Sun Loungers Score

Brand new webbed sun loungers for $2.00 each. A little scrub-down required, but for that price, we'll be chillin' lakeside in the cheap. Excellent score, thanks to Austin who spotted them shoved in a back corner of the local Wal-Mart. Score!!

Thrift Store Score

Here's a great example of why I love thrifting. Yesterday, Lauren and I did a run-through of the Ajax Salvation Army Thrift Store.

Lauren scored this skirt. Very cute, denim with blingy stones, faux fur trim and a pretty ribboned belt. 

The skirt cost $5.99. And guess what? It still had the tags on it from Children's Place because the skirt is BRAND NEW! And it was priced at $29.50 brand new. Score!!!!

Ambitiously Lazy

Cleaning tarnished silver can be such a drag, as can any kind of cleaning. It's gross - rags, black stuff, and schmenky, stinky silver polish. Eww...so what's a girl (or guy) to do?

There's an easier way. We can let a little natural chemistry (not of the sexual kind!) do the work for us. For those of us who struggled in high school chemistry, we can finally say we're putting the knowledge to practical use.

What you need:

- tarnished silver item

- 1 cup boiling water

- 1 tbsp. salt

- 1 tbsp. baking soda

- 1/2 cup vinegar

- aluminum foil

- bowl

- cleaning cloth

Here's my tarnished silver cup/vase thing ($2.99 @ Sally Ann - I once bought one new at a design shop and paid $10):

What to do:

1. While the water is boiling, line the bowl with foil, ensuring it's shiny side up

2. Add the salt and baking soda and then pour in the vinegar. Admire the chemical reaction and consider how chemistry savvy you are.

3. Stir it gently to make sure the salt and soda have dissolved.

4. Pour in the hot water, add your silver item, and let it sit a bit for a couple minutes.

5. Flip the item over (ensuring not to burn your fingers and be required to scream about how cleaning silver sucks) a few times so all silver surfaces are exposed to the magic chemistry treatment.

6. It will let off a bit of a weird odour, which means it's working and the tarnish is loosening. After 5 minutes, test rub the surface of your silver to see if the tarnish budges. If it does, you're on to the next step. If not, let it soak a little more then try again.

7. Wipe/polish the item with your cloth to get all the tarnish off.

When you're done, you're going to want to wash your hands to get the black and the weird smell off. And also, if you're a germaphobe like me, you just beed to wash your hands.

When you're done, admire your handiwork and brag a little about your chemistry skills. It's that easy!

Tah Dahhhhh!!!!

Vignette du Jour

Almost brand-new crock pot, a dozen new cotton placemats and some excellent looking cookbooks. All hauled from The Village and Sally Ann. 

Hungry?

Musings from the furniture warehouse

We're about a month out from closing on our new cottage and not only is excitement building, but the stash of stuff is too.

It's a little overwhelming, but in a good way. In the way that turning one's living room into a furniture warehouse might feel. 

Here's Coco, furniture warehouse supervisor extraordinaire.

And here's a lovely vignette of green table top items Coco is supervising:

Cute retro 80's tea set with salt & pepper shaker - $9.99 at The Village.  Table runner - $3.99 at Sally Ann. 

More vignettes to come - stay tuned!

Chillllaaaaayyyyyyyy

Crockpot Recipe - Spicy Turkey Chili

Here's an easy and awesome crockpot recipaaaay for making spice-ayyyyyyy turkaaaayy chilllaaaayyyy, and it won't cost a ton of monaaayyyy.  My family loves it.  Enjoy!

You'll need:

• Crockpot
• Big fry pan
• Beverage of choice to savour while cooking - mood depending and appropriateness factor as well. 
• Approximately 1 lb. lean ground turkey
• 1 onion, chopped 
• Beans and plenty of them. I use 1 can of black beans, 1 can of red kidney beans, and 1 can of white kidney beans. Typically the 540 ml.19 oz cans. Drain and rinse them all. 
• Drained (or mainly drained) can of diced tomatoes (herbed or not, whatever tickles your fancy)

Here's the basic supplies thus far and yes, feel free to go no-name and save a few bucks. Spend your savings on wine, Starbucks or whatever tickles your fancy. :

Other stuff to get out:

• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• Red pepper flakes (anywhere from 1 tsp to 1 tbsp, depending on how spicy you want it)
• ground coriander (1 tsp but more if you want)
• ground cumin (1 tsp but more if you want)
• chicken stock (approx. 2 cups)
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 1 can tomato paste (no clue how many ml/oz it is, but it's the small one)
• spicy chilies if you have them handy (green ones or my favourite, ONE smoked chipotle pepper)

What you need to do:

1. Heat oil over medium heat. Add turkey, onion, red pepper flakes, coriander and cumin. Cook until meat no longer pink.

Here it is cooking - can you smell those onions? Yeah baby!

Then, using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat (onion etc.) (but not the grease!!!) to the crockpot. Isn't that nice not having to do the old "let's drain the ground beef grease" game?
2. Add all the beans, tomatoes, corn, tomato paste and chicken stock (plus optional chilies) to the crockpot and stir gently to combine. Don't smush the beans!
3. Cover and either refrigerate to cook next day or later, or go ahead and fire up the crockpot. You can cook on low 6 to 10 hours or on high 3 to 4 hours.

Here's how it looks assembled:

And when it's done - looks almost the same but smells and tastes YUMMAAYYYYY!!
Enjoy!  

By the way it goes well with Corona. 

Cheers, darlings!

Cottage Kitchen Haul from The Village

We bought a cottage recently and while we've not yet taken possession of it, we are certainly taking possession of items to kit it out and are shopping and stockpiling like an episode of "Hoarders." But in a good way. By the way, plenty more to come about The Cottage. Trust me, I never shut up about it. Consider yourself fairly warned.

A couple Saturdays ago, under the guise of buying yet another pair of leggings (or jeggings or skeggings) for Lauren, I swung by The Village (Value Village for the uninitiated.) In addition to replenishing the legging supply and making my lucky cookbook find (see April 12th post), I took a real good look through the "kitchen stuff" for a few items on our cottage supplies list. 

As always, at The Village, there are treasures to be found, amid the kitcsch, the bizarre, and the "eww, where's the hand sanitizer?" items. I mean - water bottles - who is going to buy a used, plastic water bottle? I gag at the thought. And lingerie. Let's not even go there.

I saw a bunch of crock pots but have decided to hold off on buying one, since I don't know that I would actually use one at the cottage. I plan to cook differently there (as in fresh and leisurely and somewhat wine-lubricated versus "throw something in the crock pot on the way out the door to work!") so I took a pass. And while we're in the market for some decent random pots and pans to supplement our partial set, I didn't find anything to meet that need yet. If I was in the market for beat up pots, I'd have been set. Just sayin'. 

So now that I've told you what I didn't buy, here's what I did get:

- Large white serving platter - perfect for a plate of mixed grill (steak, salmon, chicken, etc.) or the Thanksgiving turkey

- smaller apple-motif  "cottagey" serving platter for appetizers, vegetables, etc.

- hip looking 4-part appetizer dish

- glass measuring cup

- salad spinner

- muffin tin

- a whack of acrylic stemware, including wine and champagne glasses. Yeah, I know, I say I won't drink out of someone's plastic water bottle but I bought plastic glasses. I'm not always logical.

- 4 brand spanking new with labels still on them Isaac Mizrahi hot pink and white linen-look napkins that can double as placements if the kids don't cover them in spaghetti sauce, gert, and schmenk.

I washed all the items in hot temperatures and plenty of cleaning product so we're all set. 

Total cost for my haul? $34.00! Brilliant!

Here's a picture of my purchases:

And here's Coco photobombing/admiring my purchases:

She wishes she could shop at The Village.

More Value Village haulage to come, I'm sure, so stay tuned!

Patience and Karma

I'm a cookbook junkie. I have a collection  of close to 100 of them and love them all. I read cookbooks in bed like most people read a good novel.

I love the possibilities in the cookbooks and I love learning how to make amazing meal experience. My idea of a great night is cooking an awesome meal and enjoying it with my family, with wine and music. I enjoy going to restaurants but I also enjoy making a gorgeous restaurant-quality meal in the comfort of my own home and savouring the challenge of getting messy make something fantastic. I also like saving a few bucks to reinject into quality food and quality  wine.

So today I went to The Village (Value Village) to pick up some leggings for Lauren the Leggings Junkie and next thing I knew I was shopping like a maniac  to kit up our recently-purchased cottage. (Will post my cottage kitting haul later.) And then I was looking at cookbooks, since our cottage will need cookbooks as well. I plan to cook really simple meals there but I also plan to cook some hardcore awesomeness as well. And a house without cookbooks is a really bad state of affairs in my opinion.

As I browsed the cookbooks, I remembered "the one that got away" yet again. It's not just people who fish or romantics who reminisce about the one who escaped their grasp. Cookbook junkies have this sense as well.

A few years ago, as I browsed cookbooks at The Village, just as I was about to flip through "The French Laundry Cookbook", the woman next to me selected it and put it in her cart. Gone. I didn't know much about it at the time but had a feeling it was something good. I later found out was an awesome cookbook that had won "Cookbook of the Year" when it was published. (That's like the Oscars for cookbook junkies! Imagine walking the red carpet..."Who are you wearing?" Sigh...)

This particular book (fix) remained on my wish list although I was not willing to pay full pop at retail for it. (I never, ever pay full retail for anything.) And every time I browsed the cookbooks at The Village, I remembered the one that got away. Not in a psycho kind of way but just a brief flash of push anyone out of the way who reaches for anything while I'm browsing. Just kidding. No I'm not.

So today I was picking through the books when I noticed one lying flat on the shelf under a few books.  Pulled it out and...

Ahhhhhhh!!! Angels sang, harps were strummed, and unicorns doled out lollipops to everyone!  "The French Laundry Cookbook"! 

As I placed it in my cart I wondered: Maybe that woman never bought the book and it sat there for years? Maybe she donated it back again? Or maybe I was just patient and have good karma. Maybe I'm reading way too much into a random episode but I don't think so. 

Regardless,  I am feeling like the elusive book for my collection (addiction?) has found its way home. Can't wait to get my hands dirty, playing with the gorgeous recipes. Turn on the music and pour me some wine!

Red Cart Romance - Kate Young

Everyone who knows me knows I'm a huge fan of Target. This rabid retail condition was once identified as the Red Cart Romance and I've used that phrase ever since hearing it. About a month ago, my long-distance Red Cart Romance (which once upon a time used to be a monthly fix requiring a passport) became local as my love came to Canada.

While the Canadian Target experience is almost (but not quite) as fabulous as the U.S., it seems to be working to give me my Red Cart fix on a regular (weekly!) basis. I think everyone's read enough about the difference between the 2 different versions so I'm going to spare you the comparison.

Instead, let's talk about one of my favourite things about Target (aside from Archer Farms foods, Circo kids' clothes, and Sonia Kashuk makeup): The Designer Capsule.

On a limited time basis, Target brings in designer clothes at Target prices. Watered down versions but lovely nonetheless. This past Christmas, in the U.S., I nearly lost my mind over the Neiman Marcus designer section which featured Marc Jacobs bags, Rag & Bone blazers, and the most exquisite Oscar de la Renta dog bowls you ever threw kibble in. Unable to find a way to pass off the dog dish as a chip bowl, I settled for a wicked awesome Proenza Schouler sweatshirt that has kind of a Flashdance look to it. 

The opening of Target Canada resulted in a Roots "designer capsule", which just didn't do it for me. It's watered down Roots products (really, watered down sweats? Really?) which was a nice nod to the Canadians but didn't satisfy my Red Cart Designer Lust.

Tonight, however, I noticed Kate Young has made a very quiet entrance into Target with her own capsule. No signage to point it out, but ever on the lookout for The Designer Capsule, my radar went off just past the Starbucks.

Lovely edgy evening gowns, flirty dresses, some 90's style see-through lace bodysuits, and some very sweet dresses. I snapped up a pretty, flirty springy dress that will be nice for work, a brunch out, or tea at Buckingham palace perhaps. 

Here's a shot of the dress - I'm too lazy to try it on for y'all so I've Google-grabbed a pic instead.

We'll let People magazine determine "Who Wore It Best" (me or this lovely model) but for $49.99, I don't mind if you run out and buy it to get in on the action as well. It also comes in black and white, but that's tricky to pull off for a spring/summer dress.

See you in People or at Buckingham Palace. xx

A Lesson in Value from Michael Penney

I love Michael Penney's decorating style and am thrilled that his store, Penney and Company is just a hop, skip, and jump away in up-and-coming downtown Whitby.
In his "A Lesson in Value" post, Michael gives some great examples of the value of refurb furniture, which totally resonates with my Champagne Taste philosophy.
Enjoy!
Michael Penney's Lesson in Value

Half Price Clothing Sale @ Sally Ann

Today is "summer clothes blow-out day" at the Salvation Army Thrift Store.  I know you're thinking "ewww, used clothes from the Sally Ann". I know it because I used to think that way too. Until I started getting hand-me-downs for Auz and realized that once you wash used clothing, it's no different than your own washed clothing. And of course, let's not forget the whole eco reduce-reuse-recycle and reducing our Wal-Mart waste.

I got over that ick-factor and that the shopping in a Thrift Store is a bit of a treasure hunt where some days you're digging alongside other label-oriented folks with the Champagne Taste philosophy, and some days the shopper next to you has been into the sauce and just digging. But that's part of the fun - you never know what you'll find. And the employees are always really sweet, happy, nice people.  But I digress.

50% off of already cheap is just plain fun. For Auz, I scored a pair of Buffalo jeans and a pair of Old Navy shorts. Lauren got the lion's share with a Children's Place top, an Old Navy blouse, some random "Nice Kitty" top, 2 pairs of Gymboree pants, a pair of Children's Place pants, and a cute pair of pink leopard cords. I got a pair of Old Navy shorts for myself because I don't know where all my shorts have disappeared to at home, maybe in the hamper, who knows.

I can't imagine what this stuff would retail for new, and that's a pointless exercise because let's face it, this stuff isn't new. That gets me out of doing math! Ha! Regular price at the Sally Ann was $24.90 and my final half-price off bill was....$12.45.  Aside from being dirt cheap, this means I've saved enough for a basic $12 bottle of wine. For tonight. Not too shabby!
Here's my purchase receipt:

And here's pic of the haul:

Thankfully my kids are too young to be mortified by this, Cameron thinks it's funny, and me, I just wonder what kind of wine to crack open tonight. Cheers.

Cashmere Alert!

Brief but important newsflash to fellow cashmere addicts:  Get your fix today at The Bay! It's cashmere-palooza there today, for one day only.

Bonnie Brooks, in yet another demonstration of her genius, has put the Lord & Taylor women's cashmere on a one-day clearance sale.

Free shipping if you order on line, or go try & buy in-person.

Cashmere-palooza @ The Bay

My cashmere fix was a charcoal cardigan, perfect for over a blouse at the office or over a t-shirt for a more casual look.

Enjoy your fix!
Cheers!

Health is Wealth

"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver." - Mahatma Gandhi 


As much as my inner Material Girl relishes the finer things in life, I've realized that in addition to friends and family, my most valuable possession is my health.  I'd love to say that I've come to this conclusion on my own accord, but rather, it was a number of wake-up calls over the past few years that really made me sit up and take notice.


As I look around my circle of friends, family, co-workers, and neighbours, at any given moment, someone is going through some kind of a health challenge. In addition to a Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis, my father-in-law has dealt with vascular surgery and crazy side-effects from a little "whoops!" that happened during the procedure. Cameron was recently diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes as well. Like father like son...so I have to wonder if/when Austin will be impacted. Type 2 reached out and whacked my cousin too. My sister-in-law going through multiple cancers scares, tests, and biopsies. Two colleagues both with terminal cancer. The sudden and unexpected death of a friend. 


Even I've had a couple health-crisis episodes myself, but thankfully nothing chronic or untreatable. All of these add up to a far greater appreciation for good health and I have become inspired by the stories of others who have overcome and have made it their personal mission to raise awareness. Lauren Ward Larsen is one such inspirer. If you want to appreciate good health, read her book, Zuzu's Petals. It's a fascinating, shocking, and hilarious read by an amazing woman.  


Someone once said, "This body is the only one you've got. If you don't take care of it, where are you going to live?" Good point. So how do we go about taking care of our health? As a student of healthy living, I'm no expert. But here are some tips I've learned so far:

• Take an interest in healthy living. Read up on it. Do some research. Watch "Dr. Oz". Do whatever you can to learn a little bit every day to inspire you to move forward on your journey.
• Stick to the basics. Eat reasonably healthy foods in reasonable-sized portions, organic if you can. Exercise regularly, even if it's just going for a walk a couple times per week. Get your sleep and do everything you can not to get stressed out.
• Moderation is the key. Radical lifestyle changes usually don't work over the long-term. And you can't enjoy yourself if you are too strict. A little food, a little wine, a little chocolate, none of that ever killed anyone in moderation. 
• Schedule and go to your medical maintenance appointments like the annual physical and dental check-ups.
• If you're not motivated to do it for yourself, get healthy for your kids, your friends, your family. Set a good example. Especially where kids are concerned, example is everything.
• Be kind to yourself. If you don't take care of yourself, really, truly, who else will?

I raise my cup of yogurt (which I eat for my health, not because I actually like the stuff) to you and your pursuit of good health.  If you're healthy, you're wealthy.  Cheers!

Lazy Girl Dinner

Yesterday I was sharing with some colleagues about how much I love my slow cooker. They confessed they only use theirs for the occasional soup and are afraid to cook anything else with theirs. As I shared the virtues of my slow cooker and promised to teach them how to cook a chicken dinner, it occurred to me this info might be helpful to others. So here's the dealy-o on why and how a lazy girl cooks dinner in a crock pot.

Every Wednesday night, Austin goes to Cub Scouts, and it's a mad dash from work to home to eat to drop him off and then turn around and pick him up later. Throw a toddler into the mix and cooking dinner in the midst of that equation is just not do-able. So, typically, on a Tuesday night I prep the food for the slow cooker and then all day Wednesday it cooks while we're at work and/or school.

Clean a whole chicken (rinse it out good!) and pat dry with paper towels. You can stick an onion or some garlic cloves or a cut up lemon inside it if you want. If you're feeling extra lazy, don't put anything inside. Put it in the crock pot. Cut up some potatoes, carrots, maybe some onions, and put them around the chicken in the pot. Pour barbecue sauce or any kind of marinade you like over the chicken. I like the maple-flavoured Diana's Sauce. Sprinkle herbs on your chick if you want. Splash some lemon juice around onto the vegetables and sprinkle them with herbs. My family likes Herbs de Provence on our veggies, so that's what I use. When you're ready to cook, just set the pot on low for 10 hours. That's it. That's the lazy girl dinner.

Here's a shot of what tonight's lazy girl dinner looked like before cooking:

Some other tips for using the slow cooker: I like to set it cooking near a window and just crack the window open a teeny tiny bit. As much as I love the smell of dinner when I arrive home, I don't necessarily want the whole house reeking of it. A great tip from my friend/neighbour Russ: If your crock pot doesn't have a timer, just plug it into one of those timers that turns your lights on and off. Set the heat level to what you want (High or Low) and then set the timer for when you want it to end cooking. You can also get fancy and set it to start cooking at a particular time, if you want. Me, personally, I'm not keen on leaving food out not cooking til later. But I'm a germaphobe who wears latex gloves while handling meat, so I'll leave that choice up to you.

Final tip: Don't forget that you cooked dinner! I've been known to arrive home with an armload of groceries, gearing up to cook a meal, having totally forgotten I've been cooking dinner while at work. There's nothing like arriving home to a home-cooked meal, even when your lousy memory surprises you with it. Enjoy!

Here's the 'after' pic.

Sunday Dinner

Yesterday, my good friend/neighbour Lori shared with me that her family eats Sunday dinner in their dining room. This is something we used to do, but had strayed away from once Lauren came along. In thinking it through, it's kind of strange how we have a perfectly good room in our house but we really don't use it as a family, other than for special occasions. In a way, the dining room has become my quiet space where I read, meditate, and write. And our cat, Coco, treats the dining room like every other room in the house - her personal lounge.

Really, it makes no sense to make the room unofficially off-limits. Who are we saving it for? Company? How often do they come - once a month? And while we're thinking about it, how about the 'good' dishes. And the 'good' towels. 'Special' clothes? All that stuff? I realized that by saving things for others and not making use of them myself or with my family, then the message I'm sending myself and to those nearest and dearest is not very nice. Undeserving? Not good enough? Perhaps too messy and likely to spill/wreck something?

All that went out the window a few weeks ago at Thanksgiving when we had a bit of a large-scale red-wine incident involving white dining room chairs and beige carpeting. But I managed to clean it up and although one chair is a tiny bit greyish now, it's become a funny story in both the fabric of our lives and that of our dining room. In the midst of blotting the wine, I found myself to be surprisingly calm about the whole thing. My mom remarked about it and I responded, "You know, in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter. Everyone's here, we're all healthy, and people are way more important than things." Perhaps I'd consumed too much wine to be concerned about the spillage but I suspect it was more likely that recent events in my life (including the sudden and unexpected death of a friend just days before) had wiped the bullshit out of my eyes to help me focus on what really mattered. At any rate, some sort of wisdom came from my mouth, be it wine wisdom or my own.

So here we are - the final waning days of Autumn, poised on the brink of that grey zone between Halloween and Christmas. Everyone who knows me knows how much I hate the next few upcoming weeks. Bare trees, grey skys, wind, and bleakness as we brace ourselves for Winter. I've taken Lori's reminder to heart and am getting set for Sunday dinner. A small ham and a new recipe  for cheesy scalloped potatoes & carrots (courtesy of the Kraft Canada "What's Cooking" magazine) are in the oven and the table is set. We're going to eat in the dining room and we're using good dishes. We'll use the set inherited from my Uncle Bill and Aunt Marion, which make me happy and a little bit sentimental, like memories of Summer this time of year.

When we gather around the table in the dining room, I know I'll be asked, "What's up? Why in here? And the good dishes?" And I'll say, "Just because." And I'll know it's because we're deserving and we're worth it. And if a little wine gets spilled, let's just hope more remains in the glass than on the carpet. Cheers!

Rich in Life

Dorothy Parker once said, "I don't know much about being a millionaire, but I'll bet I'd be darling at it." I know I could be pretty darling at it myself, but despite being a member of the office lotto pool, a million dollars has yet to drop in my lap. So what's a girl to do?

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about money. Not in the "Oh gosh, how will we keep a roof over our house and the kids fed" kind of way, but just in general. Money is constantly in the news, especially lately with the whole Greek debt situation and all the conflicting messages out there about the economy. Some say the economy is slowly growing, others say we're heading for another recession, while some say we are still in the same recession as 3 years ago. I know people who are struggling with financial woes and I know others who are spending like darling millionaires. Taxes, retirement savings, "come bank with us, you're richer than you think", union wage rumblings, and deficits are all issues I am bombarded with on a daily basis. It's enough to make anyone crazy. 

Over the past year or so, I've been through a lot and through some of the processes, I am thankful to say I seem to have had the jadedness wiped out of my eyes and I am seeing my world around me a lot clearer than I used to. With this has come clarity about what's important to me and how I approach money and respond to the constant barrage of money-related messages.

I've realized that everything I need is already in place or is within my reach if I make the effort to go after it. I've also realized that when you really look at life, it all boils down to having your friends, your family, and your health. And your faith. Whether you're spiritual or not, you have to have faith in something. I have all of these things and I am darling rich with the goodness of all of them. I choose to make these things my priorities in life, and I spend my time and money in support of them.

I also make a conscious effort to do things that make me, my family, and my friends happy. Nothing extravagant like a blow your brains out party on a yacht in the Mediterranean, but simple, relatively inexpensive things or taking the time to do something special for someone or for myself.  For example, this week I planted close to 100 spring bulbs in our gardens. It was a minimal financial commitment and a moderate time commitment for the purpose of making myself and others smile in the spring. As I planted each bulb, I thought about how beautiful the tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils will look and how not only will I smile when I see them, but my neighbours will enjoy them. A major reason to do this was so the kids who wait by our house for the school bus will have something pretty to look at in the spring. I think the soft yellow, baby pink, deep purple, creamy white, and sky blue flowers will make those kids smile at the fresh growth of spring.

Planting these bulbs became for me a ritualistic and symbolic experience. As I tenderly placed the bulbs in the ground, I hoped the squirrels wouldn't steal them and I wished each bulb a good winter and good luck. I did the work, and now I just have to have faith that in the spring, the flowers will come up as my reward. Planting the bulbs was an act of faith as well as an exercise in digging in the dirt.

So while I'm not a millionaire, I am darling rich in the knowledge that I am taking care of the priorities in my life. And simple acts of fun and faith keep me going until that lotto win does eventually come in.

Day 7 of Self-Discipline Challenge

     I definately exercised self-discipline yesterday, primarily in the area of emotional and verbal self-control. At work, I have been doing damage-control and being very diplomatic while an employee "situation" which never should have happened has been unfurling and unravelling over the past few days. As always, I am in the uncomfortable position between a rock and a hard place, navigating a land mine while trying to push a rope uphill. The invisible duct-tape keeping me from verbally unloading is the realization that I can't control anyone else's behaviours, and ultimately, they are accountable for outcomes of events they create.
     In the afternoon, I had some medical appointments to take care of and decided to be early rather than stressed out and late for them. In preparation for a scheduled surgery later this month (nothing serious!), I had to swing by the surgeon's office to pick up my hospital prep package, then head off to my 3:30 pre-admitting appointment at the hospital. En route to the hospital, I realized I was 45 minutes early. Self-discipline was exercised in not stopping off at Ikea (across the road from the hospital, how convenient!) to kill some time, because I knew one can shop fast there but getting through the cashier lines is a whole other exercise in self-control and patience. So I headed to the GO Station parking lot (thus dodging the hospital's crazy parking rates), parked, and headed in early to my appointment.
     I was all ready to sweet-talk the nurse into taking me early, when she advised me I was right on time. Apparently I was booked for 3:00, however, the surgeon's secretary had told me 3:30. Forget being late, had I been on time I would have missed my appointment. Cripes. Good thing I was early. All went well and it wasn't too bad, despite having to go for blood tests in the lab. I didn't even faint this time.
     The ultimate demonstration of self-discipline, the piece de resistance, however, occurred at dinner last night. After a trying week and promises to myself that there would be wine at dinner (oh yes, there will be wine!), when we got up this morning, I remarked to Cameron how odd it was that we drank less than a bottle of wine last night. While I claim this is self-discipline, I suspect on my part it was just plain exhaustion and not wanting to have wine flu the next day. The kicker, however, was I still woke up with a headache this morning. How is that fair?
     At any rate, today I've knocked a few things off my list of things I don't want to do but have to, and am waist-deep in organizing our linen closet. Sounds simple but if you saw the explosion of bedding, tablecloths and one facecloth for every child in America, you wouldn't believe it all fit in there in the first place. All I want to know, aside from the meaning of life, is what exactly is the right way to fold a fitted sheet?

Self-Discipline Challenge - Day 5 check in

     I'm 5 days into my "self-discipline challenge" and I'm feeling kind of "meh" about my progress. First the good news - I've gotten through some yuckaroo tasks:

• cleaned the cache of horrors under Lauren's high-chair seat cushion
• filed the 2009 T5500 (cross referencing T5558) to the IRS, for my company's 401(k) (In plain English: boring, necessary, complicated paperwork for the U.S. government)
• signed Austin up for Cub Scouts
• exercised patience while ensuring Austin's guitar practice occurred
• accomplished some gift shopping for 2 kids' birthdays and a business event

     I am, however, disappointed and a bit concerned about my performance vis-a-vis being able to get out of bed in the morning. My Day 2 commitment (and the only commitment I set for that day) was to only hit the 'snooze' button once. An hour later and close to 8 snooze whacks later, it plain did not happen. Same story for Day 4 and Day 5. What's worse is our persistent and at times annoying cat is my back-up alarm clock, nipping and poking my chin incessantly from the sound of that first "beep" of the day. You'd think I'd say "to hell with it" and get up, rather than pulling the covers over my head and hoping the cat would go bother Cameron instead.
     Ah, but what about Day 3 you ask? Well, Day 3 was no problem because I was anxious to see an article in the Globe & Mail, in which I'd been interviewed and my family photographed with respect to breaking news about medical breakthrough for Pre-Eclampsia.  Admittedly, pulling off the interview and photoshoot on virtually no notice was definately a sign of commitment on my part, but I find it worrisome that it takes a media event to get me out of bed on time. It was all for a good cause, the Pre-Eclampsia Foundation, so I'll cut myself some slack and give myself kudos that I managed to get up on time once this week.
     Tomorrow I will try again to take my alarm clock seriously. And the darn cat. Maybe she can get me out of bed on time. Truly, the ultimate test of self-descipline boils down to "Can I get up in the morning?" Let's see what tomorrow brings.

Self-Discipline Challenge - Day 1

     I've often wondered what results I'd get if I actually followed through and did the things I know I ought to, rather than making excuses and fluffing these things off. I'm referring to getting up early (versus after an hour's worth of hitting the 'snooze' button) and working out, going to church, getting the house organized, getting together with friends and family (versus "We should do lunch soon...") etc.
     My friend S. is the most disciplined person I know. I'm not sure if it's her personality or her policing background that created this characteristic in her, but she is definately someone who Gets Stuff Done. Her house is organized and decorated (versus mine still painted builder's white after 8 years), the family schedule is full of interesting activities, she is in fantastic shape, has a busy and illustrious career, and gets up at 5:00 a.m. to bake muffins for her family. As Bree VanDerCamp as this sounds, there is nothing Stepford about her and she's as real and passionate as they come. Compared to S., I am a serious slacker.
     Yesterday, as I moved at tortoise speed due to a mild touch of wine flu, accomplishing nothing on my to-do list, I decided I would challenge myself to 21 days (that's how long it takes to make or break a habit) of self-discipline. This doesn't mean driving myself into the ground with impossible expectations and burnout looming on the horizon. Rather, I would make a handful of commitments to myself to keep each day. A long list of "to-do's" that can't be accomplished is not realistic or self-supporting. I also decided it would be important to make some self-care and me-time commitments for the list as well, so it's not just all work, no play. And, I also decided a few mulligans would be made available for the extreme cases where I just didn't have it in me to make it happen. Ideally, I will use no more than 1 mulligan per week. So I've got a few 'outs' to keep things comfortable. Us slackers need outs as a safety net!
     So my commitments for today were to get up, work out in the gym, shower, wash my hair, shave my legs (I hate shaving my legs and you wouldn't believe the excuses or disguises I use to get away with long periods between leg scrapings), take the kids to church, get some laundry done today, and finish cleaning up our dining room. It was a fight to get out of bed rather than rolling over, when Cam got up to feed Lauren her breakfast. But I did it, made it downstairs to the gym, and actually worked out. And it was a real workout, not just schlumping along on the treadmill, watching t.v., pretending to break a sweat. Proudly checked off the entire showering checklist.
     The challenge was in getting to church. Austin will easily go to the Catholic church, however, I wanted to attend my church, affectionately known in our house as the "rock 'n' roll" church, which is more of a relaxed community-based congregation and an approach based more on content than on ritual. As I felt the excuses welling up inside me (I don't want to argue with Auz, it looks like rain, Lauren will miss her nap) I reminded myself of my commitment  and went anyhow. Lauren went into the nursery no problem ("Hey, more people to party with! Great!"), but Austin was teary and nervous (doesn't like new situations) and had to remain with me until his pals Ben and Luke showed up. The after-church recap from Auz was that despite the video games, movie ("lame"), floor hockey, Lego, and basketball, he'd rather sit through the service at the Catholic church than whoop it up at Rock'n'Roll church Sunday school. Auz is truly a man who sticks to his convictions. Lauren, on the other hand, wouldn't leave the nursery and kept trying to crawl back in when I was trying to sign her out.  Me, I had a lovely experience, re-connected with some of my MOPS moms' group acquaintances, and enjoyed the music, the service, and the company around me.
     The laundry is started, so I can say that commitment is under way. Of course I'll have to follow through and remember to fold and put away the clean clothes, which is 75% of the battle for me. Our dining room has been the defacto storage area for all our basement items while we renovated the basement. Trunks, Rubbermaid totes, renovation receipts, and numerous tchotchkes await me to deal with them. I'm off to get that done, so I can sit, relax, and read a book guilt free. I realize it's only day one and there are rocky roads ahead, but I think I can say I'm off to a good start in keeping my commitments.

Grocery Shopping - Saving vs. Sanity

     Tonight I stopped off at No Frills to pick up some groceries on the way home. It's been a while since I've darkened the door of The Frill, as I've been shopping at our neighbourhood Sobeys instead. On my way out, as I looked at my $70.00 No Frills bill and estimated it would have cost easily $90.00 - $100.00 at Sobeys, I couldn't help but wonder, what's the dollar value of a pleasant grocery shopping experience?
     No Frills used to be my regular grocery store. Their produce is fresh, they have all the great No-Name and President's Choice products I love, and it's a cheap place to shop. And, of course, there's my admiration for Galen Weston, but that's a whole other story for another time. Lately, however, the downside of The Frill has caused me to pay premium prices at Sobeys.
     Let's compare: At No Frills, based on their clientele demographic, you have to deposit a quarter for your cart. At Sobeys, you have your choice of 3 cart sizes (regular, mini, and "shopper in training" kids' carts) and no deposit is required. At No Frills, navigating through the store is a bit of a competitive event with the occasional unpleasant outburst. One time I saw two women come to fisticuffs in the meat department. It was an eye-opener for me and it answered my question about what comes next after someone sucks their teeth at another woman. Quite the sociological cultural study event while grabbing some grocs. But, I digress.  At Sobeys, I look forward to (figuratively) running into friends from the neighbourhood, which is great for socializing while shopping, but not so great when you're a fright with no makeup, schlumpy clothes, and bedhead. This look, by the way, is more common among Frills shoppers.
     Sobeys has a deli counter. No Frills doesn't. Sobeys has cookie club. The only free cookies at No Frills are the ones that get shoplifted. As frivolous as these little perks seem, deli samples, free cookies, and of course, the lobster tank all provide the kind of mid-shop entertainment my kids need to keep my sanity.
     The prices at Sobeys, as I alluded previously, are considerably higher for the most part. Tonight at The Frill, I picked up some Lean Cuisines for $1.99 each, which would most likely cost $3.00+ at Sobeys. A family pack of pork chops was $6.25, compared to $8.00 - $9.00 at Sobeys. A triple pack of baby wipes refills for $3.99, typically runs about $6.00 at Sobeys. I'm not sure what they'd cost at Sobeys but my $0.77 head of romaine lettuce, $0.87 English cucumber, $1.77 bag of bagels, and $0.47 can of tomato paste all struck me as bargoons.
     I think the heart of the matter is how much stress you're prepared to put up with while doing groceries. While I was in No Frills during the evening rush, I didn't have the kids with me, so the crazies running around with their carts were a source of entertainment to me rather than antagonization. Bagging my own groceries was no big deal, because no one was trying to climb out of the cart or leave the store without me. I didn't need to take anyone to the fish counter to threaten them with a fish with its face still on for dinner, if they didn't behave. I kind of missed saying "hi" to the lobsters but I enjoyed hearing a loud exchange between a daughter and her elderly mother, with their lyrical West Indian accents and colloquial grammar. It was quite endearing and I am always a sucker for a foreign accent.
     So I have to say, if I can hold it together and put up with the nonsense, especially with my children in tow, an extra $20-30 saved at No Frills is worth it. Sometimes, however, our time, sanity, and relationships with our kids requires making the call to spend the extra dough and have a far more pleasant experience. As I always say, experiences are everything and we need to honour ourselves and our kids sometimes by saying "We're worth it."