School is out and we are having fun...

Holy, I haven't been on here in a while.  School ended without a hitch and the kids immediately began their usual;  late nights, not so early mornings, swimming like crazy, friends, quick lunches and dinners to return to the water fun.  Now I did manage to get gifts together for my kids teachers, king of last minute for the final product, I only knew what I wanted to do at least a month before, but hey, that's how I roll lately.  Just not as organized as I usually am.  Oh well, it all turned out just fine.

I started with this first.  Yummy, and I got my idea from here Northern Cottage, which is one of my favourite blogs I follow.  You can also find a variation on Pinterest, but I liked this one best and found it before I found the one on Pinterest, so I went with it.  I did try to find 125ml jars, but couldn't find any at the time, now that it is closer to harvest time here, jars are abundant, oh well, again.  More caramel dip for the teachers and none left over for us, except a small sample that didn't last long.  Not even a chance for dipping apple slices, just fingers, hahaha.... So a jar of caramel dip, and 2 apples in a cellophane bag tied with string and a cute tag attached.  A cute and yummy twist on the apple gift giving for teachers.

Each teacher received a basket of yummy treats to start their summer off with a smile.  Baskets were from Dollarama, and all other treats were bought or made by myself.  Just a little something to let them know how much they are appreciated.  Our small rural school is fantastic and giving homemade goodies is always a great way to show how much these teachers mean to us.  Truly, we are a huge family there, and we get to know each other a little more than most teachers, kids and parents.  The number one reason we purchased our property and built our home where we did.  School zoning, at one most amazing school. *sigh*  OK, enough, move on to our summer fun.

This is our dock at my Happy Place (camp).  It has been through a lot over the years, and winters have been tough on occasion, but, this year it was found in one piece at least.  Other years not so much, lol.  We have arrived in the spring to find half the dock drifted down the lake, or the side boards cracked and broken, repair after repair, it still keeps us above water, and always the main place to have fun in the summer.  We were missing a rung on the stairs, and a cross piece at the front, but it functioned well until our other chores were done.  This is what the dock looks like almost all summer.  Every bit of summer "stuff" is collected on and around it.  Canoe, kayak, surf board, noodles, butterfly nets, bucket for frogs and minnows and any other critter that may come along, goggles, snorkels, fins for swimming like a mermaid or dolphin, your choice.

A day without a boating adventure across the lake would just never do

The traditional picture of a cute critter, now I should say that I am not a fan of squirrels, I'm more of a chipmunk person, but this young little guy was just so cute.  Look at those big eyes, Our regular chipmunk has some competition in the cuteness category, lol

My Happy Place would not be complete without our beloved sauna, built by my hubby.  This makes staying there even more enjoyable. Whether it's cold or hot out, a sauna just feels good.  

At the end of the day, a cozy fire is a must.  We may or may not make smores, we may just roast marshmallows, we may crack some peanuts by the fire, or, just sit quietly, listening to the crackle of the wood, and the loon calls in the distance, as we reflect on the wonderful day we had, and how much life has to offer.  Dance like no one is watching (it's kind of fun to do now and then)  Life is good!  Stop by again soon, I will return, I promise, there is just so much fun to be had, I get carried away.  This weekend promises to be another round of good and memorable times, my parents come to town, birthdays to be celebrated, and laughs all around.

Summer is...

Well, we are finally having a wonderful weekend, as far as our weather goes, so we can finally venture to our camp.  I imagine we are over run by weeds, wild flowers, goose yukky, and hopefully not fallen trees and not too many branches.  My teenager wants to hang out with her friend, so that delays our departing somewhat, but we will get there at some point this afternoon.  I know I can expect that I will be working up a sweat as my other two splash and have fun in the water.  Every year I instruct them that our first trip to camp is about cleaning up and prepping for our summer time out there, and every year they end up in the lake before tackling any chores that are required.  I am not really angry about it as soon as I realize they are in the lake, I hear them laughing and splashing and getting along, and that is what it's all about.  Fun, fun, fun...
I was going thru my pictures of years past and decided to make a collage of all things summer for us, it brought back so many memories, and fun times, good weather and bad, we have done so many things, we truly are blessed.  It really brings a smile to my face!

I could have added so many more pics, choosing was tough, but you get the idea.  Most of the pics are from our camping spot.  We spend most of our time there in the summer.  We save up our holidays and spend as much time there as possible.  As simple as life is out there, with no hydro or real running water, we don't seem to suffer at all.  I ask the kids every year if they could live there and as they pause before they give me their answer is usually ends up as a "no".  They still want TV, computer and telephone.  Even though they have just had two months of practically none of that (except when we go home to do laundry and replenish the groceries) they insist they need to have it.  Luxuries like that are nice to have and I am thankful we can have those things, it is nice to see we really don't need those things to survive.   I also did up my own version of a word collage, as I have seen so many on line that I felt I should do one too, lol...

I will say that I love Picasa and play around making collages of photos and words all the time.  So creating these for summer was just fun to do.  I am sooo looking forward to the drive to camp today, I am not exactly excited to work up a sweat cutting the lawn weeds out there or all the work that needs to be done to open up, but the results after are heart warming, and worth it.  Everyone that ventures to our "Happy Place" can see why I call it that, and friends and family are always welcome, the sauna is fired up and ready, the lake is literally a hop, skip and a jump away, and we are almost always there during the summer months.  Wouldn't want it any other way.

Any special moments for you, any special places you like to be in the summer?  I would love to hear your stories, honestly I would.  My favourite season is the fall, but my most memorable times are during the summer.  Have fun everyone, play safe, use sunscreen (I fry if I don't)and smile, life is too short not to appreciate what you have.

May, brings rain and flooding

Well this is certainly not the Monday I had planned in my mind.  The storms just keep a comin' and the rains keep comin' down, but good.  We are extremely lucky in our home, we are on high ground and a newishly built house built well, etc... Others in our city are not so lucky.  Much damage has struck all around, flooding, lightning striking trees, crashing down on homes, and even office buildings, knocking bricks to the ground below.  Mother Nature is taking a tole on people here in our city, and we have now been declared in a state of Emergency.  One of our water treatment plants is under water, and an advisory has been sent out to control 'flushing' unnecessarily :(  Now that's really not good!!!
My post will be short here to day, as I also have a friend who lost her father yesterday and I am going to bake and deliver some things for the family.  So sad this Monday is.

My pansy are a little worse for wear but looking at the big picture very lucky to be alive.

Our very back part of our yard, has no where for the water to go anymore.  Our ground is soaked to the max!!  With multiple days of heavy raining this is how it goes.  No drainage there any longer.

Our front driveway is the same, no where to go.  The water is just sitting there, all wet like.  So those are the nicer pics to show, now where some damage has really occured;

One of the rural roads washed away close to the city.  Mud Lake Road.

Tragic accident on Oliver Road, major wash out.

Northwood Mall parking lot and mall building a bit under water.  Basements are flooded, people are without there homes, road closures everywhere, my kids are home today due to rural school closures, and unsafe road conditions.  Fingers crossed that the rain stops and the sun comes out a shining. The rain can move on and help out neighbouring towns and cities that are dry and being ravaged by forest fires.
Thanks for stopping by today and prayers to all who have damage from the rains, and forest fires.  From one extreme to the other, just doesn't seem fair sometimes.
Chat soon my friends,

Yukky weather day

Well yesterday did not go as planned, that's for sure!  After our super yukky weather overnight, and the kids staying home all day, I never got all my "to do" items done, but the kids sure had a great time.

This is what we woke up to, now it doesn't look like much, but under that dusting of snow is a layer ice, which covered all the roads, highways etc...our driveway had a couple of massive puddles of slushy, yukkiness.  Highways were closed, no buses running, and we stayed home ALL day :)  Now look at that poor, very rotund robin, poor guy didn't know what hit him, searching frantically with all his buddies for any kind of food like substance :)  And, we were snug and warm indoors.

After a few episodes of kids shows the kids were bored and I was pulling out my hair.  Hopefully I got a few of those nasty white ones (I skipped the grey stage, lol) seriously.  The girls decided to make ??? Yup more cupcakes, but this time they wanted each cupcake to be different, I don't mean different icing or sprinkles, I mean different flavours. *sigh*  In yet another vulnerable moment, I gave in. I gave them my basic, yet yummy vanilla cupcake recipe that they could alter and create their master pieces from.  So that's what they did, for the entire afternoon.....my kitchen had been taken over and I wasn't allowed in.  Their brother was somehow coerced into being chief dishwasher, and his payment would be, being "allowed" to taste the cupcakes.

So here are their creations after baking, each one a different flavour.  All I know is there is a marble one, coffee flavoured one and strawberry/blueberry one.  Only because I came to refill my coffee when those were being made and I overheard, shhhh....The one with sprinkles was actually baked with some kind of icing and sprinkles on it, looks good enough to eat already :)  My memory card to my camera was "swiped by Dad" so a picture of finished cupcakes was not available after all their hard work.  But this morning I rounded them all up, and, voila;

Yes all the cupcakes are there today, due to an over indulgence of icing by my kids, and, no wish to taste them when all were completed.  So, after school today, will be the Great Cupcake Tasting Adventure.  They all had fun and for the most part contained the mess and cleaned up after.

As for myself.  I worked on a few projects that I had started on Sunday..  I got a few things completed, but my wood worker was more interested in a certain Honda Dirt Bike.  Uh huh, how dare he work on that during my time, yeesh......hahaha, I guess I can give him a break every now and then, but this is not a union organization, I don't have ta :)

All kids are at school today and I am on my way down to my studio, Bahahaha!  My "studio" now that cracks me up, it's a dream of mine really, and maybe one day I will share only one pic of my work area with you, but not yet.  A studio it is not, that's for sure, hahaha I'm still laughing at that, I think that term will stick, my kids will get a kick out of it I'm sure.  Just a little info on my work "area", I moved some things around and put a table in the furnace room, you read that correctly, furnace room.  With all of our square footage in our house, that's all I get!  So I am making do and making the best out of a small, odd space :) *deep breath* I do have a built in magnet board tho, that duct work comes in handy for my clothes pin magnets holding my template and tags :) Heehee!

I would like to let you in on a wonderful site I discovered not long ago, it's the Online Fabric Store, I placed my order and not long after, it arrived, and I was more than satisfied.  My main reason for the order was some burlap and sisal sacks.  I have loved them forever, but here in the north, they are hard to come by, and even harder to find at a reasonable price.  Well, they had them, and I ordered them.  I got a few large ones that the kids can use for sack races, and yes of course, my son and a friend of his did put them to use immediately after I unwrapped them.  I had a few remnant, green coffee beans scattered around my home for a while, hahaha.  Here is what I have done with them, so far that is;

They are hanging in my front entrance on a rustic ladder, purchased at Vintage Pixie Studio, have to say that after taking the pic I noticed that heart (also purchased at the Vintage Pixie Studio) needs to be raised, lol, I can't believe with my OCD that I have not noticed that before, anyway...that is how I will end things for today....the sun is shining, but, we still have some snow on the ground, it was cold this morning, and I feel like uncovering my rhubarb with my hair dryer to see a sign of spring again. 

oh well...