Back for more...

Last week I posted about the great value pack I got for $5.97. I LOVED the tea in it so much that I decided to go back and get two more sine the tea alone would have been close to that price. Not to mentioned my son was sick yesterday and the all fruit freezies got eaten up. So if you're looking for the deal here is what it looks like in the package. They were right at the front of the store as soon as you walk in.

Sneak Peek

I do design work for Created With Paper, a Canadian online paper craft site that sells monthly kits. This is the Jackson Lodge Garden Collection from College Press that will be released June 1st! Here are some cards I made with it...

My hometown...making headlines

Well Thunder Bay has made the National News! My dad called yesterday asking if we had any water in our basement (after 10 days of rain and a huge thunder storm the night before).  Then he proceeded to tell me our city is in a state of emergency...I had no idea! I only left the house briefly to run to the grocery store. Here I sat completely oblivious to the ciaos around me. Flooded basements, parks, yards, parking lots, and lots of road closures due to wash outs.

 These are the falls, they don't normally look like this!

 There was one car that was driving along and the road collapsed beneath them and then another car drove on top of them. Everyone was sent to hospital.

And our watsewater treatment plant is flooded too, so we're asked not to use water excessively. Check out our local news if you want to see more!  (or the national link above)

Good habits are hard to find...

Why is it that bad habits are so easy to fall back into where good habits are so hard to get back into.  I'm talking about eating and exercise.  

For eight years I religiously went to the gym five days a week. Since my oldest was 4 months old. (before that I was a regular at step classes, baseball, you name it) When I got pregnant this last time, I was working full time and used those two factors as a reason to have a break, well 6 months of the pregnancy, plus 5 months with the baby equals almost a year of getting out of the routine of making it to the gym each day. 

Add to that, the fact that I've fallen back into the habit of eating more calories than I should and at times that I shouldn't...snacking in the evening etc. So I'm just not getting this baby weight off.

Well today I called and registered the kids for Adventure Camp at the gym where I frequented for those 8 years, and the guy at the front desk recognized me and mentioned that he hasn't seen me for a while. 

Now part of that is because I switched gyms.  When I went back to work I picked a gym that was plush and pricey, but close to my office and I was great at going to the gym everyday at lunch. I still have a membership there but they don't take babies at the daycare until 6 months...so I'm close to being able to go there. Just a few more weeks, but at that point the kids will be out of school two weeks later and that gym's daycare is too expensive to take the three of them. I'm also nervous about taking the baby to the daycare, she's at the "making strange" stage and I feel like she'd just cry the entire time. But a lot of these factors are just making it easier for me to find excuses to not get back into shape.

I've started back at volleyball and I walk the kids to school, but it's not the same intensity as an hour on the bike etc.  So that's me getting it out there, admitting that I need a change maybe the first step in finding a solution...stay tuned :)

Volunteering...

Spent a few hours this evening in a trailer selling ticket's for St. John Ambulance's Spring into Summer draw.  I use to work there and I was amazed at how generous others were with their time as they volunteered to sell tickets for us.  So today I took my son (age 8), to volunteer with me.  I think it's good, now that he's old enough, to teach him about volunteering. We sold at least 50 tickets, it was really busy so the time flew by.  Tomorrow I'll go back again in the morning but with my daughter (age 6).

Kite festival tomorrow, hope it's nice out, calling for rain :(

Steel-cut oats

If you love steel-cut oats, but don't have the time to always make them, you should really give the instant ones a try. They're actually very good, and there doesn't seem to be anything bad added to the ingredients.  I get the pc blue menu ones.  Then I add blueberries, walnuts, coconut and brown sugar. Yum! Healthy, but huge calories...this bowl is probably 800 calories, which is a lot for breakfast!

  

There is a neat story behind the bowl too..my husband and I celebrated our 8th anniversary last year and the traditional gift was pottery, so I bought tickets to a charity event which was homemade soup served in your choice of a handmade pottery bowl that you get to keep. It was perfect. Something different to do, a healthy meal, matched the theme of our anniversary and supported a good cause.

Now speaking of yummy things...I have to point out this girl's site, I love Oh How She Glows, she sells amazing granola bars that are sold out the day she posts them and her blog always has healthy recipes..check this out!

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie Pota’Dough Dip! Vegan, Gluten-Free, Bean-free, Soy-free, and optionally Nut-free.

Another good deal!

I hardly ever shop at Walmart, but I needed some eggs, and Walmart had local eggs on sale and I was right by there so I walked over to get them, when I came across this great deal...it was a bag full of the following..

 

Four Welch's

and Four Fruitsations Ice bars...

 

Now the best part, the price, regular value for all these items is $16.97..but the price for buying the pack, $5.97! And they are all healthy items!