a peek inside the fishbowl

We have a winner! Thanks for your entries everyone!

I know there are a lot of community-minded folks who are on committees for parks and playgrounds and other community spaces. What if I told you that there is $50,000 grant for use towards a community project with your city’s name on it, just waiting to be claimed? 

Here’s the scoop:

• Ontario Tire Stewardship’s Community Renewal Fund is a grant program that awards eligible Ontario-based communities and organizations up to $50,000 towards the purchase and installation of Ontario-manufactured recycled rubber products.
• The grant is open to municipalities, registered non-profit community groups or organizations, schools/colleges/universities, and First Nations communities throughout Ontario.
• Applicants can visit RethinkTires.ca to learn more and to submit an application.

As a thank you for checking out their website and helping spread the word, the folks at RethinkTires.ca have given me a couple things to give away to one reader anywhere in Ontario:

1) A handy roadside emergency kit to stash in your car. (Everyone should have one!)
2) A Multy Home Lexington Multi-Colored door mat made from recycled rubber.

It’s easy. Just leave a comment below and you’re entered!

• This giveaway is open to residents of Ontario. One entry per email address please.
• If you can’t post your comment for whatever reason you can email it to me for posting at andrea at quietfish dot com. Please note, I cannot be responsible if your entry is misdirected or gets stuck in my Spam folder.
• This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.
• I will draw one name using Random.org at noon EST on October 6 and I’ll contact the winner via email. The name of the winner will be posted here as well. So please check back!
• Prizing will be mailed to the winner by Rethinktires.ca.

That’s it. Over to you. Good luck!

The eldest and I decided to check out a big Etsy-sponsored craft show at the Sensplex this weekend. It was hot, busy, and the overflow parking was overflowing, but I’m glad we went. I picked up a few really cool items (which you can see over here on Facebook!) including THIS…

It’s a butter knife. Here it is in its packaging:

… and here it is in action:

It might be a little kooky to love a butter knife this much, but I do. It fulfills my household shopping motto: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” It is beautiful AND useful. This is why I like this knife. Also, it’s locally made by Infinite Purpose Jewelry. I fully expect that it will bring me hot buttered joy every day.

HERE’s a fun fact, in case you’re a design nerd who likes to Know Things. This is actually referred to as a master butter knife and it’s not intended to be used for spreading butter. It rests near the communal butter dish and the point is used to spear pats of butter and transfer them to your plate. Each place setting would have a butter spreader. It’s a small knife with a rounded tip so as not to tear the bread.

Margaret Atwood: we are double-plus unfree http://t.co/ZKGfXhNaxu

— Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood) September 21, 2015

• , globeandmail.com
• What Does It Mean to Be a Parent Who Works, medium.com
• The Saddest Thing About Living in Our ‘Playdate Society’, huffingtonpost.com
• Ryan Reynolds: Friend of 25 Years Selling Baby Photo Was “Like a Death” , gq.com

For the recipe file: Slow Cooker Butter Chicken, canadianliving.com

On the nightstand: Misery