• Little Nighttime Rituals

    08/10/2014 - By 

    Isabella is a sensitive kid, just as I was when I was little, and maybe still am. As a sensitive person in an unpredictable world, she needs a certain amount of routine she can count on. I started a new night time ritual just so she would have a nice transition in to sleep. It all started when we were building Lego as a family one Saturday afternoon and Isabella turned to us and said, “I have a secret I have been keeping for awhile, and some of it is bad.” Did your blood just run cold? Mine did! My…

  • An Alternative Exercise Mix

    24/09/2014 - By 

    I started doing exercise and running after a month long break. Between running days I lift weights on our weight bench in the basement. I definitely prefer the weight lifting days! I do cardio to round it out, of course. I always dread my cardio days but after it is all done I feel so much better, and it ends up being really fun. Most of the fun comes from the app I picked to get myself up to 5K- Zombies RUN! When I say I use an app that lets me run from zombies, people say “how cute” or…

  • Our Master Bedroom Redecoration

    01/09/2014 - By 

    We rent. However, our rental property doesn’t have to be a jumble of random hand me down furniture and a flurry of photos. We’ve been here 5 years and will probably be here for another 5 years before we can afford to buy. We are in no hurry to buy and are okay renting. The only thing that bugged me was our bedroom. After I did Isabella’s bedroom in May, I realized the potential of these rooms. The current colour of my room was the cheap ivory colour that the landlord had put in. It was somewhere between dirt and…

  • Preparing for Our First Camping Trip (In Over a Decade)

    07/07/2014 - By 

    We have had no time for anything except preparing for our vacation. Thank goodness the medicine I took for the infectious colitis I suffered seems to have nearly worked, and I can almost function normally and eat properly again. That was rough. Now to focus on the next thing ahead! We are going to visit friends and then we are camping for a weekend before coming home. I should specify! In this day and age there are a lot of people who go camping with portable houses basically (“glamping” or “glamour camping”) and then there are those with RVs or…

  • Infectious Colitis and Nightmares

    29/06/2014 - By 

    So it has been a hard week or so. Josh’s 30th Birthday went by quietly. His mother showed up for a surprise visit and we went out for dinner Thursday night, Vietnamese. I felt bloated, nauseous, crampy,  and awful that night and most of the next day but ignored it. Friday the 20th was Josh’s birthday. We played games and watched the World Cup. That night my Mother-in-law stayed to babysit and we went out for drinks with a couple true blue friends. One of my fave people, Shanna, came too. We talked each other’s ears off until after 1…

  • Isabella’s Room Redecoration

    20/05/2014 - By 

    I love decorating. Often it is more crowded and organized chaos, nearly bohemian, than most people’s tastes. This time I decided to be more clean, straight forward and focused. My mother-in-law generously offered to take the children for 6 days for Husband and I’s wedding anniversary present. Although we carved out some time for a date night (we saw “The Lunchbox” at Eau Claire theater and I HIGHLY recommend you go and see that movie) and night-time couch snuggling while we watched evening TV, I spent most of my time redecorating some of our rooms. It took me 5 of…

  • A Six Year Old View of Australia

    25/04/2014 - By 

    All she talks about is animals and her goal is to “either be a singer on a stage or work at the zoo” .  That dream should change about a million times from now until she is working. Any way, so she mentions Australia. I don’t know what got in to my head but I asked her if she wanted to hear something cool as she got ready for bed. Of course she did. So I picked a sticker on the wall and said “this is the sun” and then I formed my hands in to an “O”. The thumbs…

  • Why Rewarding Expected Behaviour In Your Kids Is Wrong

    25/04/2014 - By 

    I was on Pinterest today. There were so many pins and boards dedicated to motivating kids to do chores. A lot of the pins involved crafts to set up punch cards or checklists for chores, and at the end the child would receive a reward. I was thinking a sticker, or a family bike ride, a movie night,  or something similar. I was wrong and when I started to read the comments I realized this quickly. Many of the parents posted “Oh this works so amazing. At the end of the list I give him $20 and he has to…

  • Maca Powder Side Effects

    26/11/2013 - By 

    Always do your research before trying something new. Even if it is a natural material or vitamin. Maybe, especially if. I didn’t read about what side effects eating maca powder raw could have, and I really should have. I started taking maca powder raw in my coffee or smoothie to help regulate my periods and clear up my skin. It worked like a charm. I did this after reading one blog post. A month and a half later I could barely eat without getting stomach cramps or sweating and I was very gassy. I thought maybe drinking too much coffee…

  • Maca Powder Works?

    18/10/2013 - By 

    So I read this post:   http://ohdeardrea.blogspot.ca/2013/09/maca-everyday-recipe.html   And it may have changed my life. My skin is usually really bad. As soon as I tried maca the way she did, it changed. It isn’t perfect but it is getting to be the skin I always wanted, thanks to maca and the coveted Clarisonic Mia 2 that I use every day. And not only that but it worked on my periods too. Instead of 1-3 days of debilitating pain I only had half of a day of tolerably horrible pain. It was still pretty bad but I didn’t have to…