The trouble with procrastination.

The trouble with procrastination.
It has come to my attention I am a champion PROCRASTINATOR.  I remember first being labeled as this in high school Junior High, by a teacher, my parents and self diagnosed from articles I read in SASSY, Seventeen and Cosmo, and I have been singing its praises ever since.  I never gave it another thought that I never was not a procrastinator.  Being a procrastinator has been my sparkly crutch for so long that I really know, no other way of life.  It is what it is and what it shall be.  

Paying bills...last minute or later (Sorry Procrastinator)
Last minute reserving for...anything, hotel, plane, restaurant...just squeak by the hair on my chinny chin chin (Sorry I'm a professional Procrastinator)
Filling in the countless forms for the kids school...ugh. (procrastinating)
Planting bulbs in September...OOPS...November...(procrastinator)
Company coming, known for a month, oh I'll wait till the evening before to grocery shop, laundry, clean, change bedding until the night before...(thanks but I was busy...procrastinating)

Don't get me wrong, things do get done...eventually.

Procrastinating is how I get stuff done.  Nice and last minute.  Just enough stress and adrenaline and fear of letting someone down, to get stuff done.

Here is something that I have come to realize about procrastination, sometimes it's just a fancy word for lazy.  And dude, sometimes a lot of the times I love to be lazy.  And guess what, I like it and it's okay.  Working full-time, with awesome, energetic, bundles of spirited 4-5 year olds is not lazy work, raising a family...not lazy work, being a good daughter, sister, friend and be fully engaged in a kick ass marriage...not lazy.  So I've decided, when I have a little free time, I'm giving myself permission to sometimes be lazy and celebrate in the awesomeness of that.

However, I am also, giving myself permission to let go of my label as a Procrastinator...starting tomorrow.

Love 
Marcia

I feel I have a "Morrel" obligation to report about my dinner....

See what I did there?  Clever huh?
While out for a walk with my devastingly handsome husband and curious dog we stumble across a treasure trove of Morrels!  Actually, it was Trixie that found them.  We were walking along a trail, Trixie was eagerly sniffing and tasting anything is sight, she had this black little lump in her mouth and we thought is was poo, as Dalton leaned over to shew it out of her mouth with a stick he was relieved to annouce it was a Morrel, we looked down the trail and there they were popped up everywhere.  We gathered 19 in total.  We dropped a few off for Head Chef and Owner of Harbour St. Braissiere, Derek.  :Sidenote:  If you live in Kincardine OR ever in Kincardine make it a point to eat at Harbour St.  Derek and his lovely wife Diane set the atmosphere and the food to pitch perfection, and serve a full menu of local food.  Delightful. :Sidenote over: Derek showed me how to clean them properly and how to cook them, so nice, thank you Derek.  And we shared a couple with a friend who was curious about the taste.  The rest we kept for ourselves and thought they would go lovely with our roast chicken we were having tonight.  Hope you enjoy the picture extravanganza of....fancy mushrooms....and our dinner.

Dirty Morrels

 Sliced in half to clean out the bugs.  ewww.

 Water bath to clear out dirt and bugs

 Drying only to discover tiny wormie bugs! eww and eww.

 Back in the bath you go Dirty Morrels.

 Type of Broth I used to simmer.  No garlic and butter fry for these tender morsels.

 Simmering to perfection.  (and finalizing any bug killing.  ha ha ha)

 The finished product delicate little bites of mushrooms.

 The roast chicken prep.  Okay we all know how easy roast chicken is, right?  Well this is even easier than easy and it is a no fail "recipe" preheat oven to 400, cut using kitchen scissors down the back of the chicken.  Spread that bird open and press her down in the roasting pan.  Throw the bird some butter, season if you wish and put her in the oven till the skin is super crispy.  It's easier than easy because it cooks faster because we flattened the cheekon.

 Sweat Potatoes with grated ginger and cayanne baby.  So yummy.

 Sweet Potatoes

 The grand finally that is now in its final resting place, my belly!

Now I am on the hunt for wild leeks and perhaps some more morrels. 
Have a lovely day,
Marcia

Lady Weekend

I have never been alone in my house for a whole weekend. No husband, no kids. For the first time in 7 years...7 years! I watched as Dalton and the Kids loaded up the Jeep and headed for London to spend time with Big Grandad and Auntie Anne.
Is it wrong I was a little giddy about it? Even if I was going to clean the house for a couple of hours. I got to clean it...and no one was there to drop a toy and leave it, mess up my newly mopped floors, dishevel their beds, leave Canadian Tire flyer's on my counter. It was glorious.
My dear friend Lisa arrived late Friday night, we drank wine, ate nibbles, and girl talked to late at night. Saturday we slept until 9 am, got the house ready for a wonderful workshop I hosted at the house. "Calm Mum", created and facilitated by Carol Peat and I implore you to check out her company Babies Naturally, yes even if your kids are 5 and 7. We can all use some guidance ie. "hand holding" and personal growth as parents education, and Carol is the person to do it, from preconception to teens. The workshop took place with 6 other women and I believe we all left better mothers (and daughters for that matter). In a perfect world Carol Peats workshop would be mandatory for all parents and grandparents, much like getting a drivers licence before you can drive. I feel refreshed as a Calm Mum, I'm going to trust my instincts and my children more, they know what they want and need and if we are patient, present and aware they let us know. I am going to try my best to not worry about what other people think of me and my parenting simply because "Their judgement/opinion of me and my parenting is none of my business." Don't you just love that? Lets write it again "Other peoples opinion of me is none of my business." Freeing...isn't it? and Breath.

So later that day Lisa and I took Trixie for a big walk at the lagoons, it was a lovely walk, crunching on leaves, sunshine and chatting. Oh and Trixie ate shit. How gross is that? I said "So that's what getting shit faced really is?" I can seriously crack myself up. I'm my own personal stand-up comedian.

Then...Lisa and I got gussied up and went out for a delightful dinner and wine at Tramontos then Guinness time at Hawg's Breath. Such fun with a dear friend.

On Sunday I slept till 11:00, hot damn that was nice. Then the kids and Dalton got back in the afternoon and I was soooooo happy to see them and smooch their spectacular little faces.

Have a lovely day,
Marcia
xoxox

Remember me?....

Ya, I'm the dining room set Marcia was going to refinish because she LOVED me so much. Well, apparently not enough cause...
Voila, I've been replaced by this curvy number. She liked the curvy legs and the sturdy comfy seats. Nice. She even got me all taken apart, sanded and repaired (by Rick) She is so flighty.

It's true. I was in the middle of redoing the dining room set when Dalton and I walked into a furniture store going out of business and we saw this set for 50% off and absolutely love it. It is the first dining set we have bought...ever...we are officially grown ups buying dining room sets. What next...driving a mini van. (not that there's anything wrong with that)


This lovely bouquet of Peonies in celebration of mine and Daltons 8th Anniversary. Merci Mama et Papa. They are gorgeous, and always remind me of my wedding day.


New project, I bought this solid wood, Canadian made (in Quebec) dresser and Mirror off of Kijiji. I love it. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be the perfect first piece to redo. I have been officially inspired up one side and down the other by this lovely lady Holly from White Berry out in Western Canada. I was never into Shabby Chic but I have been bitten by this bug and I love her take on it, and I think I can incorporate it with my contemporary/Glam/minimalist style. So that would read "Shabby Glam Contemporary Mini". I like it. That's my style fo'shizzle.

Sanded, cleaned, now primed. I bought lovely new pewter drawer pulls. And I will be painting a very light grey/white.

finished project to follow shortly.
Family picture wall. It only took 3 years of wanting to get organized and up on the wall.

I really like the way it turned out.

What are you working on these days?

Have a lovely day
Marcia

Me and My Beau

Big "D" and Me.

This is us all ready to go out for dinner with my parents, Auntie Judy and Uncle Bob, and another lovely couple (not sure if they would like there names on here). In honor of Mama's B-day. Happy Birthday Lanny!

I love going out with Dalton on my arm. He is a lovely husband, best friend, wonderful provider and support, oh ya and a great dad. Plus he's not to bad to look at.

Here's to date nights with your beau!

Love
Marcia
xoxoxoxo

Tuesday.

A few things I am grateful for today.
* "Ladies Who Lunch" only we eat breakfast.
* Popping over to my neighbours for a sec. and having a giggle over our matching uniforms: Messy hair, sweat pants and cozy top (ie track suits)
* Finding all my ECE documents, workshop, project stuff all within five minutes of looking.
* Finding my "Sweet 16" ring I lost about 10 years ago.
* Rolands version of the Russian YouTube singer. Totally made my morning. Still laughing about it.
* Sasha wanting to play Mama and Baby Pig. "Your the Big Mama Pig and I am the baby pig and I'm going to drink milk from you, but not really mom, I'll just pretend over your cloths".
* Dalton's curly hair looked awesome tonight. Super handsome. Not so 'Vinnie Bobarino'.
* Sally our pet chipmunk, sitting on the chair looking at me inside. I almost let her in.
* My yummy dinner of Scrambled Eggs&Sliced Avocado (seriously yummy combo, sounds gross but for some reason it works) tomatoes, Sesame seed cookies, lemonade.
* Tea with my Dear Friend K. Always a pleasure.
* The lake looked breathtaking today, bright blue towards shore, almost purple blue in the horizon, SUNSET spectacular.


A couple of things I'm a little bummed about tonight:
* Really felt like watching T.V. tonight...we cut our cable.
* My new glasses still are not ready.
* The laundry is never done.

Good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow,
Marcia

My New M.A.C. Spring/Summer Lipstick

Me and my girl wearing "See Sheer" Lustre M.A.C. lipstick.

I love M.A.C. make-up. I love the smell of it, the application, the packaging, the quality, it's Canadian and I love the creative spirit it was created from and still is. I was first introduced to this line in 1989, during my "trying to make it as a model days". I wore "Pecan" lipstick in matte finish for the rest of high school. (side note: holy crap that was 20 years ago!!!) We were in London this past weekend and I picked out new Spectacles and thought I should get a new lipstick to go with. What a nice treat. Fresh, smelling good, sheer lipstick. The simple things make me so happy.

Next time you are in the city, go to the mall, seek out the M.A.C. counter and treat yourself to a new lipstick. It really does brighten your day.

Smmmmmmooooch,
Marcia



New Subject: "ManPacking". So recently (pretty much throughout the winter) there has been some pretty funny banter back and forth between friends about the dreaded "ManCold". Well, for all you ladies out there that know what I am talking about I have a new "Man Peeve". It's called "ManPacking". So, Dalton signed up about 2 months ago to go away for a 4 day ATV trip. Lovely, have fun Dalton. Two months he has know about this trip. Night before he leaves, "Mar, have you seen my rain boots?" "Mar, do you know where my back pack is?" "Mar, what tooth paste should I bring". He searched for rain boots for about 2 hours. Backpack, lifted a shirt, there it was. Toothpaste, decide to take the one that is almost finished, about enough to last 4 days. He took hardly any cloths with him. Not sure if P.J.s even made it in. I hope he is having fun. And can't wait to see him on Saturday.

Passion: 300 Words or Less

Mabels Labels BlogHer'10 Contest
I’ve lived a life of searching for passions but knowing my truths, and now the two have collided because now I could not have one without the other. I once filled out a Dr.Seuss book and one of the questions was “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I filled it out at age 7 and my answer was “A Mother”. I filled it out again at age 11 and scratched that answer out and put “A Millionaire Mother”. So far so good on becoming a Mother. I am passionate about my husband, we don’t even have to work hard at our marriage, it just is, the ebbs and flows of our relationship makes married life exciting. Because of my husband and kids I have explored being an entrepreneur and have owned 2 business’. My true passion is finding what works for my family as a whole. My business’ while an adventure was not my truth. I am now a good old fashion housewife. Except for I don’t spend my days cleaning the house and mending socks and making sure my husband has a martini and a newspaper when he gets home. I am the housewife, who plays with my kids, has just as much paint in my nails as they do, I’m the housewife down at the beach collecting rocks and driftwood, I’m the housewife biking with the kids Saturday morning to collect our local fruits and veggies, goat cheese and meat for the week. My passion is now in my day to day living, I’m learning how to slow parent and be there, I mean really, really there. And when the kids are asleep and all is quiet I’ll sit on my front porch with my husband and cheers with a martini. A life shaken not stirred.

A Clever and Lovely way to live
Marcia