A Busy Moms Blog

Scouting out a Birthday or Christmas gift for a nine or ten year old boy can be such fun. There are a lot of items he would be thrilled to receive. He is at an age where he has a lot of interests and he is always excited to discover a present with his name on it. Active, inquisitive, and endearing a 9 or 10 year old boy loves to see a video game, sports equipment, sweet treat, money, or toys gifted to him. Watching his favorite television shows, tossing around a ball, playing with his toy cars, playing video games, or chasing his friends or his sister around the yard, a school age boy seems to have a boundless amount of energy. He is always busy doing something. Fitness gifts are important for today's kids. Times have changed a lot since we were kids. We spent a lot our time outdoors and playing but with the introduction of computers and video games children today are much more sedentary than we were.  After school kids spend time playing video games or watching television an...

His name is Sheldon (Sheldon Cooper when he is in trouble), but this wasn't always his name. Let me explain... It all started with a gift opening from our marriage. Our very good friend Devon knew that we were in the market for a new family member since we had lost our precious Gama's in February of 2012 so her gift to us was a gift certificate for a cat from our local SPCA. We had decided that since our new pet was going to be part of our family that the whole family would be involved with the adoption process. So this is the how we decided on adopting an older cat and why we are now so glad that we did. There is definitely a plus side to adopting an older pet. This is officially his forever home. The search for Sheldon: We must have spent about 2 hours in the SPCA that day checking out all of the kittens and cats that were there. We let each one individually out of their cages to give them some cuddles and one-on-one attention as well as to see how they interact...

This page contains my famous pumpkin pie filling recipe which today I will be turning into pumpkin tarts.  I have adapted it many times over the years to refine it ideally to suit my finicky taste buds and those who have tried it say my pies are fabulous. As a bonus I'll also share my seasoned pumpkin seeds recipe as well.  Although many people seem to think that a pumpkin's innards are simply too inconvenient to harvest into an edible food trust me when I say that just isn't true. From tarts, loafs, soups and even pumpkin spiced drinks, this fruit can be adapted to pretty much anything you put your mind to turning it into. This tasty fruit is in abundance in the autumn months and very reasonable in price. Almost everyone acquires one around Halloween. So enjoy your Jack-O-Lantern but please give pumpkin credit also as a fruit and enjoy its innards rather than tossing them away. What a waste of good food that truly is. How to Prepare a Pumpkin for Cooking: If yo...

Just like grandma used to make - Well maybe not quite. Cabbage rolls were pretty much a standard meal when company visited my Grandmother's house. My grandma was an amazing cook and could always find the time to prepare the most scrumptious meals and desserts. Those days almost seem like a thing of the past but we can still have the same great flavour in our meals just like she prepared back then. She had a huge garden and was used to cooking for a large family so she knew the most economical meals to prepare when the need arose. Her being of Ukrainian heritage perhaps helped just a wee bit in her selection of this recipe as well. My recipe is similar in taste to hers but by cutting the preparation time I am able to make and fit these meals into my family's busy lives. My lazy girl cabbage roll casserole recipe is so quick to create yet is made without sacrificing any of the great flavour that we are used to. Let's face facts, you just cannot get that great homemade...

I don't know how I lucked out but the first time I made ribs in the oven they turned out absolutely perfect!  I couldn't have ordered a more moist rack of pork ribs if I went to a restaurant that specialized in this dish. They were tender moist and absolutely positively finger licking good delicious.  My good fortune is also yours because I now have the opportunity to share my recipe here. For spices I used my special homemade pork seasoning. I then did a little dabbling to the ingredients and came up with a delicious dry rib rub that worked ideally in this recipe (and yes I will be sharing those ingredients here). First we prepare the dry pork seasoning rub. This is the recipe I use. This truly is a finger licking good meal and a bit of an added bonus is that my seasoning recipe has multiple purposes. It tastes great on virtually any cut of pork as well as on some cuts of beef. Make a large batch like I do and you can store some for future use. 1 1/2 cups packed...

Being pregnant and having that beautiful pregnancy belly is always an exciting time but when it comes around to Halloween it can be even more exciting!  I love zombies so this women's zombie baby Halloween costume suited me perfectly. There are so many costumes to choose from but there are only a select few where you can use your belly very well to incorporate it into your Halloween costume idea.  I will give step by step directions for how I transformed my baby belly into a gruesome "Zombie Labour" (that is what I called my costume) so you can get the look of the undead too.  You can also include other family members into your plans as well. I infected my husband and one of my children so they could be part of my zombie theme with me. Perhaps this gruesome gory costume for the pregnant woman might be just right for you too. My cat Sheldon is included in a few pictures because he considers himself an important part of our family and if something is going on i...