bear & lion

here's a peek into the highs and woes of our life

cod chowder soup recipe

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i’ve always loved a good fish soup. i grew up in finland where fish is a huge staple in the diet and is cooked in a large variety of ways.


INGREDIENTS:

approx. 1 lb fresh cod (frozen is ok, fresh tastes better)
2tbsp butter
4-6 yukon potatoes
1 yellow onion
1 small red pepper
2 stalks of celery
2 carrots
2-3 tbsp fresh dill
3 tbsp flour
4 cups (whole)* milk
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
(1 cup cream)*

* i use whole milk, so i skip the cream. if you’re using skim, you may want to add the cream.



INSTRUCTIONS:
1. bring 4 cups of water to boil in a skillet. cube, cut cod into bite size pieces. place into skillet, cover and simmer for approx. 5-7 minutes or until cod is flaky. remove from water with a slotted spoon or spatula, place on plate and set aside.

2. melt butter in a large pot; add diced potatoes, onion, bell pepper, carrot and celery. stir often. stir in flour and slowly add the milk. add, salt, black pepper and mustard. reduce heat to ensure the milk will not burn, simmer for about 20 minutes or until the veggies are tender. watch the milk carefully!

3. add cod, dill and cream. stir in gently. heat thoroughly.


this soup is well worth all of the chopping and prep work. i get all the dicing done during lion’s nap and then once it’s time to make dinner it’s all ready to go. i try to do prep stuff often before hand, because i never know what kind of a mood bear will be in after school. and, sometimes it’s nice to be able to linger at the playground or park after school.


my kids love soup and cod chowder is not any different. 
on this night we had a side of fresh veggies, swiss cheese or brie cheese, which is bear’s favourite on some finnish rye crackers. delicious!



xo, mama lola

bear’s own money

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MONEY, MONEY, MONEY by: ABBA

i hope when my my bear is all grown he doesn’t sing about hoping to meet a rich man, marrying him so that he will feel financially secure.
anyhow, enjoy the grooves. I especially love the green eye shadow!

$ $ $ $ $

the other week we were at the toy store, when bear asked me to buy him this silly toy. he doesn’t typically ask for things when we’re out, but since it was only a few days from his birthday party there was a smell of gifts wafting in the air. We chatted and I told bear that his dad and I had decided that instead of just buying him things, he should start to earn his own money, then he could decide for himself when and how he wanted to spend his money. I want him to grow up with a healthy attitude towards money and have the knowledge to invest it, whether it be forex apps uk, or other investment methods.

Well, that was a tricky conversation to have. Money is complicated stuff, as we as adults know all too well, earning money can also be quite hard if you don’t check out websites like Money Sack for different ways to earn money. I tried to explain that dear hubby works hard to earn money, so that we can buy things like food, clothes, a house, gas for the car… it was kinda flying over his head, but I knew he was thinking about it because every so often he would ask something like “do windows cost money?”, “what about furniture?”, “or trees?”

so, together we decided that we would come up with three chores that if he completed i would pay him. but, it also meant that he would have to continue to contribute to our household, as a member of the family, by doing things when asked. things like helping set the table, clearing his used dishes after meals, tidying up toys or crafts, putting his dirty laundry directly into the hamper, and so on.

we’ve only come up with two chores that if done, we’ll pay him and they are, if he makes his bed in the morning I pay him 25 cents. if he unloads the cutlery basket from the dishwasher I pay him 25 cents. I have offered to pay him more for bigger special, projects like outside jobs in the warmer months. he seems pretty keen. we’ll see how much those chores will earn him when the day comes.



i really want him to learn what it feels like to earn money, save money, spend money and how all of those habits are so closely interconnected. when he gets older, I’ll show him websites like Stocktrades and show him how he can make money from that, but for now I’ll just keep it to chores! our north american, first world society has a very illogical, irresponsible relationship with money. we are private about it when i think we should be open, we spend it as though it grows on trees and we are ignorant about the big picture of our financial lives. people should be able to learn all there is to know about money. where it comes from, how you can save it, and how these best investment apps can come in useful if you wish to take a gamble in the hopes that you can earn more. just think of all the things it can go on if you invest well? and this should be taught to your children as soon as they are old enough to understand the fundamentals of money. so maybe, just maybe by starting early with small amounts and little responsibility, he will learn to connect all those financial dots in his life.

$ $ $ $ $


xo, mama lola

lemon yellow.

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with spring looming on the horizon, but at a distance still, i am craving light, air, open windows and sips of lemonade. well, maybe not quite like that, but you get the idea. i am yearning warmth and bright and sun, and i figure the best way to include those in my life is through food.

so, i pinned my way through pinterest and found a handful of delectable lemon flavoured foods. there’s even a pizza included in the mix! 

 

zesty sources:
1. cream cheese lemon squares, from notions & notations of a novice cook
2. lemon triffe, from epicurean mom
3. lemon blueberry scones, from riches to rags by dori
4. meyer lemon pizza, from how sweet it is
5. fresh lemons in a pot, from pinterest
6.lemon cheesecake from the blender by: william sonoma
 

happy monday!
xo, mama lola

family long weekend!

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last weekend we had a beautiful long weekend up at the cottage with good friends. there was heaps of snow, super cold temperatures dipping down to close to -30c at night and warming up to about -15c during the day, and a lack of running water! that meant we got to use an out house, which with those temps was kinda cold on the tushie! but, the kids were brave and did it; it was us adults who needed more encouragement! for drinking we bring big jugs of water from home and for dishes we melt snow, but because there is electricity it’s not as bad or difficult as some may think. and there is a beautiful fire for cozies and warmth! 
it’s a super fun adventure!

we tobogganed for hours, went for a long walk up the road, the kids played all sorts of games, we ate tons of yummy food and us adults had a roaring good time after the kids went to sleep!

i took a gazillion pics, so instead of posting them all i made this wee movie. 

ENJOY! CELEBRATE!

and, as usual we were the last family to leave and as usual we got stuck. this time, it wasn’t slippery conditions, but a dead car battery. but, CAA arrived quickly and we were on the road after lunch!

can’t wait to do it all again!

xo, mama lola

versatile blogger award

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Versatile Blogger Award
a big shout out to AKL at live.lafe.love. for naming me a versatile blogger and awarding this to me.


the rules for the Versatile Blogger:

  1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and include a link to their site.
  2. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your blog post.
  3. Nominate 7 fellow bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly and include a link to their site.
  4. Let them know you have nominated them
  5. Share 7 random facts about you
seven random facts about me:

1. i love to dance and busta move!
2. i am very sappy.
3. i have not read any harry potter books, and i don’t intend to.
4. i wear my heart on my sleeve.
5. i love to blog.
6. my nails are weak and break easily.
7. blue and turquoise are my favourite colours.

seven, awesome VERSITILE BLOGGERS include:
* puh-lease go and spread some love to these bloggers!

1. marcy at life is good
2. sonia at she be fierce
4. babe chilla at chill mama chill
6. shireen at sex geek: the blog
7. marcie at kubik square


HAPPY SATURDAY PEEPS!
xo, mama lola

nurturing my marriage.

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this is a tough post to write, it feels much more personal than all of the ones i have shared here about mothering or even the ones about my brain tumour. i suppose, because my tumour and my mothering are really about me. my marriage is about me AND dear hubby.

so, here goes…

even as a little girl i knew i would be married one day. when i met dear hubby over ten years ago at treeplanting, up in the woods of northern ontario, i knew we would be married one day. there was something about him. something about the way that we clicked and felt real, instead of just right. for me, the biggest attraction was the fact that dear hubby never ever pretended to be someone he was not. and to this day, he doesn’t lie or exaggerate about who he is.

if you’ve been reading here regularly, you’ve become quite familiar with the various struggles that life has thrown our way in the past few years. our struggles aren’t worse than anyone elses, but they have been quite overwhelming and exhausting for us, as they placed tremendous pressure on our marriage. it is so easy to find excuses not to do something, especially when that something is emotionally demanding and not just something you can just run to the grocery store and pick up. i am sad to admit that our relationship has borne the brunt of our mutual neglect. it has been overshadowed by all the other things that appeared more pressing at the time. and to some degree, yes babies in incubators and tumours on pituitary glands do need immediate attention, but the truth is that we were too caught up in everything else to acknowledge what was happening to us. our marriage. and, to ourselves. i’ve heard horror stories of couples growing apart over such awful circumstances and they simply fall out of love and end up filing for a divorce. i get it. these circumstances are not the easiest to live through, let alone love through, but i noticed what was happening soon enough to do something about it.

now, as the kids are getting older and gaining incredible independence, it is easier to step away and focus on each other. we have come to a shocking realization that we have let our relationship go. we didn’t have the energy or the presence of mind to include our marriage on the to do list so, for a few years we just coasted; surviving through our family’s health crisis’ and other major stressors, by ignoring the very thing that had brought us together in the first place.
our love.

when dear hubby and i met we were young and foolish and cute and naive. now, we have lost some of the naivete, are not nearly as foolish or young for that matter. and the cute, well, it’s more wrinkly and jaded. that being said, the change in how we perceive the world, live in it and thrive in it, is not a bad thing. it’s time doing what time does. it moves. and we’re being moved along with it.

and today i am happy share that we are finding a new momentum. we are slowly working our way out of denial and starting to put real efforts into rebuilding some of the broken, weakened areas of our relationship. of course, couples therapy can be considered, and it’s something we have spoken about. but i feel like, for now, we are making some progress. together we are gaining understanding which areas need extra attention and why. it is so easy to blame the other person in a partnership for your own pain, but in reality it is up to you to hold yourself accountable for your own contributions, before any real change or growth can happen. and the thing that i have learned recently, it’s not about changing yourself or them. it’s about taking control and changing your own bad habits. whether it’s negative thought patterns, those nasty lines you repeat during each fight or the sarcastic stabs you mumble under your breath. We’re not at the point of needing to get in touch with lawyers in Jonesboro AR to discuss divorce yet (and I hope we never will be) but that doesn’t mean that we don’t sometimes let our differences come out in the open in a fiery way. For some of our friends, divorce has been the answer in relationships that have turned toxic and they felt it healthy to go their own separate ways, but we hope by discussing our differences and concerns that we can avoid this.

it’s a start, right?

dear hubby and i quietly celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary on the 17th of february at the cottage with friends and snow!

to share our love, here is probably the worst picture of us taken. the sun was so blinding, hence the bizarre distorted faces! love doesn’t always look that sexy! ha!


xo, mama lola

and the liebster award goes to…

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and, the winner is… ME!!!!
wooohoooooo!!!

I've Been Awarded a Liebster

The Liebster Award is given to a new or up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. The award is then passed along to other bloggers in the same category to help spread the word and support one another. 


i was awarded this award by the lovely and hilarious kari, at a gracefull life. a big thanks to her and go read about her life over at her blog.


the rules:

1. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.
2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.
3. Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them in your post.
4. Go to their page and tell them about the award.
5. No tag backs.


11 random facts about me:

1. i have an extra bone in my arch of each foot. they are each the size of a pea. 
2. i love winter.
3. i am a book snob.
4. i got my driver’s license 4 years ago. (i was just 30.)
5. i am bilingual in english and finnish.
6. i am sarcastic
7. i am a capricorn.
8. i drink coffee like a 16 year old girl. cream and sugar, yes please!
9. i try to support local  everything. sometimes it’s tricky, sometimes it’s easy!
10. i am halfway through my women’s studies degree. thinking about returning to uni in the fall.
11. i enjoy being creative.


kari’s questions for me:

1. Fave website: bear & lion, and the weather network. 
2. Fave song: “promise” tracy chapman
3. Fave ice cream flavour: hagen daaz, rocky road.
4. Fave pizza topping: mushrooms
5. Fave blogger: i have a long list of faves; one for each mood, food craving and craft project!
6. Fave Twitter friend: this is too tough…
7. Fave blogging subject: how i suck as a mama! haha! my search for my best myself.
8. Fave holiday: x-mas
9. Fave concert you have ever been to: definitely the beastie boys!!!
10. Fave city: helsinki. overflowing with culture, art, good food, fun times and it’s home.
11. Fave restaurant: gusto, the albion and the greenroom. all in my current hometown.


my questions for my recipients and i am following kari’s idea of one word answers! quick n’ easy! let’s play!

1. fave flower:
2. fave colour: 
3. fave season:
4. if you could have dinner with anyone dead, who would it be:
5. fave vacation destination:
6. how many hours do you sleep a night:
7. how many hours do you spend blogging a day:
8. fave chore:
9. which do you prefer to drive, standard or automatic:
10. fave book:
11. least fave kinda music:


my 11 liebster award recipients are:
(puh-lease go check out these blogs, the point of these awards is to introduce new, interesting blogs to others!)

this list is compromised of bloggers who have been friendly on twitter, come my blog and left comments or advice, and or blogs i generally like to read and follow.

1. lillian at it’s a dome life
2. jen at life on the SONnyside
3. kelly at de bie hive
4. dani at suburbia interrupted
5. mama at live. lafe. love.
6.  a mama at giggles & screams
7. sarah at sadder but wiser girl
8. samantha at this heart of mine
9. kelly at kelly naturally
10. michelle at michelle mossey
11. mandi at all my happy endings

and done. phew.
that was a lot of wok, but well worth it!

xo, mama lola

bear’s 5th birthday :: the chirp cake

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my son is very particular about his birthday cakes. he chooses and plans what he wants and then DH and i are in charge of making these wishes come into fruition. luckily for us, bear’s wishes are not outrageous or complicated. in fact, they’re adorably simple. for his third birthday he wanted a car cake. for his fourth birthday, he wanted a triangle cake.

and, this year for his 5th birthday he wanted a chirp cake, as in chirp the wee yellow bird from chirp magazine.

this recipe is directly from the joy of cooking. any modifications we made are marked with an asterisk.
INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt

2/3 vegetable oil
3 large eggs *we used boxed egg substitute
1 1/2 cups shredded carrot
1 cup chopped walnuts *DH has a srious walnut allergy, so we use sunflower seeds instead
1 cup golden raisins
(1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple)this is optional and we never include the pineapple


INSTRUCTIONS:

1. preheat oven to 350F, grease and flour you pan.
2. whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. whisk together the wet ingredients in a bowl, then with a rubber spatula, stir into the flour mixture until just combined.
4. stir in the rest of the ingredients.
5. scrape batter into your pan, ensuring it has spread evenly. 
6. baking time depends on your pan size/ dimensions. we used a 9 inch round cake pan and the cake baked for about 35 minutes.
7. let cool before applying icing, if so desired.


each month the magazine is complied together with a theme. one month it was BIRTHDAYS and there was a recipe for a chirp cake. bear saw it and immediately came running to me excitedly saying that that was the cake he wanted. we tweaked it a little; instead of donuts for eyes we used a puddle of icing and plopped blueberries for the pupils. we used dried pear slices for the beak. and the inside was yummy, egg free carrot cake. delish!!!


the kid was so happy, delighted and proud. he and lion actually worked hard with dear hubby with the mixing of all of those ingredients. i love that the kids are so eager to be involved!

xo, mama lola

this moment.

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as inspired by souleMama; one photo from our week, no words, only an image to sum up our time as a family. one that captures a moment in time and is a visual reminder of where we were at this moment.  feel free to leave a link from your moment this week.




xo, mama lola
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