Sewing

I received a refresher course in sewing last weekend. I once sewed a vest when I was very young. It was beautiful. The fabric was black with all these bright colorful stars outlined all over it. I wore that baby with pride. I have decided that I want to start sewing. Simple projects. I just want to be able to make basic gifts and be able to fix things around the house. I think sewing is a very practical skill to have.
My mom found a sewing machine that she is going to send to Mexico with my brother next time he goes, but she has given it to me to use until next March when that trip rolls around. She spent a good hour showing me how to put the thread in so that I can actually start a project. I have already forgotten this little skill, but I am sure a quick phone call home will fix that. I decided that I would stick to straight lines for the first little while. It has been a long while and I do not have a steady hand. I cannot program this machine to go slower like I could on my mom's sewing machine and I have a pretty heavy foot so I am often out of control!
I made two pillow cases on my first day of sewing. They are perfect. I honestly love them and I do not want to give them away, but I made them specifically as Christmas gifts. None of my lines are straight and I messed up so I had to made a parallel line on one of them.... definitely not straight. At one point I think my parallel lines cross over each other. I love it though. I love that it is imperfect because it shows me that I have so much to improve on. I am so proud of those two little pillow cases. I made them. I made them by myself and they are functional.
There is something about creating something for someone else. It fills me with such joy! I was frustrated and ready to quit at many different times, but I thought of the recipients of this gift and it relaxed me. I enjoyed thinking about them while I worked and it really made me feel connected to them. It was a wonderful experience. One that I highly recommend. Here's the finished product... already wrapped.

Strawberry Picking

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I was home in Surrey this past week. I came down because Erik had to make his yearly trip to Alaska to go commercial fishing for three weeks.

It was busy at home. I learned how to knit, sew, and can strawberry jam. I helped my brother, Anthony, with the Amazing Race he puts on for his youth group. I went to my nephews kindergarten graduation and my nieces grade 8 grad. We went to my grandparent's house for a Father's Day barbecue on Tuesday. I saw Alicia who I haven't seen since August. And I spent an entire day home alone cooking and baking. It was great.

I went strawberry picking with Alicia, my niece Kaitlyn, and some of my little cousins. we picked over 90lbs. of strawberries in under 2 hours. It rained on us a couple times, but my cousins were troopers. When I got home I went to work washing and freezing some and then also making strawberry jam with some. We didn't actually do the whole "canning" thing with them. My aunt said that she just pours 2 Tbsp of vinegar on top of the jam once it has cooled off completely and then screws the top on. She doesn't even leave the vinegar on. She uses the same 2 Tbsps of vinegar for all of her jam jars. I'm a bit nervous about this, but we'll see how it goes.

Picking in Progress

Finally finished!

Portabello Burger

Delicious!

If you like mushrooms then you HAVE to have a portabello burger! Grill the mushroom as you would a burger and then fix it with whatever you like. We had ours with basil butter, Diana's bbq sauce, caramelized onions, tomato, lettuce, and provolone cheese. With home-made fries on the side.

Delicious!

=)

Things I am loving right now are:

• Trying new recipes
  
• Eating outside
• Baking bread
• Hanging out with Erik
• Our herb garden
  

A Beaver

Erik and I went on a walk last night, as we often do. We ended up at the lake so we sat on a bench and enjoyed the peacefulness of it all. It was about 9:15 when we got there so it was pretty dark, but it was absolutely beautiful.

I saw something swimming in the lake right near the shore, in the dark it looked like a log gliding sideways. We were trying to figure out what it was as we watched is swimming closer to us. It stopped right in front of us (we were sitting about 40 ft from the water) and waddled onto the shore. We couldn't tell what it was because it was facing us, but I assumed it was a beaver, though I wasn't certain. It was munching on a tree branch that had fallen near the lake. When it had its fill of that it ventured up the shore, closer to us. By this time we had seen its tail and determined that it was, in fact, a beaver. It was beautiful to watch. Really. I was mesmerized. I felt joyful. When it was about 25 ft away from us it stopped abruptly and darted back to the lake and away... with four highschool/college girls in pursuit!!!

UGH! I was so frustrated!! What silly little girls! They had been sitting further down the beach and had just noticed the beaver. I was so disappointed. As they left the beach one of them said, "I guess we probably shouldn't have chased it away." You think?!?!

I never though I would see a beaver at the lake. I didn't even know there were beavers near Okanagan Lake. I don't know much about beavers at all actually. It was a neat experience none-the-less, and one I would love to have again.

Minus the annoying girls.

Italian Parmesan Bread

I have been contemplating putting up this recipe. I wasn't going to, but it is just too good to keep to myself. I made this bread four or five days ago and it is still soft and moist and delicious! Maybe I'm bad with bread, but my homemade bread is usually dry by now. It is from my Simply in Season cookbook.

Italian Parmesan Bread

2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp active dry yeast
Combine in mixing bowl, stirring until dissolved.

3 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1/2 cup butter (melted) or oil
2 Eggs
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp onion flakes or 2 tsps onion powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
Add and mix well.

1 cup Parmesan Cheese (grated).
Add with enough additional flour to make a soft dough (I needed almost 3/4 of a cup in the end).
Knead for 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
Place in greased bowl, turn to grease both sides, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise 1 hour.
Divide in half and divide each half into thirds.
Roll into 15 inch ropes. Braid loosely into two braids and tuck ends under.
Place on greased baking sheets, cover, and let rise for 30 minutes.
(Instead of braids you can make it into three loaves).
Bake in preheated oven at 350F until golden brown, 35 minutes.

And that, my friends, is all. Delicious.

Investigating

Lately I have been feeling the need to be creative, resourceful and motivated. I always talk about wanting to change how I live and "go green", but I don't feel as though I am really making an effort to do so. I don't "look outside the box". I always make an excuse like "when I'm done with nursing" or "when I have kids" or "when I have energy". The thing is, I would much rather start changing how I live NOW so that I can focus on implementing what I have learned when I'm done school or have kids. I would rather do the work now and start the change so that I can continue rather than start my journey when life gets even more busy. I realize that it is a process and that it won't change in an instant (although I would much rather it did) so I just have to take baby steps.

This "Going Green" bandwagon that I am more than willing to jump on has been frustrating and rewarding. It's difficult to always be conscious of what you are doing, what you are wasting, what you can recycle, and what you can somehow reuse.

Green Practices already implemented:

• Canvas and cloth grocery bags
• Walking to the grocery store
• Stainless Steel water bottle (Purica Steel from Nature's Fare)
• Glass containers for left-overs (both sets on sale)
• Eco-friendly cleaning products (Shawna, do you know if your homemade laundry detergent works in a high efficiency front loading washer?)
• Run the washing machine on cold
• We recycle everything possible
• Growing our own Herbs :Greek Oregano, Sweet Marjoram, Lemon Basil and Rosemary
• We use our local library (currently reading Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood)
• Erik rides the scooter to work
• Simply in Season Cookbook - We need to use this more, but we love it!

Things I want to do when we have our own home:

• Compost - My sister hates the idea and we live with her right now so that's a no go.
• Garden - Vegetables, Herbs, Grains, Fruit

New things we are trying/going to try:

• Buying Local Food
• Buying Organic Food
• Using Whole Grains in meals (Does anyone have recipes or ways of doing this?)
• Eating less meat (this is going to be tough as I LOVE meat)

The main thing am focusing on right now is buying local foods. I needed to do some prep work with summer being just around the corner so I did some investigating yesterday. In the past, all my attempts to find "Local Produce - Kelowna" came up with stores selling local foods. Although they are all great stores (Nature's Fare, Paul's Produce etc.), I am interested in making a connection with the actual farmers. I want to learn more about the process of growing the food and, let's face it, I want to remove the middle man.
As I said, all previous attempts were in vain, but I finally found an excellent website. If you're living in BC and want to find out which farms are certified organic go to this website. Please. It is awesome. I found farms all within a half hour of where I live that sell many of the things I am interested in buying!

Some of the organic produce I am most excited for are:

• Raspberries
• Tomatoes (I wish we were growing our own)
• Mushrooms
• Carrots
• Onion
• Corn
• Potatoes
• Beets
• Vanilla Beans
• Beans
• Cucumber
• Asparagus
• and seeds for when we have our own garden!

And we have some local, but not organic:

• Grapefruit
• Oranges
• Honey

I also found an organic whole grain distributor... I need to look into this more as I have no idea what to do with whole grains, but we'll see. They are from Saskatchewan, but their prices seem reasonable and shipping and handling wasn't too bad. I'll keep you posted.

I. Am. Pumped.

My First Injection

I gave my first injection on my second day of clinical in September. Nothing big, just a subcutaneous heparin in a patient's arm. He was an elderly man and we technically weren't supposed to be doing injections yet because we hadn't had our lab on it, but I had one patient and he had no medications other than this 0900 heparin. I quickly read up on what I was supposed to do and as I walked into the room three of my classmates asked if they could come in a watch. I was shaking because I was so nervous, but I needed to maintain my cool exterior so I said, "sure, come on in". I feigned a confidence I did not have and approached my poor unsuspecting patient (who obviously did not know it was my first injection). I cleaned off a little section of his arm with an alcohol swab and took a deep breath to try to calm my shaking hand. My instructor gave me the permissive nod and I picked up my little needle and pinched the little section of fat together. Let's be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. The way I darted that needle into him you would have thought I was trying to inject a brick wall. I shot that little thing in. Evidently I didn't need quite that much force. The needle was tiny and the fat cells are quite receptive. The patient was none the wiser and said he didn't feel a thing when I confessed that it was my first injection.

Needless to say I am much better at it now.

lookin fine with his pony

His ponytail that is. I honestly kinda like it.
Both of these were from our first date. The second one here is a picture that Erik begged me to take. It's actually called Black Angus but Erik prefers this alternate name. We did have some delicious steak there.

Friday Fun-day

Erik took me on a wild and crazy adventure on Friday! Ok. It wasn't wild or crazy, but it was fun!
He decided that we would drive to Osoyoos on Hwy 33 and then loop back on Hwy 97. It was an all day affair that was quite enjoyable for all of us except for Erik's burnt right arm. As you can see from the map below, it was quite a long drive... but well worth it.
Our first stop was Kettle River Provincial Park. We really only stopped because our stomachs were growling and I was getting snarky. It was a beautiful little spot and I'm glad we did get to see it. The pictures really don't do it justice. My camera isn't the greatest so it doesn't pick up the depth of color that we were actually witnessing.



This picture makes me wish I had a horse. I have always dreamed of riding through the rolling hills. The Man from Snowy River was that inspirational for me... Jim Craig certainly left an impression.

Above is a picture of Osoyoos from a lookout that we stopped at. We drove through Osoyoos and Oliver, but didn't make an actual stop again until we reached Penticton. Erik attempted to go swimming on the south end, but it was far too windy so we went north to the other lake. The weather was just gorgeous and Erik did make it into the water and swam for about 45 minutes. Unlike Erik, I usually only swim when I cannot handle how sweaty I am getting... and I can handle a lot of sweat.


The day may me think of when my family used to go for drives together. With the current gas prices you don't really go for drives just for fun anymore, but it was a lot of fun... and we did it before they rocket up again for summer.

Scrap Fabric

I have decided to try sewing. I have been looking around and have found some little things I would like to try out. They are pretty much fake quilting. I was wondering if any of you have any scrap fabric lying around. If you do... I'd like it. Please. With a cherry on top. I don't feel like going out and buying 1/8th of a yard over and over only to cut it up into smaller pieces. Mom, I know you have some. Shawna, you're bound to have some from your gift bags lying around. Aunties?? Anyone??

Self Check-Out

At the grocery store yesterday I decided that I am not a fan of the Self Check-Out stations.

I think there is something communal about food and this includes grocery shopping. I love grocery shopping. I expect it to take a while. Erik and I usually walk there together and then poke around. I don't mind standing in line and making a bit of small talk with the cashier. Just yesterday I was complimented on the hat I was wearing and the bread I was buying. No self check-out could have done that.

I feel as though the self check-out is taking something away from grocery shopping. It is giving us an opportunity to become even more distant from our neighbors. Sad.

That being said, I have a confession: I have used the self check-out. But that was only because I used to DREAM of being a cashier. I used to play store in my parents garage which served as out pantry. I worked at a thrift store a couple summers ago and that was my favorite part... and we didn't even have the bar code beepers... I had to type in every price. The beeper... now that, my friends, is the best part!

Turning off the Flash

Erik and I visited his sister's family in Minnesota last Christmas (2007). Little Truen was just a couple months old at the time and I snapped these two photos one after the other and this is what happened in the time it took to turn off the flash.

Circa 1955

Look how cute my dad was. Aww.

Cross-Stitch Update

It has been a painful process, but I think I'm enjoying cross-stitching. Scratch that. I AM enjoying it.

I have pulled apart many miss-counts, twisted my thread too often, pulled some stitches tighter than others, and done the wrong color in some areas, but I am seeing progress. I think that is what I really enjoy about it: progress. At first it is a bunch of little lines on the fabric. Then the lines become "x"s. Then the "x"s start to make a picture. I enjoy the (sometimes) rhythmic in and out. Well, I guess it's not that rhythmic as I am constantly taking out stitches and redoing then. It's amazing to see how if you look at the first couple rows and colors I did you can tell that I really didn't know what I was doing, but I think I am really getting the hang of it. I sometimes cross-stitch for so long that the squares start swimming and I cannot see what I am doing. I just guess where I am supposed to go and press on rather than stop like I should... I have learned that is bad. Swimming page = making quadrilaterals other than squares. It also = twisted thread.

Cross-Stitch is frustrating too though. I can work for three hours and get this much stitched...
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A bit depressing, but it works. After all, it's progress.

While You Were Sleeping

Night shifts are such a drag. I don't mind them while I am at the hospital, but coming up to them is awful and coming home is awful. I cannot sleep during the day and then when I am "re-adjusting" I just get overtired and don't sleep anyway. What a drag.
I was talking with my sister's friend, a nurse, who was telling me that she enjoys night shifts because she "gets to be awake when everyone else is sleeping". She thinks it's a fun little game she plays with everyone else. I tried to play this game. It lasted for all of 10 minutes.

I had a patient this week who made me tear up on multiple occasions. She was in her late 30's and had just been diagnosed with cancer two weeks prior. She had surgery to remove her uterus, ovaries, part of her colon, and half of her stomach to remove 95% of her cancer. The doctors aren't sure if chemo and radiation will be effective to remove the remaining cancer. On top of that, she had a spinal leak from her epidural and had to remain flat on her back for three days.
This woman was incredible! She was such a blessing to me in the days I cared for her. I don't even know how to describe it. She cared about me and invested in me and she was the one whose life had just been flipped upside down. She asked many questions about me and my family and remembered everything I told her even days later. She made a point of thanking me every time I came in to help her with something. Her face would light up when I came in the room and she would be so excited to show me the balloons, cards, letters, dvds, books or trinkets she received from people.
Watching her family dynamic was beautiful as well. Her sons would read her book to her because she couldn't focus on the words when she was reading. They would rub her feet with lotion, fan her face, wash and brush her hair, read her the cards people sent her, and help out as much as they could. The oldest told me how hard it was to see his usually active mom (a marathon runner) confined to her back in bed but that he would do whatever she wanted to show her he loved her.
The husband was a real gem too. He was creative in how he cared for her and met her needs. He made her wiggle up the bed so she could hang her head off the top. I held her head while he got a basin of water and we washed her hair over the side of the bed. On my second day I came into the room to check on her to find that he had crawled in bed beside her and was singing to her and rubbing her hair.
I don't think I will every forget this little family. They were truly amazing.

Breakfast for Dinner

On the menu for tonight: Bacon and Eggs.

Yummy

The Need to Create

For years I have been taught to think rationally and to logically come to conclusions. There has been one correct answer to every question. Sometimes that answer is hard to find, but you can use the process of elimination to reach it. I have been told exactly how to express myself and how to interpret information.

I've been feeling as though I need to express myself creatively. Maybe not even express myself, but I've been wanting to challenge myself, or learn something, or do something to be proud of. I can't quite explain this nagging feeling to be more. To stretch myself. Maybe learn how to express myself a different way. I want creativity to be a part of me and a part of my life.

Suffice to say I want to try something new.

Because of this I have been doing a lot of baking. I made Mrs. Reimer's Cinnamon Buns a couple nights ago. They were delicious! Not nearly as good as Mrs. Reimer's though. Those are unbeatable. I have also made many cookies. Although they are gratifying to make... and to eat... they aren't very kind to the waistline.

I have also decided to start up cross-stitching. We'll see how long I am motivated with this. I am looking for something small to start off with. Then we'll see if I can commit to something a little bigger. Something worth keeping... or giving away.

i need sleep

My first night shift went well. I never felt excessively tired and I got to do a lot of research. I have yet to sleep though. I have to go back to the hospital in four hours and I have not slept since 3pm yesterday afternoon. That is bad. That is very bad. I will probably be sick tomorrow.

Night Shift

I am about to head to the hospital to start my first ever night shift. I break out in cold sweats just thinking about it.