Canadian Construction

Um...I think you actually need just ONE more. And then, that'll do the trick...

A Joyful Noise!

Last Saturday, I headed out to my favourite waterfront park with friends to enjoy a day of Christian music - free! The concert was called "A Joyful Noise" and this theme came from Psalm 98 - one of my favourites.

It was a gorgeous, warm, sunny day:

Mandy, myself, Alyssa T enjoying some rays :)

Adam was there too! It was like a mini-KY reunion :)

Kevin - Lake Ontario was actually quite warm!

Hillside seating, & vendor booths

Stage & sound booth

Gorgeous sunset - it kept changing!

Music's still goin' on!

NewWorldSon - got the crowd moving!

Still the same sun setting :)

Rink came! Yay!

DIY: Pin-Board Frames!

So today, I finished at school.

By 2 pm I was in paint clothes, and inspired.

• Out came multiple cans of spray paint, as well as some tubes of acrylic and a paint brush out of my art supplies.
• Spray paint, dry, spray paint, dry.
• Paint the nightstand (you'll see it when it's all done.)
• Spray paint, dry, spray paint, dry.
• Paint the bookshelf. One coat to go!
• Pull out the box of fabric scraps.
• Raid the ribbon drawer.
• Grab some foam sheets out of my arts & crafts bucket.
• Scissors & fabric glue out of my sewing kit.
• Scotch tape out of the gift wrap container.

And this is the result: Mini Framed Pinboards!!

These are gonna hang on the wall in my new place. Just like this.

# 1

# 2 - third fave

#3 - second fave

#4

#5 - FAVE!

#6

#7

Summer!

So. Today as of 1pm or so, I was out of school. Out for the summer!

I went home. And painted. Images to come.

I also packed. More images to come.


Is it crazy that in 2-ish weeks I will be living elsewhere???? I've been here for three years. I'll miss this place, but OH MAN am I excited to move into the Ricebox with the other girls. Oh, and conveniently live 5 minutes' walk from Ed. That`s pretty good too.

Now, please excuse me, I`m gonna go see if I can do another coat yet. And then I`m going to pack more boxes. Ok? Ok.

She can have her cake!

Serena is at that age of wonderful imagination.

Oh, wait.

Nevermind. She's ALWAYS had a great imagination. I remember waking up very early in the morning to a two-year-old voice telling herself stories about her sister, DW.

So things haven't changed, but this group of pictures tells quite a funny story!

(By the way, this cake was strawberry, raspberry, cherry, something-or-other cake. Thought I'd give you the heads up!)

Presenting...cake!

...drop cake.

She does the cake recovery program...

Anyways....isn't that second picture priceless? I laugh every time I see it. (Is that mean? It is, right? Shoot.) Anyways, I was taking a picture of the 'cake' when it dropped down her front, and that was the picture I got instead. Although you can't tell by the picture, her front was pretty dusty! She made a quick recovery and I could take a picture of the 'cake' that remained in the baking pan (frisbee.)

Back in Time

We go back in time to view a few park pictures. Remember the last park pictures I posted with Serena? That was Friday night, this was Saturday.

We splurged on Wendy's for lunch, and brought it to a bench by the riverside to eat. We also fed some ducks & geese who were there, but were interrupted soon after by a strange lady. I'm still not convinced that she was all there... It was rather awkward. She chatted to us, tried to tell Serena's "mommy" how to take the best care of her (yes, she was referring to me), and wanted a hug from Serry. How do you deal with that? We finished up lunch as quick as we could and then removed ourselves to play at the playground.

I realised after that I probably could have just gently explained that Ser wasn't allowed to be so friendly with strangers (somehow.) Anyways, with that awkward moment of the day over, we had fun. Plenty of baby geese for Serry to 'ooh' & 'ahh' over, a slide, a swing, a bridge...

It was beautiful & fun.

Can you spot the butterfly?

Goose family in front of the bridge which Serry ran over a few times....

Swinging!

Episode 3..."Cake" coming up next...

Omelettes

I'm quite sure everyone knows how to make one of these, right?

And can we all agree that they are deliciousness? (Sorry if you're vegan....this is one thing tofu cannot replace...)

And they're versatile. So everyone can have an omelette they like. Blogger is telling me I spelled omelette wrong. Omelet? Whatever.

My brother's favourite version: egg & black pepper. Lots of black pepper.

Another brother's favourite version: egg.

My current favourite? Egg, diced onion, monterey jack cheese, mushroom, fresh ground salt & pepper. Yum.

And I love my newest trick: dice up a whole bunch of onion, and freeze in a ziploc. This means I can grab a little bit of onion for an omelette instead of dicing up a new one. Plus, the frozen diced onion is  little more tender & mild than fresh-diced, which I like. 


What's your favourite version?

And the Blue Jays win!

I grew up hearing about the Toronto Blue Jays, recognizing their logo from the t-shirts, ball caps, and banners that my older brothers had around the house.

I also played baseball - at school, at home. Spring had sprung when you could take a bat outside and send a ball whizzing across the still-brown grass towards the little lumps of dirty snow still left in the field. My best hit of the season always happened that first day.

I attended a ball game out in the Dominican Republic with my service team back in 2009, but this was my first real-live Jays game. And they won! They made those last few innings very exciting to watch.

Oh, and I think after that one game, Ed might know the rules of baseball better than I do. Must be a guy thing to catch on so quick....

Oh, and why were we there, might you ask? My staff decided that a ball game would be a great year-end staff social. It was. Dinner afterwards was fun too - a more relaxed setting in which to talk shop :)

In the Roger's Centre - Jays up to bat.

Watching baseball in the shadow of the CN tower

Lawrie up at bat - Jays logo backing him up :)

Blue Jays win! (says the running banner on either side)

DIY #1

There have been a few makeovers going on in this house lately, and many more to come...

I've discovered the paint & paint supply aisles at Canadian Tire. And I own a wealth of furniture, as well as 'bits & bobs', that could do with afresh coat of paint, or at least some updating!

Here's one: a chalkboard I got for free while I was in my teen years...

I'm not so into the hunter green/farmhouse thing. I don't think I've ever been into it! Especially now that I have this:

Pretty happy to see this go!

But not so happy to see this go :(

But this, this is gorgeous! And, it has room for more hugs :)

I painted a bookshelf too, which is holding my unintentionally matching tissue box!

Not so bad for a first attempt, eh?

Beautiful Visitors!

On Tuesday I looked out my window and saw these beauties feeding. Couldn't help but pull out the camera & try for a shot. God created so much beauty in this world! They were so much fun to watch, chasing each other around.

Flirting...

Feeding...

Daisies!

My favourite, FAVOURITE flowers are daisies. They grow all along the roads & fields in June.

I like June.

A bouquet of my favourite flowers, handpicked by my favourite person, is sitting in front of me now, in my favourite blue vase.

Needless to say, I'm a happy girl :)

I can even show you why:

Yeah. You can be jealous :)

Sitting in front of me. Right now. Yay!

A Date :)

I'm losing steam this month. After having to transfer my blog to a new domain, I've lost a lot of the push to keep up my efforts to get this blog where I want it to go. Or maybe it's just that it's the last month of school and I'm feeling the pressure?

I think probably some of both. So I hope you'll bear with me. I have so many things backlogged that I'd love to write about, but today I'll write about my weekend date. Which was wonderful :)

Ed showed up at the end of my driveway before I did. I was a little later getting back from school than I'd intended.

And then, I convinced him to help me paint. We carried out the bookcase and nightstand which were on the list and sanded them down, wiped off the dust, and set to work. It was sweaty work, out in the hot sun like that, but both were covered in a fresh coat of primer when we were done!

 After the clean-up & a change of clothes we headed down the road. We got a few hundred meters before stopping again at the side of the road. There was a garage sale. And not just any garage sale, but one made up of antiques and collectibles. We walked out of there with a set of Winston Churchill's World War books in pristine condition, a [working] antique sewing machine, and the real catch: a 1920's steamer trunk. The guy hosting the sale gave us full directions on restoring the trunk. Can't wait to see that project done!

And, with the trunk & back seat full, we headed out again, actually ending up at our intended destination this time: W Sushi. This is where I cross off another bucket-list item. I wasn't hugely impressed with the sushi (Ed said he's had better) but the hot-and-sour soup was amazing! I would go again just for that. Such a lovely mix of beef, noodle, tofu, and just plain broth-y goodness. Yum.

Pictures from Ed's cam:

:)

The California rolls were ok :)

Learning how to use chopsticks (it's a work in progress...)

Focussed....

Success!

After this...someone picked me some of my favourite flowers....a post on its own (cuz I gotta find my own pics back...)

And at my house again, we played my new game: Dominion!

Seriously though, not sure I could have asked for a better evening! It's right up there with the Bayfront-in-the-Rain date (which I never wrote about, but was pretty wonderful all the same. I mean...I got to jump in puddles! What could be better? :P)

Easy Sloppy Joes

What about when you're just not in the mood to spend time in the kitchen, but want a delicious meal anyways?

Please don't opt for take-out. (MacDonald's is the wrong answer!)

Try one of my simple favourites, this easy, filling & delicious sloppy-joe recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1/2 package taco seasoning
• 1 tsp fresh ground sea salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp minced onion (optional)
• 2 small cloves garlic, minced (optional)
• 1 jalapeno, minced (optional)
• 4-6 buns (or the equivalent slices of bread)
• The amount depends on how sloppy you like your joes! Less bread = more sloppy
• 4-6 lettuce leaves (optional)
• yellow mustard (optional)
• cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. If choosing add-ins, saute onion, garlic & jalapeno until tender. Remove from pan & set aside.
2. Brown ground beef 
1. You can choose to add in worcestershire sauce and/or your choice of spices at this point.
3. If using, add in onion, garlic, jalapeno.
4. Mix in tomato paste, taco seasoning, salt, & pepper.
5. Serve on bread or buns with optional toppings (such as mustard, cheese, & lettuce leaves)
6. Enjoy!

Preparation time: This recipe should take you about 10 minutes to prepare. Add approximately five extra minutes if using add ins and/or toasting buns.

Serves: 2 hungry people.


Substitutes:

• Use 1 c. TVP and 1/2 cup water instead of the ground beef. Definitely use add-ins and a bit more spice if taking this route, as the TVP gains it's flavour from the rest of the recipe.

June Weather

What was I just saying about June this year coming in a little less warmly than usual?  There were some crazy storms this afternoon. Apparently, though, they're ushering in a hot & humid front...

One thing I realized for sure: God created an awesome world!

Here's some proof....

Rain & hail sheeting down

Aftermath - already melted some! (With all this rain the grass is sure to be fully green again soon!)

Collected hail on the back of a pick-up. Love the dripping Canadian flag in the background.

Ice & flowers

Not huge - just about average size of what was coming down (this one did melt a bit before I managed to get the shot,)

Pile of hail by the gushing downspout!

It was quite the awesome weather to witness! I also listened to the rumbling thunder most of the evening. And around 8:30pm, when I went outside for a bit, the sunset was just gorgeous! All the golden, pink-hued clear skies, scattered yet with some towering storm clouds.

June! June! It's June!

I like June. Despite what a weeeeeeeeird word it sounds like when you say it that many times in a row.

Do you ever have it that one word which sounds perfectly normal, usually, all of a sudden sounds really weird to you and makes you wonder what kind of strange language you speak?

No? It's just me? Oh.

Anyways. It's June!

I like June.

June is summer. The school year ends, it's no longer too early to make solid summer vacation plans, and the warm weather starts getting predictably warm (ha...so of course June starts with rain and winter-in-Australia temperatures of 10-15 Celsius this year.)

And, as you can see, my blog is still not quite up-to-snuff. When I switched it over to the new domain name, then I lost all of the links in my sidebar. So I'm currently trying to find them all & add them back.

As well, this summer I hope to get going on my book reviews. I'd like to start it sooner than later (though it might just be a summer thing.)

On the reading/reviewing list so far:

• Enid Blyton's The Faraway Tree series
• Susan Coolidge's What Katy Did collection
• The Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope

Ambitious. There's more. But I'm forgetting them.

Anyways.... welcome to June!

This month I'm going to:

1. Go out for sushi
2. Get the blog up to snuff
3. Finish the school year
4. Pack up my house
5. Share my way of dehydrating kale
6. Clean up my tabs, and include the ones I really want to continue with.