Thursday, March 31, 2011

poor orange tree :(

Im sad. my baby, the orange tree was destroyed by my 2 year old this afternoon :( i put it in the sunshine and turned around, turned back and every leaf was torn off and it was yanked out of the dirt...I stuck it back in and watered it.....so, I hope it magically comes back to life :( poor wittle twee.

i have some before and after pictures....*sigh*

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

SNAILY

Ocean has a pet snail, she *rescued* him from our garden, and we have built him a little aquarium home..(I think he is the luckiest happiest snail in the world.  She not only takes REALLY good care of him, she has tamed him....I swear...she can pet him, and he doesnt even suck his little eyes in and hide in his shell..he sits on her microphone while she practices the keyboard. it's funny...well, she has requested a snail stuffed animal....so tonight while she lay sleeping, I got to creating..and am SO proud of myself......the ONLY thing I dont like about him, is somehow his body twisted a bit while I was sewing him....but...he stands, and is otherwise adorable!!!
so, here he be

SNAILY...The real Snaily is upside down in the jar...see him?

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Hippy Bag

My Hippy Bags are back in action :)  I'm so excited to make these again.  this time, I decided to put a zip/pocket inside.  it didn't take me too long to re-make my pattern and sew it all up..considering I'm pretty new to zipper sewing, I'm doing awesome!!!
I found the cutest little buttons at the fabric store today, they look like little hazelnuts. Have a peak
I'm selling them at My Zibbet Shop





Saturday, March 26, 2011

It's my Party and I'll Dance if I want to...

Happy Birthday to MEEEEE!!!

Today our plans are to enjoy the sunshine......plant our apple seeds (well, at least one is ready to be planted) maybe dig some holes and make our garden plot areas level....and then,...wash our hands, and go to the library :)

and of course at the end of the day...there has to be cake :)

update:
didnt go to the library...did some gardening instead...found a *pet snail* named "him" Snailey.....built him an aquarium....and made some mud...John came home with a cookie monster Ice cream cake...and....the world is a happier place because of it..

I also pinned and sewed my own pants today to take in the waist and seat, and I did a FABULOUS job!! im pretty impressed with my achievements lately!

kids and I spent Earth hour making Shadow puppets on the wall with flashlights....Ocean made a 'snail' lol, and it looked SO good..until Johns wolf came and ate it!

Happy Birthday....Oh my poor Alisa...didn't want her picture taken!! :P

Thursday, March 24, 2011

ZHU ZHU Stuffed

Well, I did it....kind of...I made a zhu zhu stuffy...it's late and Alisa is sleeping, but, in the morning, we shall see if she thinks it's a zhu zhu or some weird thing mommy created.  If she says 'zhu zhu' I will take a picture of it and post it on here...if she looks scared...then I will NOT post a picture, and I will attempt it again!! I don't think it turned out so bad. considering I had nothing to start with other then a zhu zhu...my body measurements are definitely not correct, but really, a few more attempts and I think I'll get it!!
now off to sew a zipper for John....hope I can get that right :P

*~*~*~*sewing sewing 1,2 ,3.....*~*~*~*

quick update: 1 hour later......

.I JUST SEWED MY FIRST ZIPPER PERFECTLY

well...I can't say my first....Ive tried sewing zippers before while making things, such as baby dresses...but always freak out and make button holes instead.... I can officially say I ROCK!!! I just replaced the zipper in John's work vest, and it worked PERFECTLY!!! can you tell by my capitalization that I am EXCITED?!   :)
okay, now off to bed to be awoken at 5:45 ugh!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Glad I started a blog...

Now I can post all the tinformation/web pages I find that not everyone I know wants to see on my facebook :)

just found out some information about microwaves.  Thankfully we BARELY ever use ours...I defintely NEVER cook meals in a microwave...use a kettle to heat up water...my babies were breastfed,so no bottles heated up in the microwave.....etc....etc....

the part of this article that got me was the 'EMF' (Electromagnetic fields)
.....EMFs can be measured with an instrument called a Gauss meter. In fact, here is what one reader has to say when he used a Gauss meter to test microwaves: Measuring with a Gauss meter, every microwave I tested leaked, and was detectable up to six feet away.......

here's the whole article
microwaves bad for your health?

Finally a sunny day!

ALL of Spring break has rained...and not just a little rain but POURING rain...not only that but the first week of Spring Break we were all sick, especially the kids. So..after having 4 days off from work, and doing absolutely NOTHING fun The sun decided to show her beualtifulness today.  Of course, I had to work...though, not until 12:00 so....Me and the kids went out for a nice walk/bike ride, it was SO nice to get out in the neighbourhood.  We tried taking the kids to the park yesterday but the wind was cold, so it didn't last long. We are going to try and go out tomorrow morning before work as well...since it's supposed to rain all weekend *again*
Then.....we're back to school.
yahoo for Spring

So nice to get outside

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

100 MILE DIET

OR.....The Vancouver Island Diet

found a great link last night...somehow stumbled upon it...thought it was crazy at first, then, really got into it!!
learned a LOT....and thought i'd share....I need to go to bed as it's after midnight...so, I will elaborate more in the near future...for now...the link

THE VANCOUVER ISLAND DIET

 March: 24th update

so....I guess I have started, in a way...I bought all my 'organic' seeds from local peeps...and have my garden 'germinating'  we got to move them outside yesterday as it was +12 degrees (celcius) WOO HOO

I wish Mangoes grew locally ha ha! or that more people attempted to grow citrus trees, so I could buy some!! If my orange tree ever grows fruit, it won't be for at least 6 more years (from what I've read)  but don't I need two trees??

Monday, March 21, 2011

CRAYONS..... made into....CRAYONS

Thank you KLEVER KRAFTS for posting your crayon Tutorial...though I didn't have any tinfoil, thankfully I had a non-stick pan, and it worked out fine!!

I want to find some star shaped pans, or other fun shapes for next time..

The kids were a huge help, and it sure helped to break the boredom of this rainy day...

It's funny I always tell the kids NOT to peel their crayons, and now I'm telling them TO peel them

almost ready for the oven

they turned out awesome!!!

EarthQuake: Being prepared

With everything going on lately in the world I can't say I'm not freaking out a bit. I do live on an island in the "ring of fire"  So, rather then sit here and procrastinate, I finally went out yesterday and got *most* of our earthquake/disaster kit together.
They say to have enough water, food and supplies to last at least 72 hours.

I got
  • 1 large flat of water/juice boxes/apple juice (large)
  • a bunch of canned items (things that don't require adding water) such as chef boyardee, chunky soup, corn, salmon, canned fruit...and I'm sure there's more that Im missing(there was a lot of cans)
  • Dry food, such as granola bars, crackers, cookies, family pack of cereal, goldfish crackers-I bought all pre-packaged ones, incase the box gets wet
  • Candy, and lollipops (i'll have scared kids)
  • Nuts/peanut butter
  • ketchup
I plan on grabbing some pepperoni, and beef jerky also

For items other then food, I grabbed

  • Toilet paper (stuck 2 rolls each in large ziplock baggies)
  • paper towel
  • Can opener
  • Bandaids/polysporin, hydrocortizone cream (sp?)
  • scissors
  • tylenol and advil (kids and adults/gravol/benadryl/sunscrean
  • Flashlight/extra batteries
  • garbage/ziplock/grocery bags
  • Sharpie marker
  • candles
Still plan on grabbing some things like a tarp, matches/lighter, tape, and hats and mitts/ extra socks, toothbrushes/toothpaste..and some more things for our first aid kit...and some water purification tabs

I fit all of this in a medium/large sized tote  I could carry it myself if I had to...

some things Ive also learned the past few days are 'you can use your hot water tank as a source of water, if you still have running water, fill up your tub....

and it's a good thing I have SOME skills...I could build a fire if I had to :)

I labelled my earthquake kit, and I plan on moving it near the front door somewhere where it's not in the way, but should be easy to access if we have to.

Ocean knows what to do if an earthquake strikes, kind of haard to get Alisa to understand...

I feel LOADS better knowing I have my kit together.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

CHOCOLATE CAKE

Gramps' birthday today..so me and the girl are off to bake a cake...I try and make all things from scratch, but..I think I got.....3 hours of sleep last night, I am terribly lazy, and therefor...Betty Crocker is making our cake..I'll just make sure it doesnt burn in the oven..Added touch is making our icing..I'll be sure to add the water and butter to the mix though, ha ha....

At least I'll have some farm fresh eggs in the cake!

That makes it THAT much better, doesn't it?!

it got a lot messier

Happy Birthday Gramps....those are balloons lol

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Egg Carton Gardening

Today, the kids and I are going to 'plant indoors' I've been saving up my cardboard egg cartons for the past 3-6 months.
By the time the seeds sprout we KNOW there will be no more chance of frost. and I'll hopefully have all the gardning tools I need to plant them outdoors.

This is our first time having a yard that we are able to do whatever we want so we plan on taking full advantage of it.

We don't have ALL our seeds yet, but we started with Zuccini, pumpkin, water melon, cucumber, beans, carrots, bell peppers, corn, Indian corn..I think that's it..

We are going to also plant some tomatoes, beats, radish, strawberries, raspberries, onions, peas, kale, spinach, garlic, potatoes...and whatever else we cant think of :) 

here's a great link
http://www.parentsconnect.com/do/good_to_grow.jhtml

putting dirt into the egg cartons

Both kids working hard

Almost ready for seeds

Had to put me in at least ONE of the pictures

Time for seeds (cucumber)

Alisa's seeds (zuccini)

Putting dirt over the seeds

Our Garden

Friday, March 18, 2011

ORANGE TREE'S



Last summer while we were eating some delicioius orange slices, Ocean asked me if the seeds would be able to grow into trees.

I thought it would be impossible for us to do, it's just not something you can do in CANADA.

But, I looked online and found a couple pages explaining how to grow them.  So, we gave it a go.

Here's what we did......

How To Grow An Orange Tree                                                                              


Step 1. Place orange seeds in a cup of water over a night

Step 2. Get a piece of paper towel, get it wet, fold it into 4's and place it inside a ziplock/sandwhich baggie

Step 3. Place seeds on top of the paper towel inside the bag (don't seal the bag)

Step 4. Place the baggie in a warm sunny spot in the house (We placed ours on a window sill)(spray with water if/when needed to keep the paper towel moist)

In a couple days, the seeds should start to open, and you'll see a little green stem or leaf poking through, let it grow until it's about 0.5 cm-1cm in length

Step 5. Fill a small pot with soil, stick your finger in to make a small hole about 1 cm deep, place the seed in the hole and gently place dirt around it..Leave a bit of the leaf sticking out

Step 6. Water frequently

During the summer days we left it outdoors.  Once it started to get cooler out, we brought it inside, where it's been ever since, I left it on a window sill in the kids room (warmest room in the house) and I water it almost daily.

A couple months ago 2 new leaves popped through. the roots are starting to pop through the bottom of the pot, so I think it's time to move it to a larger pot.

I'm not sure it' we'll ever get oranges from it?! but, either way, we're happy that we've made it this far.

some sites that ive read on this topic say that we should have fruit in 7-ish years...I don't think I'll believe it until I see it! (I always thought you needed 2 fruit trees in order to have fruit?!)
Our Orange Tree March 18th 2011


Re-potted  I think it's a much happier plant :)

Our newest addition, The Apple Seedling

PENGUIN STUFFIES

who doesn't like penguins? Well, I have a 2 year old who absolutely LOVES penguins.
I've been playing around more with my sewing machine again. and rather then sticking to my usual...skirts for the kids....pants made from pants, sun hats.....I've decided to try and make toys.
I first made an owl...if you can call it that...the kids like him..I think he's funny looking...(he needs work)

I have been looking up good penguin tuts online, but my printer is out of ink, so, basically I've *looked* at patterns and have somehow figured out how to create it on my own.

Penguin number 1 (first attempt)

Penguins 2 and 3 (Gwen and Rosie)
So, after making and perfecting (almost) my pattern...I realized that I HAVE SAFETY EYES, I completely forgot...so after the kids goto bed tonight and I get some free time to sew....I'll be making another one with safety eyes, rather then zig zagging (although I'm getting pretty good at zig zagging in circles)

Home Made Play Dough

well, it could be *more* natural I could have used organic flour, and next time we will!

First I used this recipe

Playdough Recipe

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 tbsp cream of tartar
2 cups water

put in a pot, on med heat and stir stir stir until it becomes 'dough' remove from heat and kneed.

I put about 6 strawberries(cut up fairly small) into a pot and a cup of water (maybe less) boiled it until the water was 'pink/red' (bout 5-10 minutes) then I strained them, put the juice back on the stove and reduced it (about another 10 minutes) cooled it for a few minutes and then added it slowly to the playdough (which I seperated into quarters)(PINK)

I did the same thing with blueberries to make the PURPLE

I used paprika, and coffee to make the brown/orange colours...there isn't much of a difference, and the paprika was a lot harder to mix in then the coffee was...
my future plans are to grab something GREEN and Tumeric to make YELLOW possibly some beats to make the RED darker
update...I went to the store and bought tumeric, mixed it with the ywllowy color and it came out a LOT stronger!! good choice!  someone mentioned to me using oak bark, for brown too.

in order from left to right Coffee Strawberry Blueberry Paprika