Spicy Scalloped Potatoes

Not my best photo but they tasted amazing!!!

When Lake Front first opened in Sarnia we had dinner there one night. I was very unhappy with our meals other then these scalloped potatoes they were like heaven in my mouth.

They were made with a local company's hot sauce called Front Street Heat. I decided that I needed to make them at home!

Finally last night I made and they were not 100% the same but they were amazing!

I created my recipe from mixing a few recipes over the years including using parts of our family recipe. I don't make scallops often because Richard isn't a big fan of them, I think that is why they are such a treat to my taste buds when I do make them.

Recipe:

12 Potatoes (I use whatever is on sale that week they were smaller potatoes this time so I used 12)
1 Onion
Mushroom soup
Garlic Powder (or fresh garlic whatever you have on hand)
1 soup can of milk
1/4 flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Spicy Paprika
1 teaspoon Front Street heat
1 bag of shredded nacho cheese


Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

Thinly slice the potatoes

Chop the onion

Spray your baking dish with non-stick cooking spray

In a bowl add everything except the potatoes and cheese mix well

In your baking dish layer potato, a bit of sauce and hand full of cheese

Repeat the layers until your dish is full cover with remaining sauce, put a lit on and bake 1 hour

Take out and put cheese on the top let stand for about 10 mins

Enjoy!

Paired with homemade cabbage rolls and corn

Discovery Western, A homeschool trip!

Western puts on a program for us each year for different ages groups.

This was the first year we were able to attend because of Blaines age. It was great. We missed the first day but we went for the other two days. The first day we went we learned about computer programming. Someone of the information I felt was too old for the age group they working with but they added in a magic school video on computer programing from the early 90s and that was neat. We made circuits that had a battery on one end, a button in the middle and a light on the other end. It was fun. Then mine and Sarah's son made motorcycles "powered" by these circuits. Oh the imagination!!!

In the afternoon we learned about colour coding and using ozobots that are programed by colours on the paper and created our own mazes for them the kids had a blast.

The third day (Our second day) we only stayed until noon because I had to do a couple of stops on the way home for the shop. But we learned how to program lego robots and guide them through tape mazes, we also did relay races with them and built with legos. The kids had a blast and once they had enough robots out everything ran smoothly.

However the third day we were in a tiny room with wheeled chairs, do you know what happens when you put 20 4-8 years old in a room with wheeled chairs? Unhappy instructors thats what happens.


We really enjoyed it, some of the parents weren't happy with the programming this year and some have no idea what it takes for Sarah to put it all together for the different age groups and make it happen. To me I am grateful for an amazing couple of days where my son had a blast and learned a few new things.

With the way things went, sadly there might not be a 4-8 years age group next year which is disappointing but I fully see where she is coming from! 

Two things I am grateful today!

As long weekends tend to do this one is going by super fast. I actually took time this weekend to relax and enjoy the weather, the outdoors and just being.

Today ended as fast as it started. I got to have breakfast at my favourite breakfast place and I got to go fishing.

I went to a spot I have never been before, today was perfect weather. Too hot for this time of the year but the wind which was crazy strong felt amazing. I got to lay on a rock and listen to water, with the eyes closed and feel the wind upon my body along with the heat of the sun.

I got to just be, no sounds other than the water and wind. Just quiet, warm, peaceful and perfect.

It was the most refreshing, relaxing and soul healing moments I have had in a long time.

So today I am grateful for the weather and for living in such a place where I can have peaceful moments like that.

What things happened today that you are grateful for?

Lottery!

http://clipart-library.com/clipart/pcoArexLi.htm

Everyone dreams about hitting it big and rarely does it happen.

This weeks winning lotto max is at 22 Million that is a huge number and even after taxes it works out to be about 19 Million.

I get one ticket each week, it is just a quick pick nothing special, I know a lot of people swear by picking their own numbers and that it is the only way to play.

If I were to win 19 million, what would I do? Well that is a pretty easy answer for me. I would put 9.5 million into savings.

I would give
$500,000.00 to my sister
$500,000.00 to my mother
$500,000.00 to my grandmother
$500,000.00 to my dad

$1M would be put into a trust fund for Blaine

I would give
$100,000.00 to Bullies in need
$100,000.00 to Heavens wild life
$100,000.00 to Pathways
$200,000.00 to 2 other local charities

I would pay off the house and buy a new SUV that doesn't break down every other day.

I would buy a couple of rental properties in town.

I would build the indoor play place that Sarnia so badly needs.

I would buy a house in the country so I had the room to foster more animals in need!

From my count that leaves 2.5M

With that I would take Blaine and travel all of Canada and few places around the world I have always wanted to see and get my hair done once a year.

Remember I have 9.5M in the bank which I hope I can live off the interest so that one day my child and grandchildren can pay for schooling in whatever they want to be.

Other  than my hair I don't think any of the things I would do with my winnings is too out there. There is nothing that I really really want in this life other than to help others and have security within my own fiances. 
I can't think of anything better than seeing the smile on the faces of those I could help!!!!

What would you do? Would you go crazy and wild? Would you save? Would you share?

Do you greet strangers?

It might be just a Canadian thing or it might be just a me thing. Every person or animal I walk by I either say hello or at least nod. If they have a dog and I am not in a hurry I will ask if I may pet it.

I feel if I walk by someone it is rude not to say hi or nod, but here everywhere we go everyone says hi as they walk by.

Even those people that I walk by and know from my past, which I am not a huge fan of I will still smile and say hi.


Always believing that you never know who needs that smile and simple hello as you pass by is what motivates me to do it. I guess you never know what someone else is going through and a simple gesture of kindness can go along way to making their day or week.


When I am in a mood and someone smiles and says hi, I can't help but smile back and it's almost like a mood changer in that moment. I get out of own head and pulled back to reality.

Even when we visit big cities I still do it, and most of them do it back or even are the first to do it. Cashiers I always ask how they are doing and wish them a good day.

Too many people in this world are grumpy with each other, the least I can do is smile and say hi instead of acting like the entire weight of the world is resting solely on my shoulders.

Do you say smile and say when you walk by people? Do you say it back when it is said to you? Do you think its a Canadian thing or is all around the world like that?

Notebooks

7 to be exact. I have 7 notebooks with lists in them. The past 2 weeks I couldn't find my baby shower list book ANYWHERE and it was driving me crazy. I have memory issues from the brain injuries so lists are very important to me. Without them I am lost for our events and other things.

Well today I finally found my baby shower list and along with 5 notebooks with lists in them that I couldn't find anywhere so either I had to create a new list in another book or well just be lost.

As of right now, today! I am moving my lists into 3 books instead of 7 notebooks lost somewhere in the house and me freaking out because I can't find it.

HOLY recycling, lists from who knows when and all kinds of other thoughts that were written down and forgotten about. I did find that I am pretty much done everything for my sisters baby shower so that's awesome. Note books with dividers built in are going to be my lifesaver.

I moved all my "lists" into one notebook. So this includes my daily to do list, shopping lists, baby shower lists, homeschool lists, co-op lists, and of course field trip lists.

All of my bullet journals have been moved into one, this is both mine and Blaines as well as my self journal.

Then there is one that contains ALL of the homeschool stuff this is field trips, and all the co-op planning things.


Do you list everything? Do you have a ton of notebooks? how do you do it?

Homeschool field trip: Children's Museum

Sarnia has a lot of out door activities for the kids to do which is awesome but it is lacking on the indoor activities so most of our field trips have to be help outside of Sarnia.

It is okay with us, but a lot of the homeschool parents from Sarnia for some reason hate to leave the city for anything so it makes it hard to get them out to things.


Today we went to the Children's Museum in London. I love this place it has so many great activities for the kids and keeps them busy, playing and learning all day!

I was shocked to see that play equipment outside was gone. The staff as always were amazing!

I was disappointed that a lot of the items that were supposed to work and be interactive didn't. Blaine had a lot of fun but it could have been better, and has been better in the past. There were a lot of things missing from when we went before that were always there like the working dishwasher and the "how to recycle" area.

They are opening at their new location in 2021 and we likely wont go back again until then.


They used to have rotating displays and this time it was all the same displays. On the first floor the dino caves and dig, the whale, the space pod  and a few things on the wall.

On the second floor there was an old school room and old kitchen. The big pretend play area which is always a big hit with the ride ons, Play McDonald's, house, gas station, dentist, police, post office, bank and grocery store oh and the firetruck. The crane in the construction zone doesn't work anymore which was sad.

On the third floor there is learning about the Arctic. With fishing, dog sled and other things too. Blaine liked the fishing the best. In the middle of the third floor is the pretend kitchen, garden, tree house and room to the side had houses that kids built and painted that they could go in and out.
On the furthest end it is the space station and star room. Most of the things on the space station are broken and we didn't get to see the star show.

I can't wait to see the new location and how amazing new play areas they are going to have!!

Wash cloth butterflies

I made these for flower pot center pieces for my sisters baby shower, they were a huge hit. Super easy to make and super cute!!!

Supplies:

Those tiny hair elastics that you have to cut out of your hair\
Wash clothes (I used colourful baby ones)

Step 1 is for the body
I rolled mine on a diagonal to get the point for the antenna.

Step 2
You want your elastic closer to top to form the antenna  

Step 3
You want to repeat this step twice, one for each wing.
I rolled this straight, no need for pointed ends here

Step 4

Fluff it out and your done! 

Not your Hole!

I wrote this when I was in a stronger mindset, I wrote this before I got pulled down that hole again. I am posting this when I need to be strong again. I am posting this when I need to pull myself out of that hole.

There is an AA quote I remember from many years ago when my mom started AA. There is a man and he walks down the side walk and falls in a hole. The next day the man walks down the same side walk and falls in the same hole. The man blames the hole instead of crossing the road and walking on the side without any holes. This applies to doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

To me this works in a different light too, it works in a similar way as the addict you love falls in the hole every day and you can stand on the outside of the hole and work on your issues (yes we have issues and seriously ones too) and wait for the addict to hit the rocks at the bottom. We can stay on the outside but the moment we put our hand in the hole they will pull us down to bottom and use us to cushion their fall. We can stand on the outside and work on ourselves and one day we might see a head come above that hole, one day we might have to fill in that hole as we lay them to rest, or even walk away from the hole if we can not trust ourselves to not reach in. Some days you might hear them half way out and you can look in and say keep going you got this, but you can not reach in to aid them. They have to climb that hole on their own.

They made the hole, you didn't, they are either going to stay in it the rest of their lives or reach the top but either way ITS NOT YOUR HOLE!!!!

You may think but their mom, dad, aunt, uncle, sister, brother, dog, cat, or Albert from the first grade caused them so much pain that it's why they are in their hole and that's okay, but you still didn't put them there, its still not your hole.

You can water the grass and plant beautiful flowers all around that hole, its still not yours. You can make it the prettiest hole on the block it still wont force them out.

Only the addict can climb out of their hole, only the addict can stand proudly on their two feet on the outside of the hole. Its is not your recovery. Show them how beautiful recovery can be without rubbing it or gloating or nagging or anything else that you think might help. Just live, live your life. Be your beautiful self!

They will either join you in their own time or they wont and that is okay too. You are allowed to live your life!

Please remember the being there for them doesn't mean standing in the hole with them, or standing on the edge. It isn't being their to bail them out of jail or save their ass or cover for them. Also know that it is okay to walk away from the hole for your safety! Rocks come flying out of that hole at the speed of a jet plane, you don't have to stand and be hit by them you can move away. Be safe always!

So they will be homeless, broke and alone. That might be what they need you can not continue to be landed on if you want to heal yourself.

Its not your hole so get your ass out of it and plant some pretty fucking flowers.

Loving an addict

Every time you hear sirens you hope it isn't for them. In your heart you will never stop loving them but its time they stop hitting you instead of their rock bottom.

You start to believe the lies they tell you daily about yourself. You start to believe their really are people out to get him, hiding in closets and the backyard, staring at him from the streets, cars driving by over and over and the noises.

Forgive more times than you can count, give more chances than you can remember. You protect them, do everything you can build them up, do everything in your power and make them happy, make sure there would be no reason for them to want that high, or act that way.

You walk on egg shells, stop talking to people either because he thinks there is stuff going on or because it is just easier than trying to hide the fact there is a problem.

Loving them is killing you, eating your soul. You stand up and fight back, your the bad guy. You allow them to fall and it all becomes your fault.

Drugs don't only steal their minds but their bodies as well, they are a shell inside and out of the man you once knew. You don't recognize them or even yourself anymore.

You don't do drugs or drink or even have fun for fear something might upset the apple cart. You don't do drugs but they are ruining you not only the addict, inside and out for you too.

You too need recovery and just like for them that doesn't mean just quitting the drugs, that means getting help for you. That means focusing on you, for once! It doesn't mean leaving them I know we all fear what will happen if you abandon them. But what happened when we abandoned ourselves?

Watching the man you love fall is the hardest, most stomaching sickening thing you will ever do, standing back and hoping this time it will be their rock bottom, hoping this time they will get clean, hoping this time will be it. You start living for the good days, then the good days become only good moments and you hang onto those moments for dear life.

You question what you did or what happened to cause the days or moments to change so drastically.

Being angry at them, nope you love them too much to be angry, you know they are sick, your heart aches and breaks for them. Watching them destroy everything that they had and staying hands off knowing that even if they do get and stay clean this time it is going to be a long hard road that they have to travel, you will travel along side of course and it will kill you and you will want to make it all go away but they have to feel this, ALL of it so they that being clean means something to them, that those memories of what it takes to get clean are enough to make them never want to travel down that road again.

You pray for the hard road, you pray that they get to travel down this road unlike so many who die without never knowing they are worth being clean, they are worth a better life.

Loving the addict will kill you if you allow it to, loving the addict who is living an addicted life will break you down, make you feel like nothing and when you try to even get a leg up they tare you down. Not because they are heartless, not because they are mean but because they feel so low about themselves they think everyone should feel the same.


You are allowed to be broken, you are allowed to care, you care allowed to love. You are not allowed to show it!!!


Enabling an addict will kill them! 

Strathroy Emergency Response Day

Wow, I was more than impressed with the turn out of emergency service people, vehicles, "tools", information and so much more.

Every one was amazing! Kind, gentle and had lots of information. Blaine isn't a fan of people and it goes the same for police offers and other people in uniform. As always I explained that they are there to protect us and they would never hurt you.

He was allowed inside EVERY vehicle there and there were A LOT from all-terrain to boats and the fire trucks. He asked lots of questions about each of the tools and everyone answered every single one of them.

There were 911 dispatchers and Sarnia Jail officers, fire, police, EMT's and even boarder patrol. It was really neat and not only did he learn a lot of new things. So did I!!!

I learned that the drones are not only used to find pot in farmers fields but they are also used by the fire marshals to assess large area fire damages like explosions. It helps them be able to see and even figure out how the fire started and where it traveled. Cheaper than renting a plane, which is what they have had to do in the past.

The homeschool trips where he can interact with EVERYTHING are the best.

Towards the end and mom being cold and tired he walked right to a firefighter and allowed him to show him how to use the hose. The firefighter even touched him and had his arm around him. This was HUGE for Blaine and I was so proud of him!!!

Trust and touch no matter who it is from is hard for him. He has a few select people that he will let touch him but even then on a bad day only mom will do.

Today was a blast and I can't wait to attend the next one, we missed the scent dog which kinda bummed me out and the RCMP didn't have horses lol Blaine was confused why not.

What are your favourite field trips?