City Life Vs. Country Life - Traffic on the Bridge

So the bridge into town is under maintenance. So instead of 2 lanes going in both directions, they are down to one. The funny thing is (and please explain to me why if you know the answer) is that people start lining up into one lane way before it's necessary. I mean like 2 or 3 KM early. I don't get it. I've never seen this before ever. You would never see this in a big city. I've driven in Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and New York, no one does this. Everyone waits until the last possible moment to merge. I've never seen 2 KM of free open highway before a merge before. So I don't merge in early. I don't see the point. And really, what are people going to do about it. Yes you can all glare at me all you want (I know you are), but I'm driving in an open legal lane! There's no rule saying I have to line up nicely and really early all because you do. Now, I haven't gone completely big city driver snob here, I don't wait until the last possible merge moment (although I could), but I wait until I'm under a KM away. I just can't justify merging in 2 or 3 KM early and adding in 10-15 minutes to my commute.
Actually, yesterday, one guy did decide he was going to be the line up police, and pull out in front of me just to block me. He didn't quite go all the way into my lane and out of his. He was in both lanes (which is really illegal) and driving the snail pace of the line up. I just had to laugh at him. What was his point? Nothing, except being uptight about his line up. Get over it buddy! So I just followed him to see what he would do. I hope he enjoyed his moment. I know I enjoyed my morning giggle at him.

Not Me Monday - it's back!

Not Me Monday is a fun little meme hosted by McMama. She's had it on hiatus for a year now and I'm so pleased that she's decided to start it up again. Never participated in a Not Me Monday before? Head on over there to check it out. Of course you would NEVER do any of those parenting things would you?

Just like I would never allow my 20 month old daughter to eat 3 yogurts for lunch just because she's on a yogurt kick right now. After all, we all know that kids need a much more balanced diet than that.

Just the same way that I would never put on the same Elmo DVD for her twice in a row because I get a kick out of her excitement at seeing that fuzzy little red face, and hearing her sing "la di da di da" over and over again. Because kids under 2 shouldn't be watching TV anyways.

City Life Vs. Country Life - the commute

We recently moved from a city of 2 million to a country village of 600. It's near a small city of about 120 000. I commute into work 3 days a week. It takes me about 20 minutes to half an hour to get there. Many, many people have commented, "How do you like that commute, being way out there where you are?" Honestly, I love it. It's 20 minutes of free, empty highway driving, followed by 10 minutes of relatively empty city driving. It's not a big deal.
In our previous place it took me 20 minutes of bumper to bumper city traffic to get to Wal-mart on a regular basis. Then you fought your way through crowded isles to get what you needed. I actually found it easier to jump onto the highway, drive 20 or 30 minutes north to a smaller suburb to go shopping.
Here's the highway near where I used to live:

And here's where I commute into now:

So yes, I don't mind the commute at all.

Wild Blueberries

This morning my toddler and I went blueberry picking. Just behind our house is a patch of wild blueberries. Did I mention that I love living in the country? At first I was very ambitious, because I know that these blueberries are fantastic for blueberry pies. As I started picking, my daughter was very helpful in holding the container for me, and eating the blueberries as I put them into the container. So I decided if I could get a cup of them without her eating them we might just have enough for blueberry muffins. I did manage to get the container away from her and pick enough. Right before she fell into a patch of mud and declared, "Dirty, Cold" so we had to go away.
Now a word about these east coast blueberries. They in no way resemble the beautiful large blueberries of the Fraser Valley that I grew up with. I happen to have some of those on hand right now as I found them at Costco. Look at them. They are so completely different that when I first moved here, I couldn't quite believe they were blueberries.

My Fraser Valley blueberries grow on these tall bushes and are perfect for snacking on. The Maritime blueberries grow close to the ground and people rake them to collect them. I know, raking blueberries! (My maritime friends are thinking, 'and the problem is?')
So I did bake these tiny blueberries into some delicious banana blueberry muffins. Here's the recipe:

1 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 bananas, mashed
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup blueberries

Heat the oven to 375°F. Prepare your muffin cups by spraying with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, mash the bananas, mix in applesauce, brown sugar, and vanilla.
Combine the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir into the banana mixture until moistened. Stir in the blueberries. Spoon batter into muffin tins.
Bake for 20 minutes in the heated oven or until the tops of the muffins spring back when pressed lightly. This made 24 mini-muffins and 7 medium sized ones. I had to do the mini muffins for the mini blueberries :)

Saturday Morning

It's a beautiful Saturday morning here. After returning back to full time work outside the home a couple of weeks ago, I'm so grateful for Saturday morning. What better way to spend it than with a cup of tea and to re-vamp my blogging life. My boys are happily confiscating all the blankets and pillows in the house to create the greatest fort ever, while my daughter is coloring away in her colour wonder book. I've been thinking about blogging and how I blog for a long time now. Over the years I've gotten so compartmentalized with my blogging. I have a blog for books, a blog for books, a blog for crafts, a personal blog and share on a parenting blog. That's just getting to be too many blogs. So many that I've become overwhelmed with it all. So I'm streamlining. I'm taking this little used crafty blog and making my own little personal space on the web. Whether or not I close down the rest and just blog it all here remains to be seen, but that's the way I'm seriously considering going.
While I'm at it, I never did show you all the dress I made for my daughter did I? I love it. She wore it to her baptism a few weeks ago and I got a lot of positive comments on it. Here are a few pictures:

I have to give a huge plug for Skype here. Skype is awesome. This is my first dress pattern I've done and I got stuck. So I Skyped with my mom. She knew exactly what to do and walked me through it. Fantastic!



*Do you like the new little signature I've added? I got it at My Live Signature and it was super easy to do. Moms Who Blog has a fantastic easy tutorial for it too.

Inspiration

I went to the fabric store yesterday and bought some material to make Olivia a couple of summer dresses - I hope it works. It's my first time following an actual pattern! I have a feeling I'll be skyping with my mom about this one!

Also, I've discovered a new facebook page that has taken up most of my morning. Someone has linked together a whole bunch of fantastic pictures for crafty parents. And now the list of things I want to make is huge! Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ideas-Inspiration-For-Crafty-Parents/227305467298064

Bee Quilt!

Here it is! My bee quilt in completion. I've been working on this on and off since February. This is my second quilt. The first was a baby quilt made from a quilt kit. This one I made from reading a lot of quilting books and online articles and by spending a number of conversations with my mom on Skype asking, "Is this right?" and "what do you suggest I do here?" type questions. I'm pretty happy with it. Looking at it, I feel like I accomplished what I wanted when I first bought the material last fall. I wanted the bee fabric featured. And I wanted the back material to become the frame of the front. I know it isn't perfect and I still have a lot to learn about sewing and quilting, but I feel good about this.

My bee quilt

A glimpse at the back

All folded up