Inadequate Materials

Staycation is over. Bring on the long weekend! We had a fun time vacationing at home this year. It's not the same as going away, but it definitely has its perks. Not dealing with overstimulated kids in a hotel room every night is one of them! The pictures: A marshmallow roast and camping out for Firstborn and the Captain, some fun with tie-dyeing, and a little fiddling around on my sewing machine so my Harry Potter nut could have his own Hogwarts robes. Various lunches in various locales. Taking the kids out to eat is so much less stressful than it used to be, and around here we can enjoy a scenic trip home down a back road. Firstborn won that disguise at the arcade in Booming Metropolis (scroll down for details) and insisted on wearing it for the rest of the day. We got some funny looks at the mall. Luckily we're very, very used to getting funny looks everywhere we go. We have reptile gardens nearby and decided to check them out. The kids had a great t...

Once upon a time when wrinkles and grey hair were things I associated with the elderly, I looked across a college classroom and saw this guy: He was quiet and grouchy-looking and I kind of got the impression he didn't like me because he never smiled. But he was cute and he smoked cigarettes and wore flannel shirts and coats that looked like they belonged to someone's grandpa. Who wouldn't want to be invited to that party?! Some 17 years later, he's off the cigarettes, but still as grouchy as ever. And today he turns 40. Happy Birthday, Captain! You're still the party I want an invite to! Just please, this time, wear a new shirt.

Well, our staycation is already more than halfway over. Here are a few shots to bring you up to speed: We kicked off the holiday by painting some of our older, more filthy unwearable shirts. Firstborn decided it was time his imaginary band  Days of Destruction had a concert t-shirt. I chose to highlight my British roots (please forgive my unbelievably dishevelled appearance. We had such a heatwave happening at the time, it's actually lucky you're not looking at a melted puddle with a Union Jack on top.), and RB just wanted to get his hands dirty. The kids had so much fun, we ended up also tie-dying some new shirts later in the staycation. But that's a whole other post. We have a very small splash park on the base and we took the kids there last Sunday morning. They had the entire thing to themselves, but their favourite part of the entire experience was, of course, eating snacks on the bench after they were done. So we can probably just save ourselves the drive n...

This business of having to come downstairs to access the computer is taking some getting used to. I know logically I should've given you an update on my cake and the town fair in general before posting again. But I think we all know that logic isn't really what drives me. The town fair was a smash, as always. And my cake won first prize! Here's a shot again, in case you missed the excitement the first time around: I also entered these: The toy came first, the necklace third. I entered muffins (I ate those before thinking to take a photo. They looked like muffins. Use your imagination.). They came third and won me a tub of honey. It would be important to note at this point--before you get too impressed with my seemingly unending ability to win, win, win--that this is a rather small town fair. There were, on average, three entries per category. So coming third really isn't as impressive as it might seem. But I take my wins where I can get them! More importantly,...

For the first time in nearly 38 years, I've had my first visit to the emergency room! Actually, that's not quite true. I've taken my kids one time each, and the Captain has had a few trips since we've known each other. But taking myself there was a new one. I was slicing bread, preparing for a busy day and managed to somehow slice, with quite a bit of force, into my wedding ring finger. I knew immediately it was going to need medical attention. Going to a rural emergency room is so different from going to a city one. I was in an out in 20 minutes and I had 2 nurses and a doctor hovering over my pathetic little cut finger. The doc actually decided not to stitch because the whole thing was awkwardly placed, would leave a nastier scar, and the anatomy of the injury made it possible for the skin to be put back in the right place and taped back together, so they put a tight, bulky dressing on instead. Here's what that looked like (sorry for the poor picture quality...

Happy Canada Day! And to those of you Stateside, a happy 4th of July weekend! I've been busy, and this is why: Our town fair is today and I decided this year to up the ante. Usually, I enter a piece of jewellery and a knitted toy. This time around, I took a serious risk and entered a decorated cake and some muffins. Anyone with two hairy dogs, a cat, and a toddler who enjoys grabbing fistfuls of anything within his reach will know why this was a stressful undertaking. If one of the judges takes a bite of muffin and finds a cat hair in it, I will simply die. But back to the cake. It is our local fair's 125th anniversary this year, hence the farm animals and very prominent "125". I made homemade marshmallow fondant to decorate it (it was on my cooking bucket list, and now I can check it off), and in total it probably took about 8 hours. As you can tell, I am no professional, and I let the fondant sit for too long before rolling it out to cover the cake, so things...