Hooray for Extra Long Weekends!

This week has flown by, and I'm only now finding the chance to sit down and collect my thoughts about the weekend.  The community market I participated in was a huge success.  It was a wonderful gathering of creative people and we had a great turn out.  So much positive energy!  That being said, it definitely occupied my entire weekend.  I underestimated the amount of time I required to organize, label and price my items.  This pretty much occupied the bulk of Saturday.  One small snag in my plans occurred in the form of the stomach flu!  Muffy woke up early Saturday morning vomiting.  It was really just a mild bug, but he spent the day flopped on the couch, sipping ginger ale and nibbling crackers.  Sunday, the day of the market, was busy with set up, the market itself and clean up.  Although I enjoyed it, I was definitely drained and exhausted when it was all said and done.  I'm an introvert, so being "on" for that long zaps me a bit.  I think I needed this week to just putter a bit and recharge.

Looking ahead to the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, it is already time to compile my dreamy/practical list!  My long weekend actually begins tomorrow.  I'm dropping the kids off at school on Friday morning and will be sneaking off to my parents' house for a "dreamy" day in the Annapolis Valley -ALL TO MYSELF!  Daddy and the boys are meeting up with me late Saturday afternoon and we will spend the remainder of the weekend visiting, eating...etc.

Dreamy (Where do I begin?)

• Drink tea and read magazines at my parents' quiet house.
• Drink tea and knit at my parents' quiet house.
• Drink tea and just sit at my parents' quiet house (you get the picture).
• Browse the Wolfville shops.
• Visit the wool shop and maybe pick up something for a special project.
• Out for supper with my parent's Friday night.
• A trip to the Wolfville Farmer's Market Saturday morning.  I rarely go here without the kids so it will be a nice chance to really relax and browse and take my time admiring all the vendor offerings.
• Run a 10km race on Sunday morning!  This is my annual "race" I do each year.  Sometimes it is the 1/2 marathon, sometimes just the 10K.  This year my goal is to run as fast as I possibly can to see if I can beat last year's time...wish me luck!  I'm feeling pumped and energetic about it and my "rest/getaway" before hand just might give me a boost.
• Yummy Thanksgiving dinner!  My mom is the best cook and her meals are always amazing.  It is fun (and busy) to get the four cousins together. Four boys between the ages of 6 and 8 makes a lively holiday.
• Just enjoy visiting with everyone.  The weather looks great so there will be lots of time spent outdoors enjoying the fall colors.

Practical:

• Bake two pumpkin pies - my offering for Thanksgiving dinner this year.  I am roasting the pumpkin today and will make them on Saturday in my mom's kitchen.  I use a recipe from Canadian Living that is super yummy!
• Do my produce shopping for the week ahead while I am in the Valley.  I always pack a cooler in the truck for a good load of fresh veggies.

That about sums it up!  Basically, I'm looking forward to some quiet time for myself AND lots of fun and visiting with family.  Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

Dreamy/Practical

Yay, it's Friday!  Time for the Dreamy/Practical list already?  This week really flew by since it was a short school week.  Although we do have a few things in the hopper this weekend, it should be a bit more mellow than last weekend's birthday party.  I am attending the annual Cow Bay Market as a vendor.  I will be selling hand-dyed wool.  This probably falls into both dreamy and practical.

Dreamy:

• Spend some time knitting Chi-Chi's sweater.  It is slow going right now, but I'm in no rush to finish it.  Sometimes the larger projects are more relaxing as I don't get caught up in doing it at fast as I can.
• My Saturday morning trip to the Dartmouth Farmer's Market for fresh veggies and a Mommy Treat.  I enjoy sneaking out of the house on this little solo adventure.   Maybe this week I'll bring home treats for all!
• Homemade Pizza Night on Saturday - I'm taking a break from the kitchen and my husband is making pizza.  This is a tradition I'm hoping to reignite.  I pretty much cook supper 7 days a week, so I've penciled in a night off in our menu plan.  He actually enjoys the pizza making and the boys always like the make-your-own aspect of it.
• Shop at the market on Sunday.  There are going to be some wonderfully creative people selling goods at the market and I'm hoping to drop birthday idea hints for my husband...thinking jewelry and pottery!

Practical:

• First hockey practice of the season - Yay the boys are on the same team this year.  This cuts our rink time in half.  Actually, I will put this on Hubby's practical list and I might just stay home and knit (:
• Prep for the market on Sunday - I need to label my skeins and get everything ready for the display.  I always find pricing difficult when selling to friends and members of the community.  I need to give this some thought and get all my "goods" organized.
• Regular prep for the week ahead, which basically involves my lunch box bulk prep.  I like to get some baking in the freezer each Sunday in order to keep my lunch box treat stash fresh.

Happy Friday!

Weekend Review

The calm before the storm.

 

Simple cupcakes.

Hike/Treasure Hunt!

New project cast on.

Pretty cake - but I will follow the recipe next time!

Scooters at the skate park!

I'm just decompressing today after a very busy "birthday weekend" for my boy.  His friend party was a great success, but I'm still pretty exhausted..  I kept it as simple as possible.  The fact that we hosted it in the barn made prep and clean up fast and easy.  I kicked it off with a little scavenger hunt, and then my husband took them on a one hour walk/hike/treasure hunt around our property.  I'm finding as the kids get older, you need something to keep them occupied (controlled) at these parties, otherwise things can get a little crazy.  I think the hike did the trick. They were genuinely interested and there wasn't any complaining!

Yesterday the boys had the day off school, which was really quite perfect.  We gave Muffy a new scooter for his big day, so I literally spent 4 hours at the skate park   I'm just happy to see them doing something active and outside.  I spent the time knitting my little heart out - which was dreamy in the moment, until I realized I had made an error and had to rip the whole thing out.  Regardless, I'm happy to at least have a new fall project cast on the needles.  I chose the Little Hoodlum pattern.  It's looking pretty cute!

My parents visited last night for a quieter family celebration.  I decided to pass on the coconut flour cake for now, opting for a more traditional recipe.  Muffy requested a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, so I made just that, from my new book The Homemade Pantry.  I think the cake would have been good.....if I had followed the directions.  It was far too dry.  My mom informed me that "cake flour" and regular white flour are two very different things.  I just used white flour where it called for cake flour.  Something felt wrong before I even put it in the oven,as the batter was unusually thick.  What can you do at that point?    Next time I will adjust for the different flour (decrease by about 1/2 cup) or just source out some cake flour.  Live and learn!

Looking ahead to a fairly standard week, back to school tomorrow and back to our routine.  Wishing everyone a great week!