This is...my favourite thing from nature.

Hmm, this is a tough one; how can you possibly narrow down the one best thing that you love from nature. I would have to say the best thing is WATER.

WATER is what gives everything on our planet life; without it we would not survive.

I try not to be too wasteful with my water consumption and always respect it by not littering. The smallest amount of litter will eventually find it's way to a water source through storm drains. Ever notice the junk you see on a walk down by the beach or lakefront. I know I've seen enough plastic tampon applicators and balloons on ribbon; they came from somewhere??



Without WATER I would not be able to enjoy the lovely flowers and herbs from my garden.

My oddest water story happened when I was filling my water bottle up from the sink at work. Some girl looked at me with deep concern and asked me if I thought it was actually safe to drink the tap water. Huh? I would hope so being that I live in Canada, however there was the Walkerton incident; but I refuse to live my life in fear of tap water.

I'm sure the spit-bunnies from everyones bottle tops touching the spout on the water cooler at work is more disgusting than the tap water I'm drinking.

This weeks theme is was provided by Beth at cloth and fodder.

This is...my favorite quote

Always a Coconut!

Whenever something goes wrong, or not according to plan, for the Big Man and I we always look at each other and say in unison "Always a Coconut".

I have no idea how we ever started saying this but it has lightened up many a stressful situation....for example, sitting in an airport in Miami for 12 hours trying to get on standby flights every two hours, no luck...hence an "Always a Coconut" situation.

This weeks theme was provided by Ashely at strawberry kisses.

This is...a favourite recipe I'd like to share

Well the kitchen renovation is DONE! I'm working on the post and should have it up by Tuesday. Until then, here is my weekly "This is..." entry asked by Angela at Three Buttons.

I'm not suggesting this is my favourite recipe, but it's the recipe requested by the Big Man this afternoon.

The recipe is here: E.D. Smith Pumpkin Pie

The Pie Crust recipe is from Smitten Kitchen and can be found here. I have used it before for my very first pie ever.

Making the pumpkin pie custard filling.

And just another picture because it looks so pretty!

My favourite recipe would be "Pork Chops in Mushroom Soup" with mashed potatoes on the side. The recipe is pretty much Pork Butt Chops with a tin of Campbell's mushroom soup dumped on top and baked in the oven. Easy eh?

Now, if you paid really close attention to the pictures above you might be able to spot some of the kitchen changes!

This is...something I'm surprised I like

I'm not sure how I started eating these sandwiches; but I love a toasted Peanut Butter and Bacon Sandwich.

Picture from: Roadfood.com

Every now and then the Big Man and I go out with a friend of ours for "Breakkie". I almost squeal with delight when a restaurant has the little packets of peanut butter; not all do. OMG I can not describe to you how much I love this concoction of greasy, salty, peanutty goodness.

I know your thinking EWWWW, but try it, I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised...let me know! Quilting Newbie you may want to pass on this one....ha ha!

This weeks question was asked by Victoria at "Earl and Cookie".

This is...my favourite film

This weeks question has been asked by Hollie at Hokey. My absolute hands down favourite film is "Sixteen Candles".

I remember my Mum and our next door neighbour Abbey took me to the Pickering Town Centre Cinema to see it when I was about 12 years old. I'm sure the rating must have been at least an AA14+ show but I non-stop begged, and begged and begged for her to take me.

I clearly remember the shocked gasp of air that left my mother the minute Molly Ringwald stood on the stairs and exclaimed "I can't believe it. They fucking forgot my birthday"! HA, HA CLASSIC!

It all went downhill from there for my poor catholic hearted Mum; between Jake's girlfriends boobs in the shower, to Long Duc Dong, hard Chapstic on Sam's leg and the birth control pill breath mints. I'm sure she must have felt it was one of the worst parenting decisions she ever made!

Don't worry Mum it was the BEST decision you ever made! I freaking love this movie and know every single line by heart. I still have a secret girl crush on Molly Ringwald. Thankfully even she got a a little pudgy with age!!

This is...show off time!

This weeks theme was provided by Katie at May The Cloth Be With You. She asked us to "show off" something that you are proud of.

I was dumbstruck by this question all week. I know that I'm a great person and have many talents; however when it comes to tooting my own horn, I'm not really my best cheering section. The following answer actually came from my Big Man -- he's my best cheering section ever!

I am most proud of having walked 60 KM on September 8-9, 2007 in the Toronto weekend to end breast cancer.

ME AND MARILYN - IN THE RED TRIANGLE

OMG this is the hardest thing I have ever trained for. It practically took over my life for nine months. Every day I would walk 5-8 KM on my own; then on the weekends Marilyn who was my partner in this adventure, together we would walk 20 KM on Saturday AND Sunday!

Marilyn and I had great support from all our family, friends and co-workers. There were poker tournaments, bake sales, raffles and puppy dog eyes. Together we raised over $4,500.00 for the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation.

I'm off to watch the new season of The Amazing Race, I love this show! Oh, I know that many of you are still wondering about the big news -- to update, things are still going back and forth between the Lawyers, any guesses yet?

This is...what I want to be when I grow up.

Tardy, tardy, tardy....I was supposed to have this posted yesterday but I do have VERY exciting news to tell you about. You'll have to have some patience and wait just a few days before I can divulge all the details. Till then, have fun guessing what's up!

Until then, Bug and Pop asked this Sunday's question which was what do you want to be when you grow up. I'll be the first to admit that I have never really had much ambition career wise. Sadly, I have worked for the same company since 1988.

BUT IF I had ever had the experience of going on a Cruise Vacation prior to completing High School you would have found me on a dock the day after graduation!

My first cruise was for our honeymoon in 2000. We went on a 7 day Caribbean Cruise. These pictures are when the boat was just coming into the Bahamas by the Atlantis Hotel.

Our second cruise was a 7 day to Alaska in May 2004. This was a beautiful cruise, very picturesque. The seas were very rough on this cruise. On this ship, the promenade deck was open at both the front and the back of the boat. My favourite memory is being at the front of the ship one morning. As the boat rose in the waves, it was like you were weightless, as soon as it dropped, it was like your knees were being crushed. It was the best amusement ride EVER! The waves were so rough even the staff was sick!

My most recent cruise was a 12 day Canada-New England out of New York last October. Again, what's not to love about this. It was close to home, the weather was crisp and the fall colours were at their peak. We did tons and tons of walking on this trip. I fell in love with New York and Boston and definitely want to visit these cities again.

I have so much respect for anyone that works on cruise ship. They are worked to the bone, have very long days (and let's face it have to listen to people complaining all the time). But if you look past all this, they have a great community on board. They have social areas designated just for them. They eat the same food as the guests and they get days off to enjoy the sights and see the world along with the passengers.

Hmm, hard work = free food, lodging and pay while seeing all corners of the world....count me in!

This is...what I do with a spare 10 minutes

I have no children (Don't be sad, it's by choice. We're far too lazy to have offspring!) so I am more blessed than others with the occasional spare 10 minutes. However when it occurs, this is what I love to do.

Oh how I so love to sit down with a good cup of something--today's beverage is coffee since it might look really bad to the neighbours to be cracking out the red wine at 8 AM--and read some magazines.

These are some of my favourite magazines:

Food and Drink which is a free publication produced by our government liquor store the LCBO.

Canadian Living excellent all around magazine. So much better than Chatelaine who declares you a winner and awards you a great prize that never shows up...crapbags! I'll never forgive you for that nor read your magazine again EVER!

BHG American Patchwork and Quilting, especially the bi-annual "Quilt Sampler". Their web page takes a bit to load, but if you like quilting, worth the 10 second wait.

I also have a book there from the Library. I love the Library as geeky as it seems. Did you know they have Books, Magazines, Newspapers, movie DVD's and music CD's. I figure if I'm paying so much in taxes to maintain a Library I might as well enjoy it. I like that they have an on line catalogue. I can browse from home, make my choices though the internet and then just pop by in the morning before work and they have them all nice and ready for me. How convenient is that!

Hope you can find the time to enjoy 10 minutes for yourself today. This weeks question was asked by Hoppo Bumpo.

This is...my favorite band of all time.

"No Sleep Till Brooklyn".....Beastie Boys, nuff said.

OMG where to start, the year was 1986 and I was in grade nine. A band called the "Beastie Boys" came on the scene and totally changed the way we suburban kids listened to music, dressed and acted.

I remember being so in love (if that is possible at age 14/15) with a guy named Paul G. He had the actual vinyl album of "Licensed to Ill". I swear all of us in our group of friends made a "cassette tape" recoding off his album. Ahh, it's been nothing but good times I've been reflecting on since Wednesday when this weeks "This is" was supplied by CurlyPops.

Back in the eighties, there was rampant vandalism of VW's with kids stealing the hood emblems to hang from long chains copying the Beastie Boy style. It's kinda funny now that I live in a town called Brooklin and drive a Volkswagen. Thankfully the Big Man and I still love the Beastie Boys, their discs are always in constant rotation between our cars.

My favorite songs are "Paul Revere", "Sabotage" and "Ringfinger"--huh, what? Just testing, I had to throw in the Nine Inch Nails as well.

This is...my favorite fabric/craft supplies shop

In response to this weeks question posed by Handmaiden, my absolute favorite fabric/craft supplies shop is Fabricland. Be forewarned before you click on the link to their site; it has a jingle song. I get caught lurking there EVERY time by my Big Man because of that stupid jingle!!

I also enjoy the following stores:

Michaeals is way overpriced but the 40-50% off coupons are great to use on magazines.

Quilters Cupboard is a very cute store and the owners are always very helpful.

Ultimate Sewing Centre I like because every meter of fabric in the store is only $12.00.

I've been a bit slack on the posting. I have been really busy; but also feeling just a smidge under the weather, nothing serious just a little tired at the end of the day. I do have a great wine review for you and an amazing recipe for "Baked Potato Skins" coming up.

Come back soon and I promise to be a better bloggy friend!

This is...

I joined a meme group today called "This is...". It started over at Three Buttons last January.

Every Wednesday she will ask a member of the group to create a "This is..." statement. Today's was created by Hand Maiden: This is...your favorite fabric/craft supplies shop.

Each participant has until the following Sunday to create a blog post in response to the provided statement. I am super excited about this. It will provide me with a weekly post where you will learn something new and interesting about me; along with the opportunity to view other fantastic blogs! Whee!