Wednesday 25 June 2014

the Nick update

You guys don't get to hear a lot about the hubster because I'm too busy yacking about myself! Quadding is a year-round sport with my family and Nick has taken to it nicely. (Thank goodness because my dad is always looking for people to come... and I just can't give up my Saturday crafting day!!) He is good with the terrain and although there have been a few spills, he always comes home in one piece. Look at that handsome guy! 





Huge mud puddles what could be better?


Friday 20 June 2014

Rainy Day Food

Rainy days as a kid always meant coming home from school to homemade chilli and cornbread. So on a particularly rainy day this week I came home at lunch and threw some soup in the crockpot so I would could come home from work to something warm :) (This particularly rainy day was the downpour that flooded our basement later that night... Boo.) 

My all time favourite soup recipe is one from www.skinnytaste.com. Have you ever been on Gina's website?? I LOVE her skinny recipes. Nick likes them too! :) I love getting texts like this-->


Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 6 • Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups + cheese • Old Points: 5 pts • Points+: 7 pts
Calories: 260.9 • Fat: 6.6 g • Protein: 25.4 g • Carb: 29.9 g • Fiber: 6.7 g • Sugar: 4.1 g
Sodium: 572 mg (without salt)  


Ingredients:
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 1/2 cup onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 cups low sodium fat-free chicken broth
  • 8 oz can tomato sauce
  • 1-2 tsp chipotle chili in adobo sauce (or more to taste)
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (plus more for garnish)
  •  15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
  • 2 cups frozen corn
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 8 oz skinless chicken breasts (16 oz total)
  • 1/4 cup chopped scallions, for topping
  • 3/4 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
  • fat free sour cream (optional)
Directions:

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until soft, 3-4 minutes. Slowly add the chicken broth, tomato sauce and chipotle adobo sauce and bring to a boil. Add cilantro and remove from heat. Pour into crock pot.

To the crockpot, add drained beans, diced tomatoes, corn, cumin, oregano and stir.Add the chicken breasts; cover and cook on low heat for 4-6 hours.

Remove chicken and shred with two forks. Add chicken back into the soup, adjust salt and cumin to taste. Serve in bowls and top with fat free sour cream, cheese, scallions and cilantro. You can also top with avocado or crushed tortilla chips.

Ok Gina's pictures are way better than mine... but this is what the soup looks like in real life...

And what goes better with soup than cornbread?? This is my mom's recipe:

Mamma Ju's Cornbread
1/4 c shortening
1/2 sugar
1 egg
1 c milk
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder

Bake 9x9 pan 350 for 20-25 mins
Bake 12 muffin pan 375 15-20 mins
weight watchers: each muffin has 3 points+

Bon appetit!


Monday 16 June 2014

Engagement Story

June 16 - 1 year ago today I got engaged! And what a surprise it was!! I've never written out our engagement story before, so here it is... or you can just watch the video and call it quits.


We had been looking at rings for a while. I absolutely fell in love with one at Paris Jewellers in the mall. I had looked at a lot of rings in a lot of stores and never seen anything like it. I was hooked. Too bad it was over our budget... WAY over. The lady at the store told us it could likely go on sale, but even then it was on the high end of our budget. We put it on hold just in case. Normally I'm not the fancy shmancy type, or the type of girl to want an expensive ring, but for some reason I could not love anything else. Nick loved the ring too, we both talked about it the whole way home how much we both loved it.



 So I started researching trying to find something smaller in size, or similar that we could afford. I found one I could create at People's that was smaller, had the same kind of style and was within our budget . I gave Nick all the information on how to order it and I knew it would take 6 weeks to get it customized. I'm a bit of a control freak. When I want things to get done I want them to get done right now. So it was really hard for me relinquish my power. 

I waited and waited for any hint of him getting the ring but nothing, a couple of months passed. I called the store, the order still hadn't been placed. I was getting more and more discouraged. Finally on Father's Day weekend we had a good talk about how stressed out we've both been and how he was trying to find the perfect weekend but things kept coming up. Nick mentioned my dream ring had gone on sale and he was going to surprise me with it. So we almost just decided to get engaged right then and there to take the pressure off. But Nick still wanted to do something special, so we drove to the mall to see if the ring was still on sale or to place the order for my 2nd choice. Nick didn't want me coming with him, so I went to the food court to kill time. He came back and told me an older couple had come into the store and bought my dream ring, it had been on hold for so long the ladies at the store didn't think we wanted it anymore. He told me he went and placed the order so in 6 weeks we will be engaged! We had separate cars at the mall so we were going to meet at my parents and head out to the farm for Father's Day festivities.

I was a little sceptical about his story. I mean come on, another couple just HAPPENED to buy the ring the same day Nick was going to? This was classic boyfriend 101. Lying about the ring so you can "surprise" the girl. I wanted to know if he was lying, so I called Paris Jeweller on the way home. I told the lady my name and asked if my ring was still on hold. She asked if I could hold she would go check. Little did I know Nick went straight to the jewellery store to buy my dream ring. (he WAS lying just as I suspected) He was in the store when I called!! She told Nick his girlfriend was on the phone asking about the ring and what she should tell me. Nick thought "that little snoop dog!! trying to see if I was lying..." so he told her to tell me it had sold earlier and to apologize to me, they didn't know we still wanted it. So the lady told me exactly that. I hung up and was kinda bummed. I was THIS close to getting that amazing ring. Oh well. Nick's story checked out and I would have to wait 6 weeks for the other one to come in. At least I was getting a ring I kept thinking.... (I guess Nick's story was partially true, apparently an older couple HAD come in and looked at the ring earlier that day, wanting to buy it!!)

Apparently Nick got right to work, he got his plan rolling into action with the help of his family (1 day to get everything ready!) and texted all of my family to let them know he was going to propose the next day.


{NEXT DAY}


I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I was super grumpy. Nick surprised me by driving from Barnwell to go to church with me. He never does that, but I didn't think anything of it. We had a nice day at church together but I desperately needed a nap and I was getting grumpier and grumpier. Nick told me to take a nap and take my time getting ready then come out to Barnwell for Father's Day dinner. I woke up from my nap, still not in the best of moods and almost called to tell Nick I didn't want to come out for dinner I just wanted to stay home. But I decided to be a good sport and so I showered and headed out there. 

During the summer Nick had cleaned out his Grandma Johnson's quonset and found big barrels full of food storage, some of them were labelled instant mashed potatoes and Nick's imagination started going wild. When I arrived at the Johnson house they were making a kiddy pool full of instant mashed potatoes (apparently when they opened the barrels they were actually full of wheat!! So they had to improvise and Nick's dad went out and bought like 20 boxes of instant mashed potatoes). Nick's family later that night asked me if I was at all suspicious of why the heck they were making a pool full of mashed potatoes, but honestly nothing crossed my mind. I was completely oblivious. It had Nick written all over it, he is always coming up with crazy stuff like this.

Nick's sister's Alisha and Carly had me help them put the kids prizes into plastic baggies to hide in the mashed potatoes. So we put in chocolate bars, nail polish, dollar store action figures, etc. Sneakily Alisha showed me the little princess ring they got for one of Nick's nieces, Lily. It was in a little sparkly heart shaped box. Again, totally oblivious. I mean why would I be suspicious? My ring had sold and we ordered another one to come in 6 weeks from now. The kids got into their swimsuits and we were gonna start playing games, trying to find the prizes. I tried to hide in the kitchen and clean up dinner and do the dishes but Nick kept saying I got voted to go first against his brother-in-law Tony. I told him I was happy to stay in the kitchen and clean up, I'll watch out the window, but he wouldn't have it. He asked me to be a good sport, so I finally went outside dragging my feet. I did not want to get dirty and get mashed potatoes all over me....

no clue what is about to happen in a few minutes

both Tony and I got blind folded and Alisha hid the "prize" in the pool. Whoever found it first won.
There were a lot of cameras and video cameras out but I didn't think anything of that either. I mean it's Father's Day and the kids are playing in a pool full of mashed potatoes. Why wouldn't people be documenting this? For someone who didn't want to play the game in the first place I was being oddly competitive. I attribute that to the Orr blood in me. I found the prize and pulled it out! I wanted to see what I got so with the blindfold on I took out a plastic ring box. I knew it was the one Alisha had showed me earlier with a plastic ring in it. So I yelled "yes!! I finally got a ring!" Implying I had been waiting forever to get engaged. (Little did I know...) And I opened the box to put the plastic ring on my finger. Then my blindfold flew off and I looked what was in my fingers and it was THE ring! I was so confused. This was impossible. It had sold...This was all running through my mind while Nick got down on one knee and proposed. I was floored! I had specifically stipulated 2 things to Nick for when he proposed to me:
#1) I didn't want him to do it in front of anyone. I wanted it to be just the 2 of us
#2) I didn't want anything fancy. I just wanted him to tell me why he loved me and wanted to marry me

So much for just the 2 of us! I got proposed to in front of his whole family! But it was perfect. The surprise was much better. Family and Friends were on standby waiting to come out to Barnwell to congratulate us and have cake and dessert with us. It was such a special day! And to think I was grumpy earlier!




Courtesy of Nicole Maclean Photography



Courtesy of Meghan Maxwell Photography







Saturday 14 June 2014

Rainy Day Projects

Today was a spectacular day. Nick went quadding with my Dad all day so I had the house to myself. Time to get some projects done!!! I didn't put a lick of make up on, ate whatever I wanted and stayed in my pyjamas all day. One word. Glorious. I pretty well worked my butt off all day and all night right up until midnight. A few finished today and a couple more are half-way there! Here are my rainy day successes

Success #1 - Garage Sale
It's no surprise I love summer. Who doesn't?? But mostly because of one thing. Garage sale season. Just thinking about it brings me to my happy place. Today was so rainy and gloomy I didn't think it was worth hunting for the morning, so I slept in instead. As I was driving home from my mom's in the afternoon I noticed a garage sale on the corner, and because I have no will power I thought, "hey what the heck, I will check out one today". And I'm so glad I did because I found the ONE thing I wanted to find this summer. I got 3 rounded wooden dining room chairs last summer for $9, and they are my favourite! But I only got 3 so I have been using 3 chairs from another set. BOOO they don't match! So
I was on the hunt for 3 more of the same kind.... hehe. I got these 3 for $8. My set is now complete.



I would like to paint them a fun colour eventually. Love. Love. Love.

6 Chairs ---> $17, garage sale
Table ---> Free, hand-me-down from my parents
Lace Tablecloth ---> Free, garage sale

Success #2 - Ikea Magic
We live in a basement suite and sometimes it is PAINFUL trying to find space for everything. Especially all my decorations and crafting supplies... haha. I finally had enough time to hit up IKEA with a few hours to peruse. I could not believe all the treasures I found. I have this little corner beside my piano I have been hoarding all my music. I have been wracking my brain and searching pinterest for ways to store music but came up empty handed.




I bought the KASSET boxes at Ikea ($6.99 for 2 pack) in this cute green colour to match my decor. I organized it by LDS, Choir, Christmas, Piano music and voila! They fit PERFECTLY and look way nicer. I could even put a little vase on there like an end table or something.



Success #3 - More Ikea Magic
The basement suite problem again. We just don't have enough room!!! It drives me crazy. I dejunk and then somehow we accumulate more STUFF and it ends up in this hallway at the back of our suite. We also have this giant closet that would be great for storing things, but there are no shelves. It's just a giant deep closet that is full of crap. Have you ever seen that Friends episode where Monica has a secret closet full of junk and Chandler never knew about it? Ya. It's bad. Our upstairs tenants just moved out so we are taking possession of the garage (totally not worth renting it out p.s.) and I decided to pack stuff up and haul it out there! I also thought I would surprise Nick by transforming this using some Ikea magic. It's almost embarrassing showing these pictures, but it's important to show how much friggin work this was!! haha

BEFORE



AFTER


Used some extra tupperware containers for recycling bins

The Ikea SORTERA bins are perfection. You can access anything inside the bin without unstacking them because the lids lift up. I used 4 large ones ($12.99 each) and 4 small ones ($9.99 each). Grandpa Pierson would be proud to see all my beautiful labelling. 







This will be my seasonal bin. I keep all the sunscreen, beach towels, gardening tools etc in here

 Perfect place to put the millions of gift bags and tissue paper we got from our wedding. I reuse those bad boys all the time. 

 Does anyone else have a present box? This is something I got from my mom. When I find things on sale I buy them and keep them in the present box for people's birthdays, christmas, baby showers, weddings, etc. Saves times and money for sure!


Hope you guys had an awesome rainy Saturday too!!





Thursday 12 June 2014

Budgeting

Budgeting is something we've been trying to do as a couple ever since we got married last fall. It's taken almost an entire year to revamp the budget and figure out what is realistic and what will work for both of us. We have finally worked out something we are happy with and excited about!! Everybody's lives and marriages are so different so you really do have to spend some crucial time trying out a few different things. We failed a LOT at budgeting before we got the hang of it. 10 months later here we are! Stick with it! You will eventually find a good balance for the two of you. Here are a few things that have worked for us:

Gail's Budget (http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/)
Gail Vaz Oxlade is the TV personality who hosts Til Debt Do Us Part. She has an awesome blog that was super helpful for beginner budgeters like us. It educates on how to start budgeting, and what you will need to include in your budget etc. She also has a ton of helpful tips on savings accounts, mortgages, RRSPs etc. This is just the kickstart you need!! -->  http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/resources/guide_to_building_budget.html

I used her budget model and changed it to fit our needs. 
http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/resources/interactive_budget_worksheet.html
(You can also download the excel spreadsheet version which is what I used to plan our monthly budget)

www.mint.com
Mint is an awesome budgeting website that extracts all of your debit/credits from your bank accounts and allocates them to different categories so you can track your spending. You can also set goals and track your progress online.
My favorite part of Mint is the live feed that shows how much money you've spent from your budget during any time of the month. The visibility of it helps keep us accountable to our spending habits and sometimes watch our money slip away faster than we would like!! If you overspend in any category you will get an e-mail notification saying you're over budget. Mint also sends e-mails for any unusual spending that's happened, if a large bill is due, or just friendly budgeting tips!

At first we tried to use mint.com exclusively, but the online visibility wasn't quite working for Nick, he wouldn't visit our Mint account at all during the month - so it was kind of a one-sided tool. I needed something that would work for both of us.

Excel Spreadsheet
Using Mint to track our spending for the last 10 months - I was able to use their website to figure out what kind of dollar amounts were reasonable for each category. Nick made a point of saying the budget needs to be realistic and achievable, because what's the point of going over-budget every month. My friend Kaitlyn had taken Gail's budget and simplified it into her own excel spreadsheet. I absolutely LOVED how hers turned out, it is so simple and visually it is exactly what we needed! I did up a pretend budget so you get an idea of how simple it is. Everyone has a different lifestyle so yours will look much different! I used very basic numbers for the sample. At the end of every month I input my real numbers (because bills are subject to change month to month) and see how much is leftover. I let the leftover money roll forward into our account.



CASH JARS
Instead of trying to keep track of things "virtually" on Mint we decided actually seeing the money would work best for us. Gail Vaz Oxlade has people use cash jars on her show, she explains them here--> http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/articles/budgeting/magic_jars.html.



I bought these jars at the dollar store and put vinyl stickers on. We take out cash at the beginning of each month and put them in our mutual spending jars. If we need anything for household supplies/toiletries, cards for birthdays, vacation expenses, blinds for the house etc we have to use money out of the jar and replace the money with the receipt. The best part of the cash jars is that when the cash is gone - no more spending for you!! No going over budget when you have no more money to spend.

The first Monday of every month is our Family Home Evening Budget night. We go over receipts, the budget, check over bank transactions and see how we are doing on our goals. Its a habit we want to establish for ourselves and for our future family!
***keep jars locked up, hidden away in a safe place***

Our Top 5 Budgeting Tips for Couples
(disclaimer: these are for couples who have joint bank accounts and share finances)
1. Be honest with yourself and your spouse about your spending
2. Have separate spending money that you can use without having to be accountable to your spouse. Spend it, save it - it's yours to do with as you please! (gets rid of a lot of guilt and tension between the two of you!)
3. Make realistic goals
4. Go over finances together regularly
5. If at first, or second, or third, or fourth... you don't succeed, try try again! Be patient!