To make your day just so much more awesome, start out with an awesome breakfast

Breakfast can be a riddle sometimes. There seems to be rules around the ritual regarding what constitutes a "breakfast food" and what just can't go. I can't eat a whole pile of these "breakfast foods" and wouldn't want to anyway. Cereals are so artificial and sugary. I don't understand what the goal is when people are creating these cereals, some taste OKish but they're not great, they are not so healthy and they are so so expensive. So I have a more natural kind of cereal. It takes a bit of prep but not much, though I think it is still pretty pricey. Super healthy and delicious though. So the first step is to get a good variety of nuts and dried fruits, oats, seeds, coconut, hemp hulls, puffed grains etc. Just get a bunch of stuff you like that is dried, chop it up if it's big and put it in an air tight container. You can be really creative with this. I once chopped up a bunch of banana chips and added it to the mix. Then every morning you take about 1/2 a cup, add to the bowl then slice up some fresh fruit over it, add soy milk and you have one seriously great breakfast.

Escaping the city for a while

It can be hard to live in the city. Though there are a lot of green spaces in TO we have to drive to them which kind of sucks. I grew up surrounded by woods so this big city living is not my ideal. It is nice to be surrounded by nature, to wake up with the sun to the sound of birds singing in the morning. It's nice to see stars at night and chipmunks! I love chipmunks. They are everywhere here. Frogs and ants too. Big black ants everywhere. Oh nature, how I have missed thee. So we are at my in-laws cottage on a lake most of this week. 

 The weather has been alternating between humid and sunny and thunderstorms. This has created many opportunities to look at shiny wet leaves glowing in the sunshine. I wish I was a better photographer.

 I spotted some mullein. Mullein has a few medicinal uses, mostly respiratory I think. It is easy to recognize because of its soft, fluffy leaves. It can grow really tall in a season.

This is an overgrown path that leads to some shallow, weedy waters just perfect for fish babies. It's also speckled with wild flowers and surrounded by sumac. Sumac can be used to make pink lemonade if you have the right species (one is poisonous). Sumac lemonade once was a thriving market but has since been replaced with chemical lemonades with food colouring. I hope to make the sumac kind some day to see if it tastes different. Maybe this industry can be revived.

Milkweed to feed the butterflies. You can eat the pods that will form like okra.

 Piles and piles of daises blowing in the wind making it hard to get a clear picture.

And the promise of future blackberries. Looks like there will be a lot this year.

 Beautiful blue juniper berries, perfect for fixing digestive problems or making gin.

 The lake side of things. My little monster went for a swim in that lake today and loved it.

I Found a Bunch of Beads...

Once upon a time I had the time to actually have interests and do cool things. One of those things was beading and so I found I pile of beads in my closet. Now that I have a bit of time again, I feel the need to adorn my new old house with these little treasures. I made these strings to hang down from the bed canopy I intend to put together. A bedroom is more cozy with a nice, richly coloured and patterned canopy. I am going to go with pallets instead of a bedframe if I can swing it. I don't really know what the point of a bed frame is. Pallets are free and store stuff. I don't understand the whole box spring thing either though. If I had to have a box spring I would cut it open and store stuff in it like off season clothes or something.

The red things between this string are hearts that I punched out of paper and pinned through to make like paper beads kind of. I am going to make a whole pile of different strings, maybe use some shells and suspend them from the top of the canopy.

The greatest lessons are always free and never cheap.

Low Prep Sorting Activity for Toddlers

This was so quick and easy to put together. I picked up a bag of multi-coloured pom-poms and the dollar store. We had everything else to do this on hand.

Stuff you need
-multi-coloured pom-poms
-4 clear beer cups though if you don't have these I am sure you could modify the activity to suit whatever child safe cups you have
-crayons
-paper
-scissors

Set up
1. Trace the bottom of the cup onto the paper 4 times and colour each circle to match a pom-pom colour.

2. Cut them out and tape them to the bottom of the cup so the colour side  is facing up. The little man liked helping with the tape.

3. Line 'em up and put one corresponding pom-pom in each cup. After that point the little dude took over and sorted them all himself. He was very stoked when he was done, poured them out and did it again. Then he modified the activity, adding a bit of a tossing element to the mix. He loved dumping them out after, especially on the cat.

Who needs AC when you have awesome fruit pops?

It's kind of muggy today. We don't have an air conditioner installed because we are moving (and I hate them) but my little dude was getting hot so I threw together these Popsicles. Took no time at all and he really loved them.

Step 1: Cut a few strawberries into bits and push them into the Popsicle tray. I pushed them down and added more once they seemed full. I didn't pack the berries tightly because I wanted the juice to fill in well.

 Step 2: Add juice. Check for air pockets and if you see any, just use a knife to release the air. Air bubbles can cause the Popsicle to fall apart when you try to get it out.

Step 3: Freeze for 1-2 hours minimum.

Step 4: When good and frozen run the pop you want to dislodge under hot water. Just expose the sides, not the top. Then it should slide out pretty easily.

Step 5: Feed to your monster(s). Will keep 'em happy for a bit. They may get messy but that just makes it more fun.