sparrows and arrows: April 2012

4/30/12

Virus Overload

Happy Monday! Things have been a bit quiet here lately, I was hit with a nasty flu bug and when I was feeling better my computer went and got it's own virus, so we had to gut it and start over. Apparently those lovely people who make those viruses don't care that I have a blog to maintain :)

And now that things are calm, Clifford is off to Toronto for 2 weeks for work, so it's just me and the girls. I think things will go pretty smoothly - how much work can three kids.... alone.... be..none I am sure........

Here's a little instagram peak of what we have been up to - hope you have a great start to your week!

a stop at the new frozen yogurt place in town

a trip to the bookstore

Maya at guitar lessons

walk in the sun

> Jessi

4/29/12

Blog Lovin Love {54}

Here's what we loved on blog lovin this week

Pearl's room > apartment therapy (way to go Kira!)

diy scrap wood napkin rings > design*sponge

diy antler rack > camille styles

nautical bracelet > cup of jo

kitchen decor > remodelista

cupcake toppers > mint

4/26/12

Jessi & Gwyneth {12}

10 hour chicken

For serious - 10 hours... I had to have it the oven by 8:30 am to have it ready for 6.
When we finally took it out of the oven it was falling off the bones, thought I found the breast piece I had a bit dry - maybe I cooked it a little long at the end when you are supposed to uncover and up the heat

I also am not a good judge of measurements - and when it says to put a "generous" amount of salt - I think I maybe put "excessive" amounts :)

Now I need to go tweet it so Gwyneth sees it and invites me over for some of her schancy cooking :P

at the 9.5 hour mark

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> Jessi

4/25/12

Family Tree

I am hooked on genealogy shows! Who Do you Think You Are, Finding Your Roots and Faces of America are totally blowing my mind right now. So I signed up for ancestry.ca. Now I feel like a detective! I've trace my family as far back as the 1640's in Massachusetts, I even found some pictures :)

Annie Moran (1881 - 1866)

This is my 2x Great Grandma. I've never seen this picture before,

but she really looks like my dad.

This is my 3x Great Grand Uncle and his wife. He reminds me so much of my brother, Joel.

It must be those mad sideburns!

Amos Bull (1768 - 1832)

He was my 4x great grandfather and this was his house

I also found out on the one side we were descendant from Quakers,

and found lots of stories as well:)

>Cassie

4/23/12

From My Bookshelf > Perks of Being a Wallflower

Title: Perks of Being a Wallflower

Author: Stephen Chbosky

I think the driving force of me reading this book is that Emma Watson was in the movie lol - I am literary like that.

I have to say for a coming of age book for a grade 9 boy (which I am not and have never been) I loved it, and have told most of my friends to read it. I had low expectations thinking it would be like Catcher in the Rye- which I read as an adult and just wanted to smack Holden the whole time, Perks' Charlie was likable!

The style of the book is written sort of diary style, letters to an anonymous friend, at first it was a bit hard to read, as his thoughts and witting were a bit scattered, but as he starts reading more (through books his teacher assigns him on the side) you can see the affect it's having on his ability to tell his stories... so what I am saying is don't give up after the first few letters! It's short it won't demand a lot of your time, and from what I can see online most people give it 5 stars - a handful give it 1 - I want to know what you think :)

Are you on GoodReads? Have you set up a 2012 reading challenge yet?

> Jessi

4/21/12

Cross Canada Etsy: Winnipeg, Manitoba

All of this is brought to you from Winnipeg, Manitoba! I have never been, but a group of gals I met on baby center, who all have March 2011 babies, are planning a cottage getaway there next summer. Maybe I'll get a chance to check out some of these great makers!

EmenGee Designs

Really cute coinpurses and embroidered acceccories. Such a cute idea for bridesmaids gifts!

Babbs Boutique

Pretty Clutches, in beautiful silks!

Old Green Canoe

So much great vintage, I'm jelly.

dproject

Lots of really rustic and rural vintage! Swooning!

>Cassie

4/19/12

A Woodland Party Freebies

Part of our woodland themed party for Maya (read about it here) included some printables that you can download here for your own woodland party!

invites

mask templates

food signs

left > trying not to laugh during the shoot!
Right > Kingston Life, Photographs by Scott Adamson

> Jessi

4/18/12

On the Pages of a Magazine

We are so excited to be part of Kingston Life's Spring Interiors issue! The photo shoot and party were so fun and we had a great time.

Kingston Life Interiors

You can find us in the DIY section on page 46!

>Cassie & Jessi

4/17/12

You Scream, I Scream, We all Scream for ...Hummus?

I have been meaning to make hummus for ever! I am not exaggerating, well ok maybe I have been meaning to make it for a month... anyways, all that matters is I finally did, and it was pretty tasty! Crazy easy and now I am going to make it all the time.

Recipe

1 16 oz can of chickpeas

1/4 cup liquid from can

3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (to taste)

1 1/2 tablespoons tahini

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

I lost all but one of my measuring spoons - so I am not sure how on I was with these measurements. I put a lemon and a half in, I thought maybe it was a bit much at first - but then decided I liked it that way, I also threw in a roasted red pepper, but you don't have to do that!

> Jessi

4/16/12

Abel's Pirate Party: Portholes

I whipped these up before Abe's Party using blue bristol board and dollar store paint! I think painting the little gold rivets really made them look cool. Scott likes them so much he said "Maybe we can just leave them up all the time?"

>Cassie

4/12/12

Purple Cow > A Family Recipe

I made a traditional King (that's my maiden name) family dinner on Easter Monday, why cause:

1) I never get my family meals anymore

2) I felt like it.

One of the staples at any big occasion family dinner - is a thing we call purple cow ( I don't know why it is called this). My grandma has been making this as long as I can remember. It's like dessert - but you eat it with your meal. I have no problems with this idea - cool whip and turkey should hang out more often.

Another thing I like about this is there is just something kind of fun and retro about jello based desserts - they should use it on Mad Men in any dinner scene

RECIPE

1 package of raspberry jello

1 1/2 - 2 cups of blueberries (feel free to add more!)

1 10 oz can of crushed pineapples

1 container of cool whip - thawed

Mix the jello with water as called for on the package.

mix in the blueberries and crushed pineapple ( with juices from can)

stir and refrigerate. Stir every half hour or so to keep berries and pineapples from settling

at the bottom. Once it seems to be holding cover top with cool whip. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

It won't get the consistency of jello - so don't expect it to harden up completely

I forgot to take a nice pic of it - here it is half gone

> Jessi

4/11/12

For Realz?

So I went to a baby shower this weekend (fiy if you ever have host a baby shower - skip the games and have the wine and food flowing - it was all kinds of amazing!)

I got a lot of praise while working on the leaf blanket I made for Clilfford's cousin - and not wanting to let go of that ( I am a sucker for it), I decided to make it again - and bask in some more glory

This is what I get for being full of myself - she got the same blanket from someone else! What are the chances of that? I did not look closely at the second one - I am sure it out shined mine x10000

but for serious...the same blanket!!! lol - but I still love it - and babies need all things in multiples - they make a lot of messes :)

> Jessi

4/10/12

Catching Up

How was you Easter weekend? The kids had a great weekend and are swimming in chocolate. I head back to work today and need to find some time to play catch up here!

Things that are going on:

-Clifford finished classes and thus starts the summer job search. One of his options will have him away from home during the week all summer, and I am kind of nervous about that! Right now I am not overly excited for summer,as it's kind of impossible to make plans right now.

-We are coming out of craft fair retirement! Cassie, Mandi and I did the craft fair circuit 2 years ago and hadn't really planned on doing anymore, but after receiving a super sweet email, asking us to come back to one, we couldn't say no - so we are busily pinning inspiration and feeling really motivated to get crafting!

I hope you all have a great week - anything exciting planned?

> Jessi

4/7/12

A New Addiction

I really didn't need something else to addicted to (thank you blog lovin, pinterest, facebook and my cell phone) but I have always been jealous of all you iphone users and instagram - so I was pretty excited that they finally launched it for Android!!

I heart it - alot... I have been trying to use twitter but kind of shut down at the wall of text and # tags, but this being photo based as proven to be more fun for me!

Are you o Instagram? Are you a recent Android adopter? You can find us at @sparrowsandarrows (Jessi) and @kittercall (Cassie) - we love seeing all your photos :)

Sleeping Lily

making hummus

getting ready for Easter

my old dog Bella (she looks like pup but is 10!)

> Jessi

4/6/12

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs!

Today we are dying eggs so here's a little Easter eggs inspiration from pinterest!

> Jessi

4/5/12

31 Meals in March

So I didn't remember to take pics everyday - but we successfully finished our goal. This was a pretty great learning experience and keeping track gave us a good peek into our eating habits!

#1 it became quite clear that although I was focused on making new mains, that our sides were always the same, so I needed to fix that, and it became a slightly bigger job trying to find new ways to cook our vegetables (Angelina I am totally going to try mashed cauliflower now!)

#2 - we eat a s*$# t ton of meat! I think we had 3 meals that weren't meat based - next goal, learn to make some vegetarian meals! (This is tricky for me as I have a raw fruits/veg allergy and an allergy to nuts!) Any suggestions on a good resource for vegetarian meals?

some of our meals (from top left): baked pork chops, Salisbury steak, fish and chips, hoagies, chicken parmigiana, hamburger helper (it was a lazy night!), stuffed chicken breast, breakfast for supper!, butter chicken & tikki masala, handmade cannelloni, pasta in a white wine sauce, Gwyneth turkey burgers, macaroni and cheese, bangers & mash, sloppy joes, meatloaf,

It was fun, and now I can get my reward of some new knifes! Is there a new recipe you have tried lately that you love? Or Any new goals (cooking or not) that you are challenging your self with?

> Jessi

4/3/12

Jessi & Gwyneth {11}

Baked Cauliflower

Doing this 31 one meals of March has also made me realize that we pretty much eat the same sides, cooked the same way with the same sauces.

This side (though I burned it a tad!) was a welcome change to the normally boiled cauliflower we have. We had it along with my first Gwyneth attempt - turkey burgers, which we BBQ'd in our first BBQ of the season - Come on warm weather!!

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> Jessi

4/2/12

Gone Fishing

Here is a fun quick project I cooked up for a couple of youngn's birthdays.

DIY Fishing Game:

-knit fish using this pattern

- seam together and stuff bodies ( I didn't bother stuffing the tails)

- with yarn sew on a nut to the mouth area of each fish (this was a happy mistake, I had planned to put them on the inside, but the magnet couldn't pick it up - so it worked out well since it kind of looks like a fish mouth!)

- Tie a length of twine to a wooden dowl

-Glue two magnets together on either side of the twine

and voila!
This is a great way to use of some of those yarn scraps

Happy Fishing :)