Friday, January 10, 2014

Nailed It.

Usually I'm pretty good at crafting so when I saw these pretty little snowglobes at I don't blog I figured they'd be perfect Christmas crafts for the boys to give their aunts.

SO CUTE, RIGHT?
used with permission from I don't blog
Super cute tiny jars and little finger puppets I found at the party store, ready to roll.

I followed the instructions, for real. Waited a full 24 hours after gluing the figures in the jars before adding the water, glycerine and glitter.

Right away, the snowglobes went all cloudy and I'm in my kitchen growling about cheap glitter.

"Dammit. I knew I shouldn't have mixed dollar store glitter with Martha Stewart glitter. Martha probably puts some magical properties in her glitter that make it completely incompatible with dollar store stuff because you know... Martha Stewart."

But I wait another 24 hours thinking maybe it just needs to settle and they'll be fine.

They weren't.

They've continued to sit on a shelf until last night when I had an absolute revelation.  In the cupboard, grabbing a spice jar and I see the glycerine.  Sitting right beside the tub of glucose.

Oh yes. I used glucose instead of glycerine in the water.

Bloody brilliant.


But for the record, I still wouldn't be surprised AT ALL if Martha and her super glitter had something to do with it. Because, you know.... Martha Stewart.



**Thanks to Alex at I don't blog for letting me use her pretty snowglobes to showcase my spectacular fail. I'm getting pretty used to making my friends look extra good. ;)

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Warm Sunny Days and Harvest Festivals

Holy moly it's cold outside! Yes, yes I know Western Canadians, it's much colder where you are on a more consistent basis, but there's a reason I don't live where you live... COLD. I was once offered a heckuva job in Alberta, a Chef's dream job, making more than double what a Chef would make in my area but I'm just not made for -30+ weather. No. Thank. You.

Anyhow, I thought I'd revisit some warmer, happier times when my friends at Martin's Family Fruit Farm invited the community to celebrate a successful harvest with them. I love these people, not only do they feed my family delicious local produce all year round but then they invite to come have fun and eat free food?!?! All kinds of awesome.

The day started out with lots of fun for the kiddies, including a bouncy elephant and the amazing balloon and face painting creations of Breanne.

 

Who needs hay rides when you can sit on a tractor and pretend to drive it? We had to drag N away from the tractor after a huge lineup formed behind him. Luckily, the tractor stayed in the same spot for a while so we were able to take a quick "ride" in the weeks after the festival.


Much to my chagrin, the boys tasted their very first candy apples. O looks worried about it here but I think it was just the sun in his eyes.


And then we picked up our groceries for the week. The retail store was so packed we only grabbed a fraction of what we usually buy from the outdoor stand, there's was no way we were squeezing into that store! The apples pictured here are Ginger Gold, by far our favourite apples. They're early season September apples so we can only get them for a few weeks but we usually eat though 2 bushels before they disappear. Those carrots came in a 10 lb bag and we're so spoiled by how sweet they are, no one in my house will eat carrots that come from anywhere else. I appreciate that the family handpicks all the produce that appears in the store from the Elmira Produce Auction (this is a terrible video but it does show Steve Martin at auction buying delicious local food!) or from farms they have relationships with. You can't get any fresher without growing your own. When I buy peppers from Martin's, they often last for more than 2 weeks in the fridge. From sketchy winter market vendors or the grocery store, their lifespan is usually measured in days.


Ahhhhh, I feel warmer now, don't you? If I close my eyes and snuggle up under my blankets, I can almost picture my own vegetable garden basking in the sun of summer 2014.

Many thanks to the fine folks at Martin's Family Fruit Farm who feed my family 365 days a year, your exceptional service, commitment to quality and top-notch delicious apples make it easy for my family to eat healthy and local all year round!





You can find Martin's Family Fruit Farm at 1420 Lobsinger Line, RR#1 in Waterloo, less than 5 minutes past the St. Jacob's Market. They're open Monday to Saturday and always have a great selection of local produce along with apples, ciders, local eggs, cheese, milk, jams and maple syrup.

*This post was not sponsored.... unless you count those delicious treats we got to eat at the Harvest Festival. I just freaking love this farm and think more people should take the time to know where their food comes from. #KnowYourFarmer #LoveYourFarmer #FarmersFeedCities

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Mousehunt

The first time we saw him, he was sneaking around a corner and stealing food from the cat's dish. 

Whatever, we said. It's just a tiny mouse, we said. We'll buy some mouse traps, we said.

We thought it would go something like this:


We baited the traps with cat food (because that's what he seems to like), then cheese. And he got both off without setting off the traps. So Neighbour Stan told us to bait the traps with peanut butter. The little bastard somehow managed to eat off all the peanut butter without setting off the trap. So I coated the traps in some nice sticky honey and stuck some delicious multigrain bread on top for good measure. The malicious mongrel got the bread off the honey again, with traps still set for action. 

Our house basically looks like this now:


We've got glue traps. A multi-catch humane trap. A homemade humane trap. It foils them all.

We're dealing with some sort of mouse super genius here.


My husband may or may not have been talking about buying a shotgun. Obscenities have been yelled, directed towards a mouse the size of a clementine. Baiting a trap the other day, I promised my son it was safe. In a show of spectacular parenting, I then proceeded to let the trap go on the boy's finger. We wait with bated breath for a SNAP which, as it seems right now, may never happen.

Have you ever dealt with an evil mouse genius and lived to tell the tale?