Wednesday 28 February 2007

My puppy is healthy again!

Tikanii is back to his normal energetic, fun self...


Loads of energy and ready to play...

He is obviously feeling good again. Barks at anyone going by (not that there's a lot of traffic, being at the end of a dead end road as we are), wants to race the boys on their paper route, and is always ready for a tussle... His appetite is back and he's begging treats from the kids constantly. We are feeding him twice a day instead of the normal once every evening. He really needs to plump up a bit. He wants to be outside more, though he's still sleeping inside at night. Its so good to have our Tikanii back!

Tuesday 27 February 2007

Your Smile Makes me Happy


I made this layout up for Ebay, months ago, and it didn't sell. I'm so glad tonight. The colours worked perfectly for these pictures. Breanna having fun on the river last summer.

Monday 26 February 2007

Another MME layout...


Lilia is one of my closest friends. Her Dad is Hungarian and her Mum is Mexican and she got the best of the genes from both sides. She is absolutely beautiful ~ inside and out. She is always put together and friendly. Totally unlike me, she can make small talk with anyone and is quick with the compliments. She's the type of person you want to be around, because she always makes you feel good about yourself. I try to be like her...

The photo was taken at a friends birthday dinner ~ an excuse for a girls night out. LOL. I uploaded Mel's birthday layout last week...

The patterned paper, diecut and monogram are MME. Pink stickers (swirls & daisies) are Kelly Panachi. Flowers are Prima and the Bling is MM.

Sunday 25 February 2007

And then there were five...

Duncan cleaned out the mice cage again so we took the opportunity to get some more pics for his science project. Those babies are getting cuter all the time. Having a full coat of fur is a definite improvement in the looks department. LOL. I think the little black one is still my favourite. Thought the little brown one is pretty cute too. Aren't they tiny? Their eyes are open ~ we think. They're so small it's kinda hard to tell... Unfortunately there are only 3 little white babies left. There were 4 last Sunday when we cleaned the cage. There's no sign of a dead body. We've learnt that sometimes under stress a Mummy mouse will eat her young ~ so maybe that's what happened. Maybe cleaning the cage is stressful on the mice. It's getting done anyway; they get rather smelly after a week.
Duncan's worked on his science project quite a bit this weekend. We've printed lots of pics, because apparently he's not allowed to take the live mice in to the school.






And I got to do a little scrapbooking today.
I participated in a challenge at www.scrapcentral.ca We were challenged to find 1. a patterned paper 2. two cardstocks 3. eyelets and 4. ribbon ...
This is what I came up with.
The patterned paper is by STEMMA, as is the resin sticker and the clip on the photo. Flowers are Prima. I used different coloured eyelets as flower centers. I love how this page turned out.



I also participated in an 'altered' challenge at scrapbookchalet.com I created this altered door hanger for my scraproom, using mostly Sassafrass Lass product. It pretty much sums up my room!

Wednesday 21 February 2007

Scraplifting Games

One can never have too much fun scrapbooking :)
At the Scrapbook Chalet the fun and games never end. I signed up for a scraplifting game so this weekend I thought I better get organized ahead of time. Sssh! Don't tell anyone you saw it here first. It'll be a couple more days before I can upload it to the Scrapbook Chalet gallery...

The pp is new MME from their Ooh La La line. Lynette bought it back from CHA for her designers to work with, before she got it in the store. Of course I had to pick the brown and pink. My favourite colour combo ever!

I also made some cards with some of the big monograms. Love how antiquey they look! The 'K' is for my SILs birthday. I also made an 'R' for a sick scrapbooking friend adn an 'S' for a sick little girl who's Mum I've chatted with at ScrapThatMoment.com

Tuesday 20 February 2007

I hope this is a better week than the last one.

Wow. I feel like I've been run over by a truck.


First Tikanii gets sick and spends most of the week at the vets hooked up to an IV and looking just awful. He came home on Friday and spent the weekend lying in the entry way showing absolutely NO interest in the comings and goings of his family. I was really starting to worry as he's on 3 kinds of pills and has no appetite at all. He is finally starting to perk up a little, though no where near the energetic dog he was 2 weeks ago. He will be off 2 of the pills by the end of the week, but his new dosage for the Florinef that he usually takes will be double from now on.

I spent Saturday feeling a lot like Tikanii looked. Flu bug knocked me flat for a couple of days. I'm starting to feel better now so back to work I go...
And now Breanna's sick with fever and cough. I've been up with her two nights in a row. She's been home from school for two days so far. Hopefully she'll be feeling well enough in the morning to catch the bus.

Duncan's science project is... we're not sure what it is anymore.
The 3 mice in the 'healthy diet' cage all died on the weekend. Duncan found them stiff as boards on Sunday when he went to clean their cage. They had lots of water and food so we're not sure why they died. So out came the bleach again!

The Mummy and babies are doing wonderfully. The babies eyes opened last night and they are starting to explore beyond the little nest Mummy hollows out of the sawdust. They have the most adorable little paws. Duncan held them for the first time on Sunday when he cleaned their cage. There are only six of them ~ we thought we counted 8 or 9 in the wiggly little bundle when they were first born. The pink ones are downright creepy looking, but the two that are turning black (wonder if Mr. Escapee is the daddy)are almost cute.

Tuesday 13 February 2007

My poor puppy...


Tikanii is spending the night at the vets. I miss him so much. He's not a noisy dog, but he's always 'there'.
He's been 'off' since Friday. Keeps getting sick and so his pills aren't staying down. He has Addisons disease and has to have pills every day to replace the cortisone his body doesn't reproduce naturally. So now he's feeling yukky because his potassium is all out of wack and he's feeling yucky because of whatever made him sick in the first place.
The vet thinks his Addisons has just gotten worse and he needs twice as many pills. I hope that's all it is.
He's spending the night at the vets so they can rehydrate and stabilise him. Hopefully I can bring him after work tomorrow.

Sunday 11 February 2007

Another post for today!

I've been working all day on this layout. In between making beds, cooking meals and making sure homework (science projects) are done. I called it 'slice of LIFE 2006'.
I thought about what my kids would like to remember in years to come and picked photos to help jog their memory. Like the Honda 50 motorbike my boys do their paper route on, and the computer games they like to play, {I slid a World of Warcraft game card under the pic of Duncan on the computer} and my new car which doesn't have power anything so my kids had to learn how to 'wind down a window' instead of just pushing a button ~ hehe.
I didn't do much journaling, but I may jot down some little tidbits in the empty spaces as I think of it.


So Duncan's science fair project is coming along.
He's being weighing his mice every couple of days and one of the junk food mice has been gaining steadily. Until last night when she lost it all. Aren't they cute? Well maybe cute's not the word, but Duncan was sure excited.
There's at least 8 of them, possibly more. So we've more than doubled our mice population overnight. Mummy mouse has been doing a great job of cleaning and feeding them. They're snug in their sawdust nest beside the heated rock. I wonder who daddy is. Will they be part black or brown?
And how is Duncan going to work this into his science project? Hopefully they'll make for cuter pics once they have some hair on them.

Saturday 10 February 2007

Had my best friend and her hubby over for dinner tonight and made this delish salmon recipe. Love salmon, love pastry, love spinach and this recipe has it all!
This is so yummy. I ripped it out of a magazine somewhere and I've made it a few times. every time I like it more. I could eat just the crust. Yummy! or just the filling. Yummy! Together it is DIVINE

2 Centre-cut skinned salmon fillets (2lb total)
1 egg yolk

Pastry:
¾ cup cream cheese ~ softened
¾ cup butter ~ softened
2 tsp granulated sugar
¼ tsp salt
1½ cups all-purpose flour

In large bowl, beat together cream cheese, butter, sugar and salt until fluffy. Stir in flour just to blend. Divide in half; shape into squares. Wrap each in plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm ~ about an hour.
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Filling:
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil
3 cups minced mushrooms
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 Onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup long grain rice
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
2 tbsp fresh dill

In large skillet heat half of the oil over medium heat; fry mushrooms and ¼ tsp each of the salt and pepper until no liquid remains, about 7 minutes. Transfer to bowl.
In saucepan, heat remaining oil over medium heat; fry onion, garlic and remaining salt and pepper for 3 minutes. Add rice and 1 cup water; bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until rice is tender and water is absorbed. About 20 minutes. Add spinach and dill; fluff with fork. Let cool.
On lightly floured surface, roll out 1 piece of pastry to 10-inch square about 1/8 inch thick. Place on clay bake sheet. Spoon half of the rice mixture over pastry, leaving 2-inch border. Top with 1 salmon fillet; spread with mushroom mixture. Top with remaining rice mixture over top.
Mix egg yolk with 1 tbsp water for egg wash; brush over border of pastry. Roll out remaining pastry to 11 inch square; place on filling, smoothing around edge, fold bottom edge over top edge, pressing to seal; flute edges
Brush egg wash over pastry; cut 4 steam vents in top. Bake in 350*F oven until golden and thermometer inserted in centre registers 130* about 1 hour. Let stand for 10 minutes. Using serrated knife, cut diagonally into quarters; cut each in half or thirds. Serve with Sour Cream Dill Sauce.
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Sour Cream Dill Sauce:
In bowl combine 1 cup sour cream; 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill; 2 tbsp milk; ½ tsp grated lemon rind; 1 tsp lemon juice; and ¼ tsp pepper

Saturday 3 February 2007

I've got mice!!!


Eeuw Yuk!

Duncan decided to do his science fair project on diet. So today he bought 6 mice home, with a cage. The cage they sold him is a barred one, rather than glass (we already have an empty glass one for 3 of them). I'm not sure if the bars are close enough together ~ Can't mice squeeze through some pretty small spaces?

They are kinda cute. He got 2 black, 2 brown and 2 white.

So he's going to divide them up and 3 will get an all mouse food diet and the other 3 will get sugary cereals for snacks and we'll see if either group gets fatter. Hopefully they won't escape so we can weigh them at the end!!!

Now we have to find a scale that will work with such light weights.

Friday 2 February 2007

Your Birthdate: October 2

You're so intuitive, it's like you have a sixth, seventh, and eighth sense.
You connect with others freely and easily - and you tend to have many best friends.
Warm and caring, it's hard for you to close your heart to anyone.
Affection is like air for you - you need to give and receive it to survive.

Your strength: Your universal compassion

Your weakness: Your unpredictable mood swings

Your power color: Mauve

Your power symbol: Butterfly

Your power month: February


I don't know if the 'Warm, Caring, Blah blah blah' part is right. I have like 2 best friends that have been there for me for years. I don't make friends (good friends) that easily though I'd love to be more outgoing. That's just not me.
And I'm not that compassionate. I tend to think people get what they deserve Though I'll always stand by my friends no matter what!!!

And I'm pretty laid back ~ no mood swings (unless I'm PMSing )

The one thing that was kinda neat was the butterfly thing. The last CJ group I was on I did 2 Butterfly pages.


One of the CJs was 'If you were an animal, what would you be?' and I did a butterfly. It was lots of fun building the origami butterfly and then adding some bling to pretty up the wings. And then I tucked it into a folder with a riddle on the front. Readers are supposed to answer the riddle before opening the door.





Another of the journals was 'your day' and I journaled in a butterfly shape. Pretty interesting that my power symbol is a butterfly.

And my favourite colour is pink. (can you tell?) Pink is a variation of mauve.

My birthday blurb may not be entirely accurate, but it sure makes a person think about who and what they are :)