After 3 1/2 years... fruit?

I know some fruit trees take a long time to produce fruit.

My Amelie tree has had a few tiny fruits, like mini fruits, til now... Yesterday and today, whopping big fruit!! I'll eat some of that!

Yesterday after I asked her to go and get her flip flops, she came back with them on the right feet (!!) and said happily "I got my flip flops like you asked, Mama. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

My jaw may still be on the floor.

Today, while I was on the phone, she went to a laundry basket full of newly dried kids clothes, and proceeded to fold the entire basket!!

Hang in there, Mamas. There will be a good reward for your labor. And believe me, the unbeliever, it's very, very good!

You Gotta See This:

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Sorry, I meant to add that my SISTER was the one who emailed this to me, so credit for finding something way cool goes to her.

I like this quote:

"Before I was married I had six theories about raising children.
Now I have six children and no theories."

~ John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

Sock Dreams

Check out this site, if you haven't already. It has some really extraordinary and gorgeous socks, stockings and related items... a fantastic array for the sock lover in all of us. Because yes, even if you've spent years in denial and squashed your desire, deep down there is a part of you that goes bananas over a pair of seriously cute socks.

They have a huge selection, a great range of organics and eco-friendly socks and free shipping people! The only problems is this, and I'm going to email them about it: they don't have a wish list! What's a girl to do?

Blog about it of course!

So, just in case any of you know a sugar daddy out there who buys random girls a sock or two, point him to my wish list post here:

Sock It To Me Argyle Knee Highs in black/grey

Angora Cable Knee Highs in ivory

Ribbed M Stockings in dark red

Super Basics in olive L

Super Dreamy Stockings in classic

Ahhhhh... sock heaven...

A Sentimental Journey

So, on the weekend we were completely re-organizing the kitchen. We threw away a lot of stuff... enough that I'm embarrassed to admit it. One of the things we found was this can of smoothie mix, expiration date of August 2003.

Ryan: Why do we still have this?
Me: Um... I couldn't throw it away...
Ryan: Why not?? It expired five years ago!!
Me: (sheepishly) Well... it was the first thing I ever bought with a coupon.

And thus we discovered that whilst R, for sentimental reasons, cannon throw away things, so I, for sentimental reasons, cannot throw away food. So here, for posterity's sake, is a photo of me with the first thing I ever bought with a coupon.

Hooray for instant smoothie mix for 49 cents.


And yes, we did throw it out...

Cake

So I made Imogen a Baby Penguin cake for her 2nd birthday:



There were a few issues... the frosting I used was definitely more suited for the cupcakes that I got the recipe from. Also the heat made it kind of sloppy to work with, even though I kept refrigerating it, and made it super glossy. It was very strange.

I'm still not happy with my cake frostings... I'm still to hit on just the right one. I'm trying for something similar to what my mother's used to be like, but they haven't worked out right yet.

Oh well, there's always Amelie's 4th birthday in December.

I love you, Cupcakes

The title of this post is to remember a post-it note that lived on our back door for a while...

Ryan and I have been a little obsessed with these Mini Espresso Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and Espresso Buttercream from our favourite little cupcake shop Leda's.

We had to make ours larger because we didn't have mini cupcake tins, OR holders. The cupcakes were fantastic, but very rich, and they definitely need to be the mini-size (we think).

Recently on a Bed Bath and Beyond trip, I found a mini-muffin tin, suitable for making mini-cupcakes (it keeps the shape better).

Then came the hunt for mini-cupcake holders... We found this article, and found it quite amusing. Enjoy!

Pipe Dreams

My dad took up cycling a few years back, and has done some long treks. Two years ago he and a friend from France who is also an avid cyclist, cycled from Melbourne to Darwin, through the center of Australia...


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Plus some sideline trips... It's a long way, like 2500 miles.

So I've had this idea that I'd get my butt into shape (literally) and start cycling and do a trip with him. Inspired by the 1930's and 40's John Wayne westerns that I grew up watching, I thought it would be fun to cycle through this part of the U.S.



These are some options for adventures I thought we could do...

This would start at the northern rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, go up through Zion and several other National Parks including Arches, down through Bluff to the Monument Valley National Park, Lake Powell and down to the southern rim of the Grand Canyon.


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or maybe:

From the most eastern point of Canada, through Maine to Boston, across to Niagra Falls, and down through the Pennsylvania Dutch Country and up to finish in New York.


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What do you reckon?