A whole month...almost

I can't believe that it has been almost a whole month since I last posted!! I have falled off the face of the cyberworld for a while. I shall be honest to say that it was a good thing. I haven't made cards or anything, but I did continue to make melon muffins! Finally made those fruit explosion ones with the berries, but they weren't quite as tasty as the melon ones:):)

We are heading into sports season for which all the lads are VERY enthusiastic. Craig has soccer and Joe and Kev have baseball. I am off to yoga tonight, which I've been going to for all of April and will continue to the end of May. It's soooooo good, my whole body feels good and I have much less pain. I don't have a LOT of pain for the most part, but my back can act up once in a while. The gentle toning and strengthening from yoga helps SOOOO much. Ray is paddling in Algoquin right now, surely getting a work out of his own!

So that's what we're up to....oh yeah...and the boys are planting a garden. Nothing of that nature is easy. They have been working at turning the soil, which is great, but what do you do with the sod once you have filled all the dead patches in the lawn? We don't have a shed to hide a giant compost pile behind and the composter is already full. Can you believe that we have to take it to the dump???? They have a brush pile there. Or else we have to put it in a garbage bag by the road.....I just can't send grass to landfill. Once the sod is turned you have to add some good earth, which someone dropped off out of the goodness of their heart. But....we are not alone in this neighbourhood. Many cute little herbivorous bunnies live here too. And they like gardens....a lot! So we need a bunny fence. I bought chicken wire and "step-in-posts" with hooks made just for wire. (I'd whip some up in my welding shop but ....you know...) $100 later..... Well, the boys are going to be able to do it all by themselves. (I'll be sitting on the deck with a coffee and a muffin!) And...this week in the paper they advertised a kids' garden contest put on by the Horticulture Society. They supply the seeds and you get to go to a meeting every month with a little field trip attached. Sounds like fun to me.

I'd take a picture but my camera is in a water proof case in the bush. The thousand words will have to do.....


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How It Works Around Here....

Some of you may be aware of my recent affinity for baking muffins. I have a great base recipe and you can just add whatever favourite ingredient you like. Mostly...chocolate chips, a perennial favourite! The other day frozen fruit was on sale at Food Basics....I got all excited about the mixed berry mix and was all set to make "Tim-Horton's-Eat-Your-Heart-Out-Fruit-Explosion" muffins (sorry Janice!) and I went to the freezer and found.....melon and mango, melon and peaches, melon and strawberries. What am I supposed to do with that??? I never heard of melon muffins!!! Should have been more specific when I was writing frozen mixed fruit on the list. But....I thought, what have I got to lose. So....I took out the strawberries mix which also had peaches and pineapple, and yes....one melon ball, chopped them up and made muffins. They turned out to be AMAZING! So when life hands you melons, make muffins!

The Homestretch

I have come to the sudden realization that we are in the final 10 weeks of being homestay parents. There is quite a difference looking back over 3 terms than there is looking ahead to 3 terms. Where has the time gone? I was reading a book on the couch the other day. (It is noteworthy that I should record that activity on the blog, since it happens so infrequently... dat mei ek wol in de krante!!) ....and out of the corner of my eye I spotted the drying rack. I spotted little 10 year old sized sweatshirts and t shirts on there. In 10 weeks, there won't be any . I will miss that. There won't be any little "Kevin trails" throughout the house that are evidence that he was busy doing something, then got busy with something else and left everything laying where he sat. I will miss that (I think). There won't be a pile of lumps on his unmade bed of crumpled blankets, and his pajama pants won't be sitting in front of his closet with two perfect holes where his feet were when he stripped them straight down to the floor and stepped out of them. There won't be anything in that room and the bed will be made all the time. There won't be constant chatter and requests for playing a game.

Homestretch is a melancholy word today.

In other news....my tulips are buried under 10 cm of snow, and most likely Craig's soccer tryouts will be postponed again. I'm out of eggs and I want to make Bahmi, so I have to head out to the farm and I'll pick the boys up on the way home. I also need dog shampoo because the dog stinks. And I baked a cake today and don't have a meeting until Thursday!