Hello friends! After having a successful month of blogging in September, it seems that I am not going to do well with my blog this month. I do love spending time writing and connecting with my fellow bloggers but I have been struggling in the last few weeks.
A heavy work schedule coupled with me not feeling well has made for a rough few weeks. I have felt exhausted and overwhelmed. My last pregnancy was relatively easy. I had only a few small issues to deal with and I seemed to maintain my energy up until near the end of my pregnancy. This pregnancy has been very different. I have had a lot of nausea (thankfully it doesn't result in actually getting sick!), headaches, dizziness and fatigue. I really don't like taking things off my plate (something I clearly need to work on) so I have mostly just been powering through. It came to a head last weekend when I just burst into tears and had a mini meltdown an hour before a fundraising event that I was helping organize. Unfortunately, something's got to give. I have focused this week on sleeping when I am tired, going to bed early and just saying no to pretty much everything that comes my way.
I am lucky to have a very supportive Hubby who has been making meals all week, doing laundry and taking care of Miss. E. I haven't had to do anything this week except go to work and come home. It has really helped and I am feeling much better. I have made the decision to take time to rest when I need it. Growing a tiny human being is hard work and my body has been begging me to slow down. It may mean that this blog suffers, that Hubby has to pick up the slack and that I might (gasp!) have to take a sick day from work. I am determined to start paying attention to what my body needs because I can not keep functioning like this. I also know that these last few weeks are precious and that I should enjoy resting when I can because that will all change with a newborn in the house!
The last few weeks have been quite the lesson in self care. I really thought I was doing so well with that! I guess I am still learning. Thanks for listening. Have a peaceful weekend!
Friday, 27 October 2017
Friday, 13 October 2017
High Five For Friday- 13.10.17
How is it that we are nearly halfway through October. Wow. I need the rest of the month to go in slow motion so that I can finish a few projects at work. Yikes! I am linking up with Tif, Katie, Della and Becky to share 5 highlights from my week. I was a terrible photographer and didn't take any pictures this week.
1.) I attended a baptism last Saturday as a Godmother. This is the first time I have ever been asked to be a Godmother so I was very excited. Afterwards, our friends had us over for a delicious turkey dinner. Yum! It was a fun day.
2.) On Sunday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family. It was a lot of fun. My Mom made a delicious meal and I so enjoyed visiting with everyone. Miss. E thinks we are all pretty boring with wanting to sit and talk. Ha ha. We had a fabulous time!
3.) On Monday (actual Thanksgiving) I basically did housework and froze beets. It was great to get things done. I was exhausted and had a migraine by the end of the day so I headed to bed early.
4.) By Wednesday, my headache was finally gone. Wooo! It was a doozy. It was nice to have a productive day at work.
5.) I had my 30 week appointment yesterday and everyone is doing fine. I learned that baby is laying in an awkward position (across my belly, right under my ribs) so that explains the side pains and heartburn. Ha ha. I am hoping that the little one gets their head down in time! We did maternity pictures last night and I am so looking forward to getting those back. Our photographer always does such a wonderful job!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Happy Friday!
1.) I attended a baptism last Saturday as a Godmother. This is the first time I have ever been asked to be a Godmother so I was very excited. Afterwards, our friends had us over for a delicious turkey dinner. Yum! It was a fun day.
2.) On Sunday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family. It was a lot of fun. My Mom made a delicious meal and I so enjoyed visiting with everyone. Miss. E thinks we are all pretty boring with wanting to sit and talk. Ha ha. We had a fabulous time!
3.) On Monday (actual Thanksgiving) I basically did housework and froze beets. It was great to get things done. I was exhausted and had a migraine by the end of the day so I headed to bed early.
4.) By Wednesday, my headache was finally gone. Wooo! It was a doozy. It was nice to have a productive day at work.
5.) I had my 30 week appointment yesterday and everyone is doing fine. I learned that baby is laying in an awkward position (across my belly, right under my ribs) so that explains the side pains and heartburn. Ha ha. I am hoping that the little one gets their head down in time! We did maternity pictures last night and I am so looking forward to getting those back. Our photographer always does such a wonderful job!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Happy Friday!
Wednesday, 11 October 2017
Master Menu and Meal Formula
I have been working on a Master Menu. I have also been working on a menu "formula". The good thing is that my family and I have sort of fallen into a pattern with our meals. It's nice because neither my husband or my daughter seem to get sick of our recurring meal schedule.
Some people make their formula specific to the day of the week. My work schedule varies far too much for me to do that so I only really have Sunday set as a specific type of meal. All the other days are sorted out according to what we have going on that week. Here is what I came up with for my menu "formula":
Sunday: I always try to make a nice meal on Sunday. This is usually a roast beef dinner, roast chicken, lasagna, or a ham.
Monday: Sunday leftover meal. The amount of meat that we get from a roast, chicken or ham is always way too much for my family of 3. I like to use the leftover meat in a "new" way on Monday night.
The rest of the week is split up into a pasta night, a chicken night, a salmon night, a red meat meal and one easy meal.
I am going to share the meals on my Master Menu. Honestly, I just trade out side dishes most of the time and call it a new meal. I am that boring. Whatever gets you through the work night suppers, right?
Chicken, Salmon or Pork Chops with:
Some people make their formula specific to the day of the week. My work schedule varies far too much for me to do that so I only really have Sunday set as a specific type of meal. All the other days are sorted out according to what we have going on that week. Here is what I came up with for my menu "formula":
Sunday: I always try to make a nice meal on Sunday. This is usually a roast beef dinner, roast chicken, lasagna, or a ham.
Monday: Sunday leftover meal. The amount of meat that we get from a roast, chicken or ham is always way too much for my family of 3. I like to use the leftover meat in a "new" way on Monday night.
The rest of the week is split up into a pasta night, a chicken night, a salmon night, a red meat meal and one easy meal.
I am going to share the meals on my Master Menu. Honestly, I just trade out side dishes most of the time and call it a new meal. I am that boring. Whatever gets you through the work night suppers, right?
Chicken, Salmon or Pork Chops with:
- rice
- perogies
- potatoes
- salad
Lasagna or Lasagna Roll-Ups
Pasta and Sauce (Meat Sauce, vegetable sauce, or meatballs)
Sweet and Sour Meatballs (Hubby's specialty)
Stir Fry (chicken, pork or shrimp)
Roast Beef
Beef on a Bun
Pizza
Chili
Roast Chicken
Breakfast Supper (Pancakes and eggs)
All together my master menu has 25 meals. I do my best to match up what is on sale that week, what we have on hand and what we have planned that week. I always do my big meal for Sunday supper, as I often have lots of time after church on Sunday to spend time in the kitchen. Work night meals tend to be easier meals, as I don't always have a lot of time or energy those evenings.
Do you have a Master Menu? Do you follow a menu formula? I would love to hear all about it!
Friday, 6 October 2017
High Five For Friday- 05.10.17
Hello October! I love the crisp mornings that this week has had and I have also enjoyed the warm afternoons. I am linking up with Tif, Katie, Becky and Della to share my five highlights from the past week.
1.) My Grandma turned 90 this past weekend! We had a great time celebrating her birthday. She seemed to enjoy her day. It was nice to catch up with Aunts, Uncles and cousins that I haven't seen in a while.
2.) On Sunday, Hubby took me on a romantic date for our 7th anniversary (which was actually Monday). We had a lovely afternoon at my favourite place (the lake), complete with lasagna (!) and cake. It was such a nice date!
3.) I have been participating in The Nester's #cozyfallhome daily photo prompts on Instagram. It has been a lot of fun. To see what I have been posting check out my Instagram account (@peacefulsimplelifeblog).
4.) Miss. E has been so imaginative lately and she is really cracking me up. I feel so blessed to get to watch her play and grow. It is a lot of fun!
5.) I have been feeling a lot better this week. Thank goodness!
I hope you all had a great week! Have a fabulous weekend! (Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends!)
1.) My Grandma turned 90 this past weekend! We had a great time celebrating her birthday. She seemed to enjoy her day. It was nice to catch up with Aunts, Uncles and cousins that I haven't seen in a while.
2.) On Sunday, Hubby took me on a romantic date for our 7th anniversary (which was actually Monday). We had a lovely afternoon at my favourite place (the lake), complete with lasagna (!) and cake. It was such a nice date!
(I can't believe it's been 7 years!)
3.) I have been participating in The Nester's #cozyfallhome daily photo prompts on Instagram. It has been a lot of fun. To see what I have been posting check out my Instagram account (@peacefulsimplelifeblog).
4.) Miss. E has been so imaginative lately and she is really cracking me up. I feel so blessed to get to watch her play and grow. It is a lot of fun!
5.) I have been feeling a lot better this week. Thank goodness!
I hope you all had a great week! Have a fabulous weekend! (Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends!)
Wednesday, 4 October 2017
September- Goals and The No Spend Year
Another month is under our belts. September really seemed to fly by for us. We had so much going on with family events, birthdays and meetings that it seemed that the month was over before it started. I did pretty good with my goals this month and I am happy with my progress. Here is a look at my September:
1.) Complete a No-Spend Year
This is still going well! I am happy with all that I am learning with this challenge. My parents gave me birthday money for my 30th birthday and I did spend a portion of that money. Our coffee maker broke down about 4 months ago and I have been using my French press ever since. The only thing with the press was that I really didn't like the coffee. It just wasn't as good as the brewed coffee that I was used to enjoying. With the upcoming arrival of Baby #2, I figured that it would be wise to invest in a new coffee maker now. I bought a decent coffee maker that has a timer setting, 5 year warranty and the 2 hour shut off feature. I am extremely happy with my purchase and I am glad that I delayed it for as long as I did. It was a good reminder that not everything needs to be replaced right now. Sometimes delaying a purchase helps you figure out if you really need to replace an item in your home.
2.) Establish a Self-Care Routine
This goal is still going well. Even with my busy schedule this past month, I managed to keep on top of my self-care. It is super important and I think it has really led me to have a better quality of life.
3.) Say Yes To Family Time
I am really doing well with this. I think this goal has taught me how to balance different demands in my life. We had a busy month with different events and meetings but we were still able to carve out some great quality family time with just the 3 of us. It was a good month!
4.) Start School in September.
This goal is on hold until the New Year.
5.) Learn more about traditional prayers and incorporate them into my prayer life.
This goal was better this month. I am still trying to set it up so that I have more of a routine to attach the more traditional prayers to. I am still working on how to go about this.
6.) Establish a routine for the blog and stick to the blog's vision.
I had my best month since March. Wooo! I seem to have figured out how to stick to my blogging routine. I posted twice a week, except for last week when I was feeling quite under the weather. I am still working on establishing a routine for my blog, but I am seeing progress. I am happy with my progress and I hope to continue on this path!
It was a great month! How are your goals going? I would love to hear about it!
1.) Complete a No-Spend Year
This is still going well! I am happy with all that I am learning with this challenge. My parents gave me birthday money for my 30th birthday and I did spend a portion of that money. Our coffee maker broke down about 4 months ago and I have been using my French press ever since. The only thing with the press was that I really didn't like the coffee. It just wasn't as good as the brewed coffee that I was used to enjoying. With the upcoming arrival of Baby #2, I figured that it would be wise to invest in a new coffee maker now. I bought a decent coffee maker that has a timer setting, 5 year warranty and the 2 hour shut off feature. I am extremely happy with my purchase and I am glad that I delayed it for as long as I did. It was a good reminder that not everything needs to be replaced right now. Sometimes delaying a purchase helps you figure out if you really need to replace an item in your home.
2.) Establish a Self-Care Routine
This goal is still going well. Even with my busy schedule this past month, I managed to keep on top of my self-care. It is super important and I think it has really led me to have a better quality of life.
3.) Say Yes To Family Time
I am really doing well with this. I think this goal has taught me how to balance different demands in my life. We had a busy month with different events and meetings but we were still able to carve out some great quality family time with just the 3 of us. It was a good month!
4.) Start School in September.
This goal is on hold until the New Year.
5.) Learn more about traditional prayers and incorporate them into my prayer life.
This goal was better this month. I am still trying to set it up so that I have more of a routine to attach the more traditional prayers to. I am still working on how to go about this.
6.) Establish a routine for the blog and stick to the blog's vision.
I had my best month since March. Wooo! I seem to have figured out how to stick to my blogging routine. I posted twice a week, except for last week when I was feeling quite under the weather. I am still working on establishing a routine for my blog, but I am seeing progress. I am happy with my progress and I hope to continue on this path!
It was a great month! How are your goals going? I would love to hear about it!
Friday, 29 September 2017
High Five For Friday- 29.09.17
I can't believe this is the last Friday in September. September is always super busy and this year was no exception! It seems like we are always booked to do something which is fun, but also exhausting. I hit my third trimester this week and I am really feeling it. I wasn't able to keep my eyes open and I felt quite queasy this week. I didn't get my intended blog post done this week, but I really felt like it was more important to listen to my body and hit the hay early this week.
I am linking up with the lovely ladies from H54F to share the highlights from my week. To catch all the H54F goodness make sure you check out Della, Katie, Tif, and Becky.
1.) I had a fantastic party on Saturday. Family and a few friends came to celebrate my 30th birthday with me and I had such a wonderful time! Hubby had ordered me a fabulous cake for my birthday and it turned out so well! I had a book themed party and I was so happy to have everyone with me to celebrate.
2.) I had a hair treatment on Friday and it felt so good! At one point my stylist was called away to deal with a situation. She asked me if it was okay that she was just going to leave me to "relax at the sink" for a few minutes. Ummmmmmm... yes! I am pregnant and I have a 3 year old. I take any chance that I get to relax. I nearly fell asleep. Ha ha!
3.) Despite feeling unwell this week, work went well. Everything ran relatively smoothly so that is always nice.
4.) We were invited for cake one night to celebrate a friend's birthday. Oh my goodness. The cake was so delicious! We had a fun time and our kiddos had a blast playing with one another.
5.) My parents gave me some birthday money for my gift. I used the money to replace my coffee maker. My coffee maker cratered four months ago and I was trying my best to get by without one until January. My fatigue and the birthday money helped me change my mind, so I bought a new one this week. I have to say... it makes delicious coffee. I missed having a coffee maker more than I realized!
How was your week? I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!
Friday, 22 September 2017
H54F- 22.09.17
This week was a good one! I turned 30 on Tuesday and was treated like royalty. It was a lot of fun! I am linking up with Della, Katie, Tif, and Becky for H54F.
1.) I had my 26 week appointment with my OB last week. He is such a great doctor and got Miss. E to help find the heartbeat! It was so sweet and she was so excited! We had a nice time in the city and I even found everything I needed for groceries at one store! It was a good day.
2.) On Friday night we went to a local corn maze and petting zoo with my family. It was such a fun activity. Miss. E loved the animals and even walked most of the maze. I was pretty impressed! My brother is dating an awesome woman and we got to meet her three daughters at the maze. Her daughters are as lovely as she is and we are so happy that they are all in our lives now.
3.) On Sunday we attended a birthday party and worked in the garden. Both were tons of fun. Miss. E enjoyed playing with all of the kids at the birthday. When we got home she came outside to help me harvest the potatoes from our little garden. She squealed every time we found a potato under the dirt. It was so cute and hilarious. She is quite a good little helper in the garden!
4.) Hubby didn't have work on Monday and I came home to a BIG surprise. The back story to this surprise is that when we bought this house Hubby agreed that I could paint the walls however I wanted, but he made it clear that he was not going to help. Hubby hates painting. I managed to get all of the main areas of the upstairs done before I found out I was pregnant. When I found out I was expecting I made the decision to put the painting on hold until after baby arrived. The only rooms left to paint were the master bedroom and the (now) baby room. The master bedroom had a hideous dark brown accent wall complete with dings and scrapes. I absolutely hated it, but I knew it would have to wait. I walked into my room after work to change my clothes and I burst into (happy) tears. Hubby had painted the room while I was at work! It looks a million times better! I couldn't have asked for a more thoughtful gift.
5.) I turned 30 on Tuesday and I was super spoiled by everyone that day. A coworker brought me a cake and gave me a lovely card. Another coworker gave me a bag of B.C. apples that she had got from an orchard a few days prior. My boss bought all the staff pizza for lunch to celebrate my 30th. It was a delicious day and everyone was speaking my love language: food. When I got home my parents stopped by, which is always fun. Hubby and Miss. E made me a yummy pizza supper. Hubby had also made me a black forest cake, which was soooo delicious. Hubby knocked my gift out of the park with a homemade bath tray. I have been ogling them for months and he did such a fantastic job building mine. Miss. E made me the sweetest card and repeatedly told me happy birthday. It was a great day!
The birthday festivities are continuing here this weekend. We are having family and a few friends over to celebrate on Saturday. I am excited to see everyone! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!
1.) I had my 26 week appointment with my OB last week. He is such a great doctor and got Miss. E to help find the heartbeat! It was so sweet and she was so excited! We had a nice time in the city and I even found everything I needed for groceries at one store! It was a good day.
2.) On Friday night we went to a local corn maze and petting zoo with my family. It was such a fun activity. Miss. E loved the animals and even walked most of the maze. I was pretty impressed! My brother is dating an awesome woman and we got to meet her three daughters at the maze. Her daughters are as lovely as she is and we are so happy that they are all in our lives now.
Yup. She is wearing her winter jacket. It went from super hot to cold in a matter of days!
3.) On Sunday we attended a birthday party and worked in the garden. Both were tons of fun. Miss. E enjoyed playing with all of the kids at the birthday. When we got home she came outside to help me harvest the potatoes from our little garden. She squealed every time we found a potato under the dirt. It was so cute and hilarious. She is quite a good little helper in the garden!
4.) Hubby didn't have work on Monday and I came home to a BIG surprise. The back story to this surprise is that when we bought this house Hubby agreed that I could paint the walls however I wanted, but he made it clear that he was not going to help. Hubby hates painting. I managed to get all of the main areas of the upstairs done before I found out I was pregnant. When I found out I was expecting I made the decision to put the painting on hold until after baby arrived. The only rooms left to paint were the master bedroom and the (now) baby room. The master bedroom had a hideous dark brown accent wall complete with dings and scrapes. I absolutely hated it, but I knew it would have to wait. I walked into my room after work to change my clothes and I burst into (happy) tears. Hubby had painted the room while I was at work! It looks a million times better! I couldn't have asked for a more thoughtful gift.
5.) I turned 30 on Tuesday and I was super spoiled by everyone that day. A coworker brought me a cake and gave me a lovely card. Another coworker gave me a bag of B.C. apples that she had got from an orchard a few days prior. My boss bought all the staff pizza for lunch to celebrate my 30th. It was a delicious day and everyone was speaking my love language: food. When I got home my parents stopped by, which is always fun. Hubby and Miss. E made me a yummy pizza supper. Hubby had also made me a black forest cake, which was soooo delicious. Hubby knocked my gift out of the park with a homemade bath tray. I have been ogling them for months and he did such a fantastic job building mine. Miss. E made me the sweetest card and repeatedly told me happy birthday. It was a great day!
The birthday festivities are continuing here this weekend. We are having family and a few friends over to celebrate on Saturday. I am excited to see everyone! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!
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