My Blog = My Life: juice

It's Sunday morning. The alarm clock didn't go off like it was supposed to. Rolling over in bed, you squint at the red digital numbers and start to panic. There's an hour before you need to leave for church. You bolt out of bed, rudely wake your sleeping husband and try to scare him into action by telling him the time. Jumping into the shower, you realise you forgot your change of clothes and holler at your drowsy hubs to bring them over. You skip shaving your legs and conditioning your hair, dry yourself off in a hurry, only to discover that you had forgotten to iron your Sunday blouse. Having just had a baby, this is the only one that fits and is convenient enough for breastfeeding. You sigh as you button it up, promising yourself you'll keep your coat on the whole church service and nobody will notice.

You throw your hair into a quick ponytail. No time for anything fancy today. Running downstairs, you wake up your toddler and are too frustrated to enjoy her chipper morning spirit as she chatters away while you change her diaper. You rummage through her clothes, only to discover that her Sunday dress is still in the laundry room, probably hidden under the rest of the unfolded clothes. A skirt and tights will have to do. The tights have a hole in the toe. Oh well, her shoes will cover it.

Racing upstairs, you plunk her in her seat at the table and dash off to wake the baby, hoping he'll be alert enough for a good feed by the time the rest of you are done breakfast. While changing his diaper and trying to decide what he should wear to church, he has an explosive bowel movement leaving you no choice but to give him a bath. While you frantically wash the poop out of his hair, your husband calls from the kitchen to let you know that the syrup bottle is empty. Cheerios for breakfast on a Sunday. Again.

Placing baby in his bouncy chair, you wolf down your Cheerios, bouncing baby's seat with one foot, and feeding your toddler, who is highly distracted by the shadows the sun is helping to make on the dining room wall, with your empty hand. As soon as you're done your cereal, you ask (tell) your husband to take over feeding your toddler while you nurse your wailing baby in the messy living room you were too tired to clean up the night before. Trying to be as holy as possible considering the time, the rest of family gathers in the living room for devotions, where you pick the shortest Psalm and mumble a 20-second prayer so you can say you've done your duty.

After cutting baby's nursing session short, you lay him down on the floor, throw on your new white coat, and buckle your newborn into his seat. You had forgotten to burp him and he hurls all over the front of your new coat. No time to change. You pass the infant seat to your husband to place in the car while you hunt for your toddler's missing shoe. Where did she put it?! Already running three minutes late on the week your husband needs to hand out bulletins, you decided it's okay if she wears her rubber boots to church just this once.

Finally, you're all in the car and you race off to church. As your toddler begs you to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle" for the hundredth time, you scream "Shut up! We're going to worship!" The gas light comes on. Hubby assures you that even though you might be running on fumes, you'll probably make it back. And if not all the way back, at least you'll be stranded on a major highway where lots of other church folk will be passing by and will surely stop to help. Just as you remember you left the tithing cheque and diaper bags in the front entrance, you see cherries flashing in the rear view mirror and hear a siren wailing in your ear. Busted.

Have you ever had a Sunday morning like this? We haven't had one quite that bad, but pretty close. Even though we need to leave by 8:45am to be at church in good time, I've found there are several things I can do to make it fairly relaxing and peaceful for everyone. A good morning starts the evening before. Here's some things I try to make a habit of doing so that Sundays truly are a day of rest and I'm not running around like chicken with my head cut off or barking out orders like a drill sargent:

Things to do Saturday morning:

• Decide what you'll be eating for each meal on Sunday. Make as much as you can ahead of time and slot in a trip to the grocery store if necessary.
• Check to make sure all the Sunday outfits are washed and ironed. A good way to avoid ironing, is to pull out your clothes from the dryer as soon as it finishes and hang them neatly in your closet.
• Make a trip to the gas station and top up the tank.

• Pack diaper bags. Include at least one extra outfit, three diapers, and wipes. Charity's bad also includes a cookie or two and a drink for in the baby-sit. Judah's bag is the bigger of the two as it also holds my nursing cover, extra nursing pads, a spit-up rag, and another shirt for me-just in case.
• Lay out each person's complete outfit in where they normally get dressed. For us this means a onesie, dress shirt, socks, pants, coat and hat on top of Judah's dresser; an undershirt, tights, a dress, shoes, and coat on Charity's; a suit, dress shirt and tie on the bathroom counter for Brad to change into after his shower; and my skirt, a button up blouse, camisole, and head covering beside my bed.
• Set the table for breakfast. If you're worried about flies pooping in your bowl or glass overnight, turn them upside down. We usually have waffles with Maple syrup, and orange juice on Sunday mornings which means three place settings including forks, knives, plates, and glasses. I also lay out Charity's bib and put two capsules of fenugreek next to my glass.
• Shower. I've realized I don't have to have a shower Sunday morning. It saves a lot of valuable time and is a great way to wind down by taking it Saturday evening before bed. After my shower, I usually lay out my earrings, and hair accessories on the bathroom counter so I don't have to hunt for them the next morning.
• Tidy the house. It's not the most wonderful thing to be doing on a Saturday night, but waking up to a tidy house is so much more relaxing for everyone! Set the timer for 10 minutes and you'll be surprised to how much you can accomplish. You'll be glad you picked up the toys even though you didn't feel like it.
• Put anything you can into the car. Diaper bags, purse, tithing cheque. The more that's already in the car, the less you'll forget. And you'll save yourself a bundle of time.
• Place all the footwear by the door. Make sure there's two of each. Unless of course, you happen to be missing a leg.

• This is the order that works best for us in this season of life: wake up, do my hair, get kids dressed and Charity's hair done while Brad showers, have breakfast, family devotions, nurse Judah while Brad clears the table and gets Charity's coat and shoes on, get myself dressed, put Judah's coat on, out the door.
• Get the kids dressed as soon as you take them out of bed. This saves having to go back into their rooms after having breakfast. If you're worried about them spilling on their clothes, invest in some good quality bibs and help the younger ones eat if necessary.
• If you're nursing, dress yourself after baby's done his feed, burped, and in his car seat to save having to put together another outfit. You can get dressed in 4 seconds flat. I've done it.
• Your husband wants to help. He might just need you to ask him what to do. Ask kindly and specifically instead of using body gestures and indirect commands. (i.e. Ask, "Honey, could you please put Charity's coat on?", instead of huffing loudly, "Charity's coat still needs to be put on and I've still got to get dressed, and I can't find Judah's soother!")
• Give your hubby a really good kiss on the way out the door. No matter how rushed the morning was, this will erase any memory of it. :-)

The Round-up:

• Food - 3 out of 5
• Decor - 3.5 out of 5
• Service - 3 out of 5
• Overall - 9.5 out of 15

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Several months ago a food-loving group was created on Facebook. Its name was the "Cathedral Village Needs a Cheap Breakfast Place", or something like that. It seems that the Village just hadn't been the same since the Quality Tea Room shut down several years back.

I quickly joined the group, as did several hundred other Regina folks (What did we ever do before Facebook groups became the new face of activism, by the way?).
The Facebook fan page continued to grow, many of its members calling for a cheap plate of hash browns and bacon... like now.

Well, some wishes do come true.

The Mercury Cafe and Grill opened its doors in April. The place seemed to spring up overnight on the corner of 13th and Robinson streets in a spot that has housed numerous other restaurants.

The Mercury is a diner, no doubt about that. From the bright red vinyl booths to the formica and chrome tables, stepping into The Mercury is like stepping back 50 or 60 years in time. The Mercury is also under the same ownership as Regina's well-loved Novia Cafe, another all-out diner. This is a good thing -- who better to start a new diner than the folks who run one of the city's oldest and best?

I've been to The Mercury twice now, once for breakfast and once for supper. It's hard to find the right word to describe both experiences. It wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't horrible either. Perhaps satisfactory is the right word.

Weekend breakfast bustles and hustles in The Mercury. If you're not there by 11 on a Sunday, you're going to wait in line for awhile. Granted, The Mercury could easily jam a few more tables into the dining room in order to shave some time off the waiting game.

Your choices for breakfast are classic standbys: bacon and eggs; hash browns; pancakes; an omelette. You get the picture. Now, is it cheap? That depends on your definition of cheap. Most items run around the $8-9 mark, plus the cost of coffee and/or juice. I've had cheaper, but I've also had more expensive.

Service can be a little disorganized, but hopefully the servers work that out amongst themselves as the restaurant irons out the operating wrinkles. We had to wait 30 minutes for any food to hit the table at breakfast, almost enough to push us to the breaking point, but not quite. Fortunately, our waitress took good care of us in the meantime.

Now let's talk about supper for a moment. Once again, there are few surprises on the evening menu. Nachos; chicken wings; chicken fingers; burgers; clubhouse sandwiches; and grilled cheese are a few of the choices.

We ordered up a plate of nachos to get things started. With a $10 price tag, we pictured a nice platter of cheesy chips and veggies. We couldn't have been more wrong. A dinner plate with a puny pile of nachos on it was what we got. Even worse: the scarce bits of cheese on the chips were overcooked and rubbery. Epic fail, my friends. Epic fail.

Next up: the burgers. Now this is where the action is at. Tender homemade beef patties are smooshed between fresh buns with all the fixins. I went for the Mushroom Swiss. Big Willie had The Mercury Burger (two patties with fried onions, mushrooms, shaved ham, Swiss and cheddar cheese). All burgers come with a side. We went for the french fries and they were done to perfection.

Big Poppa (my dad) went for the open-faced Hot Turkey Sandwich... which came with hot chicken, oddly enough. But he got past that.

All in all, The Mercury offers up decent food in a comfortable room. The motto seems to be: come as you are, eat what you will. Now if they'd only fine-tune the nachos and up the portion size for most of the breakfast menu, we might have a sure-fire winner on our hands.

(no website)

We learned how to make this salad in our weekly whole food cooking class at Goodness Me. I had my doubts at first. Seaweed?! The smell of the stuff alone could knock me off my feet. And quinoa? I had never cooked with the mother of all grains before.

However, I mustered up the courage to give it a sampling in class and was pleasantly surprised to discover how well it suited my taste buds! I made some at home and Brad declared it a winner too. We even took it along to our Young Couple's Bible Study (I didn't tell any one what was in it until after they had tried it) and it was complimented by everyone who gave it a try. It's one of those recipes, I guess, that proves eating healthy can taste good!

Crunchy Quinoa Salad Sandy Pomeroy

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 1/4 cup dried arame (seaweed), crumbled and soaked
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 1/2 cup fineely chopped red pepper
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp Tamari (soy sauce)
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp Herbamare

Directions: Soak the arame in 1/2 cup of water for 5 minutes. Drain. Stir the salad ingredients together in a bowl. Mix the dressing ingredients together in a glass jar. Shake well and pour over salad.

This salad keeps well for several days. Make a large batch and enjoy a healthy lunch every day this week. Or, serve with chicken for a protein-packed dinner!

I'm about to show you the grossest thing you've ever seen. (Aunt Connie, if you're reading this, look away or you'll fall out of your chair. Mom, you too.) This is what my fridge looked like yesterday morning:

Okay, now that you've picked up your jaw from off the floor, allow me to explain.
That spilled milk? It leaked out of Judah's bottle during the night. The rest? I'm afraid I have no excuse. My fridge has been in desperate need of a cleaning for a while - it's just not on my list of favorite things to do, I guess. The spilled milk was the last straw before I got a scrub-a-dub-dubbing. And now?

Dun-dun-da-dun. Let's just say the results from a little bit of elbow grease are so, so worth it!
If you're fridge looks like mine did, here's a few tricks to make the dreaded job easier:

• Take out all the food. If you're worried about spoiling, store the perishables in a cooler while you clean.
• Remove all the drawers and any shelves that can fit into your sink.

• Fill your sink with steaming hot water, vinegar, baking soda, and a bit of dish soap. Using a dish brush, scrub away the grime from the drawers and smaller shelves.

• Once the drawers have been dried, pass them off to your two-year-old and watch her imagination soar! Apparently they make fantastic beds for stuffed bears and dogs. Not to mention they're great for keeping a wee one occupied while you finish cleaning.

• Sprinkle some baking soda on the larger shelves. Add a splash of vinegar and real lemon juice before putting all your might into scrubbing away the residue with a dish brush. Don't forget the sides of the refrigerator too.
• Use paper towel or a microfiber cloth to wipe away the wet mess and leave a streak-free shine.

I couldn't help myself. I just had to show you this picture one more time. Isn't it a thing of beauty?! Now the challenge is to see how long it will stay this way.
How long has it been since you cleaned your refrigerator? Does your mess beat mine or am I Queen of the Filthy Fridge?

The Round-up:

• Food - 3 out of 5
• Service - 4 out of 5
• Decor - 3 out of 5
• Total - 10 out of 15

120-1914 Hamilton Street, Regina, SK
306-949-4005

Today, we're heading back to bustling Hamilton Street, site of many changes and new businesses in downtown Regina these days.

One such business, The Great Panini, opened a few months back. Although I work at my "real" (i.e. non-blogging) job in an office tower just a couple of blocks away, I hadn't visited the shop until last week when frigid temperatures made me skip my usual walk home during the lunch hour.

The Great Panini, located a couple of doors south of the TD Bank, is a clean and cozy cafeteria style eatery that opens in the early hours of the morning and stays open through lunch until the end of the work day.

It just so happens that I timed my visit for the unveiling of a new sandwich: The Fozz. And let me tell you, The Fozz was moving fast -- I got the last one. Shaved chicken breast and a mild cheddar combined with roasted sweet red peppers and hot banana peppers were layered on a nine-grain Ciabatta bun then toasted to perfection. I have to say it was pretty tasty.

The Great Panini offers sandwiches on their own, or as a meal. I opted for the meal and had my choice of soup, salad, or a pickle. A sucker for all things canned and vinegary, I went for the Van Holten's Kosher Pickle, which comes individually wrapped in a pouch. It was a giant pickle, but I always find Koshers lack the crunch and garlic of homemade dills. Blame it on my Ukrainian roots.

As for drinks, The Great one offers much more than fountain pop, including a number of unique teas and juices, and a good range of Boylan's sodas.

So far things were going smoothly, until my grand total was rung up on the till. I admit I wasn't paying attention to prices until this point, figuring that a sandwich combo would run at about $7 or $8. Boy, was I wrong. By the time taxes were included I was almost at 11 bucks.

A bit pricey for a takeout lunch, if you ask me. Especially when you consider the all-you-can-eat Thai buffet at Siam restaurant three doors down is less than $9. But as I said, the sandwich was appetizing, the service was fast and friendly, and the selection is top-notch. Whether it's worth it again in the future will depend on how close I am to payday, I guess.

Perhaps I ought to stop in during breakfast some day when specials are priced much lower, including the 16-ounce coffee for just 99 cents. Now that's a deal.

www.thegreatpanini.ca

This week alone, I've received two requests for this delicious recipe, given to me by my former Young People's leader. Here are six great reasons why every one falls in love with it:
1. It's quick to prepare. Aside from baking time, this cake can be whipped together in 5 minutes flat, though everyone will think you're a highly experienced baker and spent a good part of your day making it. :)
2. It's stays moist and tender for a loooooong time. The orange juice and vanilla pudding help make this one of those melt-in-your-mouth cakes. Even at room temperature, it stays good and moist for a least a week.
3. It can be frozen. And, it even slices well when frozen. Within minutes from taking it out of the freezer, it's ready for consumption without the risk of getting an "ice cream headache."
4. It uses only 7 on-hand ingredients. No special trips into town. This cake can be made any time from your pantry staples.
5. It's economical. This cake costs $4.44 to make ($0.22 per serving)-that's when the ingredients aren't on sale. If you have your own cow, chickens, and orange tree, it's even cheaper. ;)
6. Everyone loves it! This is an excellent cake to give away, serve with a cup of coffee, or as a dessert. I've never met someone who didn't like it. Most people rave about it and the recipe gets requested often.

Batter: - 1 box of yellow or golden cake mix - 1 box of instant vanilla pudding (4 serving size) - 4 eggs - 3/4 cup of orange juice - 3/4 cup of melted butter
Cinnamon Sugar mixture: -1/2 cup brown sugar -1 tsp cinnamon

In a large bowl, combine the batter ingredients with a mixer until smooth. In a smaller bowl, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together.

Alternate layer in a greased bundt pan beginning and ending with a little of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Layer 1: Cinnamon sugar. Layer 2: Batter. Layer 3: Cinnamon sugar. Layer 4: Batter. Layer 5: Cinnamon mixture. I like to swirl in the cinnamon mixture by dragging a toothpick through the layers.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cool.

Sometimes I add a glaze by mixing lemon juice and icing sugar together and drizzling it over the cake. I think it makes the cake look prettier and the lemon complements the orange juice really well too.

The Round-up:

• Food - 4 out of 5
• Service - 3.5 out of 5
• Decor - 3.5 out of 5
• Total - 11 out of 15

1946 Hamilton Street, Regina, SK
306-352-8424

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When I first heard there was a Thai restaurant on Hamilton Street downtown, I have to admit I was a little skeptical.

I pictured a little hole-in-the-wall place that would see a lot of foot traffic during the day (but few actual customers) and almost no one at night (when Regina's downtown transforms into a semi-deserted ghost town).

Boy, was I wrong.

First of all, Hamilton Street is undergoing a huge makeover. Over the last couple of years, new shops and eateries are popping up and filling in the holes left by vacant storefronts. There are still a few gaps, but given time they'll fill in too.

Second of all, Regina's downtown office crowd loves the place. Pay a visit almost any weekday at lunch and you'll be lucky to get a table if you're not there right at noon.

If you're new to Thai food, Siam's lunch buffet is an excellent place to start. There's always a good selection of meat, vegetable, and noodle dishes (Pad Thai is a sure bet), along with a couple of appetizer and dessert items.

Best of all, you can be in and out of the place with a full belly in 30 minutes or less. And get this, the grand total for the lunch buffet comes to less than $10 per person, tax included. I know, shocking.

Hold on now, before you drop the laptop and run down to Hamilton Street I need to talk more about the food.

On a recent Saturday morning, a group of us paid a visit to Siam for a not-so-traditional brunch (there's no buffet on Saturdays, FYI). We got off to a rocky start when we showed up at 11 a.m. (opening time) and the doors were still locked for another 15 minutes.

This didn't sit well with me -- unlike my usual Saturday morning of sleep and relaxation, I'd already done two loads of laundry, shopped for groceries, and ran a couple of other errands. I was hung-ree.

Once we were seated, things went more smoothly. Our gracious waiter was patient with us as we waited for others to arrive and took our time figuring out what to eat.

We ordered a ton of food, by the way. Siam makes this relatively easy by including pictures in the menu and on nifty digital photo frames hung on the walls next to tables.

These are my top three picks, for the first-timer:

- Appetizer: Mieng Kham (Leaf Wraps): This dish is a pleasure to behold and to eat. Crispy fresh coconut, fresh ginger, red onion, Thai chili, lime, cashews, and plum sugar sauce, served on top of bok choy leaves that you roll up yourself, then pop in your mouth.

- Entrees: Larb Moo: This item technically falls under the Salad category on the menu, but its size and filling portion makes it more like a meal. Spicy ground pork is mixed with roasted rice, red onions, green onions, cilantro, and lime juice. It's got some heat but not so much as to scare the beginner away.

Pad Thai: You haven't truly lived until you've had this Thai classic. A bed of warm rice noodles is covered in fried tofu, bean sprouts, and shrimp, then layered with sauce. Practically everyone likes Pad Thai. If you're completely unsure of what to order, start here.

On the whole, Siam is one of downtown's best restaurants with a huge menu, good service, reasonable prices and decent opening hours.

OK, you're dismissed. Eat much and prosper.

www.siamrestaurant.ca

To give you a little update on baby first, here he/she is at 19 weeks old!

As most of you know, I was diagnosed with a very large subchorionic hematoma quite early in this pregnancy. Simply put, I had a blood clot (three times larger then our baby) between my placenta and the lining of my uterus. We were told we had a 1 in 3 chance of miscarrying for the second time.
After many ultrasounds, many trips to the ER, and too many times where I broke down into tears because I "knew for sure" we were losing our baby, we are half way through this pregnancy. We are so thankful for God's sustaining grace thus far and all the help we've received from our family, friends, and church so I could be on modified bed-rest.
Last week, things got a little more complicated as an emergency ultrasound showed that the original blood clot had not shrunk in size at all. In addition, I have developed two more clots which cause heavy bleeding, even in the middle of the night while I'm resting.
Second-trimester bleeding puts me at "high-risk" and I am no longer allowed to consult with my midwife alone. We now have and OB in addition to our midwife, and our hopes for another home-birth are put on hold unless something drastically improves.
"Modified bed-rest" has been changed to "strict bed-rest." With the exception of getting up to eat, shower, and use the bathroom, I spend most of the day lying down or crocheting. As you can imagine, it's very difficult with two toddlers running around. :-) Lord willing, we will be moving in with family who have graciously opened up their home to us for as long as we need it sometime this week or next.
We're often asked what's causing these blood clots and how I can get rid of them. The truth is, not one single doctor of the many we have met with over the past few months can explain why they develop or how to prevent them. No one has prescribe any medication to help the clots dissolve, so we've being using the herbs and homeopathic remedies our midwife has suggested to help sustain the pregnancy. Here they are (and what they do) in case you find yourself in the same situation:
Pregnancy Vitamin: I take this with all of my pregnancies, for the baby's health as well as my own. Make sure the folic acid content is at least 1mg daily, and that the iron is taken in a separate pill from the calcium. Calcium inhibits iron absorption.
Arnica: I take 15 arnica pellets a day. It is a homeopathic remedy that aids in the healing of bruises and wounds. I take it to control the growth of the clots, and hopefully, to shrink them as well. You can also use Arnica flowers in a tincture, or to make a salve.
Sepia (Inky Juice): These past few months have been a whirlwind of emotions. One minute we think we're losing another child, and the next we're happily staring at our energetic little babe on the ultrasound screen. I take 15 pellets of Sepia a day to help with the morning sickness, headaches, weariness, and emotional exhaustion.
Later on in the pregnancy (Lord willing, there will be a "later"), I plan on drinking Red Raspberry Tea to help prepare my uterus for birth. I took it with our second child and noticed a huge difference between my labor with him and our first.
Evening Primrose Oil is something else I take near the end of a pregnancy to help soften the cervix. After an hour and a half of pushing and second degree tear with our first, I was willing to try anything to prevent it from happening again! It worked wonders with our second - no tearing at all, and he literally "slipped" out in three pushes!
The Arnica and Red Raspberry Tea are available through The Bulk Herb Store. I love this family run company and its commitment to providing quality, organic, herbs, teas, and information on how to use the natural medicines God has created for us!

This post contains affiliate links for products I love and personally endorse.

Burgers are one of our favorite ways to start off a weekend! These are gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, Trim Healthy Mama friendly, and mighty tasty. Topped with crispy, bacon, sharp cheddar, fresh lettuce, juicy onion, tangy mustard, and creamy mayo... it's a guilt-free party in your mouth.

Time: 10 minutes plus grilling
Servings: 5-6 burgers
Gluten free, dairy-free, soy-free, Satisfying for THMer's.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup finely diced onion
• 1 Tbsp ketchup (no sugar) mixed with 1 Tbsp water
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1 lb organic ground beef
• Seasonings to taste: salt, pepper, garlic powder

To keep the burgers THM friendly, use portobello mushrooms as buns or a low-carb pita (such as Joseph's) for a Satisfying meal.

We enjoy our burgers with:

• mayo
• mustard
• ketchup
• lettuce
• red onion
• tomato
• cucumbers (or pickles)
• bacon

Morning sickness; some people get it, some people don't. Some people are incapacitated for their whole pregnancy, others get off nausea-free. With Charity, I fell somewhere in between. I took two months off of work between weeks 7-16 and spent my days lying on the couch with a red pail on the floor beside me. I couldn't cook, and Brad had to eat his meals in another room so the smell wouldn't send me running for the bathroom... again. We ordered in and ate out more than I ever dreamed I'd allow myself to.

Week 17 I felt like a new person. The morning sickness (I called it 'morning-noon-and-night-sickness') stopped almost over night, and I quickly packed on the pounds, delighted in making Brad dinner again, cleaned our house from top to bottom, ignited the pregnancy glow once again, and gave birth to a healthy, strong girl who weighed 9 lbs, 10 oz.

Then there's the near perfect experience like my 44-year-old mom had just a few short months ago with Charity's little uncle William. She had no symptoms, except for her expanding waist line. She could hardly believe she was pregnant (none of use could, actually); no headaches, no puking, no swollen ankles, no nausea, no nothing. Just this sense of being overwhelmed that her baby would be younger than her granddaughter; Grandma was having a baby!

So far with this pregnancy, I'm feeling much better than I did with Charity. The nausea is persistent, usually at it's worst in the morning. We have VBS this week and I'm in charge of the crafts for the 6-7 year-olds. Thankfully, I've been given permission to come near the end of the class when the worst of it is over, and I can cut and paste with out gagging at the smell of the glue or marker pens. I'm sure the kids would laugh at the sight of me gagging; Charity thinks it's hysterical.

I've never taken any medication for morning sickness, although it has been suggested by many including my Doctor. I know it's not a chronic condition and that one day it will pass. As difficult as it can be, so far I've been successfully in biting the bullet, and skipping the Diclectin. Perhaps it's because I'm naive and stubborn. Morning sickness is normal, just not particularly enjoyable. Over 80% of women experience it, and usually it means that everything is going just fine with baby.

When I'm tempted to go on medication, I just remember the story my aunt tells of her sister, who has had nearly as many miscarriages as babies (five or six). She was truly thankful for morning sickness, because it was with these pregnancies that her babies survived. To her, morning sickness meant new life inside her womb. The pregnancies in which she felt well usually ended devastatingly within a few weeks.

Along the way, I've learned a few things that seem to keep the uncomfortable symptoms in check. Most of them I learned from other experienced moms. Feel free to add anything you've found helpful in the comment section. I'll make great use of them to be sure!

• Take your iron, folic acid or other pregnancy vitamins when you feel the least sickly. Iron should be taken with orange juice because it needs the Vitamin C to absorb properly. Unfortunately orange juice triggers my gag reflex first thing in the morning. I take mine right before bed at night and everything stays in.
• As soon as you find out you're pregnant, double your meals and freeze one. Most people feel fine for the first month or two. Take advantage of it and stock pile meals for the freezer. You'll be so grateful for a yummy, healthy meal, without having to fork out when the last thing you feel like doing is cooking meat or sauteing onions.
• Can't sleep at night? Try drinking hot milk before bed.
• Keep a package of soda crackers next to your bed, in your purse, or in your pocket. Sometimes I get the overwhelming urge to munch on something. If I don't, I know I'll be sick. So I keep a package of soda crackers nearby at all times. It saves making pit stops at Tim Hortons when the urge comes on suddenly.
• Take a nap. Many of them. You'll feel refreshed.
• Accept help when it's offered. Having a sister over for the day to help fold the mountain of laundry can bring great relief and a renewed sense of hope.
• Keep up your fluids. It's easy to become dehydrated when you're constantly bringing up.
• Look at baby pictures, read up on how your baby's developing, or having an ultra sound, can be just the thing to help you remember that this is all so, so worth it!

The Round-up:

• Food - 3.5 out of 5
• Service - 2.5 out of 5
• Atmosphere - 2 out of 5
• Overall - 8 out of 15

It's time to take ourselves to a new part of town on the blog: North Albert Street.

True, North Albert isn't exactly a dining mecca. But there are a few bright spots among the autobody shops and gas stations. Chappy's Restaurant and Lounge is one of them.

Tucked into a strip mall across the street from the Northgate Mall, Chappy's is an unassuming kind of place. It's located so far off the street that you'd hardly notice it -- most people probably don't at all.

My focus today is on Chappy's brunch only, as that's the only meal I've eaten there.

Big Willie, the Advertising Exec, and myself stopped in on a recent Sunday for some grub. I use the term "grub" deliberately because that's what Chappy's serves: good, honest, homecooking with no shortage of butter n' bacon fat.

The Advertising Exec had been trying to get us to Chappy's for weeks, claiming it to be one of Regina's best greasy spoons. In that respect, I think he's right.

You don't go to Chappy's because it's chic, or decorated oh-so-cutely. You go because it's cheap and the brunch hits the spot.

For about $10, you will be treated to delicious buttery hashbrowns; crispy bacon (and plenty of it); scrambled eggs; breakfast sausage; lasagna; a bit of fruit; a couple of desserts; and some juice. And Chappy's Sunday brunch is a buffet, so fill your plate a couple of times (at least). We certainly did.

Service can be slightly off the mark, but since it's a help-yourself kind of joint that doesn't really matter.

Do something different and head up to North Albert one weekend for some grub. And don't forget your appetite.