Look whose riding with us...

What you do with ski masks you bought for a family Christmas card but do not wear ever...

What we're eating:

Best Pizza Crust EVER!!!

Ingredients

1 pouch of instant dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 1/4 cup warm milk
3 tbsp melted butter
Approx 3 cups flour (I use multigrain)
1 tsp salt

Prep

Mix yeast, sugar, warm milk (do not bring to a boil) and melted butter

Let stand 10 minutes to get yeast activated.  Foam will form along the surface.

Mix flour and salt gradually with a fork to wet mixture.  Switch to mixing with your hands until all flour has been incorporated.

At this point you may also add spices or parm cheese to your dough to give it extra flavours.
Knead dough, adding flour until dough is no longer sticky for aprox 5 min

Spray dough and bowl with cooking spray, cover and let dough rise, doubling in size for about 45 minutes.

Spread dough on a greased (cooking spray) pizza/cookie sheet.  Spread it large or make mini ones.  I make mini ones and then give them to the kids for lunch the next day.

Preheat oven to 450F

Put what you like on your pizza then bake for 10 to 12 minutes

Happy 15th Birthday Christopher!

Christopher just wanted you to know how proud we are that you are our nephew.  You are a wonderful person for our kids (esp Breton) to look up to.  Know that we are always there for you and would do anything for you.

We wish you a very happy birthday!  Love Breton Daphne Aunt Robyn & Uncle Jeff

Another Gadget

This is another gadget I love.  It is a collapsible clothing line/rack.  Closes up like an umbrella against the post or your wall.  It can be found at Canadian Tire and it is made by Brabantia.  It even has a cover to protect it when it is closed up.

Our March Break

MONDAY:  Tubing at Mount Pakenham

So over dressed for that day!

Hiking up to go down again!

Tubing in action!

TUESDAY: Andrew & Thomas, Breton, Daphne & I checked out The Lorax.  6/10 rating from me.  This would be a great movie for Earth Day: down with plastic, yeah for more trees...gotta see the movie to get it.  During the movie all I kept thinking was that you could make a cake with the trees from The Lorax and the tops could be cotton candy.  The colours were gorgeous on the trees and that would make one yummy cake topper for me!

Also went out for dinner at The Works.  waitress gave us coupons for 4 free milk shakes

WEDNESDAY: Swimming at Goulbourn Rec Centre with all our cousins: Andrew, Molly, Layla, Noah & Isaac

REGRET:  That I did not go swing into the pool on the Tarzan rope!!  No adults were doing it and a Jack Black look -a-like lifeguard was grabbing the kids to pull them back and then pushing them out over the pool.  Not so sure I wanted the grabbing & pushing???

THURSDAY: Costco and chillin with Daphne (Breton had a sleepover)

FRIDAY: Went to visit Grandmaman in her new retirement home just outside of Renfrew.  Also went out to lunch with Grammy at Santa Fe.  Then I went out to dinner with my best gal pals @ Sukhothai.  So yummy!!!

This is 1 of the goldfish in the very large tank they have @ Grandmaman's place.

The cat Patches at Grandmaman's (missing Coco the dawg)

Germaine Breton and her Great Grandkids!

SATURDAY: Jeff sold his car!!!!!
SUNDAY:  Went for those milkshakes at The Works Mine was peanut butter, caramel sauce & chocolate soooo good!

ALSO ENJOYED THIS SUMMER-LIKE WEATHER, ALL WEEK LONG!!!

Congrats to Brodie for becoming a big bro!  Also to his Mom and Dad, JenR & Rik:)  Now the fun begins with deux!

Bonne Fete Manon:)

Bonne fete a ma jolie belle aime, Manon!!

2nd Annual Manotick Road Race

Check out www.instrideevents.com on my sidebar to join in the race.  My kids and I did the Mnaotick Road Race last year and Breton did the Kids Triathalon.  We had a lot of fun.  Plus some of my favourite people are sponsoring the race Jerseys4Others!

Happy St Patty's Day

                                  Hope you get your green on!

That of the weakend bladder...

So a friend of mine is due to have her baby any day now and she had mentioned how much pressure the baby is putting on her bladder.  Sneezing, coughing, laughing all cause problems.  Call in the Tena or Depends?!  Well I share her problem and I am not even pregnant!!   I have the weakest bladder of all.  It just doesn't hold a lot, alas my awakness at night causes my trips to the washroom (and then the reading to get back to sleep as previously mentioned in a past blog). 
Warning: TMI

The other day I was getting ready to have a shower and had a sneezing fit...you can only imagine what happen.  I hope you and my pregnant friend never have to experience that one.  Let's just say I washed the bathmat today:)

2000 views

Pass the blog along!  I am trying to get to 2000 views, the sooner the better:)  Thanx

Tennis Elbow? Just Chuck It!

Ok so I am not quite 40 yet (in my mind I will always be 25) but something has happened that makes me think "Oh no I am getting older, physically."  I have tennis elbow!  I do not even play tennis, never want to but yet I have this pain in my right arm/elbow region.   I know what it is from and I am renaming it Chuck It Elbow.  Yes I got the pain from throwing a ball for my dog with this plastic devise called a Chuck It.  It launches tennis balls way further than I could ever throw it and you can pick up the ball with the Chuck It without even touching the gross dirt encrusted ball.  I "chuck" everyday with the dog and every morning during our session I start to feel the pain.  I know I have to get this plastic brace and it will make the pain go away (I have borrowed a friend's and it helped) but I have yet to purchase my own.  Just wanted to share.  Oh and maybe using a mouse at the computer might aggravate it a bit...that won't stop me from blogging though:)

Sickie:(

So I was off work for 2 days last week with a fever/chills viral thing, that developped into a nice "wet" cough (not yet in the chest, just lingering), anyways this is what I watched:

50/50 -this movie is a comedy about cancer?  Only slightly funny  Do not watch it

The Help - Pretty good movie.  I had read the book before it became uber popular and had forgotten a lot about it.  This movie made me laugh:)

What I read:

Still Life by Louise Penny 6/10
Every Last One by Anna Quindlen 8/10
Brain's Winter by Gary Paulsen 7/10 This is a pre-teen/teen book and is a continuation of The Hatchet.  I had not read the Hatchet but this was alright.

I need something to read before bed, during the day or in the middle of the night if I can not sleep (i wake up at least twice in the night to read...) so when I do not have a book to read it can be brutal for sleeping.

I am currently reading:

More Than Words Can Say by Robert Barclay - it is OK, kinda a romance/mystery

On deck to read next: The Ritual by Adam Nevill

Let me know of any recommendations you have.  I also read the Hunger Games (loved it) and plan to read the other 2 in the series.  Looking very forward to the movie coming out next Friday March 23rd (no I was not a fan of Twilight but am of this series of books)  Come on Lenny Kravitz is going to be in the movie...enough said!

So I still have this great sounding smokers cough and have even developped a rash on my chest from ODing on Vicks vapo rub!  Any suggestions I would greatly appreciate.  I have Fishermans Friends and Halls to suck on in boughts of extreme coughing or when I do not want to cough (like in the movie theater) but I am sick of the taste of them.  I have even gargled tea tree oil in warm water (actually helped a bit).  I also took Tylenol for mucus and it just made me feel strange.  It recommended 2 tbsp!  I have since taken 1 tbsp when I am desperate but I really do not get much relief:(

WAAAWaaa enough wining from me!!!

My Gymnast

Daphne is just finishing up her gymnastic class at the Eva James Rec Center in Kanata put on by the City Of Ottawa. I have to say it has been a great program.  "Mom I like this way better than cheerleading." is what I was told after the first class:)  Daphne passed two levels of gymnastics in just one session and we have already signed her up for the next session.  They have it set up as a circuit and they threw in some theme classes, such as Animal Day and Pirate Day.

I

I am not allowed to take photos at the classes.  These were taken prior to the class last week.  Eva James Centre is fairly new and the instructors for the class are university age and really seem to know what they are doing (unlike other activities I have signed my kids up for through the city but alas I will not go there...unless you ask)

Snow Much FUN!



Here's what my kids did during the last big snow fall:

Who's there?

Breton

Gadgets

Before Christmas I purchased some air purifiers.  I bought them in the hopes to help cut back on all the dust and pet dander.  I have to say they really have helped!  I even believe that the germ factor has been reduced too.  A few illnesses have gone through our house and they have been limited to only one or two of us, as before we would all share...
I purchased mine as a set from the Home Shopping Channel.  I got one large unit, a medium unit and a mini car sanitizer (would use it on a long trip but not on day to day car rides.  It uses your car battery so if you forget to unplug it it could drain your battery).








Another gadget I have recently purchased is the Shark floor steamer, for cleaning.  Noelle got me turned onto this one.  It uses no chemicals but cleans and sanitizes.  You can only get Shark products at Canadian Tire.  I even used this one on the wall, to get some paint splashed by an over enthusiastic artist that lives in my house:)


Just wanted to share a gadgets that have been making my life a little easier.

Happy 39th Michelle:)

Happy Birthday Michelle.  Hope 39 is fine!!!

Looking so mysterious...

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my baby sister Aimee!  Love you lots, Robyn