Catching up...

Well, today is supposed to be a Foodie Friday.  But lately I haven't been creating anything share worthy in the kitchen so there's sadly nothing to post at the moment.  

I did, however, just purchase this tasty looking recipe today and plan to try it out very soon.  Doesn't it look yummy?  I will share the results with you next week if all goes well.

Anyway, instead of sharing culinary adventures I thought I'd share some of the custom work I did before the holidays.  I couldn't show it to you when I created them, as they were gifts, but since they should all have been received and opened by now I think it's safe to share away.  

I have another one of these for my shop but I NEED to take better pictures of it first.

This was for a little girl whose mother love penguins and father is a HUGE Glasgow Celtic fan.  It was a very fun frame to make!

This was for a little girl who was moving to a new home and a new room.

This box was given to a gentleman, from his wife, who was just finishing up his studies with the church.

This was also part of the churchman's gift.  And it was my first attempt at using a scroll saw to cut a shape with the wood.

And a set of bookmarks to go with the box and pendant.

A lazy susan for an Italian Mother-in-law.

Another fun project.   A flowery pencil box.

The other two sides.

I sold several of these to one customer.

This set of four coasters have a wonderful rich stain on them.

This wasn't a custom order.  It was a prize from one of the trade shows I did before Christmas.

 I am always excited to work on custom orders.  And I will try just about anything!  Send me an email and lets get something unique started for someone special in your life! bki[@]hotmail.ca

Wordless Wednesday

Beautiful cheetah found at African Lion Safari in Ontario.

PB + J Monday

I play soccer. At least that's what I like to tell myself.  I think at one time I was probably a pretty good player.  But now I play to get out of the house.  It's a break from the kids and the everyday household chores.

We play soccer indoors in the winter here in Ontario and the facility is pretty good.  It used to be a hockey rink but they modified it to house a full turf soccer field that can convert to 4 smaller indoor fields.  

So what does this have to do with PB+J Monday? 

Well, last night I had to use the bathroom before hitting the pitch and I was happily amazed by what I saw.  A Dual Flush toilet!  

Yes, I've seen dual flush toilets before but never in a public environment.  I was so happy that I happened to have my iPhone with me so I could share it with you!

Unfortunately I didn't see the sign until after I had pushed the handle but I know for next time.

Cool huh?

I love it when you find little green differences in unexpected places! Have you been surprised by a green change somewhere?  I'd love to hear about it!

Wordless Wednesday

It must be winter.  Time to build snow forts!

The World Didn't End After all!!

There's a BIG BIG BIG SALE

coming to Facebook on January 10th.  

Lots of shops are participating and my shop is offering its biggest sale yet: 

20% off!!!

January 10th to January 12th 

you will receive 20% off any item in my shop

(excluding clearance items) with coupon code: 

MAYA2012

Take a look at the participating shops and what they are offering here on Facebook and remember to invite your friends!

You just can't keep something like this to yourself!!

PB + J Monday

So this isn't exactly earth and green related but I found it interesting and everything is connected.




I received this as an email awhile ago (IT WAS NOT WRITTEN BY ME) and it was a little dated when I received it, but the main idea stills comes across loud and clear.  Something to think about....












A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one
advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some
perspective in one of its releases.



A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

D. A billion days ago no one on the earth walked on two feet.

E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the
rate our governments are spending it.



While this thought is still fresh in our brain ... let's take a look at New Orleans.  It's amazing what you can learn with some
simple division.



Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D) is presently asking Congress for 250
BILLION DOLLARS to rebuild New
  Orleans ... Interesting number ... what does it
mean?



A Well... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, and
child) you each get $516,528.

B Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.

C. Or... if you are a family of four..your family gets $2,066,012.



Imagine, now $700 billion bailing out banks in the US . That's enough to fund complete
medical care for every man, woman and child currently alive in the US for 11
years!!



50 billion to bail out the auto industry??? 




Washington , D.C. & Ottawa

< HELLO!!! >



Are all your calculators broken??

Accounts Receivable Tax

Building Permit Tax

CDL License Tax

Cigarette Tax

Corporate Income Tax

Dog License Tax

Federal Income Tax ,

Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)

Fishing License Tax

Food License Tax

Fuel Permit Tax

Gasoline Tax

Hunting License Tax

Inheritance Tax

Inventory Tax

IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)

IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)

Liquor Tax

Luxury Tax

Marriage License Tax

Medicare Tax

Property y Tax

Real Estate Tax

Service charge taxes

Social Security Tax

Road Usage Tax (Truckers)

Sales Taxes

Recreational Vehicle Tax

School Tax

State Income Tax

State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)

Telephone Federal Excise Tax

Telephone Federal Universal

Service Fee Tax upon Tax

Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax

Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax

Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax

Telephone State and Local Tax

Telephone Usage Charge Tax

Utility Tax

Vehicle License Registration Tax

Vehicle Sales Tax

Watercraft Registration Tax

Well Permit Tax

Workers Compensation Tax

Income Tax

Everything Tax



STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY??? 




Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago .. and our nations were the
most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt ... We
had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the
kids. 




What happened? Can you spell “politicians”? 




And I still have to press '1' for English. 




I hope this goes around the US
& CANADA at
least 1 billion times 




What the hell happened???

Foodie Friday

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful New Years celebration with lots of great company and great food!  

The last couple of years my husband has been working so the kids and I have travelled to my parents' house to celebrate there.  This year we mixed it up a bit.  My husband still had to work (that's one of the perks of being a police officer) but instead of us going to my parents' house I asked them the come here.  

I had heard about the Toronto Zoo having a celebration and thought it might be fun to check it out.  It was put on for kids so the entertainment included a magician, fun music and an appearance by Po from Kung fu Panda.  We got to see lots of animals up close and a few of the highlights included seeing a year old polar bear cub, having reindeer walk past us and hearing the arctic wolves howl.  The howling was pretty amazing! 

Since the festivities were mainly for kids the countdown ended at 8pm.  That gave us plenty of time to travel home safely, get the kids to bed and watch the parties taking place in other parts of the Country on TV.  The last couple of years we haven't managed to stay up past 11pm but this year we went to bed at close to 1am!

So, I was very glad that I had thought to have a special breakfast prepared for us for the following morning.  I found this recipe at Kraft Canada and thought I'd give it a try. I like to try new things and this one sounded right up our alley.

Most of the work was done New Year's Eve and then all I had to do was pop it in the oven in the morning, cut up some strawberries, serve with real Canadian maple syrup and we were ready to have a breakfast feast!  It went over very well with the adults but the boys didn't seem to like the taste of it very much. I think it was the cream cheese filling.  

Leaving B and K out of it I will definitely be making this again, and maybe even sooner than next New Years Day.  I might add a little cinnamon to the cream cheese and try cutting off the crust but otherwise I wouldn't change anything else.

Picture from Kraft Canada

Overnight Stuffed French Toast

1 tub (250 g) Philadelphia Light Cream Cheese Spread

3 Tbsp. sugar

8 slices cinnamon-raisin bread

4 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

1 cup blueberries

MIX cream cheese spread and sugar until well blended; spread onto bread. Place 4 bread slices, cream cheese-sides up, in 8-inch square baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with remaining bread slices, cream cheese-sides down.

WHISK eggs and milk until well blended; pour over bread. Refrigerate overnight.

HEAT oven to 350ºF. Bake, uncovered, 30 to 35 min. or until centre is set and top is lightly browned. Serve topped with fruit and maple syrup.

It really is that easy!

It claims to feed 8 people and that is accurate if everyone has half a portion accompanied with berries and syrup.  We were comfortably full afterwards.

I recommend letting the cream cheese soften first before trying to blend with the sugar (and cinnamon if you add it).  I also recommend serving with the fresh berries and maple syrup.  It was a very tasty combination!

I'm sorry I don't have pictures of the french toast I made!  I'm still not used to taking pictures of every food item I make or eat.  It doesn't come naturally and by the time I thought about it we'd eaten it all up! When I make it again I will try to remember to take a picture.

Enjoy!!