Spot Like - Full Press Cabernet Sauvignon

Being American ex-pats that have recently relocated to Canada we still have sticker shock on the cost of alcohol.  We fell in love with wine while living in California prior to our move to Vancouver.  There is sometimes an almost double mark-up on the cost of wine here, ouch.  I have been struggling to find wine at a reasonable (cheap) price and have it, well, drinkable.  I thought I found the answer in Gray Fox, a cheap, drinkable California wine but am now very impressed, for the price of $8.79CAD, and quality. The Cab works, the Merlot & Shiraz I'm not quite as impressed with.  I have now discovered that they sell the Cabernet Sauvignon in a box, good for 6 weeks once opened and the equivalent of 4 bottles of wine, $29CAD even better!

*there are no kickbacks for talking about this wine, just sharing what I like!

Botched tapioca pudding, now what?

I bought a box of easy tapioca, no fail right?   Well after being greedy about wanting lots and doubling the recipe, I did botch it and it was way too much milk and eggs invested to just throw it away.  What resulted was soupy tapioca, no pudding consistency whatsoever.  I had to find something to do with my soupy mess as it still tasted like tapioca pudding.

First use I found was to add an instant pack of pudding mix, luckily we had a pack of vanilla on hand.  I just used the soupy tapioca instead of milk, result?  total awesomeness, how could you go wrong.

That solution only used part of what we have so for the Second use I cut up some strawberries for the kids and poured on some of the soupy mix.  The kids loved it, again, how could they not? 

We still have quite a bit of tapioca soup left so I'll have to keep getting creative though now I am leaning towards mixing in the instant chocolate pudding.......

Spot Like - Play doh

Ok, so this Spot Like is a like in a round about way.  The kids received some play doh sets for their 2 year birthday, the sets that you can 'grow' hair, stamp or cut various shapes or animals.  Additionally I picked up a few of these sets from a kids stuff only swap sale (great cost saving way to acquire these sets).  Since they turned 2 these kids will stamp, cut & squish play doh, sometimes for up to 45 minutes!  I usually dump out all their tools on the table in the kitchen which gives me time to cook dinner when needed and bonus that I get to keep my eye on them and corralled.

* I am getting zero incentive for mentioning this product, I'm just sharing what I like :-)

Easter craft fun

Hand print Easter Chicks

While looking for some fun Easter crafts to do with the kids I found this adorable chicken and decided to make some of our own.  Here is our version which ended up looking like some very kooky, active chicks, one of a kind for sure and yet wicked cute -

Before the kids went down for their naps I traced their hands so I could pre-cut all the pieces.  I cut enough of the following shapes so each kid could make 3 chicks each -

- oval chick shapes

- round eye whites

- round eyes (I cut brown and blue to coordinate with each kids eye colors)

- orange rectangle legs

- orange triangle cut from folded orange 

- orange triangle feet

I gave each a little pot of glue & a paint brush and we assembled our chicks piece by piece which turned out to be a good lesson to talk about shapes.  By the 3rd set the kids were definitely more interested in painting the glue than making the chicks but we did end up with a set for each of the grandparents and most importantly one for mom. 

Thumb bunny Easter greeting

The chicks were a little time consuming  so we did a quicker Easter greeting for the extended family. Single thumb print bunnies and having triplets we ended up with a nice little set of 3 bunnies per card.  I pre-cut cardstock to fit into a greeting card and stamped each of their thumbs.  After they dried I added whiskers, a pink nose and an Easter message, some variation of 'Thumb bunnies wanted to wish you a Happy Easter', 'Hoppy Easter' and 'Thumb bunnies miss you!'.

Buying time with food

With 2.5yr old triplets I need every spare moment I can get where they are being quiet and distracted.  The most valuable time tends to come when I'm in the kitchen and need just a few more minutes before releasing them from their highchairs.  Tonight I gave them little strands of grapes and they were soooo quiet and captivated plucking the grapes off themselves.

During lunch the other day I also discovered clementine oranges gave me a little extra time.  Ah the little things!

Soap nuts, just bag it

ok, even though I love the ease of use of the liquid detergent made by the soap nuts, and the flexibility of using hot or cold water, chasing triplet toddlers around every day doesn't allow me the time to make it when I run low.  This is something I wish someone had told me about soap nuts, the little secret that helps when you need to just throw 5 +/- soap nuts in a bag and just keep the laundry going....

When the bag no longer has that odd, described 'vinegar' smell and just smells like an over washed stick then it is time to retire those nuts.  The odd smell of the nuts actually leaves your laundry smelling just clean and not like the odd, unfavorable smell the nuts themselves have.  If the bag is on it's 4+ cycle of use and smell has shifted, well, that is what your clothes will smell like.

I've read that the nuts will turn grey or mushy when they have reached their maximum washing capacity but I have never found this useful.  If they lose their characteristic smell then they are done, pretty simple.