Makes me laugh

Everytime we drive by this sign across the street from Walmart I cringe and chuckle. The other day I thought I would take a photo as we were driving by, so that one day when we move away from here and I say, "do you remember that sign with the guy eating dirt?" We'll have the photo.

Who would have thought of making an ad of a guy eating soil, so gross! Oh well, it always captures my attention.

Day 5: Roasted Vegetables

I have been making vegetables this way for many years now. I especially love this dish in the summer when all the veggies and herbs are fresh and there are lots of little new potatoes!

The ingredient list is just a guideline. I always use whatever I have in the fridge/ or garden.

aprox 10 unpeeled tiny new potatoes, quartered
1 cup baby carrots
1 small onion, cut into wedges

1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice (what makes it taste so good)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary or crushed oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 zucchini (or 2 cups sliced)
1 medium red or green pepper (1/2 inch strips)

Combine potatoes, carrots and onions in a glass baking dish. In a measuring cup combine oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Drizzle over veggies and toss to coat. Roast uncovered in a 450 degree oven for 1/2 hour, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and add the zuchini adn peppers, toss to coat. Return to oven for 15 more minutes.

Very tasty with BBQ steak, rice, etc.

Dancing

Sarah loves to dance and move her body. This morning she was grooving to her favourite group, Black Eyed Peas; turning in circles, waving her arms in the air, etc. I was able to get some of her moves on video when Beyonce came on, she still prefers Black Eyed Peas though.

Day 4:Tomato and Zucchini Bake

Even though I haven't been posting zucchini recipes, we've still been eating lots of the stuff. Just haven't felt like typing recipes out. Anyways, here's a recipe that I've made before and quite enjoyed. Tomatoes, zucchini, herbs, cheese, it's the perfect summer dish! I've always thought it would be a great side dish for brunch. Would go well with breakfast sausage, eggs, etc. It has a light, fresh taste.

Tomato and Zucchini Bake

1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp each of oregano and basil
1 clove garlic, minced
Pinch of salt and pepper
2 medium zucchini
2 large tomatoes
¼ cup butter
4 tbsp finely chopped onions
½ cup bread crumbs

Combine cheeses, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper. Thinly slice zucchini and tomatoes. Butter an 8 inch square pan. Arrange ½ the zucchini slice in pan, sprinkle with ¼ of the cheese mix, then ½ the tomatoes. Sprinkle another ¼ of cheese mix. Arrange remaining zucchini on top, add ¼ of cheese mix, remaining tomatoes, then last of the cheese mix.
In a small pan, melt butter and sauté onions. Add crumbs and stir until they absorb butter. Spread on top of casserole. Cover loosely and bake at 375 F for about 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 30 minutes until the top is crusty.

No photo today. Sometimes we just want to eat, no camera involved.

45 Seconds of Sarah

A little bit of Sarah doing what she does.

Sitting at her Table

On Saturday Sarah and I went to a couple of garage sales in our community. We found this cute little table and matching 2 chairs for $10, plus several free board books and a couple of little trucks for 25 cents. I may never buy new toys again! Sarah LOVES sitting at her table!

Throughout the day there are many times when we notice that she has disappeared into her room and is sitting at her table either looking at a book or playing with her Little People castle and toys, happy as can be! When she's a little older we'll put her crayons and paper here for a little creative activity centre.

Happy, happy! Her other great new toy has been the little oven. This was another awesome free find from last week. She loves opening the oven door and putting things inside and taking them out. Now all she needs is as little tea set like Oma's, we'll see what we can find!

Day 3: Zucchini Carrot Muffins

Zucchini and Carrot Muffins

This morning I made these tasty muffins for breakfast. They turned out fantastic! I have never made muffins with zucchini and/ or carrots, but they turned out great. I'll be making these again for sure!


Ingredients:
· 2/3 cup vegetable oil
· 2 large eggs
· 2/3 cup granulated sugar
· 1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar, packed
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 2 cups all-purpose flour
· 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
· 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
· 1 1/2 cups finely shredded unpeeled zucchini
· 1/2 cup finely shredded carrot

These would also be delicious with about 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans

Preparation:
Grease and flour 12 muffin cups. Heat oven to 375°.

In a mixing bowl, beat the oil with eggs, sugars, and vanilla extract.
Combine the flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; add to the wet ingredients; stirring until blended. Fold in the shredded zucchini and carrots.
Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full; sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or granulated sugar, if desired.

Bake for 20 minutes.
Makes 12.

Business Update

Well I thought I would post an update on my little business since it seems to be one of the main things on my mind these days. It's been a month and a half since I've started and this is where it's at. Things are going really well and I'm really excited about the present as well as the future. I'm learning lots and still have so... much to learn. I've had great feedback and customers responses.

Here's the breakdown:

Customers: I just checked and so far I have 37 completed/ paid orders as well as several in process. I'm really happy with this total in such a short amount of time. For the past couple of weeks I've been getting at least an order a day. Some days when I think it's been slow and I'm about to turn in, I check my e-mail before bed and sure enough, a new order! The majority of my order have been from Ontario. However, I have had orders from BC, Alberta, Sask, Man, On and New Brunswick. The most popular cities seem to be Kamloops, Saskatoon, Burlington and Fredericton...just thought that was interesting. So far I have had one customer that I actually know (thanks to my facebook group)

Advertising: This has got to be the hardest part. I've been trying to be creative and think of different ways to market. Here's what I got so far:
1. Kijiji: This is where the vast majority of my customers have found me.
2. Referrrals: I've had 2 already! Yahoo!
3. Google search: Since I'm on a webs host it is VERY hard to be found by doing a random search. However, I have had 2 people find me this way.
4. Mom/ Parent Sales: I have registered for 2 sales already. One just around the corner and one in St. Catharines. It's $25-40 for a table and each sale normally has about 300 people come through. They are both advertised well and hit my prime market. So I've been printing out samples as I go and trying to put together small sample albums. While there is a cost to this, thankfully it is minimal. If I do several show/ sales then it also gets more use out of my albums, display stuff, making it more worthwhile.
5. I have connected with a couple of businesses in the area to share website links and information. I usually get a couple of website hits a day through this.
6. I have partnered with a Toronto photographer for advertising purposes as well. I was hoping for someone local but no one replied or responded to my ads. Anyways, this girl is really excited about it and I think it will be a good match. We're doing quite a few things, including website links. She's also giving me photo files to showcase on my samples, which will be much better than some of the stuff people send me. She is also offering my clients discounts for her services and contacting all of her previous clients to make them aware of my business, etc. I think it should be good.
7. I have a facebook group. I wasn't going to do this. But figured that I would be an idiot not to.
8. I have set up a Twitter account and am getting "followers". I didn't want to do this either, but figured that it couldn't hurt.
9. Etsy. I will probably post a few things on here once I have my website completed.

The more that I do the faster that it's getting, amazing! I am still doing lots of custom orders, however, the larger my gallery is, the more people just say "I'd like the ___________ design." Then I tweek it to make it work for their photos, info, etc.

What's the next step? Well, I'm still working on researching a better website. I think I've found a template design that I like and it's much cheaper than anything custom. I am currently looking at different hosts with shopping cart options, etc. Like I said, I'm learning so much! This is a whole new world for me. I'm glad that I have a pool of profits that I can now reinvest into making this what I want it to be. After not even 2 months of very part time work, this makes me really happy.

One of the last things to figure out is a new business name. Since I will be getting my own .com or.ca domain name I need to find something that is available, easy to remember, simple, not babyish as well as sounds good. Easier said than done! I am having such a hard time with this. So far pretty much all I've got is something like ________designs or __________creative, I really don't know. The one name that just came to me and is totally available is Dolcetto Designs, so www.dolcettodesigns.com Dolcetto is a grape variety and means sweet and simple, I thought this was fitting considering our circumstances and plans. It's also unique! Hmmm...

I would love any ideas or suggestions that you may have! The website design is blue and browns with circle type designs (if that helps inspire). I want this all to be up and running by mid to end of August. As I want to have my new name, matching website/ documents, etc by the parent/ baby sales.

Anyways, that's the deal for now. So exciting! I'm thrilled that this is working out and that people are responding so well.

I welcome any suggestions that you may have for me!

Sarah's Surgery: All done!

Today was Sarah's skin tag removal surgery at McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton. It was a long day filled with lots of waiting, but in the end everything went really smoothly and without a hitch.

We had to spend close to 2 hours in the waiting room before we got to go to the second waiting room for the actual surgery. We were amazed that Sarah was happy the entire time. In fact, she was playing, shrugging her shoulders, clapping and smiling right up until the point where all the doctors had to put on their masks. At least that's what David and the volunteer said. David went in with her while she was being put out, that was not for me. So glad that he's the stronger one in these kinds of situations.

The last time that she was able to eat solids was before midnight (so 5:30 for her). She had her last milk bottle at 6am and then 4 oz of water before 10 am. Considering the surgery wasn't until 3 pm, she was one hungry/ thirsty girl by the time she was in recovery (about 4:30 pm)

David had to wear scrubs as well in order to go in the OR with her. I thought they were pretty cute together!

Loved the little open back hospital gown. She got lots of compliments on her little bear slippers, perfect for the hospital, since they need to be wearing some kind of slipper/ socks.

All done! One of us was able to go into the recovery room so I took that role. She was a little fussy until I held her and was able to give her a bottle with water in it. After about 15 minutes they wheeled us out into the second recovery room where David was able to join us. We had to stay there for another hour so that they could make sure that all was well. She fussed around a little due to the discomfort of having her one hand all bandaged and covered up due to the IV, then she leaned into me and fell asleep. So sweet! She has a couple of tiny dissolving stiches that are covered up by a few little tape bandaids and that's it. We have to go back in a week for a follow up surgery and then it really is all over. Not that bad at all! I didn't cry or even feel emotional, it all just seemed so standard and fine. I think it helped that Sarah was happy the whole time as well, just a few tears.

Her little monitor on her big toe. Quite the experience. We're all glad that it's over and that everything went so well.

She was smiling and clapping on the car ride home and then walking around as if nothing happened. I gave her some water/ apple juice and cereal and then it was off to bed just before 7 pm. So we'll see if she sleeps through the night or wakes up hungry or in pain.

Thanks for your many prayers and thoughts today, they're much appreciated!

Day 2: Zoo Sticks

How about deep fried?!? The other night we plugged in the deep fryer and battered up some zuch's for another way of eating zucchini. We just dip them in thicker pankcake batter, stick them in the deep fryer (or just hot oil), and voila! Very yummy! We also tried dipping them in Tzatiki dip, also very tasty!

Car Dancing...Sarah Style

Sarah loves music! This is a little example of her expressing herself to the music. The funny thing is that she rarely smiles while she's moving her arms, body, etc since she seems to be concentrating on her moves.

Day 1: Decadent Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Yesterday morning David discovered 11 ready to eat zucchini's in our garden. We both love zucchini, but that is a lot of zucchini! So he took six of them to work to give away (which was easy to do) and left the rest for us to eat. Knowing that we'll have about the same amount again in a few days I set out to find some different ways of eating it all. I think I will post 10 days of zucchini, this being day 1!

As a kid my family often had the problem of too many zucchini in the garden. I remember my mom often making a zucchini chocolate cake to 1. use it up 2. to disguise the zucchini to make us eat it. Well, this chocolate cake does indeed disguise the zucchini (not that I was trying to do that). However, it has got to be one of the best chocolate cakes I have had in a long time. I pulled a few recipes off the internet to try, but after eating this one I know I won't be trying any other recipes anytime soon. What would be the point? This one is just too good. Decadent, rich, chocolatey, moist.



Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe


·Ingredients
· 2 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
· 1/2 cup cocoa
· 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
· 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1 teaspoon cinnamon
· 3/4 cup soft butter/ margarine
· 2 cups sugar
· 3 eggs
· 2 teaspoons vanilla
· 2 teaspoons grated orange peel (I didn't have any oranges in the house so I used a little orange extract)
· 2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
· 1/2 cup milk
· 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
· Glaze (directions follow)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.


1 Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.


2 With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini.


3 Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.


4 Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 minutes!) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly.


5 Drizzle glaze over cake.


Glaze: Mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth.


Cut in thin slices to serve. Makes 10-12 servings.

Sarah's First Ride

Yesterday afternoon the three of us went to Marineland. It's the perfect place to walk around, lay in the grass and have a snack, as well as enjoy some rides. Sarah went on her first ride so I figured that I would document the occasion. The video isn't exciting, it just shows she's actually on the ride. It goes fast, so pay attention or you'll miss her. We were also able to watch the seal/ dolphin/ walrus show. Sarah was pretty tuckered out by the time we got home.

Playing Under the Table

One of Sarah's new favourite places to play is under the table in the kitchen. The table has become her own personal jungle gym. I've tried getting a video clip of her playing for several days, but she always stops when she sees the camera come out. Anyways, here's one of my better attempts. Not very exciting, but you get the idea.

25 Weeks

I figured it was probably time to do another baby update since I had my last appointment last week already. All is well, really no news to report. I've been feeling great and besides the movement and kicking of baby I hardly even feel pregnant. According to the doctor I am measuring on the smaller side (yahoo!), however I gained 10 pounds this past month so he isn't at all concerned. I still feel quite small, as my stomach doesn't ever seem to be in the way, a blessing indeed.

I asked the doctor more about my due date/ or lack of due date for that matter and he said he goes by the first date. So according to him I'm due October 18 even though the ultrasound due date is October 27th. So I'm still sticking with the end of October. The good part is that since he's going with the first due date it is very unlikely that the baby will be born in November or even Hallowen.

Well that's about it in baby world. I've managed to find several shirts that are non maternity at $5 sales (including the one in the pic), so I've been happy about that. I can't believe that I'm only a couple of weeks away from the third trimester, where is the time going? Crazy.

Not quite room for two

Sarah loves sitting with Keisha in her dog bed. At first I thought she just liked being in the dog bed, but I have since learned that she prefers if Keisha is in there with her. Yesterday morning once I gave Sarah her bottle she went to get 2 of her blankets and bring them into the dog bed with Keisha. You would think Keisha would mind, but she doesn't seem to, otherwise she'd just get up and leave. At first I didn't even see Keisha in the bed since Sarah had covered her up with blankets. Funny girl! Funny dog!

How does your garden grow?

Pretty good! Remember those photos of our yard that I posted a little while ago, well I thought it was time for an update. David and I have enjoyed having our own little garden this year. We planted red onions, spinach, carrots, basil, cilantro, cukes, zucchini, pumpkins, beans and peas. I love having a little space that's just big enough for a little bit of everything, yet not to big to be a pain for weeding.

Today we discovered we have two zucchini that are almost too big already! How did that happen so quickly? David was shocked at my inital discovery since he checks the garden every day after work and often in the morning, and somehoe missed these beauties. Must have been his man eyes!

The tomatoes are coming along as well. We planted a few different varieties just for fun. If only we knew which one was which. Below is our row of tomatoes lining the fence.We grew lots of basil from seed this year. We've only ever bought it as small plants, but since we use so much of it we thought we would try the seed packet instead this year...so far so good.

Here's a change from one of the original photos I posted. I dug up flower beds along the house and fence. I was able to get some plant donations from neighbours to fill up the beds.

The hardest thing about doing up a garden for cheap/ free is having patience. I planted lots of nasturtiums in pots and in the flower beds. Seeds take time and therefore patience. Sometimes I look at our neighbours flower pots and beds bursting with colour and wish our were a little more pretty. But then I remind myself how much flowers cost and feel fine with the greenery and little burst of colour that we have. I am loving our black eyed susans, so bright and cheery!

Notice the little tree in the back of the above photo? I got some curly willow branches from a woman down the road who was giving them away a couple of months ago. She dug out a bush and had lots of extra branches. She told me that if I planted the branches they would take root and grow. I was pretty skeptical, but since free is free and I had an empty flower bed I thought I had nothing to lose. Anyways, I am happy to say that the little branches have indeed taken root, are green and growing well. Love it!

We've also got some pretty shasta daisies growing next to the black eyed susans.

This is our little back patio. I got the patio set for $10, it's nothing fancy but it's doing the trick. I planted some basil in pots to have on and around the table for easy access. It was perfect for the spaghetti we had outside the other night.
Here's one of my wine barrels with flowers and hostas. I got the little bench at a garage sale for $2. It's great for if we need extra seats and it a good place for some of my pots. The pots have some flowers, herbs, hens and chicks, etc in them.

Lastly, here's our second wine barrel full of a variety of herbs. All of these pots actually have some kind of herb or nasturtium plants in them. Sarah loves hanging out here and smelling the herbs.

Anyways, that's it for the garden update. That turned out to be much longer than I intended, oh well. At least our yard/ garden doesn't look the same as it did in my previous yard post.

Making Fruit Leather

Remember all that apple sauce that we made back in the fall? Well, we put away several large jars of sauce just for this purpose. As a girl, I remember my mom occasionally setting a cookie sheet of sauce in the hot sun to dry out to become leather (or apple jerky).

Well the weather has been warming up here, so I thought the other day would be a good time to try my hand at making my own fruit leather. I blended up my jar of sauce, added some lemon juice, cinnimon and cloves and poured the liquified sauce over saran wrap on a cookie sheet and set it out. Well, by the end of the day it wasn't quite ready so I had to pop it in the oven on super low heat (150 degrees) for a few hours. And voila! Fruit leather! It's amazing how thin the stuff gets when it's dried out. Then just take a scissor and cut it into strips. Mmm.

Here's some more detailed directions I found on the web. However, it really is easy, just takes patience.
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_fruit_leather/
Method (if you're starting from scratch)

1 Rinse the fruit. If you working with stone fruit, take out the pits, chop the fruit. If working with apples or pears, peel and core them, then chop. If working with grapes, de-stem them.
Taste the fruit before proceeding. Note how sweet the fruit is. If very sweet (ripe Concord grapes for example) you will not need to add any sugar. If still a little tart, you may need to add some sugar in the next step.
2 Place fruit in a large saucepan. Add a half cup of water for every 4 cups of chopped fruit. Bring to a simmer, cover and let cook on a low heat for 10-15 minutes, or until the fruit is cooked through. Uncover and stir. Use a potato masher to mash up the fruit in the pan. Taste the fruit and determine what and how much sugar, lemon juice, or spices to add. Add sugar in small amounts (1 Tbsp at a time if working with 4 cups of fruit), to desired level of sweetness. Add lemon juice one teaspoon at a time to help brighten the flavor of the fruit. Add a pinch or two of cinnamon, nutmeg, or other spices to augment the flavor.
Continue to simmer and stir until any added sugar is completely dissolved and the fruit purée has thickened, another 5 or 10 minutes (or more).

3 Put the purée through a food mill or chinoise. Alternatively purée it thoroughly in a blender or food processor. Taste again and adjust sugar/lemon/spices if necessary. The purée should be very smooth.

4 Line a rimmed baking sheet with sturdy plastic wrap (the kind that is microwave safe). Pour out the purée into the lined baking sheet to about an 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness.

5 Place the baking sheet in the oven, try to keep any plastic wrap from touch the sides of the oven or the oven racks. Also try to make sure that the plastic wrap hasn't folded back over on top of the purée. If this happens, the purée won't dry out. Heat the oven to a low 140°F. If you have a convection setting, use it, it will speed up the process and help dry out the purée. Let dry in the oven like this for as long as it takes for the purée to dry out and form fruit leather. We usually keep it in the oven overnight, so about 8-12 hours. The fruit leather is ready when it is no longer sticky, but has a smooth surface.

Alternatives to the oven. If you have a food dehydrator, this would be a great use of it. My mother suggested putting the tray in the weber grill, and leaving covered, in the sun all day. Sounds like a good trick, but I haven't tried it yet. My parents remember the traditional way of making fruit leather was just to tent the tray with some cheesecloth and leave it outside in the sun on a hot day.

6 When the fruit leather is ready, you can easily peel it up from the plastic wrap. To store it, roll it in its plastic wrap, put it in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator or freezer.
4 cups of fruit yield about one baking sheet of fruit leather.

Sarah at her Pre Op Appointment

Yesterday we took Sarah to Hamilton McMasters Childrens Hospital for her pre op appointment for her skin tag surgery. Her surgery got bumped a week, so now it is on July 20th. We visited with a woman who explained what would happen on surgery day, met with a nurse who weighed Sarah and took her blood pressure (well tried to) as well as the anesthesiologist who went over what would happen.

We were in and out in less than an hour. We feel good about the surgery and are glad that we are doing it now and not when Sarah is much older. David is going to be the one to be with her when she gets out and wakes up, the whole thing just creeps me out a little too much. At this point I am just looking forward to it all being done.

Cottage Life

For the past couple of nights we went to the Lee's family cottage with Matt, Kristi and the kids. The cottage is about 3.5 hours away in a small town called Dorset in the Muskoka's (north, past Barrie). The cottage is owned by Matt's grandparents and is situated right on the lake. The weather could have been better but we were still able to enjoy several boat trips. Even Sarah got to come along for her first boat ride. She loved the boat and the feeling of the wind in her hair. You could tell that she wasn't quite sure what to think of it at first, but got the idea pretty quick.



On Saturday I even found this little pink life jacket/ swimming floatation at one of the two garage sales in Thorold. For just a dollar I was thrilled. Amazingly, Sarah didn't even mind it.

Kaleb and Madeline

Madeline and Noelle

Kristi and Noelle

The kids love the boat, as does Matt. They were able to get away for several little boat trips. David and Matt even went fishing for a couple of hours last night. There is Bass and Trout in the lake. They each caught 4-5 fish within an hour, however, there were all pretty small so they threw them all back.

Kristi playing some solitaire

Madeline, Kaleb and Noelle

Sarah loved playing with all of Kaleb's cars, trucks and trains. It looks like it's time to get her some little toys with wheels.

On Monday afternoon we went to the general store and then to some small waterfalls.

The kids tried to skip rocks like Matt and David.

Our family

The Lee family. Thank you for a wonderful mini holiday! We had a great time.

*Here in Ontario (the east in general), people refer to vacation homes as cottages. This is different than out west where we refer to them as cabins.

Another little difference of east vs west.

Little Slippers

Today, being Saturday, Sarah and I went to a couple of garage sales in the area while David was at work. At both garage sales Sarah was given free things just for being herself. At the one garage sale she was given this cute little pair of brand new bear slippers. They fit just right and she even seems to enjoy wearing them. Too cute!

On Sunday we're going up to the Lee's family cottage with Matt, Kristi and the kids. We're only going for two nights since David has to be back for class on Tuesday evening. Should be fun!