Weekend guest!

We have a weekend guest coming later today and staying over! It's an old friend of my DH's from out west. So of course the morning was spent cleaning :) and I still have groceries to buy, so this will be quick. Tomorrow we're taking him to Canada's Wonderland - I'm so excited about the new giant rollercoaster, the Behemoth (the biggest, tallest and fastest in Canada!), but also a little worried that I'm getting too old to enjoy rides like that.

My mum (garden guru) says it's too early to plant radishes and carrots.. (carrost if you are an NFB fan). The last frost date here is May 9th so I guess I have to wait!

I'll see how far I get on the giveaways today, might not be too far, but that just means more for Monday right?!

For baby:

• Win a $50 gift certificate to Parenting By Nature at My Mom's View! Ends May 11th.
  

For the ladies:

• Win a peppermint foot lotion and citrus toner from Aromatic Health (a Canadian company!) at Feisty, Frugal and Fabulous. Ends May 10th!
• Win a $25 gift certificate to Layers clothing at The Write Gal! Ends May 18th.
  

For anyone:

• Win a $50 gift certificate to Madi Couture at Feisty, Frugal and Fabulous! This can go towards womens clothes, kids clothes, handbags, jewellery, games, and more! Ends May 10th.
• This one's for the grown-ups. Win two fun Durex products at My Mommy Said! No, they're not condoms. Ends May 16th.
  

Happy Weekend!

Yay! Love the weekend. Ours started early - DH decided to stay home today. But it wasn't for relaxation - I decided to call and get our soil delivery moved up to today! We spent the day hauling triple-mix back to the backyard and the new vegetable beds, and removing the old sod that we'd left in piles when we dug it up. Then I ran out and picked up some plants (love plant shopping!) - I got a bunch for the urns on our front porch, and also a couple herbs, lavender, strawberry plants and seed packets. I planted the peas today! Fun!

Is it too early to plant beans, radishes and carrots? I kind of feel like it would be okay.

Swag code

I know some of my bloggy friends are collecting SwagBucks - here is a code that is still working for now (they expire fast, it seems): twitter10k gets you 1 Swag Buck. Sorry folks this one is long expired... Feel free to add codes in the comments!

If you haven't signed up for SwagBucks yet, you can sign up by clicking this (this is a referral link, if you use it, thanks!):



You get SwagBucks for downloading the toolbar and doing searches, it varies how many (sometimes none, average for me is about 3 per day) which you can then redeem for gift cards and other merch. I just use it like I would Google. Although it doesn't seem as thorough, usually it gets the job done and I get the random reward.

Thursday already?

This week - month - year - is flying by. And let me just say I'm on day 3 of a massive headache. I'm not taking anything for it because we're TTC. Ice packs aren't working. I think my chiropractor visit yesterday made it worse. What do I do? I can't live like this!
Ok pity party over. (Well, at least I'll stop talking about it.)

Oh, and the Baskin Robbins deal last night - did anyone go? My husband and I walked over with the dog, but the lineup was inSANE. So we walked back home, stopping in at No Frills on the way and picked up a box of PC Peanut Butter and Chocolate frozen bars. Not quite like the Baskin Robbins PB&C I was craving but close enough and no waiting in line!

Hey, guess what? I was lucky and won these Zoo Animals (pictured) from Happy Squash toys at The Shopping Mama! Love! They're super cute :)

Edited to add, July 12, 2011: My daughter, Mia, LOVES the zebra and has from 1 month through to now (5 months). Great toys! The giraffe did lose his spots to fading though, since we've had it.

*Yawn!*

Good morning... well, late morning... I got a slow start today somehow. And I haven't had my morning coffee yet. I've managed to wean myself off the caffeinated version but I still rely on my morning coffee to make me feel like I'm awake and ready to face the day. Weird. I guess a habit this old dies hard!

I've found a bunch of giveaways today, lots of good ones! If you've been waiting for more baby shoes, there are a few! Also some sweet clothing and a playful giveaway for the grown-ups!

For baby:

• Win an adorable animal print onesie by Infinitely Sweet at Life Starring Ellie and Eve. They come in giraffe or zebra! I can't decide which is cuter. Ends May 10th.
• Win a Bumkins contour fitted diaper and a Bumkins waterproof diaper cover as part of the AIO Showdown at Your Mama Reviews! Ends May 15th.
• Win a Baby Dipper spoon and bowl set at Thrifty Minnesota Mama! Ends May 16th.
• Win a Grape Woven Rufflebutt at Simply Stacie! So girly. So cute. Ends May 12th.
• Win a pair of Bobux soft-soled leather shoes at Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls! Ends May 5th.
• Win a pair of See Kai Run shoes at Giftfully Simple! Ends May 5th as well.
• Another pair of See Kai Run shoes is up for grabs at The Life and Times of the Perry Family! Ends April 30th so hurry!
• Win a $75 gift certificate to Ecobebe (a Canadian boutique!) at Jolly Mom. Wouldn't you love that?! I know I would. Ends May 12th.
• Win a Bamboobino after-bath hat at My Mom's View! Bamboobino is a Canadian company :) Ends May 7th.
• Win a Baby Traveller Deluxe convertible diaper bag from gr8x at Ramblings of a Wannabe Writer! Ends May 9th.
• Win a baby basket full of goodies - Zah Organics Kimono Set, Zah Organics Portofino Baby Set, Natural & Fair Trade Basket, handmade ooden Rattle, and Debra Lynn Dadd’s book, Really Green - at Go Natural Baby blog. Ends May 17th.
  

For mum:

• Win a Cloud B Mommie Blanket from DoGree at Feisty, Frugal and Fabulous. It looks soft and cuddly! Ends May 10th - and open to Canadians only!

For grown-ups:

• Win an Eden Fantasys Exploring Ultimate Fantasies Game at Helping Mommys Win! Adults need toys, too. Ends May 4th.
  

That's it for today :)

Also, remember it's 31 cent scoop night tonight at Baskin Robbins from 5-10 pm! My DH and I have a date :)

Cookie Tuesday

I'm all excited today because I found this great recipe for Toffee Oatmeal Cookies over on Manic Mother's blog. (I know, it doesn't take much to get me excited!). I'm going to make these today. Yum!
Edit: okay, cookies made. This recipe made 73 cookies for me (I rolled them into 1 1/4" balls and pressed with a fork before baking for a more standardized round cookie). Minus the three I ate when they came out of the oven - had to test them, of course - that's a lot of cookies! I parceled them into three boxes and froze two. This is a flat, crispy-chewy cookie, very sweet. I think next time I would swap out half the toffee bits for chopped pecans.

I wouldn't really call it a Manic Martha Moment for me, because I bake all the time. There is always something baked around, usually muffins but I'll do loaves, cookies, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, bread, whatever - I just love baking. I don't like icing, though, so I rarely do the kind of cake that needs it. Last weekend I made a fennel cake with grapefruit glaze from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. I think it was pretty good, but a little bland. Next time I will add some Pastis to kick up the fennel flavour, and maybe add some lemon to the glaze.

The new vegetable garden!

Okay, it's not a garden quite yet. But it will be soon! We spent the weekend building these boxes and digging out sod (we transplanted it to the areas the dog has killed - you can see some of his unfortunate effects on the lawn by the boxes). The lawn is sloped so we had to dig out a bit to get the boxes level. Also, it rained like crazy a couple days ago and the sod was wet and heavy with mud. What a lot of hard work!
This is a view from our deck. The grate in the corner is in a neighbour's lot, not ours!

The boxes are made of red cedar, and are 4' by 8', and 11" tall. They are very sturdy with tension bars across the middle (to prevent the soil pressure from bowing out the sides) and supports at the corners and on the sides.

We still have to install some tubes on the side that will hold flexible piping bowed over the tops of the boxes (for bird netting or for climbing plants like peas). And, of course, we have to fill them with triple-mix and seeds/plants!

The total supplies for the boxes came to about $300. We did opt for cedar over pressure treated wood because the chemicals can leach out of PT wood (and into edible plants - yuck). We also opted to go with 4x4" corner posts and 2x6" side boards which will be long-lasting and very sturdy. This was kind of pricey but we are looking at the long-term, growing our own produce is the way to go.

We are the only house on our street so far to put in a veggie garden! Granted, the street is only two years old. But I was surprised we were the only ones out there. A bunch of neighbours came out to see what we were working on (we don't have fences down this end of the street yet). Hopefully we will inspire them!

Ahhh, Monday

I like Mondays. I have a late night teaching tonight but the day is all mine. And luckily, the dog decided he was done being sick by yesterday afternoon. We spent the weekend building and putting in raised beds for new vegetable gardens. OW. I am sore all over from the lifting (cedar and wet sod + mud are heavy!) and digging we did.

I found lots of giveaways over the weekend and didn't have time to post them so today there will be a big list!

For baby:

• Win a $100 gift certificate to Zutano - they have a new line of newborn clothing, as well as clothes for baby and tot. Enter at My Organized Chaos! Ends May 8th.
• {Natural} Mommie has a few giveaways that I hadn't mentioned yet. Like the Swaddle Designs Organic Ultimate Swaddling Blanket here. And the set of six (wow) Loo Roos AIO diapers here. And the stylish wetbag from Monkey Foot Designs here. All three of these giveaways end on May 2nd.
• Win a BornFree grab bag at Next Kid Thing! Ends May 6th.
• Win one of three Dream-Eze cloth diapers at Your Mama Reviews! It's the AIO showdown week at her site and there will be more giveaways, too!
• Win a Fresh Baby So Easy Food Kit and a Mama Jewel at Thrifty Minnesota Mama! Ends May 13th.
• Another chance to win a Win a Fresh Baby So Easy Food Kit at Donna's World. This one ends April 29!
  
• Win a Boon Saucer and Benders at My Organized Chaos! Ends May 5th.
• Win a baby girl Princess onesie from Bee Beek Accessories at Our Life Upstate! Very cute. Ends May 7th.
• Win a baby onesie or tee from Baby Rock Apparel at Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls. Ends May 3rd.
• Win a fair trade baby onesie or tee from Rage Baby at Me and My Boys. Ends May 10th.
• Win an organic Puddlefoot baby tee at Go Graham Go! Ends May 10th.
• Win a cute pacifier clip by CuckooBoo at The Laughs Will Go On! Ends May 4th.
• Win a pair of Jack & Lily shoes at Just for Me... And You! Ends May 7th. I adore the sailboat shoes! How cute!
• Win a $25 gift certificate to Tiny Tots with Style at Me and My Boys! Ends May 10th.
• Win a Blue Bunny Little Friend from Serena & Lily at Jamie's Precious Peas! Ends May 8th (I'm pretty sure. The post says it ends March 8th but it was posted today!)
• Win a Being Dad DVD at Confessions of a Housewife! This is for new and expecting dads. Ends April 28th.
  

For kids:

• Win a Little Fish Strappy Dress for your little girl (any size up to 7/8) by Whimsy Couture at Etsy It Up! It's really cute. Ends May 3rd.

For the ladies:

• Win a $25 gift certificate to Shade Clothing from Simple Finds! Ends May 7th.