Successful Brown Bag Challenge

They say it takes 21 days to break or develop a habit. I believe I have finally made a habit of making a good healthy lunch. The challenge is officially over and I did it!!!!

Through the Brown Bag Challenge I got in the habit of making sure I made healthy suppers and ensuring there were enough left overs for healthy lunches the following day. My routine became making a supper of a third protein, a third vegetables and a third carbohydrates. (I really make an effort to have brown rice, or organic products or often substitute a salad) Many people may argue this is not a perfect meal but in comparison to the thrown together meals of the past it a huge step forward.

I knew I really had made the transition to a healthy habit this past Thursday evening. I had worked all day and then I immediately headed to my latest new job at the hockey rink (I am such a Canadian stereotype). Hubby Terry and I arrived home at about 10:30 p.m. I asked Terry if he was hungry and if he wanted supper. I was really hoping he would say no thanks but of course he said “YES!”

In the past I would have told Terry to go ahead and make his own supper from his limited menu of grilled cheese, frozen pizza or eggs on toast. Realizing this was not going to make a healthy lunch for the next day I headed to the balcony to turn on the barbeque. I made grilled pork chops and from the fridge threw together a salad and mixed veggies. Because of my newly adopted system of pre-cutting, pre-packaging all sorts of ingredients it was a breeze to put it all together. I have learned to create my own version of healthy “fast food.”

Hopefully I will continue the habit of healthy suppers and of course the subsequent healthier brown bag lunches. During the past month I received lots of positive feedback on my blog. While no longer committed to posting my Brown Bag story perhaps I will make occasional updates to let everyone know of my progress. If anyone out there in blog land wants to be my cyber conscious, please let me know!!

Caught NOT Brown Bagging It

I got caught!

I have been faithful to my pledge in bringing a brown bag lunch to school each day, but this Friday I got caught breaking my pledge! As I walked into the staff room with two pieces of pizza in my hand, my colleague Mike said “AHA! You didn’t bring that from home! Where is your brown bag?”

I was initially taken aback since I wasn’t aware Mike read my blog and actually knew about my participation in the Brown Bag Challenge. Because of guilt I began to head back to my office to get my lunch bag I had packed the night before. But then I stopped and realized it was my duty as the principal to eat the pizza a parent volunteer had thrust in my hand. You see the pizza at our school has a very long and important story.

The first day of school marked the implementation of a new policy in all schools across Ontario. The Ministry has mandated specific nutritional requirements for all food items schools provide or sell. It took literally a year of parent consultation, negotiations with Super Mario our pizza maker and student surveys to create a pizza which met the requirements of the new policy. Our pizza now has the right blend of whole wheat crust, low fat cheese and a plain topping which was the result of the student survey which indicated they did not want any of the legit options of vegetables or pineapple toppings.

With all of the duties of a school principal it is hard to believe selecting the right pizza would be so time-consuming. However, on Friday, when I tasted the pizza instead of the carefully prepared brown bag lunch, I knew we had done the right thing. Not only were we offering students a healthy choice for lunch but it tasted great!

The only disappointment was when I found out one of our students smuggled in contraband pepperoni! We still have inroads to make but I know we are heading in the right direction in making healthy food choices.

Pizza days are every Friday so on Monday I'm back brown bagging it!

9-11 Forever Changed

It has been 10 years.

Like millions of others I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. I was in a Junior Kindergarten classroom the entire morning. Like the children in my charge, I was totally oblivious to the events which would change the world, oblivious until about 11:30 a.m. when the first parent arrived to pick up their child. I remember exactly the look on her face when she asked me if I had heard the news. She looked like she had exciting news to tell but not sure how to tell it. I laughed and so said “no, what’s up? Are you pregnant?” She didn’t laugh.

She went on to tell me planes were missing all over the US and some were crashing into buildings. She told me things I could not understand. I thought she must have the story all confused. As she left with her young daughter she said “the world as we know it has changed forever.” I was left speechless standing in a room of four years totally confused. I was not clear exactly what she was talking about but I was sure she was over reacting. What she was saying was just not possible. I was wrong.

A half hour later when all of the children had been picked up and hugged a little tighter by their parents I was finally able to go to the staff room where CNN had been playing all morning. At the time I was upset no one on staff had taken the time to come to my isolated kindergarten room to tell me this news prior to lunch time. Ten years later, I realize it was just as well. I had a few hours longer than the rest of the world to live in my bubble where innocent people are protected and safe from the fear of terrorists.

While I admire the spirit of the Americans who have valiantly carried on with their lives I do wonder if Bin Laden has actually won. He may have been taken out by Navy Seals, al qaeda may be in disarray, but his goal to destroy the United States economy and ultimately their way of life may be closer to reality. Along with the economic concerns facing the United States, it is becoming Un-United. With the growth of “The Tea Party”, the aim of politicians to win, over the need for the country to win, might ultimately be a greater blow to the country than any crazy terrorist could ever accomplish.

While the horror of 9-11 is something I never wish to witness again, can we ever get back those days following the attack when Americans, regardless of race, faith or political stripe, held and supported each other, strong in the belief they are the lucky ones to live in a free country?

Where were you before the world we as we knew it changed forever?

Multi Tasking Brown Bagger

I did it! Not only did I make it through the first week back at school but I was able to pack a healthy lunch EVERY day! Go me!

The reason was simple…….multi-tasking during dinner preparation.

In the past, before bedtime I would procrastinate about making a lunch and figure I would just throw a lunch together in the morning. I do my best math in the morning while still sleeping. After the alarm rings, I lie there quietly calculating in my head how much longer I can sleep in if I don’t eat breakfast. How many more minutes of snooze time if I slip out to Tim Horton’s at lunch time instead of packing a lunch?

This year, thanks to the Brown Bag Challenge, my new plan is to make breakfast and lunch at the same time I am making supper! Duh! It is such a simple idea. While I make chicken breasts on the BBQ, I throw on a few extra to make a chicken/spinach salad. While the chicken is cooking I throw together the ingredients for my new favourite oatmeal breakfast so all I have to do in the morning is zap it in the microwave. While everything is cooking for supper it takes little more effort to throw together everything I need for breakfast and lunch as well. It also a great satisfaction after supper clean up to know I am finished in the kitchen until the next night.

Now this new process means I no longer read the paper, finish the cross-word puzzle, surf the net or write my blog while supper is cooking. While those things now have to wait until after supper to get done, my cooking has actually improved. Since my new cooking tactic, I no longer rely on the smoke detector to let me know when supper is ready. As a multi-tasking cook I am actually fully attentive to food preparation instead of distracted by other things, oblivious to the burning pork chops.

In the morning I still have those extra precious moments of sleep but I rest even better knowing my breakfast and lunch are already packed in the fridge, ready to go in my brown bag.

Any other ideas for great suppers that can be reinvented into great lunches???

The Most Important Meal of the Day

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. In order to avoid eating all of my lunch before lunch time and starving the rest of the day I have decided to add breakfast to my Brown Bag Challenge. Last week after a long day of prepping at school I almost made a pit stop for a bagel on the way home. I white knuckled it and hung on until supper time.

So tomorrow being the official first day of school and in my mind, New Year’s Day I am going to start packing breakfast as well. Most people actually eat breakfast when they wake up at home. I however can’t seem to eat that early and I am too stressed in the morning to waste precious time eating. Once I get to school and get everything and everyone in their place, I will take a ten minute break and eat breakfast. (hopefully this will occur before lunch time)

My breakfast is a combination of all of the advice I have heard from Dr. Oz and from what I have read on the internet (it must be true) I am putting together an oatmeal concoction with the following ingredients:

• Oatmeal(of course) – the real stuff, plain oat flakes – it has fiber's cancer-fighting properties
• Soy Milk – better than cow’s milk because it is higher in protein (will stay fuller longer) and is made from beans -so even more fibre
• Frozen Fruit (even though this is the best season to get fresh Niagara fruit, I am aiming for convenience here) –counts towards my daily five servings of fruits and vegetables
• Walnut - omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants (and fibre) - and walnuts taste good!
  

• Cinnamon - One study found that smelling cinnamon boosts cognitive function and memory and it is also a great source of……wait for it…………fibre!

Any other nutritious ideas for a breakfast I can throw in one container to put in my Brown Bag?

Ready for the First Day of School

In the midst of preparing for the beginning of school as well as starting up my new challenge as a contributor to “In the O Radio Show”, I am still trying to make sure I succeed in my Food Network Brown Bag Challenge. I must ensure I take to work each day a home prepared healthy lunch. I am also to blog about it to share good ideas as well as challenges I overcome. In spite of the busyness of my life I am thrilled I am all set for the first week of school. I am all set to continue my Brown Bag Challenge anyways.

I have healthy lunches planned for the whole week. I have a container of baby spinach to be the base of a salad for each day. I also have small containers filled with items to throw together a salad as quickly as possible. I’ve prepared:

• Shredded chicken
• Olives
• Chopped onions
• Chopped tomatoes
• Feta cheese
• Shredded carrots
• Walnuts
• Sliced mushrooms

These items may not be new to my fridge but the fact they are pre-chopped, pre- cut, pre-shredded, pre-pared is new. Instead of procrastinating in the evening and then giving up in the morning, I am actually planned and ready to quickly put items together to create a healthy salad for lunch.

I am also planning to cook a little extra supper each night to package up and to make a lunch for the next day. Tonight I made lots of extra quinoa and chicken breasts. Paired with a salad, these left-overs will make a huge lunch, loaded with nutrition but light on calories to carry me through the day.

OK…..I have my office all set, timetables are in place, teachers are all ready, class lists have been long planned…..and now I even have lunches for the week all set……….why I am still nervous about the first day of school?

Just When You Think You're Out........They Pull You Back In

I have spent a lot of time in hockey arenas this past year. For a certified “Hockey Mom” this is not an unusual thing but to be honest I thought I was over hanging out in arenas. You just can’t take the hockey out of a Canadian girl.

Greg started playing hockey at the age of 3 or 4 and Kaitlin joined in a few years later when the powers that be finally realized girls are quite capable of playing hockey too. So to summarize 20 years of hockey motherhood, I have experienced 5:30 a.m. practices, double, some times triple booked calendars and of course the laden down van with stinky, smelly hockey equipment.

So the last few years have been pretty much arena free. I got rid of the van and now drive a sedan which only holds one set of equipment. No more team mom for me. But hockey can’t leave me for good. I became a fan of the local Junior A Niagara Ice Dogs. Instead of actually going to the arena I am able to watch the games on the local cable station. Between my day (and often night) job as a principal, my free-lance writing jobs and trying keep Terry and Journey the dog happy, I have become a multi-tasker and I watch the games on TV while doing a million other things in the house.

2011 brought me back to the arena in big ways.

It started with a fabulous Christmas present from my father, tickets to the World Junior Hockey Tournament. The World Juniors is a showcase of the best hockey talent in the world. A preview of the next NHL stars. As Buffalo is just down the road from our place we were able to spend our Christmas vacation at the HSBC arena. I can never remember what those initial represent but it’s where the Sabres play. It was exciting times as not only the hockey was great, but the fans were spectacular. Canadians arrived en mass causing back ups on the Peace Bridge as they were arriving and back ups at the beer gardens once they got there. Good times as we met up with lots of friends, family, neighbours and made new friends. The Canada-Us game was awesome. (can you guess who won???)

As the junior season headed into the play-offs, hockey in our household revved up again. The Niagara Ice Dogs were doing well but the Owen Sound Attack were doing fantastic. The Attack team is from my home town and my Dad is the business manager and past minority owner of the team. The Attack made it to the Memorial Cup which is the Canadian championship of junior hockey. It has been said the Memorial Cup is the most difficult trophy to win in all of sports. As Owen Sound migrated to Mississauga to cheer on the Attack, it quickly became apparent the Hershey Centre Arena had been renamed the Owen Sound Bay Shore South Arena. It was like a high school reunion. People I literally hadn’t seen since high school graduation were there. Not only were the games great but once again the fans made it memorial.(is that a pun….Memorial Cup….memorial times???? Sorry)

Summer progressed relatively hockey free until some how through the Twitter universe I hooked up with a new job possibility. I am now a contributor to “In the O Radio Show”. The O stands for OHL hockey (Ontario Hockey League- the big step for junior hockey players before making it pro) The radio show is not actually on the radio yet but rather on the internet but it is an up and coming business run by a guy who is passionate about what he does and I am confident it is going to be big. (Check it out at www.intheoradio.com) The compensation is little, but the learning and networking I will get is priceless…….not to mention a media pass for the games! Who ever thought those days as a hockey mom at the cold arena in the wee hours of the morning would turn into this? Just when I thought my days of stinky hockey equipment were over I’m back in as I interview players post game in sweat drenched gear.

I will keep everyone posted how my new job as a sports contributor goes. Any ideas for interview questions to young wannabe pro hockey players??

Storage Wars

I believe the key to a successful Brown Bag Challenge is planning. As they say, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. (I’m not sure who “they” are but it is a good adage.)

I began planning for the Brown Bag Challenge by organizing all of my plastic containers. Until yesterday my system for organization was throwing the container and hopefully matching lid into the cupboard as fast as possible and slamming the door before the pile of mismatched containers fell back out onto the floor.

Yesterday I finally mustered up the strength to tackle the container cupboard. I took every piece of plastic storage-ware out and placed them all across the kitchen counter. It took several minutes but I matched up all of the containers to the appropriate lids. It was just like matching socks. No matter how hard I tried they never seemed to match up. I ended up throwing into the recycling about 20 plastic lids and 8 plastic containers which could not find its partner lid.

I was left with 12 perfectly matched, variously sized containers which will be exactly what I need to pack up healthy nutritious lunches for the Brown Bag Challenge.

The dilemma now is how to put them back in the cupboard? Should I put the lids on the containers and stack up or should I nest the containers within each other and put the lids in one container. Oh, the decisions one has to make to reach success!I need to make the storage system as system and organized as possible in order to simplify the lunch making process.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to store the containers properly so I don’t end up with a tangled mess again?

New Year's Resolution - The Brown Bag Challenge

For most people January 1^st signifies the beginning of the New Year. But for an educator, the real “New Year” begins on the day after Labour Day, the first day of school. In preparation for my “New Year” I have made a long list of resolutions.

My number one resolution is to become a healthier person. My theory is, if I look after myself I will be able to look after the students and teachers at my school and of course my own family. So yes, good hubby Terry, all of these changes are for you!!

One way for me to be a healthier person is of course to eat healthier. I am not going to go on a particular diet but rather just eat healthier and smaller portions. In the past I would go on a restrictive diet only to get frustrated (and hungry) and blow it all and binge on all the wrong things.

One strategy to ensure a healthy diet was to join the Food Network’s Healthy Eats Brown-Bag Challenge. http://blog.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats Beginning September 1^st I am going to pack a lunch each and every day.

Gone are the days of slipping out to Timmie’s for a sandwich (and a cookie). I have seen the last of the Golden Arches or my pal Harvey. No more skipping lunch entirely only to come home and eat the entire fridge worth of food before supper. The challenge is to take a healthy, nutritious lunch every day.

Does anyone have suggestions for some nutritious but tasty lunches???

Deep ......Dark........Secret!

I have a deep, dark secret.

I don’t floss regularly.

Oh, after an evening of popcorn at the movies or a big juicy steak at dinner I might dig out the container of floss at the back of the medicine cabinet, but flossing has not been part of my regular routine.

Each time I go to the dentist I must go through the painful process of the hygienist’s unspoken disgust with me as she painstakingly cleans my teeth. Each visit seems to take longer and is more uncomfortable than the visit before. I don’t even know what the hygienist looks like since she never takes her mask off during my visit. Yet, she knows my secret, I am a floss failure. Each dentist visit ends with a new tooth brush and a lecture about the benefits of flossing.

My last visit to the dentist was in July. As I left I had a flash back to the dental visits of my youth. When I was a kid there was no hygienist, no fancy equipment, just the actual dentist looking in my mouth with this tiny little mirror at the end of his silver pick. Every visit ended with Dr. Thurston saying “Keep up the brushing. You’re doing a great job!” Dr. Thurston built up my self-esteem.

Now my dental visits only remind me of my built up plaque!

I decided after the visit in July I was going to become a flosser. With very few exceptions, I have flossed my teeth every night. I have become much more adept with the floss and the routine has become faster and has in fact become routine.

I have to wonder……am I the only one out there not a regular flosser? Is it really going to make a difference? More importantly, at my next dental visit am I going to wipe the look of disgust off the hygienist face? Will I be able to tell under her mask? So many questions created by one piece of waxy string!

What are your dark hidden secrets????

Summer Concert Series

This summer I was able to attend a number of concerts.

My summer concert series started with a free concert in Art Park (Lewiston, New York). It was Peter Frampton on his Frampton Comes Alive anniversary tour. He played his iconic album exactly the way he did all those years ago. Many times I felt transported back to the wood paneled basements of many of my friends during the summer of ’75 when Frampton Comes Alive was the only album we ever played. The audience was pulled back to the present however when Peter explained that during instrumental sections during the original tour the band would run off the stage and do some drugs behind the scenes before they ran back on for encore numbers. Peter then added the only drug he does now is Viagra!

A few weeks later we enjoyed a special concert at Jackson-Triggs winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake. We indulged in a dinner at the winery where each course of the gourmet meal was paired with a different wine. As there were five courses and then of course the before dinner wines and the wines during the concert, there was a lot of wine drinking at the winery that night! Between glasses we also got to enjoy the solo performance of Gord Downey from the Tragically Hip. (For the record, my friend Diane was designated driver for the night…….just saying)

There was also a Northern Pikes concert at Polson Pier formerly known as “the Docks” in Toronto. It is a fabulous location where it feels you are at a resort in Muskoka when you are actually on the shores of Lake Ontario beneath the shadow of the CN Tower. It was at the Northern Pikes concert I met “Eddie” from Love It or List It.

While it would not come under the classification of a concert, the most fun and outrageous musical events of the summer was the Friday evening performances of the One Man Electrical Band at Hogan’s Alley in Port Dalhousie. The location is superb as it is a few blocks from our home. There is no cover as the talent of this one man band is questionable, but his choice of songs is impeccable. He always seems to know the right song to sing for the crowd. Within a few minutes it turns into bad karaoke, embarrassing dancing and a lot of fun for a bunch of middle-aged Friday night drinkers. I believe we are good entertainment for the 20-something kids heading out for a night out to their bar of choice “My Cottage.”

In some ways my summer concert series was a rediscovering my youth but in more ways it was confirmation my youth is long gone! My youth may be gone but middle age is actually even better! No curfew!

The Shopping Spree

We have spent the last three months purchasing new appliances.

Greg moved out of his apartment into a house so his dog could have a backyard. The house came with appliances except a dryer. I offered up our dryer for Greg so we needed to buy a new one for ourselves. Of course we then had to get the matching washer. While we were at the appliance store the fridges looked very enticing. We ended up getting the washer-dryer set, a new fridge and the matching range, microwave and dishwasher.

There was a problem with every appliance.

Washer/Dryer: In our laundry room there is only one way to install the stackable washer-dryer which means it has to be vented to the side. We needed to order an additional side vent kit.

Cost: $50.00 + 3 days for delivery.

Range: We bought a “slide-in” model which means it is supposed to fit into the counter top a certain way. Since our counter top did not fit that certain way we needed to purchase a kit for the back of the range.

Cost: $50.00 + 5 days for delivery.

Refrigerator: The fridge is HUGE. All of the doors etc had to be taken off in order to get it into our unit. Once the doors were all put back on and the delivery guys were gone, I discovered a huge mark on the stainless steel. Customer service said they would send a technician. Three days later the technician arrived to tell us, yes there is mark on the door. He made a call and found out a new door would cost $500.00 and would take three weeks to arrive. After having to explain this is a BRAND NEW FRIDGE and we wouldn’t be paying the $500.00 he returned three weeks later with a new door. After he installed the new door he discovered a scratch in the door. He made a phone call and our new, new door should be arriving mid-September.

Cost: Loss of my patience

Microwave: The microwave came with a chart on the inside of the door which tells you what buttons to push for the different kinds of foods being cooked. Unfortunately the microwave didn’t come with a magnifying glass to read the chart. Now I have to always keep a pair of reading glasses in the drawer near by.

Cost: My dignity.

Dishwasher: While emptying the dishwasher one hand was needed to hold the door down while the other hand took the dishes out. Unfortunately the dishwasher didn’t come with a third hand which was necessary to actually get the dishes into the cupboard. Terry took the dishwasher out of the cabinet and reinstalled to ensure the legs were level. Problem solved.

Cost: Having to listen to Terry once again gloat about his handy man skills!

The brief Sunday afternoon shopping trip snowballed into many frustrations along the way, but each time I look at my shiny new appliances I have a sense of satisfaction.

Cost: Priceless

Anyone else have a story about shopping sprees out of control???? Jennifer how about you????

The Boys

Terry and I spent the week babysitting. No, not our grandchild, but our grand dog.

Tyson is Greg’s year old lab with more energy than could ever possibly be imagined. Since we were heading up to the cottage for a week and Greg was busy at work and then a week-end wedding, it was decided instead of Tyson being left alone he would join us at the cottage for the week.

Tyson is about 75 pounds and our little shihtzu Journey is about 14 pounds. They are not good friends. They barely tolerate each other. Whenever Tyson comes to visit he eats all of Journey’s food and then wants to play like a year old puppy wants to do. Journey is not a puppy, and frankly I don’t think he ever was a puppy. His existence is about sitting pretty and getting cuddles. He is not amused at Tyson’s invitations to wrestle.

During the week at the cottage we began to refer to the two dogs as “the boys”. Tyson continued to eat Journey’s food no matter how hard we tried to keep it in the closed bedroom. Journey starved the first two days as he never had a chance to eat his food before Tyson wolfed it down. By the third day however, survival instinct took over and 14 pound Journey pushed 75 pound Tyson aside and ate all of Tyson’s food. Tyson left Journey alone after that.

Speaking of leaving the dogs alone……..one day Terry and I left the dogs alone. We made sure all of the doors were shut tight to ensure no dog escaped and headed off to Minden for some groceries. About an hour later as we were approaching the cottage on our return, we noticed a minor backlog of cars on the highway in front of our cottage. Traffic jams are very rare for cottage country. It didn’t take us long to discover it was a dog blocking the right hand lane stopping traffic. I jumped out of the car and ran past several cars toward the dog….yes it was Tyson and yes I was so upset I really was running!

Tyson had escaped by climbing up on the kitchen counter and jumping through the screened window over the sink! Tyson had been stopping traffic for about 45 minutes and was refusing to leave the roadway until our return. We found out these details from Eric our neighbour across the way who had been trying to convince Tyson to get off the road but to no avail.

Luckily he was safe and sound. By the look of this soaking wet coat I think Tyson had gone for a bit of a swim in our absence as well. When we got inside the cottage Journey was sitting in the very same spot, in the very same position as he had been before we left, totally oblivious to the commotion outside.

Hopefully if we ever get a chance to baby-sit grandchildren it won’t be as eventful as this.

Celebrity Sightings

The last few months have been a period of celebrity sightings for me.

At the Cottage Life Show in March I met Ed Begley Jr from St. Elsewhere fame. He looks exactly the same as he did in the 1980's. When I pointed that fact out to him, he told me he loved me! We had a great discussion about the longevity of St. Elsewhere and what a unique show it truly was. Ed also talked about his personal experiences in making the earth a greener place. He is very passionate about environmental issues.

A few minutes later I ran into Bob Mackenzie from TSN fame. (That's the Canadian version of ESPN for those American readers) We talked briefly about the great play-off run the Leafs were having. The talk was brief because his wife seemed annoyed at me intruding although Bob seemed to enjoy the attention.

A few weeks later I attended the Juno Awards (think Canadian Grammys). On our way to the ACC we ran into Dallas Green of City and Colour as well as Alexisonfire fame. I was Dallas' grade seven teacher as well as vice-principal when he was in grade eight. He actually spotted me before I saw him and he tried to explain to me what he was doing at the Junos as if I didn't know! We had a good talk about the importance of teachers encouraging students to follow their dream but Dallas was quick to add....as long as they finish school first. I wrote about Dallas previously in my blog.

http://canadianmothermusings.blogspot.com/2009/06/fulfilling-dream.html


In May I went to a conference in Toronto and I got to meet Joy Behar from The View. She spoke about her journey from a wife, mother, teacher to a comic and then being on The View and now her own show on CNN. Basically her message was she was too naive to realize getting into comedy was hard and she just did it.

Last week I was at a Northern Pikes concert and ran into Eddie Richards, the contractor from the Love It or List It television show. He is married to Martine Gaillard, a sportscaster with Sportsnet, so I met her as well by default. Eddie was so excited he was getting attention from a fan instead of his wife getting all of the attention he sent me over a drink!

The one thing I learned from all of these celebrity sighting is I am very happy I am not a celebrity. Having someone like me constantly coming up and interrupting my life would be very annoying!

Any readers out there have any celebrity sighting stories????

I'm Back..............

After a prolonged absence from blogging, I have suddenly become inspired to start posting again. So here I go….a quick recap of the last year.

• Went to some concerts
• Went to a lot of hockey games
• Bought new appliances
• Became an empty nester again, then not, then again
• Got lucky with some contests
• Met some celebrities
• Turned 50!!! (and survived)

This is a very brief list for an entire year of my life. I will write in more detail about each topic at a later date....not too much later, I promise!

I am hoping there are still some people willing to read the blog and also willing to leave some messages for me!