Hiatus...

Wow..it really has been sometime since I blogged. To be honest I just did not feel like it. I have been on hiatus with the entire blogging thing and anything creative to boot. Summe has quickly passed. If you want to even call it that. The weather was horrible this year. With the nights getting so darn cool, you just don't want to swim during the day. The pool is like ice now. We definitelyt should have thought having a heater with the pool. Oh well. Nothing to new happening over the summer here. Did our normal week holiday down in Windsor. Which I must say was very relaxing to get away from work. The only problem though was once I got back to work I felt like I had no clue what was going on...did not like that too much. I am now once again on holidays starting today. I was supose to start Monday but I just did not want to feel as lost as last time. Plus I had a bunch of stuff to do, and looks like I will be doing work at home..if time and girls permit me to. So with this time I am suppose to try and get the girls ready for school on Tuesday. I think we are almost ready on the supply end, just need to find orange and white duotangs for Ab...I really hate the specific colour thing...grrrr...In Ab's school supplies alone I have spent $150 it is getting crazy. Thankfully for Hadley all she needed was school bag, lunch kit and indoor shoes. The older they get the more thay need. Hadley is super excited to start school, Ab not so much..lol. I cannot wait for them to go, they are starting to bicker non stop!!!! Mommy needs a break:) I have a list as long as my arm as to what I want to get done on my childless days before I must go off to work. Hopefully within the next few months I will have the house in order and decorated how I want it. I have fallen in love with the used ottawa and kijiij sites:) My morning routine now consists of grabbing my coffee and searching the sites for the newest ads. This week I bought a pub height table and chairs in an espresso finish for my kitchen, and absolutely love it. It has some scratches and such, but I figure with my girls they will just add to them anyways. Tonight I am going to go pick up a treadmill. Really excited about this one. It will make it more easy to run when I cannot get out because the girls are home. I was running in the evening after work, but it is now getting darker much quicker as of late. So I am only getting a run in here and there..my level has definitely declined due to this. I am still hunting for a double loft bed, entertainment unit for my big screen tv and then perhaps I dining room set. My next goal will be going through my stuff and putting it up for sale. I have tons of baby stuff and clothes coming out of my ying yang:)

On a creative note, I actually went and tried to put away some of my scraping supplies from when I went away in April. I also went and visited a scrap site online too. Who knows...maybe I will get back into doing it. I figure maybe exposing myself slowly back to it will maybe make me want to do it again..lol...that or I will seriously have to think about selling alot of stuff;) Perhaps in Jan. I will have more time to think about it since I will be off of work for 3 months.

On another note...we were asked to go to Cuba in Nov. The neighbours and some of their friends are heading down there. We can go for $2400 7 nights all inclusive for the 4 of us...which is a pretty darn good price. The girls would have a blast with all the other kids. The only thing John is not too keen about is that it is in Nov when it is not too cold yet. I did remind him we started having snow in October last year:) I think the only thing really keeping us from jumping on and going is that we will be going to Florida for 2 weeks in March. We will see. John keeps on joking with me about it..so who knows...maybe we can wait and get a even better last minute deal:)

Well I blabbed enough for now...time to tackle things around here!

Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey.

It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived.

Quite some time has definitely passed, and with it I am definitely cherishing every moment.Family life has definitely been very hectic with very little breaks. Abigail has finished with yet another year of school and will be heading into grade 5 in September. Hadley graduated from a little pre-school program and is well prepared to enter into JK. She adores her teacher and gets excited to see her out and about in town. The past few weeks has seen Hadley to blossom into a very outgoing little girl. She is chatting up a storm with anyone these days. A little social butterfly.

Sadly we had to say our final goodbyes to John's grandma a week and a half ago. She will definitely be sadly missed but never forgotten. She holds a large part in all of our hearts. SO with her passing we found ourselves down Cottam way. It was nice to have the whole family together, only wish it was for happier circumstances.

Work is going well. I think we are all starting to get into a routine of things now. I am collecting more hours, and hopefully can stay that way for July. I really enjoy getting out and going through the entire process involved in selling a home, to the finished project. I think I am fitting in well. My boss has told me how happy he is to have me on board, how he feels secure knowing I am on the job. I definitely became full of pride there:) Last Thursday John and myself attended my first job function.....a boat cruise on the Ottawa river. We had a nice dinner, drinks and casino fun.

Our pool is finally in. There still needs tro be some repairs done, but we are able to swim in it. Hadley began by hanging off of us, and now she goes in all by herself with floaties on. She is a little fish! The girls are loving the pool. I have even been in it quite a bit, shocking to JOhn. I have enjoyed having it here after I finished my runs. Still keeeping up with it and can run a couple kms without a break, just need to get passed that now. I think I am running too quick of a pace and need to slow it down a bit. All that really matters though is I am running.

The girls are still busy with soccer 3 nights a week. Ab cut of all her hair and is donating it to Locks for Love. She had about 13 inches taken off. She now has a cute little bob..I still need to take a photo of the new do. Oh I am now a lifetime member with weight watchers. I have gotten down to my goal and then a little bit. It took me a full 3 years almost(off and on of course) but I did it!

Well that will be all for now...really tired, and I have to start work early tommorrow, and Ab is going away for a week, so I have to make sure she is packed fully.

Here is our latest family photo, taken when we were down in Cottam

So..........

I have definitely been lacking in the blogging world as of late. Things are still in a bit of turmoil. Onto week three of the new job and the family is slowly starting to get use to the change of routine, though this week things have definitely been put to the test. Soccer has now started which means 3 days out of the week John and the girls must have diner, homework done, and out of the house by 6:15 to make it to their games. Thankfully I will be able to catch the last half of the girls soccer. It would have saddened me if I could not see any of it. Hadley looked adorable in her oversize uniform on Monday. It also appears that she has a knack for the game. She definitely has a good kick. I missed Ab last night, but she was happy because she was goalie for the entire game(she grabbed her sister's cleats instead of her own so all she had were her crocs to wear) and they won 4-0.

I have had to put the running aside for the past week and some. It appears that I have the common "runner's knee" injury. Which means my knee cap went off track and now the knee aches horribly. I have been icing it, taking ibuprofen an now have a patellar sleeve to keep the knee cap in line. I hope to try and ease back into the running within the next few days. Still nothing done in the creative side. By the time I come home from work, I am just too tired to do anything, and my mornings consist of doing all the needed housework. Speaking of which I have a ton of laundry to get put away and some bathrooms which need scrubbing. I just realized the time and I will soon be heading to work and I have yet to shower....

..dogs ages

...well it simply has been a dogs age since I posted anything on this blog. Things have been busy in the Gibbs household. As I wrote in my last post that there was possible changes on its way....well they have come. Just before Easter weekend I took the plunge, did up a resume(not an easy task since I have not done one up in ah....almost 13 years) and applied for a job with Corvinelli Homes. I interviewed a few weeks ago(and told no one about it....did not want to jinx myself) and then went on my merrily way. I really thought that I did not get it since quite some time went by since the interview. But then last week, I got the call and was offered the job. I beat 5 other applicants...woohoo... So what does my job entail....a little of everything. I will be doing sales, admin work, scheduling, a small publishing project, design(helping clients pick out their exterior and interiors). It is a part time position where I work 4-7 on evenings(mind you I did not get out last night until 7:45 last night) and will do every few weekends. I will also have to cover the other day shift when the other employee cannot do them. So far there are 4 weeks where I will be doing that. It looks like I may also have a Tuesday day shift(we are still trying to figure out all the scheduling) Now this is only a seasonal job which means it will run till the middle of Nov. Then I will be layed of and brought back next April. Right now it is taking a bit of shuffling around and trying to get someone to watch Hadley every once in a while..It will be much better once she is in school full time in the next few years(yes I am hoping to stay in this position for sometime). Must admit I am only into the middle of the week and I am a wee bit tired. It does not help that I have come down with an awful cold(what a way to start a job huh) Hopefully by next week I will feel more on top of things. I am not the only one feeling the shift of things. It is now up to John to deal with the girls after school and to cook the dinner...(must admit it is nice to come home and not have to do that...though I am trying to get things done before I go to work in the afternoon...which is not easy with Hadley constantly sneaking out of the house...so I am running after her more that anything else)...Hadley is also having a wee bit of a hard go. I went to take her to get watched from a friend and she would not let me go....this was a first time ever...I think it is just a real big change for her and within a few weeks she will be better. So right now I am feling like I was just thown into the water and I either sink or swim(no real training given...though I have been through this as a client when I built so I have a bit of an idea as to how things go) I am content.

On a creativity note..I went away to NavCan a few weekends ago and worked on a few things with nothing really accomplished. I think things will definitely be on a hiatus until we get our new schedule in place. I am sure I will get back to it soon...I can never leave it for too long.

Well today will be a busy day of trying to clean, wait for our pool to be delivered and then off to work.

L8R;)

OMG....

I cannot believe in a few hours I will be a mom to a 10 yr old...... how quickly time flies by. She is a pretty lucky girl, for at school tommorrow is their easter dance. So in a way she can celebrate her birthday with all of her friends. Then in the evening she will be going to guides and we will be sending cupcakes along for everyone to enjoy.

Things have been pretty chaotic around here. John's grandma has gotten a wee bit better, though she is still in the hospital. She is now talking eating and doing physio daily. John's mom arrived here last night to help Ab clebrate her birthday. She will stay with us till next Tuesday. On friday Ab will be having a sleepover with her 2 best friends..I am looking forward to finally doing just a simple small party. It will be just pizza, nachos, DQ cake, popcorn and movies. Then on Saturday we will be heading out to a local suger bush to partake in an easter egg hunt. Should be a blast. Our neighbours and also Ab's best friend's family will be attending. I just hope it is not too muddy. Then we will be having family and perhaps some friends over on Sunday for a big Easter dinner and birthday celebration which will include more cake. NOt too sure what Monday has in store for us...perhaps a bit more home reno stuff. Speaking of which...we finally went out last weekend and ought a pool. By the end of May we should have a 24' pool installed in our backyard...woohooo.

We are finally just getting over the nasty rotavirus...I would say it has hit our house middle of March and I was the last to be hit with it. It did not matter how much disinfecting I was doing, it just seemed to stay around. Our poor neighbours are now plagued with it. Here is hoping this is the last of it.

I have been on a bit of a creative hiatus as of late. There just seems to be too much other stuff going on right now, and to be honest I am just not feeling it. I think I just need a little break from it all.

It was a pretty good weight loss week. I went down 2.5 pounds. I am sure the running had something to do with it. I ran 5 kms one day and then almost 4 another last week. I have been lacking in the exercise department this week..this cold and snow just does not help. Who wants to run when it is cold and windy...not me. Hopefully I will get in a couple runs though by weekends end. So for the weight loss I am now within my range and I can set on becoming a lifetime member....which means no more paying...yippeee...of course I still on plan on striving to loose another 10 or so pounds.

Other changes may be happening in the life department, but I will talk about those later on sometime.

Now I must go sleep...very tired here..thank god tommorrow is the end of the week for school and work:)

been MIA...

Well I have not been around on the www much since my last post. I must say it feels really nice to take a break from it all. Last week John was home on holidays and we tackled a bit of home reno's. We(well John..lol) laid a tile floor down on our basement stir landing(that would be the sideways pic...forgot to rotate it) We still have to finish putting up the corner round and painting the one wall. We will also be carpeting each individual stair and have oak risers( I felt the carpet was needed for slip factor with all the kids that go up and down them). OUr next project to tackle was the kitchen backsplash. I choose to do it in a tumbled travertine with a travertine/marble mosaic tile to accent. I am extremely pleased as to how it turned out. I finished up the last bit of it yesterday afternoon. We have 3 out 5 of our basement doors put up(just waiting for the other 2 to come in) and they are still waiting for me to finish painting them( I have one coat done so far) I am really wanting to finish our inside projects so we can start on the outside ones. Hopefully by the end of this week we will have a pool bought so we can have it installed by end of May. We are also wanting to do interlock in the front walk and perhaps fencing and decking in back.

I have been lacking on my running as of late and I definitely have a love/hate relationship with my weight loss progress. It is definitely not going as well as I hoped.

We have been plagued with more bad news. On this past Sunday night John's Grandma has had a massive stroke(in my opinion) and as of last night she was still unresponsive. I am awaiting any news of changes as we speak. After telling Ab you could see the hurt in her. My grandma's death last month definitnely saddened her and she was not as close to her as she is to Gram. I cannot believe how incredibly strong my girls are through everything that is happening in the past month. Abigail is definitely showing maturity(at times..of course) and I can see her as the 10 year old that she will becoming next week. So now all we can do is pray and know it is within god's hands. Here is a photo of them from our last visit at christmas time.

So with all that is happening, I think I will be MIA for a while longer. Emotions are just everywhere right now, and both scrapping nor computer is on my mind as of late. I am hoping to go out for a run tonight just to help me put everything in check.

Day 2, and a layout.....

Well I did my second run yesterday. It was an absolutely beautiful day to go do it also. I started with a brisk warm up walk for 5 minutes, I then would jog for 1 minute and then walk for 1 1/2 minutes for a total of 20 minutes and then just did another cool down walk around the block. I ran for a total of just a little bit over 2.5 kms. This is amazing for me. I have never liked running, and pretty much sucked as it..lol...but yesterday even though it was tough at times, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and cannot wait to go out and run again. Found this cool website mapmyrun after seeing Donna Downey write about it on her blog. It is the coolest site ever. I can map out my runs and it will tell me the distance of them, I can also see other maps of people in town who have mapped theirs. It keeps track of all my workouts, calories burned, weight...etc... I am very determined to stick with this, in hopes of maybe doing a run sometime in the future. I have finally decided I am going to do myself right. Sure weight loss is great but my body needs to be stronger. So my next run will be tommorrow. I am going to sit down soon and try to make up a training schedule....I picked up a book today to help me with easing into the running and all the ins and outs of it.

Now onto the layout. I actually had this finished the other day, just did not get around to taking a picture of it. Nothing special, but it is a page done.

I started playing around with something that I wanted to do as a home decor project, but it is not working out as well as I hoped, perhaps I will gain some patience to do it today.

KISS ME, I'm Irish....

......er .....well....I have a little bit of Irish somewhere in me. My ancestors did start off in Ireland before they planted their roots in Scotland. Heck...are'nt we all Irish on this festive day;)

May the Irish hills caress you.

May her lakes and rivers bless you.

May the luck of the Irish enfold you.

May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

~Irish Blessing

So here is a little funny for the morning. I was trying to explain st. patty's to Hadley this morning and why we were going to wear green and such. As we make our way downstairs she says when is Sponge Bob day since today was Patrick's day..LOL...my daughter watches way too much spongebob!!

So update on my weight loss journey..last night I was not firends with the scale...it said I went up 1.5 pounds. It deinitely did not help that hormones kicked in about 2 hours before I was to go and be weighed and I bloated up like a big balloon...ughhh...so now I am super determined to have a nice loss by next week. Today will be day 2 to my jogging routine, and I am very happy to see that it will be an absolute gorgeous day for it. I cannot wait for John to get home so I can go out and have my time. I am still a wee bit sore, but I love feeling it...it makes me know I have done something good for my body. Plus ...I will also not feel any guilt as I indulge in one or two of these this evening;)

On a creative note..I am almost finished my layout I was putzing with, and I think I am going to try and do up a little mixed media type project today....I have be wanting to do it for a while now, so hopefully today I will be successful.

Well must get dressed so I can take Abigail to her course today..it is either cpr or first aid...so glad to see her taking these...

Day 1 and a beautiful day .......

Today is the first day to a newer stronger and healthier me. I have taken the plunge and started on a new adventure. What adventure may that be.....the joys of jogging. Mind you I see no joy in this activity yet..lol. This is how I hope to look sometime in the future as I run my way through the neighbourhood streets.....the graceful, this isn't so hard look....

Yet today I believe I may have looked a little like this....I have come to the quick realization that this will be definite baby steps to get to doing any type of distance running. My lungs are in need of some serious training. I was able to run down one street and a bit of the bikepath before I was going to die. Thank god for my mp3 to help push me along my way. One thing I know for sure is I will definitely be investing in a good pair of shoes..so if anyone has any recommendations of some..let me know.

Today I have also decided to put in my contacts and start getting use to wearing them once again. Now that the sun is shining, I really want the ease of just putting on any ol' pair of sunglasses. I hate having to change out my glasses for my prescription sunglasses and then back again once I venture inside. I do not remember it being so odd to wear them in my younger years. Pregnancy over the years definitely changes things. I think baby steps will be involved in this process also.

After lunch I will be running to the sotre to quickly pick up some well needed items and then I will be doing a little bit of this.......................................................but my paint will be white.

John was successful enough to hang 3 of the doors in the basement yesterday, so I will be painting them today so that we can put on the hardware for them. He will also be putting up the trim around the windows and doors, but first he needs to go out and buy it. Then all will be left are the 2 doors to the office and a storage area to go up...they should be ready to pick up in a week and some...we needed to special order these. Then it will be onto flooring.

Nothing creative to show today, but I may have another layout to show by tommorrow if I get a chance to finish it off.

bits and pieces.....

Well it took about 3 days of sneaking in little creative breaks(otherwise meaning sneaking a moment away from Hadley..lol) to get this layout done. I absolutely loved this photo of Hadley, so I printed it out to 8 1/2 x 12 so that I could scrap it. My first thoughts were to do a single page, but I am really happy with the double page I did instead. I rarely do double page layouts...I really should do more of them. I have another page that I would like to get done, yet I am sure it will take me a few days to get it done also. Unfortunately by the time Hadley is gone to bed and I have no distractions, I am just too tired to work on anything.

So tommorrow I will be attending another wake. One of my great Uncle's died from a massive heart attack on Monday morning. It definitely took everyone by suprise. He was only 63 years old. I do hope this is one of the last wakes I have to attend for some time.

March break is almost apon us. It really will not feel like the normal break though. I have signed Abigail up for a weeks worth of courses which run from 9-3:30. She will be taking a home alone, first aid, cpr, babysitting and a conflict resolution one. I am really excited to see what she takes from these courses. She is really excited also, so that is a bonus. Besides that, not too much going on during the week. John took off the next week and we plan on doing some home renovations during that time.

Thank goodness for crazy hair/pj day.......

Well, it has definitely been one of those hurried mornings. Let's start from last night. First off one woohoo moment, I had my weigh in last night and dropped 4lbs in my first week. Doubt I will ever see that again, but definitely made me want to get up and do more. I would be very happy if this week will be a 2 lb one. Anyways I got home and John and I played a few rounds of tennis on the wii, then moved to a a game of golf(since I got a littel to over zealous and hit John as I was swinging for the ball...who knew you did not have to run to the ball..lol). After that I had to stop and go to bed for this spring ahead is just killing me....I would never thought it would, I mean I have kids and use to do shift work...it is not foreign to me to have any type of sleep routine..lol. Anyways I go up stairs to check on the girls and shut off their lights. As I walk into Hadley's room I am hit with this awful stench. I am going around the room smelling everything wondering what it is. Well thinking maybe she did something in her pull up, I get closer to her, and I go to move her blanket and what do I see......PUKE...everywhere. It looked like she did it several times. The kicker is she is sound asleep all the while covered from head to toe in it. This is the first time she has ever puked in her life...I am quite suprised she made it in life for 3 1/2 years without doing it....and to be not bothered with it. So I quickly get her out of bed and into the bathtub to have a quick bubble bath to wash some of it off of her. The poor thing was shaking like a leaf, and had no idea as to what all went wrong. So instead of going to bed we were bathing, changing sheets, cleaning walls and vacumming Hadley's room. We finally got her back into a clean bed and fast asleep were we all. So asleeep that I did not wake up till a bit after 8 this morning. Ab must be out of the house by 8:30 to get the bus. This is where I am so thankful that she had pj/crazy hair day today. All I had to do was get her out of bed, pack a quick lunch, feed her some breakfast and mess up her hair a bit more and off she went. She was in heaven:) Thankfully Hadley seems to be okay this morning, not a huge appetite, yet there is no fever and signs of tummy aches. Hopefully it will be a quiet day, and I can get some scrapbooking done. I have 2 layout ideas in my head that I want to try and get done. Crossing fingers I can do it.

some new art....

A little while ago I came across this piece of art by Niro Vasali that immediately caught my eye. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to reproduce the look of it for the house. Instead of just painting it though, I wanted to make it more of a mixed media piece and add some different textures to it.So this is the canvas I made which now hangs in our kitchen. I painted nine different coloured squares to start. I then added some houses...one which was a textured handmade paper, a house cut out of an old encyclopedia, a chipboard covered with crackle paint and a metal g, a house cut from fabric and stitched along with a felt word with some stitching to it and the final textured house is made of a thin metal with a saying stamped into the tin with paint and alcohol inks on it. I then just painted the remaining houses onto the squares. Did some detail work with oil pastels and that is it. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I cannot wait to work on my next little canvas..I just hope my idea translates well onto the canvas. Perhaps I will try and do it later this weekend if some time permits.

Phrase in the metal says "fill a house with love and it becomes a home".

I also finally snapped a picture of my journal entry for the letter "d"-"decide". Not too much too this entry...watercolurs, glimmer mist, masked of the letters, did a photo transfer and some oil pastels. Now I must try and work on "e-elude". I have a thought in my mind so hopefully it will come about quickly.

No new scrap pages. I really should get to scrapping some. I just have found myself content in doing little pieces of art lately. I have so many ideas I want to try, that I just do not want to stop playing with art supplies. I actually have to start preparing for my art/scrap project that I plan on doing at nav can...

Well that is all for tonight....I am about ready for bed...night.

..journey of the heart

So I was commissioned to do a piece of artwork a little while ago, and I finally finished it up this morning. I was kind of given an idea as to the basis of the work and I went from there. It is done on an 8 x10 piece of masonite with the boy and girl drawn and painted with watercolours on watercolour paper and then hand cut out. The shirt and dress was made from pattern paper. I was a littel dissapointed withmy heart though. I think I put on too many layers of paint. Because I did the heart on lined paper and then stamped journey of the heart all over it and then painted over it. I was hoping the bbeswax would soak through and have those lines and words pop through. Live and learn for next time right. I then stamped the bottom with the journey of the heart phrase and beeswaxed it all to mute it all down...plus it gives off the most deliscious smell:) I then finished it off with some small mirror squares scattered around the canvas. All and all I am quite pleased how it turned out.

I have also finished my journal entry for the letter "d" I just have to snap a photo of it sometime soon.

This morning I did a bit of internet surfing to get some home decor ideas. We have now been in the house for 7 months, and I really want to start putting those finishing touches up. I think I have desided to put up travertine tiles as my kitchen backspash and now just debating if I want to add a decorative strip of glass tiles in with it. I am also mulling over what I will do above my fireplace..it is a huge mantel..probably 5 1/2 feet wide by 2 1/2 feet deep. The fireplace is all stone with the mantle being a dark chocolate oak. I htink I am going to make a great big mirror and then find some really big accessories in creams and moss green. I have come to the conclussion that I want the old brought back into my home. I have always loved antiques and have a few throughout that w have picked up or were passed through the generations. A while back I tried to do the more modern but really it just is not me. So my compromise is mixing the two..I really like that look together. So now I am going to start scouring around for some cool shabby looking things that I can embellish the new house with:) I will first start by going through all the things I have already that have not yet been unpacked and see if I can use them..I may need to change a few things up, nothing a good coat of paint will not do:) I also have a few canvas projects stirring in my head that I would like to do up. I cannot wait to see everything finally finished around here.

....great night

So tonight was the night to put in all the paperwork and meet teachers and such for the start up of junior kindergarten. Most of the stuff was nothing new sincew we are already familiar with the school. We did get to see who one of the english teachers are(since that has changed since Ab) and she seems really nice. The french teacher cannot believe that she will have Hadley join her in the fall..she kept on saying how she remembers her just being born. Now here is one of the great things that happened. The family centre does special programs to get the kids prepared for school and this year they are doing it at our school. So starting every Friday on April 3rd, Hadley will be going to school for the morning where they can become accustomed to the kindergarten room and some of the routines which will be done. This will run till middle of June.....whoohoo...so every friday I will have from 9am till 11:30 to myself...I will have to get a list of projects that I want to do so I can tackle them on those mornings. I was also impressed withthe kindercare program and hearing how structured it really is. It sounds like the kids that get to attend this really come out well in their schooling. It saddens me that I could not have given Ab that chance nor Hadley now. Cost is definitely an issue with that. I know at the time it started when Ab was in jk it was pretty pricey. I am sure my girls will turn out just fine none the less:)

...getting back on track

Well I finally did it! I went last night and rejoined Weight Watchers....and thank god I did. The weight was definitely starting to creep up on me since the last time I was with WW well over a year ago. I have just left my BMI range and not too happy with that. With the sale of the house, building of the new house and the move, helathy habits seemed to just fly out that window as the stress came in and made itself at home. The past little while I have been noticing the weight slowly come back. Unfortunately for me also, it just has to be a mere few pounds and it shows on my small frame..ugh.. SO the goal is to be bathing suit ready for the summer..I mean if I am going to get a pool with neighbours so close by, I need to feel comfortable. It is just not how I look though. I am starting to feel it physically. I am feeling tired alot more, and hate to have that feeling. Now just watching what I eat is not the only thing I will have to do. I really must include exercise. I really want to try to take up jogging. I always hated running, even as a kid...but I want to be able to get cardio into my routine, where it is not going to cost me anything. I am just have to embrace the fact of when I first start running I am going to have jiggly bits(ie my butt) but those will not be there always...if I keep it up they too will go away. As soon as warmer weather comes I will start up this new adventure, until then I will just have to become great friends with my Wii and run in my family room:)

Another big thing happening today is the finishing of registering Hadley to school. Tonight John and I attend a meeting at the school and hand in all our finished paperwork. Tell me..where did all the time go by...I blink my eyes and she goes from a baby to big girl. Though I am a wee bit sad to see this time come, I must admit I am a bit excited to have some time in the house without any kids. I will now be able to get some much needed things done around here without an interruption every 10 minutes;) Well off I go to start our day, kids need to be awoken, dressed and fed, and then of course a lunch must be made before I tote the girls off to school..another frigid day here...really too frigid for Ab to walk all the way to the bus stop without freezing.

total sweetness...and then some

First I will start with the sweetness part and then I will follow with the creative other. For 99% of the time when a camera comes out, either Ab will be running to hide or having a miserable look come over her face. Well this Saturday evening I believe neither happened not once. After dinner we finally went over to meet the newest member of the family...little baby "Joshua". The girls were so excited. As soon as the girls saw him their faces beamed with delight. Both the girls kept on wanting to hold him and show him their stuffed toys throughout the evening. We could not even leave without Abigail holding Josh just one more time. SO do not take my word for it, here are some cute shots. I cannot wait to scrapbook some of these soon...just hopefully I have some blue paper..lol..not use to have boys around.

Now for the creative part of this post. A while ago I did up a micro mini album of this past halloween. I bought some little halloween playing cards which came in a plastic holder and thought...this would be a cool album. It measures a little under 2"x3". I painted up the clear container and embellished the front of it. I then used one of the playing cards as the front of my album and cut my papers and photos the same size/shape as the card. I must admit the glueing and such was very tedious...and thank god for un-du and my adhesive eraser:) I am pretty happy how this turned out.

out of the mouth of babes......

Within the past two very long days, a few of Hadley's comments have made me chuckle. As we were pulling into the cemetary Abigail was saying how much she had to pee. Once out of the car as we were waiting to walk up to the grave Abigail once again stated her need to use the washroom, with me replying you will just have to wait a wee bit longer. Then here comes Hadley chiming in...."Ab, you have to learn to hold your pee inside your bum...me do that..my pee is staying in my bum"..lol. Then this morning as we are on our way to get Celia from the kennel, we are driving a bumpy gravel road. Hadley then goes, "hey mom, watch the bumps. I am trying to pick my nose because I have boogers. See(insert her sniffing her nose)....

We have made it home from our whirlwind trip about 10 last night. All of us went straight to bed and there was not a peep heard from anyone. It killed me trying to get up this morning. We did manage to all get up and dressed, a lunch made for Ab and her off to school(hopefully she makes it through the day with no melt downs due to being tired) and then Hadley and I off to get Celia. Now the dog is going nuts due to being so happy to be home and Hadley off playing on her computer. All I want to do is sleep. I cannot believe how tired I feel. Hopefully coffee number 2 will soon perk me up. I am holding off on getting a third one until I get some food in me...otherwise I will be shaking like a leaf with all the caffeine. Then it will be off to do some very needed housecleaning. I could knit a sweater with all the cat/dog hair around on the floors and some of the furniture. SO this will be my goal..just to vaccum. Then it will be a nice quiet afternoon (crossing fingers) of either catching up with my book or watching a movie.

with death comes life....

There is an old irish proverb that says ....

"When death comes it will not go away empty."

That is exactly how I am seeing it at this very moment. With the loss of my grandmother from our family, we will now be gaining a new member within our family in the very short future. As of this morning my sister has begun to go into labour, and is in the hospital at this very moment awaiting the arrival of her baby son Joshua. I want to thank everyone who sent out their condolences to me.....I truly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart! Well I should go off and finish my packing and other stuff so that we will be ready to head out to Toronto in the morning.

sad news this evening.....

I just got home from shopping in the city to hear that my grandmother passed away at 7:30pm this evening. It was a little bit unexpected. She went into the hospital a few weeks ago with an unknown infection, which they finally diagnosed last week and were treating her. She started to come back from it, or so it appeared. Though 2 weeks ago I thought that this might have been the end. I do believe that she is now in a happier place along side with my grandfather. For the past few years her dementia was overcoming her, and she just was not who I remembered her as. So we will be heading down to Toronto on Monday to be there for the wake in the late afternoon and her funeral will be on Tuesday. Here is one of the last pictures that I have of my grandmother. This is when they met Hadley for the first time. This was actually the one and only time my grandfather saw her because he died just a little over a month after this visit.

layout share....

So I finally got this one layout I have been working on for the past week. I would literally sit at it for 5 minutes at a time and then walk away..lol..then last night I made myself just sit down and do it. I do hope the title makes sense somewhat to others....instead of marksman I played on the word and used marksgirl. The glimmer mist did not turn out how I invisioned it..I wanted more of a paint ball like splat, and I will also have to try and flatten out my layout. Once the mist dried it totally curled up my paper. I never had that happen to me till now. Today is a busy day of laundry(a good six loads..where does it all come from....grrr...mind you I am doing all three beds worth of bedding also), cleaning up the kitchen and running to the store to get more paint for Ab's school project. I am also hoping to go down and do a wee bit of creating in the late afternoon.

cards...

yes folks you heard me right I said cards. Now why did I say cards...because I made some! Not one, not two, but yes three. Believe it or not, I also made them in not time. Mind you they are fairly simple. SO for valentines day all my loves got their very own card. They also realized how much of a gesture this was from me since I rarely do a card...lol... I asked Ab do I ever make cards and she goes "NOOOO" so I tell her ...see how special you guys are to me then..I made you cards. Well enough with the suspense here they are...sorry for craappy pic but I took it late at night therefore meaning awful lighting.

I was able to do a quick bit of shopping yesterday and spent a wee bit..shhh don't tell anyone;)...on a scrapping side I goot some chipboard letters a few sets of stamps and some peeboo paint. On the art side I picked up some masonite canvases, gesso, raw canvas, gel medium, fabric, beeswax and a paint brush. Stay tuned within the next few months to see a little project I plan to do with some of these art supplies..I plan on doing it up at my scrapping retreat in April...it will be a mixed media/scrapbooking type project. I plan to prep everything within the next month and bit, so all I have to do is put it together on the weekend.

Well today is family day..not much of a family day when one person still has to work..lol..I suggested him taking it off, but this week he will be busy in all the preparations needed to do in bringing the president of the USA here on Thursday. I cannot complain though, he is back in the position where he loved, and plus the overtime pay does not hurt..lol...Plus he will be trying to take off some time before April 1st(he has over 2 weeks of vacation to use up)I am hoping we do basement reno's during that time:) Anyways back to today...so far the girls are playing good..each one of them are on a different computer playing in Webkinz world with their new webkinz they got from Grandma for Vday. I can now see Hadley wanting more of these since she is becoming a little pro on the computer/internet. Later I think we will try and go to McDonalds with the neighbour and her 2 girls. They can burn all their energy off at the play place.

love is in the air....

Happy love day to all! Well I am a wee bit of a goof. I awoke this morning and went downstairs in my normal "autodrive" with Hadley. I was on a mission to get Hadley some cold medicine. I placed some items on a stool beside my peninsula part of cupboards and proceeded to the fridge to get her medicine. We successfully completed mission "medicine", and then I grumpily went to the coffee make to make my much needed "juice"(this is one tedious task I really hate to do...I do it every morning during the week and love it when John does it on the weekends) I teased him earlier to go do it, and he responded coyly with..well maybe it is done...with me saying ya right. Well I went and lifted the lid of the coffeemaker, seeing that fresh grounds were sitting ready to go. Seriously people..this is the greatest gesture anyone can do for me. As I saw this, I could feel the huuge smile envelop my face and my heart growing 10 times bigger. I fell in love with John once again:) Well as I am doing this I see something out of the corner of my eye, and Hadley exclaims gllefully...flowers mommy. What is sitting right beside me and one would have to be bling not to see it...3 vases full of longstem red roses for myself and the girls. A dozen for me and then another dozen to be shared between Ab and Hadley. So as you can see I was truly in autodrive...I looked right at them and did not see them..lol. I was totally not expecting anything from John, so that gesture once again had made my heart grow several more sizes(I am starting to feel like the grinch) After this post I hope to run downstairs and make the 3 of them some simple cards...which all of you know that I am not a huge card making fan so that is a huge "i love you" gesture on my part :) I meant to do it earlier this week and just did not get the time to do it. So here is a pic of our yummy flowers.

Now I did try and scrap yesterday, but did not get too far. Why is it that I can have 2 racks full of pattern paper, but cannot find the right piece to scrap with. Or I do and I do not want to use it, because what if I have a better photo to scrap with that paper and I only have one piece left and it is an older paper so I could not find it easily if I want more of it...LOL...I so need to get out of that mindset....seriously....

Anyways not much on the agenda today. Hadley is feeling sick with a cold , thankfully she has no gymnastics...which I am liking...no running out the door this am. I hope to run to a little gift store here in town, she is closing her doors and is selling off everything..she had some nice old shelves and such that held all her products on. Then I will be making a v day dinner of crab, shrimp, cheese fondue for us to enjoy. Tommorrow I hope to get to Home depot to order my dooors for all the rooms in the basement and maybe look at some ceramic tiles to do the landing with.

Well off to create...smooches to all!!!

"rainy days"

It is both a rainy day outside today and in the art piece I have to showcase. As I let the dog out to do her buisness I stepped out onto the deck and what do I smell....spring. With all this rain outside it has brought on the earthy smell of spring. It was such an awesome smell to overwhelm my senses. I do realize though that it is just a little tease that mother nature has to offer. For by tommorrow this smell will yet be frozen over with all the rain that is falling today. As long as it is not to cold I will be alright with that. On a good point the girls ice rink next door will have a nice new surface to skate apon. And of course winterlude should be perfect. I was hoping to maybe attend it at some point this weekend, mind you that all depends if Ab gets her project finished in a timely manner.

Now onto the art portion of this post. This is a small mixed media canvas I was working on eraly this week. I am debating whether or not I want to apply beeswax to it. I think if I find the time I will. The best part of the beeswax is the smell that comes with it. The art piece then not only becomes pleasing to ones sight, but also ones smell. You just wan to eat it up, it smells so delish;) I have a few neccessary chores I need to get done today, and then I hope to do a little bit of scrapping. Unfortunately for me to be able to scrap, I will have to tidy up my studio..blech...I hate having to clean up there..especially when all I want to do is create:)

a few phot recaps.....

I quickly made up some storyboards with some photos from a few events from the past 2 months. The fist is showcasing the flower bouquet made from baby socks, hats and mitts and the diaper cake I made. John had to take that last photo of the diaper cake with a diaper on a dessert plate with a fork.
This one is of us when we went skiing last week. The photos are not the best, especially the one of Hadley, because I had our really old crappy point and shoot. It would take forever just to take a photo. I really need to invest in a good point and shoot for times like this when I cannot lug around the big DSLR.

Then here are a few shots of me getting a few pointers on the pole at sexapalooza. One vital thing I found out is pleather boots and the pole do not mix..lol..trying to spin around was a wee bit of a challenge because I had to make sure my boots did not catch along the pole. I defintiely want to do some classes with this..apparently it is a good workout.So today I am home at home with both girls. Ab has been run down with a cold so I thought I would let her stay home and veg abit. I usually send her off but I know how it feels when you are run down, plus there is so much going around in the schools, she does not need to pass anything more on. I have some moving of things around today in the basement. We bought a new tv last week so we have moved the old bigscreen down to the basement for the kids. So I have a few things tro move around so we can wire it all up and then I can bring up the smaller one to our bedroom. I would also like to do a bit more painting/mix media today if I can...we will see about that one though since the studio needs a major clean-up.

Stay tuned...exciting new things coming!

OK, so did I get your attention;) It may not be too exciting for you all, but new things are always good for me..lol...SO I am getting a wee bit bored with my blog and I am in the process of changing things up. I finally have relaoded my photoshop so I can now get down to buisness and gussy this thing up. As you can see above I am creating some link buttons to take you to my gallery or resume and such, so now I can clear up some of my sidebar area with my slideshow and such. I have a new feature to the left...a seach engine to search my blog. Enter any key word..ie layout...and all enteries will come up that valid for that search. I imagine this will take me a few days, so please be patient as I work things out. Now off to work!

"CLEARLY"

So the third word for my ABC a year in the life art journal is clearly. I once again had a awesome time just being able to play. This one was a quick one to do up. Not alot of techniques put into it, but really happy how it turned out none the less. Enjoy!

I feel so very OLD today!!

We had an absolute day up on the slopes skiing yesterday. The morning consisted of some testing to see if the kids are capable of getting on the chair lift to go on the bigger hills. John spent the few hours trying to give Hadley the basics as he walked up the hil and helped her go down. I did my parent duties and helped a few out going up and down the "bunny" hills and sending them to the correct stations. After lunch the reall fun began. Ab passed all her levels and I took up a group of girls on the lift. We started down the hill, and I once again fell in love with skiing. I definitely did not forget how to do it, nor was I frightened in the least. Ab did ok the first bit down and then she refused to listen to me and snowplow or try and do large turns. She just plowed straight down the hill. That was enough for me and I told her I would not go up with her again since she does not listen to me. She also decided she was not yet ready and stuck with the rope tow hills. So with that being said we checked out Hadley's process. I was able to take her up on the little tow(...and that is why my arms are killing me!It took everything I had just to get us up to the top of the tow....)It was very awkward to do.Once we got up there she wanted no help and wanted to barrell down the hill. SHe really did not do too bad. She had a blast. JOhn and her then did a bit of skiing together and I went up and did a few runs before the end of the day. I loved it and so wnat to do it more. The only things now is, my body is definitely telling me how out of shape it is. My knees are killing me everytime I go up stairs an my entire body just has an allover ache.

my first attempt at beeswax

Well I completed my first mixed media project where beeswax is concerned, and let me tell you the video on how to do it looks so much easier..lol. MInd you I did use just a melted down beeswax candle, so perhaps it is not the same thing or maybe they added an additive to it(though I thought they would not of since it came from a honey place). So I will say a little about my piece. First off it is totally inspired by a mixed media artist named Wyanne Thompson(her work is stunning). I first drew out this girl onto watercolour paper and then painted her in with watercolours, crayons and acrylics. I then cut out a dress from pattern paper and applied it ot her. I then cut her out completely and set her aside. I then started painting my canvas. I used acrylics, watercolours, dropped rubbing alcohol onto the paints to help resist, and sprayed with glimmer mist. I cut out pieces from an old book to make the tree. I painted hearts onto a vintage ledger page and hand cut out. I hand cut flowers, blades of grass from pattern paper and also cut out the mushroom and squirrel from a vintage paper. Oh I also drew and painted the snail onto watercolour paper and cut it out. I then applied everything to the canvas. SO this is what is looked like pre beeswax.

I then melted my candle and with a brush, applied the beeswax. It really did not penetrate the papers at first. I then had to iron it out to make it smooth. This is why it was a wee bit tricky. The wax wanted to pool into the middle of the canvas(I used just one of the canvas boards and it seems to be not completely flat.) I also put some glitter onto the canvas in a wind swept type of swirl, but it ended up just spreading everywhere..live and learn right:) SO here is the finished project. It was definitely a learning process and I cannot wait to try it some more. I think my most favourite part was drawing the girl. The funniest part was when Ab sits beside me to see what I was doing and says "hmm this actually looks pretty good"..lol..my little art critic...she's not the only artistic one in the house;) lol

..on a creative streak!

Well I actually finished this layout on Friday morning. It is a very simple bare embellishment layout. I had to do this after the last jam packed one. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. All that was used was cs for the base, one strip of pattern paper that was sanded and folded up like ribbon and then stapled in place. the words hugs, kisses is flocked in light pink and then the ampersand is chipboard. I added a few glittered chipboard hearts, the date and a few squigggled lines(inspired by Katie, whom I learned she was inspired by someone else..lol) and that is it. A nice quick layout, I think I will do more of these:)Weekend was pretty busy with dinner with the girls Friday night, gymnastics and doing up favours and such for my sisters baby shower(will post photos of those soon) a sleepover for Ab and then off to the city for groceries on Sunday. Last night I started a mixed media project. I am painting up a 10x10 canvas and then I did a painting on watercolour paper and handcut it out. I am collaging pieces of pattern paper and old book paper. I hope to have this done today and will post later on once it is all dry.I am also hoping to try beeswax on this one...we will see:)

Well busy day ahead, we are all going down hill skiing tommorrow, so I have to pack everything up today. I cannot wait to see how Hadley does on skiis for the first time..and well it has been way to long since I have been on them, so she just may be better than I:)

..this one is for you Katie!

So I completely went out of my box on this one and wanted to do a vintage shabby like layout. It definitely took me some time to do, but in my defence there was lots of prep to do. For starters the playing card had to be aged..not an easy task since it had a gloss to it. I still have to be careful or my finger will leave a print on it by taking off some of the distress ink. I used grunge board for my title and found it turned out like an embossed leather after playing with different inks. The hinge and key are also made of the grungeboard. I received a sheet of store ledger in a vintage swap I was in and knew I had to use it since the surname on one of the customers is Adams(and this is my grandparents Surname)so I knew it was just for this page.Of course all my papers were distressed, crumbled, inked and sanded. The larger flowers are hand cut out from a pattern paper and then I curled and inked the edges to give more dimension, I cut out some of the stamen so they stick up somewhat and then I inked some prima stamen and inserted in the middle. I inked the leaves and they had wire in them so that they could be shaped and lifted from the page. I used a rusted tag(one of my first sb purchases years ago) and added the key, tag and pin. The centre of the biggest flower is of a vintage earring. I love the colour of the beads. Of course I had to add a wee bit of bling swirls also. I really enjoyed playing withthis, but I do believe my next layout will be more simple...this one took me 2 afternoons to do:) I do hope the title makes sense...in the thesauras it did say that kindred was same as family...I know you can say Kin, but to me that sounded to backwoods..lol..so I went with the entire form of kindred. I do hope you can click on the photo to see it larger for the details. I find it is a hit and miss when I put phots up on here..sometimes I can see the larger version and then other times not..hmmm..perhaps it is my computer...hopefully that is the case:) Enjoy..ps Katie..how did I do...did I nail the BG style somewhat;)

a creation.....tagged...& what not.....

So today was a snow day...has any one seen my mind, I lost it about..oh...at least 6 hrs ago...and to make it all worst, tommorrow is a pd day...who the heck makes a Thursday a pd day, I mean really. Thankfully John brought home all his work to work from home tommorrow, so we can tag team the parenting..lol. I actually did manage to do a layout..which I must admit was inspired by a good ol' web search...I will not say scraplift because once you start it really becomes one own..kwim...you see a layout and take bits and pieces of how the layout is arranged(ie photo placement and such) and then you add your own style. I reallt love the clean lines of it, and really think I will do this type of layout again...here it is...I used a bunch of manufacturers on this one..love elsie, 7 gypsies, making memories, heidi swapp, scenic route and a few goodies I received from a vintage swap I participated in. Talk about an old photo too huh...I really need to load up my ps and some of my photos from the external drive back on my machine so that I can do some editing and print off some new photos..I have not done this since oh..September...

So my loveable friend Katie has tagged me on her blog. The purpose of the tag is to go into your pictures folder, go into the 6th folder and pick out the 6th picture there and then give the story about it. So here I go..here is my photo:

So this is a real oldie:) It is taken in August of 2005 at the civilization museum in Hull. It is of Abigail(look how tiny she is...wow) anf her cousin Ronnie as they play a giant game of snakes and ladders. You can see John in the background kneeling by a bench..he is trying to call a bunny to him(what an awesome memory huh) So now I must tag someone, to do the same..I am tagging whoever reads this post...and let me know in the comments that you intend to do this so that I can go check out your blog;)

As for what nots....I am trying to figure out what to make on a cold snowy day like today for dinner. I am leaning towards warming up the homemade turkey soup and perhaps making sandwiches..we will have to see what the census is on that one:) I am hoping to work on another layout also tonight..I want to do a vintage shabby look..not too sure if I will be pullling it off..but I just feel like doing something different. That or I may just grab a glass of wine and warm up with a good book and hot bubble bath..we will see what wins out later.

"because"

so this is the second word for the ABC a year in the life art journal. I finished up this journal entry a few days ago, but just got around to taking a photo of it. Not totally in love with this one, but I had a chance to play with different mediums. So here it is....











Now I also have one more photo to post. Now how cute is this....Last night the two of them cuddled up on the couch with me. Sorry the phot is not the greatest..I prefered no flash, because the ones with the flash just washed out their colours:)

Today I am hoping to maybe scrapbook a bit. It has been one heck of a morning in our house today and I think I need the "me" time. But first I must do a wee bit more housework..ick..I swear it is never ending...before I can go off an play.

Oh I forgot to add that I have started the process of lighteneing my hair. Presently it is more of a light brown/dark blonde with copper tones to it. I could not lighten too much due to how dark I was to start..I did not want to fry my hair completely. I will add more blonde highlights in a month and half or so.

a little home decor

So I was inspired with the first project posted on the project 52 blog and thought this was the perfect time to try and do my framed art piece I was wanting to do months ago. It is very whimsical and I was just not too sure if I liked it in family room above the fireplace. But as I have seen it throughout the day it is kind of growing on me:) So I started with putting my word art wall phrase onot the glass of the frame. I then use various pattern papers, chipboard, crackle paint and acrylic paints, rhinestone swirls for chimney smoke, fabric for the curtains in the windows, coffee filters dyed with alcohol inks for the tree and some buttons, brads and acrylic shape(the bird) to embellish. So without further ado....here is my work.....

truly signs that we are in the tech age

So I have heard this come out of Hadley's mouth before but forgot to document it in any way. We drove Ab to school today due to it being once again frigid, and on our way home I figured I should check the mail since no one has done it yet this week. Well as we are coming into the house Hadley states to me..mom did you get e-mail...lol... any mail is e-mail to her. I had to explain to her how e-mail only comes through the computer and all the paper stuff that we get down the street is just called e-mail. I am sure in the not too long of a future, e-mail will be the only mail she will deal with...I mean most of our bills and such come that way already. Most mail these days is junk mail with the cheques that come once a month(have not gotten around to doing direct deposit..lol) and the occassional parcel.

a year of Art

I have become aware that this just may be the year of art for me:) I have just finished surfing the blogs of Pam Garrison and Rebecca Sower, and I am in love. I love all the collage"y" stuff they do with all the fabric and notions and such. Everything looks so tactile with all the textures! It is really funny how I love the look of all the shabby chic stuff yet I do not incorporate that into my home..lol...Maybe I will try and change that...at least a wee bit. We will see.
I am procrascinating big time today. I had a nice little visit with one of my neighbours sister(she is house sitting her house this week, so I told her to come over whenever)and now I should really be getting some well needed house cleaning done. I will get to it eventually. Perhaps if I vaccum and do a little laundry then it will be okay to take a break and maybe create a little something fun:)

Hadley had her first dentist cleaning yesterday(we forgot her appointment, but they were able to get us in later in the afternoon). They were shocked how well she was during it. Another big milestone for her is that she can skate all on her own without any help from a chair or us. She is a real natural to it. Ab is all excited because she gets to do an announcement in the morning at school on the PA system in regards to some book making club she is in. I love to see the excitement come over her face and hear it as she talks about doing it.

preserving myself....

...no I am not going to do plastic surgery or anything of the likes(mind you if I had the cash I would seriously think about it..lol). What I mean by preserve myself is this....I am going to try my best to take a self-portrait every week of this year. I have just come to realize that I have plenty of photo's of the girls and John, yet very little of me since i am usually the one behind the lense..heck I think there are more pictures of the dog and cat, then me. I am not too sure I will be able to keep up weekly, but even if I come out with just one photo a month I would be happy. I think I would also like to try and do some more family portraits instead of just doing the once a year ones at christmas..now I just have to work on ABigail behaving. I took at well over 100 this year..with really no suitable ones due to Ab's posture or looks...ugh...she is definitley getting that pre-teen attitude...just check out our family pic

Now back to the subject of me..lol..no I am not high on myself I just need a few opinions. I am looking foro a change and what easier way to receive an immediate one is through that of haircolour:) I am considering going blonde..not the bleach blonde..but more of the dirtyégolden type with perhaps some caramel like highlights throughout. What does one think....I am tired of the darker colour...I believe John is for it because he says..what will it hurt...it will grow out eventually..so I definitely took it as a yes....spew the opinions out guys...I am going to make an appointment for the end of the month.

Now onto proud mommy moment. Saturday marked the day of activites once again started including the dreaded gymnastics for Hadley. Now I say dreaded because past classes consisted of her not listening and me chasing after her. Well on Saturday she listened and did every activity to the tee...it was the most stress fee wonderful class yet. Crossing fingers that it stays that way. On Sunday we spent a family day together and part of that included skating. It was the 3rd time ever that Hadley was on her skates(once last year..which did not last very long, and again this year which was short due to the cold) Well we gave her a little chair to push along which she did effortlessly and quite fast I might add. Well the little neighbour next door was trying to give her instructions(he is 4) on how to do it on her own and then Ab went and took her hand to help her sans chair...well by the end of our skating adventure she was off skating with no help from anyone. Of course she had a few falls but she actually kept her balance quite well(hmm..wii balance board must be working:) ). Ab is all excited about being able to go to Carelton U with her basketball to watch another game and then later on again go to practice with them and be able to swim at the pool. SHe is most excited about the high diving towers.

Well I blabbed enough, I should really go do some housework..I made it a small task of putting all laundry away and cleaning the girls bathroom..then hopefully we will head out to the library. I found a new writer I want to try and read..she does the vamp books also and it says the library carries some of her work...yeaaaaaaaaaa...:)

twitter, patter..I do believe I am in love....

...with the entire process of doing a life journal. I finished my first entry of my journal by using the word prompt "action". I felt so free as I just did whatever came out of me. I felt no restrictions whatsoever during the entire process, and absolutely love my end result. I am not sure I could actually apply this concept into my scrapbooking layouts(still a pretty linear scrapper...but who knows this could change me). I had such a hard time when I painted my first art media canvases, but I think after a few of these journal entries, I may have a less stressful time at trying to create and just let whatever come to me. I am not really putting a purpose or big meaning into my journal right now, but perhaps as time goes by things may change. For now I am just trying get out of my restrictive ways and "just create". So here is my journal entry #1

life art journal....

So in the fall I mentioned on how I wanted to get my hands dirty and try out the whole art journal thing. Well I came across this blog(http://oneyearartjournal.blogspot.com/) where they will have a word(alphabetical) prompt twice a month for the entire year. Tonight I found a book(on the blog she is using playing cards, but I chose to do a larger journal book..more room to play with) and did up the outside of it. I had a blast just playing. The first word prompt for the year is ACTION. I hope to try and do that tommorrow. I really hope that I can follow through with this...I figure this will not be too time consuming. So here is my journal cover. I painted, inked, stamped, used oil pastels, rub -ons, book pages, stickers...etc.

drum roll please......

okay people....I have finally did..I created a layout...woohoo. It was about freaking time I tell you. Problem now is though I have created this one and now want to do another. Thing is I cannot do that because I actually have to do "mommy" duties and feed my kids dinner and then drive Ab to her guides...and I probably should put that laundry away that I did not get to yet...but hey I once again did the driveway, and that so makes up for the neglected duties inside:) I think that John will have to give me an evening to myself tommorrow to create which means he makes dinner..the least he could do right.

So with this layout I grabbed an old photo(since I have no ink to print out any photos) and opened up the new Scenic ROute I received just before christmas(the suprise line). Unfortunately you really cannot see it to well on the photo, but I dry embossed a frame around the photo area of the layout and then machine stitched around that. I did a bit of hancutting of the candles and birthday hat. Everything is Scenic Route on the layout except for the rub-ons(American Crafts) and the few jems.

holy snow batman!!!!

O.k. So it is not one of the biggest dumps of snow that we have seen. But it is a big enough one for me, especially when it is I that is cleaning out the driveway the old fashioned way. Nice time for John to pick to go away for work. I believe there should be a rule in the house that he is not allowed to leave on work trips during the winter months:) I spent an hour and a half out there last night shoveling and discovered this morning that the driveway is yet again beckoning me. I will need to clean it out so that I can take Ab and her friend to guides this evening. John told me to leave it, but then Ab would not be going to guides and what if there was an emergency and I had to get outside. I am really not complaining too much though, because I know it is giving me a work out.

Now onto another issue..kids can be so darn cruel. Unfortunately Ab is finding that out. There were 2 sisters that moved in down the street(9 and 10) and before their house was built they would play with Ab while their parents were doing whatever at the house. Now that they moved in they played with Ab a "wee" bit, but now totally blowing her off. They are with their neighbour all the time, an older girl(12/13). When Ab has called they tend to blow her off or say they cannot play and then you see them with the neighbour. We were outside last night shovelling and of course the 3 were outside and did not acknowledge Ab at all or ask if she would like to play. Hadley kept on yelling "Hi girls" and they just looked away. Man I wanted to ring their necks...LOL...It is so hard to explain to Ab that not everyone is going to like you and want to be friends, but she is just so sociable and always seemed to never have problems playing with new kids that this is really hard on her. I think it is hard too because with moving in a neighbourhood with other kids she thought she would always have someone to do something with. As a parent you just hate to see your child hurt, but you also know that this happens in life..but still I want to protect my baby.

On a creative note..I swear I am going to go scrap very shortly. I have been browsing some of my fave galleries and they are inspiring me. I know that my room still needs organizing/cleaning, but that can wait:) I nedd to scrap, it has been way to long! Probably 2 months(ouch!!!!) So today my day will go like this: scrap, shovel, lunch, shower, putting away laundry, scrap a wee bit more, dinner and off to guides. Let's just hope once I sit at my desk I still feel the creativity:)

First day of 2009....

...snow day that is. I awoke this morning to find out that buses are cancelled. I would really have loved to take Ab to school today, but then it would mean I would have to go out later in the afternoon, and if we get the snow predicted I would have to have the driveway shoveled to try and get out. Plus knowing how well they plow our street, it would be an absolute mess getting out of here. Why is it we have to have a snowstorm when John is away. At least I do not have to go out anywhere till tommorrow night(guides) so I have agood day to work at the snow in the driveway(once it stops of course). So I am crossing fingers that there are little fights in the house today.

I started cleaning up my studio yesterday and finished recovering my little bulletin board. I started to rearrange and organize some of my supplies also. With just being in my room and going through things, my heart is yearning to get into some scrapping. I really need to go and get some photos printed out. Perhaps I will just grab some really old ones and play with them.

I hope to share some holiday photos soon, but first I need to get my photoshop installed so that I can make a little mosaic of photos. Have a great day my lovelies!!

...crazy day

well I did not get too much accomplished that I planned on doing today. I got a phone call from my grandmother telling me she had chest pain radiating to her jaw and arm which started last night. I told her to call 911 to get to the hospital right away. I had to explain to her that I did not want to be driving her and then god forbid something happen while en route. I told her the EMS could start protocol with her asap and start monitoring her. Then off I go grabbing Hadley and putting a sweatshirt over my p.j.'s and driving like a mad woman to get over to her place. I get there and she was worried about getting her bills paid, so I got all necessary documents in hopes of doing her banking. The EMS took vitals, asked questions and off they went to the hospital and I quickly locked up and headed home to get dressed. Thankfully my mom and dad headed out to the ER since me towing a 3 yr old along was not an ideal situation. Well thankfully it turned out just to be her angina which I am sure is being brought on with the stress of my grandfather being in the hospital and awaiting placement, and she was home in the late afternoon. This was not the only emergency of the day though. After doing some reading with Hadley I go to get up and see blood everywhere on the wood floors. I immediately run to the cat since he just strolled into the room. Quick inspection shows nothing. I ask Had if she is bleeding with her quickly responding no...so who else could it be then the dog. I run to Celia and start assessing. Sure enough she has blood all over her legs and on closer evaluation, her hind paw was completely satuated with blood. Some how she split her nail several times way down and past the quick..thus all the blood. So once again the adrenaline is pumping hard and I am off to stop the bleeding and clean up the area to get a close look. At a loss as to what I should do, I call the vet and ask if putting a dressing over her paw will surfice(since I did not want the nail to catch and tear anymore) She agreeded with the dressing and told me to watch out for infection and keep the wound dry(which means I will be trying to bag her foot everytime she goes out) SO far things are okay. She tried to tear at the tape at first, but now has seemed to let it be. Which is a good thing because if she did not leave it alone we would have had to get one of those cones for her head. So hopefully things should heal up within the next few days. Now amongst all this chaos I did sart to be creative and started to cover a bullentin board with houndstooth fabric for my studio, and also planned out what I want to do for a scrap like home decor project. Maybe by the end of this week I will get these done.

On a really great note, I am getting some goodies from Scenic route sent to me because of the mix up with the broker charges. And another Sherrilyn Kenyon book came in today for me at the library...which is perfect timing since John will be away. I cannot wait to break into it:)

I went through all my photo's from over christmas(which are very little) and most are either blurry, I must of had no flash on or the wrong setting and then all the pics from the gingerbread house just were black..not to sure what happened there. On our way home from Windsor last week we had slow traffic due to the soldiers coming into Toronto from Trenton. I must say it was quite a sight to see at every overpass, so of course my camera came out and suprisingly the photos came out not too bad. I also got some photos of the procession with the many vehicles that make the trip down the highway of heroes. I really think I would like to do some sort of tribute page. Some day perhaps.

Oh...and may I just say...oowww..my body is so feeling the aftermath of the Wii Fit. My muscles definitely got a work out. Crossing my fingers that I keep up with the training.

.....just some ramblings:)

So here are just a few more photo's from our New Year's eve celebration at Moxie's in Kanata(I think this is my fave one yet. We were also lucky to occupy the entire corner of the bar which was kind of up on a little platform..it was really nice near midnight where we had lots of room to move and dance and when you looked below the entire bar was cramped) So here is a pick of some of us girls Dawn, myself Michelle and Lisa

and then our significant others Rob, John, Kevin and Jamie
and this is a group shot of us all..you can see our area where we were all standing(it was L shapped) and then the bar down below behind all the balloons.

So now the holidays are officially over. We went to our last dinner last night, and today I took down the tree and all the decorations. The house now looks so bare:( School starts tommorrow. I am not really looking forward to this week. Tommorrow should not be too bad, but come Tuesday I am sure I will have a heck of a time getting Ab out to school. The worst thing is John goes away to Edmonton this week for work so I will be all on my own for a few days. My plans for tommorrow will be to get my studio cleaned and then a scrapping I will go!!! I got a whole wack of stuff just before the holidays and I am itching to break into it all.

Well off I go for now..I am going to try and get a few minutes on the wii fit. The girls have been hogging it all day. I have a feeling the only time I will be able to get on it without someone wanting to play also is to either do it in the early morning or late evening....and right now I have big problems getting up when the sun is not even up yet..I cannot wait till the days start getting a wee bit longer.