Thursday, February 12, 2015

Thankful Thursday


Every week I post 10 things that I am thankful for.  It's so easy to get trapped in the `Oh I wish I had...' or `I wish_______was different'.  I find that by focusing on big and small things that I am thankful for really helps.  This week has been a little harder for some reason....finances a little tighter, Gary a bit busier, too many appointments and errands...you know.  Gotta stay focused on what we do have rather than what we don't.

This week, I am thankful for:

1. A new floor for our office.  I'm also thankful that Gary and his dad could install it themselves (save $$, learn skills, father and son time!).   Also, if anyone has any ideas...our office has no light in it so we need to use a lamp (installing a box in the middle of the ceiling would be a huge undertaking). Does anyone know of the perfectly beautiful yet major light producing lamp?


2.  Tuesdays and Thursdays.  These are the days that Koen and Nya are home together.  They used to be somewhat tortuous days but now they have really built a wonderful friendship and are getting along so well.  They are both on the goofy end of the spectrum and both have the love language of physical touch so they love to cuddle.  It's very sweet.




3.  My dad spending time with our kids.  He takes them out for coffee about once/month.  He does this with the grand kids that are potty trained and not yet in school.  My kids love going to Starbucks with Opi!


4.  The colourful addition that Nya is to our family.  Yes, the fact that she's a girl but she's a fierce one.  Serious likes and dislikes and opinions and...she's Miss Personality.


5.  Kai finally playing hockey.  I asked him to smile for this photo but he said, `I want to look like a real hockey player'.  He also asked if they would be able to `drop their gloves' in the league.  


6.  Pinterest.  Fun new recipes.  This tastes like a sort of chocolate fudge brownie but it's the healthy version.  Vegan and gluten free.  You have to like bananas to eat this. 

1 cup natural peanut butter (this does make it a tad pricey to make!)
1/3 cup of cocoa
1/4 cup of maple syrup (Next time I will try with no maple syrup to cut out more sugar as I try not to have any maple syrup or honey. Maybe a date instead?)
2 bananas

Put it all in a food processor.  Then, put in a mini muffin tins and bake at 350 C for about 12 minutes.

You can find me on Pinterest here

7.  A `good' break in.  Not sure if there's such a thing but thankfully it did not cost us a lot. One of us must have left the car unlocked and someone stole three things; gum, Gary's phone charger, and our insurance papers.  The insurance papers cost $18 to replace.  Thankful that they didn't break any locks or windows.  I have not worked in a whole month (yikes!!) so things are a tad bit tighter around here money wise.

8.  People who read this blog.  YOU.  Thank you.  It was just for family when I first wrote it but now I love that it's a little community.  I would love it to grow a bit more, but slow and steady works well for me.

{Pretend there's a picture of you here!}

9. A plan for Nya.  When she was in the midst of never ending asthma/colds/eczema, I took her to the naturopath and paid a whole bunch of money (oh man, like a lot) for a food intolerance test.  Our coverage is terrible for things like naturopaths/chiropractors/massage therapy but it had gotten to the point that I just didn't care, I just wanted to do something.  We got the results yesterday and her biggest intolerance's are; cow milk, wheat, gluten and potatoes.  You guys, this is pretty wild. Why?  I have been off these things for 6 months and feeling fantastic.  The one big exception is that I have just taken out cow milk but not all dairy products like yogurt and cheese.  This makes the plan for her for the next 6 months not seem so difficult.  The problem is that her greatest loves are cow milk and greek yogurt.  I made her a cashew milk smoothie this morning though and she loved it.  The goal is to take 6 months to repair her gut lining to boost her immunity.  


10.  No more headaches after running.  I don't know why, it could be that I replenish with a healthy smoothie afterwards, it could be that sugar is out of my diet, but now I no longer get the post run headache.  I had it for 6 years which really deterred me from running 5km or more.  


11.  Bonus one. Wedding clients continuing to book us.  We don't do any type of advertising (other than updating facebook and our blog) and yet, we still get the perfect amount of couples coming to us each year.  We met with another lovely couple last night and I really feel that it is God providing.  



As always, please share something that you are thankful for this week! And, if you have a favourite gluten, dairy and refined sugar free baking recipe, I'd love a link to it.

Love,
Louise

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:23 AM

    Louise,
    I made these scones last weekend and they were great! Gluten free and dairy free! Here is the link: http://brian-speaks.com/blackberryscones/. Let me know what you think!

    Laura Mayer

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  2. Anonymous10:24 AM

    Im also very thankful for an opi who spends time with his grandkids:)
    Sweet that those Tues & Thursdays have turned into days you can be thankful for and not to dread. Nice they are playmates.
    This week I am thankful for healthy baby ultrasound results and georgia mud fudge blizzards...

    nut

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  3. Bummer about the break in, but yes, better to lose that than a window! Kai looks very tough :)

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  4. Your thankful thursdays are such great posts, especially in their trivialness (ok. a. is that a word and b. its meant to be a good thing - the small stuff that you eventually forget but is the real and good stuff of being a family). It must be great to look back on them.

    I'm thankful for such happy laughs in our family. We had sushi tonight and oh, the giggles and random songs and I just think my life is a movie sometimes its so perfect. Other times, horror shows, or I feel like its stuck on fast-forward. But when it plays right, it's wonderful!

    On the break in - sorry. I remember still from UBC being SO broke (remember when you lent me money) and eating blackberries and flour until my student loan came through. I had subway stickers in my car that I'd been delaying using all week so I had "real food" to look forward to, and someone broke in and stole them. That $18 insurance paper (seriously, ICBC?) would annoy me.

    Thoughts + hugs

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    Replies
    1. Tessa, I don't remember lending you money but I do remember you had me hold on to your chocolate bars so you wouldn't eat them and then I ATE THEM!!! Mr. Big's right?! I love you and your comment. Please comment again one day, you make me smile :)

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  5. PS - your calves? I think I would use that picture for all future facebook/linkedin/whatever pictures. You're a hottie Lou!

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  6. Bethany11:15 PM

    This is a great site http://www.naturalsweetrecipes.com/recipes-by-natural-sweeteners/. They have a variety of items, a lot are vegan/gluten free and they also categorize their recipes by what type of sweetener they use (artificial/syrup/fruit, etc). I also love using zucchini to make noodles instead of using pasta and I add a really simple homemade pesto (oil, basil, pine nuts) as the sauce and sprinkle a bit of feta cheese on top but you could add any sauce really. I've also recently discovered rice paper wraps and love using that as an alterative to a tortilla or bread. I just add a bunch of veggies in it and role it up. Based on how you've changed your diet, I'm sure you'll be able to find a variety of things you can give to Nya. I find a lot of great gluten free/dairy free products at Homesense and Winners actually. They have a section by their food products and I've found some great packaged products and mixes that I use for my coworkers at staff meetings. Mixes by "the pure pantry" (http://thepurepantry.com/) are fantastic! Their chocolate chip cookie mix is one of the few products where it tastes like a regular chocolate chip cookie. Good luck and I'm interested to see how Nya does!

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  7. I am thankful for kids who have slept in most of the days this week. With getting back from Hawaii last Friday and being jetlag, everyone sleeping in has been great. Also thankful for playschool so Addison can burn off energy and learn lots of things. Her latest is starting to read short words from looking at signs. There was a stop sign on the way out of our hotel in Hawaii and every day we had to stop as her and Jacob read the letters and spelled stop to us. Now she points them out to us everywhere. But it's really fun to see her learning and recognizing words!

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  8. First off, congrats on the photography bookings! It's such a wonderful thing when we can do things that we love to do, and are gifted at (and your photos show a gift...mine not so much! lol) and also get paid to do it! God is so good like that! :)

    Second, hooray on the testing for Nya! And what a blessing that it is foods that you are already eliminating yourself, so it won't be such an undertaking! This is going to sound strange maybe, but I am so excited for you and what this knowledge will do for her health! To think of Nya not having asthmatic issues anymore, or eczema outbreaks! Yay!!! God is good! I love how there are solutions that are do-able!

    Lori-Anne

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