First Place: Sparkles! Plus, BBQ Pulled Pork Baked Potatoes

I’m proud of my hard work. Working hard won’t always lead to the exact things we desire. There are many things I’ve wanted that I haven’t always gotten. But, I have a great satisfaction in the blessings from my mother and father, who instilled a great work ethic in me both personally and professionally.

Tamron Hall

Guess what???

Our family business, Sparkles Window & Blind Cleaning was nominated for Best Cleaner in PentictonNow’s 2021 Best of Penticton Awards and we WON!!!!!

I am shocked, surprised and SO proud!

In 2005 when my Mom and Dad saw a listing to buy a window cleaning company here in Penticton, they threw caution to the wind and left Winnipeg to begin a new career in window cleaning. At the beginning, Dad kept on the elderly gentleman who sold him the business. The 2 of them worked together as Dad learned the business and in 2009 we moved out here to do the same. Ninja would work with Dad to learn the business and eventually become partner.

Over the years it went from a 2 man show to employing a staff of 6-8. One night when I was working at a local restaurant I ended up chatting with one of my tables and he told me about his hot and cold pressure washing business. He was ready to sell it and move away closer to his Mom. I went home, told Dad and Ninja about it and a few days later we went from a window cleaning company to a window cleaning AND a mobile pressure washing company! The Guys were doing windows, gutters, show clearing, and pressure washing when they began looking at buying a supersonic blind cleaning machine! Then we added that to the business too! When SBean started school I wanted to contribute as well and started a new aspect of Sparkles… home cleaning! Ninja and I attained our goal of becoming business owners when we became partners with Dad in 2018.

I love my job. I know that’s weird to some people. I went to University for 8 years and yet find happiness in cleaning other people’s houses. I get to pick my clients, make my own hours, listen to podcasts all day AND make a decent living. I work for the 5 hours that the Girls are in school and then, I’m done. No overtime, no deadlines, no stress, just hard work and the feeling of accomplishment when I stand back and admire my keen attention to detail 😜. Even better, we get to do it with my Dad. He is great with people while Ninja is great with numbers and strategy. We all have our role and now Dad has someone who he can trust to take it over when he retires. I’m just really happy and very proud 😁.

Thank you to all of our amazing clients for supporting us for so many years, through a pandemic, a recession, Mom’s death, and fire seasons. Thank you for recognizing our hardworking and for acknowledging us with this 1st place honour. We look forward to serving our community for many many more years to come 💙.

Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #232: Don’t Make Me Say Front Fart! HERE! This week, it’s Chris’ birthday! Topics: learning dance, cherry picking, aging, RWB, shampoo bars, bee stings, Kids Against Maturity, SOW, Rob Lowe & protest songs.

Last week my BIL made us all delicious pulled pork sandwiches for dinner! I freaking love pulled pork! I always slow cook it in a sauce that I have been working on for years but my BIL did it in a completely different way… And I loved it! It didn’t have sauce! We could add our own sauces if we wanted to, imagine that 😆. We still had some pulled pork left over at the beginning of the week and there was no way I was letting it go to waste! I found a recipe that intrigued me so we tried it and I am so glad that we did! This is a new way to have pulled pork for me but it certainly won’t be the last time we do so! In fact, next time I’m going to use two pork roasts just to make sure we have leftovers so we can enjoy this easy but delicious dinner again!

BBQ Pulled Pork Baked Potatoes

Adapted from MyRecipes

4 medium-size russet potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced vertically
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup cheese, shredded
2 cups pulled pork, warmed
1/2 cup corn chips, crushed
3/4 cup barbecue sauce
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
3/4 bag coleslaw mix
coleslaw dressing

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Poke potatoes all over with a fork. Place potatoes on an aluminum foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven until very tender, about 45 minutes.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium. Add onion slices, and cook, stirring often, until tender and lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Add bell pepper, and cook, stirring often, 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and sprinkle with salt and black pepper.

Cut a lengthwise slit down center of each potato (do not cut all the way through); squeeze sides to open. Slightly mash cooked potato pulp, and push toward opening. Top with onion mixture, pork, and corn chips; drizzle with barbecue sauce.

Toss together coleslaw mix and dressing; serve with pork-stuffed potatoes.

HBear started her very first week of Royal Winnipeg Ballet training this week! She was super disappointed that it was only being held by Zoom this year instead of in person but she is having a wonderful time despite that. My Sis and I challenged each other to begin a new fitness challenge! We decided on the Beachbody program, T-20. It’s advanced cardio for 20 minutes straight 😳. It has a lot of jumping though and after 2 babies my pelvic floor prefers low impact exercise so we may switch it up to the barre program again although knowing what we’re in for is terrifying 😂.

This week we got a little much needed rain. Sadly with the rain came lightning and the start of hundreds more fires throughout my beautiful province 😞. I went for a walk on the beach with Bean and we picked up treats from the Nautical Dog!

I worked, baked chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies with HBear, and enjoyed cuddles from my Girls.

We celebrated Ninja’s birthday this weekend! And we began the morning with a walk through the farmers market! It was our first time there in over a year and while it was nice to be back, it was also unnerving to see so many people gather together not wearing masks! Even though it was outside we didn’t stay long and headed to Loki’s Garage for a delicious family brunch! After brunch we came home and watched the Blue Jays, had Moscow mules with Dad and J, and Ninja opened up some presents! Then we headed to the Hatch for some wine tasting! After the Hatch we finally crossed off the bucket list item by having the most delicious dinner at Quails’ Gate! Everything was perfect! The view, the wine, the food, and the service, and the company ❤️. After dinner we headed to Crown and Thieves for a wine tasting and then back home for some podcasting! The next day I had to work and afterwords we headed to Ninja‘s parents for a great day by the pool and another fantastic dinner!

Sadly we ended our week in full-blown fire season. Just beyond our city limits the plumes of wildfire smoke began on Sunday afternoon. We are headed into a second heatwave although not as hot this time but firefighters are already fighting hundreds of fires and we’re only 2 weeks into the summer. Thank you so much to all of our ground firefighters, aerial firefighters, and first responders! Stay safe everyone 💛.