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,

Friday chair redo

I am so thankful that it is Friday today.  We have had rain like everyday,for more days than I would like, my hands were getting sore from  Arc building.  But seriously, roads have been washed out, and well over 400 homes without power ( I just couldn't remember the very large number reported on the news this morning)  We survived, although our lawn needs a mowing again already, yeesh.  Only a glimmer of blue sky and a tiny beam of sunshine throughout the day, so I risked it and put a load of laundry on the clothes line, whew...all dry and no droplets.  Our forecast is still rain in the near future for us, but my wallet was thankful that mother nature dried my clothes for me and not the dryer.  Laundry is beginning to pile up, and I hate using the dryer!!

OK, so I have had this old wicker chair for some time now, it was being stored, then my sister in law had it, and now it has returned to reside at my home.  I put it outside this fall/winter at my front door and threw a fleece remnant over the seat cushion.  Come spring I put a chunk of fabric over it again, but yesterday I decided to do something for real to it.  Now I can sew, yes, and I have done some simple upholstery stuff, but I change my colours with the seasons or even more often if you were to ask my hubby :)  So here is the seat cushion in all it`s loveliness without any new fabric applied;

What do you think of the old fabrics, nice huh....Bahahaha!  Now I had one colour scheme in mind when I was en route to the fabric store and I came out with something else entirely, and of course more than I went there for.  That place is worse than Walmart for sucking me into buying more than what was on my list.  Ugh... I have certain colours that are my faves, and this fabric just began calling me from the depths of the remnant bin...Seriously, I could hear it, (have I mentioned the crazy me, lol, my kids do think I`m abnormal)  :)  Anyway long story short I took a very `Simple` approach to this project because of my ever changing mind.  I pinned the fabric to the bottom of the cushion and I sewed the pillow cover but left the bottom open a bit to switch it up easily come my next itch for new fabric.  *sigh*

The chair was my Grandfather`s and it is heavier than it looks, I can`t bring myself to paint it just yet, so it is in it`s natural state of lovely.   The pillow is stuffed with cotton batting I think, like the old stuff, it is also a bit on the heavy side for a pillow and will not blow away.  My front entrance is well covered so it is mostly out of the elements, except of course with last nights torrential down pour and winds, bleh.
Hope you like it, and hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.  I have more sewing projects on my agenda since I have dusted off my sewing machine and pulled off the cobwebs.

Chat soon,

Birthday Party ideas for kids...

Well, this weather is not helping my plans of just a little more yard work, boohoo.  I did bake just one more rhubarb treat and I promise I will stop writing about rhubarb, I just can't help myself....

OK, so not only did it smell awesome, but tasted yummy, an apple, rhubarb, strawberry crisp, yup, uh huh, I made it late in the evening and ate a small bowl for breakfast once the kids were gone to school, accompanied by a perfectly brewed, warm, cuppa java, a great way to start my day.

Alright enough already, I know, I know.  Since these grey, drippy clouds have me a bit down and unmotivated to create new things I thought I would share a little passion of mine.   I love prepping for my kids birthday parties, the ideas floweth and consume my mind.  My Mom and I have always decorated the birthday cakes for my kids, ever since they could shovel in cake with their fists.  Usually rental cake pans are used and cakes are decorated up all nice and colourful, but sometimes the kids make requests that don't use a cake pan, and some just get me thinking even more about ideas to go along with the birthday 'theme'.  I thought I would share some of those with you, maybe to help you with ideas as well, and they are just a lot of fun to show.

This cake was made with a cake pan and we decorated it as to my daughter's colour preferences.  Hannah Montana was the theme, we sent out guitar shaped invites and the party was at a photo finishing/studio.  The girls had a blast.  The party included an hour long photo shoot to my daughter's chosen songs, (Hannah Montana of course) pizza, and we provided the cake.  Their loot bag after the party was a picture of the group of them taken by the photographer in frames I purchased at the Dollar store and chocolate shaped guitars I had made up by a local chocolate business.  I also gave each girl a glittery scarf for the photo shoot. (also purchased at the Dollar store).  The girls had the option to purchase a DVD of the entire photo shoot, with special effects, music and all.  The studio also provided a link for the families to see and share the video for a certain period of time.

My son's party was hamburger themed, as you might have guessed.  The invites went along with the theme, and the food served was mini burgers (and hot dogs for those that did not want burgers)  The cake was made with two Pyrex bowls and a circular cake pan.  It is a large cake, just to let you know.  We chose real sesame seeds for the top of the bun, way easier than dots of icing, and we used icing as the ketchup, lettuce and mustard, as I don't let my kids eat fruit by the foot, or otherwise, but you can cut different shaped licorice gummy type of things to look like the lettuce etc... if you wish.  My kids remind me often that their friends get fruit by the foot ALL the time (apparently) and why can't I just be a normal Mom....Yep that's me, abnormal.  I think I've said that before in a round about way.

This cake was when my son was loving Lego, a short phase for him, thankfully really.  He chose a costume party theme and had a joint party with his sister.  Their birthdays are only two weeks apart, so that made for an interesting couple of hours.  We sent out mask shaped invites, and had good old fashioned party games.  The kind I used to have, the kind that kids nowa days aren't really aware of.  Hot Potato, musical chairs, etc....  We rented our rural Rec Centre for a whole $45.  Totally worth more, but shhhh, it's all good.  The cake is 4 separate cakes covered in marshmallow fondant.  So much more tasty than almond paste, bleh....Anyway it came together relatively easy, the little Lego dude is a little out of scale in comparison to the cake, but you get the idea.  For the party we added a few more Lego people and I iced a couple of cookies with Happy Birthday written on them and his name and leaned them up like a sign on the cake Lego pieces.  It was a hit with the boys at the party, that's for sure, I was like, totally cool Mom with this one.  Oh  and my son dressed up as a Lego man, easiest costume ever, face painted his face, good ole Lego yellow, purchased a red shirt like the Lego dudes at the Salvation Army store, and used a Sharpie marker to draw on the shirt just like the Lego dude.  Ta Da....

These little ice cream cones are my daughter's cakes.  It was an icy themed party.  We had an outdoor skating rink in our back yard that year, so we sent out skate shaped invites and had a skating party.  Her birthday is in February, the 13th, to be exact.  I filled the ice cream cones only about half way with cake batter, some were a little more full and rose up quite a bit, but no biggie, it's cake, it's all good.  Iced the cake cones to look like ice cream and added sprinkles.  Awesome!  The cones were a little soggy, not crazy soggy, more like a little soft after baking, no crunch when you bit into it, but they were still yummy.  The loot bags were cookies in a jar, recipe attached and a bag of some already made cookies to sample for each girl.

These fun little bears are relaxing in their cupcakes pools under an umbrella, chillaxin.  The theme, you guessed it, a pool party.  Fun summery invites were sent out (made on the computer as my daughter's birthday is in February)  and the girls swam and had fun.  Easy peasy.  Pizza was served to eat, as well as other snacks.  A few girls slept over at the hotel and got in one more swim the next morning.  My other daughter had a pool party one year too, and we planned ahead for that, giving away flip flops from Old Navy as gifts.  Gift receipts were attached but I think we pretty much nailed the sizing for the girls.  Old Navy just happened to have a flip flop sale weeks before, how perfect for us.
Finally one of my daughters last birthdays;

  Larissa

            Birthday Mall
             123 Holly Lane
           Anywhere, CA
           (123)456-7890
-----------------------------------

Store: 011
Cashier: mom007

-----------------------------------

*Shopping special, one day only*

Larissa is turning 11, it’s a
Birthday madness event …….

Meet at my house, we’ll have
Supper at the Mall, shop for
Deals and return home for cake

*Super blowout special of the day*

Sleepover, bring sleeping bag,
Pillow and whatever else you
Need!

             Total:  $$ Lots of fun!!
-----------------------------------

       CUSTOMER COPY

Date (Friday, February 10^th)
Time (arrive around 5:00pm)
Pickup (11:00am Saturday)

             Thank You  J

Insert a picture of a bar code here,
I googled bar code images and chose
one to insert
So I'm not the most techie person and didn't know how to post my document of the invite we sent out, so, I copied and pasted it on my post, sorry.  As you can see it was a shopping party.  I did up invites on the computer to look like shopping receipts, cut them into the proper width, used our own address and phone number of course, and inserted a bar code at the bottom.  we rolled them up and put them inside bags to give to the girls, kind of like a shopping receipt in the bottom of your shopping bag, lol.  The kids thought it was a great invite, and when we returned home each girl got a pretty little cake of her own to eat.  I gave each girl $10 to shop with, and at Ardene's they can buy loot bags 2/$5 for small ones, or 2/$8 for the larger ones.  Which the girls then opened and traded and wore all the neon accessories and humongous earrings, and bangles etc...

Alrighty sorry about the length of this post I got a little carried away.  My birthday planning days will soon be ending and I had to reminisce.  Both my girls are now at the ages where they just  want to go out with their friends, the mall is always a good choice to them, and my son who knows when he will decide to be done, his this year was only with a few buddies and they went all over the city doing whatever boys like to do, bowling, video games, ice cream, and home to run around screaming and getting scratches on their knees from tackling each other on the lawn.

We just had a momentary power outage here.  Whew....Those darn leaky clouds...thunder and lightening, which, I am a storm lover, so I am not complaining.

Till next time my friends, hope I have given some of you a few ideas, and if not, hope you liked what I posted.  I am always open to more ideas, I have neices and nephews still that I can plan for, heehee...leave me a comment please.  Chat soon

More Rhubarb...great weekend

Well, this May Long weekend went by in a hurry.  I never get everything done that I want to get done. Funny how kids, and just life in general get in the way, oh ya maybe Mother Nature too.  One day we have OK weather, the next it's raining and then it's a scorching hot beautiful day and you try to jam pack all the yard work into one single solitary day, and not ignore your children, and try to remember to feed everyone lunch, and still try to keep working, mowing, raking, weed whacking, digging, pulling, wheelbarrowing, driving a child and her bicycle to a friends house, picking up that same child and bringing she and her friend back home to play even more, taking pictures of kids riding on a pallet being pulled by the quad runner for weight to drag and level the driveway and haul some rocks away, running to the back yard to see your other children do flips and moves on the trampoline and balance beam, throw a ball or two for your favourite hairy four legged buddy,  make sure the little dog you are looking after for your parents doesn't run up to the road and get hit by a car, and.....whew.....practically all was completed in a matter of one day.  We all worked together, managed to have some laughs, and smiles, and out yard no longer looks abandoned.  We have two acres of land, of which a good chunk is lawn, thankfully we have a riding tractor, and the kids take turns on that, the rest is push mower and weed whacker fun.  I live on the edge and weed whack without ear and eye protection and no steel toes either, ya I'm a risk taker, or just dumb, whatever you wish.  I have a few different gardens and they do get neglected from time to time, I know hard to believe and all, so I tackled my center island garden yesterday.  We have a circular driveway and this is the center piece, lol...

So mostly it just need to be weeded, and trimmed back a bit.  We have had that old cast iron fire hydrant for a few years now, and finally got it 'planted', sanded and painted by my youngest daughter and hubby (hubby is a fire fighter) and it looks great.  We live rurally and certainly don't have fire hydrants out our way, all just for decoration and cool factor.

I did get a little sun as well, ya, another living on the edge moment, that I will totally agree was dumb for sure.  I never even thought about it as I headed outside first thing in the morning, as my fam was having french toast, made by hubby, I was mowing my first patch of lawn.  When I get motivated I gotta do it, or it will be lost and I will be on to something else, probably of less importance.  Anyway by the time I had to drive my daughter to her friend's house, and change out of my most righteously fashionable yard working ensemble , by order of my daughter, who really didn't even want me pulling into her friend's driveway for fear that I may be spotted looking my absolute best sweaty, dirtiest.  I took note that my shoulders were feeling a bit off, and once I returned home after the short drive I realized for certain that I had got my first and last sunburn of this year.  I have about 17 bottles of different kinds of sunscreen, baby, waterproof, spray on, wipe on, purple on work in till clear, small bottles, large bottles, compact, travel size, purse size with a carabiner clip and still I was dumb enough to go outside without any...dumb! dumb! dumb!  I am blond, fair skinned and burn instantly, really I only get a darker shade of ivory over the course of summer, tan is a foreign word to me, honestly.  OK enough ranting, on to......R H U B A R B.

I love rhubarb, first of all it's free, and second it's tartness is so dang yummy.  From picking it fresh and dipping in sugar, ya feel your cheeks suck in, that's what I'm talking about, tart yumminess.  To stewing, to baking, to making jam, it's all good.  I can't wait to have my sprouted grain toast with rhubarb jam in the morning.  Bah, who am I kidding I could eat that jam with a spoon, never mind on toast, kind of like 'medicine'.  Ya, medicine, that's it.  I will admit that I licked the pot clean after jarring up my batch.  I just use the recipe in the Certo box for all my jams, I have learned which ones to tweak and how to ensure setting of the jam or jelly.  I am a regular jam and jelly maker with the fruits and vegies of the season.  I am actually typing to the sound of my jars 'snapping'.  The sound of success, right there.  Even if the jam or jelly doesn't set, put it in the fridge and use it up right away.  Give some jars away to friends and family with instructions to refrigerate.  The taste will be the same, and should not go to waste.  It's all good, who cares, change the name to sauce instead of jam, who needs to know, heehee :)

Now when I say I have a hardy batch of rhubarb, I'm not kidding, you will notice in my pic that not all the leaves are even on the trees yet, and my patch is huge, under those large, umbrella like leaves are seed pods already beginning to form, and some who live very near to me aren't even able to use their rhubarb yet.

I love it.  I actually think it loves the iceberg rock it grows next to.  That rock is enormous and we had to build our house away from it, as it was too large to move without going broke trying to blast it outta there.  It only grows under the ground, I think it goes to China, seriously...It's the base to our kids snow hill to slide and play on in the winter, or at least when they were young and would actually 'play' outside, lol.

Well, we didn't build anything, and we didn't get any new 'treasures' this weekend, as I stayed pretty close to home, we just hung out, kids had fun, we watched movies during the rain.  My parents are off on their journey in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and I have their little dog for a few weeks.  She likes me, I know it, and I like having a small dog around to cuddle up with on the couch with my blanket and coffee on yet another rainy greyish looking day.  It keeps the forest fires down, and the grass green, so that keeps me smiling.
What's your favourite rhubarb treat, do you have one or are you not a rhubarb lover?  Please share with me as I am always open to new ideas for recipes.

Have a great week.

Happy May Long Weekend

Well, Friday has arrived and I haven't done too much this week.  My rhubarb jam has not been made, but, hopefully today!! I have to get that large bag of sugar off my counter (I leave it there to annoy myself and that way I will get it done)(eventually)
My two youngest kids had their Jamboree, a collective dance and music routine put on thru the Public School Board here, consisting of 17 schools participating.  Our school practiced three times a week, during their lunch break and they were absolutely fantastic.  The kindergarten teacher (who happens to be my very good friend Cathleen) choreographed the routine and did a fantastic job, for her first time.  And she was worried, bah...it was awesome, the kids had a great time, all smiles and energy.

the start of my kids school routine, they are an awesome bunch of kids :)

All the schools participating were fantastic.  So nice to see all the kids coming together and each others interpretation of the theme.  Anyway that was a late night for the kids, and by that eve once we got home, all my kids were a little lacking in the immune system department.  boohoo...Medication all around and fingers crossed. 
My parents celebrated their 37th Wedding Anniversary on Thursday May 17th;

a beautiful day in 1975 ♥

I love them so much and so wish they lived here, I chatted with my Mom on the phone and so wished we were in my living room with a cup of tea.  They leave soon for an awesome and most deserved adventure to London, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, I'm so excited for them.  I will be taking care of their little dog Misu for the three weeks, and I'm excited about that too.  I absolutely love my dog, but Misu is a little dog and she loves to cuddle on my lap.  Now my dog T-Bone would like to do that as well, but he is a tad bit on the larger side for such a thing, lol.  I usually sit on the floor and allow him to climb all over me.  He is my bestest buddy.

T-Bone

Is he not the most handsome dog ever?  After having to put our old girl, 'Hunter', down a few years ago, we made a journey to our local Humane Society, to "look" at dogs, and most certainly not get a puppy, and "not" rush into things and leave with any animal what-so-ever!......well....we most certainly did leave with an animal, and this animal happened to be a puppy and we named him T-Bone.  Turns out it was a great decision and he is truly a terrific dog member of our family.  Just wouldn't be the same around here without a four legged creature to great you and stick by your side.

I should get on with things I guess, my to-do list is getting longer, and the days keep whizzing by.  I managed to come into a heck of a deal, a free pedestal table, that needs some TLC, which I am willing to give it, I have wood to be made into more signs and trays, already have a few people to give them to, my yard has been neglected, weeds to pull, flowers to plant, a small veggie garden bed to build, as my son is itching to get his veggies planted, and many more to-do things as well as have some good times, good laughs and good food this weekend with friends and family.  Gah!!! Rhubarb jam to make, yeesh, OK, I'm heading out to my patch to pick some now.  In closing I came across this pic that actually made me laugh out loud, sorry I can't remember if it was from facebook or another blog, but either way it was funny to me and about sums up how my mind has been functioning lately, I just had to share.

Have a super fantabulous weekend everyone, will post if I ever get my jam made and let you know how it went.  Hugs to all.

mmmm Rhubarb

Well finally, up here in the north, my rhubarb has grown to picking size, and today I baked a rhubarb cake, rhubarb muffins and stewed some rhubarb.  I have a hardy little patch that just keeps growing year after year.  Hubby took the cake to work to share with the guys, so tomorrow I will bake another.  Let's just say that my kids voiced their opinion as Dad walked out of the house with the dish in his hands.  Rhubarb jam is also on the agenda for tomorrow, yummm, can't get enough, and I need to make a couple of batches so I can share a few jars.

Oh my goodness my mouth is watering, the cake turned out perfect, although I never got to even taste it, lol.  I did taste a muffin and yep delicious.  Will drop off a bag full of that tarty goodness to a friend who makes rhubarb wine (hope to get a sample of that) on Friday, and see what other yummy rhubarb recipes I can come up with.  I do recall a most scrumptious rhubarb slush recipe, hmmm where did I put that...
Do you love rhubarb, any favourite recipes?  Please share :)

Mother's Day Weekend

Our weather is cooperating nicely this weekend.  The sun is shining, the temperatures are rising, just perfect for Mother's Day weekend.  I have to say I'm a little sad, as my Mom left for her hometown Friday and my first Mother's Day gift ever isn't in town either.  Heehee, my oldest daughter was born on Mother's Day 13 years ago, the best Mother's Day gift ever.  And, ever since then, my family has always been together for brunch on Mother's Day at my house.  This year, nope.....so we changed it up a little and my son had his friends to sleep over for his birthday party.  First they went bowling and had lunch, then they went to the kids arcade, and then McDonald's for ice cream. 
A pic of their dirt cakes;

all the fixings needed to make the cakes

the finished dirt cakes

So, I thought I would plug the little holes in the bottom of the flower pots (purchased at Dollarama, 10 pack for $1) with tin foil inside, but turned out that scotch tape on the outside bottom of the pots worked even better, so crumble already baked chocolate cake in the bottom of the pots, put a spoon full of chocolate pudding then insert a couple of gummy worms, and sprinkle with cookie crumbs on top and there you have dirt cakes.  They are yummy and a hit with the boys, although they were a little on the full side to eat much when they returned home, didn't eat them until about 8pm, oh well.


Now just a heads up in case you thought about having a group of boys sleep over, they are real life Energizer Bunnies, I kid you not, my goodness, they just keep going and going and going!  At least 9 and 10 year old boys do, whew....my coffee couldn't be made quick enough come morning, lol.  They had so much fun, played out side most of the afternoon and evening, ate too much food, but did manage to get some sleep, again thank goodness.  Sooo, in the morning I made cinnamon pull apart bread and served fruit, and waffles as well in case some didn't like the cinnamon pull apart bread.  Ya right, not much left for us non boy party members *sigh*  They played a little more outside before Dad's came to pick them up in the morning to go and celebrate Mother's Day with their Mom's.  I crashed a little on the couch with my coffee and my family and I just hung out at home, made a visit to Canadian Tire, bought some dirt, seeds, mulch and pots, and had take out Greek Salad for supper, and left over cheesecake for dessert.  Just perfect really, simple, and delicious.  On our way home we noticed this cloud in the sky;

same cloud, we just drove a little more down the road and I took another picture.   Sorry, the pics are taken on my iPhone, wished I had my camera but you get the idea still.  Wow, it was quite windy then and Lake Superior was covered in white caps, but the sun was shining and it was still warm outside, not a tornado, thankfully just a cloud.

This morning I pick up my oldest daughter at the airport, YAY!!!

Can't wait to talk in person instead of texting non stop, and give her a huge hug, (I missed her sooo much) she had a great time, they earned a trophy for their efforts, only one injury (not my daughter) (and, not serious) all the girls survived and are stoked for next years Cheer leading.
Hope every one had a fantastic weekend with loved ones, whether or not it was a mother, and will chat soon.