Boosie's Blog

Tonight, we had dinner with the extended family.  We all crowded into Grannie’s (Gigi) townhouse for a scrumptious roast dinner with all the fixings.  We had a delicious chocolate and strawberry mousse in a bear claw (a chocolate bowl in the shape of a bear claw).  It was all very yummy and very filling.  I always over-eat when we have dinners at her place.

Paige discovered tabletop ping pong which she enjoyed very much.  She cried and cried when it had to be put away to make room for dinner.  Below is a video my husband took on his phone (sorry for the quality) and uploaded to YouTube.  I’m not in the video.  Sorry folks, I was in the kitchen when this was being recorded.

This morning, we went to the St. Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto.  I absolutely LOVE going to the Farmer’s Market!  Not only are the prices much cheaper than the grocery store, they have such a wide variety that it is beyond anything you can get in the stores.

The St. Lawrence Market was established in November 1803.  That’s right folks, the market is over 200 years old!  Amazing!  The original buildings were removed in the 1950’s and rebuilt into the structure that you see below.    There isn’t a lot of information about the market in terms of its history but what I was able to find was really interesting.

The market is two floors in the main building, plus one additional but smaller building that is a single level.  They are filled with hundreds of stalls that sell a wide variety of things.  You can buy all types of meat, seafood, cheese, vegetables, fruit, pastries, bakeries, pure honey products, pure maple syrup, pastas, fresh grown herbs, candies, foreign food products, souvenirs, handmade items,  clothing, paintings and much more.

We have a whole slew of items that we usually purchase but due to our freezer already filled to capacity, we had to limit the meats we bought.  A new thing that the butchers do for you is vacuum seal your purchases, if you ask for it.  I love how I no longer have to separate out 6 lbs of ground beef into 1 lb freezer bags.  I just ask them to do it for me and it is sealed far better than any store-bought freezer bag.  It is perfect.  I no longer spend an hour dividing up everything to be placed in the freezer.  We bring it home, I toss it in and we are done.  It is fantastic!  They even did it with our chicken, pork and beef.  It was great!  The prices are amazing too, often they are half the price of the grocery stores so you save TONS of money.

Since we went light on the meats this time and still had cheese left from our last visit, we were able to purchase more liberally in other areas such as the bakery and fresh veggie/fruit mart.  I happily purchased some of the ingredients to make more salsa and I love how it was all so very fresh and the cilantro was much cleaner and nicer looking than what I purchase at the normal stores.  We even found some difficult-to-find peppers that we dearly love.

Honestly, there is nothing better than buying fresh foods.  I’m not kidding when I say this stuff is fresh.  They cut the cows and pigs right there in the market.  They grind up the meat for ground beef right there in the market.  It doesn’t get any fresher than that!

One of these days we will remember to bring our camera and take photos of our favourite stalls.

My house is overrun with toys.  There is not a single room in our little townhouse that doesn’t have a toy in it, even the bathrooms and my bedroom have toys.  It is crazy!  Despite the toys of all shapes and sizes there is but one that my child cannot live without; her precious “ki-ki kat” named Pepper.

This cat of hers is rather ugly but she loves it unconditionally.  She takes it everywhere and it rarely strays far from her.  This stuffed cat is filthy!  Utterly filthy!  Why do toy makers produce toys that cannot be washed easily?  Why must they make “surface wash only” toys knowing that children will inevitably get them so dirty that it transcends any potential cleaning?  ”Ki-ki kat” has been drawn on, dragged through who-knows-what and yet despite its layer of filth, my child loves it dearly.

My husband thinks the state of the cat is endearing and cute.  I see it filled with germs.  HAHA.  If anyone has any ideas how I might get the marker and crusties off this cat, please share because a simple surface wash, as the tag demands, is not working.

I was doing a search for a Happy Moon clip art or colouring page for Paige.  I have a surprise planned for her that she is going to love.   While doing the search, I happened across a page that had printable cat masks.  Paige loves cats.  Her most beloved toy in the world is her ugly stuffed cat with big eyes.  She takes it everywhere with her and it shows, it is filthy and is surface washable only (which really means you are totally out of luck with cleaning it).

I printed out the gray cat mask because “Pepper” is gray.  Instead of attaching string to the mask I attached a tongue depressor type crafting stick.  I didn’t wait for the glue to dry before I took the pictures because I wanted to take them while we still had light outside so it looks a little puckered in the photo.

I finished the dress last night.  It didn’t quite turn out as I had hoped.  It is really cute but I think a LOT of that has to do with the fabric more than anything.  I was hoping it would be more “A-line.”  Paige is constantly scratching at herself.  I think the slight ruffling from the position of the elastic is irritating her a little.  She also keeps pulling it down and showing off her chest and I have to keep tightening the halter straps because of it.

I’m currently trying to find a pattern for the other set of fabric that should be arriving any day now.  I am thinking I want to make a shirt and pants.  We’ll see.  I’m on the hunt.