what i ate - chicken and chocolate

 grilled chicken and peanut sauce with rice, brox and potatos

 more grilled chicken with mac salad and blueberries.  peanut sauce added after the photo was taken.

 chocolate - this was on sale

 these are so good in wraps and salads

 

reading watching listening loving eating

 reading - sobbed my way through when breath becomes air.  heartbreaking.

 

watching - traitors canada season 3

 

listening  - the comfort of crows audiobook

 

loving - strawberry pancakes on the weekends

 

eating- lots of wraps with hummus and veg

 

book club 34 - the noise by james patterson

 2026-34

 

book club 33 - circe by madeline miller

 2026-33

 

the garden

 some herbs

 peas and potatos

 more herbs - mint, oregano, chives, and some plants that the bees love

 we pulled out the rhubarb and planted carrots.  

onion, lettuce, corn, potatoes...

tomatos, blueberries

 

chamomile for the bees

 

strawbs!

 

 

 

lunch at my desk - hummous, crackers, berries, yogurt

 

Happy Canada Day

 

decluttering part 2

 first we have this container i took out of the cupboard to use, opened the top and it promptly broke apart.

 11 old pieces of makeup in the trash - 

 and 12 items gone here - some tops, literal garbage, nail polish, a broken bracelet.

 

the last 8 things for today - a sweater, 3 books, 2 lotion samples, an old craft kit and some empty lip balm bottles 

32 items, plus the 7 books the other post is 39, our new de-cluttering total is 60 items gone!

"Count your rainbows, not your thunderstorms." — Alyssa Knight

 

getting rid of a few more cookbooks books 76-81

 part cookbook clean up and part de-clutter - i got rid of 7 cookbooks.

 it's all easy was previously a keeper, so i'll adjust that in the count  below.  i am slowly coming to terms with the fact that i am apparently more of an aesthetic Nigella cookbook person than an actual user of them.  and it hurt to get rid of the well filled tortilla and the trader vics books, but i have owned them for YEARS and never used them, so it was time to go.

 Back on the bookshelf - 19 Donated - 62

beautiful bc - jacko lake

 

book club 32 - audiobook - actress of a certain age by jeff hiller

 2026-32

 

some recent baking i have done

I've been doing some baking recently, and shockingly it has all been well received by the family!  This is something that I have been complaining about for years, that the family (kids) would rather have store bought baking than mine.  But I'm on a small roll right now.  Victory is mine.

The first and biggest win was some lemon bars I made that went so quickly I didn't even get a photo.  And now I can't find the recipe either.  But!  Everyone loved them.

I made these pineapple muffins because we'd opened a can of crushed pineapple for homemade pizza night  and I needed to use up the rest of the can.  These were quite light in flavor but nice and moist.

 These cheese muffins were also a pretty big hit.  I added some garlic powder to them and MMMMM!

 

reading watching listening loving eating

 reading- just finished Circe.  it took me a LONG time to read, but I really liked it.

watching - metal lords!  

listening - to playlists of rain.

loving - spring

 

eating - want to bribe the girl?  bubble tea. 

decluttering! here we go

 i hate clutter, but i also hate getting rid of things i have paid money for, have 2 kids and am married to someone with hoarder tendencies.  so we have clutter.  and i don't want clutter any more!  or, at least less.  i decided on june 1 that i would do that de-cluttering where for every day in a month you get rid of the number of the day of the month - i'm not writing that correctly, but on the 1st, you get rid of 1 thing, on the 2nd you get rid of 2 things, etc.  Here's the first week - 

we started easy, with a box i'd been saving in case i wanted to put things into a box.

then we donated a pair of slipper shoes that are too slippery on the bottom for me, and a bag that i was saving, in case i wanted to put things in a bag. 

then we added 3 old school books to the donation pile

 halloween face stickers, and some old makeup went into the garbage.

a bag in case i needed to put things in a bag, a wooden box that is hiding under the bag, and 3 plastic organizing trays went next.  

The last 6 things were a little canvas basket, more old makeup, and a beaded heart I managed to sneak past the girl into the garbage.

An easy 21 things out of the house!  

book club 31 - vagabond by tim curry

 2026-31

 

the pond county market

 we went to the pond to get some plants for the planters by the front door and after buying the plants we had some lunch on their beautiful outdoor patio.  that salad dressing is THE BEST dressing i've ever had.  missing - the veggie wrap - 10/10 like all the rest.

i love you, pond!