Mama's Birthday and Fun on the Farm

Mya has a pair of pajamas that say "apple picking in the orchard" and that's just what we did today. Grampie and Monica are down visiting for the weekend from Cape Breton and we thought it would be fun to head to the farm and pick some apples. I also wanted to get some pears, pumpkins and a squash but there were no butternut squash left. I guess everyone else wanted to get some butternut squash too. We thought (or maybe I thought) it was the perfect way to spend my 27th birthday. I have big plans for all of my fresh fruit too. Since I've become Canadian Living's newest fan, I've come across lots of awesome recipes and their latest issue is all about stuff you can make with the goodies fall brings. There's squash apple soup, homemade tomato sauce, squash risotto and I plan on making all those things along with apple pie, pumpkin pie, apple sauce, pear pie...I think I'm going to have to get a deep freeze!

Tonight Grampie and Monica honored us with free babysitting while me and the Mr. headed out for a supper alone. We were going to see a movie as well but a combination of crappy movie selection and dead tiredness meant no movie for us. So instead, we came home at the late, late hour of 8 o'clock and went to bed. I'm actually writing this from the comfort of my bed. It's fun getting old, isn't it? When our company showed up yesterday morning they came with cake. Birthday cake. For me. So we had it for dessert last night and Mya helped me blow out the candles.

And then she helped to eat it.

We had been hoping to hit up the farm yesterday afternoon but the rain got in the way of that. Instead, we headed out this morning and got first pick of the crops because we were some of the first people there.

We even saw a little brown bunny hiding under one of the apple trees! He was so cute! I wanted to pick him up and carry him around with me but he didn't want me getting too close.

Mya even found a little girl to push her on the merry go round...

but when it was time to get going to the next picking spot she kind of got upset had to be put in the backpack...which she eventually gave into and surrendered by sucking the thumb.

Her and Adam decided to share an apple so he would take a bite and pass it back and then she'd take a bite and pass it forward. Talk about cute!

And finally, on our way home...a little dirtier than when we left that morning...digging into the second apple of the day. It was a good day.

Bathroom Reno

So, I know it's been awhile since my last post but since being back to work that means my only uninterrupted laptop time is when Mya's sleeping and that is 2 hours where I have a lot of stuff to do before she wakes up. So, it seems like I'm stuck doing it on the weekends but lately those have been busy too. Doing what you ask? Well, things like spending time with the fam, hanging pictures on our walls so it actually feels like a home around here, laundry, grocery shopping, the list could go on and on. This past weekend we finally finished redoing the bathroom. Now, where we're renting we can't really change anything major so that means we're stuck with the crappy, stained floor and the hideous, hideous tiles in the shower.

Exhibit A

I don't have Exhibit B because I thought torturing you with our ugly tiles was enough without having to make you endure the gross floor too. We kind of forgot to take a before picture so I'll help you envision it: Off white walls, nothing on the walls except for a super outdated mirror, about 5 randomly placed towel racks, and one badly placed toilet paper holder. Here, I'll show you a pic of the old mirror.

Note the awful "flower" (it's really a couple acorns) carved into the bottom left hand corner and the picture doesn't really show the horrible condition it was in. It was all scratched up and old looking.
We got some green paint and some new hardware. We took down the numerous towel racks. We filled holes. We repainted the heater and baseboards (because whoever painted before us didn't take the time to tape things off). We got a new mirror and new cabinet. We brought in some decor. And now it's pretty. I know this is sad, but it's probably my favorite room in the house.

Voila!

We aren't totally done because we're hoping to find something to hang on the wall next to the toilet but it's not a priority at the moment. So, I like it. The mirror was something we found at the Salvation Army on a recent day trip to the city and it was only $25. At first if someone had told me that they spent $25 on a mirror and thought it was a good deal I would've thought they were stupid. That was before I went mirror shopping and found out what people charge for new mirrors! They are expensive. Besides, I like my new mirror. We thought about painting the frame white at first to match the other thingys in our bathroom but we decided not to in the end. I think I like it better "au naturel".

So, that's it! My last reno for a little while I think!

Lemon Yogurt Loaf

So, awhile back we bought a box of cheerios and noticed that inside there was a code that you could enter online and receive a few free issues of a magazine of your choice. Out of the ones to choose from there were only two that seemed appealing to me and I was torn between getting the one that I would've picked in my youth (Elle) and the one that I would likely prefer now (but had trouble coming to grips with-Canadian Living). I ended up picking Elle. I barely opened it when it came. We ended up buying another box of cheerios (because we go through those things like candy in this house) and decided to get Canadian Living the second time around. I have literally read it from cover to cover. I guess we know which category I fit in now! There was a recipe in there that I thought sounded and looked good so I gave it a try tonight.

I would also like to point out that I managed to pick THE perfect lemon when I was at the grocery store today. The zest from the entire lemon was just the right amount and when I cut it in half to use the juice for the glaze, it was exactly 1/3 cup right down to the last drop. I know! I love it when everything works out perfect. It literally makes my day. And, while I had the hand juicer out I thought I would squeeze some OJ since we were swimming in oranges (BOGO at Sobeys!). Hand squeezed orange juice just tastes sooo much better than the stuff you buy at the store...even if they claim it's hand squeezed. In keeping with the breakfast theme, we had banana pancakes for supper. It was a fruity meal.
Not that this is related but I thought I'd just share some pics from tonight/the last couple days. So, you may have heard that NS was going through a bit of a heat wave a couple weeks ago and during this time my sweet 18 month old couldn't bear to part with her fuzzy pink hat. I tried reasoning with her (which was useless) and she also just HAD to wear this dress. Note the shiny sweat on her face.


I was able to convince her to kick the dress one day, but I didn't manage to get rid of the hat. She was playing next door at Lloyd and Sheila's with Jack the dog.

This was the day we discovered her hair was long enough to go in a ponytail! I was such a happy mama!


I was cleaning out her closet and going through a bunch of clothes and came across this outfit that she got at Christmas time. It almost doesn't fit her now because I waited so long to pull it out. That happens a lot with her clothes. If someone gives Mya something and she won't fit in it for awhile I think to myself, "man, that looks huge! That's not going to fit her for a looonnngg time!" and then it gets pushed to the back of the closet and my brain keeps thinking it's huge because it doesn't account for her getting bigger as well. Anyways, she seems to be happy wearing it.

So, one of Mya's favorite things of all time is helping to unpack the grocery bags when we get back from the grocery store. Well, the other day we made a poorly timed trip there and it was lunchtime. Although we had packed a snack to try and make up for our crappy timing, my girl was clearly hungry. Sobeys had a "pack as many bagels as you can into a paper bag and get them all for $2.99" deal so when unpacking, our bagels were a little free instead of being locked up in a plastic bag. All of a sudden my little helper had disappeared and I didn't know where she went. I looked over to the living room and saw this:


She had decided that her hunger for food had overpowered her hunger for unpacking groceries. Between her and Adam that bagel was annihilated.

Ok, sorry if this post sucked. I wrote it while watching AFV (America's Funniest Home Videos for those of you non fans). It is probably one of the best shows on television. They've been around since like, 1988. I was five. That's how you know something rocks. It can stand the test of time.

Alright, back to the grind tomorrow!

Clothesline Fun!

When we lived in Digby we had intentions of installing a clothesline in the backyard in the hopes of cutting down our power bill especially since we were going to be using cloth diapers again. When I found out that we would have to get a giant wooden pole (and dig a hole for it, and put it in concrete) and figure out a way to screw the other end into the house without screwing it into the house (because I don't think our landlord wanted that), I realized it was probably not going to happen. And, I know we could've just skipped the putting concrete in a hole part and screw one end right into a tree but it made me feel bad on an environmental level when I thought about doing that. And just in case you're thinking "so why not buy one of those square, stand up clothesline things?" the answer is, because I didn't want one of those and also, I think you have to secure them in concrete too.

When we came to see this place we noticed that the people on the other side of our duplex had a clothesline up so we figured we'd ask our landlord about being copy cats. He said "go for it" and he even said it was ok to screw it right into the house (since the neighbors had already done it, how much damage could be done if we did the same thing, right?) So, we added clothesline to the list of things we needed to buy before we moved.

Fast forward to today: Adam came home from golf and I had 2 loads of wet laundry waiting to go on a clothesline that was waiting to be installed. He loves surprises. And deadlines. Now, when we moved in we discovered that we have awesome neighbors to our right. Lloyd and Sheila are super nice, friendly and I already feel like I've known them for years. They have lots of grandkids and are quite fond of Mya so they said she could go over whenever she wanted to play with the toys in the backyard. Awesome, huh? So anyways, Adam felt like he should ask Lloyd if it was ok to screw one end of our clothesline into a tree at the end of our yard (because the trees are behind our fence and therefore on their property) and Lloyd said it was no problem. Oh and by the way, I got over the tree thing...can you tell? Lloyd asked if we had a ladder (which we didn't) and he was probably thinking of asking if we knew what we were doing (which we also, didn't) and he came right over and started helping Adam to deface the chosen tree. Once the boys had finished hanging up the clothesline, I got busy hanging up my clean, wet clothes! I was such a happy girl. I just wish I had bought more clothespins. Apparently 50 won't cut it.

I can't wait to wash a load of nappies and hang them on my new clothesline!!

Now, I feel the need to brag a little bit about my husband. For those of you who don't know Adam, he's not really the handyman type. He's more the type who uses his wife's tools to fix his computer. Ever watch Friends? He's kind of Chandlery. Anyways, since moving into this place he's hung all of our curtain rods and blinds, installed the new ceiling fan (and wired it for lights!), hung shelves in Mya's room, hooked up our washer and dryer, hung up our new coat rack, fixed Mya's closet door, and removed an under the cupboard light and hung it over the stove instead. He's also planning to install a sliding, screen door where the patio is and replace the screens in both the front door and the back basement door. Phew! Maybe he is a handyman after all!

Moving day & 100 posts!

So, lets get the exciting stuff out of the way first: this is my 100th post! I know that probably isn't something to go crazy over but it makes me happy so be happy with me!

Now, onto the less exciting part: we moved. It's finally over and we've got everything set up in the new place except for unpacking our clothes and organizing the storage closet. That will get done this weekend though seeing as it'll be a long one. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the new place but you'll be seeing bits and pieces of it in our pictures we continue to take. Other exciting news (I should've probably added that up there with the other exciting news, eh?): I got a job! It's been a long time since I had a job (2008!). It's only part time but it's exactly what we were looking for. It's office work (which I have lots of experience in) and it's in the evenings after Adam gets home from school which means we don't have to put Mya in daycare! Hoorah! That was sort of my unspoken rule about getting a job; I didn't want to put Mya in daycare all day so this works out perfect. PLUS, it's only Monday to Friday so me and Adam still have our weekends to hang out together. Awesome huh?
Ok, so if anyone out there is reading this and doesn't live in Nova Scotia, we are currently in the middle of a very, very, sweltering heat wave. Today it was 32 and felt like 38. You might as well just round up and say it's 40 degrees!! That is just plain insanity. Can you say global warming anyone? In about 10 years we'll all be dead because we just couldn't withstand the heat. Either that or we'll have learned to adapt and we'll develop some scales like lizards who live in the desert have. Lizard people. Ick.

Now, I'll post a little pic since I haven't posted one in awhile but then I have to get back to eating my homemade banana chocolate chip bread and posting pics on facebook.


Deciding what she wants to order when we were out in Halifax


Group shot of the gang when Stuart and Ethan were down visiting



Silly girl hanging out in a box