Is there anything better for the soul than new shoes and a latte?

Good-bye, old friends! Shoe heaven awaits.

I've been wearing the same pair of black flats for the last four years. I wasn't sure about them when I first bought them, but they were the most comfortable shoes I'd ever owned. They saw me through months of aching, swollen feet in my last pregnancy, and despite becoming quite decrepid I haven't been able to replace them.

Until today. I promised the kids a trip to Starbucks after swimming, and on the way we popped into Winners to pick up a birthday present. (E - I hope that A wants a giant blow-up whale for his birthday, because that's what the Princess INSISTED we buy him.)

And there they were. Just waiting for me to take them home and love them.



Hello my darlings, I think we're going to be very happy together.

Die Happy.

The kids and I met our favourite friends to go sugar-shacking yesterday. We ran around in the woods, went on a horse-drawn wagon ride, warmed ourselves by an outdoor fire, ate pancakes and syrup and even learned something new. (Did you know that the native Americans collected sap in a hollowed out log, and dropped red hot rocks in it until it evaporated into syrup?) We caught up with people we love, ate maple syrup lollipops, and bought maple butter. We couldn't buy syrup because Hubs and I have strong syrup prejudices. We'll get there soon.

So, the question this morning was what to have for breakfast.

The answer?

Maple Biscuits. Die happy.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup chilled unsalted butter (but I regularly use salted, because I regularly have it)
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 T maple syrup

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a big bowl, and then cut in the butter. Add the milk and vanilla and mix just until coming together. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll out to a 1/2 inch thickness. Fold in half, then roll it out to a 1/2 inch thickness again. Fold in half, then roll to 3/4 inch thick and cut into desired shapes. (I just use a small juice glass to make rounds) Place on your baking sheet and brush the tops lightly with maple syrup. Bake 15-18 minutes until lightly browned.

Cool just enough to handle, and serve with maple butter. Bask in the grateful praise of your family.

Who says romance is dead?

Hubs came downstairs in his robe at 8:05 this morning and swore as we heard the garbage truck trundle past the house.

Him: "Oh Fack. I forgot to take the garbage out."

Me (with a world-weary sigh): "Don't worry. I did it."

Him: "I don't care what they say about you. You're alright." And he kissed my head.

Who needs roses when you've got devotion like that?

It's a bird....it's a plane...

We made superhero masks after dinner tonight.



Bad is cute, but when I saw the eyebrows the Princess added to hers I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.

It's Super-Groucho-Girl to the rescue!

How much is that doggie in the window?

Do any of you want a dog? Cheap? She's a gentle 8 year old black lab-Shepherd cross with selective listening. She's a maniac, but she's good with kids. Look, I'll pay you to take her.

OK, not really, but I was seriously thinking about it after our drive home from the city on Sunday. The kids were in the backseat, and Sally was behind them in the back. (It's a hatchback, so it's not a trunk...what do you call it?) I stick a laundry basket between the seat back and the roof, so that the dog stays put, which had always worked, but as we went over the rumble strips on the ramp from the 401 onto the 400, (one big highway to another) the dog went berserk. I'm assuming that the noisy grooved pavement is there to wake up sleepy truckers and keep them on the road, but I hate it. Anyway, the dog got scared and went insane and overturned the laws of physics to squeeze herself through a space she certainly didn't fit. She howled and squealed and got stuck halfway through, waking up the Princess when her nails got stuck in my baby girl's hat. Thank God she was wearing that toque, because without it she would have been scalped. So there I was, alone in the car with the kids, on the ramp between two major highways with no where to pull over, a psycho dog on top of my daughter's head, and nothing I could do about it.

By the time I got to the next exit, the dog was sitting happily on the Princess' lap. The Princess was still sobbing loudly, not surprising really, considering the way she'd been woken up and the fact that Sally outweighs her by half, but I was afraid to open the car door on the side of the highway in case the dog bolted and I couldn't hold her. I was mad as hell, but I didn't want to watch her get flattened by a car.

I cooed to the Princess and drove as quickly as I could to the first parking lot I found, which was thankfully attached to a Timmy's, and struggled to lift 80 lbs of madly squirming dog back in the trunk. (Wishing it WAS a trunk!) I tied her leash to the anchor strap of Bad's car seat, giving her no room to maneuver back over the seats (or more than 3 inches in any direction), cuddled the Princess until she was calm, and went through the drive-thru for much needed coffee (for me) and tim-bits (for the Princess). With his usual aplomb, Bad slept through the whole thing. Then I went home and googled kennels, because there is no way I am taking the dog with us on a car trip ever again.

Free advice? If your kids want a pet, spring for a goldfish.