-45 Celsius

That would be -49 Fahrenheit for all my lovely American friends. I'm NOT joking. That is our windchill warning for tonight. Currently we are sitting at -36 C (-32 F). Could someone please remind me why I live here??? Anyone???

A Lovely Day

We have an extended long weekend with no school today and tomorrow. This morning we started our day by making goodies for breakfast. We took a can of crescent rolls, put spoonfuls of cherry jam on them, rolled them up, sprinkled with French Toast Sugar & Spice. Once they were baked we drizzled them with icing. The crew thought it was the best breakfast treat ever and it was made more complete with a YOP drink. Fortified by the breakfast they all pitched in to help clean the house.

Afterwards I realized it was Chinese New Year today. So we decided that we should do something to recognize the day for the only Chinese family in our town. La Diva and Kodiak are friends with two of the children from this family. The own the local Chinese restaurant that we frequent quite often. They are a lovely family and we appreciate them! So after some research we headed into town to find supplies to create our gift. We found a fabulous large square vase, some bamboo, oranges and tangerines and some red gerbera daisies. I filled the vase with the oranges and tangerines, centered the bamboo in the vase, put the daisies in water piks and arranged them amongst the oranges, added some bear grass and was quite pleased with the final product. La Diva made a card wishing them a Happy New Year.

While we were away I had pizza dough brewing in the bread machine for dinner tonight. It turned out so well that I have another batch on the go to throw in the freezer for a later day.

Pizza Crust from the Bread Machine

1 1/4 cup water
3 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp. dry milk (I don't have this in my pantry so I just used a splash of regular milk)
1 1/2 Tbsp. oil
1 tsp. italian seasoning
1 tsp. dried marjoram
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 1/2 tsp. yeast

Set bread machine to dough setting. Once finished, remove dough and divide in half. Dredge dough in mixture of flour and cornmeal; spread on pizza pan. Top with your favorite toppings. Bake in 400 F oven for approximately 20 minutes.

Makes two 12 inch pizzas.

Can be made ahead and frozen.

The Hero is coming home a day early from his trip so it makes a good day all the more lovely.

The Invasion of Webkinz

Webkinz have invaded our home. La Diva, Iceman and Turtle each have 3 pets. Some were gifts and others they saved their shekels for. They have such fun playing with their pets both on and off the computer. Turtle had designs on a high ticket item for one of his pets rooms so he enlisted my help to win him money in the arcade. I've now become a Cash Cow2 addict. I play it for hours in the evening and have raised hefty sums for each of them. Kodiak has joined in the game playing, helping the boys he claims. So if I disappear from the blog it is because I'm in Webkinz world... helping the boys. ;)

I wanna be a ROCKSTAR!

The Material Girl

Yesterday was air band at the elementary school. It was loooooooooooonnnnnnnggggggg with 25 entries that included many High School Musical numbers, a disturbing rendition of Barbie Girl by a bunch of grade 6 boys and an awesome version of GNR's Welcome to the Jungle starring Slash and Axel. Those not participating were asked to dress as a favorite rock star. One of Turtle's classmates came as Alice Cooper. It was classic!

La Diva and her girlfriends were performers in air band. The did "Material Girls" by Hilary and Haley Duff. I was reminded of how ancient I am when I asked them about the Madonna version and they said "Who is Madonna and why is she doing the Duff sisters song?" :S We have the performance on video but I need to check with the parents of the other girls before I post it. In the meantime you can enjoy these pictures of my "ROCKSTARS".

DJ "Diggy Dog" Turtle

Michael Buble

As you can probably guess, our crew likes a very eclectic mix of music. It includes pipes and drums, soccer cheer songs, Blue Man Group, Michael Buble, Nickelback, Aerosmith, Mikka, OK Go, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Beethoven, Diana Krall and Corb Lund to name a few.

The Lucky Nail

The Hero had a house fire call on Wednesday. It was bitter cold and they were out in it from about 10:00 a.m. til 4:00 p.m. Yesterday he pulls this nail out of his pocket and tells me it's his lucky nail. This nail was once a part of that house. As one of his fellow firefighters was cutting something with a chainsaw so the Hero could get in with his axe the Hero felt this zing. He figured it was a piece of wood that had flown out. Later when he went to change out his air mask he discovers that it was not a piece of wood but this nail that had landed neatly between his helmet liner and the top of his ear. It was sitting there where you'd place a pencil with the point towards his head. Lucky nail!!??!!! Lucky Hero!!! His angels are doing overtime. You can see where the saw had sheared the head of the nail. I'm going to get a shadow box for it. A reminder of how one small thing can change the course of ones life forever.

He had a rough day but he came home safe. His PPE did the job and protected him, kept him warm until he had to go into the basement where a broken water main had left over a foot of water. He then discovered a hole in his boot and had water seeping in. Thankfully that was near quitting time. I snapped a picture of him when he came to get dry socks before heading back to the hall to clean up the equipment, restock the trucks, etc. He looks less than impressed. It was about -28 Celsius that day.

"Nothing can harm a good man, either in life or after death."
— Socrates