Author: cvegnad

Great Canadian Inventions – #TGCBB

I am very proud to call Canada my home! We have so much to be thankful for in this great and diverse country, Canada. As part of the Great Canadian Blog Bash ’13, I wanted to learn more about what makes Canada great so I did some research into Canadian inventions (some of them shocked me!). Here are some of the top ones which I am proud to say are Canadian!

1. Insulin: Insulin is used in the treatment of Diabetes  and was discovered by Dr. Banting and Dr. Best in Toronto in 1921. They were also awarded the Nobel Prize in 1923 for this discovery.

2. Five pin bowling: I did not know this and I love to bowl! Thomas Ryan invented this in 1908 in Toronto at his Toronto bowling club in response to customer complaints that the ten pin game was too strenuous. He cut down the tenpins down to about 75% of their size and used hand sized rubber balls.

3. Electric wheelchair: The electric wheelchair was invented in 1952 by George Klein to assist injured veterans after World War II.

4.  Wonderbra: The Wonderbra was designed in 1964 by Louise Poirier for the company, Canadelle. It was designed to lift and create cleavage.

5.  Canadarm: The Canadarm formally known as the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS) is one of Canada’s significant contributions to the space program. It was developed in 1975 and is used to capture items in space.

6.  Snow blower: Arthur Sicard completed his first prototype of the snow blower in 1925 based on a concept he had developed in 1894. He went on to found Sicard Industries in Quebec.

7.  Goalie Mask: Jacques Plante, a Canadian professional hockey goaltender, who’s hockey career ranged from 1947-1975 developed and tested many versions of the hockey mask. He was also the first goal tender to wear a hockey mask.

8.  Robertson Screw: Peter Robertson was a Canadian inventor and salesman who popularized the square-socket drive for screws. He produced his screws, that were patented in 1908, in his Milton, Ontario factory. The Fisher Company, one of his first customers, who also built car bodies for Ford Canada used over 700 screws in its Model T car!

Image from Ripple.ca

9. Poutine: Yum – poutine! Could not leave this popular Canadian dish out! It originates from Quebec in the late 1950s. It is a delicious dish made from french fries, gravy and cheese curds.

What makes you proud to be Canadian?

The Great Canadian Blog Bash
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Posterjack’s 31 Day Photo Challenge #JulySnapshots

We are a very artistic family and love taking photographs. We try to go at least once a month to a park or beach and photograph nature (while Mom and Dad try to take photographs of our little ones!). We have decorated walls with our photographs!
Posterjack is an online Canadian company who offer the largest variety of photo art products in Canada. They even offer prints in acrylic and metal! Talk about literally turning your photographs into works of art!
Posterjack is currently running a photograph challenge for the month of July. Each day has a different theme and participants are encouraged to share their photos either on Facebook or Twitter tagging the photos with #JulySnapshots.
The prize? Posterjack is giving away a daily prize of $25 to their site!
Here is my photo for today’s theme of “fresh” – I am using “fresh” food for today!
Have you been participating? What would you chose for today’s theme?
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Our Neighbourhood Deer #WW

Had to share this story that goes along with this picture (I know it’s supposed to be wordless!). We have deer that travel through our neighbourhood all the time. This one particular day we were sitting on the porch when they came by while two girls were playing soccer. This one deer was so interested in what they were doing it actually chased after the two girls! They were perfectly fine – laughing after the deer disappeared but it gave us all quite a shock!
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Coffee Delight with International Delight Iced Coffee #review

I was recently given the opportunity to review International Delight Iced Coffee through BzzAgent. I was sitting on the fence with this BzzCampaign as every time I had purchased an iced coffee in store I found it to be too creamy, too strong and overall not very good (let alone the price?!).
International Delight Iced Coffee comes in three flavours: Mocha, Vanilla and Caramel Macchiato. The first flavour I tried was Mocha and I was in love. It has a smooth, chocolaty taste – my weakness is chocolate! This was definitely my favourite flavour. I would also add a bit of it into my morning coffee in replacement of milk and it gave it a rich and creamy taste. There is 150 calories in each cup of Mocha Iced Coffee with 29gm of carbohydrates. One carton cost me roughly $3.99 at Metro (on sale – the most expensive ran about $4.49 at Walmart). I was able to get roughly seven to eight glasses out of each carton – I was also adding them to my coffee in the morning!

Vanilla was my second favourite flavour. It tasted almost like a French Vanilla from Tim Hortons. The Vanilla flavour contains 160 calories in each cup and 31gm of carbohydrates. When added into my morning coffee it definitely tasted like a French Vanilla from a coffee shop! 
My least favourite would have to be the Caramel Macchiato. I am not sure what it was about this flavour but I did not like it – maybe I am just not a caramel person. The taste was quite strong and not as smooth as the other two flavours. Each cup contains 150 calories and 29gm of carbohydrates.

I loved the fact that I had a ready to use carton at all times in my fridge to enjoy when I got home from work (no need to stop anywhere on my way home and fight the long lines). It was perfect on top of ice or even just as is. It was an incredibly refreshing drink to have on a hot day. I also loved having a hint of it in my morning coffee in replacement of milk. With a carton ranging from $3.99 to $4.49, you can save a lot of money purchasing the carton versus a daily drink at a coffee shop (not to mention the hassle of driving there, line ups, etc..). You can find International Delight Iced Coffee easily at Walmart, Sobeys, Metro and Fortinos in Canada. 
You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with all the latest offers and promotions (they had a pretty fantastic offer back a month ago on their Facebook page giving away a free International Delight tumbler!).
Have you tried the new iced coffee flavours? What are your thoughts on it – yay or nay?

                                 

Disclosure: I received free product coupons in exchange for providing BzzAgent and International Delight with my opinions on the product. Regardless the opinions expressed on this blog are my own and not influenced by receiving the coupons.

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Happy Independence Day!

To all of my American friends – wishing you a very 
Happy Independence Day!
How are you celebrating today?
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