Green Smoothies

Today was a good day. It started off with happy kids who got dressed and out the door without a fuss, followed by gently forcing myself to get on the elliptical for half an hour. I almost quit after 15 minutes, but a good song came on and then I was distracted by cute little fluffy birds in the trees outside. I'm happy to have such a wonderful view while I exercise :) Makes the time go a little faster.

After I exercised, I headed straight for the blender and I made myself a wonderful green smoothie for breakfast. One of my online friends had mentioned a website called Oh She Glows a few days ago and its filled with tons of amazing vegan recipes. One of these recipes was called Virgin Green Monster - for first time green smoothie drinkers such as myself. It's SO easy, tastes great and really fills you up. I have amazing energy after I drink one. Not the kind of jittery nervous energy coffee normally gives me, but a clean and calm feeling energy.

I've tweaked the recipe a bit. Here's what I put into mine:

2 cups of baby spinach

1 banana

1 cup of almond milk

1 tbsp of ground flaxseed

1 scoop of wheatgrass powder

1 tsp of honey

Blend it all up for about a minute. It's really green!

I pour mine over ice into a medium sized cup that you'd get at a fancy coffee shop. It just tastes better when you have the right cup and drink it through a straw :)

Seamus and I went to the grocery store and then over to see Grandma for a visit and some lunch today. She had some amazing lemon cupcakes with cream cheese icing for us to sample. They were so good that it would have been easy to eat several of them and not even regret it. Fortunately most of them went to the bake sale at the girls school. (Thanks for staying up late baking those Ma :)

When we got home we stayed outside and played for awhile. I wandered around in the sparkly snow taking pictures and then stood in the spot where I'm determined to plant my first garden this summer. Planting seeds, watching them grow and then making wonderful things with all of the fresh fruit and vegetables - how amazing would that be? :) 

I can't wait to get my hands in the dirt, pick weeds, water the plants and just BE in nature. I guess I better start planning my garden :)

Seamus and I had a cozy little nap this afternoon. He curled up next to me singing and being wiggly at first but quickly fell asleep under the warm blankets. All of the visiting and fresh air must have caught up with him.

I let the kids stay up past their bedtime tonight while I sipped coffee, tidied up the kitchen and made their lunches for tomorrow. They were having so much fun building a giant fort with the kitchen table and chairs that I didn't want to disturb them. Bedtime wasn't as much of a struggle tonight which was nice :)

I'm revelling in the simplicity and calmness of my life recently. The 'just being' and the amazingness of it all. The word 'stress' isn't really a part of my vocabulary anymore. I got rid of or changed all of the things that used to stress me out and ended up feeling HAPPY. Weird, right? :)

♥

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Randomness

The sun is out, the weather has warmed up and the birds are chirping happily this morning. I finally feel like I'm coming out of hibernation mode. I wonder if this means I have to shave my legs? Pffft...nah...:) 

Frost covered tree lined streets are gorgeous.

I snapped this picture in Semans, SK.

A neat old building with a very collapsed roof. Picture taken on the way to Raymore, SK.

DANGER 72000 Volts. KEEP OUT.

Power station halfway to Nokomis, SK

Small towns have quirky displays in their hardware store windows.

Strasbourg, SK

The Saskatchewan sunsets never fail to impress me. The kids just roll their eyes now everytime I pull over on the highway to take pictures. You'd think they'd be used to it by now :)

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Cloud Cult - Running With the Wolves

Running with the wolves

It's time for us to go

Left all our clothes

With the car back by the road

And we were running

For a reason

For the burning in our veins

And we were running

For a reason

We just need to get away

Running with the wolves

We're screaming at the stars

Left all we own

In a hole in our backyard

And we were running

For a reason

Left our cubicles in little flaming piles

And we were running

For a reason

I need to feel something different for just a little while

I'm not coming home

I'm staying with the wolves

They can burn all my mail

And disconnect my phone

Tell my mom I'm sorry, sorry for leaving

But I'm staying

Now we're running to find meaning.

We're gone, and we're never coming back.

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Laying really low...

I've been stuck inside the house ALL week and I think it's starting to make me feel a little bit crazy - more so than usual. Had I been thinking ahead, I would have hired a babysitter so I could flee - if only for a few hours. Instead, I've just been peering out the front door and fantasizing about running away down the highway. However, its WAY too cold for that nonsense :) 

To keep myself busy, I've been making weird concoctions with my juicer, taking random naps, having deep conversations with the cat and lot's of other weird shit. *sigh*

My breath smells like cat food.

With the weather being so frigid, its been the perfect week to just lay low and do stuff around the house.  Hopefully next week I'll feel perkier and more productive :) Its okay to take some time to do nothing once in awhile right? :)

The kids decided that MY computer was much more exciting than their computer. Rather than chase them away, I let them play games on it and snuck off to enjoy some quiet time. Everything was going really well for about an hour until fighting broke out, a drink was spilled and I had to insist they leave the area immediately.

And then I mopped.

The entire house.

Because there was nothing else I wanted to do.

Seamus has developed an amazing talent for bubble blowing. No fancy equipment required - just lots of bubble bath. I think he's gone through almost 3 bottles now. Keeps him busy for hours :)

It's pretty quiet around here tonight. One kid is at a sleepover and the other two will soon be going to bed.

I'll be indulging in a movie with some tea (and chocolate) followed by a bubble bath and then bed. Cozy :)

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Snow Day!

The weather has gotten so cold that the school buses weren't running today. I believe it felt like -47 with the windchill this morning. Yikes! So the kids and I just stayed cozy in our pajamas all day.

Catie played with some beads and made me a pretty necklace at the kitchen table. She's got a good eye for design. I might have to sit down with her and pick her brain for ideas :)

 Chloe played on the computer while wrapped up in my pink, fuzzy bathrobe.

 Seamus chilled on the couch in his flannel pajamas and played the Wii off and on throughout the day, stopping only to tease his sisters and for food breaks.

I spent the day working on getting my new workspace all set up. What used to be the laundry/storage room is now the laundry/office/craft area. There's even a desk and a chair so I can actually SIT down! Would you believe that for the past few years I've been doing everything standing up at the kitchen counter? Yeah! No wonder my back is always sore.  

 I love how I can see the tops of the trees in the backyard while I'm sitting at my desk - or the entire yard if I stand up a little. I couldn't handle being in a dark little cave of a room and expect to be creative. This little room gets lot's of natural light, smells like clean laundry and its where the bunny hangs out. AND it's only a few steps away from fresh coffee & tea. What more could I ask for? :) 

It will be amazing in the summer when I can open the back door and window and let in the fresh, warm air. Bliss.

You know what else is blissful? Having spent a nice, relaxing day with happy kids. Although it must have been a little bit stressful at some point. My twitching eyelids are confirmation of that :)

The kids are all tucked into their warm beds now. I just got the call that the buses won't be running in the morning. Oh dear. :)

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Resisting the Urge to Hibernate

I just love the kind of Monday mornings where everything goes smoothly. The girls rolled out of bed and got dressed without a fuss, there was no whining at breakfast and I made myself coffee without spilling anything :)

Ooh and then, I peeked out the window to see this amazing sight:

I probably have a hundred photos just like this one, but each one is unique and beautiful. Seeing that gorgeous burst of orange and pink rising above the treeline is the perfect start to my day. I didn't linger outside too long though - it's freezing out there! Today will be a good day to stay cozy inside that's for sure. I might even just stay in my pajamas :) 

January teased us with it's warm, balmy weather for the first couple of weeks, but we've now been thrown into a bit of deep freeze. I find myself fighting the urge to hibernate. My feet are like blocks of ice and my electric blanket calls out to me mid-morning, beckoning me to come back to bed. It's SO tempting. Maybe I shouldn't fight it. January has always been kind of a 'lay low' month for me. It's a good time to regroup, refocus and all of that good stuff. 

I made myself some really green juice this past weekend. It know it looks kind of questionable, but it actually tasted pretty darn good and refreshing. I juiced one cucumber, some kale, 2 carrots and a chunk of ginger. This was my first time using kale and I wasn't sure if that combination would be good or not, but it was! No gagging whatsoever :) I'm not drinking this stuff because I feel I have to. I'm drinking it because I want to. I crave it. I'm not questioning it though - just gonna go with it :)

I got this message in my Inbox this morning:

Today, just do a little bit, Lori, so that I can do a lot of bit.

That's how it works. 

Huge love, 
    The Universe

That really IS how everything works :)

I'm off to do some Unravelling and perhaps some ellipticalling - yes, that's really a word. I Googled it :)

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January Babies

January has been a wonderful month so far. The weather has been really warm and I feel like I'm getting so much done while still taking time for myself and the kids. Things are flowing smoothly and life is good. So far I've managed to beat the January blahs and the overwhelming desire to want to hibernate and grow my leg hair out. Okay, well it's a little bit out of control, but nothing scary :)

I'm SO glad we did a massive junk removal a couple weeks ago. The kids' rooms are staying clean (this is amazing!), I'm totally on top of the laundry situation and everything just FEELS better. There's still much that needs to be done, and I'm working on it here and there. I'm faced with the enormous task of washing kitchen cabinet doors. There are 30 of them :/ They look pretty clean - as long as you don't get too close to them :/  It's hard not to spend my days just washing stuff...because everything needs washing when you have kids. Everything. 

My Unravelling photography course is going well. I'm on week two right now and really enjoying it. The writing part of it is kind of stressing me out a bit which I know is a GOOD thing. It involves doing some personal digging and for some reason I'm resisting a little. I grabbed my pretty journal and started just letting words spill out yesterday. I often find it hard to let my thoughts and feelings be known. I think writing will help me finally find my voice though. 

The group of women who are on this journey with me are amazing. I love looking through all the photos in our Flickr pool and getting a glimpse into their lives. It's comforting :) The comments I'm getting on my photos are lovely and heartwarming too. 

In other exciting news, my little guy turned five a few days ago! We had a small family birthday party here for him and it was really nice. I baked a chocolate cake and Seamus helped me decorate it.

 Here's Seamus five years ago. He was only a couple of days old here. Such a handsome little man. 

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that he's five already. The years sure go by quickly. I can see how some women have more babies a few years after they've already had a couple. Babies are wonderful. Oh God, I better stop talking about this! I should maybe just go and find some babies to hold for awhile so I can get this out of my system :) 

♥

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