Summer nights

I'm sitting on my deck. Alone. But that's the nice thing about it. 

I'm drinking wine and not doing anything. Some people might think I'm weird sitting in the dark by myself, drinking. But I have to say this is my kind of night. 

I'm listening to the bustle of the city. My neighbour is playing odd music that is actually pretty soothing. A train just went by and every so often (more often then not) a car passes by. 

I can hear my cat slinking in the neighbours yard and my dog breathing at my feet. My other puppy is chewing something in the yard. 

It's peaceful. It's how a summer night should be. It's nice. 

It's nice to be able to sit down with a glass of wine and not have to think about anything. 

Of course I am always thinking about things though. They are the good things. I'm thinking of the snuggles I had with my boys before they went to bed and how it is moments like that that gets me through the hard times. I'm thinking of the walk I took with the dogs and how good they were. And I'm thinking that my glass of wine is getting low. So I'm going to refill it. 

Have a wonderful summer everyone and remember to enjoy the simple moments. And never be ashamed to drink alone in the dark. It's blissful. 

D 

Happy Belated Canada Day.

So today is the 3rd of July and I have been absent for quite a while. [yup I'm still the reigning world's worst blogger]

I wanted to say happy belated birthday to my B-E-A-Utiful country who turned a whopping 147 years young. 

This is how I spent my Canada day: In my Pajamas doing nothing. 

That's right I was in my pjs until almost 7pm when Kayla, the boys and I went to Harris Park. I'm not ashamed. I had a fantastic day off lol. 

When we went to Harris Park in London, Ontario we went to see our friend Lindsay preform a teaser to the show she is playing in Petrolia this summer. Then we got ice cream and watched an amazing firework display. (Well done London btw!!) I wanted a god damn funnel cake but I kid you not the line was like a kilometre long! So I settled for a bland dipped icecream in a stale cone instead. #ughh 

Then we came home and went straight to bed. 

I may not have partied like a true Canadian but it was a very nice day off and I was just chilling since my work week that was coming up consisted of me working 10 days straight. 

So Happy Birthday Canada. We love you! And I will try my best (yet again) to post up more hehehe. 

-D 

Hoppy Easter!

Today was my last day at work before Easter (although I will be working on Saturday) so I thought I would send out my best wishes for a beautiful and enjoyable Easter weekend. Hopefully the snow fucks off, so the Easter bunny doesn't freeze to death while bringing all the little girls and boys their Easter candy. That would be tragic! 

Eat responsibly and don't forget to include vegetables, fruits and whole grains with your candy diets this weekend so your bowels don't get clogged and your pores stay fresh. Don't be funny and boil up a rabbit for Easter dinner. It never impresses anyone, really... 

I'm excited to see my family for the holiday, even though I have to come home and work. It will still be a delightful weekend. I'm planning on making some wicking yummy food too so I will let yahs know how it goes over. 

Hoppy Easter friends! 

Food Glorious Food!

I thoroughly believe that kids will not only eat good, nutritious and healthy foods, but LOVE them. 

The problem is many parents don't give children the opportunity to try new things. To savour food as it should be and to make up their own minds about food. 

A lot of people create the monsters they have to put a plate in front of. Kids who refuse to eat anything green, raw, not drenched in ketchup and/or butter. Or kids who refuse to eat anything but French fries. Or ones who won't let this food touch that food. The ones that won't touch a single bite if there is one indication of something new mixed in with their plain mashed potatoes or white pasta. The thing is kids will voluntarily decide what they like if you give them the opportunity. 

When I found out I was going to be a dad this was something I was adamant about: my kids are going to eat well. It is one of the most-if not the single most- important things we can teach our children. How to respect and love food.  How to make good culinary choices and to be open to trying new things.

My kid doesn't like everything. There is a lot of things he won't eat. But there are even more things that I have put on his plate expecting him to toss onto mine that he has actually not only eaten but loved. And asked for more. We don't force him to eat something he doesn't want to. He won't freak out of there is something he doesn't like on his plate, he will eat around it. I feel like, even though he is only three, we have given him a very positive, well balanced perception of food that will stay with him forever. 

Tonight i made a homemade pizza. The crust is made out of cauliflower and a carrots with ground flax, chia and garlic. And it was topped with turkey bacon, spinach, zucchini and onions. It was absolutely delish and Leighton asked for THIRDS! This is something many kids would automatically turn their noses up at. And a lot of parents would let them. But if you give then a chance they will give food a chance. And you would be surprised at what your kid will eat! 

10th Time's a Charm?

Ok so anyone who knows me knows I am the most terrible blogger in the world! But here I go making attempt, what is it now? Ten? Twelve? One Hundred? Oh, hell, who knows, and who really cares.  I am making my comeback to the blogging world.  

I need something to occupy the little spare time I really have, and I actually like blogging, despite my complete lack of initiative and compliance with it.  I am what I like to call a "whenever-I-feel-like-it-slash-remember-to-blog blogger" and I am sure that is how I always will be. 

Well needless to say a lot has changed since my last appearance here.  I have a new job, a new kid, and a new puppy.  A new outlook on life. I have had new experiences, made new memories- both good and bad- and am on a new path in my life.  

The past year has been quite difficult for me, and I am going to be brutally honest about it. 

I slipped into, and pulled myself out of a pretty tough depression, that took a toll on my relationships, my body, my mind and my education. I flunked out of school, despite the fact that I was in the home stretch, and only moments away from attaining what I have tried so hard to get- my degree.  I fucked it up, and threw it all away in the matter of a few months.  I have learned from those mistakes, however and have come out stronger and more focused.  I have learned through it all that I cannot change the past. I can just look towards the future and learn from my mistakes.  It's a costly mistake, but in the end are we all not stronger because of our failures? I like to think so. I am not going to lie and say everything is honky dory now. Because nothing is perfect.  I am reminded of my failure every day. I think about how differently things could have been if I admitted to myself that I was spiralling down, and got the help I needed.  I could have graduated.  But I didn't. I do have to remind myself that, yes I "could" have done things differently. But I didn't and I don't have a time machine so I cannot do anything about it.  I literally have to take my life one day at a time.  I have to remind myself that we live in the present, not in the past and not in the future. Once I came to this realization, I stopped dwelling as much as I did. I pulled myself up, admitted what I tried to hide and moved on.  

I moved on to expanding my family with the birth of my second son, Avery. I moved on to adding another furry daughter to my household, Effie. I moved onto a job that I am not ashamed of. And in the process of moving on I have lost relationships, held onto relationships, and made new relationships. I am making new memories in the pursuit of living life according to my own terms. I am finally in a good place in my life. I can say I am happy. And all of this is after I emerged from a very dark place in my life.  

That is why I have returned to this blog, because I understand the premise- One Day at a Time- in a different context, and in one that I feel is so much more personal to me now. As I continue (as faithfully as I can muster) One Day at a Time, I hope to show how the past makes you stronger, and how we have the power to control our own destiny, and to live life on our own terms. 

-D

Feeling the burn

Oh Em Gee I am feeling the burn.

No, it's not because I've been hitting the gym hard core. It's HEARTBURN. I have had heartburn for the past three days. Ad have not eaten anything out of the ordinary.

I've been trying to extinguish the flame naturally with foods that are supposed to help heartburn: bananas, apples, melon, yogurt, milk, fish, rice, etc. but nothing is helping. Yesterday I caved and bought tums. Yum yum. But to avail. The third day running, I finally resorted to the disgusting Bepto Bismol. The pill version. So I don't actually vomit. But nothing. I am at the point where I want to suffer through the pain of throwing up just to expel the excess stomach fluid from my body.

Ohh the pain. And on top of it I am on my way to work. DOUBLE PAIN.

Anyone have any suggestions to destroy the angry dragon in my chest?

-D

*Update*
I think I figured out what gave me this heartburn. The terribly cheap wine that my sister and I bought over the weekend. That'll do it I'm sure.

Eat Better, Live Better

With this year's complete bypass of Spring, jumping from Winter to Summer in two very confusing weeks, I started to clean out my closet. I put my winter clothes away and broke out my summer garments. This also came with the concrete evidence of the 30 plus disgusting pounds that I have put on over the past year. Whenever I bring this figure up, people claim, "yeah right, where are you putting it?" Well I have been "putting it" into fat jeans, sweatpants and baggy old man sweaters (which are still awesome, fat or skinny!) But with this weather, those disguises are no longer feasible.  My weight gain is incredibly noticeable when trying to squeeze my fat ass into shorts and t-shirts. For this reason I have tried to start dieting, eating better and getting more exercise.

Last week I tried to do a green smoothie cleanse, to kick start the spring clean up of my eating habits.  This lasted one day. By the end of it I was starving, and seriously, that is not the way I wanted to go. Evidently I love food, and I like eating. So starving myself is not going to happen.
Since then I have replaced two meals with green super-smoothies, and kept one real meal.  All the while snacking on healthy things like celery, cucumber and carrots, and my favourite, Grapefruit (without adding extra sugar! Go me). In one short week, I am still fat, don’t get me wrong, but the shorts that would not even do up when I first brought them out of the summer clothes box, actually do up.  Yes, I have a muffin top, and a noticeable spare tire... but MY SHORTS DO UP! That is a very good achievement for me, and a good step this summer, and reassurance about this diet I am putting myself on.

I have come up with a few great smoothie recipes and tips the past week. Before I would never put greens in my smoothies. There was something about green beverages (not including margaritas, or absinthe) that completely disgusted me.  However, as I have learned, it is just a colour, and nothing more.  The smoothie always takes on the taste of the fresh fruit you put into it. Mostly bananas. You can have a smoothie comprise of nothing but greens: lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, celery, and if you add two bananas in, that is all you are going to taste. It turns out, I really like green smoothies, and I am getting so much more nutritionally from them. 

These are the things I have found work, (and don’t work) in smoothies.

Swiss Chard- My favourite Green to put into a smoothie

Swiss chard is high in fiber and protein, antioxidants, vitamins K, C and A.

Carrots-        Carrots are great for your eyes, they are high vitamin A, which is also good for your skin, and full of Antioxidants that help battle the ongoing war with the prospect of getting cancer. 

Avocado-     Avocados are super high in fat, but a good fat, so a little goes a long way! Avocados also have fibre, are good for your eyes, heart and (for women) your uterus!

Spinach-       I love spinach on anything, and that includes blended smooth in a delicious beverage meal! Spinach is high in fibre, vitamin A, E, C, K- pretty much the whole vitamin Alphabet! Not to mention it is delish.

Dragon Fruit- I put dragon fruit in all of my smoothies. It has a very mild, but sweet flavour, and is a super-duper-food. It is high in fibre, is a low calorie food, high in vitamin C, and the B vitamins, and helps keep your heart in tip top shape. It controls cholesterol and is full of calcium, and packed with antioxidants. It also can help prevent prostate cancer.

Kale-            I HATE kale. In my smoothies. Maybe I didn’t do it right, but this did not blend well and I had to strain my smoothie because it was unbearable. It also tasted gross. But I had to choke it down. Kale is a super food though. I don’t want to cut it out of my life. Kale is high in fibre, vitamin K, C, and calcium, and is a great detox food. I made Kale chips today, and they are actually not terrible! (I drizzled them with oil, and tossed them with chia seeds, a little bit of sea salt, ground flax and chili pepper… so they are topped with nutrition!)

Those are my favourite, and 1 not-so-fav things to put in smoothies. In addition to berries, apples, pears, mangos, melon, bananas etc. All together they are a powerfully nutritious and delicious meal replacement. They are also pretty filling. I think it is because you take your time drinking a smoothie. It takes me about a half hour to finish off my smoothie. And in between sips, I am constantly drinking water. If I am hungry after I am done, I can always have more.  Or I have cut up vegetables with hummus, a grapefruit, and/or a low fat yogurt. Talking about it now, it is easy to see how my shorts did up after only a week of this.  This encourages me to continue this system for the summer!  

I will continue with updates on how my de-fatting is going. My goal is to lose about 1-2 pounds a week. So by the end of the summer I should be at my target weight.


-D