Just another day at Chateau Beck

My kids eat- a lot. Having a pre-teen and a teenaged boy means I make mass quantities of the favourites and throw them in the freezer.

Aaron and I go to a gym class that's 5-6 AM so this is also handy for our breakfasts too. 

An Old Obsession

Ok maybe not obsession but definitely an interest was Post Secret. I would faithfully check for new posts every Sunday and bought the books.  I think I read some really weird confessions that may or may not have grossed me out that I just quit cold turkey. 

So while trying to organize the basement and move the bookshelf which involves unloading the bookshelf I came across my copies of some Post Secret books.

It's on my bucket list to actually mail a secret but I've never thought of something I consider worthy. 

I did do something secretive today that I'm anxious about so maybe today's the day I do it! 

I'll keep you posted! In the meantime I will add these books to the Sunday auction pile.

So proud to be a mom!

One of my closest friends sent me this link and said she thought of Alex immediately. 

Made me so proud, and teary eyed. I love my boys. As parents our goal has always been to raise kind children that are contributing members to society. 

Maybe that's too simple for most people- sure orthodontist paycheques would be nice but neither Aaron or I are doctors yet we live a comfortable life and are happy. 

At the end of the day that's worth more than a hefty bank account. 

Life is good!

http://youtu.be/8LnuWQgL7Wg

Eat at Home Challenge

This started quite a few years ago with Jenn at My Life in a Nutshell.

Every September since then I always try to Eat at Home for the month. 

Summertime we tend to get a bit lazy with our meal planning and we eat out quite a bit. 

So September is a good chance to reset our idea that fast food is good food when in reality it's not nearly as satisfying or healthy as homecooked.

This is my idea of homemade fast food. I cook quite a bit of food ahead at naptime such as rice, squash and ground beef or turkey. Then at dinner I mix it all together with some black beans and taco spice, heat and serve it in a squash. Sometimes I add a spoon of salsa on top or some shredded cheese. Yummy!

I dislike Hump Day for one reason ...its flyer day!

Early on this year the boys decided they wanted to get jobs and lo and behold you only need to be 12 to get your own flyer route. JT was hired right away and now Wednesday mornings my dining room looks like this:

During the summer the flyers weren't very big so the boys were able to wrap them, and bag them but now that the school sales have started we are back to the old routine of Mom wrapping flyers at naptime. Not my favourite thing to do but its a team effort and I want to help the boys be successful. 

Every now and then they offer to buy me dinner or lunch to thank me for all of my hard work, so sweet.

JTs goal was to do flyers until he turns 14 and then he wants to apply at McDonalds. He's a planner just like his Mama!

Karma

Are you a believer? Are you a practiser?

The idea of karma is simple - if you have good intentions and perform good actions that will reflect positively on your future endeavours.

The yin to that yang is if you have bad intentions then be prepared for the cause and effect.

Someone told us this weekend "that's karma for you" and it's bothered me all weekend. Really, poor Aaron had to listen to me battle it out with myself about it. 

We live our life with the ideal that life is good and we do what we can to achieve this concept. We enjoy our family time, we work really hard for what we have and don't take it for granted and have values that are not negotiable. 

Aaron's awesome career path in the funeral industry is the constant reminder that death is final and can come anytime. So we exercise, try and eat well, make lots of happy memories and try to prioritize accordingly. 

Life is good, if you allow it to be.

Long lost treasure

It was about 10-11 years ago that my precious little Joey thought it would be a fun game to push all of Nannie's special coins down under the baseboard to never never land.

We didn't recognize the sound of the clink clink and figure out what was happening until it was too late. 

In a 4 level split house there's a good chance we thought he was upstairs sleeping while we were sitting 2 floors down in the family room watching a show  or playing games.

So randomly over the years this has come up in conversation and tonight I decided was the night we were going to find the coins. 

A flashlight,angled mirror,magnet, string and Joey's little hands revealed some coins. Maybe not all but the mystery is solved and the boys are busy treasure hunting right now