summer twenty twelve // sick day... #2

For the second time in less than a month, I'm home from work. SICK.

This time, luckily, it's not tonsillitis.  Over the last two days, I have sneezed approximately 900 times, and used an entire box of Kleenex.  Damn sinuses.

Because I had a surprisingly fun time documenting my quiet day at home the last time I was sick, I figured I would do it again.  There is one BIG big difference this time around though... Molly isn't here.

Molly left on Sunday for a two week play-cation with Brett's family.  Two factors went into our decision to have Molly join Brett's family for a little while; a) Brett's mom is head-over-heels in love with her b) Brett's little brother is taking a big step and moving away for his first year of university.  Both these factors led Brett and I to believe that having Molly around would be good for them.  She loves, and cares, and makes everyone around her feel great.  She is truly a very good dog. And.I.miss.her.

So instead of cuddling with Molly, I will cuddle up in bed and watch movies, blog a bit, guzzle back as much chicken noodle soup as I can possibly handle, work on my summer mini-book a bit, and have a bubble bath.

 

Currently:

Loving:  Every chance I can get to relax.  We've had way too much on the go, and it doesn't look like things will be slowing down any time soon.

Watching: No Strings Attached. I love a watching a chick flick every now and then, and why not cuddle up in front of the tv with a bowl of chicken noodle soup, my favorite blanket from grandma, and a box of Kleenex on a cold and windy day?

Brett and I just finished powering through Prison Break on Netflix last week.  We've been watching each new episode of Breaking Bad Season 5, and are just itching for seasons of our other favorite shows to start this fall.

Listening to: Phillip Phillips - Home

Reading: The Family Fang.  The locally owned stationary and office supply store sells books here in town, I was almost done Secret Daughter and needed something to move on to next.  Small towns do not have an abundance of books to choose from, so I found myself looking for anything with 'Best Seller' or 'Award Winning' on the cover.  This is what I found, so I'm going to give it a shot.  I'm a couple chapters in and it's been fine so far.

Eating: Chicken Noodle Soup.  I'm marinating some Tilapia fillets as we speak I type, and plan on cooking up some chicken breasts to top off a spinach salad for lunch tomorrow too.

Wishing: I had more time.  There is so much: stuff I want to do around the house, hobbies I want to pick up, new crafting things I want to try, books I want to read, workouts I'm missing out on.  The list of how MUCH there is that I'm not doing is very, very, very long.  I'm in another one of my ruts where I can't wait for this work project to be DONE. I want so badly to have time in my home with my little family and time to myself, that I feel like it's eating me from the inside out!

summer twenty twelve // mojitos

Summer Manifesto - Item 005 "Drink Mojitos"

As part of my summer manifesto - I dedicated myself to learn the art of creating the perfect mojito.  I LOVE mojitos.  It's a treat to get them whenever I go out out for drinks or dinner,  I drank them multiple times a day when we were at the all inclusive in Mexico, and a friend and I even had a designated Mojito Monday when I lived in Calgary.

Back in the spring, I knew I wanted to try my hand at herb gardening.  So when I saw that the local greenhouse was selling mojito mint (yes, there is a specific type), I jumped for joy.  I don't really need mint for anything else, I don't use it in cooking, I might use it in tea, but really all I need mint for is mojitos!        
                                                                                                                                                        
This was my first solid attempt at making a mojito using the mint grown right in our own backyard.  I used this recipe, for one mojito.  Brett was golfing the night I made this, otherwise I would likely make a pitcher vs. just the one glass.

I would change one thing about this recipe.  The sugar.  The sugar needs to be dissolved before going into the drink.  I was finding the drink rather strong when I took my first few sips, then it occurred to me that all the sugar had sank, undissolved, to the bottom of the glass.  For this drink, I just grabbed a spoon and kept stirring it every time I took a sip.  But in the future, I would squeeze lime juice over the amount of sugar I plan on using a few minutes before mixing the drink.

'Odd' kitchen utensils are fairly hard to find in this meat, potatoes and beer kind of town.  So the next time I'm in the city I'll take a harder look for a mojito muddler... for now I've just been using the back of a spoon.

And that my friends, was my first legitimate homemade mojito of the year.

On photo editing - this is me testing out some of the functions on picmonkey.com again... I chose to make a FB cover style collage, and rounded the corners until the images on the left became circular.

summer twenty twelve // sick day

About a week ago, I felt a bit of a lump in my throat.  When I got home from work that day, checked it out in the mirror and summed it up to an irritated tonsils.  Happens often in my world, and I can usually make it go away with rest, healthy food, and regular rinsing with Listerine.

Well last week was so busy and exciting, that I didn`t get to rest (in fact I got far less sleep than usual), I ate zero (or should I say negative) healthy food, and totally forgot about using Listerine to stop my raging tonsils in their tracks.  

After all that fun and excitement I found myself feeling generally crappy.  Not just a sore throat due to my tonsils, but all over.  After a trip to the doctor, and confirmation that yes, I have tonsillitis - for what seems like the 1,999th time in my life - I`m now taking a huge dose of antibiotics three times a day.  And I decided it was best for me to stay home yesterday to sleep, catch up on blogging, rest, have a bath, relax, read, eat, chill out, cuddle with Molly. Repeat. 

I`ll tell you one thing - Molly is a fantastic napper, and I usually tell myself that when she gets up, I should get up.  She slept until 8:05, and I woke up to her cute little face snorting right in front of mine.  In the afternoon we had a nap from 12:45 to 3:00 when I woke up to her sweet little eyes staring me down about half an inch from my face, just willing me to get up and let her outside to play.

That about sums up my day at home.  

summer twenty twelve // fetch

When I got home after work last night, Brett was in the backyard playing fetch with Molly.  This is a sequence of photos I captured of their play time.  It goes a little something like this:

Brett accidentally throws the ball over the fence.  Molly stands in the middle of the yard with an unimpressed look on her face.  Brett goes through the back gate to get the ball.  Molly stands patiently and waits for him.  Brett comes back through the back gate. Molly gets excited and runs over to share her excitement with me.  Brett throws the ball for her.  Molly brings the ball back.  Brett struggles to get her to drop the ball.   Keep away is Molly's favorite game.

We.LOVE.our.dog!

july twenty twelve // at the start

** July 1st - Driving 7 1/2 hours home from Spiritwood - Molly letting her belly cool as she sleeps in the backseat.

• for celebrating
• a photo a day
• busy
• a time to enjoy being outside
• long drives
• crafty

GOALS

• take a daily multi-vitamin
• take a photo a day
• spending freeze - only buy necessities

june twenty twelve // at the end

• incredibly fast
• mostly rain
• the launch of my blog
• a time to discover my green thumbs
• inspiring    

summer twenty twelve // feist and a weekend home

I'm a bit delayed in commenting on my trip home to Saskatoon for the weekend.  I had planned on posting Sunday evening, or sometime on Monday, but I have been insanely busy, and therefore wasted tired when I get home...

As I had mentioned earlier, I went home this weekend to Saskatoon.  I stayed with my best friend and her bf, and had a jam packed schedule:

• Friday evening, right when I arrived in Saskatoon, I met Sarina and Phil at the home of a couple they are friends with. We had a Thai fondue dinner and played Wizard afterwards. I haven't had a games night in ages, so it was tons of fun to learn a new game!
• Saturday morning, Sarina asked Sarah and I to help her volunteer for Aids Saskatoon, handing out red ribbons in support of the awareness of HIV/AIDs in Saskatoon.
• Saturday afternoon, I made a broccoli salad and we had a relaxed BBQ with a group of friends in Sarah's backyard.
• After eating and polishing off of a pitcher of sangria (no specific recipes uses - otherwise I would post it here), we walked down to the  Saskatchewan Jazz Festival and took in the  Feist show!
• On Sunday morning we woke up bright and early for breakfast at Poached.
• After breakfast I went home and had a visit with Mom and Grandpa, then
• I hit the road!

**A re-creation of a photo we had taken almost four years ago at Feist's show in Regina

summer twenty twelve // homeward bound

This weekend I'll be heading home to Saskatoon.  The Saskatchewan Jazz Festival is on                (June 22nd >> July 1st) and I have tickets to two shows: Feist, and Janelle Monae.

Back in 2008 - Sarina, Sarah and I saw Feist in Regina.  This year, for Sarina's birthday, I bought the three of us tickets to see her again. At the show, I hope to re-create this picture of us from four years ago. 

Other plans for the weekend include:

• backyard BBQ at Sarah's with some girlfriends before the Feist show
• a quick trip down to Sephora to stock up on the make-up I can't buy in a small town
• good eats, and fun times with friends from home

summer twenty twelve // manifesto

Ali Edwards launched an exciting idea at the beginning of the season - the summer manifesto.  I first saw this on Elise' blog, and decided to jot down some ideas of my own.  There are always fun things that we wish we could do more of during the summer months. This is a cute way to establish what those things actually are, and to document each as it takes place during the happiest season of the year, SUMMER!

summer twenty twelve // mini-book 2

IT'S HERE!

My summer twenty twelve mini-book finally arrived in the mail!

Everything about this book is cute, including the packaging it came in.  A smile came across my face when the post office employee placed the package in my hand.  I walked out the door and noticed the words 'get excited' stamped on the front of the package.  Get excited... GET EXCITED? Are you kidding me? I'm ECSTATIC!

This is my first mini-book project (can't you tell, by how goofily pumped I am?).  This is about a whole new form of memory keeping for me.  Gone are my days of 12x12 scrapbook layouts.  TOO MUCH WORK!  I'm not dismissing the idea of ever scrapbooking again.  No. That is certainly not the case. But by becoming a follower of a handful of different blogs (all written by incredibly talented memory keepers - Elise, Ali, Kelly, and Becky to name the few that I'm following right now), my eyes have been opened to the endless formats in which memories can be collected.

I really don't need to wait for a big vacation, or a big life event to scrapbook.  What I've learned over the past few weeks, is that you can collect memories (and craft the heck out of them) on a day-to-day basis.  I've also learned that sometimes daily life is the most exciting thing to watch unfold.

summer twenty twelve // mini-book 1

I've been patiently awaiting the arrival of my summer twenty twelve mini-book.  Tomorrow will be my first chance to get to the post office (during business hours), and I have all my fingers and toes crossed that it will be there!

June 1st, although it's come and gone... is my start date for this project, and I've been collecting papers, items, thoughts, notes and photgraphs since. 

I plan on spending a good portion of my weekend with my mini-book, and get caught up to a point where I can make additions to it on a semi-daily basis.

Further plans for this weekend off include:

• test out a lemon facial that a few friends have posted on pinterest
• visit our neighboring larger center, Brandon, MB, to get some shopping done
• play slo-pitch (weather permitting - it's been raining cats and dogs here for a week straight)
• make mojitos with home grown mint

**On a side note - when I say weekend, really I mean one of my four days off.  I work 10 days in a row, then have four off - So I have every second Thursday through Sunday off work.  That, is what I call my 'weekend'.