I have a lot going on right now. With looking for our sweet dream home, spending time with the children, running, swimming, building friendships, crafting, blogging, working …

Working?

I will be starting a little writing gig for The Savvy Source!!! I am so excited to have the opportunity to write for the site. I will be sure to share with you when my first post is up. I have also been frantically finishing up stray projects so I can settle into a routine and maybe start accepting new design jobs. I finished J’s site and I have two sites that are in tweaking stage now. It feels so good to have a side thing going and actually balancing it with the children’s needs.

I have a few books I looking forward to sharing with you guys in the coming weeks. I have been reading so much. I love that I am at that time, where there is time to do all this. The infant stage is so consuming (and wonderful). Now Ethan is content to play beside me as I work on projects, still ever present with them both yet my own person too. Becca is totally absorbed into her own thing. I am more of a nuissance when I am not occupied too!

It is such an amazing feeling. Being this content, happy … settled. I am waiting for the next thing to rock me, yet not really holding my breath for it anymore. I have arrived at my good place. I like it.

To add just one more thing to my ever growing list of challenges, I am going to attempt to Ditch the Disposables! A challenge from the uber talented Crunchy Domestic Goddess.

You can make the switch from:

Paper napkins to cloth napkins
Paper towels to cloth towels
Tissues to handkerchiefs
Paper, plastic or Styrofoam plates to your kitchen plates
Inexpensive plastic “Take & Toss” sippy cups to Sigg or Camelbak bottles or the Kleen Kanteen
Disposable water bottles to (again) reusable bottles like Sigg or Camelbak
Plastic sandwich bags or paper lunch bags to reusable containers/bags
Swiffers (or similar products) to a broom and dustpan or mop (or use reusable cloths like cloth diapers/terry inserts in your Swiffer)
Disposable dust rags to cloth rags
Disposable diapers to cloth diapers
Disposable wipes to cloth wipes (inexpensive plain washcloths work really well)
Disposable feminine products (tampons, pads) to reusables like DivaCup, MoonCup, Glad Rags, Luna Pads, Pretty Pads, or New Moon Pads, among others
Grocery store bags to reusable bags

We are already using cloth grocery bags, cloth diapers (at home), we reuse all our containers, so there are only a few things on her list that I am still un-green.

Disposable feminine products — I want to switch, but oddly I stocked up YEARS ago in preparation for the world to end or something along those lines, so I want to use what I have before switching. The Diva Cup is a Canadian company that I have only read rave reviews about.

So I am going to challenge myself to Paper towels to cloth towels … I still way guilty of using the quick and easy routine. So from this day forth I will try not to use paper towels, opting for cloth towels instead!

Are you up for the challenge? Are there any areas that you could make a little change? Check out the Crunchy Domestic Goddess for more details and tons of great Green tips and more.

Have fun with more Wordless Wednesday.

I have a fascination with plants. During my university years, it was much better for the plant if the admiration was from afar, since caring for them never seemed to go over well. However, I kept at it and finally had a few plants that survived my yellow thumb. Sadly, I had to part with those plants when we left Canada. While in the US, I kept our plants to a bare, minimum, still reeling from the loss of the other plants and knowing I would have to leave them behind.

Now that we are back in Canada and our intentions to live internationally are non-existent, I have started a meager little collection of plants to green up our home. I have a succulent plant from the farmer’s market, that is doing quite well. We also purchased a Mother’s In Law Tongue (a plant I fell in love with while plant sitting for my cousin), and an Ivy (not sure what kind but it is pretty). My avocado plants are doing well. One has sprouted up and has one bud ready to leaf, the others have good roots!

A month or so after arriving, I decided we NEEDED a terrarium! However, are on a pretty tight budget so I had to slowly begin the process of collecting all that I needed to build it. Slowly building it up has been an amazing experience. I found the coolest cookie jar at a bulk foods store (and used a coupon to buy it!) then we also found a cool jar by the garbage we rescued! We collected rocks then bought some moss (I already had the soil), then we purchased some plants. This time of year all the places were focused on outdoor plants so we settled for an ivy and a nameless pink leaf plant.

When I saw Aimee’s terrarium, I knew I had to find some cute figurines to add that creative edge. So when I spotted these, I knew for the price, they were perfect! Etsy so totally rocks. Oh and this seller was so quick in delivery! Awesome customer service!

They look so groovy in there eh? I so want to plant more terrariums! I think I need more space first The bottle one was so hard to plant and place the figurines! Alas it is the I have ever done with chopsticks! hehe! I have posted more pictures on Flickr I can’t wait to show my Grandma when she comes to visit

Do you have houseplants? A favourite?

In an effort to live green, eco-conscious and more healthy, I have been obsessively attempting to go beyond my comfort level. I am so not a cook. J did all the cooking when we were students and later when I graduated and started working. This worked out perfectly as far as I was concerned, however once I started staying home with the kids, it felt wrong to expect him to cook when I was here, like all day. So I find myself attempting all sorts of recipes to keep us healthy and to reduce our consumption of packaging. I actually enjoy cooking, if I have the time and space to do so. It is another form of creative self expression, something I never appreciated before.

Even though we are making an effort, our garbage seems to be a lot. Our city has a great recycling program, but I still find certain plastics that I cannot recycle. The cashiers at the grocery store eye my Green Bags and the fact that I do not place my produce in a plastic bag with disdain. I am not sure why they seem to be bothered by it all. I have witnessed a huge shift in the way people are approaching shopping since we arrived. One sees many more reusable bags than ever before (in fact one grocery store no longer offers plastic bags).

Yesterday I made caesar salad from scratch. We even toasted the croutons (from stale whole wheat hot dog buns!). One excellent bonus of making dinner from scratch is Becca participates in the process. She loves cooking and although it is rather challenging at times to include her in every step, the outcome is worth it. She takes such pride in the dinners (and baking) that we do together. It forces me to be creative so that she is capable of helping. She tore the bread for our croutons and help stir in ingredients for the dressing. To top it off she adores salad and ate tons last night at dinner!

It was an interesting version of the dressing, but mighty tasty! My In-laws gave me the book, Main Dish Salads for Christmas, and the recipe is from that. I *think* I can share just this one with you, and once you try it you will rush out to your library or bookstore to buy the book (aka I am not trying to breech copyright here).

Light Caesar Salad Dressing
3 garlic cloves, peeled
4 oil-packed anchovy fillets, well drained
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
3 tablespoons yogurt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Press the garlic (I chopped since I do not have a press) and place them in a large salad bowl (I placed them in my hand blender to whip it all up fast). Add the 4 anchovy fillets & with the tines of a fork, mash them together with the garlic until the form a smooth paste (I have no idea what that means so like I said, I used the hand blender). Stirring briskly  with a whisk, add lemon juice &  Worcestershire sauce. Add the mustard powder and stir until dissolved. Whisk in the yogurt until blended, then pour the olive oil in a slow and steady stream (I used slightly less than 1/2 a cup of oil just to reduce a little of the fattiness)

There you have it a yummy and healthier version of Caesar salad! The salad would be so yummy with chicken or shrimp (we had left over fried rice so i did not add anything else). It was so satisfying doing it from scratch, only byproducts where compost-able & my family ate healthy!  I think I need to sew Becca and myself matching fabulous aprons in the near future!