November 2010 – Page 6 – a hippie with a minivan

clutter…clutter… clutter…

I was looking back at old posts this morning and realized that there is a pattern of me needed and wanting to declutter in November. Seriously, blogging is a great way to see what was happening in previous years.

Yesterday I put Wilhelmina on my back and attacked the cupboard above the fridge. It attacked me back and I have the bandages toe to prove it. It still seems full but I got rid of a half of a garbage bag worth of stuff. I still can’t fathom how that all fit in there! The more I declutter the more I realize how much I have (or had) a problem with keeping things. I was always thinking “maybe I’ll need this one day” and it would just sit there for years. My mom had the same issue when I was younger, there were times that we didn’t have much so she kept a lot of things ‘just in case”. The house was always clean, but there was clutter.

It is hard cycle to break but it feels so good now to get rid of things. It feels so good to have space to put things, to see what I have instead of forgetting about things. It feels good to be able to clean up the main living space easily and quickly. It feels great to know where things are and be able reach it without clutter getting in the way. It feels great to look at room and only see things that you like, and need and use. It is that feeling that drives me now. When I look at the things that I was keeping “just in case” I am starting to see it as what is preventing me to be happy in my home. I see it as garbage and well, clutter.

I would like for us to sell our house and move closer to Montreal. Even if that means renting again. I can’t fathom doing so with so much clutter in our lives. I was to simplify, I was to make things easier, I want have less things to think about if we were to move.

I also want to break the cycle with my kids. Xavier has a lot of problems letting go of things, I want to teach him that letting go is OK… yesterday, as I filled that garbage bag I was proud to see that Xavier came and looked at what I was doing, and accepted that the things in there and accepted that they would be leaving the house. He didn’t protest when he saw the old sandbox next to the curb, and was excited to see that it was gone about an hour later.

I try to do a bit every day, even if it is just a stack of papers or a kitchen utensil that I don’t use any more. We still have a lot to do, but our efforts are working and little by little the weight of having so much stuff around us is being lifted.

Quiet time…

I have to admit that having four kids drives me crazy at times…

Unless they are all sleeping, there is constant noise… narrating games, animating figurings, making sound effects while drawing,knocking things over, rolling trucks on the floor… It is hard to get some some quiet time. Some people that know me think I am patient, but days like today, I am far from it. It is really hard to be parent some days, especially when you are someone who is sensitive to noise. The more I try to get quiet time, the more I get annoyed by each sound.

So on days like this, I turn on the music, I make things louder, I sing out loud and dance with a kid or two or three or four and I embrace the noise…

I’ll have some Quiet time when they are sleeping…

We have a winner!

On Sunday, the phone rang and the caller ID left me a bit confused.. I wondered who would be calling me from a Grocery store up North in St-Jean-de-Matha…

I answered the phone and the person asked for me and then said that Colin had won the colouring contest they had! The last time my mom had taken the boys they had picked up some colouring sheets at the grocery store, went home to colour them and brought them back the next day to enter in the contest…

Colin was so happy to have won! the two others were a tiny bit jealous…

They said that I could go pick up the prize at any time, so I decided to head out there yesterday and then head out to my mom’s new house that she rented for the winter.

So I packed everyone in to the car and headed to the ferry…

There are times that I look in the rearview mirror and am surprised to see that the minivan is so full…

Though I often miss the mountains of BC, I do have to admit that the Quebec countryside can be quite beautiful also… Yesterday was one of those perfect November days. Cool, at just 5C but the sun keeps you warm when you are outside… The sky was a brilliant blue with just a few clouds at the horizon…

We headed to the grocery store first…We got to the desk and the woman there gave Colin his prize and then took a picture of him…

Colin was so proud of his new monkey and blanket…

We then headed to my mom’s new rental house… it is in a great quiet location and is the perfect size for her and not too far from the cabin that she stays in in the summer… The boys played around the property and my mom and I hanged out with Wilhelmina. Even though my mom doesn’t live too far, we don’t see each other often, so times like these are good for Willa to know her grandma a bit more…

I also coveted her stove while she made tea… the dials on this are so cool!

We then said bye to my mom and left just before dark to head back home to meet Simon for supper….

I just love days like these… I really need to do it more often…

Perfect ribs…

I have shared these before, but they were not in my Recipe Page and didn’t have pictures so I though that I would share them again….

When I was young, one of my favourite places to eat was the Bar-B-Barn in Montreal. I remember going with my mom or my dad on many occasions, but these always remind me of my dad. Around the time I got married, I found the recipe for Bar-B-Barn ribs on the internet, from an article in the Montreal Gazette from 1990…

I have made this over and over in the last years and they have just gotten better and better through trial and error…

I usually use two racks of ribs when I make this recipe since that is usually how they are sold. I get the small ones because I rarely can find long ribs here, but either will do.

First, line a pan with tinfoil and put the dry rub together.

2 tbsp Kosher Salt
2 tbsp Paprika
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Chili Powder
2 tbsp Garlic Powder

Lay the ribs on the pan and coat on both sides with the dry rub.

Cover with more tin foil and seal tightly around the edges…

Bake in oven at 275 for about 2 1/2 hours….

Meanwhile, make the sauce…

In a sauce pan combine…

2 c Brown Sugar
1 c Apple Sauce (homemade is great 🙂 )
1/2 c Fresh Lemon Juice (about 2 lemons)
1/2 ts Salt
1/2 ts Paprika
1/2 ts Cinnamon
1/2 ts Pepper
1/2 ts Garlic Powder

Bring to boil and let boil for about 2 min and then let cool…

(homemade apple sauce)

Take the ribs out of the oven… When they come out they should already have a great colour…

Turn the heat up on the oven to 350, baste the ribs heavily with the sauce and bake for another 45min (adding more sauce to the ribs every 10-15 min)

The ribs will have no problem being fall off the bone tender…

Sprinkle with lemon juice before serving,… it is essential 🙂

NaBloPoMo 2010

Well, it is November 1st which means that it is the start of NaBloPoMo 2010.

I debated whether to do NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) this year and decided that I would. This is the third year that I will be participating… if not for anything else then the fact that it gets me back into the habit of blogging on a regular basis. It also gives me the drive to think about posts to write, take more pics of the things I make and do so that I can share and just helps my blog continue to grow and change. Summer is so hard for blogging so it really is the time to get back on track…

If you blog and sometimes go for a long time between postings then NaBloPoMo is a great incentive to keep you blogging and get back into the habit of blogging on a regular basis! Check out the site, register your blog and start blogging… Share your link here also so that I can check your blog out also 🙂

(taken at the family cabin)