a bit sad and perhaps peeved....(edited..now a wee bit happier)

...so remember me saying how I had a layout of the month over at scenic route. Well because of it I won a prize pack where I could choose a paper line. Well it came today.....along with the COD charge of 20 something bucks(pack was valued at 17 dollars..grrrr). Nice prize huh..I ended up paying all the taxes and brokerage fees and taxes for those brokerage fees to get it. I was truly caught off guard when the UPS guy came to the door saying I had a delivery but it will cost me. If I was really thinking I should have not excepted it and had it redelivered. Though it was scenic route sitting in my hands...so real hard to part from.I may just send off an e-mail teling them perhaps they should let the international winners know that they will have to pay all their brokerage fees to receive a prize pack.

edit: I did end up sending Layle an email telling her about the COD charges and she apologized telling me the girl who usually sends out the packs has moved away and she had to have someone else do it, and she was not familiar with the process.I do hope they work things out:)

Are you all ready?

for christmas that is....I am not even close! I think I have my gifts finally bought for John(it was difficult this year,even though he says he wants nothing, I have to get him something and even that one something was hard to think of) Now I more or less just have a few gift cards to pick up and I should be done. It is snowing like crazy out today so I think I will try and get all my remaining gifts wrapped and hopefully finish up with some of the housework. The basement is once again destroyed....ughhh...Ab has a friend over(sleepover)and I swear they played with every toy possible....so they will be busy today picking up.

I am a little bummed out because my darn laptop decided to die out on me. We are hoping John just has to wipe it clean and reload everything. I am just hoping all the photos come off ok..my bad for not moving things to my external drive for safe keeping.I have over a years worth of photos not saved other then on my laptop:( And the biggest bummer is that I was working on a few christmas presents digitally and that was axed. I am still hoping to get my christmas phot card done for family. Thankfully I have photoshop on this old laptop of ours. I just need to try and get the photos on it now(pain in the butt process since I first must load onto a destop and then copy to jump drive so that I can put them on this laptop).

Christmas day is still up in the air as to what all is going on. I am hosting the dinner, but I am not to sure of the exact numbers right now. My grandfather has been in the hospital(long term wing) for some time now, so we thought we would all visit him christmas morning and then my grandmother could come to my place in the afternoon and enjoy a nice dinner with the entire family. Well she is now trying to get my grandfather out for christmas(which in my opinion is the worst thing really) which would mean some of my family would be over at her house then. I am not too sure if this will all hapen anyways because the entire family must be on board because someone must be there at all times. It takes 2 staff to care for him at all times, and my grandmother thinks she can do it on her own. If he comes out I think it will just be stressful on everyone including him. The staff said they would set up a nice area in the lounge for all the family to celebrate. Which I think would be a nice calm time, with staff around at all times to help with my grandfather. I guess we will know more as the next few days come along. I really hope it does not become stressful and chaotic..but with my famiy you never:) Well I must go and make waffles for everyone(Ab's friend requested them..she remembers them from her b-day party.

MERRY CHRISTAMS

Merry Christmas from my groovin family to all of yours! Enjoy!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

why..oh why...

do I do this to myself. It is how many days till christmas and I am feverishly trying to get a calendar put togehter so it can be processed online. I was racking my brains on doing something and I finally came up with this....and then dh says well yeah, that is what I thought you would do...grr..he could have made that clear a few weeks ago. And worst of all is I was just going to insert a few pics in the layouts they have..all clean and simple, but oh no dh wants it all fancy and scrapbook like. He just figured it would be as easy as taking my layouts I have already done..um no...since they are 12x12 and this is 11x8.5. Ugh..so now I sit here bug eyed at the computer. I have 4 done so far...take a peak...

Mondays...blech!!!

I really loath Mondays, and especially this one to boot! I am exhausted this morning. I always feel so rushed with having to get up and back into the routine after having the 2 days off. Trying to make sure you have everything prepared...lunches made, papers signed and all pieces of winter clothing found. Things will be pretty busy around here this week also. I will be cleaning to try and get the house presentable for christmas. We have a dentist appointment to go to tommorrow afternoon, school christmas concert on Wed night and then hopefully I can get out to the mall Thursday night to finish up my shopping. Then I will have to wrap all those presents. I am tired just thinking about it all..lol.

I had a busy, yet nice weekend. Friday night started with me picking up Rach and going out with her for a night of shopping. We had a deliscious dinner at Moxie's(I love that restaurant) and then we toured the mall until closing. It was a very enjoyable evening...it was also nice that the mall was nice and calm. Can't wait to have a second date with Rach;) After dropping Rach off I went into Walmart since it is open 24 hours and I walked around it for almost 3 hours just taking my time...I never have that since I am usually rushing because I only have a short amount of time, or dragging a child along with me. I must say I really did not find to much there, but it was nice just to be able to take my time:) So I got home about 2 in the morning. I was then up fairly early SAt and did a bunch of running around(banking, more shopping) then crashed for the evening. I actually sat down and did a digi layout(which took me forever..I really should of been in bed instead of doing it). Sunday consisted of going through my baby stuff and passing what I could on to my sister. She brought some dresses for me to try on for New Years and I found one. A very body fitting black satin dress which is gorgeous,but I will definitely be watching my diet till then and will definitely be doing a bunch of squats to tighten up the derriere;) I also got my hair cut...the one thing I am hating about a shorter style is that I really have to keep up with trims....but I really do like the style.

O.k so I really must go off and start my to do list of the week..here is the digi I did though:

TOTALLY SNOWED IN!!

When I say snowed in, I really mean it. John is out there as we speak trying to get the car back in the driveway because it cannot go down our street at all. We have not seen a plow since Monday morning, and that was before this big storm hit. Unless you have a 4x4 you are just not leaving our subdivision. John and our neighbour was shovelling the road just trying to get John out of the road. Our neighbour is absolutely pissed. He is one of our councillors and is appaulled as to how our road is. He says someone will be getting an earful. Bad thing is I will not be able to take Hadley to her last craft class at the library today and Ab has a dental appointment for a tooth extraction early this afternoon..not too sure if she will make that either. So today looks like a day of cookie making and perhaps I will try and get a few gifts wrapped since John can keep the kids away. Hope everyone is staying safe in this gawd awful weather.

16 days and counting..

omg...how did time fly by so fast? Well we had a fairly productive weekend. We started it off by going shopping on Friday night(the mall was empty..it was so peaceful) I really could not get much though since the girls were around, but I did get to scope things out. The girls went to see Santa..he looked great..real beard and all...but Hadley played shy and would not sit with him. Then on Saturday morning we went to Hadley's gymnastic class where family could come and watch(this was her best class yet..I will have photos of it later to post). We then headed over to Ab's school to the holly carnival where the girls played games, they shopped ...mind you all Had did was play with the toys and Ab came out with one gift who was for me, and then she said it was for me and John, and Hadley tried to see Santa again..once agian playing shy...I do not think we will get a photo this year. Then Ab went to basketball and once home the kids from next door came over and we had a pizza makig party. Today we awoke early to brave the snow to go into the city. John and I went to the toy store and got a dent done in our shopping. We then came home to try and see the parade, but decided against it due to being freezing out. Hadley went next door to make cookies and the rest of us went out beside the neighbours house to clear some ice to skate on. Ab stayed out there for about an hour(and I am sure she would have stayed out longer) I had to go in because it was so darn cold. She cannot wait to come home tommorrow to skate some more.
After dinner tonight we looked at the coolest links that Mellisa created for the girls. I do not think Ab's eyes could pop out any more. If there was a doubt about believing before, it was completely gone after seeing this. SHe was so excited she wanted to see what list her friends were on . Here are the girls links:
Hadley
Abigail

..just like BIG sister!

I swear my kids are the biggest troopers around when it comes to the dentist(insert VERY proud mama here :) ) So we just got back from the dentist to check Hadley's tooth. She waited for almost an hour without a peep and then went straight into the office with no problems. She got in the chair and had a quick "ride" and as soon as the dentist came in she was opening her mouth and letting him inspect...the doctor could not even do that to check her throat....so it was a we suspected she injured her tooth (the nerver was broken) and now the tooth is slowly dying. The good thing is that it appears it will not need a root canal(no infection was seen) Bad news is she has a brown tooth and it could get darker. Now we can get a veneer like coating put on for cosmetic purposes..but that will entail a needle to freeze. She is not keen on that idea. So we will see if it darkens any more first and she will be going in next week to see her sister have a tooth extracted, so she can see what it is like to get a needle. I also had the dentist quickly check for cavities and she has on on each side of her lower mouth in the large molars. It is totally expected because like her sister she has very deep crevices in her teeth. So the dentist suggested to start her come in to get cleanings since she was so receptive to the check-up today.

Looks to be a busy weekend starting. Tommorrow is the last gymnastic class till after holiday's and it is a family day so everyone can go in and watch. ANd then there is the carnival at Ab's school afterwards, and then with Ab having basketball. Then on Sunday it is the Santa parade here in town. I also thought we would try and do some holiday baking, and I hope to get into town tommorrow to pick up a few christmas gifts. Oh..I truly suck at the dec. daily. I already missed a day of photo taking. Yesterday the day was full of having tradesmen coming in to fix things with the house. We really had nothing holiday related happen, nor what I though would be as phot worthy..thank god I did not make the album yet...LOL.

...so excited..must tell all

okay so I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I won a prize over at a forum for having a layout of the day(i had about 4 of mine choosen in the month) for November..so that was a nice little suprise. But today I even got a better suprise! Check it out...my layout was chosen as one of the winning layouts on the scenic route website. Thanks Barb for that little push:) I am sooo stoked since scenic route is like my all time favourite scrapbook line.

a wonderful day...and 21 days & counting

Yesterday turned out to be a wonderful day. I received a fun e-card from my girl Katie
I played it several times Katie, and it kept teling me I was too slow..lol...I got a nice shout out from my girl Rach on her blog with a yummy looking drink that look svery much like our drink of choice! Now it appears I need to have a birthday every other day and then Rach will update her blog..LMAO..I am just sassing you hun! Mell also gave me a call and also tried to tell me online that I was dreaming about being 29...what's that all about;) LOL..John came home earlier than I expected yesterday so I was able to go have a shower in peace while he kept Hadley astray(you do not know how much I loved that..very rarely do I have a shower to myself) I also received my scrappy supplies and the rest of my junque swap(it took less time for my stuff from the states to come then the stuff from Mtl...go figure huh). Now it was a good thing that I did get my shower and out of my jammies..for John invited the neighbours over for cake. We had a very nice visit over cake and coffee while the kids played. I got a wireless shutter release remote for my camera and a gift certificate for a spa/salon in the next town over. Oh and my prime rib came out pretty good...a little rare but still delicious. So far I have been taking a pic a day..ok it is now only day 3 in Dec..lol..but I will try my damnest to do it. Now that my scrappy supplies have come..I will be trying to get my album done.
Wel I shall really get my day going..Ab is yet out of bed....yikes..we have 20 mins to get out the door.

...just another day:)

yet another year older...blah..I hate knowing I am now getting older. I remember as a kid always wanting to get older..now I wish time would stand still..just for a little while. I am hating all the grey hair..especially since I must dye it like every 5 weeks(what a pain in the you know what..lol) and these little fine lines are creeping onto my face:) At least I still feel like I am young..and one good thing that comes with age is you become wiser(at least that is what I tell myself..lol) SO today I am going to try and cook a prime rib roast for the first time..little peeved that I am the one who must cook my birthday dinner..but hey what is one to do when dh is out of town for work..he will just have to make it up to me;) I ordered some scrap supplies and said I would have that as a bday gift but it has yet to come. It siad that it was shipped out a week ago yesterday..which worries me some because it was only coming from Montreal..it truly should not take that long. If it is not here today I will be contacting the store and have them fix it(I kind of doubt they got a tracking no. otherwise they would have gave it out once order was processed.)

On a real downer note, I noticed yesterday that one of Hadley`s front tooth is discolouring. She fell about 2 weeks ago and split her lip..well in that she also injured her tooth(broke the root) so now the tooth is dying. Makes me want to cry. So when I called the dentist I was told it will get darker and stay that way. We have to go in for an appointment on Fri to make sure there is no infection. I will not let them keep it that way though. Apparently if the do a root canal and such they can restore the white..so it appears she wil have to go through that. I would not be too worried to do this if she was older, but because of her age she will have that tooth at least another 3 or 4 years. I think we will have an expensive year at the dentist, having to deal with this and then with Abigail possibly getting braces(she only has a few baby teeth left to loose..and most are all loose).

Anyone paying attention to the news and what is going on with our government? I cannot believe it. If the gg goes for this coalition government..I swear she has a few loose screws. I mean what was the point of an election? How much money was just wasted in holding this eletion. And if this happens and it will be a liberal ran colalition..in just a few months the pm position will change hands and no one will have a choice in the new one, because it will be the liberal party that votes in the new one. And one thing I am wondering is what type of deal did they strike up with the Bloc party to have them sign on yet they will hold no seats within the coalition...I think this can be very scary for Canada and our economy. Just look at how our market fell yesterday. It was the biggest fall since 1987..they try to say it was not because of this announcement but I think otherwise..the banks are just a wee bit scared. I see the whole situation as a bunch of kids not getting their way and teaming together just to get it. I mean really..these parties could not agree on anything ever..and now they are saying well we agree to disagree and we will get things done.....REALLY... I really hope things do not come down to this. I will definitley be watching the outcome of this intensely.

..24 days and counting

until christmas...ack...I have yet to really do any christmas shopping. I have picked up a few things, but that is all. I still have to actually sit down and make a list of what I should get. I would really love to get as much as I can online, but they just do not seem to have as many toys nor the sales like in store. What I hope to do is do alot of it later in the evening..I will have to look out for the midnight madness..that and I will go to Place to Orleans..it is just more quiet at that mall.

So I did the craft fair with Mell yesterday and it completely sucked..there was no traffic whatsoever. I sold 4 prints..and 3 of them were to Mell..lol..Here are some pics of the sign I mad and some of the prints.Mell took the reindeers and a young girl bought the skull with blue bow(one of Ab's fave's..so now I have to make Ab a new one).

So my day today consists of cleaning all the bathrooms and picking up in the basement. Then hopefully I will be able to start making some lists and get organized for the holidays. I started taking my photo a day to do up a mini album for the month of Dec(the Ali inspired one) but I still have to do the album..lol..the idea of it was to have the album done and then you just have to take your daily photos and print them out to insert in the album along with some journalling. So I am doing it a little backwards..lol..I just like the idea of documenting the countdown to christmas. Well I shall be off..lots to do.

...oh christmas tree

Well...yestrday was a successful day for putting the tree together. Hadley helped out with all the non-breakable ornaments. Of course I had to move a few of them so that they were not all clumped along the bottom. Then when Ab came home she helped out with the glass balls..and once again I had to unclump some;)(but her's we all up high) it must be a kid thing. So the tree is about 90% finished. We just have to get some of the special "annual" ornaments up. So all that is left is the stand alone type decrations to go up. I think I will go through those next week once I am done the craft show. I really need to fiish up some of my painitngs and get some of them framed up. I will try and post a few more of my finished designs up here soon. I also have a few already commissioned that I hope to get done by next week.

ok so here is our tree for this year. It is full with nothing but pink and chartreuse green ornaments. Oddly enough it does not look too bad against my red furniture..I actually kind of like it.....it will definitley be a tight squeeze in there christmas morning though...that is one thing I miss with the old house...the big wide open space(but that is all I miss:) ).

....when you can't beat them...JOIN them:)

Well mother nature has turned everything white here and blessed us with another taste of winter. I guess it is time to face the truths...winter is definitely on it's way. And instead of fighting with it, Hadley and I tried to embrace it. As soon as she saw the gigantic snowflakes(no word of a lie..I have never sen them so big)falling outside, she was begging to go out. So off we bundled up and faced the elements. With the snow being so wet and heavy, it was perfect snowman snow. So here is our first snowman off the season.


It was actually quite tolerable out there except for becoming totally soaked from the wet snow. Once our man was done we headed straight inside for a nice cup of cocoa and marshmallows. I am sure once Ab comes home and see's what we made she will be wanting to be outside and building another.

I had John bring up the christmas tree last night and I put it together this morning. I totally forgot how huge the tree was. And now that it is in the living room I am just seeing how big it really is. I am trying to figure out how to place my furniture to make room for it. I have to have the tree sit in front of the front window so that one..it is in the cathedral part of the ceiling(since it is a 7 1/2 foot tree and we have 8' ceilings elsewhere) and two..it will just look beautiful in the large front window. I think come christmas morning with all the presents under the tree, we will have no room for anyone in the room..lol. I am still trying to move all the needles to make it nice and full, but I had to take a break because my arms are all scratched up(I really thought with an artifical tree I would no longer have that problem..but suprise...it is the same as a real tree)I am hoping to start getting some f the decorations on it, but we will see how that ges with Hadley around:) I will post pics as soon as it is done.

UGHHH!!!!!!!!

SO I am such the biggest dumb @ss around!!! I busted my butt all day trying to get a damn layout done for the last week challenge...which was no easy task with Hadley being a little devil today and then having to get dinner ready, Ab off to guides and then back home to get Hadley to bed. Well I did finally finish it and ran up stairs to quickly photograph it so that I could post it before the 10pm deadline. Well I am late...a good 22 hours late. Yup it was due on Wed.... Just like every other week. But with John gone and me a little bit sick and just having a crazy life with the girls because it is just me at home...well I totally got my weekdays all mixed up and missed the deadline. I cannot believe I did that..I do not ever remember being this scatter brained. With this lo I could have well been in the top ten(which there were prizes given out to the top 10) anyways here is what I did(sorry photo sucks...not much great light and well I was rushed. Now I will wait for Ab to get home watch a little Grey's and then read my new book that I just picked up tonight. Nothing beats reading about hot sexy vampires:)

...anyone see

where my voice went?? Ugh. I awoke this morning with it quickly dissappearing. I am sure by tonight I will have nothing since I am straining to speak now. And of course Hadley keeps on asking me questions. Abigail just asked me if I felt sick..I said no not really..and she says oh..I thought maybe I should stay home to help you since you lost your voice..LOL...I quickly told her, no I need the peace and quiet(well as much as I get with a 3 yo around) and she needs to go to school. Of course this must happen though when John is gone....the girls will be loving it...this morning has actually been pretty good(knock on wood) Abigail got up on her own, made herself and Hadley breakfast and helped with her lunch. Now I just have to try and get her out the door to catch the bus. Of course tonight is a busy night with trying to get them fed, homework done and then Ab off to guides...let`s hope that goes well.

So I could not wait any longer..I had to start putting up some christmas decorations. I got out all the garland stuff and put it up. It was fun trying to think of where I would put it. I have some on the stairs, buffets and on the fireplace in the family room. I still have to finish putting some of the decorations in it, but I think it already looks good. I am thinking maybe on Sunday I will have John bring up the tree..and then I can slowly work at it. I love decorating for christmas.

I have to try and scrap today. This is the last week of the contest I am in, and even though I know there is no possible way of winning it, I just cannot give up. I do not want to be a quitter. So this weeks challenge was to use something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue(and you can not scrap weeding photo`s)So I think I will try and sneak down to my room this morning and quickly do a layout up...it is due tonight.

Just want to shout out at how well Hadley is doing in her potty training. She is now going and doing it on her own...she does not want mom`s help(thank god...because man...it was like she was going every 15 mins..lol...I would just start doing something and then I would be called to duty :) ) Now if we could only deal with the nightime wetting...she is now waking in the morning soaked...ahh one thing at a time I guess.

...this and that

So I am now on my own for the rest of the week. John is off in Toronto for work until friday night. I say to him that he will have a nice holiday away and he tries to disagree saying it will be stressful trying to get his point across and such....I say whatever...he will have no children to break up with all their fighting and screaming, no meals to make, no fighting to get a certain someone out of bed and dressed and out the door for school. He has no one to worry about but himself. Thankfully the time will pass by here quick with having to do all the kids activities and such...

Hadley is making everyone proud in the house. She has been using the potty for the past week. We have had a few accidents...with most of them being at other peope's houses..I think she must not feel as comfortable in other enviroments just yet. We have been taking her out of the house though with no pull-ups...we just make sure she goes before we leave. She is so happy to know that everyone is so proud of her. I am actually going to try adn take her to her craft class tommorrow "sans pull-ups" :) Let's hope that goes well. Then the next big step will be staying dry at night time...I doubt that will happen for quite sometime.

Well I was able to create another layout toady(well I started it last night). I saw this digital lo that looked like it was all watercoloured and I loved it, so I tried to recreate it with papaer. I hand drew my letters and little pictures, then watercoloured it in and outlined with black pen. I then hand cut it all out. The photo itself sucks..but I wanted to scrap the story anyways. SO this is the end result...I am quite pleased with it..love the "cutesy" look to it.

some scrappy goodness

So I was able to do a little bit of scrapping done yesterday morning. I was able to get these 2 layouts done(with super old photos) and almost finish up my mini album from the girls "asian" weekend. I still have the little pul out pages to complete..but atleast a good chunk of the album is finished! Now hopefully this week I can perhaps work on my dec daily album(the Ali edwards one) where you pre make the album and then just add the photo's as the days go by. I have tons of christmas papers from years past to do this up so supplies definitely will not be an issue:)

..looking like christmas

..no not at my house just yet...though I did go out and buy 2 potted christams trees that light up and stand on either side of the front door...and that is where they proudly sit right now. And so they were not lonely I did go and hang a wreath on the front door also. But my decorations no where near meet these standards...http://www.holdman.com/christmas/video.asp ...check it out..can you imagine how long it would take to do this...do you think I can talk John into hanging our lights like that..lol..we would need to buy a few more strings;) Can you image your electic bill for the season...wowzers...very pretty though!!!

Hadley strikes again

well she has once again gotten to my scrap stuff. Last week it was 3 bottles of alcohol inks. This morning it was a full pack of acrylic and watercolours and several bottles of peeboo glitter(new as of yesterday I might add). The baby gate no longer keeps her out of the room. Worst also was AB was downstairs and saw her do it, and then joined Hadley in doing some painting. I wanted to kill the two of them. John sternly tells me I should not keep the stuff out(so I guess it should be all boxed up and I just do not use it....grrrrr)..he is lucky he is alive...he is suppose to be getting me a door...which I figure it will be up to me to do or I will soon be out of scrap supplies. Well just for that I am going shopping today and buying some christmas decoration stuff that i want and he DOES not want..i think I deserve it:) plus it will look really nice out at our front door. Well off for now..need to go find some strength to face my children.

...a wee bummed

so I did not do too hot in the point standings for this weeks competition. I only got 3 points where the top points given out were 21. I actually got better points for some of my first layouts...go figure. I guess my creativity was not as great as I thought it was:( Oh well tommorrow is another day, and tonight I will wallow in my sorrow and eat some yummy chocolate...LOL.

I have been creating up a storm though and making more of those little art pieces. I am hoping to sell some at a craft fair in a couple of weeks. Even if they were not that well liked over in the competition, I am sure having a fun time making them. I did up some skull ones for Ab's room..since she is all into the "punk rock" look. And I made a ton of whimsical ones of dinosaurs, robots, owls, more fairies,mermaid and littel frog. I think it is just so relaxing to sit and paint them(as long as Hadley is not trying to get ahold of my paints). I think I may even try and scrap(for me...and not some silly ol competition...it has been a while since I did that).

Ok. so I must show you this. Go check out this girl's scrap room. Can you say someone is rolling in the money, or if not they are in serious debt. I think she has more cupboards in that room then I do in my kitchen...and granite counters...wee bit envious here..hell I would like those counters for my kitchen. She just built this house, and if you see other posts of the house and the yard your eyes would bulge out....her dh put in a gymnasium, so I guess it is only fair she gets a scrap room right? okay now I must go put away that little ol green eyed monster;)

http://frommyfeatherednest.blogspot.com/

okay now off to wallow...night all!

....dancing fairies

So my challenge for week 4 was to create a gift. I racked my brain forever on this one, and then it just came clear as day on Monday night to me. I was going to do a series of art pieces that can be hung in Hadley's room. I went with the fairies since she has that and flowers in her room already. I painted them on vintage book pages by using water colours and acrylic paint...then did oen work. I cut out the wings from a hambly transparency. I used rub-ons, transparecies, bling, ghost shapes, twinkling h2o's to embellish. It was all put in a shadow box frame to help with the dimension of the pieces. I am really happy how they turned out. My brain is now spinning with other ideas in doing more of these.

It has been a hectic time here in the house. We are trying to potty train Hadley. She is doing ok...but has had a few accidents. She is no longer afraid to go on the big toilet...as long as mom helps her up and such. It is so funny though...once she gets on, I must leave her so she can pee:) Hoping by the end of the week she will have a good grasp on this. Well I had lots I wanted to talk about, but now have no clue what it is...lol...I am soo tired. I am off to check the competition in the challenge gallery and then off to bed!

So very excited!!!

Check this out!!! Bad girls is hosting a christmas workshop from Nov 15-21. All classes are FREE and there will be 22 of them. And that is not all, there will be lots of prizes and challenges also, Now how cool is that! I cannot wait to see all the goodies to do. I am counting the days.

challenge #3

This weeks challenge was an Ad one...we had a choice of 3 to choose from. I was not really feeling the challenge this week. I quickly did this lo last night after dinner(it had to be uploaded by 10pm), so not loving it ...but it is finished...I could not bare not finishing the challenge..I had to do something. Not much else to chat about. I am busy trying to get the house cleaned up and such for a girls night with my bestest gals. I am so excited because we are doing an asian themed night, decorations, food, drinks all asian. I need to make out my shopping list today so that John can go pick up groceries for me..so I can make up some of my yummy dishes. Of course we will also be doing a wee bit of scrapping. I have a challenge up my sleeve that I would like to try...and a little something to alter. Well must run and start the day!

....a little disco fever!

As promised, here are a few photos from Saturday night. All I have to say is thank god I did not live my adult years in that era. The jumper I wore did nothing for my body shape..lol...it truly felt like I was wearing some sort of maternity outfit with how much room was in my stomach area. No pant suit should have an empire waist:) Now, how do youlike my husbands "chops"....LOL
He suprised me with his new facial hair look after getting out of the shower. He kept it a secret from me, until he did it. Probably because he knew my feelings on that look(a few weeks ago we saw the tv show life on mars, and one guy had some massive chops with my opinion being eeewwww..lol) I ended up calling him chops all night:) Of course all the guys at the party thought it was great...they were saying if you are going to do it you have to go all out. I dared him to wear them like that to work today, but he did trim it out so it was not as noticable as he lets his goatee grow back in. I will hopefully have some more pics to show later(hoping to get the ones from the neighbours). It was definitely a fun time to be had...must have been if I am still moving a little slow today..lol...

...praying to the gods!!!

..porcelain gods that is. I am sooo hurting today that it is not even funny. I have just finally been able to come down stairs and try some food. I really wished I had the iv supplies and hook myself up to a bannana bag(iv fluid with all the electrolytes and such) and perhaps give myself a shot of gravol while at it. I was finally able to keep down my third attempt of Tylenol(which was not until 3 ish this afternoon). I truly cannot remember the last time I felt like this, but I do know I will be making sure it will not happen again anytime soon. Tequila was definitely not my friend..lol. On a good note I did have a blast last night...especially with one of my neighbours..she was an absolute hoot! I will try and post some photos of our wild disco night tommorrow sometime. Just no energy to do it tonight. I finally went and read my week 3 challenge. It is an ad inspired one. I think I know what I might do for it..will have to try and think more about it later.

..all hallow's eve

So I am a wee bit peeved..I had a long post all done and filled with photo's and then my IE stopped working...grr...so here is a quick post...no time to do the lengthy one. So our Halloween started out with watching the school parade which is a tradition which goes back as far as I can remeber(meaning since I was in kindergarten) All the kids in the school dress up and then walk through the town for everyone to see. I had to post this first picture...when we were schouting our spot for the parade we saw this house. Now when did snowmen become Halloween decorations...LOL. Ab loved watching the parad but wanted to go with AB and her friend Christina..she did not understand that they were still in school. Then the eveining was a big hurry(as every halloween) with eating, finish decorations and getting dressed up. We all went out and left candy for the kids on the front porch..only kids around our area were the ones on our street(6 total with my girls) It was good though because everyone on the street had candy to give. Ab was a vampire, Hadley and I a witch and John a pirate. We went out with our next door neighbours and then met up with AB's friend Christina. The night was beautiful and the kids had fun. Hadley totally gets halloween this year. She awok this morning demanding candy and trying to find the stash...this is one thing I hate about Halloween. John and I go out tonight to a disco themed party next door. I will have photos for sure of us, since I have none of us from last night.

SO I found out from one of our neighbours that we share the neighbourhood with a wolf. Last sunday they had one visiting them in their driveway. They had a party the night before and it must have been sniffing around. I will have to kkepp my eyes open since Ab likes to go play in the undeveloped area(where they must be) and of course with the dog. Hmmm I thought with living in town I would not have to worry about this....

Anyways must run..busy day ahead.

week 2 challenge...making a reubus

So this week challenge was to use a rebus on your layout. A reubus is a type of puzle where you substitute pictures for the words. I did my title as a reubus. My title should read(lol) a happy family is the heart of the home. I do hope some people get it, because John said he did not..he was saying what does a cloud with a happy face mean....where I state I was trying to convey how the parents were feeling happy...oh well. I am not totally happy with the design, but do hope it catches some of the judges eyes...crossing fingers.

...how is this right?

I must say that I do not ever remember another time when we had this much snow on the ground before halloween. We went to bed last night with quite the storm brewing. Lots of heavy wet snow and high winds. We awoke to a very chilly house due to the power being out since midnight. The first thing the girls had to do when they awoke...go play in the snow...since there was no t.v. to watch..lol. I am really glad I picked up some winter boots for Ab last Saturday. I thought I was being a wee bit early, but I must of known subconsciously:) So of course there was no school due to power being out throught the town. John also stayed home. He was not going to try and go on the roads. SO what do we end up doing this afternoon. Carving pumpkins. It jusat-not seem right to be doing our halloween jack-O-lanterns with the ground covered with snow. I really thought that it would have melted during the day..but it is still there..yuck. I just hope it is gone by Friday, and it is not too cold to trick or treat. SO now I am thinking that we really should invest in a generator. This is the thrid time the power has gone out(for lengthy periods) since we moved into the house. Anyways I leave you with a few shots from today, and hopefully I will have my new lo posted tonight.

Ab's hair

As promised, here is a photo of Ab with her new hair colour. Unfortunately you cannot see the full extent of it, since by this time I had already pulled her hair back for school. I will have to try and get one with her hair all down. She is also sporting one of her new shirts she bought this past weekend. The cat is hiding the tie. I think she liked it because it was kind of Avril Lavinge like. I am just happy because it is somewhat of a dressy shirt for her. Not very easy to get her looking all dressed up. It is a shame she did not have her hair done and this shirt for picture day..even she said this. SO I will have a new layout to show by tommorrow evening. I am just about finished it and then we must wait for the gallery reveal before we can post on our blogs. It is a crappy day out today..John told me this morning there is suppose to be a snow storm either this afternoon or tonight. 20 cm expected..can I say YUCK!!!! I really hope it does not happen. Today I am trying to clean up the disater of a basement and hope to finish painting down there. I am still sifting through boxes...I hate having them sitting all about...I cannot wait till we are completely unpacked!

...no more baby in this house!

So I need to start of this post with stating how Hadley is becoming such a big girl! This morning she woke up and walked into our room naked as a jay bird stating she was getting dressed. So off she runs into her room and a few minutes later she was all dressed (shirt, pants and pull up). Now if only she would not be so damned stubborn and actually use the potty. She is so like Abigail when it comes to that. She just could not care that she has a wet bum. I think since we have been in the new house, she has used her potty a few times. The move has really set her back as to how she was using it daily at my parents place. Oh well...at least I have gotten her out of dieapers. Wwe used the last ones and just never bought any more...pull-ups it had to be:) Mind you yesterday she found a few diapers and she thought she was in heaven..LOL. Her speech is really improving now also. She tries and gets most of her thoughts out into somewhat full sentences. I am sure it helps being around all the other kids.

So talking about growing up, Ab had highlights and lowlights put in. So now she has blond and a copper orange/red framing her face. I swear she looks all grown now. I will try and snag a photo of her this morning to show. She also had a few inches(well needed) cut from her hair. Her hair was reaching her butt...I cannot believe how long it got. I too got my hair cut once again. It seemed to grow so long in the past month..it is once again in a nice short bob...so much easier to dry out straight.

So the standings came out for the contest over at Just Cre8 for the first week. I am in the top 12..I wish I was a bit higher..but hey..beggars cannot be choosy. It is really is a who know's type of competition...I mean it really all depends on the judges styles right. Week 2 challenge has been posted, and oh my...it is a thinker. For it you have to use a reubus story within your layout(as a title or within it somehow). What is a reubus story some may ask. It is when you use pictures in leiu of words within a sentence..ie a picture of an eye, a heart embellishment and then a photo of someone...meaning I love you. They are looking for originality and creativity for this...ughhh..so you do not want to use the usual thing such as that..I really need to think about this one....I wonder how well a art journal like page would go with them....I have a feeling it would be too artsy, but that is wear my mind is going towards. We will see.

I really did not announce it on here, but I will be an aunt once again. My sister is due in the spring. She had her ultrasound a few weeks ago and found out it will be a boy..of course it has to be one...since I bought more baby girl clothes than boy ones for her..lol...but in my defence there just seems to be more baby girl stuff out there. So I will just have to hold onto the baby girl stuff until someone else I knows has a little one. This will be my first nephew that I will be an aunt since birth. With all my other nephews and neice, they were already around when John and I got together...and now they are all grown up:( It will be nice to have wee baby around to cuddle(just cannot do that with young men in their 20's..lol...) who is not my own..ie you can hold the baby and then pass it back when a dirty diaper needs to be changed...LOL...I feel I have paid my duty in diapers with my children...teeheeehee..

Okay so I blabbed enough for now. I suppose I should try and get dressed and ready to take Hadley to her gymnsatics class. Then I hope to do a bit of shopping in the afternoon.

...another contest

So I am giving it a go with another scrapping contest. I decided to try out over at Just Cre8. It is a 5 week point base contest. SO you complete all 5 challenges. For this first week challenge we had to choose a famous slogan to base our layout on. I chose the Gillete one of "the best a man can get". I am really glad I used this one because I had 2 other ones in mind and several people used them. I was the only one with this so I kind of like that there is the originality of it. They will be taking design, photography and journalling into consideration when they choose the favourite layouts. I feel really good about this layout, especially since I just love this photo. Unfortunately the scanner did not like the bulk of the page, but there really was no good light to take photos today. Well off to bed to do a little bit of reading and then to sleep to start another day:)

...finally, some work to post.

So I have been quite productive in the scrapbooking department this weekend. I might have been stricken with this god awful cold, and my throat and ears could not possibly hurt any more...but a create I did. I also was able to unpack some of my supplies now that I haave my peg board finally up:) SO I was doing these layouts and such for challenges over at the
JUST CRE8 forum and actually had lots of fun doing them. The first one was for an art inspiration, inspired by this piece of art inspired challenge. I absolutely loved everything about it, and wanted to go with the way it appeared as to just using it as a basis of inspiration. Happy how it turned out...i also like doing these 6x12's.

This layout was for a reduce, reuse and recylcle challeng. You had to use at least 3 differnet things on your layout that would not be used as scrap products(or found in the scrap store) SO I used cardboard as my base and added some bulle wrap and masking tape to the layout...yet another 6x12.

This last challenge was for a sketch(which my lo does not look much like the sketch) and then use scraps to make a card...very simple since many of you know my opinions on card making:)

So I finished my book of Sherrilynn Kenyons..called Acheron...loved it. The library should have 2 more of her books for me this week and then she said she would by the rest of the series for me...gotta love small towns! Hadley is finally getting over her cold, so hopefully we will be out and about this week more..that is if I get over my cold..blech... SO that is all for now...I think I will be trying a few more challenges tonight, but doing them digitally so that I can cuddle on the couch:)

Today is nothing but a rollercoaster ride...

So to start I had a pretty unrestful sleep due to Hadley being sick and crawling in bed with us all night, and to top it all off she spread her lovely germs to me...my throat and ears are killing me. I awoke though to happily know that our Goverment stayed the same..a few seats gained, but unfortunately still a minority...that is still better then the latter in my opinion:) Got Ab off to school alright(it was the first mornbing I allowed her to bike on her own due to a busy street she must cross, but I was not going to wake up Hadley and take her outside). Haldey then woke up in a fairly good mood and tried to eat some food. She then had a coughing fit and then puking all in front of her, believe it or not this is the first time she has puked....and god love her all she could do was apologize. So most of the day went by okay, except for feeling like crap. John comes home and I am getting ready to run out to the post office to mail away my layout, but had to stop to take a call from my grandmother. Well long story short, I put her to tears(telling her perhaps she should think about putting my grandfather in a home) Which thus sent me to tears making me feel like the biggest shit out there. I really could not lie to her I had to tell her the truth..it just sucks now because she probably thinks I am the worst grandchild. Mom thinks she may just listen to me because that is what all her kids have been saying for awhile now, and apparently mom feels she does listen to my views. I just hate that it has to be me, neither of the other grandchildren have to deal with this, and I think if they did they would sugar coat anyways to tell her what they think she wants to hear. So dinner is in the oven, and now I am trying to numb myself a wee bit with a drink. I know that is not the way to go about things but I just must relax and stop fretting. I hate to air out my stress like this, but I just need to let it out..kwim...On a good note a part of John's halloween costume came today. Just awaiting another of his and mine..but they are coming from the US, so i expect a little wait. I am also awiting stuff I bought for a swap that I need for the end of Oct. One package is postal...but from US..so once again time...the other is from Canada, but I have not heard anything from then and I just sent an email out asking about the status and I get an auto reply saying the store is closed from oct 10-13..ummm hello it is now the 15th. I really hope it comes soon. Oh on another good note, I found this new author I love..Sherrilyn Kenyon. I picked up a book from the library and finished it in a day. SO I talked with the librarian saying that it is a series to read in order but the library has none of them. SO she is getting the first 2 in for me and then buying the rest of the series...yeahhhh. There was one of her new books there that explains the main character which I got my nose into last night...it should last me a few days..it is like 900 pages long:)

Ok off to finish dinner and thanks to anyone who took the time to read this far:) Hopefully the next post will have a few photos to it:)

ELECTION day...

...so you know what that means...GET OUT AND VOTE:) It suprises me as to how many people truly do not go out and vote. How could you not....and really, if you do not, you have no right in complaining in how things are done in this country. I believe it is such a priviledge to go out there and make such a choice...just as long as it is the right one..LOL...just kidding everyone is allowed their opinion...that is why this country is so great. So last night I went online to elections canada to see where our polling station is since we are in a new place. Of course they did not have it. I must admit I am not impressed with their site...went through this last year also. Luckily I was able to come across it by putting in another postal code that serves our town. I was astonished to see how many of the postal codes gave up no info found. It is a good thing I found it, because the polling station is in none of the buildings that John and I thought it would be. SO once John gets home we will head out and mark our X's.

So we survived thanksgiving. We only had a small gethering and huge bird, so now we are having turkey for a week:) I don't mind though..I love leftover turkey! The weather was absolutley beautiful..yesterday we had a humidex of 28....I am going to miss the warmth:(

Need to get this out of my system....

..ok so I need to rant a wee bit more(I find once it comes out it makes me fell so much better). So I have seen so far where 2 people have dropped out of the BG top designer because they are part of a dt with other kit clubs...I am glad that they did..but here is my peeve...they waited till they made it into round #5 to do so.....um hello...it was announced during round 4 about a possible dt position but you could not be a part of another dt. Now in my opinion they should have stated before the voting that they could not move on. Instead of taking up those spots for round 5...others could have had a chance then in the next round. Of course this pisses me off since I got axed in round 4...not saying I would have made it on anyways..but come on!!!!! Some people are just so damn stupid in this world. It was real funny to see someone actually upload her entry this week and then say she could not move on...um...then why even post your entry....ok so now I will end my rant because I do not want to sound like some raving lunatic scrapper ;) like I said before I just needed to get it off my chest..know what I mean.

So I hope everyone has a great yummy thanksgiving. I am going to finish cleaning and get the needed supplies for tommorrow's dinner...cannot wait:) I also want to try and sneak downstairs an do a quick layout from the round 5 class of using colour. I just want to see what would have come out of the layout if I was still doing it:)

l8r

pheeww...i got picked up;)

...well one of my layouts did;) lol. I submitted one of my layouts(our family holiday tradition) I just did not to long ago, and thought for sure it would get picked up. As time went by I was completely suprised they did not want it(no I am not this conceded all the time..lol...I just really love this layout). So I just went on not even thinking about it...well tonight I got a nice littel email asking if it was still available to be published...woohooo. SO I will have my layout in the winter issue of scrapbook and cards today. So now I need to quickly get it out to them because they need it asap.

...I am in love

...with art journals. I have been surfing this evening and came across some videos about it. I am loving the entire collage feel/look of them(gasp..I know...so not my style). In the very near future I hope to try and break out of my simplistic box and create. What better way then to get away from my more linear way of scrapping then by getting down and dirty and experimenting. I have tried some mixed media before, but just was not feeling it. So I figure I will try with a few small projects and apply the techniques that I found tonight. I am quite excited and wanting to get to it already, but first I must clean up my damn room before any creating can be done..I am tired of not being able to find anything. I also think I need to take a shopping trip to get some more supplies.

...so no round 5 for me:(

....well I did not make it to the next round. Which to be honest..pisses me off..lol. But I kinda knew that would happen. I am really not an accessorizing girl and do not like to clutter up things too much, so my entry was quite simple. That and I just was not into doing my layout with being so busy and tired this week. I think the biggest pisser is that there are 2 people still in the competition that are more or less just there for the prize and not care about the DT position that can come with winning. They just accepted positions with a DT on another kit club....would they actually step down after that...especially since the only prescence on the BG board is more or less when they post their layouts..phhissshhh...I mean that is 2 spots for someone who wants it right... (say Katie or Steph who are movving on;) congrats girls)O.k so rant is now over, and feeling a bit better:)

Hadley woke up all sick, I am trying to get Ab up for school(picture day today...let's hope she takes a good one) I need to clean the house for the weekend and we started putting up halloween decorations yesterday, so we will have to finish that today. Seems to be a bust day ahead. But first and most important I must get my well needed cup of coffee in me before I rant and rave to strangers on my way to walking AB to school...LOL...

my round 4...

So i finally was able to complte my entry for round number 4 over at big girls. For this round it was all about accesorizing and with it showing unity, balance, harmony and texture. Phew...took me awhile to get my head around all of that and then to try and just get a chance to work on it. It was a very busy week with Hadley not allowing me to part to far from her. BUt none the less I did find sometime last night and this afternoon to do it. Having a margarita in hand last night also allowed me to just do it and not think much about how I was doing it;) So Hadley is busy at a b-day party next door. She plays with the little girl almost everyday and pratically lives over there(let's just hope she does not overextend her visit...lol) She also had gymnastics today and stuck with it the entire class. I was so happy. It is very hard for her, because there are several classes going at once and she just cannot concentrate and gets bored because she has to wait her turn. I believe I have found the way to keep her going though, so hopefully next class will go the same. Ab is off camping for the night with guides. I cannot believe they are doing it. It is supose to go down to 2 or 3 tonight. Can you say BRRRRRRRR.... it is freezing out today, and that is with the sun out. I do hope she has a good time. Well that is all for now..I should go check on Had next door.

...WARNING....rated R post..cover young eyes:)

...so I earlier said about how I went away, and I was able to finish only one layout last weekend. Well without further ado, here is the layout.

Now as I was taking the photos of this layout, Hadley had to take a peak. So what do you think comes out of her 3 year old mouth..."mommy, you have hot boobies" with mouth gaped open, turning away from her smiling face, I imediately go to the phone and talk with John. His response to this all..."what, I might think that, but do not say it around her"...now where does this child come up with things like this. Last week she called me a sexy baby. John must be saying things and not realizing it, because whenever she is awke there is nothing on but cartoons or the shows like hannah montana, suite life or i carly...and I am pretty sure they are not saying things like that on there.

Well that is all for tonight..I am soo tired, and really hope I can sleep in in the morning...crosing fingers.