Come With Me!

Let me take you around my yard. Just so you know, some of these pictures are cropped, I'm not keeping it real! Cropping is an amazing tool! You can crop out things you don't want to be seen.

Let's go outside onto the porch! As you can see the Canadian flag is proudly flying and it just so happens to match my red chair ..hehe!




If you look past the flag you will be able to see my window boxes with my purple ( they were suppose to be red!!) cosmos! They aren't doing so well, and it's not a very good shot is it!



Downstairs and to the right is my huge blooming spirea. The blooms are much brighter then what the picture shows. I wish that it bloomed all summer, but it will only bloom a few weeks.



My front yard trees. Yes it is garbage day. And yes, we recycle here in Canada. Today it is "blue box" day. That means we put our blue boxes full of empty cans out to be collected. The green bins are food scraps and/or yard wastes, which we keep seperate from our regular garbage. Next Wednesday will be "grey box" day, which means we can put our grey boxes out full of paper/ plastic products.



A close up of the hosta! I wish you could see how huge it is!



Do you remember my Mother's Day fushia that was on top of my fridge? Here it is blooming very nicely!



Come around with me to the back yard. To the left you'll see my favorite flower bed.



And to the right you'll see my not so favorite flower bed. The Chinese lanterns have taken over everything! They are great for filling in empty areas, but awful if you have other plants in the same flower bed! It was a huge mistake planting them here.



The English Ivy growing on the corner of the house.



And the cosmos around the pool deck. We have not opened our pool yet, due to the fact that the fence blew down in the winter time, and by law we need to put the fence back up or put rails around our pools for safety. Seeing we have big expenses after MANY break downs last week and since we already planned many months ago to go up north in July, we may not open it until August ... if at all.



I hope you enjoyed your tour! I must say that I made every one of those flower beds all by myself. I dug out the grass, put in extra soil, and planted everything. My dh helped a tiny bit but I did most of it! It was a lot of hard work. But hard work almost always pays off.

Daisy

When It Rains, It Pours!

Well there has been a lot of excitement around here lately. Let's just say we have had LOTS of break downs! But with the break downs, it makes me count my blessings too! After having to visit the laundromat this week, I'm soooo grateful to be able to have a brand new washer to wash our clothes with! Thank You Lord!
Let me take you down to my basement and show you my new machine! Okay close your eyes, don't peek at the basement surroundings ... now open your eyes!(p.s. in my post below I was complaining about doing my laundry! I need to keep quiet and be grateful I can!) Here it is! It's red and shiny! :) And yes, I have started my laundry! It's sooo quiet!



I've also been working on another afghan. Let me give you a sneak peek at the hexagons! It doesn't look like much right now, and the colors may shock you, but you're in for a surprise! :) I can't wait to show you all when it's finished!



And some stevia desserts! This is a pumpkin custard. Once again there are eggs in this recipe ... yikes! ... why do recipes with eggs always taste so good? I'm having fun trying out these new recipes! And there is NO sugar at all in these recipes! Not even in the whipped cream! Mmm!Mmmm! Mangia! Mangia! ( I'm half Italiano!)



And here is a homemade blueberry yogurt popsicle. Oh this is delicious ... again .. no sugar! Make with plain organic yogurt, filled with active cultures and now my Crickie loves these and even choses them over store bought frozen yogurt! I'm grateful that I have found a few things that taste good with stevia. I've tried lots of recipes and so far these are my favorites. I find with stevia, you have to have a fruit (eg. raisins, pumpkin, berries) in the ingredients to help with the flavor.



By the way my scale says I gained 5lbs! Huh? Why I aughta heave ho that thing right out the window! Why does it do that to me? One week it says I've lost 10 lbs and the next week it says I've only lost 5. I NEED a new scale. This old thing has got to go!:)

Also if anyone is interested I made a tutorial on how to make "Yo yo's!" Just click on the title of this post and it should take you there!

Until next week ...
Daisy

Yo yo's and polka dots

I had just a bit of left over polka dotted material so I made my Dolly a pillow. I wanted to see if I could make some yo yo's too, so I made a few and decided to put them on the pillow too. They are VERY easy to make. Maybe some day I will make a yo yo quilt. Maybe.

Also this is the very first time I made a dessert with stevia that I thought was totally delicious! I made a brown rice pudding custard and even though it may look gross in the picture it tasted yummy! Now it does have eggs in it, so it's not something I can make all the time, as I think eggs trigger eczema. Anyway I'm anxious to try more recipes out of my new cook book.

I received my stevia naturally flavored orange drops that I mentioned in an earlier post. I didn't really like it mixed with water, but I really enjoyed it mixed with vanilla rice milk. Mmmm! I could drink that any time!

As for today, I already ran my errands, so it's off to do the laundry and clean the bathroom. Two of my very most favorite chores ....NOT! The grass needs cutting but it looks overcast today, that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Bye for now!

Daisy

A Catch Up

A few reasons why I am having trouble blogging! I finished my Neapolitan Granny Afghan. I am currently working on another afghan. This next one will be totally different. I have SO many ideas! But I can only crochet so fast. My crochet hook will be smoking hot!



Reason #2 is finishing my rag doll that I had begun to work on a year or so ago. At the time I didn't like how my Annie was progressing, but when I finally sat down at my sewing machine to sew up a skirt for myself, I saw her arms and legs and head and got a little side tracked and sewed up my little dolly. Meet my Annie!



Reason #3. Thrifting. I haven't been thrifting in ages, and just recently decided to go and see what I could find. Well I found some really nice clothes believe it or not! I also found this table cloth. I love the feel of it, it feels old and antique-ish. I don't know if it is or not, but I really, really like it.



Reason #4. Working around the House, yard work, planting and spray painting. This chair was ready to get the heave ho, it was green and faded. Nothing a little cherry red spray paint couldn't fix! Voila! My new chair.




Reason #5. I've been sugar free baking with stevia, helping my children with end of the year school projects, and running errands! Who would have thought that a stay at home Mom, would have so much to do? My Dolly will be starting French Immersion next year and I just got back from an open house at the school. She was sooo nervous going to it, but she relaxed once they started to play some games. This is all her own choice, I am the hesitant one ... she is willing to give up her friends, and leave her brother to go to this new school all by herself. She's a brave cookie, I hope that she does well and that this will be a big benefit for her future.

Now, I MUST get back to the yard work! Until next time ...

Daisy