Is anything in life ever REALLY free?

The saying goes "the best things in life are free".  Really?

Love is NOT free.  It costs effort, patience, and unconditional understanding.  Sometimes more, i.e. money, but I'll leave that for my gold digger post.  Haven't we all been there?  lol

NOTHING in life is free.  Depending who you are getting this "Freebie" from, it can cost your soul and your pride.  Now, pride is one of the 7 evils, but sometimes I'd rather travel the rough road starving then ask for help.   Others are willing to ask without even trying to get it themselves.  Have they no shame?

Don't get me wrong.  I get lots of freebies from my family.  When The Husband was in the hospital due to a stroke and my little one was still a newborn, I needed help.  When he was transferred to a different hospital because the one in our neighborhood does not have dialysis capabilities, I needed help.  Free baby sitting so Franklin wouldn't be there by himself.  Free rides to pick up The Husband from the hospital because I couldn't drive down.  Free food because I would forgo food to sleep.

I pay the price of guilt.  I hate that I have to impose on my loved ones time and time again.  I can do it on my own and drag my children into the hospital and hope they will sit for a couple of hours so Daddy won't be alone.  I can do it on my own and not bath so I can fall asleep exhausted.  I can do it and stick my kids in daycare and pay their crazy fees with credit card.  I can do it.

Fortunately, I don't have to.  I am forever indebted to them all andwill pay for the rest of my life with guilt, gratitude, love, appreciation, loyalty, and honour for all their free help.

Super Easy Delicious Spinach Dip

I learned it from my dear friend from high school.  And it's so easy to remember that it's stuck with me all these years.  I get asked to bring this to every family function.  If you forget, I hear it's on the back of Knorr vegetable soup mix packages (although I've never seen it.  maybe only in the states?)  or Google "knorr spinach dip recipe" or the best option, book mark this post!

Ingredients:

• 1 package (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (If you can't find chopped, just chop it yourself after thawed and dry.  or use fresh by blanching it, then chop & use)


• 1 container (16 oz or 2 cups) sour cream


• 1 cup mayonnaise (Hellman's ONLY!)


• 1 package Knorr vegetable recipe soup mix


• 3 green onions, chopped (optional)


• 1 can (8 oz) water chestnuts, drained and chopped (optional, but recommended...gives that extra added crunch)

Directions:

• Combine all ingredients and chill about 2 hours.  (over night is better)

To Serve:

• 2 round loaf of pumpernickel bread (pumpernickel is dark rye bread)

• Hollow out one of the loaves of bread with a knife, cutting the bread you remove into 2 inch chunks for dipping. I have specified 2 loaves of the bread because if you just get 1 there always seems to be dip left over and no bread to use it up. Cut the second loaf of bread into cubes for dipping.

• Place the hollowed out loaf of bread on a serving plate and fill the hollow with the chilled dip. Arrange the cubes of bread around the loaf and use them to dip.

OR

• Serve with cut-up veggies like:


• carrots (I use baby carrots so I don't have to cut)


• celery


• peppers (green,red,orange, whatever!)


• cucumber


• broccoli


• cauliflower

OR

• Plain chips (i.e. Ruffles with ripples.  holds the dip better, but use whatever you want)

NOTE:

• I always put green onions. Lots of them (~5).

• I never put water chestnuts, just because it's not always easy to get.  Still delicious.  And when you serve it with veggies, you get a crunch there anyway.

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What's YOUR take?

Well, I have 38 posts so far and am quite pleased with myself.

I love reading your comments and seeing if I'm crazy or are there 'others' out there.  Sounds like many have their weaknesses and spend money on things they want, but not necessarily need.  A lot are frustrated by whiners and complainers that should talk less and do more.  Deciding where to eat is in this vast multicultural city of ours is no easy feat.  And a few of us over think things so much, we end up standing still.

To share if YOU are a whiner, good partner for marriage, order diet coke, or live life, I've added some polls at the bottom of a few posts.   I've added a category called I'll Tell Ya to easily show which ones you can take part in.  I've only added 8 so far, but as time permits, I'll try to back track and add to old ones, and include in new posts also.

Thanks again for reading!  Now you TELL ME!

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Down $5

Well, the weigh-in did not bring good news to my wallet.  When we started this Biggest Loser competition (read it here), I felt confident that I had an advantage.  But, the fact that he's a guy makes a HUGE difference.  This mofo has lost 9-lbs and he's only been trying for a couple of weeks.  I've tried for 5-weeks and am still at 6-lbs.   I lost  1-lb from last week.  but, it wasn't enough for his 5-lb loss.  FrACk!

He has more work meetings so hopefully The Vendors will be feeding their gratitude to him with fatty deliciousness.  mwhahaha...FTW!

I have decided to add rowing twice a week to my Zumba.  Hopefully, that will help.  I'm slacking on noting my food on myfitnesspal.com, am eating one too many cookies/slice of cake, and skipped Zumba last week since we took The Boy to the Science Centre.

My silver lining is even if I lose another $5, if it motivates me to lose a couple more pounds, then I AM winning.

Reality:  I don't feel like a winner.   I LOST dammit!  grrrrr

Score:

1. Me: +5  Him: -5


2. Me: 0     Him: 0


3. Me: -5    Him: +5

Rainbow Cupcakes

I couldn't be bothered with icing, but white piped would look really cute as clouds :D

recipe is the BEST ever cupcake recipe, from nigella's domestic goddess :>

1. 
   
   
   
   Preheat oven to 200 degrees C
   
   Round up your ingredients
   
   Beat the sugar and butter together, until fluffy and light coloured
   
   


2. 
   
   
   
   Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a little flour each time, until you've added it all.
   
   


3. 
   
   
   
   Ad the vanilla essence, mix
   
   one tbsp milk, mix
   
   one tbsp milk, mix
   
   one tbsp milk, mix
   
   


4. 
   
   
   
   Divide between 6 bowls
   
   Bowl 1- Add half a cap full of red colouring
   
   Bowl 2- Add half a cap full of red and half a cap full of yellow
   
   Bowl 3- Half a cap of yellow
   
   Bowl 4- Half a cap full of green
   
   Bowl 5- Half a cap full of Blue
   
   Bowl 6- Half a cap full of Blue, half a cap full of Red.
   
   Obviously, mix after you've added the colourings
   
   


5. 
   
   
   
   Divide the purple bowl between the 12 cases. smooth to form bottom layer.
   
   Repeat with the other bowls in this order:
   Blue
   Green
   Yellow
   Orange
   Red
   
   Put in the oven for 15-20 mins
   
   skewer to find out if it's ready, if it come out gunky, put it back in the oven! if clean, then pop on a cooling rack
   
   


6. 
   
   
   
   Decorate!!!
   
   go crazy!
   
   

NOTE:  Use a box of White cake mix instead of making the cake from scratch.  Then start from step 4.  Homemade is always tastier, but the reality is, not everyone is a baker, has all the ingredients, or prefers the convenience of just having to add oil and egg to a prepackaged mix.

I didn't follow the colour order as per the recipe.  I just put whatever colour The Boy wanted to put next.  Although, when I do it again, I won't finish with green on top.  Got feedback that it looked like my cupcakes had moldy fungus!  LOL

Who's going to win $5 this week?

I think I was mentally blocking out that I lost at the second weigh in.

So far, it's been like this:

1. I win $5!  I lost 7-lbs.  Brother lost 2-lbs.


2. I gave his $5 back (sounds better than saying I lost).  I gained 1-lbs.  Brother lost 2-lbs.  It was the Jamaican Food! (read about it here) note:  when I weighed myself the next morning, I 'lost' that 1-lb.


3. Who will take it this week??

Now, I had a huge Chinese New Year feast yesterday.   I had Harvey's for lunch the other day.  Only had a burger (took off the bottom bun!), nibbled a bit on The Husband's poutine, and drank water.   It's not looking good.  My weight hasn't changed!  Happy that I haven't gained, but that's not good enough for a win.

I'm just going to have to Zumba my a$$ off, maybe hit the rowing machine for some extra calorie inferno time, and keep the garbage out of my mouth.

What's your order?

Is it unreasonable to ask that the chef get your order right? You ask me how I'd like my food. I tell you. Now, as I wait for my food, my hunger pain sends expectations to my brain setting up for a certain food flavour. For example, if you order your steak medium done and they bring you medium rare, wouldn't you send it back? Yeah, I could still eat it, but it will be a little disappointing. Right? I don't mind a little pink in my steak, but not bloody.

Now, take this same experience with someone who asks you what you want for breakfast at home. You ask me how I'd like my pancakes (I make my own mix with whole wheat flour. See Homemade Pancake Mix post). I tell you I want blueberry pancakes. Now, as I wait for my food, my hunger pain sends expectations to my brain setting up for a certain food flavour. The blueberries will add fiber, anti-oxidants, and flavour since I don't use syrup to help cut back on the calories. Especially, since I lost my weigh-in last week and this week is kinda iffy.

So, when I get pancakes with NO blueberries, I'm not completely grateful for the breakfast you've made. Just use syrup is the solution. WTH?!? It's hard enough to try to eat better and less food. But, now you want me to use liquid sugar, be hungry in an hour and eat more food. Are you on my brother's payroll to help me lose this week??

At least someone made me breakfast. I should be thankful and gracious and eat the damn pancakes. Which I did. (well, I ate the pancakes....:P)

OR

If you want it done right, do it yourself.

Let's just say, I made breakfast myself this morning. Thank you for your efforts, but I have too much to lose and cannot afford your mistake. My pride and $5 is on the line!

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