Friday fill ins!!!

1. Johnny Weir is the diva of the Olympics lol.
2. Today my husband and Son are at the 2010 Olympics.
3. And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud unravelled.
4. YELL 'Go Canada' if you get an urge.
5. Having sweet dreams about Springtime being right around the corner.
6. What does it take to find the perfect thermal travel mug that is BIG???
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to relaxing with the kids and a movie tonight and also watching the medal ceremony to try and spot Lloyd and Chris in the audience (lol), tomorrow my plans include checking Lloyd and Chris's flight home trying a new recipe in the crockpot and trying a new activity with the kids and Sunday, I want to enjoy taking Chris to the theatre!!!


Find your Friday fill-ins HERE

Another GOLD Go Canada!!!!

Go Christine Nesbitt!!!!!  

Gold in 1000m speed skating!!!

Go Canada!!!  :)

This puts us in third place because France has less Golds and silvers :)  and one less medal.....

A gold tomorrow would be good - Lloyd and Chris will be at tomorrow nights medal ceremony in Vancouver....would be so great to have a Canadian on the podium!!!

For Rhona.....pancakes!!!

In case anyone missed Sharon posting this in the pancake post...here is Sharon's recipe for American style fluffy pancakes:

The Very Best Sunday Morning Pancakes

2 cups all purpose flour

8 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups milk

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

pinch of salt

In a large bowl combine flour, b. powder and salt. Make a well in the middle. Add milk, eggs and oil. (the recipe says to use an electric mixer for 5 mins.) I mix together, then run my immersion blender through:

 let batter sit for a couple of minutes. Stir through once before cooking.

Cook your pancakes!

(my daughters like chocolate chips added (at the final stir though!)

Thanks Sharon!!! 

Yes!

We're heading to the mountains for Lloyds birthday in March....just a mini break but it will be nice to be back amongst the mountains again.  

The pics above are from google images....

While I was baking.....

Lloyd was baking his bread....two loaves of wholewheat...he left it to rise while we watched a movie and then baked it before we went to bed.  Mmmmm yummy home made bread for Abby, Sam and I for lunch today :)

I should add that although I say Lloyd makes this bread.....he almost ALWAYS has help from Abigail - or Sam.....usually Abby.  and if you ask Abby how to make bread she can tell you step by step...quite often they will make their own little loaves and Lloyd will let them rise and bake them along with the big loaves....

We gave the bread machine away at Christmas time - it was taking up space and we really didn't need it. I love watching Lloyd make bread by hand....watching it rise in the warmth of the cupboard under the stove.....and it's so nice seeing it come out of the oven.  Nothing like it :)

Banana Bread....

I made it yet again last night....and in one loaf I added some shredded coconut...and in the other I added coconut AND chopped walnut (as well as the white chocolate chips and milk chocolate choc chips).  Both loaves were a  big hit.  I left the walnut out of one loaf because Laurence isn't keen on nuts in his cakes....but both cakes were a big hit!!!  Still very moist and yummy!  This is definitely the BEST recipe for banana bread I've ever tried!!!  And so sooooooo easy!!!  I don't even follow the order any more - just throw it in the bowl, mix it together, throw it in the pans and bake....perfect every time.   Disappears FAST!  Yum!!  :)

We spent the morning outside.....

The children played on their sleds and Abby played on her new play snowboard.....Sam played with the new digger that we picked up at the thrift store on Tuesday (we were soooo happy to find that there!!)  and he had great fun digging in the snow...then he played on the steps for ages for some reason....I cleaned up after the dogs and filled all the bird feeders....just enjoyed being outside.....watched the children...took pictures - but only with my phone....we're going for another walk in a little while so I will take my camera then probably....but this morning the children just wanted to head outside and play straight away so thats what we did.  

It's so gorgeous outside this week once the fog disappears!!  They said last night that we have had 28 days of fog since January 1st!!!  Normally we have had 7!!!  Wow!!!  Weird!!  

Definitely wasn't foggy this morning :)

crochet blog.....

THIS is the blog that originally made me want to start to crochet....I wanted to be able to make her ripple blanket....with it's gorgeous stripes and colours.....and it also probably has something to do with my blanket that I grew up with.  I'd like to make projects for my Grandchildren...faster projects....seeing that I haven't finished the quilt I started for Laurence when he was a baby lol.....

Trying crochet again...watch this space!!!

Oh!!!  I think I've found some EASY crochet tutorials AT LAST!!!!!  Woohoo!!!!!!  So tomorrow I'm going to have ANOTHER go with Abby!!!  Abby really likes crochet!!  Ok so tomorrow we will try crochet again!!!

THIS  is the link I am going to use :)

Wish me luck!!!!  I want to be able to make beautiful, gorgeous, colourful, pretty things like on that gorgeous blog I posted!!!  Sigh.....

Rhona.....sigh.....

THIS blog makes me want to learn to crochet....the further down I scroll on the blog......especially close to the bottom...the more I wish I could get the bloody hang of this stupid crocheting....so expect me for coffee next week and get the hooks out!!!  Lol!!!

I wish......sigh....

For now I'm sticking with my knitting and my two needles and my projects already started.....and I will try to ignore those pretty granny squares and hearts and blankets that would look all country cottagey on my porch this Summer.....sigh......

Her blog also makes me broody and want a teeny tiny baby to snuggle into my neck (lol)  best not go to that blog again.....hahahahaha!!

Skiing and snowboarding fun.....

This is Susannah heading off on some cross country skiing last Thursday with her class.  She really enjoyed her day at the Wilderness centre.  They spent the day skiing and snow shoeing.  They do a lot of snow shoeing at school too and we have snow shoes at home as well but this was her first go at cross country skiing.  She is going to the ski hill in two weeks time to go skiing.

Today Laurence headed to the ski hill to go snowboarding.  I don't have any pictures yet, but I'm hoping to get some from his friends on FB later!!!

Random Dozen...

1. If you could compete in one Olympic event (not necessarily winter sports) what would it be?   I loved the look of that Snowboardcross yesterday....I also like figureskating and rythmic gymnastics.....

2. Do remember a specific Olympic moment from the past?  I remember the Olympic Mascot for the Moscow Olympics in 1980 - I had a little bear keyring and removed the keyring part and used him as a bear friend / pet for my Sindy dolls.  I remember him soooo well!

3. Have you ever known anyone who competed in the Olympics? Not personally  I think my sister dated a champion trampolinist or something or other once.....something like that?? But not for long.....and I don't know that he ever went to the Olympics - oh saying that, an Olympian came to our school once and did a gym class with us - how awful but I can't even remember who he was!!!  I think it was Geoff Capes....but it might not have been....it was a big guy though!  Lol!

4. If everyday activities were Olympic-worthy, which activity would you have a gold medal in?  Not doing mornings, thumb sucking,  doing crafts with kids, creating traditions, blogging too much ;)  

5. Do you know anything about your ethnic heritage?  Yes, we studied it in Primary school...

6. Do you enjoy sleeping late?   YES!!!  I have a sign hanging beside my bed that reads 'I don't do mornings'

7. Have you ever performed CPR on anyone? Do you know how? (Yes, that's two, I know. Whatevs.)   Yes - I can do CPR, and yes I have - but not for long because luckily someone took over from me.  I was then the person who went and called the ambulance and went outside to wait for it....

8. Name one country you'd like to visit and explain why.   Japan to see the cherry blossoms in the Springtime

9. Have you ever fixed up a couple romantically?  no but I have helped a couple have a baby girl.

10. What is the last book you read?  I'm reading 'Wicked'.

11. Do you enjoy sleeping late?   NO, YOU write the question! How's that for random??  Ok...hhmmm what is the best thing about today?  It's Wednesday!!  Which means I get to choose whether to stay home tonight OR whether to go out for date night.  Or we did think about just running to Costco for a few things and grabbing a coffee afterwards......OR heading to WEM as we need to pick something up there.  But I think I feel like staying home again and cuddling up with a movie!  So thats my plan!!  So dinner is going in the crockpot now on high and we can have dinner at home and a movie instead :)  But it's nice having the choice for sure!  I think thats what I liked about valentines Day - we had a table booked for brunch at a golf course but really didn't feel like going out after all - so we cancelled and stayed home in the warm and relaxed instead :)  But it was nice to have the choice!


12. What is your favorite meal at your favorite restaurant?   I did LOVE the golden beet salad at La Ronde.....that was delicious!!  I also loved the crepe that Lloyd chose at The Creperie!!! I always enjoy the buffet at A Taste of India....I LOVE the Butter Chicken at Joeys South.  I like the crab cakes at Moxies.....


Find your random dozen HERE

Jigsaw of the world....

While I am blogging, Sam and Abby are sat beside me on the floor doing a jigsaw puzzle of the world...this afternoon we are going to grow some more cress seeds....probably go for a walk before we play some more games in by the fire....

My first knitting project....

I finished this scarf for Abby a couple of weeks ago...it's nice and long so she can wear it in many different ways and wrap it round lots of times for warmth :)  it matches her pink coat.  

Now I'm knitting two red and white ones for Chris and Susannah (Vic colours) and one red and black one for Laurence (his request) and I also have some other knitting projects going on.  I'm teaching myself to use circle needles so I can knit legwarmers and (hats to match the  scarves) and purl/ knit patterns into the scarves as well as changing colours etc frequently so I can add patterns/ letters into the scarves.  

I am really happy with my progress as I only started a few weeks ago and have learned so much already.    Lloyd even joked about getting Alpacas in with the horses when we get them - so we can get our own yarn!!!  Hahahaha!  

new tattoo.....

on the back of my shoulder....