Oh Gosh! *big ole red blush*

I just received an award! Woohoo! I've never won anything before either!! AmyDe at Ignore Me - It's Easier nominated me for this very important and very prestigious award.


Is this where I offer the oscar speech?? Gosh I hate speech writing!

Gosh, Thank you, you're too sweet!!

Well hello and welcome to my old friends and new! I'm truly honoured to be recognized! *blush* I spend a great deal of time blogging about my crafting activities, the things that happen in my life and just trying to understand the strange and crazy notions I have rumbling around my brain here from time to time! I use my blog as a sounding board sometimes - usually hoping for feedback - and sometimes just to put the thoughts out of my head!! I spend much of my time crafting because my wonderful children let me, its therapeutic and relaxing!- but we also do some wonderful stuff together. My ventures in crafting eventually lead to my kids doing the same, they see mummy do things and eventually they will enlist my help to try too! My life takes on different notions at various times.... for example right now I'm working on a mostly Home-made Christmas - the idea struck me as the Christmas buying season ended last year - so I got a leaping start by commencing my activities on January 1st! (Family and friends reading - if you have a special request, get it in soon, cause I'm boogie-ing! I'm also working to regain control of my house from the toy clutter monster, lose some weight (some 40 odd pounds) and just generally be healthier. With a splash of frugality thrown in for good measure!

I treasure those that read my blog, even if it is only from time to time! I can't pick out 7 people in particular that make an impact on my life just because I'd be afraid of leaving folks out and some of you don't have blogs. If you read and

Speaking of each and every one of you - now I get to pass the award along:

N - of A Prince and a Princess. You taught me how to digi and now my scrapbooking is slowly getting up to date where before I was buried with no hope of digging out! You've inspired me in a way that you'll never know! You offered a shoulder to cry on when I was first learning the art of breastfeeding and not succeeding very well and again later when my life turned upside down!

GlueStickGirl - of the moments in between. You've inspired me with your scrapbooking and paper cutting prowess (though I could never get there!) You taught me much about listening to my heart and following my instincts when it comes to my girls, and helped hold my hand in the early panicked days when breastfeeding just wasn't working and again later when my life turned upside down!

Milli - of Southern Charm and a Little Yarn - mother of Sweet Teas Soakers. You held my hand as I walked through the most difficult days of my life and then proceeded to inspire me in so many directions at once with your knitting and crafting and energetic ideas.

Drea - who doesn't have a blog - but was there for me when I needed a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold, and a just the idea of being propped up when I couldn't stand anymore.

Mum - who doesn't have a blog - but is always there to offer advice and a shoulder to cry on, to guide me back in the right direction when I stray too far on my crazy adventures and simply share a laugh whenever I need it!

Sassy - or maybe it's realredfoxx this week! You're always there to offer the sisterly advice I need from raising my kids to friendship troubles!

Many others out there in the Blogosphere! LOL! Who inspire me to create and enjoy the things I have!


Thanks to all of you who keep me on my feet, laughing, crying, smiling and inspiring! And the many more on the days when inertia takes over so bad!

So please - just a few tiny "rules"

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.

2. Link to the person you received your award from.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.

6. Write an acceptance speech in the style of the Academy Awards, thanking everybody's mother, father, sister, brother, aunties and uncles and kitchen staff at your favorite restaurant!

I'll keep you posted!

10 Yrs and No Card!

Dh and I celebrated our 10th anniversary today! If you look back 10 yrs ago it was a Wednesday (yes we're cheap!) and most of our friends were either Retired or in school so the middle of July in the middle of the week was an awesome day to get married.

As it turned out it was a hot sticky day in Toronto. It rained in the early afternoon and we worried it would rain for the wedding but it stopped, and I got the day I always wanted. Everything fresh and clean after a rain storm. It made taking pictures difficult, dodging the slow drying puddles, but that's okay since we didn't get many pics done (yes horribly cheap!) And it was incredibly hot but beautiful!

Tomorrow marks my 10 yr anniversary here too! In the lovely sunny south!

As for the card, well we don't do big things for our anniversary short of going out for dinner and having a lovely evening. So the money we didn't spend on cards, we spent on a yummy appetizer, instead - I figured we could eat our Hallmark Greetings instead! (Hot Crab Dip, if you were curious!)

So Happy Tin Anniversary today.

Menu Plan Monday (7/14/08)

I'm feeling accomplished after a week of eating Dinners at home and having a successful menu where dh and I gave and took on the cooking. It didn't seem like such drudgery, and the attitude of the toddler definitely played into the "I WANT TO STAY HOME!" part of this! I put a check (✓) after each meal we ate home last week... which seemed to help keep us on top of things.


So this week's Menu should shape up like this....

Blue is Lunch, Black is Dinner


✓ T15 - Mac Attack or Noodles, ✓ Anniversary Dinner (OUT - goodness I hope not! LOL!)
W16 - Home Moo Moo, and Triple Hipwrecker), Brats, Salad, Fruit
T17 - Boring old Sandwiches, Grilled Chicken, Linguine Alfredo, Salad, and Fruit
F18 - Chicken bits/burgers and Oranges, Homemade Pizza, Salad (Liking the Pilsbury Pizza Crust thing)
S19 - Leftovers, Tacos
S20 - Daddy's Choice or OUT


If this is up your alley feel free to view more menus for this week here

Menu Plan Monday (7/7/08)

For those that linked in *BLUSH* I forgot to update the link to my page....
here is the menu 7/14/08
So after a fun filled weekend with my father in law and trying to dodge the bullet with a cranky 2 yr old in a nice Thai Restaurant, I've decided that I've had enough eating out especially when guests are around just because I like to eat my food and not have to shuffle us (the 2 yr old and I) out of the restaurant halfway through the meal!

So I'm working on getting more organized and have been doing better, but there is always room for improvement. With this in mind, I've watched this site for a while and decided its time to participate and be more accountable! :) ......


So this week's Menu should shape up like this....

✓ M7 - Linguini Vongole
✓ T8 - Pork Tenderloin / Fish, Rice (changed to steak for them and fish for me)
✓ W9 - Pizza *homemade with boboli* because I haven't muster the courage to make my own
✓ T10 - Pasta Alle Floret
✓ F11 - Turkey Burgers w/Salad and Dessert (Tonight - Monday 14th)
✓ S12 - Chicken Rice Stirfry

If this is up your alley feel free to view more menus for this week here

2006 UFO - Can I Officially Call It Done? Secret #1- Sneaky Peaky!

9-06 - stands for September 2006 - the Official Date this Project was started.

I started this project for Christmas 2006, and promptly set it aside in November that year when there was no way it would be done pre-US-Thanksgiving, my official Christmas mail date. I picked it back up about a month ago and worked on it periodically over the course of a couple weeks......

7-6-08 - The date the project was completed except for the zipper.

Can I call it done now or do I have to really sew in that dreaded zipper?!

Walking In Wonder at Ft. Mtn

One of the things we love to do on a regular basis as a family is walk. We got our shirts from the Canyon Climbers Club (look for the link in the sidebar!) a week or so ago.... nice shirts. We love nature type trails and spend a reasonable amount of time just walking with the girls looking for mushrooms *to look at not to eat*, enjoying the pleasures that Nature has to offer. This is my favourite picture of the girls taken this weekend at Fort Mountain.

We noticed the Blueberries are almost ripe on the side of the mountain and the Raspberries are certainly on the go! So maybe in a few short weeks we'll be able to go berry picking at the local pick your own farms! Yum can't wait!

Our neighbours will truly love us, as we have a wild Blackberry bush sprouting in our Azalea hedge this year and the girls have been pilfering the berries from it! Good job the neighbors put up the fence between our yard and theirs (the only fence in the 20+yr old neighbourhood!) because now we can grow our planned raspberry bushes right up near the fence next year!! HEE HEE! (I'm kidding but it would be nice!)

Happy Independence Day (July 4)

So if you're reading these as I post you'll notice things appearing above and below.... I'm sneakying some posts in as I go! LOL! I was too lazy to post the last few days!

What's the 4th of July without a few firework shots??? Ya they're puny but hey life goes on!

Just a quiet family event with FIL in the midst. M worked on her Wave the Flag badge, by planning the picnic we had for dinner that night. It wasn't all that festive food-wise but it was good and healthy (except the rootbeer! LOL!)

Poor S slept poorly the night before, and didn't nap all day, and crashed in the car on the way home... to the extent that I striped her naked and just left her to sleep in a fresh dipey. LOL!

Raggy Twins

Question - if you're out there, which one do you like better???

So after finishing the majority of the knitting on my Secret Christmas Project #1 (9-06) I took a little detour while sewing it up and weaving the ends and these two little charmers were born on the end of my hook! I used this pattern for dolly#1 on the left but saw some areas that I could personalize, and ended up with dolly#2 on the right. Not sure which one I like better, though dh likes dolly#1's body and #2's head (when pushed to answer! LOL!) The only identical things on the twins are their arms and legs.

They lack clothes, I should get on that... but I'm more tempted to sew dolly clothes than knit them, which seems really weird to me. I feel the need to make 2 more of these dollies because I think I like these ones too much to part with them! I originally was making them for charity!

So anyway, consider this your introduction to the nameless naked twins. (Clothes and faces to follow! LOL!)

Happy Canada Day

It was a quiet Canada Day Tuesday. The girls wore their shirts from Granny and Grandpa, and we hit the park in the late afternoon. It was downright Balmy here for July - and Dry. I managed to finish a pair of red and white shorties for the little one at the end of the day and vowed to make blue pockets with stars on them by the end of the 4th but that never came to fruition. I had to clean for FIL coming!

Anyway.... HAPPY CANADA DAY

She's Off the Needles..... YAY!

2 years in coming but project 08-Christmas Secret #1 (9-06) is finally off the needles! The (9-06) is Sept 2006 when this puppy was started. I'm a changed woman.
A little finishing here and there, a little ends weaving and I'll be on to another project!

This little beauty isn't haunting my UFO box anymore!

Ahh .... relief!

Menu Plan Monday

Did I mention I had a lazy week last week.... and as such when I saw that my menus have run over by a day the last couple weeks because dh decided to have something different one of the nights.... that I noticed there were still 4 things left on the menu and all the groceries were in .... so I decided that Thursday was a play day instead of a shopping day.....???

So this week's menu will be what I was supposed to be eating this week.... So though I cheated....
here it is! :)

Scallops with Snow Peas and Crispy Noodles
Ham w/Scalloped Potatoes Broccoli & Cauli
Ultimate Veggie Chili
Lemon Pepper Chicken
Chop Suey (Vegetarian)

Linguini Vongole

(brought to you by the letters L - A - Z and Y) hee hee!

Jams, Walks and Sleeping Babes

Its been busy around here.

The Strawberry Freezer Jam turned out beautifully! Dh says that it is too sour, but I found it just right, and I'm the one that likes SWEEEEET things! LOL! I've been working away on Christmas Secret #1 and making good progress I must say!! I have been tempted to pick up a 1/2 dozen other projects but I figure I'm going to dig out of my current stash and dig out of UFO stash 2 projects at a time before I go anywhere near a new project. So once #1 and #8 are done and socked away (no that wasn't a hint) I'll work out a new project... I think I deserve it! :)

So after all that work and the yummy strawberry jam, the girls asked me blueberry jam, so that was tonights challenge. But first we had to walk to the store to get some berries. We came home with 2 things of Blackberries, 1 thing of Blueberries, 4 peaches and a thing of Lychee fruit, which we haven't figured out what to do with.... but I'll figure it out! :)

After all that walking.... poor thing the littlest was super tired.... so when we got home, I left her to play for a bit, and was showing M how to make scrapbook pages... and when we looked down here she was curled up under the desk with Stanky Bankie

7 and Smarter Already

My 7 yr old is apparently smarter than me! She just told me how to clear my cache in firefox. *sigh*


***Update***
Not completely smarter though.....
I had to figure out my own cookies!

Back to Scrapping

Its been a while since I did more than a desktop computer calendar with my digi-scrapping. Like everything else life goes in waves. I'm feeling guilty for not having taken more photos of the girls this year, so take this as my aim to take more photos over the next couple months.

Template - June Blue Print Challenge by Monica McGill, Paper and frame - LemonadeKisses Freebie by Kathryn Estry

7th Birthday images

Up to Mischief in the Kitchen!

I've always said I'll try anything once.

So I've always wanted to make jam. But lacked both the tools and know how to do it. (Add that to one of the many crafts out there that I have yet to try! LOL!) So on one blog, I followed a link to another blog, and as always happens I blog hopped my way to someone's blog where they had recently made some freezer jam, based on a really simple recipe here. My first attempt, so I have no clue how it will turn out.... but hey it was fun making it. I asked the girls if they were interested in helping but both declined, though I'm sure if it works out they'll be glad to sample the merchandise! LOL!

I'll keep ya posted on how it turns out and how it tastes too! :)

****************
AmyDe.... the item in the previous post that has begun its second life is a Starfrit manual food processor. I discovered the attachments that went with it and discovered that it had a mandolin that attaches to the top of the bowl.... with funky little slicers to go with it...

Back to Cleaning

So we spent a couple hours in the basement yesterday. As visitors would visit things got stuffed in boxes and shoved into the basement. Dh had completed a couple projects down there but left things like the plastic sheet when he finished painting. So there was no rhyme or reason to the mish mash of stuff down there, well now there sort of is.

I have a ton of decluttering to do still but slowly I'm working my way to getting rid of stuff.

I found a ton of gift bags - Birthday, Christmas and misc - which have been organized into a manageable collection. I found a ton of craft stuff which needs organized... and after 3 hours I found almost 2 garbage bags worth of trash (well you know odds and ends and papers) and at least 1/2 a dozen 'now' emptied boxes. The girls have room to play with their "stuff" and I have room to work.

So in the process of that, I found an item that I received as a wedding present almost 10 years ago... and while I loved the item at the time, it got squirreled away because it was a pain to clean... but with getting back to the home cooking stuff.... I found a feature on this little contraption that I had no idea existed... so it has now become useful and extremely cool again!

Woohoo!

More cleaning now means less cleaning when we have to move (did I forget the IF we ever move part!) ... so I'm all for it. Not only that it makes the house more manageable.

Menu Planning Monday

I've been doing much better about planning our menus over the last couple weeks. We do have some troubles sticking to it, but at least we have a guideline to follow.... So for this week here is what we plan...

Scallops with Snow Peas and Crispy Noodles
Ham w/Scalloped Potatoes Broccoli & Cauli
Ultimate Veggie Chili
Lemon Pepper Chicken
Chop Suey (Vegetarian)

Linguini Vongole


With that all done I have freed up my day on Wed/Thurs from planning! (hee hee!)

Feeling Productive

Of the 12 Christmas items on my in Progress list I've been working (along with other projects) hard and have just picked up a project that I abandoned in 2006 when it was too late to make it for the Christmas run! With any luck I'll get it done this year along with a few other things! :)

So far I've managed to complete 5 projects on that list... so I'm almost there, with #6 fast on its way to completion and #7 at least on the radar screen! I'm loving it.

Its never too soon to start your handmade Christmas list!

Earth Hour: Part 4 - the Haunting

Ha, yes folks, its been a month since DH has had to do a SHOUT OUT to the power company. Now it is time to call the PSC, in all its insanity.

8 - 9 pm Earth Hour - Mar 30 - Family survives 40 minutes
7 ish pm April 3 - 4.5 hours - No logical reason
4 ish pm May 11th - 6.5 hours - 1 hour post thunderstorms
7 ish pm June 9th - 1 min blip! - post rain
7:20 pm June 11th - 2.5 hours. - 1 hour post thunderstorms.

K, so when I said that we would revisit Earth Hour weekly for 1 hour each week, I had no idea that we would visit Earth Hour monthly for several hours at a time instead and make up our quota in one sitting! We're still ahead in terms of hour usage! I think what irks me most is that the control would be totally out of my hands. I mean if I had control, we wouldn't be cooking dinner by candlelight - thank goodness for the gas cooktop! It seems that our little corner of our subdivision (which isn't a corner at all) has been afflicted with a bad transformer (or two, me thinks!) - so the worker says. Me thinks, there is a slight water problem right along with that evil transformer as noting the weather after each session it has been almost an hour to the minute after a rain shower! (thank goodness I have documented each outage HERE! - ammo for the PSC!)

The neighbors are rightly cranky! And rightly so, I'd say. We gave it 20 minutes after the lights went out and then dh called. We've made the decision to be pests - and call every 30 minutes until power is restored, ordinarily we wouldn't do this but with monthly outages its time they heard us - its not like the bills are piling up unpaid. *sigh*

So this is one instance where pre-planning the meals worked in our favour - as our electric oven was useless for cooking pizza last night - so instead we had a pre-planned Spanish Omelette (turned scrambled egg! LOL!)

I made it 5 hrs

"I'm barricading myself away from the fabric stores unless I have an immediate need for something that isn't in my current stash!"

Did I really say that??? I made it 5 hrs....
I visited a site... I fell in love....
I bought fabric.... 1 lbs bag to be exact.
*Sigh*
I'm hopeless. Must remember to barricade myself from the online fabric stores too! *sigh*
So many dangers... A little white padded room would be my best bet! LOL!