Friday, August 12, 2011

Summer Fun: A Final Hurrah

I can't believe that this is the last Friday of summer for us!  That was fast.

Here's a fun, quick project for you and your kids; I'll call it Ziploc Ice Cream.

1.  Fill a gallon ziploc bag with ice about halfway, add 6 tablespoons of rock salt, or regular salt (we used regular).

2.  Mix 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 cup milk, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla in a pint size ziploc and seal it.





3.  Put the small bag inside the large bag and seal the large bag.

4.  Shake.




5.  Keep shaking.




6.  After about 5 minutes of shaking, the mixture will turn to ice cream!




7.  Dig in and enjoy!




Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The Book Depot

Nearly everyone in my family is a book maniac to some degree.  When we are together, we usually end up at some type of bookstore, especially us sisters.  Laurie happens to have the best bookstore ever not far from home.

The Book Depot is a converted factory.  It looks cool on the outside...



...and on the inside is row upon row of discounted books.





Every kind and genre of book imaginable is available, all at bargain prices.  Below is just a small section of the home/decorating section.




There's a large section of deeply discounted books, and as it happened, the week we were there those books were even further marked down to just $2 each.
These were my $2 purchases; I wish I had thought to get several of the cookbooks to keep on hand for wedding gifts.



The kids each got several big hardcover coffee-table type books on topics such as the sea, skyscrapers, and dogs.  I'd estimate that we got $200-300 worth of books for about $20.

If you're a book lover, and you're ever in the Niagara region, be sure to visit The Book Depot.  If you'd like to shop the Book Depot online, you can do that too.


Friday, August 5, 2011

My Alma Mater

My sister Laurie and her husband live and work at a Christian boarding school in Ontario, Canada.  My dad went to this school in the 1950s, and worked there in the 1970s.  All of us kids, except my younger brother, also attended.  I graduated in 1988.

When we were in Canada, we stayed on campus.  I thought it would be neat to give you a little tour.


Laurie and Wayne live in this house on campus.  When my dad worked at the school, we lived in this same house, and I went to kindergarten in town.




This is the main school building.  It's pretty much the same as it was when I was in school.



This boys' dorm was built about eight years ago.  It is a vast improvement on the old boys' dorm, which is basically just storage now.  Craig and I and the kids stayed in the new dorm while we were there.  



The girls' dorm is this awesome huge stone house that was built by a Canadian senator in the late 1800s.  When my dad was a student in the beginnings of the school, this is where classes were held.




An older photo, before it was owned by the school.



We had our big family birthday dinner in the dorm's sitting room, which was the original dining room.  There is a butler's pantry between the kitchen and the dining room, and a "secret" back staircase from the kitchen up to what was the servants' quarters.




The original stained glass windows still flank the fireplace.




I had several different rooms when I lived in the dorm.  This was one of them, with a marble fireplace.  I'd say the ceilings are at least 12 feet, and the baseboards 15".



I love that there's so much history here, and lots of my own family history.  In fact, my dad, Laurie, and my oldest niece Lacey were the first three-generation family to have all graduated from the school.

Thanks for taking the tour with me!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Something Nice and Something a Little Crazy

Recently my bloggy friend Paula of Sweetpea had a giveaway for homemade herbal soap, and I was the lucky winner!  The soap arrived charmingly packaged in ticking stripe fabric tied with twine.  They smell so good, especially the rosemary mint!

I have been using rosemary lemon at the kitchen sink and I'm really enjoying it.  It leaves my hands smelling fresh.  If you'd like to try making your own soap, check out how Paula did it.  I'm thinking it sounds like a nice teacher gift.




On a totally unrelated topic, here's where things get a little crazy...for me, anyway.  First, some background.  My sister Laurie and her four daughters have matching tattoos.  It's five ichthus (Christian fish) in the shape of a flower, representing each of them and their faith.



While we were there, my nieces suggested that my sisters and I should get matching tattoos as well.  Laurie and I were totally on board (although I must admit I was a little nervous about it), but Wendy was a flat-out "no".

Wendy, me, Laurie

Back home, Craig and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary this weekend.  (That makes me sound so old!)  A few years ago on our anniversary I had tried to convince Craig that we should get matching tattoos, but he was against it.  This year, with tattoos still on my mind, I brought it up again.

While still not a big fan for his own sake, he was willing to do it this time.  Seriously, that's how much he loves me!
Long story shorter, we now have matching infinity tattoos.  They are small and simple, because for all my big talk, it was really a huge leap for me to even set foot in a tattoo shop, never mind actually sit down and let somebody inject ink into my skin!

For me, that's pretty crazy!





Monday, August 1, 2011

Family

The main reason for going to Canada was for my brother's wedding.  Dave and Audrey met on 
e harmony.  I told them they need to apply to be in a commercial.



One of the nice things about weddings is that you usually get to see people that you might not have otherwise.  In this case, it was my whole family.  It's not often that we are all together at the same time.  All of my siblings were there.  In this photo, clockwise from left (numbers are birth order):  my sister Laurie (1)  my brother David (2), his new wife Audrey, my younger brother Andy (5), sister Wendy (3), our dad, me (4), and our step-mom.  




We stayed with Laurie and my bil Wayne at their home.  They have four grown daughters, two of whom are married with three children each.  Most days there was anywhere from 15-20 people in my sister's house, usually eating.  My oldest niece and her family live just a few houses down from my sister, so we got to see them every day.  Her oldest daughter (my great-niece) though she is a few years younger, really hit it off with Pinkerbelle.  They actually share the same nickname, so they went by Pinkerbelle J (my daughter's middle initial) and Pinkerbelle May (her last name).



Pinkerbelle May's baby sister shares my name!  It took me a while to remember that when somebody said "Holly!" in a sing-songy voice, they were talking to the baby and not me.




Skippy's 11th birthday was last Monday the 25th, and my dad's birthday is July 30, so we celebrated both with a big family dinner.  Again, something we don't usually get to do.



I also got to meet my youngest niece's BFF Lucy, her husband, and their adorable daughter.  My niece introduced us through our blogs, and Lucy and I have emailed back and forth for the last couple of years.  Check out her blog here.



More to come...stay tuned!

Friday, July 29, 2011

Home Again, Home Again

It's good to be back!  We had a wonderful time with my family, and packed a lot of fun into our visit. It's going to take more than one post, I think, but here's a sampling.

We went to Tim Horton's no less than six times.  It was the first place we stopped once we crossed the border.  The one below was our last call, in the Detroit area; I'm hoping they'll make it further (farther?) south eventually.  Interesting fact:  the cup sizes are larger at the US locations, where the small is at least the equivalent of the medium in Canada.



Canada's Dollarama is the best dollar store I've ever been to (although it's actually a $1-2 store).



Craig took the kids to Niagara Falls.




We went to a beach on Lake Ontario with my nieces and their families.



Come back next week for more family and Canada posts. 
Have a great weekend!


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

On Vacation

I'll be in Canada for my brother's wedding and family time for the next ten days.
Sorry I wasn't organized enough to get some scheduled posts together.  But, there are almost three years' worth of content here that you can browse!

See you when I get back!