Five Fruit Blend Smoothie

I stumbled upon this bag of frozen fruit at the grocery store today...well, not literally stumbled upon, but it caught my eye!  I went into the grocery store just to buy whole wheat wraps and of course, came out with an armful of items.  Anyway...I bought this at the Zehrs grocery store  it is called President's Choice 5-fruit blend.  It contains frozen strawberries, peaches, pineapple, grapes, and honeydew melon.  I made amazing smoothies with it using the recipe on the back of the bag!

You blend one cup of the 5-fruit blend with 1 cup of vanilla soymilk (I used almond milk since that was what I had in the fridge), 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/2 banana (I think I ended up throwing in the whole banana), and 1/2 cup ice.  It tasted a bit more tropical than your typical fruit smoothie and it sure was delicious!  Lucky for me, there is still half a bag of fruit in the freezer, so I can make another one tomorrow!

Shopping for Housewares...Preparing for the Big Move!

I'm not sure if I really announced this yet or not on my blog (since I've been so lazy about posting lately!) but...we bought a house!  It is our dream house and we will be moving in towards the end of September / beginning-middle of October.  Thankfully, we are pretty flexible with our move date - even though we take possession of the house in the middle of September, we will have plenty of time to clean, perhaps do some painting, etc. before we move in!

I've been busy making lists of what we have, what we need to buy, what we need to do before moving...it is quite the big task!  While we have a few things already, we need to buy many of the basics when it comes to kitchen stuff and housewares.  I've managed to find some great deals so far that I'd like to share with you!  These will be particularly of interest if you live in Canada, specifically the southern Ontario region.

Those lovely towels posted above are Cambridge Towels (made in Canada!) and the company is having a giant factory tent sale!  It started on Thursday and unfortunately, ends tomorrow (Sunday August 22nd).  Save up to 80% off towels!  Let me tell you, I found some fantastic deals here - managed to get bath towels for $4.49 each, hand towels for $2.49 and small face/bath towels for $0.88!  I purchased all of the towels for all of our bathrooms here in the colors that I was looking for (dark gray and a great shade of blue). The tent sale is located in Cambridge, Ontario, and you can find all of the information listed at this website.

The next great deal we found was at the Corningware Corelle Revere outlet store in St. Jacob's, Ontario.  We found this fantastic Pyrex 18-piece set, including baking dishes, mixing bowls, a pie dish, storage containers, and a measuring cup.  I have seen this set retail at The Bay for $89.99 - we found it at the outlet store for $59.99. But wait...we took the item up to the cash register, and it ended up being rung in at $40.00 - there was an additional percentage off the price!  So, we got this set for more than 50% off.  The whole store is full of great deals, so be sure to check it out.  While you're there, be sure to visit the amazing Farmer's Market as well (open all year 'round!)!

Next - I'm not sure about you, but I love collecting Air Miles.  I have been saving these for a really long time, thinking that I could save them up for a flight or a trip.  However, I noticed that there are great kitchen gadgets and housewares available as rewards on the Airmiles website, so I took full advantage! I was able to easily order these from the site, and they will be shipped to our house within 4 weeks - shipping is included, of course!  Here is what I got:

Kitchenaid^® 5-Speed Architect^® Stand Blender - Cocoa Silver (for 2000 rewards miles)

Cuisinart^® Elite Collection 12-Cup Die-Cast Food Processor (for 1900 reward miles)

J.A. Henckels International Fine Edge Pro II 13-Piece Knife Block Set (for 1400 reward miles)

That's all for now - I'll be posting more great buys as I find them!  Now...to tie everything together...

Don't forget to bring a towel!  :D

Space Invaders Magnets are Finalists in the Contest!

As I mentioned in my blog last month, I entered some of my video game crafty creations into a Nintendo Craft Contest over at Happy Seamstress.  The top 10 finalists have been announced, and hurray!  My Space Invaders Needlepoint Magnets were chosen to be in the top 10!

You can read all about how I made these magnets last year, and I was honored to have them featured all over the web.  It was even chosen as the Needlework Project of the Month for August 2009 at Craftster.org (one of my favorite crafting websites!).

Thanks so much to everyone who voted and I'm keeping fingers crossed that it wins one of the top three grand prizes!

Cupcake Surprise!

Mmmm....delicious cupcakes!  I picked these up as a surprise treat for Paul and I for tomorrow night when we get to spend an evening together (our work schedules seem to really clash sometimes but tomorrow is ours!)  Just as long as that little Totoro doesn't eat them first :)  Paul and I may have cause to celebrate tomorrow evening, as we put in an offer on a house last week and it was accepted - the home inspection is tomorrow, and if all goes well, we will be homeowners!  Fingers (and toes) crossed!

These cupcakes were purchased at my very favorite cupcake bakery aptly named "Cupcakes" in Hamilton, ON (Westdale).  The flavors are:  Red Velvet, Mint Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Skor Cupcakes.  Heavenly!

New Postcards this Week

Here are some postcards that I've either purchased in person or received by mail over the past couple of weeks.  You can view my entire postcard collection at my Flickr page!  I mostly trade through sites like Postcrossing and Swap-Bot, but I am always up for private trades.  If you are interested in swapping postcards from your home town, region or country with me, I would love to swap!  Just send me an email if you are interested!  I'm interested in any card from where you live that shows the scenery or any history, really.  I'm also collecting map cards and flag cards that I don't already have.  I don't have many at this point, so I'm looking for mostly any flag or map cards from all over the world!

Here is a highlight of a few of the postcards that I received this week.  The first one I purchased in person while on my vacation to Niagara-on-the-Lake.  It shows Niagara Falls, circa 1905 in the winter, all frozen over.  Niagara is quite beautiful in the winter time - most people visit in the summer, but if you ever get a chance to see it in the winter, it is very amazing as well!  Of course, it doesn't look just as it does around 1905 as the area is more commercialized and industrialized, but it is still very pretty.

It's too bad that this one got a little bit damaged in the mail - but it shows the All Saints Chapel at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.  It is my first card from Tennessee and very unique!  I love seeing old buildings, architecture, and churches in postcards.  While I am not religious at all, churches are such beautiful places!

Here's a UNESCO card mailed to me from a Postcrossing member as an official exchange.  It shows The Coast of Amalfi in Italy.  I'd love to visit someday!

A very unique official Postcrossing card mailed from Russia.  I just love wildlife cards as well, and this bird is very unique!  What a photograph, all of the baby birds waiting to be fed!

This Estonia flag card is part of a private swap and one of the first flag cards for my collection.  I hope to collect many more!