Mudroom

I've talked a lot about how cold it is here but fortunately we have excellent outerwear so we stay toasty warm when we're outside.  The only problem with all this excellent outerwear is that it is made up of many layers and these layers need somewhere to live and dry off when it's not being used.

We're lucky to have a small mudroom (well it's more like a mudway).  It's not very big or pretty but our "mudroom" works quite well.  We have two rules; #1 boots stay on the mat and #2 only boots live on the floor!  The mat does an excellent job of soaking up the snow from the boots.  I guess the best thing about having a mudroom is winter or summer, shoes stay here and keep the house cleaner!  I like it!

I was wondering what people do when they visit friends or go to indoor events eg playgroup and have to leave their boots at the door.  It seems if you don't want to be in socks you bring along a pair of slippers!  I need to find some little jiffy ballet slippers for when we have our activities!

Little Miss D's silver boots are by far the cutest!

Now of course there is also the Martha Stewart version of a mudroom...  Amazing!  

these pics are of course from pintrest...

xx

Fanta pants...

I've had a few emails about why Fanta Pants.  Not wanting to use names, everyone was given a pseudonym - some more interesting than others.  

Many years ago Fanta Pants and I were watching The Footy Show (I can't believe I was watching that - I can't stand Eddie McGuire and Sam Newman).  Anyways, Cameron Ling was a guest and referred to himself as "Fanta Pants".  If you're not familiar with Mr Ling, he is a redheaded premiership winning captain of the Geelong Football Club.  We thought it was hilarious and it stuck!

It's amazing what you can find on Google - check out Cameron Ling selling himself as a Fanta Pants!

xx

pintrest...

I'm far too active on pintrest...  I just love it!  What a brainwave - so many amazing ideas on the internet and this is such a clever way to store and share them.  While I'll admit there is much time wasting, I have found some really great things to do, make and buy...  Par exemple,

With the help of my little sous chefs, we made this over the weekend.

Strawberry Lemonade Bars
http://www.kandktestkitchen.com/2011/06/strawberry-lemonade-bars.html 

These were delish!  While they're probably more a summer treat we have the most amazing berries here - strawberries, blueberries, blackberries...  Totally delicious and so cheap - 500g of massive, sweet blueberries for $3.  There is a downside - food miles.  With the weather the only Canadian fresh produce we get here is milk and those gross carrots.  Blueberries from Chile, strawberries from Mexico, cucumbers from Spain, broccoli from California.  We'd starve if we tried to buy local...

This is another great pintrest find.  The kids love doing this!  Some of them are actually really tricky to do.

xx

Village life

The weather was a mild zero with virtually no wind so we headed down the road into our "village".  We've been meaning to get have a wander for a while but it's been tricky trying to go for a walk when it's super cold.  I've been told that while it's ok for kids to play outside until minus 20, babies can only cope with up to minus 10...

Baby A all rugged up!

The "village" is quite pretty and has lots of little shops, a great cafe/patisserie a few restaurants and other delights yet to be discovered...  They don't look like "typical" shopfronts, more like houses.

The walk home...

Squirrels everywhere...

"I'm outta here!"

Squirrel footprints.  Excellent wildlife tracking in the garden!

There's work to be done!

Shoveling snow is still a novelty...

We finally made a snowman, or snowblob...

The carrot didn't last half an hour with cheeky squirrels around!

xx

Same but different...

We've been living with in a bare house with no curtains and very dodgy furniture.  The container ship with all our goodies is probably still two weeks away but today we started thinking about how it will all come together.  We desperately need curtains for the lounge and our bedroom and lights for the dinning room and playroom which don't have any...  what?  Fanta Pants hadn't told me that bit.

So we ventured a bit further out today (between swimming lessons, preschool and the supermarket I don't go very far!).  We headed 15 minutes down the number 40 highway to find a familiar place (after going half way to the centre of Montreal on the number 20 highway Fanta Pants realised we were on the wrong one!).

From the outside Ikea looks the same everywhere and of course the furniture is the same but it was still quite different.  Firstly, most everybody was speaking French.  Secondly, Swedish meatballs do not taste the same across the globe!  I was certain they would be the same but Canadian Swedish meatballs are actually made in the USA and they've taken all the spice out and made them rounder and smoother...  

Luckily the landlord is happy for us to do whatever we need to 

Our little trip took twice as long as planned.  It seems that everything takes twice as long - I'm not sure if it's the weather, the extra clothes, the fact we don't know where we're going, a bigger population or the fact that Canadians seem to enjoy waiting in queues.  Everywhere we go there are long queues but no one seems to mind so no need to do anything to shorten them...

Carrots are also same but different.  Sounds crazy huh but they are.  Carrots are one of the only fruits or vegetables that are locally grown but they're not tasty - they're bitter.  We love carrots in our house and eat a lot of them but these ones are only good for cooking.  Plus Fanta Pants think they look like witches fingers.  Luckily you can buy these cute, stubby pre-cut and peeled baby carrots that are perfect for lunch boxes.

One of the fun parts living here for me is occasionally being able to speak French and getting to watch French language tv.  The other night I watched Le fermier dans le pré which is Quebec's cookie cutter version of A farmer wants a wife.  Hilarious!  It was exactly the same - set up, styling, props etc.  The only thing different was the farmer's broad Quebecer accents!

xx

ps - At long last Baby A cut his first tooth!  He's not a tiny baby anymore..

foot prints

We have many little creatures that live in our yard.  Most of them are very hard to capture in a photo but they do leave behind traces of evidence.  

Fanta Pants went out the other night to put the bin out and found a little visitor helping itself to a stale pitta bread from the bin.  Unfortunately he was gone by the time Fanta Pants ran back inside to get the camera.

The next day the kids and I spotted the evidence - footprints in the snow and a bread bag on the gazebo...

I'm sure our little friend will be back so when we get a pic of the raccoon I'll be sure to post it!

While I was out taking photos, I thought I'd take a pic of the pool - well I think that's where the pool is.  You can see a diving board so I guess there is a pool under a layer of snow!

xx

PS - Does this happen in your house?  I laughed so hard I cried when I read this.  

"Non-winter"

Photograph by: Steve Wertman, Abbotsford Times

There has been a lot of talk about how mild the Canadian winter is this year.  People on the street, on the train, on the radio are all taking about it.  It got to plus 5 last night.  All these plus temperatures means not a lot of snow and what snow is left is melting.  This is from www.canada.com (my go to for Canadian news and info).

"We are the second coldest country in the world and the snowiest country in the world, but what we've really seen is a total lack of winter everywhere," climatologist David Phillips said.

"It's been like a missing-in-action winter and we're seeing that both in Canada and the United States," said Phillips, Environment Canada's senior climatologist.

Apparently the snow season hasn't started and non refrigerated ice rinks are melting!!!  Of course the next part of this conversation is about climate change and whether this is a result of global warming or just an unusual weather event.  I guess this remains to be seen...

xx

PS - Who'd be a third child?!  This poor little guy has to sleep on the go and luckily he seems happy to go with it.  I  couldn't imagine Action Boy falling asleep in the car, being carried in and napping on the floor for an extra hour!  Amazing!