Wow these writing prompts are pretty deep. Loaded questions…there’s so much that could be said.

One thing the world needs more of?

I am going to say understanding. We need to understand one another. We live in a diverse world, and so many of us walk around in our ignorant little bubbles not willing to open up to something new. We all think our way is the right way, its either our way or NO way.

The world is a lot smaller today then it was back in the 1980’s, with the internet at the tips of our fingers at any given time we have the ability to search out anything we want. Yet we still refuse to understand one another. Our world has changed, we no longer wish to visit places like India, South Africa, Australia, Indonesia….we actually have the means to make it happen. How easy it is today to book a trip, search out accomadations, google earth the places we want to see…literally google map our whole travelling route. We can meet others in different countries and travel  with them, friends are made everyday just by logging on to any social media outlet.

So tell me please why our differences are so hard to accept? Why are we still fighting over gender, sexual orientation, religion, culture, different health care views…every single day we close our minds to learning something new in order to understand something we fear. Why? How does that help our children grow in societies that only want what’s best for them. You want to leave this world to our children better than the way it was left for us? Then I suggest you start learning and accepting differences. Teach them that different is beautiful and if someone’s beliefs or religion views help them walk their path in life, then let them be.

Accept, respect and appreciate the diversity.

Imagine how wonderful life would be if we could just all understand.

This is a loaded question, and one that isn’t easily answered. There are many people in my life who I admire. I have met so many strong, amazing and loving people in my life that I couldn’t just pick one.

So, I will choose a group of people that I admire. That would be any agency that rescue’s animals. I think those kind of people are by far my hero’s. Most time they are just volunteers giving of their time, energy and money. Non profit organizations going out into our communities and rescuing poor animals who are neglected, abused, surrendered or even senior. There are so many organizations out their raising awareness for just about everything. People asking for money to help children, single mothers, cancer patients, teenage pregnancy, street youth..the list goes on and on. I do have my agencies that I contribute to yearly, but recently I started a monthly donation to a certain pig at one of the local pig sanctuaries. His name is Pippen, he lives at Ralphy’s Retreat in Turkey Point. He is so cute, and I am so appreciative to organization that houses him, feeds him, seeks medical attention and loves him. These kind of people I admire. They give selflessly for all animals.

I also have a soft spot for any dog rescue. I do donate to a couple organizations in our community. Recently Redemption Paws has gotten a donation from me, and I have asked my family to donate to them in leu of gifts for my birthday. They get dogs from all over the world and bring them here to Canada to find better homes for them.

I admire how they fight for these animals, all their time and attention goes into providing a better life for these helpless animals. If i could choose a certain life, it would most definitely be to open my own shelter. I wish I could save animals from pain and suffering. Hopefully my future will include some things related to dog rescue. For now my hands are tied with 3 of my own dogs, I can’t add anymore to my pack. We are so busy with the ones we have.

So there you have it, I admire anyone who gives of them self’s to help animals. It is a long term goal for me, someday I will also be admired.

Well, until next time my lovelies…good night!

I’ve decided to challenge myself to blogging every day this month. I’ve already started off terribly. I had wanted to spend a good amount of time on this first post. Get myself pumped for the month, come up with some really good blog posts. Unfortunately Ollie my little Morkie had to have dental surgery today.

We called in on Thursday to let them know we were ready to proceed with surgery and they said they could do it the next day!! At first I panicked a bit, I like to have time to digest, think and prepare for things like this. But…I said yes!!! Let’s do it!

Friday morning we were up and headed to the vets to drop him off for 8:45am, I love this dog more than life itself. He is seriously the love of my life (close second to my husband actually). Regardless, having to leave him alone at the vets is something that terrifies me. We are actually so very lucky, we are very familiar with our animal hospital and their staff. So i know darn well he is in great hands, I wasn’t as worried about his care or the procedure itself. I was concerned for the fact that he doesn’t understand what is happening, and how could his mommy leave him.

One of the staff sent me a couple photo’s of him recovering, they gave him so many cuddles. It made my heart happy to know he wasn’t stuck in a crate the whole time, but in the loving arms of staff 🙂 We are blessed~

He is home tonight and doing well, the meds had him pretty high. As the evening goes on he is coming around. He is getting lots of cuddles at home too..he’s such a little love~

So this challenge that I was talking about, is a 28 day blog prompt. Each day I get a topic and then I have to write about it. Today’s topic is ” Where is your favorite place/”

Let me get started, its a pretty simple answer….

Home~

Home is my favourite place. I know that sounds corny. I’m sure its a bit stale but honestly, I love my home. I am most happy at home.

I suppose if I had to pick somewhere other than home it would have to be Cozumel Mexico. We have been there many many times on holidays. It’s our go to place for a get away and we love the whole environment. It’s an island, its clean, its safe and its beautiful. The snorkelling and diving is some of the most beautiful in the world. The town is safe enough that you could rent a Jeep and drive around the whole island. You can snorkel just about anywhere off the side of the road, and there are restaurants hidden everywhere along your route. The people are friendly, they love Canadians and they always provide a good time when you stop for a Cerveza~

I have been so lucky to have been able to do some travelling, I’ve been to some pretty amazing places, but there is nothing like coming home~

100 things I want to teach my daughter….Always Be Yourself

I have always wanted to be that mom whom on her daughter’s wedding day can pass her a journal filled with all my own words of wisdom~ 
For about a year I have been planning this, and slowly putting away things that remind me of “things I want to teach my daughter”. So I have this journal, and I want to put all this stuff into it and then I realized I have this blog. This blog is filled with tons of my stories, quotes and important thoughts, so why not just someday print off this blog, or the posts that are relevant to my daughter. 
Great idea right? So this is what I am going to do, for the next 100 days I am going to commit Wednesday’s blogs to a topic in which I want to teach my daughter…after those 100 days I will have a wonderful journal completed..right here on my blog. Ok, of course there are things that I will write privately to my daughter and I will not share that on my blog, cause some things will be just meant for her. 
So, now my son…I will do the same for him. Except I will commit to Sundays, I will post a thought around 100 things I want to teach my son. Of course, I will have to discuss certain things with Paul, cause I bet he will have alot more insight around “teachings” for Braden. 
Wish me luck, I hope I can stick to this…

100. Always be yourself, never change for anyone. Those who understand who you are will make the effort to be in your life, and they will understand your own uniquness. This is something my dear daughter that took me some time to accept. I use to find it difficult to understand your “potentially quiet” demeanor. Considering I am a bit more of an extrovert, and your father is more of an introvert..I needed to accept how much you are like your dad. I always worried how you would take more time to “warm” up in situations..or maybe you seemed timid, or maybe a bit self-conscious. All I wanted was for you too see how amazing you are, how strong and beautiful you are. I wanted you too shine, sparkle and tell everyone..look at me, I am awesome!!!!
YOU taught me one of the biggest lessons in life my darling girl….YOU didn’t care what others thought of you, and that showed more maturity than alot of women my own age. It may have taken me a bit longer to accept that this is who you are…YOU didn’t need to be loud and outgoing to get others approval, you were comfortable in all your situations…and you didn’t care what they expected of you.
 I apologize. I am sorry for putting expectations on you to try to be someone you were not. I want to thank you for being you…for being true to you~
I will not worry about this for you in life, you have proven to me over and over again that no one is going to alter your character. 
I absolutely love everything about you and your wonderful, funny, exceptional personality. You are a true friend to those who respect you, and you are feircely loyal to your family. I couldn’t have been luckier to have a daughter like you~ Love you bug, shine on!

Dear Fox,

We are in a time right now that women are speaking out against all kinds of issues we face, our society still has a long way to go.

It’s refreshing to see the world changing for young women like you, I know it will never be a perfect world for anyone. But how amazing is it that finally we have a cause for change.

We’ve always had reason for change as women. But finally there is an outlet that women are stepping up and using to declare equal rights and fight against discrimination, sexual assault and abuse. Screaming for the rights to things men have been taking advantage of for many many years.

So my point “we need eachother”, is not only as mother and daughter but as women. We always need to stand in one another’s corner. Please know I will always be right beside you, regardless of the circumstances. There is nothing you could do to deter my faithfulness, love and dedication to you. I promise you that.

With that said Fox, I need the same from you. As time goes on, soon enough you will look to me as a friend. I will always be an outlet for you, without ever judging or making you feel inadequate. To be honest with you my precious girl, you in all the world continue to teach me. There is no one (except maybe Dr. Shawn :)) who puts me in check better than you.

You inspire me to be better. Those PTSD days when I don’t want to see the world or face the light of day, its your face I see and I fight so hard to be better for you. There is nothing more important to me than the footprints I leave for you to follow.

I promise to lead with a healthy, strong and determined grace. I need you to trust me, have faith in me not only as your mom but as your best friend.

My little Ollie has terrible teeth, once he became a senior dog we have had problems with rotten teeth and gum disease. Last year he had 13 teeth removed, he did have infection and I have never felt more horrible then I did at that time. My poor boy had been in pain, uncomfortable and smelly for some time.

We had his teeth removed and Immediatley his breath started to smell better. He spent a few days sore from surgery but then recovered nicely and was back to himself.

Recently though, he is stinky again. His breath is gross. So back to the vets, and she tell us that some of his back teeth have built up plaque and gingivitis. What do we do? She told us we could take him home, try brushing his teeth for a couple months and then recheck them. So thats what we did.

Ollie is almost 9 years old, so technically he is a senior. It’s not going to be easy trying to teach an old dog new tricks. How do I even begin to brush his toothy pegs at this stage of his life. It didn’t go well.

It was a lot harder than I thought. He won’t let me near his mouth. I tried everything. I even started slowly, giving him a small treat every time he let me near his mouth with the tooth brush. Still he fought me every step of the way. I had bought toothpaste for him at a pet store, as you hopefully know regular toothpaste is not good for dogs. Fluoride is toxic and can poison your pups. I then searched Pinterest to see if I could find any homemade remedies that might work. I found this one.

2 tbsp of coconut oil

2 tbsp of baking sofa

2 drops of peppermint essential oils.

Mix all the ingredients, so easy.

See his little head there in the back ground? He knows….lol

I pulled this recipe together and tried again on poor Ollie. He still didn’t like me around his mouth at all. He fought fiercely.

It smells so good, and to be honest I’m not sure how close I got to the back of his mouth to clean those teeth but I will say…the rest of the day his breath smelled much better 🙂

He is literally sticking his tongue out at me. He is so saucy. But I love him beyond all the stars and moons in the skies. He is the love of my life…stinky breath or not…I’d kiss him a thousand times over.

The little tigger baby tooth brush was not a hit, he hates it. So I tried a baby facecloth. They are thinner and smaller and I just wrapped it around my finger and then managed to get a good swipe at the back of his molars. It wasn’t the best swipe but it was a start. I told Paul we should market a glove for wiping teeth on dogs. Little dogs preferably or even senior dogs with only a few teeth. I’m going to give it a real try, If I can prevent him from having surgery or having anesthesia again then I will do my best.

This evening I went to Shoppers Drug Mart and bought a finger brush for babies. You slide it on your finger and it has soft bristles. I know it sounds better than my glove idea, but this thing is made of rubber so its going to be hard to feel inside his mouth with it on. I can see how it may work with babies, but a small dog I’m not too sure.

We’ll give it a go…..I’ll keep you posted.

Until next time lovelies,

Peace.

100 Things I Want To Teach My Daughter # 75 Best Friends for Life,Husband and Wife!

#75 Best friends for life, Husband and Wife~

I am going to keep this simple. Its a loaded statement, and one that some might not necessarily agree with. Some women prefer to have a real “girl” bestfriend in life. That’s ok I suppose if that’s what works for you.
Me, I am by far married to my best friend. He is (besides my mom) the only other person in the world who has my back and I his. Find a man who always puts you first. Then hold on tight because the ride of your life is going to be wild. Don’t let go of him, even when the ride is too fast. Actually when the ride of life is going to fast…hold on tighter.

Seriously Kail, marriage, friendship, relationships, happiness and partnership lies in the hands of choices. We choose to remain best friends, and we have worked very hard to get where we are today. For me, I was immediately attracted to your dad. We could laugh with eachother over the silliest things. Eventually we shared secrets, goals, wants and desires and in time those things blended together and we were on the same path for a future together. I knew he was the one because he wanted to work with me. He had an interest in building a life with me, beside me. 

One of my favorite things about my marriage is at the end of the day, we have always sat down together to talk about our lives. The bits in which we may not be a part of, like work, or activities and my favorite was always the plans for a future. Find a man who has an interest in YOUR day. Someone who wants to hear about it. A man who will make you a tea (in your favorite mug lol) and sit with you too talk about your children, jobs, friends and marriage. A man who gives you his time and attention is worth working along side for life. 
Now it will never be perfect, cause there is no such thing as perfect. So don’t put expectations on a man and expect him to read your mind. You need to be specific, you need to be clear with what you want and need from him. Bring this too your marriage immediately, start out with great communication from the beginning. 
Always put your marriage first, as well as your husband. I have been around the block enough to know that a strong marriage is built on a foundation of commitment to one another and dedication to the things that make your marriage strong and happy. 

Friendships are important. We all need friends, its healthy to interact with others. Find people who you share a common interest with. We seek people who can relate to us, those who understand our thoughts and feelings. 

When you have those things with your spouse, I promise you, you will be content. There will be no need to seek out “satisfying” relationships outside of your marriage. There is NO better feeling than that. Trust me~

With all that said my fox, having a girlfriend who you can trust and share your life with truly is a special thing. Be sure she is the right one, someone who makes you laugh, is not judgemental and listens. You only need one good one. Don’t fill your life with many “best friends”, it will get in the way of your marriage and family. Acquaintances are good, its ok to seek out groups of friends who share an interest with you. But don’t put them before your marriage. Always go home to your husband, tell him your stories, share your worries and laughs with him.

As long as he is putting in the same effort as you….there will never be a better best friend than your man. Your dad and I love crawling into bed at the end of an eventful evening and going over how much fun we had. We share everything with each other, I save my stories for him. I love going to parties, gatherings, dances, and events with him. We genuinely enjoy each others company. We love being home on Saturday nights with one another, alone, drinking wine and watching a movie. It doesn’t matter what we are doing as long as we are together we are content.
I have noticed that some of the strongest marriages I know have the same habits as your dad and I. Being together, laughing with one another and always catching up at the end of the night makes a marriage healthy. 
This is by far to early for you too understand but trust me fox, the day will come when you will read this one and think “my mom and dad had it right!” So until then just have fun~ Love mom xo

My lovelies if you are reading this please remember what works for us may not work for you. My opinion is mine.

Always Believe In Magic..100 Things I Want To Teach My Daughter #82

*This was suppose to be posted a long time ago*100 Things I Want To Teach My Daughter #82~ Always Believe In Magic**With Christmas fast approaching once again we are in the midst of  holiday magic. It’s a time of which I always find myself reminiscing about my own childhood, and just how wonderful my mom made the holidays~

I remember when I started questioning the belief of Santa Claus. Is it all true, is it real? How can Santa possibly fly around the world in one night handing out millions and millions of toys to children?
My mom being the most amazing woman in the world and constantly thinking of our feelings and emotions had the best response ever..
one that I took with me into my own parenting…
she simply replied,
“I will always believe in the spirit of Santa, in the magic of giving” ”
If you believe in your heart of the spirt of Santa, then forever you will feel his presence every Christmas eve.”
She never came out and said yes or no, and within time we obviously figured it out. She just shut us down gently with a silent whisper and promise that if we believe, then we will feel.
She chose to never take the feeling of magic and the innocence of childhood away from us. 

I chose to do the same with my children, when I started to get questions I gave my kids the same explanation…I told them its all in their heart. If they want to believe, then do. Eventually we did discuss the Christmas traditions of Santa coming down the chimney. But once again, if you believe his spirit was of a generous, giving and Saintly gift then you will feel his spirit on Christmas eve forever~ That’s exactly what we have done.
My dear fox, always remember Christmas is for children. Its a season of giving, its so very important to teach your own children to give. Not only gifts but your time, volunteer in a shelter, or a teenage maternity home. Give back to your community and give thanks to those who have been there for you over the year. For those feelings are the ones magic is made of.

It’s ok to believe in Santa, for as long as you can. Childhood is taken from many far too soon. 

Now for the other magic, the feelings of love, lust and admiration. 
My darling, all of that can be beautiful. There is magic in the world, you just have to define it. Make it your own. Everyone has their own definition of magic. 

To me magic are the little things, a rainbow, a smile, a helping hand sometimes it can something as simple as the sunshine. For me, I know how dark life can be. I have seen the bottom of life many times, but I have felt magic many more~

Believe always Kail that anything is possible and that dreams can come true. Magic is all around us, sometimes you have to look for it. Actually most always you have to look for it. 

Love is magic, but love is work. The magic in love is defined only by you. You must make your own magic, and never be afraid to express it. You deserve the very best, and even if you have to ask for a bit of sparkly enchantment…when the moment finally happens, promise yourself to enjoy it. 
Never compare your magic to anyone else’s~

The world is a beautiful place fox, in whirl of chaos…there will always be magic!
Do not loose your sense of wanderlust, always search for the happy~

It doesn’t matter how much I try to tell you that mom guilt is bullshit, you will still end a day as a 37 year old mom with guilt. Wondering how the hell you messed up and how do you fix it.

It seems unfair that I can sit here and claim mom guilt is bullshit when hopefully someday you’ll be reading these words as a mother yourself thinking “what the hell mom”. How can you even think I shouldn’t be feeling guilty for not reading a bed time story, or I forgot to send their lunch today or maybe even I yelled so loud at them today I think I shook the windows. Guilt?? That’s all I feel is guilt…

Honestly Kail, there is nothing that I can say to elevate the mom guilt you will experience in your life time. Unfortunately it is a real thing. It’s probably one of the most toxic element of being a mom. I can tell you though, whatever you do or don’t do as a mother just love your children and do the very best that you can everything will turn out just fine.

Always stay true to your own values and character. Parent with love, patience and the giving of your time. Knowing its ok to make mistakes is a gift to your children, expectations are unnecessary in most situations. Do not put them on yourself. Schedule, plan and organize your life accordingly. But only the things that are of importance.

You cannot always accomplish everything you feel you need to in one day. That’s ok.

Find the way that works best for your family. Don’t get too wrapped up in what others are doing. We had different ideas for our family, I feel they worked well for us.

Don’t be fearful, be confident in your parenting. You will, I promise learn about your children more than anyone else in the world. Listen to the professionals, ask advice from those who are educated. Take all learned information into account, but you are the one to choose which to apply. Because you are the one who knows best, even if you don’t feel like it in that moment, trust your gut.

I love you more than life Fox, I have so much faith in you as you continue your journey to becoming the best version of you! It has always been wonderful watching you grow, develop and mature into the beautiful woman you are~

You make me proud.

Love mom~

This past weekend I found a recipe on William Sonoma’s Instagram page featuring Rosemary and Lemon Homemade Bread. I have always wanted to make bread on my own. Unfortunately I am a carb queen, bread and butter being a comfort to me throughout my whole life.

This recipe sounded amazing. William Sonoma was also featuring their Dutch Oven pot, I didn’t have one from there but I did have one from Pampered Chef. So lets go ahead and give it a try. It was one heck of a cold weekend, our plans had been cancelled and we found ourselves curled up on the couch watching endless movies.

I had most of the ingredients here already, I just needed to get some fresh Rosemary. I knew bread took a long time to make, my grandma would make homemade bread and I clearly remember it sitting on her table under a cloth for hours, rising.

I sure do wish I would have gotten her bread recipes. Actually both of my grandmothers were amazing bread makers. Raisin bread, white bread, molasses bread all to be enjoyed by their families.

Let me share with you how to prepare this delicious bread recipe~

Ingredients:

3 cups of all purpose flour

1/4 tsp of active dry yeast

1 3/4 tsp of salt

2 tsp. Fresh Rosemary

2 tsp of chopped lemon zest

Cornmeal as needed.

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, salt, rosemary and lemon zest. Add 1 5/8 cups or 13 fl oz of water and stir until blended; the dough will be shaggy and very sticky. Cover the bowl with Saran Wrap or plastic cling. Let the dough rest at warm room temperature, until the surface is dotted with bubbles., 12 to 18 hours.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle the dough with a little flour and fold the dough over onto itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or your fingers, gently and quickly shape the dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel, preferably a flour sack towel (not terrycloth), with cornmeal. Put the dough, seam side down, on the towel and dust with more flour or cornmeal. Cover with another double in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a finger, about 2 hours.

At least 30 minutes before the dough is ready, put a 2 3/4-quart bread pot or Dutch oven in the oven and pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.

Carefully remove the pot from the oven. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over, seam side up into the pot; shake the pot once or twice if the dough looks uneven in the pot. It will straighten out as it bakes. If desired, using a very sharp knife cut three shallow parallel slits in the top of the dough. Cover with the lid and back for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until he loaf is browned, 15 to 30 minutes more.

Transfer the pot to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Using oven mitts, turn the pot on its side and gently turn the bread until it releases.

Makes one loaf 1/2 pound.

I hope to continue my loaf for making my own bread. For now I will continue with recipes that doesn’t require a bread maker. But hopefully one day I’ll have enough recipes to consider adding a bread machine to my kitchen~

Enjoy~