Namesake

We love nicknames in this family.  We have a thousand for Gary (the Bear, Gare-Bear, Squid, Squidly, Squiddle, Bearis, Lil' Boss, the Gerrorist, to name just a few).  We also have nicknames for each other. Sickly cute things like Baby, The Baby, Pants, The Pants, Baby-Pants, Bum, The Bum, and Bumble.

We were doing some pre-Christmas looking around the stores and found the following:

Cute right?  And then we noticed his name:

I've seen Rudolph a thousand times and didn't know his name was Bumble.  How adorable!  Before Christmas he was $5 and frugal me can't spend that much on something impractical just because it is cute.  But with 50% off boxing week sale, I now have my namesake sitting on my desk!  :)

Guess What's Blooming!

Christmas Cactus!!

I'm pretty sure every time this cactus makes flowers I will post a photo on the internet.

I love this plant. I love that it is 60+ years old.  I love that it is a survivor.  I love that it used hang in my Nanny's house and then in my family home growing up.  I love that it is a daily part of my life. I love how strong this plant is. It is bursting with new growth and is pretty much on schedule for it's Christmas blooms.  Blooming a week out of December? I would say this plant is right on time.  Way to go, buddy! xoxoxo

Round Two

I woke up today with one goal: finish Lego Harry Potter.  Done and Done.

Weirdest. Treat. Ever.

I did some baking for an event we are having at work later this week.  Called Haystacks, these are my favourite treats to make this time of year, as they are easy, tasty, and contain a weird combo of ingredients. Namely: chow mein noodles (the dark yellow/orange sticks that sometimes come with chinese food).  Really?  Really.

This recipe comes from my friend Heather, who made them for an event one night years ago when we worked together at university.  When I first tried them, the mixture of flavours and textures blew my mind.  With a combination of crunchy (chow mein noodles), sweet (butterscotch chips and peanut butter), and soft (mini marshmallows), the discovery of the ingredient list only added to my enjoyment as I couldn't understand why these things would be mixed together - and yet I never wanted them to be apart again.  These treats have weird-ingredient-combination bonus enjoyment.  Awesome!  Also, every time I make these I forget that the recipe makes a tonne of treats, but thankfully this year I am donating over half of them to work. My thighs thank me for being so generous.

Ingredients:
2 cups butterscotch chips
1 cup smooth peanut butter
4 cups mini colourful marshmallows
3 cups chow mein noodles (I got mine at Bulk Barn)

Step 1:
Measure out mini marshmallows and chow mein noodles.  Set aside.

Anyone else questioning this combination of ingredients?

Step 2: 
Place butterscotch chips and peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave to melt together, stirring often.  I put mine on for 30 seconds, stirred, 30 more seconds, stirred, and then 20 more seconds and it was thoroughly mixed.

I love everything about this photo.

Step 3.
Add marshmallows and chow mein noodles to the butterscotch/peanut butter mixture.  Stir.

Starting to mix...

Mixed thoroughly!

Step 4.
Drop by messy tablespoons onto wax paper lined cookie trays.  Avoid the temptation to lick your fingers after you drop each one.  This batch made about 40 treats, so be prepared to share them or gain weight if you make them.

Step 5.
Enjoy!

A yummy treat!  

Today's Accomplishments

As mentioned earlier, I am pretty obsessed with the Lego series of games for the Wii.  Right now my focus is on Lego Harry Potter (I'm already about 60% done), but I had yet to complete Lego Batman (I was 99.4% finished when Harry Potter sucked me in).  This morning I successfully achieved the final 0.6% of the game, thus completing my Lego Batman mission.  100% feels nice and satisfying!!

100% - Batman approved!