31 March 2008
Okey Dokey Recipe Time Again
30 March 2008
Open House mania
A Simpler Time
28 March 2008
Chocolate is wasting my time
19 March 2008
She fell for the last time in the Apple Orchard
18 March 2008
signed, the willow
17 March 2008
Soup that is not for *Steve*
Save Bessie Soup
2 cups vegetable stock
1/4 cup soya sauce
1/2 cup chopped fennel
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped red pepper
some frozen Asian mix veggies also work well in here with snow peas, baby corn etc.
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ginger (dried)
1 egg
1 handful of rice noodles (wide)
2 green onions chopped
Boil stock, soya sauce, veggies, lemon and spices. Taste. Drop egg in while boiling. Allow to cook. Top off with green onions. Serve.
signed, the willow
16 March 2008
IKEA purchase for the week
IKEA. Can I stay away from that place? NO. I was at IKEA a total of 3 times this past week. Scouting mission and lunch, Scouting mission, and bed purchase. We picked up a new bed for *Mila*. I managed to spy a $500 latex mattress on sale there for $179! No kidding. So we scored her a single bed for $69 later that same day and some sheets, mattress cover etc. My brother and family were here, so he and his wife put together *Mila's* bed for her.
*Steve* decided that we should get *Mila* an Aneboda box to roll under her bed. She happily helped to put it together with her uncle and then filled it up with all sorts of treasures. I have yet to see what she's got going on it yet. I'm sure there will be something that was once considered to be foodstuffs, something that resembles dog hair and a few hundred stuffed animals.
signed, the willow
O C D - it lives and breathes
We have more love to share
I can't believe I'm sharing this as a craft
Hunny Bunny
Style Tuesdays on Sunday
10 March 2008
Recipe Monday again
09 March 2008
IKEA Sundays
*Mila* is ready for a single bed and I'd like to get her dolls up in her room as well. I'm thinking of an Expedit bookcase with drawers. I see someone did it with a Bonde.
signed, the willow
A tree with many branches
Icelandic Families that are now Canadian.
06 March 2008
05 March 2008
My Girl
Today. Four years ago. Around this time that I write. It was 9:30 pm and it was not snowing, in fact there was no snow. The windows were open in the hospital and *Mila* came into our world that night in Oakville during a balmy +18 degrees Celsius on March 5th. She wrapped her little hands around our hearts and we have never spent a night apart. Well, her and I haven't. In four years, I have slept within 30 feet of her. A part of me can't let go of that. She has become more and more of a kid and less and less of a baby. She is her own person now and I am proud of the decisions and choices she is making. She's a wonderful little character and her voice is like a song that rings inside my head every moment of my life.
It is so difficult to explain what it is like to be a parent, until you are one. Nothing prepares you for it. Nothing. I remember thinking to myself around 5 years ago..."Well, I don't go to the bar any more. How hard can this be?" Not quite the same. It's not as if you just one day jump off the couch and open the door and say "Out you go, kid! I've had enough of you and your ketchup stained clothes and your messy room. Get your own place now."
The past four years have been both challenging and rewarding. How many times have you heard those sickeningly sweet words? Every mother utters those words. We try to explain how hard its been for us, but we love our little dears so much that it really was nothing. Ok. That is a big fat lie. It has been hell. The past four years have been hell. I worked on a trading floor with fund managers. The energy in that room was nothing compared to this. I never once had to balance a pencil on my head, standing on one foot with a barking dog behind me whilst changing a diaper that was still being filled. Nope. And I didn't have to have an argument with a three year old about attending an hour's worth of art lessons. Nuh-huh. I did once have to share lunch with someone who sputtered and wore a bib during a regular business day. True. For that I did get a pay cheque. Oh, I am not bitter. No one put me here and told me to do this. *Steve* and I agreed that we would be the ones to provide the first 4 or 5 years of nurturing to our child. She'd be the only one and no one can give her that same level of love that we can at home. Well, maybe Gramma could. But Gramma just endured a 24-hour traveling adventure to land on our doorsteps in the midst of yet another snowstorm. She doesn't exactly live next door. And we've tried to guilt her into moving, but it hasn't worked for my brother or I over the past 8 years.
It's now 4 years on the nose since I breathed my last breath of laughing gas, felt numb from the epidural bliss and wondered what the hell I had just done. Sure, it is challenging. But no one can tell you how wonderful it feels when someone who loves you and needs you more than life itself holds your hand as she falls asleep beside you. That is just beyond words and just far beyond rewarding. It's divine. namaste
signed, the willow
04 March 2008
Style Tuesdays
This could actually belong under the category of IKEA Sundays (you'll have to wait for that!), but because the towel came from Zellers I can post it here. Alfred Sung makes these great, super durable, super soft bath towels and you can get them at Zellers. I have a hand towel of his as well, that is equally as great/super/fabulous! Gramma is coming to visit us, so we picked up a few items for her guest room. Until she arrives, we have to keep the door shut to her room since the dog will spy another bed to sleep on. Yes, Ikea slippers. C'mon, for $3.99, wouldn't you? They are the shade of strawberry ice cream that made me do it. A guest should be made welcome with some goodies. Tomorrow we get the flowers and meet her at the airport (after the snowstorm).
signed, the willow
03 March 2008
Gut Busting Recipe Mondays
Trying new things this week, as I think I actually smelled Spring. But I'm not quite sure. It was +10 degrees Celsius today, that's 50 degrees Fahrenheit for our American friends. In fact, it warmed up just enough for *Mila* to spot a bug! She shrieked like a little girl (hey, she is a little girl) and we had to run home from the playground (which was too wet anyhow, so it was a sense of relief for me and the panting dog). What am I going to do with her this summer in NW Ontario? I know for a fact that there is one mosquito for every cell inside of every human body to have ever roamed the planet earth there. It's true. I think that they should film a season of Survivor in Northern Ontario....in the summer. The bugs have driven people insane. Maybe my brother's hockey friend, Survivorman, would consider filming an episode up in my home town? I'm sure they'd entertain him in style up there and my brother would definitely drop him off in the middle of "nowheresville", as it still exists up there. No hum of progress. Just the occasional buzz of a float plane or two at 5 a.m.
Now to Recipe Monday. Since I am making these for *Mila's* birthday on Wednesday, I thought I would share. I'm not sure if this recipe came from the Winnipeg Free Press years ago or what. But it's delicious and deserves to be topped with fudge topping and ice cream! I'd go for the gusto and get something with white chocolate in it if I were you.
White Chocolate Fudge Marble Brownies (I know!)
Fudge:
1 cup semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup butter/margarine
1/4 cup cream
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Brownie:
1 1/2 cup white chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup flour
Preheat oven to 325 F.
Fudge: Melt chocolate and butter in microwave for 90 seconds. Whisk until smooth, cool. In a large bowl, beat cream, egg & vanilla. Beat in chocolate mix.
Brownie: Melt chocolate and butter in microwave. In a large bowl, beat sugar, eggs. Beat in cream, vanilla, salt. Beat in flour. Beat in white chocolate. Mix.
Pour 2/3 of brownie mix into pan. Spread fudge over. Then pour in the remaining brownie mix. Swirl with a knife. Bake for 45 minutes.
signed, the willow