according.to.kim

PI 42/52: The picture within

This picture came to mind when I received last week's prompt. I took it in 2006 at my paternal grandmother's apartment. The baby in the framed picture is me, photographed by my uncle in 1971. Grandma gave this picture to me when we visited in 2010. It now sits in my scrapbooking area.

I think my youngest daughter (soon-to-be 6) resembles my maternal grandmother, so I had her pose with a picture of Grandma, taken when she was about 2 or 3 years old. I almost managed to capture the same expression. After this, Georgia gave me some great smiles to photograph, but I thought this worked better with the picture she was holding.

I've had this blog post in draft for a week, but couldn't find time to finish it. The past week was a doozy -- perhaps my least favourite week of 2011. Glad it's behind me!

• Sunday evening, Georgia came down with a terrible stomach bug -- the worst I've ever seen in any of my children. I was up with her for much of the night. She stayed home from school for two days. I stayed home from work Monday morning so I could get some sleep.
• Monday evening, I went shopping for specific-coloured clothing for the girls to wear in their Christmas concert (deep purple for Sophia; dark green for Madeline -- not easy to find!). Thankfully, we were able to borrow some items from my niece, as well. Of course, I wish I had dealt with this sooner. #notetoself
• Tuesday, I came down with the dreadful stomach bug and had to leave work about 10:30 am. I went back to work Wednesday afternoon, worked all day Thursday, then had a relapse Thursday evening -- while my children were performing in their school Christmas concert, of all times. I felt increasingly ill through the 2-hour concert, but managed to stay seated on a wish and a prayer. The ginger Gravol I took may have helped, too. We arrived home just in the nick of time.
• While I was ill at home Tuesday evening, Neil took Sophia and Madeline to their back-to-back ringette practices (same location, luckily). Neil also had to help on ice for Madeline's practice. Thankfully, Georgia was a very good girl at home while I slept on and off.
• On Wednesday (when I was feeling perfectly fine), I attended a work appreciation event that included supper, drinks, and a Pats hockey game at the Brandt Centre. I stayed for the whole game as it was a close one. Unfortunately, the game ended with an overtime goal for the other team (Kelowna). In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have gone. Why have an event like this on December 14? Yeesh.
• After I got home from the Pats game, and after reading to the girls, I decided to go to Walmart. Madeline was tremendously upset over the pants and dress options we had given her for the Christmas concert, so I went to get her some black pants. I should really know better than to insist she wear something she hates; she's always been very particular. I didn't get home until after 11:30 pm, but I made Madeline VERY happy.
• Thursday morning, I noticed the oil light was flickering intermittently on the van. When I got to work, there was a burning smell. I checked the oil and there was NONE! So I had the van towed to Toyota (glad to have my CAA membership!) and hoped for the best. Toyota fixed it the next day (even though they were "booking into next week") and there was no engine damage. We just had to replace a sensor that had failed and released all of the oil. Phew! Close call.
• My work group (Customer Self Serve) had a great potluck lunch on Thursday. Neil made Bison Short Rib Stew for me to take (his own recipe; I'll post it sometime). He made it Wednesday evening and then I re-heated it in a crock pot at work on Thursday morning. I'm very lucky Neil will prepare food for me!
• The girls' Christmas concert was delightful (of course!). It was held at the Orr Centre, a fantastic venue with theatre seating. The school's music teacher always does an amazing job of planning the entire concert which only happens once every three years (this is just our second one in six years at the school). I'm very glad we can get a DVD of this year's concert. I'll certainly enjoy it more the next time I see it!
• Friday, after working almost all day (I slept an extra 90 minutes to recover from my second round of illness) and supper at home, we all went to the Cornwall Centre so the girls could get Christmas gifts for each other. They had been asking to go for weeks. We came out with five out of six gifts purchased. I had set their budget at $6 per gift, but quickly realized there's very little you can buy for less than $6 (at Claire's, anyway). I let them spend $10 per gift. Sophia also got three out of four Secret Santa gifts for one of her classmates.
• Among numerous household chores, Saturday included Sophia's piano lesson and ringette practice (Neil took her to both), and Madeline's ringette game (which we all attended; as well as my Mom). We also managed to get started on gift wrapping (just the girls' gifts to each other). The girls were wondering if we'd ever have gifts under our tree. They feel better now.
• Today was quite full with lots of dishes, Sophia baking muffins, Madeline's dance class, lots of Christmas shopping (Neil was armed with a list and his efforts brought us into the range of 3/4 complete. Yay!), and Sophia's piano recital at 4:30 pm. It's been a major struggle trying to get Sophia to practice piano this fall (she won't return after this year). Thankfully, she decided a couple days ago that she didn't want to mess up her recital song so she practiced quite a bit yesterday and today, and succeeded in playing Jingle Bells very nicely at the recital. :)

And Picture the Holidays? I've missed six days now. Momentum. Lost. :( I will try to start again tomorrow (I was enjoying it!), but I won't even try to do the missed prompts until I'm off work. Just four more work days (and much to do in the evenings) and then I have 11 days off! Oh, how I need it.

PI 28/52: She's got legs

"She" is a Concha Y Toro Xplorador Carmanere 2010, and she's good. Thanks to Neil for this interpretation of the prompt!

My long-legged 5-year old. I like the movement, light, and line in this picture, and how it offers a glimpse of the super summer weather we're having. Tuesday to Saturday this week: 30, 31, 32, 31, 32 C. I love it! (Unfortunately, I have to endure A/C most of these days!)

And speaking of legs, we bought this at Liquidation World the other day. What a difference an extra four square feet of counter space makes! And, having a place where the children can see what's going on without shoving each other out of the way: priceless. (It was a bargain, too!)

PI 26/52: Back to basics

I decided to share three photos for Picture Inspiration this week. I took the photo above specifically for the prompt (we have a wonderful crop of garden tomatoes this year -- yum!), and the other two are from our trip to Yellow Grass on Saturday. They struck me as "back to basics" as well.

A basic childhood pleasure. I love how you can really see the big weed seeds in the air. So much easier to photograph than dandelion seeds! And below, some of my parents' bison herd. I don't usually crop my photos into unusual dimensions, but I really wanted to zero in on the cow-calf pairs and eliminate the fence in the foreground. I also applied the Pioneer Woman Heartland action. I think it turned out pretty cool.

I got up a little earlier today. I was laying there wide awake anyway. I know it's because I have only two days left in Marketing at Head Office and it seems a bit surreal. I was thinking of all the things I need to do today and tomorrow at work, including getting my office completely packed up.

The past week or two have been full, and I'm feeling behind on my blog posts. I know it's not a life requirement but I do pressure myself to capture what's happening. I have a terrible memory for details and a very strong desire not to lose them. This is my record! Anyhow, I can't cover everything I've missed today, but I want to mention a few things.

Georgia had her ears pierced last Wednesday! She had been wanting this for a few months and I told her we'd do it when she was the same age Madeline was when she had her ears pierced -- right before kindergarten. Georgia chose cute Hello Kitty studs. You can see them in the picture above. She was very quiet and sat perfectly still while her ears were pierced one at a time. She has been great about making sure her ears get cleaned with the antiseptic three times a day, and they look very healthy. When I turn her earrings, I say her kitties are doing somersaults. :) I should mention also that shortly after her ears were pierced and while the Claire's lady was explaining the care routine to me, I started feeling faint. I had to sit down on the ear-piercing chair and take my jacket off. I don't know why this happened; I wasn't even thinking about it in detail, and there was no blood at all. Embarassing!

The girls are enjoying their last two free weeks before school starts. Madeline's friend Mattea has asked her over for a few playdates. Sophia had a sleepover at Meghan's house last night. All three are spending lots of time outdoors playing with Zoe and Nadia on our street. It has been very nice to have these playmates so close (sadly, Zoe is moving in a few days). Plus, the weather has been great. We were truly blessed with a beautiful summer this year. The girls have been able to run through the sprinkler the past two days.

Yesterday, all three girls went to the dentist for a cleaning and check up. Neil had to take them on his own this time. I usually go, but I was unable to get an appointment when the girls had no school and I was off. Neil and I are going next Friday morning when all the kids will be in school. Happily, Sophia and Madeline's teeth were free of cavities. I have to make an orthodontist appointment for Madeline as her top teeth are very misaligned. (Sophia will have her 4th or 5th ortho checkup in October, too.) Also, Georgia needs to go to the pediatric dentist because she has three cavities. Boo.

I'm bracing myself for the onslaught of school and activities, and anxious to get the new calendar updated for the school year. I have numerous messages in my inbox with date information, and I feel uncomfortable until it's out there where everyone can see it. This will be a top priority for this weekend, as well as labeling the girls' school supplies. I can't wait to get them out of our house! The girls drive me crazy with things like this because they can't stop touching them and spreading them all over the place.

Well, it's time to get going to work. I still want to write about the past two weekends, but it likely won't happen until this weekend. This evening, I'm planning to make Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake for my last "cookie club" coffee break tomorrow. Thanks to Pinterest, it took me about five seconds to decide what I want to make!

The rest of my staycation

I went back to work on Monday after my glorious week off (10 days in total). I loved my vacation time! The weather was fabulous. I loved being at home and doing whatever I felt like doing most of the time. And, of course, I loved crossing a few things off my to-do list. For me, it was a great balance of productivity and play. Here's a recap of some of the things we did after the girls returned from Camp Monahan (aside from regular housework, BSS work, etc.)

Thursday morning, Sophia and I made Dill Pickle Spears. I think they turned out well, but Sophia doesn't care for the taste of the vinegar. She LOVES garlic dill pickles, but these weren't quite right for her (the white wine vinegar, perhaps?). Maybe we'll add more sugar next time or try another recipe; they were very easy to make.

Later on Thursday, all three girls had an annual check-up with our family doctor. They're all doing fine and growing well. (Georgia also began a 24-hour Holter Monitor today so the pediatric cardiologist will have the results at her heart checkup in January.) That evening, we went to Boston Pizza for supper as Neil had a gift card to use (it was a thank you gift for his lunch supervision at school). The girls were excited to eat out as we hadn't eaten out at all in July (making up for some extra eating-out expenses in June).

On Friday afternoon, we all went shopping for school supplies. It was our first time buying supplies for all three. The girls were full of eager anticipation for this event. Before we went out, we "shopped" our house for supplies that could be reused. Georgia is quite happy to use things we already had (for example, she'll use Madeline's scissors and Sophia's backpack from last school year), while Sophia is quite a bit less willing to reuse (which frustrates me!).

We purchased the majority of school supplies at Walmart, Staples, and Costco this year. There were some great deals such as duotangs for 10 cents (we needed 24) and 200-sheet packs of loose leaf for 25 cents. Shoes were purchased at Winners, the Bay, and Payless. Finally, two new t-shirts for each girl from The Children's Place (less than $7/shirt). They all selected a t-shirt that says "Best Sister Ever" with an arrow to their own head. And all three wore it to their first day of K4J Vacation Bible Camp on Monday. :)

After shopping, we picked up the girls' packed bags and drove them to Corinne. Lou met us there and took the girls to Avonlea to spend two nights with their grandparents. We needed a babysitter on Saturday, so this worked very well for us. As always, the girls had a great time out there. They went for a hike in the hills, swimming at Dunnet, and sewed some potholders with their grandma.

On Saturday, Neil went golfing with friends, which is something he hasn't done for years. They golfed at Flowing Springs and had to take a long break while waiting for a severe thunderstorm to roll through. Meanwhile, I was alone for much of the day. So unusual! I listened to scrapbooking podcasts, and worked on July pictures and a series of scrapbook pages I had started in May 2010. (Photos to follow in a separate post.)

I also registered for The Art of Composition this weekend. Pricey, yes, but I see it as an investment in knowledge I'll use for the rest of my life. (I was glad to get a $20 discount as a member of Picture Inspiration, though.) I'm really looking forward to this workshop!

Saturday evening, Neil and I went to the home of our friends, Derek and Lisa, in Pilot Butte. There were about a dozen people there (and no kids, except the host couple's baby). We had a delicious steak supper, and I really enjoyed visiting with Lisa and Karla, whom I hadn't seen for a very long time.

Sunday was painting day. I painted the front door while Neil created and painted a cruise ship to be used in a skit at the K4J VBS this week (Neil is helping with props and stage set-up all week long). They both turned out well! I used the "Exotic Grass" paint that I used to paint one wall of our dining room in 1997. I had wanted to paint this door green for years! So glad I finally did this. What took me so long?

Also on Sunday, Neil picked up the girls at Corinne, and my mom and Buffy (her dog) came over to visit for a little while. The girls and I needed to go to a few stores on the east side, so Mom came with us. Sophia also had captain's training (she's a K4J captain) and a playdate at Meghan's house, before and after our shopping excursion, respectively.

10 things on the 10th (August)

A great deal of cooking happens at our house (thanks Neil!) and while we often use the Internet for recipes, we still love and use cookbooks. Here are our top 10 most frequently used cookbooks or series of cookbooks or magazines (yes, we're sneaking in a few more this way!):

1. The All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker
2. The Big Book of Soups & Stews by Maryana Vollstedt
3. Canadian Living Everyday Favourites by Canadian Living
4. Canadian Living's Best series by Elizabeth Baird
   (top 3: Quick Suppers; Soups and Stews; Vegetables)
5. Company's Coming series by Jean Paré
   (top 3: Salads; Select Series: Ground Beef; Greatest Hits: Biscuits, Muffins & Loaves)
6. The Complete Canadian Living Cookbook by E. Baird
7. Cooking Class Mexican by Publications International
8. Food Network Magazine (used very often right now)
9. Good Eats: The Early Years and Good Eats: The Middle Years by Alton Brown
10. Weber's Charcoal Grilling by Jamie Purviance

For a listing of this month's participants, see 10 Things at Shimelle.com.

Ambient yellow

This was a tough one. I'm not sure these cookbooks were the best subject for the prompt as they don't show off the ambient light very well, but I ran out of time and couldn't think of anything better. At least I've captured a little slice of life at our house (which I'm tempted to reshoot in better light!).

The colour of calm

It's tough to find any calm in my house these days, but when I was home alone for about 90 minutes yesterday (while Neil and the kids took Dash for exercise at Chloe's house), I captured some calm blue, green, purple -- and me. This image isn't exactly what I was going for, but it was the most interesting among a bunch of dull photos and I didn't have time to keep looking. My reflection appears in the window of the china cabinet and in a dark blue teapot inside the cabinet.

Our Sunday was mostly filled with sorting toys to keep, give away, and throw away -- as well as sorting toys into their sets and types. Although we got rid of loads of toys last summer, we still have so many! It's way too much. I was very pleased with the girls' willingness to let go of a bunch of things in this round: all Barbie, Dora, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, and Polly Pockets are going, plus some miscellaneous things. (Sadly, several Barbies and Strawberry Shortcake dolls had to be thrown out due to missing feet and hands; chewed off by Dash. The survivors are better off leaving our house!) While you'd think Georgia would still want to play with these items, she was very willing to part with them, and the other two don't care about them any more. Sophia was just slightly concerned about My Little Pony, but preferred to keep Littlest Pet Shop when given a choice. (I left one pony in the bathtub.)

The girls still have PLENTY of toys. Lots of Littlest Pet Shop, Zhu Zhu Pets, play food and dishes, shopping toys (they would NOT part with the shopping cart Sophia received as a toddler), games, dress up clothes, baby dolls and accessories, stuffed animals (far too many stuffed animals), Tinkertoys, K'nex, puzzles, quite a collection of Fisher-Price Little People... We'll have to do another toy decluttering session this summer. We really don't have room for all of this stuff and I know there's much remaining that they don't use, but we ran out of time and energy for this task. I'm very happy with what we accomplished in this session, though. We weighed the outgoing (including the garbaged toys) and it was 31 pounds! I had offered the girls $2.50 worth of dinner (for the whole family) at a restaurant for every pound of toys they parted with, so we went out for dinner with $77.50 to spend.

We attempted to go to Montana's, the girls' first choice, but were told the wait would be an hour. At 6:00 pm on Father's Day, we weren't surprised. Ribs were desired, so we went to Smokin' Oakies on the East side. It was good (although they were out of a couple of things we wanted to order), and I liked their new bright dining room. Great to eat local (non-chain), too. From there, we went to the Coldstone Creamery as we hadn't been there yet (in Regina). The line up was long and it is rather pricey, I must say, but we all enjoyed our treats. My "Raspberry Soiree" (raspberry ice cream with raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries mixed in) was yummy! Neil enjoyed his raspberry ice cream with chocolate shavings. I think raspberry is then next kind of ice cream we'll have to make at home. And the girls all selected cotton candy ice cream with gummy bears and marshmallows mixed in.

We usually only eat out once a month, so this was a very big extra treat. In addition to the kids' toy-reduction incentive, I also thought it would be nice for Neil not to have to make supper on Father's Day. Could I have made supper instead? Sure, I'm capable, but I'm not in that zone at all these days. It didn't even occur to me until now!

P.S. Madeline did sleep all night, getting up just before 7:00 am. I asked her what it felt like to get 14 hours of sleep, and she replied, "I feel tired."

Colour me yummy

Neil made this yummy souvlaki dinner for us today. The tzatziki sauce is Alton Brown's recipe, and it is awesome!

This morning, I attended a great presentation by author Joseph Grenny on the subject of Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success. Powerful information! I look forward to reading the book -- and changing some things. :)

P.S. Watch this Change Anything video for more information.

Sophia's Perfect Popovers

Here's the recipe for the popovers Sophia made on Mother's Day. She used a mini muffin tin to make the ones pictured above. (She also made four regular-sized popovers.)

Perfect Popovers*

Makes 1 dozen.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1 tablespoon butter, melted
butter for greasing muffin tin

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt.
2. In a small bowl, mix the eggs, milk, and butter with the whisk.
3. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture. Stir with a whisk until well blended.
4. Grease a muffin tin and then fill the muffin cups three-fourths of the way up.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, until the popovers are puffy and golden brown on top.
6. Use a knife to help free the popovers from the muffin tin. They may deflate a bit when removed from the tin.

Enjoy! We like to eat them with a little butter and a dusting of icing sugar.

*From My A to Z Recipe Box, An Alphabet of Recipes for Kids by Hilary Shevlin Karmilowicz.

For the love of food

Inspired by Penny De Los Santos' workshop, Food & Culture Photography, on creativeLIVE this past weekend, I have gathered some of the food photos I've taken over the past few years. Do you take food photos? I'm sure I started during my daily photo project in 2007 because that commitment pushed me to take photos I might not have taken otherwise. I've been snapping pictures of our food ever since. Looking through my photos from 2008 to present, I found more than 50 different food shots. Here are some of my favourites.

My sweet Mother's Day

On Mother's Day, the girls made a unique breakfast for all of us. Georgia made limeade from concentrate, Madeline made instant vanilla pudding, and Sophia made these mini popovers. Don't they look fantastic?! She had no help at all except for Neil turning on the oven, and me putting them in and taking them out of the oven. The younger girls didn't have any help from grown ups, but may have had help from Sophia. They even set the table so we could all sit down and eat this lovely breakfast together! I had already been up for a couple hours and had eaten breakfast before I knew anything about this, so this was my second breakfast -- or dessert. :)

I also received many handmade gifts from the girls. (All given to me days before Mother's Day because they couldn't wait.) All three gave me some pretty tissue-paper flowers they had made at Chapters during the Easter break. From Georgia, I received a handprint in plaster; from Madeline, a card and plants she potted at the Floral Conservatory; and from Sophia, a picture with some coupons in a pocket: I will eat supper 3 times without complaining, I will take a shower 5 times without complaining, and I will walk the dog every 2nd day for 2 weeks. Awesome! Also, not for Mother's Day specifically, Madeline gave me this bowl with floating Glory of the Snow blossoms that she picked from our back yard.

After our sweet breakfast, the rest of my Mother's Day was... a little less sweet. I spent several hours sorting through the crazy abundance of size 4 and 5 clothing in our house, and choosing (with Georgia's assistance) what Georgia would have available in her closet and what should go. There was no question about the size 4 clothing, about 90% of which was already out of circulation. But the size 5s. Ay yi yi. Two full bins of clothing in Georgia's current size will be leaving this house without her wearing them. And her dresser is right full, plus almost 50 hangers. It's nuts. But I'm glad we have places to send them: The very best and most current clothing will go to my cousin's daughter and the other 75% or so will go to south Texas with my in-laws where it is very much needed. (I still need to do that sort, and I'm not sure when I'll fit it in.) Meanwhile, Neil worked on cleaning Georgia's room. He had a little help from Madeline and I did a bit of work in there, too. (Sophia was too busy reading Harry Potter. Reading: wonderful! Reading instead of helping: hmmm.)

We were hoping to go to a green house in the afternoon on Sunday (one of my favourite things to do on Mother's Day), but by the time we finished our work on Georgia's room and clothing, the green houses were closed. I have promised the girls a trip to a green house after school on Friday. Last week, I bought a couple SwarmJam vouchers ($60 value for $28) for Cherry Lane Greenhouse & Gifts, so we'll go there first.

Also, I want to mention that we went to Avonlea on Saturday for dinner with Neil's parents and relatives. Always a great meal and a nice time! Laurel had taken the girls out to Avonlea around noon on Saturday, which was really great for me as I was able to do a little scrapbooking and follow some of the online events for National Scrapbooking Day.

Life: Spring has sprung

Georgia planted this grass from seed in preschool on April 1st when I was parent helper. I love that it, along with some parsley and mint, are adding a splash of fresh green colour in front of our kitchen window. Now it seems a little more spring-like both inside and out! I suppose I should have cleaned up those dead plants before snapping this photo, but I took it on impulse, and this is more like spring anyway. :)

It was nice and sunny out this weekend and the temp reached 13C today. Yay! The snow is disappearing very quickly now. The sidewalks were mostly clear on the weekend, so the girls got their bikes out. Above zero temps around the clock also means our basement is getting some water again (we had a reprieve from this thanks to a 10-day cold snap in late March and then freezing temps every night for another week or so). At least we're aware of it and Neil is using the shop vac to suck up the water periodically. Plus, the dehumidifier and fan are running constantly. We'll have to try to repair the trouble spot as soon as everything is dry. Neil has also begun the annual pumping water out of the yard (to the back alley).

On Thursday evening, I made blue and yellow cupcakes (school colours) for Friday's hot lunch day at school. I had never tinted cake batter before, but I think they turned out pretty well. I used Wilton gel food colouring which Neil picked up at Bulk Barn. This is much more work than I normally do for the hot lunch day baking. My standard contribution is Rice Krispies squares, which I still think is perfectly acceptable!

On Friday evening, the girls had a brief K4J gathering and then we all went to the Stations of the Cross event and mass. This was our third year contributing posters for Stations of the Cross. The past two years, each family made one large poster, and I helped with ours quite a bit by drawing the picture before the kids painted it. This year, each child was to make their own smaller poster (our girls were assigned III, IV, and V), and since I didn't have (or make) time to get them started sooner, they worked on their posters on Friday before and after school. I was impressed with their drawings!

Saturday was almost completely free, so we did a bunch of housework. I did some extra cleaning in the kitchen such as the inside of the microwave, around the dishwasher door, cupboard doors, etc. Long overdue! I wish I could get around to these things more frequently, but I don't see this changing any time soon. Otherwise, I took Sophia to her piano lesson at 5:00 p.m. (rescheduled) and Neil made a fantastic supper of bison tenderloin steak with garlic butter (seriously delicious and decadent!), oven-roasted asparagus, and a grill-roasted potatoes, carrots, and onions. He also made avocado ice cream (Alton Brown's recipe). He and I liked it, while the kids were not impressed. Luckily, we had Saskatoon Berry Sorbet (from Safeway) for them.

On Sunday afternoon, we all went to Sophia's ringette windup: bowling and pizza at Glencairn Bolodrome and Stats (above the bowling alley). It was a lot of fun! All of the team families are great, and it was nice to see them again. (Madeline is in the photo. The younger siblings bowled with bumper rails.) After supper, one of the coaches spoke thoughtfully about each player and her ringette skill development through the season. It was very nice. Also, each player received a necklace with her number on it. As we were leaving, Sophia said, "I think we should have wind-ups throughout the year!" :) Afterward, we went over to L&B's to visit Donna & Lou. We had cake from Coldstone Creamery (half cake and half ice cream) and watched Canada win the final (defeating Scotland) in the Men's World Curling Championship (held in Regina this year).

Also, we have been using My Job Chart for the past few days and are having some success with it. The girls are pretty eager to log in and put check marks next to their tasks. We have promised them a trip to the Milky Way for ice cream after they all accumulate two-weeks worth of points. It's going to take them longer than two weeks, but they are definitely doing much more than before! My Job Chart is pretty cool. If you have children and would like to encourage them to do chores, practice music, brush teeth, or anything else, I encourage you to check it out. I'm quite happy with it so far.

Saturday afternoon treat

What could be better than some toasted artisan bread with butter and blackberry jam? I can't think of anything!

Credits: Birdseed Bread from Orange Boot Bakery; Blackberry Jam from Bonne Maman; Overlay from Ali Edwards at Designer Digitals: Story Overlays 6x4 Journalers Value Pack.

Jan 30: Glimmers of hope

With a -34 windchill today, I simply could not find any signs that spring is just around the corner! Inspired by a classmate in Picture Winter who shot the word "hope" in the palm of her hand (with some wonderful bokeh light in the background), I quickly composed my shot with American Crafts Thickers. I think it works for "glimmers of hope," heh? :)

We had such a full day today! I had to write out the logistics of who was going where and when. Sophia had a ringette game and scored a hat trick! All of her goals were in the last 10 minutes of the game, and her team won 10-7. I was scorekeeper for the game, too. Meanwhile, Neil took Madeline to a birthday party (Lauren) and was able to watch the second half of the game. From there, Neil took Georgia to a birthday party (Henry) and then went to the first Irish Club Mosaic planning meeting of the year. Sophia and I went home for awhile and then picked up Madeline, picked up Georgia, and joined Neil at the Irish Club potluck (same location as the meeting). Neil had prepared a Red Quinoa and Black Bean Salad (yum!) earlier in the day. We enjoyed a delicious meal, and got home before 8:00 p.m.

I also worked quite a bit on Bite-sized Scrapbooking today. I double-checked and scheduled all of the email messages for this week. I also answered some questions and sent out Flickr invitations. I'm very excited (and a wee bit nervous) about the first email going out tonight at 1:00 a.m.! Do you think I'll be able to sleep? I never sleep well on Sunday nights, so it doesn't look promising. Oh well!

Jan 22: Centrepiece

I don't normally have a centerpiece and my dining room isn't very photogenic, but I played along with today's prompt and sent Neil hunting for a bag of pine cones I collected years ago. (He found it in the garage; I wasn't even sure we still had it.) I made this centrepiece of sorts, took a couple test shots, and then my photo session was completely derailed. Since I lost daylight before I could take any more photos, I worked with what I had. Hoping to add more interest, I changed the angle of this shot in iPhoto. (Okay, it's one of those times when I have to accept that I won't get the perfect photo!)

Neil just made Chili Meat Loaf from The Complete Canadian Living Cookbook (a favourite of ours) and it smells awesome! We're just waiting for the potatoes to finish cooking.

We continued to prepare for the big birthday party tomorrow. I believe we have everything we need now, and I think that despite the large number of people attending, it will be a relatively easy party for us parents. I'm looking forward to it!

I also put in a few hours of work on Bite-sized Scrapbooking today. I really enjoy doing this work and I truly can't wait to get started! I'm very close to being ready for launch. I have already put so much into this business and yet it doesn't seem entirely real that I'm doing this. One week until opening. Wow.

My 40th birthday celebrations

I really enjoyed my birthday week!

Mom planned a birthday party for me which took place in Yellow Grass on Sunday. I love that all of my hometown family members were there -- Mom and Dad, Rob, Robyn, Ethan, Jordyn, and Kacy. Plus, my Grandma Mantay, Aunt Colleen, and my Grandma Byrns were there! How special it was to have both of my grandmas in the same place at the same time! I think the last time (and perhaps the only other time) I saw both of my grandmas together was at my wedding in 1999. Neil took some pictures of the three of us.

Mom prepared a wonderful lunch which included Chicken Crunch, a favourite recipe from my childhood. She also made Daffodil Cake (an old recipe from Mom's family; similar to an angel food cake, except egg yolks are incorporated into part of it) with white frosting, and served it with a whole raspberry sauce. Yum! Everything was great. Thanks again, Mom!

After lunch, I enjoyed visiting with everyone and looking through my genealogy files to find some information for my nephew who needed it for a social studies assignment. Robyn had asked me about it on Friday and it was perfect timing since we would see them on Sunday. The six kids and two dogs pretty much occupied themselves all afternoon while the adults visited. It was lovely!

On my birthday morning (Wednesday), the girls gave me their homemade cards and gifts -- a box of rocks from Georgia, two rocks and a laminated picture from Madeline, and a balloon from Sophia. Throughout the day, I received many birthday wishes via email and Facebook (birthdays and FB are a great combination!). In the afternoon, I was invited out for coffee with some coworkers in my current work group. We were also celebrating my coworker's 50th birthday the same day!

After work, Neil made a delicious supper of grilled steak (my favourite Herb & Mustard Steak), oven roasted potatoes and carrots from our garden, and spaghetti squash. He also made a very nice Mexican chocolate birthday cake (a teaspoon of cinnamon added to the cake mix makes it Mexican) with chocolate Fluffy Frosting (my go-to recipe for easy icing). L&B joined us for supper and cake after B's piano lesson. They gave me a gift card to get my nails done. I look forward to it!

After the kids were in bed, Neil and I watched Rubicon; the last one we had recorded. Great show! (We were very happy to get caught up on that because I'm on the employee trial for new Max and we could get the upgrade any time now.)

Sophia's popovers

Sophia made these popovers for breakfast this morning. All I did was pour the batter into the muffin pan and put them in and out of the oven. She followed a recipe from the "A to Z" children's recipe box she received for Christmas a couple years ago. I'm no popover expert, but I think they turned out pretty well! We ate them with butter and icing sugar and they were yummy. At nine and a half, Sophia is becoming quite the little baker! She loves making food -- especially sweet treats.

July 27: Getting the giggles

(1) Monkey bar giggles.

(2) Dahlias are the best annuals in our garden right now.

(3) Little Blue peppers. I wonder what they'll taste like.

(4-5) Yum!

My throat still hurts when the ibuprofen wears off, and I'm still coughing a bit, but I am feeling quite a bit better now. I have some energy back. I stayed home today, but will definitely be going to work tomorrow. Lots of meetings. Must get to bed!

July 17: Visual interest

(1) Pop! The girls and I had fun blowing bubbles on the front lawn today. This was one of my favourite -- and most unexpected -- photos from our bubble-blowing session.

(2) This is what the bubble looked like right before it popped.

(3) Georgia did this! We have about 20 bubble wands, but this one (same one as above) is the best by far.

(4) It was game day and Georgia was wearing her Rider Pride from head to toe. The girls and I drove Neil to the practice field beside Mosaic stadium to meet up with cousins (Cheryle, Shana, Jami, Steve, and Kea from BC, and Larry from AB) before the game. We dropped Neil off at 1:00 p.m. (game was at 2:00 p.m.) and then decided we'd park and walk over to the practice field to see everyone, too, even though we weren't going to the game. It was a fun gathering. The girls were thrilled that Larry bought them ice cream cones!

(5) Later in the afternoon, the girls and I (and Sophia's friend Cyandra) made these chocolate chip cookies: Easy-Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies (funny name, but good cookies -- especially if you like thin and crispy). The toothpicks and v-shaped marks on these cookies indicate the girls' selections, as they had to wait until after supper to eat them.

Also today, our friends brought their dog, Chloe, over for a puppy play date in the back yard. It was nice to sit on the patio with a coffee and visit this morning. Beautiful day!

July 13: Juicy fruit

(1) Two of my favourite fruits! This is the first Picture Summer photo I've taken before 5:00 p.m. -- and I took this one at 7:30 a.m. before going to work. I'm glad I did that because the morning light was great!

(2) Downtown, in front of the library.

(3-4) Our mint plant and slide after this afternoon's hailstorm. Neil took these photos.

(5) An almost-daily sight this summer. The girls had swimming lessons the past two weeks, and now they get to go in the pool every day during Summer Sports School.