The Crazee Chick's View of Life

Do you remember sitting on your parent's knee and listening to the stories of their childhood?  This weekend, instead of being the child listening, I was the parent telling.  My kids were held captive in the car for three hours as we drove up to visit the inlaws, and I started telling them about my 'mis'adventures as a child.  They loved hearing about me as a dumb kid and encouraged me (the dumb adult) to record them on my blog.  I thought it was a great idea!!  I'll break you in slowly so I'll tell you my bow and arrow story.   I spent about 6 years living up in Northern BC in a town called Stewart--"two miles from the Alaskan panhandle" we used to tell people (as if that helped them locate it any easier) where I was surrounded by breathtaking wilderness--huge mountains with permafrost, glaciers, snow from October to late May, and forest.  Lots and lots of forest.  In fact, one was right across my street.  And behind my school.  And on the side of my sc

Friday: 9:30am Just sitting here at Children's Hospital for Kiki's annual cardiology checkup. This moment in time always gives me pause as I reflect on her journey, and as I wait, brutally aware of the fact that I hold my breath and feel my own heart stop beating, for the Cardiologist to tell me that she's doing fine. Words like congestive heart failure have surfaced in the past so I am anxious at each 'visit' that that phrase will surface again. Today I am especially anxious because Kiki has had a few symptoms that are unusual to her and when I called the cardiology department and described them we got an appointment to see our cardiologist in two weeks as opposed to the regular six months waiting period we usually encounter. *deep breath* For now, as always, I continue to remind God how thankful we are for this child (attitude and all) and that we are eager to watch her grow into adult hood and become a wife and mother. I figure if I thank Him enough that

Tonight's conquest: Artisan-ish rosemary bread. Looks pretty nice, eh? As I was transferring it from the board onto the pre-heated pizza stone, it stuck and I ended up tossing it onto the stone. I'm pretty sure that's a no-no. Anyway, it deflated after that rough handling and just couldn't recover. Somewhat like the NHL season....maybe. Tasted pretty good. Could use more salt... Next time: more salt, a little garlic (maybe garlic salt! Two birds with one stone...), and more rosemary. Oh, and maybe a some chunky salt sprinkled on the egg wash along with the rosemary... I dunno. Help? - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Last night, Hubby and I went on a date that didn't include yoga pants, children, or the words 'do you want fries with that?' It was so wonderful! (Man, I love this guy!) - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I once heard the phrase, 'when you serve a meal, serve a rainbow.' Most of our family meals over the years have fallen squarely at the 'beige' end of the rainbow spectrum. I mean, you can't get a lot of color out of chicken fingers and fries... thankfully the red from Fruitopia pop righted the situation slightly. Phew. Anyway, the goal this year is to make healthier meals and aim for the rainbow, so the above picture is of tonight's dinner. Yep, those are tomatoes, yellow pepper, mild chilies, onions...and hidden beneath is the 'rainbow' is the beige in the form of chicken. Acceptable beige, right? The meal? Crockpot Chicken Tortilla soup. So easy. So yummy. Got it from Pinterest at bakedbyrachel.com. I'm sure she won't mind if I share.... Ingredients: 1lb chicken breast, trimmed 15oz can sweet whole corn kernels, drained 15oz can diced tomatoes, drained 5C chicken stock 3/4C onion, chopped 3/4C green bell pepper, chopped 1 serrano pep

It all started with cancer. You think this is going to be a sad story, don't you?  And you probably think it's going to lead into a menagerie of anecdotes about IV's, surgeries, chemotherapy etc, don't you? Well, you'd be  wrong. I'll tell you where it ends so that you don't get sad.  It ends with food. There.  Food is good so you can be happy now. Now, back to the beginning.  It all started with cancer. When my dad was diagnosed with colon cancer we decided to take the whole family and visit him on the prairies after he had his surgery.   We arrived unannounced.  Okay, well to clarify, I was expected but my whole dang family wasn't so it was quite a surprise to my parents.  Picture the scenario--two people living alone, one just recovering from surgery, so there's not a lot of food in the house, right?  There are no beds ready for five people to sleep in.  And we are just going to have to 'adapt' for a day or two until we can get

Hello 2013! I can't remember the last time I was this excited about the new year.  Don't get me wrong, 2012 was amazing and the latter half of it was probably the best of my life (we found out that my dad's surgery was very successful and his cancer hadn't spread so he is 'cancer free!!'), but 2013 just has this draw that is exciting the living crap out of me!  I can't wait to get started. We started the year off with our traditional Japanese dinner which requires the use of noodles (for good luck).  On the menu, as usual, was teriyaki chicken, chow mein, keppa makki sushi, green beans and non alcoholic 'champagne'. This year we spiced it up by eating in the dining room for the first time (usually we eat in the kitchen) as well as snapping our Christmas crackers.  What a great evening! Last night we had a wonderful time ringing in the new year with great friends.   I think, in all honesty, that this is the first time in well over 20