An interesting way to spend 2-3 quality hours

My wife had her cookie exchange today and it was a girls only event. So, my older son and I had defined something to do during the 2-3 hour stretch of time.

I was thinking about what to do todayfor the last week and especially last night. Should I go to the museum? Should I walk to the park with him? Or should we just chill out somewhere? Perhaps go shopping? This morning I realized one thing after I glanced over at my bus schedule. I realize that my son hasn't taken a bus in Halifax before, though he had taken some overseas when he was too young to remember.

What a great idea! We ended up taking the bus all the way to the terminal, which coincidentally was a shopping center, and we tried to find a pet store there. Unfortunately, I guess my memory didn't serve me that well this weekend and we couldn't find the pet store. Anyhow, we ended up buying some fruit at a local grocery store and then riding the bus back. My son had a wonderful time as I showed him the bridges, buses, people walking around, battleships, power stations, and other sites while he sat on my lap for about an hour and a half. He even saw someone in a wheelchair and also an act of respect as someone got up to let someone elderly sit down.

This really simple lesson has taught me that it is very important to spend time with your kids, that most importantly quality time arises as a result of quantity of time, and that the best things in life are truly free. Such a simple act of writing a bus together and taking the scenic route was completely free, due to my bus pass, but for my son represented several hours of hang out time with his father and a lot of learning by appreciating the world around him. I couldn't have done this otherwise with a car or by walking around.

Lost art

Cooking and Baking seems to be a lost art these days. Here are some pros to adding some love to you what you feed your body:

1. You know exactly what you are putting into your food.
2. You can tweak your recipes to the way you like it to taste (ie. less/more salty or sweet).
3. It promotes team work and conversation in your family.
4. It's fun to experiment!
5. You can make goodies at all hours of the day/night and have it fresh! (mmm...cinnamon buns...)
6. It stretches your creativity.
7. Encourages your young ones to develop hand dexterity and life skills.

So find a recipe and try it today! If you don't know what certain words mean (ie folding the batter, al dente), you can look it up on Youtube or google it!

Make sure your fridge is level.

Here's a quick tip that can save significant amounts of energy. When you open your fridge door, does it stay open by itself? Do you often have a difficult time closing that fridge door?

If your answer is "yes" then you need to see if your fridge is actually level. If your fridge is level then we can really help you. If your fridge is not level than take the time to level it. Once it's level then doors will close much easier and will stay closed. This will save energy because the cold air has a greater chance of staying trapped inside your fridge because your door will not have a tendency to swing open.

F*ing meals

Tired of cooking everyday? Try cooking more portions and freezing some of it for when you have a lazy day. All you have to do is set the table and reheat in the microwave! You will love saving money and having healthier *near* instant meals while your family thinks you've been slaving all day for a home-cooked meal. As taken from the Knorr commercial, Frozen doesn't have to be a bad word...