The Chaos:Otherwise known as my Life

Family Day at Winterlude

2010-02-17T11:33:00.005-05:00

On Monday we were asked to join our neighbours and some friends to go over to Jacques Cartier Park to partake in the Winterlude festivities for Family Day. I must have been delerious from my sleep deprived weekend...because I went. Just me and the two girls(insert what was I thinking..lol) We got all packed up to go, I got out the 'ol GPS and put in my coordinates, feeling pretty confident that I could drive there no problem because of it. WRONG! After yelling the umpteenth time to the girls I finally got onto the highway...and then it started. The GPS tells me the battery is low...I think that is ok.. it should have enough juice to get me there, and once I got there, I should be able to get home no problem...right....WRONG! So I take the Nicholas exit like it says(let me insert I only somewhat familiar with going down Elgin...oh and I really stress out when I go downtown..lol) So I get off the exit, and then it tells me I have reached my destination....WHAT..OH NO...what to do. I see signs for Gatineau and I fallow them. Well that takes me over the King Edward bridge which turns right into Highway on the Quebec side. Whats the problem you may ask...I have no freaking clue as to what exit I have to take to get to the park from there. So I take the first one, and then I finally come across a road name I recognise. And now the cruising begins...trying to find a spot to park. I circled block after block, came across the neighbours walking by me(thank god I found them..but I still have to find a parking spot) circle one more time and then finally get into a very cramped parking lot (I am driving a van which really feels like a tank..lol)which is all ice(no snow tires on meaning no traction..lol) and quickly get out of the van and kiss the ground that lil ol me made it there..phew...SO we catch up with everyone in the park and we advance to the slides. There was a crowd, but thankfully the lines moved at an ok pace. We indulged in some beaver tails and maple taffy, and took in the snow sculptures. All in all it was a fun time with beautiful weather. Then it was time to go. I went to turn on the GPS and..UH OH..it is completely dead. I think to myself, that is ok...I can do this. I exit the parking lot and then it begins..the roads are blocked off and I am wanting to go where the roads are blocked off because that is the way I knew from going to the museum...try to find an alternate way to get there...damn one ways...I can't. So my only solution is to go towards the way I came in..starting to sweat a wee bit...FINALLY a sign pointing to Ottawa..HOORAY!!!! I make my way to it and after merging in with a bunch of crazy drivers I made it onto the highway and back towards the bridge...phew...Now I have the mind frame that I can drive anywhere...LOL...So here are a few snapshots of the day...I saw a bunch of people using this polaroid program lately and thought I would give it a go...what fun!!!

MMMMMmmmm...Beavertails

what a bunch of goofballs

US GIRLS!!

the drive home

passed out..just how I like them ;)

What a weekend!

2010-02-14T20:13:00.004-05:00

I have finally had a chance to get away from all my every day stresses to just relax and have no one to worry about but myself. With that, this has been one of my most productive weekends away when it comes to creating. I was able to create 8 layouts and 2 "family" bracelets(it has each of our birthstone colours in swarvoski crystals) to bring home to my girls for valentines day. I probably could have done a bit more in the layouts department, but I pretty much goofed off on Friday night and did alot of surfing online and trying to take in the olympics opening ceremonies, and then also indulged in a relaxing swim on Saturday. I had a GREAT time, even though I now have a sore tummy..and feel like exploding all thanks to the gourmet food served(can you hear the sarcasm pooring out..lol) and am defintely a wee bit tired...10 hrs sleep in those 2 days..ugh...who needs sleep really..LOL...All that mattered that I was with great company...right.
SO here are my masterpieces ;) FOr some reason some of my layouts are loading sideways...and cannot for the life of me figure out how to fix them around...they are the right way on my computer...grrr....oh well...just move your head to the side and you will get the gist of them! I tell you, if I was not so darm tired, and the fact my scrapping bag is still in the car, I would still be scrapping..lol. Oh I forgot to add...I came home to a homemade chinnese food dinner, dozen red roses, and a baskin robbins ice cream cake....life is pretty good!

(love this pic of the girls)

(the girls bracelets...picture does not justice..they are so sparkly IRL)

(this lo still needs some jounal strips which I will add over the "T")

(this was a challenge Mell and I did using the same products in a kit)

(this is one of my fave lo's I did this weekend)

Ramblings.....

2010-02-08T08:59:00.005-05:00

Well nothing creattive to note in this blog post. It has been pretty busy. I am getting away this weekend and hope to have many creative pages to post early next week! This past week has been very exhausting in the motherhood department. As they get older, they definitely give you a run for your money. Yesterday made me feeling like a very inadequate mother. Ab ended up doing some really stupid things, and I had no idea it was even going on. I always thought that I had a hand on things and knew what she was up to...well she hid it well..ugh...Let's just say she has lost a mnay priviledges for quite a few weeks. I said if things do not change, she will not be heading to Florida with the rest of the family. I will have someone stay with her! I think I gained a good 50 more grey hairs just from her. I hate the attitude that they get once they hit the preteens. Of course Hadley has also been testing our patience as of late. I must say I am looking forward to this weekend, and then next weekend John and I are heading up to Mt. Tremblant with friends...cannot wait!!!! Ok so now onto some other ramblings. This is all to do about home decor and furnishings and such.
I have been on the search for a dining table and chairs for at least 6 months now. Just not finding anything that catches my eye... since it is a very expensive investment, I just did not want to settle for jus anything. I have always loved the look of harvest tables, and then came across one looking like this which is made from old barn threshing boards. I love that old world charm. I am pretty sure this is what I want in my dining room. I have my great great grandfathers buffet which I stained in a darker stain and looks just like the table. And to make it more modern, and to mesh with the rest of the house, I thought I would add some brown leather parson chairs. I would love to have John make me a table like this so we can save some $$, but he is not too sure if he is up to the task.. Well there is no real rush on this...I really want it, but I have a table that works when need be. Eventually I will get it..plus I wil look for the chairs when they are on sale, and pick them up then.

(this is my dream table)

Now onto another project I have been mulling over this past week or so. One of my garage entrances opens into the kitchen. We have a closet right at the door which more or less just houses the pet foods and brooms, mops and whatever else needs to be hidden. Not a jacket gets hung up there..and the boots just lay strewn all over my kitchen floor. We tend to be using this entrance alot lately.

(the back entrance door area)

We were going to take off the bifold doors and replace with swinging doors..but instead of buying new doors I think I want to convert this closet with mudroom lockers. I will split the are into two lockers for each girl, with a bench and then open area underneath to house all the boots and shoes. They will have hooks which will make it easy for them to hang up their school bags and coats. They just cannot do it with hangers since the rods are so high. I will have shelves above that can hold some baskets where hats and such can be placed into it. Here are a few photos of ideas as to what I was wanting.

(I like how the bench goes out further than the cubby)

(in this photo I love how the seat is dark, I want to do this to match the kitchen cabinets, and love the beadboard in behind..still deciding if I want to do it 2 tone like this or just do it all in the stained oak to match the kitchen.)

Now as you can see in the phot below I have been using my door as somewhat as a message centre. Which is nice since it is hidden behind the wall so you do not see the clutter until you walk in front of the door. My thoughts with this is I want to paint that wall to the right of the door in black chalk board paint. I found a really cute dry erase vinyl calender which I would buy to put up on that wall and any other cute vinyl pieces..like seen in the photo below with chalkboard wall. Then I could use the door just to hang the girls art work...thus tiding things up a bit and adding some colour/pizzaz.

So whatcha think...should I take the plunge and do the lockers and message area? I think if I do that, perhaps my front entrance will stay cleaner and clutter free. So when someone comes to the door, it is not an obstacle course for them to get through.

Some more layouts

2010-02-03T15:45:00.005-05:00

Well..I was able to do up a few more layouts...I actually did these based on sketches. I was never one to truly use, but wow..it made things go quick...that and I barely used anything on the pages..lol.

Had fun doing this..I only wish I could be a more tidier scrapper. My god, the mess. I am horrible! I just cannot be tidy. I mean really..how hard would it be to put things away as I was done a page. Apparantly for me...REALLY HARD..lol.

Enjoy!

Creative Weekend!

2010-01-31T19:34:00.004-05:00

It has almost been a year since I have sat down and scrapbooked. Well that has now changed. After having a wee bit of a cretive afternoon/evening on Saturday, I decided to sit down and scrapbook today. Now when I say scrapbook, I did not one, not two..but almost 3 layouts today. The third one is sitting just waiting to be attached mor permanently. It felt really good to sit and create some pages. I did come to the realization that I am somewhat of a simple..less is more gal...and it will take me decades just to get through all my stash. I sat and looked at all my jars of ribon, and wondered why did I ever buy all that..lol..I rarely ever use ribbon. I am happy with an assortment of pattern papers and maybe the odd little embellishment. I think I will have to try and make myself load up some of my pages, just so I can dwindle down my huge stash.

So my Saturday had me creating this little bird home decor project which I will find a home on some shelf. I still have to fix his wire legs and attach them to the bird, but I took a photo so you would get the gist of how he looks.

And here are the two layouts that I was able to finish up today. I will try and post my third one tommorrow..who knows..maybe I will make up a 4th tommorrow:)

Super old photos..but that is all I had...I have not developed anything in a looooong time!

Dreams.....

2010-01-22T09:10:00.003-05:00

Let's start off to say I am huge in the dream department. I do not think there is not a night where I do not dream. My dreams tend to be very vivid, and I tend to remember a many of them. I awoke from one this morning just before the alarm went off. Ever since I have been truly an emotional wreck(not too sure why it is turning around so much). I had a dream which included my grandfather whom just passed at christmas. Now some believe that if a dearly departed comes into your dream, it oculd truly be their spirit. Perhaps that is why there is a bit of turmoil..just not too sure how to interpret things I suppose. This is the second time he has come to me in my dreams(if that is really what is happening) The first time was the night..or shall I say morning he died. After finally falling asleep in the wee hours of the morning after being at the hospital with him as he passed, he came to me in my dreams. I really wish I wrote down what happened, because now I do not remember. I just know he was there. This morning my dream began with John and the girls at my grandparents old house. My grandmother was out in the garage greiving for the lost of my grandfather, and I felt so helpless just watching her from inside. She then comes in to the house from the garage. My grandfather also comes into the kitchen. We know that he is dead, but he was there with us none the less. He appeared as I remember him when I was younger, before he became ill from his strokes. I was sitting on a chair at the kitchen table and came and gave me a kiss and I told him I love him. He was then playing around and goofing with the girls and watching the dog and cat play. We were all laughing and I could feel happiness all around us in the kitchen. But all through the laughing and joking we all new he was dead, we were just enjoying the time we had. Then I just awoke quickly from the dream and since then I have been feeling very dicombulated and crying at the slightest thing. I really like to think this was his spirit visiting me...I feel truly blessed to have that dream and to be remebering him in his vitality...I just really wish to know why I am so bothered inside...it is such an undescribable feeling overwhelming me....with that I will end by posting a phot from many years back of my "Papa".....RIP...."love you!"

Deception....this & that

2010-01-16T09:47:00.002-05:00

Well I have been deceived through labelling. Now, I imagine this has not been the first time, nor will it be the last. How have I been deceived you might ask? Well it was with tortilla chips. Quite a while back a well known brad came out with Multi grain chips and I thought..wow..great lets get these...must be better for me. HA! Well this is where I come into comparing the nutritional label of these and the regular chips. They both have the same calories, fat percentage and fibre content....the difference...the multi grain had sugar in them, where the regular had 0 grams of sugar. All this time I thought I was eating the better choice..NOT!! So this is now a reminder that I must check my labels more closely. Multi grain is no longer wanted in this home..well at least for these chips:)

As for this and that, this morning I spent a little while surfing the web at scrapbook layouts, looking for some inspiration. I believe this is step one in me getting back on that scrapping wagon. I even started planning layouts as I was looking. Next step is to go through photos, do a little editing and then get some printed out. Here's hoping by Feb. I will be ready to scrap:)

Not much else has been happening in the last week except for the usual...kids and school, working out, work and more work. I actually have to soon get off this computer so thta I can do a few chores around the house, and then head out to do a trade type show for work. I did get my hair done yesterday...so needed it...it is now at a more managable length(meaning quicker to get done for work) and all the grey is once again hidden...lol....

Well that is all for now..sorry for the bore:)

Post #2 ....WOW

2010-01-07T19:57:00.003-05:00

I am on a roll now..lol;)
So today was a very busy day. After getting the girls off to school I was on my way for a meeting at work. Looks like I will be kept somewhat busy with work. I will be working every 3rd weekend or more if I need to cover others. I will also be going in on Tuesday and Thursdays to be doing design work for print jobs and just looking after several other little projects that must get done before we become busy. That means the days that Hadley is at school I will be busy with exercise classes and then off to work...the only real day I will have to myself is every other Friday when she is in school. I am sure I will somehow manage to tackle my house to do list even though she will be around...well crossing fingers that I can. Back to today, I went to my 4 hr meeting, and then it was off to pick up the girls from school so that we could head out to the cemetary for my Papa's interment. It was a very nice short(thankfully since it was bitterly cold) service where at the end we all covered his casket with cream roses, and the girls placed a red rose each on top of it. It was nice to have the closure today and not have to wait until the spring to do it. We then all headed to my grandmother's house for some hot soup and sandwiches and yummy birthday cake. Today was my grandmother's birthday.
Tommorrow I look forward to heading out to dinner downtown with my bestest friend in the world and my mom. After that we are heading out to The Nordique Spa for some well needed relaxation. The past few weeks have been pretty tough, and we are all looking forward to it.
Well that is all for now...too tired to try and post any photos tonight....

Hold onto your BRITCHES!!!

2010-01-05T18:43:00.002-05:00

I am here to put up a quick post, and hopefully try to update a little more often than as of late. When I first started my blog my main purpose was to write down all those memories of the little ones growing up. I figured I was always on the computer, so my chances of preserving anything was better here than in the baby books I have for the girls( I just found Hadleys and I quit after writing her birthdate..lol). Well now it appears I am lacking on the blog part along with the books. After awhile I also started posting my creative stuff alongside the memories. Well my creative stuff went to a screaching halt in the spring, and I kind of just swayed away from it all. So my resolution for 2010(might I add I never do resolutions..lol)is to try and post more stuff. SOme may not find it too interesting, but one day I would like to print it all up, so it can be cherished by all in the years to come.

Many things have happened throughout the year 2009. Since my last post, Abigail has entered into grade 5 and Hadley into Junior Kindergarten. Abigail is now getting into that age where boys are becoming prevelant. She has been getting plenty of calls from one over the holidays and he even came over to go sliding and such. I am ok so far but this is just the beginning...lol. Hadley absolutely loves school and cannot wait to go. Let's hope that stays with her:) Work has kept me busy all Fall, and now I am having a wee bit of time off. Though I went and did some work today and have a meeting on Thursday, so hopefully by next thing it will be a bit slower for me. Christmas started off well. John's family came down to spend it with us. We had a nice christmas eve spent with friends and family and a little visit from Santa on the fire truck. Christmas morning I was up early with my father in law and we actually had to wake up the girls at 8am. They were spoiled as usual. The best present getting the most use so far is the nintendo ds and dsi...well worth the money! After breakfast and getting the dinner all prepared, we went off and had a nic visit with my grandfather at the nursing home. Came home and had a nice dinner with all the family. Then about 8pm the nursing home called me to say they were calling the ambulance to send my grandfather to the hospital(huge shock to me, apparently his breathing became laboured throughout the day). My parents went and took my grandmother into the hospital. Mom called about 9 pm saying it was not good. John and I quickly drove into Ottawa to be there. When I got into the ER around 10 pm, they found out that his bowels were obstructed with 1/2 of it dead already, along with a hole in it and severe infection. Not too sure how the nsg. home could not have seen the distended belly, but in reality, even if it was caught sooner, not much could have been done. Surgery was not an option, he would not make it through due to age and medical condition. At 12:30 am on December 26th papa died in the hospital with myself, my grandmother and mom at his side. I am so thankful that we got to see him in the home and give him his gift. The entire time we were there he kept his eyes on the girls. I am also thankful to have been at the hospital to be there for my mom and grandma. Needless to say my holidays became quite busy with having the wake on Tuesday and the Funeral on Thursday. We will be burying him on Thursday (they were going to wait for spring, but things changed..only thing is it will be my grandmothers birthday). Hopefully this will be the last family death for a wee while. We had 4 this year alone.

So with this new year and new "blog" resolution, I have decided to change it up a bit. Slowly I will get it all done and everything just so. I will try to also do a photo post of the past few months. As we wnter this new decade I will embrace all that is good...Happy New Year everyone!

Hiatus...

2009-09-02T09:26:00.002-04:00

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.

2009-06-29T21:58:00.003-04:00

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..........

2009-05-20T10:50:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-06T07:33:00.003-04:00

...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....

2009-04-08T23:13:00.002-04:00

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...

2009-03-31T13:43:00.005-04:00

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.....

2009-03-18T11:30:00.004-04:00

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....

2009-03-17T07:41:00.004-04:00

......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 .......

2009-03-15T11:35:00.005-04:00

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.....

2009-03-11T21:04:00.003-04:00

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.......

2009-03-10T09:05:00.002-04:00

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....

2009-03-06T21:01:00.004-05:00

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

2009-03-04T11:47:00.003-05:00

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

2009-03-03T21:02:00.003-05:00

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

2009-03-03T07:53:00.003-05:00

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

2009-03-02T12:43:00.004-05:00

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......

2009-02-25T10:01:00.002-05:00

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....

2009-02-22T14:24:00.003-05:00

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.....

2009-02-20T21:50:00.003-05:00

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....

2009-02-17T10:00:00.002-05:00

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...

2009-02-16T09:29:00.003-05:00

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....

2009-02-14T08:47:00.003-05:00

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"

2009-02-12T10:33:00.003-05:00

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.....

2009-02-09T10:33:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-02-05T09:11:00.002-05:00

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"

2009-02-04T17:06:00.003-05:00

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!!

2009-02-04T07:35:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-02T14:50:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-02-02T08:05:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-01-29T16:43:00.002-05:00

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.....

2009-01-28T15:48:00.005-05:00

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"

2009-01-27T09:48:00.004-05:00

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

2009-01-22T20:33:00.003-05:00

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

2009-01-21T09:36:00.002-05:00

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

2009-01-20T13:23:00.002-05:00

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....

2009-01-12T10:12:00.003-05:00

...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....

2009-01-11T09:04:00.002-05:00

...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....

2009-01-09T21:19:00.002-05:00

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......

2009-01-08T15:52:00.003-05:00

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!!!!

2009-01-08T09:07:00.002-05:00

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....

2009-01-07T08:50:00.002-05:00

...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

2009-01-05T19:35:00.002-05:00

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:)

2009-01-04T20:42:00.003-05:00

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.

hello 2009!

2009-01-01T19:14:00.004-05:00

Well another year has come to a close. The holidays are slowly coming to an end with much relief. I have found them to be very tiring this year and was thankful to have a day to just veg out. Christmas day was tiring but suprisingly relaxing. Santa was good to all and now we are the proud owners of a Wii. This afternoon we got to try out the Wii Fit(wow...it is interesting..mind you I am not to keen on how I rank with the fit test....looks like I will definitely be trying to shed some pounds in the new year) and compete a bit in some bowling:) On boxing day we headed on down to Cottam to suprise John's parents and spent a few days there. They actually had snow when we got there but by Sat it was all melted from the rain and can you believe they had a humidex that day. It was in the low teens. It was a definite shocker to come back home on Tuesday to the frigid temps. John and I headed out to Moxies with our neighbours and a bunch of their friends. It was a very nice time, but I was extremely tired and a little uncomfy fiting in my dress(seems I may have indulged a wee to much over the holidays). So without further ado Katie..here is a shot of me in my dress...I may have a full length shot later on(just waiting for everyone to load up their pics so I can grab them...I took not a one photo..bad me).

Well wishing all a happy new year....now I must go rest a wee bit more;0

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

2008-12-22T10:53:00.003-05:00

...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?

2008-12-21T09:34:00.002-05:00

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

2008-12-17T12:05:00.001-05:00

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

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

why..oh why...

2008-12-16T22:16:00.002-05:00

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!!!

2008-12-15T08:06:00.003-05:00

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!!

2008-12-10T06:52:00.002-05:00

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..

2008-12-07T19:28:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-12-05T11:25:00.002-05:00

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

2008-12-03T12:49:00.003-05:00

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

2008-12-03T07:52:00.003-05:00

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:)

2008-12-02T09:49:00.002-05:00

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

2008-12-01T08:10:00.005-05:00

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

2008-11-26T08:38:00.002-05:00

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:)

2008-11-25T11:27:00.003-05:00

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!!!!!!!!

2008-11-20T20:29:00.002-05:00

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

2008-11-20T08:05:00.002-05:00

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

2008-11-18T13:09:00.003-05:00

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

2008-11-17T09:13:00.003-05:00

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

2008-11-16T08:38:00.002-05:00

..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

2008-11-15T10:07:00.003-05:00

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

2008-11-14T20:52:00.003-05:00

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

2008-11-12T22:05:00.003-05:00

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!!!

2008-11-10T18:41:00.002-05:00

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

2008-11-06T07:38:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-11-03T12:56:00.002-05:00

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!!!

2008-11-02T18:28:00.002-05:00

..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

2008-11-01T08:42:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-29T22:22:00.003-04:00

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?

2008-10-29T16:10:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-28T11:30:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-10-25T09:06:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-22T22:25:00.005-04:00

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.

2008-10-19T19:05:00.006-04:00

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...

2008-10-15T16:56:00.002-04:00

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...

2008-10-14T13:44:00.003-04:00

...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....

2008-10-11T07:37:00.002-04:00

..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;)

2008-10-08T21:32:00.002-04:00

...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

2008-10-06T21:28:00.002-04:00

...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:(

2008-10-06T07:42:00.002-04:00

....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...

2008-10-04T16:46:00.004-04:00

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:)

2008-09-26T21:25:00.003-04:00

...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.

..my round 3 submission

2008-09-25T15:19:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I finally finished my lo for round 3 over at bad girls. I was not having a problem with the assignment itself...of less is more...for that is right up my alley. It was trying to keep Hadley away for a moment. As soon as I snuck away to try and work on it, she was quickly at my feet asking what I am doing. She is so different from Ab. Ab could just go play on her own for hours..and really did not care about my scrap supplies. Where as Hadley loves to get into my supplies. On Friday she emptied 5 of my stickles and then a little while later she painted my walls and floor with black crackle paint....ughhh....

Ok so here is my lo...I am quite happy how it has turned out.

gotta run...need to go meet Ab from school.

....round 3, busy weekend, new blog

2008-09-22T18:05:00.002-04:00

....phew...a wee has happened since last week. I have now made into round 3 over at the bad girls site for Top Designer contest. This weeks class assignment is right up my alley. It is all about simplicity, with minimal embellishments and just the right amount of white space. I must admit I love doing these kinds of layouts.

...this past weekend I was able to join everyone at Navcan for a little scrapping. I took Marlene's place since she could not show up. I went there for Saturday afternoon. Once there I unpacked the car and then realized I ompletely forgot my laptop, which had all my photo's I was going to print out while there to scrap. I did fortunately bring a few photo's with me(one's I really were not too into scrapping) so I was able to get one lo finished. It is a wee bit x-rated..lol...it is of the ya-ya trip to sexapalooza...I will post later on. I was also able to do a few paintings(which I will get back to in a second). So Saturday night became a night of drinking and just having fun with the girls, with scrapping put on the side burner. It was a fun time and well just a wee bit tiring(not as young as I use to be;) ).

...now onto the new blog. I am slowly getting up my new blog to start selling all my handmade items for scrapbooking and home decor. That is where the paintings come into play. I saw a neat type of painting on etsy and though..oh wow...cool. It is whimical acrylic paintings on some vintage book pages. They were well liked by the ladies this weekend. I also sold 2 of my felt embellishments to the girls on the weekend. The new blog is www.alilbitofwhimsy.blogspot.com
I still have to upload things to the store and such, but hopefully by the end of the month everything will be set to go.

well must run and eat...l8r

Made it to round 2....

2008-09-18T21:02:00.004-04:00

...so I made into into round 2 over at bad girls. The challenge this week was to mix at least 2 different pattern papers. This is a fairly big challenge for me. Things finally came together for me today(which was hard with Hadley trying to get into everything in my room) and I am quite happy with how things turned out. The photo of the lo is not as clear as I would like...but hey...I just wanted to get it taken and post my assignment. Here is hoping I make it into the next round:)

It's my baby's birthday....

2008-09-16T09:46:00.003-04:00

...this morning as she slept, she turned 3:) And I am such a horrible mommy because I just remembered at this very moment that today was her birthday. She celebrated her day on Saturday. Unfortunately I have no blowing out candles photos. She blew it out before I could get the camera, and then the poor thing went and grabbed a sparkler off the cake and burned her thumb and finger:( So she really did not want to blow out the candle again. She did pretend to blow out the candle for a few pics though...what a trooper I tell you!!

My entry for Top designer at Bad girls...

2008-09-12T11:43:00.002-04:00

So this is what I sumbitted for the first round of Top Designer. I am not really happy with it, but I do not have time to do another lo. I need to finish the housework and get ready for Hadley's birthday tommorrow. The challenge for this round was all about layering. We had to layer at least 2 different things. I layered my paper, photos, and embellishments. There are a lot of great layouts submitted thus far, so we will see how things go this round:)

my newest creation...

2008-09-09T19:42:00.003-04:00

I cannot believe how quickly I was able to do this layout. I am really pleased how this one came about. Unfortunately though I am trying to do another lo for a contest over at Bad girls and am having a terrible time trying to get it together..ugh...