Monday, August 20, 2012

Ten Things - Childhood

August is Heritage Month over at Digital Scrapbook Place, and while I've been scrapping a lot of my family history as I discover it, I'm also scrapping more about my early years for my children and grandchildren (and beyond). Inspired by DSP's own Nicole Young, I decided I would post 10 random things about my childhood that you may or may not want to know about me!

So...

Ten Things About Me as a Child

1. I HATED hot tea as a child! I tried it once and nearly puked, and I couldn't understand why anyone would like it. But once I hit my teens, I fell in love with it :)

2. I started writing fanfiction probably before anybody wrote fanfiction! Power Rangers was my niche when I was 9-12 years old, although I also wrote Legend of Zelda and Super Mario pieces!

I had such a huge crush on the Red Ranger.

3. My pediatrician errantly diagnosed me with autism when I was a toddler, and said it would go away by the time I hit 5 or 6 years old. To this day, I don't know what was wrong with me. I had motor skill problems (both small and large), severe OCD, and severe anxiety. As far as the motor skill problems went, I couldn't learn to ride a bike, jump rope, hula hoop, or play hop scotch.

4. I was homeschooled. Definitely not the best decision given that my mother had no teaching experience, and I was extremely isolated until I reached my latter teens.

5. Because I was isolated, imaginative, and introverted, I spent a lot of time pretending my toys were real and creating this amazing world and day-to-day stories with them.

6. I was definitely a late 80s - 90s child! I scrunched my socks, tight-rolled my jeans, tied oversized t-shirts at the hip, teased my bangs, and neon scrunchies were my best friends! I loved Joey from New Kids on the Block, MC Hammer, Duran Duran, Debbie Gibson, Madonna, etc! Some of my favourite movies were Batteries Not Included, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, and later, The Lion King.

7. I started writing as soon as I learned my alphabet, but it was before I actually learned to write coherent sentences, LOL! I would write little illustrated books and have one of my parents staple the pages together.

8. I was a major reader! I'd pick 3-4 books from the local library every week, even if they were chapter books, and I'd be done with them in a few days. My mom STILL can't get over how fast I devour books.

9. I despised banana-flavoured things, fresh strawberries, vegetables, mayonnaise, drinking water, tomatoes, and spaghetti. I love all of those things, now!

10. I got excited and happy over the smallest things as well as the big things, such as travelling. I still do!

So what about you? What are your 10 things you want to remember? Share them with me!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Good and Glowy Smoothie!

How are you getting your fruits and veggies in every day? Do you drink smoothies? They're a GREAT way to get that fresh produce into your day, and you can add so much to them. Chia, flax, wheat grass, nut butters, whatever you like! I want to share the smoothie that I make for myself every day. It's got calcium, it's got fruits and veggies and all their benefits, and it's got the almighty chia! It keeps me full for quite a while and makes me feel good and glowy!

- 1 cup skim milk (or any non-dairy milk of your choice)
- 1 tbsp. nut butter
- 1 banana, sliced
- 3 or 4 strawberries, sliced
- 1 big handful of fresh spinach
- 1 tsp. chia

Toss it all into the blender, milk at the bottom and the fruit on top to pack down the rest of the ingredients. It's yummy and there is no spinach taste! You can also substitute kale, but I find that it's a lot stronger and more bitter in taste.

By the way, I have a Facebook page for my weight loss, inspiration, and more. Mary's Totally Losing It. I hope to see you there! :)

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Views from the Bruce Peninsula

Our Wednesday travelling consisted of us driving north to the Bruce Peninsula :) It was the furthest north I've ever been! And WOW is it gorgeous there! We didn't get to go see Flowerpot Island or anything, but what we did see took my breath away.

Dorcas Bay on Lake Huron
This is a very shallow beach, home to the Singing Sands. You could walk out pretty far and barely be hip-deep in this crystal-clear water with its smooth, clean, super-soft sand.

Tobermory

Dunks Bay on the Georgian Bay

And to end this long day, we were treated to a beautiful sunset:

One thing I didn't get a picture of was when we were coming down a hill somewhere outside Vaughan. On the southwestern horizon, there was this glittering golden swath of lights that seemed to go on forever. Hello, Toronto <3