lately it's much easier to blog about what I cook, then what exactly is going on in my life - great eh? Can you tell I love food - when I have nothing else to say, food comes pretttyyy naturally... 


Tonight's Dinner - Crispy Honey Sesame Chicken.. on a work night, very easy and very delirious! I do not hide, this is no no way a "deep down home cooked meal" - but it's simply a pretty darn close attempt at trying to make Jack Astor's Crispy Honey Sesame Chicken, in which they now charge close to $20 for, for around.. $5 per person at home. Again, this isn't made from complete scratch, so don't judge me ok - it was taste I was going for.. 

You'll need...

3 good size Chicken Fingers per person - M&M's are THE BEST to use! (http://www.mmmeatshops.com/en/products/product.asp?productID=343&catID=4)

A bottle of Thai Sweet & Spicy Sauce (I just checked their website for it, and it's not showing anymore, but you can also buy a bottle of "cock" brand, {thats rooster my friends} Thai Sweet & Spicy Sauce at No Frills, it's a big bottle and it has a red label - it's about $2.00 per bottle. The one from M&M's hands down tastes WAY better, but I have used this brand before and it was okay too. 

Honey

Sesame Seeds, toasted 

Carrot, cut like matchsticks 

(did you know...you can buy them this way, found in some stores by the baby carrots!!)

1 Red Pepper, cut into fine strips

Sweet Snow Peas, rinsed

Bean Sprouts

3-4 Green Onions, finely chopped

Jasmine Rice, cook as directed

Bake chicken fingers as directed on package. 

Start Jasmine Rice in rice cooker or stove stop. We love our rice cooker and it makes it perfect every single time! We rarely use a rice cooker, but for the $20 is cost us for the cooker, these ethnic rices cook so nicely in it - it's SO worth it!! 

Prepare vegetables. In other words, if you bought the match stick carrotes, chop the green onion and red peppers - quick, yep!!

Toast your sesame seeds, have you done this before? It adds so much flavour to them! Put a frying pan on medium low and put your sesame seeds in the pan. Keep them moving in the pan, you will smell the aroma and notice they start to turn a light toasty brown. Shut the heat off when they are all equally toasted.

Meanwhile, add 3 parts Thai Sweet & Spicy Sauce and one part honey. I use about 3/4 cipe of the Sweet & Spicy and 1/4 honey. Pop is in the microwave in a small microwave safe bowl and heat until it's hot. Stir and heat again. The heating process will thin out of the sauce, and that's ok! 

Once the chicken fingers and rice are all done, turn a large wok or frying pan, add a little olive oil and stir fry the carrots and red peppers. The amount of vegetables you want, depends on if you like them - we love ALL of these vegetables, so I tend to cook a lot! Once they are soft, throw in a handful or two of bean sprouts, the snow peas and toss. Basically you just want the sprouts and snow peas to be warm, not cooked. Once this is achieved, add 3/4 of the green onions and shut off the heat. Toss again. 

Now you're ready to plate.. lay a bed of Jasmine Rice, then chop up the chicken into bit size pieces, then add the stir fried red pepper, carrot, snow peas and bean sprouts on top. Drizzle with the hot Thai Sweet & Spicy Sauce/Honey mixture, and spring toasted sesame seeds and reserved green onion on top! 


You're ready to eat, hope you enjoy!