Change

And here we are.

As I write to you, I'm sitting in my new-to-me 82 year old house. Yes, the inhabitants of the Little Red House have relocated. We have finally done something we have wanted to do for a very long time. We moved back to the first city we called home together, and we are so, so happy. We are now in a little orange house and I absolutely love it.

It has character. I can feel the love from the creaky wooden floors and the big old windows that need a gentle push to open. From the old tub that stands quite directly in the way of the bathroom door and the little closets that seem charming in their obvious inability to fit even half our clothes. And there are trees! Real, huge, old, green trees out of every window. Trees that have branches so long they have no choice but to meet in an arch over the street, trees that have given us more apples than we could possibly eat in a year, and trees that we can climb and play under. siiiiigh.

And this? It feels like us. It feels like the right place for us to be. Away from the noisy, busy, busy, drive-everywhere city. Away from construction and tiny patios and working long hours. It's a move to quiet. community. backyard. walk-nearly-everywhere city. And this change has motivated me to keep this blog going.

It might look a little different, for while I was once full-time-stay-at-home-mom, I am now part-time-working-mom. And that's a huge change for us. But the truth is, I think it's going to be pretty great. I feel passion in the job I get to do, and I can bring that passion home to my toolovelyforwords family. It feels good to know that I'm actually (hopefully) able to achieve a balance between motherhood and a career.  And with the business growing steadily, we get to see so much more of our main man; who can now focus primarily on what he loves and not be working around the clock. Big changes around here.

Life. Simplified.

If Stampede breakfasts are your thing...

then do I have the breakfast for you to try. Unfortunately you will have to wait until next year to try it but anything good is worth waiting for, right? ahem. 

Every year we go to a couple of Stampede pancake breakfasts, because it is a pretty fun atmosphere.

( Even if you do wait in line for decades just to get a plate full of greasy food). But this year, my friends, I did my research. This year with my handy little iPhone app "The Flapjack Finder" (you heard me) I found what we like to call the Healthiest, Greenest Pancake Breakfast in Calgary. And this time, although we still waited what seemed an entire lifetime, we ended up with a plate of all natural organic food. And I'm not done:  there were two pancake choices, gluten free or whole wheat flaxseed. And all natural, grain fed pork and beef sausages.There was real maple syrup, but there was also flavored flax oil. There was fair trade coffee and there was real fruit juice. And it was all free and it was all very tasty! 

What's the runny stuff on the side, you ask? That's the flavored flax oil. And yes, I do realize that this picture actually does not look like tasty food.

The breakfast was hosted by Community Natural Foods and I believe some other local sponsors such as Spolumbos and Cochrane Coffee Traders. It was a waste free event as you could bring your own reusable dishes and they provided compost-friendly disposable stuff. And everything was solar powered. How great is all that? Pretty great, if you ask me. So if you're in Calgary, say next July, I highly recommend!

         Little line busters

Community Foods has their own little garden. Love that. 

Summer Rain

What do you do when the rain keeps falling?

Make your own supergoodforyou fruit bars, of course.

Wanna join in? You will need:

Some fruit of your choice-frozen or fresh ( we used blackberries, strawberries, blueberries) 

A wee bit of honey to sweeten things up a wee bit

A little bit of soy/almond/cow's milk, or alternatively some fruit juice

Blend it up and pour into some little popsicle makers.

Voila. Frozen fruit bars without all the junk.