A Clearing

  We were pretty excited to check out our lot this weekend to see how it would look with the trees cleared out. We are really happy with how its looking so far. The majority of the trees have been cleared. 

  There are just a few trees and bushes at the back of the lot left to be cut down. The gentleman doing the clearing for us wanted to go over what we wanted clearing at the back to make sure we we're all on the same page before finishing up. We have a barb wire fence running through the middle of the lot that also needs to be removed. When thats all done we have to clear out the branches and a few rocks that are in the driveway. 

  We brought out a firepit this weekend and temporarily set it up by the trailer. 

  We've been back and forth discussing what to build on the land. Should we buy a pre-fab cabin or build from scratch. We've been to visit several home builders to see what they have to offer. We even looked at converting a pre-fab barn into a cabin. 

  Yesterday I would have said we'd were going with a pre-fab. Today we've changed our mind back to building an a-frame from scratch. Tomorrow we may change our mind again. We're waiting to get a few quotes from one more place before we decide. 

Land Owners

  We officially own the land now.  There are so many things to do and many permits to get. Development permit, RV placement permit, sewage for the RV permit, and electrical permit. 

  We hired the land surveyor to mark the property lines and hired someone to clear the trees. The electrical panel is in but no power until we receive the site id from the powerline company and then we can contact the power company to have the meter installed.

  We purchased a 26 foot fifh wheel rv to stay in while we build 

  Last weekend we winterized the rv and marked out the driveway and the inner area where we want the trees cleared out. 

  Hopefully when the trees are cleared we'll have a great view of the valley

A Piece of Land

  Wow long time no post. Life has been busy. We have two little girls so blogging has taken a back seat to spending time with them

  For a long time now my husband and I have been talking over buying an acreage.  Should we buy a raw piece of land or buy something already developed and ready to move in. One of the main considerations for us is location. Close enough to the city for my husband to drive in to work and for us to have access to amenities as well as for taking the girls to activities. A huge factor is the bad roads in the winter making for a longer drive. The farther away it is though the better bang for your buck. 

Recently we saw the perfect property. A beautiful house with just the right size of land for the right price. Everything we wanted to do to a property but already done for us. The only problem was the MLS listing showed us that it was close by and in reality it was an hour and a half away in good driving conditions. 

For some reason that I can't even remember I started looking at cabins for sale nearby. Most that I looked at in our price range were very old and would have needed quite a bit of work. We found a perfect one with lots of rooms and a huge living space. On paper it looked great and would only require a little cosmetic work. A huge bonus was it was near family so we'd have them to visit and spend time with. In reality it was a tear down. It was soggy inside and the roof was sagging.

  While looking at that property we also spotted some small raw pieces of land for sale. We drove up north one weekend to check out several different places. We fell in love with the first lot we saw. It had a beautiful view of a valley out the back and that sold it for us. 

Front of the lot 

View out the back

  So we bought it and we've ended up with the best of both worlds. We have the amenities of the city during the week and country living on the weekend.  

Quilter's Fun Run

Last weekend I went on a Quilter's Fun Run with a couple of friends. There were ten shops on the Fun Run. At your first shop you received your passport. At each store you got your passport stamped, a pattern for a quilt block, an entry for a door prize, and an entry to win your purchase. At the final store you received two extra quilt block patterns plus your packet of fabric for making the 12 blocks. 

For the most part the stores were in surrounding communitys with three stores being in town. We started at the store that was farthest away and worked our way around till we got back to the city.

It was a fun day. We even visited a couple local roadside attractions along the way. The Vegreville giant Pysanka, Ukrainian Easter egg. 

We also saw the giant Ukrainian sausage in the town of Mundare.

We made it to seven quilt shops on Saturday. Bought a lot of quilting fabric and had a great day. Over the last week I made it to the last three stores so now I have all my patterns and fabric.

The fabric is Stonehenge by Northcott.

So now there is quilt contest in April where you can enter your creation. It must include the 12 patterns made with the fabric provided. After that you can add anything you want to it. Should be interesting to see how different everyone's designs turn out.

Halloween Wreath

I made a Halloween wreath for our front door. I got the styrofoam ring from Michael's. The boas are from the dollar store, I used six of them. They were a little bit on the thin side. The Trick or Treat sign is also from the dollar store.

I wrapped the boas around the ring and tacked the ends in place with straight pins. Then I tied the sign on with a ribbon. Quick and easy.

Mostly Homemade Mondays

Check out Mostly Homemade Mondays Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity.

Chocolate Mousse

One of our family favourites is Chocolate Mousse. Its really easy to make and is extremely delicious. 

200g of Milk Chocolate

6 egg yolks

500g of whipping cream.

First you whip the cream with an electric mixer until stiff.

.

Next you want to separate your eggs and have the yolks ready to go

Melt your chocolate in a double boiler. I just use my small pot over a larger pot of boiling water, stirring the chocolate constantly. My preference is Cadburys milk chocolate even better if its imported from England.

Once the chocolate is melted remove from the double boiler and add egg yolks, quickly stir them in before they set.

Then add the chocolate egg mixture to your whipping cream.

Fold it in with a spatula.

Then pour your mixture into bowls or glasses for serving. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Meringues

We had a sewing day on the weekend so I decided to make Meringues and homemade strawberry "soft serve" ice cream to take. My one friend had a lot of food allergies and as the two items only have three ingredients total its was a good choice.

For the meringues all you need are 6 egg whites and 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Pre-heat the oven to 230 F. Beat the egg whites till stiff. Then gradually add the sugar till its all mixed in.

I placed aluminium foil shiny side down on my cookie sheets. Spoon about two big spoonfuls of meringue for each one

Then bake for about an hour and a half. Be sure to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't over cook. You want them to brown just slightly.

For the soft sever I just put frozen strawberries through my Yonana machine, it can also be done in the blender or food processor. 

Backyard

Our backyard is finally complete.The grass is in. All the planters are built and filled with dirt. We're all ready for spring planting.

Fountain

I put a fountain in the backyard. My friend had an awesome solar pump for her fountain so I decided to get one for mine. It keeps the fountain running only when the sun hits it. It doesn't store energy which is great because then its not running all night long. Its actually a solar pond pump if your looking for one, I got mine off of eBay. My husband didn't care for the terra cotta colour of the fountain when we bought it but it ended up matching the colour of the planters perfectly so it works really well in the yard.

Get Away

  We needed a break from all the work around the house so we decided to head to the mountains for the weekend. We went to Canmore and Banff, Alberta. The weather was so beautiful for this time of year, especially for the mountains. We live in such a beautiful part of the world.

This is the view from our hotel room.

Main street Banff

Main street Banff

Banff Springs Hotel

Banff Hot Springs.

Gibbons Garage Sale

A couple of weeks ago one of our neighbours told us about a small town nearby where the whole town puts on a huge garage sale once a year. I checked it out online and found out it was this weekend so we went and checked it out.

Needless to say it was huge. The streets were packed with people. Lots of cool things to see.

We only found a few things we wanted to buy but it was fun to walk around the whole town and check out all the stuff. We bought two more bikes. That's it no more bikes after this. We just missed getting my Mom a sweet cruiser it sold just before we walked up. Oh well. Also got a brad nailer and an old brownie style camera.