Beans and Greens!

Sooo for those of you interested, this is my new favourite recipe!

Beans and Greens

4 cups chicken or veggie stock
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
3/4 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
1 clove of garlic
2 cups red kidney beans
2 cups navy beans
2 cups chopped spinach, kale, and swiss chard
2 cups chopped chicken breast (optional)

Combine the stock, onion, quinoa, oregano, garlic and bay leaf in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients and let cook together for 30 minutes or so, or until most of the liquid is absorbed.

YUM-O!

Awww Grandma!

My friends always like to tease me and call me "Grandma" because of my grandmotherly ways. I like to stay in and cross-stitch on Friday nights rather than go out partying...I wear a lot of sweaters (haha), and carry a "grandma bag"....a large purse with everything under the sun in it. There are many other things contributing to this as well, but I'll keep the list brief.

So imagine my surprise when I had to switch into a new group with my personal trainer because of a scheduling problem and ended up in a group with 3 older ladies...some of whom actually are grandmas. The first say I thought "sure, this figures." But it's actually really fun....they're soooo funny!

They're so funny that I often tell them that they'll be the subject of my blog post that day. And I always go home intending to write about whatever hilarious thing they said but I always forget....but not this time!

Last week, the trainer, also named Jodie, said "ya know what the best cure for mastitis is? Rosehip tea."

Ethel ( ? because I suck at names): Yeah...you can just slather it right on there......I just thought I'd add that in....you know....for your blog.

A Crazy January Challenge Finish...Say Whaaat?!

Here it is folks, a Crazy January Challenge Finish! Can you believe it??

Don't!!!

Holly stitched over half of it for me :-)

You're Getting Sleepy....Verrrryyyy Sleeeepppyyyyy

My roommate and I went to a psychic fair today! It was an....interesting (?) experience, you could say. I'm not really sure why we went. I heard about it on the radio and mentioned it in casual conversation, and she wanted to go. So, off we went!

We went to a lecture on hypnosis and the speaker was amazing. I can't even remember her name...how awful is that?! Anyways, she was really funny, and had the most amazing voice that really just got inside of you, ya know?

She led us all in a relaxation hypnosis which was a really cool experience. As I went deeper into it and I could feel myself literally sinking out of my body. Like....my head was there, but I could see myself moving lower, yet my head was staying in the same place. I know, it doesn't really made much sense.

It was a neat experience.....we didn't get any psychic readings done, but it was a cool afternoon anyways.

Photo Phriday!

Yep, I know...it's a stretch. But it's dark out and I wanna sleep....

One of the garden centre ladies at work was on the news the other night talking about her idea to fill the empty fields along the Highway of Heroes with poppies. That would be sooo amazing...I can't even imagine.

Lest We Forget.



I've Run Out Of Ideas...Sooo.....

I felt that I had to steal this little literature-related questionnaire from the Stitch Bitch. I suppose one might say it was fate. I was out for a run last night and my running partner rambled for an hour and a half about how I always pick out the best books for him to read and he wanted to know how, exactly I did it...and on and on. Which was tricky to answer because a) I dont have an answer to that other than luck, reccommendations, and maybe I was trained as an english major to know just by looking at the cover whether it'll be good or not (haha right!), and b) we were involved in a long-distance route with an extreme number of hills...so I couldn't breathe, let alone talk!!!!


1. One book that changed your life?I don't think I could pinpoint just one....A Million Little Pieces was life-changing in many ways....it opened my eyes to things going on in the world that I had no clue about. But Northanger Abbey is the book that fuelled my love for literature. And The Shack....it really made me think about things.

2. One book you have read more than once? Jane Eyre and Little Women

3. One book you would want on a desert island? Just.....one? Really?

4. One book that made you laugh? I Am Ozzy

5. One book that made you cry? Of Mice and Men. It's so hearbreakingly sad, it kills me.

6. One book you wish you'd written? Memoirs of a Geisha....beautiful

7. One book you wish had never been written? Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad...I read it in first year intro english and I didn't get it! I still don't.

8. One book you are currently reading? Shantaram

9. One book you have been meaning to read? The Pillars of the Earth. I bought it 4 years ago and it's still sitting there, staring at me. Anna Karenina also...I tried once and failed terribly.

Feelin' Festive!

I've seriously gotta stop falling asleep on the couch. This post is for yesterday...LOL!

This is how far I've gotten on my first Christmas ornament of the year!

"You're Going on the DVP!!!"

*This is my post for yesterday, because I fell asleep on the couch before getting around to blogging*

Yesterday I took my brother's girlfriend Amanda shopping at Ikea. It was her birthday a couple weeks ago, and when I asked what she wanted she said she wanted me to take her to Ikea because she really wanted to see what it was like. Now, driving on the 401 isn't exactly my idea of a good time, but I caved, because I love her. It went well...until...I thought I was merging into the collectors, but was actually getting onto the DVP...not cool! I had to speed through 4 lanes of traffic to get back to where I needed to be :-S but lived!

Our trip was successful. I bought her a coffee table and a big stuffed golden retriever, because she thought it looked a lot like her puppy Reimer.

As for me...well...let's just say they had their new Christmas collection out and in full display. Combine that with the fact that I just bought my first home and don't have any holiday decorations, and you get my car filled with lights and snowflakes.

Wilmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finally got around to putting my Halloween pictures on my computer this afternoon....my friends and I dressed up as the Flintstones for the "Halloween Howl" at running! We didn't win best costume, but it was super-fun...we made them ourselves!

Erin, Kasey, Mags, Me and Hollie!
AKA Barney, Betty, Dino, Wilma and Fred LOL!

Puppies!!

There's only a month left until my puppy will be born! I'm getting really excited, and I even got to go visit the puppy parents this past weekend. They're Shiloh Shepherds, and absolutely amazing. Here are a couple of pics from my visit...

Zeus, the father

Envy, the mother



A few of you seemed really interested in my nutrition tips from the lecture I went to yesterday....so I'll offer another one today! Don't be afraid of fat. As long as it's good fat, it's necessary. Did you know that if you eat a carrot on its own you're getting tons of Beta Carotene, and you should be getting lots of Vitamin A too. But Vitamin A is fat soluble and can only be absorbed by the body if you eat it with a fat! Interesting!!

The Mystery of the Banana

Bananas. I love em! I think they're the perfect energy food and I've been known to consume them in ridiculous amounts.

But did you know......

.....that bananas can deplete your Vitamin D levels? This is especially dangerous to us Canadians who don't get nearly enough Vitamin D in the winter months. How, you ask? Well.....bananas are high in potassium and sugar, which tricks our bodies into thinking it's the summer, a time when Vitamin D isn't as necessary, so our bodies don't hold onto the D that we do have, thinking it's readily available.

Cool, eh? Apparently eating seasonally is very important. I went to a nutrition lecture tonight and it was really interesting, and made a lot of sense. The name of the lecture was "The Secret to Warding Off the Winter Blues" and gave lots of tips on how to eat in order to keep your body functioning happily and healthily, even when it's     -30 out and sunlight and warmth are scarce.

NaBloPoMo!

It's National Blog Posting Month!! I have to thank Dani over at http://tkdchick.blogspot.com/ for bringing this to my attention this afternoon! The idea is to post every day...sooooo get ready for daily ramblings!! Woohoo!

I started stitching my first Christmas ornament today....I joined Becky's Christmas Ornament Challenge over at Becky Bee's Stitching Hive...it'll help me get ornaments done to give away as gifts this year :-)

More to come tomorrow!