Happy Valentines Day!

Image courtesy of valentine-clipart.com 

 Hope yours is special and you spend it with the one/s you love!

Snow

So in the past 2 days we have had about 30+cm of snow fall.  Yes you read right, a little over a foot of snow.  Needless to say we haven't been venturing far from the house.  I am hoping that my FIL will show up sometime today to plow us out as hubby is working, and it would be nice to get out for awhile.  The kids are starting to get a little stir crazy although they are really enjoying their time off of school.

In honor of the snowfall, I am sharing this little blurb called the Diary of A Snow Shoveler.  I thought it was funny and certainly appropriate at this point!

December 8

6:00 PM. It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our hot chocolate and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a Grandma Moses Print. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!

December 9

We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Can there be a more lovely place in the Whole World? Moving here was the best idea I've ever had. Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again... I did both our driveway and the sidewalks. This afternoon the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a perfect life.

December 12

The sun has melted all our lovely snow. Such a disappointment. My neighbor tells me not to worry, we'll definitely have a white Christmas. No snow on Christmas would be awful! Bob says we'll have so much snow by the end of winter, that I'll never want to see snow again. I don't think that's possible. Bob is such a nice man, I'm glad he's our neighbor.

December 14

Snow lovely snow! 8' last night. The temperature dropped to -20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. This is the life!

The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again. I didn't realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I'll certainly get back in shape this way.

December 15

20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer. Bought snow tires for the wife's car and 2 extra shovels. Stocked the freezer.

The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out. I think that's silly. We aren't in Alaska, after all.

December 16

Ice storm this morning. Fell on my butt on the ice in the driveway putting down salt. Hurt like heck. The wife laughed for one hour, which I think was very cruel.

December 17

Still way below freezing. Roads are too icy to go anywhere.

Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her. Guess I should've bought a wood stove, but won't admit it to her. Gosh, I hate it when she's right. I can't believe I'm freezing to death in my own living room.

December 20

Electricity's back on, but had another 14' of the darn stuff last night. More shoveling. Took all day. Darn snowplow came by twice.

Tried to find a neighbor kid to shovel, but they said they're too busy playing hockey. I think they're lying. Called the only hardware store around to see about buying a snow blower and they're out. Might have another shipment in March. I think they're lying. Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and bill me. I think he's lying.

December 22

Bob was right about a white Christmas because 13 more inches of the white stuff fell today, and it's so cold it probably won't melt till August. Tried to hire Bob who has a plow on his truck for the rest of the winter; but he says he's too busy. I think the jerk is lying.

December 23

Only 2' of snow today. And it warmed up to 0... The wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning. What is she nuts!!! Why didn't she tell me to do that a month ago? She says she did but I think she's lying.

December 24

6'. Snow packed so hard by snowplow, I broke the shovel. Thought I was having a heart attack. If I ever catch the man who drives that snowplow I'll drag him through the snow by his nose and beat him to death with my broken shovel. I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street at 100 miles an hour and throws snow all over where I've just been!

Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas carols with her and open our presents, but I was too busy watching for the snowplow.

December 25

Merry -bleeping- Christmas! 20 more inches of the slop tonight. Snowed in. The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil. I hate the snow! Then the snowplow driver came by asking for a donation and I hit him over the head with my shovel. The wife says I have a bad attitude. I think she's an idiot. If I have to watch 'It's A Wonderful Life' one more time, I'm going to stuff her into the microwave.

December 26

Still snowed in. Why the heck did I ever move here? It was all HER idea. She's really getting on my nerves.

December 27

Temperature dropped to -30 and the pipes froze, plumber came after 14 hours of waiting for him, he only charged me $1400 to replace all my pipes.

December 28

Warmed up to above -20. Still snowed in. THE WITCH is driving me crazy!!!

December 29

10 more inches. Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave in. That's the silliest thing I ever heard. How dumb does he think I am?

December 30

Roof caved in. I beat up the snow plow driver he is now suing me for a million dollars. The wife went home to her mother. 9' predicted.

December 31

I set fire to what's left of the house. No more shoveling.

January 8

Feel so good. I just love those little white pills they keep giving me. Why am I tied to the bed?

MMmmm Good!

These are my kids favorite muffins!  Nothing says good, like a fresh sweet gooey Chocolate Chip muffin fresh from the oven.  This particular recipe has a cake like consistency when cooked.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Makes 2½ dozen

• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1½ tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1½ cups mini or regular-sized chocolate chips
• ½ cup butter, melted and cooled
• ¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
• 3 eggs
• 1½ cups milk
• 2 tsp vanilla

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

2. In a second bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and whisk until fully combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until everything is moistened and combined. Do not to over-stir.

3. Pour into greased or lined muffin tins. 

4. Bake at 375°F for 12-14 minutes for a mini-muffin tin and 20-21 minutes for a regular-sized muffin tin, until fully cooked.

Enjoy!

He Left Me!

*If anyone knows the illustrator of this cartoon I will happily provide the info.  It was on a free clipart site and I couldn't find any information about it.

Well not truly left me, and not for long, but hubby is off tonight for his weekly hockey gig.  

After 8 years of not playing, he came home last week and said he was ready to give it a try again.  He was like a kid in a candyshop at the thought of a playdate with his "manfriends," so who am I to interfere?  

8 years ago I would have hopped in the car and gone a long just to see the antics they got up to on the ice, however, 2 more kids, and school in the morning has firmly put the end to that.  Plus, after 10 years of marriage I don't feel obligated to freeze any of my body parts off just to prove my love.  Staying home with a hot cup of coffee and keeping his side of the bed warm will have to be sufficient! lol

I just hope he keeps in mind that 40 year old bones break much easier than his 30 year old bones did...This could be a long season....

Baby It's Cold Outside!

For the past week we have had snow pretty much every day.  Now this does not come as much of a surprise since we do live in the North and the white stuff is a common sight this time of year.  However, this week, the powdery white stuff has been accompanied by freezing temperatures.  Freezing I tell you!  

Yesterday for example I got my kids up at 6:30am (way too early to be waking anyone up in my opinion!)  and shuffled them out the door to catch their bus in the balmy temperatures of -18°C.  That's -0.4°F for you Fahrenheit lovers out there.  That in itself is bad enough but when you add wind to the mix, my 3 babies actually ventured out the door and straight into -25°C (-16.6°F)  to go to school!

Thankfully enough their school has a policy that if temperatures are below -10°C that they stay inside all day.  That made the mama in me a happy person. Ü

It didn't however, keep me from having to go outside myself into our colder than deep freeze garage to fill the furnace, but oh well...Guess we can't have everything right?

Do you Stumble?

I am an avid blog stalker.  The good kind of stalker though, not the creepy weird kind. lol  It's almost an addiction of sorts and I can't help myself. 

At this time I have 253 blogs that I check daily through my Google Reader.  This number increases every day because someone is always providing a link to someone new, which then ends with me browsing the people they are linked to and soon enough I find myself adding 10 new people to follow.  Can you see what I mean?  It quickly gets out of control!

Maybe because I am a stay at home mom, or maybe because I have just have one of those personalities that feels the needs to keep everything, seriously, I still have a small piece of wallpaper from my childhood bedroom.  Cause one never knows when they will need to know that information.  I also, may or may not have a tv knob from one of our old tv's. lol

But that brings us back to the original question and reason for this post...Do you Stumble?  I came across Stumbling on one of the blogs that I read frequently, she mentioned it and immediately had me intrigued.  Stumble is a site that matches you to blogs and websites that you might like based on the interests that you select.  Then once you join up, you simply click Stumble to start on your journey of discovery.  It is the perfect set up for someone like me.  I mean the only thing better than following tons of links to find new reading material, is to click a button and have those blogs come to me!

So if you are like me, and always looking for new blogs and websites, and ideas to keep you busy, join Stumble now and start in the fun!

Lentil Soup

Do you love them or hate them?  Or like me have you tried them only once or twice and usually by accident?  Lentils I mean, not soups in general.

A few of my friends talk about eating lentils all the time and how good they are.  To me they always looked a bit like the split peas used for making Split Pea Soup *gag*.  Definitely not a favorite of mine!  However, since I got the bad news about my creeping up Cholesterol I have been trying to make some food choices that will be better for me in the long run.  Getting away from starchy potatoes and pasta seems like a good place to start.

So I give you Lentil Soup, or at least my version of lentil soup since I can't help myself, and I seem to modify every recipe I get my hands on. It's an impossibility I tell you!  Probably why I enjoy cooking far more than baking...It's so freeing to be able to just throw anything that comes to mind in and trying it, instead of following the recipe word for word.

(Chicken) Lentil Soup a la Mel

2 cups Chicken Stock + 1 cup Water - original recipe just called for water
1 boneless skinless Chicken breast (take out later and chop or shred and add back to pot) - No chicken in original recipe
1 med Onion, chopped
2 stalks Celery, sliced
3/4 cup green Cabbage, sliced thin - not in original recipe,called for ½ cup fresh spinach, sliced to be added at the end but I had none.
½ cup Turnip, chopped small - not in original recipe
1 (540ml) can Aylmer Accents Italian Chunky cut Tomatoes
1 tbsp Italian seasoning - original recipe called for 1 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp dried basil & 1 bay leaf
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1¼ cups green Lentils - original recipe called for 2 cups
Salt & Pepper, to taste

I tossed everything but the lentils into a pot and brought it to a boil. Then added the lentils and reduced it to a simmer. Simmer at least 1 hour or until lentils and veggies are tender.