cooking, my heart, book club, and movie time

1 We work together in the kitchen today making Strachi. It is a recipe a friend gave to me years ago. It's crepes stuffed with either a ricotta cheese mixture or thick spaghetti sauce, then it's smothered in more thinner sauce and cheese and baked. mmmm
2 Isabelle tells me how happy she is to see me and that she loves me so much. My heart melts from this wee one and when I say it back she smiles and leans in for a big hug. 
3 Book club. It's that time again and our food theme is Italian. The potluck consisted of strachi, lasagna, bread salad, tomato and mozarella salad and breads. Dessert was cannolis, tiramisu and gelato. Oh right the book. We had read Unbroken. It was liked by all with the focus on redemption, forgiveness and hope. 
3a I've also seen the movie and would  recommend it. Great acting, relatively close to the storyline and dramatic but not over the top.

family ties, our day, and It Works

1 What a great day spent with family. I'm so grateful we moved to the interior. It's been a year of big personal growth and healing, time with family and being able to contribute to the lives of the wee ones and be a part of their lives.
2 There's time for lunch, a few Toopy and Binoo shows, then a grand time in the hot tub, bath and snacks before Kesler and Izzy both have naps. Oh, and let's not forget Daddy. He had a nap too.
3 We work on business and marketing ideas for my It Works business. thebeautifulbody.ca. My daughter in law was creative, helpful and really put it together for and with me. She created business cards, sample cards and then we made our own samples! We took straws and heated and sealed one end, filled the straw with gel and then sealed the other end. Next we punched holes in the cards and attached it with double sided tape and ribbons! Tomorrow I'll see how it goes over at Book Club. Feeling hopeful.

thursday, friday and saturday

1 Another day of rest. I'm so grateful that I can rest and recover from this icky flu/cold that's gotten hold of me.

2 How nice to get messages about our book club gathering. We had so much fun, eating, drinking and finally talking about books, and some rather risque media news here in Canada.

3 The night ends with a chat with my dear friend J. She's the kind of person that I would describe as 'real'.

4 No rest for the weary and we are busy with the work, work and more work.

5 The grandkidlets come to spend some time with us and for a sleepover. Both of them haven't been here for a while for sleepovers so this is exciting for us all. Kesler seems to adjust easier that our little miss, but soon she's figuring things out

6 Mr P is busy installing more cameras on the house We are secure. Now we just have to figure out a few specific configurations and we're done.

7 Izzy tells us that every day at the park is a fun day Today's no exception and we have fun in the leaves again. 

8 Gaile is coming! So very happy we can spend time together. Not sure for how long, but it doesn't matter as long as we get to see each other.

9 I'm pondering in my head, why I am not taking my big camera out with me more often. More thinking is needed, I'll get back to you.

grandkidlets, redone, and book club

1 Izzy and Kesler come for a short visit today. They had been at our house for an hour before I arrived home from shopping and she's so excited to see me that she can't sit still in her chair one minute longer and runs over to give me a big hug. Kesler is too busy eating mac and cheese but later I get a bit of a hug and then it's off to nap time for them both.
2 Coffee table remade done! It was a wood table that I repainted black and put black and white photographs under glass!
3 Dinner with Book Club! Tonight it was my turn to host and it ended up being a great evening for all of us. A few came early, some came late with lots of laughs, great food and my book, well some liked it, some found it depressing and a few even rethought it.
3a Here's an appetizer recipe that Helen brought. It was A-MAZ_ING!

Creamy Shrimp Scampi

8 oz. Medium shrimp 

4 garlic cloves

2 tsp fresh parsley

2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

3 Tbsp mayo not miracle whip

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

2 Tbsp butter

4 oz. Cream cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup white wine

Method:

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly oil a 9 inch baking dish. Melt butter in skillet over medium high heat. Add shrimp, garlic, red pepper flakes. Cook until shrimp turns pink stirring occasionally about 2 minutes. Stir in wine, lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, remove from heat and stir in cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, parsley, 1/4 cup mozzarella and the parmesan. Spread mixture in the prepared pan, sprinkle the remaining mozzarella on top. Place in oven and bake until bubbly and golden brown. 10- 12 minutes.

as the days go by

1 The kidlets end up spending Sunday night with me as well. It's fun to have them here. They fall quickly into routine and seem to anticipate what's next! I'll have to mix it up a bit, I don't want to be too predictable.
2 The weather is cooler these days. It's sweater time but the little ones seem to still run hot.
3 Warm chocolate milk is what they get before bed. Not so great for teeth so I also give them a bit of warm water to rinse with!
4 Work is busy, busy, busy.
5 There's one woman that I work with who I've always been intimidated by. It's funny that this phenomenon exists for me because it's unusual for me to feel this way. As we work more and more together, that feeling is dissipating as I see her as just herself.
6 Jeans jackets are great, especially when it's the only piece of jean you're wearing. They schooled me; only one jean piece at a time!
7 We get slammed and slammed and slammed at work. It's not really that there are more admissions but for some reason it feels like more emergencies. We pull together and get it done but the porters we work with look exhausted by the end of their shifts.
8 He loves the alphabet so we draw lots of circles on the driveway and put big and little letters side by side into each bubble. He gets excited when I sing to him, Big D, Little D, etc etc for each bubble. Soon he's saying some of the letters too.
9 Testing for autism and they have found no flags in the first round of testing. This is a very good sign.
10 Witches warts for the Book Club tonight.
11 There's a black out so the meeting which is about a Halloween murder mystery takes place in the dark. Spooky with laughter, food and good friends.
12 The blackout area is huge. 22,000+ people are in the dark including me. Candles soon are lit and the gas fireplace throws a lot of light! It was a long day/night so it's only one glass of wine and I'm toast.

hot as hades, book club, and food club

1 Baby it's hot out there. Wowsers! 34C in the shade and overcast. The clouds have rolled in and the heat is trapped underneath.
2 Book club read " 100 foot journey" by Steven Knight. I wasn't impressed with the book although it has possibilities to be much more interesting. The characters were flat and each vignette in the story line was lacking in detail and I quickly lost interest. From another perspective, others like it based on the fact that it wasn't really about people but about food and the drive to create and sustain a restaurant.
3 Vegetable pakoras, fish stew, cold avocado soup, olive tampenade and crackers, creme brule and lemon cake were on the menu for the evening. Oh, and wine, there's always a few bottles of wine to enhance our discussions.

work work work, love where you live, book club news

1 Switchboard was great today. Lots of hands on training and even a code to call. I didn't call it because there was a mix up on rooms/location but I'm sure I'll be thrown into it full on today! My trainer said she's bringing a book to read...ha ha Oh I hope not!
2 Erin's home is up on the hill near the winery. It's got a stunning view of a couple of bays and Rattlesnake Island. Their backyard is serene and green with large sized tables and spaces and pergolas, ivy plants climbing posts and huge hanging baskets! And inside her home it's just as spacious and decorated with such love and care that I leave inspired to create that sort of atmosphere in our home.
3 Book club as always is entertaining and lively. Our group has chose a genre for the coming year and chose Short lists. As long as the book makes the top five in any award list it's fair game for choosing for the group to read. I'm hosting in November. Any good book suggestions are most welcome! I must read it first so I guess considering my track record for reading lately, I'd better get on it.