Ice Cream Shake- how to

When Justin and I used to work at the science center we would make ice cream with liquid nitrogen. I am telling you it is SO delicious I cannot even describe. Unfortunately liquid nitrogen is a little costly, hard to store, and not readily available for the average consumer. So we had to do it a different way....
We used half and half cream (1 cup each)
feel free to replace that with whipping cream if you are feeling especially thin that day...
about 1 tbsp of sugar
and a dash of vanilla
Put that in a small ziploc bag- take out the air and close- and then place in another ziploc bag...
Double bagging is the key!!
Place that in a large freezer bag- fill with ice and 1/4 cup of salt
Any salt will do- some call for rock salt but table salt will do the trick
Double bag this as well... Or take your chances and wait until it starts to leak and then put in another bag...
Put on some winter gloves and...
SHAKE

Justin and Myers had some mad shaking skills....together they formed one super shaker...
Ruby- great smiler- not such a great shaker....
it takes about 15 minutes and then you will have delicious icecream!!

Enjoy! We did!

Ruby's Favorite Things...

A glimpse into the world of Ruby and her favorite things...

Ballerina

The Flamingo
New Age Dance

Resting

She got this swimsuit in the mail from Grammie Lori. I am not sure whether to thank her for it (but we do thank you for it and everything else you sent!). We have only been able to remove this article of clothing by force or trickery... (it really needed to be washed). She really loves it- and she looks so darn cute in it... Though it does make it a little bit harder to go to the potty....

And her other favorite....

She will drill you if you aren't careful...

Alberta Boy Band

Some would call them the reigning champions
and that would be true...
But i prefer to call these two musical genius's or geni (however you prefer to pluralize that word) Alberta's number one boy band!
Or I guess technically that is what they prefer to call themselves...
They did it again
They came from behind and kicked optometry skit nights butt!
Who knew I would marry a musical superstar genius!
Congratulations are in order for the Alberta Boy Band that is Justin and Clark!
Here is a picture of them performing...

And what you are all really waiting for-
THE VIDEO!
Now you can all enjoy this moment as if you were there with all the other adoring fans...


They won for best skit of their year-
and we did come away with some prizes
(I say we like I had anything to do with it...)
(Well I was support... right jayne?)
Number one being bragging rights of course
number 2 being a 10 dollar gift card for the movies (which they have to share)
and last but not least
Number 3
These balloons

Which, if you want to be technical,- we stole-
or Ruby did
But I am sure they didn't mind- and they have not left Ruby's sight since she got them.
She gets emotional every time one pops.
We still have a half dozen that are holding strong...
Justin was even nice enough to tie a basket on the bottom so she could hoard more of her stuff.... How kind...
-don't worry mom- we don't let her play with them around her neck- contrary to what these pictures are telling you...

Dumpster Diving...

Great minds think alike.... and we are two great minds...

On our way home from a play date Ruby, Myers and I met Justin at the mailboxes.
Pure luck and great timing!
Justin hopped in and we took him for the 2.5 second drive back to the house.
Saved him alot of time and physical strain.
On the drive back he told us the tale of his dumpster diving.
It goes something like this.
"I threw out the garbage- and I accidentally threw my notes in with it.
Luckily- or un-luckily- depending on how you look at it- the dumpster was empty.
So I had to jump in.'
(I thought I smelled garbage grunge.... but I didn't want to say anything...)
'My notes are a little wet- and stinky....'
NICE!
I can honestly say I have NEVER jumped into a dumpster- have you?
So, like any good blogger, I had him pose with his notes before he threw them away and reprinted others. (Well truthfully he had to go into our garbage and get them out because I took a little too long to tell him I needed a pic for my blog... So any oatmeal residue you see is from our garbage. Luckily our garbage is a little smaller so it didn't require any actual jumping in.)
Apparently we are made for each other, because I did a little dumpster diving of my own that morning.
I got this- for free!!

I am probably the most excited about this little find- now I can teach Ruby a thing or two and show off my mad skills to the neighborhood kids...

This is one of the many things I will miss about Ontario.... Why aren't people allowed to just leave large pieces of furniture and unwanteds etc on their lawns in Alberta? It would make re-purposing and dumpster diving so much easier and cheaper. I will have to get all of my 'dumpster diving' in before we leave.
Ruby loves the basketball hoop... now we just have to teach her how to use it...

But It Still Hurts....

Ruby LOVES her daddy. Really we all do- but Ruby has grown REALLY attached. It has come to the point where she won't let me put her to bed. She will not sleep unless her daddy does it. So I let him- except when he isn't here- the dreaded NAP TIME....
She cries every day when nap time comes around.
The conversation goes like this-
R: 'But I don't want to go to bed'
Me: 'It is time to have a nap Ruby'
R: 'I want daddy to put me to bed' -crying-
Me:'Daddy isn't here to put you to bed- mommy puts you to bed during nap time...'
R: -crying-
Me:'Ruby we don't need to cry it is bed time and daddy isn't here'
R: 'I know mommy, but it still hurts'
And her little face looks like this-
(Yes I went and grabbed the camera quickly- just so I could capture the moment and show Justin how much his little girl-o loves him. It seems cruel and unusual- but it was for good reason...we hugged it out after...)

Happy Easter! (and easter bucket tutorial)

Happy Easter to all!!!
We had a great Easter watching conference and spending time with each other and friends...
Justin and Ruby wore their easter shirts today.... Myers and I are still looking for our own versions- but I had to post this picture for Addy- I knew she would love it...

Now on to the tutorial

Easter Buckets-
I wanted to make Ruby and Myers some sort of basket to put their easter goodies in and I came up with this-
I love the way this bucket turned out so I thought I would share with all of you how to make them and some interesting pieces of information I learned along the way.
First- gather all of your materials...
Paint, brushes, buckets (I got mine at home depot in the wallpaper aisle... you could also use paint buckets or something like that), acrylic spray (if you are using acrylic paint)- this one says matte but I changed my mind and went with the glossy...

Paint the buckets and be patient. I decided to use acrylic paint so that I would have more choices in color. If I were to ever do this again I would go the spray paint route- it would be much less work. If you do go the acrylic route you have to be VERY patient and VERY careful. Anything will scratch this paint- and it takes ALOT of coats. The green one took about 4 coats and the yellow 6, and then I still had to spray it with the clear coat. Like I said- go with spray paint... save yourself the headache...
Cut out whatever you want in vinyl to decorate your buckets- be sure to do some practice rounds with cardstock first to get the correct sizing. If you don't have access to a cricut or vinyl you could also use paint and decorate with stencils or free hand. The possibilities are endless.
Spray with the topcoat. Be sure to follow the directions and be safe- it is super stinky- even the low odor. I sprayed it outside and it was SO STINKY- but it really works and we haven't had issues with chipping yet. And enjoy!
Here are the end results...

I really love them- and so does Ruby... she is already using it to aid in her hoarding habit...

'Ruby, Meet Ruby'

We walked by a neighbour's house today, and his pet bird (Ruby) crawled up
Ruby's shoulder and onto her head. Ruby was pretty scared (hence the lack of smile),
but she tried not to show it. She just stood wide eyed and frozen until the
bird went back to his owner. What a cute-head!
--Mr. Snelldog--

What Diddely What What

Ruby Quote of the Day- 'What daddy? What diddely what what?
Justin Quote of the Day- 'There is only one person on earth who says that'
I admit it- its me- apparently there are only 2 people on earth who say that.
You could be the third!
'What diddely what what!!'