Friday Family Matter's.....

What does it take to make your marriage happy?
After reading some blog's from a group of women and men who featured this question, it kinda made me think it would be a great topic for Family Matter Fridays!
There were so many answers and comments that people came up with, it was so interesting to read the idea's that were voiced. The cutest ones were the young couple's that have been married for like 3 or 4 years and just starting thier families. The common theme for them was to "write little notes to eachother and remember to take time with eachother." There strategies were simple but very realistic. It shouldn't take money, magic or miracles to make your marriage work. The younger you realize that the better!
Don't get me wrong my friends..marriage is work and a full time job. In order to be happy it takes commitment, determination and dedication. It should of course come naturally..I mean you do have to love the person you're with, right? So, it makes sense that you'd want to make your partner happy, encourage them to pursue their dreams and always stand beside them...with a cup of coffee!
For me...the success in my marriage has been a very simple thing that anyone can do or say..."Thank you". Two little words that can totally change the course of any event in my house hold. I love to be acknowledged and I love to acknowledge my husband. He needs to know that I am thankful for all he does. He is wonderful, I am lucky and its ok to let him know that!
On Wednesday afternoon, I had asked Paul to come out with me to a couple stores because I needed his advice on a couple things. Paul informed me that he had something else that he wanted to do, and said he really didn't want to come out to the stores with me. I begged...pathetically, and insisted that he came with me. Begrudgenly he came with me, and it ended up being a very nice, successful afternoon. Paul did come around and was glad that he came out to help me. After we got home, I knew that I owed Paul a big thanks for putting my needs first. So, without hesitation I leaned in gave Paul a kiss and thanked him for not being selfish and helping me out. SO something that went from being a semi-disappointing afternoon for Paul...turned into a feeling of love and togetherness. We all have these moments in our marriages, but over time I have learned that we are individuals with different feelings, personalities and wants and needs. But when one of us puts the others needs infront of our own...that deserves recognition. I think that is what's important in a marriage.
When I asked Paul today what he felt was the success to a good marriage he simple stated.."our drives". I hadn't realized how much he loves our time alone in the car, driving to other small towns, grabbing a tea/coffee and taking off to look at land and houses. We have been doing this since our children were little, we would pack them up, put a movie on in the van and the kids would put their headsets on and we could talk. He also said making time to spend with one another. We don't need alot of time alone together, I mean its hard enough to get the kids to spend time with us, but we do enjoy our morning coffees or our after dinner glass of wine.
We all have our tricks to a happy marriage, I suppose the most common request amongst married couples is "communication and time together". We get so caught up in our busy lives, grow apart and forget the reason's we married. The hard part is not letting it come between us, when you feel like you are being pulled in different directions...stop what you are doing and hold on tight, life is more fun when its with the one you love!

Another sneak peak..

How was your day today my friends? I have not been feeling well, sore throat, stuffy nose and tired. Just fighting a cold...I hate this feeling when you are not sick enough to lay in bed all day but being up and about is killing me! I have up and down moments...some times I feel ok and then others I need to take a break and lay down. In my good moments today Paul and I headed out to pick up our cupboards that we had glass installed in..my goodness friends, I am soooo happy with them!

So, i am not ready to display the full kitchen yet, we have some finishing touches but I did take a couple pictures of the different cupboards that I have going on..you know, for contrast!! Above is the dark color from the island. Below is the off white cupboards that we ourselves painted...they are wonderful, so happy!!




Above is the cupboards that we had glass inserted in, the glass that I chose has a very cool pattern, very simple, elequent and classy looking...only a tidbit to show!!
They look amazing, honestly I keep harping on these cupboards and how great they are but its only because I have such a feeling of pride with them. Maybe its because we did them ourselves and saved a ton of money..for know! We did have a couple estimates for new cupboards and the going rate was between 7-10 thousand dollars, plus the cost of new flooring throughout the main area of the house...that alone would be at least...17,000 dollars. I am not ready to put that amount into this house right know, so we will wait and enjoy with extreme pride the kitchen we have completed together.
I am looking forward to this Saturday, Kailey and some of her ringette friends are wanting to get together and take pre-graduation pictures together, you know..fun ones! So early Saturday morning, the five girls who all went shopping in the U.S for grad dresses are getting together at one of the girls homes for hair and makeup prep. We are all bringing some good breakfast food, complete with coffee and tea and relaxing while the girls get their up-do's. Then we will be heading to a descrete location to take some photographs with the girls are done up, its going to be fun...I just hope they can keep their dresses clean. I will be the one taking the pictures, oh and of course the others can take pictures as well...I have some very cute, fun and exciting ideas..I think they will like them.
Its been so long since I have taken any pictures, at first I wasn't sure about doing it but I've looked on line at sample grad pics and I am feeling better and more excited about doing it. I am sure it will be fine, the girls are all beautiful, really how hard can it be?

Wednesday's Reflection...

Christmas 1997..


Look at my babies, they are so cute! It seems so long ago, these days when everything was innocent, when Santa Clause was real and everything seemed magical. Christmas eve was always and still is the most enchanting, imaginary and spiritually enlightening evening of the year. Having children brought back the meaning of christmas eve, and the excitment is still felt every year in my home. The conversations have changed over the years, the company has changed, and even some traditions are no longer the same. But one thing remains and always will and that is our family's love, devotion and desire to remain together.
This year back in 1997 was of course very exciting, I mean we had a 4 year old and a one year old...couldn't have gotten any better than that. The days when the kids went to bed at 10pm, and called out by 10:30PM to ask "Has Santa come yet dad?" We would quietly go into their bedrooms and tell them that Santa won't come until you are asleep and if you don't get to sleep he will skip our house! I remember telling Braden to listen carefully and maybe he would hear the sound of Santa's bells. Later in the night Paul and I would have a hot drink or a glass of wine, sit back, relax, chat and then get out the Santa gifts..we would have to be so quiet, hoping that we didn't wake the kids. After all was said and done, we would retire to bed and I would pray once again for another year of health and happiness...I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!

Plant kindness and gather love...

These are actually pictures from yesterday. Paul had decided that he wanted to change the side area of our backyard and plant some flowers and bushes. You see, along the fence at the side of the house we have an area where the dogs use to go to the bathroom. Having two labs, we are careful that they don't go the bathroom all over our yard. It wouldn't be much fun picking up dog poop everytime people come over. Plus it wouldn't look very nice and it would probably stink really bad. SO about 4 years ago we dug up this little area, filled it in with small rocks or river rocks, I think they are called? and trained our pup's to use that area to relieve themselves. Over the course of time they caught on, and they now use it religiously..its great because we have no "yellowed" areas in the backyard and no mounds of dog doodoo to step on. After each time the dogs go to the washroom on the rocks we quickly run out there and clean it up, scoop it up and put it in a waste basket...its a great system and with 2 big yellow labs..its perfect.
Well, we put down some patio stones in the area as well just to make it look nice but it has always needed more, so Paul finally took the iniative and went out and bought some pretty flowers. I am not at all a gardener, so Paul was on his own with that one. I did go to the nursery with him and help pick out the plants that I liked, but he had to plant them. I wasn't home Monday afternoon and asked him to take pictures of his gardening, so all these pictures are ones that he took.



Here's the layout...Paul had a vision and here is the beginning!


Plant Kindness Paul..and gather love!











Finished product, complete with Paul's watering system attatched to our fence. Well done!!

Monday's Menu...

Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan

What You Need!

6 small boneless skinless chicken breasts (1-1/2 lb./675 g )
1 pouch Shake'N Bake Original Coating Mix
1-1/2 cups pasta sauce
3/4 cup Kraft Mozzarella Shredded Cheese
1/4 cup Kraft 100% Parmesan Grated Cheese
1 tsp. dried oregano leaves

Make It!
HEAT oven to 400°F. Coat chicken with coating mix as directed on package; place in 13x9-inch pan.



BAKE 20 min. or until chicken is done (170°F). Top with remaining ingredients; bake 5 min. or until mozzarella is melted

Summer Spinach Salad

What You Need!

4 cups fresh spinach 1 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup sliced red onions
1/2 cup sliced cucumbers
1/2 cup Kraft Signature Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing

Make It!

COMBINE all ingredients except dressing in large bowl.

ADD dressing; toss to coat.

SERVE immediately.

Oreo Split

What You Need!

2 Jell-O Non-Refrigerated Chocolate Splat Pudding Snacks
1 banana, cut lengthwise, then crosswise in half
1/4 cup thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping
2 Oreo Cookies, crumbled

Make It!
SPOON pudding into 2 small bowls. Insert bananas in pudding.

TOP with Cool Whip and cookie crumbs. Serve immediately.


Good evening my friends...
Tonight I put alot of effort and time into dinner, and yes the pictures are staged! LOL, for the most part anyways. You see, I find the recipe, then I get the ingrediants and take a quick picture before I start to make the meal. Mondays are perfect for this because we have nothing going on, so I have a ton of time and I truely enjoy it. I have to admit, my recipes are simple and I am well aware of that. Really, honestly just google Kraft Canada and you can find all these easy meals. I choose the easy ones because like I said in the beginning of Monday's Menu's who has time to be cook difficult meals these days. So, i make it easy my friends. Anyways, today was good...even though I was thoroughly exhausted from my weekend get away I still went to the gym and had a great workout. I am really trying hard again to loose this 20 pounds...its so not easy, so not easy!

Toronto bound and friendship bonds..

Well as I mentioned last night Kailey and I headed to T-dot with Candy and Kelsey. We were up and out the door early in the morning, willing and ready to shop till we dropped, and that's just what we did!!
Kelsey was shopping for a grade 6 graduation dress and Kailey was finally purchasing her first skirt from Hollister. It was really cool, to have the opportunity to introduce Kelsey who is 12 years old, to Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch. Neither Candy or Kelsey has had the chance to shop in those stores, so it was time to get our groove on and take over those sun blissed, warmed atmosphered stores and show this young lady what she's been missing!
I think Kelsey was happy to get the experience and we explained that at her new school, most of the older grade kids will be wearing these "Oh so trendy, ridiculously self-loved clothes...meaning any one strutting around in those cute, little short shorts have a pair of "self-love" sunglasses, knowing darn well they look totally "admiring" and are glowing with their own "confidence spraying spritz".
Kelsey tried on these adorable shorts that I believe made her feel "pretty cool", she looked great! She also bought a cute top and a tee shirt...I think that was it?! Kailey of course picked up her skirt, cute tank top and a couple other things, she did well and I was proud of her for using her money and making good choices while spending.
Well, that was the shopping....the laughing was the best part. Let me tell you my friends some funny shit was had!! I don't even know where to start...most of the laughs were about Candy...typically Kailey busting her ass in Kailey's ever so sarcastic way. There was a funny story that happened just before we were getting ready to leave to go out to dinner. Candy was telling us a story as Kailey would say.."about Vegas", and while we were laughing Candy accidently let out a "laughing snort", well that just made us bust out even more and everything became funnier after that. Kailey so elequently turns to Candy after the giggling snort and so sincerely says.."Well, that was embarrassing..you should get that fixed!" Oh my goodness it was classic, Candy barrelled over in laughter as did I. It came out of Kailey so honestly, innocently but yet so damn cheeky.
We naturally ate at Mr. Greenjeans in the Eaton Centre, much history in that restaurant for Candy and I. You see every year, my mom would have to take me to Sick Kids hospital in TO for a heart checkup with my cardiologist. Most years, Candy would be allowed to take off the day and accompany us on the bus to TO. Of course the highlight being having lunch at the famous Mr. Greenjeans, which my mom so kindly treated us too.

Its just natural know even today to migrate to that restaurant and talk about the old days. Later in the night we headed to the closest pub by our hotel, The Elephant and Castle.
We shared some appetizers, had a drink and laughed some more. Again, it was great...after dinner we walked along downtown Toronto to see all the sites that Toronto offers.

Mostly crazy people screaming at us about the camera's on the street lights and how they are tracking us and causing cancer. There were however some very talented street bands, and we did enjoy those...i love the nightlife in Toronto, but it has nothing on NYC. Spending the night there just got me more excited for our trip to New York.
There were numerous goofy moments...many stories I could share. Over all, we had a wonderful girls night spent with two very important people in our lives. I look forward to Kailey and Kelsey growing up and us having the opportunity to spend more weekends together as we did this one.

Off to T-DOT my friends...

It is early Saturday morning, just making my tea then blow drying my hair. Getting ready to spend the night in Toronto with my bestie, her daughter me and my girlie. Its a girls weekend! Gotta love those...I am looking forward to all that Toronto has to offer, hope the weather stays nice!
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend too...