I hope this is the beginning of a new trend!

I did it! I kicked off my first week of weight loss with a great start. I lost 3.2 pounds in a week, yeah me! But I didn't incorporate any exercise in the last week, so that is one thing that I plan to change this week.

I did try to add some extra steps to my fitbit, but it was really just better meals in the last week that made the difference. I had smaller portions, more veggies, and I also made things like stuffed peppers, and skipped fast food and desserts.

Now this week I am going to get back to Oranj for some classes and keep up with the healthier eating.

Of course life threw me another curveball this week, as Tim has been assigned to a new project at work, so he isn't going to be home after Christmas. For the next few months I am more or less going to be a single parent again. Tim will be gone before Shayleen and the boys get up, and Shayleen will be in bed before he gets home. And with the long hours, he will be in bed before the boys are.

The other wrench with this new plan is that I will have to make two suppers again each night. Hopefully I will restrain from eating with the kids and then with Tim.

For now, I'm happy with my loss this week, and I feel like I am still on track for this week. Thanks to the ones who have joined me, keep checking in and we will do this together. I wish I could figure out how to link my fitbit or my fitness pal onto the blog. I will do some research this week to see if I can do something like that so that I can be more accountable with my exercise on here. I will let you all know what I find out. And I will start posting some of the healthy recipes I am using.

Wine Wednesday!

Okay, before you start emailing me, I realize that it is diabolical that the first blog I do after saying that I am going to lose weight is one about wine. But lighten up.

For months now I have been watching Matt Bellassai do his Wine Wednesday posts, and every week I get tempted to do my own version, Fort McMurray/Cape Breton style. And then every week, I chicken out. I can't think of anything I hate worse than getting my picture taken, except maybe making a video of myself. The other night a loved one "Face timed" me on my phone. It's a good thing I love him, because otherwise, I wouldn't have answered. All I could see was my huge red nose up in the corner distracting me the whole time. And yes, I'm working on finding a fix to that stupid thing.

So instead I thought I would offer some of my favourite wines every week, because, you know, everyone loves wine. And everyone loves trying new wines and talking about a great find.

It's funny, I don't think people believe me, but I didn't really start drinking wine until a few years ago. I would have the occasional glass at a wedding in Cape Breton, but I didn't really start enjoying the different wines until I moved out to Fort McMurray. And yes, I realize the irony. And it has turned into a huge signature for me, I love wine jokes, I love nice wine accessories, and I love a good wine, especially with good friends. So on Wednesdays I will share some finds.

To kick off the series, I am going to offer some Canadian, Australian and another from the States. Which is kind of funny, because anyone who knows me would say that my favourites lean more to the Shiraz and Cabernet picks.  I have two from Canada, one from the States,  and one from Australia Regretfully, they are all a bit more pricey, but the Canadian ones are not too bad.

If anyone ever asks me what my absolute favourite wine of all time is, I will quickly answer, it comes from the Larkmead Winery in California. And my favourite so far is the Cabernet Sauvignon. Hands down, best wine ever, ever. Friends and relatives have gone in on a case with me a few times now, because it is becoming harder and harder to find at a liquor store up here. And while we all say that we only drink it for special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries, we have been together and looked at each other and said, "Why not?" and cracked a bottle. It's a bit more pricey, since it usually comes in at around $55-$60 a bottle. But it's cheaper to order a case with friends.

And when I can't find a Larkmeand, my next best find is a little cheaper, since it usually costs around $47 a bottle, but it is Kilikanoon. It is an Australian Shiraz, so I guess it would be my favourite Shiraz, but it's not one that I would buy on a regular basis. Instead it's another one of those "treat" wines that I get for special get togethers.

My two favourite Canadian wines came to me through friends. My first pick was given to me as a gift from my bestie, Brooke. It was so good that after she gave it to me, and then I went to Toronto, we drove down to the Jackson Triggs Winery in Niagara just to buy some more. It is the Sparkling Merlot by Jackson Triggs. And again, sadly, it's a hard one to find. I just went to see if I could order it, and it's sold out. And I have never seen it in any liquor store out here, we and Brooke and Kevin have only found it at the actually winery. But if you ever get the chance, it's one of the best wines you will ever try.

And finally, my last pick for favourites has a local connection. Bob Campbell is a lawyer from Fort McMurray who invested in  Dirty Laundry a few years back. Get your heads out of the gutter, lawyers are not always associated with everyone's dirty laundry. This time around, Campbell did us all a favour, the buzz around town was that several local people had invested in this company, so of course, everyone was curious to try it to see if it was any good. In the last year this wine has become one of my favourites. It's one that I would give to a good friend as a Birthday gift, and it's one that I would buy myself at the end of a particularly hard week. It is usually $38 in the local stores, and my particular favourite is the Kay -Syrah, but I want to try the Dangerous Liasons, which always seems to sell out before it even hits the stores. Wineries alway have wonderful stories behind how they came up with their names, and Dirty Laundry is no exception. Go to www.dirtylaundry.ca to read about their history, their wines, and the fun things they do at their winery.

As you can tell, I definitely favour my red wines, but I will also share my favourite white wines in the weeks to come. I hope that you will all share your picks with me, and cheers!

It's time to start all over again.

229.4. There it is, the great big ugly number. It's the number that came up on the scale this morning. It's the number that took me all day to put into print. It's the number that needs to be defeated, again.

Yep! Over two years ago I had hit a slightly higher number, and I had done well for several months at losing the weight. And then life threw me some curves, and I found that my weakness during stressful times is food. I had thought I would never go back, I would never lose focus on my health, I would never gain it back. And here I am. Starting all over.

Around supper time one of my best friends texted me, and asked me how my day went. This morning on Facebook I made a statement that it was "Operation Take back the house, and the body" day one. I had all the best intentions today, but didn't do as well as I had hoped. My goal was to get back to the gym, and that didn't happen. I got wrapped up with back to school details, work and other crazy life details that I had been putting off over the summer. But I did eat healthy today to kick it off, and I went for a little walk as well. But in order to lose some major pounds, I have to get back to the gym, and one other thing...I need to get the family on board.

Tim(hubby) actually printed off some healthy meal plans to kick off the first month, and I will post any recipes that turn out well. But having him on board is huge. I fight terrible guilt since his accident. It took me a while to admit it to him, but since his accident he has not been able to be as active as he use to be, so every time I could be active, I was having guilt. But now the weight is affecting my health, and my happiness, so it's time to get better. And it will help us all.

So if you want, you can join me on my journey. Come up with a meal plan that works for you, and perhaps some exercise too, and I will give you the ugly details each Monday about how I am doing.  I realized during my last journey that putting out the ugly numbers, and telling about the funny struggles I was having helped to keep me accountable. But that might not work for everyone, so find what works for you, and join me.

Summer's End

Last summer I remember saying that I tend to be a seasonal writer. And this summer I once again proved that this was true. But in the last few days, I realized it wasn't so much because I take the summer off, because I am just as busy in the summer with the kids off as when they are in school. But I guess my priorities change during the summer months.

Years ago there was a time that I thought I would never have children. I have been blessed with three, and with being foster parents over the last few years that number has fluctuated from time to time. So having the opportunity to spend my days trying to entertain them and just spend some time with them is by far the biggest blessing in my life.

Tomorrow Nathanial will go to Holy Trinity to register for his Grade 11 year, and Shayleen is off to MacDonald Island for a week of summer camp as we try to get her back on a schedule as she will be back to school next Monday. For the last 14 years or so I would have been getting Mitchell ready with back to school clothes as supplies as well, and I am still sad that he graduated and will no longer be needing his mom to do those preparations any more. In fact, September always seems to be somewhat of a challenge for me, as I get a bit blue with the kids going back to school, and the thought of another cold winter starts to take root in my thoughts.

This year will be a bit different for another reason, I am back doing some reporting work for the Fort McMurray Connect newspaper. I will be reporting more on council and with council starting weekly council meetings, it should be a fairly busy fall for me as we all get back into some regular routines.

I have already started working for the Connect, and I have found that there is one other thing about me that is true, and that is that when I am writing more for work, I tend to write more personally. So in the coming weeks I will be sharing more in the blog again, and am even playing with the idea of starting to share more of my fictional work, which I have never done before in the blog.

Hopefully all will go smoothly in the coming weeks, and it already feels good to be back sharing here again, and I have several ideas jotted down for upcoming blogs. I hope you all had a wonderful summer, and suck up the last few days with your children and the summer sun during this last week.

Untamed Feast

I am always searching for new recipes ideas, and when I find things that appeal to everyone at the table from 5 years to 42, I have to share.

During the fall trade show my friend Jon Tupper texted me a picture of a bottle of morel mushrooms. I suddenly had to make the trip to MacDonald Island, I was totally bummed that they did not come back during the recent trade show. So I went looking for their product online and was happy to find out that they will ship to Fort McMurray. This will now give me the chance to try some of their other products that I haven't yet.

The other night I was craving some morels, so I tried the recipe that they included in the bag for their "Classic Mushroom Cream Sauce" and used it on farfalle. I adjusted the recipe some, to suit the kids(no onions, and left out the cheese for one of them), but at the end of supper there wasn't one single bite left for Tim to take any leftovers for work.

Here is the link to the website for the recipe, they even do videos, so there is no way you can screw them up.

https://untamedfeast.com/eat/classic-mushroom-cream-sauce/

And here is how it turned for me the other night:

It really is hard to find something that everyone says that they loved it, so I will be ordering more product! As I went to the website, I also found out that I loved the story of the company. In order to obtain the morel mushrooms they have to go where the wild fires are, so they go into Northern British Columbia, and Alberta and even the Northwest Territories in search of the delicious morsels. So yes, you are going to pay a bit more for these mushrooms, but when making a special dish for a special occasion they are so worth it.

The risotto was also really good, and so easy compared to the traditional way of making it(imagine, no stirring!).

What do Margaret Atwood and Kevin Thornton have in common? Brilliance.

When was the last time you got so excited that you started crying? You know that kind of excited happiness that just overwhelms you, and then you end up crying like a fool. Well, for me, it was last night, and I am still bursting this morning so I had to sit down to share it with all of you.

Last night I found out that a friend, Kevin Thornton, has been short listed for Best Short Story by the Crime Writers of Canada for the Arthur Ellis Awards. To be honest, I had not heard about these awards until a few years ago, but it was established in 1984. Kevin has been nominated five times, so that alone tells you his level of writing. But this year, the extra kick is that he has been nominated against Margaret Atwood. When your name starts getting put on short lists with the literary Queen of Canada, people should start paying attention. But I am not going to leave it up to Kevin to toot his own horn, as he never does.

When I first started reading Kevin's work, I found myself reading it out loud to hubby or the kids. I only read out loud when I get really into a piece, and it doesn't happen as much as I would like. I thought Kevin was only writing columns for the Today, and then happily discovered he had a blog. I would patiently wait for the morsels that he would throw out for me to devour. I was hooked. I can remember reading one piece that he did around Remembrance Day about three years ago, and at the end of it I decided that I wanted to meet him. It was around the same time that I discovered he also wrote fiction. He really does suck at self promotion. The way that Kevin uses words makes other writers like myself wish that we were better. And although he doesn't realize it, after spending any amount of time with him, I am always inspired to write something, or at least try to, because when he talks about writing, it invokes a passion or pull that only other writers can understand. It has happened with a few people in town with me over the last few years, and I feel lucky that they all share their passion so freely with the rest of us.

On May 28 the Awards will presented in Toronto, and I am so hoping that Kevin will be able to attend. Can you imagine if you were nominated against Atwood and then if he wins? No one deserves it more, Kevin works so hard, but also enjoys the whole process so much, and he is so completely humble about his talent that it just makes you like him more.

No matter what happens on the 28th, we already know you are an amazing writer Kevin, but it would be pretty sweet to take the award home and sit it on your desk and let it be a reminder of the time that you kicked Margaret Atwood's butt and made us all so proud.

You never know what's going on behind closed doors.

If you tell me to sit down and write something professional these days, I don't have much of an issue. Although the first two columns after the election were garbage, last week I actually had friends that sent me messages and said, "I was worried about you, but this week's column shows your spark again." So even my closest friends had not realized that I have been stuck the last few weeks.

On April 2, my Aunt Jennie passed away. I was blessed in every way to have had her in my life. Even on the last day that I had talked to her, she still referred to me her as "her girl", which she had done for as long as I could remember. I had hoped in the last few months to go home to Nova Scotia to see her, but with Tim's grandmother passing away unexpectedly and life in general happening, I didn't get to make the trip. But this past summer when we were home, she made the trip from Halifax to Cape Breton for the wedding that was going on, and I am so glad we got to see each other then. Jennie was one of those people who loved unconditionally, and I always felt so lucky to be on the receiving end of her attention.

As many of you who have read any of my work over the years, I often will write about those that pass away. I often do it as a tribute to the person and their family, but it is also helps me to acknowledge the loss, and really writing is always the way that I deal with everything in life. And I couldn't bring myself to write about Jennie. If I wrote about her dying, about how awful cancer stole someone I loved again, it would be true. I would have to deal with it. And I couldn't.

Shame on any of you who said I was licking my wounds because I lost the election. Don't think I haven't heard the rumours. Shame on those who like to talk crap about others just for the fun of it. I have realized during the last few weeks that I might not have made much of a politician. I don't like the games, and I didn't like that people would say they were friends and when in fact, we were never friends, not by my definition anyway. And I suck at lying and acting like I like someone who is actually not a very nice person or negative, and I will be the first to admit it that I suck at it. I can debate until the cows come home, and I respect people who have different ideas or ideals that I do, but I more likely to say someone is not nice or full of shit than not. And that doesn't always work in politics, lol.

Besides the loss of my Jennie, our family suffered another terrible personal loss during the campaign that I have not gone public with until now. After almost 7 years of being foster parents with our agency, McMan, here in town, we found out about three weeks ago that the government put the contract out for tender, and no agency in town got the contract. St. Aidan's did not even bid the contract, so they will no longer have foster services in town either. I was and still am devastated. We worked so closely with our agency, and our workers, they often were like family as they helped us through adjusting to having new children in our home, helped us grieve when they left and cheered us on when we adopted. And after months of rumours, and absolutely no information from Children Services, our lives changed. We are now, like many foster families in town, at a loss. We know now that a company from out of town got the contract, and we are again making one of the hugest decisions we have ever made in the last few years. Will we try to put our trust in a new company that is not even from here, after feeling so betrayed by so many different experiences with foster care over the years, or do we make the decision to not foster any more? I have to tell you, we are really struggling with the decision, and feel that the government has dropped the ball and left the foster parents and the children here at a loss. I will say that Don Scott has been a support for our family during the last two years or so with various issues, but the foster care system in Alberta, and right across the country is completely broken, and these new changes will not make it any better for anyone, least of all the children in care.

So this past weekend was our birthday, and hubby(Tim)has been the only one who has known how much I have been hurting lately(never mind the regular every day stress crap besides). So he spontaneously took me out to Live Bar and Grill for supper, and to see an old friend, Brennan MacDonald, sing for a few hours. It was just the kick in the pants that I needed. That, and I had some great time with great friends over the last few days who always lift my spirits.

I will miss Jennie so much, there are very few in your life that will love you no matter what you say or do or think, and I have lost one of those people in Jennie. I was lucky enough to have had her in the first place, and I will try to move forward remembering that instead of staying stuck.

This picture was from this past summer.

And this is Brennan with some of his siblings in their mother's kitchen. If you get a chance to see any of them, or their band, Company Road, you won't regret it, they are the most talented bunch this side of Port Hood.