strawberry jam

 

It's been awhile and perhaps seems strange to come back with a jam recipe, especially since in New Brunswick it's not strawberry season yet.   But it will be soon enough and I want everyone to be prepared!!

 

Homemade strawberry jam is my absolute favourite jam.  This easy easy recipe is my favourite.  When I was 14 my dad was diagnosed with diabetes.  He didn't have the self control to not eat the things he loved so we had to start making the changes in our house.  That helped him and in turn probably made me a much healthier person.

 

So the old jam recipe with 4 cups of sugar had to go out the window!!!!

 

I most often use Garden Fare and it has the recipe on it but I thought I would share it anyways!

 

 

This is no cook freezer jam and uses 40% less sugar than regular packages.

Once you have picked and I am sure eaten a few beautiful strawberries.

Rinse all the bugs and dirt off them.

 

 

Next hull the greens off and cut into smaller pieces.

 

Next stir in 1 cup of sugar (my mother uses 1 cup of spenda)

The package says 1 1/2 cups but I always make mine with 1 and it still takes great.

Allow to stand for 15 minutes

 

 

Then sprinkle in gelling powder a little at a time while stirring for 3 minutes.

 

All to stand for 5 minutes

 



 

Stir for 1 minute

 



 

 

Then since I like it really smooth with no lumps of fruit (if you like your jam like that) then at this point put it in the blender and blend until smooth. (if not skip this step)

 

Then place them in your containers, label and freeze.  Make sure to keep several containers out because you are going to want to eat it with everything!

 

I use mine obviously for toast and bagels but also on top of cheesecake and ice cream too!

 

 

I hope you enjoy this!

 



A new year and a new plan

To say that 2013 wasn't super is a slight understatement.  Life didn't go as I had planned and I had to learn a lot about myself. 

What I did learn is that I am a lot stronger than I thought I was and I can do hard things, as Glennon from momastary.com says.  I was surprised to learn this and quite proud.

I have lots of plans for 2014, I don't like to call them resolutions because I don't want them to be just something that I do for awhile.  I want them to help me change some things and keep them changed.

Most of them are hopefully going to help me be happy.  To be happy with myself and realize that I deserve things (not physical stuff but things that I might not feel I deserve)  Hard to explain but there it is.

I do have one goal and I figure if I talk about here than hopefully I will do it. 

I am going to sign up for a mud run in Saint John, NB and I want to finish it.  I don't need to be first or anywhere near the first but I want to do it and finish it and be proud that I accomplished it!  I don't really like to run, I started to run last spring and finally got up to 5 km and then it got crazy hot in the summer and I gave up.  I am going to start again this spring but hopefully I won't give up!  I will just find ways to do it!  Because not only is the mud run a run but it's a hard obstacle course as well AND in mud!

I signed on to write a post about shutting down the blog but I am just not ready to let it go.

I can't promise to be consistent but  I hope that when I do write I am entertaining in some way!

Happy New Year and my 2014 be a happy, healthy and wonderful year!

Jill

Online shopping

I know, it's been awhile.  Sorry.

Thanks for everyone that has continued to check out the site even though I haven't put anything on it!

Not sure if this will be consistent but it is what it is.

I decided that I would just post when I felt like talking about something.  Life is busy and somedays/weeks/months I just don't have time!

So online shopping, that's the title of the post, I should probably write about that then!

I really enjoy online shopping sometimes!  I am tall and one might say slender.  My arms and legs are long and I have such a hard time finding things to fit them.  So I enjoy the larger selection online shopping gives me.  However, I can only shop when the return policy is amazing.

I recently bought a really cute skirt from an online store and didn't pay attention to the return policy and wow, now I am stuck with a really cute skirt that is too small!  That isn't fun.

BUT.....there are some wondering sites that have amazing shipping and return policies!!

My favourites are

www.gapcanada.com and www.gap.com   I live in Canada, so the first one is my choice but I know both sites are easy to use.

www.loft.com  I was so pleased when they finally started shipping to Canada!

www.llbean.com  so easy to use and the customer service is fantastic!

www.amazon.ca and www.amazon.com

www.zappos.com  They won't ship to Canada but if you know some in the US you can order it to that person and if it's doesn't fit just send it back in the US.  A little more inconvenient but I only live an hour from the border so it's easy!

I have heard wonderful things about http://shop.nordstrom.com/  I haven't taken the plunge but it looks wonderful.

So those are my favourites.

My only complaint about online shopping is that the temptation to shop happens everyday!  New deals, coupons and promotions come to my email daily and some days it's just so hard to resist!

Happy shopping!

Little boys

Life is busy, sometimes I write, sometimes I don't.  Hope everyone is ok with that.

The trials and tribulations of having two little boys is hard, it's wonderful but hard.  We have our wonderful loving moments and we have our knock down get out of town moments.  I am happy to be here to experience all of them but definitely love some more than others.

We are in the trying threes as my mother refers to them.  Rhys most often believes he's actually 5 which causes a problem because he is in fact only 3 1/2!  He can't actually do some of the things his little heart desires and it comes as a terrible blow to him.  His temper is feirce but his love is amazing.  He says the funniest things, you just never know what is going to come out of his mouth!  I try to write them down but sometimes it just doesn't work out.  He loves his family (all of them), cares about his friends, gives the biggest hugs (hates kisses!), thinks his dad and big brother are the coolests dudes around and loves his mommy!!! 

 

 

Being 5 3/4 is a whole new ball game for us.  Our first go round is stressful, sometimes he seems so grown up, I forget that isn't even 6 yrs old yet.  I expect a lot and have to remind myself he is doing great and will get it!  Boundries are being tested and we are staying strong to what we believe in, so we miss out on some things and are being forced to deal with our consequences.  It's hard!  Liam is the sweetests little man, he has such a strong love for his family, he wants to be everyone's friend, he gets sad when he's left out but thrilled when included (things we try to remind him as to not hurt someone else's feeling), he loves his little brother and is the cutest with small children, he loves to snuggle (until he's too hot), gives great hugs and kisses and loves his daddy and mommy unconditionally (even when mad)!

They are amazing and wonderful, stressful and irritating!  I wouldn't change it for the world and the smallest moments make it all worth while.

Perhaps you are wondering what prompted this little post.

The days blend into one and another and then a moment happens when you realize you must be doing something right!

Yesterday after a long fun day at Hunter Bros, we were eating supper at Murray's in Woodstock with my parents, Joel's parents and his grandmother.  Liam and Rhys were colouring, Rhys was sad that his picture wasn't as neat as Liam's.  Liam was so proud of his picture (coloured really well, chose real colours to display in different sections)! Liam knew he was feeling sad and asked him to help him find the yellow crayon in the bag so he could colour the bus yellow just like Rhys!  Rhys was so happy to help his brother find the crayon and our little melt down was over (for a bit!).  Liam was so caring and kind to his brother in the moment, I melted a little!

Some days are hard and some days are easier but they are all worth it!

Dancing King!

 

This is for my friend Peter!  My little man at his first (and perhaps) last dance camp.

It was a lesson learned by all.  He loved the dancing, you can see the smile on his face.  He loves to dance and loves to be the centre of attention.  He however does not like to be the only boy at a dance camp!  That's my lesson learned, he told me that he was ok with it about 3 months ago when I signed him up but the reality wasn't as much fun!

Like I suspected and the reason I put him in it is that he loves to dance!  That's the first time he's ever had to follow direction for dance moves.  We do a lot of freestyle at home (haha!)

But he made it the whole week, had fun, learned a couple of dances and made a couple of friends.  Success in my books!  I am trying to raise a well rounded child and perhaps having to go to a dance camp with all girls helps that!

Next up football!! haha!

Enjoy!

I tried to upload this about 5 times in the last few weeks and nothing worked.  So here it is on youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBHmB8AJdc4&feature=youtu.be

 

The debate continued after dance camp whether he would want to dance or whether we should put him into any more activities.  I thought once a week wouldn't be so bad and if it was boys only, he might be excited.  I found a boys only hip hop class offered at the end of the day but before supper.  With some wonderful help offered by my amazing mother, we have a plan for him to get there!  A little talk with another mom of a dancing little boy, Liam even has a friend in the class.  An added bonus for a 5 1/2 yr old boy!  So he's signed up and I think it's a great decision.

 

My decision was validated this past week when Liam received a piece of paper with questions from his new grade one teacher.  She wanted to know a little bit more about Liam.

 

Liam's response to this question made me feel great about my decision.

 

What do other people think you are really good at?  Liam's answer immediatley is "dancing and they are right!"

 

I love it!

 

Just as a side note, he was also asked what made him special and his response was "because my mom thinks so"~!  I teared up a little of course!  He is a special little man and perhaps now we need to expand on why he's so special!!!

 

 

date night

 

Date night!

 

After being married for 8 years and having two children, date nights sometimes get put to the side.  Sometimes you feel it's just too much, finding a sitter, paying a sitter, getting dressed up, spending the money to go out, planning.  It's obviously easier to sit on the couch and watch tv.

 

But it's a must!  We don't do date night enough but we try.  We are trying to make it a priority.  There are so many cheaper ideas and more fun than just dinner! 

 

A few weeks ago now we went out golfing (my husbands favourite activity, I just liked my new shoes!) and then to supper afterwards.

 

 

I was so nice to be able to have a full conversation with each other and to whack the crap out of a golf ball!! haha!  Stress relieved!

 

I look impressive don't I, look at the form!  It's all for show, looking good on the course is most of the fun.

Have you had any great date nights recently?

Interwebs

I took the weekend off of the interwebs a few weekends ago and it was great.  It was actually a little hard at the beginning, so often I reach for my phone to get through commericials or to get through yet ANOTHER children's show but this weekend I didn't.

I did what I used to have to do.....just sit there!  It's not so bad, this need for constant entertainment is causing me for concern.  Now don't for a second think I am going to get rid of my tv but I do think I need to rethink my way of doing things a little.  I still love my tv, movies and shows are good fun.  I still let my children watch tv but I think we need to remember to do other things as well.  My children know that shows are on demand, you can watch most shows when ever you want.  That is not what we used to enjoy.  We watched cartoons on saturday morning, not before breakfast each day!  But alas, I have created these little monsters and must deal with them now!! haha!

I just want them to know how to wait and not freak out.  It seems that waiting, just waiting doesn't happen anymore.  Checking your phone is a constant event, sit in a waiting room and that's what everyone under the age of 45 is doing!  Random conversations are few and far between, reading crappy maganizes isn't even an option as they don't have them.

I saw a picture posted somewhere and it showed about 10 students (teenagers) walking along a sidewalk and ALL of them were looking at an electronic devise of some sort.  It read something like the apocolypse was here!  They all looked like zombies. Here

We all need a break, we all need to remember to encourage our children to take a break.  I write this because of course I need reminders all the time and perhaps this will help .

Take some time to enjoy the wait!