Menu Plan Monday....

Since I have been re-organizing and de-cluttering our home, I have discovered many lovely blogs devoted to this topic. One idea I came across was that of 'Menu Plan Monday'. I used to do weekly planning of meals....but I have fallen off the the wagon lately. So here goes:

Monday: Bad mommy day... hot dogs...I had a quilting class to get to tonight and today was my marketing day....so I only had time to make a quick meal....normally hot dogs are NOT a meal choice.
Tuesday: Beef tips in red wine in the crockpot with potatoes, carrots and green beans.
Wednesday: Homemade chicken & veggie pizza with bread machine wholewheat pizza crust.
Thursday: Vegetarian meal:Homemade macaroni & cheese & salad as per Hunter's request.
Friday: Fish night: Grilled Shrimp with Sweet Chilli Lime Drizzle (new recipe) & couscous.
Saturday: Sweet & Sour pork spare ribs, baked pototoes & salad as per Tyler's request.
Baking: Spicy Brownies, Cranberry Orange Muffins, Bread Machine Maritime Brown Bread ( you cannot buy it in Alberta).
Home preserving project: Pickled Beets. This requires wearing a PURPLE shirt!

missing my hometown...

It is the time of year where I miss my hometown the most...indeed my whole home province. I LOVE the Fall in the Valley. I miss the colors of the leaves, the crisp mornings and the warm afternoons, the smell of apples just picked and the loud snap of biting into a fresh Macintosh apple. I really would give anything to go home during this season....but our budget allows for 1 trip home each year...plus with school in session... a lengthy visit would not be possible in the Fall. How I miss going to Gates' U-Pick for a hayride throught the apple orchard and admiring all the trees heaving with beautiful, fat apples. Picking apples from the trees in my Mom & Dad's yard. The pumpkin display at Hennigar's Farm Market. The smell of apple cider in the air. My Mom's apple pies and applesauce. But you have to be happy where you are...right? So I will carry on....I have been offered apples from a tree in my friend's yard....I am so excited to receive this gift. The greatest part is that I can actually go and pick the apples myself....and maybe just for a few seconds......close my eyes and pretend I am in the Valley.

our junior high girl......

Can't believe our girl is 12! She made her own "flip flop" birthday cake...because...well, it was just such a fun cake to make. She started "Junior High School" this week...so there are lots of changes taking place in our house...a new morning routine, a taking-bus-to-school routine. Then the parents inquisition when she gets home....who'd you eat lunch with?...make any new friends?....any cute boy in yer class? ....(to which I a get a curt "MOM!"). Her father loves to tease her..."so Hunter...what was new in JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL today? Any cool people in your "JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL?" He drives her to the bus stop in the morning and she gets to sit in the FRONT now...because...she is tall enough. Daddy was even teasing her this morning, "Hunter...a boy named Joey called for you this morning." He just gets a GLARE back. He gets away with more teasing than I do...cause only a FATHER can do that.

6 weeks vacation....

waiting forever for...

this movie to be made and released. I loved the series and have it on DVD, but to see it again on the big screen will be amazing. I have plans to go on Friday night, opening night, with a girlfriend. I never to go to opening nights of movies....I am just never excited enough to see it on the busy Friday night.

there's a grandma & grandpa in the house....

Well...let me see... since Grammie has been here, she & Hunter have been in the kitchen baking together. So far they have made cupcakes for Grampie(made with Splenda and no sugar added chocolate chips), crepes, chocolate sugar cookies and date squares. Grammie & Tyler made a cake for Grampie...also made with Splenda. Lots of Crazy 8's games happening too!

project quilt.....

Here is my quilt.....almost done.....I just have to add the binding. This is my very first quilt....I signed up for a beginner class for the month of March and managed to put this quilt together. It has a lot of Amy Butler fabrics.... which I love. I love fun & funky.... I may never be a tradional type of quilter in the sense that I love the more modern types of fabrics...but it is fun to play. I have the same passion for quilting that I have for scrapbooking.... there is lots of cross-over between the hobbies...in one paper is cut apart & put back together...and in the other fabric is cut apart and put back together. The choices of color and pattern are endless... many scrapbook designers have had their designs picked up by quilting manufacturers & vice-versa. Amy Bulter was an illustrator turned textile designer who has now had her designs picked up for the scrapbook industry by K & Company (Michaels carries an impressive 12 ft. section of everything Amy Bulter you could ever want for your scrapbook). Anna Griffin is a paper designer whose designs are brand new to the quilting world. Love both of their work... however, Amy Butler is almost single-handedly responsible for bringing a new look to the quilting industry and opening doors for other designers such as Joel Dewberry, Valori Wells, Heather Baily, and otherswho have followed her into the industry in the last decade.