What are you thankful for?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

We had such a good lie in this morning that breakfast didn't finish until 10am. We Skyped Moo and the boys showed them their progress on the piano. Huffle and I finished sorting out winter boots, skates, helmets etc and the boys sorted out their hats, gloves and scarves. I now have a list of things they need and then we are ready for Winter.

The boys got a bit of IPad today after a game of basketball for us all. Huffle and I decided where some new plants were to go and put a Mummy on our tree for Halloween.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was a huge roast with Turkey for Huffle and Smallest and a homemade Cheese and Onion Pie for Small and me (no soggy bottom, Paul and Mary would be very pleased with Huffle's pastry - it was lovely). We had homegrown beetroot and cabbage and cauli, broccoli, beans, potato and sweet potato. Phew it was a feast but we had enough left to eat tomorrow so we made it into a soup/stew. During dinner we asked the boys what they were thankful for. Small said Food, Family and Friends. Smallest said Mummy and Daddy, a Mummy who could cook and a Daddy that plays football. Awwwwwwww.

After a massive clear-up, den making and a Skype with Grandma and Grandad, we took a walk up the road, past the beer store, round to the pond and up and down the back road and back down to our road. It was a good walk and the boys had races on the way home.

Back home, we played a couple of games of Monopoly Deal, ate RooPoo Pie and custard for our tea and watched a film.

Everyone is back to work and school tomorrow.

 

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Baabaagwaajiwanaang

 

This morning we tried pancakes on the new griddle part of the stove. Very quick and easy to do but we had the heat too high so they were cooked on the outside but a bit squidgy in the middle. Still, the griddle holds its temperature so it wasn't a problem to put them back on. We know what temperature to use for next time. Huffle decided to take us on a Road Trip today.

The Kawarthas was the trip we took. A beautifully, sunny, 11* drive, 45 minutes north east along lovely countryside with gorgeous trees showing off their fall colours of reds, golds and yellows. We came upon a small hamlet called Little Britain first where Huffle had heard of a special bakery called Butter Tarts n More. It was a very busy little shop. We bought butter tarts and brownies and chocolate squares which had just come out of the ovens and stashed them away for later.

Our drive continued on for another 30 mins toward Fenelon Falls past more beatiful trees, pumpkin patches and huge fields of corn. One sign said 'you're in corn country - eat corn'.

Redneck Camp. Huge pumpkins

Pumpkin Patch.

Fenelon Falls sign. Huffle finds a shop he likes (little did he know that it was a jewellery shop).

There were lots of flags along the water but we found the Union Flags.

Fenelon falls (which was named after François de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon) was a nice little town with a waterfall between Sturgeon Lake and Cameron lake. Huffle was very happy to have finally brought us to a waterfall that had water running. We watched a boat go through the lock - it was a huge lock. We followed the waterway (called Trent Severn) to an opening in the lake where cute little boat houses sat in the water and a bridge went over the lake with a split in the middle which swung to let the boats go through. It didn't seem to connect back though (maybe it does in the summer).

A bit more walking took us to Nolan's restaurant (Huffle told us it was run by five sisters who sang and danced!) where the boys had paninis and Huffle and I had quiche (pronounced as qweesh by smallest). The roasted squash had chicken broth in it (but just a bit said the waiter). The food was amazing and came with a mixed salad with a sweet red onion dressing and a sweet chilli relish and coleslaw.

Back in the car we headed towards Bobcaygeon. (Which means 'at the very shallow currents' in native speak) This was a town nestled between another two lakes with another lock, parkland and lots of lovely trees. We poddled around, watched the boats and had a kawarthas ice cream and a sit by the canal.

Smallest found a new pet

On the drive home the temperature had got to 14* and we drove past the various lakes and through Lindsay and even more lovely trees.

The boys had their DS' in the car so Huffle felt they might need a release of energy (and they did) so we had a game of tennis at the local courts before settling down in front of the TV with our tea and little bites of our bakery delights.

Our tree

What a lovely blue sky (our chimney)

 

 

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A fitting day

HAPPY LONG WEEKEND

A lovely lie-in, followed by watching TV with my little bears, followed by breakfast made by Small of Scrambled Egg on Toast and a bit of sewing. Then while the boys played on the Wii, Huffle hauled up box after box after box from the basement in order for the kids to find their Halloween costumes for this year. Small decided on a scary bus driver.......

Eeeeek it's horrible

......and Smallest couldn't decide between a Vampire and a Wizard (we think he chose wizard in the end). Then we sorted through all the Winter things and hand me downs from Small to Smallest. Boots, Hat, Gloves, Skates, Coats were tried on in an effort to see who needed what this year. So far only Small's coat doesn't fit him and both need new boots. There is more to try on tomorrow. Huffle also found our old copper bottom pans which we had to put away when we bought the Induction. It's lovely to see them again (it was my idea to store them away, I'm glad we did).

We didn't have lunch till about 2pm and finally made it out of the house about 3pm. We needed to buy an electric kettle (much to my horror, I love our stove top kettle and it's lovely whistle) as the gas cooker is too slow. We also needed a bit of food. We took the kids to the Charity Halloween shop where we bought a wizards outfit for Smallest, a Halloween door hanger and a head mask for Huffle. I popped into the Wool shop and bought some more rovings for my mittens as I ran out last night just before I finished them! We then did a quick trip to Dollarama where we tried on much silly stuff again and bought some glow in the dark teeth and a beard.

We tried to find a kettle in several places and finally decided on one we liked and it boils much quicker. We picked up some food and some ingredients for the kids to bake tomorrow and finally got home about 6pm. We were hungry. We made dinner and sat in front of a lovely animated thing we have found called Figaro Pho. Lots of little shorts about various phobias.

Our dahlia finally flowering. A little chickadee eating our sunflower seeds.

Lovely Fall colours along the road. A vintage car parked in the local town.

 

 

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Knit Mitts

Huffle worked from home again and had a much better day getting much done so he can now go into the long weekend without worrying about work. The boys went off to school wearing long trousers (much cooler now). I went to knitting and finished off my mitten - it is lovely. I also picked up some new wool for two new little projects.

At lunchtime Suffolk and Taffy joined me for lunch which was nice and then we wandered around the town. I came home and made ginger muffins, cottage pie and a veggie thing for me. Huffle arrived home (he had been winter coat shopping and even managed to get a few Christmas presents) around the same time as the boys. Normal Friday evening kerfuffle of swimming where Huffle took Smallest off and Small and I stayed at home, practising the piano and playing on the wii (not me, I Skyped LizzieDotDot and caught up with all of her news).

Small and I went off to swimming and bumped into Huffle and Smallest just finishing.

Tonight we set the delay on the oven to come on, while we were out, to finish cooking the dinner. It behaved perfectly. What a treat to have a lovely working oven. No sign of MrSnail today.

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Gas Bag

I'd like to start by saying how good the Great British Bake Off was this year and what a shame it is over. What are we going to do now on a Wednesday evening? I thought it was the right decision for Nancy to win, after all, did you see how she put her gingerbread together? No egg cups for her (Aunty Miaow noticed), to hold her structures together and even when they pulled a bit off to eat, it still stayed together. Fabulous. Huffle sat (sprawled) in his new chair, inclining to recline and looking very comfortable, if not nearly asleep.

Huffle went to work and had an awful day. I took the three kids to school (Tuba is as big as a kid so I feel like he is one of mine now), just as the Gas Man appeared. He sat in his van drinking his 'breakfast'. Poor man, he has a three week old baby, a big backlog of work and is obviously tired and stressed. He did a great job for us though and we now have a fully functioning working cooker. In fact I made some savoury Courgette and Sesame Seed muffins just to test it out. Apart from the awful smell it kicked out (because it was new and it set the smoke alarm off) they worked a treat.

Suffolk came round today for lunch and to help me with Small's curtains (he has only had them up for over two years without them being hemmed. Anyway, we did a good job and although I only got one curtain done, I'm confident I can do the other one by myself now.

3pm was another rushed part of the day where I sorted out Small's football stuff, snacks, drinks etc and drove to school only to be told that he was still on his trip. Eventually he came back and I drove Small, Smallest and Small's friend Al to the away game about half an hour away.

The game was delayed due to us all being late and the football field was a puddly muddy mess! However our team did very well and we won 4-2. Small had some training from Huffle last night and I could tell he was working much harder and putting in some good tackles. Huffle edit 'good lad, and he his passing was in his own opinion very good'

My new mug (thank you MrsChappo) came in very handy for watching the game with my cup of tea and prompted some questions regarding 'how much tea does a British person drink in a day?' and 'I meant to say how nice your garden was looking'.

 

Finally we got back home, Huffle had beat us and had just started to warm up some soup for our dinner and we had that with the savoury muffins. The boys showered, did their homework and had a bit of time on the IPads.

Oooooh it's nice to get our kettle back on the Stove and it's lovely to hear that click click click of the ignition lighting the gas.

No sign of MrSnail today!

 

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Having a bad day eh?

This morning we decided to stop the kids from using the IPads before school as they were expecting it now rather than seeing it as a treat. Plus they both came home yesterday with low scores on their school work (very unlike them). We talked about school work, homework etc and said we wanted to see an improvement and that if they didn't have the IPad as soon as they finished their work, chores, teeth etc, they might not rush through their things so much. We will see how that goes.

Huffle worked from home again as he had another long conference call (which again got cancelled), but did enable him to get other things done. I went to aerobics and worked hard and then came home and Huffle and I during his lunch break cleaned the pool, emptied it of leaves and drained it very slowly. Everything has now been moved off the deck. It is so cool today it feels like Winter is already here. C'mon, we didn't have a long Summer and now we've hardly had an Autumn. I'm really not ready for Winter yet! After lunch Huffle worked and I mowed the grass with MrSnails loan tractor. I did most of the back back garden (up to the barn) and it went squuueeeaaakk waaaaiiiiilll and smoked a lot and stopped cutting the grass. I saw what looked like a piece of string hanging from the back of the mower and followed it. It was attached to the belt which had sheared and was hanging off. (The same belt that he ordered and fixed last week in order to loan us the mower in the first place). I called and left a message and can you believe it, he was here within ten minutes! Bloody cheek, snails don't move that fast! He asked if I was okay and I told him I was a bit fed up. Yes you don't have a lot of luck do you? NO MR SNAIL WE DONT! He said not to worry about the belt (I wasn't worried just annoyed I still couldn't finish the grass) and that he would fix it (guffaw) and try and get it back to us is afternoon (mwah mwah mwah). It started to rain, TYPICAL.

I came in and started to tidy up and clear away all the plastic, cardboard and sticky bits that came off the cooker. Huffle's chair was delivered and put in place. He is a happy bunny again.

Huffle and I worked on getting the pool cover on once we had figured out how drain the pool using our hose (very slowly). We got the cover over the pool and while I crawled underneath the deck (ouch my poor back and bumped head), Huffle fought with the wind who wanted to take the cover off and fly it to England! Eventually we threaded the tie all the way round but I had missed a few grommits and wasn't happy so we did some more after I collected he kids.

Today I picked the boys up from school because it is 'bring your tuba home' day. I also brought home Smallest's friend to play for a couple of hours. While the Smallest boys played on the Wii, trampoline and piano and Small did his Tuba practice for Moo and did his homework, Huffle and I fought with the pool cover. We re-threaded it, tied it and with the help of Small, made sure it was all in place. The pump is all tarpaulined up for the winter now and everything else is tidied away. Phew - that was a tough job. We certainly earnt the $200 for doing that job! There's a saving Huffle - happier now?

The gas Man called and asked if he could come tomorrow early morning. OH REALLY? So we had homemade burgers on the barbecue and boiled our water on the BBQ too (I forgot we have a ring or a burner as I was told they call it here), for our pot of tea.

The boys ended their day on the IPads and it was a treat after their piano practice.

Huffle edit, I just received a call from India telling me about our windows security threat. I asked where he was calling from and he was honest, India. I told him to shut up as I knew he was telling great big steaming whoppers about windows, as we don't use windows. I told him if he carried on I would be informing the police. He said go ahead, I told him it was a big shame he wasn't in the same room as I informed him how I would 'butter his head around the room with a baseball bat'. The phone was put down, the kids found it all quite funny.

 

 

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Faster Shoes

Bee and Begonia

Everyone overslept again - don't know why but I know that Small interrupted my dream and I was waiting for my dinner! This morning was a mad rush to get the kids off to school while Huffle worked from home as he had a late afternoon into evening conference call (which actually turned out to be cancelled as he wasn't needed on the call!!!!!!). I went off to the Garden Centre and worked mainly in the greenhouse making the Rosemary plants for the Royal York look good and then in the walled garden putting in Coreopsis and Shasta Daisies. I also purchased a few sale plants for our garden which included an Aruncus, Monkshood and an Amsonia. I got home about 1pm expecting to find the cooker but it hadn't arrived and there had been no call saying it would arrive.

Huffle had got a few jobs done including starting to close up the pool (this is the first year we decided to do it ourselves), paint the climbing frame and clear the barn ready for putting stuff away. It is only Autumn but the weather today made it feel like Winter will be here sooner than we would like.

I ran off after lunch to get some food shopping and take back the annoying bin that doesn't open properly and then came home with a few minutes to spare before running off to school to talk with Small's teacher. This is an English friend of ours who became a full time teacher this year so I know her quite well but I hadn't spoken to her since she had become Small's teacher. Then I rushed off to football. Small was playing in a co-ed (girls and boys) game against another school of all boys. The other team seemed much more confident and together but our team played well and held their own. It finished 3-2 to the other team. Smallest played football with his friends while the game was going on and at one point I caught him playing in the muddy grass with just his socks on (the ones I knitted him too) (no shoes I meant, not naked but for socks!).

On the way home Small informed me his shoes had broken. Back home the cooker had arrived without prior warning and the Gas Fitter said he would try to come but it might be tomorrow and he would call first. He didn't call and we had to go out to get Small some new trainers and go out for dinner as we had no stove!

We went to the only place close that I knew would measure his feet and fit according to how he walked. We ended up spending much more than we would have liked (well than Huffle would have liked anyway) but the man was so knowledgeable and he could tell exactly where Small's feet were problematic. While we were there we thought we might as well get some new shoes for Smallest too and it seems his feet are worse than Small's. So that's another appointment for Smallest (plus Huffle needs to get his checked out too). Anyway the boys are now kitted out in brand new trainers that do not bend in the wrong places and will help their silly feet. They have promised us they will look after them too.

Because our cooker is not yet connected, we went out for dinner and taught Smallest how to tie his laces while we waited. Both Huffle and I think we learnt at a much earlier age but I guess we didn't have so much Velcro in those days.

Once home, the kids went to bed and we tried to make a pot of tea by boiling the water in the microwave but it was disgusting so we had to have wine instead (actually I did, not Huffle).

I called the Gas Fitter who had only just home (9pm) and he said he had to finish his job off tomorrow but would try to get to us in the afternoon (arrrrggggghhhhhhhh no coffee? No tea??? I can't survive on wine!............can I????).

 

 

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