25 things. March 26, 2009

So I think I’m unpopular.

On Facebook everyone has been circulating this “25 Things” – Just a random list of bizarre, or quite ordinary things, about yourself. When you’re done you ‘tag’ 25 people and then they have to do the same. Its just a silly way to get to know more about the people around you.

It seemed like a lot of people were not liking it, but I was secretly hoping someone would ‘tag’ me. Well, it never happened

(hence the unpopular part)

So I’m just going to do it anyway.

#1 – I hate milk. My husband forces me to drink it so that I can get the calcium, even though I eat yogurt everyday.

#2 – I truly believe Mexican food to be the greatest, and could eat nothing but it for the rest of my life.

#3 – I used to want to be a Marine Biologist for most of my childhood, but at the same time I have always had a strange phobia of being too far away from land.

#4 – I don’t wear makeup. Minus eyeliner, I can’t stand the stuff.

#5 – I honestly and truly think my mom is cool.

#6 – I hate pancakes, but I love waffles.

(we don’t own a waffle maker, but when we do I want a heart shaped one! So cute!)

#7 – I’m an extroverted, introvert. I’m always wild and outgoing but really, I just want people to be my friend. On, when I was a kid (like 5 years old) I went around door to door in my neighourhood asking if there were any little girls what wanted to come out and play with me.

#8 – I have never wanted to go to Disney, or any of those other parks and I get a little annoyed when people try to convince me that I’ll love it and that I HAVE to go, it makes me want to go even less.

#9 – I know for a fact that my husband is the cutest, most sweetest, most bestest husband in the world.

#10 – I hate money, and I love giving it away, but I like buying things for myself, even though I have to ‘convince’ myself into purchasing anything (such is the plight of a poor, responsible univeristy student)

#11 – I actually stayed up for a little while last night trying to think of clever and witty things to write on this list.

#12 – Number 11 was actually one of those things I thought of last night that would be witty to write down.

#13 – I cannot stand chick flicks. I love action, adventure and westerns.

#14 – I have these ‘moments’ where the real presence of God and His blessings in my life just hit me. They are rare but beautiful and intense.

#15 – I would rather have an extra helping of veggies than dessert.

(especially canned peas…yum!…great…now I’m craving peas.)

#16 – I’ve had three classes in my time at university that have really stood out among the others and changed my whole world. Epistemology, Christianity and Culture, and Theology of Marriage.

#17 – I LOVE having people over for dinner. I love cooking, preparing the place, the cleaning the laughter…I’d do it every other day if I could (with one day to clean and buy groceries in between)

#18 – I cannot see why people would rather live in a HUGE city like Toronto over the country. The people in the country are so much kinder, less reckless, less self-involved, and more relaxed.

#19 – My favorite color is always changing. I still love orange but I used to hate green, but now its like my #2 color.

#20 – I’ve shaved my head 4 times and got mistaken for a boy all the time – I never want my hair short again. I have also not seen my natural hair color since I was in grade 7.

#21 – I think squirrels are the best! They make me smile every time, not matter how bad of a mood I am in. They look so hyper and happy.

(wow, I can’t believe I’ve thought of 21 things so far!)

#22 – I don’t feel as though I have really truly earned my philosophy and religious studies degree. I feel like I am just starting to get it after four years.

#23 – I’m not really a fan of the beach. This probably stems from being over weight as a child and now having a pretty lousy self esteem. (too bad we didn’t live in the good ol days where full body bathing suits were the social norm)

#24 – I think the homesteads on westerns (the one story with the full wrap around porches) are so awesome.

#25 – I am very aware of mortality (which is a nice way of saying I think about death a lot) BUT it makes me appreciate the life God has given me all the more.

Wow…I’m shocked I made it to 25! Hope this didn’t bore you to tears.

spring…its coming….i swear

There is no stopping it now.

Despite the bitterly cold winds – Spring is coming.

How do I know?

Three reasons:

#1

The geese are back at Tyndale.

Normally everyone gets really upset about them.

(maybe it’s the excessive honking at 5am in the morning)

But I really like it when these guys come back. Their entourage grows larger every year which is cool to see, since us students get the privilege of seeing the goslings hatch and waddle their little selves all over the campus and when they return after winter their all grown up!

(yes, my maternal nature is taking over)

But back to our original posting…

#2

Tulip buds and…

(its not grass, but what are those bright green buds anyway?!)

Unless the person whose yard I trespassed on to get this photo has imported these buds from a warmer climate and then planted them all over his lawn, I do believe flowers and green grass are about to return to the Great White North. It’s about time.

#3

Okay, I know. Me making cookies in the shape of a duckling doesn’t mean Spring is coming.

(But I certainly wouldn’t be making them at Christmas now would I?)

My best friend Beth bought me the cookie cutter and I couldn’t wait to test it out! I would have taken pictures of the end result, with the icing and everything. But I dumped a bit too much yellow food coloring in and it ended up looking like mustard. They look bizarre, but according to the hubby, they taste delicious. Thanks Bethers!

Actually, one of my signs of Spring is when Taste of Country (a cute little store in my hometown Belleville) brings in real live baby chicks. We saw them last weekend when we were there. They were only 3 days old! They were so precious! It was even more adorable to watch a little 3 year old boy gently pet the head of one of the chics. So heart warming.

(maternal instinct again..I’m aware)

What signs of Spring are you seeing?

this weekend. March 19, 2009

Don’t  worry I haven’t forgot about my dear little blog. I won’t abandon you again like last time.

I’ve just been using my spare time to actually attempt to get some work done. Not to mention some socializing with people who have been far to distanct for far too long.

I have no new images to share, even though I’ve been wanting to take the camera outside to get some pics of the on-set of spring.  I’m finally beginning to see buds on the trees and a few sprigs of brand-spanking-new grass poking out of the ground. PLUS, I wore my birks again last NIGHT (yes NIGHT!)  I even caught a robin dutifully building her nest yesterday…*sigh* such a sweet sight…that’ll teach me for not bringing along my camera.

I am very much hoping to get a substantial about of work done this weekend. I have one big essay due in a week that requires a lot of reading. So I’d like to finish it over the next four days (yes, I get a four day weekend in University) lol. I would also like to get some scrapping done. I have this great pic of a squirrel (my fav animal) and I bought some great paper from Michaels by Colorbok, and I ready a great quote in the book I am reading for this essay that will make the whole page great. The quote was, “A squirrel cannot commit a sin.” Of course in context there is MUCH more to this sentence, but the sentence in itself is really cute to me. 🙂

Anyway, I’m off to my last class of the week and 4 hours from now I am going to be home with the hubby hopefully watching a movie and eating the leftover strawberry margarita cheesecake from our get together last night. yum.

If you want to make some too, find it here.

Later ya’ll.

something new March 17, 2009

These photos don’t really do this justice. I have a hard time taking decent pictures of stuff in our apartment because our lighting is so dark and yellowy/orange. But that’s what its like living in a basement! (not for much longer though!!)

I got the inspiration for this from Silje

I was terrified to do it though! I am never quite able to do projects like this the same way I have them pictured in my mind…so I am really excited that this turned out! Even my husband likes it – and he’s no fan of birds!

so now its resting peacefully on the antique chest my mother bought me for Christmas. It actually fits quite well, and it makes me happy when I see it… I think of warmer temperatures..lol.

anyway…have a great day!

yesterday – a product review – & a new little project March 7, 2009

Why are all these people smiling?

I’ll show you why:

Sushi! *yum*

I had a great time yesterday. I tried some new sushi rolls, some were great, some were just the wrong texture for me. But mostly my plate consisted of cucumber rolls and yam tempura rolls

Looking at these pictures is making me crave again.

Mat doesn’t think too much of sushi, the guys got him to try a piece, it was the rong texture unfortunately.

So funny.

However, there was more than one reason why yesterday was so awesome, another was because of this:

The sun finally broke through the clouds of this dark city and actually made it so beautifully warm outside. Normally I wouldn’t bother with cloud photos, because everyone has at least one somewhere in their own personal collection of photos…but so often there are those winter days that are sunny but bitterly cold. This was the FIRST sunny day in months were you could actually feel the warmth of the sun on your skin. It was truly glorious.

But that wasn’t all! After sushi Mat took me over to one my my favorite haunts (Pointer) and I spent the gift certificates that have been buring a hole in my pocket since Septermber!

The new addition to my tools is this guy here:

I don’t understand why the bright pink though? (Again I apologize for the yellow tint of the photo)

Heidi from Pointer was kind enough to give Mat and I an demonstration on how to PROPERLY use this tool. For those of you who might be thinking this looks like a glorified hair dryer, it kind of is, but for scrapbooking. It gives dimension to stamping, making images look more 3D, and for a texture person such a myself, this is an exciting little thing to have! I cannot wait to make some more cards!

Also, a little review for you of other heat embossing guns. I had purchased one from Michaels by Marvy Uchida, only to find out from consumer reviews that the electrical cord contained lead, with the potential of causing cancer and birth defects, and there had been a warning issued by the state of California. I returned it immediately and I must admit I am sad to see that Michaels still has them on the shelves even after such a warning.

My new embossing gun is by Stampabilities and so far I haven’t seen anything negative about it, I’ll let you how it works once I have the time to play with it.

I wish I had bought the embossing gun a few days earlier because I would have used it in this little project I’ve done:

This a little mirror didn’t have the most wonderful image on it so I decided to re-create it to something a little more my taste.

I can’t even begin to guess how many coats of podge at on there. But I think its cute. I love birds, I’ve been starting to hear them singing when I wake up in the morning. Ahh, spring is coming. 🙂

aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhpulls. October 4, 2008

i love this time of year. i love sweater weather. i love the changing leaves. the cool crisp mornings (from the inside) and the warm afternoons (from the outside) i love that this is the time of year when you start to crave hot chocolate and you dont look crazy drinking it. i also love that its apple season 🙂

we went apple picking with our lovely friends, Leslie and Joe. we drove waaaaaay far north of Toronto to a little hidden away orchard and picked some Jonamacs right off the tree (soo yummy)

 

ohh! i spotted an elusive leslie!

the men discussing applish ideas

the men in the maze

*sigh* so prefect

the best part was making apple crisp the next night for our friends! i love the smell of autumn baking. pumpkin pies, and apple baked goods, the rich aroma is so thick you dont even have to eat it you can just taste it in the air (which is good for me because i actually don’t enjoy sugary foods) but i must admit my husband does make a mean apple crisp.

here’s the recipe:

Mat’s Apple Crisp

Put 8+ or more super thinly sliced apples in either a 9×13 baking dish (You can also do this in an 8×8 dishif you dont want so much, you’ll just have to lessen everything to your taste.)

Sprinkle a couple tablespoons of sugar over top and cinnamon

In a small bowl mix 1/4 c margarine, 3/4 c flour, 3/4 c brown sugar. Mix until crumbly and sprinkle over apples. Bake 325 for a half an hour. 

 Let cool and enjoy!