Being a woman sucks sometimes!

Okay, so looks like I have a bladder infection...will find out this afternoon but my lower back and tummy are killing me, i'm going to the bathroom constantly and just achy all over.

The worst part is i'm unable to even go for walks due to the terrible achy pain in my lower back, it's unbearable!! I feel like a big wimp but wowza, the heating pad isn't even helping now. I'm trying to drink lots of water, have no appetite and am tired.

Off to sleep in the bathroom with my sippy cup and blankie ;-)
Pen

Definitely have an infection of some type, he suspects bladder but was concerned about white or red somethings and was sending the sample to the lab to confirm and test for something else (for the life of me can't remember right now.) Cranberry juice (not cocktail) water, rest, rest, rest, not hot baths, etc.

$60.00 later and i'm home with drink, heating pad, pillow, blankie and going to see what's on for movies.

ttfn,
Pen

LOST, no longer lost!

I'm so happy that the new "LOST" will be coming back February 7th!!!!! Good lord i've been waiting forever and when I saw Lost on the guide this week thought it was a new one...needless to say I was disappointed but looking forward to Feb. 7th.

Quizzes - something light for a rainy day!

You Are a Blueberry Margarita

Honestly, there's no one quite like you. And believe it or not, most people think that's a bad thing! You're open, wild, friendly, wacky, and tons of fun. You have a big personality... and a big heart.

What Flavor Margarita Are You?

You Are An ESFJ

The Caregiver You are sympathetic and caring, putting friends and family first. A creature of habit, you prefer routines and have trouble with change. You love being in groups - whether you're helping people or working on a project. You are good at listening, laughing, and bringing out the best in people. You would make a great nurse, social worker, or teacher.

What's Your Personality Type?

A new fan!

So i've heard of Kellie Pickler and one of her songs but man, this one hit gave me goose bumps. You can truly feel the depth of her emotion, such a powerful, personal song and so beautiful!

This will bring a smile to your face too!

I received this in an email this morning and wanted to share it with you....how awesome is this?!?!

hugs,
Pen

Chicken in spinach cream sauce

CHICKEN BREASTS WITH SPINACH AND CREAMSAUCE

6 chicken cutlets (I used skinless, boneless chicken breast)
1 c. water (I actually added more water for more sauce)
2-3 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 - 1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2 pkgs. frozen chopped spinach (I used fresh spinach - 2 cups)
1 c. cream (I used 1% milk and used more then the 1 cup as the sauce was way to thick)

Cook chicken in 1 cup water with celery, onion and salt for 20 minutes.
Reserve 1 cup of the broth.

Melt butter. Stir in flour, pepper, broth and cream until thickened and bubbly.

Remove from heat.

Stir in Parmesan cheese.
Stir 1/2 cup of cream sauce into spinach.

Place chicken breasts on top and cover with rest of sauce.

Bake 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes uncovered.

Bargain shopping!

Shari and I went swimming today and then headed to Overwaitea for the $10 shopping bag deal on cookies and rice cakes. Well I managed to get 6 packs of mini rice cakes, 6 packages of various cookies, a box of animal crackers and 8 packages of Vanilla ice cookies....all this for $10.00!!!!

Hal and I saw this in the OWT flyer friday night when we were doing our grocery list and then Sirena posted it on the Biggest Blogger site so that was a good reminder. Hal said not to bother but I know my man and his sweet tooth and I really wanted the mini rice cakes for snacks. I love making him homemade cookies but they only last such a short time for the work so this is a good change.

If you haven't made it to your Save On or Overwaitea and you want a good bargain....$10 to fill a bag with as many cookies/rice cakes as you can!

Hugs and have a happy week,
Pen

Meal Planning - Week 3

Saturday - baked chicken with cream and spinach sauce served with rice and steamed carrots
I had to come back and post how absolutely fabulous this meal was!!! Hal's raving about it and wants it added to our 'Favourites'!!!

Sunday - Tacos and garden salad

Monday - Grilled steak, ceasar salad and mushrooms/zucchini veggies

Tuesday - GINGER SESAME CHICKEN WITH BABY SAGE POTATOES (i'm posting the recipe for this one too!)

Wednesday - Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and carrots

Thursday - Beef stew and homemade bread

Friday - Homemade pizza, hot wings and garden salad


GINGER SESAME CHICKEN WITH BABY SAGE POTATOES

Marinade:
1/4 cup wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil

Chicken and Potatoes:
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 cup Paul Newman's Own Low-Fat Sesame Ginger Dressing
3 cloves garlic,
minced1 shallot, chopped (optional)
sea salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil spray
6 baby potatoes
rubbed sage

Marinate chicken in refrigerator for 30-60 minutes in wine vinegar, olive oil and soy sauce. Discard marinade.

Place chicken in an ovenproof baking dish and brush generously with 1/2 cup Newman's Own Low-Fat Sesame Ginger Dressing.
Sprinkle with minced garlic and shallot.
Scrub baby potatoes and remove eyes.
Quarter or cut into halves (depending on size) and spray with olive oil spray,
then sprinkle with a light dusting of rubbed sage, sea salt and pepper.

Arrange potatoes around chicken in baking pan.

Spray potatoes with additional olive oil spray during cooking if they become dry.

Roast at 325°F for 20 minutes, then baste with remaining Sesame Ginger Dressing;
turn oven to 375°F and continue to cook until juices run clear, about 10-15 minutes more (depending on size of chicken pieces).
Submitted by: CM

First day as a Biggest Blogger!

Today was day one of the Biggest Blogger challenge/group. It's a group of women wanting to become healthier and hopefully lose some weight in the process. If you're serious about the same thing and would like to join please click this link for more information:
http://dwiebes.blogspot.com/2007/01/biggest-blogger.html

Today was day one of keeping a food journal and eating a soup or salad before lunch and dinner with a glass of water. What a difference this made!! Such a small thing but I hardly ate any dinner. Cleo (the dog) and I went for a short but brisk walk right after work as well. It was about 20 minutes round trip but it's a start and I'm happy with it. I'll have to make sure to continue doing this when I get home because if I get home and am sidetracked it's too easy to say "I'll walk tomorrow!" This way Cleo and I both get a good little walk in.

Looking forward to tomorrow!!
Pen

Grey's Anatomy and Memories

I have to start this out by saying how much I love, love, love Grey's Anatomy and how real it can be. Tonights episode validated that and I know that it is only a tv show but wow!!

Tonight George lost his father and at the end he says "I don't know how to exist without my Father." I know that all to well and the whole scenario was well done. I remembered tonight clearly what it was like that night saying 'Good bye' to my hero, my rock, my Dad.

It was such a heartwrenching time but one that I would never trade. It was such a peaceful time as well knowing Dad was going home to be with God, a God that he never acknowledged wholeheartedly as we were growing up but one he yearned to communicate with and accept and it was a turning point for him.

Tonight they showed the family gathering around their rock and staying with him as he passed away. Michele, Pastor Zach, Pastor Fred and myself were with Dad as he passed away. We told Dad it was okay, that we would make sure Mom was taken care of and that we would look out for her and each other. That we loved him and knew that no matter what he would always be with us and as he said to us "You can always talk to me and i'll be there." So many times since he's passed away each of us at different times have smelled pipe smoke. Now i'm not talking about being in a place where someone could have been smoking one. In one instance was Hal and I travelling to Kamloops and the weather was a little scary and out of no where we both smelled pipe smoke. I asked Hal if he smelled anything and he said that he smelled Dad's pipe. We knew then that he was with us.

Some of you may think it's silly and wishful thinking but in my heart it's Dad....he's there.

The final scene was George walking woodenly out of his Dad's hospital room and you could see that his friends were unsure what to do, what to say. That is what it was like. It was slow motion but so fast. It was a blur but those memories are there. I remember the look friends gave and the uncomfortableness for them. It's like people are thinking "I want to hug them but how will they respond? Will they push me away, be angry? Will they cry Do I want to?"

As someone who's been there all I can say is if someone were to be in those shoes now I would have no problem giving them a hug and knowing that no matter what the reaction was it's all natural and sometimes that hug is just what they need whether it's what makes them cry or give them an outlet to scream and yell.

Death is never easy and neither is living at times. I see how us as a family have worked through the grief and at times when that infinite sadness hits it's usually because you really miss what you had but then you appreciate just how fortunate you were to have had that at all. There are many in this world who have far less and live far worse lives. Be thankful, be appreciative, be compassionate and just be!

Hugs, Hope and Love,
Pen

Christmas pictures

Okay so it's a little late but I finally uploaded pictures from Christmas onto the computer and can now post them. I have to say Christmas was complete with having my sister, brother in law and nephews come spend it with us. My only regret is that we didn't get more pictures or take the kids out toboganning...it would snow at night and R A I N during the day!! How frustrating. The kids had an awesome Christmas and were spoiled rotten but that's okay, they loved it!

A few of the Christmas Tree

We thought this one shot as a negative looked kinda cool...




The Warren with his PSP, Matt and Dalton with their Nintendo DS Lites:

Warren and Uncle Hal going to look at Uncle Hal's gift:

Hal checking out his pressure washer:
Dalton liking his toques!

Dalton and his Pyrates ship:

Matt being the tough guy, lol:



Who's this? Matt is that you??

Warren handing out gifts. "What does this say?":



Warren showing us his LED light:



My brother-in-law Cary playing the PSP:


My baby sister Michele:

Willow our kitty...don't mind the eyes, I tried to fix them but it wouldn't get rid of the blue glare.

My fur baby nephew Larry:

Auntie Shell feeding Willow and Cleo (Back-up girl) treats:

Today

So i'm moving past the last post and striving to be better to myself. It is I who is responsible for who and what I am. There are things that i've only talked to very close friends about that I won't post here. But I will say "Thank You!!" dear friends for letting me just talk and be free to discuss these sometimes silly thoughts and feelings.

I've been trying harder to stay in touch with friends and being more social in outings. Saturday I went to Shari's for dinner and a movie and it was wonderful. I knew I was missing her but realized just how much. There is a group of us who are going to a dinner theatre here next week and i'm looking forward to it. Laura and I are going to have dinner and then meet up with the rest of the wonderful ladies for the play after.

Laura and I are going to Vancouver in February and while she's doing what she's going for my dear friend Rhonda is coming down from Kelowna to hang out with me. There was a time a few years back when Dad was dying that I internalized a lot of stuff and was finally able to talk to Rhonda about it and that felt good. I can't wait to see her in person again and give her a big hug. You see we've been through a lot her and I and we've both become better, stronger people for it. We used to have these marathon coffee's and all night talks....literally it could be 3 or 4 in the morning...even sitting on the bridge in downtown Kamloops...and we'd still be talking...heck we used to hang out in either of our driveways and continue talking. We talked about our pasts, present, future, dreams, goals, heartaches and just silly stuff.

I was fortunate when I moved to Kitimat to have met Sharon and Laura, they were my first two really good friends here and are like sisters to me as well. Then I met Shari and she's joined the ranks as family in my heart. I love my Mom and Sister too and thank god we've got such a good relationship and still love one another for who we are....quirks and all.

You know how you get those emails about how lucky and blessed you are to have ___ many friends and if you have ___ so many more that your even moreso. Well if we each had just one best friend then that's blessing enough. I count myself as extraordinarily blessed and lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life....online friends are included. Thank you and I only hope that I can be as good a friend to each of you!

Hugs and heart,
Pen

Meal Planning - Week 2

Sunday - Cheddar and Onion scalloped potatoes, roast chicken and snow peas

Monday - Chili, brown rice, whole wheat buns

Tuesday - Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly sandwich on whole wheat, glass of milk and a banana

Wednesday - Grilled asparagus, zucchini, mushrooms, red peppers and onion, seasoned pork steaks, steamed potatoes

Thursday - Tortellini in spicy red pepper sauce, ceasar salad and garlic toast

Friday - Grilled salmon, asparagus and spinach, rice pilaf

Saturday - Probably pizza or burgers

Mid Life Crisis or simply insane?

Have to start off by saying 'I HATE HAVING PCO!!!!' Simply put the changes in my body as I approach 40 are not pleasant and are only exacerbated by the fact I have this horrible disease! For those who don't know PCOS is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. It's a syndrome in the fact that not all people have all the symptoms and the degree of these symptoms also vary.

Being a lazy ass and Queen of Denial is not helping at this juncture in my life. Yesterday I got very angry, very, very angry. I'm talking pissed off at the world, why me, I hate my life angry and Hal got a bit of the brunt of it. It came out of nowhere....well obviously it's something that's been building but alas, Queen of Denial kept burying it deeper and deeper.

After being so angry, mad, sad and pissed off at the world I stopped to take inventory of who exactly is to blame. Well in all honesty I've got to once again come to terms that I will always have PCOS and as long as the Queen insists on being a couch potato and denying anything is wrong then these symptoms will only worsen with age and the onset of Menopause....can't believe I just typed that dreaded word but yes MEN O PAUSE is just around the bend and coming up fast.

Back to after being mad, although i'm still pissed a bit today...I went to the pharmacy and picked up my prescription that has been there for over a month and am now in the process of working through a program that will work for me. HOLD THE PRESS!!!! As I say "Work through a program" I found that anger flare again......need to find a new way to address this whole situation. I hate the terms 'diet, weightloss program, program and you're still beautiful inside (why am I that damned ugly on the outside and that's the best you can come up with....get lost!!) Okay embarrassed that I think that but guess it's something that's obviously been held inside too. This post has been edited now that i've calmed down and gotten slightly embarrassed at that sailor mouth outburst!

Off for now to get back to LIFE!
Pen

Clean up hints

Thought i'd share a few quick or easy clean up hints that i've learned either by trial and error or passed on by a friend.

MICROWAVE OVEN:
Who hates cleaning out that disgusting microwave after your loving hubby annihilates tacos or bean with bacon soup in it?

Quick clean up idea you may not know - Microwave a mug of water for two minutes and leave it in your microwave for at least 5 minutes. The steam makes it a quick wipe clean up!!

WINDEX:
This is an amazing cleaner for much more then just windows. When Hal and I were moving last spring Laura was helping. She took the bottle of Windex and went to town cleaning marks and scuffs on doors, walls, cupboards, etc. It was so much better then using all those different cleaners.

CRAFTS:
Okay so maybe i'm a little slow on the uptake here but when I had my childcare we would do crafts on the table. The clean up was always such a chore. One day while at The Dollar Store I passed by plastic table cloths that were 2 for $1 and the lightbulb came on. Wow, I had no issues with having to toss one of those away if it couldn't be shaken off. Craft clean-up became a breeze and gave us more freedom to use paints, glue, glitters and not have it be a 2 hour cleaning ordeal.

Do you have some ideas you'd like to add?

Meal Planning - starting out the New Year right

Monday – Beef dip with fries and green salad

Tuesday – Cream chicken, potatoes and corn

Wednesday – Grilled fish, rice and steamed carrots

Thursday – Cabbage Roll casserole, garlic toast

Friday – leftover casserole (on my own, Hal’s at a tournament this weekend)

Saturday – Tacos and garden salad