How Time Flies!

My goodness it doesn't seem like it's been over a month since my last post! I guess life just has a way of keeping you busy until before you know it, so much time has passed that you can't remember what even happened.
Lets see... what has happened since I blogged last....
Oh! My precious little cousin from the west coast and her mama and grandpa came for a visit! She's always a blast. Shy at first but cute as a button, and once she gets used to you, boy, no stopping her! We had so much fun, her and Jaydee and I while she was home. I've determined that when I have children, though, that I'm having a couple years in between them. A 3 year old and a 4 year old are one major handful. I wouldn't trade them for anything though, I love them just the way they are.
My favourite part of the little Miss' visit was when we were at church one Sunday and our Pastor Steve was praying and thanked God for bringing them safely from B.C. to New Brunswick and she looked wide eyed at me, and then at her mama and in a very theatrical whisper goes "He knows who we ARE!" I've  never had to stifle a laugh during prayer before, but my stars she was too funny!
Hmmm... what else... Oh, I know. Hurricane Arthur blew through. And of course I live in the area that was hardest hit. But we pulled through :) We only went 3 days without power but others have gone 8+ days without it. All good though. We're tough here in Carleton County haha!
I received my first letter from Raja a couple of weeks ago :) Since he is only 4 his Teacher wrote it for him.
He says his Parents are Abdul Xhaleg (father) who is 33 and Sumi (mother) who is 28.
If he could visit anywhere he would visit America just to visit. He wants to be a Pilot when he grows up.

Dear Sponsor (I seriously love the writing on this letter! So neat and pretty!)
At first love & greetings to you. He is doing well. He thanked you for your support. He likes song(s). He likes apple(s). What season do you like?
Please pray for his studies

He's sweet and I can't wait to get to know him.

There has also been a new addition to my Compassion family! Another little boy named Luckson. Luckson is 5 and lives in Haiti. Let me tell you, he is the most adorable little man I've ever seen!
See for yourself:

I discovered this precious surprise when I opened My Compassion by mistake last night and decided since I was there I would check up for any updates on my little ones and to my surprise there were 4 names in the drop down menu instead of 3. I had a brunette moment for a minute before I remembered I signed up to be a Volunteer Advocate for Compassion and said that I would correspond with more children. I'm already in love though. This was a great decision to make, I can tell!
Anyways! I'm off to clean! babysitting our friends pups next week so I want to get all my housework done before I take off for a week :)
take care all!
xo
Lisa

Introducing Dushandan!

Dushandan showed up on my Compassion yesterday so I can share his picture with you all. I'm so excited to start corresponding with this darling!

So there he is, folks. My cute little Dushandan with his pants on backwards. Isn't he precious? I know we're going to get along great!

Thats all for now! I'll hopefully be on later on this afternoon with a longer post

xo
Lisa

3 Must Be My Lucky Number

It seems with Compassion I either have 1 little one, or 3 haha. For the longest time I had my three boys, Robert,  Joel and Loukmane, but because of financial reasons I had to give up Joel and Loukmane, even though it broke my heart to do so. But now since I figured stuff out, sold a bunch of junk I didn't need (lol) worked hard and saved hard, I was able to sponsor financially again, and so I picked Raja, who I introduced you to last week I believe. Then I had mentioned a while ago to a lady I know that I was hoping to sponsor a little boy specifically with the same birthdate as Jaydee to teach him about other parts of the world like a good cousin/auntie. And so last week shortly after I picked up Raja's sponsorship, Dushandan fell into my lap.
Dushandan was born October 14, 2007. Making him 2 years older than Jaydee. He lives in Sri Lanka with his mama and daddy.. and, like me when I was his age, loves hide and seek. He's a sweet little fellow and I am SUPER excited to get to know him. I don't have his picture on my computer currently, but when I do I will upload a copy here so you all can see his adorable little face and his pants on backwards xD.
With the addition of Raja and Dushandan to my Compassion family and my signing up to become an advocate for Compassion, I felt my organization skills needed to be improved to keep everything in line. So now I have a "Compassion Corner" in my room. A temporary set up until I find a better place for everything. Four blue binders, three bibles and a bunch of Compassion Advocacy papers/materials are all neatly stored on one of my night tables. Each binder is labelled on the side for maximum organization (haaha) Letters, Colouring Pages,Paper and Extras.
I spent $2 at the dollarama and bought two colouring books, came home and ripped (gently) all the pages out and placed them individually into page protectors and placed them in one big binder, which became the "Colouring Pages" binder (self explanatory, Lisa.. duhh haha)
My letters binder is pretty self explanatory too, but I'm bored, so read on. In the front flap thinger I have the letters/cards/whatever waiting to be sent. All nice and pretty and not getting lost (yay me!) Then, I have Robert's bio card and picture in a page protector, marking the start of his section where all the letters and pictures I have (found) from him are each in their own page protector waiting to be read again.
At the End of Robert's section is a divider, and then little Raja's bio card. I'm trying to keep better track of what I send/tell my kids so I don't repeat myself too much, so I'm starting to photocopy everything I send. So since I haven't yet received a letter from Raja the first thing you'll see is a copy of my first letter to him :)
Flip the page and you'll see the same process repeated for my sweet Dushandan.
Then at the end of the binder, you will find the letters written by my darlings Joel and Loukmane who I miss so dearly.
My extras binder holds all of the stickers/postcards I have purchased to send to my boys, just waiting to be selected and mailed:)
See! Organization. Wasn't so hard to do :) Now if I can just remember to keep it that way....
Off to Halifax this weekend for the Walmart Walk for Miracles! I'm so pumped to be going. I loved going the last two years, but this year the one manager at Walmart that I honestly truly get along with/understand and like.. is taking us. SO. PUMPED!

I would like to end this post with a request. There is a terrible tragedy going on this moment in Moncton, a city about 2 1/2 hours away from me. Three RCMP officers have been shot and killed, and two more seriously injured by one man. He is still at large and as I sit here and type I have the police scanner app on my tablet going, tuned in to their manhunt. Please, please pray that this disturbed young man is caught before any more blood is shed.

xo
Lisa

Oh Damn!

I just blew my stove up! Well.. almost... not quite.. but I did make a filament blow up, or explode.. or however you call it. Talk about a heart attack! Holy crow! Thank God for having a friend over who knows what he is doing inside of a kitchen (thanks love, owe ya!)
I was heating up the stove to make my faavourite Hassleback Garlic Cheesey Bread and all a sudden my oven went POOF! and there was a tiny little flame inside it. I thought I was about to burn my basement down. So it's upstairs stove for now when I want to cook. Oh well. A nice fancy new stove to use, I can deal with it I think. Just nobody tell my father, kay? I'm not ready to be murdered yet.
So that was my adventure in the kitchen for tonight! What a rush.
Told Jaydee about Raja yesterday. At first he was sad because he hasn't "met him  before" but when I told him we got to write letters and colour him pictures, he was a little bit excited for that. I can't wait to get Raja's packet and first letter. I'm sure that will make my boy SO excited!
 He had his first day off school today. Sort of.. he went to school for a half day of orientation. I almost cried. My baby is growing up! :( He even knows how to drive a 4 wheeler better than me.. which is sad lol
But anyways! Thought you would like to hear of my crazy adventure in the kitchen tonight, now i'm off to finish my bread and go to bed, cause I'm a wee bit sleepy.
Night lovies!
xo
Lisa

Sponsorship!

Hey all!
So! This week I decided I would like to do something with Jaydee that would me more... meaningful I guess... than just playing and spending time with him. So I decided we would sponsor a little boy together. I wanted to pick someone with the same birthday as him if possible, but if not just a boy that was the same age as him roughly so they could talk about what it was like being that age in a different country to each other (through me of course lol.)
I have looked at pictures and read mini biographies of SO many darling little boys (and a couple girls) this week my heart just wants to break. After a lot of going through and re going through profiles, I FINALLY decided on a little one to sponsor.
                                                          Everybody.... meet Raja!

 

He is 4 years old and from Bangladesh :) He also was born just 4 days before Jaydee. I'm so stoked to tell Jaydee about Raja tomorrow. I'm hoping he gets as excited as I am about this! I can't wait to see how Jaydee and Raja learn from each other and see how they grow up. 

It was a difficult decision picking Raja though. Not because he isn't cute, because he's friggen adorable! I mean, look at that face! But because there are sooo many other adorable little faces to pick from.. like this one...

I won't lie, I almost picked Miguel.. Look at that smile! he's darling. 

Then there is this face.. 

Little Isaac. He looks so sad. My heart broke right in two for him. Both of these sweethearts (and many many more) are available for sponsorship still if you're considering sponsoring. Its a great cause. :)
Thats all for tonight folks!
xo 

Lisa

Catching Up!

I've been racking my brains these last couple of days, trying to remember what I've made since my last post, and honestly I mainly stuck to tried-and-true recipies. I did try out a couple new ones though!! 
This one for Blueberry Sweet Rolls with a Lemon Glaze were soooo yummy!! here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Rolls

• 2 and 3/4 cups (345g) all-purpose flour
• 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 package Red Star Platinum Yeast or any instant yeast* (1 packet = 2 and 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/2 cup (120ml) water
• 1/4 cup (60ml) milk (cow's milk - I used skim)
• 2.5 Tablespoons (40g) unsalted butter
• 1 large egg, at room temperature

Filling

• 1 and 1/3 cups (225g) frozen* blueberries, not thawed
• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Sweet Lemon Glaze

• Juice from 1 large lemon*
• 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar (or more)
• 1-2 Tablespoons (15-30ml) half-and-half (or heavy cream or milk)

Directions:

1. Make the filling first: Combine the frozen blueberries, sugar, and cornstarch in a bowl. Gently toss around and let sit while you prepare the dough.
2. Make the dough: Set aside 1/2 cup of flour. In a large bowl, toss the remaining flour, sugar, salt, and yeast together until evenly dispersed. Set aside.
3. Heat the water, milk, and butter together in the microwave until the butter is melted and the mixture is hot to touch. About 115-120F degrees. Stir the butter mixture into the flour mixture. Add the egg and only enough of the reserved flour to make a soft dough. I only needed 1/3 cup, but you may need the full 1/2 cup. Dough will be ready when it gently pulls away from the side of the bowl and has an elastic consistency.
4. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for about 5-6 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl (I used non-stick spray) and let rest for about 10 minutes.
5. Fill the rolls: After 10 minutes, roll the dough out in a 14x8 inch rectangle. Pour the sugared blueberries on top and gently spread them to cover the dough surface. Roll up the dough tightly. Cut into 11 even pieces and place in a lightly greased 9-inch round pan. I used a pie dish, lightly sprayed with nonstick spray. Loosely cover the rolls with aluminum foil and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for 2-3 hours. Here is what I do: heat the oven to 200F degrees. Turn oven off. Place rolls inside oven and allow to rise. *Do not* refrigerate the rolls at any point during or after rising.
6. After the rolls have doubled in size, preheat the oven to 375F. Bake for 25-30 minutes until lightly browned. I covered the rolls with aluminum foil after 15 minutes to avoid heavy browning.
7. Make the glaze: Right before serving, top your blueberry rolls with glaze. Mix all of the glaze ingredients together. If you prefer a thicker glaze, add more powdered sugar and then add salt to cut the sweetness, if desired. If you'd like it thinner, add more lemon juice or cream. Pour over sweet rolls.
8. Makes 11 cinnamon rolls. Rolls are best enjoyed the same day, but stay fresh and soft in a covered container for 5 days. Glaze the rolls immediately before serving. The recipe may be made the night before through step 5. Allow the rolls to stay at room temperature before baking.

Overnight instructions: The dough may be made the night before through step 5. Allow the rolls to rise at room temperature for 12 hours. If they rise *too* much overnight, gently press them down a bit before baking the next morning.
*If you replace Red Star Platinum with regular active dry yeast, you rise time may be 50% longer.
*You must use frozen (not fresh) blueberries in this recipe.
*Leave out the lemon juice if you do not prefer lemon glaze. Replace with 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

These were seriously amazing! I found the recipe on pinterest (God I love that site!!) and it sent me to here : http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/06/14/blueberry-sweet-rolls-with-lemon-glaze/
I 110% recommend these to everybody! haha I'm 98 3/4 % sure everybody will love them! My family sure did! They were gone within a couple of hours. 

And then there was this one for Pirogi casserole. I made this for a pot luck at work and it was a hit as well :) 
Here's the recipe (also found on pinterest lol) 

Ingredients

• • 9 lasagne noodles, uncooked
  • 4 cup hot mashed potatoes
  • 1/2 cup (1/2 of 250g tub) Philadelphia Herb & Garlic cream cheese spread
  • 6 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 pkg. (80 g) Oscar Mayer Real Bacon Recipe Pieces, divided
  • 2 cup Kraft Double Cheddar shredded cheese, divided
  • 
    

Cook Time30 min.

Prep Time30 min.

Yields12 serv.

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375°F.
2. Cook noodles as directed on package, omitting salt. Meanwhile, combine mashed potatoes, cream cheese spread, onions, 1/2 cup bacon and 1 cup Cheddar.
3. Place 3 noodles in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; cover with 1/3 of the potato mixture. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining bacon and Cheddar; cover.
4. Bake 30 min. or until heated through. Uncover; bake 3 to 5 min. or until Cheddar is lightly browned. Let stand 10 min. before cutting to serve.
5. Kraft Kitchens Tip: For a change of pace, substitute cottage cheese for the mashed potatoes.

you can find the recipe here if you want to see pictures :) http://realwomen.phillycanada.com/recipes/542663/Easy-Pierogi-Casserole

definitely use the noodles that have to be cooked first though. I was running low on time so I didn't and while it was still great, it just wasn't up to par. Trying again soon the right way!!

Oh, and I found an addiction to alfredo this winter, so I found this recipe for an Easy Alfredo Sauce (mmm mmm mmm!) but I don't know where I found it to link back to, sorry :(

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
8 oz cream cheese
2 tsp garlic powder
2 cups milk
6 oz grated parmesan cheese
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Directions
Melt butter in a medium, non stick saucepan over medium heat. Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring with wire whisk until smooth. add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps. Stir in parmesan and pepper. Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency. Sauce will thicken rapidly. Thin with milk if cooked too long. toss with hot pasta to serve. 


I ordered new glasses last week online from Zenni Optical. Finally got the nerd glasses I've been wanting for ages and they make me look a bit ridiculous haha but thats ok. I'll just use them for bumming around in so I don't break my better looking ones (again) ((leson learned.. don't fall asleep and roll onto your glasses. That usually causes them to break.. oops!))


Alright, I've done enough procrastinating for tonight. Off to do housework ! D:
xo Lisa

passwords....

Don't forget them like I do lol.
I signed out of blogger on my crap top intending to sign back in on my better laptop and I couldn't remember the password. Oops!! But I have it wrote down somewhere safe now, so this shouldn't happen again :)
I don't know about you all, but boy was that a long winter!! I have never been so glad to see the spring haha so much snow!! And so cold too :(
But on a good note, as far as we know my father is in remission :) even though we had a pretty big fight yesterday and im currently crashing at my friends apartment until tonight haha it means I get my daddy for a while longer and that os great news :D
This year, I will again be heading to Halifax, NS to walk in the IWK Walk for Miracles :) my fundraising goal this year is a go big or go home, yet easily achievable $500. But I need everybody's help to reach it!  If you would like to donate to this great cause you can do so at https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?registrationID=2365954
I think the link will work, I hope it does lol
100% of , monies rasied goes directly to the iwk hospital to help purchase life saving equipment :)
And now I am off to go get ready for work. Later lovies!
Xo Lisa

The Verdict!

Alright! The Mac'n'cheese'n'squash....... was GREAT! ok. with a few minor adjustments :P I used mozza cheese (noo idea how much. I just grated till I got bored) and parmesan. And I also tossed in a bunch of bacon bits (till I ran out) and some Progresso Garlic & Herb bread crumbs on top for a extra punch of flavour. It was a hit in the house! Everybody went back for seconds. I really need to measure when I add to a recipe instead of just throwing in things to taste. But yeah! It was good :) I recommend trying it :)
Till next time
xo
Lisa

In West Philadelphia Born & Raised!

Yep. I'm rapping out to that while cooking today. I'm soo cool eh? Today I'm making Macaroni and Cheese (yumm!) With Roasted Butternut Squash (mac n cheese n squash? Whaat?) 

Here's the recipe before I go any further and forget to give it to you :) 

Ingredients

• 400 g peeled butternut squash, finely diced, about 3 cups
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 cups dry elbow macaroni
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups 2% milk
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp cayenne (optional)
• 1 cup grated white cheddar, preferably aged
• 1 cup grated light mozzarella
• 1/2 cup grated gruyère
• 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

Instructions

• Position racks in centre and top third of oven. Preheat to 400F. Toss squash with oil on a baking sheet. Bake in centre of oven until tender, stirring halfway through, 16 to 18 min. Remove to a rack. Preheat broiler to 500F.
• Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water, following package directions but omitting salt, until al dente, 7 to 8 min. Drain.
• Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium. Whisk in flour. Mixture will be dry and very lumpy. Gradually whisk in milk, Dijon, salt and cayenne. Stir until mixture comes to a boil, 5 to 7 min. Remove pan from heat and stir in pasta,cheese and squash until just coated. Do not melt cheese. Transfer to an 8-inch- square baking dish or 6 individual ovensafe dishes. Sprinkle panko over pasta.
• Broil until top is golden, 2 to 3 min. Serve immediately.

Now I'm making some adjustments to this because I don't have all the "proper" ingredients and I'm too poor to buy them haha

I'm just using plain mozza and cheddar since I don't have light mozza, white cheddar or gruyere. I bet it will turn out just fine with normal cheeses haha

here is the link to where the recipe can be found online even though I copied mine out of a book at work during Wednesdays midnight shift (gag) I'll let you all know how it turned out after I'm finished!

http://www.chatelaine.com/recipe/world-cuisine-2/macaroni-and-cheese-with-roasted-butternut-squash/

xo Lisa 

A First...and an apology (kinda)

Today I have to admit, I had a little meltdown. After I ate supper, I came downstairs to a song playing on the radio that makes me cry every single time I hear it. Usually just a sniffle and I'm good, but tonight I bawled.
Wondering what the "first" is yet? I cried about a boy. I, Lisa Keough, aged 22 have never ever cried over a boy. Until tonight. But, I didn't cry because he broke my heart, or didn't want to date me. I cried because my friend is hurting and I felt powerless.
The last boy I knew who hurt was sweet Jaydee. He tripped and scraped his arm. With Jaydee though , all it took was a cuddle and a kiss and he was all better. The boy I cried for today hurts inside and I don't think I can kiss and cuddle it better. And I'd just recently been kind of rude to this boy because he made me angry. I sent him an angry Facebook message (oh I know. 'oooh how scary!') and when I seen him the other night I ignored him, even though I could see that he stopped and waved at me. (Sorry :[ ) Now what I was angry at him for seems silly. It was foolish really. The reason now doesn't matter.. all that matters is I'm awful sorry. Sorry for being selfish and sorry for being just plain stupid. And sorry for your hurt. I wish I could make it  better for you. I love you.

thats all for tonight folks.
xo Lisa

Have You Ever Heard A Snowflake Fall?

It's the most amazing sound. To me it sounds like God is whispering in my ear "it's going to be alright."
The other night it was snowing and it was so beautiful that I just had to go outside and walk. I found the quietest part of my neighborhood and just stood there. It was so quiet you could hear the snow falling all around. It is something I never want to take for granted again. Every time it snows gently like it did the other day I want to take at least five minutes and go outside and just breathe and listen to the snow. Because who knows how many breaths and snow falls I have left?
I learned again this week just how quick a life can go away. I went for coffee last week with my father and the "crew" and yesterday morning I woke up to the news that one of the dear sweet old men who make up the "crew" had passed away suddenly. Jimmy was the sweetest man and will be missed so very much. I knew him for a very long time, but about 6 years ago I got the chance to get to know him even better when I started to date his grandson, Alex. I loved him very much and my heart is broke to know that he is gone. But, Carrie Underwood has this song out called "See You Again" which has given me some measure of comfort because it is true. I will see Jimmy again. Much as I miss him I hope that it will be some time before I do. I have a lot of living to do before I go to heaven :)
On a much happier note.. I did some baking this morning! I made six mini loaves of Banana Bread. and boy is it yummy! haha I made two batches of the recipe to make up the six loaves. One batch had chocolate chips in it (yumm!) and the other had cherries at my mother's request.
This is the recipe that I used.

Banana Bread Recipe

• Prep time: 5 minutes
• Cook time: 1 hour
• Yield: Makes one loaf.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

METHOD

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

I would tell you how much cherries and how much chocolate chips I used, but I really don't know. I just dumped them in until it looked like enough to me haha. I encourage you to try this recipe though! It is delish! 

Here is the link to where I found it.. .http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/

enjoy your day! 

xo Lisa

I didn't say what Monday!

I am back (for the millionth time!) Why does it always seem that whenever I try to blog (or do anything) steady.. something always happens to disrupt it! Argh. We've been doing renovations to our house  and my poor computer got buried and I just found her yesterday evening. Getting the charging cord took me till today :P
On to exciting things..
I GOT A KITCHEN! It's all mine! :D Yay for Christmas cooking! Or any kind of cooking to be honest! ;) Be on the lookout for recipes. It's gonna be a rough little while for me and my family. My father has cancer and I'm scared. I really am. So I'm hoping to try to find an "out" to keep me busy when I get worried. Especially in the tough times. Since I know I like to cook and bake and experiment, I'm gonna try that :) I'm gonna get so fat... lol
Oh.. listen to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBJ8iGHUOEg while you read. It'll make you happy. :)
One more month till Christmas (eve!) As much as I love Christmas.. I really just want this year to be over so we can jump into next years trials and hopefully triumphs.
Wait! I take what I said earlier back. Do NOT listen to the above video while you read.. WATCH it after :) It'll make you happier, I promise. :D How could Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra NOT make anybody happy? Seriously? They're beautiful. I'm not just talking about their voices either haha..
Lately I've been feeling rather.. frustrated.. with my job. I thoroughly enjoy what I do, most days anyways, and I think almost 4 years proves some sort of dedication... right? I've been working faithfully for Walmart for that long and I'm still part time and pretty low on the food chain so to speak. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, because I am oh so glad to have a job, but I'd really love to have full time at least. Just this week I found out that a young gentleman (he's still in school...) who has been there roughly a month is now my supervisor. Why? They wanted a male CSM because all the females have been getting pregnant lately. What? Stereo-typical much? Last time I checked you usually have to, erm, have sex.. to get pregnant. So I'm safe. In fact.. if I do become pregnant in the near future, somebody'd better call the Pope.. I'm not saying I want the supervisor position, because I really don't. I wouldn't turn it down if offered, but I wouldn't necessarily beg for it unless it was a full time position. I've even spoke to my boss, and explained my whole situation to him and said look, I need more hours. It's not any longer a "want" thing. Since we found out that dad has cancer, it has become a "need"..
Anyways... lol I'll post pictures of my kitchen as soon as it get's completed. :) My taps have got to go in yet, and my dish washer :) Then I get to decorate. Eeeeeeee! I'm stupid with excitement hehe
Speaking of work though.. I have to work in the morning! So it's off to bed I go. Well, as soon as I plug in my Frank Sinatra Christmas CD and put it on repeat repeat repeat :P
Night lovies
xox Lisa

What A Week!

Due to a passing of a dear friends mother, I will not be blogging for the next couple of days.  I will be back by Monday though :)
till next time
xo
Lisa

Soldiers Angels

My apologies for not posting yesterday... things got a little busy haha
Today's post is going to be about an organization that is very dear to me.. Soldier's Angels. Their motto is "May No Solider Go Unloved" and that is exactly what they aim to do! Their goal is for every deployed hero to have someone write to them and send them goodies from home, to express our gratitude for their hard work and dedication to their country. Yes, they are an American company, and I am a Canadian, but I still believe strongly in their dedication to the service men and women.
Soldier's Angels has several different "teams" that you can join to support the troops in many different ways! If your strength does not lie in writing letters and cards, and you're more of a baker, you can join the Angel Bakers and bake some yummy goodies to send to the men and women overseas.
To find more about the teams at Soldiers Angels visit this link.
This month they are collecting Christmas cards to send to the troops (yes, I know... too early to think about Christmas.. and snow...) I've been writing them out by the dozen haha.
If you are interested in "adopting" a hero you can visit Soldiers Angels by clicking here. It's a really great thing to do to bring a little joy to someone who is fighting for their countries freedom. And! If you wanted to send a Christmas card (or more haha) there are two addresses you can use :
Soldiers’ Angels Christmas


5068 US HWY 64 East

Franklinville, NC 27248 

OR 

Soldiers’ Angels Christmas


145 N Sierra Madre Blvd. 

Ste 5 


Pasadena, CA  91107

I have been an "angel" off and on since I was about 12.. I still keep in contact with my first soldier and he's one of my dearest friends. He was redeployed a few years ago and I sent letters to him again while he was overseas. 

Currently there are 346 heroes waiting for "adoption" why not sign up today? Perfect timing for Christmas! You could  bring some joy to a deployed hero far away from home at Christmas time. 

till next time

xo 

Lisa 

November Blogging...

Hey all,
In order to get  myself back into the blogging deal more regularly each day in November I am going to try (emphasis on try!) to pick a cause that I support and blog all about it.. as you can see, today I did "Movember" and tomorrow I will blog about another cause that I am very fond of. To see what this cause is and read all about it you'll have to check back tomorrow!
Till then
xo
Lisa

Movember!

Its that time of year again ladies and gentlemen! The time of year where men shave their faces and start growing a "mo" to support men's health issues like prostate cancer. I unfortunately do not have a man to show you all his "mo" ;) so I invite you to follow my bro-in-law Peter and the Toronto Moustachians!! For the last couple of years Pete has grown a pretty awesome "mo" so I'm sure this year it will be no different and no less hilarious!
As soon as I find out how you can donate to the Toronto Moustachians (or to Movember in general) I will absolutely let you know!! This is a great cause and I know you all will help me out here :)

Happy "Mo"ing everybody!
xo
Lisa

Blind Date (Part 2!)

So you may all be wondering about how my date(s) went yesterday.. and you may not be ;) but I'm going to tell you anyway! hahaha

My "blind date" went well ( I think??) I had a good time anyway! haha I met him at his grandma's for tea and then it was suggested that he show me the barns because I like cows. So we went to the barns lol and he introduced me to the cows. After the tour and the introductions haha he took me back to his grandmothers and invited me to come back up again for a bit to see how the milking works (he works on a dairy..) but unfortunately I had to leave. I thought him cute, and he seemed very nice but I didn't know what he thought of me (I didn't ask.. lol) but I found out today he asked about me last night when my Pastors wife went back to his grams for prayer meeting. (yay!!) So I'm hoping to go back over perhaps Sunday evening when Steve and Becky go to his grams for evening service. I'll keep you all updated! haha

My second "date" was a flub. The jerk ditched me (again). I should have seen it coming though, he always stands me up. Oh well! Take the bad with the good, right? :P 

Till next time

xo Lisa

Blind Date..

I may or may not have my first official Blind Date tomorrow.
My Pastors wife Becky called  me today and asked if I was seeing anybody steady, when I answered "no" she said she knew of a gentleman that her and her husband have thought for a while I would get along good with. After a while of chatting we decided that tomorrow afternoon we would go for a drive and just pop over to his grandmothers for tea. This gentleman stops by his grandmothers every day at the same time for a cuppa and tomorrow there will be some extra company lol.
I've never done this blind dating thing, so I'm hoping I don't become a blubbering idiot and make a fool of myself. ( I probably will!) Here's hoping that he's cute and we hit it off. Would be kind of fun, right? haha
I will let you all know tomorrow sometime how it went! (I may or may not have another date tomorrow night ;) but I know who this guy is lol)
xo
Lisa

I'm Back (again)

Hello all!! So sorry for being away from the blog for so long, I didn't forget this time, promise, I was just going through some stuff that I didn't want public. Now I've got my life back on track and I'm back again to annoy you all with my posts (haha)
SO! There have been some changes in my life these past few months you all may be interested in knowing about, and then I have a short vent haha. First off, my changes..
Numero 1.. I have eliminated some people from my life. People that were holding me down and keeping me from where I want to be in life. Smell ya later folks!!
Number 2.. I gave online dating an honest try. Went on one date and (I thought) it went well, but I never heard from him again.. guess it didn't go well? :P
Number 3.. I got a tattoo. Yep! I finally grew a set and went to the tattoo parlour and got a small tattoo on my left wrist.

It reads "Yahweh" in Hebrew :) The purpose of me getting this tattoo in this spot was because lately I feel I haven't been the Christian I should be, and I haven't been setting a good example for my sweet little cousin so I put God's name on my wrist because I knew I would see it there every day and it would remind me that I have to live a more Godly life. 

Now on to my vent. I've started to feel like I'm just the "good time" girl that guys will text and want to hang around with when they're single, but I'm not good enough for them to date. Now don't take me saying that to mean I'm a whore or anything, I'm still a virgin. But it seems any guy I'm interested in, will want to be around me and talk to me when there's no other girl in their life, but as soon as they find a girlfriend, I get the cold shoulder. It's getting frustrating. Anyways! haha Sorry for vent, but I needed to get that off my shoulders haha

Until next time 

xo Lisa

New Compassion Blog!

Hey all! Just a note to let you know that I have moved my blog for Compassion over to a new page, so my posts don't get lost in among my rants and non-Compassion posts :)
To start my new blog off, I posted my first blog that I wrote as  a "Compassion Blogger" on the new blog as well :)
Here is the link to my new blog: http://fromthesticksforhim.blogspot.ca/
Hope you all venture over occasionally to check it out!
xo
Lisa