Ooooh!

More exciting than reading Playgirl at this time of year ;) , Superstore was clearing them out at $6.98 each, as if I could pass up two gorgeous Canadian Gardening hardcovers at that price.

Reading.....

Not only is the cover eye-candy, but its a REALLY good book! It is great to read about the guys in the Otherworld books to fill in the blanks. Its a prequel about Clay and Jeremy (the werewolves).

Mmmm

Mike and I only had time to go to a movie yesterday (Slumdog Millionaire = FANTASTIC) so we didn't get to go out for the buffet at the New Asian. But of course, we still REALLY wanted some curries, so I made a big supper tonight.

I made the usual Butter chicken, tried the Biryani sauce from Superstore (not bad, you bake it in rice and I put chickpeas and cauliflower in it) and then made from scratch Palak Paneer which is my favorite dish at Khazna's. Its paneer cheese cubes in a spinach sauce, yum! The recipe is here and is pretty good, needed a bit more spices, I would 1.5 times them, but Mr K absolutely loved it, and he's not fond of the one at the buffet, so this one works for us.

And then easy peasy dessert, blueberries,strawberries and raspberries on a whitecake base with Cool Whip. And when I say whip I am pronouncing the H. wHip. Lets see who gets my humor lol.

Grow Op

Only 15 weeks till May Long! Yes, I am counting down, I have it written every Monday on my kitchen calender.

So last year I wanted a 3 tiered indoor greenhouse, but they aren't at Canadian Tire this year. At least, not right now. And people wanted WAY too much money for the few I saw secondhand. So I bought this metal shelf, with shelves that can be placed upside down so that the edge is up (brilliant) and nothing will slide off of it. You only need the plastic cover to germinate the seeds anyways, so I started with my Rudbeckia which take the longest (10-12 weeks before they are ready to plant) and then will work my way down the list of seeds. I am mainly growing them in big peat pots this year, so I am less tempted by the larger plants the greenhouses put out. As if.

And it fits perfectly on top of my buffet, up and out of the way. When everything has sprouted and just needs sun, I am going to set it in the front window, (all that west sun) so all the neighbors can wonder what exactly I am growing ;)


I am so excited about my colored sunflowers, I LOVED the yellow ones last year, and I can't wait to see the red and the brown ones, I can just imagine the bouquets already!

Anyone want a pack of organic zucchini seeds? I bought two by accident, and didn't even pay for the second ones actually, they weren't on the reciept. So freebie seeds anyone? I certainly won't even use up one! They will mail nicely!

I saw the Nasturtium last year on the edible garden tour and can't wait to try them, you can eat the leaves and flowers in a salad AND are gorgeous looking.

Ginger Cookies Done Easy

Yummy and as easy as..


1......


2......

3!
They hit the spot on a cold day inside with a sick little boy, AND the lack of effort was perfect for one sick little boy and his mother, both who had limited attention spans and a lack of time in general :)

My dad bought the Decadent Chocolate chip mix for the kids and THAT one is sinfully delicious!

The Weekend of Sniffles

This is our weekend, relaxing in the house, Mr K has a cold with a wicked cough. Its nice being forced once in a while to just sit and relax and not run around. The Princess and I are going to pop out for blueberries (yes, specifically blueberries lol) and then go pick up a boardgame to play today with their ToysRUs giftcard from Christmas.

Blackbird has already posted about these but for those of you who don't read her blog, these Polo books are the most amazing books ever. Each page looks like the one below, hardly any words, most pages have no words at all, sequential blocks of action drawn well enough that even the Princess will look at them and understand what Polo is doing. Mr K will sit down for an hour and look at the two we have. Which is all he has done again this morning for the last hour lol.

School Video

A video from the fall about Mount Royals' theme this year, those kids doing the talking are so darn cute! The teacher in the news clip is Mr K's teacher, who is also the music teacher there. Click on the link under the CTV video player for "Mount Royal Students Discover Sole." You can see what his teacher and parts of the school look like! Eh, the wonders of technology I tell you!

Video

Just To Make You All Cringe ------->

LOL and what's scarey is that people will use that FOR REALS! ----------------->

Recipe For Jane

Sorry to be such a tease Jane lol. If you click this link, there is a google preview of the book and the recipe is page 75 in that preview. I tried last night but of course they make it so you can't properly copy it and I was admittedly too lazy to type out the recipe!

Mincemeat Squares

Oh and as a sidenote, I didn't puree the mincemeat, we like it with the chunks in it, and they taste great like that, but its a personal preference I would think...

6 Photo tag!

I have been tagged by Cori, so I will post the rules from her blog:

First, the rules are simple. As follows:
6th Picture Meme!
1.Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.
2.Go to the 6th Folder, then pick the 6th picture in that folder.
3.Post that picture on your blog and the story that goes along with the picture.
4.Tag 6 other peoples that you know or don’t know to do the same thing and leave a comment on their blog or an e-mail letting them know you chose them

I have very few pictures on my laptop, most are stored downstairs, so my 6th and last folder was from Solstice this year, and the 6th picture in is of the kids drying off the chestnuts that we then roasted in the oven. If I had been on my desktop, sheesh, the picture would probably been from 4 years ago lol!



Ok I tag:

Cindy @ Life's Journey
Karami @ Trevor,Karami & Deklen
Jane @ Escaping The City
Kandice @ Two Princess's
Blackbird Pie
Beckie @ This Is Us

Breakin' It In

Cracked open my 150 delicious squares book and baked up some mincemeat squares.

If you love date squares and mincemeat, theses are a super yummy merge!

Shumka!

I am soooo freaking excited! Mr K and I are going to see Shumka's 50th Anniversary at the Jubilee on March 19th, I can't wait! It is going to be absolutely amazing and I love that we get to explore this part of his heritage. He has watched the commercial linked below SO many times and is sooo excited to go! I shouldn't have told him, lol, he's going to drive me batty for the next 2 months. I got excellent seats, center on the first balcony and 3rd row up, perfect for a little boy to see.

Shumka

Auntie Kandice your ticketmaster giftcard that you gave us for Christmas was put to good use!

Nothing Worse Than...

...losing a good neighbor. :( Even tho I knew they were trying to sell their house, it all depended on whether they could find one they liked near downtown. And they did, and dang it, here's hoping we get new ones that don't drive me crazy. It sucks because the kids played with each other and they are going to miss the little girl next door. ARGH.

The Scoop

I've posted quite a bit lately but not really about all the changes our family has gone through in our quite literal New Year.

Most of you know that Mr K started in a new kindergarten at back to school time two weeks ago, with the school's focus being the Arts Core program here, which is arts-orientated programming that emphasizes the visual and performing arts: music, art, drama and dance. I am incredibly pleased. Just a simple way to put it. Its worth the considerable drive every day to take him there to see how happy he is in that class. I am laughing to myself as I think about it, but he has been so darn brave and funny and just my Mr K the last two weeks. Every day after lunch the school plays a classical piece by some composer after telling some history about them, and the kindergartens use scarves and dance around to the music. Well my boy had NO interest in it. None. In fact, he announced that it was "girl dancing" and he wasn't doing it. This might have something to do with the fact that there are 10 girls with fluffy pink scarves floating about his classroom, and one single other boy ;)

I tried talking his ear off about it. I tried bribery.Nothing worked. I gave up.I just gave up and let his teacher deal with it. And she did. By just letting him watch the other kids and not making a big deal out of it at all and then Thursday, out of the blue, he picked up a scarf (I wonder what color haha) and hasn't looked back. In fact, we went to Goodwill and now have scarf dancing in the living room, much to his sisters amusement. But it made me feel GOOD. It made me be able to rest easy about his new school knowing that his teacher handled it so well, and had the patience to wait 2 weeks and not force him into doing anything "because the rest of the class is". And it gave him such a boost of confidence. All I hear now is Mom! I tried it and I liked it!! (which makes me want to reply " I TOLD YOU SO!") But I am just happy that he learned a life lesson in such a positive way. I can spout (and I do) all I want to him about trying new things and being brave and getting joy out of them, but he learned this one allll on his own with us adults just waiting on the sidelines silently cheering him on. And I realized that that is one life lesson that no matter who tells you what, you just have to be brave and decide tackle it yourself to get that feeling of triumph and self worth. Because HE was the one who called the shots, he learned something huge...

I digress. To sum up, I love it, Mr K (now that he has the scarf dancing down pat) tells me he loves everything about his new school, the teacher talks to me and sends home little notes daily and always has lovely things to say to Mr K, I am more comfortable knowing how she handles issues like the one that came up, he's learning new songs and starting to learn about instruments and loves library time every Friday, I love that at Friday dismissals they play Celebration by Kool and the Gang over the intercom system and when I peek in his classroom he's dancing with his class, parents are grooving and its just so positive :) Everyone just kinda dances their way out.

And now on to The Princess. She had been on the waiting list for Fun Factory at the YMCA, and they gave us a call last week and had a spot for her. So she has started going every Mon/Wed/Fri afternoon. Day 1 I had to stay, then left for about 45 minutes, she was great when I picked her up. Day 2, I left when she went to do crafts, and I guess she had a REALLY hard time. Like hard time as in when she saw me at pick up time, she burst into tears and threw herself at me. She DID have a rough sleep the night before so I think that contributed a lot. She was a very sad little girl, but I was glad that one Y girl there let her hold her hand the whole time and The Princess stuck to her like glue I guess. Day 3 was today and she did great. I stayed for circle time, then left her again at craft time and she told me she wasn't going to be sad. Just in case, I came back an hour early and sat outside reading my book (finished the other boleyn girl, thats a gooood book!) but I watched her through the glass on occasion and she was happy and playing. She came out and told me how proud she was because she listened at story time and circle time and her comet craft was for Mr K. "I'm proud of me mommy!" And I was proud of her too. Mr K always has such few transition issues, but I know that she is cut from a different cloth and definitely needs me more. I think I will be reading outside her classroom for a couple weeks yet!

But then..dum...dum...dum...my evil plan is to go and workout when she is in class. Kill two birds with one stone. My mornings consist of getting up, bunny-proofing the kitchen and gating said bunny in there, feeding ourselves, all of us crafting at the table while Scooby hops around, maybe getting dressed at 11 ish....then leaving at 12. I am SO enjoying our relaxing, stress-free mornings before school.I did the treadmill a couple times but it left no time for anything else relaxing and fun with the kids before 12. So once The Princess is settled I am going to start using the facilities there while she's in class.

I am still only casual at work, hoping that will change sometime in February, there's a position I want coming up. My house isn't any cleaner than it was when I was working my permanent position LOL but I give up. Its just never going to be clutter free. Ever. I am already concocting plans and seeds and plants and looking forward to spring, I am glad that our new year is off to such a good start for us all. Oh, and I didn't make a single resolution by the way. Not one.

I think too the kids are going to start swimming lessons right away once we get our family Y pass (discount on The Princess's class and we get lessons free with membership, its a win/win) and then that is just about busy enough for us. I have no interest in cluttering up our week anymore than it is, we seem to have reached a really lovely routine with lots of family time left over.

I have plans to redo Mr K's room in a month or so, finally get him his bunk beds and set his room up how he wants, throw out that infernal queen sized bed, this will keep the spring fever at bay for a while at least.

Annnd that's about all I can think of for now!

I Am Hutterite

Another thing I saw on the blooming NEWS last night lol, I think I will pop to Chapters and pick this up. Then lend it to my mom and see what she has to say as well. She probably knows exactly where this colony is since she taught on a colony in the Portage area when she was first teaching. (not the one in the book one tho)

I Am Hutterite

by Mary-Ann Kirkby

the fascinating true story of one woman’s journey to reclaim her heritage.In 1969, Mary-Ann Kirkby’s parents did the unthinkable. They left a Hutterite colony near Portage la Prairie, Manitoba with seven children and little else, to start a new life. Overnight, the family was thrust into a society they did not understand and which knew little of their unique culture. The transition was overwhelming.More than 40,000 Hutterites live on 400 colonies throughout Canada's prairie provinces and the United States. Spiritual cousins to the Mennonites and the Amish, this five hundred year oldculture with European roots has been in North America since the late 1800s, yet few outsiders know anything about its customs or traditions. I Am Hutterite takes us inside Fairholme Colony where the author spent the first ten years of her life. Her detailed portrait of Hutterian people opens a window on a closed community and reveals a way of life that seems extraordinary to the outside world. When Mary-Ann leaves Fairholme, she embarks on a mission to reinvent herself. She is put in the awkward position of denying her heritage in order to fit in with her peers. Her book details her painful and often humourous attempts to adapt to popular culture as she comes to terms with theheart-breaking circumstances that led her family to leave community life. As a television reporter, Mary-Ann Kirkby spent years telling the stories of others. Now she is ready to share her own. I Am Hutterite layers the rich traditions of colony life with the stark realities of intolerance and mistrust, weaving a gripping tale that tests the power of forgiveness.

Flu shot mismatched on B virus- YEARS of missing the mark!

Article HERE

It appears there may be a partial flu shot mismatch again this year, with early data from Canada, the United States and Britain suggesting the vaccine component meant to protect against influenza B is not a match for the flu B viruses causing the most disease.

Predicting which family of influenza B viruses will dominate in a coming year – and therefore should be covered by the flu shot – is a challenge that has defied the experts in five of the last seven flu seasons, at least so far as disease patterns in North America are concerned.

The ongoing problem has prompted exploration of the idea that flu shots should be reformulated to add a second B component to a vaccine that currently protects against one family of B viruses and the two influenza A subtypes, H3N2 and H1N1.

I watched this on the news last night with my dad (god, while my dad is here ALL I WATCH IS THE NEWS lol) and of course then got into the discussion about this is one of the reasons we don't get the flu shot, because they literally guess (they say "forecast" I say guess) about which strains will hit. Also, in the news story, you just got this creepy feeling while watching them in their labs and listening that there is just a Superbug in the making. Seriously. I think by trying to outwit these strains every year, we are just creating THE BIG ONE. Shudder.

I also didn't realize that they had been missing the mark for years now...and of course, we can all guess why. The faster you manufacture the vaccine, the faster you sell it and the more money you make. I sometimes don't even want to consider who is pulling the strings behind the scene. I think that for high risk people that its probably a good idea....but that doesn't include any of our family.

Benjamin Button

I saw this on Sunday night after a lovely dinner at Khazana's, and it was a really good movie. Reminded me of Forest Gump, deeper than most with laughs and tears and meaning to it.


So of course I had to read the short story, which you can go read HERE. And they are TWO DIFFERENT stories, I swear! The premise of reverse life is the same, but holy smokes, the stories could not be further apart! I actually really prefer the movie version, which in my opinion was a far more interesting story.

Anyhow, go have a read if you have watched it, and if not and you are seeing the flick, do NOT expect anything similar!

And So The Child Labour Begins.

Hehehe Mr K had way too much fun vacuuming the stairs for me, I am going to enjoy this phase while it lasts. One day they just wake up and just inherently KNOW that its an actual chore, not fun LOL!

Funny Kids

They never cease to amuse me.

Mr K " Mommy, the music at school today was wroten by some guy named Sebastion Buck"

(that being Bach, of course lol)

Then the conversation between the two of them, comparing their "school days"

K - " I, why didn't you sit at story time today?"

I - " I didn't want to listen"

K (all serious) "oh, but you HAVE to listen at story time. When your teacher tells you, you just run right over there and sit down."

I - (all horrified) "K! I can't run in school!"

(she remembers she can't run, but she wouldn't sit for story time)

There's more, I just can't remember at the moment, I keep laughing to myself over the Buck one. They were having quite the conversations on the way home today :)

Scooby

Well, it wasn't another cat that we went back for, it was a rabbit that I fell in love with when we were at the Humane Society. However, two pets in one day was a little much to handle, so we got Buffy home and settled in, and then today, after a few days of planning and figuring and deciding we went back to get her.

Here she is lounging, she is a pretty large rabbit, really personable, loves being out of her cage and visiting, and is actually bigger than my cat.




We'll be building her a hutch outside this spring, till then Auntie Christina lent us her massive (good thing!) bunny cage where she is at the moment.