Waiting game...

Things have been really quiet around here lately, as not much has been going on. This past weekend, we were in Ottawa, anxiously awaiting the birth of our new nephew. Unfortunately, he still hasn't put in an appearance. We're blaming his father for passing on his patience and stubbornness genes ;)



ETA: James Henry was finally born on January 31st at 5:30am. Welcome to the world little Peanut!

BRRR!

We hid out from the cold all weekend, only going outside to get some wood to keep the fire going. After most of January being so mild it seemed like we would be able to avoid the late January deep freeze. But mother nature came back with a vengeance it was "hell-freezes-over" cold!

And then yesterday morning we woke up to this:

It took us 5 minutes to get the car started! Fortunately, they're announcing a balmy -8C for tomorrow...

Cat Antics

While I was making supper last night, Pepper decided he wanted to play with a piece of pepper that escaped the frying pan... I couldn't resist the irony!

And of course Bella decided that the canning pot is her new favourite spot this morning:

Raspberry Jam!

Yesterday morning I decided it was the perfect time to make some raspberry jam... and I actually remembered to take pictures!

Ok, so I didn't take pictures of the jar filling part, but you get the idea. Can't wait to try some when we get home!

More Jam...

My uncle recently made a request for more strawberry-mango jam, it seems the jar from Christmas is running dangerously low. So two nights ago I decided to make some more... and I figured out what the problem is: I get so involved with what I'm doing, that I forget to photograph the process! Which leaves me with this:

Strawberries & Mangoes

Bottled Jam after Processing

It's a pretty colour once the

bottles are cleaned up!

Unfortunately it turned out a bit runny, it might be because I ran both fruits through the food processor instead of just the mangoes. Keeping it cold helps, but hopefully the next batch will be more like jam. Of course, no matter what the final consistency is it still tastes great!

The plan for this weekend: raspberry jam!

Catching up...

We've been pretty busy these past few days...

Saturday morning we decided to head back to the store to pick up a new duvet cover we saw while curtain shopping. Next on the list will be some new paint for the walls, but that probably won't be until spring at the very earliest. New curtains and blinds are also on that shoppings list. The duvet cover wasn't on the bed long before Caesar decided it was time for a nap.

The guy who clears our driveway also came by, even though there wasn't too much snow. Usually we get up in the morning to a clean driveway, so it was nice to actually witness the snow clearing.

There was also some furious knitting on Saturday that lasted well into the wee hours of Sunday morning as I was trying to finish some knitwear for my cousin's baby shower Sunday afternoon. I've resisted posting any pictures earlier just in case!

We all had a great time at her shower! But, of course, I once again forgot the camera... that's one of my new years' resolutions... be sure to have always have the camera for those spontaneous (and those "it's been on the calendar for months!") photo ops!

We started back to work at the college yesterday and we've been busy getting everything ready for the beginning of the semester. Fortunately, we won't see students for another 2 weeks so there's still plenty of time to prepare. After work we spent the evening with my parents for my mom's birthday... it was a great evening!

So far today has been more of the same... cleaning, organizing, getting ready for labs to begin!

New Curtains!

We decided it was finally time to change the curtains. They were left here by the previous owner, and while they were nice they were not something we would have chosen.

Of course, the only photo I could find is from

the home inspection last March!

So, yesterday we finally decided on a colour for them, and went on a mission for curtains... and we came back with these:

and we love them! It makes such a huge difference to the living room, it actually feels bigger and more open =)

It is spring yet???

With Christmas behind us, and the new year ahead of us, we started looking forward to spring and plans for the garden. We're optimistic about the results of our current attack...

Once we feel we've weakened the weed's stronghold, we're going to block their progress with weed barrier and build raised beds on top. We've been looking at photos and garden plans for inspiration...

But I think today we've finally come up with a plan. It's going to be a few years in the making since our garden plot is 25 x 30 feet with several raised beds. Plus, we have 4 neglected flower beds and one new flower bed to work on as well.

But, there's still plenty of time to think about it before spring arrives.

Happy New Year!

I've spent the last couple of days trying to recuperate from New Year's Day, and all the cleaning and prep work leading up to it. We had family and friends over for our traditional New Year's Day dinner, but this was the first time it was held at our house rather than my parent's. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to take any pictures of the merriment.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2011!