something i like - no more time changes!!!!!!!!!!

 this weekend we in BC change our clocks for the last time!  yippeeeeeeee!

something i like - Yew Street Food Hall

 Last month I took the fam plus one extra kid over to the North Shore on a Saturday.  We visited the Kamloops Winter Farmers Market and then to Yew Street Food Hall for lunch. 

Like an upscale food court, the hall offers small stalls for local restaurants and chefs to rent and offer their delicious food treats to us lucky folk. 

The space is lovely and inviting, and you just don't know what to look at first.

 The Boy and his friend headed off to check out all the offerings.  The Girl quickly chose Smashville Burger Bar  and had a really REALLY excellent burger and fries.  This will be my first stop next visit.

 The 2 Boys went with TongDak Korean Chicken, and then took their food to a different table so I could not get a photo or sneak a bite.  Rude.

 The Mister and I got non-alcoholic cocktails, a delicious virgin ceasar and a virgin margarita from Brews on Yew.  SO GOOD.

 

The Mister and I chose  Lemongrass and shared a Grilled Chicken Bahn Mi and Grilled Pork, spring rolls and vermicelli.  Truly excellent.

 This is the kind of thing we need more of in Kamloops - go check it out!

something i like - the quilters (on netflix)

 

2025 so far is making me want to remove my brains and be like

 

something i like - these photos i took in the carwash

 

something i like - self reliance

 

 

we found this movie by accident and i've always liked jake johnson so we gave it a go, and i have not laughed out loud at a movie so much in a long time.

Something i like - my new kitchen trivets

 we really don't have much excitement over here lately.  not doing anything interesting, not cooking anything particularly worth sharing.  not even reading much at the moment.  so let me show you my new kitchen trivets.

i saw these  on a tick tok and as much as i am trying to not impulse buy stuff, this one had me.

they are elasticized wooden trivets that when they are on their stand, look like a tree.

can you just even!!!!

absolutely adorable, and would give me a reason to throw away my old disgusting trivets that no longer come clean.

and then....

i mean!!!!!

the cutest ever, and they work very well,  my only wish was that the stand had one more trivet, i think it would look even cuter.

but still, so gosh darn cute.

Matheson Food Company

 We first heard of Matty Matheson from the show The Bear, and then after googling him, I started following him on the social meeds.  I was super excited to discover that he had started his own line of food products, Matheson Food Company, and once I saw the packaging, I was obsessed and determined to get my hands on some.

Luckily that was not difficult, as his products are sold at Wal Mart, so we picked up his mac and cheeses - Original, Cracked PepPep and Creamy Smoky Mac.

 

 

SOOOOOOOOO gooooooooooooooood.  We love them all and I love the small noodles.  Adorable.  

We've also tried one of his dressings, the Italian, which is also delicious.  

You can visit his website to see all the available products and some recipes too.

something i like - Brynn's Bakery

 Now that I am back downtown for work now (sob), occasionally I venture out for a walk and recently made my first visit to Brynn's Bakery on Victoria Street.  It is teeny tiny and full of delicious smells.

Brynn's started as a stand in the weekly farmers market and now excitingly has their own storefront.  

They have squares and sweet buns and cookies and brownies and breads - the bread are on rotation, but the basic sourdough is always available.

My first visit I picked up a loaf of the sourdough for The Mister and as a treat, I picked up 2 jeweled brownies for me and my bestie at work.

The brownies are pretty big, so I figured I'd have a couple of bites and take the rest home to the fam.

 I ate that whole brownie and wished I had another.  Dang.

A couple of weeks later I took The Mister and The Girl there, and while The Girl picked out 2 cookies for herself and her brother - one delicious chocolate chip and one hearty and flavorful peanut butter - I said to The Mister - oh look at these jeweled brownie!  I wonder if they are good? 😉

brynns bakery

a recent week with Hello Fresh

 We had the best meals from Hello Fresh recently. *Chef's kiss*  Even the kids liked it all!  A true miracle.

We hadn't ordered from Hello Fresh in a couple of months and I wanted to treat myself.  The box arrived on Tuesday, so we planned the meals for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

We had - 

 

Creamy mushroom and pork linguini with fried sage and parmesan.

This was SO good.  We did keep the mushrooms separate because both kids hate mushrooms, so The Mister and I just stirred the mushrooms into our bowls.  Leftovers were fought over.

 

 Korean beef burger with pickled veggies and gochujang mayo

I love a burger and this was delicious.  The pickled veggies and the salad were amazing, and it was a super fast dinner.

Cheesy baked ravioli with roasted squash and baby kale

This was the most time consuming one, with having to roast the squash first, but the squash did come already cut into cubes which I was thankful for, because I hate cutting squash.  The kids balked at this one at first, but once we removed "the green stuff" (kale) they both enjoyed their dinners.

If I could afford to order from these guys every couple of weeks, I would do it.  I love not only the variety of meals they offer but also how much stress these kits reduce for me for 3 dinners a week.  Check out their website if you are not already familiar with them.

new mugs!

 I am now on coffee and tea tik tok, which means I get to see peoples super cool mugs and be horribly jealous of them.

I had to take The Boy to Wal Mart to buy some school supplies - calculator, highlighters, sketch book - the kinds of supplies I love - and before we got started he wanted to go roam the video game aisle, so I went off and got some groceries and then decided to look at the mugs there, even though I knew there was no way Wal Mart would have any cute mugs.  I got to the aisle and it was totally picked over; practically bare.  I started to walk away and then - what was that way at the back of that shelf?

I mean....

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.  Never would I have expected to find such cute mugs at Wal Mart, AND they were under $4 each.  

They were the only 2 of these styles on the shelves and I get paranoid every time the kids insist on drinking their water or ginger ale out of them, but for now before my kids break them, I'm enjoying them.  The avocado one is a little hard to drink out of with the flat side, but it's so cute I'm willing to overlook that small flaw.

_______________________________________

Another day I had some time to waste before a kid pick up so I rolled over to Winners to peruse the selection of my all time favorite obsession, face sprays, and after limiting myself to ONE spray (I should have rewarded myself with another spray for showing such restraint) I wandered through the dishes and look what I found there - 

So cute!  Dramatic, but understated.  Spooky, but not enough to be considered a seasonal mug.  Not that I take these things into consideration; we use our Christmas mugs year round.  But you know what I mean.

That night when we were washing the dishes, The Mister pulled the label sticker off the other side of the mug and uncovered - 

A spider!  Too cute.

shoutout to essential oils and sprays

 ....for trying their best to keep me sane during the past year and some, and all the past years before that.

Here's what I've used up in the past month or so -

Aromaforce Peppermint oil is one of my favorite peppermint oils - I use peppermint pretty much daily against headaches, anxiety and general head fogginess.  I use it both in a diffuser as well as schmearing a drop under my nose and/or on my forehead.  Saje Deep Breath was for my diffuser; it's a good one with eucalyptus, peppermint and lavender.  I hate lavender, but you can't even smell it in this one, or at least I can't.  Saje Peppermint Halo - another great peppermint oil for headaches.

Forest Garden is a local company and this Citrus Cream oil blend is one of the best I've ever tried.  So good.  I have a bottle of their peppermint oil in my purse at all times.  Essenza Rosemary Mint came in some sort of kit.  Very minty.  Saje Rainforest - a woodsy one, not super strong.

Saje Energy Mist - I love a mist, and this is a really good one, with peppermint, lemon and rosemary.

Something I Like - Instagram Dance Parties

For the past few days at 2 pm (pacific) Mark Kanemura aka @mkik808 on Instagram has been holding virtual dance parties on his Instagram Live.

I've been following him for a while now - he is a fun and positive person on Instagram and has does the best dance and costume posts.

Now with all the craziness and indoor times, his dance parties are something we all look forward to every afternoon.  The Girl dresses up and we all sing and dance and huff and puff.

Check out @mkik808 on Instagram!

Another nice story

Act of kindness from N.B. goaltender draws standing ovation

We need more stories like this

Gah, my heart!  

Take a moment to read one of the best stories out there right now.

A 5 Year Old Got Adopted And His Entire Kindergarten Class Came To Support Him

Something I Like - My Favorite Murder podcast

My Favorite Murder

I go through a lot of phases of what to listen to during the work week - classical, nature sounds, yoga music, folk, and currently I'm in to podcasts.

I started listening to MFM last month I was hooked right away.

It's interesting and funny and I have a huge crush on Karen Kilgariff.

It's a bit of an odd choice for me, I think, since I have anxiety and spend a lot of time worrying about bad things happening, but somehow it doesn't send me into a spiral.

Check it out 

Something I Like - Captain Marvel

She's the Captain now, deal!

Something I Like - To Laugh and Learn

I love all the above people and their projects and you might too, if you don't already.

I won't talk about them individually other than to say that Nanette by Hannah Gadsby is so powerful and amazing.  It should be required viewing for EVERYONE. 

Treat yourself - Shower Steamers

I love me some aromatherapy and I have for years.  Rarely a day goes by that I don't bust out at least one oil.

A video on making "Shower Steamers" popped up in my facebook feed and I was interested - a new way to get a zing of aromatherapy!

These are super easy and don't take much time or equipment.

Here's the link I used - from HGTV.

You mix baking soda and water and press into muffin tins lined with paper liners.

Then you bake them, and let them cool, loosen the paper liners, 

and add your oils before you pack them up.

I had some trouble getting some of the liners off the tablets.  

Some popped right out, and some did not.

I did 6 peppermint (my favorite oil) and eucalyptus,

And 6 lemon and lime.  3 drops of each oil per disc for both.

The Mister tried one the morning I made them and really enjoyed it.  My nose does not always work well anymore, so I didn't find it very scenty.  And of course, the longer they sit, the more scent they lose.  But - PRO TIP - just add another couple of drops to one right before you get in the shower and POW - smell city.

This is a thing that I have, and also, book sale!

I recently read about tsundoku and laughed.  

Finally I can put a name to what I have been doing for years!  

I have been trying to get back to reading more but lately I've struggled with some of my 

choices and slowed right down, while at the same time receiving and using gift cards 

to the book store and moving books from the bookshelf in the basement to my room to read "soon" and this is what it looks like.

In related news, the Kamloops Symphony held their Spring Book Sale and we went.  Everyone got some books, and the Symphony got some of our money.

I got 5 books; a Thai cookbook, a novel and 3 memoirs.  

I tried to read Eat Pray Love years ago when it came out and I didn't like it and didn't finish it, but now that I'm old(er) I thought I would try again.  

I have had Pema Chodron's name on my list of authors to read for a couple of years, so I was excited to see one of her books.

I am currently struggling through a non fiction book that is interesting but a tough read, and a fiction book that I really don't like much.  I can't give up on either one, so I've got to just find some time and get them done so I can move on.