Any Ideas????

I finally got a moss terrarium for Christmas this year and I promptly realized that I hadn't a clue.  We have over-watered it, neglected it, strewn it with Playmobil figures, knocked it over and lord only knows what else.  The other day we sat down for breakfast and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a mushroom growing through the moss.  OH how we quickly took the lid off to examine it...touch it...smell it and I think I may have seen a certain little 3 year old LICK it.   My husband made quick work of letting us know that we didn't know what kind of mushroom it was and BLAH BLAH BLAH so we should be very careful.  THe mushroom has since been squished by little hands but I was able to get a couple of pictures of it.....for identification purposes of course.  That is my mission for tonight.  I also wonder if we are supposed to have mushrooms growing in our terrarium or am I doing something wrong (unheard of).  

the linen pants lesson...on an important day

okay...this was a lesson that I had to learn the hard way!!!
I went out the this morning and bought a fitted pair of linen pants for my nephews first birthday party and one hour into the party they looked like the above picture ....M.C. Hammer pants. This is not a becoming look on a chubby girl trying to appear a little slimmer.
This was just a little PSA from a girl who knows from experience.
Better days are ahead!!

we couldn't stand the heat so we got OUT of the kitchen

Who makes muffins when it is 36degrees out????

We got as far as making the batter, lining the tins and licking the paddles.

The batter is waiting in the fridge for tomorrow morning....hopefully it will be a cooler day.

summer picnics

Recipe for the perfect summer picnic
start with one ant on the picnic blanket
add one wooly mammoth hiding in the roots of a tree

two lovey siblings
and some time for me to make more summer plans. I plan on making this recipe a couple of times a week.

T.V or not T.V?

That is the question in this house.  Tonight I sat and watched 3 hours of nonsense on t.v..  Most of it was of the train wreck that is jon and kate +8.  I have no feelings towards this show and lord knows had tons and tons of other things that needed to get done but instead i just sat cuddling with the baby and mindlessly watched.  

This was a t.v. free household for 6 whole months last year.  We watched dvds on friday nights but that was it.  I really enjoyed the peace, productivity and creativity that came with this tv free time.  We listened to more music, imagined more and it seems that we connected more.  I want this back.  Mission organization took a back seat to jon and kate (both of whom I have a very hard time tolerating).  Lady A is very quick to ask for the "t.d." and most of the times i am also quick to oblige because it is the easy thing to do.  

Mister had a very difficult time without the t.v. and I think it would be very hard to convince him to cancel cable again.

Perhaps we could go 3 days a week without t.v. and see how that goes.... it is worth a try.

what time is it mr.Wolf??????

oh it is time for a great many things. Most importantly it is time to start living more creatively instead of just talking about it.  There was a time (oh about a year ago) when a day didn't go by without me spending some time sewing or knitting.  Since the arrival of Sir A. I have really neglected this part of who I am and what I need to be happy.  I realized today that all of my attempts to rekindle my motivation to create have been thwarted by my lack of organization.  I spend most of my time trying to gather up all of the materials for a project instead of being able to just sit down and begin.  By the time I get started the baby is crying, someone wants a snack or a bum needs to be wiped.  Today marks day 1 of mission crafting organization.  I will soon be posting before and after pics of my sewing room... if all goes as planned.  

I am also so happy to announce (to who I don't know) that I finally put in my application to be a vendor at the Mississauga Fall Festival.  This year's focus is on simple living and green living... both things of which I am quickly falling in love with.  After the organization of all of the supplies is finished I will be able to plan what I am going to make for the festival.... also another source of motivation for getting myself going.  I am looking forward to this June adventure....I will be keeping you posted.

rebirth

 For the first time in my life I am noticing and appreciating this shift into spring

...or something resembling spring around here.  I'm not sure if it is because I have been cooped in the house all winter with our baby #2 (sir A) and our toddler (Lady A) or if it is that I am just

becoming less self absorbed and more aware in general.  I'm hoping it is the latter.   I feel like this spring is really bringing about a spiritual and personal rebirth for me.   

A lot has changed around here since the last time I posted...some things I am proud of and some I am most certainly not.  Top accomplishment was making it through the winter with a newborn, toddler and tons of stuffy noses and sore throats.  There were many days when I thought I would never see the outdoors again but with a blink of the eye  and the appearance of the warming sun we were at the park and swinging our little hearts out.  

Top disappointment was allowing the Mister to hook t.v back up.  I am so upset by the ease at which we slipped right back into horrible TV watching habits.  Sometimes I just don't have the energy to help Lady A find something else to do and that makes me feel like I am failing her.

  So with that sob story over I am picking 3 things that my spring rebirth with entail and will re- focus my energies on these instead of just complaining and feeling disorganized and lost in my pretty close to perfect life....KNOCK ON WOOD. 

1. I am going to increase my energy level by healthy eating, sleeping and exercise habits

2. I am going to fulfill my need to  be creative on a daily basis....sometimes it is as easy as trying a new recipe

3. I am going to slow down, enjoy and be in the moment of mothering these 2 most precious and delightful children.  I often find that I get caught up in the drama of my day and miss the most important moments of just being and experiencing life with my kids (and husband of course).  

 

Friday night movies and a Sunday in the land of marine

what more could you ask for out of a weekend...besides dollar store princess high heels.

Friday night is our night to watch movies around here. Lady A gets to pick one movie(usually a Diego action packed adventure) and Mister and I usually pick 2 and get through 1.  When we started our "year of no TV" oh those so many weeks (5) ago we were renting from Blockbuster but quickly realized that it was costing about $24 each weekend and for that price we could have upgraded our cable.  So off to the library I go each Wednesday to pick out our movies of course with the help of Lady A.  The branch that I visit doesn't really have the best selection but we try to make the most of it.  This weekend we popped our popcorn, poured our peach fizzy drink and watched Cinderelmo...which was quite entertaining for all 3 of us. Mister and I watched the Life and Death of Peter Sellers.  I really enjoyed this movie considering I didn't have a clue who Peter Sellers was before the movie but like I said we make the best of our choices. The movie that we didn't watch was Capote so I guess we will be renuing it until next movie night...it makes my choosing a little easier for next week.

 We spent the day today at Marineland in Niagara Falls and we had the best fall weather for our day outside.  Lady A had been there with us earlier this summer and has been chatting about it ever since (although it didn't appear that she was enjoying her self at the time).  This time she loved every minute of it..which made the steep admission a little easier to handle.  We watched the dolphin show TWICE and rode the ladybug roller coaster FOUR times and ate junk food pretty much all day.  What more could a kid ask for... well she did have some other demands that we refused to fill but it was a great day for all of us.

Lady A and I made a litre of yogurt today....well actually we started it last night and finally were able to eat it today.  Thanks 

to my grandma for donating the yogurt making machine it was a relatively easy process.  We used the recipe in the instruction booklet.

                         31/2 cups homo milk

                            1/2 cup dry fat free milk

                            1/2 cup yogurt (for a starter)

Heat milk and powdered milk until close to a boil and then put the pot in cold water to bring the mixture to room temp.  Next you stir in the yogurt and and throw the whole thing into what looks like a plastic thermos that plugs in.  Leave it in the machine for 4-12 hours depending on how bitter you like it........ we only left it in for 4 hours because the bitterness of plain yogurt drives me nuts. After that you put it in the fridge for 2 hours min and VOILA you have yogurt.  I must admit that ours had a wonderful custardy taste but the texture was quite distgusting...sort of like white school glue.  I 

have a feeling it has something to do with the powdered milk..... maybe i put in too much.  My task for tonight is searching online to solve my yogurt texture mystery.  I do love being able to make things from scratch and buy as little packaged goods as possible.  I lay in bed thinking last night about the benefits of  making my own yogurt as opposed to buying it and I came to the conclusion that I really just like the idea of knowing that I am having a hand in my family's health and that I am somehow nurturing a healthy attitude towards food for Lady A.  

She helped make her breakfast this morning, of course including the yogurt which she referred to as "slimey" and only had 2 mouthfuls of.  I choked mine back because I was trying to set a good example but I'm sure 

my face was telling a different story as I was exclaiming "oh this is delicious"......oh the things we do for our kids.  

Is it fun or is it child labour???

In an effort to organize my life I am going to start blogging again... and I know that all of my faithful readers are jumping out of their computer chairs with joy.  My life is so full of excitement and change right now that I feel like I should be documenting it (I guess a plain old journal would have done the trick).

We have eliminated TV from our home for a one year experiment (except for Friday night movie night) in an effort to become more creative as a family a la Soulemama and her book The Creative Family .   It has only been a month so far and I think we are all doing really well except for the minor freakouts that quickly pass with the suggestion of playing Mr. Potatoe Head.  I am hoping to include pics of our daily creativity and fun because I am finding that without TV we all have really become more imaginative and willing to participate in life....which always makes for hilarious pictures.  

Today we spent a lot of time playing in the sink washing dishes.  Lady A decided that it was essential that she pull her little chair up to my tiny sink area to wash the dishes and play in the sink, so I let her have at it.  She spent so much time scrubbing the pots (for fun)that they actually came clean for once. She also spent a lot of time dumping large amounts of water out of the sink and onto the floor.  I am certain that I am now going to have to battle for a place at the sink every time the dishes need to be done.  I tried handing her the dishtowel so that she could feel important with the ever so  helpful job of drying but she quickly threw it to the ground yelling "NO YIKE IT" and hopped back up on her chair.  I think we both learned something today....Lady A learned the obvious fun factor of playing in the water and I learned that fun at the sink actually equals a lot of mother labour in the clean up department.

 

anybody else having problems????

What a day I have had already today.
1. Lost my wallet while ava and I were playing at the park
2. Only realized my wallet was lost after having a ton of groceries rung up by the cashier at the grocery store
3.retraced my steps with a screaming, hungry and tired (almost) 2year old
4. came home to admit my loss to my husband.... he promptly went out to retrace my steps again
5. we both gave up looking and began to cancel cards...... i found out that i keep way too many cards for ava and I in my wallet
6. Realized that I had a message on my phone.........when did that get there????
7. Someone had found my wallet.... THANK YOU GOD and so sri went right out to pick it up
8. everything was still in there............i am so so so so so grateful
9. I am having a super hard time uploading pictures onto my blog
10. I have to finish up the changeroom curtains for NEw Horizons Thrift Shop.... and I seem to be running out of inspiration

is there anything as wonderful?

The moment I pull into the parking lot of my local thrift store my heart starts to race. I feel anxious and excited at the same time. Anxious (I'm kind of ashamed to admit) because I feel like people are snapping up the items of my dreams while I am in the parking lot getting ready to go in or even in the next aisle to me .... it must be an illness. But the excitement far outweighs anything else. The thrill of walking down a cluttered narrow little path and coming across the greatest tea towel or adorable gravy boat ..... I really do promise pictures will come eventually.... is enough to make even the worst day turn into a basket of delights.
I am really excited about the re-opening of the New Horizons Thirft Shop . I have been asked to make the curtains for the changeroom... I was thinking about piecing together jeans and sweatshirts in sort of like a quilt but I'm not really sure that it is a feasible idea... I should really figure that out since I have to have them done for MOnday.
Today is going to be a day of wiping noses, changing bums and breaking up toddler disputes.... I will hold close to me the feeling of treasure hunting in hopes it gets me through the day, or at least until Sri gets home (a flair for the dramatic I would say)

Getting started

I wonder if anyone else worries and obsesses over how to set up their blog and what to post for their first posting. I have been putting off starting this blog because I was overwhelmed with all of the choices but now that I have started I feel like I will be adding embellishments and lord knows what before you know it.
This is the best time to blog (6am)....everyone is still sleeping (so no little fingers trying to bang on the laptop). I often used to wonder why my mom got up so early to do work and now I know the secret. The joy of having TIME TO YOURSELF....wow....what a precious commodity. If I can manage it I am going to wake up early every morning to try and get a posting in before the baby wakes up (and the dog and husband for that matter).
I think I will also use this time in the mornings to plan the meals for the day. I am reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and it has really made me think about what kinds of foods we are putting into our bodies... "you are what you eat eats" and according to his first 4 chapters of the book when you eat feedlot beef (I assume that is what all the grocery stores sell) you can't even imagine what you are eating.... it includes quite a bit of sterilized manure and hormones...yummy. I can't bear the thought of feeding that to my little Ava or Sri and I for that matter.
Tomorrow will bring promises of pictures, creativity and random rambling (as evidenced today) but I feel like I have kicked procrastination to the curb and am welcoming in a new more organized and productive ME. Lets hope it sticks.