cool days = warm drinks

I love curling up with a good book and a warm drink that's been topped with some milk foam. I've never been a fan of whipped cream and last year I found a milk frother on sale...tadaa! Skim milk goes in the microwave then gets frothed and a regular drink gets fancy. I don't know what it is but it seems to taste better when it looks like this, or maybe it's just pregnancy talking.

If you've never tried a London Fog I highly recommend it!

less than 2 weeks to go

How far along?: 38 weeks
Total weight gain: 32 lbs
How big is baby?: 20 " and 6.5 lbs
Maternity clothes?: absolutely
Stretch marks?: a couple old ones re-awakened on my side and a few low on my belly that have appeared over the last week
Sleep?: okay with my beloved body pillow in our comfy bed but getting less and less comfortable
Best moment this week? sushi dinner date with Nat
Movement?: Hiccups and a bum poking out quite often, and little hands tickling my side.
Food cravings?: Fruit, yogurt, and milk. mmm smoothies
Labor signs?: some braxton hicks
Belly button in or out?: In.
What I miss: Being able to sit comfortably for any length of time
What I'm looking forward to: finishing getting the house organized
Milestone: baby getting lower

S'more Cookies

1 cup margerine softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1&1/3 cup flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs or 16 crackers crushed
1/8 tsp salt
mini marshmallows or large ones quartered
2/3 cup chocolate chips
2 Tbsp peanut butter

Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl beat marg. and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, beat. Add flour, cracker crumbs & salt, beat until stiff dough forms. Put heaping tsp of dough on ungreased cookie sheet and indent each with a thumb print. Bake 10-12 mins.
Put 2 mini marshmallows on each or a quarter of a big one, bake for 2-3 mins more.
Meanwhile melt chocolate chips (and I added peanut butter which wasn't called for in the original recipe but was delicious), dollop on cookies as they emerge from the oven.
Enjoy!

I made these the other night thanks to my sister for giving me the recipe, great for those times when a campfire just isn't possible :)

autumn goodies

Our ladies Bible study had a luncheon last week so I decided to whip up some pumpkin muffins. I had some Martha Stewart autumn stencils that mom gave me as part of a shower gift so this was a perfect opportunity to try them out.

Voila pretty pumpkin muffins to delight the tastebuds, mm mmm.

Next, to try these adorable owl cupcakes how fun are they??

Meal Plan Monday

Autumn is my absolute favourite time of the year, warm days cool nights, spices and warm drinks, I just love it all.

This upcoming weekend is Thanksgiving up here in the great white north so we'll be celebrating with friends on Monday and enjoying a delicious feast. Until then we'll be indulging in some cool weather meals.

Monday: Homemade pizza

Tuesday: Leftovers

Wednesday: boiled ham dinner

Thursday: manicotti

Friday: baked beans and brown bread

Saturday: cheesy chicken and rice bake

Sunday: Leftovers

Monday: Thanksgiving dinner

for more yummy idea's check out Laura's site

We're flying home this week for a much needed vacation to visit all our family, soo excited. Until then we still need to eat so...

Monday: Turkey Croquettes with Spinach Mashers and Pan Gravy

Tuesday: Asian Style BBQ Pork Chops

Wednesday: Creamy Chicken Enchiladas with Broccoli

Thursday: Leftover buffet

Friday: Air plane/Airport food

Saturday & Sunday: ? staying with our parents

natural toilet bowl cleaner

Our hard water leaves this nasty ring in our toilet if not scrubbed all hours of the day.

Sooo...I was looking for some toilet bowl cleaner and stumbled across the Clorox Green Works line. The natural toilet bowl cleaner was on sale so I thought I would give it a try.

It works! Oh it's great, gets rid of the ring in no time and keeps it sparkling clean and smelling good for days, my new favourite bathroom cleaner.

That's what works for me.

Click here more WFMW ideas.

excited to sew and shop

So I just got this book because the Amazon preview just looked so good.

I'm excited to get our nursery all ready for the little one and looking at sites like rate my space just gets me that much more excited.
I mean just look at this from user grettacole! The bright fun colours, I am in love and I'm looking forward to a trip to Ikea :)

Iced cappuccinos, particularly those from Tim Hortons but any frosty creamy coffee flavoured drink is one of my favourite summer indulgences.

On a good day caffeine makes me wired so I avoid it, now being pregnant I have an even better reason to avoid caffeine. So I have been making my own iced capps at home. The tastiest recipe I've found is this:
homemade iced cappuccino
1 cup skim milk
1 tsp instant coffee powder (or you could use a bit of brewed coffee if you had some leftover)
4 tsp sugar
4-6 ice cubes

Blend until slushy and frothy and enjoy.
This also has much less fat than the store bought variety so I can enjoy it with less guilt :)

But I have been experimenting and to make it even better I save any leftover decaf flavoured coffee that I make every so often in the morning and freeze it in ice cube trays. I cut the instant coffee powder down and use frozen flavoured coffee cubes, mmmm. I hear the blender calling my name now :)

Not to mention this way is much cheaper, so that's what works for me.
To see other things that work check out Works For Me Wednesday .

What's for dinner?

Recently my like for cooking dinner has wavered and flickered and turned into more of a dread. I'm meal planning to make it easier so I don't have to think about it as much and just do it. Ugh the thought of dinner just does nothing for me, I'd rather eat some raw fruits and veggies. I guess there could be worse pregnancy cravings :)

So for this week I will be attempting:

Monday: Chicken a la King

Tuesday: Chili and cornbread

Wednesday: honey chicken kebabs and potatoes (carried forward from last week)

Thursday: Spinach mushroom manicotti and garlic bread (carried forward)

Friday:Awesome slow cooker pot roast and veggies

Saturday: homemade mac and cheese

Sunday: Lasagne and salad

Want some more ideas?

Top Ten Things to do on a Rainy Day

1. Finish some overdue sewing projects : as you can see I need to finish making the new curtains for the Boler these just had to go

2. Work on some craft projects that have been neglected: I need to make some birthday cards to have on hand since the mail takes a week to get to family at home or you could check out my friend katie's Etsy store

3. Write a letter: A lost art, and who doesn't love getting "real" mail??

4. Read a good book: I've been neglecting reading lately since I feel that there are other things I should be doing but there are so many good books out there...

5. Clean: grooooooan but it has to be done and it does feel nice to have a freshly cleaned kitchen/bathroom/ living room.

6. Redecorate: I like to do my mantel every now and then just for a lift I mean look at this


7. Do some baking: mmm muffins


8. Enjoy some tea: best when enjoyed with the above mentioned baking

9. Call a friend: next best thing to being able to visit in person

10. Visit a friend: in real life or the blogosphere

For more top tens visit Amanda

Why does eating outside make everything taste better? It just does somehow. We had a picnic at the lake on our anniversary, and it was deeelicious! I made pastrami sandwiches on french bread (my hubby's fave), mock mojitos, veggies, dip and slurpees for dessert.



I'm looking forward to enjoying some more outdoor meals as the summer progresses but, for this week we'll be enjoying:

Monday: We had taco salad last night, yummy!

Tuesday: Spinach mushroom manicotti and garlic bread

Wednesday: honey chicken kebabs and potatoes

Thursday: Burritos

Friday: Homemade pizza

Saturday: Spaghetti with homemade sauce

For more great meal ideas check out menu plan monday

Top Ten Tuesday

Top ten exciting things about this week:

1. We heard our baby's heartbeat at the Dr.'s office this morning and everything is progressing along smoothly, I'll be 14 weeks tomorrow! Which leads me to #2.

2. We called all of our friends and family to share the news today, it's so fun to share good news and hear the reactions (screaming, that's great, yay!, WHAAAAT?, that's so exciting, is it a cinnamon bun?) which results in #3

3. I don't have to suck in my"baby gut" anymore! (you know the flub that results from your insides being shifted around?)

4. I get to be pleasantly plump when we go home to visit in August. (not about this week, I realize that but hey)

5. I get to buy a new dress for a wedding in August. (also not about this week...)


6. Our anniversary is tomorrow, 3 years! My plan so far consists of crepes for breakfast, anything else would be great too, maybe a picnic.

7. I found a great gift for my sister at Winners yesterday, I just love Winners.


8. I got to go grocery shopping with my hubby today which was so nice since I always do the grocery shopping alone while he's at work.

9. I bought the ingredients for virgin mojitos, now I just need to get a mint plant so I can make them just a little more tasty. What an awesome summer drink.


10. I get to use the "please can we get slurpees/ice cream/other yummy treat? it's our anniversary" line tomorrow . Wish me luck!

go see Amanda for some more top tens

finally sharing the positive

14 weeks tomorrow! woot woot!

Almost summer days...

call for iced capps! I just can't bear to pay the 3 bucks or whatever it is for these delicious frothy wonders so I pulled out my personal blender (one of my favourite kitchen appliances) and put this together.

homemade iced cappucino
1 cup skim milk
1 tsp instant coffee powder (or you could use a bit of brewed coffee if you had some leftover)
4 tsp sugar
4-6 ice cubes

Blend until slushy and frothy and enjoy.
This also has much less fat than the store bought variety so I can enjoy it with less guilt :)

p.s. for any of you reading this who know me and my strong reaction to caffeine and are concerned, I use decaf :)

Come on in I've got a pot of tea on!

I'm back! I've really been neglecting the blog world but I guess that can be considered a good thing because it means my real world life has been busy.

I started a part-time job at the end of March which quickly became a full-time job and was too much and not what I had in mind. So now I'm back to cooking, cleaning and taking care of my hubby and the dogs. I like this life :)

My mom came to visit for 2 weeks and we had a great time, so glad our family has been able to visit as often as they have.

I booked our flights home for our trip this summer!! We're so excited having not been home for a year and a half now, we miss everyone muchly.

Wow, it's time to mow the lawn again, yikes, but that also means we get to spend more time outdoors. I love warm weather. We even went for hike last weekend with some friends and all our dogs, it feels so good to get out after a long winter.

meal plan monday

I found a recipe for crockpot falafel through my friend Kate and gave it a try last week. They were delicious!!! My hubby the carnivore even gave them rave reviews so they will definitely be on our menu again.We ate them in spinach wraps that I had on hand, topped with cheese, peppers, baby spinach and some light ranch dressing, delicious! Next time I hope to make homemade tzatziki and pita bread to go with them.

For this week we'll be enjoying:

Monday: leftovers

Tuesday: mexican pile-up

Wednesday: slow cooker pot roast with potatoes and veggies

Thursday: grilled shrimp with veggies

Friday: baked beans with homemade molasses brown bread

Saturday: leftovers

Sunday: homemade pizza and salad

For more meal plan ideas head over to organizing junkie .

happy spring!

Thanks for stopping by, I'm serving tea and coffee today so grab a mug :)

Spring has sprung, yay!! I'm not really a huge fan of spring with the freak snow storms and slushy muddiness everywhere but it gives me hope that summer is on its way! I only had to scrape one window on the truck this morning, so very exciting.

This week has flown, mostly because I worked in the mornings, which is great. When I came home this afternoon the doorbell rang and there was a beautiful bouquet of pale pink tulips from my mom all the way on the other side of the country. She's so sweet, tulips are my favourite!
I'm looking forward to the weekend to catch up on housework and start my hubby's days off, ah let the spring cleaning begin!!

sponge dog square pants

I love my dogs, I really do. They are fantastic company and are great at warning me of such impending dangers as...the cat up the street or the mail man dunh dunh dunh. Seriously though I've never owned a dog before we got these two a year ago and I've always wanted one. I just can't wait until summer when the snow and dirt won't be all over my house. Oh summer with your green grass and lack of snow and gravel mmm.

Crosby our lab is not so bad as long as I wipe his feet but Nugget, poor Nugget is the silliest mix of breeds so that he is a low lying sponge. Just a few minutes ago he was in the back yard and he didn't come when I called, I pulled on my boots and trudged through the snow and had a moment of panic when I didn't see him (let me just say the day we found him he was running down the middle of the highway) but then I saw movement up up in the garden on our retaining wall. The poor dog was stuck in the snow and couldn't move as it was deeper than his little legs, I burst out laughing then composed myself long enough to reach above my head and lower him to the ground.
Why didn't anyone tell me dogs were so much work...?

Anyway onto my gratitude list for this week

1. My wonderful husband, he works so hard.

2. Melamine paint: has anyone used this stuff? We've been painting our trailer and chose it for its durability. Proof: There is a a green spot under my thumbnail that I can't get off...we painted on Monday...

3. Friends, I love visiting and having tea with friends

4. Tea: see number 3

5. The time change, yes I said it. I do enjoy how much lighter it is in the evenings.

6. My down comforter, so warm and cozy. I think I'm going to go curl up now.

See you soon

Meal Plan

Brunch, what a wonderful meal, my favourite in fact. I love breakfast foods and on my hubby's last days off we made a wonderful spread of crepes with strawberries and yogurt and homemade biscuits with eggs and bacon. Oh it was soo good. If you've never made crepes, they are so simple and delicious plain or when served with fresh fruit. My favourite recipe is vanilla crepes they smell heavenly when they're cooking and taste just as good. The recipe is from all recipes and I modified it just a bit

Vanilla Crepes

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons melted marge

1.Stir milk, egg yolks, and vanilla together. Stir in flour, sugar, salt and marge.

2. Heat crepe pan or large frying pan over medium heat, pour 1/3 cup of batter in the pan then tilt the pan to spread. when edges begin to curl and middle looks set flip and cook for another minute. Keep warm and serve.



On the menu for this week is:

Tuesday: brown bag burritos (making extras to put in the freezer for lunches)

Wednesday: homemade pitas and crockpot falafel with tzatziki

Thursday: linguine with garlic sauce (whole wheat linguine, low fat cream cheese and skim milk)

Friday: bbq chicken on buns with veg

Saturday: pizza (making pizza pockets for the freezer)

Sunday: refried bean nachos

Monday: veggie pot pie

For more great ideas go see Laura

sunny days...

Thanks for stopping by, grab a mug of something warm and get cozy in the sun.

I love the sunshine and this week has been beautiful!
On Sunday after church we had an outdoor bbq, we stood around in the sun while the kids played with snowshoes, sleds and got pulled around by a snowmobile. What a great afternoon, it was so nice to enjoy the weather outside after a long winter.

I've been able to get out and walk the dogs and still feel my fingers at the end of the walk, so nice.

Our driveway is almost clear again, the ice is melting and our car hasn't slid down the driveway in weeks!

I just can't wait for spring and I know the dogs are loving the sunny weather too. Anyone else had their fill of winter?

pvc dryer balls?

I found this from Norwex which is a largely chemically free company who makes dryer balls which are also made with pvc like the ones I posted about.

QUESTION: WHY ARE NORWEX DRYER BALLS MADE OF PVC PLASTIC, WHICH IS THE MOST TOXIC PLASTIC ON THE PLANET?

CANDI'S ANSWER (from Norwex Canadian Headquarters:
Yes, during the manufacture of pvc, there is a small amount of dioxin generated. This is definitely a cost, however, dioxins are not released upon use of the product – only if they were burned (i.e., by fire). It would be very nice to eliminate all environmental costs – so they tried to make them from different types of material, but so far, none have been successful (i.e., other types of plastic simply aren’t effective and don’t work well). Another potential issue with regards to them being made of pvc plastic are phthalates, which are ingredients added to plastics to soften them. These can leach out in water, especially under high heat...this is a problem if you are drinking the contaminated water. Such leaching is unlikely to occur to any appreciable degree in the dryer as they are not sitting in water...and also, we are not drinking the water they are sitting in. The amount of residue, if any, they would leave on clothing is exceptionally small. One study done on the absorption of phthalates into human skin found that, even when added as a concentrated liquid directly onto the skin, that very little penetrated the skin - skin is largely impermeable to them. Also, the amount, if any, on the clothing would be so small as to be immeasurable. Certainly, dramatically better than any other products used to soften clothing and reduce static, which leaves a lot of chemical residue...and for a wide variety of chemicals!

For now, this issue requires additional research, but for those using dryersheets or fabric softener – we are dramatically reducing their exposure to chemicals that are far worse and more likely to affect them than by using dryerballs. Also, the dryerballs reduce energy consumption. I certainly acknowledge that there is some environmental cost, as there is with all human activities…but in my mind, the cost of the manufacture and lifetime use of this product would be dramatically less than that of using fabric softener or dryer sheets. I still give them a thumbs-up on user and environmental friendliness over their lifetime, as compared to other products used for the same purpose.

It may also be worthy of note that there are very large uses of pvc in homes, dryerballs are a very small component of that – i.e., most piping and newer windows are composed of pvc (I do note, however, that this in no way negates the additional cost of having yet another product made from this material – if a better option becomes available, I’m sure we’ll be on board!).

dryer balls

I have some articles of clothing that can go in the dryer but cannot have fabric softener. Now you see I'm anti static cling and my husband seems to be the king of static electricity so I like to use something to keep things from sticking together in the dryer. That being said, I'm not a huge fan of unnecessary chemicals so when I was wandering the aisles of the dollar store I came across packs of these spiky little guys. They were 2/$1 (cheaper than tennis balls) so I thought I'd give them a try. They're quite hard plastic so if you can stand the banging around in your dryer for the first few minutes until they warm up and soften they are a fantastic little creation. They fluff up and separate the laundry without chemicals so I can use them on the wicking clothing, microfiber things, and down filled things that would get clogged with fabric softener. The box recommended 4-6/ load so I bought 4 for a grand total of $2. That works for me :)

Check out Works for Me Wednesday for more things that work.

Meal Plan Monday

Yay it's March! that means we're one month closer to summer!! woot! Mind you we've been having some beautiful weather here, bright sunny days that are very motivating and the dogs and I have been enjoying walking in the sunshine after what seems like a long winter.

My brother-in-law is visiting for his March break so as I've been planning my meals I've been trying to keep in mind that I am feeding two men and me. That means moooore food. This week has gone well so far so we'll see what next week holds, I'll try not to kill him with veggies :).

Oh I almost forgot to mention that last week I made my very first pot roast, this recipe really is awesome, if you've never made one you should try it!

So on the menu for this week we have:

Monday: Chili

Tuesday: Chicken a La King

Wednesday: Chili dogs and salad

Thursday: Stacked Enchilada Pie

Friday: Homemade pizza

Saturday: Veggie Pot Pie

Sunday: Spaghetti

For more great meal plan ideas visit Organizing Junkie

new colours

Over the years I've had a mullet, a super short pixie cut, long long hair, a perm, bangs, no bangs but (aside from one very unfortunate incident where I volunteered for a hair show and they botched up a blond dye job) I have been very tentative with hair colour. The cut is not the issue, I chopped my hair all off super short the day after prom just a week before graduation but cccccolour...eeek. I would think that I could do it, that I wanted a colour change but wandering the hair dye aisle I would always gravitate toward the semi-permanent-almost-my-natural-light-brown box. Well ladies, not anymore! No, this chick has stepped out.
That's right I have dark copper and violet streaks!! It is so much fun, why didn't I do this before?

Speaking of colour, we have been getting some work done on our Boler trailer. So far it is still a dingy white and yellow but not for long. We have fabric for cushions and curtains and my hubby made his first box cushion today! He did a fantastic job, I have begun working on the curtains and soon the paint will be applied. We're going for bright and cheery. It's exciting to have a project to be working on together and we are hoping to have it done so we can take our inaugural voyage in May. So if you don't hear from me I'll be with my sewing machine.

Thanks for stopping by, be sure to visit some other company girls.

attitude of gratitude

Is it just me or did this week go by in a blur? The weekend went out with a bang when we awoke Monday morning to snow, lots o' snow.


I even learned how to use the snow blower, woohoo! A wonderful invention!

Wednesday I bought salt for the driveway and we chipped away at the ice that had built up. Why, you ask? Why were we so intent on getting rid of the ice? Well on Tuesday night we went out to return a movie only to find the truck at the bottom of the driveway more than a car length further down the driveway than where it had been parked...yep gotta love an icy hill for a driveway. Anyway onto my gratitude list for this week:

1. Snow, I love that we live somewhere we can experience all 4 seasons, true summer and winter included.

2. Snow blower and salt see #1.

3. Dryer fuses, ours came in today and tomorrow I will clean out the lint and have it up and running again. The past 2 ands a half weeks of only rack drying has given me a new appreciation for the dryer.

4. Good friends, I had the opportunity to get together with some good friends this week and I just love it.

Thanks for stopping by have some more coffee with some other company girls.

Gratitude Saturday

I know I'm a day late but yesterday morning I was in the dentist's chair with a drill in my mouth so it's coffee time this morning instead. I have just brewed some decaf creme brulee flavour and it smells delicious!
I saw gratitude Friday on another blog and thought it was a great way to sum up the week. So here's my gratitude list for the week:

1. My dentist visits are over for a while now, I am so glad!

2. We opened up our dryer and found that the thermal fuse was blown, now I'm just waiting for the part to come in then we'll have a working dryer again!

3. We had a ladies night at church on Wednesday where we talked about beating the winter blahs, it was a great evening out with the ladies.

4. It has been sunny and not too cold for the past couple of days, I love the sunshine.

5. I made a housekeeping schedule this week and am hoping that will help me keep on task and tidy. I'm glad Rachel Anne posted this idea.

Go visit some other Company Girls for coffee

found my career...apparently

So I found this quiz the predicts your job just by your name. That's right type your name in the box and out pops your job.
So I typed my name in and out pops........housekeeper.

I guess it's a good thing that I made that housekeeping schedule yesterday huh?

I bet if I had this set I would be much more enthused, very cute.