a 'changeout' for spring....

Here we are ready for Christmas. A nice urn of greenery with some pops of red. Spring has arrived. My mom designed this refreshing change. Due to the fact that although it is SPRING, we can have, on any given day, snow, rain & sunshine, we have used delightful flower 'reproductions'.

catching up.....

As every scrapooker knows, the bane of our scrapbook existance is the game of "catching up". Once you get hooked on this hobby...you feel the need to go back and scrapbook-prettify every picture in your life. In reality, this is an impossible task...and even if time would allow...I think you would suffer from creative burnout long before the task would be complete.
This weekend I had the pleasure of attending a 3 day scrapbook retreat at a rustic ranch an hour outside of town. In between the great food, detoxifying saunas, "slush" drinks, reading & naps....I was able to complete over 40 pages in scrap-speed style. I have decided that the only way I will ever 'catch up' is if I toss the idea of 'every event needs a 12x12 layout' and scrapbook with simple 6-up photo sleeves. It worked well...I like the result and it motivates me to move forward with getting pictures out of nicely labelled storage boxes and into a format I can live with.

Sad to say, but I think Tyler has not seen many of these photos and Hunter only remembers a few. This format allows me some creative fun without the overwhelming task of creating a new layout for every group of pictures.

Maybe it's not my best creative 'work', but I remind myself that scrapbooking is about the remembering, the reminescing and the story-telling, right?

At least the photos can be enjoyed, giggled at, and take a place in our family history.

simple beauty....

I came home from my 3 day scrapbook retreat to find this arrangement on the coffee table. The hockey team that Ron coached this winter had a gathering on Friday night, and a bouquet of flowers was given to Ron for me. To my surprise, Hunter had opened up the bouquet, cut the stems and arranged them in this clear vase.

I found out that she had spent Saturday with a skating friend and her mom, and among other things, they had a lesson in arranging flowers from a visiting Aunt who used to be a florist. Hunter designed this arrangement, brought it home and placed it on the dining table...it's simple beauty took my breath away. I love the simple shape of the gerbera daisy in the centre.

The last surpise was waiting for me at my desk. This small arrangement is so pretty and fragrant.

Fresh flowers are wonderful.....especially when your twelve year old daughter has designed them just for you.

Menu Plan Monday...

(photo credit: Country Living)

One thing that is helpful about posting Menu Plan Mondays on a blog is that you can look back and see what meals worked and what meals send you back to the drawing board. When I get into a rut when it comes to meal planning, I always spend a few hours with my cookbooks to get inpsired. I like to cook from recipes....it helps me to broaden my horizons and venture outside my comfort zone to try new things. Once I make something a few times from a recipe, then I can tweak it a bit and make it my own...and then the original recipe can be set aside.

Dinners for this week:

Monday-Basa fish with mashed potatoes and veggies

Tuesday-Chicken Enchiladas with greek salad. Strawberries & whipped cream for dessert.

Wednesday-Homemade Poutine with asparagus rolled in prosuitto on the side and a green salad.

Thursday-Italian Wedding Soup with Maritime Brown Bread.

Friday-Ron's birthday supper. Donairs with salad and Ice Cream Cake from Dairy Queen. (by request).

Saturday-Dad cooks.

Sunday-our 'whatever' day.

team P....

This is what the E Bunny brought the P kids.....roller blades. Now it's game time....Dad takes all in the cul de sac. If I could skate I would be out there too....well....maybe not...I'm too much of a klutz...let alone putting little wheels on.

Happy Birthday Dude......

We had a great little party of just a few of his close friends.....played floor hockey in the school gym followed by cake and fun. My super talented friend made this cake for him.

Menu Plan Monday.....

This week is Spring Break for us. It's really nice to have a break from routine and to just hang out and take the day as it comes.
I have recently been enjoying the blog of Eddie Ross. Eddie Ross was senior stylist at Martha Stewart Living and also appeared on "Top Design". He has gone out on his own to bring his design savvy to the marketplace under his own name. He and his partner have purchased a farmhouse which they are busy at work restoring and refreshing. The above photo is an example of Eddie's style and it is simple, clean and fresh.
The menu for this week:
Monday- Leftover steak and potatoes with carrots & broccoli
Tuesday-Homemade Mac & Cheese with salad
Wednesday-Taco Soup
Thursday-Taco Soup
Friday-Slow cooker Beef Stroganoff
Saturday-Dad cooks
Sunday-whatever day
By the way, yesterday was our "whatever day" and it was a wonderful day. Hunter made cornmeal and blueberry muffins and Ron requested Italian Wedding Soup. I also made a loaf of maritime brown bread with a peach/mango cobbler for dessert. My dear old friend Lis and her son came to hang out for the day and we had a nice meal, the boys had a great playdate and the girls watched Slumdog Millionaire. Ron made us popcorn. It was a good day.
(photo credit: Eddie Ross)