Waiting

There is little crafting getting done around here.
Here's why-

The cupboards that house all my gear are completely dismantled. Everything that usually has a home in the cupboards is thrown around the room. See in the bottom right, my quilting stuff, 2 finished quilt tops just waiting. The sewing machine is buried under the wrapping paper and gift bags, my knitting supplies are packed up and in the depths of the crawl space. It's like running hurdles to get in and out of the room. This will hopefully be a quick project and it is going to be FABULOUS! when it's done. Stay tuned for the reveal.
Can see the chaos in this picture? I had to tidy up after I took it b/c I couldn't stand it anymore.

In the reduce, reuse and recycle category

We were coloring yesterday and I started sharpening dull crayons and picking out little bits of broken ones. So I threw them into an old muffin tin (I don't use this one for baking it's mostly for paint) and melted them. 350 for a few minutes. They are great! Especially good for Laila because they color any which way, until she puts them in her mouth and they screams when I take them away.

A little behind the 8 ball

We had a great Easter celebration. Spring even made an appearance.

We dyed a few eggs on Saturday.

I used a Dremel tool to drill holes in the eggs and it worked really well. I tried the traditional pin method but the eggs cracked. For the dye I used my cake decorating tints, which I've decided not to use for eating anymore. 1 cup of boiling water, 1 tsp vinegar and a spoonful of tint. Fabulous colors, though it looks a little like toxic waste. All the more reason to not eat it.

And there they are decorating the table. Can you see the frogs on the dish? That is a wedding present from my grandmother's boyfriend. I don't really love it but can't bring myself to get rid of it. Just after Clarabel was born I was ruthless with gifts that we didn't love only a few things survived the purge.

If you look really closely you can see that the Easter bunny stopped by before I took the picture.

Fair Dinkum

The month has gotten away from me. The whole budgeting plan, over. Did not happen. Mostly because I was away and when I got home I had no interest in the pile of receipts Ken and I had saved up. But also because I realized that spending less money this month just means I will spend more next month. Not buying diapers on sale this month means I will have to pay full price next month, ya see?

Anyhoos I have accepted that my March goal is a bust and I am moving on.

I am reading a book, Bitter Chocolate: Investigating the Dark Side of the World's Most Seductive Sweet by Carol Off. It is a huge eye opener. Did you know that chocolate is harvested by slaves, children slaves? Beaten and starved slaves. Cadbury's, Hershey's, Nestle, all the big names, they are in on it. It's dreadful. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys chocolate. I'll be giving it to my dad!!

I am not totally naive in the ways of the world but I try not to think about nasty things like child trafficking, corporate corruption and greed. I am taking up a new cause, fair trade. I am going to do more research on where I am spending my money. Instead of paying the lowest price, we are going to start paying a fair price. It will likely be a gradual process.

Our Easter bunny didn't get the memo in time and will be bringing slave chocolate for our egg hunt. Next time...

FYI- organic fair trade chocolate available at cocoacamino. They have bars, cocoa, chips, hot drink mixes. I am sure they are lots more sources.

Country roads brought us home

While at my parents for the March break we had an incredible storm. There was already a lot of snow, this storm was snow madness! It was what Clarabel and Ken call 'Purple Snow' named because on the Environment Canada radar purple indicates the highest snowfall per hour. We had purple snow all night!!

The bird feeder

The squirrels can just walk right on up like it's a buffet because the snow is so high up the pole. We spent a lot of time banging on the window trying to scare them. Mostly they just gave us the evil eye and went on stuffing their faces.
Behind is the tennis court, the posts of the net are long buried and so is the short fence.

The pool and pool house

There is no sign of the pool. The snow is 3/4 of the way up the door and to the window boxes.

The front door

Clarabel and Laila enjoy watching out the windows at the front door. After this storm they had to go to the second floor to see out.

Christmas tree on the back deck

In past years my father has been known to shovel snow up onto the trees, so they are pretty and Christmasy. Not really required at present. He also has trees in the driveway at the lampposts but they are totally buried from the snowplow. Clarabel and I tobogganed over them.

There is so much snow on the roof that leaks are starting in the house as the snow melts. It is a bit of a disaster actually. The house is on the market and it's a bit tricky to show a house with water pouring down the walls.

March 14th my father said he didn't want anymore snow. This was shocking news to the whole family, after years of fretting and panic over lack of snowfall and melting rates we didn't believe we would ever here him call uncle to the white stuff.

We had a great visit. Shopped and ate and played and ate. Did very little knitting. Did lots of scrapbooking, I really like scrapbooking.

To celebrate an early Easter we went to the Sucrerie. Ate until we couldn't move, best roast potatoes I have ever tasted, danced and had a little tire.

Tire sur le neige is maple syrup boiled to thicken and poured on the snow, you use a popsicle stick to roll it up. I believe it is the very best of Quebec. That's my mom limping up for her tire. Shockingly Clarabel didn't want any part of it?!?

Happy Marching

I am pleased to report that I am on the mend. I started taking some meds and they are kicking in and doing their magic. It was a long haul of sick bringing me down and my apologies for bellyaching about it!

So moving on to my new monthly goal.
To recap my monthly goals- January was housekeeping and February to make a quilt. My housekeeping is still a priority though took a bit of a back seat the last few weeks b/c of the sick. My quilt is not totally finished but I am really pleased with my progress and looking forward to finishing it up.

March. I've thought a lot about March and here is what I have come up with, March is budget month. We are keeping a tally of every penny we spend and there will be much cost comparison. The goal is to determine where we can shave off some dollars and to develop a savings plan. We have savings already for retirement and education but nothing for things like clothes or home furnishing. It's getting a bit desperate in those departments! We spend a insane amount on groceries and it will be the most studied.

This idea comes from Mother of Chaos, (I'm not the only one getting ideas from someone else's blog right?) she's working towards a year of living below their means. I loved the idea but wasn't sure I could handle a whole year. The plan is to start small. I was also introduced to The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn, a wealth of ideas for scrimping and saving. Some of the ideas are totally outrageous but lots are very practical and just require a little elbow grease.

As I make my way through this text of home economics I've been pleased to discover that I am, in fact, thriftier than I thought. So I thought to kick off my month of fiscal responsibility I'd encourage a little sharing.

What are you doing to say a few pennies??
I'll start, 'K.

Almost all of the books we read are from the library or borrowed from friends
I make bread
I rip bounce sheets in 2, only using 1/2 a sheet per dryer load
Pizza night is always a homemade pizza, with homemade dough
We use compact fluorescent lightbulbs, and turn lights off when not using them, which is reaaally hard for me
Buy some of the kids clothes at the second hand shop, especially stuff to play outside
Most of our bills are paid online, saving the postage to mail in a cheque
Buy in bulk when I find a good sale, I also shop at bulk food stores
We bake all our muffins and cookies and but very little prepared foods

Anyone else want to play?

I swear I passed algebra and calculus and geometry...

Again the great mathematical beast has thwarted my best efforts. When I last posted my 'sampler' quilt, I was going to adjust my squares so they would be the same size. The pinwheel square was too small.
And now...

FYI- 3 + 6 + 3 does NOT equal 9.


So I trimmed, though of course not evenly. Whatever!!!

Did I mention that I haven't been feeling well and my patience for accuracy is mostly non-existent? And it is really just a trial quilt so it is all about learning.

I also finished the quilt top for Laila's quilt.

It wasn't really all that much work. Again much room for improvement.

Clarabel tested is out. Quilt tops are also good for twirling.

My local fabric store is having a big sale this week so I am going to pick up the batting and backing. Though they will sit in my cupboard for a bit, I'm taking a quilting break. We are leaving for my parents for almost 2 weeks and I am only bringing my Kauni. and my scrapbooking. and a few books I got from the library...

Go and see what my great friend Mandi sewed up for me. Thanks Mandi!!