Musical Monday: She and Him - In the Sun

She and Him, probably my most favourite band...

this video made me giggle

Reflections of Motherhood

I have hunted my computer high and low and discovered the strangest thing... I have no picture of just my mom, or just my mom and I... so I write this all with no picture... boo...

mummy (yes, I totally call my mom, mummy and have no shame in it!) - this summer we'll have to get a pic of the two of us! I can't believe I don't have one!!

When I was a teen I went out of my way to distance myself from my mother until she was diagnosed with cancer. I have no idea why I was so horrible prior to the cancer and wish so much that I could go back in time and smack myself. I'm so happy now though as I would consider her one of my closest friends and biggest inspirations.

When I was 16 she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and began treatment right away. Through out her 4 surgeries and 6 months of chemo therapy (12 treatments, 2 per month), she insisted on staying strong for our family often telling us she had the strength to beat the illness. She literally fought for her life with such grace, determination and faith, concerning herself with our needs, not her own. She has been cancer free for 10 years now but the lessons in selflessness and love she taught me during those times will forever be with me.

She has taught me how to have strength and determination when facing difficulties, faith even when it's challenging, to put others needs before my own even when it's hard and to love with every inch of myself. I am so thankful my mom is mine and thank God everyday that he choose to continue sharing her with us.

I love you mummy!!

Happy Mother's Day ladies!

Mom Shirt, Silk Screening Method 1

Mother's day is coming up and I really wanted my boys to have an "I love mom" type of shirt.

I found a bunch online but most were homemade looking and I had all the stuff here so I just couldn't justify spending the extra money to have someone else make it.

Would you like to make one too?? It's a pretty simple process requiring few supplies so I thought I'd share.

This is one technique for silkscreening. Not the one I typically use, but it worked out really well!

You'll need a printed picture of the image you'd like to use

Scissors

Tape

A Screen to push the paint though (to make one build a square frame out of wood and stretch some meshy/silk material over it, I often use old lingerie, might as well put it to use!)

Paint

Clothing to print on

Paint brush

Cut out your image(s) from the paper and tape your starting point back together so the only holes in the page are just of your image.

Lay your stensil on the clothing and put the screen over top. Squeeze your paint in a thick line above your image on the screen.

Using a stiff tool (I use a piece of cardboard, but a ruler also works really well) drag the paint over your image. Go over as many times as you'd like to feel you have good paint coverage.

Lift the screen and stensil off the shirt lifting from one side of the screen to the other (side to side or bottom to top... etc) instead of straight up, it just makes it easier.

Wash off the screen (depending on how much paint you push through you may also need to wash the stensil off the back or your screen... sometimes it gets stuck), let it dry and then repeat the process with your 2nd stensil.

As a final touch grab a paint brush and write mom inside the banner... or dad... or whatever else you'd like... I wrote it in pencil first as I'm horrible with a paint brush.

And voila! An awesome shirt celebrating... YOU! or someone you love...

Visitors

My in-laws came to visit last week.

They entertained my boys, cleaned my kitchen, folded my bed sheets, delt with plumbing issues and drywall that we have been avoiding. They watched the boys so hubby and I could have a bit of a date afternoon, brought lots of easter chocolate, bought loads of junk food and gave us a nice taste of home.

Not only that but they also brought me this...

EEEEKKK!!! I'm super excited!

I have yet to break it out but am counting the minutes until I can. Perhaps this weekend I'll plan a scrapbooking evening... if only this could rid me of the 7 pounds I gained while they were here, it would be the perfect gift.

For now... I need to go for a run...

Trains

About a month ago the hubs and I bought the boys this book.

It was a bit of a leap of faith as our boys have never shown any interest in trains, but it was cheap and came with a play mat and these cute little plastic trains.

While Zac still isn't completely sold on trains, I'm afraid this has started a new craze for Eli.

Gordon has not left his side since the day we brought it home!

He calls him "Goo-en", I love it!

Juice Cleanse

Yes... I am finally writing about my juice cleanse!!

It feels like forever ago that I did it, but no matter, I promised some info so some info I will give!!

The big question that I'm sure is on everyone's mind... why did I do it?

Believe it or not, weight loss was not at all near the top of my list.

I started investigating a juice cleanse a few months ago and shortly after it seemed like every blog I follow was partaking in one. I decided to jump on the juicing wagon and buy a book to get all the details I could.

Blue Print Cleanse is probably the most recognized juice cleansing company I've been able to find. Trouble is they only ship within the US, so as a Canadian, this wasn't an option for me. I bought the book, read through it and decided that it wouldn't be hard to do on my own (and cheaper to make my own juices!)

The benefits of "juicing" are supposed to be quite magical. Skin is supposed to improve, hair becomes more shiny, headaches lessen, sickness is fought off, sleeping & moods are supposed to improve... basically juicing is supposed to be quite a supernatural experience! Weight loss is said to be a bonus however it's only a pound or so a day... I completed a 3 day cleanse and lost 5 pounds however they came back within the first 3 days back on food. The book encourages a raw food diet and food combining once the cleanse is completed in order to maintain the weight loss however the raw food diet is suuuuper unappealing to me and the food combining confused the heck out of me!

The cleanse itself was actually quite easy! I did a 3 day cleanse, as mentioned, at the most basic level of intensity, which is what is recommended for a first time juicer. I drank 3 fruit juices, 2 green juices and a cashew nut milk everyday for 3 days. I honestly was not hungry while doing it, much to my surprise! I spaced the juices out roughly 2 hours apart and drank water with lemon and tea with lemon in between and felt quite satisfied the entire time! All the ingredients were pretty easy to find (living in rural Newfoundland this shocked me!) and to make the juices I only needed a blender and juicer.

A typical day looked like this:

Every morning I started with a cup of hot water with lemon followed by a Greens with Apple, Green Juice.

A morning snack of Mango-Strawberry, Fruit Juice

Lunch, Raspberry-Banana-Orange, Fruit Juice

Afternoon snack of Spinach-Blueberry-Apple-Lemon, Green Juice

Dinner, Cran-Banana, Fruit Juice

Bedtime snack of Cashew Nut Milk

A few others that I enjoyed were the Grape-Cucumber-Pear, fruit juice

and a raspberry-strawberry fruit juice.

And now the big question... would I do it again?

I would! I'm actually planning on doing another one within the next week or so and am planning on incorporating it into my life on a monthly basis.

Did it make me feel like a million bucks?

Well, no, but my sleeping habits did improve and my headaches lessened. I wouldn't say it improved my mood while I was doing it, but after I did feel I had a bit more control over my emotions.

All in all it was a great experience! I would recommend it to everyone!

Musical Monday: Florence and the Machine - Cosmic Love

It seems like everywhere I turn these days this song is playing.

I'm loving it and I'm sure you've heard it everywhere too, but I just couldn't resist sharing it.

This version has a few less instruments in it so it's a bit less powerful, if you want the full effect watch this one, but the one I've included is still beautiful.