Catching Up & A Pasta Party

Hope you all had a fantabulous weekend.  It's been sunny and gorgeous in my neck of the woods.  Two weekends in a row.  Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be our summer.


In case you haven't noticed it's been a few weeks, I mean months since I posted more than once.  I thought I would do a quick recap of what's been going on with my life.


Last I checked in I was attempting to sell my house.  Well it FINALLY sold in November.  Let me just say that was possibly the worst experience ever.  My divorce was easier than that.  Mostly because it was a rental so it sat empty for seven months.  Thant meant extra mortgage payments, power etc. I was not in my happy place during that process. I really was sad to see it go.  I loved my house, but didn't want to risk having horrible tenants.


There's been a whole lot of learning going on over here too.  I finally made a commitment to something I have wanted to do for a long time and enrolled in the RHN (Registered Holistic Nutritionist) program at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition.  It's challenging to say the least and my poor old brain is getting a workout.  It's been 20 years since I've been in school so you can only imagine what a change it is.  On top of the course I've been taking quite a few nutrition related workshops too. Information overload.

Something else new and exciting is, I've been introduced to the wonderful world of Aromatherapy.  I've been taking some courses at Casaroma Wellness in Dartmouth and am amazed by all there is too learn about it. There's so much more to it than just pretty smells.  The endless number of things you can accomplish with aromatherapy instead of putting a million chemicals in and on your body it's amazing. 


Once you start learning about all the nasty stuff that's in the products we use every day on our skin, on our kids skin and not to mention what we put into our bodies...well it's scary!!  The hidden things in food and what they say is ok for us to eat or put on our skin, in you cleaning products etc. It's just not a good thing.  


I'd like to say I've been a workout machine and am in the best shape of my life since the last time I was here but I can't. I've been plagued with chronic tendinitis in my shoulders and knees, and I've been fighting what seems to be a losing battle over the last year with my thyroid.  Although I'm hoping it will improve soon.  Plus I've come up with a new mysterious issue that my lymph system doesn't seem to be working as it should.  So I've been stuck with constantly swollen legs, ankles and feet. All that combined with a lack of motivation has resulted in a 20 - 25lb weight gain.  This of course doesn't make me happy and I'm annoyed that the majority of the clothes in the closet don't fit anymore but I'm confident it will change.  My main goal is health and once that falls into place I know I'll be at my happy or at least my happier weight once again.


There was another first over here yesterday.  I made my own pasta for the first time.  I got this KA attachment for Christmas but have been afraid to try it out.  I don't know why but the thought of making pasta scared me.

I thought I'd start off simple and made a basic egg pasta.  It turned out really good. If I could make it fresh each time I wanted pasta I would. So much better than anything you can buy.  Hubby even liked it.. woo hoo!!  I made some fusili and rigatoni.  I preferred the fusili but I think I had the speed to high on the rigatoni and it turned out a little thicker than it should be.  

I wanted to taste the pasta when I gave mine a try so I kept it simple  - butter, fresh grated Parmesan and fresh ground black pepper... Delish!!

I guess it wasn't really a quick catch up, but I think that's everything I had for you.

Have a great week everyone, don't work too hard!!

~~ Jackie