I Complain About the Cold…

… and the next day I get attacked by a piece of firewood.

Go figure.

Mr. Man needed a rental car, so I was following him home in our car tonight when I suddenly hear a very large “BANG, POP” come from the underside of the car. While on the highway. Going highway fast. (I must admit, I am very pleased that I managed to remain calm and pull over safely to the side of the road, instead of ending up in some “third floor of the Galleria incident” I have often envisioned while learning how to drive.)

After a moment, I realize there are three other cars pulled over to the side of the road. It turns out we all hit the same piece of firewood and now have extremely flat tires. Lucky for me, Mr. Man was only a few miles ahead and managed to put on the spare tire with a very impressive display of heroics.

It took over an hour to drive home the back way, driving very, very slowly and dreaming about this:

Cold and Damp

That is all I feel these days – cold and damp. And damp and cold. The weather is all rain and mushy snow that doesn’t stick and grey skies all the time. It is great weather for fireplaces, cosy blankets, hot cocoa and bitterly complaining about how bad the weather is.

Someone once commented that Canadians really, really like to talk about the weather. It is totally true – we talk about the heat in the summer, the cold in the winter, and how this particular spring and fall (whatever spring and fall it may be) is failing us by either being too hot or too cold.

But this time, it isn’t just all talk. Mother Nature is just being plain spiteful at this point.

Weather like this calls for drastic measures:

Cookies!

Cookies make everything better. I wanted to make jam thumbprints, and Teagan wanted peanut butter, so we met in the middle and made Peanut Butter Cup Cookies. We used this recipe and they are mighty good.

I did have some problems with the baking time, though. The recipe says to bake them for eight minutes, and many commenters admonished that they wouldn’t look done at eight minutes, but they really were done and if you left them in a moment longer they would be overcooked. I diligently took them out after eight minutes and after anxiously waiting for them to cool so we could start eating, we found out that they really weren’t done, and the bottom half of each cookie was a half cooked mess.

So, I took a chance and heated up the oven again, and stuck them in for another eight minutes to account for having chilled them. They came out perfectly, and the peanut butter cups even remained intact. I am happy to report that they are totally wonderful.

Unlike the weather.

You Can’t Escape Winter Forever…

… although that doesn’t mean I wasn’t hoping.

At least the Vikings are prepared:

Happy Hallowe’en!

Playing Catch-Up

July is more than half gone already, and I have been reminded that I am getting awfully behind on posting about our goings on. So here is what happened Canada Day, three entire weeks ago:

There were family and friends (including my parents, who managed to completely elude getting their photos taken):

There was sangria and Mai Tais:

Which seemed to be well received:

Much fun was had with my very favorite Audrey Hepburn inspired hat and sunglasses:

The first of July is not only Canada’s birthday, but also my Mom’s, so there was cake and ice cream:

And of course, fireworks:

What Happens When You Add An Almost Seven Year Old…

… and Mommy’s brand new camera together:

Happy Canada Day! (for 14 more minutes)