The Smurfs
As a special treat to celebrate the end of summer, we were taken out to see the movie "The Smurfs". I didn't get to watch very much of it since I seemed to always have one boy going to the toilet or wanting a drink.... typical stuff :) The boys did enjoy it very much.
Critique of the Movie
Overall though, I found it quite lacking. Not enough movement for boys to sit and watch through, the story line was incredibly poor and the acting left much to be desired.
The animation of The Smurfs was quite good.
It would have been an incredibly successful movie if they had taken a page out of the Harry Potter movies - stick to the story but don't be afraid to be creative. They could have done so much more with this movie and made it really interesting and yet still attractive to the little guys.
1/2 star out of five
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Canadian Child Support
The government publishes the guidelines for Child Support. All you have to do is provide the financial information - how much you earned last year from ALL sources - before taxes - scroll your finger along the chart and that's how much you pay each month for the next year.
Just how difficult is that?
Must be pretty difficult for some.... unless you don't want to admit that you made way more money than you are owning up to. Then you just might be in even more arrears than you are now....
Just how difficult is that?
Must be pretty difficult for some.... unless you don't want to admit that you made way more money than you are owning up to. Then you just might be in even more arrears than you are now....
Friday, August 19, 2011
Pondering...
I'm sitting here in 17C weather with no rain, a hint of fall in the air, in the absolutely gorgeous world renowned Muskokas where I live, feeling quite.... happy. This would not be remarkable in itself if it wasn't so unusual. Guess things were bound to improve at some point, but ever the eternal pessimist, I find myself actually thrilled to be having a change in my life... even if only for a few stolen moments of quiet....
Which has just been broken by an unhappy sick little boy....
So what prompted this incredibly unusual occurance? Was it the lack of fighting and carousing that didn't happen last night in the complex where I live? Was it the pulling out of my squash plants as a futile effort which relieved some frustration that had been pent up? Was it the thought that the boys are starting school again in the fall with 2 going full-time? Perhaps the fact that the Highland Games are on and there will be a bit of Scotland here for a day....Was it the fact that my body just had a dose of Tai Chi and meditation after an absense of months...
Or is it that I have finally just accepted my lot in life and I have finally come to terms with it?
All right, even I must admit that that one is a bit dubious but it was worth pondering....
Happiness engulfed me for a few brief moments and made my entire week seem that much better. I hope it engulfs you at some point this weekend.
David turns 6 on Sunday. Happy Birthday to an amazing son. I am so blessed to have you in my life. :))
Love to you all,
Adxx
Which has just been broken by an unhappy sick little boy....
So what prompted this incredibly unusual occurance? Was it the lack of fighting and carousing that didn't happen last night in the complex where I live? Was it the pulling out of my squash plants as a futile effort which relieved some frustration that had been pent up? Was it the thought that the boys are starting school again in the fall with 2 going full-time? Perhaps the fact that the Highland Games are on and there will be a bit of Scotland here for a day....Was it the fact that my body just had a dose of Tai Chi and meditation after an absense of months...
Or is it that I have finally just accepted my lot in life and I have finally come to terms with it?
All right, even I must admit that that one is a bit dubious but it was worth pondering....
Happiness engulfed me for a few brief moments and made my entire week seem that much better. I hope it engulfs you at some point this weekend.
David turns 6 on Sunday. Happy Birthday to an amazing son. I am so blessed to have you in my life. :))
Love to you all,
Adxx
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
It's been a weird day...
From the Garden...
As always, i like to brag about the fact that we are so lucky to have a garden plot for me to putter in. I just love going to the plot and see what we have ripe and ready and today was no exception.
We picked: cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, green beans, purple beans, runner beans (not many), lettuce, cheery tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, roma tomatoes, basil and swiss chard - which is still going strong!
The boys love to try and help but they haven't cottoned on to the fact that we don't want to cut everything down - we need to leave it to let it grow! lol!
From the House...
It has been a real rollercoaster of a week so far. Today was quite fun though... the complex was given a dumpster to get rid of all their trash... and I have never laughed so much in my life!!! I have never seen so much junk... and these people were going for HOURS taking stuff out of their house by the garbage bag full - and I mean literally HOURS they were dumping stuff. Ho wmuch stuff do you really need? The lady supervising it was astounded that we only had two things to go in - a really bad boxspring and a very wrecked desk that came as donations to us. Nothing else. They had so much junk that this massive dumpster went and had to come back - they filled it up twice!! You would not believe the number of Christmas trees that came out of one persons house... I was amazed.
All in all, a very entertaining day for really weird reasons.
Next up: School's Cool grad is tomorrow. Should be a blast!! :)
Hope you are all safe, well and happy!! Love, Adxx
As always, i like to brag about the fact that we are so lucky to have a garden plot for me to putter in. I just love going to the plot and see what we have ripe and ready and today was no exception.
We picked: cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, green beans, purple beans, runner beans (not many), lettuce, cheery tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, roma tomatoes, basil and swiss chard - which is still going strong!
The boys love to try and help but they haven't cottoned on to the fact that we don't want to cut everything down - we need to leave it to let it grow! lol!
From the House...
It has been a real rollercoaster of a week so far. Today was quite fun though... the complex was given a dumpster to get rid of all their trash... and I have never laughed so much in my life!!! I have never seen so much junk... and these people were going for HOURS taking stuff out of their house by the garbage bag full - and I mean literally HOURS they were dumping stuff. Ho wmuch stuff do you really need? The lady supervising it was astounded that we only had two things to go in - a really bad boxspring and a very wrecked desk that came as donations to us. Nothing else. They had so much junk that this massive dumpster went and had to come back - they filled it up twice!! You would not believe the number of Christmas trees that came out of one persons house... I was amazed.
All in all, a very entertaining day for really weird reasons.
Next up: School's Cool grad is tomorrow. Should be a blast!! :)
Hope you are all safe, well and happy!! Love, Adxx
Friday, August 12, 2011
Book: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I love to read and this week has been no exceception. I completed reading "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". The entire Harry Potter collection was on sale at my local Salvation Army store and I grabbed the bargain of the day - all 7 books for $5. :)
The story is well crafted, well known and well-loved. I won't be able to do it justice in a critique since the story is so well known - so I won't. I'll just say I enjoyed it and move on :)
I look forward to being able to watch the movie one day.
Hope you are all having a wonderful day!! :)
Adxx
Thursday, August 11, 2011
From the Garden...
From Our Garden
One of our fellow gardeners met us this morning at the plots and we had a wonderful time chatting about vegetables and picking her garden! Peas, tomatoes, beans, carrots... all were joyfully picked by my eldest son and I did a bit of weeding (and quite a bit of chatting) to help her out :)
Today we picked: cucumbers, lettuce, runner beans (first of the season!), bush green beans, carrots, cherry tomatoes and basil. Yum!
I was dismayed to see that someone had not only picked clean our swiss chard (an entire row completely wiped out and gone) but 10 cucumbers on one vine were taken as well.... plus the vine! Guess someone got quite hungry but honestly... pickling cucmbers are so much better when they've been pickled so I'm not sure it was a good meal for someone....
There has been quite a bit of theft happening. We have seen complete strangers taking what they feel like.... and given them the benefit of my nasty tongue in the process... but we have seen other gardeners taking from other people's plots. That is not only a serious breach of allotment etiquette, but a serious no no.
There has also been quite a bit of destruction going on - our nets were once again ripped down and we had to put them back up - but the Children's Garden was the worst. The two of us spent abut half an hour re-stringing up the deer deterrent and will be going back to do a bit more tomorrow.
Having said that, there is an awful lot of produce not being picked and is rotting on their various plants... coupled with plants going to seed. I realize that not everyone is as lucky as we are and live close to the plots, but to let your lettuce and broccoli and other plants go to seed... it's just depressing.... I'm thinking of emailing other holders and see if we can pick their plots in exchange for weeding... all those peas my kids could be eating *sigh*
From the House
We are all still reeling from 2 of 4 of us having strep throat and slowly getting better. The fresh air this morning for the 2 hours we were out on the plot did help and I know we both feel slightly better but very tired.
We still haven't heard anything about this "Yard Sale" that is happening here at the complex that we live in. It's going to be interesting to see what happens on Saturday, which is when it is supposed to be.
Today there is a drop in for the children from 1-3pm which is run by the Municipality of Muskoka. My children had a great time last week so we will attend this week - so long as it doesn't rain on us.... it's overcast but no rain yet....
Hope you are all having a wonderful day :) Keep green and gardening :)
Adxx
One of our fellow gardeners met us this morning at the plots and we had a wonderful time chatting about vegetables and picking her garden! Peas, tomatoes, beans, carrots... all were joyfully picked by my eldest son and I did a bit of weeding (and quite a bit of chatting) to help her out :)
Today we picked: cucumbers, lettuce, runner beans (first of the season!), bush green beans, carrots, cherry tomatoes and basil. Yum!
I was dismayed to see that someone had not only picked clean our swiss chard (an entire row completely wiped out and gone) but 10 cucumbers on one vine were taken as well.... plus the vine! Guess someone got quite hungry but honestly... pickling cucmbers are so much better when they've been pickled so I'm not sure it was a good meal for someone....
There has been quite a bit of theft happening. We have seen complete strangers taking what they feel like.... and given them the benefit of my nasty tongue in the process... but we have seen other gardeners taking from other people's plots. That is not only a serious breach of allotment etiquette, but a serious no no.
There has also been quite a bit of destruction going on - our nets were once again ripped down and we had to put them back up - but the Children's Garden was the worst. The two of us spent abut half an hour re-stringing up the deer deterrent and will be going back to do a bit more tomorrow.
Having said that, there is an awful lot of produce not being picked and is rotting on their various plants... coupled with plants going to seed. I realize that not everyone is as lucky as we are and live close to the plots, but to let your lettuce and broccoli and other plants go to seed... it's just depressing.... I'm thinking of emailing other holders and see if we can pick their plots in exchange for weeding... all those peas my kids could be eating *sigh*
From the House
We are all still reeling from 2 of 4 of us having strep throat and slowly getting better. The fresh air this morning for the 2 hours we were out on the plot did help and I know we both feel slightly better but very tired.
We still haven't heard anything about this "Yard Sale" that is happening here at the complex that we live in. It's going to be interesting to see what happens on Saturday, which is when it is supposed to be.
Today there is a drop in for the children from 1-3pm which is run by the Municipality of Muskoka. My children had a great time last week so we will attend this week - so long as it doesn't rain on us.... it's overcast but no rain yet....
Hope you are all having a wonderful day :) Keep green and gardening :)
Adxx
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Wet and Rainy Day
The Garden...
The overcast skies make it difficult to get excited about being out and about today... but we made the effort and went to the garden plot... Yes, even in the rain :)
We were rewarded with handfuls of green beans, 4 more cucumbers, fresh basil and flat leaf parsley to go into the sauce for pasta tonight... and some more cherry tomatoes.
At least I won't have to water today!!
Guess that means I will just have to buck up and clean the house instead :)
Enjoy Your Day!
The overcast skies make it difficult to get excited about being out and about today... but we made the effort and went to the garden plot... Yes, even in the rain :)
We were rewarded with handfuls of green beans, 4 more cucumbers, fresh basil and flat leaf parsley to go into the sauce for pasta tonight... and some more cherry tomatoes.
At least I won't have to water today!!
Guess that means I will just have to buck up and clean the house instead :)
Enjoy Your Day!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Oh No! Powdery Mildew on the Squash!
August 7, 2011
Powdery Mildew
As is typical for me, something new and exciting always happens at our garden plot - and today has been no exception! lol!
After watering our garden, I watered the herb garden and then went to water the children's garden and had the hose break... typical me, as I moved the hose from one garden to another I yanked on the hose to move it just as a car flew over the other end and it burst from the pipe! As I stood there getting soaked it occurred to me that I had seen that white powdery stuff on the Allotment Gardeners website and sure enough... once searching I found out we have powdery mildew on our crop of unknown squash....
What We Have Growing
Bush Beans
Runner Beans (vine) - I believe they are the scarlet variety - lovely red flowers
Italian Beans (vine) - lovely purple flowers
Swiss Chard
Basil
Peas
Cherry Tomatoes
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes
Pickling Cucumbers
Cucumber (1 plant! lol!)
Spicy Mix Lettuce
Squash - unknown variety - it is pinstripe green skin with white flesh at the moment, round in shape
Carrots have been planted again and we are hoping that this time they will take - we lost our last crop completely - something came along in the middle of the night and ate it all!!
We had an onion crop which was doing really well and then was struck with a blight of some sort - it spread so rapidly! Within 24 hours the tops of the onions had drooped and the insides were full of black little bug things and the insides of the onion had gone soft and had black rings.... which was a pity since we had picked one the week before that sat bigger than the palm of my hand.
Garlic was planted by the group last year and we benefited with the harvest :) lots of garlic for the next little while anyway!! :)
Thanks
Thanks goes to Susan and her team at PROMPT (Poverty Reduction of Muskoka Planning Team) for providing these garden plots to the public. It is a fantastic resource for us as a family - my children have been eating fresh veggies since beginning of June due to this great resource - for which I am very thankful! :)
Comments and Opinions
Comments, opinons and suggestions are always welcomed! As a single mother to three very active boys, I welcome any hints that would make gardening at the plot that much easier!
Cheers,
Ad
Powdery Mildew
As is typical for me, something new and exciting always happens at our garden plot - and today has been no exception! lol!
After watering our garden, I watered the herb garden and then went to water the children's garden and had the hose break... typical me, as I moved the hose from one garden to another I yanked on the hose to move it just as a car flew over the other end and it burst from the pipe! As I stood there getting soaked it occurred to me that I had seen that white powdery stuff on the Allotment Gardeners website and sure enough... once searching I found out we have powdery mildew on our crop of unknown squash....
What We Have Growing
Bush Beans
Runner Beans (vine) - I believe they are the scarlet variety - lovely red flowers
Italian Beans (vine) - lovely purple flowers
Swiss Chard
Basil
Peas
Cherry Tomatoes
Beefsteak Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes
Pickling Cucumbers
Cucumber (1 plant! lol!)
Spicy Mix Lettuce
Squash - unknown variety - it is pinstripe green skin with white flesh at the moment, round in shape
Carrots have been planted again and we are hoping that this time they will take - we lost our last crop completely - something came along in the middle of the night and ate it all!!
We had an onion crop which was doing really well and then was struck with a blight of some sort - it spread so rapidly! Within 24 hours the tops of the onions had drooped and the insides were full of black little bug things and the insides of the onion had gone soft and had black rings.... which was a pity since we had picked one the week before that sat bigger than the palm of my hand.
Garlic was planted by the group last year and we benefited with the harvest :) lots of garlic for the next little while anyway!! :)
Thanks
Thanks goes to Susan and her team at PROMPT (Poverty Reduction of Muskoka Planning Team) for providing these garden plots to the public. It is a fantastic resource for us as a family - my children have been eating fresh veggies since beginning of June due to this great resource - for which I am very thankful! :)
Comments and Opinions
Comments, opinons and suggestions are always welcomed! As a single mother to three very active boys, I welcome any hints that would make gardening at the plot that much easier!
Cheers,
Ad
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