Ramblings of a Stay-at-Home Mom

Reading nothing this week. I did pick up some books from the Library, but haven’t gotten into them yet. Watching the girls playing together, even peacefully sometimes! Trying to get everything out of the garden before the frost hits. I managed to pull out all my tomato plants Thursday morning while Violet was in school. Just waiting a bit longer on the bell peppers and chives, but I’ll probably pull them within the next week or so. Cooking some good home meals this week. Beef stew (in the slow cooker), lasagna and some good stir-fry are on the menu. Knitting the Harvest Moon square for the Geek-Along Blanket. I think I’ve got 4 more to do before I can start joining them all together. Doing a lot of canning lately. As of today, I’ve done 50 jars of diced tomatoes, 16 jars of salsa (which is Keith’s because it contains his extremely hot peppers that he grew) and going to start doing spaghetti sauce next week. Loving the mornings that I get with just Dominique while Violet is in Ki...

Attempting my hand at canning. I’ve tomatoes so many tomatoes coming out of the garden, that I have no doubt that I’ll be able to fill my pantry and then some. Thankfully Pinterest has some really good recipes for diced tomatoes, salsa and pasta sauce. I have a feeling I’ll be doing quite a bit of those. Watching some new documentaries on Netflix lately. Wild Europe and Narcos are on the top list right now, along with Mrs. Brown’s Boy’s and DareDevil when I can watch them with Keith. Drinking way too many sugary drinks this week. Knitting the Geek-Along Square for Portal. Almost done! Loving that Violet is loving her Kindergarten class and teacher. It’s been a really smooth transition for all of us, which has been a really big blessing. Discovering some different ways to keep Dominique occupied while Violet’s in school. She’s been enjoying helping me with dishes and canning tomatoes lately, along with just getting some good quality snuggles all to herself. Feeling a little blah ...

Reading (just finished) The Kitchen House . I loved it. It took me a couple days to get through it, and really loved it. Cooking a mixture of new and old recipes. Win/win for all sides! Knitting  the Plants vs. Zombies square. I’m doing this one in green and white and it’s turning out so far! Doing lots of weeding in the garden this week. It’s surprisingly soothing and relaxing to be getting my hands dirty and a nice looking garden at the end. Going to be a bit busy this weekend. Visiting in-laws, and me and Keith both working. Oh well. Loving that my garden is starting to bloom. I’ve got flowers up, my tomato plants have some small tomatoes on them, the carrots are growing and the bell peppers are growing (but nothing on them yet). So excited to see what will happen! Discovering why I dislike potty training. Dominique does everything except go on the potty. She’ll tell me when she’s dirtied her diaper, and everything else, but still hasn’t gone on the potty. Stubborn thing....

Screaming Halleluiah that I finally got my laptop working properly again. For some reason, I couldn’t access my start menu, my recycle bin, nor get photos off my phone. After a couple days of trying to fix the problem, I finally found a solution (create a new user) and viola! The start button still doesn’t work, but I can access everything else. Woo hoo! Enjoying the fact that the girls got themselves a bunk bed! Violet loves that she’s got the top bunk and that Dominique can’t get to her. Dominique loves that she’s got herself a big bed and that she can get in and out by herself. Trying to teach Dominique that when it’s bedtime that she needs to stay in her bed and go to sleep. Right now it’s taking about 1 hour to get her to go to sleep, but it’s a big transition, so we’re giving her some time. Thinking of upcoming blog posts, scrapbook layouts and journaling. My creative juices are coming back and I’m liking it. Watching way too many cartoons with the girls and not enough movies fo...

Reading nothing this week. I do have some books sitting on my night stand, just haven’t gotten around to reading them yet. Watching Violet master writing everyone’s name, including Papa, Grandma, Meme, Pepe and Elsa. Trying to find some healthier snacks to eat in between meals instead of looking for chocolate. Scrapbooking my Travel albums. I'm doing them in Project Life style as I have quite a bit of it kicking around and it’s easy to use for all the memorabilia that I have from all my trips. Also working on catching up in Dominique’s album before her 2nd birthday (!!) in April. Knitting my double-knit Star Trek this week. I'm almost done it! Loving that it’s slowly warming up up here. Spring did give us a glimpse earlier this week, but then 2 days of snow came and covered that all up. And now it’s sunny again. Hating that Violet is still sick and coughing her lungs out. She’s fine otherwise, except for a fever that comes and goes, but she’s slowly getting better. Enjoy...

Reading nothing this week. Need to go to the local library and remedy that tomorrow. Playing Plants vs. Zombies 2 on my phone. The kids love it. Watching more documentaries on Netflix during afternoon quiet time. Been really trying to get back to watching more shows for myself. [caption id="attachment_778" align="alignnone" width="3264"] Dancing to the end credits (as always) of Beauty and the Beast. Violet dressed as Belle and Dominique as Tinkerbell.[/caption] Cooking more recipes from Pinterest this week. Drinking more water this week, although I really do want a nice big glass of Pepsi right now….. Knitting the double-knit of the Triforce, even though it’s from the 2014 blanket. I didn't know/like this week, so I opted for something different. [caption id="attachment_781" align="alignnone" width="2448"] Violet in her pyjamas, holding her Merida that she got for Valentine's from me and her Valentine's ba...

Reading Into the Heart of the Sea. I'm about ½ done, as I'm taking my time to slowly read it and understand everything that’s going on. Watching the Harry Potter movies with Violet. I'm only allowing her to watch the first couple movies (with me of course), as the last few can get pretty dark at some points for a 4-year-old. But she’s been loving them so far! Cooking a lot of the usual lately, but also incorporating more veggies/salads into the mix. Eating more green veggies during the day. It seems to help with my energy levels. Knitting the double-knit of Kirby . I'm really loving that I'm able to keep on track (somewhat) with the Geek-Along-Blanket this year. Loving that my new fridge and stove are coming on Tuesday! Our old set is at least 10 years old (I think the stove might be pushing 20) and it was time to replace them. So can’t wait! Hating that I've been catching Dominique colour on the walls with crayons. Luckily they are easy to wash off, but ...

Reading Into the Heart of the Sea . I've been getting more into non-fiction books lately, especially survival accounts. So far this is proving to be a good one to read. Drinking way too much tea lately. It's almost the only thing I'm drinking right now, besides 2 glasses of water in the mornings. Maybe I should change that around..... Knitting (finished actually) the Mario Kart square for the 2016 GAL Blanket . Took me a bit longer than usual to get it done (thank you girls for constant interruptions), but I finally got it done in time to have a 2-day break and wait for the next square to be released on Sunday. Doing nothing much this weekend, except working and visiting the in-laws. Loving that Keith just ordered me a new fridge and stove last week and it should be here in 10 days!! Hating this whining stage that Dominique is in. I think she's starting the terrible 2's a couple months early........ Enjoying my new FitBit Flex that I bought myself during the ...

Playing lots of catch-up on my 2015 Project Life album. I'm still working on November and hoping to be done within the next week or so. Watching a little too much cartoons and not enough for me. It's a bit harder now that Violet doesn't nap anymore  and she stays up a bit later so that Dominique can fall asleep first before she goes to bed. Hoping to figure out something soon Cooking a couple more meals inspired by Pinterest this coming week. Crossing my fingers that they turn out. Drinking way too much caffeine lately. But it's my friend..... Knitting the first square of the 2016 GAL Blanket: Mario Kart ! Loving that I'm getting back into my morning routine of getting up at least an hour earlier than the girls for some quiet morning time to myself. Also helps that Keith is up that early, so it gives me some motivation. Hating early mornings. It a love/hate relationship. Discovering Enjoying hearing Dominique talk more. I think we're up to 30 wor...

Knitting  a Star Trek GAL while I wait for the 2016 blanket to be released this Sunday *squeal!!* Playing Little Big Planet with Violet on the PS3. She absolutely loves it. It helps with her hand-eye coordination and gives us some playing time together when Dominique is sleeping. Trying to get used to wearing my new FitBit Flex. I bought it with my Christmas money on New Year`s Eve and seeing how it will work out for me. Cooking not so much these days. With Keith home more during the last few months, I haven`t had to cook as much. Drinking lots of tea right now. I just stocked up on tea from Teavana and can`t wait to dive into some new teas! Loving that Dominique is talking more (yes, no, please, thank you, mommy, daddy, nana (Violet), cookie, crackers, juice, water). There `s probably more, but that`s all I can think of right now. Hating that I have to work New Year`s Day. Every year I`m at work, they either stick me with New Year`s Eve or New Year`s Day. Which means I als...