Normally I have the skills to be a trooper when I’m sick –
and while I’m still making lunches for my household (4 each day, currently) and
making dinners (thank you crock pot) and getting up and going to work – I find
it harder this time to tough it out. My inner wimp is winning the sick wars
currently.
However last weekend the trooper in me was winning out – I
was only 2 days into my cold and feeling pretty good still. Therefore it was a
fairly productive weekend. Friday night we had a “breaking the fast”
celebration at church and then Paul and I headed over to the Maxwell’s to enjoy
dinner – homemade burgers and homemade fries. So good!
Saturday we slept in together and were generally relaxed.
Then the Chibota’s stopped by for a visit and house tour – Irene’s been wanting
to see the place since we moved in and I was happy to oblige. Then I headed out
to run errands and stop by my sisters to help her with an Excel task [any excuse
to cuddle with the nephews].
After that I went to the MCC thrift store.
It rocked.
We’re on a budget but I’m also trying to make our house look
great and especially trying to make our student rooms look great. I’ve been
wanting to get a mirror for the downstairs student room since we moved here –
we had one before that broke in the move. Everywhere I have looked it has cost
at least $25 to get even a basic mirror. But low and behold at the MCC I found
a mirror for $2! Perfect. We weren’t looking for a frame or anything fancy,
just a mirror to prop up on a dresser and this fit the bill excellently.
Though now that I see it pictured, I realize I should have
cleaned the mirror before taking pictures of it.
I also found a great tray for $6 – It’s in great shape and I
can leave it as is, or I might revamp it and make it super fun. I’m not sure
yet.
I’m a Tupperware snob. One of my biggest pet peeves is
people referring to plastic food containers as Tupperware, when they are not
Tupperware brand. I know it sounds silly – but it actually makes a difference
to me which it is – because of it’s Tupperware there are certain guarantees I
know I can rely on, if it’s any other brand I have no such certainty.
I had a Tupperware shower as one of my bridal showers – this
was one of my best life decisions ever. I received over $1000 worth of
Tupperware that day – between gifts and getting the host discount. On top of
that I have been slowly investing in more and more Tupperware for our house. It
makes my life easier and more organized. Now I have almost all the pieces I
need. But I’m always on the lookout for interesting pieces that could help me
in life.
I’ve been told that thrift stores are great places to look
for older Tupperware – all Tupperware has a lifetime warranty, so if they can’t
replace it with the same model, they’ll replace it with a newer equivalent. One
of my favorite pieces of Tupperware is a giant yellow bowl with lid that I got
when I married Paul – it came from his family. I believe it was his mom’s – in
fact I have a picture of Katie with her head in this same bowl as a kid. It’s perfect
for mixing large batches of food – wings in sauce, veggies in seasoning, pasta
in sauce, etc. But when cooking for lifegroup I often wish I had another one or
two, since I’m making lots of food. MCC had 3 of these bad boys! I only grabbed
two (because I really don’t need to own four of these sets) and have already
been grateful to have them. I also picked up a container that is a perfect size
for holding cookies and soups and a great jug. I got both bowls, the container
and the jug for $11. 11!! The closest equivalent that you can purchase at
Tupperware now retails for $22 - $31 each – and the new versions are smaller
than the old…and it’s not like the fact that they are old makes them less
useful – in fact if for some reason their age doesn’t make them useless, then
I’d take them to Tupperware and get a replacement! Win, win, win.
I headed home to work on my final house project of the
weekend – wicker bedside tables. I was
looking for something to put in both our student rooms as bedside tables. My aunt
came across two wicker bedside tables at a friends house for $5 for two. She
picked them up for me and I planned to reinvent them.
Room 1 is brown with brown and white furniture and green
highlights.
Room 2 is white with Brown furniture (sadly – if we had
money I’d sub in all white or black) but the themes of the room are black and
white.
My hope was that both would look great if I repainted them
white – when I got them they were blue and green (as pictured below). I’m not sold on the finished product –
neither white covers the previous colour well enough, even with two coats. They
both look lightly blue at this stage. The one that was originally blue looks
the white-ist so it made it’s way into the brown room as we had a student
coming on Sunday and the other will most likely get a coat of grey or black in
the future to make it work in the Black and White room.
Then it was time to get ready for dinner – we had our
friends John and Lindsay coming over for dinner – and I was itching to try out
some Pinterest recipe’s. Guests make for a great excuse.
The menu was:
My standard Roasted Vegetables (easy)
Indonesian Pork Loin (Pinterest, link below)
Ranch Roasted Potatoes (Pinterest, link below)
This recipe involved picking up Mango Chutney – which took
me two stores to find. I picked the sweet chutney, not the hot chutney, but the
inclusion of Red Pepper Flakes in this recipe made it quite spicy (at least to
me). The flavors were good though, and the meat was very tender. It was very
easy to prepare. Everyone in enjoyed, myself the least (only because of the
spice). I’d make this again if I were having a group of spice lovers over – or
wanted to treat Paul extra well one day.
These potatoes were tender. The flavor was great, though a
bit mild. In the future I might chose to do a package and a half of the ranch
dressing, rather than just one as it could have used a bit more of a kick.
However I will definitely be making these again – we really enjoyed them. I
might even add some sour cream to top them with at the table as well.
Thankfully our guests loved everything – and Lindsay and our
roommate Rachel got along really well, and it was fun to chat with them while
cooking. Then the 2 couples played a round of Puerto Rico and then the boys
disappeared downstairs to chat, us girls got comfy on the couch to chat and a
couple hours later at midnight we realized we should probably call it a night –
which involved prying Paul and John away from their conversation downstairs. I
love friends like that – conversation, depth, laughter, and the ability to play
games!
Speaking of things I love; having people live with us. Once
both Paul and I work we can afford to rent our new house without students, but
while we live on one income having students allows us to live in such a big
house and have Paul focus just on studies rather than having to have a part
time job during his program. But we don’t just have students for the money – I
love having people around the house! Rachel moved in on the 2nd of
January – she’s originally from Kelowna and goes to our church now. We didn’t
know each other super well before she moved in, but now I feel like I’ve known
her for a long time. While I make lunches or dinner she often comes and sits in
the kitchen and chats with me – it makes my day.
Sunday we had a new student from Korea move in – Kim Eun
Saem. Eun Saem is her first name and as that is tricky for us, she has an
English name, Martina. Much easier. We went to Langara to pick Martina up
Sunday at 1:30 – it was extra neat because my sister Jenna was also picking up
a student from the same 3 week group.
We brought Martina home and then she joined me upstairs
while I made soup for us all. Since I was sick and Martina had just arrived I
didn’t go to church, but Paul headed off to help prep for coffee since our LG
was on that week. What I did do was make some awesome soup. One of my favorite
types of soup comes from Olive Garden – Chicken & Gnocchi Soup. I found a
copy cat recipe on Pinterest and my interest was piqued.
This was a bit time consuming, but not in an annoying way.
And the best part is it’s VERY tasty. Now, the taste isn’t exactly like the
Olive Garden’s. It’s a bit more chicken flavored at home than in the restaurant
but it was excellent regardless and this made enough to feed 3 of us for lunch
on Sunday, me for lunch on Monday and all 4 of us got a another bowl out of it
at dinner Monday night (served with chicken ceasar salad).
And thankfully I had enough forsight to make all the lunches
for the next day – salads for everyone.
Now that Martina was settled into the house and well fed it
was time for me to pick up Paul from church and head to a surprise party for
our recently engaged friends Sam and Stefany hosted by the Marchioro’s and
Jodi. Even though I was decidedly sicker by Sunday and my voice sounded utterly
ridiculous there was no way I was missing this engagement party.
The food was great – the company was excellent – the
Marchioro’s daughters are adorable – and Jonathan lead us through a version of
the Newlywed Game (the newly engaged game) which lead to much much laughter.
The happy couple - Stef and Sam
And a moment later in their natural poses
Me and Lydia
The girls and their hair crayons got ahold of Dustin
I love all the action in this shot - so full of life!
Sam and Stef getting ready for the game
Dustin with the scoreboard
Answers!
This one too is full of life:
Stef is debating her next answer
The kids are are dancing in the center
Lyndsay is riding the girls scooter
We left the party early because we had a planning meeting at
our house briefly afterwards where I noticed I proceeded to feel worse and
worse. By the time I went to sleep I’d already texted my boss to say the odds
of me missing the next day of work were high!
Monday was spent in pajamas mostly in bed sleeping and for a
few hours on a bed in the living room watching Nashville. I roused myself
enough to reheat soup for dinner and make salad, and throw together lunches for
the next day and then was back to bed.
Tuesday was spent mostly in comfy work out gear – I wanted
to feel a bit more pulled together than sweats. I also needed to venture to the
outside world to the doctors office to grab a prescription and some prenatal
vitamins – apparently you’re supposed to start taking vitamins 3 months before
you start trying for a baby – so we’re right on track. That trip wiped me out
and I was back in bed for most of the afternoon. I got up to prepare dinner for
our LG – thankfully I’d thrown the ground beef into the crock pot that morning
– and only needed to cook up sauce and noodles and heat up some garlic bread.
Super easy, Praise the Lord. LG was awesome. I’m so glad I was feeling better
that evening – eating together, worshipping together and going through the
sermon together was such an encouragement. Some of the members helped clean up
our kitchen, some hung around the house for a few hours, and I made lunches for
the next day. It was fun to do that with LG friends to talk with.
Wednesday my boss suggested I sleep in and come in by 2.
Thankfully my friend (and our temp) Irene had been able to be in at work for me
all week so I didn’t need to stress about how badly my sickness was making
things for my boss. Phew! So I made my way slowly to work and worked for 2 and
a half hours. It was a good transition back in. That night I made another
Pinterest Recipe.
I had cooked chicken and marinara in the fridge, so this was super easy.
And boy, it was super tasty. We liked it so much, I’ll be
making it Saturday when I have some girlfriends over for lunch. So good! Other
than making dinner and lunches I made sure to rest more – the next day was my
first full day of work after my cold AND I was going to be biking in for the
first time from the new house.
When I woke up at 6am it was super cold out – well super
cold for Vancouver, -2! Still I decided to brave the cold and bundled up well
in my biking gear and hit the road at 7am. I made good time and I think I found
a decent route, though I’m not totally sold on it. I loved my previous route to
work and miss it’s simplicity and speed. Hopefully I’ll figure that out here as
well.
Work was good – though my cough hasn’t gone away yet. My
boss suggested I drink hot water, lemon and honey and that’s been helping to suppress
the cough. Thursday after work I rushed home to make dinner: Yoshida Porkloin,
Asian Green Beans and Rice (tasty!). After dinner Martina and I headed over to
Jenna’s house – turns out that Martina and Jenna’s student Lenice didn’t know
each other in Korea but have become friends here, when they found out they were
living with us sisters. So now Martina buses to Jenna’s house each day and then
walks with Lenice to school. It’s super cute. The four of us ate chips and
popcorn and played 31. We laughed and it was a great night. We also discovered
that Martina and Lenice both have birthdays in the 3 weeks that they are here
so we will be throwing them a joint birthday party – what fun!
Also while we were at the Maxwell’s I got to cuddle with
Connor and a while after he was supposed to be in bed Austin came out looking
super cute and hugging a bat. It was random but oh so sweet.
And today I drove into work – my cough and nose were both
acting up and I felt terrible…so I didn’t want to risk it on my bike or have to
deal with transit feeling like this. My car was an awesome alternative.
And even though I’m sick I wanted to look cute at work –
helps me to feel good. I think I pulled it off.
And it isn't until this moment that I realize that that's the same sweater and pants in every outfit. Interesting.
Next up, the weekend. Thankful for that.
2 comments:
hot water, lemon juice, and honey is what i was going to suggest. Sometimes a clove or two helps as well. I usually have it before bed.
The problem with over the counter cough suppressants is that sometimes they can make the problem last longer, because you never have a chance to cough away the phlegm (we learned this from a doctor). Obvs if you've only been sick for five days this isn't an issue, but if the cough lingers for a couple of weeks try just using the lemon & honey drink to soothe it instead of meds, unless a doctor can actually prescribe something that works.
hot water, lemon juice, and honey is what i was going to suggest. Sometimes a clove or two helps as well. I usually have it before bed.
The problem with over the counter cough suppressants is that sometimes they can make the problem last longer, because you never have a chance to cough away the phlegm (we learned this from a doctor). Obvs if you've only been sick for five days this isn't an issue, but if the cough lingers for a couple of weeks try just using the lemon & honey drink to soothe it instead of meds, unless a doctor can actually prescribe something that works.
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