I got my "Pleasure Kit" today....

A few weeks ago I got an e-mail from a lady named Michelle at matchstick. She asked me if I wanted some FREE CHOCOLATE. Quite honestly I initially thought it was some kind of prank - I mean, HELLO, I am only the biggest chocoholic who ever lived. My morning coffee is not complete without a bite (or ten) of some sort of chocolaty goodness. I was wondering what the catch was - and on the particular day that I got the e-mail my first-born was being a holy terror - if she had asked me to exchange him for a bit of chocolate it would have been close to being a done deal.

She sent a link to an online survey - so I filled it out. And lo and behold I got a phone call and confirmation that I had been selected as one of 300 individuals across Canada who had been chosen to receive the exclusive Dove Chocolate Pleasure Kit. Cool. I was told that I'd get some chocolate, and have to share it with friends.

A couple of weeks went by - nothing came in the mail. Then another phone call telling me that the chocolates were on their way. And sure enough they came yesterday. The box the chocolate came in weighed SEVEN POUNDS. Now that was unexpected. Here is all the free stuff that I got:

Chocolate - and lots of it. See those little squares at the bottom? Those each have four bite sized chocolates in them. Those are what I share with my friends. See those big bars of chocolate. Those are MINE. Unless of course you are willing to take my children for a day or two. Then I might consider sharing. There are three different flavours - dark, milk chocolate and "dusk" which is a mix of dark and milk chocolate.

The chocolate came in this nice bag below. And with the chocolate was a wine glass, a journal, and some special foot stuff.

What I didn't know about Dove chocolate was that each individually wrapped morsel of goodness is kinda like a fortune cookie - on the inside of each wrapper is a message. After I opened the first one (the message inside said "wearing a push-up bra is NOT cheating"), I had to eat a few more to see what other words of wisdom I could find....

"Ride shotgun", "Keep a promise", "jump on the bed", etc....my favourite was "eat the last one". I had only had three, told myself not to have anymore, but really, how could I not?

So the game plan is this - a couple of play dates this week, a wedding rehearsal, a wedding and two bbq's. I think I'll be spreading the chocolate love around this week - if you want some too you had better let me know quick!

Do you want your own pleasure kit? I am not sure if they are still looking for samplers, but if you are in Vancouver, Toronto of Montreal, follow this link and try your luck!

And then we ate cake.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a chocoholic. My tastes have become more refined with age, but even so, that huge big costco sized bag of chipits has deteriorated a significant amount, and I haven't done ANY baking lately. Nothing like a mouthful (or ten) of chocolate with your morning coffee.

When Nicholas started preschool I met a woman whose son was in Nick's class. We got to chatting and it was uncanny how much we had in common. Nicholas and her son hit it off and are quite good friends. So when Nicholas was invited to E's birthday party a few months ago he was so excited to go. Ethan's mom M and I were chatting and she off-handedly mentioned that she will be making a King Kong theme cake for the party. I was impressed. But nothing prepared me for the creation that I saw - and my tastebuds went into extreme chocolate overload when I tasted the cake she made. O...M...G...

Turns out that she makes cakes - so I asked her to do one for Nicholas' birthday. I have seen some pictures of her work and she can pretty much do anything. Nicholas of course wanted Venom (for those of you who don't know he is one of the villains of Spiderman). I think poor M just about fainted when I told her that, but she rose to the occasion, and this is what she came up with.

When she came by the house to drop the cake off, she had also written me a note which described the cake in detail (the type of chocolate and the ganache she used). Venom was all fondant and totally edible. She also had a surprise - as a bonus, she did a wee carrot cake for Renee.



It was even personalized!

When we decided to have a bbq here at the house for my dad and my SIL's birthday, it was a no-brainer where we were going to get the cake. Our only problem was what to have ON the cake. I initially wanted something masculine and feminine, but after talking back and forth with M the only thing we could think of was boobs and a penis (yeah, that would have gone over well - Nicholas would be talking about that to anyone who would listen). My brother came up with the idea of a crab because they are both Cancer sign - and this is what M did for us:

She makes these cakes as a "creative release". I must find out what she does with the leftovers - or hell, I'll sign up to be a taste tester - but since she has three young boys and a hubby at home I am sure that my services won't be needed.

We've been busy....

With all the bitching I did about our crappy weather, I feel that I should probably tell you that we have had a really nice stretch of sunny days, hence the lack of posts. The kids have been having a blast playing outside (in the dirt, and in the water, back to the dirt - you get the idea). We've been catching up with friends, and now that summer is here we hope to be spending more time with people we don't see too much during the school year.

Logistically - having the kids in the backyard isn't going to be as easy as past years. Renee is just itching to get outside, and when she does, she has to be supervised. And it doesn't take long for her to go where she wants (with her cute little "drunk waddle" as we call it).

First she goes and investigates doing some art. As you can probably guess, only the bottom of the canvas gets covered.

Next she thinks about going in the sprinkler with her brothers (she usually has to carry around shoes with her when she walks outside, even when she already has some on).

Tonka trucks (or any type of "mighty machine") are her favourite. This all goes well until Nicholas finds out. Then all hell breaks loose.

It's enough to keep this tired momma on her toes - and very fun to see the discovery of so much new stuff through the eyes of a wobbly toddler.