Creative Weekend!

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.....

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

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

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!!!

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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