Dreaming

I came upon this great article on 'How to turn your passions into a home business', it's nice to dream, isn't it? For many of us, it's not a practical thing to do and it entails a lot of hard work to set up and run any successful business.  It can be a great alternative if you are not quite ready to retire or would like to work from home.

We had a snowstorm yesterday.  Luckily our snowblower was working as the snow was wet and heavy.  I did about an hour of manual shovelling myself, just for the exercise.  K had a snow day, and stayed home.

Look at this small size can of coke that they are now making.  This man at the grocery store was not impressed, he thought it was taking 'cutting back' a bit too far!  I think it's a nice alternative, sometimes you don't feel like drinking a whole can.  I know the standard size cans can vary worldwide.

The Surprise Meet Up

I was walking through Walmart the other day and as I was passing by the women's clothes, I saw these 2 women. The younger one said 'Mother! I thought for sure I'd never meet anyone I know in the clearance section!' This was followed by big laughs from the two them. It's the little things that make one's day!

I called my hairdresser of over 25 years to make an appointment only to find out he had slipped on the ice and broken his arm! Anyway, he had made arrangements to have someone else cut my hair.

And look what's already available in the stores:

Creative Tuesdays - Voyage

It's time for Creative Tuesdays.  Here is what I did for the 'Voyage' theme.  It's outlined with a fine point marker and coloured in with watercolour pencils on a 3x3 inch post-it note.  Please visit the other participants to see their inspiration for this theme!

For me the hardest part is deciding what I'm going to draw, conceiving the idea if you will.   From then on, it's a pretty quick process.

Autoshow 2013

M, K and I were at the Autoshow 2013 last week.  My daughter L finds these shows very boring.  It was very crowded as it was a public family holiday.We entered a few contests so I'm expecting a lot of junk email shortly.  I noticed this year we did a lot of touch screen typing, similar to entering stuff on an Ipad.  I think the old keyboards were faster for me actually.

Maserati

On the subject of cars, recently I've been hearing of people having problems with locking themselves out of their cars because the newer ones have these sensor keys. For example, my friend dropped her husband off to work one day. The car was still running as she bid him goodbye, but he happened to have the sensor key in his pocket. So she gets to the mall in the pouring rain, shuts the car off, and returns to her car only to discover she doesn't have the sensor key to turn the car back on. (I like my old fashioned key starter even more now!) My friend was able to contact her husband who arrived some hours later with the sensor key.

Sunday Sketches - Quick Sketch

Just a quick sketch today on a 3" x 5" post-it note. I was inspired by a fashion photo I saw on Pinterest, the model had such a beautiful figure and was so smartly dressed. I coloured her in watercolour pencils a bit differently than in the photo.

Linking to Sunday Sketches.

All too soon

All too soon it's time for L to get back to school.  What's a poor mom to do when grown kids go off to look for their life?  Sigh.  I suppose life gets back to a different routine and we adjust.  My son K keeps me pretty busy with day to day life to be honest.  We are thinking about college and preparations for that, although he will be attending post secondary school  close to home.  A recent milestone was when we had to submit his intention to graduate high school and will not return next year.

My sister sent me this photo of 'skeletoe' running shoes and their socks.  She says it's not a new thing, but it was to me!  What do you think?  (Crazy stuff, lol).  She always encourages me to try new things, but I think I will pass on this one!

Paint Party Friday - Neon Running Shoes

I saw this pretty girl wearing these neon orange coloured running shoes at the gym the other day. They looked so attractive, it inspired this piece today. It's acrylic on cardstock (11" x 8.5"). Later on, I saw another lady wearing a neon pink pair and realized these must be in fashion now. I have the impression they cost a lot too.

Linking to Paint Party Friday.

Cakes

My mom had her 75th birthday on the weekend. I ordered a birthday cake for her and went to pick it up at the grocery store. While I was waiting for my order I snapped these goodies for you. Those are 'critter' cakes in the top photo, what fun!

Help Us Improve

I found this neat quiz from my local drugstore which will calculate your heart age, I urge you to try it.  It's available until March 30, 2013.

I was at IKEA recently and noticed they now have these work stations set up throughout the store to solicit customer feedback. It's an interesting idea, maybe a good one.

Tortellini in Pesto Broth

I was inspired by this Panera recipe. This soup is quick and easy to prepare and was perfect for a cold winter's day.

1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbs grated parmesan cheese
1/2 onion chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 stick of celery chopped
5 c low sodium chicken broth
1 c water
340g package of fresh supermarket tortellini
1/3 cup tomato pesto sauce

Saute onion, carrot, celery in oil for about 5 minutes. Add the broth and water and bring to a boil. Add tortellini
and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in pesto, parmesan cheese, oregano and basil. Enjoy!

Chunky Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

A friend of a friend's daughter is ill and in need of a bone marrow transplant.  My friend says the best type of donor would be a male between 17 and 35 years of age.  They are deemed to be very strong.  People over 40 are likely too old.  Did you know this interesting fact?

I based this recipe from a Panera recipe and my cinnamon oatmeal cookie recipe and was pleased with the result. As Panera describes it, it's a cross between a brownie and a peanut butter cookie in texture.

Makes about 2 dozen bite sized cookies

1 c flour
3/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c peanut butter
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c butter or margarine
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c chocolate chips

Mix flour, salt, baking soda, cocoa powder.
Cream butter, peanut butter and sugar together, add egg and vanilla.  (The peanut butter mix smells so good at this stage!)
Add the flour mixture, then the chocolate chips.
Form into 1 inch balls spread 2 inches apart on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake in a pre-heated 350F oven for 8 - 10 minutes

Sunday Sketches - In the Woods Continued

I showed this painting at last week's Paint Party Friday. Cathy commented that I was missing a chimney and some smoke for the house in the woods and I thought she was absolutely right, so I've now added that! It's acrylic on cardstock (.45" x 6.5")

Linking to Sunday Sketches, thanks to Alexandra for hosting!

Granadilla

Hope you're having a great Saturday!  L is home from school for reading week, it's great to have her.
She rents a house with a bunch of friends at school, one of them is her boyfriend.  He made her heart shaped eggs with toast for a Valentine's Day breakfast and followed up with Hershey chocolate kisses.  Isn't that sweet?  I think I'm more thrilled than she is as she reports that she was very busy (with exams) and tired at the time although she did appreciate his efforts! 


 I have a fruit that is new to me to share with you today.


I saw this fruit at the grocery store, granadillas from Columbia and decided to try it. It's related to the passion fruit which I haven't had either. It has a sweet, crunchy, tangy taste.

This is what it looks like cut open, you can just eat it with a tablespoon, seeds and all:

Have you tried these before? 

Paint Party Friday - Boat at Sunset

I'm pleased with how this piece turned out. I wanted to do a hazy sunset, then added a brightly coloured sail but decided not to add the rest of the boat or any water. It came out looking almost abstract didn't it?

This is done in acrylic on cardstock (6.5" x 4.5").

Linking to Paint Party Friday.  Please visit some of the other talented participants!

Paint Party Friday will be hosting an auction March 15th to benefit the Sandy Hook Elementary School. To find out more about this initiative, please visit the link on my sidebar.  I hope you
will participate in the auction, anyone can join, either to contribute art or to buy!

Inspiring Conversation

I enjoyed listening to this wonderful and inspiring conversation  from space between Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield and William Shatner, another Canadian.

According to this article, flowers do make you happy, give you a sense of well-being, lower your anxiety and depression levels and make you more energetic.  I just like them and am happy to know they provide such benefits.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day!  We should have some chocolates.

Interesting Burger

L sent us this photo from The Works Burger Bistro where she dined recently with some friends. It seems they have a downtown Toronto location that we would like to try ourselves. There is a huge menu. L had peanut butter and bacon on her burger and loved it. M and I think we will just get normal toppings we like on our burgers. Would you try a more exotic topping?  Apparently this restaurant was featured on FoodTV.

My Digital Magazine Subscription

On the weekend I got this email from Ebates saying I should make a purchase soon to claim my Walmart $10 gift card.   I decided to go looking at the stores from which they offer rebates and decided to purchase a subscription to the Canadian Chatelaine magazine to which I have previously subscribed in the past.  (I will get a $2.99 cash rebate from the purchase!)  It seems I will get a free wristwatch with the subscription and it also entitled me to a free digital subscription on the Ipad.  We have an Ipad in the house, so I decided to download the Chatelaine app (with my son's help) so I could receive the online subscription.  It is no extra cost with a paper subscription.  I just had to ask K not to tap so fast through all the options to ensure I didn't end up paying twice for the subscription and so I could see what he was doing.

 I've been wanting to do something like this for awhile so it was fun browsing the magazine on the Ipad.  There was an advertisement for a new Disney Oz movie and wouldn't you know, I was able to play the trailer from the digital magazine ad!  Then I got to the recipe section and it was showing me before and after photos of the food as I rested on the page!  So I'd be looking at a raw steak, then it would show me the cooked steak!  I could press a certain spot on the screen to toggle between the images.  At the end of the day, I am still more comfortable with a paper magazine, and my copy should arrive in some weeks.  But of course, I was able to browse the online magazine the day I bought the subscription.  It was fun.

Here is some chicken pot pie I bought from Costco the other day.  It's a winner.  It's the Costco Kirkland brand I think, it came unfrozen, about 10 inches wide and you bake it for about 40 minutes. It had lots of large pieces of chicken breast inside.

My son K has been playing with the Instagram social photo network.  He took a photo of the beautiful Transformer actress Megan Fox and posted it.  He tagged her in it (via a hashtag similar to Twitter) and she (or her staff) actually 'liked' the photo!  So did her magazine.  He was thrilled.   These days you can be in touch with the whole world from your computer, as with blogging of course.

Ukrainian/Russian Recipe

I recently tried this 'braised potatoes with pork' recipe from Natasha's Kitchen.
We were very happy with it. Natasha does Ukrainian and Russian cooking, hearty and wholesome food. I used pork chops with this recipe. You grate 2 carrots and mix them with chunks of potatoes. Then you season the carrot and potato mix and simmer it with your seasoned pork. The carrots gave a beautiful colour and I think the fact that the vegetables are seasoned separately gave them so much extra flavour.

Sunday Sketches - Valentine Sunset

I've done a 'Valentine Sunset' piece today. It's acrylic on cardstock (4.5' x 6.5"). what are your plans for Valentine's Day?

Linking to Sunday Sketches.

Mio liquid water enhancer

We had a major snowstorm yesterday.  M and I love to shovel for the exercise and we got good workouts yesterday.  By the fourth time out, it wasn't fun anymore and it was dark!  Not to mention our 2 year old snowblower wouldn't work.  M thought the engine was too cold.   The city was pretty much shut down and the roads were awful with cars stuck everywhere.  We haven't had much snow before this, and it is winter after all.  

For all the travellers out there, here is a beautiful video of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.  I've never been there but maybe I should add it to my bucket list.

I noticed this new product at Walmart recently. It's Mio water flavour enhancer of all things. So you just add a few drops of the product to your water I think. It comes in different flavours. Have you or do you think you would like to use it? I actually just enjoy plain water (and diet soda).

Paint Party Friday - In the Woods

This wintry piece is called 'In the Woods', acrylic on cardstock (4.5" x 6.5"). Do you think it's sunrise or sunset?

Linking to Paint Party Friday. Thanks as always to our wonderful hosts Kristin and Eva.

Japanese chicken dumplings

So have you prepared packaged Chinese or Japanese dumplings before? This gentleman was handing out samples of these dumplings in Walmart recently. They tasted so good I decided to get a package. He said these Japanese chicken ones were selling really well. The package directions say you can boil, steam or fry them. I decided to fry them the way the gentleman did them. I put a few tablespoons of oil in a pan then I tossed all the frozen dumplings in. After they browned for a few minutes, I added a few tablespoons of water and simmered them for about 4 minutes. Then I happened to have a bottle of sweet chili sauce in the refrigerator. So I flavoured the dumplings with some of the sweet chili sauce the way the man in the store did. They were delicious, on the salty side, but maybe that's why they tasted so good!

The Penny

McDonald's here has posted notices that the Canadian Government is phasing out the penny (since February 4th actually).  It says from now on, they will be rounding your bill up or down to reflect that fact as they will no longer be dispensing pennies.  They will however accept the customer's pennies.  In fact, when I was in McDonald's recently, my bill was like $7.14 and I gave them say $7.15 and I didn't get any change back.  The US will not phase out the penny.

I was in church this past weekend.  Their tax receipts will be ready next weekend for pickup.  It's First Communion time, so they had an enrollment ceremony for the little kids that day.  They were so cute holding their baptismal candles.  A lady sitting next to me was wearing such a pretty knitted sweater I had to compliment her.  She said she made it from bits and pieces she had lying around.  I was most impressed as I don't knit.  It was a  pretty flame orange colour with splashes of purple, navy blue, etc.  Yet another lady was wearing the prettiest earrings with a shiny hairslide to match.

Here are some pretty flowers I took a photo of at the mall:

A Nice Lunch

Last week I met a friend for a Winterlicious prix fixe lunch at Katsura Japanese Restaurant. K came with us as he happened to be off school that day. He took this photo of his teriyaki chicken meal. For some reason he only ate the chicken, so I ended up finishing the rest along with my black cod selection. He's really more of a burger and pizza kind of person.  The covered dish contained some pieces of tofu, eggplant, mushroom and beans.  That's an egg drop soup on the right.

It seems the restaurant has cut back on their prix fixe portions.  My friend said they used to serve
a much bigger platter. 

A Scare

Last week, just after 9 am my cell phone rang.  It was K's school calling to ask why he was not in the exam room to write his 8.30 am exam.  The lady could not confirm exactly which exam this was.  I got all flustered and yelled to K to get downstairs, that we had to go to school immediately.  Fortunately M was still at home and called the school.  It turned out  it was a scheduling error and K's exam was at 11 am as we thought.  They apologized, but still it was very upsetting.  He had studied hard all week, and to think he might have missed the exam!

My niece was even more upset at her school.  It seems she was all ready to go to her last exam only to find it  was cancelled/postponed by 3 days, because of a storm warning which never materialized.

Anyway, I'm happy to report that K passed all  his courses this past semester and it's on to his final high school semester.  He has also been accepted to College and will have to select from his 5 choices soon!  He's really happy and seems to have matured lately, thinking seriously of what will lead to a job he likes and a career.

Here's a heartwarming Superbowl Ad for you in case you missed it.

Sunday Sketches - Valentine's Surprise

Well, it's Superbowl Sunday.  Is anyone celebrating, going to a party?

I thought I'd do a quick sketch on a post-it note and call it 'Valentine's Surprise'!  Are you excited about Valentine's Day?  An old friend of mine was actually married on that day.

Linking to Sunday Sketches!

Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

Inspired by Barbara, I decided to make some Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies earlier this week.   I was a bit confused with 'oatmeal' versus 'oats' in her recipe but she cleared that up and I will save her simple recipe for another time.   I found this recipe and made some modifications as follows, they turned out great!

Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 c oats
1 c flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 c margarine
1 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 350F

Mix oats, flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda together.
Cream butter and sugar, add egg, vanilla
Mix wet and dry ingredients together, add chocolate chips. Bake in one inch balls spaced a couple of inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper,
350F for 8 - 10 minutes.

Paint Party Friday - Valentine Moon

Welcome to February!  I had an idea to do a romantic pink moon. The past weekend was grey and foggy, which also inspired me somewhat. This  painting is called 'Valentine Moon' (11.5" x 8.5" acrylic on cardstock).   While painting this I managed to stain my new tshirt with a dot of lilac paint and shortly after that I spilled a small jar of paint water on the rug, so annoying!

Linking to Paint Party Friday.