You make me smile

It has been quite awhile since I last blogged but here I am! I am still alive and very much kicking. Midterms at school are now over but now papers are going to be due soon than I want to admit! 


As I am starting to become more and more stressed out, I decided to start thinking about things that make me happy. There are so many things in a very ordinary day that can make your day extraordinary if you let them. As I found on Friday I came across many things that could have made me cranky but as I was focusing on finding things that make me smile, I changed my perspective on things. For example, it was freezing Friday morning! I am talking -4 Celsius freezing! But instead of complaining about how cold I was going to be I decided to smile about the fact that I am going to be wearing my winter coat for the first time this year! And seeing my breath the first time this year was smile-worthy because I chose to make it smile-worthy.  


I had a great day on Friday. The little things didn't make an enormous difference in my day; I wasn't walking with a bounce and I certainly wasn't whistling (mostly because I don't know how to whistle). But I was walking around with a smile on my face for the majority of the day and I felt happier. 


Here is my list of things that made me smile:

• The light changed green right as I walked up
• I could see my breath for the first time this year
• Being able to wear my wonderful winter coat again
• Receiving an average mark on a midterm but being so nervous about my mark that the average mark was turned into a wonderful mark
• Coming home
• Having 4 cats coming running up to me as I come in the door
• Getting mail {yes, it was only a bank statement but who doesn't love getting mail!?}
• Seeing Kirk walk up the drive way with a smile on his face
• Laughing so hard with my mom over some pictures even though Dad was asleep in bed

As you can see these are just ordinary things that happen in most people's lives, everyday. They certainly happen to me often but this was really the first time I took the time to realize how these things make me smile. And this very simple decision turned my day from ordinary to extraordinarily ordinary. 


Trying this out for one day was a success and now my goal is to go an entire week, making a list of all the little things that make me smile during a day. If a day made a difference in my mood, I think this upcoming week is going to be a great one! 


I created a sheet that I will use to write down anything that makes me smile. 

I would love to hear your own Day of Smiles! Print off the sheet or use your own and write down anything and everything that makes you smile! Let me know how your Day of Smiles went and I hope your day is filled with smiles! 

"Just because there is an Italian guy on it doesn't mean it is pizza dough"

I have not had much luck with trying recipes recently. I am a very picky eater and I really do not enjoy trying new recipes. So I was extremely proud of myself when I found a recipe to try on Pinterest. 


Cheesy Chicken Lasagna, doesn't that sounds good!? 

I really wanted to try this recipe out so Paige and I bought the ingredients the next time we went grocery shopping. Or at least we thought we bought the ingredients. In case anyone is not aware of this, evaporated milk is NOT the same thing as condensed milk! Please don't ever make this mistake, because the results are nasty!!!! 


As I was making the lasagna, we were both blissfully unaware of our mistake. That is until something started to happen with the chicken and the sauce. The chicken started to harden, there was a nasty smell coming from the pot and it was started to get lumpy. It was at this point that we realized our mistake. There was a moment where we decided we were just going to try a piece of the chicken, maybe it won't be that bad. As neither of us were willing to even try it, we threw it all away and had tacos instead. 


Fast forward one week and I am once again trying this recipe. This time my mom got me the correct ingredients and I was determined to make the most delicious cheesy chicken lasagna EVER! Everything was going wonderfully, until it was time to actually eat the meal. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't fantastic and not worth the effort and hype. Maybe it was just my cooking so if anyone makes this please let me know how it turns out!!


That was meal making disaster #1. Meal making disaster #2 happened last night when Kirk tried to make me supper. We have recently been going to Pizza Hut and having their wonderful calzones and Kirk decided that he will try and make one for me for supper. Once again we went shopping and once again the wrong ingredients were bought. This time instead of pizza dough, we actually bought pie crust. We didn't realize our mistake until we were cooking it. It was getting kind of flaky, like a pie crust. It wasn't really cooking and staying soft, like a pie crust. It took over twice as long to cook, which really should have been our first indicator that something was wrong. But we carried on. Lesson #2, do not try and make a calzone with pie crust. It doesn't very good at all, not matter how much ranch dressing you put on it. So we went to Wendy's instead. 

We have our calzone without pepperoni - photo credit Pizza Hut

Oh bother! Two meal making disasters, two gross results and two funny stories. Hopefully these will be the only two meal making disasters that I have but I have a feeling there will be more. 


The two life lessons learned today are:

 1 - condensed milk is not the same thing as evaporated milk. Just because condensed milk has evaporated milk in it does not mean you should use it for a recipe that calls for evaporated milk.

2 - just because a ball of dough has a cartoon of an Italian chef on it does not mean that the dough is pizza dough. 

Anyone have any cooking disasters that they lived to tell about? What has been the worst meal you have ever tried to make?

Compliments anyone?

Last week I decided to do something blog-worthy, something special and something extraordinarily ordinary. 


After doing some searching on the Internet, this is what I found: 

A campus policy is to have any posters approved so before class one day I took one poster to get approved. I am sorry to say that it took a lot longer than it should have! It actually upset me a little bit that I had to spend over 15 minutes getting this poster approved! It is not like I was promoting anything sinister, I just want to give out free compliments! It was approved though and I decided to put it up close to my classroom as I can see if anyone took any while I was waiting for class. I did notice a few people stop and look at it, but nobody took any while I was there.

This is the poster right after I put it up:

And this is what I found the next morning:

The only one left was 'You are like a big hug'. 


I am now going to be putting another one up, this time I made it myself. I am also going to put them up all over campus instead of just in one location. 

I have included my blog on the poster in hopes that someone will be able to find their way over here and share their thoughts on the poster. So if you saw these posters around campus, I want to hear from you! My goal is to make someone's day a little brighter and a little bit more cheerful. Did I succeed? What were your thoughts on the poster? 

Back into the swing of things!

I am back at one of my favourite places in the world: school!! I love school! Which is a very good thing because I am in school to become a teacher. 


I just had class today from 8:30 until 3, which actually was not as awful as it seems. I loved all of my classes and I think it is going to be a great term. 


I would like to share two stories of something that happened this week and both are music related. 


First, I had a private concert! I was killing some time between classes and decided to sit in the Nipissing music lounge. A first year student was there playing the piano and thus I was treated to a lovely concert as I read Oliver Twist. This first year was playing the piano and singing and later played his guitar with his friend who also brought her guitar. They both had wonderful voices and were excellent musicians. I would have to say that enjoying other people's talents is a simple pleasure. There are so many wonderful talents out there and I regret leaving without thanking them both for sharing their music with me. So here I go: Thank you musically inclined strangers for a wonderful concert! 


The second musically story is a Canada story. My Canadian History since the Confederation professor promised to play a song at the beginning of every lecture to help wake us up, as this is an 8:30am class. Because today was just a short lecture that only involved going over the course syllabus, she played the most Canadian song I know. The Hockey Song by Stompin' Tom Connors. I would like to say that the entire class started to sing but unfortunately my life is not that awesome. The entire class did, however, start to grin from ear to ear. Then I started to think if there was another song that represents Canada as much as this song does. And I am not even a huge hockey fan! 


So enjoy this song (this video was the best one available) and let me know what song you think represents Canada for you. Besides our national anthem, of course!

Sisterly Love

Today is September 1st. The beginning of a new month. It is also the beginning of a new adventure for my little sister. She has left to go to NSCAD University in Halifax for ceramics. And as exciting as it is for her to be starting this fantastic stage in her life, it has left me feeling a little lost. 


I am not really sure what I am going to do with my little sister. From the day she was born she has been my best friend. Growing up meant growing closer. I cannot think of a time that we were apart when we were young children. 


My best friend, my playmate, my rock, my fellow adventurer, my sister. 

 Now that we are both grown up we each have our own lives. We have different interests now and we have separate friends but we always come back to each other. 


It is sad to say good-bye, but I wish Jennifer all the best at school and I know she is going do amazing. I know this because she is my sister. And no matter where she goes, she will always be my little sister. That is something that will never change and something that I will always take comfort in. 

Cheers to you, Jen!! I can't wait to hear all about your wonderful, new life in Halifax! 

This all seems very familiar

This post will seem very familiar. This is because I have made no progress towards blogging at all. I am determined this week to not only make a list of things I need to do regarding my blogging but also to actually do something from the list. 

Hopefully there will be some progress by next week's Monday Post. I just need to get my butt into gear! 

An Awesome Thing: 

#464 When characters in movies visit a place you know

There is an ongoing gag in our house that whenever characters in movies visit a place we have been, we yell out "I've been there!!". It is amusing, most of the time. There is the odd time that I have not been somewhere my parents have been, which drives me completely nuts! Not to brag or anything, but we have been many to many places which makes this Awesome Thing completely awesome. Especially when characters go to beautiful places like Venice that I can't help grinning as I yell "I've been there!". 

Book Update: 

Still reading Oliver Twist. I also just borrowed The Blue Light Project by Timothy Taylor from the online library today. I listened to an interview with Mr. Taylor on CBC Radio and from the little bit I heard from the interview, I thought it would be an interesting read. 

A Monday Present:

This is a two part Monday Present, because I feel generous. 

This week's present was something I found on Pinterest and I have been meaning to print off copies for myself. From this website, Grace is overrated, these are journal pages. The newer pages are very colourful, but each page is filled with different sections to fill out. I thought these were wonderfully creative and helpful to anyone, including myself, who finds it hard to write everyday. 

Keeping with the journal theme, once again from Pinterest:

These journals can be found here, on Celestefrittata's Etsy shop. These are such a great idea! 

I need to make a list of things to do with my blog but I have lists for everything. Do you make lists? How do you stay organized? I would love to hear your organizational ideas! 

Monday

Nothing much is happening around here. And yet there is so much to do, which is why I figured today was a great day to sit around and do nothing.

I arrive home from the daycare around 1:30 or so and by the time I am done lunch and the barn it is close to 2. Since it is now 3:20 I have officially wasted an hour and a half of my day. 

I really should go and do something, because my list is getting larger and larger every day. Off the top of my head I have to:

• clean my desk, which has been neglected for so long I can no longer see the desk itself
• do laundry
• start some projects that I desperately want to do before school starts
• clean my room for back to school
• clean the cabin from camp
• figure out when to go to a movie with Kirk

This past weekend Kirk and I bought Avelee a wagon for her first birthday. We had decided earlier that we were just going to go and look at the wagons to see the different types available. So much for that plan. Not only did we purchase the Little Tikes Deluxe Ride and Relax wagon, we also decided we couldn't wait until September 17 and gave it to her on Sunday!! We even took her for a little ride, which was a lot of fun! 

And you should see the wagon!!! It is so cool! It comes with a cooler pack, 6 cup holders, an umbrella and one of the sides flips up so you can use it as a bench! I will see if I can get some pictures of Kirk and I assembling it Saturday night from his mom. 

And now onto the Monday Post! 

An Awesome Thing:

#840 Popping Bubble Wrap

I have been in a relationship with Kirk for over two years now and there have been little things that have happened over these two years that prove just how much I am in love with him. One of these little things happened just the other day when Kirk gave me some bubble wrap. I had recently, at some point, mentioned a bit ago how much I love popping bubble wrap. Now I can't even remember when I had mentioned this, as it was a just a passing comment. But Kirk remembered and brought me some bubble wrap from work for me. The only thing more awesome than popping bubble wrap is popping bubble wrap that your boyfriend brings you because he knows how much you love popping it. 

Book Update:

I am still working on my post for Pride and Prejudice. Stay tuned for that.
I finished The School of Essential Ingredients and you can read my review for it here.
I also finished reading Sarah's Key, which I did not love as much as I really wanted to. It was still great, but not fantastic. I will be posting a review for that soon.
I am reading Oliver Twist right now for the BBC list. It is not bad so far.

A Monday Present: 

I had a hard time finding something for this week. I just couldn't think of anything that would be great. And then I remembered this:

PINTEREST!!!!!

I am sure many people are already aware of Pinterest. But if you are not, you are welcome! It is so addicting, which is completely awful and wonderful at the same time for a university student. Jennie Guenard, one of my very first and best friends, {click here for her wonderful How to Deal With... blog and here for her amazing photography blog, Guenard Photography} told me about Pinterest. I both curse her and thank her every time I go on. Check it out, it is completely addicting and thrilling!!! Enjoy!

What sites can you not go a day without going on? How much time do you think you spend on the Internet a day? 

Hello? Anyone there?

I often wonder if anyone reads my blog. I have to force my family to read this, which leads me to a funny interlude. Remember the Dollar Store Hero? Well, Jen and I never told our parents about her locking the keys in Steve again. I had decided to write our adventures in a blog post and see if they actually read it. It was a few days since Mom asked if we were ever going to tell her about our adventure. It took Dad another few days to read it himself. Mom and Dad, the moral of the story is to read my blog as soon as I post anything!! That way you can stay in the loop.

Before I get on with this post I would like to ask people to comment, even if it is just to say hi!

My goal for the school year is to blog often! And I really do mean often!! The Monday Posts will be done EVERY WEEK! And I am hoping to have another posting during the week sometime. I also find school to provide the structure in my life that I crave, and I am hoping that blogging will supply me with enough of a break when I do need it. We shall have to see how this goes but fingers crossed for more frequent posting.

An Awesome Thing:
#922 Getting a trucker to blow his/her horn
I have been volunteering at a day care a bit this summer and #922 is the most awesome thing in the WORLD for these little kids. There is a construction site near the day care and the big trucks use the road that day care is on to get to the site.

Imagine a peaceful playground, with kids playing in the sandbox, reading books and just enjoying life. Wait! What was that?! The rumble of the truck is heard across the playground and all the children jump up and run screaming to the fence, all of them pumping their arm up and down motioning the truck driver to honk his/her horn. When that horn does blow (as it does every. single. time) all the kids jump up and down, screaming with joy. Within a few seconds, it is peaceful once again. That is, until the faint rumble of another truck sends all the kids back to the fence again. Getting a trucker to blow his/her horn really is an Awesome Thing. 

Book Updates:
I recently finished reading Pride and Prejudice. The best word to describe this book right now is love. I am planning on devoting an entire post to P&P because it deserves it.

I am now in the middle of The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister. This is quickly turning out to be a wonderful novel and even though I am not yet finished reading it, put it on your lists of things to read.

I recently did something I have not done in a very long time. I actually purchased a book! That's right, an actual, hold-in-your-hands, turn the pages, not an e-book, book! Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay has been a book I have been wanting to read for a very long time so when I saw this on sale at Wal Mart, I jumped at the chance.

I also purchased The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I am very anxious to read both of these books and I am planning on writing reviews for both.

A Monday Present:

Keeping with the spirit of epic babies, anyone have other pictures of epic babies? Funny, goofy or just plain adorable, please share!

The Dollar Store Hero

I love my sister. I really do. But sometimes I just don't understand how Jennifer survives everyday.

Just last week she lost her week old iphone and while trying to replace it, she locked her keys in her car. This week she once again locked her keys in the car. It is almost funny, but not quite.

Picture Jennifer and me staring at her car keys through the window. I am sure you can imagine the hopeless look that was on our faces. This hopeless look only lasted a little bit before 'Resourceful' Jennifer and Katelyn took over.

Locked 'Steve' (yes, Jennifer has named her car) + coat hanger = fail

Things were getting pretty desperate. Jennifer did not want to call CAA two times in two weeks and the newly cut extra key for Steve was sitting completely inconveniently at home. I had even called the shop where Kirk works to see if he had any suggestions on how to break into Steve. All hope was lost until....

The Dollar Store Hero arrived!!! 

Out of the mist, with his St. Louis cap and well-loved truck, came our hero. He was able to work his magic with the coat hanger and with a resounding 'POP', Steve was unlocked!! I am not embarrassed to say that we did a little jig to celebrate. 

Our celebration continued as we went for some ice cream! I had Cherry Cheesecake and Jennifer had Grammy's Cupboard and Peanut Butter Cup Round Up. It was amazing, my only complaint being that two scoops was way too much! In the past two scoops had been the perfect amount, but was way too much now as they must have changed the scoop size. 

I am being completely unrealistic by hoping that the Dollar Store Hero will ever read this, but I can dream. 

To the Dollar Store Hero: Thank you! Your sheer awesomeness will never be forgotten. We will buy you some ice cream next time we meet. 

To my readers: I hope that the Dollar Store Hero, or a fellow Awesome Superhero, will be near to assist if you are ever silly enough to lock your keys in your car. And that you are able to celebrate with ice cream afterwards. 

Have you ever seen an Awesome Superhero? How did they help you or someone you know? Or maybe you had a crazy adventure that made you wish for a visit from an Awesome Superhero.  I would love to hear your stories. 

Quotes anyone?

I have commissioned my sister, Jennifer,to paint me a pretty picture!

I don't have any sort of artistic abilities what so ever, so I gave very vague instructions to Jennifer (which she was not happy about; "I am not a sketchbook!" she said over and over again)

{I should give myself a little credit here: I am not artistic anywhere but the computer. I do believe myself to be pretty talented with Adobe Photoshop, but I digress}

What I did give Jennifer was an idea: vintage,inspirational and something to fit in perfectly with my blog.

Jennifer had also recently purchased this:

She sat down before breakfast. Decided how to spend her day: climb trees. Run fast. Sing at the top of her lungs. Do the dishes tomorrow.

Isn't is perfect!? I also found these from the same company. They have many more but these are my favourite!

First it begins inside your heart. Something moves. Then opens. Then frees itself. And now, you feel a rhythm breaking its long silence. This is going to be good…

She decided to free herself, dance into the wind, create a new language. And birds fluttered around her, writing “yes” in the sky.

That’s the way it is with dreams. They scratch at your door. You see them through the peep hole: A stray dream looking for a home. You think it might go away if you ignore it. Wrong. It’s still there when you open the door, smiling. Wagging its tail.

You can find these and many other products here: http://www.live-inspired.com/

I told Jennifer that I love the style of these and would love something like this, so I thought I had been pretty generous with my instructions: providing enough feedback without stifling her creative freedom. She doesn't see it this way though. 

I am so excited to show everyone the wonderful piece Jennifer painted for me, so keep checking back for that! 

While we wait for my painting, enjoy some other pieces by Jennifer. 

I do want to include an inspirational quote on my painting and I am having a hard time finding the perfect one! So I am passing this over to you!! Do you have a favourite I do want to include an inspirational quote that would be perfect for my painting? It could be something that always helps you feel better after a hard day, or even a cute saying that would fit in with the direction this painting is trying to go in. I would love to hear anything you have! 

Leave a comment and the 'winning' quote will receive a painting by Jennifer Dawes, future famous Canadian artist! (she doesn't actually know about this yet)


I am looking forward to reading all of the quotes! 

Have you met Marshall?

Have you met Marshall?

Sorry that it is blurry, we found out the hard way how difficult it is to take a picture of a kitten!

When we 'rescued' his mother, Noelle, on Christmas Day last year we never imagined the crazy stuff that was about to happen! Noelle was feral; she hissed at us, she scratched us, and yet she was the most adorable kitten we had ever seen. We were finally able to catch her, quarantine her, and get her to the vet for her first shots. After months of only catching glimpses of her at the barn, we noticed how big her belly was getting. Despite our hopes for only worms, as gross as that sounds, we finally heard tiny meows coming from upstairs. The only problem was that we could never actually see where the noises were coming from!

To make a long story short, we found them and placed them in a tiny version of Fort Knox. Chicken wire, cardboard and a whole lot of staples went into getting a stall impossible to get out of. Getting Noelle in was the next challenge. Using her kittens as 'bait', we were finally able to coax her in long enough to close the door.

Where does Marshall come into this story? Well, right here!

One of Life's Simple Pleasures: Kittens!!

We knew we had to find homes for these darlings because we already had 7 cats, but it was so hard not to get attached and fall in love so quickly! It was hard to say good-bye, but we knew we found good homes for them. Until...

We get a phone call. You have to come pick up the kitten, we can't keep him anymore. I will spare you the details, but taking the kitten from a young boy's hands and hearing his voice break as he says goodbye to 'Shadow' was one of the toughest things I have had to do.

Marshall. is now a member of our family, on the condition that I take him with me when I move out. Which won't be a problem at all, since he is the most adventurous, curious and lovable kitten we have ever had! One of my new joys in life is to snuggle with Marshall. at night and being woken up through the night with kisses.

It is impossible to keep a straight face in the presence of one or more kittens. 

 ~Cynthia E. Varnado

Life Lessons from Jack

This is Jack.

And this is what he has taught me:

Over a rhetorical shirt reigns a floating proof

Love the title?! I do! I could not think of a good enough title so I went here: a random word generator. It took only two clicks before this beauty popped up!

I decided to plug this into Google Images and see what appears. The result was a random bunch of images, some of them involving t-shirts and some were just plain odd. My favourite images of the bunch were:

The random title is fitting for this random blog post. As it has been too long since I last posted I figured I should get into things again. 

I have been reading the most wonderful books recently: Far to Go by Alison Pick, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I plan on writing reviews for them all very shortly. Right now I am read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer. 

 

I recently came across this list here: 365 Simple Pleasures to Brighten a Year which I read through and just adored. Check these simple pleasures out when you get a chance, I will be featuring one every blog. 

Today's Simple Pleasure is...

1. Songs that bring you back to great moments in your life.

It is amazing how much music is a part of my life. The radio is normally always on, or we have a CD going, or I am upstairs listening to my Sirius Satellite Radio. The main musical influence in my life is Elvis Presley. I have been a fan of Elvis for many years now and I could listen to his voice all day long. Whenever I hear an Elvis song I do think of my trip to Graceland that I took with my dad for my 16th birthday. It was such an amazing experience to be at Graceland and I cannot wait to go back! 

I decided that trying to complete the list of 50 Ways to Scatter Sunshine is going to take too long if I try and do it in order. So I am going to complete this list out of order. 

50 Ways to Scatter Sunshine

9. Leave an encouraging note in a library book

I rarely take out library books myself, so I put this note in one of the books that my mom borrowed. 

Sunshine successfully scattered!!

Today is....

a wonderful day.

a beautiful day.

a day to be thankful for.

a day to stop and smell the flowers.

a day to walk around with a huge smile on your face because you can.

I woke up this morning and decided that today was going to be a great day. Yes, I was so very tired when I woke up that I just wanted to go back to bed. And yes, the massive grocery shopping adventure ended up pushing my buttons. But these things did not stop me from enjoying this day.

One of the main reasons for keeping such a positive attitude, other than my birthday tomorrow of course, is this blog here: Alice's Bucket List. Alice is such an inspiration and if she can keep such a wonderful attitude despite her terminal cancer, then I certainly can.

But it all comes down to that; a choice. I can choose to have a great day today and not let anything dampen my mood. On the other hand, I could chose not to care and let every tiny thing bother me. Making the decision to have a wonderful day today was easy, keeping it a wonderful day meant some work, but it is worth it. Today is a grand day.

Because I missed this week's Monday Post due to being away, I figured I should finally post that book review for The Good Daughters. I posted it on my goodreads account and you can find the review here.

And finally..... SCATTERING SUNSHINE!!
That's right! I finally got the first item finished, it only took almost three months.

50 Ways to Scatter Sunshine
1. Send a hand-written thank you card to someone.

I received this box with cards for my birthday from my aunt and I completely adore it!

It was absolutely perfect for this scattering of sunshine. I am not going to say who the letter was to but the letter was mailed today and should be arriving sometime next week! I am going to pretend that I put off doing this first item of the list was because I did not have the right stationary to properly and effectively scatter sunshine. But now I do! 

Sunshine successfully scattered! 

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." 

— E.E. Cummings