Paper Dreams

Simple quilty Bee blocks

2012-01-15T21:09:00.001-05:00

Bee blocks for the Flickr 3 x 6 Bee.

Je suis malade

2012-01-09T20:18:00.003-05:00

Sucks.

Epiphany

2012-01-08T15:05:00.001-05:00

Celebrating Epiphany at mass this morning. Our church is tiny, but has beautiful vaulted ceilings, painted in aqua and gold.

52 Fridays - unplugged (Jan 6, 2012)

2012-01-06T22:14:00.000-05:00

I'm a scrapbooker and a story teller, but by always being behind the lens there is so much of the story that I'm not telling. So I've joined the one self portrait a week movement - to add some of myself into my albums and my family's story.

Aaaaand this first one is pretty raw. I have a new computer, and my photo editing software isn't installed yet. Where I would normally photoshop my ruddy complexion and get rid of the mole on my nose that makes me look like the wicked witch this one I'm forced to post unadulterated. Me, unplugged.

In the glow of endless brakelights

2012-01-04T22:24:00.000-05:00

Freezing rain for our drive home tonight. Everyone was driving slowly and carefully, but oh so very very slowly, and it made the trip home exhausting.

Back to the grind...

2012-01-03T09:20:00.000-05:00

Christmas holidays have officially ended for C and me (the kids still have one more week). Back to work we went, but the days are getting longer and the sun was rising during our drive in. (Blurry sunrise through my dirty car window)

So much for healthy eating...

2012-01-02T21:14:00.001-05:00

Good thing it wasn't one of my New Years resolutions :) Out running errands, we stopped at McD's for lunch. Little J really wanted to try a Big Mac. We were surprised when he managed to finish all of it! (The fries, however, did not meet the same fate, but he's not the biggest fry fan anyway so I'm not too shocked that he didn't eat them)

Project 365, 2012

2012-01-01T21:41:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I think I'll try this again :)

My darling C, cutting our yummy New Years ham with his new electric knife.

2011 Crafty Finishes

2012-01-01T08:55:00.000-05:00

Quilty and crafty finishes for 2011. Not as much as I would have liked to accomplish.

Sunset

2011-12-28T22:03:00.000-05:00

The view from my front window. Already I'm noticing that the days are longer, only a week past the solstice.

Merry Christmas to all

2011-12-25T00:06:00.000-05:00

and to all a good night...

Glowing

2011-12-18T20:08:00.000-05:00

Our shabby little 14 year old fake tree looks downright opulent with the lights all aglow...

Sniffing

2011-12-15T19:47:00.003-05:00

Man the cats love the Christmas tree (and sniffing anything I put under it... and untying the tree skirt despite their lack of thumbs...)

We are not amused...

2011-12-10T22:26:00.000-05:00

Trick or Treat!

2011-10-31T22:01:00.000-04:00

Hope you had a wonderful Hallowe'en! We sure did, mild weather and HUGE bags of candy :)

Glow Bowl

2011-10-29T19:59:00.000-04:00

It's a weekend before Hallowe'en tradition at the alley where the bits do league bowling on Saturdays... but oh it gives me a headache!

Not-so-little Vampiress

2011-10-28T23:17:00.001-04:00

Katie went to a Hallowe'en dance at school this evening. Got her dressed in her costume, put on her wig and painted her face, then posed her for a few pictures before running out to the school. Looking at them now I'm blown away, that chubby cheeked toddler is all but gone, who is this gorgeous young woman in her place?

Thankfully she doesn't care much for makeup yet and washed most of this off while still at the dance. Don't grow up too quickly princess....

Cub Hallowe'en Party

2011-10-26T23:02:00.000-04:00

Jonah loves these annual parties that bring together all sections of his scouting troop. I hate them, too loud, too crowded, too many kids hopped up on sugar and adrenaline. But he loves them, and that's what matters, right?

Sunset

2011-10-24T21:51:00.000-04:00

The picture doesn't really capture the lovely pinky-orange glow that bathed our street tonight.

Sunday Brunch

2011-10-23T21:56:00.002-04:00

After Mass this morning C made us brunch, eggs Benedict is my all time favourite, and home fries that the Hollandaise just happened to fall on? Heaven!

I'm so lucky.

Spooooooky!

2011-10-22T23:50:00.001-04:00

We were invited again this year to an adults-only Hallowe'en party, costumes mandatory. I'm not a big partier, but these are friends of ours and they always put on a good spread, so we called up the sitter, threw together some costumes and off we went.

C was this guy from the Saw movies. I made his little red bowtie, we found the mask at a costume shop and the shirt and jacket just came from his closet. I'm wearing a cheapy vampiress dress and the cape from Jonah's costume (hey, he doesn't need it until next week anyway!)

We had a good time though I must admit I was falling asleep by the time we left at a quarter past 11 :)

Fall

2011-10-21T21:48:00.001-04:00

Fall has really arrived in our little town. Most of the trees have suffered significant leaf drop due to tons of rain and high winds, but this young maple out front is just peaking now. Beautiful!

Blog - the book

2011-10-20T21:21:00.001-04:00

Before this blog I used to blog elsewhere. Whereas this blog is a sort of upbeat glimpse into my day to day life, heavy on pictures but light on content, that old blog was a true journal. I shut it down in 2006 when I realized that too many people I knew in real life were reading. But I didn't delete it.

Fast forward to 2011. That old blog is precious to me now. It's a real, raw look at my thoughts and emotions as I struggled with a pre-teen, a 2 year old and an infant, with balancing work and family, with a terrible job that I hated, and with all of the day to day drudgery that life threw at me. I realize not only are those words precious to me, but some day my kids might benefit from a glimpse into my head, when they're struggling with work/life balance, with babies who won't sleep and bosses who make life hellish, maybe they'll find comfort in knowing they're not alone.

So I turned my old blog into a printed book, using Blurb. It wasn't exactly easy, the system 'slurps' your blog into a template, but I found I had a ton of formatting work to do afterwards. Still, it wasn't difficult, and the end result exceeds my expectations.

This isn't a book that will sit out on my coffee table for the whole world to peruse, but it turned out so gorgeous and precious I'll be proud sharing it with a few of my nearest and dearest.

New Desk

2011-10-17T23:16:00.000-04:00

I'd been using a 6 foot folding table as a desk in my office/crap room since moving here in 2008. C snapped up this new desk for me at an auction, it's solid, only 5 feet wide but a full 30 inches deep, AND it has 3 drawers to hide crap in!

Of course, I had to clear off the old table to make room for the new, and that took most of a day. Me and my chronic disorganization!

Fabric Flea Market

2011-10-15T18:50:00.002-04:00

I headed in to the city bright and early to go to a one-day fabric flea market to benefit a local school. It opened at 10 so I wandered up to the community centre at 9:57 (my first hint should have been the complete lack of parking ANYWHERE in the Glebe) to find myself approximately #500 in line. Holy smurf!!! They actually did a great job getting people into the venue quickly and in orderly fashion but we were literally shoulder to shoulder once we were inside...

... but it completely didn't matter. The room was full of vendors and there were TONS of great deals! Despite being wigged out by the crowd I spent a grand total of $28 got all of this!

That bag weighed at least 10 pounds!

So many fun things, lots of stash builders, and all of it CHEAP!

Can't wait until next year!

Crazy fall colour

2011-10-14T21:41:00.003-04:00

My backyard, in the strange golden light of an approaching storm...

Making jelly

2011-10-10T21:04:00.000-04:00

A new type of jelly making for me - jalapeno pepper jelly. This tastes amazing, but it didn't set very well, it's quite runny. Could be because I can't measure worth crap and put in 375 mL of red peppers instead of 250 mL. Oh well, we'll eat it anyway...

(Used this recipe)

Mer Bleue

2011-10-09T20:28:00.002-04:00

An absolutely perfect weekend to take the bits for a walk through Mer Bleue. Sadly 40,000 other people had the same idea so it was crowded (that might be a slight exaggeration, there might have only been 39,999).

Poor cat...

2011-10-07T19:31:00.000-04:00

At least he looks dapper in his shirt...

Hello Fall!

2011-10-07T11:02:00.001-04:00

Leaves in the village

Glorious Morning...

2011-10-06T09:00:00.000-04:00

Sunrise over my yard...

Roll out the barrel...

2011-10-02T18:13:00.000-04:00

We trekked out to VanKleek Hill for Oktoberfest on a cold and rainy Sunday. It was still a good time, despite the wet, the cold, and the whining by the short people in our contingent (I'm looking at you Katie and Jonah!) Katie assisted on stage with DooDoo the clown, C sampled microbrewed beers, we all had pretzels and sausages and schnitzel, it was fun. Hopefully next year the weather will be better...

Baby quilty

2011-10-01T11:46:00.002-04:00

Simple baby quilt made for Michelle and Ryan's baby-to-be, I'll be giving it to Michelle at her shower today. I started this eons ago but only finished Friday. I got really stalled by not liking the blocks at.all. The finished quilt isn't too bad though, and it matches the nursery. Sort of.

(I bought a bunch of baby clothes too, I always feel 'cheap' giving just a handmade baby quilt as a gift)

Pretty kitty

2011-09-25T22:35:00.000-04:00

Binou, age 3. She's a sweetie.

Siblings

2011-09-18T22:37:00.001-04:00

These guys fight, a lot. Certainly more than I fought with my own brother when we were their ages. It grates on my nerves, and it can get terribly disheartening. But underneath it all they truly love each other. They are best friends. favourite playmates, a team. I'm glad I have this picture to remember that when the bickering threatens to drive me over the edge :)

Shrimp Tempura!

2011-09-17T20:45:00.003-04:00

Took the bits for sushi (along with James and Chris - James' idea of course, he loooooves sushi!), wasn't sure how they'd react but I was pleasantly surprised at how many things they tried. Wookie was a tempura eating machine, Katie chowed down on dumplings, calamari and miso soup, among other things. I don't think I'll take them for sushi very often but I do like to expand their horizons when I can, even if only a little.

Fundraising Already

2011-09-12T20:05:00.000-04:00

Can't believe we're fundraising for the school already!!!

(Took this picture to armtwist the grandparents into buying ;) )

McMaze

2011-09-11T22:59:00.002-04:00

We had a Groupon, so we decided to check out the corn maze and other attractions at McMaze. In addition to a LARGE corn maze there was animals, a playground, lots of fun exhibits, a barn full of cats to cuddle, home made ice cream and tons more. We'll definitely go back!

Back to the lanes

2011-09-11T19:35:00.002-04:00

Another season of YBC bowling begins....

(We started a day late, but fortunately not a dollar short)

Princess in the back country

2011-09-06T23:21:00.001-04:00

Princess and Papa took an overnight canoe camping trip together, to Joeperry Lake at Bon Echo Provincial Park. By all accounts they had a wonderful time together, paddling, tenting, cooking over a fire and playing yahtzee. I have a feeling this is the beginning of a tradition :)

My Charming Dinner Companion

2011-09-05T23:48:00.000-04:00

While Papa and Katie are away camping Wookie and I are spending some quality time together. After a movie (Spy Kids in 4D, which means there was a scratch and sniff card to go along with the movie, ay yi yi) we had a lovely dinner together at East Side Mario's. Jonah ordered a Shirley Temple which came with a little poof of cotton candy. You can guess what happened when it inevitably fell into the glass! :) It was a lovely evening though, the kids are so different one on one. I really enjoy hanging out with them.

Back to school 2011

2011-08-29T19:36:00.003-04:00

First day of 3rd grade and 5th grade for the bits. I can't believe how fast this summer has flown by! And look at how they've grown! 2010, 2009, 2008 (and here as well), and 2007

Small chef

2011-08-23T20:49:00.000-04:00

We signed little J up for a half day children's cooking school, which was yesterday. My cell phone was dead and I didn't bring my camera, so no pictures of him looking adorable in his apron and paper hat. He really enjoyed it though, the whole process, and the autonomy of learning these new skills without me hovering over him and without his sister bossing him around. The instructors let him chop vegetables with a knife, roll out pasta, mix, measure, stir, etc. They sent him home with a sampling of things he made (cookies and no-bake 'truffles', but not the home made pasta and sauce, the kids ate all of that while the cookies were baking) as well as a sheet of recipes.

So today he decided to make something from that recipe sheet - oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. He did it almost entirely by himself, the only thing I did was put the cookie sheets into the oven and take them out again.

I could get used to having another cook in the house...

Mmmm

2011-08-23T10:17:00.002-04:00

Summer in a bowl - vanilla yogurt, granola and sweet berries!

A little roadside humour

2011-08-16T09:50:00.002-04:00

There's a film crew setting up downtown (Ottawa, on Queen St between Metcalfe and Elgin if you're local). I think someone in the production crew has an, uhm, interesting sense of humour...

PS - the crew turned out to be filming an episode of Michael, Tuesdays and Thursdays, which according to Wiki hasn't debuted yet. Which explains why I'd never heard of it...)

Treasure

2011-08-10T19:19:00.000-04:00

Awww - the rainbow ends at my Princess :)

One of my fave restaurants...

2011-08-08T12:51:00.000-04:00

Lone Star fajitas! Enjoying a lovely lunch with Aunt Bonnie and Chris before they head back to Oshawa...

Toothless Wonder

2011-08-06T16:47:00.000-04:00

That's baby tooth #7 gone. Slow down Wookie!

Hog's Back Falls

2011-08-05T22:01:00.000-04:00

Enjoying a stroll around Hog's Back and Dow's Lake with Aunt Bonnie and Chris as they visit with us for a few days. This is one of my favourite places to take people, it's not touristy at all, probably doesn't show up on anyone's list of things to see and do in Ottawa but it's beautiful!

Flying free

2011-08-01T17:04:00.000-04:00

We bought a trampoline :)

(On sale at Canadian Tire this week!)

Ahhhh Summer

2011-07-24T23:26:00.000-04:00

He gets braver and braver every day, in fact almost by the hour. He seems to really benefit from having other kids here swimming and jumping off the board (we've had cousins and friends nearly every day this week), he emulates them and becomes more and more confident. It makes all of those long hours of lessons in Satan's pool worthwhile.

Funny Wookie

2011-07-19T20:43:00.000-04:00

We're really enjoying having the pool in working order again, it's been HOT and we're on vacation :)

First block with the new toy

2011-07-15T20:01:00.000-04:00

Playing with my new drunkard's path die. Clearly I need a lot of practice sewing curves, but how fun!

Woo-hoo!

2011-07-14T22:19:00.000-04:00

I won a giveaway on the delightful Katy's blog- an Accuquilt GO baby! And 3 dies! And it came today! And I'm freaking out a little 'cause it's sooooo cool!

I'm going to dig through my scrap bins and play :)

A new quilt

2011-07-13T20:26:00.002-04:00

I put together a simple little stacked coins lap quilt, 52" x 62", made from a couple of packs of charm squares from connecting threads and a few coordinating scraps from my stash.

It's very lightly quilted with 'organic' wavy lines, so it's squishy and cuddly :) I think this will live on our family room couch.

Pool time!

2011-07-10T19:42:00.003-04:00

Kids were soooo glad to return from camp and find the pool fixed and opened!

This one is a daredevil...

I never expected I'd see this one jumping off the diving board without a floatie or life jacket! My how he's grown...

Date Night #4

2011-07-07T21:15:00.003-04:00

Date Night #4 at Jean Albert's Soul Food, in Ottawa. Yummy! C has been dying to try this place for a loooong time, and it was definitely worth the wait. Fun, laid back, down-home atmosphere; friendly, attentive service; and super delicious food. What could be better?

(Our appetizers: "Chik-n-waffle", perfect chicken breast piece on a stick, battered in waffle batter, deep fried and served with table syrup. Yummmmmmmm!)

New pool liner

2011-07-05T10:19:00.002-04:00

Yes, it's finally done. The new liner is a grey pebble print, the pool guy tells us it will get 3+ degrees warmer from the sun than the royal blue we had before. I also gives the water a turquoise-y look which is a bit strange to get used to :) It took 8 hours to empty, remove, replace and refill, way longer than pool guy was anticipating. But it's done.

Straight out of the truck the water is a 'balmy' 68F, Brrrrrrrrr! Hopefully it'll warm up quickly...

Date Night #2

2011-07-04T22:14:00.001-04:00

Dinner at Mongolian Hot Pot. Broth fondue with all of the ingredients buffet style in large coolers lining one wall. We talked and ate and talked and ate, and I was SO FULL afterwards (but we were there nearly 2 hours so no wonder!). No one played with the burner controls on the table. No one had to go potty 15 times. No one whined 'I don't like that'. No one spilled anything (though in the interest of full disclosure I somehow managed to splash myself in the eye with the broth. The little Chinese waiter was horrified. Can't take me anywhere). Another fabulous date night! I'm enjoying this!

Date Night #1

2011-07-03T23:38:00.001-04:00

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. In 3D! With popcorn! No one talked at us through the movie, no one needed to go potty 15 times, no one spilled anything. Perfect date night!

Camp bound

2011-07-03T19:34:00.000-04:00

My babies are off to sleepaway camp, both of them! Oh my, 5 whole days of no children in the house... whatever will we do with ourselves??? ;)

They're actually booked for 2 weeks, but they spend the weekends at home (they get on the bus Sunday and come home Friday). We have to squeeze all of our 'date nights' into the first week because I'm just not 100% sure that Jonah will make it both weeks (or even this entire week frankly, I'm holding my breath and panicking when the phone rings....)

Pool Talk

2011-07-03T11:00:00.014-04:00

***A long and fairly whiny explanation of why there have been no pool pictures yet this summer***

We have a fairly large in-ground pool in our yard (a definite selling feature when we purchased our house 3 years ago). Last Spring (2010) as we prepared to open the pool we noticed that the liner had torn around one of the jets. Called the pool company in, they recommended vinyl 'welding', which they performed on May 10. $350 for the weld, plus $700 to top up the pool (the water level had to be dropped to below the tear for it to be fixed). It was fine for about a month. Then the water level started dropping. We spent July/ early August trying to keep the pool level high enough to run the pump (having another $350 water load delivered, running our hose as frequently as our poor well pump could manage). Eventually we gave up and closed the pool a good 6 weeks early.

Fast forward to this year. We had the pool people come out, again, in late April to give us a quote for replacing the liner. We discussed and crunched numbers for a week, then called the pool people back to say yes, we were going to go ahead with the replacement. The girl on the phone insisted 'we're not going to do anything until you sign the contract and pay 50% up front' (just like that too). Perhaps that should have been my first clue. Nevertheless we said of course, can you book an appointment for one of the technicians to come out, take the measurements needed, write up the contract, etc. He came out May 13th. Stayed over an hour, so we assumed he'd gathered all of the information he needed. Took a $2,000 deposit (not 50% of the total, just 50% of the cost of the liner) and told us it takes about 2 weeks for the liner to come in from the company at which time they'd call to book an appointment for the installation. Sounded perfect, it'd be ready in plenty of time for summer. Right? Wrong.

2 weeks came and went. Then a third. Then a fourth. I was starting to get anxious. Multiple calls and multiple messages yielded no results. I finally reached someone in person on June 8th (the same snotty girl from above). She said they were missing some measurements and would have to send a technician back out. Uhm, WTF? You haven't even ORDERED the liner yet? You've had my money for 4 weeks!! Oh, she says, well all of this rain has the guys really behind schedule. YOU CAN'T FAX AN ORDER IN THE RAIN??? I stayed calm. She promised to send the technician the following morning (June 9). I told her I couldn't be there, she said no problem, just leave the pool gate unlocked. I said fine, but please have him lock the pool up afterwards (there's still a couple of feet of water in there and lots of small kids in the neighbourhood). She also booked the installation for June 20th.

We got home from work the next day and found the pool gate unlocked. We immediately called the pool people to see whether he'd simply forgotten to lock the gate. Left a message. Left 2 more messages the next day (a Friday). Left 2 more messages Saturday. Left more messages Monday. That evening, at 6:08pm, while I was making dinner, the doorbell rang. An email I sent out directly afterwards:

---OMFG - the pool guy JUST SHOWED UP. TO TAKE MEASUREMENTS!!! I knew he didn't come last week. I'm so angry I could spit nails, that means the liner STILL hasn't been ordered.---

June 13th. Exactly a month after they took the deposit money and 7 weeks after giving us the quote they showed up to take measurements. Not just 'a couple of missing measurements'. THE WHOLE DAMNED POOL! It was their 3rd visit this year, apparently they didn't take measurements when they came to do the quote, nor when they came to write up the contract. Thankfully C dealt with him because I was furious with f-bombs flying. He spent an hour measuring everything, then told us he'd put a rush on the liner and it'd probably be there within a week.

You'd think after that fiasco they'd be quick to call us and keep us abreast of everything. But no. More calls and messages left unanswered as we tried to ensure that this time the liner was actually ordered. C finally reached the technician on June 23rd and he assured us that he'd ordered it, and said he'd call the manufacturer to get a status update then get back to us. Of course he never did get back to us.

June 29th, with both of us at the end of our rope patience-wise, C finally reached the girl at the pool company (I should say, we know her name, and the names of the technicians, but this is a small community and I don't want to 'out' them, especially when I still don't have a pool liner) who said that the liner 'had just come on the truck that day'. Sure, that's convenient. So she booked us for a July 5th replacement.

We'll see. I'm not holding my breath. Right now there are tens of thousands of tadpoles living in the couple of feet of swamp in my pool, the pump and filter have been dormant for 11 months (so who knows if they'll start up easily or need some TLC) and I'm not optimistic that even if they do come Tuesday 10,000 gallons of fresh ice-cold water will heat up in time for us to get any use out of the pool (we have no heater nor solar blanket).

Pool fun!

2011-07-02T19:40:00.000-04:00

It's been hellish waiting for our pool to be repaired (latest promise from the company is Tuesday, July 5, we'll see) but today we were able to go hang out at a friend's house and enjoy her pool. Perfect day for it too, sunny, hot, low humidity, the quintessential dog days of summer...

And later...

2011-07-01T22:33:00.006-04:00

Fireworks at the community centre to end the day.

Happy Canada Day

2011-07-01T19:12:00.004-04:00

Happy Canada Day! It's perfect here, hot, sunny, low humidity. We spent part of the day at the community centre eating hamburgers and riding ponies. We'll head back there again soon for fireworks. Good times :)

Wills and Kate

2011-06-30T21:28:00.003-04:00

I couldn't get close enough to get a decent shot, but I'm nerdy enough to admit I was thrilled to see them anyway :)

Their brief walkabout and wreath-laying ceremony occurred just 1 block from my office - I simply couldn't miss it even if I was behind so many people there was no hope of me really seeing anything.

Besides, my boss was there too, in the crowd, craning for a glimpse. We were all a bit mental :)

(The grey haired man beside them is Prime Minister Harper and the lady in red is his wife. The secret-agent-looking dude up front is a secret agent dude. Seriously)

Basting

2011-06-24T22:33:00.002-04:00

I really need to try that spray basting some time, this pinning is awful for my knees. Putting together a stacked coin sort of quilt, just 'cause. I had 3 tiny (20 piece each) charm packs from Connecting Threads, added some matchy bits from my stash and LOTS of white and voilà, a quilt top. A nice chunk of fabric for the back and two leftover batting bits sewn together and it's nearly a quilt. Going to quilt it in 'organic wavy lines'. Or that's the plan anyway.

Ribfest 2011

2011-06-23T18:39:00.001-04:00

Ottawa RibFest, 2011! It rained on and off but that didn't deter me from partaking of some porky goodness! I got a half rack from Camp 31 (for $13) and they were amazing!

Giant Poofy Peonies

2011-06-22T19:59:00.000-04:00

Giant poofy peonies. These grow in the back, between the garage and the house, so they always bloom a little later than the ones out front. Most of this bush is still closed up tight.

Coffee Cup Cozies

2011-06-22T16:01:00.002-04:00

These look so crooked in the picture. They're not in real life. Apparently I'm a terrible photographer.

Coffee cup cozies from Erin's awesome tutorial as end of school gifts for the bits' teachers. There are Tim Horton's gift cards inside the cups (natch).

Weigela

2011-06-11T20:40:00.002-04:00

This used to be a tiny, sickly half-dead thing that we nearly dug up when we had to do work on the house 3 years ago. It's come back with a vengeance now!

Another birthday

2011-06-02T20:34:00.001-04:00

Yup, little J was born 2 days after my birthday, it's kind of neat to 'share' a birthday with him (especially since I grew up 'sharing' my birthday with both of my parents, who were born 7 days before and 13 days after me)

My last baby is 8. That seems so old! We ceremonially threw away his car booster seat (8 years old is the magic number in Ontario), and we gave him an electronic drum kit and an MP3 player for his birthday - both awfully grown up gifts I must say!

Happy birthday Wookie!

Another trip around the sun

2011-05-31T20:33:00.000-04:00

This year is a year that ends in a 9. I feel like I should be making a '40 things to do before I'm 40' list, but why set myself up for failure when the culmination of this year is likely to be depressing enough?

Pink Eye

2011-05-22T19:34:00.002-04:00

We've been visited by pink eye. I'm kind of amazed, it's been a year at least since the last bout by either of them. We started the drops Friday but by Sunday his eye was so swollen he could barely open it so back to urgent care we went for something stronger. Hopefully this'll clear it up quickly...

Spring has definitely sprung

2011-05-21T19:06:00.001-04:00

Princess inspecting apple blossoms.

The whole yard has exploded in bloom, in large part because of the enormous amount of rain we've had! We took advantage or a few minutes of sunshine to go out and inspect...

First Communion

2011-05-15T21:47:00.005-04:00

Today marked the first communion celebration for both little bits. It was fairly low key, like everything at our church is. All of the kids were completely adorable in white robes over their white dresses and Sunday best shirts and ties. Each child got to do a portion of a reading, and all of the kids sang together. The church was bursting with proud parents, an almost electric atmosphere.

It rained, so I didn't get any outdoor pictures, but it was otherwise perfect.

Candy sushi

2011-05-14T19:12:00.002-04:00

The little bits look so forward to their big brother's visits home!

He made 'candy sushi' with them today... rice krispie squares for the sushi rice, fruit by the foot became seaweed and all manner of gummy candy became the fish and vegetables. They had such fun together (I even played a little too) :)

Blooming

2011-05-13T21:38:00.000-04:00

The fruit trees in our little 'orchard' (what C calls it, but I don't think 6 trees really counts as an orchard :) ) are starting to flower. It's one of my favourite sights! The sour cherry tree (pictured above) is in full blossom (though I have to say there appears to be fewer blossoms this year, which doesn't bode well for a good crop of sour cherries) and the plum is in blossom too (we've never really gotten fruit from the plum, a couple of tiny plums last year, almost more like olives). The crabapple is just starting to bloom and I imagine by next week the apples and pear will be blooming too :)

Tulips 2011

2011-05-11T18:45:00.001-04:00

Tulip Fest 2011, Major's Hill Park, Ottawa.

Took a little walk at lunch time to enjoy the sunshine and check out the earliest of the tulips. They definitely did not disappoint! Amazing!

Museum of Nature

2011-05-08T22:13:00.002-04:00

Mother's Day trip to the Canadian Museum of Nature.

Mother's Day Mass

2011-05-08T10:36:00.000-04:00

This year Katie both sang in the Mother's Day Mass at church, and did a reading. It was awfully sweet. She's an excellent speaker :)

End of year bowling banquet

2011-05-07T22:41:00.001-04:00

The kids are done bowling for another year! The banquet was today and both kids scored trophies, Jonah for highest single game among peewee boys, and Katie's team won the bantam division. Nice trophies too :)

I-spy with my little eye...

2011-05-07T20:39:00.004-04:00

Princess's i-spy couch/nap quilt, finished. 50 inches square.

Backed with purple minkee dot, what a PITA it is to sew with that stuff, but oh does she love it. Some of my fave HR prints and some spoonflower fabrics in there, along with bits of her old dresses and other novelty charms that I've been collecting for awhile. Next up is one for her little brother, but he HATES the minkee dot, so I'll need to back his with something else (flannel perhaps?)

Jennifer's Quiltie

2011-04-30T10:38:00.004-04:00

I joined a quilting block swap on Flickr way back in August 2010 - the 3 x 6 mini bee. The concept is that you commit for 1 quarter at a time (so you can jump in or out as your schedule permits), and each quarter you're paired with 6 other people. You commit to making a block for each of them, but the catch is that all of the blocks you make are identical in design and different in colour. We supply our chosen colours to the group and that's absolutely the only input we have in what we get back.

Anyway I joined knowing that what I wanted to make was a lap/nap quilt for Jennifer. Her favourite colour is purple, and I just don't have a lot of purple in my stash. I knew this would be a great way to get a variety of purples :) I chose purple, grey and white for my colours.

I completed 3 rounds of the bee and made a few extra blocks myself, and was able to deliver for her a sweet VERY PURPLE sampler quilt when we got together in New Hampshire for our yearly scrap, drink and gab session :)

I love it when a plan comes together ;)

Gas

2011-04-27T23:26:00.002-04:00

I spent awhile two and a half years ago taking pictures of the gas prices every other day as they plunged ever lower.

Those days are over my friends. This was the gas price tonight in Montreal. Holy cannoli!!!

(You might need to click to make it large enough to read...)

Easter Cuties

2011-04-24T22:44:00.000-04:00

They were up just before 6:30 to find everything the bunny left for them. Then we went to 9:00am Mass (oh my but that was early), then out for brunch with grandmaman and grandpapa, then home for a wonderful prime rib dinner.

What a wonderful Easter!

The Diefenbunker

2011-04-23T20:15:00.001-04:00

C and I have been wanting to check out the Diefenbunker for a long time. Finally this rainy, quiet Saturday was the perfect time (plus we borrowed the pass from the library, so it was perfect AND free!)

We took a 1 hour guided tour, which was incredibly helpful because we knew squat about the Diefenbunker. Afterwards we spent another hour poking through the self-guided exhibits. Fascinating stuff, moreso because C and I are old enough to remember some of the cold war (there was an air raid siren on the school grounds at my middle school, but that's perhaps a story for another day). The kids enjoyed that the museum is very hands on, and they were encouraged to try dialing a rotary dial phone or pushing the keys of a manual typewriter.

Pretty Binoue

2011-04-16T23:11:00.000-04:00

She's such a sweet kitty

Girls Weekend

2011-04-11T20:56:00.000-04:00

For the 4th year in a row the girls have come together in New Hampshire at Purity Spring Resort for a long weekend of scrapbooking, chatting, laughing, drinking, eating way too much and shopping.

I look forward to this weekend all year long, it's truly wonderful, I enjoy every aspect of it (OK, I'm not that enamoured with the 6+ hour drive each way, but everything else :) )

And now it's over again for another year. Sigh.

Zombie!!!

2011-03-28T14:53:00.000-04:00

Little J and I were playing with photoshop. Spoooooky!

Sugar Bush 2011

2011-03-27T19:09:00.002-04:00

Brunch at the sugar bush with Nana and G-Paw, including a horse drawn wagon ride and taffy on snow. I love maple syrup... :)

Birthday crafting

2011-03-13T17:26:00.000-04:00

I made water bottle holders to use as loot bags for the guests at Katie's birthday sleepover. I had barely sewn the last strap on when the first guest arrived, so I only managed this kind of crappy photo. The tutorial comes from Pink Chalk Fabric and is super simple. We stuffed them with bubbles and candy, jewellery and mini flashlights and they were a hit.

Fabric Basket Fun

2011-03-07T23:06:00.001-05:00

Fabric baskets made from the awesome Pink Penguin tutorial (destined to be gifts for my April retreat-mates - Jennifer, Tina and Louise :) )

The big 1-0

2011-03-01T20:03:00.000-05:00

My princess is 10. How did that happen? She's growing into a charming, intelligent, opinionated young woman, someone who I am proud to count as a friend, as well as a daughter.

I love you pretty princess.

My little bits

2011-02-25T22:12:00.002-05:00

They just rip my heart right out of my chest :)

V-Day Surprise

2011-02-18T23:42:00.000-05:00

We don't usually celebrate Valentine's Day (apart from helping the bits make cards for their classmates) but this year C surprised me with hockey tickets, and good ones, in the 100s, right behind the visitors net.

The return of Chris Kelly to Ottawa after being traded last week. Bittersweet for sure. We lost the game, but it was a great game nonetheless.

Burger!

2011-01-22T21:04:00.001-05:00

C's favourite food, home made and dripping with cheese :)

2011-01-20

2011-01-20T21:50:00.004-05:00

Swimming lessons... the blur in the centre is little J. We're not actually supposed to take pictures in the pool area, but since you can't make out anyone I'm not too worried.

The pool area is SO HOT. So so so disgustingly over hot. They pride themselves on keeping the pool hot for the seniors who take Aquafitness there during the week, but my goodness it's tough to breathe sitting in there watching (and there's really no other place to sit but there on the deck). Only 7 more weeks...

2011-01-16

2011-01-16T18:54:00.000-05:00

First skate on the canal this season. Man it was cold. During the summer I delude myself into thinking I'm a half decent skater, but the first time on the blades each winter reminds me that I'm actually quite terrible :)

2011-01-15

2011-01-15T22:03:00.002-05:00

Family twosome bowling tournament. Thank goodness the kids are decent bowlers because their parents sure weren't today!