Currently: July 2026

Well, I've been on summer break for just under three days and I still can't manage to write a blog post in a timely fashion. Maybe next time... :) However, even though I missed linking up with Amy at Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa yesterday, I still wanted to write a "Currently" post. You can find Amy here and read other posts in this link up.

 [Sparkling]

Anticipating my upcoming summer break, last weekend I had Dave buy a selection of "sparkling" Fever Tree beverages for mixing drinks. I'm excited to figure out something fun to do with the grapefruit juice. I've tried mixing it with vodka but it needs something a little sweet to perk it up. I've also got a huge basil plant on the table on our deck so I'm trying to figure out if I can do something with basil in a drink too. (I know -- I could just Google something but it's so much more fun to experiment!!!)

[Grilling/Cooking]

We're "grilling/cooking" everything we can these days. Our CSA (community shared agriculture) started a few weeks ago and there's so many good veggies. We had my favourite grilled romaine last week and we've discovered salmon burgers this summer, which are a nice protein switch for me. Mom and Dad also brought a few packages of farmer's sausage when they came so we've had that as a treat as well.

 

[Heating up]

Our summer weather has been "heating up" this week, which is not my favourite. Yesterday it was 44C (111F) with the humidex, which measures the temperature with the humidity in the air. Without humidex it was 34C (low 90s). Anyways, this is way too hot for me. I get an instant headache from the humidity whenever I step outside. I was thankful our baseball game earlier this week was an evening game, and that we had seats in the shade. Phew, it's been hot. And we still have a few days of this heat left to go...

 

[Using]

I've been "using" my little vases to make mini bouquets. I'm also "using" random flowers in my yard to make the bouquets. It's been a lot of fun! My bouquets are nowhere near as artistic as what my mom makes, but I'm trying...

 

[Celebrating]

Yesterday, we celebrated Canada Day. We watched the Blue Jays game (and what a game it was!!!) and ate poutine for supper. We've also been "celebrating" how well Canada has been doing in the World Cup. We're so ready to cheer them on in the Round of 16 on Saturday!!! Canada's previous best World Cup showing was ... scoring a goal... so this run has been incredibly exciting!!!

 

So that is what's up with us "Currently." We're easing into summer break here, and once the heat breaks, we'll be getting a few things done. Until then, you can find us hunkered down, probably watching sports!

Monthly Musings: Summer 2026 Preview

I almost had this post ready in time for Monthly Musings this past Thursday but I just needed to finish a few things. Thus, I'm posting this on a Sunday so I don't miss the link up. We're looking ahead to what Summer 2026 holds for us. Patty, who blogs at Good, Better, Best, hosts this link up so you can go there to read the other posts.

1) Tell us about your Memorial Victoria Day Weekend.

Well, I live in Canada so we don't celebrate Memorial Day. However, the third Monday in May we get off for Victoria Day, also know as the "May 2-4" weekend! This year for Victoria Day weekend we celebrated Tessa's graduation from teacher's college, we hosted Dave's parents for supper, and we finished setting up our guest room. It was not very exciting :)

2) What were your summer jobs when you were younger?

My dad owned a garden centre and tree nursery when I was growing up so my summer jobs were working there -- I worked in the fields, in the office, and in the greenhouse. Other than that, I babysat sometimes.

3) Ice cream or popsicles? Favourite flavours?

I really like ice cream but homemade popsicles (lemonade and some fruit) are pretty good too!

4) What do you like on your burgers and hot dogs?

I like BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles on burgers and ketchup and relish on hot dogs. And all my burgers and hot dogs are vegetarian.

5) Beach, lake, or mountains?

I like them all! Sadly, I don't know if we'll hit any of these things this summer. Boo.

6) Share any travel for summer 2026.

After a few years of not being able to go in the summer, we're heading to one of our favourite places this summer!!! Whoooo hooo!!!

7) Do you visit amusement parks in the summer? Tell us your favourite.

Even though we have a really big amusement park not that far from us, we all dislikes rides. Thus, we never go to amusement parks.

8) Do you enjoy dining outside in the summer?

YES!!! I eat as many meals as I possibly can outside in the summer. I start with drinking my morning coffee-hot chocolate outside, and often have a drink midday too!

9) Favourite summer beverage?

Anything my Dad makes! Hahahaha!!! He makes a really great G&T and we love to experiment with other possibilities! I currently have some rhubarb in my fridge which I'm going to turn into rhubarb syrup for a drink we invented one summer -- a St Petersburg Burro. It's a Moscow Mule made with rhubarb syrup and it's yummy!!!

10) Favourite side dish for summer parties? Please feel free to share recipes.

I really like a chickpea salad recipe I got from a dietitian at our grocery store quite a few years ago. Take 1-2 cans of chickpeas and rinse them. Toss them in a bowl with a good sized grated carrot, a good handful (around 1 cup, maybe) of chopped cucumber, a chopped pepper or two (I often use a combination of red, orange, or yellow ones), chopped feta cheese (again, around a cup?), 2-3 chopped green onions, and a good handful (10-15) of mint leaves -- chopped up. Mix 1/2 lemon juice and 1/2 olive oil together. (I use maybe 1/2 cup of each). Add 1 tsp cumin and 1 tsp honey. Mix together and pour over the salad. This salad usually lasts us about 5 days in the fridge and I really love it.

Writing about all these things makes me really excited for summer! Sadly, I still have a month of work left, and the kids have a month of school, but we're getting closer! Bring it on!!!

Friday Favourite Moments #8 2026 (On A Monday)

I did not get a Friday Favourite Moments post written last week. Thursday night I drove the kids to their activities, Dave and I had a quick supper, and then we showed Tim & Janice around our house so they could see the latest reno updates in person. Wednesday was the day our new appliances arrived (yay!) and we were testing them out. Anyways, here are my favourite moments from this past week.

1) Starbucks orders

Last Friday my principal wanted Starbucks so we placed an order. We decided we're having "office Friday Starbucks" from now until March Break to get us through. It's the small things in life, I'm telling you :)  

2) Baseball is back!!!

After four long months, baseball is back! I watched the entire first game of Spring Training and I was soooo happy! Can't wait for warm summer days (or nights!) at the ball park!!! 

 

3) Supportive friends

We were supposed to go to our friends' for supper on Saturday night but Rachel woke up and was really sick so we cancelled. Our friends brought dinner to us anyways, which was so kind of them. It's such a treat to get home cooked meals during this time. Hopefully next time we'll be able to enjoy our meal and have a visit with them.

4) Olympic Hockey Game 

 

Even though the outcome was not what Canadians wanted, watching the gold medal game for men's hockey was so fun! (Until it wasn't...)

 

5) New appliances!

Our new appliances arrived!!! We Facetimed my parents so they could see us try our new induction stove for the first time. We're eagerly awaiting our dishwasher installation which will hopefully be happening later this week. 

6) We have a doctor!

In July 2024, a week before Dave and I left for Scotland, our doctor's office sent out a message saying they were closing our clinic. We'd had no prior warning and it was so frustrating. For the past year and a half, we have been without a family doctor. However, a couple of months ago, we found a doctor who would take us on (thanks to Dave's parents) and it was at the clinic we were hoping to get in to. We had our official "I'm your doctor" appointments this past week and Dave and I feel such a sense of relief to finally have a family doctor again. While I enjoy our free Canadian healthcare, the waits for family doctors are ridiculous.

7) Kitchen reveal (sort of!)

On Thursday before they left, the workers took all the plastic off the kitchen cupboards and the cardboard off the counters! I LOVE our new kitchen! It is mostly painted now, just waiting on some trim to be painted, and the microwave and dishwasher need to be installed but it's sooooo close to being done. Another favourite moment was showing Tim and Janice the latest on our renovation. They were the third and fourth people to see the uncovered kitchen as the kids had already left for their evening activities when everything was taken off. I love sharing our renovation with our friends!

So those were my favourite moments from this past week. While we're currently under a cold warming (again), most days this week are supposed to be above freezing so I'm sure Friday's post will include a few favourite moments about melting snow! Yay spring!

10 On The 10th: February 2026

It took over a month for me to get my January "10 on the 10th" post up and two days to get February's written. That's the kind of winter it's been :) I think my photos from February 10th show fairly well what it's like to be living in our house while it's being renovated! 

We got home on Monday night and the power was out in the dining room and upstairs hallway, for some reason, and we couldn't get it back on. So Dave set up the coffee maker and the toaster outside the makeshift bathroom!

Coffeemaker, brushing teeth, construction supplies -- yep, this is our house these days.

I tried to enjoy my coffee-hot chocolate under my blanket with my lights on. Please notice the insane amounts of stuff in our living room. I can't wait until we can spread things out again! (Also known as "maybe we should have gotten rid of more stuff when we packed up.")

My walk to work, along my favourite path.

This is the "snow sucker" and a dump truck. This week they have been working on clearing the streets of significant amounts of snow. The plow goes by about ten times and then the "snow sucker" (my personal term for it) blows it all into dump trucks. You can't see the five dump trucks waiting their turn behind the "snow sucker."

A cup of tea and a midday snack at work. These MadeGood puffed stars are delicious! 

When I got home it was finally warm enough that I could chip major layers of snow off our sidewalk. Whoooo hoooo!!! Dave helped as the snow was coming off in huge chunks.

This is all our shower stuff on the shelf in Tim & Janice's bathroom! Sam, Dave, and I all went to shower while Rachel was at dance. I'm so thankful we're not dragging this, and all our towels, all over the place to various showers.

 

Dave and Sam made fixings for taco salad. This was a fairly easy meal to make in our makeshift kitchen.

I had book club so I set myself up in the actual kitchen. Everything in our house is a little rustic right now!

So that was our February 10th. Will our reno (possibly) be done by March 10th? Maybe?!?! At the very least we should have a shower in our house by then!

Share Our Lives: Unique Things About Where We Live

This month for "Share Our Lives" we are talking about "unique things about where we live." I decided to break this into four separate categories -- our house, our city, our province, and our country. Thanks to the Share Our Lives bloggers who are Sarah, Dara, Joanne, Adrienne, and Jen. (Click on each name to go their blogs.) for hosting.

 

Unique Things About Our House

1) We have a window in our house.

As the playroom was an addition, built onto the back of the original house, we have both the outside brick, and a window, in our house. I've never ever seen this before. The window is between the office and the playroom and is the only way natural light gets into the office.

 

2) We also have a porch light in our house.

 

Thanks to the aforementioned addition, we also have a porch light in our house. We have additional lighting in the playroom but sometimes, all we need to use is the smaller porch light! 

 

3) Our house is half covered with ivy.

 

I love the ivy covering our house. (And no, it is not the kind which wrecks the mortar between the bricks. We've checked.) I think it makes our house looks a little like a fairy tale cottage. 

Unique Things About Our City

1) We live in a twin city.

Our house is actually right on the border. We live in one city and our backyard neighbours are another city. We have two separate city councils, two separate town squares, and two separate libraries but one public transit system and one school board. When the kids were little they loved running ahead of us when we were walking around the block and shouting, "We're in a different city than you!!!" Technically, it was true, even if there were only three sidewalk blocks actually separating us!

 

 

Two different cities -- one city centre is referred to as Uptown and the other one is called Downtown. We spend most of our time in Uptown but we do head Downtown once in awhile. We live equidistant from both city centres -- we just tend to gravitate towards the one. I don't know why.

2) There are two universities about six blocks away from each other.

Considering that my home province of Saskatchewan has only two universities in the whole province, and a couple of other provinces only have three or four, it's a little strange that our "not so big" city has two and that they're so close to each other.

3) All the walking paths.

There is my favourite path (the Spur Line Trail) which goes along the east side of the twin cities and another path we sometimes walk on (the Iron Horse Trail) which goes along the west side of the cities. I walked home from church yesterday (8.5 kilometres/over 5 miles) and about 80% of my walk was on a walking path of some sort.

 

4) Ducks and geese

There are constantly ducks and geese around. They live here year round and I feel bad for the ducks in winter when it's cold. Geese are evil and hiss at you if you get too close. They also poop everywhere. There are a ton of geese between Uptown and through the park to the universities. And I love how the cars stop when the ducks and geese cross the road. Sometimes, the traffic is just randomly stopped for no reason and we'll realize it's because of the ducks and geese. 

 

Unique Things About Our Province - Ontario

1) The Great Lakes

I didn't realize how unique this was until I was reading another blogger who said they had never been to a Great Lake. We live within a couple of hours of three of the Great Lakes. I've been to all five of them. My goal is to get to the beach at two or three of the Great Lakes this summer.

 

Lake Erie -- two different beaches 

Left: Lake Superior; Right: Lake Huron in winter

2) A province of opposites

Ontario is both extremely populated (Toronto has over three million people living in it) and very remote (there is one stretch of highway when there are absolutely no services for 200 km (125 miles)).

Unique Things About Our Country

1) Officially bilingual

Canada has two official languages - French and English -- all packaging in Canada is in both languages. I didn't think about how unique this was until I sent a package of cookies and chocolate bars to a friend in The States and they commented, "Natasha even made sure to send me the French packaging too." You won't find ingredients listed on groceries in just English. We get so used to "cereal box French" as it's called, we don't even notice how unique it is.

2) Extremely spread out

I could drive to my friend's house in Texas quicker than I could drive to my parents' house -- even though they only live three provinces away. I did some Google maps directions and it would take 48 hours to drive from Bar Harbor, Maine to Los Angeles, California. However, it would take 62 hours to drive from Vancouver, British Columbia to Sydney, Nova Scotia, if you only stayed in Canada. Ironically, if you drove through the US, it would only take 59 hours to drive that.

3) Not a lot of professional sports

We have one MLB team for the whole country, seven NHL teams, three MLS (soccer) teams, one NBA team, and our own football league (CFL) with nine teams. Ironically, a unique thing about our province is that Toronto has one of each team -- the Blue Jays, the Maple Leafs, Toronto FC, the Raptors, and the Argonauts (CFL team)! My home province of Saskatchewan has only one team -- the Roughriders, which play in the Canadian Football League. When I say that practically the whole country is rooting for the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup, I'm not wrong -- they currently have about 40 million fans!

So there are some unique things about where I live -- from my house to my city to my province to my country. This was a really fun prompt to think about. Tell me something unique about where you live!