What's in my Garden?

So....as I mentioned in my last entry, we've invested in a large, fairly well-kept garden (if you don't count the month Tim and I weren't here, which led to a fair amount of weeds!). One of the struggles I am having is that I don't know what most of the plants are in my garden. Soo....I went around and took pictures of some of them, and I'm going to start posting pictures, in the hope that someone may know what they are. Here goes....

Picture #1 - Small bush, about 4-5 inches tall, about 6-8 inches in diameter.

Picture #2 - This is the flowers on a large bush, consisting of lots of green leaves, sort've tree-like, probably about 4 feet tall. I feel like I should know what kind of plan this is, but I don't.

Picture # 3 - Small, fuzzy green plant. I'm wondering if it might be a poppy that has transplanted itself? Or the starts of a thistle...

Picture #4 - This guy is in the planter in my front yard. Some kind of funky ivy maybe?

Picture # 5 - Neighbour to the "funky ivy" is this mysterious green plant. I have no idea what it is, maybe if it had some flowers on it I might... :P

This is the end of round one of "What's in my Garden". Feel free to respond with what the plants are. Think of it as a fun game... :)

Home Sweet Home

We've taken the plunge and relocated to Barrie and bought a house! We've actually had our house for about a month now, and have been living in it for about two weeks. I have been spending most of my time unpacking boxes, organising where things go, and working in our garden. YES we have a garden. I'm learning lots...how to prune, what are weeds and what are plants, what humus is (it's the ideal kind of soil, not to be mistaken for the chick pea mash we love!)...it's lots of fun. The neighbourhood is beautiful and our neighbors are great! Here are some pictures from around our place:

This is our house from the front. Pretty cute eh?

This is one of the many spiders that calls our yard home. We have an absurd number of spiders. I'm not sure why, but they just seem to like our house a lot. I've had a few run-ins with the spiders, and I'm sad to say I did resort to some Spider-Ban (spider killer).

Our neighbours Ralph and Donna gave us these mums. Aren't they beautiful? And this is Ed, hanging out in his new favorite spot.

The funniest part....These are our neighbours that sometimes wander into the field across the street. 

Allergies

I spent several hours in the hospital last night. It was a strange experience.

Tim and I were out at a dance party, we've been taking ballroom dancing for a couple of months now and every so often the dance studio hosts a party. So we were there enjoying the evening, or at least trying to. I hadn't been feeling well all evening, something about dinner just didn't sit well in my stomach.

About halfway through the evening I popped a tums in my mouth because I really was feeling yucky and wanted to enjoy the night. About five minutes later my hands started to feel all warm and kind've stiff. I looked at them and realised they were swelling. Then I noticed that my lip began to tingle and then the inside of my mouth. I realised I was having an allergic reaction and told Tim we had to go right away.

Thankfully there's a hospital about 5 minutes away from where we were, because by the time we got to the hospital, my lips were thick, my tongue was thick, my whole face was swollen and red and it was spreading down my neck and on to my shoulders.

Within half an hour almost my entire body was covered in raised, red hives, my face, ears, eyes and nose were all swollen and I was having trouble swallowing. The doctor and nurses were excellent, they got me attached to an IV pretty quickly and started pumping me full of prednisone and benadryl.

It's amazing how this happens, I don't completely understand it. Your body turns against itself almost. It's scary. This is only the second time in my entire life I've had an allergic reaction, and this time was quite a bit worse than the first time it happened almost 3 years ago.

What worries me though is what triggered it. I ate a tums from a roll of tums that I've been carrying around in my purse for months and have eaten multiple times in the past. The last time this happened it was from a generic gravol product. I went through a whole bunch of allergy testing last year and they didn't figure out what made me react then. I'm hoping they have more success this time.

In the meantime, I'm all doped up on prednisone and benadryl for the next few days to keep everything under control....guess I'll be investing in an epipen.....

One of those days

Life can be funny sometimes. Without any reason, any trigger, you can be really grumpy. And not know why.

Today I had a very grumpy day. I was in a fairly foul mood, and my poor husband had to deal with my short fuse and impatience. Why was I grumpy? I honestly don't know. I didn't wake up on the wrong side of the bed, nothing terrible happened, it sort've just crept up on me over the day. It's odd.

Was it hormones? Maybe....Was it circumstances? It's possible...I never enjoy being in a car for long periods and we were in the car a lot today. All I can say is that when we got home tonight I was a big grump. And I knew it, and I felt bad.

So I went for a walk for about 40 minutes, all by myself, not going in any particular direction, without a particular goal, just to walk. And I thought and I talked to God. And it was good. My foul mood has improved, I think something may be weighing on me. I'm not sure what, but at least I am aware of it and can pray about it. And I'd appreciate your prayers to, if you're inclined to do so.

Home Made Yogourt

I have now made home-made yogourt three times.

It has actually turned out quite well. Firm enough and very yummy tasting. The only trouble I have had with it is that the whey separates from the yogourt, so I tend to have to mix it back in once I've scooped a bit out. Here is the recipe I've been following (the original ingredients and the modifications I've tried). Feel free to try it out, let me know how it goes for you and what cool modifications you've tried.

Ingredients:

• 4 litres homogenized milk (I only use 2L and 2% milk). 
• 175 grams starter yogourt 10% Milk fat (I could only find 6% milk fat; after the first batch you can save 1 cup of the yogourt to use as a starter for your next batch).

Directions:

• In a large pot, heat the milk, stirring constantly. Heat to at least 180F (82C) but do not boil. Once desired temperature is reached, take off heat. 

• Allow the milk to cool to 110F (45C) or less. 

• Transfer to a clean bowl, preferably an earthenware dish such as corningware.
• Mix ~1 cup of the warm milk with the starter yogourt until smooth. Poor this mixture back into the rest of the milk, mix in.

• Put lid on dish, insulate well (I usually wrap it in a couple towels, you could use a blanket too) and place in a warm spot to try and maintain the temperature as close to 45C as possible.

• Let sit for 20-24 hours.
• Remove from insulation, put in fridge.
• Once chilled, eat and enjoy!

• We've eaten this yogourt plain, with fresh fruit and as a special treat with a couple spoonfuls of sugar and fresh strawberries (but the sugar really isn't necessary).

*I've been thinking of trying this recipe with a couple teaspoonfuls of vanilla but haven't tried it yet.

Raisin Bran Goodness

It's funny how some things don't change. It doesn't matter how old you get, or where you live, or what you have become...some things are just as good now as when you were a kid.

For instance, my grandma's raisin bran muffins. She had this great recipe that made large quantities of muffins, and you could keep the batter in the fridge and scoop out muffins as needed and bake them. My mom used to make this recipe all the time, and I can remember as a child sneaking into the fridge in our basement where the extra batter was kept and swiping some of the batter. It was as good then as it is now. :)


I decided to make some of grandma's muffins today. Now I have a fresh batch of muffins on my counter and a whole lot of batter in my fridge for future batches.

I thought I'd share the recipe with those who might like it. They're yummy, full of fiber, and the batter can be kept for 4-6 weeks in the fridge (although they are usually all made and eaten long before then...)

Raisin Bran Muffins
2 cups white sugar
1 Tbsp salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups cooking oil
2 cups All Bran
2 cups Bran Flakes
2 cups raisins
5 1/2 cups flour

1 liter (quart) buttermilk
8 tsp baking soda

Mix all but the buttermilk and soda in a large bowl. The batter will be dry and lumpy. Add 1/2 liter of the buttermilk to the dry mixture, combine well.

To the remaining 1/2 L buttermilk, add the soda into the carton. Close the carton, shake carefully as the mixture will foam. Pour the buttermilk/soda mixture over the batter, stir it in. Add a small amount of water to the carton, shake it around, add to mixture.

For ideal muffins, let sit in fridge for 2 days before baking.

Cook at 400F for 15-20 minutes. Makes ~4 dozen muffins.
Will keep in fridge in a well-sealed container for 4-6 weeks.

Home Made Yogourt and Other Adventures

It's been nearly 6 months since I've posted an entry on my blog. I'm not sure I can adequately express all that has happened in my life since my last entry.

The rest of the Europe trip was fun and exciting. :) Maybe I'll add another entry about Paris at some point....

I started working at a complex continuing care hospital in town.

I graduated.


I went snowboarding with friends at Tremblant and family at Blue.

Me, Tim and Sherri at Mont Tremblant on the ski lift. It was a cold day, but we had fun anyway!

Tim and I at Blue Mountain. We spent the weekend there with Gary and Sue, and it was lots of fun!

We had a wonderful (but short Christmas) - it's amazing what having a job does to your holiday time!

Tim got a cool circular saw for Christmas! :)

We have a wonderful small group that we get along well with and have a great time hanging out with!! :D

I turned 26...and Tim gave me ballroom dancing lessons for my birthday, which we are currently doing, and having a great time.


Life is good. :) My latest adventure is that I am attempting to make home-made yogourt. I''ll let you know how it works out. In the meantime, enjoy these few pictures from the last 6 months...after all, pictures are much better than words.