The Dog Days of Summer

After they get a good walk in the morning, both dogs are content to sleep for several hours. Lindor loves her blankie. She also likes to have a fan blowing directly on her. Can you say pampered? I think dogs have the right idea of how to spend a hot, summer day.

Four O'Clocks

I have these beautiful plants that come up every year (despite the dogs digging and the lack of moisture under the eves of the house.) I remember having these plants at my home growing up and what fun it was picking the large black seeds and trying to grow them in other places. Four O'clocks (Mirablis multiflora) bloom in late afternoon, as their name suggests and are open all night leaving a lovely fragrance in the summer air. I have pink and fuschia blooms and the plants get very large and need to be tied up. (due to the fact that they are somewhat shaded). I'm glad the girls haven't been able to take these beauties out.

Rainbow Cake

When I saw the rainbow cake on the blogs, I knew I had to give it a try. It's actually 2 white cakes from mixes and you simply add various food colourings to make the rainbow. The only hard part is cleaning up the mess because it requires 6 bowls and 6 cake pans. I use the food colouring paste as it makes the colours more intense. The kids think its really fun when they cut into a giant white cake and find out it is a rainbow inside. I decorated around the outside of the cake with Skittles.

Make 2 white cake mixes as directed and separate into 6 bowls and tint.

Ice the cake with your favourite frosting. I used buttercream frosting and quite a bit of it. LOL.

And see the beautiful rainbow inside....

Last Four Ladybug Cards

Here are the last 4 cards. I just realized the one card is not coloured yet! I guess I'd better get busy.

More Ladybug cards

Here are four more cards that I made....

Lady Bug Cards

Just to prove that I sometimes do some scrapbooking and cardmaking, I thought I would show some of the cards that I made for the Fundraiser. I made 12 different designs and each participant got a card to put together. I made over 175 cards and sold the extra. They look fairly simple but it took a lot of time to prepare each sample. I think they would look really cute as a collection to give to someone.
Here's the first four:

Plus, I used 2 different card folds so I can use those for my 12 in 12 list.

Labs and Water

Last night around 11 o'clock both dogs got skunked. Not what you need late at night with few remedies on hand. Plus, I had to chase it with a broom to get it out of the yard. I figured it had already sprayed so I was safe. It was a baby skunk so I don't think they got the full brunt of the attack but it was pretty ripe for some time.
Oh well, these things happen when you're a dog owner.

 The Labs certainly love to play in the water. Lindor doesn't like to swim much but she sure enjoys getting sprayed with the hose and running through the sprinkler.

My God(dog)ter, Libby just came back from holidays where she was able to enjoy her first opportunity to swim in a lake. I think she's a natural. As dog owners, we really enjoy watching our pets have a good time.

Well, I'm off to burn some scented candles.

Aunt Gwen's Lemon Cake

My Grandma Edith on my Mom's side was one of ten children. They were kind and generous farm people who lived off the land and frequently welcomed guests into their home. My Grandma's Mother was known to make 19 cherry pies for a single Sunday. They frequently made enormous meals to feed the threshing gangs that came through to help take off the harvest as well as their large family.

My Grandma is 4th from the right and her brother George is the smallest. Two more boys came later. I just love this photo and wish they would have lined up in the same manner when they were older.

Anyway, hope you can follow this. George married Gwen and moved to California so we didn't know their branch of the family well but always tried to see them when they came back to visit. This is Gwen's recipe for Lemon Cake.

I just recently got this recipe (here's where it gets confusing but interesting). George's son Harold is married to Mary Hunt who is the Everyday Cheapskate. She is a nationally syndicated author and writes regularly in Women's Day. Many years ago she got into a lot of debt and has since made a living with her tips for saving money. You can google her and check it out. She would be my 2nd cousin, I believe. She was given Aunt Gwen's recipe collection and recently posted this one on her website.
This cake is delicious. So moist and so much lemony goodness. Try it, you'll like it.

Aunt Gwen's Lemon Cake
1 box Lemon Cake mix
1- 3 ounce lemon gelatin like Jell-O
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
4 eggs
Preheat oven to 350F. Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and mix with electric beater. Pour into greases 9x13 pan. Bake approx. 35 min or until toothpick comes out clean. Set aside to cool for about 5 minutes. In the meantime, make the glaze.

Glaze
Juice of 2 lemons
Zest of 2 lemons
2 cups icing sugar
Place all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well by hand with a whisk until sugar is fully incorporated
Using a fork or wooden skewer, punch holes all over warm cake. Pour lemon glaze mixture over top of cake and allow it to soak in. No need for further icing. Go ahead and have a piece now, even if its not completely cool. You know you want to.

Twelve in Twelve

In January, Corrina and I came up with a scheme to set some goals for the coming 12 months and decided to call it Twelve in Twelve. We both made a list of 12 things that we would like to accomplish. I made mine mostly about scrapbooking and crafting but since then I have heard of many friends who have embraced this idea and made it their own.

Some chose to do their 12 in 12 focusing on household maintenance and upkeep, some wanted to accomplish some athletic goals like running a half marathon and trying a new sport, some wanted to achieve some personal goals like sending more cards and re-connecting with old friends. It's a really neat idea but now that half the year has come and gone, it's time to re-evaluate my progress. Between working full-time, raising a litter of 9 pups and preparing for the fund-raiser, I didn't have too much time left to work on these tasks. I AM reading more, I have started the Disney albums, I'm "thinking" about my heritage albums and I have bought the yarn for an afghan (does that count?). I have taken a couple classes but there is still plenty of room for improvement. It will be interesting to see what the next 6 months hold in store.

Where are they now?

Three of Lindor's E puppies have been recalled for Advanced Training. They will have several months of intensive training at which time they will be declared suitable as a full service dog or have a career change as a companion animal or for the Post-Traumatic Stress program.So far they are doing really well. They are almost 2 years old now.

Eli and Ember

Epcot