[We had kept Olive in the front foyer with her own litterbox and sleeping area until she got used to us, the house and Kiwi & Mango.  Yesterday Brian decided to take down the cardboard fence and litterbox because she seemed to be used to the other cats and the rest of the house.]

This morning we woke up to find out that Olive had peed and pooped on the floor right where her old litterbox was.

Erin: [laughing]
Brian: You’re being the good cop again!
Erin: She’s 6 weeks old and has only lived here for a week!  Plus look at her!  How can you be mad at that adorable little face??  Besides, it could have been worse.  She could have peed in the plant like Kiwi.
Brian: Good point.  All the plants are alive and the floor’s not damaged.
Erin: See!  Now your glass is half full!
Brian: Yeah, of cat pee.

This is the second time I’ve made this meal and this one differed a tiny amount from the first one (which I don’t have a decent photo of, sorry). I got the recipe from Whole Foods (here) and made some slight modifications as I’m known for not really following recipes exactly. While Michael Smith would approve of this process, I feel like this is the reason why my baking doesn’t turn out exactly as I’d planned. (Brerin Fun Fact: Brian is an amazing baker. And we don’t even own a mixer!)

Mexican Taco Stoup

Ingredients:
- package of extra lean ground turkey (around 450ish grams or 1lb for any Americans reading this)
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 3-4 garlic cloves, minced (we LOVE garlic)
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning (we got ours from Bulk Barn)
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon chili flakes
- 2 cups Blue Menu No-Salt-Added Chicken Broth (from Superstore)
- 1 can of Blue Menu No-Salt-Added 6 Bean Medley (from Superstore)
- 1 can of Blue Menu No-Salt-Added diced tomatoes (from Superstore)
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 cup medium salsa

Brown turkey in a large pot over medium heat. Once browned, remove turkey and set aside. In the same pot, saute onion, red pepper and garlic until onion are transluscent. Add the turkey back to the pot. Add the chicken broth, can of beans, diced tomatoes, corn and salsa. Stir to combine. Add taco seasoning, paprika, and chili flakes. Simmer on low for 20ish minutes.

Top with a dollop of sour cream, chopped green onion and shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

Now, this is usually where the recipe says how many servings it makes. I’m wary to say because if you’ve got big eaters coming for supper, it might only serve 6. But if you’re serving something else with it, like salad and buns, you could probably feed 8-10. Since the meal is so inexpensive (the ground turkey is the most expensive part and even then it’s usually less than 11$/kg), if you’re serving it for more than 6 people, I would recommend doubling it. Worst case: you have just enough. Best case: you have leftovers that you can freeze!

The first time I made this, I added chopped yams. I like it both ways, so feel free to add some yams in there! If you do, you might want to increase the simmer time to make sure the yams are cooked all the way through.

Now I haven’t made this without turkey, but I’m assuming you could easily replace the ground turkey with the veggie-friendly equivalent. It might up the cost of the meal but I can’t imagine it would be that much more expensive. Brian and I are hosting a veggie friend of ours for dinner on Saturday. Perhaps I should test this stoup out on her using my suggestion!

With autumn fast approaching us here in Edmonton, this stoup will be finding its way onto our menu board at least bi-weekly. Since this stoup freezes so well, you can portion out the leftovers into smaller containers and have quick lunches for those chilly autumn days! I know we will be!

Good evening everyone and welcome! As the MOB it is my privilege to welcome Brian to our family….which seems a little strange because I’ve thought of him and his family as part of our family for quite a while now! Once we all started choosing to spending holidays together in my books that makes us a family and once we became Facebook friends well that sealed the deal! Never the less, it is my pleasure to officially welcome Brian to our family!!

To Brian’s family I would like to thank you for inviting both Erin & I into your family! Karen, Dave and their family made me feel welcome from the first time I met them! Whether we are discussing one of the many versions of Brerin’s wedding plans (and there have been many, many versions), world events, home improvements & the cool tools we can justify buying to complete them, we have laughed and enjoyed each others company, thank you again for including us in your family!

And now I would like to talk a little bit about the circumstances that cause me to be standing in front of you today…I apologize in advance if I switch to just reading this, but throughout the writing process I couldn’t create a version that said what I need to say and didn’t make me cry…but I will try to push through it!

When Erin was 10 years old, our family was faced with a terrible truth, my only sister, Erin & Jason’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer…at the beginning there was hope as she took on the challenge of rigorous treatment. It was a difficult journey, my sister and I spent many hours at the Cross Cancer Institute, together we went to every doctor’s appointment, every chemo treatment and then through the horrors of radiation, always with the thought that we were a strong team and we were going to beat this terrible disease! During all those hours together we had many, conversations sharing things that only sisters can…we found solace in each others strength and it was amazing. We wiled away the hours talking about the triumphs we had enjoyed and the failures we had suffered in our lives and how, given the opportunity, the changes we would make if only we could go back in time! It was a cool fall day in 1994 as my sister & I sat listening to the prognosis that neither of us wanted to believe and wanted even less to hear spoken out loud. My sister, Erin & Jason mother was not destined to be a cancer survivor. Through the hugs and tears we made out pact…that I would take her place and serve as replacement mom to her baby girl, provide Erin a good home, an education but above all else love her, keep her safe and make her happy!

And so our newly created family sets off…the road we traveled was sometimes difficult, but we persevered and somehow we survived! I am happy to say that today my relationship with Erin is stronger than it has ever been. I believe that all of our life experiences help shape us into the people we are destined to become, so even if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t change one second of our time together!

So today I fulfill the most important promise I have ever made…to see Erin grow up into a fantastic adult!! I know that your mom would be so proud of you Erin because I know that I am more proud of you than words can adequately describe! You are the best, I love you with all my heart and it has been an incredible honour to fulfill my promise and be your 2nd mom…you are not only my family and my number 1 Facebook friend, you are my BFF today and forever!!

Thank you!

Isn’t that beautiful?! Months later it still makes me smile and cry, in the best way possible!

My lack of style has meant that I have absolutely zero way of organizing the few necklaces and earrings that I do own. Most of the time I would shove them into a drawer or my purse or leave them on my nightstand. Leaving them on my nightstand meant that little kitty paws would snatch the shiny objects and they would disappear into the depths underneath the bed where Mango would play with them all night. So in the interest of trying to treat my necklaces better so that I can find them easier, I came up with a creative way to organize my jewelry while not spending a lot of cash! Organizing on the cheap? My two favourite things! (After Doritos and Glee, that is.)

My supplies:

1. Two 16×20 canvases that are about ³/₄” deep. I got mine at Michaels in a 2 pack on sale
2. Roll of white wrapping paper
3. Cork
4. Hinges
5. Small magnets, nothing fancy like Rare Earth magnets
6. Paint and paintbrushes (1″ foam and a tiny detailing paintbrush)
7. Glue (my photo shows superglue but I really used my hotglue gun)
8. Scissors
9. Exacto knife and cutting board
10. Stencil

Now the steps!

1. 

   Carefully cut out your stencil. If your stencil has sections where there’ll be painted parts inside of a hole, make sure to leave a bridge, so your stencil is all in one piece. You can fill in these lines later. Set stencil aside

2. 
   Wrap your canvases in the paper, giving them neat edges. NOTE: The reason I wrapped my canvases in paper is because they were damaged. I’d had them for years and they had two small tears in them that I couldn’t fix. If you can, I’d recommend painting the stencil right onto the canvas.
3. 
   Position your stencil onto the canvas and either tape the stencil to the canvas or use weighted objects (like I did) to hold it in place.
4. 
   Grab your paint and foam brush and start stenciling in. Use a light amount of paint and dab it on evenly. I used acrylic craft paint that I had kickin’ around.
5. 
   When you’re finished stenciling, peel back the stencil so you don’t smudge. You’ll notice that there are lines missing in my design. That’s where I had bridged the stencil so the middle pieces would be attached.
6. 
   Grab your fine/small paintbrush and start filling in the lines using short even strokes.
7. 
   If needed, cut your cork to size. I bought 4 packs of 6 squares of corks from Dollarama and they had curved edges. I used a ruler and eyeballed it so the curved edges were even and then sliced ‘em off! NOTE: I tucked my cork under the frame of the canvas, so I only cut the curves off the visible edges.
8. 
   Line up your cork pieces in one row so they’re as even as possible. Glue them down with hot glue. Do the same for the opposite row. Start filling in the rows in between by cutting the cork and gluing it down until the whole board is covered.
9. 
   Now grab your hinges. When I couldn’t find hinges at Dollarama, Brian reminded me that he’d bought a wood treasure chest from there and I could take the hinges from that. Problem solved!

   Put your canvases on the floor so the insides are facing up. Make sure you position the frames so the door opens in the right direction. IE: if you want the door to open from the left, the canvas with the cork should be on the left and the hinges will attach to the right side of the corked frame and the left side of the uncorked frame. And vice versa if you want the door to open from the right.

   

   
   Line up your hinges and poke pilot holes. I used a thumbtack since my hinge was super small. If you used a bigger hinge, you should probably use an awl. NOTE: a bigger hinge usually requires bigger screws. Make sure the screws aren’t too long for your canvas frames. Screw in your hinges.

10. 
    Attach your frame to the wall. Now there are a few different ways to do this. You could attach a picture hanging wire at the back and hang it from that. You could get a couple of small D hooks and hang it from those. Or you could do what I did and that was to nail the sucker to the wall in the four corners! I went into the corners where the cork is but if your nails are long enough, you could go right through the frame. Entirely up to you.
11. 
    Now this is the point where I said to Brian, “Oh crap! How is going to stay closed?” And upon seeing the look of laughter on his face, I said, “For some reason I thought gravity would help me out there.” Well! Luckily I had some magnets kicking around. So we grabbed two and hot glued one to each frame to hold the frames closed. Crisis averted! And as a bonus, they make the tiniest *click* noise, so I can hear that it’s closed properly. NOTE: I wouldn’t use Rare Earth magnets or anything super strong for this. You don’t want to have to yank on the door in order to open it! I got my pack of magnets for Dollarama and they’re just strong enough to hold the lightweight door closed.
12. 
    As a sewer, I have amassed a huge amount of dressmaker pins. To the point where I have two pincushions and they’re overflowing. So I thought what better way to use some of those pins up, than by sticking them into the cork to hang my jewelry off of? I stuck the pins in at a slight angle and then hung all the shiny objects on them! None of my necklaces are super heavy but if you have some that are, you might want to use two pins or even dab a bit of hot glue where the pin meets the cork, to secure it in there.

Step back and admire your handiwork! Once all your baubles are hung safely inside, you just flip the front part closed and it looks like a cool piece of artwork on your wall!

The dollars and cents:

1. Canvas frames – 0$ (I already had these on hand from years ago. I got mine at Michaels for something like 8.99$ on sale for a 2-pack. If they’re not on sale, use a 40% off coupon!)
2. Roll of white wrapping paper – 0$ (already on hand but I bought it at Dollarama)
3. Cork – 4$ (4 packages of 6 squares from Dollarama)
4. Hinges – 0$ (already had the chest on hand but these are usually anywhere from 1-3$ from Dollarama or Home Depot)
5. Small magnets – 0$ (already on hand but I did get mine at Dollarama)
6. Paint and paintbrushes – 0$ (already on hand, but Dollarama sells paint and brushes for a buck a piece)
7. Hot glue – 0$ (alread on hand)
8. Stencil – 0$ (I printed it at home on my printer)
9. Dressmaker pins – 0$ (already on hand)
10. Total cost: 4.20$ (with tax)

I’ve never looked for them there, but I’m sure you can also find dressmaker pins at Dollarama. If not, any store with a fabric section should carry them for a couple of bucks. You could use pushpins but make sure they aren’t too long for your cork. My cork was fairly thin so the dressmaker pins being pushed in at an angle worked out well.

So there you have it! That’s how my jewelry went from being cat toys to having its own secret spot on the wall of our bedroom. And for less than a fiver! Can’t go wrong with that.

For brunch we decided to make french toast, Chef John style. Now for anyone who has never heard of Chef John, lemme say this: the man is AMAZING. Like so amazing that I worship the kitchen he cooks in. Heck, I even worship the utensils he cooks with. He makes me laugh while inspiring me to improve my culinary skills and I am forever rewatching his video recipes and quoting his lines. One of my favourites is during the chicken parmesan video where he pours tomato sauce straight from the jar into the casserole dish. He says you’ll need two cups of sauce and no, he didn’t use a measuring cup because why would he want to dirty an extra dish? The jar has three cups and he poured in two-thirds. I laugh every single time. Without fail.

Anyway, enough fangirling. You should check him out ASAP and I can guarantee his recipes will change your life (but not necessarily your waistline).

And just so you can drool over the french toast Brian made on Monday morning, here is a photo of the deliciousness! We used Mexican vanilla a coworker of Brian’s brought back from Mexico, as well as freshly shaved cinnamon. I like to think those two ingredients made a bit of difference in this dish.

But I digress. A few people have asked us about our meal planning system so I thought I would write a post about it. It seems a little exhaustive but I promise you it’s really simple.

First I should explain the budget. We have a weekly food budget of 125$. This doesn’t cover things like laundry detergent and garbage bags (or plastic wrap, freezer bags, etc). It also doesn’t cover meals out. (The things not covered in the food budget have their own weekly budgets but I’ll explain that another time.)

Second, we shop weekly. For us, we’ve found that this helps us reduce waste and save space. Our condo isn’t small but it does lack storage, so buying in bulk isn’t always a great option for us. We’re the type of people who, if we buy a lot of something, will tend to forget that it’s in the freezer (usually buried at the bottom) until it’s so freezer burnt that we can’t eat it. Which doesn’t save us any money at all. We’ve found the best way to get the most bang for our grocery buck is to make a meal plan for the week and buy what we need for those meals. Every now and then we’ll buy a bulk pack of chicken or pork tenderloin or steaks and put them in the freezer. It’s become part of my routine to check the freezer every couple of weeks and try to use what we’ve got in there.

Third, we figure out what we want to eat that week. This is the funnest part for me because I like planning and I like experimenting with new recipes! Now I wish I was exaggerating but our meal planning conversations often go a little something like this:

E: Hey babe, what do you want for supper this week?
B: Hmm, I dunno…
E: Well give me an ingredient. Like…chicken. Or beef. Or pasta.
B: Pasta’s good.
E: Okay, what else?
B: I don’t really know sweetheart. Can we decide later? (Goes back to video game)

Since I check the mail everyday, I read the flyers and I check to see what meats are on sale. Then I use my favourite spots on the internets to check for recipes, if I don’t already have something in mind. I’ll open a new document on my computer and enter in the day (ie: Monday) and the recipe (ie: Mexican Taco Stew) and then list the ingredients. When all the days and meals and respective ingredients are listed, I enter all the ingredients into the iPhone app I downloaded call “ShopListFree”. It organizes all the ingredients into categories such as “Dairy”, “Meat & Fish”, “Tinned Food”, “Fruits & Veg”, “Drinks”, “Frozen Food”, “Baked Goods” and “Candies”. I wish it would accommodate adding our own categories (I would like one for “Beans” and one for “Soups”) but since the app was free, I just make do with “Tinned Food”. When B & I shop, we stick to the outer limits of the grocery store anyway, only straying into the center aisles for things like canned beans, canned diced tomatoes and chicken stock.

Once the shopping list is entered, we grab our reusable shopping bags (normally about 4) and head out! The two places we hit are H&W Produce and Superstore. H&W sells wholesale veggies from local farms at inexpensive prices and always has a great selection. Superstore also has great sales on meats, fish and we love their Blue Menu canned foods and stocks. The Blue Menu selections have no salt for the veggies and under 100mg of sodium per cup for the stock. For healthy heart conscious people like us, it’s perfect! And even better, the Blue Menu selections are often cheaper than their Big Name Brand counterparts which have higher amounts of sodium!

While we’re shopping, we each have a phone (though Brian’s been known to have mine and his so I can be hands-free) and a role. At H&W, Brian mans the shopping list from my phone, while I bag the veggies. (He also carries the basket.) At Superstore, I man the shopping list from my phone, while Brian keeps track on the calculator. (He also carries the basket or pushes the cart.)

When we get home, we figure out which meats have to go in the freezer (for later in the week) and which can stay in the fridge. Veggies are then put in the crisper (after I take my weekly H&W Produce picture). Once groceries are put away, I write the meals for the week on our menu board, which hangs on one side of the pillar in our kitchen. (A tutorial for that will be coming soon!)

Meal planning has helped stop us from asking, “What should we make for supper?” or “What do you want?” “I don’t know, what do you want?”. I’m usually first to get home (since my commute is shorter), thus cooking supper mostly falls on me. But I don’t mind because I put on a tv show in the background (or Gossip Girl on my laptop sitting on the counter) and by the time Brian comes home supper is ready and we can just enjoy the evening.

Meal planning has also stopped us from wasting food. Two years ago we did some calculations and realized we were spending upwards of 1200$/mo on groceries! We would clean out the fridge once every couple of weeks and would end up throwing tons away. It was terrible. So we changed our ways and now we waste next to nothing.

Things to note:

1. When we choose meals, we pick ones that will provide at least one meal as leftovers for Brian’s lunch the next day. My lunches are easier to make, so it makes more sense for him to have the leftovers. Sometimes though we end up with more than two meals for leftovers. When this happens, we freeze the extra meals in aluminum containers from Dollarama (3 for 1$!). They have a paper lid so we write what’s inside, plus the date. They end up becoming a lunch for Brian when no leftovers are to be found, or a supper for me when Brian’s not home and I don’t feel like eating eggs.
2. This system will really only work if everyone’s involved. Both partners (kids can be included too!) have to agree on the meals and agree to eat what you’ve planned for that night. Not everyone needs to be on a budget like we are, but having a set limit for the shop will help curb impulse buys and buying more than you need, which will cut down on waste. If you’re the type who buys in bulk (like at Costco), make sure to check your freezer every week to see what you’ve got on the shelves and incorporate it into your menu for that week. Otherwise it’s just wasted moola.
3. If you’re busy bees on the weekend, don’t meal plan for that day. You’ll often see our weekly menu board blank on Saturday & Sunday. It’s because we find it more hectic to decide what to eat on a weeknight rather than on a weekend when we’re more relaxed and have more time to prep and cook. Plus every now and then, we do splurge and enjoy a dinner out!

For us meal planning has become a way of life. Some couples read the Sunday paper together; we sit in our office with tea and toast and figure out whether we want to try something new or go with an old standby for the week. We get to spend some time together doing something we both love while saving time and money and to us that just makes cents.

For Brian’s birthday last November, I gave him two bowls I’d made from records. For awhile they sat on our kitchen counter and it became a drop zone for us to place our keys. But then as time went on, the bowls became a drop zone for more than just keys. Pretty soon loose change, lightbulbs, cat treats, rubber bands and a myriad of other things collected in the bowls. Yet we still dropped our keys in there! So every morning, the hunt was on to dig into the bowls for our keys. I finally got tired of it and decided to come up with a better solution.

Enter our new key hooks!

These babies have saved our lives! And for a twoonie to boot! I don’t have any during pics for this how-to but the steps are pretty simple.

What you’ll need:

• 
  These picture frames from IKEA (or another wood picture frame)
• 
  As many screw hooks as you have keys for each person. For instance, B & I each have two sets of keys and we have two cats so we bought 6 hooks. We got ours at Dollarama (a pack of 6 white hooks was 1$) but you can also find packs of these hooks at any hardware store.
• Paint (spray or acrylic) and a brush (if necessary)
• Nails

Something extra you could pick up (we didn’t) would be polyurethane (brush or spray on).

To assemble:

1. Print the pictures you want to use in the size for your frame.
2. Paint your frames. You might have to do a couple coats. I did two coats of white acrylic paint and left it at that.
3. Mark on the frames with a pencil where you want your key hooks to be. I left 2.5″ from each end and 2″ between each hook. I eyeballed it so that they were screwed in a bit closer to the edge of the frame. (You don’t want it to come through the back of the frame where the glass sits.)
4. Screw each hook into the frame at the position you marked. Be careful so the frame doesn’t split. Mine split a tiny bit but because it was at the back, I didn’t worry too much about it.
5. Put the pics into the frames.
6. Measure the space where you are going to hang the frames. Once the frame is in position, put two nails into the two upper corners of the frame. *Note: The IKEA RAM frames have a hole in the center of the back where you can hang it on a nail. We originally did that but because we each have two sets of keys, if we took one set off, the frame would lean to one side.
7. Hang your keys on the frame and admire your awesome work!

The dollars and cents:

1. IKEA RAM frames – 0$ (we already owned ours but they’re 1.99$/3 pack!)
2. Screw hooks – 1$
3. Paint & brush – already owned
4. Nails – already had on hand
5. Pics – 0.60$
   

6. Total Cost: 2$ (roughly with tax)

If you don’t already own picture frames, paint, a brush or nails and went to IKEA and Dollarama, a three frame project like ours would only run you 7$!

One thing I love about the frames is that we can easily pull the frame off the wall, replace the picture with a different one and slide it back into place. And at 0.19$ for a 4×6 from Wal-Mart, we can swap them out whenever we like! I forsee us taking pictures in Halloween costumes so we can have those pics up for October. And dressing up in reindeer sweaters for December.

Here’s a pic to show the wall in relation to the rest of the space. We’re planning to hang something above the key hooks, so stayed tuned to see what we end up putting there!

Images courtesy of IKEA & Home Hardware.

For now though, I’ll just do a quick post to let everyone know that wedding photos have been posted to our gallery. There’s a couple of ways to check ‘em out. The first is to view the slideshow we put together and the second is to just check out each gallery individually. To check out the photos, click the “Photos” link at the top of the page and then go to “Wedding Photos”.

We’re also in the process of designing our photobooks! We haven’t forgotten about them or anyone we promised them to.

And it goes without saying but if anyone would like copies of the pro photos, send us a quick note from the Contact page (or to one of our personal emails) and we’ll let you know how to get them!

xo,
Brian + Erin

Brian and I will write posts for thank you’s and posts on our thoughts/feelings leading up to the day and about the day itself but for now, I will leave you with the link to our fabulous photographer Erik’s blog where he’s posted some teaser pictures from the wedding because I’m sure everyone’s dying to see them!

http://www.erikhornungphotography.com/wordpress/index.php/2010/03/14/erin-brian-edmonton-weddings/

As I’m sure everyone knows, Deb (the Mother of the Bride), is not my biological mother. She’s my mother’s sister. My biological mother passed away from breast cancer in 1994.

As our way of honouring her, and the other breast cancer survivors that we know, we have decided to participate in the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation’s Kiss For A Cure campaign!

What does this mean? This means that there will not be any clinking of the glasses to have us kiss. Instead, we will be accepting donations to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation’s. Simply place your donation into the gift box and ring the bell (or other noisemaker as we’re not sure if we have a bell or not yet) and we’ll smooch it up!

Any donation amount is appreciated. Donate 1$, 5$ or if you’re feeling generous, 10$! If you would like a tax receipt, we’ll have donation cards on the guest book table.

Thank you to everyone for helping and supporting us in this worthy cause.