The Great GORP Project

Techy Blechy:(

Feeling very OLD right now. . .not because I just turned 34 last week. . but because IT TOOK ME ALL FREAKING DAY to figure out how to get my blog back after I sent it into the internet abyss. . .?? It literally took me HOURS (it's too embarrassing to tell you how many) to figure out how to change my sidebar graphics. . links and winks and tags and bags and hags and I'M A DORK A LORK. Am I 118 years old at heart or what??

But. .. enough of my griping. . I promised some sweet momma jewelry and that's what I'm gonna deliver! Take a gander at this awesomeness that represents all the "peas in your pod";)

 

Isn't she funky and beautiful and organic? How crunchie of me eh? As in granola. . or granny-ola. .. what-ev. .. you can find her at a cute little shop called the vintage pearl on-line of course:) I'm sooooo going to order one. . once I figure out how many peas are going to be in my pod of course. .. hmmmm?

There is also some local magical goodness to be found over at Hilary Druxman, in our very own Winnipeg! I'm loving her charm bracelet. .. thinking of getting the kids initials engraved in the weathered silver disks. . .oh decisions decisions. ..maybe I am getting old? That's cool. Might as well go pick up some velcro shoes and my purple velvet walking outfit. Sweet.

 

Today I met with the Women's Enterprise Center and I think it went really well. . .we will see:) So I'm gearing up for some serious Gorping (making energy bars in my newly inspected basement, Cha!) I also got word that all my ingredient bins arrived somewhere? And I need a customs broker? O.k. . .better figure that out too! It's a good thing I'm not worried about looking stupid. . .that's all I can say. . .During this adventure I've gotten to be quite the pro at seeking out people who know about "stuff" and picking their brains apart. . .it might just be my greatest strength?! . . .Hey. . everyone's good a something;)

. . .and for the record. . I fell face first off the Dukan Diet. ..(into a bag of chips. . .I won't go into detail)  I should've known better. .WHY?? Colleen why?? Back to good old Clean Eating and moving my tired tired body. . .It was always you Clean Eating.. ..it was always you. .. .

signing out. .. trying to be mighty. . .

 

 

Ahhhhhh!

. . . something bad happened to my blog and most of it has VANISHED?????

. . . I AM WORKING ON FIGURING OUT WHAT FREAKY WONKY THING IS GOING ON...gulp!

trying this video thang again???

Duhhh?

Ahhhhh HA!! I've been trying ALL DAY LONG to figure out this video uploading thing. . .and it's still not right because the video is blurry and the sound is bad. .. but still:) It keeps disappearing on me????

I wasn't trying to be a doomas by not posting for a few days after I told you when the inspection would be, didn't mean to leave ya hanging. . if you care? BUT. . .da da dada. . I passed. .errr, my kitchen passed. . .and then my body came to a screeching halt and all the late nights of scrubbing and fretting and being a dork caught up with me and I CRASHED. I'm back and I've decided to try my hand at a video journal? We'll see how that pans out. . .I'm sooooo excited to start making bars. . .it's crazy. . .so stay away tornadoes. . I forbid you to come near my newly inspected compliant gorp factory!

On Wednesday I also turned 34. . .34. Hmm. It was a nut-bar day. I was in a kitchen cleaning frenzy, was hosting book club for 11 beautiful ladies, then at the last minute 2 hours before everyone was to arrive and I had yet to DO ANYTHING, I got called to shuttle guys from field to field. . .farm always comes first so away I went. . good thing I planned for a low key gourmet pizza and beer book club;) Thanks Costco. It turned out to be a fantastic evening. . .sure I sprouted a few gray hairs in the process, but I'm actually digging getter older, I mean it. . .wouldn't go back in time for the world.

I've got a running play-list I owe you, and some uber cool "momma jewelry" to share with ya tomorrow:) YES! I'm at that age where I want to wear geeky momma jewelry. . .I won't surrender my self to the mom jeans though. . .give me another decade for that;)

loving loving loving being a momma.

Good May Long Monday Morning:)

 

I love rainy weekends. . .except when we are in the middle of seeding(!). . .but the forced break was nice especially for my hard working sleep deprived hubby. . and this is a bonus day. . I heart bonus days. . even if it's going to be filled with cleaning and scrubbing and trying my hand at some drywall repair?? There is just something about a holiday weekend that makes me want to get stuff done. . .like I exist outside of time. .  .

Oma is coming over to watch kids and my mom is coming over to help me get the Gorp kitchen spic and span. . .this deal of starting my own business out of the basement while raising 4 kids isn't happening because I have super powers. . it's happening because it takes a village. . and my fellow villagers happen to be some pretty amazing people. . .I am feeling blessed. . .

If a thankful heart does good like a medicine than I'm hopped up on some sweet Ty-love-ol this morning!

Have a fantastic day!

Ohhhhh. . and if I get a chance later on I'm going to post a kick'in playlist for jogging. . .Yesterday I jogged for the first time since the challenging aftermath of birthing Moses. . and man did it feel OTHER-WORLDLY. . I forgot that I need to run to stay sane. . .I've been doing bits and pieces of research about the correlation between the most successful top execeutives and exercise. . .and there seems to be something to it .. . . why is it so hard to take time to take care of yourself . .when you just know you are better for it?? Guilt Guilt Smilt. . .I'm sick of it! blah. I'm a better mom, I'm twice as efficient and a happier wife when I am exercising. . .time for a paradyme shift in this department. . .

Loving my moses baby days. . .just look at this pumpkin. . .I'm bursting with wonder. . .

 
 
. . time to go be mighty:)

 

 

 

The pre-midnight progress report!

So, I'm here, in my basement, it's 11:43 pm. . .and I'm dirty, tired and victorious!

I used the failure/slump/attack of the chip incident from yesterday to motivate my bad self to get grooving.

While the before and after pictures might lead you to believe that I am not indeed victorious. . .let me preempt (alright, I don't know how to spell pre-empt, but spell check hates me, you get it right?) this by saying. . .there was a lot of brain stuff going on. . .organizing, agonizing decisions of "do I keep this fake handlebar mustache for playing practical jokes on my family? Or do I toss it?" (true story) But, alas. . time is ticking. . .my brain has stopped functioning. . my office is still crazy messy. . but the rest of it cleaned up pretty nice. .. still work to be done. . but I persevered. . .which reminds me of my favourite quote as of late:

 ‎"By perseverance the snail reached the ark."
    Charles Spurgeon

Amen to that. . .

 
 
 
 

Ahhhh. . .there's some little bits of who and ha to haul out to the warehouse tomorrow. .. but pretty darn good for a girl whose been battling pink eyed monsters all week and surprise attacks from irresistable chips;)

Too tired to type. . .have an awesome long weekend folks. . .

Stories, lies, truth. .. and hope.

The Story: Last night I posted nasty pictures of my URGENTLY NEEDS TO BE CLEANED FOR INSPECTION NEXT WEEK (MAY 26TH!!!) COMMERCIAL KITCHEN in the hopes that I would then be motivated to kick some kitchen butt into the wee night hours and have glorious clean pictures of progress to smile upon and post this morning.

The Lie: As I was headed down to the kitchen. . .I was jumped from behind and attacked by an angry (oh so angry) giant bag of Presidents Choice Kettle Style Sea Salt Tortilla Chips. . .who put me under their spell. . I got drowsy. . I fought. . .but I couldn't overpower the manic robotic-like consumption that followed. . I don't remember much. . but I do have a headache. . and oil stains on my leather couch. . .

The Truth: I was suffering from severe Dukan diet induced craving hysteria, it was I who attacked the poor bag, Meeeeee. . .it didn't have a chance. . I was in such a state, when the bag refused to open via conventional methods (gentle pulling at the seams) I flew into a blind panic and literally punched the bag in the face. I sat on the couch nursing my cluster feeding baby moses while I blissfully packed chips into my mouth and intermittently surfed between Hillary Druxmans beautiful artisan jewelry website and reading papers on the Evolution vs. Creationism debate. . .and that's the truth. Sounds crazy hormonal/normal. . right?

The Hope: Georgia (pink eye free) went to school for the first time this week. Leo is at his Oma's house. Oskar and Moses are at daycare for the morning. . and it's still before 10 am and I am wearing my ugly shorts and granny shoes.(Translation: I'm ready to clean!) The end of this day will be wrought with picture posting euphoria. . .and those pictures will show progress. . blink'in stink'in progress!!! Yes!

I'm going. I'm going. I'm going to kick some kitchen butt today.

I hope the rest of you have more exciting plans than I for this May long weekend. . ya might wanna pick up a bag of Presidents Choice Kettle StyleTortilla Chips and green tomatillo salsa. .. you might?!

. .. BTW. . .Galen, if you are out there. . I'd make a great spokesperson (who you would handsomely reward. . .with cash, just to be clear.) Just say'in.

The Disgrace/Evidence:

 

he he. .. ooops.

ohhhh gorp:)

 
 

. . gotta love gorp! (A thank-you to my mother in law for passing on this cartoon!)

Sooooo. . my grand plans for cleaning the gorp kitchen in preparation for inspection were way-layed by the 4th and hopefully final round of pink eye travelling through our brood. . .kids with leaky crusty eyes at home doesn't equal Colleen cleaning. . there are just so many other things to do:) LIKE DISTRACT THEM SO THEY STOP COMPLAINING!!!! So, lego ranches were constructed. . .we acted out our own version of "Just For Laughs". . .and a good old fashioned dance party rounded out the afternoon. . .

So my kitchen still looks like this. ..

 
 

. . . and my office still looks like this. . .
 

Soooo. .. to motivate myself to get my blink'in work done. . .I've posted these embarrassing pictures. . .and tomorrow there will be new pictures to gaze upon, of blissful organized progress! My Dukan diet update keeps getting bumped. . it's coming. . in the meantime, I have to say IT WORKS. Dukan works. .. all the nasty details will follow. . .soon!

. . but now, it's time for some STRONG MANLY COFFEE, a deep breath, a can-do attitude. . .and more importantly some sensible footwear. . I heart granny runners when I'm on concrete I tell ya. ..

go granny go. . .

Manly enough to carry your baba's:)

Yup. . .seeding is underway! Thank you Lord. Although, with 4 little ones at home, 2 of which have to get up for school tomorrow, we can no longer go for ride-alongs with daddy late into the night. . .my goal this week is to get a two-way radio set up in the house so I can hear all the guys chatting and joking and dealing with all the challenges that inevitably show up during the day. . .makes me feel much more connected. . .I do miss being part of the action. . .my next goal this week is to bake up some yummy treats to keep the guys energized. .. maybe some gorp bars will show up:)

. . off topic, but totally cool. . .is this manly diaper bag I found on-line. . .Grant cringes every time I make him carry the diaper bag. . .he'd pretty much rather carry all the kids perched on his head than don my bright green "vintage" RE-PURPOSED samsonite luggage turned diaper bag that I got such a great deal on ($20) at Old House Revival. . .so I Googled "Daddy Diaper Bags" and this puppy showed up. .. I LOVE.

 
He's called the PETUNIA PICKLE BOTTOM JOURNEY PACK. . .yeah, not the manliest of names. . but his masculine lines make up for it non? You can see more details here! Although my Samsonite wonder is looking a tad tired after probably 40 decades of carrying some flight attendants essentials. . and 7 years of my leaky bottles, breast pumps and dirty diapers. .. don't know if I can justify the price. . .$159 bucks.  ..one can dream though. . .:)

This week I'll be kicking it cleaning my kitchen to get ready for inspection on the 26th! Whoot. Yeee Ha!

. . .getting excited:)

be mighty.

 

 

A good day for seeding?

 

My promised Dukan update will just have to wait, cause something much more important is going on in these here parts. . .tractors are rumbling, seeders are being calibrated and the farm crew is rocking! It could be the first day of seeding. . .if things go well. .. praying for dry fields and much sun and wind. . . we also want to keep those farms who are much more affected than us by flood waters in our prayers as well. . .crazy.

Pictured above is my indoor farming effort. . .herbs and flowers. . .I LOVE planting things. . .I DETEST weeding things. .. so this year is my first effort at a container garden on our rooftop deck. . .I can't have a "traditional" garden this year because we have sloping and landscaping to do. . so I'm super curious to see if this works! So far I have broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, swiss chard, cucumbers and an array of herbs growing their hearts out in containers. . .pictures to come:)

Gorp update: My kitchen is scheduled to be inspected on May 26th, so I'm busting my butt to make sure I'm up to code and all spic and span for the big day. . .can't wait to start production! I'm still waiting to hear back from the Women's Enterprise Center about my mega loan application so I can put the order in for my packaging machine. . .I've heard nothing but great things about them. . hopefully they will give me a chance.

I'm finding out that having a newborn and trying to get stuff done is like trying to shave a chicken. . .pretty near impossible and messy!. . but I've now discovered that if I put Moses in my MEC backpack I can make headway. .whoop whoop. . .albeit slow awkward headway. . I'm not complaining:)

Have a mighty day everyone. . .HELLO SUMMER. . .GOODBYE NASTY.