Comfort food (and the pursuit of fitting back into my wedding dress!)

I'm sitting here thinking about food. Breakfast was a Kelloggs Bran Cereal Bar (blech! but my sister and Dr Phil both tell me I need to eat more bran. Cereal bar form seems to be the only way my palate can handle it) and a kiwi fruit. Now I'm having a mid-morning hot chocolate, tsk! tsk!

Since discovering that I could no longer fit into my wedding dress I have been on a "diet", trying desperately to rid my stomach, thighs, and butt of those sneaky extra pounds. Of course, when I know I can't have something it makes me want it even more.

Here are some of my favourite foods, in no particular order. Most are chocolate. Some are bad. A few are good. Some are just plain evil!

• Godiva Chocolate - a treat I receive only once a year at Christmas.
• Chocolate Bars - my favourites are cherry blossom, eatmore, aero, glossett raisins, caramelog, smarties, I could go on.
• Fudgeos, Chewy Chips Ahoy...Mr Christie, you make good cookies!
• Ice Cream - At home, vanilla sprinkled with chocolate chips. Outside, McD's hot fudge sundae, Laura Secords Chocolate Chocolate Chunk, Baskin Robbins Jamocha Almond Fudge.
• Berries - raspberries, strawberries, blueberries are all absolutely yummy!
• B52 Milkshakes from Kelseys restaurant
• Grapefruit - prefer pink, need to sprinkle the white ones with sugar.
• French fries - poutine is great! All smothered in Ketchup of course. Oh, gotta go add ketchup to my list of favourite things.
• Tim Hortons whole wheat bagel toasted with plain light cream cheese
• Freshly Baked Bread
• Pizza & Garlic fingers from Pizza Delight
• Garlic bread at Dominoes
• Roasted marshmallows
• Plain ruffle chips with whipped plain cream cheese
• My own pasta with tomatoes recipe sprinkled with fresh parmesan - so yummy even if I must say so myself.
• Lobster and crab - when fresh from the Atlantic, there's just no comparison!
• Sunflower seeds, salted, preferably without the shell.
• McCain deep n delicious marble cake
• "Hey Dolly" homemade cookies - made with graham crumbs, condensed milk, chocolate chips, shredded coconut (all the good stuff!).
• My homemade moose-meat pies (yes, I said "MOOSE" meat, you newfies will understand).
• Coconut Cream Pie
• Cod fish - my favourite is how the Portuguese do it with the potatoes, egg, olive oil.
• Sweet Pickled Onions

Well, I think that's enough. Perhaps this blog wasn't such a great idea, now I've gone and made myself really hungry! I just have to keep reminding myself that July 23rd is fast approaching and there's no $$ to buy a bigger wedding dress.

Most of all, I need to keep reminding myself that even after the wedding, just simply being healthy should be more than reason enough to control my eating habits. I'm in for quite the challenge!

Jamie, my thoughts of you...

Jamie reads my blogs and yesterday he pointed out his disappointment about not being added to my list of favourite things. I tried to explain that it included favourite "THINGS", not favourite "PEOPLE". My explanation did not seem to reassure him so today I am writing a list specifically devoted to my husband-to-be:

Jamie, here are my favourite things about you:

• You read this weblog. This means a great deal to me because it lets me know that you are interested in ME, my life, my thoughts. And then you like to talk about my journal entries which is a great bonus.
• You are thoughtful and you CALL, all the time, every day. You ask how my day is going, if I need anything picked up on your way home from work, if I had a good nights sleep. Sometimes you call so much that it gets annoying. Of course I don't want to complain because there are millions of other women who would want to slap me for being annoyed at such a thing.
• You support me in my committment to God and church attendance. You will never know how much this means to me (and our future family)!
• You are very affectionate. You walk in the door and immediately come to me for a hug/kiss. You always want to snuggle on the couch watching TV. Again, I am annoyed at this sometimes because I am not really a very cuddly person. But I think of the alternative and I am so thankful.
• How you say "yeah I know..." when I tell you that you look sexy.
• You are intelligent about things that I haven't the slightest clue. Politics, sports, cars, and electronics do not interest me in the least but it's so nice to know that you can explain it all when I ask. It's a fine balance.
• Physically speaking, you have features that I hope will be passed along to our children....the prettiest blue eyes, blonde hair, nicely tanned skin.
• You are strong and I feel safe in your arms. I know that you will never let anything hurt me as long as you have a way to prevent it.
• You love your mother. This was evident to me as soon as we met because you spoke so often and so highly of her. This was so important to me and immediately gave me a sense of how greatly devoted and committed you are. Even though you were spoiled rotten by her (and I have accepted that my lasagna will never compare), I am forever grateful to her for teaching you love and respect for the women in your life.
• You have so many wonderful stories to share about your father, your siblings, your grandparents. I breathe a sign of relief that you come from such a strong family structure, a strong basis for our own family.
• You get SO excited about birthdays and Christmas, anything that involves getting presents. You cannot contain yourself even if you are just getting a chocolate bunny at Easter. Of course, along with this comes your extreme "nosiness". You do everything in your power to coax and convince me of your surprises and force me to hide your gifts in spots that even I then have a hard time finding.
• Your hardy/goofy laugh. You don't really laugh out loud a lot but when you do, I just love to hear the sound.
• It's funny when you announce that you are the "king of the castle", the "champion of the world", and flex your muscles and say, "Oh Yeah Baby!" and then expect me to agree and not roll my eyes. Hee, hee! But yet you are afraid of bugs, are a nervous wreck at a slight change in plans, and almost cry at the thought of a roller coaster...so cute!
• I love our Thursday night tradition - Survivor and milkshake for two!
• You try your best to help around the apartment (even when I complain that you're not doing it MY way). You're especially doing an awesome job at learning how to cook, Sunday dinners being your speciality...yummy!

Babe, even though I'm not very expressive to you in person, I hope this helps you realize how wonderful you are to me. As our years together go by, I'm sure you'll continue to amaze me. I just pray that God will help me to continually see what a great man you truly are!

List of Favourites

To balance my "List of Annoyance" I have decided to compose a list of some of my favourite things:

1. The sound of my nieces laughter
2. Almost anything to do with the ocean: the sound of the waves, salt spray, seashells, whales, and wonderfully tasty fresh seafood.
3. Chocolate...and lots of it!
4. Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head
5. Vintage "stuff" - furniture, clothes, photos, jewelry, etc.
6. Postage stamps (miniature works of art)
7. Childrens Books. Among my favourites: Charlotte's Web, Cat Among the Cabbages, The Magpie Song, You are Special
8. Medical Books
9. Shoes & Purses
10. 1 cent sour candy
11. Old Gospel Hymns
12. Great lyrics/poetry
13. Mom's freshly baked bread
14. The name Sarah
15. Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries
16. KETCHUP....How could I ever forget the world's greatest condiment?!

...just to name a few...will keep adding as life inspires me.

Awesome cartoon 

List of Annoyance

I love this blog

I am copying this idea and create my own list of annoyances:

1. Staples - why must people put 16 staples to hold together 2 pieces of paper.
2. Loud Nose Blowers - my grandfather used to sound like a foghorn, especially in the quiet serenity of a church service. No shame!
3. New and Improved - if you see this on a product in the store, it is a guarantee of disappointment. Why change a perfectly good thing?
4. Miserable people - my sister dropped me off at the hair salon yesterday and pulled in front of a driveway for 2 seconds to let me out of the car. Immediately an old lady was at the door yelling, "You're not going to park there are you? You're blocking my driveway!" Are you just standing there WAITING for this moment to happen?
5. Hair dressers with bad haircuts - just makes me wonder why...?
6. Pickup trucks with the huge newfie flag on the back with "LaScie" (the name of the town) in bold print. I am proud of being a newfie too. But seriously, something a little less obvious would suffice.
7. 11 year old girls wearing heels. Or for that matter, anyone wearing heels that don't know how to walk in them.
8. Avon scents - only the 99 cent cherry lipbalm and the peach bubblebath smell good. Almost everything else reaks.
9. Saggy ass jeans - having the crotch of your jeans down to your knees is simply not attractive at all. Bend over and there we have it - plumbers butt!....'nuff said.
10. Cat fur - all of my black clothing turns white within seconds of being near my long-haired kitty.
11. People who don't wave to say thank you when you let them out in traffic.
12. White sports socks in dress shoes....why do people do this? Guys with long pants I can sorta get past. Women in skirts I'll never understand nor accept.

There are so many more, I'm certain I could go on forever....I'll continue making additions as life brings little annoyances my way.

Now I have to make a list of my favourite things to balance the yang with the yin.

The Beautiful People

I got my hair cut. It's nice, I like it, took 2 full hours. I had a different stylist this time, George, a short Portuguese guy with perfectly trimmed beard and overplucked eyebrows. He was very good, didn't talk my ear off as I find stylists normally do.

Yes, at this salon, they are stylists, not just hairdressers (God forbid!). "Ego" (that's the salon name) is fully staffed by the beautiful people, mostly men, any of who could easily tip the scales in either direction between homo- and hetero-sexual. Russell, my normal stylist (and co-owner) once made a point to tell me that all of his stylists were straight. And, he says, men are better stylists than women. His theory: A woman will always hold back when it comes to making another woman look her absolute best. A man will always want his woman (client, in this case) to be as beautiful as possible. I agree with him. Makeover stylists on Oprah are always male therefore his theory must certainly be true!

So, as I'm sitting there in front of the mirror, I am bored at looking at myself. The salon has mirrors everywhere and I am able to see almost every angle from reflection alone, no head-turning required. I have decided that all of the metrosexual, manicured, fakin-baked men in the city must all be in this one room. I am out of place completely. These men are prettier than me!

And then the girls start coming down from the spa upstairs. They all have incredible haircuts. The haircuts are super funky and I love them - pink and red and platinum blond, spiky mohawks and brushcuts. A girl HAS to be beautiful to be able to pull off hair like THAT! As they shamelessly flirt, I can't help but wonder if the guys in the salon and the girls in the spa trade "services".

A client walks in the door. He is wearing a wool hat, pajama pants, socks in flip-flops! Even so, he is another of the beautiful people! He is tall and olive-skinned. Exotic, I decide, with red pouty lips and dark eyes, chiseled features. Black curls peek from under his hat. He sits and waits, very serious, and I can't stop myself from looking at him. And then he smiles at one of the girls and he is more beautiful. But then....his friend comes in and sits beside him. The friend is loud and impatient, tells "exotic boy" he's crazy to wait for a haircut. Exotic boy asks receptionist girl how long it will be....she says "George is almost done.". He goes back to his chair and slouches, takes on an attitude. I quickly snap back to reality! Sadly, beauty is only skin-deep.

My reflection is improving by the minute so I resume looking at myself. George snips and primps, flat-irons and fusses. I am finally done...woohoo! Feels so good, my hair is light and silky soft.

I call Jamie to pick me up. When I get in the truck he greets me with, "Hey Sexy. You look so pretty with your new haircut. Do you like it?" I smile at him and nod "yes". He makes me feel great...to him, I am one of the beautiful people. That's all that matters.

The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Burns the Pizza

Mothers Day is approaching...this year is slightly different.

As always I think of my own wonderful mother, a truly marvelous woman who devoted her young life to being a stay-at-home-mom. I am reminded of one of my favourite quotes:

They say that man is mighty, He governs land and sea, He wields a mighty scepter
O'er lesser powers that be; But a mightier power and stronger Man from his
throne has hurled, For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the
world

I love this quote, it is so true! Mothers are our foundation. They keep us safe for our first 9 months of creation, they give us birth, feed us, nurture us, kiss our wounds, and love us even when we make their hearts ache.

This year, with marriage pending, I have been thinking a great deal of becoming a mother myself. I have "baby fever" days when nothing could seem better. And then the days when the idea of motherhood scares me to death. I wonder how I will ever keep up?....I hate being awakened from sleep, I lose patience so easily sometimes, I love my freedom to come and go as I please....this will all change so drastically that I cannot even imagine! And then there's the emotional part of motherhood which I cannot even fathom understanding.

The decision to have a child, it's momentous. It is to decide forever to let
your heart walk around outside of your body.

I have deeply considered many aspects of motherhood since becoming an auntie. I love my nieces dearly and try and spend as much time with them as possible. I fear the day when I am no longer the cool aunt...Erykah will no longer call me to "come over" just because...., Isabella will no longer be the cute little toddler who hugs my shoulder so tightly.

It was so much easier to babysit when there was just one of them....not EASY, but easIER. I took care of them yesterday for a few hours after work. Jamie was a huge help and prepared most of our supper while I watched the girls. Of course, he eventually had to take a shower, leaving me alone to watch the girls AND the homemade pizza in the oven. Apparantly I am unable to do both because I totally forgot about the pizza....and it cooked for much too long! "It's not burnt, at least...", I said (more like a question requiring gentle reassurance) to Jamie. He just said that it was okay, that he knew I was busy. Deep down if I were him I would have been thinking "I leave you alone for 10 minutes!..."

Ultimately I've come to a conclusion. I guess it doesn't really matter if the pizza is burnt as long as everyone is healthy and safe and can lovingly sit down and eat it together!

Naked without my ring

I've never really been much of a jewellry person. I should rephrase, I've never been one to WEAR much jewellry, though I do love it.

When I was 9 or 10 I wanted to pierce my ears like all the other girls and was sternly told by my father, "If God wanted holes in your ears then he would have put them there!". I never bothered again except for one piercing in my upper ear when I was 18, I'm sure my dad was thrilled. It was during my rebellion stage..."Rebel"...HA!, as if I could ever be a rebel.

Anyways, back to my original point about jewellry. I have my favourite vintage pieces, mostly cameos (LOVE cameos), some grandma-type brooches, clunky Mrs. Roper costume stuff. But I barely ever wear any of it. Today, I wear only a silver necklace and the same silver hoop that's been embedded in that one pierced ear for 6 years now. But I'm missing one very important piece, realized it on the drive to work this morning, my engagement ring!! How could I forget that? My hands swell terribly at night so I take it off and place it next to my bed, in the same spot every evening, and put it on first thing when I wake up. But it seems that my morning routine was thrown - I've decided to place blame on my extremely vocal cat loudly waking me to say that I had forgotten to fill his bowl the night before. Psychologically, of course, I battled with myself and pondered if there was a subconscious reason why I had chosen not to wear the ring this morning. I was kinda annoyed at Jamie last night for not helping with his laundry....? But I had already balanced that away by reminding myself that he DID help with preparing supper. Nah, that's not it....I just simply forgot....and now I feel naked, constantly feeling my finger, momentarily startled to find it not there, and having to remind myself, "Don't panic, it's not lost, it's at home safe and sound"....all alone next to my bed, feeling left out in not fulfulling it's purpose in life (Yes, I quite often give voice and emotion to inanimate objects). Tonight, I will make an extra mental note, post a "sticky" on my bathroom mirror, and make certain that tomorrow, I will not come to work naked!

Calendar Honeymoon

When I came to work this morning, I turned the page on my calendar to MAY (Wow, how time flies!) and saw this beautiful picture. I was curious and read the description "French River, Prince Edward Island, John Sylvester Photography"....what a coincedence! "Cool", I said, and told some co-workers about the picture. "This is the little town where I'll be spending my wedding night!" Jamie and I are getting married on the beach at Cousin's Shore, Park Corner, PEI. I found the cutest B&B for our wedding night....the "California Room" complete with king size bed and jacuzzi, and it's only about 5 minutes away from where our wedding will take place. And then we are going to continue our honeymoon at a cottage in Cavendish. I'm just thrilled to be getting married on this little island where Jamie and I both vacationed as children. The countdown is on (82 days until July 23rd) and I'm so excited!

No Stitches Required

Jamie has just begun his softball season. My niece, Erykah, just loves going to the ballpark with us. No longer confined to an apartment, Erykah has so much freedom at the ball park to run and jump and play with little friends.

Today was no different in the "jumping" department. In fact, Erykah's jumping created quite a serious commotion. Jumping with head down over a puddle of spilled chocolate milk on the pavement caused poor little Erykah to hit her forehead into the edge on an open car door. OUCH! Time stood still in that moment....I was standing there, transfixed, watching it happen but yet too slow to react. Life is cruel to active 4 year olds who are too invigorated by fresh air to notice such dangerous obstacles. And then the loud tears, the broken skin, blood dripping...and in an instant she was in my arms and hurried to the truck followed quickly by Vanessa (the owner of the "BAD CAR!" and a mom) with first aid kit and gauze in hand. I didn't even want to look at her forehead, thought it was just a scratch but then I had to do it....I pulled back the gauze and saw an inch long gash...not sure if the gasp was mine alone or the spectators whispering "stitches for sure". And then (another moment I don't wish to repeat), the call to Erykah's mom, Tracey...."Hello....don't panic....but Erykah is hurt, she cut her head open....should we meet you at the hospital?" We opted for the walk-in clinic which seemed a faster option that our ever-crowded Brampton emergency room. The clinic was full but pretty quick to see the injured child with the bleeding forehead who kept saying she wanted to "go to sleep". The doctor was very nice....phew!! the skin had not broken all the way through and "no stitches required". It was a very clean cut, he said, and just put on a piece of tape to keep the gash closed. Perhaps later, the headache will come. The doctor said she's okay to rest, hopefully she'll sleep through the throbbing pain. She's had enough for one day.

Erykah was a very strong girl today...didn't even cry after we started en route to the clinic. Believe it or not, after all of this, she didn't want to go home. She wanted to go back to the ballpark....but....

Alas! to add insult to injury, no more ball games this weekend....Jamie's team lost!