I know what you’re thinking… where has she been?  We had a bit of a laptop meltdown in July, something about not being able to find the operating system.  Apparently this is a bad thing. Enter new laptop finally.  So I’m hoping you will be hearing from me more often now!  Yeah for you.  As a peace offering here is my favourite summer camping salad.  Also good in the fall, winter and oh yeah, spring!

 

1 cup couscous

1 1/4 cup boiling water

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1 Tbsp. curry powder

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 orange, juiced

3 Tbsp. olive oil

4 scallions chopped

2 Tbsp. chopped parsley

1/2 lemon, juiced

3/4 cup walnuts OR almonds, toasted.

Stir couscous, cranberries, curry, salt, and sugar in a heat safe bowl (glass).  Add boiling water and orange juice.  Stir to combine, cover, and let stand for 5 min.

Fluff the couscous with a fork.  Add the olive oil, scallions, parsley, lemon juice, and nuts.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Great warm or cold.

I take this camping every year because it packs up to the beach really well!

My girl Ginger has been sporting some new accesories that you might like.  They are the new cool neckware for dogs (at least that's what we're telling her).

She has allergies.  She's ticked. (When she's not drugged up on Benadryl) And she's trying to chew off her own butt.  Thus the protective headgear.

Well, my 12 year old Kevlar canoe... my pride and joy, needed a face lift.  The UV had done a number on the finish and it was badly scratched.  So, I did what I always do.  I painted it.




If you've never painted something large... you need to try it.  Even if it's just a huge piece of plywood you find at the back of the garage.  There is something about doing art on a BIG scale that just makes you stand back and say wow.  I can't say it enough... art is not about doing something that fits into a certain box.  It's ALL about putting yourself out there, through paint, pottery, beads, yarn, words, crayons, etc.  It's about having fun and expressing your soul.

Eagle

Whale fin

Happy One Year Anniversary to our mudpuppy GINGER.  It's been a long year.... a BLAST!

Loved this book.  End of story.  OK, I will expand on that for you...
This is actually a business book but when I read it it came to me how many different areas of my life it applied to.  And before you get your knickers in a knot, it's like the anti-business book.

It was written by Jason Fried and David Hansson, the ideas presented only take up a page or two at a time so it's really easy to pick up and put down as you have time.

Here's a list of some of the "chapters":
Why Grow?
Make a Dent in the Universe
Live it or Leave it
Meetings are Toxic
Press Releases are Spam
How to say you're Sorry
Send people Home at 5

... and the list goes on.  I picked it up because I own my business, I love reading about economics, and it came highly recommended.  I wasn't disappointed.  Check for it at your library, I found it at mine!

My friend Wendy sent this to me and I have to say I'm lovin it... try it out, it works, and we can all use more bags to lug our mommy stuff around in, I mean really.

Come meet Mia aka: Sonic Sally Mia because everyone has an opinion on what she should be called.  We are hogsitting her for the summer and we are in love!  She's a bit spikey, but very lovable. She spends evenings running around our bed, hiding under pillows and trying to burrow into Dave's shirt.  Priceless.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson. This was a great read if you like a mystery.... it is a bit gorry and some parts were very disturbing ~ so be warned (overall nothing you wouldn't see during prime time TV).  I hear they are making it into a movie again, it would make a great movie in my opinion.

There is a lot to the storyline and I wouldn't know how to go about telling it... so.... there is a great synopsis HERE on wikipedia.

I will be looking for the next one in the series.... "The Girl Who Played With Fire".

Here it is..
You might be asking yourself... where do you get a shower curtain that big.... well, I'm glad you asked.  It's actually a canvas painting tarp that we got at the hardware store.  I had to cut in half and sew it back together to make it skinny and long, instead of a huge square.  Then I added big grommets to the top to put hooks through.  The poles are obviously from the property and we had the rope lying around.  Overall I think the whole thing cost about $20.

Well, let's catch up on some reading again...
For May I read "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone.  Normally I'm not into anything written by a celebrity but this one got such good reviews I decided to check it out anyway.  I actually think she did a great job.  She had lots of good info, lots of Dr.'s backing her up, and I was inspired.  Nice.  She has a website that's really good in case you can't get your mitts on her book: The Kind Life Website 

While I'm not a vegan I would say after reading her book I might qualify as a quasi-vegan.  I'd say I'm now vegan about 90% of the time.  But lets face it.... cheese is from cows, and that's a hard drug to drop.  I also love my cream in my coffee in the morning.  Other than that I have cut out pretty much all my other animal products.  I feel pretty darn sweet.  If I could just break the cheese addiction....