Is she talking about food again??

I love cinnamon. Love it. And while I know that it comes as little shock to you that I love foods and drinks of this sort of spicy genre - please don't let her talk about chai tea again! - I feel it necessary to continually bring this love affair to light.

Let's face it: chocolate gets all the fame. As delicious as chocolate is, if taste sensation was a sport (isn't it?) chocolate would certainly prove to be a ball-hog. And the little bugger would always get picked first - but that's a separate issue.

Point? Be true to yourself. Just sayin, if chocolate was jumping off a bridge...

Actually, that's not the point. The 'point' is my most recent discovery: Farmers Homespun Sticky Bun ice cream. Yum!!

Disclaimer: For everyone's safety...as with all of my past discoveries, readers are strongly advised to refrain from pointing out a newly discovered item's longstanding existence prior to my discovering it.

Just the other day, I said there needed to be a cinnamon-y ice cream. Et, voila! This little piece of heaven landed upon my cone - creamy vanilla ice cream made even better with brown sugar swirls, bursts of cinnamon, and (pause for effect.......) ooey gooey pieces of sticky bun to savour! It's a desert in and of itself.

Plus it comes on a cone - and we all now that only the best foods come on cones.

And the best part: you can buy it in tubs at the grocery store to bring home with you. Ideal for the sort of ice cream love affair best suited to late night rendezvous in shadowy corners of the kitchen. Because if we've learned anything from ice cream, we all know that it's important to take relationships to the next level...

Try it. I assure you - you will not find yourself in further need of chocolate. Well, for about five minutes, anyway...

Making Bread and Constructing a Family Quilt

What is it about making something with your hands that feels so therapeutic and fulfilling?

As you read in my last post, I've recently entered into the world of bread making. Making bread is a deep rooted tradition in my family. My grandmother Chaisson has achieved eternal reverence with regards to her best-in-the-world homemade bread.

When we were children, my sisters and cousins and I all lived for Nan's bread - many of us restricted to enjoying this culinary delight during summer vacation and the rare winter visit to Newfoundland. Sometimes Nan would even make bread on those extra special times when she and Pop came to visit us.

I remember watching Nan in fascination as she would knead the dough with diligence and determination; a perseverance worthy of true admiration.

Soon after my virginal introduction to making bread I had a conversation with my mother - also an accomplished family bread maker - and it was she who identified the labour of making bread as  therapeutic and cleansing. Getting in there with you hands and pounding out the hearty goodness of the dough for the purpose of providing sustenance and enjoyment for your family truly is a satisfying endeavor.

Moreover, it is a great way to purge tension - much like other physically repetitive activities such as biking or running - providing one with a clear and undistributed mind for thinking things through.
Quilting is another well rooted tradition in my family that unites productive therapeutic activity with the wholesome nature of making something meaningful for someone you love. Selecting fabrics, arranging them in ways that convey a desired mood. Combining these elements in a custom that ensures longevity with the purpose of ultimately forming a single entity designed to provide warmth and comfort is - in my books - a very effective means of expressing love.

One of the especially nice things about visiting Nan and Pop was getting to sleep in one of the old kid's rooms warmly snuggled in one of Nan's quilts. Nan made her quilts with scrap fabrics salvaged from other projects, or from worn out garments within the house - curtains, work shirts, sheets. They were the kind of quilts that hugged you - heavy, big and warm. Their myriad of patterns, fabric textures and colours gave them a unique quality and her use of re-purposed fabrics added a personal touch that made you feel safe and at home.

I am fortunate to have one of these precious specimens upstairs, where it usually resides on my Sweetheart's bed.  Decades after it's construction, my grandmother's quilt continues to embrace her family with love and warmth.

It is this degree of love that I hope to convey to my family with the making of my very own family quilt. So far in the process I have assembled my own collection of outgrown, out-fashioned, and plain warn out fabrics that have seen my family throughout its evolution.

This may take me a little bit longer than the two loaves of bread I made for my family, but it is my hope that - like the bread my grandmother made for her family - its sustenance will be felt by the people I love for a long time after its completion.  

Julia as a Bug

Hanging out with Sweetheart and Funny Guy...

How cute is this?

My Sweetheart is growing up so fast.  The other morning she got up, went downstairs, poured herself a cup of milk and got a yogurt.   And fed our dog. 

Later while at the grocery store with her father, she gathered an armful of lemons and informed her father that  she wanted to make lemonade. 

It's easy.  Grover says all you need to make lemonade is lemons, water, and sugar.  Now we have all the ingredients.  

And a yummy pitcher of lemonade she did make - much to her Mommy's delight! 

A Tired Old Marshmellow World

Hopefully Christmas has been kind to you and this post finds you jolly, full of good food and surrounded by those you love. 

The holidays always seem to take so long to arrive - shopping, making, decorating, baking, mailing, ordering, wrapping, planning - and then fly by amidst a fury of Styrofoam, savory culinary aromas, and crinkled tinsel. 

Days spent trying your wits with complicated electronics and toy assembly compounded by excessive intake of eggnog and chocolate makes for tired Mommies and Daddies around our house. 

 
Just checking: does anyone else find the packaging for commercial children's toys to be a little bit excessive? 

I'm specifically referring to the display cases that some toys come in wherein each individual part of the toy are encased in molded, snug-fitting plastic trays and secured by miniature translucent elastic-like ties and occasionally - if you're lucky, weaved or sewn in fasteners for properly displayed doll hair.  All for the purpose of...?  It can't be for safety reasons, as there is nothing even remotely safe about razor sharp plastic, Styrofoam snow, wire ties, or wondering elastic bands. 

Seriously, have you ever tried to break a toy free of it's packaging lately?  It is labour intensive.  And it only gets worst as children - and subsequently, their toy interests - grow. 

Try removing a doll with hair from her plastic encased tomb, and see if you can manage to preserve the innocence and magic of Christmas morning for your children as you wage war with plastic hell and struggle to restrain frustration-induced profanity.  All the while trying to avoid injury to yourself and your eagerly awaiting children.  Whilst singing Christmas carols and chocking down the long ago cold tea that you made when you first got up because you knew you'd need it, and you still know you need it, because without it you would crawl into a cupboard - equipped with a child safety lock - and wait for the whole Christmas merriment thing to blow over. 

Or until the smell of cooking turkey lures you out of you self-induced confinement cupboard.

Frustrations aside, I am fortunate enough to say that Christmas was truly wonderful here.  My two year old Funny Guy, Alright and four year old Sweetheart were truly enthralled with the wonderment of the season.  Much to the delight of their super-excited Mommy and Daddy.

Others Look Up to You

Last night was my work's annual Christmas party.  Unfortunately it was my turn to man the ship, so I missed out on the festivities.  Much to my delight, there were a few fortune cookies left over this morning from the night staff's 'absent from the Christmas party' Chinese food feast, (supplied complements of our service's chief surgeon).  Deluded by the common misconception that fortune cookies are good to eat, I excitedly nabbed one to enjoy with my breakfast.  It read, 

~~~~ others look up to you ~~~~

This is frightening.  I feel bad for these people.  Scared for them, even.  But I am nevertheless impressed with my ability to continually pull the wool over people's eyes.  Having others think that you know what you're doing is almost as effective as actually knowing what you are doing.  Perhaps it is my mastery of the illusion of competence that is responsible for said people actually looking up to me.

Either way, who am I to question the insightful wisdom of the mass produced pre-packaged cookie?

And yes - it was delicious...ly boring.  Not bad, just ehn ... As is always the case with fortune cookies, despite the delusion that they are, in fact, good.  Which, let's fact it, they are not.

Allow me to analyze this intriguing paradox even further:  

I think the mind hears 'cookie' and insists on thinking 'yum' despite the fact that the consumption of fortune cookies is almost always immediately followed by the thought: "that wasn't good at all, why was I so excited?"  Followed in turn by "so help me, am I going to be tasting that all day??"  Followed by "wow, that's not settling well at all."  Followed finally by "why would anyone look up to someone who just displayed excitement at the prospect of eating a hard, dried up, sugary-but-otherwise-tasteless cookie that was likely made months, or even years ago and imported from somewhere on the other side of the world."  And "hasn't this hypothetical hero ever experienced the unsatisfying taste of a fortune cookie?  What's all the excitement about?"  And finally, finally "that's it - I need a new person to look up to."

Oddly enough, the mass produced cookie cutter (heehee) left over fortune cookies may be the only part of last night's Chinese food feast that actually had anything to do with China.  You know, likely having been made in China.  Hence, in defence of my ability to serve as an inspirational person (which seems to have come under some degree of scrutiny here, sheesh):  isn't an attempt to gain knowledge regarding other cultures a quality legitimately worthy of inspiration?

That's what I thought.

And if anyone reading this actually likes Chinese fortune cookies - the hard, pre-packaged ones dispensed around here with 'Chinese' food - don't take this critique as a judgement of your palette. 

Fortune cookies are delicious -everyone likes them! 

I mean, hey - they're cookies, aren't they???

Plus they contain little bits of wisdom that can be inspiring all on it's own.  

And we all need something (ahem, someone) to look up to. 

1 2 3 4 5 6 Stitch

We're headed back to Exhibition Park again this morning for another day of working the Street. Yesterday and last night flew by! We met some great artists and crafters, chatted with good friends, got the juice on some interesting happenings, and got to listen to some awesome music. Plus, we completed 5 (6?) new dolls, including a spectacular boy super hero. Pictures taken and will be shared once all is complete.

For anyone interested in attending, the details are here. There are still two days left, come on down and get your craft on with Third Street!

Hot and Steamy

Looking to add something a little steamy to your nightly routine?

Try this:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a tall mug, combine two heaping  spoonfuls of powdered hot chocolate and milk filled to about 1/3.  (Ahem, I said HEAPING).  Stir briskly til it gets that frothy look going on.   

Place in microwave.  Cook on high for about two minutes.  This is the fun part: watch the mug as it spins in it's radiation inferno.  You will gradually see dark chocolaty swells rising from the depths.  Let it spin.  The swells will soon become unruly  and start spilling over the brim  in a series of thick syrupy rivulets.  Allow the splendor to continue until just before the streams of chocolate reach the tray - so as to avoid the formation of a need-to-clean-up-right-away wet spot.  This is a wet spot your inner desires may force you to rectify by desperately  licking the microwave tray clean - that part is up to you.

Now, ever so gently - your mug will likely be dangerously hot and sticky - remove the cup from the microwave.  Using your fingers, or tongue if it's not too hot,  devour the chocolate sticky spills from the outside walls of the cup, leaving the chocolate buildup that has accumulated around the brim for later pleasures. 

After stirring the  mixture very gently so as to loosen any hot sots in the fluid, and to strengthen the dissolving bond without disturbing the pool of gooey chocolate at the top, add some more milk to achieve the desired volume.  If need be, stic the mug back in the microwave for another 20-30 seconds.

Now you have a hot, decadent, steamy friend to enjoy the night with - complete with enough chocolaty goo coating the mug's brim to savor with each sip.  It may not last as long as you'd hope, and you may need to wash up a bit when you're all done, but I promise - it's worth it!!  You may find yourself wanting more each night.  I caution only this:  don't over do it.  No one wants a headache before going to bed - this may impede upon other hot and steamy nightcap deeds. 

Enjoy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, perhaps this is not exactly what you had in mind, but I assure you - it is extremly satisfying.

More Life Skills, with Sonia

A tidy linen closet, I've decided is overrated.  While I'm sure there are you tube video's on how to properly fold fitted sheets, I am choosing to fold them (into a ball) and smooth the top, as I have been.  Ignorance is bliss as they say and cover of homemaker magazine I will never be.

Now that I'm a mom, though, I've had this strange desire to work on my domestic skills in the kitchen.  While eating lunch on Sunday, I decided I'd do some baking while DreamGirl napped.  After a quick review of the supplies in the cupboard and fridge, I discovered I only had two eggs, a little bit of butter and that my husband had eaten almost the whole bag of chocolate chips.   I flipped though some cook books and narrowed down what I could make, given the limited stuff I had available.

I banged out a batch of chocolate chip cookies, there were just enough chocolate chips and butter to make it happen.

What I'm most proud of is the apple pie.  I've never made a pie in my life, not ever.  My husband loves pie and I was feeling the love.  We had lots of apples in the fridge and pie crust in the freezer (strange I know, but my husband likes to make pumpkin pie from time to time).  I combined two recipes, a Brown Betty recipe from Company's Coming Deserts cook book and my husband's mothers Apple Crisp recipe and used the baking instructions on the box.  Here's the beauty!

I made my husband and DreamGirl promise they would tell me it was amazing no matter how bad it turned out.  It was actually good though!  Yummy in fact.  Maybe next time I'll take a stab at actually making pastry. 

How Can You Feel Blue When There is Tea to Enjoy?

Yes, another treasury. 

I can't help it - I'm hooked!! 

Leave me alone, I have tea to drink...

Tea makes me feel warm and at home. Little girl me having tea with father and grandmother, student me learning to rely on tea, nurse me finding comfort in tea during long and stressful shifts. Mommy me enjoying tea party delights with her 4 year old daughter, who pretends to like tea - much as little girl me used to - just to humor Mommy me. Crafter me has even been known to use tea (in less than conventional ways because yes, I do drink tea as I craft).

Brown Paper Packages Tied up with String ...

I promise not to keep doing this ... eventually ... once the novelty wears off ...

These are a few of my favorite things...

.... Biking, tea, music, The Little Prince, Flight of the Concords, rocking the party, chai, my family, snuggling, sleeping, elephants

~ being eaten by a boa constrictor is optional ~

my home, reading and books, comfort, My Love, mending broken hearts, escape, sewing,

sewing puns, sewing with my sister, Pearl Jam, Black, mary janes ....

Back in the Saddle Again

Setting the scene:
Today is my first day back to work after vacation.  My alarm dutifully went off at 5:08 am.  It took me until 5:09 to turn the blasted thing off, following many agitated movements and noises from the other side of the bed. 

After crawling out of bed, I cautiously made my way through the 5 am black as pitch fog to the door, hoping to avoid stepping on the dog or any other potential noise-making and injury-inflicting objects.  I headed down the stairs as quietly as my groggy legs could carry me, so as not to wake the still-in-vacation-mode kiddies and husband. 

This is the first time I've been up before 6:30 am in a couple of weeks, and it ain't pretty. 

Functioning efficiently and productively early in the morning on not enough sleep and in darkness that wasn't there the last time you were up at this insane hour is a challenge to the old synapses.  Movements require more deliberation, reactions are delayed.  Sounds are louder. 

Specifically Problematic:
Facets that you have used millions of times before - and that function exactly the same as every other facet that you've ever used in your life - suddenly become complicated foreign tools that require a great deal of contemplation.  It is only after staring at the thing for two or three minutes with nothing happening that one's numb mind surmises that further action may be required.  You might actually have to do something.  like turn the knob in the direction of the arrow. 

This is exactly why facet manufacturers do us all the courtesy of providing colour coded labels: to help us overcome the morning fog that perpetual plagues our existence. There must be something primitive about blue and red that makes the half asleep mind direct the still asleep hands - through a series of misfiring synapses - to aim toward the red. 

I have a facet in my shower that only turns on and off - the further left you move the handle, the hotter - or redder - the water becomes.  Seems easy enough.  And yet...

Decision making time:
Once I figured out how the shower worked, I moved on to the kitchen where I managed - through a series of mishaps with the fridge, cupboards and microwave - to prepare myself a lovely pseudo chai tea latte.  Looking at the clock I came to the realization that if I left at that moment I could park on the street a reasonable five minute walk from work and save myself the $12.00 it costs to park in the smelly parkade.

Remembering my troubles with the facet, I set my travel mug next to my scavenged-lunch so I would remember to take it with me to savor on the drive into town.  I then zombie-moved into the sun room and turned on my lap top.

Off on another tangent:
A computer is a relatively complicated device to operate, yet - surprisingly - the actions required to make one do what you want - for me - have become ingrained and are performed almost instinctively.  Meaning, of course, that operating my computer is much less challenging to half-asleep Andrea than is my shower faucet.  So pleasantly, no colour codes required here.

Ahem.  Email.  Clock.  Facebook.  Clock.  Etsy.  Blog.  Email again.  YouTube video someone you don't really know posted on Facebook and said you needed to watch.  Chuckle.  When was that doctor's appointment, again?

Clock.  Crap.  I'm late for work.

Smelly parkade, here I come. 

Productivity at it's finest:
Arrival on unit, scavenged lunch in hand, now curdled latte long since forgotten in it's don't-forget-your-tea spot at home.  Three weeks away from work and my left shoe buckle is still flapping because I simply couldn't find the inclination whilst vacationing to fix it (what do i look like - a sewer?).  Wondering whether or not I brushed my teeth before leaving home and if I'm going to remember how to write my morning report - or have I forgotten how to do that, too? 

Maybe it's the colour codes on the facets that are screwing me up...  Maybe the in is reacting with my smelly well water and emitting some sort of neurotoxic chemical that can only be properly described using a three letter acronym.  Or a symbol.

Perpetual Optimism:
But it's Wednesday.  The unofficial cake day on my unit.  Yum, in advance.  There is nothing quite as delectable as pastry shop cheese cake served from a stainless steel emergency operation cart covered with a thread bare draw sheet.  Savored using a medical grade tongue depressor.

Inconsequential Mutterings of an Overly Inquisitive Mind

Time for some inconsequential discussion.  I know, you've been waiting for it.  Probably been expecting it.  Perhaps seen it coming.  Probably not, though - these erratic tendencies of mine are very fly by the seat of their pants, even though peculiarities generally go pant-less.

There - how's that for an intro?  Got your attention??

I have a very important item of contemplation for you and yours as the result of a recent finding at me and mine's dinner table this past week.

Is there more than one way to eat corn on the cob? 

If you are like me, this is not something you've ever thought about (yes, there are actually a few things that I haven't thought about before - surprising, I know, with my tendency towards idle wonderings...) 

I mean, there is a standard way to eat corn on the cob, is there not?  I am of the typewriter-approach variety of cob nibblers.  Left to right and repeat.  I have been in the presence of people in the past who have walked the fine line between sanity and insanity by varying this method into a zigzag typewriter fashion (left to right, right to left, and repeat). 

I realize that this variation in corn eating style may be a tad bit mind blowing.  So brace yourself.

Shocking though it may seem, you are about to hear of another way to eat corn from the cob.  The brace yourself part was because this is about to take a very long winded turn you may not have been expecting, knowing my usual to-the-point writing style.

My husband likes the little bitty shriveled up kernels of corn that grow on the top of the cob.  He likes them so much, in fact, that he saves them for the end.  Consequently, he has adapted his corn on the cob eating style so as to preserve these tender goodies until such a time as they can be wholeheartedly enjoyed - once the rest of the corn has been dealt with.

Accordingly, My Sweetest eats his corn in a spiraling ring sort of fashion. 

He begins at the bottom end of the cob (the end where you have to break off the piece of stalk after shucking the corn) and works around the cob until he has come full cirle and a ring of corn has been chewed from the cob.  He then realigns the cob so as to begin a new ring adjacent to the first.  He then eats around the cob again, repeating this process until he has eaten all the way up to the itty bitty guys at the top of the cob. 

It is at this point that he releases himself from his restrictive self-control and enjoys his favorite part of the cob.

Is this evolution in the works?  Indication of superior frontal cortex processing?  Will we all be doing this 500 years from now?

If you are like me and eat your corn in the evolutionarily-significant-right-now fashion of side to side typewriter chomping, then you can see where I am coming from.

If, like my husband, you eat your corn this way, good for you.  It's important to be unique in some way, and if you are willing to dispense your limited capacity for originality on your corn on the cob eating style then power to you. 

Cause really, being able to recite the alphabet via bodily function sound effects is way overdone.

As promised, inconsequential mutterings of an overly inquisitive mind.

You were warned... 

So why not jump into my nightmare?

What is your corn on the cob eating style??

Summer Quilt Finished!

Sunday was my little friend Sophie's 2nd birthday party.  I had to miss out on the festivities because I was working but I sent my three sweetest reps to present Sophie with her present.  

I hope she loves snuggling with this sweet child - sized lap quilt!

Almost all of the fabrics used in the patchwork are upcycled.  Even the batting is a hodgepodge of large pieces left over from past projects. 

The watermelon pink block on the far left in the picture below came from a second hand skirt my daughter wore as a toddler.  Last year, for Sophie's first birthday, I made her a Third Street cloth doll using this fabric for the dress.  I was so pleased to find I had enough of this fabric left over from the doll to use some in Sophie's quilt - such a delightful little bonus.  

The bright blue floral print came from the lining of an Old Navy handbag that I had bought several years ago on a trip to Boston.  I bought this bag for a ridiculously low price and I think I only used it once or twice.  But I kept it - and I'm so glad I did. 

The dark red came from a second hand red linen dress shirt that I've used in a few different projects I've shared here and here.  The yellow floral block that is repeated throughout the quilt top came from a second hand dress my daughter wore that I also used for this Third Street turning point doll (very first doll made from an original Third Street Pattern).  The dark green pieces were taken from a second hand dress I wore for a long time but had to reluctantly surrender as its seams were under a great deal of undue strain...  The red floral print came from a piece of fabric I snagged from Frenchy's and very pale pink squares came from Mom - our number one upcycled fabric supply contact. 

Of the few new fabric pieces used for this top,  the majority were taken from our scrap pile.  Only about two or three blocks were actually cut from larger pieces of new fabric - once our upcycled and scrap stashes had been fully exploited.    

For the backing I used a new piece of cotton flannelette in baby blue with a puppy print - because Sophie loves dogs. 

Just like the sweetheart it was made for, this quilt is the harmonization of so many cherished parts.

The Things We Say

Things I've said more than once...

• I never saw the end of that movie, I fell asleep
• This is the best meal that I've ever had
• That's a whole other kettle of fish

Sayings I miss...

• I don't give a care
• Playing maple leaf
• Scared out of my wits

Phrases I've never used but think I should...

• It's so frightfully old-hat
• It's so ghastly dull
• That's positively stupendous!
• Me nerves was rubbed right raw

What sayings and phrases do you find enticing??

I Want to Ride My Bicycle

So I don’t have a very good track record when it comes to biking…  I have poor balance, slow reflexes and I’m frequently overcome with a fear of getting injured.  Regardless, I love biking.

Three years ago I planned an elaborate mountain biking trip for my brother-in-law and I that went horribly wrong.  What we expected would be a couple hours through the woods on an circling trail known as Jimmy’s Round Top turned into the 6 hour lost-in-the-woods ride from hell.  Well, to be fair it was probably more like 4 hours from hell.  The first two hours weren’t too bad since we hadn’t gotten lost at that point… 

One might ask how two adults could get lost on a trail.  Couldn’t you just turn around and go back the way you came? 

Let me paint you a picture: we are talking the middle of the woods.  Woods as in wilderness.  As in abandoned hunting camps.  Random swampy areas (seriously, we were up to our knees carrying our bikes at one point, in which Scott did not appreciate my light hearted leech humour).  Combined with a ‘trail’ long past succumbing to lush overgrowth of forest floor vegetation.  Isolation and desolation with a backdrop of evergreens set to the score of singing birds.

I’m talking deep, deep in the woods were no girl – no matter how un girly-girl she may be - should ever find herself, even if she is with one of the greatest guys in the world who followed her without question because she was she and she had a map. That she had printed from a mountain biking website that she later discovered had last been updated in 2002.  And required a great deal of interpretation to read.  And she had studied the area topographically (sort of…)  On a day following a huge rain storm.  In September when the days get shorter and it gets down right chilly when the sun goes down.  Especially if you are very wet from repeatedly falling hard into rocky mud puddles. 

Scott summed up the overall experience several hours into the run.  When we came upon a deserted hunting camp in the middle of nowhere, Scott quite seriously stated: ”Oh, crap.  This is the kind of place you go to get murdered”.  And this was before the panic set in…

Well friends, hindsight is 20/20.  I realize now that smart planning can lead to a more foreseeable future if you actually engage your brain.  I guess I’m a work in progress.

Well, I’ve already said more about that experience than I ever thought I would be able to without the aid of a trained mental health professional and the employment of strong anti-anxiety meds….

Since buying a new bike in the spring, my husband has been rediscovering biking.  We’ve been out numerous times this spring and summer on the well known and well maintained community trail by our home.  We gear up and head out with the kids in the bike trailer, setting our sights on short jaunts to the river, beaver dam, and playground.  A few weeks back we did a big trip to one of the lakes that lives beside the trail for a little snack and a dip.  This was about 12km of relatively unchallenging terrain made very challenging by the extreme heat and the near 70lb load in the trailer. 

Well, today My Sweetest and I embarked upon a new biking adventure.  We decided to drive along the road from our home to Peggy’s Cove, approximately a 60 km round trip.  Along the coast sans kids and trailer (thanks Papa-Nanny), just the two of us.

I am delighted to say that we had a blast!  We didn’t do the entire trip as planned, only 43km.  Yay, right!!  And we are both still alive and unscarred!! 

We drove from our home to Hacketts Cove where we lunched on french toast and iced tea at the Finer Diner, a gorgeous place overlooking a quaint fishing inlet along the Saint Margaret’s Bay coast.  We relaxed for a bit, chatted with neighbouring diners and took in the view before deciding to head back home to the kiddies and grandparents instead of pushing on the additional 10km.

See how much I’ve grown?  And I didn’t even bring a map!!

We had a great day and hopefully won't be too sore tomorrow.

Looking for Something to Do?

Since starting our blog we've tried to contribute best we can to the sharing spirit of online crafters by recording and posting projects that we've completed. Wanting to collect these projects together, we've designed a page to serve as inspiration for fellow crafters and enthusiasts. We've also included some great recipes you can make to take on your crafting adventures.  You can now access the page in or Stay Awile pages (top of sidebar) or by clicking on this Projects picture on the sidebar.

Enjoy!

My Favorite Banana Loaf
Awesome Chai Tea Syrup
Mothers Day Gift Idea
You Are My Sunshine Embroidery
Doll Sized Crazy Quilt

I hope to add new projects and tutorials as they come to be. So in case you miss it - check back often!

~~ Wonder Chocolate ~~

And on a lighter note, Hershey's Chocolate has announced their development of Wonder Chocolate, a completely calorie free chocolate substitute. Derived after extensive research involving the digestibility of nylon, Hershey's new chocolate has been found to lower cholesterol, reduce wrinkles, aid digestion and also seconds as a great shoe polish.  Woman's World has termed the new treat as the 'miracle food' of 2010. 

Chocloteers at Hershey's have assured the public that Wonder Chocolate is a healthy alternative to the diet-demising and crave-inducing chocolate of the past and state that it is completely nut-free, as it has had absolutely no contact with nuts of any sort.

Expected to enter the Canadian market in the fall, Canadian chocolate lovers will get to decide if Wonder Chocolate is in fact 'better than sex' or just an uninterested, overly made-up, one-night-stand with a runner in her pantyhose.

Sidewalk Chewing Gum Me

When I fell down the other day I was entranced by an old piece of gum with which I now found myself lying face to face. Where did it come from? Why did it look like that? Did it still have any flavor? What kind of dye do they use for gum that always makes it turn a sickening gray when it gets old and stuck on the sidewalk? I was relieved that it was only a mouth sized piece of chewing gum that I had fallen near, and not larger. I mean, I could have fallen into a hugh wad of sidewalk chewing gum and then what? It's gets really sticky - especially in the heat of the summer. I, myself, could have become stuck to the sidewalk, dried up and alone. Turning gray. Getting walked on. Hoping that someone else would have a clumsy afternoon and come down and pay me a visit. But I wouldn't stick to them and turn them into sidewalk-chewing-gum-person. No. I would just laugh at their clumsiness and the flailing of the arms that accompanies falling.

Walmart Anarchy :: TSH Etceteras

  

Top Five Things to do When Trapped Alone in Walmart Overnight

1. Race up and down every aisle bouncing on one of those very large balls with the handle that you hold between your legs. Time yourself.

2. Using only the richest ingredients (butterscotch dessert topping, almonds, lip smackers, etc.), put the various blenders, mixers and cappuccino machines to the test. Throw in some vinegar, baking soda, and red food colouring and you've got yourself a winning science fair project. Make yourself a blue ribbon in the craft section. Use glitter.

3. Give yourself a true spa experience in the cosmetics department complete with waxing, facial, manicure, pedicure (use one of those foot whirlpools), massage (read package first to ensure that you have the proper tool for the job). Colour your hair using the most glamorous box dye you can find (may I suggest Loreal Glammy Glamm Midnight Plum, perhaps with caramel foils?) completing your new do with a beautiful Fancy Clip up-do (almost as cool as a banana clip, with only the flick of the wrist!). Finish up with a herbal colonic cleansing.

4. Position all security cameras to face the centre aisle and perform your personally choreographed interpretive dance based on the age old film classic, Babe. Do this after your makeover, for optimal effect.

5. Commandeer a paintball gun and declare war on every yellow happy face in the store. Dress in complete hunting camo gear and utilize strategically placed step and extension ladders throughout the store to ensure optimal vantage points and sniper zones. Use an over sized fishing net (or perhaps a butterfly net?) to capture prisoners. Make prisoners watch back-to-back Barney videos on TV wall. They cannot close there eyes. 

We will no longer be running TSH Etceteras as a link party.  Fear not!  Etceteras will continue to run as a feature on our blog, so there will still be a touch of the sillies floating around here.  But, just a touch.   

I can't give up - it's still my dream to be a writer for Arrested Development.  Yes, I realize the show was cancelled.  A while ago.  I'm a realist....  Wait, don't think about that.

Tea Time

Like many, I'm excited about Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and am hoping to see it soon.  Without delving with any degree of depth into the marketing and corporatization of classic literature (turned motion picture) I'd just like to say that I love the new tea cans that Tetley has put out in celebration of the film. 

Have you seen them? 

When my sweetest was out grabbing a few things at the store the other day, he spotted these little gems and brought one home for me.  Yay!  I'm always on the lookout for interesting cans and containers to hold my various ...things... and I just love this new can! 

Think how sweet it will look in my dream studio! 

Overly excited, you say? 

Remember people, it's the little things that count. 

If you can't find joy in the little things, I feel sorry for you. 

You have to be a little simple to keep it all simple. 

And in this - I excell.

It's important to be good at something.

That's all.  

Hope everyone is sleeping soundly.