Saturdays pass all too quickly.

It's already 1:00 pm and it feels like the clock is tick, tick, ticking away.

For those of you in other parts of the world and not familiar with all things American (insert "gasp" here) we're currently celebrating Memorial weekend. I'm feeling a bit delayed. In Canada we have May 2-4 weekend (a celebration of the birth of Queen Victoria). A weekend of drunk and disorderly conduct - alright, not exactly, more like sleeping in and having BBQ - kind of like what everyone else does on a long weekend. And the '2-4' represents a case of beer; 24 beer in a case. *sigh* When I say that here everyone looks at me funny....

We didn't go on a big trip, nor are we having BBQ. We've decided to spend the time in the yard. A place you'll find us on most weekends and it never gets dull. Really, it doesn't. I could do this every single weekend... The new neighbours have given the boys boxes to play in (they were up at 6 am asking to go outside). Up until 5 minutes ago they were playing quite nicely... things are breaking down at the moment...

A. is finishing up the mowing of the lawn. It's a big lawn and since we have an electrical mower it usually takes 2 days to cut the back. I did most of it yesterday. We only have one battery. We need another battery. We need sheep or a goat - darn city bylaws. Just think how green our grass would be... and how small the garden would be...

I'm sitting at the back patio typing away and having a glass of wine. There's cheese, black olives and homemade bread sitting on the table. The breeze is cooling the afternoon down and I have to say there really isn't anywhere else I'd rather be right now. Though I wish you were here. Wouldn't that be nice?

For My Mom -

My Peony finally bloomed! Isn't it pretty? The first one opened on Wednesday and now I've got 3 blooms. And do you see the little ant? Pretty cool eh?

From the Garden!

The 1st strawberry! I'm told it smelled wonderful and tasted even better.

Dinner Menu for the week.

It's been raining quite a bit. There's a lake in my backyard. It seems that there's always a lake in my backyard. I really have to work on that rain garden. It's a might bit soggy over there...

Luckily, the rain stopped long enough for E. and I to walk/run/skip/jump downtown and go to the local farmers market. Today was "Go Green Day". I love our little town and all their little gimmics to keep us all happy.

I didn't spend a whole lot, never really do and that's one good reason to shop locally! The potatoes you see were the same price as the bars of soap ($1.00 for both). The soap is made by a place called Marvin Goods. It's glycerin and so far it seems lovely. No scent, pure glycerin and rain water! Fabulous! If you interested you can email them at: clanmarvin@gmail.com and remember it's only 50 cents a bar. I'm also looking into rain barrels from a guy who lives down the street. They deliver and each barrel is $70. Not too shabby.

I'm hoping the plants I got will make it to the fall. There's rosemary, eggplant and a black pepper plant. Cross your fingers! I'm dreaming, dreaming, dreaming of veggie lasagnas and caponatas - as I watch a squirrel dig through the herb garden. Darn squirrels.

Anyway, I ramble... Here's this weeks dinner list. I'm not sure what order they'll be in. Tonight might be roast chicken but I'm currently feeling a little sluggish so it could be nachos and cheese instead...

1. roast chicken, rice and asparagus (from the market today).

2. pizza w/ chicken, spinach and camembart cheese.

3. lentil burgers with salad (lettuce from the garden, shredded apple and carrots).

3. quiche with ham and spinach (also from the garden).

4. chicken soup w/homemade bread (I'm putting flax seed, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds in the bread in hopes of lowering A. and my cholesterol levels).

5. chili

6. baked potatoes with chili and cheese.

And that should take us to next Saturday - market day. The first week in June is the first day of our new Tuesday market! Oh, I'm so excited. Until the garden comes in it really does make it easier to have two market days. I go through a ton (TON) of eggs in our house. I asked the local egg lady if they are going to be at the market... they don't know yet though they are really hoping to be. They make an awesome chicken chorizo. Mmmm.... hungry yet?

Too many thoughts.

Following in the foot steps of most of the bloggers out there, I thought I would write down some of the random crap that's been floating around in my head or just random crap I've been doing. You might want to go grap a cookie and a tea - the cookie 'cause it's a cookie and the tea to keep you awake! Nothing profound has been going on here....

- My garden looks like crap this year. I'm not sure if it's because it's only the middle of May and things just haven't popped up quite the way they should be or if it's because my garden has gone to crap (lots of crap around here....). I seriously think there's waaaaaay too much purple and my feeble attempt to correct that has been eaten by the bunnies/squirrels/deer/chipmunks.

- I'm making a cake. It's one of those 'better than sex' cakes. I'm quite excited. This one has pineapple and coconut. I expect Ser at my door around 5pm. ;)

- I love my kids but they're driving me batty. Mr. E. has learned to talk without breathing - about nothing and repeatedly. Like this Family Guy episode. My husband thinks that part of the show was freakin' hilarious. It gave me a twitch.

- I have an abnormal love for potato chips baked with blue cheese. It's an obsession really. I think it has something to do with all of the above...

- I'm feeling an overwhelming sense of disorganization. I can't imagine why.

I now have to go... E. is calling... he wants to play pictionary. i have to pick up A. at the airport in 20 minutes... it's a 20 minute drive... i think my head is going to explode soon or that cake is going to be gone in 15 minutes. i'm hoping for the exploding head 'cause it takes a long time to work off that cake....

Note: yes, there's a lot of grammatical errors in this, i don't care.

Groceries.

Alright, so I didn't actually go get groceries today and with any luck I won't have to go any time this week. I did however make a trip on Friday and spent $65.60 on stuff like ice cream and coffee creamer. I'm a little relaxed - chillin' out and all that...

Actually, I've got tons left over from last week and all I really needed was yogurt, wraps and milk. How I ended up spending more than 20 dollars remains to be seen! I think it might have been because I was hungry or because I thought that the english muffin sale was just too good to pass up. I may have also taken upon myself to keep the dairy farmers in business. I'd really hate for them to start feeling the effects of the recession.

So for your reading enjoyment, here's the list (yah, just a list today) of what went into my reusable bags:

Ice cream cones - sugar variety
Klondike bars (4) - 100 calorie each!
Edys frozen yogurt
Yoplait yogurt. Nothing nutrious at all in these ones.
Silk almondmilk (I'm trying to lower Mr.A's cholesterol)
Baileys coffee creamers - vanilla and original flavour - NEW and yummy!
Gallon of skim milk
Old fashioned oats - time to make some more granola
Unbleached bread flour
Cage free eggs
English muffins - cinnamon and whole wheat
Flour tortilla - omega 3 variety
Boathouse Vanilla Chai Protein Juice.
Bananas
Cored Pineapple - cause it was on sale and my kids will eat it.

Get it before the rabbits do!

The picture is a might bit dark. In my defence, it was dark.

Last night after a day of gardening and entertaining the boys, I went to my over flowing lettuce patch and made me a big ol' salad in one of my silver bowls. The assorted lettuces are getting too close together to grow and so, I may have taken a bit more greens than any one person needs in one sitting (or even two). Add in some shredded lettuce (thank you people at Kraft) and some of those edemame (my new favourite) and "VOILA", dinner!

This is why I love summer and gardening soooo very much. Did I tell you my potatoes are up - about an inch already! I feel like I just planted them ('cause I did).

Outdoors Again.

The rain stayed away today making it a perfect day to plant a whole bundle of stuff. I purchased way too many plants at Oakland Nurserys' this week and they were starting to wilt/die.

There was no rhyme or reason to what I picked out - kind of like everything I do isn't it? However, I did try to stay away from anything that was purple. Really. You wouldn't believe the amount of purple in my garden right now. It's almost embarrassing. Not that I don't like purple but really, there's a lot of purple...

The thing is, if everything I've planted actually thrives then I'm going to be bursting at the seams. Oh, yes, that means a new plot is going to be coming soon! I'm not entirely sure where I'm going to put it though. Perhaps I'll make a chart of the backyard and you can give me a little bit of advice as to how I might spruce it up.

Anyway, the plants I bought this week are:

Sweet Potato Vine (Blackie) - dark purple/black leaves and light pink flowers

Amaranthus - Early Splendor - this one has the best leaves - gorgeous

Coleus - 3 varieties: Volcano, Black Dragon, and a Carefree Mix (ahh)

Purple Cornflower - the flowers look like birdies (the kind for badminton)

Black Eyed Susans - a two tone flower and a staple to any garden

Lobelia - Blue Moon (good beer - totally unrelated topics...)

Marigolds - yellow - I didn't pick them E. did. He thought they were pretty.

Centaurea - Amethyst in Snow - gorgeous flowers

Avens - Mrs. Bradshaw variety - nothing fancy just like the colour

Lobelia, Cardinal Flower - Queen Victoria - even the stems are nice

Balloon Flower in Blue - this was on my list (hurray). pretty little flowers

Coral Bells - for the shaded areas

Foxglove - also for the shaded areas. I love foxglove.

Coreopsis - tickseed. nothing fancy.

Lemon Verbena - also picked out by Mr.E. I think he thinks it's going to grow lemons.

Petunias - miniature pink - yes, petunias. I potted them and I love them. I used to really dislike them but there's something to be said about their colours.

Dahlia bulbs in orange and yellow. Don't judge me.

Wednesday

A very special blessing goes out to our Papa today. He's in surgery right now. If you've got a minute could you stop to say a prayer. Thank you. Oh, and if it's not too much to ask can you say one for a friend of mine - she too is in surgery today. It's cloudy and rainy - seems appropriate.

OMG time flies.

Mondays shopping trip $108.78 - a trip to Trader Joe's and a trip to Target (for peanut butter. Skippy is on sale for $4.74). I still have a few pantry items from last week (carrots, celery, zucchini) that I had to use up. It went well as a meat sauce for last nights penne and it'll be extra special in the lasagna for this evenings meal (Mr. A is dancing at work right now just thinking about it). Tomorrow is a night out at this house (or at least there better be some sort of take-out) and then Thursday and Fridays meal will be homemade chinese (see the dumplings and the shu mai) and polenta fries with some sort of salad - respectively. We're hoping for a sunny Saturday and/or Sunday as my neighbour has promised me a meal of tortellini salad and sea breezes!

The left side of the above picture. See those potatoes? I'm dreaming of an Italian Potato Salad. Mmm.... (Italian Potato Salad is boiled potatoes, chopped onion, and a salad dressing made of red wine vinegar, the above pictured olive oil, s&p, and dijon mustard.)

The right side of the photo above. The kids cliff bars are for S.'s lunch. I'm trying to branch out a little more for him. He hasn't bought his lunch once this year (poor thing) - just homemade stuff - so I thought he deserved a treat. My kids are suckers for these granola bars - me too. I love the chocolate brownies. Mmmm....

See the Edamame in the picture? I've never made it before. I'm not sure my kids are going to fall for them. They're a little green to sneak into a wrap but perhaps if I mush them and make them into a dip? Any suggestions? The kids haven't had Fondue either! Oh, doesn't that seem like it would be fun? Hot cheese, kids with sharp sticks and an open flame.... I'm shaking with excitement!