saying hello to 2016 by partying "like it's 1999"!

hat tip to Prince for half of the title. do any of you remember when that song came out and 1999 seemed so far off? and now at midnight it's going to be 2016. man the time sure flies!!!

i borrowed this pic from yesterday's post because i didn't get a chance to take a pic today - we were too busy partying like it was 1999 all day!

we made roasted veg for dinner...potatoes, carrots, beets, pumpkin, squash and turnip - deelish!

i have been making bone and vegetable broth for the past 3 days, heating and re-heating until all of the veg were gray and all of the bones were emptied of their marrow (make sure to add apple cider vinegar to it to pull all of the calcium out of the bones). once strained we canned 16 pints of broth. we still have 12 pints in the pantry so i am pretty sure we are good for broth for the winter. but i'll probably make another batch in february or so.

we save all of our bones and veggie scraps in order to make broth. have a look at the beautiful colour.

in continuing on in spending the day partying like it was 1999, i made a big batch of hot sauce for jambaloney (i won't touch the stuff - waaaaaay too hot - but that's how he likes it!).

i made 2 big batches, and one small jar for my friend v, out of our own home-grown peppers that we froze as they matured over the summer. jambaloney ate some of them every day but any surplus got put in a bag and frozen.  this will keep him in hot sauce until next years peppers are ready for harvest. a little of this stuff goes a looooong way!

since at suppertime we were still partying like it was 1999, we made our favourite supper. steak for him, lamb chops for me! with a salad of avocado, tomatoe and onion dressed in EVOO, apple cider vinegar (with the Mother), garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne and turmeric.

supper was fantastic!

now we are continuing to party like it's 1999 - i am doing a post, calling my friend v in about 5 mins and jambaloney is working on his contract for a few hours. then we are climbing on the couch and continuing to watch the rest of season 3 of "The Following" on netflix. we loved the first 2 seasons but if you don't like dark, crime dramas - stay away from it. it's pretty dark and scary.

kids - it's not easy partying like it's 1999 but as you all know - we are proper party animals!!! 2015 has been a year of learning, loving, doing, making new friends, a few spots of being horribly let down but getting over it, missing loved ones, trying new things, embracing our mistakes in order to correct them and living our dream. 2016 looks like it is going to be a fantastic year. no, what am i saying? 2016 IS going to be a fantastic year.

we wish you all of the best in 2016! and we hope that you will share your upcoming year with us and we hope that you come on the ride of 2016 with us!

Happy New Year to all of you!

your friends,
kymber and jambaloney

wonderful couple of days, winter wonderland and an important update on Mamma Bear from Challenged Survival

we got our first "staying snow" the other day.

it looked like a beautiful winter wonderland when it stopped snowing.

for those of you who have wondered if we eat off of the same plate because i only take a pic of one plate - here is a pic of both of our suppers.

my plate is smaller than jambaloney's but contains all of the same food - minus the home-made hot peppers. even the mild ones are hot!!! pictured above is some herbed lebanese rice, romaine lettuce, carrots, celery, and turnip, hummus and kimchi - we love to have this for supper! deelish!

is there anything more beautiful than 2 and a half jars of home-made sauerkraut and home-made kimchi? i think not!

well, except for a plate of jambaloney's fresh-caught striped bass that we smoked!

man that fish was to die for. with crudites, hummus, kimchi and because this is jambaloney's plate, home-made hot pickled peppers. peppers from our garden - woohoo!

we love our stirfries and love them with noodles or rice - this one is with noodles.

today was a beautiful and bright day. we spent the day walking around in the snow in our t-shirts, and pants and boots of course. and promptly stripped the clothes off when we came in the house - bahahah!

and as you all know, we're party animals! and haven't been to a party in at least a week! that's a long time to go for party animals. so this evening we decided we needed to party and party we did! we peeled beets and made a pickling brine for refrigerator pickled beets - woohoo!

and now on to some more serious stuff. most of you who read this blog also read Sweet Sandy's blog Oklahoma Transient. her most recent blog post is an update on Mamma Bear from Challenged Survival. it seems Mamma Bear has had some challenges in the last little while but as she is such a fighter - she will keep getting stronger as each day passes. please go and read Sweet Sandy's update, provided by Mamma Bear's husband, Papa Bear, here. and please keep her in your prayers.

happy day after boxing day, snow, the funniest christmas card EVER and a wicked-awesome puzzle!

our christmas day was just wonderful! the temp was a balmy 12C (50F)! just gorgeous!

we had a fantastic time with our fourchu family - the full turkey spread, yakking and chatting, lots of laughing and beautiful gifts. i got my favourite kind of wine and a beautiful, warm, fuzzy sweater to keep me warm all winter and jambaloney got some thick, warm socks and 3 new bandanas. one bandana is a light grey cammo so we named it "the fourchu bandana"! we hung out with our besties, their kids, t, k, and s stopped by - it was a great day!

boxing day we just hung around the house getting prepared for the snow that we knew was coming today. we started this morn in the hottub with the snow falling gently...it was beautiful.

by this afternoon we had a winter wonderland!

it's supposed to snow until midnight. i am glad because the kids can go out and play in the snow for the rest of the holidays. so can me and jambaloney - bahahaha!

now on the funniest and most appropriate christmas card that we have EVER received!




hang on....you gotta wait for it!!!



it's coming....



make sure that you don't have anything in your mouth:

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IS THAT THE FUNNIEST CHRISTMAS CARD EVER?!?!?! AND SO VERY APPROPRIATE FOR ME AND JAMBALONEY! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

we're not quite that old or saggy yet - but we will be - and yes we will still spend as much time as possible in the buff! we killed ourselves laughing at that card. it's a definite keeper!

jambaloney's mom and step-dad sent it to us with several personal gifts but the best gift of all - they made a puzzle for us - have a look:

the puzzle is a colander full of russet potatoes - russet potatoes that they grew this past year from seed potatoes that came from our garden! how awesome is that?!?!? we'll have many a winter's day doing our puzzle together! thanks Mom and Ted!

well, other than missing a visit with our friends c & b who were only down for 3 days, our last few days have been fantastic! today we re-arranged some preps and tomorrow we are re-arranging our pantry and preps area. then for the rest of the snowy week - it's cleaning and re-arranging some rooms in the house, moving furniture from the overstuffed attic to the new shed (jambaloney will have a post about the new shed soon!), getting rid of some junk and working on our puzzle! we've got a great week ahead of us and hope that you all do too!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of our friends!



and i got my best christmas gift ever! lamb chops! jambaloney had steak:

but he finally found some lamb chops on this island! i looooooove lamb chops!

i also get the meat nearest the bone from his steak - i love the bone! the lamb chops were tiny but i haven't had a lamb chop in 5 years! they were so delicious! jambaloney bought 4 flats of lamb chops!

tomorrow we are off to our besties c &b's for our traditional christmas dinner. this will be our 5th christmas with our besties...we love having christmas with our besties and their children!

we hope that all of you have a wonderful and very merry christmas! and we send our love!

Merry Christmas!

my 4th favourite day of the year!

what a beautiful day to start my 4th favourite day of the year!

lots of people love christmas...me - not so much. some people love and celebrate a variety of christian and/or jewish holidays. again, me - not so much. some people love to celebrate their birthdays, wedding anniversaries and a variety of other special days. and that's all good and fine.

i have 4 days every year for the past 15 years that i celebrate with unbounded joy! the first and foremost day that i love is january 19 - the day i met jambaloney. it doesn't matter that we often forget our anniversary on the actual day - usually by january 20 or 21 or 22 one of us remembers and then we celebrate - bahahahah!

my second favourite day of the year is february 13 - the first time we told each other that we loved each other. for some reason we never forget that day.

my third favourite day of the year is the second monday of october as that is when Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in canada. i love it because for me, it begins the cycle of a new year. the harvest is in, preserving and canning starts, and plans for next year's garden begins.

and today, december 22nd, is my 4th favourite day of the year. the reason: because yesterday was the shortest day and longest night of the year! we are now moving in to the time of longer days, more sunshine and it makes both jambaloney and i feel renewed. the Solstice has passed and we are one step closer to spring. we still have to get through proper winter but winter is the season to sort our seeds, plan next year's garden, make snow angels for our friend Max, hopefully build a snowman for JUGM and Senior's boys, make hearty and filling meals, re-read all of our Harrowsmith magazines, spend time together learning new skills, writing more blog posts, enjoying the hottub in the freezing cold, and talking and planning about what we want to accomplish in the new year.

today is our "New Year's Day". my man is at work on-site all morning and then bringing the truck in to have some part fixed or whatnot. he gets such great service at our dealership. he will be home at the end of the day but when he gets home, it will be a little bit less dark than usual. i love december 22!

and to celebrate - we'll be having this for supper!

(and just to clarify for my friend Sol - even though we have gone off milk, cream, cheese, yoghurt, ice cream, etc. - we still use butter. butter doesn't have any casein in it whereas the aforementioned things are loaded with casein. we get really good organic butter here and so butter stays in our meal plans. however, i am going to try to make a hollondaise-type sauce using coconut milk. stay tuned for the results.)

well - those are my favourite days of the year. and today, being my 4th favourite, is feeling mighty fine. i hope you all are enjoying this day too!

office christmas party at LobstersRUs!

we went to the office christmas party at LobstersRUs last night!

what a great time we had! jambaloney introduced me to a ton of people, there was tons of food, a surprise live singer, a surprise gift, getting a pic taken with Santa, tons of dancing and just all around fun!

let's start back at the beginning! we planned on meeting up with our besties c & b down at our community centre in order to drive out together. our besty c just got a brand new tricked-out nissan and although her and b are chain-smoking fools - she won't let anyone smoke in her new car - not even herself - bahahahah! then we waited for their daughter s to show up and then we made a caravan and headed out to a nearby village where the party was being held. everything was going great until we got to the turn-off point and c turned left and jambaloney said "where is she going? she's making the wrong turn-off". now c has been working for LobstersRUs for 13 years - i think she would know where the turn-off was, right? but we all followed behind and jambaloney said "she's going to the general store?"...and that's where she took us! she had to run in and get some milk - bahahahahah!

then we were off again and this time went the right way to the party! holy moly - there were already a ton of people there. and it was freezing out with the wind blowing right up the harbour! their community centre is huge! so we went downstairs to enjoy the free buffet! there must have been 200 people there! the line-up went around in a circle and up the stairs! but the wait was worth it! the catering company only put out certain portion amounts and kept refilling the trays with fresh, hot food so the food was always steaming! there was a poutine station and the french fries and gravy were to die for - i had 2 portions. then there were buns, 20 different salads, scallops, chicken balls, fried rice, chow mein, broccoli and beef, ham and turkey - it was all delicious! several people went back for seconds and thirds!!! then all of the employees were given 3 free drink tickets!!!

then we headed upstairs to get ready for Santa and the gifts for the children. during this time jambaloney took me all around the room introducing me to a bunch of different people. he introduced me to d who is someone jambaloney works very closely with and d said that he would be starting the party singing onstage. we laughed. we thought he was joking. then Santa came out and every employees children were called up to get a gift - every single child! the girls who work in the office kept the whole thing moving by getting the next set of gifts ready, taking pictures with Santa while the owner's wife called out the names. it was done very smoothly and each child felt special! there were nerf guns and barbie dolls and little miniature salons all over the dance floor!!!

and then every single employee was called up to receive their christmas bonus and their spouses received a gift. jambaloney and i were floored when our names were called - he got a cash bonus and i received a beautiful bag of strawberry-flavoured body shop products! and everyone - EVERYONE - had to have their picture taken with Santa! when jambaloney gets our pic from work, i will share it here. i had to sit on Santa's lap and jambaloney kneeled next to us - what a hoot! here's my gift:

can you believe that? EVERY employee received a bonus, EVERY employees children received a gift and EVERY employees spouse received a gift?!?!?!? i've never seen anything like it!!!

then the dance started and d, who i mentioned above, got up on the stage, started playing guitar AND singing! we were all floored! he was awesome! he had some pre-programmed equipment that had bass lines and drums and such and he played the guitar and sang a bunch of really good songs! after we got over our initial shock, i grabbed my besty c and we danced to the next 15 songs in a row - he was awesome!!! me and my besty usually are up on the dance floor first at all dances until people have enough time to get a few drinks in them before joining us! we had a blast dancing and then when everyone else started getting up the party really started!

d took a break and then another awesome singer/guitar player took over and the dancing continued. there was much fun, much freezing out on smoke breaks, much meeting new people who had so many good things to say about my jambaloney. then our friend k showed up and she and i had a really good conversation and did some dancing. she's a young girl and the young people were hanging out over in the corner. i told her she didn't have to stay with the old people and sent her on her way. she came back several times though - she's sweet like that!

we had a really good time with our besties, we had a really good time making new friends. we just had a really good time!

i've been to a lot of office parties in my time but none as good as this one! the owner and his wife of LobstersRUs really know how to put on a party! i hope that all of your office parties are as good as this one! we are already looking forward to next year's office christmas party - bahahahah!

a beautiful day, chia fresca and juice!

it was a beautiful december morning!

we have had a couple of cold snaps but so far it's been mostly normal temps for us for this time of year.

although we have a pretty healthy diet, by giving up all dairy and getting so sick, we knew we had to pull out the big guns in order to super dose on nutrients! enter chia fresca! this drink is so nutrient dense and when you add some lemon or ginger and honey - you create a super kind of gatorade!

i won't lie - it is a very gelatinous drink and as i have a problem with texture, i have to choke mine down. jambaloney doesn't mind it at all and says it tastes like tapioca pudding or bubble tea.

i like to put a variety of seeds in our salads and whatnot and we love chia seeds. but apparently soaking them for about 20 mins in room temperature water, then adding lemon or ginger and honey turns them from a super food to a super-super food! i'll make myself drink that for sure!

we also busted out another tool to help us get as much nutrients as possible - "the green machine"! (no 1st Man - not THAT green machine!!!)

we started using our green star juicer which hadn't seen the light of day in quite a while. here is a delicious cup of pure juice from some kale, cilantro, parsley, a tomatoe, a mandarine, our own carrots, celery and radish - deelish!

i have never been a big fan of the "juicing movement", i am a big believer in eating your food! however, if you are in need of some fast nutrients due to health problems or just not feeling well, then a good dose of pure juice is in order.

so we'll be drinking our slimy chia seeds, consuming hemp hearts on everything, eating lots of green veg and drinking our juice for the next while. the LobstersRUs xmas party is next saturday evening and we are really looking forward to it! we'll both be hurting units after it tho - bahahahaha!

i'll try to get around to your blogs in a bit. right now there are some eggs benedict crying to be made - i looooove hollandaise!

10 days of hell!

no pics in this post. but we have received several emails from concerned friends.

i can barely type because i can barely hold up my wrists!

we went cold turkey off of dairy. i have been suspecting for a few years that i was becoming lactose-intolerant : and i was raised on dairy! nobody loves cheese more than us!

kids - we have been researching about getting off of commercially-produced dairy for the last week and it is frightening! if you are raising your own dairy - good for you! but commercially-raised dairy is the scariest stuff we have ever read about.

and now we are detoxing.

we wish we were detoxing from heroin. it's that bad.

my only advice...get addicted to heroin or crack. commercially-produced dairy is way worse. and trying to get off the stuff is horrible. we are sick out of our minds.

i have read about people giving up meat, giving up grains...but the stories i have read about people giving up commercially-produced dairy - not a single one ever goes back on it.

did you know that they are allowed to put morphine in commercially-produced cheese?

this is such a horrible post on what is supposed to be a "feel good" blog.

all i can say is milk the cows, goats and sheep yourselves. do NOT give them any antibiotics. and stop consuming commercially-produced dairy.

and then get ready for a horribly long detox. you can thank me later.