is bliss like this?

Pinterest Challenge 2011: Summer Edition

2011-07-30T12:26:00.004-06:00

So is anyone else out there doing the Pinterest Challenge a la Young House Love, Bower Power, and many others?
The challenge was issued on Tuesday will results to be revealed next Tuesday.

I've already made one of the sewing projects for Micah's room that I had pinned and am over halfway done a pinned Ana White project for our front entry (and it will knock another off of the Thirty before Thirty list that I started awhile ago). The challenge was issued for home related projects, but I'm hoping to throw in some food and clothing ones too while I have the motivation... I have a skirt pattern mostly cut out that I should really finish up...

More on Tuesday!

26a) Run a Marathon Relay! - Missoula 07/10/11

2011-07-11T15:51:00.004-06:00

Yesterday I ran the 9.8k leg of the Missoula Marathon. My friend that ran the Missoula Half Marathon with me last year and I decided that it would be fun to go this year and run it as a Relay.

Me, L, & S waiting for C to finish her race leg!

We convinced a friend that had been training for a triathlon to keep up her running and convinced another friend to start running. They both agreed and we had a team! I was supposed to run the first leg, which was 13.7k but due to an ankle injury I was graciously given a shorter leg. Unfortunately not the 6.3k leg, that was reserved for our novice runner/fast walker!!

S, Me, & C, waiting for L to finish her leg

I ran my just under 10k leg in 56 minutes, which is great because the 10k fun run I did in May I came in at 1:11 and last May I did my first 10k in 1:05.

Me & L at our relay transition... I'm taking off for my leg after switching the chip band.

Coming in to my exchange point!

Me & C after my race leg

I got my ankle taped up at the race expo and taped my right knee myself on the morning of the race. In hindsight I should have taped up both! My ankle was fine for the race and is in no extra pain as of today! My knees are a bit cranky due to their patella/IT Band issues, but nothing that physio can't help strengthen.

The nice thing about a relay (for everyone but the first runner) is that you don't have to start at 6am! Sure you don 't get fireworks and a cannon start but you get to "sleep in." The rest of us were still up at 5, and on the road by 6:20 so that we wouldn't be driving on the course when too many runners were on it. (Relay teams transport themselves around the course to the different exchange points!)

Me after the race at the expo with our race bib, my medal is peeking out from under it!

Same as last year, the race was well organized, the course was fantastic, the aid stations werewell-manned with enthusiastic volunteers, the police and traffic controllers were awesome! And the residents of Missoula were AMAZING again! Sprinklers, extra water, snacks, cheers and encouraging words & posters all along the race course!

Me, C, S & L in our official picture!

We're already talking about going back next year!!

15/26 #5026 0.6 (60%) BARBARA, L, C, S BC 4:50:17 11:05am

update

2011-06-02T13:26:00.003-06:00

So I was doing pretty good there... and then I had company (Hanna, then Jen, then my mom... one right after the other) and then my computer D.I.E.D! And then B wanted me to wait until he had worked a full set at HIS NEW JOB!! That's right! He passed all his classes and got a job @ Teck before school was finished :) And he got to spend just over a week at home with us after school ended! He started on Tuesday and will be home on Saturday. He'll be staying with my parents when he's working and then coming home on his off days (sets of 4).

So TOMORROW I'll either be heading down to Staples and buying a beautiful new 27.5" iMac or ordering one online from apple themselves. It all depends on which way is easier to get my educational discount taken off. Goodbye sucky stupid PCs, goodbye sucky stupid Vista & XP (why the eff don't you have DOS??)!

At lunch M knocked over my tea... onto my iPhone... it's chilling in a bowl of rice right now... perhaps Steve Jobs will announce a new phone at the WWDC on June 6th.

While Hanna was here we made these concrete garden globes following this tutorial. We used mortar because it was the only conretey thing we could find in town without rocks and under $30 a bag. They could be better but they seem to be holding up just fine. Eventually I'll give Hanna hers, but for now I'm enjoying having a cluster of them with my hostas that are finally coming up.

15) Start my own business - besquare 06/26/10

2011-05-15T23:59:00.001-06:00

I gotta thank Martha for the inspiration and Shim+Sons for showing me that it could actually work. I had made a pinboard for myself and had been asked by several friends to please, please make them one for their birthday. After numerous compliments and several requests I decided that mine were different enough and went ahead and decided to sell them at the Farmer's Market along with our yummy honey! I already had all the materials lying around and was already paying a table fee for the honey so there wasn't anything to lose!

photo credit: Len Knudsen

I sold one the very first day and all of my honey. And then it went in spurts. But always the compliments on how nice they were. And so pretty. And I want one, but I should think about it. Lots of the people who came and started at them week after week did eventually buy them. But Farmer's Markets are not where people buy pretty things. They come to buy things grown in dirt! Or that their children beg for (the tutu lady had a great summer!). But I did sell all but 2 of the ones I had made at the beginning of the summer. I wasn't frustrated or discouraged.

photo credit: Len Knudsen

Hanna, Jen, Joel & I had all decided to do a craft fair together in Nelson in November. I made lots of bulletin boards because I had signed up for the Farmer's Market Winter Fair the following weekend too. I made extra pins. I made lots of fabric flowers (because they're pretty).

photo credit: Len Knudsen

In Nelson, I sold all but three bulletin boards. Our tables were crowded, and often I had too many people at the table to talk too. Wow. So much for making enough for the next weekend! So I spent the next week making more. And writing report cards. Nelson people appreciate handmade!

photo credit: Len Knudsen

The Farmer's Market Winter Market went good. Not gangbusters like Nelson, but still worth my while. I had honey with me and of course that sold out and made it worth my while. But I sold over half of what I brought down, so I'm glad I made more boards. And I was also relieved to have a few boards on hand for Christmas and birthday presents.

I'll still bring them to the market with me when I have honey. And I will definitely do the Nelson market again. I might even try to do one of their Market Fest evenings especially if Hanna or Jen want to set up with me. When I don't have honey and want a change of scenery I'll probably head over to Creston and see what I sell at their Farmer's Market.

I often wear the flowers I made in my hair to work. It has paid off! One of my co-workers wants me to bring some in because she'd like to buy a few!

I have to decided if I want to get into Etsy or not. I should probably throw a few things up there since I do have an empty Etsy store just sitting there...

2) Use my degree - 10/13/10 - present

2011-05-07T23:59:00.001-06:00

One of the main reasons that I didn't move to Vancouver with Blair was because I had been quasi-promised a chance at a short-term teaching contract. The librarian that I had filled in extensively for last winter and spring had booked a trip to Australia for a month and asked for me to be her replacement. Nothing was confirmed but I knew that that much teaching time couldn't be passed up! So we decided that I would stay here at least until after our trip to Hawaii, work as a TTOC (substitute) and then we'd see how tough it was and make a new plan for 2011. Thankfully I did get the confirmation call and started the contract at the end of September.

A week into the contract, the principal told me to apply for the 0.4 French Immersion Kindergarten position that was opening up. The current teacher had found a full time contract closer to her home. This of course would change all of our plans, but having a consistent pay cheque no matter how small would help us out so much this year. So I applied. And was offered the position soley based on my resume and French letter of intent. No interview. Apparently I was the only qualified applicant. Unfortunately, I didn't feel qualified! But if the principal thought I was capable then maybe I was! He had witnessed me teaching many times in the past 8 months and knew my abilities in French.

So that's what I've been up to since mid-October. And I still got to go to Hawaii for 5 weeks. There are 2 months left in school year. We just planted some seeds, we have a mother's day field trip coming up, a trip to the Creston wildlife center and the local trout hatchery. Outside play time is finally optional. My students can respond to many basic questions in French and can even pose some of their own! They understand simple and some complex instructions. They are getting better at raising their hands and walking quietly in the hallway. We are playing more and having more fun now that the end is near and I feel more relaxed. We are still learning our French letter sounds and they can usually tell me which letter to write as we sound out words together. Math is math. Centers are awesome. Crafts are difficult because of the language barrier and the time limit but when we do them they are awesome! My kids make me smile.

I'm even going to apply for a job for next year. I may only apply for jobs at this school. I'm not on the recall list so I'm not sure what will happen. But I know that there will be 5 or 6 postings here. I want around a 0.4 again, but would sure prefer it to be 2 days instead of 4 mornings. The main reason I want a contract is because I need to qualify for maternity leave a second time around. Why not get paid to have a baby by the government!?!

So I finally used my degree in a concrete, real pay cheque way, and I haven't died!

... ing

2011-05-05T21:03:00.004-06:00

reading | about chicken coops and wishing for a second that we still had both lots!
listening to | golden silence!
eating | nothing! all the baking is gone until Hanna comes
watching | 18 to life on netflix
planning | tackling the mess in the garage and the weedy mess in L's garden
feeling | ambitious
anticipating | what our summer will look like and where it will be
drinking | warm tea
loving | my amazing husband and my hilarious son!

Today Micah was whining about bugs and came in shrieking that a bug had come to close to him and was being "too buggy."

on a seperate note...

2011-04-28T22:46:00.002-06:00

taxes are my nemesis. i always forget things. i procrastinate. my accountant is grouchy. and even though we are poor little church mice, i think we will have to pay taxes. we will definitely have to give the government some of the gst/hst we collected. why do i always forget that it's their money and not mine when we make a sale. we need a seperate bank account for all of the taxes so that it doesn't feel like i'm getting kicked in my non-existent man junk every april.

5) Visit the Punalu'u black sand beach - 01/10/11

2011-04-28T21:23:00.007-06:00

When we were in Hawaii in 2009 there were 4 big things on my to-see list that didn't get seen.
1) A true black sand beach (apparently the ones we had gone to aren't true black sand beaches. 2) Flowing lava.
3) South Point/Ka Lae, the southern most point in the good ol' USA.
4) the Green Sand Beach.

Blair was bummed about the lava but didn't give a hoot that I missed out on the other three. In fact we drove right by both of the twice in the same day when we went to Volcano National Park.

Correction. In 2009, we thought that we have been to Ka Lae, in fact we followed the guide book directions to a T but the cargo lowering contraptions and cliff diving spot were missing, seeing as we drove right down to the ocean. It was windy though just like the guide book promised, turns out we were about 2 miles over to the east. Not good enough for me!

I've given up on the green sand beach only because it's a long hike and you can't swim in the ocean... so I'd be hot and sticky with no relief.

So long story long... when we were in Hawaii this winter I begged, pleaded and whined to go to the Punalu'u Black Sand Beach and Ka Lae. Everyone agreed to Punalu'u because the weather was bad in Kona and we wanted a change of scenery. So we had lunch at the bakery where they make the best Taro bread in the world (#28 on my list) and explored the beach. It was black. The sky was overcast. There were sand flies. I was relieved that no one else wanted to sit on the sand after driving 2 hours to get there. Oh, and there were no turtles on a supposedly turtle infested beach (didn't God know we were driving there too see the green turtles on the black beach... what do you mean it doesn't work that way?) So we wandered around, the kiddos dug in the sand, Seth took a million pictures, and I took some pathetic ones with my camera (I've been too lazy to bring my external hd over to my in-laws to get all the good pictures).

Good thing they had fun!

2 shovels are better than one

Somehow after that disappointment, I convinced my father-in-law to attempt the road to Ka Lae again. And we followed the directions to a T again, in case we had missed something. And we arrived at the same parking lot and saw lots of other people taking pictures and assuming they were at Ka Lae like we had 2 years before. So we got back in the van, and I felt like kicking things. I asked if we could stop at the historic Ka Lae sign back up the road to take a picture, and then I would get over it. WELL! Right by the sign where the book says go left, there was a plaque nestled in the grass and a road the went right. So we went right. And there it was! Cargo rigs for lowering cattle and produce onto ships. Sketchy ladders. A hole in the rocks that you can jump into it at just the right time it will shoot you out into the ocean (not sure what happens at the wrong time, we didn't bother to try). Gorgeous blue ocean. Beautiful stormy sky. Scary winds. Lava flows. And lush greenery. Perfection!

It ended up being such a gorgeous day, I had victory over the elusive South Point/Ka Lae. And I think M might have even slept on the way home!

25) Run a half marathon - Missoula 07/11/10

2011-04-25T21:05:00.007-06:00

Last April my friend L saw a commercial for the Missoula Marathon that ended with "why not?," and she thought, "yeah, why not?" and then called me to ask, you guessed it "why not?" We had both dabbled in running in our youth but neither of us were "runners," but WHY NOT!?! Since we were both going to be in Vancouver after Easter, we made a date to buy new running shoes (and of course some running clothes!) .

And then we started training, and training, and training. At the end of May, we ran a 10k and came in last and dead last, but we weren't deterred (and for the record if I had ended at the 5k, there would have 5 or 6 people finishing after me!).

So we continued with the training and on July 9th we headed down to Missoula, MT. We had a great time at the race expo, farmer's market and downtown Missoula on the day before the race, and that night we gorged ourselves on some fantastic free wood fired pizza!

And then at 4am, we dragged ourselves out of bed and made our way to the starting line for a 6am cannon start! I crossed the finish line 2 hours and 22 minutes later finishing in the top third for females and for my age group and before the first female full marathon finisher. I pushed myself way harder than I had anticipated. L & I had always trained with walking breaks and had planned on running a 3/4km and then walking 1/4km and repeating that for 21.1km. But we ignored the first 2 walk breaks, did the next two and then after a pee break I ended up leaving L in my dust (I used to be a faster runner than her and when training I would run back to her so we could walk together, but obviosuly I forgot to...) that was at the mile 5 aid station and I ended up running the next 8.1 miles without stopping to walk and I quickly figured out how to grab and drink the water and gatorade without slowing down too!

Unfortunately I also hurt my ankle (thank god for adrenaline because I didn't feel any pain until the next day!) and that put an end to my walking for a few weeks and my running until the fall, which is precisely when my husband moved away for school. I've been trying to get myself back into a running routine but am having a hard time getting motivated. I've signed up for a 10k race in 3 weeks but will probably only run 5k, since I can't seem to run more than 6 or 7 right now, thanks to laziness and sore knees! But I will be heading back down to Missoula again this July, with 3 girlfriends, including L, in tow to run the full marathon as a relay team. L didn't push herself, didn't hurt herself and has gone on to run 2 other half marathons and in 1 week will be running the full Vancouver BMO marathon. I must say I am SUPER jealous.

Lust for Life!

2011-04-25T13:25:00.018-06:00

So in addition to blogging regularly, all the cool kids have also been posting their life lists and posting about their progress. I have had a life list written up for over 2 years now, but have never shared it with anyone, I don't even think I've told B what's on it.

Here goes... At the top of the list are the thirty things (in no particular order) that I intend to accomplish before I turn 30 in 2012. I have things on my life list that are not remotely doable in the next 13 months so they will sit at the bottom of the list until it is their time!

Hopefully this will give me more things to blog about and serve as a reminder to keep my friends in the loop. Since this list is old and I'm only just sharing it now, I've already done some of the things, so I'll be playing catch up here and there!

1) Make amazing macarons - ongoing
2) Use my degree - 10/13/10 - present
3) Have another baby
4) Do something crazy and spontaneous
5) Visit the Punalu'u black sand beach - 01/10/11
6) Take more French courses
7) Take better pictures
8) Plant a garden - done
9) Use my grain share
10) Bake artisan breads - fougasse, etc
11) Sew a skirt
12) Volunteer
13) Start composting with wormies - May 2011
14) Grow more pretty things - ranunculus
15) Start my own business - besquare 06/26/10
16) Get pictures taken for Blair - July 27, 2011
17) Finish Micah's play kitchen
18) Spend more time making pretty things
19) See lava flow - Kalapana, Big Island 12/27/10
20) Have a real compost pile
21) Take Izzie to obedience classes
22) Ride my bike to Kimberly pulling Micah
23) Refinish dining room chairs - 10/11/10
24) Ski the full rails to trails in one direction
25) Run a Half Marathon - Missoula 07/11/10
26) Run a Marathon
26a) Run a Marathon Relay! - Missoula 07/10/11
27) Use up more of my fabric stash (so that I actually have a reason to buy more)
28) Make taro bread - done July 2011
29) Put inventory in my Etsy shop
30) Make some furniture from the Knock Off Wood/Ana White plans - In progress - July 2011
31) Girls' trip with L, S, K & R

Here are the stragglers...

Get scuba certified
Go back to school
Visit L&K in New Zealand
Island hop in Greece
Island hop in Hawaii
Travel around in Vietnam
Travel around in Thailand
Travel around in Japan
Travel around in Chile
Teach foods/home ec
Go on a cruise
Go on safari
Build my dream house/kitchen
Ride in a helicopter
Raise chickens
Live abroad

phew!

2011-04-21T20:04:00.004-06:00

Today was such a busy day!
+ fed my sourdough
+ kindergarten (prep, calendar, recess, snack, egg dyeing, pitch in garbage clean up, buddies, home)
+ garden center to buy bean & sunflower seeds to plant with my students next week
+ back to the school to grab M
+ home to start baking chocolate wedding cakes with Sarah, while all the kiddos watched netflix stuff
+ dug out ALL of my iris plants (i hates them!) and more of the horrid juniper shrub
+ made sourdough crepes for breakfast for tomorrow!
+ fed 7 people dinner
+ cleaned my house like a madwoman
+ got everything (hopefully) ready for b when he gets home tonight
+ sent m out the door to go swimming with his grandparents and cousin
+ resisted easting all of the carrot cake macarons

B will get here around 11pm and it will be so nice to have him home for Easter, I have lots of jobs for him to do, namely love me, let me run as much as I want to and build me a worm compost bin! Unfortunately he also has a lot of studying to do, so he may only be able to love me!

Tomorrow, my parents are coming and bringing me manure, and a peony bush to live where the juniper was and a rhubarb crown. Hopefully I can convince them to help me with yard work while B studies. Maybe my dad will even build me my worm compost bin, I ordered my red wrigglers from Top Crop when I was picking up my seeds and trays today... AND I FOUND RANUNCULUS BULBS THERE TOO!!! I dug out the iris plants and gave them to Sarah so that my new ranunculus bulbs would have a happy home!

... ing

2011-04-19T21:49:00.003-06:00

Doppleganger

2011-04-15T22:42:00.002-06:00

Today I met Seth Green's doppleganger. It was freaky because this guy sounded exactly like him, looked exactly like him, and, after spending a good chunk of my day at a table with this guy, had the same goofy sense of humor! Now if I was on the cast of How I Met Your Mother, this would clear sign from the universe that it is okay to get pregnant... did you hear that body?? I hope both B and my body get this memo!!

D! D D! Dora!

2011-04-14T23:19:00.004-06:00

We have been playing a lot of games that go like this... "mommy, you be Dora and I'll be Diego..." "mommy, you be Dora and I'll be Swiper. Now hold up your hand and say "Swiper, no swiping!"

Sometimes he likes to pretend that Izzie is Boots, but he quickly gives up when he remembers that she is a dog who doesn't talk, and not a talking monkey in boots. I am not so lucky...

Thanks a lot Dora. I'll get even with you one day...

I might just keep this blogging thing up!

2011-04-12T22:15:00.003-06:00

We are switching things up at home! Cable costs us $75+ a month just so that M can watch Treehouse (don't judge me, my husband is 12 hours away). I haven't turned the TV on more than 5 times since Blair moved away, and even before that we weren't watching much TV on an actual TV, we have been streaming all of our shows from various websites. So... $75 a month is pretty big for my ability to have sanity!

In the past week, a few different people have been extolling the virtues of Netflix, and at $7.99 a month that a sweet price for child occupation! Un/fortunately we need some way to get the netflix onto the TV... enter the Wii :) I've been searching around on eBay and various websites and have decided to buy a new one to avoid hassles and what ifs. So tonight I will be be taking a big step for our non-gaming family and buying a Wii and tomorrow I will be signing us up for Netflix & cutting the cable... I hope it feels good. I'm excited to get the Wii because I think M will be able to play some of the simpler games with me and then possibly we can "game" (oh I use this term SO loosely) as a family. I've already looked into the games we can buy down the road... they have Disney Cars for the Wii, M will be so stoked for that! He has no need for toys or books, so now people can buy him Wii games :)

I'm getting a white one instead of a black one because I buy pretty skins for it :) And also I dream of beautiful white built-in bookcases surrounding the living room window and a black Wii would do the opposite of blending in!

For Me (Poppy Essence)

We talked about buying one after K & S's wedding because we had fun playing it with our friends when we were down there. We decided against it because we weren't sure how to get the sensor bar installed so it would work with the projector/screen setup, but today I found wireless sensor bars online and I'm excited for when we get a new projector after Blair gets a job (ours kicked the bucket this winter - another reason why I haven't been watching TV, it was hit or miss if it would work and it took me an embarrassing long time to remember that Ihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif can hook the cable up to our computer, but then I still might as well stream my shows).

for Micah (Chunky)

Who knew a whole 443 word post on my lusting for a Wii...

2011-04-10T18:15:00.002-06:00

My friend L took some gorgeous pictures of M & I back in, oh, October so that Blair could ~~see how much fun he was missing~~, his happy family keeping it together! There's also a little peek of an orange chair, it was boring brown wood earlier that day, but I painted it orange, and then a week later I painted it and all it's friends white! And then finished up re-upholstering the lot of them as my Thanksgiving guests were arriving for dinner :) But more on that later... baby steps!

Hopefully I can find the rest of these pictures on my poor external harddrive, it sure took on a big unorganized responsibility when the desktop packed it in last weekend!

So, it appears that I suck!

2011-04-09T18:42:00.002-06:00

I am a very bad blogger, but I intend to turn this around! For my friends dangit! Because in addition to being a crap blogger I am also a crap phone caller, emailer, facebooker and even twitterer! And I have an iphone that is supposed to make it easier to do all of the above... but it's just a glorified phone that plays solitaire and takes crappy pictures... I also suck at remembering to take pictures... poor Micah I think this past year has been sorely under-documented!

Anyways... if my far-away friends promise to read this and occasionally pat me on the back for updating then I will do so and it will be swell!

So here goes... Blair comes home in 12 days for Easter and in approximately 53 days for good! Life will not become normal, but it will be better! Blair is going to blitz through Math12 and Physis11 because they seem to be prerequisites for a lot of jobs (unfortunately that includes the Tembec job that he had been a shoe-in for). so hopefully he can get them done super fast before I finish teaching for the year and then we can apply to Tembec again and stay happily in our little house or apply elsewhere and then we will have to move and hopefully not to Fort Crack! So he will be home but he will be super busy, but at least I won't be sleeping alone anymore :)

Micah is potty-training! GO MICAH!! He's doing awesome, we started last weekend and we haven't had a (pee) accident in days, and today he figured out that it IS possible for him to do all the required steps all by himself! But he still wants to me to "run quick to the potty" with him, which is fine because I like to know that he is following all the steps! We've been running errands diaperless since day one last Friday! What a big boy!

We are trying for #2, but there are a few roadblocks 1) Blair is only here once a month or so, and the timing isn't always perfect, 2) Blair would really like to have a job first, however I would really like to qualify for Mat. Leave again and now I will have to apply for a teaching contract for the fall in order to qualify :( Oh, and I'd like for it to be a girl!

Kindergarten is going well, most of them are getting really good at practicing their french, it's nice to witness such a change! I'm excited for the snow to stay away so we can start playing outside and pretend that we are doing science, when in fact we are just walking at the lake and talking about the ducks and the grass and the water and collecting water so that we can look at it under microscopes! I am also happy that we can get ready for recess in less than 5 minutes now, so I have an extra 10+ minutes of teaching time back!

I have been doing all sorts of fun things that I have no proof of having done :) Making ravioli, making pretty linen bulletin boards, kicking ass selling them at winter markets, 5 weeks in Hawaii at Christmas, making pretty fabric flowers, sewing tablecloths, making different flavours of macarons (even somewhat successfully!), yummy biscotti, billions of french flashcards resulting in what seems like kilometers of laminated cards to cut out!

And it seems like no time has past since it was only 2 posts ago, but it's time to get my butt in gear and start training again because Missoula is sneaking up on me! We're making it a girls weekend! So far 3 out of 5 of my buddies here are commited to running some sort of distance that weekend, L & I will do the half marathon again and she will have a better time because she is training for a marathon at the end of this month! and C will run the 10km the night before! I have the EK10K race coming up on May 15th, so I really should start logging some runs! I got dresses in my running gear this morning thinking that I would be more likely to go near the treadmill if I was attired, but no such luck... there is still a few more hours to get on it though so I'm not giving up hope.

There it's a start...

Nurturing me!

2010-09-19T22:20:00.003-06:00

I have signed myself up for the awesome Kal Barteski's "Nurturing your creativity & be bulletproof" online course slow+steady version... and slow+steady is what I am, the course started on the 10th and I'm starting today! I was in Vancouver visiting Blair when it started (yes, visiting my husband... yikes!) so I'm a bit behind!

I got home on Thursday and have been rushing to put my house back together! My office is as done as it will be until I get to ikea again and I love this little room the best now! Pictures of the changes will be coming soon. (I promised Hanna!)

Here are my 2 of my finished tasks for idea1, I just need to get a but load of rubber bands tomorrow and then I will be mostly done idea1 and able to move onto idea2 just as idea4 is going online!

I'm thinking that if I get around to posting what I'm doing with this online class that I might actually get used to posting on this blog and maybe I'll be able to keep it up.

We were supposed to come up with our own definition for creativity and then write is out in three different sizes/styles/ways/mediums... and put them in places in our house where we will run into them... the mirror is obviously in my bedroom and the line drawing one is on my bookcase in my NEW office!!

I'm so happy that I got the office organized I wanted it done so bad before I started doing this class because it was so ugly and thrown together before... Everything that I hated about it is gone and I love everything that is in it now and am looking forward to adding more treasures and some freaking artwork!!

Missoula Marathon

2010-07-09T23:52:00.002-06:00

Today we drove to Missoula, Montana with a little shopping and Mongolian Grill break in Kalispell. Tomorrow we pick up our race packets and I will hopefully buy new shoes to start wearing AFTER the half marathon... Though truth be told I REALLY shouldn't be running in my 5 year old shoes either! Sunday at 6 am Lizz and I will hit the ground running! 13.1 miles baby!! We've done it once before (22 km) on our own... But this time it's for real!

More soon on life, Micah, farmers market, Hawaii, the half marathon and running on general! Life is changing super fast and becoming super crazy!! Fingers crossed that on Tuesday I find out that Micah has a full time daycare spot! Cross them fingers like crazy! It will be my ONLY form of sanity!

Oh 2009... You were quite the year!

2010-01-01T12:20:00.002-07:00

It has been 9 months since Blair quit his job, just as my EI was ending and after we had already made the decision that I would not go back to my fulltime job so that I could stay home with Micah.

So how have 9 months with no reliable income treated us? Well, once we stopped fighting and got on the same page it's gone remarkably well!

January

Blair started classes at COTR in September and did really, really well in his classes. I subbed a bit and started working at a local kids store and will be working there more when my friend (co-owner) has her baby. I sold honey fir my father-in-law at the farmer's market. Blair worked for Purolator over the summer, for a friend who has a construction company, and DJing weddings. In the fall, he taught guitar lessons again and continued to do construction and a bit if DJing. Over Christmas he worked for Purolator again and will probably do a different route for 6 months next spring/summer. I will also be looking after a friends daughter who us 8 months younger than Micah 1 day a week.

February

With all those odd jobs and student loans, we have managed to live pretty much how we did before Blair quit his job. Our grocery budget has been slashed, yet we eat the same quality of food we did before (just no more organic sugar...). We think more carefully about purchases, not much else has changed. We were never big on going out for lunches or dinner, we rarely went to the movies because our setup at home is just as nice plus we can pause the movie ;)

March

Spending more time with Blair has been a way better than I could have imagined and watching him interact with Micah had been amazing! Not always having to worry about finding a babysitter when I worked was also great!

April

Our relationship has grown in leaps and bounds and I know we wouldn't be as strong if he were still working at the RDEK. I'm happier with my life than I have ever been and I feel more fulfilled even though I do less (or arguably much more).

May

We enjoyed a trip to Hawaii in Match before he officially quit his job (he was on unpaid sick leave first). Went camping over the summer. Blair started dirt biking (traded a hot tub for a bike). This winter we bought RCR discount cards and after I buy sone new snowboard gear (boots, helmet, gloves and goggles) we will get to board together! My parents watched Micah on Christmas day and paid for our tickets so that we could snowboard together (my first time in 8 years and obviously our first time together! Blair has been a few times over the years).

June

We figured out how to get Micah to bed at a consistent time, though naps are still a challenge and don't happen everyday. We haven't figured out how to expand his tastebuds beyond pasta, cheese, milk, bread, boring! But we working on it, same with discipline and leaving the damn dog food dish alone! He's such a funny kid and he teaches me new things everyday! Some of his new words are: colour, hot tub, hat, shhh, crash, gosh, cheese, thank you, good girl, coco, sethy, evie, mommy, daddy, up, down, please, nigh nigh, ouch, snow (sounds a lot like nosy), train, miaow, neigh, kitty, horsie!!

July

Last night at the New Years party we went to (and Blair DJed) Micah danced for like 3 hours! Copying the older kids and adults and trying to do things like the worm and the splits! I wish I had grabbed the video camera :( He was too cute and the life of the party if I do say so myself!

August

I've been working on getting things together to start an etsy shop and after sine feedback from Hanna and Jen I think I will be ready. They will also be for sale at MJ's & Bumbletree (where I'm working) and I'll sell them at the farmer's market with the honey next year.

September

While I hope that 2010 provides less character building lessons for us now that I've looked back over 2009, I wouldn't change what we've been through because we are so much better off!! Well, maybe I would like more sleep!

October

In 2010, I hope we continue to strengthen our marriage, become better parents, and enjoy the beautiful area we live in!

November

Some of my other goals include, baking and cooking more new things instead of relying on what I know, baking fantastic gluten laden breads and tolerable gluten free ones, make a fun play kitchen for Micah (already in the works) and sew up some awesome felt food for him (already got some done).

December

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2009-12-14T23:40:00.001-07:00

...ing

2009-11-27T21:46:00.003-07:00

LoveLife

2009-11-27T21:33:00.005-07:00

I always enter giveaways and I never ever win anything... until today! I won a set of Kal Barteski's Peace + Love postcards. I've had them on my list of things that I love but can't justify buying, so I'm very happy that they will be making their way to me shortly!

And while we're on the topic her blog, LoveLife, is one of my daily reads. It's a refreshing read on balancing kids with life, charting your own course and just generally being AWESOME! Plus, she's a Canadian! Her enthusiasm for life is infectious so I fully recommend you go check her out. And maybe while you're there you should go buy some of her gorgeous art work.

I picked up a few prints awhile back and while I haven't found the perfect frames yet, they bring a smile to my face every time I look at them! I also have her LoveLife book which also boosts my mood! So a big, huge, warm thanks to Kal!

Crafty

2009-11-23T13:06:00.004-07:00

After posting about the Pretty Swell giveaway a few days ago, I remembered a Martha tutorial for making your OWN fabric dahlias, roses and peonies... so I figured I could make my own fun flower garlands! The dahlias looked the simplest and since Micah was running crazy around the house, simple and interruptable were exactly what I needed!

Also for you viewing pleasure and my son`s future embarrassment!

I`ve been making tutu`s for some luckily little girls this Christmas (aren`t you excited Hanna & Jen!!)

Micah at 17-ish months

2009-11-18T11:48:00.005-07:00

You are such a funny boy, Micah-roo! You love putting everything on your head and saying "Aaaaht" which obviously means hat!
You hate having socks on and start taking them off as soon as I've put them on, you like having things stuck to the bottoms of your feet and will glide around the house with random bits of paper and crinkly plastic as your skates! You get quite frustrated when things won't stick to your feet. To keep you happy we will sometimes tape things to your feet that are bothering you by becoming unstuck!
You have started saying mummy and daddy (instead of baba and dada) and you enjoy knocking on doors, chasing, walking, kissing & hugging Izzie. She still enjoys the food that you throw on the floor.
You have no favourite food, in fact you are not excited by food at all. You like drinking milk and you ask for it by saying "dink". You can also ask for "cheese." You call nursing "nigh nighs" and rarely ever sign for it anymore, just when you're sad or hurt or tired. You really only nurse a few times a day now. I miss getting to sit down with you since you're SO busy. But it also means that I can start wearing dresses again!
You sign please and say up and down very clearly. We always make you sign please first when you want something. Sometimes you do it very grudgingly, these are also the times when you won't say or sign thank you ("ank oo"!).
When I have something I need to be doing you always want UP UP UP! Same with Daddy when he has to do homework! You are funny because you hate to be snuggled but love to be held... unless of course you need to be held to keep you from running away... then you want to be DOWN DOWN DOWN!
When you haven't had a nap (which to be honest is more often than I'm prepared for) and I need to make dinner or tidy up from your hurricane, you get to watch Yo Gabba Gabba. You sure love that show and you will dance in your booster seat when they are dancing, which is most of the time! You call it "O Gagga!" and ask for it constantly.
You have this funny habit of backing up when you want to sit in someone's lap. You seem to start backing up as soon as you decide to sit in their lap, sometimes from across the room! You bring me books constantly and love to be read to, but you also love to turn pages so you never really get the whole story!
You are such a funny boy at Musikgarden, you become so shy and clingy, very unlike the boy that runs away from me to go to the nursery at church as soon as your feet hit the ground!
You love going in the hot tub. You can stand up in it now and you love to slide off of the edge or the lid into Daddy's arms. You can blow bubbles like a pro and you splash me in the face way less than you used to!
You are becoming very independent and want to do everything by yourself and you become very offended when Daddy or I try to help you.

Of course there is tons more that you say and do, but this is all you're giving me time to type out!

EDIT: Oh &he's a scrawny little stinker who only weighs 19 lbs 7oz! STILL rear-facing!

The Coterie/Pretty Swell Giveaway

2009-11-17T14:44:00.003-07:00

Over @ The Coterie Blog you can enter to win a gorgeous flower garland from Pretty Swell... although I'd rather you not head over there to enter because I REALLY want to win this for myself! Why don't you just go to their Etsy shop and buy you're own :P

Alrighty then... resume radio silence!

Recap

2009-10-07T17:14:00.003-06:00

Wow! It's October and I have a 16 month old... who says NO! Where did the time go?

Let's do a quick recap:

July:
I made Bakerella style Hamburger cupcakes for Blair for his birthday, but Seth has all the pictures, so I guess I'll probably be posting about these again!

We bought a second freezer because our fridge freezer and the one in the laundry room were at full capacity! Something had to be done because there was no room for the ice cream maker insert to live in either one! We found a good deal on a freezer on Craigslist and picked it up a few days later. It was perfect timing too, because less than a week later the 300 lbs of Moo that we had ordered arrived and needed a home! We bought half of a free-range cow from a farm about 30-40 minutes away!

Our city started a farmer's market and I made it down to the 2nd or 3rd one and met up with the in-laws and we realized that no one was selling honey. So we filled out the paperwork, set up the extraction equipment, got inspected and got started! It turned out that another local-ish guy (an hour away) started selling honey the same week we did, but Seth & I still managed to make some really nice coin at the market... in fact I paid off half of the cow and still ended up with close to 1K in my pocket and that's only 1/2 of what we earned!

At the end of the month we went camping with Hanna & Craig at Syringa Creek and then we quickly came home to do the first honey extraction and then M & I took off to Nelson for a week visit a whole whack load of family, and I actually already blogged about that here!

August:

In August, there were more farmer's markets, a few local hikes, huckleberry picking, gardening, canning, and lots of lazing around! Oh, and Blair applied to the RCMP - still waiting to hear about that.

My dear friend Lizz, had her baby girl at the end of August!

September:

Blair started school and the month RAN away from me. I went to Nelson and canned about 100 lbs of tomatoes and then stopped at my aunt's farm and picked another 200+ lbs of tomatoes which I spent a lot of time canning, and even got some friends into the act!

I hosted a Norwex party and got a bunch more of their cleaning cloths and some products... I already enjoy cleaning my house more, so that's a plus in my books!

Blair decided that he was done with wheat for real! So I started figuring out how to bake gluten free, so that I could limit my use of low gluten flours, like Spelt - which I think I will make bread out of, because really... gluten free bread is nasty! I'll also bake with it when we're going to potlucks so that the food is better for Blair, but palatable for the general public, while I figure things out. but I did make a very nice pie crust, some scones and a pretty brick-like loaf of bread! Only 3/5 of my grain share will go to waste :( - instead of waist!!

September included more hikes, walks, gardening and lazing about! But for some reason I barely reached for my camera.

Blair's grandpa's health started to decline and he was hospitalized while I was away. He passed away on September 26. Clem's funeral was on October 5th.

TODAY:

I'm switching to cloth diapers. yes, you read that correctly... CLOTH DIAPERS! Apple Cheeks to be exact. My favourite little baby store in town got their order in yesterday! And I picked up 2 diapers and 6 inserts today, they were out of the flushable liners, so I need to check at Evil-Mart for some because really I can't handle hands on poop work and I can't wrap my head around a diaper sprayer! I keep thinking about poop showers and, ugh! If for some reason I'm not hardcore enough I'm sure that Hanna will buy them off of me... but I'm pretty sure I can do it.

I've started working on Micah's baby book again... it's been sadly abandoned for SO long! But it's my goal to finish the first 6 months of his life before Christmas this year... So far I've done a month and a half, but not much of that is journaled.

TOMORROW:

I have my first day back as a substitute teacher in over a year and a half and I'm panicking just a little bit... okay I lied... I'm FREAKING out over here! But it was kind of meant to be because I've been saying for a while that I would love my first day back to be a half day English primary... and well it's a half day grade one class... It was handed to me and I said yes against my better judgement... probably because Blair showed me the breakdown of last months spending!

...ing

2009-09-02T10:23:00.002-06:00

...ing

2009-08-22T16:38:00.003-06:00

2009-08-21T11:52:00.001-06:00

Sometimes we omit things and then they come and bite us in the a$$

Nelson Trip

2009-08-13T23:02:00.004-06:00

Here are some pictures of our recent trip to Nelson to visit family. My cousin L and Aunt D were up from Florida to visit Grandma (we keep thinking that this is her last x,y,z but she keeps on ticking). I hesitantly hopped on the greyhound with Micah because Blair needed the truck for DJing. L & my mom picked me up in Salmo (thank heavens!) so I only had to spend 2.5 hours on the bus (on the anniversary of last years horrific tragedy no less).
Hanna & Aunt Val came over a few days later for more family visiting! Micah loved exploring Grandma's yard and escaping from it (man, I LOVE my fence). We had a great visit, "fun" hand & foot card games, and AMAZING food, but I won't tell you about it yet... We got to do a bit of shopping but Hanna & I didn't get to show L all of our favourite places because it was a long weekend, BOO!
Blair & Izzie came over halfway through the visit and we stayed a bit longer after everyone left and hiked Idaho Lookout and poked around at Davis Creek with my parents (we also stopped at the Nikkei Memorial Internment Centre in New Denver and the public gardens in Silverton, and had lunch in Sandon).
We drove home over the Gray Creek Pass, which we've always wanted to do, just never seemed to leave town early enough... well BIG DISAPPOINTMENT! Sure we only used a 1/4 tank of gas but it took almost twice as long and the views along the Salmo Creston are way better, you can't even see Oliver Lake from the road.
From top (R-L): Izzie & Micah @ Idaho Lookout, M @ my parents, M @ Davis Creek, Hanna, L & I, M in the PNG basket, wild M reading a book, M with his Grandma & goldfish toes, M, Aunt D, (Great)Grandma & I, M digging for treasure @ Davis Creek, family photo op @ Davis Creek

I thought I'd include these pictures also. L took the bottom picture when we were visiting Grandma at the nursing home. The one above it was taken almost exactly a year ago when Micah was 7 weeks old. What a goofy little boy!

This week I've been helping with honey extractions (no pictures, TOO sticky) at the in-laws and on Saturday I'll be selling honey with Seth & Micah at the farmer's market.

Micah has 8 teeth now, Nelson seems to be a magical place for teething since he's gotten or started all of his teeth there... except today he was so grumpy and shoving everything into his mouth and drooling huge gross gobs that I think he might be getting some more teeth!

Things I need to share

2009-08-11T22:58:00.004-06:00

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Vanilla Bean Pound Cake
My 300 lb half a cow
My new freezer
Camping at Syringa
Family time in Nelson with cousins H & L and 2 of my aunts
Hiking Idaho Lookout
Davis Creek
Painting stripes in Seth's room
Honey Extraction
Selling honey at the farmer's market (this coming Saturday)
Blair applying to the RCMP
My garden
Radish Pickles
Jalapeno Jelly
Cookies
Blair's birthday cupcakes
Blueberry Granola
Raspberry Flan
Ethiopian Food

So now that I've given you the list I have no excuses because obviously I DO have things to blog about!

So how DOES my garden grow?

2009-07-16T13:51:00.006-06:00

Back yard looking towards the parking and garage (hello travel trailer)

Back yard looking at fence garden beds and the gutter garden

Shade bed, where my mint, tarragon, green onions and hostas live... and a piece of sod for patching!

Here is my Bright Lights swiss chard, beets and green beans

My acorn squash and more beets, beans and chard

Looking at the left garden bed

My poor busted tomato plant... I should really be more careful... I tripped over it while watering and snapped off all it's tall bits and a whole bunch of flowers :(

The radish section of the gutter garden

This bed has most of my herbs (oregano, sage, chives, dill, chocolate mint & parsley), radishes &carrots.

Here is my sad little lemongrass plant, my basil, thai basil and my monster tomato plant!

Here are a bunch more tomatoes and my "gutter garden" which has more radishes and lettuce.

My Raspberry Rumex Sorrel... it looks pretty and I remember my mom making a soup with sorrel, I've been harvesting and blanching leaves, hopeully I'll eventually get enough for at least one recipe of soup!

My zucchini plants are taking over the garden!

My reject tomato plant and nasturtiums at the front of the house

...ing

2009-07-15T22:26:00.006-06:00

reading | Too Many Cooks by Emily Franklin
listening to | sweet, sweet silence
eating | matcha ice cream
watching | nothing, but I'm going to start watching Mental soon
planning | to finish sewing the trailer curtains and then MAYBE the cushions
feeling | satisfied
anticipating | boating tomorrow evening with some of my favourite friends
cleaning | up after Micah &the Special K incident
drinking | mint tea &lime

I'll leave you with a picture from our recent(ish) camping trip to Premier Lake, taken at Canuck Lake.

Matcha Ice Cream

2009-07-15T22:26:00.000-06:00

I love green tea ice cream so much, but often find that it tastes a bit like, well, grass. So when I decided to make some for our big sushi party last night, I knew that I needed to tone down the earthy taste. I wanted it to taste more like vanilla ice cream and green tea got together and made a delicious ice cream baby!

I hate messing around with custard based ice creams and that is all Father Google would show me, so I went to my tried & true vanilla base (thanks to Heather Bailey) and managed to get EXACTLY what I hoped for.

We served the green tea ice cream with a chocolate buttermilk cake (from this cookbook). One of my friends brought apple pie and store bought vanilla ice cream and I was afraid no one would eat my weird green ice cream but ... everyone tried it and most liked MY ice cream BETTER! Take that Breyers! (Sarah is probably rolling her eyes at me right about now!)

Matcha Ice Cream

2 c whipping cream
1 c whole milk
3/4 c sugar *
1 T vanilla
1/4 t salt

2 T boiling water
2 t matcha **

1 mini cocoa camino green tea chocolate bar, chopped

Whisk together whipping cream, milk, vanilla and salt.
Stir matcha into boiling water. Cool.
Pour matcha into milk mixture.
Freeze according to your ice cream maker's preference (I usually let mine run for about 30 min total, adding the chopped chocolate roughly halfway through).

This is the perfect amount for a KitchenAid Ice Cream maker.

* I used organic cane sugar and found that I needed to slightly heat the milk in order to dissolve the sugar.

** If you don't mix the matcha in the boiling water it just clumps into little balls in the milk mixture (even if it's been heated!), which mine did, so I strained it and added more mixed with boiling water. I ended up with little matcha bits that didn't strain out and they added texture in an okay way.

---

When making the base, I have used many dairy variations all with good success. As long as you have 3 cups and you have most of it being high in fat it has a great consistency. I have used table cream (18%) instead of the milk and also half & half (10%), but the whole milk also makes a really nice ice cream and less random creams to use up (i just make more ice cream and have several flavours in the freezer).
I don't know if I would try skim milk... maybe when Micah is older and I'm not buying whole milk anymore I'll give it a try.

I have used this base to make strawberry, peach, chili chocolate, and now matcha.

I want to try it with goat's milk soon so that it will be better for Blair. I'm not sure what to mix in that will work with the tanginess of goat milk. Also I'm not sure if the goat's milk will have enough fat to produce a creamy enough ice cream.

From my kitchen...

2009-07-13T23:21:00.003-06:00

I've been busy busy busy in the kitchen, pulling out my canner on every dreary day possible and making use of the fruits of my labour (rhubarb thievery, strawberry picking, and actually watering my garden!)

I've made: strawberry lemonade concentrate (from here), rhubarb syrup (from here), rhubarb juice (based on this, mint simple syrup (like this one), thai simple syrup (based on this but I added thai basil), stewed rhubarb (from Too Many Cooks) and green tea (matcha) ice cream (using Heather Bailey's amazing vanilla base.)

I plan on posting the changes I made to some of the recipes, as well as pictures if I remember, but my to-do list includes:
+ finish travel trailer cushions
+ finish travel trailer curtains
+ tile laundry room counter
+ build shelves in laundry room
+ tile front entry window box
+ put eye hooks in for green bean runners
+ throw a sushi party tomorrow night
+ convince Micah that naps ARE for cool kids
+ sew Micah a little black apple doll (his will be wearing pjs and should probably have more boy-ish hair)
+ go for walks and hikes so I don't look 3 months pregnant
+ figure out if we're going to keep Micah's new car sear
+ go on a friend's boat
+ KEEP MY HOUSE CLEAN!

Carolyn/Kait - did you find that the True Fit seat kinda smushed your kids thighs and their, um, parts... Are you using it with out without the padded seat part?

...ing

2009-07-04T17:32:00.003-06:00

reading | my blogroll, I haven't found a book to settle into yet
listening to | yo gabba gabba
eating | rice cooked in asparagus broth and green beans (with teriyaki jerky crumbs because they were right there!)
watching | micah eat cheese, while hypnotized by yo gabba gabba
planning | a whole list of projects that I shouldn't start until I finish the last bunch of projects... like the trailer cushions and the 5 half sewn bags
feeling | bummed because I haven't seen Blair all day long and won't see him until tomorrow morning
anticipating | strawberry picking on monday and then a girls trip to Calgary
cleaning | up after Micah ALL day long!
drinking | mint tea concentrate and club soda!

What`s this...it`s an update!!

2009-07-02T15:58:00.006-06:00

My garden is growing along nicely but Im far too lazy to show you the pictures I took right... I'm also too lazy to work on Micah's baby book, too lazy to do the dishes, far too lazy to make dinner, yup too lazy! I went for a long walk in the lovely sun and it stole my will to do ANYTHING!

Blair is working for Purolater for the next 2 weeks, which is good because well we really need some income coming in, but it means loooong 12 hour days and I feel really sorry for him... but really I'm just glad it's not me going to work! He will also be dj-ing weddings again for Just Music on Saturdays, which means that I will probably want to take off for the next 2 weeks because it will be grouchy, sleep deprived city around here! But then he wouldn't eat because he just crashes when he comes home.

I know four preggo people right now, and really I kinda wish I was pregnant again. I would do some things differently (like not be so restrictive about my diet) and I think I would also enjoy it more, though I doubt I would have the same crazy energizer bunny stamina that I had with Micah :( Blair wants a bigger house before we have another baby, so according to his calculations I will have another baby in 2015 which I am SO not cool with! I'd be happier with so spring of 2010... but I don't think it will happen :(

Micah is starting to walk! YAH!! But his feet are so small that he stil wears like 0-6 month Robeez... so he will be experiencing the hurt that is known as gravel and other sharpies this summer poor kid! If they grow about half an inch he can fit the cute tip toey joeys that I droool over!

He is such a funny baby, he constantly amazes me...
- he has the best, most infectous laugh like a cackle
- the ability to completely steal people`s attention
- he loves fiercly (i have bites (i mean kisses) on my chin to prove it)
- plays intensely
- calls me dadadadad which is not funny because he used to call me mmmama, and of course he also calls Blair dada but with way more intensity
- he can sign milk very distinctly, and thinks it`s hilarious when I try to get him to sign things like more, all done, thanks, etc.
- he loves baby Lila a lot, he loves to rock her car seat and he tries to climb in it to kiss her, which is not always appreciated by her!
- I think he will be a great older brother!
- when he eats bananas (only for dada apparently) he says mmmmmmm aaah, because thats what dada did!
- he is bored of cheerios, so is Izzie...
- he LOVES it when I make towers for him... sometimes he will wait patienly until the tower is nice and tall and sometimes he will know it over as soon as I stack 2 blocks and sometimes when we`ve been making towers for a few minutes he will knock over a tower of 1 block (which isn`t really a tower)... he loves this game so much... Blair is amazed that I will sit and endlessly rebuild towers until Micah is done destroying them! This is why I`m the official stay home parent (even though we are both at home)
- he loves his sippy cup, and drinking tea from his grammas mug, and my club soda &juice mix... he makes the best face from the carbonation and then goes back for some more!
- he shoveled the pasta with pesto into his mouth last night and even tried to lick the plate off... apparently we need to eat more and more of it, which is fine because my basil is growing crazy!

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuut... I feel like a bad mom because I'm not keeping records or writing down when he's getting teeth and crap like that but I'm just enjoying my time with him... he changes so fast that I would always be writing stuff down and I`m pretty sure that the time with him is way more precious than the fact that he took his first steps in June 18, 2009 (which he did, so I do know some stuff)

Oh and my trailer... I have 3 out of 7 cushions sewn, with the other 4 all ready to be assembled... I just can`t make myself do it<, so we went camping a few weeks ago with a half ugly trailer... but man is it ever nice to have the trailer!!!

2009-04-29T15:24:00.012-06:00

Oh, and the trailer... she's parked by our garage and is a "free for now gift" from my parents... the fabric has been bought (yah sales!!) for new cushion covers and new curtains... I just need the zippers and about 40 more meters black piping and a good motivational smack and I'll be off and running! Micah loves the 70's era fabric! Obviously we will have rules about this... just not on day 1! Dark and ugly! Our "bedroom" storage! Already better with the curtains open! Micah taking a closer look! The baby occupier! Again... needs rules since it's the heater and will be in use!

Life as it stands...

2009-04-29T15:22:00.002-06:00

Blair quit his job. I can't/don't want to go back to work quite yet/ever. Blair is going to maybe go to school in the fall... so he gets the summer "off" (the phone has been ringing off the hook with people offering him short term work and thankfully he's been accepting them!). For the first time in our married life and our growing up lives... money is in short supply... in fact I can't seem to find any right now...

So, being the resourceful woman that I am... I've decided to get a lot more useful at home! Canning, baking bread, making yogurt, making granola and granonla bars, etc. And I'm going to attempt to blog about it. Partly to share what I'm doing... but honestly... for a bit of a pat on the back, so that I'll be able to look back and see what I really am capable of doing... since currently, using my degree is not one of those things!

Renovation... for the travelling nation??

2009-04-12T17:07:00.003-06:00

We're currently looking into buying a travel trailer, because camping in a tent is just too tricky with a napping baby and a dog. Money is tight (VERY tight) so we're going to buy an oldie, possibly my parents because we know that they've addressed the dry rot issues and I would just have to paint and sew to make it nice. They are also offering us a super deal on it, so possibly we could sell it next year and make a bit of a profit on it and buy what we really want. It's almost perfect, but it has no oven or shower. The oven isn't such a big deal, but the shower is almost a deal breaker. The other one we wanted to look at has been sold :(, it had the oven & shower but had a less perfect layout.
Anyways the point of this entry is that i will be posting much more frequently if we do buy a trailer, because I plan on blogging about it's cute-ification!

I hate packing!

2009-03-01T19:46:00.001-07:00

So we leave for Hawaii in 10 days, which means I have to get my list making on so that I can get my pack on… I know what I would ideally bring…but with bag #1 costing $15 and bag #2 costing $25 and Micah not getting his own checked luggage (though I DO need to double check this…) because he is a lap baby… we need to pack a little differently than we did for Vancouver (um, yeah we won’t be bringing a baby swing, gigantic jogging stroller, rubbermaid tote of fun, etc…)

We’ve decided to rent a highchair, play pen and stroller while we’re there to cut down on extra bags but we will be bringing our car seat and it’s base (these can thankfully be gate checked, and the car seat it airplane rated, so I’m going to inquire about extra seats when we check in… some airlines make you pay, some don’t… or maybe it depends on who you talk to…)

Kait… what did you pack for Kitten? She’s older so I know the lists will be a bit different but any tips would be helpful… what did you bring that you didn’t need, what did you wish you had, what did you end up buying? How many toys/books should I pack? How on earth do you entertain a lap baby??

Tonight I started making lists, and filling travel bottles with shampoo, etc. and finding the travel toothpaste and gathering all the travel organizational bags that we have… I’m gong to do a dry run pack to make sure Micah’s stuff will fit in a carry-on suitcase.

My suitcase will be probably the lightest it’s ever been… I learned from our 2 trips last year that I only wear about a 1/3 of what I bring, so this time I PROMISE to pack less… I also own less clothes now that fit me… like I have 2 tanks tops, 2 summer skirts, 1 pair of jean capris, 1 sundress, 1 pair of board shorts and a bathing suit that sorta fits me… I will be doing some shopping in Calgary to bulk up my summer wardrobe, but still it’s not possible to pack the way I did pre-pregnancy!! Luckily flip flops don’t take up lots of room and I can hike comfortably in my Chaccos, so I don’t think I’ll bring hiking boots (Blair will have to wear his on the plane… oh FUN!)

Micah’s list is by far the longest, but all his stuff is small, so it should fit into a carry-on size suitcase… which will end up being Blair’s carry-on… lucky him! He usually only bring the laptop bag… so the laptop will go in my carry-on or maybe we can work something out with the in-laws…

It will be Seth’s birthday while we’re there, so I’m bringing my 9” cake pans of all things, because he requested a rainbow cake a la Omnomicon, and I doubt the condo will have cake pans…

Oh dern… we need to fit our stupid snorkel gear it our bags too! It’s a good thing Blair is only planning on diving once, his dive gear is bulky and heavy!!

You are NOT getting sleepy…

2009-02-21T04:12:00.001-07:00

Just thought you might like to know that I’m awake… still, as in only running on 4 hrs of sleep from yesterday… fun times!

I’m buying nyquil as soon as the stores open and drugging myself, baby be damned!!

Update of sorts

2009-02-20T11:40:00.001-07:00

Micah can now walk behind one of those hideous walking toys! He loves it so I can’t really complain, he goes up and down the hallways with a bit of parental help and a lot of Izzie encouragement.

He’s a sick little baby right now though :( He’s on his first round of antibiotics to clear up his junky sounding coughing little possible chest infection. I’m not a big fan of antibiotics, but the doctor said that because of how small he is, he didn’t want to take any chances. Between them and the Motrin yesterday Micah had an amazing nights sleep, he still woke up a few times, but nursed and was out again right away!

So you would think that I would be feeling chipper and well rested… not so! I took a decongestant and then proceeded to have anxiety attacks and not be able to sleep and then have more panicky moments because I couldn’t sleep and the massive canker sore in my throat was having a party which was driving me crazy,,,, at 1am after several mini-panic attacks I double checked the box! Yup, a non-drowsy 24 hr decongestant! Because I’m still nursing Micah I am limited to a select few decongestants and I made sure that the drug I was taking was safe but didn’t double check the formulation,,, Today I will buy some night-time meds with Loratadine and maybe I will sleep as well as my baby, finally, slept!

Tomorrow is our church’s Woman’s X-Country Ski day! I really hope I’m feeling better, because I haven’t been out since Monday and I really really want to GO NOW! I was supposed to go yesterday and this morning, but because Micah’s sick and I didn’t sleep until 3am, we’ve been pretty much housebound :(

I’ve been going x-country skiing a lot lately,. even though we haven’t had any snow to speak of since right after Christmas, we’ve still been able to get some decent days in, we just have to drive to Kimberley. Last week, we did manage to ski once at South Star and once up in Gold Creek.

Today I’m going to make Monkey Bread, for the Leadership Olympics that are tonight, and I’m also going to cut out some more pieces for my new sewing project. I need to find some grey linen also, but I think I’ll wait until Blair is home, otherwise I have to drag sicko baby with me and I already did that yesterday and it wasn’t so much fun!

Here’s a peak… I mapped part of my project out in Photoshop last night…

I think that instead of the plain red fabric I might look for a different gray or a blue-y pattern that will work with my kitchen paint colour. I think that all the red makes it a bit boring… we’ll see what happens when I go to the fabric store… I’ve already cut out the red pattern and white pieces so I don’t really feel like changing them!

Still alive-ish

2009-01-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

My baby now has two bottom teeth, crawls, attempts solo standing, walks with help, chases the dog, plays independently, eats real solid food, loves cheerios and potatoes, hates bananas, loves his daddy, but does not sleep very well at night... or during the day... he's pretty cool even with that sleeping issues! But Dear God! I would love for him to fall back into a nice "normal" pattern...

What's on the horizon... lots of walks, sit ups and tummy toning work to get ready for Hawaii and to shed the last big 'o' baby bulge!

And I really really want an iphone! But I should wait until my Telus contract is up... there will probably be a newer one out by then anyways...

2008-09-17T16:03:00.002-06:00

I did a pretty good disappearing act! I bet you forgot about me...

Micah is doing great and was the reason for my absence... he is now 3 months old and is adorable more often than not... and thankfully can be put down without being a fussy pants now! I made Monkey Bread today and I am so happy that I got to complete a project!

Let's see what has changed in my life...

+ Baby (obviously)
+ New decks!!
+ Garage is being started
+ Fence is almost finished!
+ I can enjoy my hot tub now!
+ I've made new friends
+ New Washer and Dryer!
+ In 3 weeks I will have laundry room cupboards!
+ Amy butler's "In Stitches" and "Little Stitches for Little Ones" will be arriving shortly!
+ Micah sticks his tongue out of the corner of his mouth!
+ He giggles like a maniac!
+ He sleeps well-ish
+ He was an amazing traveller baby when we went to the coast for 2 weeks (Yah for Kerry's piratey wedding)
+ I love my stroller (and the new carseat!)

Obviously there's way more but Blair just got home from work and the baby is asleep so I'm going to enjoy some adult conversation...

Introducing...

2008-06-16T20:53:00.002-06:00

Micah Thomas
6 lbs 11 oz
06/07/08
8:08 pm

So far life with baby has been good and monotonous (change, feed, burp, change, attempt to sleep, start again...), with a few ups and downs (hormones crashing back to earth!). But in the past week we've left the house quite a few times (I even left last Thursday ALL BY MYSELF!) and still managed to live a quasi-normal life.

Blair has been home with me since Micah was born (started his holidays Friday after work, Micah was born Saturday evening), he goes back to work next Monday. I haven't been able grown too dependant on him because he's been building a new deck this whole time and I think that it will help me transition better when he does go back.

He's stopped teaching guitar lessons in the evenings for the summer (and maybe for good), so he will get lots of daddy time in the evenings!!! And since Micah sleeps for 3-4 hours regularly after feeding, I will be able to leave the house without him when I need baby-free interaction (my spa even does evening appointments so I can get a pedicure before Christmas!)

Here's a quick rundown of how Micah ended up on the outside:
Wednesday: Felt achey, nauseous, feverish and down right crappy (like PMS but no cramps). Called my friend Sarah, who was my doula, she told me to call the midwife. Midwife came to check on me and found to both our surprise that I was 2 cm dilated... then I started vomitting bile everywhere... and having contractions... so she drove me to the hospital where I was given IV fluids, antibiotic (group B strep positive) and gravol. And then my contractions stopped... and I got to go home.
Thursday: Contractions on and off ALL day and night, still feeling like crap, went on several walks, hoping the baby would get out!
Friday: Midwife stripped my membranes!! 3 cm dilated. More contractions. Went on several more walks.
Saturday: Membranes stripped again (this time crampy immediately), drank "labour" potion. Parents came at 4:30, contractions started getting stronger and closer together at 5 after we ran a few errands. Sarah came at 5:30 because contractions were 3 min apart. Midwife checked me me at 6, now 6 cm dilated. Time to head to the hospital. Micah came out all blue and mine at 8:08!

So Many Things!!

2008-05-14T13:06:00.002-06:00

Wow... there are so many things that we've already bought for when the baby comes, but still so many things I have to pick up (and even pick out... like a car seat... oops!)

And today I remembered that I should pack a hospital bag before labour begins, so I'm working on that, but even with this I'm finding that there are plenty of things that I need to buy! (like a nightgown?? and a bathrobe?? and slippers?? and the bulkiest, ugliest sanitary pads ever known to man??)

We're going to Nelson at the end of the long weekend so I should hopefully be able to get some shopping done there at Mountain Baby and Annie's, and then whatever I can't get I'll buy here at Bumbletree and online! Apparently things like nursing bras are handy to have before you go into labour.

This has been a very expensive week for baby things, but it's because I realized that I need to buy this stuff NOW or I won't have anything when the baby comes expect a crib without a mattress and a stroller bassinet without a stroller! I did all my research and planning for most of this stuff months ago, and just put off purchasing it (in case something better came along!)

So far this week I've ordered the stroller, the hammock (instead of a bassinet or cradle), muslin swaddle wraps, breast pump, nursing pillow, pouch style sling, pretty wall decals from etsy that are trees and hedgehogs... to the tune of around $1500 and after all that my crib still doesn't have a matress (which is fine because the baby won't use it for quite awhile).
And even with all of that I still haven't chosen a car seat (Michiya & Elizabeth have a REALLY nice peg perego one that they mentioned I could borrow, now I'm just waiting to see if that'll work out, so in the meantime a friend offered to lend us hers so that we can do important things, like take the baby home from the hospital).

This week I need to buy a contoured changing pad and get a small stash of newborn and size 1 7th generation diapers.

We're going to Calgary on my birthday weekend because Blair is picking up more softubs and while we're there we'll buy the dresser at Ikea, not my first choice for qulaity but I'll get over it...
I really hope the baby doesn't come before then or decide to come while we're on our way there or back!

For the Baby Boy

2008-05-14T12:32:00.004-06:00

Nursery
√ Miyo Baby Hammock - Sand
√ Extra Mattress
√ Crib – Graco Sarah - Espresso
□ Crib Mattress
□ □ √ Crib Sheets
□ Cozy Wedge Bumper
√ Moisture Resistant Layer
□ Dresser – Ikea HEMNES
□ Contoured Changing Pad
□ Change Pad Cover
√ Helen Ige Mobile
□ Baskets
□ Under Crib
□ Change table
□ Closet
√ Bad Bird Prints
□ Frames
□ Shelves

Misc
□ Twilight Turtle
√ √ Ugly Dolls
√ Aden & Anais Muslin Wraps - Sage
□ Huggies Newborn Diapers
□ 7th Gen Chlorine Free Diapers
√ 7th Gen Chlorine Free Wipes

Transportation
□ Car Seat
□ JJ Cole Bundle Me
√ Stroller - MBUS Elite - Black
√ MB Bassinet - Black
√ BOB Stroller Caddy
□ Strollometer
√ Rockin’ Baby Pouch
□ Diaper Bag
√ Skip Hop Pronto

Feeding
√ Baby Buddy Nursing Pillow
□ Nursing Cover
√ Ameda Purely Yours Pump
□ BPA-Free Hygenikit
□ Milk Storage Bags
□ Lilypadz
□ Think Baby Bottles
□ □ □ Nursing Bras
□ □ √ Nursing Tanks

To Sew
√ Crib Skirt
□ Nursing Pillow Cover
□ Change Pad Cover
□ Organizer
□ Pillow Covers
□ Quilt
□ Seat Liner for Stroller

More Options

2008-05-09T09:56:00.003-06:00

So if we add a different dresser into the equation we get the following...

Layout #9

Layout #10

Layout #11

Layout #12

Take 2

2008-05-09T08:42:00.005-06:00

I guess I should've mentioned that the desk will be used as a changing table because the dresser is too short and narrow for that purpose, the dresser also lives in the closet because it has the tv on it.

We tried to find a new dresser that would be long enough (change mat + basket of supples), wide enough (most change mats are 33" wide) and tall enough (preferably 36" tall, since Blair is 6'2") to use as clothing storage and a comfortable changing area, but we couldn't really find anything in town that worked for us, so we figured we'd re-purpose the furniture we already have for now, until we find something a) better b)not $1000 (because I did find a few of those)

The bed probably won't always live in there, we're building a garage in the near future (hopefully by the end of july) and then the bed will be stored in there and we'll bring the mattress out when company comes.

We'll probably put a loveseat in the nursery instead, which would open up the room alot.

In addition to all of that, the baby will most likely sleep in our room for the first few months, while we get used to things.

EDIT: Okay, so maybe I've changed my mind again... I found a dresser at ikea that will work, it's 38" high (which will be comfortable for both of us) and it's wide enough and it's got plenty of drawers. I wanted to avoid buying more furniture from ikea but for $400 it will do the trick and doesn't have actually have to last for eons...
Which means that I won't need the desk (and, bonus, I won't have to stain it to match the crib... was not looking forward to doing that when the baby was on the outside and obviously wasn't going to happen with the baby on the inside) to be in the room and I can move the other dresser out of the closet.
Then I will get Blair to build shelving in the lower half of the closet for storage and a place for the tv to sit (still in the closet! - the cable jack is right next to the closet and so its a wall plug).

The crib location in #1,2,4,5,6 is the most ideal because I can peek in from the hallway and don't have to open the door up fully (it's such a stupid shaped room!)

Nursery Layout

2008-05-08T19:22:00.006-06:00

So I've been playing around in photoshop for around 1.5 hours trying to decide on the most logical nursery layout... and now my whopping 5 readers get to help me choose the winning layout!

note: the blank spaces in front of the desk and dresser show how much the drawers come out...

Layout #1

Layout #2

Layout #3

Layout #4

Layout #5

Layout #6

Layout #7

Layout #8

Time Flies....

2008-04-23T18:10:00.002-06:00

So it's been almost a month... let's catch you up shall we...

I gave my maternity leave notice at work on April 1st, and it was NOT happily received by my boss, but it's not like he can fire me... he can just make my life @ work cranky... which is precisely what he's been doing! My last day of work is April 30th and for "fun" I get to work every day until then except for Friday, yup even Sunday... yah boss!

I went to Vancouver for a week without Blair and visited with my amazing friends Dayl & Kerry, and saw Michiya, Elizabeth & the kiddos! Did some baby shopping and product research. And of course... some me shopping!

Blair's grandpa had a heart attack the week before I went to Vancouver. Thankfully he is home now and recovered!

There's stressful family business going on with both sides of the family, so there's always something on my mind, but I try not to get to stressed out because it makes the baby kick me harder (seriously!!)

Okay so not much happened this month after all...

3D Ultrasound Pictures

2008-03-26T18:31:00.004-06:00

These are from March 19th, which makes Baby No Name 28 weeks and 2 days in these glamour shots.

2008-03-23T12:20:00.002-06:00

So... because I am SO mature... I ordered the new cable last monday and am waiting so impatiently for it to come and reconnect me with my plastic boyfriend!! It's weird using Blair's computer because his desktop is set up all strange and I have none of my bookmarks or tab groups and he won't let me take the auto-hide off of the start bar thing and all of this together drives me crazy... that and the fact that this computer controls the tv, so if one of us is watching tv the other one can't go online... which makes me sad because I love curling up on the couch with my laptop while Blair watches shows that I don't care about... because in our house we call this couple time!!!

Oh poor sad laptop!

2008-03-14T16:25:00.003-06:00

Stupid Blogger ate my freaking post!

Here it goes again... but the shorter version...

my laptop cord died and my therefore my laptop is useless like a plastic brick that growls (because it does)... when my battery died I found out that crod had thus died... therefore no access to pretty information. Friends of ours have a twin laptop and are letting us borrow the cord for the weekend so that I can back up my schtuff and we can do our DJ gig on staurday!

For $100+ USD (with purchase, shipping and duty) I can get a replacement cord... or I can buy a new laptop for about $700+ CDN...

Which would you do... I just really want a new laptop, since I was supposed to get one for christmas but finally decided that Blair was right and it was wasteful to replace a functioning (dinosaur) laptop for a faster, speedier, sexier more loaded one... BUT now does it make sense to spend over $100 on a stupid old laptop when I could just buy a new one that will be so much better...

I think you kow what I want to do (Im pretty transparent), but what SHOULD I do???

Nursey

2008-03-02T15:04:00.006-07:00

Here we go... I'm sure Hanna is really the only one who cares...

Fabric #1 - I'm thinking that this will be the crib skirt. The grey dots are actually silver...

Fabric #2 - I think that this will be one side of the bumper pad and that the first fabric will be the opposite side. Opinions on bumper pads will be accepted.

There is also a quilted fabric that matches them, that I will use to fake a baby quilt!

Helen Ige mobile... I lovelovelove this, it's made from walnut veneer, and I WILL be ordering it this week!

Crib, not sooo set on this... the is is DaVinci Emily crib in Espresso... I'm pretty sure I want the furniture to be dark wood, but I also want something that doesn't have reviews about chipping finishes... I'm going to look at store around here to see what they have... I really want the Oeuf Sparrow crib but $650 seems a tad pricey.
The deer are from ImagiPLAY and they're only $5 USD for a pair, I think they'll help with the foresty theme without taking it too far!

Still need to convince Blair to make me these West Elm shelves... perhaps the $100 USD price tag and the fact that I want more than one wil help!

I WANT Ugli dolls!!

It's not foresty at all but I love this Binth numbers poster and the colours seem to have the right tone.

Time just flies by...

2008-03-02T14:07:00.004-07:00

Okay, so I'm a bad person and it's been over a month since you've heard evena peep from me...

Let's see... the Dominican Republic was amazing! I was sick for the trip over there and the first two days which was NOT amazing because I could only take tylenol, which helped with the fever but obviously did nothing for the head congestion!

We are having a boy! Which is great and all, because it doesn't effect my nursery planning abilities... it does however mean that the clothes will just never be quite as cute... and really all the pink & green girlies clothes I keep seeing make me cry a little in the materialistic part of my heart... (just for you Hanna)... and and it also means that the 3 huge boxes of baby clothes sitting in my basement are useless for the time being... so also no reusing of baby clothes... but, never fear, I've been keeping myself occupied by buying cute things for the little guy when I see them... and most often when they're on sale too!!

We're going to a a pirate themed wedding at the end of the summer and I've even got his outift all ready!! Becuase apparently nautical is in for babies right now, so I figured I should get it while I can... so he'll wear a cute red & white striped distressed onsie, jeans and black crocheted eye patch (a seller on etsy will make me a baby sized one for like $4 shipped), and I'm sewing him a fleecy parrot to complete his ensemble... what will Blair & I wear... who cares, but the child in my womb is totally decked out!!

Nursery post is on it's way...

20 Week Ultrasound

2008-01-23T14:28:00.001-07:00

The baby was all sleepy and not moving much at all during the ultrasound and even if it was moving and showing its parts, the technician still won't tell me if it's a boy or a girl because BC is dumb, so we booked a 3d ultrasound in Calgary. We're having it on Feb 13... right after our 2 week trip to the Dominican Republic... which no one knows about since I really suck at updating...

2008-01-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

Only 57 minutes left of boring, boring Sunday work left... I haven't worked a Sunday since July... I had no idea they could be THIS BORING! I entered new pricing for most of our paint products, so I did math for a glorious 2 hours and I have dusted a bit and now I am simply wasting time and watching it creep by!

I actually told Blair that I would rather be doing laundry or vacuuming the bedrooms today!

In my attempt to make time speed up I caved in and looked at the Flylady page... and joined... but I already know that I will not be following the rules... sorry but I'm living in knee deep crap I just need a system and to be told how to thoroughly clean my kitchen and how decide what gets to stay and what is on it's way out... so yes... I will be cheating and jumping way ahead of the very slow 30 day intro... seriously, I will not be putting post it notes up around my house, or laying out my clothes the night before... it's just not the kind of help I need!

A look back on a year of BIG changes...

2008-01-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

Let's see... what all happened last year... Most of these are actually pretty big deals... graduation, puppy, truck, pregnancy... but over the course of the year they didn't seem so drastic!!

January - March: Practicum from H-E-L-L.

February: I got my early graduation present - Izzie our Jack Russel / Fox Terrier cross.

March: Finished my Bachelor of Education from UVic and graduated with distinction

April - May: Grandma had a whack of strokes and spent far too much time in the hospital, on the small up-side lots of relatives came up to visit.

May: Bought our new-to-us Toyota Tacoma.

June -August: Friends Matt & Jamie, and their son Haelen stayed with us, while Matt did his Rural Doctor practicum. Lots of time spent on walks and at the water's edge. Blair & I also started to DJ weddings for Just Music. And the power went out lots for LONG time periods.

August: Blair and I packed a lot of vacation in one week.

September: I got pregnant and didn't even know it. I also avoided TOC-ing and started sewing.
October: Found out I was pregnant. Continued to avoid TOC-ing. Spent two weeks of fun in the non-sun in Florida, but had a great time none-the-less and got to catch up with family (AND Leslie, though there are no pictures to prove it). We also sold half of our property and cut our mortgage almost in half!

November: Finally interviewed for the TOC list. Had my first ultrasound.

December: Got Christmassed out!

2007-12-24T23:26:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas aaaaaand happy boxing day shopping to all!!

Wee lettle update...

2007-12-13T13:37:00.001-07:00

Let’s see… what’s been going on since I last posted…

Work – I’ve been doing a lot of it…

Secret – Still not telling…

Craftiness – I’m going owl crazy over here… pictures to come when my next batch is finished!
Baking – I love getting my bake on… I made Coconut Balls, Cinnamon Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Candy Cane Bark, and Mint Covered Chocolate Wafers! I need to make more coconut balls and some coconut bars tonight.

Yoga – Tonight is my last class until the New Year… makes me kinda sad!

Life – We now have a hot tub! And I got my refund from BCSLC last night and we also got another huge refund (from that "thing" I told you about Leslie). So I get a new laptop this Christmas as my prezzie, mine growls and complains constantly and I’m afraid it’s gonna kick the bucket and take all my schtuff with it! So I just need to decide if I want a Sony or HP/Compaq and if I want a 15.4" screen again or if I want a 17"… decisions, decisions!

Christmas – We’re going to Nelson tomorrow afternoon and bringing my A.Val with us. We’re going to have an early family Christmas with my grandma and cousins and of course aunt (mmm… GREEK food!!), because our grandma will be unable to come to our house for the real deal…. That’s right, the real deal will be hosted at our little house, the first time (I believe) that it won’t have been at my parent’s place…

Haaaaaaaaaaaanna

2007-11-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

I can't make the label cloud work!!

http://phy3blog.googlepages.com/Beta-Blogger-Label-Cloud.html

Please help me

Hibernation

2007-11-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

So, I've been hibernating a bit lately... I've been really busy with work and am attempting some semblence of a social life... I wish I could say that all week I've been slaving away at the promotion ad below (being printed in much better quality, blogger doesn't like 25mb files, by Modern Postcard as 6.5"x8" ad mailers), but I actually didn't start that until about 11 am yesterday and finished it around 10 am today! My boss wanted it done by 4pm, but I was pretty sure that while I am amazing, I'm not quite that special. So I called the company and apparently 4pm was the exact same as 1pm today, so I told my boss that I had changed my deadline thanks to this information! Thanks to Sarah & Hanna for listening to me rant and solving all my questions!!

I have big news that's gonna be coming out soon!

Oh and Christmas is at my house this year, so I'm stoked that I get a tree and I get to decorate my house!!!! Oh, the fun I will have!!

Friday Five

2007-11-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

1) Soft Trees from Little Birds Handmade - I have the perfect fabric for this, and I plan on making an obscene amount of them...

2) Branch Shelf from West Elm - I saw this when Leslie and I went to West Elm (Oh, how I wish I had a bigger suitcase and a bigger bank account!) and I decided that Blair could probably make this for me bigger and better and then I wouldn't have to paint the expensive one!!

3) Tree Bed from Shawn Lovell Metalworks - The most beautiful canopy bed I have EVER seen!

4) I love this print by Robin Rosenthal - it's all over the internet and reasonably priced and I think it might be making it's way to my house sooner rather than later!

5) Flowering Crab Apple Tree from Mumblepeg - SO pretty but SO expensive!

A bit of an update...

2007-11-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

I guess owls don't really count as an update so here goes...

We had a great time in Florida, we spent the first week in Key Largo going snorkeling, relaxing by the pool and eating delicious fresh seafood! All of this was done in the sun! On Thursday we drove down to Key West and it rained the whole way down there and thankfully the sun came out in time for lunch and a bit of strolling around the downtown section.

Then on Friday we drove to Sanibel Island on our way to Sanford/Orlando... look at a map of Florida, it's not exactly on the way! And again it rained our whole way there (we didn't even get to stop in the everglades) but the sun came up right before Sanibel Island and we had a great time on the beach looking for shells and then headed off to Orlando so that Blair and I could pick up our rental and then followed my parents to Sanford...

Had a great few days in Sanford with my relatives, spent sometime shopping in Little Vietnam with my mom, aunt and Liz and had an amazing lunch there. Then Leslie and I went to the Mall at Millenia and wow, what a gorgeous mall! And Anthropologie needs to open a store in Vancouver or Calgary ASAP... because I'm in love!! Had an amazing dinner at Barry and Liz's and got to see Reece again.

Then we made our way to Daytona Beach and by this time (Sunday) the weather was just staying nasty and, well, Daytona had no beach to speak of! Our first day in DB (Monday)was actually spent up north in St. Augustine doing some historic stuff and we spent some time at Ripley's Believe it or not (mainly because it got us out of the rain) and then back to Sanford for dinner and so we could pick up our camera that we left there! On Wednesday , we went back to Orlando and had a great, mostly sunny day, at Seaworld (and an evening at Sephora!!!!!). And by the end of that day we had already decided we didn't have the energy for a follow up day at Universal Studios :(

On Friday we went back to Sanford to stay the night because our flight was at 6am on Saturday. And I got in a bit more quality time with Leslie and quality time with my credit card :) Luckily our interests go hand in hand quite nicely and I've picked up a few new things to covet!!

And then Saturday we flew home, got into Spokane at about 12pm, drove home and picked up our much missed puppy from the kennel and fell promptly asleep!

Two weeks is usually the perfect amount of time to be gone, but this time with all the rain, it just seemed far too long... I wish we could have spent more time in Sanford and less in Daytona Beach, but that wouldn't have been fair to Leslie's grades!

Since I've been back, I've been working lots, trying to get the house a bit more organized, because my friend from school Lauren is moving in with us for a month either this coming weekend or the next...

I've also been baking a bit! I bought this years Every Day Food Holiday issue and so far I've made the Chocolate Pear Tart and the Lemon Fig Tart. I forgot to take the picture of the chocolate pear tart, but it was fabulous! I made the lemon fig tart tonight, but we haven't tried it yet because it's for after the movie (we're currently watching the Bourne trio on the projector), so maybe I'll take a picture.

Blogger won't let me upload pictures right now, so I'll try to get them up tomorrow, they're also up on Facebook.

Owls in the family...

2007-11-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

I made a few more owls... and I have a strong desire to make more... I need to do a lot more organizing in the office before I can even justify bringing out my sewing machine again :( And to make matters worse Moonstitches has another owl project up and it's definitely on my to do list... that and the soft trees which I'll be posting on Friday...

Leslie... would you like a garland of these if I get good at them...

Welcome home

2007-11-05T14:00:00.001-07:00

we're baaack...
update to happen soonish!

Little Pea

2007-10-18T20:23:00.000-06:00

Part of a belated birthday present for my niece! Izzie keeps trying to steal it, she just took it out of my suitcase and was running up and down the hallway with it and pouncing on it!

Tomorrow...

2007-10-18T13:13:00.001-06:00

Let's see, we leave for Florida tomorrow, well Spokane, because we have a 6am Saturday flight, and I still have to...

+ ~~do laundry~~
+ ~~pack for me~~ and Blair
+ get Izzie's stuff ready for the kennel
+ ~~go to yoga~~ [edit: wasn't feeling good, so I stayed home and got more accomplished!]
+ clean my fridge
+ prep my bathroom ceiling, actually I have to make Blair do that because it's a blue job and tape off my guest room ceiling because they're both getting painted while we're gone
+ wait impatiently for my TQS card and bring it and my BCCOT certification to the board office so that I can teach when I get back... I really hope I get my TQS card before 2pm tomorrow, so fingers crossed!!
+ make another stuffed pea (maybe)
+ ~~wash our bedding and aactually re-make the bed~~

I tidied the house last night because friends came over to watch top model on the projector :) So it's nice that I'm done with that, and I did get most of the laundry done, just not folded or put away!

I'm not looking forward to fitting toiletries into a quart bag and making sure my containers are 3oz or less... I think I'll check most of it, I mean were going to Florida, and if worse comes to worse I'll just buy new stuff... because WE GOT OUR MONEY from selling the lot... which means we get to go on vacay again in either January or February...

Well I've over stayed my welcome and I'm now late for work!!

Today...

2007-10-09T18:13:00.000-06:00

I got a letter from Student Aid BC telling me that I am eligible for the loan reduction program and that my loan was being reduced by a nice large number... which is great... BUT... I paid my loan off 5 months ago... so now I have to find out if, when and how I will get some of my money back.

I had my "interview" for the TOC list today, but it was really just an information session, and I forgot my resume, but did remember everything else I needed, so I'll be revamping my resume after yoga tonight and dropping it off tomorrow. By the time we get back from our trip I should be able to make big bucks, in fact even bigger bucks than I thought, because the pay scale got bumped again!!!

We're still waiting for our money to get to us for the land we sold, considering it has been the property of the new owner for 2 weeks now and we haven't gotten our cheque yet...

We leave for Florida in a little over 2 weeks and I'm super excited for several reasons: SUN, a break from work, shopping, seafood, sephora, snorkeling, visiting with family, sephora, shopping and SUN, oh yes and a week with just Blair and I in Daytona Beach, after a week with my parents and niece on Key Largo... I'm excited that we get to try out our digital camera's underwater abilities while we're down there!! And Izzie seems to do fine at the kennel, so I don't feel too too bad for leaving her, we had her there when we were in Nelson 2 weekends ago and she seemed to do fine, even though I really missed her and her crazy antics.

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving, mine was eventful to say the least!

Update

2007-09-26T21:58:00.000-06:00

Here's my yoga bag... but I just bought new yoga clothes so I might need to make another one that matches my clothes...

I made delicious banana chocolate chip walnut cupcakes and cake, so moist and yummy with cream cheese icing!

My Mommy's amazing 7 layer sandwiches... so good I'm in love with garden tomatoes!

There goes the neighbourhood!

There's more to come... I'm a busy girl!

In Progress

2007-09-26T10:13:00.000-06:00

I have tons of stuff to write about: big things, little things, food things... but the pictures to accompany my thoughts are all locked away in my camera until I have time to download and sort... Hopefully I can do that tonight... because I have completely blown my goal to post a yummy recipe every tuesday even though I do make something and take pictures every week, even several times a week...

This is NOT a hint list

2007-09-25T12:16:00.001-06:00

I promise this is not a "nudge, nudge" buy me list... this is just a list of books that I will be ordering in the near future... to, uh, build up a classroom library for the classroom I really don't want! Actually I'm selfish and don't want to share them... I want them all for me me me! I LOVELOVELOVE kids books!

Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal Ordered!
Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt
Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend by Melanie Watt
I'd Really Like to Eat a Child by Sylviane Donnio
Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
Scribble by Deborah Freedman
Penguin by Polly Dunbar
I Love You, Little Monkey by Alan Durant
On of Those Days by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Thank You Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
Mrs. Katz and Tush by Patricia Polacco
My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks by Honch Piven
Stella, Queen of the Snow by Marie-Louise Gay
Stella, Fairy of the Forest by Marie-Louise Gay
Stella, Star of the Sea by Marie-Louise Gay
Stella, Princess of the Sky by Marie-Louise Gay
What are you doing Sam? by Marie-Louise Gay
Rotten Island by William Steig
Brain Lint Note Cards by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
The Belly Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal Ordered!

Sniffle, sniffle, snort

2007-09-22T15:49:00.000-06:00

I am sick, I'd say sick as a dog, but I don't think I've ever seen a sick dog... anywho... I bought over-processed kleenex that is lotion AND vicks infused so it helps make the sickness more tolerable and I'm eating canned peaches, but not the ones I just made... ones that were lurking in the pantry.

Since I've been home a lot more this week than usual I also seem to be more productive: laundry, making the bed, organzing the pantry... who knew I was so competent!

I went to my first ever Yoga class on Thursday and it was really nice and relaxing while still giving me the burning muscle-leg quivering feeling that let's you know you've done something good for your body. So now it's Yoga everything Thrusday and hopefully a space opens in the Tuesday class so I can go to that aswell.

In celebration of Yoga I shopped :a new sports bra (Izzie made a snack of the straps of my v. expensive hot pink one) and a Yoga mat (I seriously love any excuse to shop).

And in celebration of my yoga mat, I made it a bag out of my leftover cushion material. I used Amy Butler's Nigella Yoga Bag pattern and when my battery is charged I will take some pictures.

Domestic Bliss

2007-09-20T15:43:00.001-06:00

So I've been all domestic lately and now you get to see the fruit of my spoils so to speak...

I found some organic peaches to satisfy my sickly needs and then canned them and all my jars sealed... on my way beck from Creston I'm going to buy oodles more to can... because 10 jars will not get me through the winter...

I convinced blair to buy me a sewing machine... YAH (and look I've used it!)

And of course I needed/wanted a rotary cutter and it needed a pretty mat!

I made some of Moonstitches' owls... I see the possibilty of an army of owls taking over my house...
I also got all crafty on my nasty throw pillows that Blair puts his feet on... so now we have nice stripey removable washable covers!! I made 4... WITHOUT a pattern!!

And I also made a softie block a la London Mummy

Blair tiled the backsplash ans of course Izzie helped

I though that this deer was pretty until I realized she ate my cherry tomato plant!
This little guy, along with his friends: screen, cable and ceiling mount, will soon be joining our living room multimedia experience!

That is all for now... I'm heading off to yoga...

Tomorrow I work 12-8 so I should have PLENTY of boredom time to put together a Friday Five

Friday Five

2007-09-14T09:53:00.000-06:00

This week’s Friday Five is brought to you by all things creative…

1) Owls by Moonstitches - I lovelovelove these owls and hopefully I can make sense of the tutorial and make my own gigantic collection of them!

2) Soft Cubes by London Mummy - I either need friends to be having babies or to get pregnant really soon, because I want to make lots of these… and it’s an excuse to by a “rotary cutting thingy”… [Kait – do you want some soft cubes??]

3) Divider Decals - I want the trees for my newly decorated guest room (pictures to come when it’s fully put back together…

4) AT: Nursery – Roman’s Modern Nursey - I love this room, it’s so nice and gender neutral and stylish! I love the bedding they used… too bad it’s insanely expensive!

5) Gumdrop Pillows by Amy Butler - Again… I really want to make these… but there are lots of things I want to make that have free patterns… so these will have to wait until it’s their turn!

So...

2007-09-06T16:21:00.000-06:00

So life works itself out in pretty cool ways...

+ We'd been talking for awhile about selling our 2nd lot (when we bought our house, we got 2 lots with 2 separate titles... they are both 33 x 122, this is a great thing because, in Cranbrook you can't subdivide a lot any smaller than 50'), we discussed this idea with both sets of parents and a friend of my father-in-law's called us up and said he was interested in buying our lot... 3 years ago we'd be lucky to sell it for $15,000 and well now it's going for a LOT more than that!

+ In order to sell this lot, we need to remove our carport, because it crosses the property line. We have been going back and forth about building another carport in the back off the alley or building a garage, finally we settled on getting footings poured this fall, so that we could eventually build a garage. Today when I picked up Blair from work we were discussing it again and started talking about how even though a garage is considerably more expensive it would be really nice to have a covered parking area AND dry storage (since our basement is, in some areas, anything but that come springtime). So we figure we'll get some guys to quote on it.
We get in the house, check the messages and some guy from the college had been talking to one of my F-I-L's friend and heard we were looking to get a garage built and that he has between 9 and 11 students that need experience doing garage like things: pouring footings, erecting walls, putting on roofs... and that it would all be supervised by him...
Blair is in the process of calling him back and hashing out the details...

So yah for blessings that come knocking on your door!! And yah for F-I-L's and their friends!!

Tonight we are off to the RDEK company picnic, and I believe that it is T-Bone steak again like every other delicious year!

Millions of Peaches

2007-09-03T12:03:00.000-06:00

Thanks to A. Val for planting the peach canning seed in my head, because now I really, really want to... BUT (there always seems to be one...) I've been reading about fruits and veggies and organic vs. non-organic and all that fun-killing, life-improving stuff on the Environmental Working Group (EWG) website and their list of pesticide laden produce to avoid buying non-organic and the stuff that is fine to buy non-organic... and well here comes the biggest BUT of all: PEACHES are #1 on the list of things to either avoid or buy organically... I'm not sure if I've ever seen an organic peach and I doubt I can afford buying enough organic peaches to can should I ever find them. So unless there are any organic fruit stands in Creston I figure I'm out of luck...

I love canned peaches SO much, there pretty much the only thing I will eat when I'm sick... and well since I may have lots of nausea in my near future I'm going to want lots of canned peaches in my pantry... but I don't really think that pesticide soaked peaches will be the best thing to put into my body when that time comes...

Onions have the lowest pesticide load... maybe I'll can those with lots of sugar instead...

And just so you know... Apples are the #2 worst offender out of the 43 tested... so I'll be buying those organic too from now on...

Waffle Brownies

2007-08-28T12:03:00.000-06:00

1/2 c butter
1/4 c cocoa powder, sifted
3/4 c white sugar
2 eggs
1 T water
1 1/4 c flour
1/4 t salt
2/3 c walnuts, chopped
1/3 c icing sugar, sifted, for decoration

Preheat waffle iron.
Melt butter in a sauce pan. Remove from heat and stir in cocoa. Mix in sugar, eggs and water. Add flour and salt, beating well. Stir in nuts.
In each well of the waffle iron, add one well rounded spoonful.
Cook brownie in waffle iron as you would cook waffles (on mine the highest setting worked best).
Sprinkle icing sugar over warm brownies.

Save the world Sunday

2007-08-26T13:41:00.000-06:00

I started reading Green as a Thistle after hearing Hanna talk about it, and I realized that there are "green" choices that I already consciously (and unconsciously make) on a regular basis, and I'm open to simple changes that help the environment... but I'd prefer not to change my quality of life (and my appliances and vehicle are directly tied to it!).. so even smaller baby steps will be happening in my life... And, yes, I did steal Hanna's catchy title!

I'm switching over to Method products as I run out of the other ones (so far I have bathroom cleaners, dish soap, wood cleaner, leather cleaner and dryer sheets). I love how they smell and they work just as good (even better in some cases). I cleaned my bathroom from top to bottom and it's sparkley and all eucalyptus minty!!

I'm starting to switch over to organic produce and milk (if I can find it), because it's better for my body and Blair's and for future bodies to come. Next summer I am going to attempt a garden again...

I'm using 100% acrylic low VOC paint on my walls (the laundry room, entry room, office, living room and guest room are all in my current re-painting radar). We're also tiling our backsplash, but that has nothing to do with green anything, just making my kicthen pretty.

I made my OWN fabric grocery bags (and they're pretty and I used a plastic bag as my pattern). It would have been way cheaper to buy them (even the pretty envirosax, or the ones that say "fu%@ plastic"), but Blair figured I should do it myself, well he doesn't really know how much fabric costs and it's not like I own any fabric, so I had to go buy it all, so a metre of pretty fabric + a metre of lining fabric to make a bag adds up pretty quickly... I also used my favourite tablcloth that got a bit of ink on it, so that helped a bit cost wise, but they're still about 2x the price! But I guess I didn't have to have them shipped to me...

I'm actually using my compost bin, and we recylce as much as we can (but currently Cranbrook has no plastics recycling aside from the bottle depot... so a lot more things are going in the garbage)... this might not seem like a big deal... but really, the garbage is the closest thing to me when I'm cooking so things are far more likely to end up in it, unless I make a conscious decision to recycle or compost it (and I seriously HATE fruite flies).

The limited Horseshoe Lake pictures

2007-08-26T11:59:00.000-06:00

Adventures in camping land

2007-08-25T13:23:00.001-06:00

So far this summer we have been camping three times, two been very successful and last night being not so amazing!

Our first night camping was at a gorgeous, isolated spot along some river in New Gate, we arrived early in the afternoon, fished for awhile, swam in one of the pools, forced the puppy to swim, set up camp, had a delicious rice pasta dinner, gold panned, had ho.cho with hooch and then slept on our lovely air mattress. The next morning we had a yummy breakie, fished, broke down camp and fished some more.

Our next attempt, went just as well, arrived before dinner at Garland Bay South, which is North of Riondel, grabbed the only isolated campsite, fetched water (I made Blair), hiked down to the beach, hung out, made a yummy rice pasta dinner, had ho.cho without hooch, watched some 'whose line is it anyways' and slept on our lovely air mattress.

Last night we had gross pizza before we headed off to Horseshoe Lake, found an isolated campsite (yah 4x4), set up and realized we had forgotten the air mattress... BOOO we improvised and my shoudlers are a bit sore, but it wasn't horrible, glad we brought two blankets that's for sure! Fished, had ho.cho (no hooch for me), the dog swam and then we went to bed on our hard truck bed liner padded by a think blanket! Woke up and ate granola bars, broke down camp and drove home! We were there for a total of 12 hours, but hey better than being bored at home I guess. Pictures of darkness to follow!

Because Jen made me...

2007-08-20T13:26:00.000-06:00

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Perhaps, I share the same name as my Aunt Barbara, but I’m not sure I was named after her. No idea where my mom came up with Joanne.
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
It’s been a while, I’m not too sure.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
I can only print… I never really learned how to handwrite properly
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Garlic Roast Beef
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
Not yet…
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Who wouldn’t want to :P
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
Less now… apparently it can damage children.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yup
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Heck NO!
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Special K with fresh blueberries
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Nope, I wear flip flops as much of the year as I can get away with it, and my emu’s have no laces 12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
I am beyond weak… though I did pop off the elastic thing they put on your arm for blood taking with my bulging bicep!!
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Clothes, I mean their uh, personalities
15. RED OR PINK?
Pink
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
Procrastination!! I managed to finish my degree despite that superpower… however now it is preventing me from using my degree… I NEED to finish my BCCOT application and the TOC applications!!
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
The lack of responsibility…
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO LINK THIS BACK TO YOU?
Sure
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS (Or Kilt) AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Jeans and turquoise flip flops
20. WHAT WAS The LAST THING YOU ATE?
Strawberries and vanilla yoghurt
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
The annoying hum of my laptop in
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Do I have to pick one? Either grass green or watermelon
23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Curry, cookies, Burberry Brit, Blair, the air before it snows
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
The kitchen cabinets lady from Home Hardware
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO LINKED THIS TO YOU?
Yup
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Nada
27. HAIR COLOR?
Medium brown with light brown and blond highlights, but I need to get it dyed back to my natural colour, because I’m annoyed by roots…
28. EYE COLOR?
Hazel
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
They irritate eyes and I suck at putting them in… it would make life easier if I could…
30. FAVORITE FOOD(S)?
Curry, Chocolate, Blueberries, Sushi, Salad
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings.
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
I can’t remember, but I’m going to see Super Bad tonight, so we’ll just go with that
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Brown
34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Summer
35. HUGS OR KISSES?
Hugs after Blair has made a fire, because they’re warm and toasty and stolen kisses
36. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Brownies
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Who knows, Hanna and Jen have already done this…
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
The rest of them....
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
I just finished: From the Hips, HP & The Deathly Hallows, The Nanny Diaries, Shopaholic Ties the Knot and the 8th Georgia Nicolson book… I’m not sure what book I will start next… I think I will head to the bookstore soon
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
No mouse pad, just touch pad.
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?
I actually didn’t watch tv last night, I was too busy sewing
42. FAVORITE SOUND?
Music, the weird noises that Izzie makes
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Beatles
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Papua New Guinea
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I told you, procrastination! And the ability to be an anal-retentive control freak and a slacker slob simultaneously
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Nelson, BC
47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
Sarah’s

First Friday Five

2007-08-16T22:43:00.000-06:00

Even though I don't really like cats much... or at all for that matter... this seems to be quite cat-centric...

Fabric Shopping Bag

I'm going to buy pretty fabric tomorrow and I will begin making these... and hopefully they are just as nice and hopefully I can find someone with a sewing machine!

I Can Has Cheezburger

This site make me laugh... a lot... all the time! Lately I've been wanting to say this to a lot of people who come in to the store...

NEL (as seen on Bloesem)

I thought of Hanna when I saw this, yet another way for you to have faux kitties in the house...

Bholu (also as seen on Bloesem)

I want my children to have fun toys like these... perhaps they will make them more creative, or maybe just give them entertaining playtime and dreams!

Hut Sut Ralston

This is the font we use for EVERYTHING at work...

Yummy Taco Salad

2007-08-15T15:42:00.000-06:00

1 chicken breast or 1/2 lb ground beef

1 tsp grapeseed oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 T ground cumin
1 T chipotle chili pepper (because it's better)
1/2 can black beans
lettuce (i prefer the lazy kind)
tomatoes (i love the strawberry ones)
avacado
tortilla chips (i use the lime and sea salt spoon ones)
catalina dressing
antoinette's saltspring or chilli dip

Heat grapeseed oil in large saute pan. Cook meat until no longer pink or until browned... depending on your choice of meat. Add garlic, cumin and chili pepper, I never measure... I taste test, when it tastes yummy then it's ready! If it looks too dry, add a bit of water to coat the meat better.
Drain black beans and add them to the meat. Cook a bit longer. I usually set the burner to low and then go about preparing the rest.
Wash and tear lettuce, chop tomatoes, slice avacado, toss to combine.
Add meat mixture to veggies and top with crushed tortilla chips.
Mix about a 1/4 c of catalina dressing with some yummy antoinette's and toss with salad!

I guess you can add cheese to it, I never do... sometimes I add onions

Peer Pressure

2007-08-15T14:34:00.000-06:00

Hanna made me do it and now it's done... I, once again, have a blog which I will ultimately ignore, but until that time comes I will fill this with yummy recipes, pictures of pretty things and my puppy, random rambles, never ending sentences, crafty ideas I may never finish and some home decor goodies...

There... I have now begun!

Hanna, you owe me a pretty layout!