Pandemic Silver Linings & Enchilada Nachos

Our happiness is certainly mixed in with the tragedies of life. You have to find the lemonade. You have to find the silver lining in the middle of everything that happens in life.

Chandra Wilson

Last week I was pretty harsh on 2020. but I have to say… it hasn’t been ALL bad.

I hate to admit it out loud but personally, I have really enjoyed the past 2 months. Besides the obvious fact that there is a pandemic going on outside the safety of my 4 walls, I really can’t complain. We have been given this beautiful pause on life. Absolutely everything has slowed down or come to a complete stop. Everything is quiet. My mind is quiet. I am able to see things so clearly now that I have had the time to do so.

Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly not complaining about my “real life” and in some ways, I can’t wait to get back to it… Well, to a point. With this pause has come to realization of what is truly important in life. We have survived, quite well in fact, with only the essentials. Now, my grandparents would laugh at what we find essential nowadays but let’s not be too crazy 😜. I’ve also learned a lot about my family, my fears, and my husband.

As I have said before, we just moved into our newly built home 10 days before self isolation began. You wouldn’t know it now by the way we are so comfortable under our new roof. We are so fortunate that we didn’t have to deal with breaks in construction and or a stall in the completion of our dream home!

That is definitely one of the things I am grateful for but there are so many others! I thought about the past few weeks and made a list of pros and cons. On the cons side I have my Sister and possibly my Brother’s summer trips out here are on hold, I haven’t seen my girlfriends in months, the dance recital that the girls have worked so hard on is indefinitely postponed, and as I’ve talked about before I miss my Dad and Ninja’s parents a lot. Yeah those are big things but there were some pretty important items in the pro column too!

1. Working out! This is kind of a double edge sword 😂 Usually, I am out and about and moving and stepping a lot. My average count for a typical day is between 12,000 and 22,000 steps. Lately I am excited if I get 6000 😳. Because I’m not moving as much and because buying a whole new wardrobe 2 sizes bigger isn’t exactly “essential” 😜 I have decided to jump on my Sis’s Beachbody bandwagon. My Sis is a Beachbody goddess! She has been going strong for God I don’t know 600 days or something 😂 I always try to keep up with her when she’s visiting but let’s be honest, I’m lazy. 😂 Ninja has always wanted to do a Beachbody program as well but it’s very difficult to find 30 to 60 minutes a day to dedicate to kicking your own ass. Over this quiet time we have both found the space and time needed to get into a regular program and we are loving it! OK love maybe too strong of a word but I am really enjoying the challenge, the camaraderie with my Sis, and the feeling of accomplishment when I finish an ass kicking barre blend class. I am hoping, no I WILL maintain this routine of giving myself the space to feel good about myself when real life begins again.

2. Dinners. We have been eating really well lately. Since I started back at work these last 2 years and since the Girls have started 11 to 16 classes of dance a week, I noticed that my cooking from scratch lifestyle took a backseat to, what can I throw in the oven that’s quick and easy? Having to meal plan for longer stretches of time has really allowed me to use those recipes I’ve been pinning but couldn’t find the time to be able to make. We have baked, we have made refried beans from scratch and even made our very own enchilada sauce! We have made hamburger buns, margaritas with fresh mangoes, cookies, brownies and a ton more! I have 40 blog drafts already to go with new and exciting recipes that we have tried in the past few weeks! I forgot how much I love cooking. I forgot how gratifying it is to feed your family healthy colourful food that they love. When the rat race resumes, I will make a more conscious effort to maintain our healthy eating way of life and keep up with this homemade eating lifestyle.

3. Routine. I love routine. I didn’t love our routine that we were in though. Maybe I thought I did but now that I see our new routine, I see all the problems with our old routine. I love how we are not rushed anymore. I love how we can gauge each other’s moods and that is a major factor in our daily routine. I love that we work hard on our studies all morning and end home learning by lunchtime. I love that our afternoons are spent with our dance family. I love that I don’t have to fight with the girls every day to bath, I love that we don’t have to be up crazy early and shouting at the Girls to move it so we don’t start our day off with a late slip. I love that I don’t spend hours of my day in our minivan 🤣. I didn’t realize how much time I spent driving people around until we parked the van over 50 days ago and I haven’t thought about it since. I love that I don’t have to eat a takeout dinner in the van, scarf down dinner before my next meeting, or let my cup of coffee go cold while working on homework with the Girls. I love that our new routine gives each of us space to get everything we need to get done, done. Plus we have the added bonus of exercising and producing regular blog posts. Our new routine have even allowed us to podcast with friends around North America because our times are more flexible. I love how even though we’re in the house every day, our weekends actually feel like weekends now. Before, our weekends were spent cleaning, prepping for the week ahead, and fitting in everything we didn’t get done in the crazy 5 day work week. Now, we take off Friday because well, just because! On the weekend we do a weekly family dinner and a movie, we stay in our pyjamas (which we absolutely do not do on weekdays) and we have drinks and stay up late because we know we are able to sleep in the next day. We may not be getting out of the house but we are still adding socializing to our routine. In fact, over the past month we have had 4 zoom dates with friends and family! We all still go to bed at regular times and we all still wake up at our regular time but it’s OK because I don’t feel like I didn’t get any quiet time in between life and bed, you know what I mean?

Speaking of sleep that takes me to…

4. Mornings. I freaking love our “new” mornings. First of all, I love my bedroom. When I was a kid I had a white fluffy comforter, pale blue walls, and a border of beautiful rainbows. That’s what I am reminded of right now. Waking up as a child and feeling positive, light, free, and happy. Our new master bedroom is everything I always dreamed of! It is the most beautiful pale shade of pink called First Light. Doesn’t that just make you happy when you hear that? First Light. It makes you feel like every morning is a fresh new beginning! Our comforter is billowy soft and white as snow. When I wake up and see the morning sunshine in my beautiful bedroom, I can’t help but smile and wonder at what amazing new beginnings will start that day! Ninja, who is a self admitted morning person is usually up way before me and I always smell a fresh pot of coffee brewing. Every morning he brings me a cup of coffee with a kiss on the head. Seriously! A girl could definitely get used to this! And why shouldn’t we? Why shouldn’t our day start full of optimism and love? I will definitely remember this feeling and hope to carry it on when life resumes. I love not fighting with my kids as soon as I walk out of my bedroom. My Girls are great and I rarely ever complain about them but getting their asses in gear in the morning is like pulling teeth! HBear is practically a teenager when it comes to getting out of bed and SBean is loud at a normal time but nobody needs to hear her “excitement” at 7 AM 😂 Although the Girls get up at the same time as normal, there is no rush to get bags packed, lunch ready, gym clothes, after school dance clothes, after school dance snacks, dressed, where are your glasses?, proper outdoor wear, and into the van. Now when I come out of my calm and serene bedroom, the Girls are sitting up at the island enjoying their breakfast which they make themselves now, and I only have to say good morning and give them kisses! I’m still not sure how we can fit this into our regular schedule but I’m going to do my damnedest to try to make it happen!

And finally…

5. Our bubble. We have learned so many new terms this year! Self isolation, social distancing, family bubbles, and murder hornets 🤔😂. Family bubble is the one I am most fond of. Our family of 4 works well together. I wasn’t sure because we have never been just a family of 4. We moved in with my parents when HBear was 9 months old. We have always had Nana and Papa and more recently Papa and J in our bubble. Now don’t get me wrong, I am eternally grateful that my children get to be raised with both sets of grandparents so heavily involved in their lives. It is actually one of my most favourite things about living where we do. However, we have never been given the opportunity to be the 4 Maiers. This pause has shown that not only can we do it, but we flourish! I have never seen the kids happier. They are more independent, they are having more fun together, and they are absolutely loving having Mommy and Daddy at home all the time. They have become more creative, more in tuned with other’s needs and they have really grown. Or maybe I just have the time, energy, and patience to see it? I have been happily living in the glow of our bubble for the past 2 months and I have to say I already feel the grief of the inevitable POP. Just this week Ninja has resumed working and I feel it so heavily. I miss him so much. Not only because he knows all the answers to any technological question I have LOL but because I miss his presence. His humor. His light kisses on my forehead throughout the day. I love our family bubble and I am grateful for this pause in reality to find our footing as a family right at a major change in our lives. We were able to start this new chapter together, on the same page, with all of our input being heard and utilized. I am forever grateful for this time.

As I said, Ninja and Dad resumed working this week. We are facing a whole new routine, a new way of life, and having to practice all new sets of social distancing. One aspect I am definitely looking forward to is expanding our family bubble. Dr. Bonnie Henry has said that we are looking towards the future and the future includes expanding our family bubble. Although we will maintain nobody coming into our home, which is very sad because I am so looking forward to having a housewarming party 😂, or going into anyone’s home, we are looking forward to opening our bubble to our parents and enjoying outdoor barbeques with them all soon!

Until then, although the world is going to Hell in a handbasket, I can safely say that this pause is exactly what I needed. I would argue that it it is exactly what the whole world needed. I am happy and I am grateful and finding the positives in times like this is crucial and I encourage each and everyone of you to make a list of all the things that you are grateful for and all the things that you may have taken for granted before but I’ve come to realize are so important. Sometimes waking up in a beautiful pink bedroom can change everything 💕.

Check out part 3 of Our Liner Notes 3 part series on U2! Featuring our RADBesty from Reasons Are Debatable and ME! HERE

Ninja and I were fortunate enough to be on 1 of our favourite podcasts last week, Deconstructing Dad Podcast! We talked for hours, literally 😂 Check it out as HERE as we talk about super light topics like: Home remodels, politics, homes schooling, self employment, USA vs Canada and 9/11.

Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? ep.169 Welcome to the ‘Fucher’ HERE Topics: tick checks, video date, art show, Mom’s f-bombs, biking, back to work, home schooling, CFL bailout, Stronger Together, Drake vs Trudeau and Making the Cut.

In celebration of Cinqo De Mayo yesterday, I am sharing a yummy Mexican inspired dish that we made a few weeks ago! Ninja was craving nachos but HBear was really hoping for enchiladas… so we combined the 2! At first I was putting it off because I didn’t have any enchilada sauce but I quickly realized that I had ALL the ingredients to make my own, so we did! It tasted even better than the enchilada sauce I get at the super market! Duh, of course it did! Once I made the sauce I mixed it with cooked ground beef and added all our favourite nacho toppings and VOILA! Enchilada Nachos!

Enchilada Sauce

Adapted from Will Cook For Smiles

2 tablespoons oil
1 onion
2 tablespoons flour
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup beef stock
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons paprika
salt

Get a medium sauce pot going over medium heat and add oil.

Chop onion and add it to the pot. Saute onion until softened.

Sprinkle flour over the onion and stir until onions are evenly coated.

Slowly pour in beef stock while stirring. Add can of tomato sauce and all remaining ingredients.

Stir well and bring the mixture to simmer. Let it simmer for a few minutes.

Transfer the content of the pot into a food processor and blend well until smooth.

The sauce is ready for making enchiladas nachos!

Enchilada Nachos

1 lb ground beef

2 cups enchilada sauce

1 bag Tostidos

1 cup Mexican cheese, shredded

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 can of corn, cooked

1/2 red onion, chopped

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Toppings of your liking: Sour cream, lettuce, fresh diced tomatoes etc.

Cook beef until no longer pink. Add in sauce, bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Put chips in 1 layer on a sheet pan. Top with meat mixture, corn, peppers, onions and cheese. Put in oven at 375 for 225 minutes or until cheese is melted.

We are officially on day 51 of Social Distancing and day 25 of Learning from Home 😳. Our schedule has evolved a little but we have been sticking to it! SBean really wanted to help out the Hamper Program for our school division so she made some beautiful pictures and held an Art Show Fundraiser! Papa & J joined us on FaceTime and so did Grandma & Grandpa! My Sis even got in on donating! SBean raised a whopping $177.30!!!!! I am so proud of her! Ninja took the Girls to the Creek down the street and collected water to look for specimens under their microscope. At least I think that’s what you call it 😂. The Girls have been hard at work doing their learning from home. HBear wrote a persuasive essay on why she thinks dogs make the best pets *hint hint* 😂. Their journal entries are fascinating, SBean wrote a short story about orphans and they have been practicing their drawing skills with the help of ArtHub on YouTube. HBear did a “fashion” project for school and SBean finally learned to tie her shoes!!!

Ninja finished another puzzle, the flowers in our yard are in full bloom, and we have made an effort to support local businesses by buying our spice labels from Beyond the Stitch, Yardzee from Crowsnest Craftworks, and the new community craft beer All Together, from Neighbourhood Brewing! Ninja brought me home the most beautiful spring flowers, SBean LOVES her weekly Messenger dates with SweetPea and their pictures are hilarious, AND we have been eating so well including supporting local by getting delicious ribs and asian cuisine from Joy Buffet!

On Friday we took the day off to enjoy the sunshine and went for a bike ride/geocaching along the KVR in OK Falls. It was a great day! We finished it off with Dairy Queen and a family movie night. On Saturday we were social… while socially distancing 😂. HBear’s GiftedBesty came over with her own chair, water and snack and the Girls sat in the backyard chatting for over 2 hours. It was a good thing. They needed the social contact while still being mindful. That evening, Ninja and I had a Google Hangout with my Sis and BIL!! It was just like we were in the same room, almost 😂. It was awesome and we will definitely be doing it again.

Sunday was a relaxing day before we start the week all over again.