miss mouse

Valentine's day...

2012-02-18T18:03:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I've been busy!!! So this belated valentine's blog is here! I've never been a big fan of valentine's day, mainly because the idea of getting flowers from your love because he's suppose to means very little, but now with the kids, it's different. It's Love's birthday!!! So I decorated the house and made brownies and had a love themed dinner!!! It was a good time to remind each other how much we love each other and how lucky we are to have each other...

Our weekend...

2012-02-12T13:38:00.000-08:00

I have to say, it was a dream weekend!!! Saturday night my sister came over with Emilie, her 9 year old daughter (Kassandra's favorite cousin!!!) to babysit the kids while Jason and I went on a date!! A real date with dinner and wine and all... It was the first time in a very long time that we had real quality time as a couple... My sexy man and me, nice food, nice wine and hours of chatting! It felt like I had not seen him in so long, it really is easy to take everything for granted and get lost in the routine of everyday life with the kids... after we even went to a pier in Hudson and made out!!!A real date...

This morning, Ollie decided to sleep until 7 (Hallelujah!!!) and so we all woke up and had a yummy breakfast, went for a walk outside and then played board games and ate popcorn!!! glorious weekend indeed!!!

beautiful winter days!!!

2012-02-08T10:52:00.000-08:00

Beautiful, busy winter days... A few pictures to share with you...

Busy at Miss Bee!!!

2012-02-04T05:18:00.000-08:00

There is Lot's going on at the Miss Bee sewing lounge hence my lack of blogging lately! There is plenty of nice projects made by everyone, and a new stash of fabric that just came in!!!

This bag was made from funky fabric purchased by my friend Annie and a basic denim that is sold here! We are organizing a Tricot-thé on Saturday February 18 from 11 to 4! Can't wait!!! Have a good weekend!

Second hand finds...

2012-01-30T18:55:00.000-08:00

I've had a lot of nice little gifts lately, one of which was from my mother, on her last trip to the salvation army, she got me these lovely tin bowls!! I love them!! I have this thing for tin dishes (I am actually obsessed with them and cannot resist buying them!)They are the perfect size and perfect for eating my favorite seasonal treat!!! Merci Maman!!!

Our weekend...

2012-01-29T17:58:00.000-08:00

Well, last Friday we had some bad weather, ice rain then very cold and snow on top of that...

So, I decided it was the perfect time to try the recipes from my new book; Artisan bread, 5 minutes a day. IT ROCKED!!! I can finally say, at long last, I made good bread!

I was so happy, and all of that before we lost electricity!!!! My friend Annie was coming for dinner and I had prepared vegetarian chili in the slow cooker that cooked a big 4 hours before the power went out! Fortunately I have a gas stove so I managed to finished it off the faster way!! I love it when the power goes out, it's so cozy!!!

Hope you had a good weekend!!!!

This Moment...

2012-01-27T03:59:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual.

Someone found Maman's paint brushes!!!

These cold days...

2012-01-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

We've had a lot of beautiful sunny days lately in this part of the world, but in January, nice sunny days usually mean very cold days.So, we've enjoyed staying inside and relaxing, a little boy watching Sesame street DVDs, a 9 year old girl painting her toe nails you know, the important stuff!!! And for Maman and Daddy, lots of Rummy!!!

My friend Judy is about to have her baby and the girls organized her a baby shower, where she received these amazing little birds knitted by Mama urbana!

And I am getting ready for valentines day, yes I know, I am early but I need a bit of color in this white January!!! Have a good week!!!

This Moment...

2012-01-20T04:02:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual.

Our weekend...

2012-01-10T14:29:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, the weather was lovely so we decided to go for a walk at "la tourbiere" in St-Lazare, the town next to ours. It was the first time we went there, it took 5 minutes to drive there and what a treat!!! It was so lovely and on a Sunday, we were the only ones there!!! I always enjoy our family walks but there is something about walking in winter; everything is so quiet...

hope you had a nice weekend!!!!

Welcoming the new year!!! (part two)

2012-01-08T14:43:00.000-08:00

Ok! So this is our new year project! every month, (or every couple of months depending on our productivity) my friend Annie and I are doing a different knitting project and blogging about it. We encourage all of you knitters out there to join us and that way we can help each other along the way!!! This month's project is the owlet sweater from Kate Davies. this pattern, you have to buy it but some months we'll have free patterns. I guess we just couldn't help ourselves, the owls are just so cute and the pattern has a grid and i needed to learn how to do that so it's the perfect opportunity!!! I have to say, I am not in love with my yarn, I had to chose according to budget instead of love at first sight... It's soft and the color is nice but I'm not in love with it... Anyways, Annie's is absolutely lovely and purple (the joys of having a girl and a bigger budget I guess!!!) check it out here. Last Friday, we went to the city to get our double pointed needles to start our sleeves and we stopped by Santropol for a bowl of soup and tea! What a lovely day we had, just knitting and chatting!!! She has an application on her phone that counts her rows!!! pretty neat!!!

Well, I'll keep you updated on the progress and in the mean time, I'd love to see what you are creating!!! have a good week!!!

This Moment...

2012-01-06T04:26:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual.

Welcoming the new year!!! (part one)

2012-01-05T09:11:00.000-08:00

As we do every year, we welcome the new year with a huge family get together. There is lot's of food, lots of kids and... lots of wine!!!

We are still recovering!!!

Tomorrow I will share my new project with you, Welcoming the new year part two!!!

Happy new year to all of you!

In the kitchen...

2011-12-31T06:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I spent the day in the kitchen with my sister! It's one of the things we love doing together so whenever we get a chance, we sit and look at recipes, we go grocery shopping and then, we make a feast!!!

My sister got a kitchenaid mixer for Christmas so we knew we had to include dough in the meal planning, oh and now I am jealous!!! I want one of those things!!!

We decided to have a special demands meal; my brother in law wanted a salmon pie, Thomas, my godson wanted brownies, I wanted a salad and my sister craved winter vegetable soup.

All that and a glass of wine!!! lovely day indeed...

Ah, the holidays!!!

2011-12-28T17:57:00.000-08:00

There is lots to be grateful this holiday season!

First, we got snow! And lots of it!!! It made the driving around so much prettier!

We have uncles who play silly games,

lovely piano tunes, great food, lots of presents under the tree (which make little girls very impatient!!!)

Cousins who love each other, handmade knits, toys that need building and flowers for Maman!!! Did I mention we got snow??!!! I love the holidays!!!

I have a new craft project for the new year that I am preparing with my friend Annie and I can't wait to share it with you!!! have a good week!!!

Merry christmas!!!

2011-12-25T13:38:00.000-08:00

From our family to yours have a very merry christmas!!!

This Moment...

2011-12-23T04:27:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual.

Our view as we woke up this morning!!!

200th post!!!

2011-12-21T09:58:00.000-08:00

So it's the 200th post that I write on this blog, this lovely place where I share with you parts of my life and I am so grateful, so grateful to have you as readers. I am grateful that We live in a place and time where we can just click a button and share our lives with the world. You and I create this wonderful online community and What it brings me each end every day, well, I don't have words for it.

So I thank you, and now I must get back to my Christmas preparations!!!

What are you preparing??

This Moment...

2011-12-16T04:08:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual.

Our weekend...

2011-12-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

As you can see, my post about our weekend is a day late, as I've had to recover from it!!! It's two weeks before Christmas and while Jason and I are making most of our gifts, inevitably, some presents have to be purchased from big stores. We teach our children that home made things have more value than commercially made "stuff" but at the end of the day, when you are 9 and you want Lego's, well, nothing else is quite the same.

So last weekend, as my step daughter was at her mother's house, we took Ollie, too young to figure out what was going on and did the trip to toys R us... I still get dizzy thinking about it!!!!

First, there is about 200 Lego product, an entire aisle devoted to the brand and half the parents of the Island of Montreal seemed to be in there! Then there was the various discounts applicable if you purchase multiple Lego's but only of certain categories! (I still don't understand that one!) Then there was all the stuff that Ollie grabbed from the aisle as we were trying to figure which toys qualified for the discount. then there was the price hunt; the prices aren't on the boxes as most of that stuff is gifts but the prices are rarely on the shelves below your toy. Waiting in line for the little scanning machine, waiting in line at the cash, dealing with a 16year old cashier who clearly doesn't take her job to heart and all that for about 175$.

My man, who is a shopaphobic, swears he'll never go shopping again, and to be honest, I think it will take me a little while to go back to!!!

Then I take comfort in the fact that most of my gifts are made in the comfort of my own home, and I feel bad for people who have to do 5 stores like that to get all the gifts on their list...

We spent the rest of the weekend playing outside in the snow!!! It was Ollie's first time and I think he liked it more than toys r us!!!

Hope your Holiday gift planning is not to hectic!!! Have a good week!!

I am Grateful!

2011-12-10T07:36:00.000-08:00

I am grateful...

For enjoying cooking, since I have to do it at least twice a day, seven days a week!

For an amazing risotto recipe that I just love!

For pine nuts in my salad!!

For my dad to come and spend a lot of time with us.

For my son that loves my cooking!

For a little glass of wine!

For the chance to share all of it with you!

This Moment...

2011-12-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual.

facebook page for the sewing lounge!!

2011-12-07T12:10:00.000-08:00

So I started a facebook page for the sewing lounge, And I am having a giveaway!!!

Click on LIKE and I will choose a winner on Christmas morning!!!

Good luck!!!

Our weekend...

2011-12-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

The weather this weekend was lovely! Perfect for getting a Christmas tree!!! We found some lovely treasures in our woods and after a long walk, we came in, daddy made a fire, we put some Christmas carols and decorated the tree!!! It's the biggest tree we've ever gotten so after decorating it, we realized that we don't have a lot of ornaments so there is only one solution to that; Craft time!!! Kassandra decided to paint little left over hard wood flooring (with all the glitter on there, you can hardly tell!!!) I on the other hand found it was a good excuse to knit!!! I found a good project in This book. Ahh... I love weekends! Hope yours was good too!!! have a good week!

This Moment...

2011-12-02T03:43:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual.

Advent calendars!!!

2011-12-01T11:04:00.000-08:00

Ah, people, I have been a good little elf!!! I have been working really hard to make this happen, with sleepless nights, sick Mamans and babies and all this birthday activity. My friend Annie and I started months ago but it just took so long!!! Check hers out, it's really pretty!!! I had my doubts but this morning, they were finished, filled with little surprises and ready to make little children very excited!!!

Happy December!!!

A present for my little man...

2011-11-30T07:12:00.000-08:00

My son's first words were not maman or daddy, my son's first words were "vroom vroom".

What can I say, he's a car guy! he loves his little cars and I have to say I aim to please! So for his birthday, I made him a portable road and garage! he can fit 8 cars and it folds so we can take it with us wherever we go!!! Complete with a forest, an ocean and a field with sheep!!! I think I had as much fun making it as he does playing with it!!!

Our weekend...

2011-11-28T17:02:00.000-08:00

Well it was the weekend of the birthdays! Ollie's on Friday and mine on Sunday, so we had a little party!!! I've mentioned before how I love entertaining!!! It was quite a task to decorate this lovely unfinished house of ours but there is nothing like a few fabric banners and a few balloons to make it look like a party!!!

A special zucchini chocolate cupcake for the special boy!!!

some popcorn!!!

Little sandwiches,

More of those cupcakes, with the last of our garden's kumquats!!

Little burgers!!! (I made the buns from that pumpkin knot recipe!!!)

caramel filled doughnut holes...

Not too impressed with the candle...

mmm... good chocolate zucchini cupcake!!!

We got lots of presents but that is for another post!!!

Have a good week!!!

This Moment... one year ago...

2011-11-25T03:29:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual.

A year ago today, my beautiful boy was born.

A year ago...

time flies... Thank you Ollie for teaching me true love.

White bliss!!!

2011-11-23T14:37:00.000-08:00

This morning we woke up and everything was white!!! I have to say I get as excited as the kids on the first snow!!!

We went for a nice walk...

The dogs enjoyed it!!!

I guess that's it for camping for this year!!!!

Our weekend...

2011-11-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

After spending a few weekends doing "necessary" things to prepare for winter, and by necessary I mean Boring for the kids, We decided to have a little family time.

There was a lot of baking, a lot of pumpkin puree, a lovely walk and then we had a lovely family craft activity, which is Kassandra's favorite because she gets to see daddy paint, and every time he makes us laugh with his ideas!!! We made Christmas ornaments, Jason painted a Santa with a hammer and on the back he painted his sleigh with a trailer attached to it that reads "S.C. Renos". It gave us a good laugh!!!

It was also Ollie's first year making an ornament, so I painted his blue and then dipped his hand in green and made a print. An artist already!!!!

We also took our Christmas card photos but I won't reveal that just yet, you'll have to wait Christmas morning for that one!!! Have a good week!!!

speechless...

2011-11-17T14:13:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, my friend piper wrote me an e-mail asking if she could buy some felted birds that I had made that she had seen on my blog. Piper is a very talented visual artist, she makes little collage illustrations that are to die for. I quickly saw the opportunity for a trade which is far more exciting to me than any amount of money, plus I find it hard to charge people for my crafts, let alone my friends. So we decided on a trade: three small felted birds for a small illustration. Today I went to my mailbox and I had a parcel. It's always exciting to get a parcel and I suspected it was from her so I quickly ran home and opened it. The first thing I saw was my little Ollie's face, his sweet smiling face wearing a funny crown and a stripy pyjama! I giggled out loud as I sat on my front steps and continued to unwrap the painting.

Then, I saw it... My beautiful baby boy was sitting on Booba, our beloved beagle who died last February...

Then, sitting there, alone I wept...

My darling Piper, you have moved me in ways I cannot explain...

Your talent, imagination and sensitivity is out of this world...

Thank you.

You can find Piper's extraordinary work here.

Almost ready!!!

2011-11-16T17:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know that lately I've been blogging about how wonderful my man is, but here's another one!!! Yesterday, I came home after running errands and He had installed the fabric shelves that he made for the sewing lounge!!! Is that not beautiful??? What an incredibly talented man!!! All I wanted was some shelves to display the fabric and THIS is what I got!!! Amazing...

The sewing lounge is almost ready, bits and pieces and we'll be open for business!!! YAY!!!

little weekend art project...

2011-11-14T05:22:00.000-08:00

Last week, we had a bit of a crises. It seems that with 9 year old girls, there is often a crises!!! I guess that's the way it is and I am just grateful that the youngest is a very laid back boy and is 8 years younger, because I don't think I could handle more drama!!!

That being said, there was something about a boy in school and a stolen notebook and a lot of tears. After talking about it and having a little lesson on the fact that you can't control what people do, Jason had the Idea of making a necklace with letters representing the people that are nice in her life and who love her.

So in the middle of 3 jobs, putting up house siding and building a sewing lounge, Jason, (you've got to love him) got some wood and tools out and made her a lovely necklace that she carefully painted with each our favorite colors!!

Nothing like a little art project to make you feel better!!!

Have a good week...

Parcel of joy!!!

2011-11-10T10:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, amidst the seasonal illnesses, UPS knocked on my door and brought joy to my heart!!! The new fabric for the Miss Bee sewing lounge!!! Ahh, what beautiful fabrics! I have to say the sales man showed me about 500 and more samples and with the budget I had to start, had to choose 15! Probably one of the most difficult tasks ever! Not only to choose which ones I like personally but which ones represent the shop!! But as my selection arrived, My choices where confirmed. I love them! and I am sure you will too!!!!

They will be available on my Etsy store as of tomorrow!

maman blues...

2011-11-08T06:44:00.000-08:00

This blog was created a few years ago with the first purpose of being able to "put stuff out there" without filtering. A sort of honest journal of my everyday.

I have a good life, I work hard at it and I have also been very fortunate but like everyone, some days I get caught up in all the stuff of life. Lately with my maternity leave being officially over, (meaning one less income), Ollie started daycare a few afternoons a week so I can work on starting the sewing lounge which will ultimately mean I can stay at home with him so it's something difficult for something better. But it's still very hard...

Then there is the pressure of doing well in a new business, Jason has put so much hard work on building a perfect space for me to teach, I don't want to let him down.

This morning after I spent an hour cleaning up after everyone, I sat down in front of my computer to write a post but all that comes out is frustration. I feel like a maid because no one else cleans up or picks up anything and I feel like I can't complain because well, it's my job right now. I feel like a bad mother because I send my son to daycare, I feel like all I want to do is curl up in bed with my tea and knitting and rest because I've been sick pretty much since I've given birth a year ago and so I am exhausted.

All that mixed with a lack of sunshine and perhaps a little bit of PMS...

So this morning after trying to put my son to sleep for his nap and failing, I sat there on his little play mat and as he smiled at me, I cried... sometimes that exactly what you need.

And then, I hugged him and kissed him and remembered life is good...

This Moment...

2011-11-04T03:16:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual. A few photos - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

visiting friends...

2011-11-03T06:08:00.000-07:00

A little while ago, Ollie and I went to Mont-st-Hilaire to visit some friends. My friend Carl who is a high school friend, his two lovely daughters and his wife Camille who is expecting another little girl any day now!!! It was so nice to go on a day trip and visit their lovely home, Camille even made lasagna and salad at my request! (she makes a killer slow cooked lasagna!!!)

We met friendly dogs at the park and Carl taught Ollie about fish in an aquarium! He was very impressed!!!

A lovely day with lovely friends!!!

Halloween...

2011-10-31T17:26:00.000-07:00

It was my little blue monster's first Halloween and he had a great time!!!

Our weekend...

2011-10-31T04:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend, even though the sniffles were with us, we had lovely weather and a friend's tractor so we decided to do some last minute yard work, before winter arrives.

Of course, daddy's boy went for a ride on the tractor!

The land is slanted so from the first step in front to the bottom of the garage, there is about two feet difference so we decided to build a "rocaille" where next spring, I will plant bushes and flowers!!

It's going to look amazing but also it covers the foundations so it protects it from harsh cold weather. It was hard work but so worth it, it looks great! Ollie and I went around the yard with his wagon and found some nice flat rocks for daddy to stack. My sister in law put in some hard work as usual, evening the dirt on top and stacking about a million bricks in the back for the back deck we'll do next year. That woman is one of the hardest working woman I know and She's happy just to get dinner in return! It must run in the family!!!

We also winterized the Airstream and dug wholes near the road for the Miss Bee sign so now, we are officially ready for winter!

This Moment...

2011-10-28T04:28:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual. A few photos - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

These days...

2011-10-26T05:09:00.000-07:00

These days are filled with little projects... Which is why I have not blogged since last Friday!!

My dad is visiting and spending the week with us, (I love those weeks, I wish he could move in with us and make it permanent...)

I recently discovered a blog I LOVE! Green and Granola, Discovered through the sharing of friday's This moment. On her blog, she shares recipes everyone more appealing than the next! so last week I tried her lasagna, it was amazing and yesterday, I could not resist the little pumpkin knots! They are amazing, so moist. Ahh how I love discovering new blogs!!!

There was a lot of knitting done this weekend (photos to come) and I am happy to report, that thanks to a few days without rain, the front of our house now has siding!!!! YAY!!! I can picture my flower boxes already!!!

Oh and that footwear? yeah Jason commented on that... That is just the weekend!!!

What projects are you working on??

This Moment...

2011-10-21T02:05:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual. A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

A little care package...

2011-10-19T05:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I can finally post these pictures of the little handbag I made for my friend Piper's daughter!

She mentioned a few weeks ago that her daughter loved purses (what little girl does not like purses!!) and so I could not resist!!! After all I have a little boy, there are things I will never get to do, so I spoil the other little girls in my life!!!

Rainy autumn day, how I love you...

2011-10-18T05:47:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned this before, this is by far my favorite season! Spending the day inside, finishing up Halloween costumes, cozying up to a warm fire with a cup of tea and a cranberry lemon muffin... ahhh... Bliss...

What brings you bliss lately?

Our weekend...

2011-10-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

Well, we had our work cut out for us this weekend, over 300 square feet of pine floor to put down. over 300 square feet of pine to cut, sand, install and stain! I have to say, I love learning new things! I now know how to install a floor! And I have alot of respect for my man; this morning I was in so much pain!!! We also installed the slate for the entrance of the shop. (Don't you just love slate??) It's very exciting to see the space shape up, pretty soon there will be action in here!! I can't wait!!

It looks really good but the stain smelled so bad, we ended up sleeping in the camping trailer!!!

Hey nothing like an impromptu camping adventure!!!

This Moment...

2011-10-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual. A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

A little tease!!!

2011-10-12T05:15:00.000-07:00

Well friends, as I promised, here is a little tease of the new sewing lounge which is opening in (yikes!) 20 days!!!

The color on the wall is my favorite color of all!!!

In french we call it Chartreuse and it just screams creativity to me!

I've painted so many rooms in the house different nuances of green, when Jason asked what color downstairs was going to be, I answered "chartreuse" and baby blue. I came home Monday night and he said as he was covered with paint: "It's green Annie!"

Hi! Hi! It pays to speak different languages!!! Well, it's where I'll be teaching for years to come so the sewing lounge had to be green!!!

A little knitting!!!

2011-10-11T06:19:00.000-07:00

Ah! those pants!!! When I was pregnant with Ollie, I made him some baby alpaca pants and they kept him warm all winter long. They still fit, but barely, so a month ago I decided to embark on a new pair of pants. I say embark because I am not a fast knitter so unless I knit a hat, it seems to take for ever. Unlike my friend Annie who knit this out of the kindness of her heart, I, am very selfish when it comes to knitting. I am almost done, just have to finish the waist and they'll fit him for another year for sure!

I used Biscotte's Nimbus, it's 60% merino, 20% alpaca and 20% silk. It's amazing!

Bellow is the yarn I chose for Ollie's new sweater...

And this is my new hat! I loved the other one but i accidentally put it in the wash so I made a new one, big enough to fit my ponytail because that seems to be the way it is these days!!! I used Spuds and chloe's outer in bayou color (I love how soft this yarn is) and whatever else I could find in my yarn basket!!!

Have a good day, I'll be back tomorrow with a tease of the sewing lounge!

Our weekend...

2011-10-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, if you live anywhere near us, you know what kind of weather we've had this weekend!!! PERFECT!!! Saturday morning we packed the truck, took the ferry and headed off to the cottage to hang out with family and rake leaves.

Boy did we have fun!!!

It seems like everywhere You looked, it was a perfect picture! I took a few hours to myself while my sister took over Maman duties and went snooping at the local flea market by myself! anyone who has a baby knows how precious a few hours away can be... I walked as the warm breeze gently blew my hair, I swear, that all I needed in life! I came back refreshed and ready to take on the world.

I planted my garlic bulbs with my faithful helper!!!

And then cooked up a feast!!!Garlic pork chops, corn on the cob, steamed bok choy, garlic smashed potatoes, baby spinach salad and lemon and cranberry muffins!!! (which hum! hum! I did not even taste, my sister took them home!!!)

It was a lovely weekend indeed! Oh and I did a lot of knitting but I am saving that for next time!!!

Have a good week!!!!

This Moment...

2011-10-07T04:19:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual. A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

How I love Autumn...

2011-10-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

Loving:

Picking ingredients for tonight's recipe directly from the garden...

All the pumpkin that's available!!! (next year I'll grow my own!)

All those pumpkin meals!!

The pomegranates and the ground cherries!

Morning Knitting with my orange juice and my paper....

My friend Andrea's pumpkin spice loaf recipe...

What are you loving right now???

Our weekend...

2011-10-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

In honour of our 3rd anniversary and because we believe in a little maman-daddy time away, Jason and I decided to go camping for the weekend! We took the kids and the dogs to my sisters and then drove 20 minutes west to Voyageur provincial park!! Yes twenty minutes!! We really just wanted to get away, and a provincial park is just what we needed!

Many years ago when I was a single city girl, I used to dream of meeting a man that would want to do things like this with me, and Jason is just that man!!! This was the perfect weekend; I sat around the fire with my mug of wine, we made a lovely meal on the fire; squash, Brussels sprouts, wild salmon for me, sausages for the man and garden tomatoes!!! Amazing!!! We sat outside until the sun went down, watched the geese fly south and then went in our Airstream and played Rumy, listening to jazz on CBC radio! BLISS!!!

I have to say, I liked cooking on the fire so much, I asked Jason to build me a little grill in our backyard for next summer!

This Moment...

2011-09-30T04:51:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual. A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Three years ago...

2011-09-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

Three years ago today I went on a blind date... A date like so many before, I thought to my self, at least I'm going out and doing something...

Little did I know I was about to meet THE man.

I am thankful every day for the life we build together...I love you my darling.

Our weekend...

2011-09-26T06:54:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I was supposed to go to a baby shower for my friend Camille but I had been sick all week with a cold and even though I felt alot better I was still stuck with this cough, you know the one where you cough for five minutes non-stop like your lungs are about to come out and people around you look at you like you are dying? Lovely...

Well I was not about to go and pass that around, specially to a very pregnant maman-to-be who has only a week of work left...

So, to my chagrin, I stayed at home. After walking around my garden, I saw that some of my surprise squash was ready! (you know, the one I never planted!!!) So I decided to bake. I made salmon pie again, I came up with that recipe a few weeks back and I am very impressed, mostly because I usually follow recipes but this time, I improvised and it is FABULOUS!!!

So, I decided to share it with you!!!

Annie's Paté au saumon

1/4 cup white wine

1/2 large butternut squash (oven roasted for 1 hour)

2 med. potatoes diced

1 red pepper diced

corn from one cob

1 leek sliced

1/2 onion diced

4 tbsp butter

1 tbsp fresh or dried dill

1/4 cup flour

1 3/4 cup milk

450g salmon ( I either use salmon baked in foil in oven

or 3x150g cans of skinless, boneless salmon)

Filling:

Cook onions and leek in butter until soft. Add potatoes, peppers,corn and white wine and cook on medium heat until potatoes are tender. add flour, dill and mix well into vegetables. add milk and bring to a boil or until it thickens. turn off heat. Add squash (already cooked) and salmon and stir.

Pie crust:

1 pound cold butter cut into cubes

6 cups flour

1 1/4 cup cold water

pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients into a large ball is formed and flatten into desired shape with rolling pin.

When you are done your pie, bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

The dough recipe makes about 3 pies so you can freeze the rest. I made "pets de soeurs". These sweet treats put a smile on everyone's face!!!

My friend Annie shared with me a recipe for apple cookies that she's been working on, I'll try that this week! Can't wait!

Hope you had a good Autumn weekend!!!

This Moment...

2011-09-23T04:12:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual. A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Our weekend...

2011-09-19T05:51:00.000-07:00

There has been a little visitor named fall and it arrived quite suddenly! We love it and it's always welcomed but also comes with a lot of little tasks (and bigger ones, remember this?? yep, still not done...)

Since it got down to 4 degrees Celsius here last week, I've had to bring my precious hibiscus in, we've pulled out alot of stuff from the garden, my mother in law has been most helpful with her garden knowledge since this is our first garden.

I pulled out our tiny but so tasty red onions that I pickled using my sister in law's recipe (My marinade-loving man requested the pickled onions be in mustard sauce!!!) And all those tomatoes we've been getting, need I say that's all we ate this weekend?? And if you are from around here you know that super-market tomatoes are terrible! They are pasty and hard and ridiculously expensive not to mention genetically modified! So now that we are overflowing with ripe juicy heavenly FREE tomatoes, tomatoes are served three meals a day!!!

We've pulled out a ton of leeks which will end up as leek and potato soup!!!

There's been some emergency knitting of hats for little boys who grow constantly and for sleep deprived maman's who put their own hats in the washer and dryer! (argh!!!!)

There was a visit to the Oka orchard for some apple picking! (the boy loves his fruits!!!)

And of course, like most weekends, there's been some sitting around the fire, watching daddy work his magic!!!

This Moment...

2011-09-16T04:05:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual. A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

A little care package...

2011-09-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I was telling my friend Annie how the sewing lounge was coming along and I mentioned I needed something to display the baked goods I will sell every day. She said she had just the thing and after rummaging through her cupboards, she pulled out the most perfect piece!!!

In return I decided to bake a cake and bring her a piece but this morning, as I was preparing dinner, she called me to let me know she was on her way to the doctors because she was not feeling well...

So I went in the garden and pulled what was ready, some carrots, cherry tomatoes, a few green beans, swiss chard and some thyme. I made her a comforting soup and even added alphabet noodles for extra comfort!!!

I put a little music in the kitchen so my son could hang out with me and even had time to make my salmon pie for dinner!!! Yay for productive mornings!!!

Our weekend...

2011-09-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

The weather was amazing this weekend, just as I like it, still summer but less intense!!! We spent the weekend outside with family. My man got himself a vintage cooler! It's nice when he treats himself, it happens rarely... We had a garage sale, made a camp fire and picked goods from the garden while having a glass of wine!!! Bliss...

This Moment...

2011-09-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Amanda Soule's blog, A Friday ritual. A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Learning to be a parent...

2011-09-08T06:27:00.000-07:00

Monday night, we had a little drama, in the shape of a pre-teen girl who claims we never spend time with her, that her daddy never plays with her and that we love her baby brother more than her...

My man, who is a lot softer than I, came to bed very sad that his daughter felt that way. Me, being not so soft, felt it was a genuine feeling mixed with not wanting to go to bed and being denied a second bowl of ice cream minutes before going to bed.

As i explained my feelings to Jason, I felt a little harsh, and because The said pre-teen is my step daughter, I always ask myself; "how would I react if it was my son in that situation" It's hard because I was raised by a tough woman who I knew loved me but never let me get away with anything... so, I slept on it...

Tuesday morning, I woke up and came down stairs to this lovely girl eating breakfast in front of the television. (we don't have television but we have cartoons DVDs) A few weeks ago I had announced that a new rule was starting with the beginning of classes, no television in the morning. So I turned the TV off and asked that she join the family at the table for a family breakfast! This demand was of course met with great retaliation! but with my biggest smile and morning happiness, I said " we love you and we want to spend time with you so from now on, we will have lovely family breakfast as a loving family that we are!!! Jason, trying to avoid the conflict was already half way down the stairs to his garage, so I made him come back up and have breakfast with us!

Do I need to mention that I had breakfast that morning with the gloomiest faces and not a word was exchanged, except from Ollie who seemed very happy that everyone was sitting with him as he ate his fruits!!!!

I felt a bit like the army general and often wondered that day if I had made the right decision and if I was going to be hated for it. After all I can't go into a fight every morning.

Well my friends, let me tell you that today is Thursday and this morning, we all had breakfast together helping Kassandra do her crossword puzzle and after that, we had an hour to spare before school and nap time, we all sat in the family room, Kassandra playing guitar, Ollie and daddy playing piano and me telling them how we are going to form a family band!!!

Everyone was happy and I sit here knowing that I made the right move for my family... Sometimes tough love, a little time and a sense of humor is exactly what's needed...

Little treasures!!!

2011-09-06T07:20:00.000-07:00

I have this thing where I can't throw out certain objects... Glass jars, corks from a bottle of wine, the tails of pumpkins, the list goes on and on.

One of the things I seem to collect over and over, is chairs. especially old chairs. I love them. I love to fix them up and I don't mind that not one chair in my house matches...

Jason is a carpenter amongst other things, and he gets renovation contracts often where he rips apart kitchens and bathrooms in people's homes and builds new ones. Often part of that job is getting rid of these rather wealthy people's old furniture because they got new stuff and so he often comes home with things he thinks I would like. (He generally brings things he sort of likes too because once, as a joke, he brought home a GIANT fish mounted on a piece of wood just to see what my reaction would be, and it now hangs in our living room!!!)

I should take photos of all the stuff he's brought back, you'd be amazed!

One afternoon, he showed up with three garden chairs, of course, I loved them and they've been hanging out on our deck ever since. Last week my dad came to spend the week at our house and he sanded all three chairs and stained them dark brown. It gave them new life!

This is another beauty that was on it's way out, and after a good clean and a new seat (thank you again, wonderful carpenter man!!!) it's got tons of potential! I will cover the seat and it will live with us for many years!!

Have a good week!

Our home...

2011-09-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

One of our continuing goal in life is to be self sufficient. Everyday we make choices to get closer to that goal and most of the time i am happy and proud of what we do. I enjoy growing our own vegetables and building our own furniture and making our clothes but one of the less exciting parts of that lifestyle is the building the actual house.

When it came down to choosing the siding of our house, we chose pine because we like the natural look of it but unlike the last house, we decided to paint it ourselves and therefore save a few thousand dollars. Oh and the nails, yes the thousand nails that keep that wood on the house, you have to paint those individually as well!!!! Well, although I am still happy about this decision yesterday was yet another day that I had to paint the siding and the nails... It's a long tedious task that I do not enjoy, it makes me feel old and sore but we have to do it, and as Jason puts it up, it does look great!

hopefully before the winter it will be all done and by next summer i can finally concentrate on the fun stuff; landscaping!!!!

Being grateful...

2011-09-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

I am grateful for:

Lots of tomatoes everyday, and some surprise squash...

Piano lessons with my fantastic teacher Pierre, who allows me to learn at my own rhythm...

A pretty calm baby that allows me to practice my piano...

A grand papa who often spends the week with us and gives Maman a break...

A sister in law who has a lot of time off and who loves to do preserves...

A life that is pretty perfect and better than what I would have ever hoped for...

What are you grateful for???

Enjoying summer while it's here...

2011-08-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

These last few days, we've been soaking up summer because it seems it all went so fast and in just a few days, school is starting and fall is making it's way here...

My sister and her husband are teachers and so they start school a week before the kids so every year I babysit but this year, their friends could not find a sitter so they sent their three kids over! Eight kids running around, having fun. They ran around splashing water as Ollie and I sat in the shade and watched...

Is this not a beautiful sight??

Ahh, the freedom summer brings...

And, like every year, we have a tradition to camp out in our back yard! It's camping without the drive so daddy is happy!!!

Preparing for the cold season! French onion soup! mmmm, my favorite!

And, to keep with the camping theme, I made a sweet potato marshmallow pie!!!

Hope you are enjoying the last bits of summer...

made a

The garden...

2011-08-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

I grew up in the city so my earliest memories of gardening is observing old Italian women in my neighborhood tend to their tomato plants. These women had tiny back yards and they packed tons of plants in there and they had strings in all directions, tying all the branches on their fences.

Well now that my tomatoes are in full bloom, I'm doing the same! I tied strings on all sorts of posts that Jason installed so that the branches from my plants don't fall to the ground! The tomato plants are way to close together and the cherry tomatoes are all stuck in the middle which means everyday, when I pick them, I have to wedge my arm in there amongst the spiders and other critters...

The cabbages a coming along really well! I planted cabbages because I think they are real pretty but I have to find recipes before the winter because I don't actually know any other than cabbage soup!!!

Maybe I'll make sauerkraut!

When I read in my favorite book, The Garden Primer, the author explained how many zucchinis she had and that she eventually had to feed them to the compost! So I researched recipes to make zucchini muffins, Zucchini cake, zucchini frittata, Pickled zucchinis and other things. My first zucchini experience was disappointing, I think I got about five zucchinis from four plants, all summer...

Then there are the mystery squash at the other end of our back garden that I never planted, I'm so excited for those!!!

Something else that is really unexpected is how much Jason loves the garden. He suggests things for next year, he is the "master sprinkler" making sure it waters at exactly the right angle and the right amount! We spend a lot of time in there after dinner, just talking and having a glass of wine, it's like our little unwinding moment...

A few days away...

2011-08-11T06:07:00.000-07:00

These days, I feel very blessed; I am enjoying my last few months of maternity leave (yes i actually got a year and a half!) It is summer, weather is beautiful and my best friend has a month off work so last week, we packed the car with our two babies, our three dogs, her bike and some knitting and we headed off to the cottage. There, an hour away from everything, we relaxed, took time to observe how quickly our children grow (a year ago, she had a newborn and I was very pregnant!!!)and when they went to bed at night, we got a little knitting done! It was lovely and simple and made me realize that I am very lucky...

As Annie started a new knitting project for the Biscotte store, I remembered that we had an old yarn winder that probably belonged to my great grandmother and that we used to play with as children. As we went through the attic to find it, such memories came to me! That cottage is just magical!

One morning, we decided to head off to a farm about an hour and a half from the cottage, and although the drive was amazing, the farm itself was disappointing. But on the drive back we stopped at Morgan organic farm and that, was well worth the trip! The people were very friendly and let us walk around the whole land which was filled with beautiful healthy animals, amazing gardens and a cute little store where I bought organic goodies!!!

Ahh, how I enjoy these lazy summer days...

A little visit...

2011-07-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

This week, my sister and her kids came to visit us and we had a lovely time!

I took them to see my zebra, and after we stopped to get fresh eggs from a farm next to our house, and visited the chickens, the turkeys and the quails!

Notice how Mr. baby stands up here!!!

A lovely time indeed!!!!

I live in the coolest place on earth!!!

2011-07-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

OK, so yesterday as my friend Annie and I where driving in St-Lazare (the next town over) we saw the strangest sight...

Yes, a zebra... may I remind you that I live in Hudson, Canada???

It was there, grazing with his friends the horses. It was not in a zoo, just in someones private farm. I love days like this... Have a good week.

Things are changing...

2011-07-26T03:15:00.000-07:00

Just a little taste of our home in the last few days... Two words; crawling Baby!!!

This Moment...

2011-07-22T05:32:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Amanda soule's blog, A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

more cucumbers???

2011-07-21T06:13:00.000-07:00

Are you tired of my gardening posts yet?? Well here is a short one, yesterday as I was watering my garden, I noticed something weird; in may when I took my cucumber seedlings outside, they got hot, we had two intense wind days and basically out of 12 cucumber plants very few remained strong enough to transplant. The rest, I threw overboard (on the outside of the garden where there is clay and rocks) Well yesterday, for some strange reason I looked outside the garden towards the wooded area in the back and saw five healthy, huge cucumber plants with tons of flowers!!! Not counting English cucumbers, that brings us to 13 pickling cucumber plants! Did I mention everyone is getting pickles for Christmas!!!! It's crazy that they grew with no care at all! Stay cool in this heat wave and don't forget to hydrate your pets!!!

Today I accomplished a goal...

2011-07-19T12:41:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying that while many women are their mother's daughter, I am my mother in law's daughter in law!!! We both have mental goal lists and are pretty determined about achieving them! As silly as it might seem, one of my goals was to make my own dill pickles! As in home grown, home pickled pickles!!! Today, people I made my first batch of home made pickles!!!! Remember my seedlings of organic middle eastern pickling cucumbers? Well, last week we ate all the cucumbers that we got but this week, we got English cucumbers so I collected the smaller pickling ones and also picked the dill from the garden and made four 500ml jars and one 1000ml jar. Not bad for 4 days worth of picking! Imagine how many I'll make by the end of the summer!!!

MMM... Can't wait to try them!!!

Our garden...

2011-07-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

Our garden is doing so well, I'm a bit shocked! After all it's the first time I grow most of these things!

My yellow summer squash!

Ground cherries

Proud gardener!

And our cucumbers! we've probably eaten one every dinner now for the last week!!! So exciting!!!

Have a good week!!!!

cortisone and hibiscus flowers...

2011-07-06T05:44:00.000-07:00

There's been a serious lack of blogging in the last few weeks, mainly due to illnesses, my sons and mine, and now that he's feeling better and has been asleep for the last 4 hours, I lie awake, feeling the side effects of the cortisone. So, I will write, perhaps it will prepare me for a good night sleep. (Beware this is a slightly long post, I think the drugs are getting to my head...)

Instead of keeping you up to date on what's going on in our home let's rewind a few years back, (many years now) and let me tell you a story.

Back in the day when I was a city girl, I lived with a city boy for a few years, and he was not always very nice. It was not his fault, it was probably due to character incompatibility and insecurities and other little things. It was not his fault, but neither was it mine so I eventually left and spent lots of time by myself to figure things out.

This city boy seemed to enjoy putting me down and making me feel as if I was completely insane, first it was done with humor and affection but it soon turned to an abusive little gesture which slowly, quietly, destroyed my soul.

One of the complaints and certain proof that I was insane was that i used to buy to many plants. I was a closet country girl who lived in a studio apartment down town Montreal! I did what I could. But needless to say, every time I came home with a plant, I got hell for it.

One day, as I was walking on Mont-Royal, getting my lunch, I stumbled upon a flower market and they had hibiscuses on sale. I looked at them, so tempted but restrained myself because I just could not handle the fight.

Back at work, at the vet clinic, my co-worker Marie who was pregnant and owned a boxer and also had just recently saved a Matin de Naples who ate her entire basement, got a call from the SPCA telling her that there was a Great Dane who was going to be euthanized in the morning if they could not find a foster home. Marie, without thinking any further, left work that afternoon and went to get the 120 pound beast. She got home and her boyfriend, although slightly surprised, accepted this because he knew his girlfriend was a dog lover.

As I sat there that afternoon, something inside me clicked and I thought to myself, "if she can bring home an over sized dog to her already crowded and busy home and be accepted for who she was, why was i denying myself the pleasure of having a hibiscus."

That evening, I stopped at the flower market and bought the plant. I got home and got hell for it. After all I had clearly lost my mind and purchased a tree!!!!! All I answered was that it could be worst, I could have come home with a Great Dane. It was the beginning of the end...

Fast forward now to last fall, pregnant, living in our trailer while Jason is building our house, I brought all my plants to my mother in law and my sister in law's houses until the spring. When Jason went to get them on a cold day in march, I was away at my sister's house and my lovely hibiscus (that now has become a full grown tree!) had a slight bug problem. Nothing a little dish soap in a spray bottle can't cure, but Jason, wanting to protect our home, left it outside on the deck... needless to say, when I got home the next day, it had no more bugs, or leaves. I watered it, cleaned it up but it was dead. When it got hot outside, not able to bring myself to throw it out I put it next to the trailer. The sight of it broke my heart, this hibiscus was so symbolic to me...

Well to my immense delight, a few weeks ago, leaves started to grow again and this weekend, A FLOWER!!!!!As I sat there looking at this flower, I started thinking of the symbolic of this plant, of how, a while back I thought I had died a little as well and how slowly, I grew new leaves and now I am flowering...

Have a good week...

My fabulous man...

2011-07-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

This is my man's weekend;

Friday, he went to work, even though it's Canada day and the whole country is on vacation. He is working in the city which he hates, fixing brick around windows of a 20 apartment building. Towards the end of the day, he went to get something close to the scaffolding and heard his partner yell. As he looked up, he got a brick on his forehead...

Saturday morning, (with a headache) he cleaned our 34' Airstream trailer inside and out in full sun in preparation for our trip in August.

This morning, he headed up to Ste-Marthe to get the materials to build a fence for our garden. Then he came home, barbecued us some hot dogs and then built a book shelve for his daughter.

This man of mine never complains. He gets up at the crack of dawn every morning and works well after the sun goes down. And in between all that still manages to make us laugh.

We love him very much...

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays!!!

2011-06-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks, we've had a lot of birthdays around here, Kassandra turned 9 so i made her a painting, Princess Kassandra and her faithful Cat,

Jason initially gave her a lovely pile of wood, which eventually turned into a tree house (it will have roofing and siding at the same time as our house!!!)

I got a birthday present from my friend Andrea (no it's not my birthday, i just had not seen her since November at which point she helped deliver my son, a little busy for birthday present!!!)

She made these bowls herself! Is she not talented??

Kassandra's best friend also turned 9 so i made her a lovely handbag, blue is her favorite color!

AND, my friend Annie who is the least girlie of my girlfriends (she is a bike fanatic police woman!) has a daughter named Frederique who turned one. Frederique who wears jeans and t-shirts recently found a bracelet and fell in love with it. Annie, always teases me saying to Ollie that he can go to her house and watch television, play video games and eat sweets in a plastic bowl! (all of which are banned in our home!!!) So in revenge, i made her daughter the GIRLIEST, pinkest, sparkliest princess dress i could!!! I'll have to take pictures to share with you all!!!

Jason also turned 35 but since he loves all this birthday stuff so much, there are no pictures to document!!!

Have a good week!

2011-06-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is; The happy gardening post! Last week, I had a little rant about my garden (or lack there of) but then, my man and his tractor came through!!! On the morning of his birthday (bless him!) He got on his tractor and logged wood around and moved clay and soil and drilled heavy pieces of hemlock and at lunch time he declared that he was done! (In both sense of the word) As he went to sit in the shade and relax (If you knew my man, you would know how rare it is that he sits and relaxes) I gave him Ollie and went on to plant my vegetables!!!

The garden is divided in four parts. It has a little stone walkway that makes it easy to walk around and tend to my veggies! (Thanks to the tips from my friend Judy!) This is the herb corner.

My organic Arugula from Greta's organic

YAY! A tomato flower!!!! (remember these?)

The green beans

Now it's time to build a fence around the garden so that our forest's little intruders don't come and help themselves to our veggies!!!

A thought...

2011-06-09T07:28:00.000-07:00

I read something this morning, something I should post on my fridge so i can see it every morning when I get up...

"be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. when you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."~ Lao Tzu

Have a good day.

Plan B

2011-06-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just have to go to plan B. Today, I was going to do some gardening but Mister Ollie had a different idea. It was to hot for him and no matter how many toys I gave him to play with, he was crying. What he was really saying was "Maman, gardening is boring, it's hot, let's do something together!" So we did. We went to the beach and had a great time!! What did you do on this hot day??

The garden...

2011-06-04T05:35:00.000-07:00

The title of this blog is The garden and now you are seeing these beautiful flowers so you are expecting this happy spring post. But it's not. A little recap of my life for those who don't know, For most of my life, I've lived in a one bedroom apartment in down town Montreal, Always dreaming of the days when I could live in the country and raise my children in a natural, peaceful way. I dreamed about being self sufficient and cooking and gardening and sewing etc.

When I met Jason a few years ago, we automatically hit it off. I had never met anyone so peaceful and quiet and gentle who got so much done! He was a country boy who dreamed of meeting a nice girl who would stay at home and cook and sew... (that's me!) I moved into his house. (the most beautiful, empty, half finished house ever!) We finished it together and I got to decorate it the way I wanted.

The only thing was I couldn't landscape. I couldn't garden or plant anything because we knew we were selling the house. I got 2 flower boxes on the front deck and a bucket with a (yes one) tomato plant. That was pretty much what I had in Montreal on my 2' x 5' balcony.

This year, knowing that we don't have gyp rock on walls yet or a kitchen or a shower, I knew we were not going to landscape, but I figured out a way to make a deal with my city parents, that if they invested in my garden for the wood and soil, I would tend to the garden and share my crop. Great idea! I went to Jason and explained my plan mentioning the FREE aspect of it all and how much money we'd save on groceries. (that's always a good argument!)

I started my seedlings, spring was practically non-existent and summer, well it's here now, I guess... Jason came back and told me this great plan of how he's going to help me; he's going to go get the wood, (he knows a guy...) and then he'll build the garden but because our land is sand on one side and clay on the other, he'll rent a tractor and move the clay over in the sunny place and build the boxes and then dump the earth in and mix the compost and the top soil and... and...

I am happy about his involvement don't get me wrong but the whole idea was to do it myself without his help. Now the tractor is only available next weekend, (he knows a guy...) and me, well I can't do anything before that so I transplanted my tomatoes in bigger pots and my cucumber seedlings have all died and I sit here everyday frustrated because I can't do anything.

So my free garden is not so free anymore because I went shopping and came back with a peonies plant and a poppy (that opened this morning!!!)

I love my man. I love that he cares enough about my garden to want to help, I guess the single girl in me finds it hard to depend on someone for everything...

So people, hang in there with me, I cross my fingers that it does not rain next weekend (or worst, it is Quebec after all!!!) Maybe I will have a tomato before the fall...

Our garden...

2011-05-23T06:40:00.000-07:00

This my friends is not just a post; it is the post that indicates where the garden will be. My first ever garden!!! I have grown things in buckets before but never directly in the ground!!!!

Spring took it's time to get here this year, but this weekend, we walked around the land to figure out where the main elements are going to be. It takes a lot of planning to figure out where to place the garden where it gets the most sun, and the clothes line as well without hiding the garden and jays fire area close to the cord of wood but not to close... the plan for the garden is to make a raised bed about a foot high, and about 12x24 feet. it's a bit daunting but jay's attitude is go big or go home, so that's the way it is. Hopefully next weekend's weather will be nice so we can build it.

Our wonderful compost from Terres en ville.

My seedlings are ready!!!

These are my sweet peas from the farmers market in Portland,

My cherry tomatoes

And my cucumbers!!!

I just can't wait to see them in the garden!!!

Weekend getaway...

2011-05-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like getting away for a few days... This weekend we went to Portland, Maine. It was my second time in Maine and I have to say, I love it. The people are nice. They are healthy and seem genuinely happy. Just 5 hours drive from Montreal and you have the ocean, a beautiful city and Lot's of little villages along the way! We went to the farmers market, discovered cute little fabric and yarn stores, the trees where in bloom and i saw an incredible amount of moose merchandise!!! (I love moose!!!) I couldn't help but spoil my son with a little moose pyjama!!!

Our weekend...

2011-05-10T05:19:00.000-07:00

Bought myself a mother's day present, the most amazing yarn from Biscotte it's alpaca and Merino wool and the color is just mind blowing...

Needless to say, there was Lot's of knitting in the sun this weekend...

Had a little girl time with my main little girl on Friday night, painted our toenails glitter and ate popcorn in bed while watching a movie...

Went to Ecomuseum Saturday morning, it was Ollie's first time at the zoo, he was very impressed with the wild turkeys ...

My young photographer...

A cute otter that came to look at us, though to fast for the picture!!!

And we had dirt delivered in view of our garden, Ollie was very impressed with the big tractors!

There was Plenty of quality time with family, good food and two days of sun!!! Just what this Maman needed!!! Hope all you mothers out there had a good weekend!!!

Crafting for the boy...

2011-05-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

Before i got pregnant, I thought I wanted a girl. I like pink, I like girly things and I imagined I could give this little girl everything I ever wanted as a child. I thought that if I had a boy, I wouldn't know what to do with him...

Then, one weekend camping with friends, I met my friend Jasmine's son. The cutest little boy in the entire world, i swear, he was quiet, walking in the woods with his little rain boots, my heart melted. I looked at Jason and said " I want one just like that!!!"

The next spring i got pregnant and was told from week 12 that it was a boy. I can't say that I was disappointed because they told me during the first ultrasound while showing me his little heartbeat, his long legs and his little head! I was moved to tears so they could've said it was a monkey, i would have been happy. From then on I got used to the idea but it was so abstract that there was a little human inside me, I tried to imagine him but it was very difficult.

In November my little boy was born and all these cute little frail looking 5 pound baby images in my head vanished. My son was a big 10 pound little man. He came out and within minutes, was looking right at me with his big eyes. First of all, half the clothes I had did not fit from day one and all these little baby hats with ears and baby blue sweet outfits made him look really awkward. Even though he's not 6 months yet he weighs almost 21 pounds and feels more like a little boy than a baby...

All that long elaborate story to tell you that, I am making him a quilt!! A boy quilt! so these are the prints I chose. The inspiration for the pattern is from soule mama.

Other boy crafts that I've made include this alphabet banner, I love it and it adds color to his room. For more inspiration on boy crafts, check out this fantastic link! Have a good day!

This weekend...

2011-05-01T17:47:00.000-07:00

This weekend, the weather was lovely. We spent the weekend outside, observing where the sunniest spot on the land is, to prepare my garden (My cherry tomato seeds are doing well!!!) We stacked wood for next winter, and just enjoyed the weather and each others company...

And... i got an early mother's day present! A Cuisinart food processor!!! Mine was 10 years old and had cost about 60$ so it was time for a new one, especially with my little "poulet" who started to eat purees last week... This beauty makes purees like nobody's business!!!!

All prepared in recycled jars (thanks to my friend Annie)

So on the menu for the next few weeks, we have sweet potatoes,

sweet peas, butternut squash and carrots!!!

MMM... maman's food is so good!!!

And i started a compost bin!!! Hope you had a lovely weekend!!!

A simple meal...

2011-04-24T05:16:00.000-07:00

As you probably all know by now, I love cooking! And i love trying new recipes, but sometimes i want to make something fast because with feeding the baby, making dinner, making lunches for the next day and cleaning the kitchen, i also enjoy leaving that kitchen to do something else!

So last night, on the menu i had planned garlic shrimps with fries and salad. Simple, easy and it pleases everybody! Well I was surprised at how much we enjoyed it!

Shrimps cooked in fresh garlic and butter,

Potato wedges deep fried in grape seed oil,

Crunchy iceberg with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and spring onions.

This week i got a new cooking book! (oh joy!!!) Jamie Oliver's food revolution. (Did i mention Jamie Oliver is my secret love??? ) He talks about finding easy, fast recipes so that families can make good food, fast, from fresh ingredients. It's also about passing those recipes on to other people so that you can broaden your culinary repertoire and have more variety. I love it!!!

Do you have any easy recipes to share???

This Moment...

2011-04-22T04:33:00.000-07:00

My first attempt ever at growing vegetables from seeds!!!

a lovely sight this morning...

A Friday ritual inspired by Amanda Soule. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember.

A little bit more home...

2011-04-19T05:13:00.000-07:00

I have not posted progress about our house lately because there simply hasn't been much, Progress takes money, money takes work and work it seems takes time. But this weekend, our house became a little bit more home!

Kassandra's room, Orange and pink, of course!!

And Ollie's room, pickle green (that boy has the same tastes as Maman!!!)

I used a birch branch to hold the wall pouches. (inspired from handmade home)

The maple buttons from my Etsy shop.

Ollie's book collection

The crib (I finally finished the bumper quilt!)

And this my friends, to you it looks like an unfinished bathroom, to me it is heaven!! I can actually have a bath! (for the last 5 months, we've been washing in the basement with our wool hats because it is as cold as outside!!) I can actually have a bath with my baby in a nice clean warm room!! JOY!!!

So there you have it! I'm still working on our bedroom, because i had chosen a fabric and then chose paint to match the fabric, but now i don't like the fabric anymore and if i ask Jay to paint it again, (he didn't like the first color to begin with) I'll never be allowed to choose paint again!!!

Have a good Tuesday!!

Baby's got some new pants...

2011-04-16T05:38:00.000-07:00

I have to say i did not expect this, I knew babies went through clothes fast but this seems ridiculous! My little Ollie who is now 4 and a half months old has outgrown his size 12 pajamas... no pants fit because he has cloth diapers and I've had to undo a seam from his baby converse shoes so his foot fits... I've come to the conclusion that my little boy will wear maman-made clothes for a lot longer...

So, last week, i wandered off to the local fabric store and got some flannel because then he can wear them as pants or pajamas. These pants are made from 1/4 of a meter so at 4$ a meter, it makes a pretty cheap pair of pants!! Plus it takes about 20 minutes to make so i made him a few in an evening!! I chose four prints, including these ones, i figured if you can't have rockets on your pants when you are four months old then when really?!!

If you sew and want this pattern just go to my Etsy site for the pattern, it will be available at the end of the week. Have a good weekend!!!

This Moment...

2011-04-15T05:28:00.000-07:00

Daddy takes a break from building the house to enjoy the sun with Ollie.

A Friday ritual inspired by Amanda Soule. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment to pause, savor and remember.

This weekend...

2011-04-10T05:55:00.000-07:00

A tiny pack of trimmings from Umbrella prints has arrived!

My first loaf of sourdough ever (that I made) and it is delicious!

My baby has a new spring jacket made by maman, from a lovely fabric that tante Annie gave us!

Seedlings!!! It's actually my first attempt at seedlings ever and it's in view of my first ever real garden!! (I'll keep you updated on the progress as the summer goes by!)

The seeds are from Greta's organic seeds.

Hope you are enjoying this lovely spring weekend!!!

Lack of sleep...

2011-04-04T07:48:00.000-07:00

As i am sure you know if you've had a baby, it's a bit like running a marathon all day long; I make sure he is stimulated, happy, fed, clean and in between these needs, i clean the house, make dinner and lunches, feed the dog, do the laundry, fold the laundry, empty and fill dishwasher, plan meals, do groceries and when my man arrives i try to look half human and smile as he talks about his day...

Usually by the time I've given the bath to my son and caught up on the last bits of tidying up, i pass out.

Yesterday, amidst the cold that has once again found refuge in my body, (@#$%?&!!!) i decided i could go to sleep, it would be wise, but i don't really sleep very much these days anyways so i decided to rebel and i stayed up 'till ten playing with my beloved sewing machine!!! Here is the result:

I bought a pattern on Etsy (which i have to say i never buy sewing patterns because they frustrate me but this one was fantastic!!!) She suggests making one trial shoe before embarking on the real deal and i decided on making tiny baby shoes as a practice run. (Not for my baby of course, daddy would not be to impressed with his little boy wearing mary janes!!!) So here are the real ones:

Aren't they lovely??? I can't believe i made my own shoes! I even ordered some soling material for the next ones so i can make them more resistant!!!! I can make as many different colors as i want! Even change the style a bit!! I can make them and sell them on Etsy! Start my own vegan shoe company!!!

Ok, settle down! i got excited there, and i did go to sleep at ten... ahhh... i just love learning how to make something new... Have a good week!!!

Food obsessed...

2011-03-24T18:11:00.000-07:00

I have to say, one of my favorite things in life is planning my meals! I know it sounds odd, but i am obsessed with food; I like eating it, I like reading about it, I like making it and I LOOOVE planning it!!!

Every week, I sit at the kitchen table with a cup of tea and all my favorite recipe books and i make a plan of dinners for the week to come, then i take that list and make a grocery list. (I live out in the woods, I don‘t want to go back to the store for an onion...) Then i go to the store, buy all my food (which i also love!!!) and then i come home and place it all, (i love that too!!!)

Once in a while I plan to have people over for dinner like this coming Saturday (The family comes over for Dad‘s birthday) and then it‘s that much more exciting, because I get to cook a three course meal (or four or five...)

So here is my menu for this Saturday

Gilles birthday dinner

Crispy asparagus & potato tart

French onion soup with baguette and melted Gruyere

Mini cheeseburgers with sweet potato fries (for the kids)

wild salmon and caper parcels with a zucchini ribbon salad

(for the adults)

Blackberry and Granny smith apple pie

Of course, i‘ll take pictures and share with you next week!!!!

Have a good weekend!

Something new...

2011-03-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

As some of you might know, before i got pregnant, i was teaching sewing in montreal at Effiloche, and i was working as an veterinary technician down town. With the arrival of my little Ollie, i knew i would not work down town (an hour away for our home) at least not full time and not 9 to 5. I started thinking if i'd want to work for another vet clinic at all, it's a very crazy job and it demands a motivation that i don't know that i still have... I still want to teach at Effiloche but not full time because of the down town factor.

Jason has been very good about leaving it up to me, telling me that i don't need to do anything i don't want to do. I could stay home if i wanted to, a little change of lifestyle and budget would be necessary but it would be possible. But three months into my pregnancy leave and i'm more energized and full of ideas. I started thinking about ways to work from home, Jay loves that idea because he's a workaholic and it allows him to work when ever he needs knowing i'll be here for the kids. If you want to kill my man, ask him to stay at home and prepare dinner!!! So he suggested building me a boarding kennel, but knowing me, it would turn out to be a rescue , i'd end up sleeping in the kennel with the dogs and it would not be profitable at all!!!

Another thing that influenced my decision is that i really really enjoy teaching sewing, and i am passionate about fabrics so i finally made a decision; Since our house is not finished being built it was possible to move things around and build a space for ... yes,

A SEWING LOUNGE!!!

The Miss Bee sewing lounge! Where i can teach mommy baby sewing classes for new mothers like me who need to get out of the house in a baby friendly athmosphere and an evening class and a weekend class for working people! I will bake muffins and brownies and serve tea and coffee and i hope my good friend Annie will organize "café-tricots" !!! This is very exciting, i will keep you posted as the space progresses as i plan to open in June. In the mean time, check out my new (self-made) website!

www.missbeesewing.com

My son's first bag!

2011-03-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

It was only a matter of time before my son got his first bag. With my love for making bags ( it really is my favorite thing to make) and my passion for making things for our family, really, it was inevitable! It's a big bag, (remember my big diaper and carry all bag? Well it is now to small with the baby wrap, the diapers, the camera, maman's agenda and wallet and knitting...) Since my baby boy now plays with toys, we needed a toy bag so that when we go to grandmaman or somewhere where we might play, we need to bring the toys! so there you have it! One night, this tired maman put her baby to sleep and sat in front of her sewing machine without a plan and made a toy bag!

There is a new project for our family that i shall reveal soon (and before you ask, no i am not pregnant that type of project is a one time thing!!!) But before i tell you too much i will share with you this week, our brand new bedrooms!!! (yes we have bedrooms!!!) Have a good week!!!

2011-02-19T14:21:00.000-08:00

Today, my beloved Booba died...

Booba was my 11 year old beagle. She was positively the worst dog in the world. She was the only dog in the world who did not want to walk. She just wanted to sniff. Everyday for 11 years, she ate tissues in my pockets, often eating the pocket with it, she ate the garbage, the food on the table, the food in the pantry, she would open 18kg bags of cat food when i would take her to work at the vet clinic with me, she ate my underwear if i left it anywhere in sight, she ate her poo and the other dogs poo and even the cat poo... From 3pm, she would sit next to her food dish and cry until i fed her and then would sit next to the treat jar until i gave her a bone.

There is not one day in 11 years that i didn't scream at her for some reason, i stopped counting the things she destroyed after a few years... She was such a handful that she probably took a few years off my life...

Booba was epileptic since a very young age and she was now incontinent, had cataracts, a heart murmur and arthritis.

Anybody that knew Booba wondered and asked how i could handle such a difficult dog, but anybody who knew me knew how much i loved her and how big a part of my life she was. In difficult times, she was there for me. she was a faithful dog that followed me through ups and downs and had such a character that she made me laugh all the time. she was unique and she will be greatly missed.

may you be happy in doggy heaven my darling Boo, I'm sure there is Lot's there to sniff...

I love you.

Catching up...

2011-02-14T07:22:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last blog, a mean virus had entered our home transforming me into a near zombie for the last 2 weeks. Can i tell you that pneumonia and taking care of a newborn don't go so well together... thank god for breastfeeding though, my little Ollie had a fever only for one day...

When we've all been sick and we are in need of something to brighten our spirits up, there's nothing like a little craft project!!!

Then there is the sweater that i just can't seem to get right...

Ollie got his first pair of Converse!!! I looove Converse shoes! As you can see, the whole family does...

And yesterday, while everyone was out skating, Maman was at home making perogies!!! Hope you had a nice weekend!!!