In 2010 I will...

Learn how to properly use a digital camera
Enjoy more walks
Have more fun
Run a 5km by Thanksgiving
Keep my sewing supplies neat and organized
Try to cut back on eating so many potato chips
Get more quality sleep
Call my BFF more often
Drive across the country to visit my baby sister in I-don't-think-it's-even-on-a-map, Alberta
Learn how to develop a budget and stick to it
Figure out what I want to do with my life
Take belly dancing lessons
Breathe more deep yoga breaths
Stand taller
Write more letters
Fit into the clothes that mysteriously shrunk over the last year
Go on more dates with my husband
Enjoy more quality time with my kids
Accept that, with 3 boys in the house, my bathroom will never be spotless
Grow more of my own food
Cut back on the amount of time I waste on Facebook and other internet distractions
Play more Trivial Pursuit
Learn how to make really good pizza dough using rice flour
Paint my bedroom
Read more books
Read less celebrity gossip
Keep my nose out of other people's business
Be more patient
Feel more confident
Take more time to celebrate the simple blessings found in each day


A happy new year to you all!

Fab at five

My baby turned 5 yesterday. It's so hard to believe that it has been 5 years since this little fiery redhead burst his way into the world two weeks early. He just couldn't wait for 2005 to roll in, I suppose. That's just him - always ready for new adventures. His fierce independence and strong will certainly shook up our quiet little home. But that's what I love most about Finn, aside from the most charming grin ever! 


The birthday tradition around our home is the birthday boy, or girl, gets to choose the menu for his or her birthday dinner. How ironic, that with one severely dairy-allergic boy, that this one would be so in love with cheese it has become a little worrisome. We don't often have cheesy-type dishes for dinner around here, but as birthday tradition dictates, Finn chose his favourite lasagne and caesar salad for dinner. So in honour of Finny's 5th, I thought I would share the recipe. I also thought I would leave you with this fun song from the Evaporators called Addicted to Cheese and dedicate to all you other cheese addicts out there. Happy New Year everyone!


Vegetable Lasagne
1 bunch of broccoli blanched and roughly chopped
4 green onions sliced
1 C chopped mushrooms
1/4 C finely chopped basil
2 C ricotta cheese
2 C grated cheddar or mozzarella cheese, saving enough to sprinkle on the top
Salt and pepper to taste
1 jar tomato sauce
12 lasagne noodles (enough to make three layers)
Boil noodles. Mix together broccoli, green onions, mushrooms, basil, cheeses, and salt and pepper. Spoon enough tomato sauce on the bottom of a baking dish to cover. Place enough noodles on the bottom to cover and scoop half of vegetable mixture onto noodles. Add another layer of noodles and cover with remaining mixture. Add final layer of noodle and top with tomato sauce and cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20 mins. Remove foil and bake another 15-20 mins. 

Oh Christmas twig...

We put up our Christmas twig last week. That's right, our Christmas twig. A humble limb that was rescued from our yard, debarked, spray painted silver and dressed up to resemble a festive evergreen. This is the third Christmas this silvery twig has sat in the corner of our living room, taking up little room (which is a bonus for our tiny space) but emitting a more brilliant, concentrated glow. I wasn't so sure about this here twig when Nate first dragged it in from the yard after it fell to the ground during a wicked winter storm. He insisted it become our Christmas tree that year and promised to dress it up right for the holidays. Who am I to argue the creative process - I gave in. He's in charge of decorating it each Christmas and I'm really starting to enjoy its crooked stature and quirky naturalness. A tree only a mother could love. Happy holidays everyone.

Christmas card swap

I swear we are going to be sweeping up silver sparkles well into 2010, but what fun we have had getting our handmade Christmas cards ready for the Kids Craft Weekly Christmas card swap! Nate cut out the trees from some beautiful dark green kimono fabric I have had sitting around forever (unfortunately, my bad-lighting photography doesn't do it justice!) and Finn drew on the tree trunks. After the brief photo shoot, Nate decided they weren't quite done and added silver sparkles to the bottom of each. The sparkles added a really nice touch to the cards (he has such a great crafty eye!), and a nice new shimmer to the kitchen floor! Now the cards are off in the post heading to such exotic locations as Australia, Indonesia, and Ohio, adding sparkle to kitchen floors around the world. And now we wait to receive our cards from said exotic locations. Oh, I can't wait to see what other crafty kids from across the globe have done! Don't you just love getting mail?! Fun mail - not the kind of mail that either requires you to fork over your hard-earned money to keep the lights on, or the junk mail that tells you that two can dine for $9.99. But real mail that someone actually took the time to write and drive all the way to the post office to mail out. This activity has me thinking about forgoing the traditional I'm-going-to-lose-a-few-pounds-and-get-healthy New Year's resolution (I'm not going to lie, it never really worked anyway!) and trade it in for a more attainable resolution of bringing back letter writing. Watch your post boxes in 2010!

Trying to work from home

I attempted to work from home one day recently - the boys had a PD Day and we were stuck at the last minute with no one to watch them for the day. I don't like to bring my work home with me, but there were things that needed to be done, deadlines to meet, projects to be completed. While I envisioned a very productive day without the office buzz of distractions, I couldn't have been more wrong. For some reason, a laptop set up at the kitchen table was a novelty for Finny that needed to be explored. And while he wasn't glued to my side asking 'what does that button do?', the two boys were at each other like rival sports teams that I was doing a poor job of refereeing. It was going to be one of those days. Out..get outside...and don't come back until you fill a bucket full of nature. It bought me some time and worked at refocusing their energies. Back they came with everything they would need to get crafty (and after getting most of my work done, I was ready to get crafty too!). This was a simple fall wreath cut out of cardboard that they each hot-glued their nature finds onto. 

Enjoy the last bits of fall!

102 years...

I had a really hard time writing this post. G's Gramma Z passed away this weekend. She was in her 103rd year. Yes, that's right, she was 102 years old. Incredible! SHE was incredible! Never have I met a person with so much strength and determination; with so much faith and hope. But how do you properly honour a life that has spanned more than a century? She was born before the inventions of ball point pens and zippers, before microwave ovens, computers, and cell phones. It's astounding to think of all of the things that have happened in the last 100 years.  In her lifetime, she lived through two world wars, crossed the Atlantic Ocean with her husband and four young boys to make a new home in Canada, and suffered the tragic losses of her husband and son in quick succession. Yet she lived life to the fullest and lived for every moment she could. I can't get enough of these old photos and wanted to share just a couple from her life - the top is one of her and her husband and the second photograph of her, at right, with friends. Both photos taken in the Netherlands. Below is a photo taken in Canada four years ago during the 60th anniversary celebration of the liberation of the Netherlands - still standing tall and strong and ready to take in all that life had to offer.

She was always ready for competition (she did not like to lose in card games!) and accepted any challenge that came her way.  It was well into her late 90s, before her hands could no longer manage the crochet hook they held for so many years, that she made 100 afghans in one year to warm those in need. She was an amazing crafter and a true inspiration.  As family gathered over the weekend to honour her passing, I looked around my home and admired the hand-crocheted doilies and the handmade socks and the knit stuffed mice she loved to make and lovingly gave to each grandchild - pieces of her that I will pass on to my children, her great-grandchildren. She is here and will never be forgotten.

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you!

I've been so crazy busy getting ready for next weekend's Frederick Art Walk in Kitchener, I haven't popped in lately to say hello! So I thought I would just quickly stop by to leave you a recipe - one of my favourites! Fruit crisps are one of the easiest desserts to adapt to anyone's dietary needs. It has been a staple in our house and has seen many different variations adapted from my Aunt Sylvia's apple crisp recipe. Here is the original recipe - we use dairy-free margarine and spelt or rice flour and it tastes just as yummy! Even yummier with a scoop of maple-flavoured soy ice cream on the side!

Aunt Sylvia's Apple Crisp
4-6 apples sprinkled with a spoonful or two of white sugar and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Place in square 8x8 baking dish and combine:
1/4 C butter
3/4 C brown sugar
3/4 C flour
1/2 C oatmeal
Sprinkle on top of apples and bake at 350F for about 30 mins.