Back in Newfoundland...

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I'm back on the Rock!.. It was a loooong flight!..

The flight from Calgary to Toronto was packed... then I changed planes in Toronto... and that flight was packed too...  most everyone on that second flight had a Newfoundland accent!..

After I landed we stopped at Velma's for breakfast/lunch and then stopped into TVAL for some delicious soap treats... then a three hour drive to my parent's place... Once we got in we had a lobster feast at my parent's neighbours... YUM!.. there were salads and other sides too... but I just had lobster!.. 

Around lunchtime today... before the Momma and I headed out to do some shopping a pile of crabs legs was delivered to the house... fresh from the ocean... they were cooked right away and we had a snack of crab...

...droppin 'em in the pot...

They were YUM!..

A couple of them were covered in barnacles...

I scraped a bunch of the barnacles off and saved them... Not sure yet what I'll use them for yet... but I'll use them for something... I'm hoping to find some larger ones down on the stages behind my paternal grandparents house...  or maybe at the beach... 

For supper tonight... we had Em's... I got a Centre Breast Snack Pack... with dressing and gravy...

...and a pineapple crush... YES!.. PINEAPPLE CRUSH... Mmm...

At the grocery store I grabbed a few snaps of things we don't see in Alberta...

Eversweet Margarine!..

...copious amounts of bologna... this was one of three shelves of bologna...

...then... 

I found this... I was very temped to buy it... the package looked like it was time warped right out of the 80's...

BAM!.. Bacon Wave!..

I think I'm still running on Calgary time... I'm not as sleepy as I would be if it was 12:30 am back home in Calgary...  gotta catch some Zzz's though... the sun is supposed to be out here tomorrow... hopefully we'll get out to the beach in the morning!..

Weekend Recap...

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I'm still around... time has just been flying by... work has been busy of course... and now this weekend I've been trying to get all of the planting finished before everything really takes off... ...with the exception of the second hedge... that'll come in June some time...  

Thursday I'm heading home for a week for a visit!.. WHOOT WHOOT!.. and the weekend after I get back is the Vintage Chicks Sale in Priddis... so it'll be the second weekend in June before I really get a chance to do any major yard work again... and no garage sale hunting until then either... 

A couple of the neibs went out garage sale hunting this Saturday... and I couldn't partake because I was getting my hair did at 9am... BUT!.. Amy found me these items:

The green table with the weathered wood top... galvanized pot... and little glass greenhouse... I was thinking of a little touch up work and then onto the Vintage Chicks sale with it all... but I don't think I can part with the set... its a set to me... it just goes together...  and I don't think I can part with any of it...

I've gone made with lavender... pictures another day... but I have the back garden lavenders coming back from last year... two planter boxes on the patio... two planters out on the front steps and then a little gathering of them in the front garden... and a few in the house... 

I found this pot at Winners... and guess what... I've planted a lavender in it... and it is sitting on the kitchen counter...

In the garden things are really starting to come to life...

  

...double flowering plum...

 

...silver mound... and the white fuzzy antler looking thing...

...purple corn flowers...

...peony's... I planted these today...

...and here's a shot of the lavender that I have everywhere... they're called Anouk Lavender...

I was just at work for a couple hours... to get a head start on the week ahead... its been a windy weekend... so it was pretty cool... lame... I was hoping for some hot weather this past weekend... this week is supposed to be great!.. fingers crossed the weather gets nicer back home... right now its supposed to be raining on the day that I arrive...

Now  we're packing away the last of the laundry... gonna have some snacks and chill out and watch some tube...

What were you up to this weekend!?.

Calgary Food...

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Another bizzay day today... Farmer's Market... groceries... finished moving out the front garden... some extra planting in there too... stained the patio planters and planted those... planted strawberries... planted my big herb pot which is now sitting on the kitchen island... Chris and our neib B dug up sod in preparation for one of the two boxwood hedges... pictures of all of that the next sunny day...

Today my glutes are killing me from all of the work outside yesterday... I can't imagine how much I'm going to hurt tomorrow... 

I've got to get better at blogging as things happen... here are a few catchups from the past week...

Went to CharCut downtown for supper with a few work peeps and a client... the food is beyond amazing... and their bathroom lighting... awesome...

Friday night Furbur and I went to check out Famoso... I had heard that it was really good from three of my coworkers... and we're not a big office so it had to be good...

There was a lineup... and the place was packed... but we waited only about 15 minutes... and it was worth the wait...

We started with a Cesar Salad... it was killer tasty... and we were hungry so there was no time for pictures of that!.. 

...and we ordered two pizzas... the Sicilian... a meaty pizza... and the San Andreas... that the one at the top of the second pizza picture with the avocado on it... we both liked that one most... OM NOM NOM NOM...

If I had it back I would have ordered a dessert instead of going with their gelato... it didn't taste like fresh home made gelato... it was rather artificial tasting... Fur's blueberry gelato was okay but my blood orange was not... not nearly as good as the gelato you could get in MacKenzie Town... and I think that gelato place is closed now...  too bad... it was good...

...what!?. leave our last two slices behind!?. I don't think so!..

And prepare you eyes for this picture below... OMG... this morning at the Calgary Farmer's Market we sat down for breakfast after checking out their new digs... well we had fresh squeezed orange juice... then Shef's Butter Chicken and Kuku Puka... with fresh made right there Naan bread!.. they have this stone kiln type pot thing that they stick the bread dough to the side of and it cooks there on the wall of the pot!.. 

Tasty...

Now to take up our Clam Chowder that is simmering away on the stove... Mmm... suppatime!..

Happy Mother's Day...

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To my Momma, Mother in Law, Sister in Law, best friend and other Mama friends and all Mama's out there... Happy Mothers Day!

xoxox

Busy Saturday...

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Last night Furs and I went out for supper together at Famosa... OMG... YUM!.. I have a few photos on my phone of our food... I'll upload them tomorrow... 

Today was busy!..  good busy!.. I slept in until 7 am... I know that sounds super lame but I get up at 5 am all week so 7 am really is sleeping in for me!..  I ran down and hosed off the deck to get the grass and dust off of it... it wasn't quite warm enough to dry quickly so I worked on some book page projects until the deck was dry...  pictures once they're complete...

After about two hours I headed out and stained the deck... two coats of stain and the black boarder... I was really hoping that it wasn't going to rain today...  it was only supposed to speckle... it rained a bunch... the stain was dry... now the water is beaded up all over the deck... hopefully that doesn't harm the fresh stain... argh!.. cross your fingers for me!  

See the lovely treats above!?. I won them!.. yeah!.. at the Kingsland Farmers Market... Furs and I were there last weekend and we picked up a few things... put our receipts into the draw they were having and we won one of the 20 secondary prizes!..

Then to the mall... the shoes that I wanted to get... well... the first pair... they were too big... and are a special edition... so the sizes that they had were all that is available... and the second pair made my feet look gigantic... lame... and then I had no luck at either of the other shoe stores in the mall...

...but... all was not lost... I left the mall today with this little bundle of items... I am just about to run out of my current face wash set up so thought it was a good time to change to something that may be better... I picked up this collection of Clinique goodies!..  I'll keep you posted how it works out... the Clinique ladies were very nice and helpful...

We hit up Home Depot then on our way down South from the mall... got a new bush, grass seed, soil, some ground cover moss and some lavenders...

One of the neibs had rented a power rake and aerator so we tossed in and took the power rake for a spin on the front lawn... between Furs and I we had already raked the yard 3 times... and just LOOK at what the power rake pulled up out of the grass!.. a ton of dead grass!..  the neibs that were outside lent a hand to get all of the dead grass raked up... Then Furs spread seed all over the lawn... and he also helped me cut out the front garden so that we could move the lilac bushes out... we got two moved and then it had just gotten to cold to bare... so we cleaned up and headed in... hopefully we didn't hack the roots of the lilacs too much... yikes!..

I'm super pooped now... starting to ache from staining the deck... I used the Clinique and I like it so far... I know I know its to early to tell how it is working... but my skin feels really good... time for a run to the store to get some icecreams!.. 

More pictures tomorrow... I didn't get a before picture of the deck... it looked awful... it looked great when we got it finished so hopefully the rain doesn't wreck it overnight...

Hope you're having a great weekend!.. what have you been up to?..

Lazy Guacamole...

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We picked up a couple avocados at the grocery store this morning...

Having just gotten home from work... much later than anticipate... and wanting a snack I whipped up some guacamole... I call it lazy guacamole because I didn't have all of the ingredients but made it anyway...

Ingredients:

3 small avocado

2 slices of onion minced

4 cherry tomatoes chopped

1tsp of minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Missing Ingredients:

chopped fresh cilantro

lemon juice

I'm not the biggest fan of cilantro... that was the one herb other than spearmint that I didn't bother to pick up at Home Depot this morning... so I didn't mind not having that to add in... and lemon juice... if I had some I would have added it... but it was good without...

To make the guacamole I mashed the avocados in a bowl with my pastry blender and then stirred in the onion, garlic, tomatoes, salt and pepper... and that was it... a super easy and a not to bad bedtime snack... its home made and not processed and packaged and only took five minutes to put together... 

...and I think it took us even less time to eat the bowlful!..

Turkey Soup...

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It didn't snow last night!.. thank eff!.. today the weather has been great...  Chris and I ran out super early this morning and picked up a few things at the grocery store for the week and then to Home Depot for a few plants and the deck wash to prep the deck before we re-stain it... We washed off all of the deck furniture and the deck...  tomorrow it's supposed to be 18 degrees... so I'm thinking we'll get to staining tomorrow evening... I'm heading into work this evening... blaaahhh...

Last night I took last week's roasted turkey bones...  that were tossed in the freezer last weekend...  I put them in my big pot and covered them with cold water... then simmered them with a quartered onion, a couple of carrots, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves and some coarse salt and a few peppercorns... for four hours...  it was late when that was done so I threw the pot in the fridge for the night with everything left in it...

After we got home this morning I got the pot out of the fridge and back on the stove... picked out all of the bones and large pieces... then strained the liquid though a metal mesh strainer to get all of the skin bits and small bones out... 

Yay for spring and easy access to my composter... I saved all of the peels and end bits of the veggies for the composter...

I put the broth back on simmer and then threw in some turnip, carrots, celery, onion, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper...

I used about equal amount of the veggies... after a couple hours of simmering while we were out working on cleaning the deck and repairing the vole damage in the yard I threw in about 3/4 of a cup of rice and then ripped up and threw in a large amount of turkey that we also had left over and frozen...

After another hour it was ready to eat... it was sooo delicious

... it smelled like "home" in the house all day... and by home I mean my Momma's house when she's making turkey soup!.. or when my Nan used to make turkey soup... I can't wait for lunch tomorrow... turkey soup and buttered bread!..

Saturday...

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I seem to be rocking a mad case of the winter blues today... only its not winter... well it snowed a bunch this past week... and I remember this past week being more grey than blue skied... I feel like I could go to bed and just sleep until my trip home in the end of May... I cannot wait until my trip home... I miss my family... and the ocean... 

Yesterday on the way home from work Chris and I popped into Lowes to pick up a few more boxwood bushes... and we got this guy for our gardens... Usually I'm totally opposed to garden ornaments... gardens look best full of plants... just my opinion... anyway he's just so perfect that I think he'll look great tucked in between the fox gloves and double flowering plum...

We also picked up a couple herbs... garlic and onion chives, parsley and oregano... I also wanted thyme, rosemary and basil but they didn't have the largest selection of herbs available... and we picked up a couple perennials for the garden... fox gloves and something else that I can't remember the name of...  

Last night a few of the girly neibs and I had a pile of junk food and we watched a recording of the Royal Wedding... WHAT A DRESS!.. I got a few shots of our nibblies on my iphone... I'll have to see how they turned out... if they're decent I'll upload them tomorrow...

Today Furs and I had to run out and get our taxes done... that sucked... then to the mall... Oh the mall... so many things to buy...

I resisted the temptation to go into most of the shops... though I found two amazing pairs of shoes... BUT they didn't have either pair in my size... :(  Maybe another mall will have those two pairs in my size?.. hmm... perhaps I should check tomorrow before I head to work for a bit... 

I checked out Bath and Bodyworks for the first time today... Usually I'm all about Fruits and Passions but I had to run in to pick up a few things for my Momma at B&BWorks... and I left with a few things for myself...

Bath and Bodyworks was just full of sales today... and it turns out that their prices are awesome to begin with... and the store is FULL of sales associates who offer just enough help... they're not in your face but when you need one they're right there!..

These candles are AMAZING... They had two for $5 today... I was looking for the cupcake scent too but they only had that in the much larger 3 wick candles...

The moisturizing soaps, foaming soaps and hand gels were all 6 for $25 and then all of the signature items were buy two get one free or buy three get two free!.. AAAND they had a big selection of clearance 50% off items...  

Now its getting cold outside and the forecast is calling for rain and snow tonight... I've got last weeks turkey bones simmering in a pot... I roasted the bones last weekend and then tossed them into the freezer so that I could make turkey soup this weekend... I wish I could share the smell, from that pot, that is permeating the house right now... Mmm... Turkey soup... Quick trip to the grocery store for celery... some laundry and then tomorrow should bring 14 degrees and sunshine... 

What have you been up to so far this weekend!?.