Birthday

Healthy Chocolate Cupcakes/Chocolate Mocha Icing~The Gift~

/ Lee Reynolds

“Life is a gift”~William Reynolds

I love the mysteries in life. I also love the magic that occurs when everything falls perfectly into place and the mystery is revealed and it is NEVER as I thought it would be.

At the end of November my sister C had a birthday.  Since she lives a long car drive away from my home, a card, a phone call or an email message is usually all I manage to acknowledge her special day. But this year, I noticed that her birthday fell on a Friday and this year, my oldest son Clark, who is going to University, has had Fridays off. With inspiration, I asked if he would be willing to care for the little girls so I could go up and surprise my sister on her birthday. He agreed. (Thanks Clark) What made it even better though, was my other sister J, who lives close to me, was also free and willing to drive us to C’s home. I thought it was wonderful how everything fell into place beautifully and we could share in our sister’s birthday celebration.

J called our brother in law, D and asked him to help us surprise C.  Making sure C was ready to go out to lunch on Friday when we arrived. D isn’t the best at keeping secrets from our sister, so the fact  he didn’t spill the beans and was able to come up with a plausible excuse for her to get up early on her birthday, was a feat unto itself. (Thanks D!)

The week leading up to my sister’s birthday was busy around our house. My husband David was going out of town on business, again, for another week and he was leaving the Thursday before C’s birthday. We try to get groceries in the house, gas in the cars, and the house cleaned, so things are smoother for me while he is away. I was just flying around trying to get everything done and also get a few little gifts put together for my sister.

At the last minute, I decided to make some cupcakes so we had something to put a candle on and sing Happy Birthday after lunch. Thankfully, I was able to find a healthy cupcake recipe at Lee’s “Fit Foodie Finds,” blog.  (Thanks Lee) I followed her cupcake recipe to a tee, except, I didn’t add the chocolate chips to the batter, wanting to make them even healthier. Although I can’t take any credit for the recipe, they turned out really great and I wanted to share them here with you.  I’ll put a link to the recipe below so you can try them out the next time you want to surprise someone. The chocolate mocha icing was light and fluffy and the perfect topper as well.

On Friday morning I raced around like crazy, driving our three school age children to their respective schools, and then I got the little girls ready so Clark could take them to their Kindermusik class later in the morning, complete with  bird costumes I had made earlier in the week. J showed up promptly and we were on our way, light with anticipation of our time with our sister.

As we were almost there, we got a call from D who asked where we were, as he couldn’t hold the surprise much longer. Thankfully, we were just down the road. When we arrived and our sister saw J’s car, she was bubbling over with joy. Her face was alight with happiness and she was thrilled we had come to take her out to lunch. Then later……

As we settled in at the restaurant, our time together floated on a cloud of bliss. It settled over me like a brilliant scarf and I felt connected to my sisters by a shimmering cord of silver. We had a lovely lunch, updating each other on our lives and then we sang Happy Birthday to C, who sat glowing radiantly. As she opened our gifts, she was full of delight and well being.

Happy Birthday C! Isn’t she radiant!
J, C and myself…..in bliss that we had a moment together
J and C….sisters are gifts

 

I think this picture captures the joy of the day
C’s soul energy is shining so brightly….it’s nice when you know you are LOVED

It was hard to part after lunch. A piece of me wanted to remain with her and keep celebrating but I knew the kids would be coming home from school and I needed to get back to my life. C had taken her car to the downtown restaurant, so after lunch she led us to the highway. As she started to take the turn to her home, she rolled down her window and waved a cheerful goodbye. I could feel the joy flowing towards us. I looked at J and said, “I think she enjoyed our surprise visit,” and J smilingly nodded, yes.

We drove home along the countryside and chatted about our visit and about sister things. When we came to an old house that I had marveled over on our drive out and said, I would love to take a picture of it, J hadn’t forgotten. As we approached the house, J slowed the car to a stop beside the highway, so I could get out and take a few photos. I walked along the dirty snow edged highway  and snapped a few pictures with the new camera David had given me for my birthday in November.

As I was perusing all the photographs later in the day, I realized I often don’t recognize the beauty of something, until the moment is gone. Or perhaps I do but I am so busy, living in the moment, that I don’t have a chance to savour how breathtaking it truly is.

This beautiful house in Westwold, B.C. was glowing in the late winter afternoon sun….reminded me of how glowing my sister was as we parted

Then later C graciously sent an email thanking me for the surprise visit and all the gifts. I responded to her that the biggest gift was one that she gave to J and I. Seeing her so happy and joy filled was the best part of the day and truly the best gift.

This morning as the day was lightening and our house hold was slowly waking up, Will was chatting to me as I poured his breakfast cereal and cut some fruit into his bowl. For some reason he comes up with the most profound thoughts early in the morning and this day was no exception. As I cut his bananas, he asked me, “mom, why am I here?” I knew exactly what he meant. I told him that only he knew the answer to that question and he would find the answer in his heart. He asked me why he didn’t remember it easily and I told him that if we all remembered why we had come to earth, we would do what we needed to do and then we would find a way to leave. He said, “you mean kill ourselves?” I said, “yes, we would want to return to our Source.” “Hmmm”, he said, but mom, “Life is a gift.”

I didn’t have time to really think about his words until later in the morning as I had a household to get rolling but now that I have my cup of tea by my side and the little girls are happily playing, I do recognize the wisdom in his words. The true gift is our life. We can choose to open it quickly and see what’s inside, or we can savour the moments of anticipation, of wonder, of joy, in being here surrounded by all the beauty of the earth. Celebrating our loved ones. As I sip my tea, I peer over my lap top and see a brilliantly wrapped present.

And now, since part of living a beautiful life means enjoying food, would you like a delicious AND healthy chocolate cupcake recipe?

Okay, get ready to be amazed!

 Chocolate Cupcakes and Chocolate Mocha Buttercream Icing

(This recipe came from Lee’s Fit Foodie Finds blog)

Ingredients
  • 1 cup nonfat/low fat/nondairy milk…I used vanilla almond milk
  • 1 egg, large
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup whole wheat flour
  • ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
  • ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Then, lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Whisk. In a medium size bowl, combine wet ingredients. Mix.
  3. Gradually add wet ingredients to dry, combining with a mixer or wooden spoon, until all lumps are gone.
  4. Fill each cupcake about ~3/4 of the way with the batter.
  5. Bake for 18 minutes or until set. Test cupcape with a toothpick (it shouldn’t have anything on it). Let cool completely before applying the frosting. I suggest at least 30 minutes!

Chocolate Mocha Buttercream Icing

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
3 cups of powdered sugar
3 tbsps of cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsps of heated almond milk and then dissolve
1 tbsp of instant coffee in the milk

In a blender, cream butter and slowly add the icing sugar, cocoa powder, alternating with the wet ingredients, until you have a lovely whipped icing consistency. Spread on cooled cupcakes and top with a chunk of chocolate

The best things in life are topped with chocolate, don’t you think?

And before I close, I have to share something else with you….after C’s birthday and D was away on business, I watched a touching, inspirational movie on Netflix called, “Boychoir.” Check out the link to the trailer. I’m never surprised when life layers so many connections in a short time.

I think it’s a good ending to this blog post about gifts….if you need something to lift you up…check it out. and now for a link to the song from this movie, it’s Josh Groban singing, “The Mystery of your Gift.”          

And with a smile, I wave goodbye to you. Thank you for coming today.

Until we are together again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

 

Homemade Ice Cream Cake~ Bath Salts

/ Lee Reynolds

Welcome December and my busiest month of the year.

Welcome to The Spa at Orchard Ridge

As if this month isn’t busy enough, we have three children
who all have birthdays in the next couple of weeks. We eat a lot of cake this month. Clark our oldest son, will turn 22 on December 20th and Harrison, will be sweet 16 on December 19th. I’ll never forget when I went into labour with Harry, the day before his older brother was about to turn 6 years old. It was getting close to midnight and I told
my Doctor to break my water to move things along, as
I wanted our oldest son to have his “own” birthday.  As it turned out, Harrison was born before midnight and when we told Clark he wouldn’t have to share his birthday, he replied quite graciously, that he wouldn’t have minded sharing his birthday and having Harrison was the best birthday present he would ever receive.

When we found out we were expecting Grace, we were just so
thrilled that we hardly blinked when we found out her due date was December 18th. I actually thought it would be really cool
to have three children’s birthdays in a row but she had other ideas and arrived 2 weeks early on December 5th. She will turn 12 this coming Friday but last weekend, we celebrated by giving her a Spa Getaway party.

I had so much fun planning her birthday and that is also why I wasn’t blogging last week. Sadly, I didn’t take enough pictures to share today. I wasn’t really thinking “blog opportunity” when planning and throwing my daughter her birthday. However, I did take some pictures of the Ice Cream Cake I made and a few pictures of the Bath Salts that the girls made on the morning after the sleepover. I thought you may like to see them and have the recipes. The Bath Salts are easy, fun to make and I personally think they would make great gifts for teachers this holiday season.

The night before the party, we took Grace to her voice recital where she sang a cute Hawaiian Christmas song which set the perfect mood for returning home to make an ice cream cake.

The cake takes about 15 minutes to make. Max. When I think of all the years we used to buy our children their frozen cakes in the past I cringe. The last cake we had, was ridiculously expensive and had freezer burn so I’m glad to have found a great recipe to share with you now. Okay, maybe being totally sustainable means you have your own cow and you can make your OWN ice cream, etc, but hey, making things yourself is rewarding and does make you feel independent of others in many ways. Plus it’s just plain delicious. I know from past experiences, children who visit us and taste our own homemade Ice Cream cakes are amazed, asking several times, “and you made THIS?”

Hope’s Ice Cream Cake

1 box of oreo type cookies
1/4 cup melted butter
1 carton of ice cream
possibly two if you want two flavours or colours
Whipping Cream
Anything you want to garnish the cake with

 

The first thing you need to do is set out your ice cream of choice and let it sit and soften while you are preparing the crust. Grace really likes mint, so we purchased Breyers Mint Chocolate chip Ice Cream. I find that a large container is enough, although as you will see later, I often use a small amount of vanilla or chocolate to bring the ice cream to the top of the cake pan.

To make the crust you need a box of cookies. Typically, we use Oreo type cookies but our local Super Store has a store brand this time of year with candy cane filling in the middle. It’s perfect for the season and goes delightfully with our mint ice cream.

Set aside several cookies, which can later be split apart or broken up to garnish your cake. Then grind the rest of the cookies with a food processor, or you can put them into a freezer bag and break them up into fine crumbs with a rolling pin.

Put the crumbs into a mixing bowl and add 1/4 cup of melted, cooled, butter. Mix really well until well combined.

 

Press the cookie mixture into a spring form pan. I find there is a fine line over how hard to press the crumb mixture down. If you press too hard it can be really difficult to cut later, so press just enough to spread on the pan evenly.

 

Put all of the softened ice cream into a bowl and mix until creamy. If your ice cream is still quite hard, just let it soften a bit more.

Take the creamy, softened ice cream and spread it on top of your cookie crust in your spring form pan

My mint chocolate chip ice cream only went 3/4s of the way up the pan, so I put the cake in the freezer to let the first layer harden as I softened some vanilla ice cream. Once softened, I put a few drops of red food colouring in and stirred it really well. I thought this was a nice touch for a spa cake, calm green and soft pink always comes to mind when I think of relaxation and girls.

During this next step, you can get as creative as you like when making your cake. In the past, I have made strawberry ice cream cakes with the top being chocolate ice cream and then garnishing the whole cake with strawberries and cookies. I have also made a chocolate, strawberry and vanilla cake…you can also sprinkle cookie crumbs between layers.

For this cake though, I thought the light pink was a lovely finishing touch.

 

Once the cake pan is topped with the softened ice cream of your choice, cover it and place it in the freezer. For a good set, leave it 24 hours.

About an hour before the party, I brought out the cake and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then I carefully unlatched the lock on the spring form pan and lifted it up off the cake. I transferred the cake onto a crystal cake dish and brought out the items that I was going to decorate the cake with. For this cake I chose some red and green sprinkles, left over cookies split in half, some crushed candy canes and of course whipping cream.

 

You can whip your own cream but I find buying the kind in a can the easiest for a nice decorative touch.

This is my favourite part as I love to decorate; houses, packages, and in this this case, a cake. It’s like beautifying and putting your own touch on things. I didn’t have more than 5 minutes though, since I was doing last minute cleaning, cooking, spa prep. And that is the true beauty of this cake…it takes no time to make it look sensational.
And here it is, a few cookies around the sides, some along the top and I used the whipping cream and sprinkles/crushed candy canes, to do the rest. I didn’t take a picture of it after it was cut since I was the spa coordinator along with the cook, baker and bottle washer. It was beautiful though, with the chocolate crust, then the light green ice cream and finally the soft pink as the top….it almost looked like icing. Oh and it was yummy too. ( Hint..if you ever do a spa party for your child….ask a friend/sister/neighbour, etc to help out….so you can take pictures)

As I was busy getting things ready in the afternoon I DID snap a picture of our chalk board and all the things we had planned for the evening. When the girls arrived, I had spa music playing, candles lit and I used lots of aromatherapy to make the house smell relaxing.

 

This was the “waiting room”…I had a salt crystal light, candles, and a water feature tinkling at our front door…of course I Googled some great spa music and it was playing on my computer all night…oh and the smell in the house…lovely scents from the store “Saje”

Once everyone had arrived and settled in, we served dinner. I thought the appropriate dinner selection would be one less spicy but our daughter loves butter chicken, vegetable samosa’s etc, and ceasar salad so that was our menu.

After dinner, each girl was asked to find a comfy chair in our living room, where I had placed a white plastic bucket filled with hot water at the foot. In the water, I had poured a mixture of sea salts, epsom salts and some lavender essential oil….and of course a touch of blue food colouring. The girls settled in comfortably, chatting easily, as the spa music filled the room. It didn’t hurt that we had already decorated our house with greenery and white lights everywhere, which really set a peaceful mood.

As they were soaking their feet, I went from girl to girl and placed the honey facial mask that I had made ahead of time.

Hope’s Facial Mask

1 egg,
1/4 cup of honey
1/2 cup of flour
Lavender Essential oil…(I also put in a few drops of vanilla)

After they all had their facial masks on, I placed a “cold” cucumber slices over their eyes. Each girl went “awwww,” as they felt the refreshing cucumber go on their eyes. As they relaxed, I went around from girl to girl and massaged their feet using an exfoliating product I had purchased at the “Body Shop” but I  had read that a homemade product of sugar and honey works great too.

This would have worked a lot better had I had some help, as I was really moving from girl to girl and in and out of the kitchen with fresh hot water to add to the their foot baths. They didn’t seem to notice though since they were all really quiet (amazing for 11 year old chatty girls!) as they had their heads back, just enjoying the treatment.

After about 20 minutes with the mask on their face, I heated up some wet wash clothes, with lavender sprinkled on them, in the microwave. Once heated, I gently placed it over each of their faces, with just their noses exposed. Each of them, audiably sighed, and as they relaxed further into this warmth, I went around the room and took their feet out of the foot bath. I gave each of them one final foot massage rubbing in some lovely rich “Satsumi,” body butter from from the store, The Body Shop. The smell is absolutely lovely.

Once all the girls had their feet massaged. I gave them a new round of warm wash clothes to wipe off their honey masks. I then brought in lovely red towels for them to dry their faces (we really needed new towels and these were on sale at The Bay recently…I thought they looked rather festive and although one thinks of WHITE for spa towels…I thought these were warm and rich looking and lovely with the white lights and candles and all the greenery. (For some of the greenery, D went out just before the party and pruned some of our pine bushes) I put the towels in their laps and brought each of them a small bucket of warm water, in which I had placed a light vanilla scented soap, some epsom salts and dried peppermint leaves from our garden. Oh this was lovely, and the girls seemed to really enjoy soaking not just their fingers but immersed their whole hands into the warm water. After about another 15 minutes, I brought clean warm water and they rinsed off their hands. Then, I gave them all some of the Satsumi body butter for their hands. Finally, I gave them all an emery board and asked that they file their toe nails and finger nails.

It was time to play the Nail game. I pushed everything out of the way and laid down on the floor a warm fleece blanket that I had just heated in the dryer. The girls sat down forming a circle and I  explained the game.

We had a selection of 5 nail colours plus a clear colour set aside. Each girl threw dice to see who would go first…the highest throw started the game. The first girl chose a nail polish bottle of her choice and spun it. The person the bottle pointed to when it stopped spinning was instructed to roll the dice. The number it landed on would then determine how many toe nails she had to paint the selected colour. She would then paint her nails, which ever toe nail she chose, and then she selected the next colour and spun the bottle and the game continued for a long time. Choruses of laughter spilled from the living room. When all their toes were painted, the game was over. The girls had such a great time and in the end, everyone seemed really happy with the results of their pedicure. (Note…if you are doing this make sure to put down a blanket that is not near and dear to you…in case some nail polish gets spilled.) Also, before they started painting their nails, I gave them nail painting instructions 101 so they spread the polish with ease. (One stroke down the middle…then sides…finishing with a Q tip with nail polish remover to take away any overages)

 

After their pedicure, the girls painted their finger nails the colour of their choice.(It helped that I bought Sally Hanson, fast dry nail polish) After that, the girls went out to the hot tub, where I could hear them laughing and giggling. When they came in they were all prunes but they said it was wonderful, luxuriating in the hot water with the cold winter air on their faces. It was perfect as I was able to clean up from the spa part of our evening and set out the cake, popcorn, punch, pop, licorice for the movie/sleepover portion of the party.

The next morning, after D’s delicious pancakes (he really knows how to make a great breakfast!) I had the girls make Lavender Bath Salts to take home. It was really fun watching them turn some basic ingredients into a lovely gift and I was thinking, hmmmm….I should include this in my blog in case you are looking for a homemade gift to give to someone special this holiday season.

Hope’s Bath Salts

A glass container
Epsom Salts
Sea Salts 
Food Colouring
Essential Oil of your choice….we used Lavender 
Ribbon of your choice…we used raffia ribbon for a cottage look

Mix 1 part epsom salts with 1 part sea salts. Add the food colouring of your choice. You have to really mix the colouring in well until you get a nice consistency. The girls used blue and a bit of red for a lovely blue. Finally, add and stir in the essential oil of your choice.

Ideally, you would let it sit and dry overnight but we had to pour with a funnel into the girls glass containers and added a label and the raffia ribbon. You can do different colours and layer it as you desire or have it all the same colour. One Christmas our girls made peppermint bath salts and did one layer of green, then pink, alternating layers right to the top of the jar…fixing a bow and attaching a candy cane beneath it…the sky is the limit regarding your choice of scent and colours..and jars. Canning jars would be really cool with the raffia ribbon!

I wished I had taken pictures of the girl’s thank you bags but you know how busy things get at parties….but here’s what I did in case you are wanting to throw your daughter a spa party. I went to the dollar store and found really pretty glitzy clutch purses. The make up bags that they had were kind of tacky and weren’t big enough for what I wanted to put in them.

Inside these bright pink, glittery bags, (like evening bags) I placed a bar of lavender soap, nail polish remover (in case the parents weren’t thrilled over the girls manicures/pedicures) a few emery boards, some cotton squares(put into t little bag to keep them sterile) and a bottle of nice nail polish (I didn’t get these at the dollar store but bought a good quality bottle of nail polish) Finally, when you are 11, turning 12, you still like candy, so I threw a handful of wrapped candy….holiday variety, since she is my December baby. I wrapped the whole purse with raffia ribbon as it was bulging full. In addition to their bath salts, it was a nice way to say thank you for coming. Grace is really blessed to have such wonderful friends!

Well, that’s one birthday down, two more to go….the next one is a SWEET SIXTEEN for my quickly growing sweet boy, uummm, young man,  Harrison…stay tuned. Although celebrating each of our children’s birthdays is very special, remembering the journey to Grace, reminds me how special this time of year truly is. It’s the season of light. The season of miracles. The season of love.

Before I close I thought an appropriate YouTube video was, (click here if you can’t see below) Joe Cocker’s song, “You ARE so Beautiful.” because although this blog post was all about Grace’s spa beauty party, she reminds me all the time what beauty is all about.

 

     Happy Birthday Grace. Your soul shines!

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Being Grateful~Happy Birthday to My Sister

/ Lee Reynolds

After a really tough week, yes another tough week, I’m so very grateful.

If you have been following along with what’s going on in my life, things have been falling apart around here; zippers, dryers, furnaces, and then on the weekend I broke a tooth while eating popcorn watching a movie. Yes, I’m doing the shift and let go dance every day, while remembering on my most difficult days that I often grow the most as a soul. I’m learning A LOT lately.

Tomorrow, is my sister C’s birthday. As I was making up an email note for her this evening, I came across the most beautiful Grateful song I really wanted to share with my blog readers. Also, with many of my friends from the States celebrating their Thanksgiving tomorrow I thought it was very appropriate. While they are eating turkey and pumpkin pie this weekend, I will be counting my blessings and remembering how fortunate I am to have sisters, and blog sisters as well all over the world. What are you thankful for? The practice of writing down 5 things that you are grateful for really does generate more happiness into our lives. What are your top 5 things you are grateful for?

Today for me, I’m grateful for:

1. A wise and wonderful sister who inspires me to live my best life. (and two others who love me, too)

2. A son with a working zipper on his coat and a GREAT HAT.

3. A dryer that is working.

4. Two gas fireplaces that are working until the heating guy can repair our furnace

5. A wonderful dentist who can get me in next week to repair my tooth

…..and the list goes on and on, health, home, food, family, friends and as my beautiful son Harrison often says when I ask, “how are things?”  he says, “LG mom,” translated to….life’s GOOD!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dear sister, C….and

Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. sisters.

Check out this Youtube video, Gratitude, a love song to the world...I hope it inspires you and brings you joy. (click on the hyper link if you can’t see it below)

Until I see you again, may you be well, HAPPY and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Tomorrow is my sister C’s birthday and as I sent her an email greeting because my birthday card is not going to get to her in time, I

Vegetarian Chili~Growing Older and Wiser?

/ Lee Reynolds

Dearest blog readers, I’m sorry I haven’t written many posts this week but it’s been a birthday week for me. First, to celebrate my best friend T’s birthday on the 5th, and then mine yesterday. I’ve spent the whole week being introspective and reflecting on my wishes the last time I blew out a blaze of candles. I have grown a year older, but I wonder, am I any wiser?

At the beginning of the week I was feeling rather blue. I know it had a lot to do with the consumption of sugar from Halloween, which I tried to curtail but in the moment it’s fun to try a little of everything from the treat bowl. It takes me right back to my childhood but now I understand how damaging processed sugar is towards our health. It’s evil wrapped in brightly coloured packages.

As we ate a few treats with our children, D and I were remembering the little boxes of raisins, the handfuls of peanuts and the apples we would receive during our childhood trick or treat forays. Whatever happened to those? Our kids looked horrified and said, if they received anything like THAT, it would be suspect and they would probably have to throw it out. I was thinking, NOT if we knew our neighbours better. Anyway, this isn’t a blog about Halloween treats, but the sugar dump from that occasion prompted my depressed feelings.

Sadly, I kept them growing, (have you ever done this?) by allowing myself to think about both of my parents who are no longer on this earth school. You’d think I’d get used to that loss, after all I have spent most of my life without my Dad physically present and it’s been 2 1/2 years since my mom passed away. On special occasions, like Halloween and my birthday week, it doesn’t get any easier. Do you know what I mean?

Thankfully, I snapped myself out of my glum at least a bit, by banning the sugar. I took all the kid’s Halloween loot and our remaining candy bags that we didn’t give out and  put it all in the garage.  Now you may be thinking, “why did you take the kids candy too?” My response is, because just like clockwork, a few days after the candy gorge, all my little ones, and big ones started to feel yucky. Hmmmm, no wonder. Am I getting any wiser? At the twin’s preschool class, after their morning circle time, I heard their teacher asking whether they had any candy left from trick or treating, and one child said they traded in their candy for a toy. What do you think of that?

Anyway, my plan was, we would forget all about the said candy and when we did find the hardened candy bars and stale chip bags the next time my husband did a wood working project, my children (and me) would not find it appealing any longer. Can you compost that stuff? PROBABLY NOT! I transgress.

On Monday, I started my meditation with Dr. Deepak Chopra and Oprah, (are you joining me?) and my first session stirred up some emotions I thought I had let go. The meditation series is called, “The Energy of Attraction.”    and day one was about the Nature of Desire. The centering thought was, “my life moves forward through desire,” and the quote for the day was;


“You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed.” ― Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
As I explored my feelings, I realized I was still grieving over the loss of our Christmas tree farm and  if my deepest desire wasn’t coming true, what did that make me? I had so wanted to be living in the country by this birthday.
So Tuesday started with me being rather glum again, until I found my sister C at my doorstep with hugs, kind words and a lovely lavender coloured bag heavy with birthday surprises. She also brought a few keepsakes that belonged to my father and mother. She had kept them all this time and wanted me to have them. Although she was with me only a short time on Tuesday, the connection was sweet, loving and meaningful. (thank you C)
My sister C said that since I was writing, (and our daughter Alyssa too…check out her Introvert in the Corner blog) perhaps I would like our Dad’s typewriter (he was a writer as well) and a few of our mother’s beloved books. Perfect for reading by the fire throughout the winter. After C left, I place them on mom’s Hope chest in our Den, under our family portraits with a little angel between them.
I felt so buoyed by her impromptu visit, that I decided to step outside of my comfort zone and join a meditation support group that was held at our local library Tuesday night. I felt safe very quickly and the evening was wonderful and restorative, but  L O N G. We sat in a circle and during our second meditation session, I sensed rainbow filled light energy slowly circling around us and above us, creating a tunnel with vibrating, coloured light and at the top was brilliant white light.

Before the session was over, the newcomers continued to meditate, while the regulars in the group, laid hands on our heads with silent blessings. Before the first hands were felt on my head, there was a soft rush of warm air and the feeling of peace.

It was an amazing experience, until I went to get up. After sitting cross legged for almost 2 hours of meditating, chanting and discussing experiences that brought us joy, my right foot had gone totally numb. When I went to stand, my foot didn’t move and as I looked down at my non functioning appendage, it appeared to resemble a rubber fake foot, totally disengaged from my leg. Ahhhhh! Looking back it was so funny, but in the moment I thought I would never walk again.

After that Tuesday night meditation session, my week got even better. On Wednesday, I remembered how blessed I was to have a best friend in T as I sent her a birthday card and wrote a blog post about our friendship . How can we ever stay in a place of sadness when we start to count our blessings. Thanks mom for that lesson and to you, T for being my dearest friend.

Then on Thursday morning, D came home to watch the little girls, while I attended the PAL’s kindergarten program, where parents are inspired to assist their young learners towards literacy, numeracy etc. I came home excited to rearrange our family room, so our children could access the various play things we had in our home. They just needed to be organized to a degree where they were readily accessible. As I worked away, before the older kids came home from school, I dropped into a funk again, as I recalled how functional the Christmas tree farm house would have been. It was the perfect lay out and flow for our family dynamic. While our current home is great, it wasn’t designed to house 6 children, not to mention 8, when everyone is home.

Later that night though, my spirits soared as I found out Harrison’s volleyball team did really well at their play-offs. His high school is known for, “Honour and Excellence” and isn’t the largest high school in our small town but they are known for their strong academics. Normally, the boys sports teams don’t do incredibly well at play offs but this year they made it to third place.  That is HUGE and so while others may wonder why we were so happy, the fact they didn’t come in last was a big deal for a rag tag team.

And if that weren’t enough, while at the volleyball play-offs, D received a call that Grace had been chosen to play the lead, “Holly Day,” in our elementary school’s Christmas concert. She will have the most speaking and singing parts of anyone. We were absolutely thrilled and Grace, who is 11, and is in grade 6, as well as grade 6 in piano with the Royal Conservatory, and a voice student at our local music school, was stunned when she heard. She thought she did well at the audition but she came home saying there were some girls with wonderful voices so she wasn’t holding out much hope for a big part. Did I mention she is humble? I however am very proud of her and it really was another highlight in our week.

So many great things happening in one week and yet, I still felt sad, like a black umbrella of dark emotions covered my head.

I don’t know about you, but I always find I’d rather skip my birthday totally, as so much STUFF comes up. On my actual birthday, yesterday, November 8th, I woke up wanting to sleep the day away rather than face what was to come. Since it was Saturday and nothing was planned, I thought sleeping in a bit would wash away the negative feelings, but it just made it worse. When you are a mom to 8 kids, 6 of whom are still living at home, you know you can’t take even a day off, let alone a morning from ANYTHING. So when I finally did get up, the kids were hungry, the laundry pile was huge, the dishwasher needed to be emptied and filled again, the cats were meowing. Well you get the idea. You don’t really have a day off…even on your birthday.

Now I’m not normally a person who believes her glass is half empty, as you have probably figured out from reading any of my blog posts but I kept looking at what I didn’t have in my life. I wouldn’t be selling Christmas trees this holiday season or baking cookies in my new farm kitchen. I wouldn’t be organizing a large children’s play room or getting chicken eggs from our coop. Oh crap! What a roller coaster of emotions…UNTIL.

My sister J came to our door, totally unexpected but boy was I happy to see her shining face and feel her warm hug. Amongst the mess of our house and chaos of noisy children, we somehow shared a pot of “David’s Mother’s Helper tea, my oldest sister B had given me during her last visit in October. (see the Get Grounded Earthlings post…thank you B) It was lovely to sink into a chair and talk to J about the week and also share some of my feelings. Do we ever really know how deeply we touch each other? And also, why  certain people are put onto our path and in our lives.

I don’t think my sister J knew the extent of my blues. I like to believe I’m quite an upbeat positive person and as a result good things keep showing up for me but for some reason when my birthday comes around, I feel sad. Is it about getting a year older? Maybe. Although one of my mantras is, “I’m ageless!” Seeing my cake glowing brighter with more candles every year though reminds me in one sense, how many years I have experienced on earth and then it also reminds me that I AM growing wiser as well. I am more enlightened. Feeling melancholy is okay, and actually part of the process. We need to feel the depths of sadness in order to recognize great joy when it arrives. It’s part of growing as a soul.

After J left, I picked up my socks, literally and figuratively, since my laundry pile was knee high (and full of socks to be partnered) and she had lifted my spirits. As I cleaned and organized, our 15 year old son Harrison, made me a decadent chocolate cake, complete with bits of left over Halloween chocolates on top. (I gave him some of the stash) D and I made dinner and the evening turned out really better than I had ever expected after such a emotional week.

I blew out the flurry of candles, to cheers from the children, and then marvelled over the thoughtful gifts everyone had chosen for me. I felt more and more blessed. Today, as I look again at all my new treasures, I see there is a theme, as if everyone got together and chose something unique and special that belonged with the next gift. Although, I don’t have my farm, YET, everyone gave me a little piece of HOPE to keep my dreams alive.

The collection of thoughtful gifts given by my sisters, friends and even our oldest son took time to find something for his me

 

So Happy Birthday to me!….I’m getting older…and yes a bit wiser.

And since I’m a fall baby, perhaps you want to share in cooking one of my favourite fall dinners, Vegetarian Chili…recipe is below. Can you believe that as of today, we still haven’t had any frost in our area and I still had tomatoes, green peppers, hot red peppers and carrots etc. growing in our garden. When you find abundant blessings this late in fall what do you do? Make vegetarian chili.

Can you believe we are still eating from our garden…and it’s November!

The little kids helped out in the garden today…it’s starting to get cold now but…

 

I’ve never picked anything in our garden this late in the fall…tomatoes, peppers, carrots, kale, swiss chard, parsley..all still going,,,,but tomorrow is bringing cold weather at last

 

While I was at it, I put some of my hot red chili peppers in the dehydrator for my next chili

If you are wanting something to lift your spirits, make this chili and think of me.

Hope’s Vegetarian Chili

It helps to get everything chopped ahead of time
Ingredients
  • 2 large 28oz cans of whole tomatoes and their juice or if you canned any of your own….a large jar of stewed tomatoes..also if you have some fresh tomatoes, chop and use as well
  • 2 can of beans, drained and rinsed (I used kidney..but you can use anything)
  • 2 cup of frozen corn
  • 2 stalks of celery, diced
  • 2 small peppers or one large pepper, diced (I used a green but you can use any colour)
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 1 large onion, diced…I used two smaller ones
  • 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
  • 2 tablespoons of cumin
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1-3 tablespoons chili powder (more will be spicier)
  • ¼-2 teaspoons of chili flakes (I used fresh red hot chili peppers from our garden)
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • Salt to taste
  • Optional toppings: sour cream, cheddar cheese, cilantro,  parsley, diced avocados or green onion.

 

Instructions
1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and saute for about 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute another 1 minute. .Add celery and saute until tender. Add spices and cook stirring for about 30 seconds.
2. Add carrots, peppers and cut up fresh tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Once the chili begins to simmer, reduce the heat to a medium low.  
3. Add beans
4. Add corn
5. Add stewed tomatoes

6. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium low. Continuing cooking chili for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Ready to serve anytime you are ready to eat. 

We served our chili on a bed of rice, along with a corn meal muffin and kale salad. We also like sour cream and grated cheese on top but tonight we put a sprig of parsley…still growing in our garden. 

What a great, healthy fall dinner…..perfect for celebrating fall birthdays.

And to top a fall birthday dinner….chocolate cake of course…made specially by our son Harrison
This is the recipe from my blog post, “The Places that Scare You”

Thanks Harrison. I know I said taking Foods at school was a waste of time since we also teach these life skills at home, But you are turning into a really good cook and gee, since we have to eat everyday for our whole life this is a good skill to hone. I’m now a big proponent of these life skill courses in the later grades in school. Yummy!

Even May Ling is interested in cake

I listen to a wide variety of music but this week, whenever I got into my van…ha…Van Morrison sang to me. This particular song spoke to me this week, “When God Shines His Light.” (click on this hyper link if you are not able to see the YouTube below)…..I don’t know why but it lifted me up…I hope you enjoy it and know one of the blessings I count each day, is having you reading my blog. THANK YOU!

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope