Go Canada!!!

Couldn't resist snapping a picture of the girls by this display of packs of Coca cola in Safeway this morning!!  How wonderful :)  

I hope to see a lot more displays in stores and businesses in the next two weeks as the Olympics get closer!!

Go Canada!!!  :)  

Random Dozen

1. How good are you at delaying gratification? 
Not very good at all...I have VERY little patience....sigh....

2. Maybe a marshmallow wouldn't be too difficult a temptation for you. What food (or anything else) would be most tempting?  A Cadburys Twirl......


3. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being saintly) how patient are you?
2

4. Have you ever waited for something in life only to be disappointed upon realization of the goal/object/etc.?
Nothing that I can particularly remember...I'm sure there are a few places we have been or restaurants/ foods etc that we have tried because people have raved about them but we just haven't thought they were very good...but nothing really sticks out in my mind




5. Are you a person who takes shortcuts?
Sure, sometimes....if it doesn't matter.  but only when it doesn't matter.  


6. Which line is hardest to wait in?
The one for the bathroom ;)


7. Did you wait to discover the gender of your unborn child until its birth? 
Yes for the first four but we knew with #5.  I asked for #3 and they said they couldn't tell us but that we might get a 'nice surprise' hinting that it was a girl after two boys.....


8. Are you more patient with children or the elderly?
Depends on the person/ situation.  I don't think age makes you less/ more annoying....


9. Did you ever sneak a peek at a present?
Only by accident and it made me sad that I knew one of my gifts so it put me off ever wanting to sneak at a gift.  I just 'came across' a gift as a child.....it wasn't hidden well.....and it ruined the surprise for me.  I warm my own children of how it can really ruin the surprise if they know what it is!


10. What is the longest you've ever waited for anything?
29 years - the age I was when I was finally with the man I was meant to be with.

11. Who has more patience, you or your significant other? 
DEFINITELY Lloyd!!

12. Which of the following songs about waiting is your pick for the best?

A) Anticipation by Carly Simon
B) The Waiting by Tom Petty
C) Right Here Waiting for You by Richard Marx
D) Wait for Me by Rebecca St. James


C!!!  Richard Marx...lol!  I loved that song when it came out :)  how sad am I????  :)

Friday fill-ins.....

1. Wouldn't it be easy to just stay home today and get Lloyd to pick something up for supper BUT I'm heading out with the kids in a little while and I know we'll have fun.
2. Life is better than ever!
3. I love the taste of oven roasted potatoes in gravy.
4. It's lovely curling up by the fire in the living room.
5. The first thing we're going to do is get hair cuts tomorrow.
6. The sound of the snow melting and going drip, drip, drip; Such a welcome sound of Spring.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to beating Lloyd at another round of Planet Earth, maybe playing dreidel with the kids, tomorrow my plans include hair cuts, picking up more wool, library.  Laurence is off to WEM for the day Chris is off to a party  and Sunday, I want to relax and watch the snow, take a walk with DH in that same snow and if the snow isn't too bad we are heading out for a family dinner to celebrate my birthday and Susannah's birthday!


Find your Friday Fill-ins HERE

It's oh so quiet....

My iphone has been very quiet today......normally it doesn't stop, with texts from Lloyd, Emails from Lloyd and phones calls from Lloyd.  Just little hello's and 'I Love You's' through the day....silly messages and even houses he has found in whichever city in the world he has decided we are moving to next (lol).....he calls me in between every meeting and is often texting me during meetings....

Today though he is in one LONG meeting...ALL day....and he's an active participant ALL day.....walking about and doing whatever he has to do and has to be on hand to answer questions at this big meeting....and so my phone has been quiet apart from at lunch time when he called me :(  

I miss him.  Glad it's the weekend :)  

Banana Bread

I blame Rhona for endlessly mentioning Banana bread and banana bread muffins on her blog recently!!! Yesterday I had a bunch of bananas that needed to be used up, so I decided to make a couple of loaves of banana bread.  Not that we needed any more cake in this house with all the celebrations we've had.....sigh....but if I put any more bananas in the freezer Lloyd will go CRAZY!!  Lol!

I used the following recipe and it is AMAZING!!!  I actually doubled the amounts and it came out perfectly - I love that you just throw the ingredients into one big bowl and mix it up - no need to separate the dry from the wet etc and I also LOVE the mix of white chocolate and milk chocolate chips!!!!  Mmmmmmm this is a REALLY good banana bread!!!

Because I baked two loaves, it took a while longer than the recipe says before the pick came out clean...

It's been a huge hit here and is still moist and yummy this morning - the kids have had some as a morning snack....(sounds better than saying breakfast right????  Lol)  

Total Yumminess.  

I'm sorry I totally can't remember where I got the recipe from...I just googled banana bread recipes and wrote one down :(  But if this sounds like your recipe then THANK YOU  - it's FAB!!!!

2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 3 bananas 1/2 cup butter 2 eggs 1/2 C milk Chocolate Chips 1/2 C white chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350
2. Combine and mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
3. Place batter in a greased bread pan (bottom only) or in muffin tins.
4. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
5. Cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan. Complete cooling on a wire rack.

Makes one good sized loaf

I taught myself to knit!!!

Abigail wanted to try knitting as well as crochet, so I needed to know how to knit, so I could show her!  thank goodness for Youtube!!!  Abigail found THIS series of videos and they were sooooo helpful!!  Aimed at teaching teens so they are really basic and fun!!!  Abigail knitted for a little while but soon decided that knitting might not be for her and she prefers crochet with one hook rather than two needles! I liked the knitting and carried on and did this yesterday afternoon!

Lloyd walked in after work and stared at me aghast and said "OMG!!  That's it!!  you're 38 now so you've started knitting!!!  You've turned in to my Gran"!!!!!

He was laughing so much :)  

Then after supper he made coffee and came back in to find me knitting again and he told me I was scaring him :)  

Then this morning at 7:30am I sent him a text saying "Guess what I'm doing"  and he wrote back and said "NO WAY".

hahahaha  I guess 38 is the age where you get old - next thing is i'll be needing naps in the afternoon or falling asleep in the middle of tv shows......

What bugs me though is that I can teach myself to knit with two needles like this (and yes I know the knitting isn't perfect but it was the first time I had knitted since I was about 9 or 10 years old lol) and yet I can't seem to crochet beyond the foundation row!!!  :(  

I am determined to do that by the end of the weekend!!!  

Trying again!!!

A couple of weeks ago, Rhona very kindly sent me this magazine and dvd from England.  I had mentioned that I had tried crochet and although I can do one long foundation row, I can't get started on the second row!!!  Susannah and Abigail were also very excited when this magazine arrived, and we headed out and chose new yarn for them to have a go!  

Susannah tried but didn't like crochet!  Susie either likes something or she doesn't!  Abigail though LOVES crochet and within a short while had a very long tail of foundation despite me telling her not to do it too long as we need to focus on the second row!  

We are still struggling with that second row - but today - now that the birthdays and anniversary are out of the way and I can think straight for a little while - we are going to sit and watch the dvd again and try to figure it out again!!!

We've tried Youtube videos and crochet websites but I can't see clearly enough where the hook goes or what to do....when I actually do it, it just ends up in a blob and is wrong.  Hhhmmph!  Here's hoping I can figure it out today!  Wish me luck!

Thanks so much Rhona - the magazine was a great help and Abigail and Susannah were even able to follow the directions in it to get themselves started!  

I will add more pictures - including Abigails long crochet later :)

First steps....

Abigails first venture in to knitting!!!  She has decided that knitting isn't really for her though and she MUCH prefers crochet!!!

Clay pots.....

Chris did pottery with Sam and Abby while Lloyd and I were out on Wednesday.  Yesterday they painted their pots and then when the paint was dry, they gave them a couple of coats of glossy modpodge to make them lovely and shiny :)  

Abigail has been doing pottery at her art classes - she made two dog bowls and they are currently in the kiln - we can go and collect them at the end of February.  I can't wait to see what they look like when they are done :)  

Stopping Sam from blowing out the candles!!!!

Susie had to try really hard to stop Sam blowing out her candles :)  It was funny!

Traditional pictures - and how it's NOT easy!!! lol!

Rhona asked if it's a tradition for us to take these group shots around the birthday cakes, and yes - we do this every time someone has a birthday!  If you're here and it's your birthday then this happens to you!!   The thing is - this was my birthday cake for Wednesday but in the end none of us were much in the mood for birthday cake on my birthday,so we decided to use it for Susannah for yesterday and she will have her main cake next week when her friends sleep over!!

Susannah did blow out half the candles and then pushed the cake towards me and told me to blow out the rest though!!!  :)  She's a sweetheart and so thoughtful!!

Chris calls me the 'Photo Nazi' because I nag them all to look at the camera and then get grouchy because there is always one pulling a silly face or not looking at the camera or whatever.....so now I have started to give up and I just snap away and get silly pictures instead - because thats life right???  And this year is all about relaxing and learning to BREATHE and not worrying about all the small sh*t ;)

I'd rather have fun now instead of worrying about whether they are all looking at the camera ;)  

Cake time......

Yesterdays visitor to the feeder...

Susannah's birthday sunset....

Happy Birthday Spencer!!!

I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to JoAnnes Son Spencer, who is celebrating today!!

Have a wonderful day today Spencer - and a wonderful weekend!!!! 

My birthday....

Lloyd took yesterday off to spend my birthday with me.  We went to West Edmonton Mall for a few hours and had lunch at Cafe Europa which we really enjoyed.  We each had a panini and then had the dessert buffet.  Is there anything nicer than being able to help yourself to as much dessert as you like on your birthday??????  :)  That looks a lot on my plate and yes it's 6 desserts, but they ARE mini ones and the plate is small.......sigh.....and I resisted going up for a second trip!!  But I do plan to take Susannah back there for a girls day out and coffee and dessert :)

We did a little shopping and had to pick a few things up for Susannah's birthday - and had to run in to the Apple store, but we both agreed that lingering over lunch in Cafe Europa was really lovely!!!  The atmosphere in there was perfect for a lazy relaxing lunch.

We picked up Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs on dvd and spent the evening curled up with the whole family watching that by the fire :)

It was a lovely birthday.  Wonderful!!!

Another 2010 goal met!!

Lloyd surprised me on Tuesday as he had Fed-exed a tin of caviar to us!!  It was one of my goals to try caviar this year as I have never tried it!  I always see it on tv and in movies - especially in one of my favourite movies 'You've Got Mail'  where Joe Fox steals the caviar 'garnish'...

I was making myself a piece of toast around 5pm Tuesday and Lloyd started fiddling with something on the island - I wasn't paying much attention and then he handed me something that looked like a tin of shoe polish!  I didn't really focus on it and he was mumbling about something....and then I realised what it was!!!!  It was sooooo funny!  I was thrilled!  So excited!  I couldn't wait to try it :)  The caviar came with a pack of these little pancake type things that you eat it with - so we all tried a bit.  My first mouthful I think I had a bit too much caviar and too little pancake and it was DISGUSTING!!

OMG it was soooooo fishy and YUCK!  I just ran to the sink and was sick!  And of course Lloyd was taking pictures of me trying my first taste of caviar!!!! hahahaha  It was GROSS!!!  I am so glad I didn't try it in a restaurant!!

So then I tried another bit - a smaller bit of caviar on a bigger bit of the pancakey stuff - and then it was really nice! I really liked it!  It isn't something I would go out of my way to have - but I wouldn't NOT eat it!

But I am 38 and I HAVE had caviar :)

Susannah and Laurence were NOT impressed.  But they are 12 and 14 and have already tried caviar and I'm pleased.  I think it's important to try these things.  Be adventurous!!  You only live once and life is short!

Ok...so.....whats next????????

Anniversary dinner

iphone snapshots that aren't too clear because the restaurant was candle-lit.  On Tuesday Lloyd and I went for a very romantic dinner at The Creperie downtown.  

The food was wonderful and it was a really lovely atmosphere.  We had the Croustille fromage to start - which are Deep fried, lightly seasoned cheese crepes. Served with a garlic flavoured dip.

Lloyd had the Crepe Miramar  which was bite sized chicken breast, baby shrimp and fruit cocktail in a light curry cream sauce, while I had the crepe asparagus.  Mine was really delicious, but I tried some of Lloyds and I have to admit his was just GORGEOUS!!!!

For dessert Lloyd had Creme Caramel, and I had Crepe Caribbean which was

bananas sprinkled with dark rum in a sweet crepe, topped with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and toasted coconuts. Soooooo yummy!!!!

I had a fair bit of wine during the meal and had an all together LOVELY evening :)  Oh and there were two chocolate dipped strawberries in that bowl but I had already eaten one before I took the picture lol!  And yes Lloyd thinks I'm insane for taking pictures of all my food :)  But he loves me in spite of my insanity ;)   

A very happy birthday girl :)

More Birthday Wishes!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Daughter Susannah, who turns 12 years old today :)

Susannah has headed off to school today with cupcakes for her class and for the choir.  It's crazy hair day today and pj day too and also hot lunch day and they have other fun things happening today as well.  Susannah says she can't believe they are doing all these fun things on HER birthday just by coincidence!!  And then tomorrow they have the day off :)

Her 'party' of sorts is next week - a movie night with friends.  We're going out for dinner as a family this weekend to celebrate :)

Have a lovely birthday Susannah

xxx

The best birthday 'treat'....

Today I had to go and get my driving licence renewed (thanks Sharon for warning me that I had to have my picture taken!!) and so while I was at the registry office, I finally FINALLY changed my name legally to my married name :)

Finally, after 3 years of marriage, I am officially Mrs T :)

Now to change all the legal 'stuff'.....