The Mommy Project

KMKY April

2011-05-12T13:36:00.000-04:00

Okay, let's see if I can do this on my iPhone. Sorry about all the huge spaces in my photo post below, but, ya, I'm on my iPhone. I love my iPhone. You know that. Not always easy for the typing and the posting, though. 'K. Here goes...

1) Wedding Song:
Kiss of Love, Sade.
Ha! Oh wait. That's not even right. It's the song I think of as our wedding song bc it's what I walked down the, uh, grass to at our wedding (in Jamaica), and it's the song on our wedding photos slideshow. But, in fact, our first dance was "Can't help Falling in Love", Elvis. I would have loved the Corey Hart version, but, oh well. :)

2)Guest Star on a TV show...?
Hmm, I love Heather's answer and I TOTALLY agree on every word. True Blood. Eric. Rahr. But, you know what, I'd really love to work out with Bob Harper, so can I go on Biggest Loser for one episode? That would be totally wicked.

3)Fav. Children's Book:
All time...The Little Prince. One becomes responsible for what one tames. It's only with the heart that one can see rightly. All that good stuff. Love it (sorry Antoine for butchering your lovely words, there...).
Current: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. Oh how I love that little guy.

4) Watch Royal Wedding:
No. I honestly couldn't care any less. We did ~happen~ to see the kiss. But, truly, seeing Kate wearing Diana's ring freaks me out. And makes me feel really old.

5)Fav. BBQ item:
Uh, veggie burger, I guess. Hubs eats a fair amt of BBQ'd stuff, but I don't. I guess I should try some BBQ'd tofu.

Okay! Did it! Are pigs flying past? I don't think I can link up to Shanny on my phone, bur if you stumble upon this post you can check out the creative genius behind this project over at www.shanrev.blogspot.com
Or, see if this link works!
http://shanrev.blogspot.com/2011/05/knowing-me-knowing-you-may-2011.html
Thanks!!
:)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Adventures at Play-Park.

2011-05-12T12:52:00.000-04:00

Hipstamatic iPhone Adventures at Play-Park...

10.0 on the dismount.

She takes her duties as Fire Chief very seriously.

But a girl still
has to be comfy.

Weeeeee!

Loves to climb, this one.

And collect little stones.

Thanks for coming to Play-Park with us.

Gotta' go now.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Following in Mommy's Footsteps?

2011-01-25T15:21:00.001-05:00

Lesson One:

You must remember not to put your fingers over the lens.

Lesson Two:

Sturdy your arms against your sides to avoid camera shake.

That's the ticket, baby!

I swear, 14 years from now she is hired!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Crazy Sexy Running (Thanks to Kris and Cathy!)

2011-01-24T14:18:00.000-05:00

So, ya, Fitness Friday is a little bit late, huh? Well...here's the story...I got all my gear on and by the time I made it out to the living room (with the DVD player), the kids had already taken over the t.v. to watch a movie. So, I couldn't work out! Yep. There were a lot of lame-o excuses like that one last week. Sigh. But, you know, whatevs! No use pouting. I'm back on track.

I got Kris Carr's cool new book on the weekend. Have you heard about it, yet? I mean, it's everywhere! It isn't really a cookbook. Or a diet plan. It's more like a "life plan". Lots of interesting stuff in there. I'm about 1/3 the way through (because I keep skipping all around it--reading different parts here and there) and I think it's pretty darn cool. Kris was diagnosed with inoperable cancer about 7 years ago and made a complete over-hall of her life. Those healthy changes have kept her going with the grace and gumption of a goddess ever since. Just think of what those changes could do for a person who isn't even battling a life-changing disease. But, then again, aren't we all? I mean, 1 in 2 men get cancer. 1 in 3 women. I have got to think our SAD (Standard American Diet) diet has a lot to do with that SAD statistic. It's time to make some changes and I'm back on track for the challenge!

I even went out and bought a juicer yesterday. I love a kitchen appliance -- oh, yes i do. I wanted to be Jennifer Marlowe when I was a kid. All those kitchen appliances! Shiny and New and Never Used. But, that's another story.

I actually used my juicer this morning and made Kris's "Make Love, Not War Green Juice". It is full of kale, and broccoli stems, celery, cucumbers, ginger root and pear.

Then I drank it.

For real life.

It wasn't so bad actually and I felt so flipping healthy after drinking it! Then I shared a bit of the left-overs with Bun-Bun and Chum-Chum (they thought it was the best thing ever). Side note: the recipe and my juicer make more juice than i really need. I'll have to cut it in half next time.

Then, all high on life and kale, I hit the treadmill.

I started up my Couch to 5K app. again. I jumped in at week 2 this time since I remember week 1 being very easy last time around (for those of you just catching up...I don't think I ever got past about week 4 last time I tried this. I got a cold and missed a couple of days. Then something else, I can't even remember what, came up and I missed a couple more days. Then I felt like I was too out of it to continue on and I sure didn't want to have to start all over again...so, ya, that was that).

Here's the deal.
I love my running shoes (they are super adorable "Newton's", ordered from The States).
I hate running.
Hate is a strong word.

I can "speed walk" at a pace of 6.4km/hr. I could probably walk at that pace all day long. But, kick it up to 7.0 km/hr, or even 6.8, or 6.6...just to the point where I have to shift from walking to jogging, and I suck! I get all tense and seize up. It's like I'm afraid I'm going to fall or something. I don't know. I'm just keenly aware of how uncomfortable I am, how all my innards are just thrashing up and down, how this can't be good for my knee, how i'm going to hurt something, how I have no flipping idea how other people do this...let alone enjoy it...are you kidding me?!

This is what goes through my head for the entire 90 seconds that my app. is telling me to run.

Then I get to walk again.

So, I got through it and, as usual, I felt great after...but I have to get over my mental negativity! I have to try and think of something pleasant during my running time. Something better than, "This sucks! This sucks! I suck! I can't do this! How many more seconds?! I'll never make it! This sucks! This sucks".

I sent a little Tweet out to the beautiful and talented (and able to run 5ks like nobody's business) Cathy Zielske to see how she does it. Cathy is my (and everyone else's) scrapbooking hero, but she also happens to be my running hero. She took up running last year and hasn't looked back. I figured she must have run when she was a kid. Nope. She literally just started last year. She said it was also very foreign to her and took her about 4 months to really hit her stride and start enjoying it. So, I'm not going to give up. I'll keep going and try to reach that 4 month mark and hope to Cathy Zielske that by the time I get there I'm not thinking, "I suck! I can't do this!!" for every single stride, but "You Rock! You CAN do this!" instead. :)

Thank-you Cathy Zielske.
You're my hero.
And, thanks to Kris Carr, too. I feel the unicorns are a-coming!
{you'll just have to read her book...}
;-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Mommy Fail, January/11.

2011-01-21T15:28:00.001-05:00

We kept the girls home from school today. Their school was having another trip to the ice rink and I don't really want them going on the ice without Dave and I there to help them (which we would, but we also have a baby Coco at home and only so many hands). So, we decided to have a fun family day, instead!

Despite the fact that The Hubs got no sleep last night, we got ourselves all ready today -showers, dressed up, camera charged, snacks and water ready, and packed ourselves into the truck for the trip out to The Butterfly Conservatory!!

We haven't been to see the butterflies since Jamie was Colie's age so the photo ops were going to be fabulous. It's a long drive, and a Freezing Cold trip from the parking lot to the front doors...but once you are in there it is fabulous. So warm and tropical with all the beautiful plants and gorgeous butterflies landing on everyone. Ahhhh. Love it.

Unfortunately,we never even ~thought~ to call first. I mean, of course they're open. Right?

Yaaa...
Not so much.
"oh, maaaaan"
-Swiper.

The girls still had a good laugh, though. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what has given them this mad case of the giggles...and caused them to start snapping photos like wild paparazzi.

It was a funny moment, though. You'll just have to take my word for that one.

And, me? Well, I had my new Vegan cookbook along, so I spent the better part of the trip trying to decide what to make for dinner tonight. So, it really wasn't a total loss.

(btw! Totally didn't get this book for the "weight loss" aspect, just the "healthy vegan cooking" aspect. I wish it had a different name...but it's a good cookbook, otherwise).

Okay...
off to work-out now before posting "Fitness Friday"
:-/

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fitness Friday

2011-01-14T11:48:00.001-05:00

Check-in time!

I did pretty good this week. Two days of Upper Body Pyramid (Cathe Friedrich) again. I only needed one day of rest in between this time, so I'm probably going to ramp things up a bit next week and add in some lower body work. I also did some ab work on Wednesday and it still feels like I was hit in the lower ribs today (going to try for two days next week). Aaand, i got jiggy with my Wii Just Dance 2 a bunch of times (including last night when I realized I had forgotten to do it, and I really no longer felt like doing it, but I wasn't listening to any of my own excuses. Yay me!).

Nutrition: I'm on day, what? Eleven, I think, of the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart and I'm doing well. I have not had any meat (no big deal. At all), eggs (a bit harder), or dairy (oh my gawd. There is ice cream in my freezer, people! And, I've yet to solve my no yogurt problem. This one is hard for me) for the entire time.

My saving graces so far have been all my homemade hummus recipes (yum!) and espresso with frothed soy milk (yum-mo!). I really need to prep and cook more, though. I've been doing a LOT of grazing...veggies and hummus, whole-grain bread and hummus, multi-grain crackers and hummus.... Eeee! I may be in danger of becoming sick of hummus.

So, plan for next week...
1) 2 day Upper Body (weights)
2) 1 day Lower Body (weights)
3) 4 days Cardio
4) 2 days Abs

And

Cook something good. Vegan good.

So, tell me,
are you doing something to take care of you this year?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fitness Friday

2011-01-07T17:42:00.001-05:00

Remember those? Well, it is the start of a new year. Time to start taking care of you again, right? So...what are you doing to get healthy this year?

Here's what I've been up to:

Monday: worked. I'll spare you the sad details, but it was a very physically demanding shift. So, I left it at that.

Tuesday: "Intense Program" completed on Wii Just Dance 2. I love that program! Dancing really is so much more fun than running on the treadmill. There. I've said it. I get out of breath and sweat just the same...so it's gotta be just as worthwhile even though it's fun, right?

Also did Cathe Friedrich's Pyramid Upper body. THE best way to get your arms in shape. Period.

Wed: I.P. completed on Wii Just Dance. Upper Body recovery day. Rest of the day spent finishing up my Pet Photography blog (ie., butt on chair, body in front of computer, for hours).

Thursday: I.P. completed on Wii Just Dance. Day 2 of Upper Body recovery (i knew this would happen since I haven't lifted weights in so long. There is just no way my triceps were ready to kickback anything yet). Remainder of day spent on butt, in front of computer, getting pet photography website done. Oh em gee, that took FOR-EVER. Hours!!! My eyes were sore! So glad it's finished now, though. :)

Friday: I.P. completed on Wii Just Dance. Also did Pyramid Upper Body, again. Done with computer today (except for this post). Woo!!

Nutrition: I've eaten a vegan diet all week. No meat, no dairy, no cheese. Not huge sacrifices for me, though, I should admit. Although... I ~am~ really starting to miss my Greek-style plain yogurt. A lot. And soy yogurt is pretty darn expensive!! I may need some help with this one. Although, my Tassimo latte is truly delicious with the soy milk I froth myself! So, hurrah for that.

Plains for next week:
More of the same, but add in some ab work. Also, try to solve lack of yogurt problem.

So tell me...
What did you do
To take care of YOU
This week?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

21-Day Kickstart.

2011-01-03T18:45:00.001-05:00

So the hubs and I went to Chapter's last week because, well, the girls were suddenly, surprisingly, being babysat and there's nothing like a trip to Chapter's sans kids! Hubs wanted a magazine and I usually check out tons of stuff: photography books, beading magazines, scrapbooking stuff, general arts and crafty stuff, fitness, pets, cooking, baking...ahhh...I love it all. I ended up picking up another vegetarian cookbook and happened to see "The China Study" there, too. I've heard this book mentioned many times and many people (including "The Biggest Loser" fitness guy, Bob
Harper) have said it changed their lives. I decided to pick it up.

Hubs began reading it, just to see what nonsense I was into now, basically, and he ended up not wanting to give it back! I'm telling you he is a certified carnivorous manly-man who, while he may like animals- that would never be a reason for him to give up meat. Ever. Well, he has now gone about a week with NO MEAT and very little dairy. Amazing!

Of course, this is all flipping fantastic for me since I hate eating meat. Now the veggies are just overflowing our fridge. We have two types of tofu. Our cupboards are stocked with an assortment of beans. There is no shortage of whole wheat pastas and an assortment of grains...we even have veganaisse (vegan mayo), soy cheese, and a bunch of non-dairy milks.

Hubs will never label himself vegan, or even veggie...he is just trying to eat a more healthy, plant-based diet. That sounds good to me, too. I may give up milk, and cheese...but I don't expect to stop putting honey in my tea, or throw out my leather shoes, or pledge some sort of allegiance to the vegan flag. Yet, I have started the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart today and, of course, so far it's going great!

My biggest worry was how i would replace my morning Tassimo latte. But, i picked up this cute little frother at Fortinos and, i'm telling you, the frothed soy milk on top of the Tassimo espresso is even better than the original version! It tastes less, I don't know, oily.

I was planning on posting the recipe for the delicious hummus i'm eating right now, but i've gone on long enough. I'll come back and post that soon. While it is very convenient...creating entire blog posts with one finger on my iPhone is tiring. I think I may need an iPad? ;-)

But that's another post.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Resolution Time?

2010-12-31T08:56:00.001-05:00

Is it that time again, already?
Okay, here are my goals for the new year...

1) launch my pet photography business

2) update my maternity/newborn photography site

3) make time spent away from my family worth it <-- I vow this one.

4) eat a vegetarian/vegan diet (I'll do the best I can with that one...but I don't plan to obsess about eggs in bread, or milk in my coffee just yet)

5) exercise. I plan to work-out in some form 5 days a week. If that is wii dancing, fine. If that is a big walk with the baby, fine. If that is a 20k bike ride, fine. Something. 5 days a week (my weekends already involve about 15,000 steps...so that's covered).

I plan to be buff by August.

Seriously.

Stop laughing.

So, what are your goals for the New Year?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Classic.

2010-12-25T20:22:00.001-05:00

This is a photo of a photo--so not the greatest quality--but you get the idea.

I love this photo.
I love all our Santa photos. I love seeing a baby, a toddler, pop!, another baby...one crying at 2, another crying at 2, and a third crying at two. And now with Santa's expression...priceless.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

:)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Her Life Story

2010-10-28T09:14:00.001-04:00

JJ and I finished putting her homework assignment together last night. It was a bit tricky considering JJ knocked our external hard drive flying last year, wiping out a year and a half of family photos. But, we got it done, and I thought it was so cute.

{Since she hasn't quite hit 6 yet, she was told to just write about what she would like to do. So unlike her Mom on this one! I'd be happy to never step foot on a plane again).

It was really sweet to go through all the photos (that we do still have), and see how much she's grown.

It was also remarkable to see just how much JJ at two looks like Colie Coco today!

No wonder I call Colie "Jamie" at least once a day!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Meet the Teacher Night

2010-09-24T10:28:00.001-04:00

I wasn't sure if we would make it. It all depended on when the hubs got home from work. But, Jamie was sure hoping we would go. As soon as she came in the front door after school she was screaming, "Meet the teacher night! Meet the teacher night! Can we go?! Can we?!".

To be honest, I always kind of feel like, "What's the point"? I mean, we've already, usually, met the teacher. And we've usually seen the classroom. And it's too early in the school year for the teacher to give us any real input as to how the kiddos are doing. But, the girls sure love it.

They love showing off their work.

And their desks.

And, of course, their teachers.

They get so excited about it all and are always so happy when we are there that, in the end, it's always a great time. And, i remembered, sharing in their excitement for education is the whole point.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Back to School, 2010

2010-09-20T14:10:00.001-04:00

Back to school, in pictures.

(Colie brushing out Maddie's hair for her).

(All set to go at the bus stop).

(Jamie James's first day of grade One!)

(Of course I had to have more than just the iPhone photos for first day of school!)

(Mama cannot manage to ever have dry hair that early in the morning. But, at least the kiddos look great) ;-)

Coco and I headed for the park to cheer ourselves up. Hard to not have ~either~ of them home anymore. All day. Every day.

Growing up way too fast.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Let Them Eat Cake.

2010-09-09T19:00:00.001-04:00

Last week was my hubby's birthday. I could take this opportunity to tell you about what a great guy he is. How he works so hard to take care of all of us. How he is so great, and so hands on with the girls. How he buys the groceries, and cooks, and makes lunches. How, when I casually mentioned that I liked the water bottles with the wider openings, I caught him setting them all aside for me a few days later. But, I won't.

Instead I'll tell you about the nummy cake the girls and i made. A cake so nummy Colie just had to get up on the kitchen chair to get at it. And knock it over. And start digging into it with her bare hands.

When I showed the big girls what she did, they were horrified! So I did what any reasonable mom would do. I said, "Well...grab a fork".

Maddie then declared that it was "The Best day EVER!"

Anywho...
Happy Birthday, Davey!
We all love you very, very much and we are very sorry about your cake.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Linky Love.

2010-09-06T00:05:00.003-04:00

One of my hubby's clients in his landscaping biz. is an older lady. Very friendly. Very sweet. Very wise. One day in conversation they were talking about the new baby, and how things were going...
and she said to him,
"You know, if your wife ever has a problem...something that bugs her...something that makes her life difficult, find a way to fix it and you will become rich".

I thought that was so interesting. And so true.

Keep your eyes open, ladies.

Edited to add: ACK! I forgot to thank the wonderful Stacy Julian for sharing this video clip. I loved it (obviously! I just blogged about it, too)! Thanks Mrs. Julian. You rock :)

Fitness Friday: Monthly Wrap Up {August}.

2010-09-03T09:58:00.058-04:00

The month of August found me hitting the trails. A lot.
I used to cycle all the time in high school. On the roads, then. But a close encounter with a car left me afraid of going anywhere near the roads again. I mean, ya' think when you are crossing a road, at the cross-walk, with the light, in broad daylight, no one is going to try and run you over. You'd think so. Anyway. Ironically, my orthopaedic surgeon recommended cycling for rehabilitation for my knee. Insurance even paid for a new bike. But, I never used it. Not once. I was just too afraid. But, since moving to an area that is so close to so many trails...there was really no excuse anymore (well, except that my bike was in pieces and hubby kept delaying putting it together for me). But! August found me back in the saddle. And I've been loving it!!

I quickly found that I was in need of a few upgrades.

And some accessories.
My best friends are my new riding gloves (my hands were starting to get really sore without them), my new bike shorts (they may look like regular ol' shorts, but don't let that fool you. There is some cushy science in them there shorts. And, my butt is very grateful), and my iPhone with a GPS app. that records my every move (distance, elevation, calories burned. It even records my time against previous times, maps my route, speaks to me during my ride! Coolest thing ever. And the best part--I just let my music play away and the app. continues to work in the background--just interrupting every few minutes to let me know how far I've gone, and how I'm doing, and if anyone has left me any messages on Twitter or Facebook. So. Cool. I heart my iPhone).
So, what kind of numbers did i rack up in August? Well...just keep in mind it was my first month back cycling in, uhhh, well over a decade. Also, I am riding a Mountain Bike now and not a Road Bike. And I'm riding on the trails, not the road. So...speed might not be too terribly impressive (oh, how i do miss flying along!). Oh, also, i didn't get the app. until a few days after i actually started. But, anyway...enough of the justifications..here are the numbers:
August, 2010
Rides: 11Total Distance: 103.08 kmsTotal Time: 5:58:54Total Climb: 223 metresTotal Calories: 2264Average Distance: 9.37 kmsAverage Time: 32:38Average Climb: 20 metresAverage Calories: 206Average Speed: 17.23 kms/hr
And how do i feel? Terrific!!My legs feel so energized!They are that slight, tingly, just a wee bit sore feeling you get when you know you are accomplishing something, but you aren't incapacitated. I can actually see muscles in my legs that are getting bigger, and stronger...and some that i never even remember seeing before(like the one that runs across my shin. Hello there, muscle! Where have you been?)
I will definitely be continuing my cycling throughout September, and I'm hoping to continue on even when it gets cold out. Me? Out in the cold?? Ya, my hubby is finding that one hard to believe, too. But, i'd really like to! I'm loving it so much. We'll see how it goes.
I'll be back next month with another wrap up.
In the meantime...What have you been doing to take care of yourself lately?

Four Simple Goals.

2010-08-26T00:05:00.002-04:00

I came across this cool little post over at Ali Edward's blog. It is about creating Four Simple Goals for yourself for the remainder of this year. This is perfect timing for me as I have just started back to this blog and I love to start off something new with new goals...and the New Year is still so far away. So, here are my Four Simple Goals:

1) Don't waste time.

Okay, that sounds way too vague to actually put into action so let me concrete that one up a bit.

Get up and showered first thing in the morning. Don't wait until the baby has her nap because that nap is coming later and later and you don't want to be a slob all morning, do you? Also, stop checking Twitter so damn much. Yes, there are lots of interesting people on there, with lots of interesting links, but you have too much else YOU need to get done in YOUR own life...so stop checking already!

2) Plan.

Remember that time you made a dinner plan for the week and Davey got all the groceries for it, and you actually made dinner all. week. long? Wasn't that nice? So much better than standing in the kitchen at 6 pm wondering what you can create with a bottle of spaghetti sauce and last night's left-over fajita chicken, wasn't it? So, make a meal plan every week. And, then, make dinner.

3) Drink More WATER.

Ali used this one and it is my total nemesis. I cannot get myself to drink enough water. But, I have just bought a nice little water bottle for my bike rides. Is there any reason why I can't fill that up in the morning and carry it around with me through-out the day? I don't think so. Hang on. I'm going to go grab it now.

Okay...it's a little plastic-y tasting and while they assured me it was BPA-free...I dunno. Maybe I'll get a different bottle. But, HEY, no excuses. No waiting for the fancy-smancy perfect bottle. Drink some water, woman! Now. And Every Day. All Day. M'kay?

4) Create a Scrapbook.

You have been harping on this so long. It's boring. You are signed up for Cathy's class. You big puffy heart Cathy. You big puffy heart the book the class is based on. You don't need anything fancy to get it done. So get it done. I'll be so proud.

I'm not sure why I wrote all that in some sort of weird third person, but there ya' go. My Four Simple Goals.

Good luck, me.

How about you? Do you have Four Simple Goals you could make for yourself?

Mommy Project: The Abridged Version.

2010-08-25T12:47:00.003-04:00

So, another reason for starting back up here at The Mommy Project is that I, once again, have a lot of projects coming up on the horizon. I'll still be working on the photo biz. which I big puffy heart love, but I will also be going back to school to finish up my last two credits in my Landscape Design course! I had almost decided to just let that slide away, but Dave and I have been talking and we have decided to go ahead and expand the landscaping business with a new, fresh, start and new, fresh, name! We have "owned" the new business name for awhile, but we weren't sure if/when to make the leap. Well, we've been working with a designer and we have a brand new logo and we are getting together a website and marketing materials and a whole lotta' other new goodness. So exciting. The new "improved" business will be expanded much more into the design aspect, while holding on to the property maintenance as "the bread and butter" as my favourite teacher, Dennis, would say. Design is the only part I'm really interested in, to be honest. I'm not much with a weed-whacker. Speaking of design...

I am also now signed up to take another class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking with my total girl-crush, Cathy Zielske. Gawd. She is just so darn adorable, isn't she? I think she is super amazing, and super talented, and her personal fitness transformation has been just...well...nothing short of inspirational this year! In fact, I have just started back up with some serious cycling (well, as serious as someone who is completely out of shape can get) because of her. I'd run, Cathy, but...I can't run. I accept that about myself.

Anyway! Suffice it to say that there will be a lot going on in the next little while and I thought that it might be nice to share some of it with you (you know who you are). Also, I wanted to beg ask you if you might like to take Cathy's course with me?! It sounds like it is going to be a lot of fun, and fairly simple, and will result in the completion of an actual scrapbook. Crazy talk? No, really. The course is modelled around one of my all time favourite books, "Encylopedia of an Ordinary Life", by the also super talented Amy Krouse Rosenthal (a.k.a. Rosendal). Love that book.

Here...let me get my bud Cath to tell you all about the class herself:

Me: The Abridged Version
An A to Z All About Me 4-Week Album Workshop

Sometimes I wonder what makes scrapbookers avoid telling their own stories. I've heard the claims that journaling is hard and that these stories aren't worth telling -- and I don't believe either claim for a minute. To prove these ideas wrong, dear scrapbooking friends, is where Me: The Abridged Version comes in.

By focusing on specific but wholly unrelated random details from your own extraordinary life, I'm going to teach you that you're a lot better at writing than you think. We won't fret over flowery prose and excellent grammar. We'll work with run-on sentences. And fragments. And lists. And stuff that you might not think makes for perfect writing, but that most definitely WILL make for perfect story-telling.

In this four-week workshop, I'll be your guide to making the coolest album that captures a little essence of the person who puts so much time and care into documenting everyone else in her (or his) life. That person is you.

Will you do it? Will you come on this little journey and make this album with me?

It's not about design (though the design is cute and we will cover some fun digital stuff!).
It's not about photos (though you will get to choose 52 shots that best represent your various entries… shots you already have or shots you'll take).
It's not about product (though you will need an album, a bunch of cardstock, and your favorite patterned papers to accent the album with!).
But it IS about you. And when you're done, you'll have the coolest, most interesting snapshot of your life, right now, that you could ever imagine. A snapshot that only YOU are truly qualified to present. In the process, you'll get a handle on journaling the stories from your every day life and emerge a more confident storyteller.

I think you have stories just waiting to get out, and I want to help you tell them. See you in class!

Run-on sentences? Fragments?? Lists?!? This course is meant for me!! How 'bout you? Hope to see you in class! If not, at least I'll see ya' around the good ol' bloggity. Jeez! I'll have to post a picture of the baby for you! She's gotten pretty big in the past 6 months!!

Knowing Me: Knowing You...The August Edition.

2010-08-23T18:10:00.000-04:00

Well it has been 6 long months since I've written anything on this blog...which isn't too bad when you consider the fact that I wasn't really planning on ever coming back again. So...why am I back? Well, I need a place to write my answers to The Fairy Blogmother's "Knowing Me, Knowing You" quiz!

Here goes...

1. What is your favourite kind of pie?

Mmmmm, pie. I love pie. You may remember the whole "I'm going to bake a different pie every week!!!" kick that I got on just after having Colie: Post-Partum Pieforia, I believe it's called. Unfortunately, one pie a week didn't go so well with the other kick I was on, which was "I would like to lose some of this baby weight, rather than add to it". So, ya, anyway...what was the question? My favourite pie? Strawberry Rhubarb. For sure. Not with a crumble crust though, and not with the lattice top (although I wouldn't turn my nose up at either). I like strawberry rhubarb pie, heavy on the rhubarb, with a normal pie-crust top.
2. What kind of wedding did you have. I am making the broad assumption here that you are married, if you're not.. what was the last wedding like that you went to.

We eloped. To Jamaica.
Best. Decision. Ever.
{I just kind of wish we hadn't bothered with the overly expensive "at-home reception" after, that we are still paying for, and no one really gave two hoots about anyway).

3. Ever been too a 3D movie?

Yes. I saw "Creature from the Black Lagoon" when I was about, oh, 10 I guess. There was one scene in the water with the fish swimming around and it looked like one was coming right at me. So cool. Horrible movie but, at 10, I thought that was pretty awesome
4. What is the worst movie ever made?

Listen very closely because this cannot be overstated - The worst movie ever made is "A.I." Have you seen that movie? Dave and I tried. We had high hopes because of Hailey Joel Osment and "The Sixth Sense". Oi. I could not get through the movie. It just sucked. that. bad.

5. Are you all set for back to school?

No. But, no biggie. The real question is...am I ready for summer to be over and the answer to that question is...
NOOOOOOO!

First Brett Favre, and Now This!

2010-08-19T13:58:00.000-04:00

I'm back, baby!

First Oprah, Now This!!

2010-02-23T11:44:00.000-05:00

So, this may (or may not...) be a bit of a sad post.

Here

's the deal.
I go back to work in less than two weeks (half-time as a R.V.T.). I am also starting my photo biz in about two weeks (I have an ad coming out in a local baby expo...so I'll be goin' public. For Real Life. So scary). I am also taking this great course over at Big Picture Scrapbooking which is showing me a great way to get all my gabillions of photos (paper and digital) organized so that I can actually start scrapbooking them. That course is a LOT of work, though. And, when it is over I actually want to start, you know, scrapbooking.

This blog has served as a sweet little on-line scrapbook of me and my family for the past couple of years...but, you know, if I am forced to pick one form of scrapbooking over an other (due to time constraints)...I just think my family would prefer the kind they can actually touch.

Also, with the photo biz starting up I will have to start showing my poor photo blog some love (i.e. actually post something in it once in awhile).

Plus, there is the fact that I am still a Mom to three little girls and I really need to have time left over for them...and my home...and my hubby.

Somethings gotta' give.

Do you see where this is going?

Yes...I think this may have to be about it for The Mommy Project.
Oh, my tummy just flipped a little as a typed that. I feel like I am giving up a part of myself. But, truly, I just don't think I can fit it all in. I think, what will happen, is that I will never have time to blog here and it will just get all sad and kinda' pathetic when my last blog entry becomes one that I did 2 months ago. Then, out of guilt, I will post something else. Woo. How exciting. Who is gonna' want to keep coming here for that.

So, let this not be Good-bye...dear, sweet, readers (and you know who you are, The Fairy Blogmother, and Widney Woman and Mami Picture...ha ha!)...
for you can still catch-up with me on Twitter, and Facebook, and my Photoblog (which is gonna' start being the happenin' place to be...with improved photography, to boot. Oh! I still love you iPhone camera!! Really, I do. But printing your pics bigger than about 4x4 isn't really that swell.

So...
ya...
for now...
I'll just say
So Long...
and thanks for all this fish.

{Please come follow me on my Photoblog! I'll miss you if you don't!!!}

Wordless Wednesday

2010-02-17T22:20:00.001-05:00

Family Day: Family Date.

With an extra chair pulled up this year.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T09:17:00.001-05:00

Breakfast in bed!

Complete with Halls that Jamie peeled and fed to me.

{Dear Mom I hope you fel gud today}.

Ahh...
and a card from the hubs, too!!

I hope your day is as sweet as mine.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday Snapshot

2010-02-13T23:13:00.001-05:00

"Feet, revisited".
By Jamie, age 5.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

And, How Have You Been?

2010-02-12T10:33:00.001-05:00

I'm sick.

I think I got sick about 4 days ago. I'm not sure. It's a bit of a blur. I think I just have the flu, but I also can't hear out of my left ear...but I can hear the constant ringing and, occasionally, my heart beat in that ear. Does that happen with the flu? Two nights in a row I've been woken up by the pain in my ear. I haven't had an ear ache since I was a kid. It sucks.

Yesterday my bestie from the States was up for a visit. I so wanted to go see her. I even got a shower and straightened my hair in hopes I could force myself to feel better. It just didn't work. But, at least my hair is cute.

The rest of me looks like I feel.

So...hopefully this will be over soon so I can start enjoying the last 3 weeks I have before I go back to work. Or, maybe my body is just trying to kill me so that never happens.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Kissy, Kissy! @iheartfaces

2010-02-08T12:37:00.002-05:00

Can you believe I have finally managed to enter a photo into the I Heart Faces photo challenge this week?

I know. It's a miracle! ;-)

Please click here to check out the mushy-sweetness

:-x

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday Snapshot

2010-02-07T09:02:00.001-05:00

By Jamie, age 5.

{I know it is actually Sunday, but my BlogPress wasn't working for the last two days!}

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Throwdown: Bliss!

2010-02-05T21:06:00.000-05:00

Oh dear! What with my "Library of Memories" course starting up, and my continuing work on my website, I completely forgot about the Thursday Throwdown! But, they do tie in to one another (at least they do for me. At least partially).

So, here is this week's Thursday Throwdown (one day late):

Find your bliss...and follow it.

What is it that makes you really happy? What is the one thing that you would be willing to get up early to do? Or, what is the one thing that you don't even mind staying up into the wee hours to get done? What makes you happy? What makes you feel alive and purposeful? What helps to make you You?

Now...what are you going to do This Year to give that one thing a bigger, more important part of your life?

That's it.

Just think about it...
and once you know the answer, leave me a comment about it or a link to your blog post about it...
Because I want to know.

Life is Short.

How are you going to follow your bliss?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Zen and the Art of Scrapbooking.

2010-02-04T13:19:00.000-05:00

Oh my gawsh! My Library of Memories Class with Stacy Julian has started today!! I am so excited, but I am also a little worried because 1) I have not finished my website yet (and what I've got done so far looks much better on my computer than it does on my MIL's computer...which leaves me very worried about how good, or bad, it actually does look) 2) The first assignment is, very basically, to label "all your previous scrapbook pages" 3) I don't have any "previous scrapbook pages" 4) I go back to work in one month. Will I be able to get all this stuff done? Be a Mommy to 3 little girls, start up a photography business, start scrapbooking and organize our family's history of photos, and work?

Well...I've really been trying to just Zen-out on all of this. This moment is the only one that matters. Focus on right now. And all of that...

So, I think I'll go find some pretty paper and decorate my Library of Memories "Portable Office".
La-la-laaaa...

Please wish me luck on all of the above. Or, good karma...

Meatless Monday: Easy-Peasy Burrito.

2010-02-01T11:01:00.004-05:00

Meatless Monday!

I am supposed to be working on my photography website right now, but I forgot to post for MM last week so I didn't want to miss it again. This will just have to be quick! But, that's okay...because it is a quick and super easy-peasy recipe idea for eating without meat.

Refried Bean Burrito!

When I was a vegetarian the first time around (before I had kids) I lived off of Harvey's veggie burgers, sour cream and onion potato chips, and Taco Bell Burritos. Nice, huh? (sigh). I tell you, though, I really did love those burritos...so here is how to make one, yourself.

Just get a can of black beans (do yourself a favour and buy from "Eden Organic"!! Their beans have no salt added and their cans are BPA free). {Thanks for caring Eden Organic company. I Heart You}.

Okay...put a wee bit of olive oil in the bottom of a sauce pan and heat up some chopped onion until soft. Throw some garlic in there, too, why dontcha? Now, open up your can of beans (drain and rinse) and throw them in there. Add a little water or, hey, even some veggie stock if you have some around (just enough to keep things from sticking) and warm your beans through. Now, open up a can of tomatos and roughly cut them up (always buy whole tomatoes and cut them yourself as required...they were only "cooked once" so their flavour is always better). Add those to your beans (I added about half a can). Now, what kind of spices do you like? We want this to be a little hot 'n spicy, no? You can add a bit of cumin powder and some cayenne for heat or even some chili powder. You may even want to add some hot sauce if you have it and, as always, a touch of salt and pepper. Taste, taste, taste. Does it need more of anything? Throw it in. Now grab your potato masher and take out all your frustrations on the stuff in the pot. Turn it into a nice mushy-mush.

Now, do you have any left over rice? Great! Throw that in there, too. What about cilantro? Are you a fan? I sure am! Chop that up fairly well and throw that in.

I love preparing meals that involve "throwing stuff in". Can you tell?

Okay,
warm up your whole grain tortilla wrap between a couple of paper towels in the micro for just about 10 seconds and then top with your beans. Add a bit of sour cream or even plain yogurt (if your aren't vegan) and then put a bit of chopped lettuce and salsa on top, too. I even added some strips of red pepper for extra colour and crunch. Wrap 'er all up and you are good to go!

So easy. So yummy.

I love these!

Need more cool veg. ideas? Check out How it all Vegan. It's where I got the ideas for this delicious Meatless Monday!

See ya' next week!
p.s. I can't find the spell check in blogger anymore. So, sorrie for any missteaks.

The Missed Shot.

2010-01-31T15:47:00.000-05:00

Sometimes the shot you were going for just doesn't happen. But, sometimes, what you get instead might just be even better. Check out this post by Becky Earl. Really. Go now. I'll wait...

Isn't that fantastic? All those shots are just gorgeous.
Love it, love it, love it.
What a great post. So beautiful.
I really just love photos like that. You know, the ones that show the real person. The way they really are. And the real interactions between the family members. It doesn't matter if someone isn't quite in the frame just right, or if someone else isn't smiling just perfectly, or if someone else is even a bit out of focus. When you've captured the real deal - that's all that matters.

Check out these photos that The Fairy Blogmother's amazing brother did for her.
Also, super cool. And, it's more than just the amazing lighting that makes them so cool. It's the fact that he managed to capture them all, as they really are. So fabulous (the family, and the shots).

I hope to get better at that this year.
Definitely one of my goals: to relax on the whole "needs to be perfect" thing and embrace more of the "just needs to be real" thing.

Saturday Snapshot

2010-01-30T12:39:00.001-05:00

Taken by Maddie, age 7.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Throwdown! Photo Backup.

2010-01-29T20:24:00.001-05:00

Okay, as you know, I have learned the hard way about the importance of backing up your photos and not only that, but a little organization helps, too (especially if you've been really wanting to start doing some scrapbooking...like I have...for years now). So, here is what I've done for this week's Throwdown:

I got all my printed photos and sorted them by (pre-dslr) year and (fairly roughly, I must admit) I put them into these photo storage boxes. I bought them quite awhile ago, actually, and i've just noticed that they do not say "acid free" on them. So, i'll have to get them out of there (i'm going to move them into albums), but that will be easy because at least now they are somewhat organized.

I then downloaded the super-cool Picasa3 software and used that to tag by name ~all~ my photos (I also added a few other helpful tags) and I put all my photos from the last year into quarterly files. I also, and this was the part I got really excited about, put my digital scrapbooking supplies and projects into ~their~ own albums! I also have an album for my photography-related stuff...templates, overlays, etc.

What?! Who do I think I am?! Some organized chick???
Wow.
So cool.

I then backed up all those nicely organized albums onto dvd's which I have labelled and stored in this purty DVD album!

But wait! There's more!
I also got them all onto my external hard drive!

The next step will be to put them all into online storage as well, but I have to wait for access to a better (than 3G) internet source to get that done. But that will be soon. I'm never losing another photo again!

So, did you participate in this week's challenge? If so, please let me know how you did/what you did and swing back next week for a brand new THROWDOWN!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thursday Throwdown! (kinda')

2010-01-28T20:23:00.001-05:00

Hey! I just wanted to let you know that the "Back Up Your Photos" Throwdown from last week has gone pretty darn well for me (How 'bout you?). I'll try to be back tomorrow with some pics and info. on what I've done. I was just a little busy today getting a jump-start on my next Throwdown (totally cheating, I know).

{and because a post is always more fun when it includes a pic., here's one of Colie-Coco giving a big smoochy to the cutest baby in the world). ;-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-27T16:03:00.001-05:00

The family...

{That's a Snow Owl in the background. Can you see him?}

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bun Bun

2010-01-24T10:50:00.001-05:00

Even though yesterday was Colie's birthday, we still got a little something for Bun Bun.

Aren't they cute?!

I think she likes them: especially when they're filled up with food.

I love watching Bun Bun eat. She is so cute.

Who would want to eat a rabbit?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

One.

2010-01-23T21:03:00.001-05:00

So today is my baby's first birthday. One year ago today, at 2:25 pm, they pulled this little angel from my tummy. As I lay there on the operating table, arms stretched out to the sides, with my view obstructed by the sterile hospital greens hung in front of my face, they pulled her out, and then up into the air, so I could see her. Finally. The little girl who, just moments earlier, was performing more of her daily pirouettes inside of my tummy.

"She's so CUTE!" were my very first words upon seeing her. I'll never, ever, forget that moment.

All the moments since have flown by. It seems like just yesterday she was a little peanut, tucked into the bed between her daddy and me. So comfy cozy there and right at home. We thought it would be impossible to move her to her own crib and, to be honest, we took our time doing that because we liked having her with us. But, she eventually did go to her bed and she did just fine. Now I wish I could have her back.

Did I mention she began walking at 9 months? Walking!! I don't even know if we got any video of her crawling before she got up on her own two feet...and took off running. Never looking back.

And now she is one. No longer "zero", as her big sisters would say. She is one. A toddler, not a baby. And I'm not a spring chicken, myself, anymore. No more babies for me. No more peanuts in the bed.

I'm so proud of my little Coco and I'm so grateful for the fact that she continues to meet her healthy milestones with pizzazz. But, to be honest with you, I wasn't very eager to get out of bed this morning. I didn't really want this day to come.

One.

{I love you Colie-Coco}.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thursday THROWDOWN: Photo Backup!

2010-01-21T11:36:00.002-05:00

It's time for another THROWDOWN THURSDAY!

Okay, WidneyWoman cracked on the last throwdown (and after all that smack talk, too!) and while The Fairy Blogmother says she kicked butt...I have yet to see the evidence. Okay, she was getting ready for her little baby's 4th birthday party...so I guess we can cut her some slack. But, now, it is time for a brand new THROWDOWN!

Operation PHOTO BACKUP!!

If you are anything like me you have literally hundreds and hundreds of photos on your computer. You may even have hundreds on your smart-phone. There may even be a few hundred more on an old computer. Well, take it from me, you do not want to wait until something all of a sudden goes wrong and you lose all those precious photos. And it isn't enough to just back them up to one place. This is what happened to me. I ran out of room on the old computer for storing photos. The computer would not let me download one single photo more. So, we finally went out and did what we should have done ages ago and we got an external hard drive. I backed up all the photos onto the hard drive and then...deleted them off the computer. Then I went to use that hard drive to back up some more photos off the laptop. Of course, little Jamie James came running over to see me while I was doing this and ran right into the cord and sent the hard drive flying. The clunking noise it started to make after that was not a good sign. We took it to the computer store and they were not able to save any of the information on the drive. They said we could send it out to a "specialist" but there was no guarantee he would be able to get the photos and, if he could, it would cost about $700.

:-0

We did save the old hard drive from that (really old) computer before we had a new one put in, so we were able to get a "shell" put around it and turn it into an external hard drive. But, still, there is a very important gap of about 1 and a half years, now, for which we have no photos.

I just don't even think about this too much because I will have a mini-emotional break-down if I do.

So, to make a long story a bit shorter...
let that be a lesson to all you kids out there. BACK-UP your precious photos to not one, but at least two places. Now. Really.

An external hard drive is good...but as we have learned...accidents happen. Make sure you have all your photos somewhere else as well. Put them on some DVD's and/or back them up to an online photo storage site. It is even better if you can have your photos stored in two different locations (your home and not your home..just in case).

This is a big job, I know, but it is an important one.

And, if you need any help with some FANTASTIC photo storage and organization ideas. Ideas that will allow you to quickly retrieve all your photos and use them in scrapbooking projects...well, then, I cannot recommend the book, "Photo Freedom" by Stacy Julian enough. After reading her book I had a whole new way of looking at my organization strategy (or the one I thought in my head that I would probably use if, you know, I had been organized. At all. Which I wasn't).

Better STILL, maybe you can join me in the class that Stacy Julian teaches online! I was lucky enough to win a spot in her class (I still can't believe it, or get over it, Eeeee!!!!), but there is still time for you to sign up. The class starts on February 4th. Head on over HERE to read all about it.

And, I'll be back next Thursday to let you know how I've done with my Photo Backup!
If you are getting your photos organized, as well, please head back here next Thursday to let me know how you did....and how you did it!

Okay...
Punk?

Wordless Wednesday.

2010-01-20T10:55:00.000-05:00

Just a LINK.

{How cool is that?!}.

The Wind in Katie.

2010-01-19T21:34:00.002-05:00

We picked Jamie up from school today. She was all excited and as soon as she got in the truck she had this little conversation with her Dad.

Jamie: "Dad! Dad! You have to put money in my backpack on thursday!"

Dave: "Oh? Why is that?"

Jamie: "It's because of the wind in Katie."

Dave {puzzled}: "What do you mean?"

Jamie: "You know, for the people who got hurt...in Katie..."

Dave: "Oh, Haiti. Yes, sure, we can send in some money, sweetie".

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Meatless Monday: Seitan

2010-01-18T16:11:00.049-05:00

maddie cookt this wondurful dich for the famaley!yay for maddie. (Hahahaha! I had to leave the computer for a little bit, and when I came back the above text was there. Very funny, Maddie) This week's recipe idea for Meatless Monday is Seitan. That is pronounced "Say-tahn", by the way. This is a high protein, meat substitute that you can make yourself at home. It is denser, and chewier, than tofu and my hubby, for one, prefers it's texture. I also find that it is easy on my tummy (I guess I'm not a celiac!) and it doesn't turn me into a "bloat-goat" like tofu does. So, how on earth do you make this stuff? Well, it's super-duper complicated... Get yourself some Vital Wheat Gluten or HIGH, 80%, gluten flour (around here you can get this at the "Horn of Plenty" or at the "Bulk Barn"). Take one cup of the flour and mix it with 1 cup of water. Yep, that's it for step one! You need to knead your dough (which will come together very sticky, very fast...because of all that gluten) well in order to produce a nice, dense, seitan (vs. a puffy, light version). So, if you are hand kneading...work away on it for about 5 minutes. Once you've got your dough ready, roll it into a bit of a log and cut off 1 inch chunks to throw into your awaiting broth... As for the broth...well, most that I have seen call for about 4-5 cups of liquid along with flavour agents. The one I just used was from the book "How it all Vegan" and it used mostly water with a 1/4 cup soy sauce and some spices. If you use soy sauce make sure it is low sodium and very good quality!! The seitan is going to soak up the flavours of your broth like crazy and me, not being a huge soy sauce fan, well, I didn't love how this turned out...so I will be trying out different versions of a broth for mine. I think I'll also try out adding some spices to the flour right at the beginning. I'll let you know how that goes (if you have a great broth recipe you'd like to share...please do!!!). Anyway...once you've got your seitan dough cooking away in the broth you just have to stir it every 10 minutes or so until the broth has reduced. This will take about an hour. Now you can go ahead and use your seitan as a (already cooked) meat subsitute in many recipes. Just cover it in whatever sauce you like, serve it with some veggies, and/or some rice or pasta, etc. It will be great! As long as you like the flavour of your broth! :0)

Happy Meatless Monday!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday Snapshot

2010-01-16T12:21:00.003-05:00

By: Jamie, age 5.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thursday THROWDOWN

2010-01-14T09:52:00.002-05:00

Okay, ladies...how did it go? Did you make a dent in your laundry mountains? Or, did you get trapped in the avalanche?

I am happy to report that I did pretty darn good. It took about 3 loads a day to get caught up (crazy, huh? But, keep in mind I have three little girls. Girls! The laundry is just incredible). But, I AM caught up! Woot!

If it weren't for this challenge and the blattant intimidation tactics from you, my dear friends (sniff), I don't think it would have ever gotten done.

So, thank-you.

And, uh, how did you do...
Huh?
Punk?
;-)

{Look for a brand new THROWDOWN here next week}.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-13T00:11:00.002-05:00

See my girls? See their hair? Ya, that's Grandma M. there - over for a visit.

'Nuff said.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Meatless Monday: Sweet Potato Badi

2010-01-11T11:44:00.000-05:00

It's Meatless Monday, Everyone!

Today's recipe is from a great vegetarian cookbook by Didi Emmons, "Entertaining For a Veggie Planet". This is a follow-up cookbook to her "Vegetarian Planet". I got the "Entertaining" one first, for some reason, and I liked it so much that I just picked up the "Planet" one at Chapters last week.

I've tweaked her recipe just a bit to suit my tastes (I think I like things with a little more kick than she does...so I add in way more spices. I also add more lentils, more tomatoes, and more peas. Oh, and some onion and garlic, too! I even put in a few splashes of tabasco because after tasting, my dish still didn't have enough kick. That is one of the great things about veggie cooking: it's all good! Just add in more of what ya' like!!)

So here it is...

Sweet Potato Badi: MP-Style.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried, unsweetened coconut

1/4 cup canola oil

3/4 cup raw red lentils

1 small white onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp curry powder

1 med. "white" potato (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)

1 large sweet potato (cut into 3/4 inch cubes)

2 small zucchini (cut into 1/4 inch rounds)

1 can plum tomatoes (take out the tomatoes and chop them up then throw them in along with the juice)

1 cup frozen baby peas

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1-2 small, skinny chile peppers, minced (mine weren't hot enough so I added about 5 or 6 dashes of Tobasco sauce)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a small, dry, skillet toast the coconut over medium heat, shaking the pan regularly, until it is uniformly brown (watch carefully it goes from white to brown suddenly! At least it does on my stove!). Set aside.

In another *big* saute pan, heat the canola oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and heat until the onions have softened. Add in the lentils and saute until they begin to brown (this also comes on suddenly...so watch carefully! At least it does on my, stupid, stove). Stir in the spices and add the potatoes. Add in your tomatoes and sauce and about 1 cup of water (you want enough liquid in there to cook the potatoes), and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the zucchini and peas and cook until all the veggies are fork-tender (about 10 minutes more).

Put aside about 2 tablespoons of the toasted coconut (for garnish) and mix the rest into a bowl with the yogurt, chiles, and about 1 teaspoon of kosher (big grain) salt. Remove your pan from the heat when all your veggies are ready and stir in the yogurt mixture.

Done!

Now you can serve over your favourite rice (mine is Basmati! yum! I think I may have to start lovin' brown, though...) with the reserved cocunut sprinkled on top for the fancy-schmancy factor.

Totally Yummy. Totally Meatless.

Who would want to eat a pig???

Happy Meatless Monday!

See ya' next week!

Knowing You, Knowing Me

2010-01-10T15:07:00.001-05:00

Time once again for the monthly interview project started by The Fairy Blogmother.
1. Showers or baths?

Baths. It's easier for me to shave in the tub and it is also the only time I get to myself. It is a time suck, though-so I may have to start giving them up during the week.

2. What's your favourite thing for breakfast?

Coffee. I am trying to get better about my whole "never eat breakfast" thing, but I just don't have much of an appetite in the morning. I have been eating oatmeal lately, though. Hola!!

3. What is your favourite George Clooney movie?

We just watched "Burn After Reading" (I think that was the name of it) and I KILLED myself laughing when George shot Brad in the head. I know that wasn't supposed to be funny but thinking about Brad's big smile...and how the two of them probably killed themselves laughing filming that...well...I just had tears rolling down my cheeks. I prefer "Goofy George" to "Suave George". I like my men goofy... ;-)

4. American Idol starts on Tuesday folks, how do you feel about Ellen joining the judges table?

With Dexter off the air, I'm just glad that there will be something to watch on t.v. again. Not that I'm comparing Dexter and Idol. :) I'm interested to see how Ellen does.

5. Lets say you've got a gift card to Michaels... what would you spend it on?

I do?! Where is it?! Woo-hoo! I'm so excited!!!

...oh.

I see.

Okay. Um, I think I would spend it on a labeller. Or some albums. I am hoping to do some scrapbook pages this year. But, I'm back to thinking it may have to be digital. I SO wanted to take Cathe Zielske's course but it was too much money for right now. I wonder when she'll have it again...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday Snapshot: By Jamie

2010-01-09T18:31:00.002-05:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

It's A THROW DOWN!

2010-01-08T15:24:00.004-05:00

Oh dear! I just had this great idea and I came to my laptop to post it (a bit easier to type on the actual computer sometimes - plus it let's me do linkies) when I saw that Tales From A Doggy Project has loaded about 4 new posts! So much reading to catch-up on...so I started getting sidetracked! Here's the thing - I came up with this idea while I was reading Tales From the Fairy Blogmother today. It's a combination of The FlyLady and that old meme Tackle It Tuesday...a little something I'm gonna call...

Throw Down Thursday!!

(Yes. I know it is Friday. But I just thought of this 2 minutes ago and, let's face it, Throw Down Thursday sounds so much cooler than Throw Down, uh, Friday. That, plus I was just listening to the commercial for Bobby Flay's show on the Food Network. I LOVE that commercial.)

Anyway...
Here's how it works....
I'm gonna' smack down the challenge on Thursdays. I'm gonna' post how I did on the previous week's challenge also on Thursday. If you like, you can play along...but ya' don't have to. No matter what, I know that this is going to help me empty out at least 52 tasks in my huge To-Do Jar!!

This week's challenge (and this is the part that was inspired by Shan) is LAUNDRY!!!
I CHALLENGE YOU (and, well, ME) to catch up on ALL your laundry this week. The Throw-Down is done on Thursday so that gives you the weekend as well as most of the week to get 'er done!

Good Luck!

(Oh, and bonus points for BEFORE and AFTER photos next Thursday, ladies).

And ask yourself this...
are you woman enough for...

The THROW DOWN...
well, are ya'
punk?
;-)

Snow Days.

2010-01-08T11:05:00.002-05:00

This is the first day we've had enough snow around here for hubs to actually have to go out. Maybe just 2-3 inches, so nothing too bad, which is nice. We had SO much snow last year and it was always the horrible, deep, heavy kind. I really hope we don't get too much of that this year. But, just in case, the hubs took out a potential new employee to see if she has what it takes...

She started off really strong. It was looking promising!

She works well with others. Also great!

But just a few minutes in she claimed she was just going to grab some mittens.

Then she took off in her truck! I think she high-tailed it to Tim Hortons for an extended Hot Chocolate break.

Hmmm. Maybe send in your application again next season, Sweetie.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-06T21:09:00.002-05:00

{Wii Are Family}

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Meatless Monday: Curry Marinated Tofu.

2010-01-04T11:53:00.007-05:00

I haven't had a chance to do a blog post about my New Year's Resolutions, yet...

but one of them is to eat more Meatless Meals. The "goal" is to switch over to a healthy vegetarian diet (the key word being healthy), but if I make that a resolution I know that I will find myself starving and then just wolfing down a bag of potato chips to fill the void. So, all I'm resolving to do is to try out more meatless recipes, figure out some things to do with tofu to make it taste good, work on my homemade seitan, and discover what to do with the package of tempeh that is sitting in my fridge. I'm going to try to post a Meatless Monday recipe idea every week, but don't hold me to that, either. If I learned anything from last year's "Pie a Week" resolution it's that...I tend to change my mind about doing stuff. Sometimes with (very) good reason!

So, let me just tell ya' that I actually have been eating a LOT of Meatless Meals over the past couple of weeks. Since Christmas I have only had chicken once! The rest of the time I have been eating beans, and lentils, and tofu! The hubs has even made a few tofu dishes that have been really good! He made a vegan soup with lentils and a vegan stir-fry with crumbled tofu. If you are a tofu hater because of the texture...then you should definitely try it crumbled. Even helps more if you freeze it first, then thaw, then crumble (into your stir-fry or...whatever). Then the "rubbery" texture is completely gone!

My absolute favourite new discovery when it comes to cooking with tofu is....

MARINADE!!!

Of course, tofu is just chalk full of water - so, if you press all that water out (between some paper towel with, say, a plate and some cans stacked on top...for about half an hour) you can then put your tofu into a marinade and it will just soak all those yummy flavours up like a sponge. I have read about this technique before, but I never actually tried it. Until now.

I got my Curry Tofu marinade recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's and Terry Hope Romero's book, "Veganomicon" (pg. 127), which is really simple--consisting of just some veg. broth, rice vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce, and spices. I cut my tofu up into eight equal pieces and let it marinade for the afternoon.

I then heated up my grill-pan to about medium high and cooked the pieces on top for about 5 minutes on one side and a couple more minutes on the other -- making a nice cross-hatch pattern on the first side (fancy shmancy!). I also took the reserved marinade and heated it up with an equal amount of veg. broth to make a delicious sauce for my tofu steaks and served it all on a bed of basmati rice.

Let me tell you...it was DELICIOUS!! My hubby even loved it. He said if meat was an "8 or 9" (he is a carnivore) then the tofu was a "7 or an 8". That is really, really, good...because he isn't a tofu fan.

I will make this one regularly from now on (in fact, I'm having it for lunch again today...so good!!), but I'm going to keep experimenting with other veggie dishes so I can bring you another episode of Meatless Monday next week. ;-)

Stay tuned!!
;-)

*painting by Rachel Maguire (www.rayarray.com)

Bye Bye 2009

2010-01-01T13:51:00.004-05:00

Haven't had a chance to do this until now, but here it is -- the little year ending meme that my friend, Shan (aka The Fairy Blogmother) likes to do...

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
I took pictures of babies that were in no way related to me.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No. I wanted to make a pie every week. I soon discovered that was a very unhealthy plan. Chalk that one up to the fact I was very pregnant when I made that resolution (a.k.a. Crazy). I do have lots of new ones for this year. They are all much healthier, too.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I did!! Also, a bunch of girls from work did, as well.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No. Thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit?
Are you kidding?

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
Oodles and oodles of confidence would be peachy.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
January 23 - the birth of my third baby girl.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I had another healthy baby despite some pretty serious medical issues (and I think that was partly because I put our lives ahead of work. That sounds completely ridiculous to type it now...but it was something that was strangely, wrongly, foolishly hard to do at the time).

9. What was your biggest failure?
Organizing photos and getting them all backed up. I lost a lot of very important, personal, photographs (including our wedding trip to Jamaica, Jamie's first day of kindergarten, photos of the girls with me the night before the baby was born...etc...) because of my lack of photo organization.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope. Thank goodness.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
OH!! That is hard! I got a lot of great "stuff" last year. Photography related, I'd say "off-camera flash" was a big one. Personally, I am still in love with my iPhone and now I'm obsessed with the Wii (Fit Plus, and EA Sport Active).

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My two older girls for being the best big sisters a baby could ever, ever, ask for. They LOVE her. She is so lucky.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Jon Gosselin.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Mortgage payments, truck payments, groceries, and Rogers.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My baby...and photography.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
"Poker Face". The girls used to sing this and do her little dance moves all the time. I know, completely inappropriate.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder?  b) thinner or fatter?  c) richer or poorer?
Happier (everyone is here and well), Thinner (I've lost all the baby weight), Poorer (Mat. benefits are no longer topped up by my work).

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Napping with the baby.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Getting stressed about things that were not organized. Not that I don't want to get stressed about it this year...but that I want EVERYTHING to BE organized this year.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
With my little family in the morning, and with my extended family in the afternoon.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
Yes. With a little girl I met.

22. How many one-night stands?
Well, I never had to spend a whole night standing, but I did spend a few sitting up in a chair...holding the baby...

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Dexter. No contest.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I don't hate anyone. But, I'm not a big fan of Jon Gosselin, Tiger Woods, or the Balloon Boy's Dad...that's for sure.

25. What was the best book you read?
"Photo Freedom" by Stacy Julian...I plan to use her organization plan this year and then start scrapbooking!!! Gawd! How long have I been wanting to start Scrapbooking?!?!?! It's just getting annoying at this point, really.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The ukulele. ;-)

27. What did you want and get?
A healthy baby, an iPhone, off-camera flash, a Wii, back into my old pants.

28. What did you want and not get?
Kelly Ripa's body from ordering Physique 57 DVD's.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Oh! Step Brothers! Hahahaha. Funny...I liked that movie so much more than Dave did. It's just full of great lines! And, now that I've seen it...I can do so many more activities!!!!

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I'm pretty sure Davey brought me home some flowers and some Thai food and I spent the evening with my newly expanded little family. It wasn't the big bash that all my friend's had...but it was perfect for me. I turned the big 4-0.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I'd say "more sleep" but, you know, missing sleep because you are up in the middle of the night with your newborn little baby is actually pretty darn fantastic. I miss those middle of the night feedings already. (sniff).

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
"I refuse to buy fat clothes!! I will just wear my scrubs until I can pull my other pants up past my knees!!!"
"They will go up past my knees again one day, right? Right???"

33. What kept you sane?
There wasn't much to go insane about.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Anderson. Hayes. Cooper.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Honestly, I don't think much ever changes...no matter who is elected...but I was very happy with the outcome of the U.S. election.

36. Who did you miss?
I had a good year.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
My baby.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
The little problems will pass. Don't lose sight of what is really important.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"And how you've, how you've grown my little bird...
I'm regretting letting you fly"
-Ingrid Michaelson.

7 for Maddie.

2009-12-28T17:41:00.002-05:00

My first-born baby girl celebrated her 7th birthday a few days before the hustle of Christmas and now that things have settled down a bit, and I have BlogPress back on my iPhone, I would like to share...

7 Things I Love About my Pony-Girl!

1) Great Big Sister: Jamie and Colie are lucky to have Maddie for their sister. She is pretty darn patient with her not-so-tidy middle sister and she is pretty much head over heels for her baby sister. She even let Colie take her brand-new for Christmas "Furreal Friend" and drool all over it. And you have to understand that Maddie cannot stand drool! But, she let her have it just because she knew how much Colie wanted to play with it. Now, that's a sweetie!

2) Neat. Not just in the "such a neat kid" kinda' way (although she is), but also in a "likes to keep her things tidy" kinda' way. And, aren't I lucky to be the mom of a neat girl?!

3) Earnest. Everything Maddie does she tries very hard to do well. This trait used to tip over into "perfectionism" when she was younger and it kept her from enjoying things that she couldn't immediately master. But now she just tries very hard, she is less likely to give up, and she is able to have more fun. I think that is wonderful.

4) Beautiful. I know all Moms are biased, but when Maddie was born I really thought she was the most beautiful baby ever and still now I will catch myself looking at her and thinking, "My Gawd...so pretty". Of course, pretty is as pretty does, and she is definitely beautiful inside and out. And those blue eyes! Oh, how I would love to have eyes like that.

5) Goofball. I think Maddie is beginning to give her Dad a run for the money as the biggest Goofball in the house. Sometimes this just causes me to roll my eyes, but mostly I'm just so glad she has become such a happy, giggley, 7 year old.

6) Creative. Maddie is quite smart and does very well in school (which is great), but I'm also blown away by her creative abilities. The stories she writes, and the drawings she makes, are so much more impressive than what I could have ever done at her age. She often says she wants to be "an artist" or "a designer" when she grows up and I must admit I love that. I hope she always holds onto, and nurtures, her creative side.

7) Loving. Jamie already presents me with the top of her head (that is where I am allowed to kiss her) when it's time to say "Goodnight", but Maddie will still come running with open arms. She loves her Mom and Dad and loves to show it. She writes me little notes and leaves me little cards that she has made just to say, "Love You, Mommy". So adorable. I know that probably won't last much longer, so I'll cherish it while I can.

Just as I cherish you, my little Pony-Girl.

Happy Birthday.
Xoxo,
Mom.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

From November 15th

2009-12-27T08:56:00.002-05:00

The video hook-up is finally working on BlogPress!! And not only THAT, but I have BlogPress back on my iPhone (Jamie accidentally erased it awhile ago...that's partly why I haven't posted in awhile. I'm never on my computer anymore! Just my iPhone).

So, I am VERY excited to share this video with you that was actually taken back in November when my little Colie CoCo was still just 9 months old.
:)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Merry Christmas.

2009-12-26T20:17:00.002-05:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Festivus!

2009-12-13T11:47:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was a busy, busy, day. But, it was also a great, great, day!

Yesterday was the first annual "Festivus" cookie exchange held at my place. I just called it "Festivus" to be funny...not cuz' i'm a real scrooge or anything. The party was a lot of work to get ready for. I mean, in addition to baking the 6 dozen cookies in my awful oven (i am 100% serious when i tell you that i will preheat it to 350 and about 4 minutes into baking the temperature will shoot up past 450 on my oven thermometer...ya...makes baking a breezey fun time), I also had to clean up the house from top to bottom. Okay, I guess I didn't really have to clean out all under my bathroom cabinets, buy new storage bins to coral all our bath products, sterilize the inside of the microwave, clean off the top of the fridge, clean out the living room cupboard, organize my photos...ha ha ha! I'm still not kidding! Once I know people are coming over I go a little wacko and feel like every. single. thing. needs to be organized. Did anyone look at the top of my fridge? Look in my bathroom cupboards? Ask to see if my photos were organized? no.

dammit.

ha ha.

But, anyway...
I was pretty much exhausted by the time the party started, but once everyone got here I was all perked up again. So many ladies took the time to prepare, bake all the cookies, package everything up, get into their best Festivus outfits, and come out to my place. And, you know, that is really kinda' humbling. I am very lucky to have so many great girls in my life.

I should also give a shout out to the great guy in my life. The one who helped me clean all week, kept running out to the stores to fill my need for more butter and more storage bins. The one who even bought me a new storage chest for the kitchen! The day of the party he got up early, got the girls ready, drove them all over to his Mom's place, came back home, helped me do all the final cleaning (vacuuming, windows, floors, polishing, etc.) and then when it was almost party time...he high-tailed it out of here so us girls could have a couple of hours to ourselves.

Now, that's a pretty terrific guy. Thanks Davey.

I can't say the party went off without a hitch (not too many of us got the "you need to bring a big enough container to bring all your cookies HOME in...not just the container(s) that you bring all the cookies to the party in...part), but that's okay. At least we all know what we are supposed to do for next year. And, I definitely will host Festivus again next year. After all...the top of my fridge is already cleaned off. ;-)

(p.s. After Festivus the party continued on at The Fairy Blogmother's place, where the girls showed the boys how you do Pictionary right).

(p.p.s. I'll have Festivus pics to share soon. For the rest of today, though, I'll be planting my buttocks firmly in a chair and watching the Food Network).

The Pox

2009-12-09T02:31:00.005-05:00

So, as some of you may know, last week...this was Maddie. Yep, The Pox (the poultry sort) is going through her school like gang-busters. I had decided not to get the girls vaccinated for this because, as otherwise perfectly healthy little girls, I came to the opinion that there were more risks than benefits associated with getting the needle. From what I've read, the immunization doesn't actually even protect your child for life from getting the Chicken Pox...the only thing that can do that is...getting the Chicken Pox {please remember these are my opinions based on my research and nothing more. I totally understand that this vaccine is very helpful and important to the preventative health care of other children}.So, anywho, was there a part of me that was pretty much hoping they would get the Chicken Pox? Yes. I mean, I did not purposely expose my girls to the virus (and I had the chance to do that a couple of times. Once when my brother's kids got it, and then another time when my friend's little girl got it). I just couldn't bring myself to give them a disease. But, I was hoping...in a way...that they would get it...while they were young. Of course, I also wanted them to have no complications from having the disease...have a nice, easy-peasy, time of it...and then have life-long immunity. So, fortunately, that went right according to plan for Maddie. She got the Pox, and got over it, like a Champ. She didn't even really feel sick! And now, right on schedule...10 days later...It's Jamie's turn.
And, thankfully, she is dealing with it just fine, too. Of course...she likes to play it up a bit. This is the only time she gets to have Ginger Ale. Poor baby. So sick...do you need a little bit of Ginger Ale? I really, really, really, really, hope that if Colie catches this...10 days from now...she has as easy a time of it as her big sisters. So many hard decisions to make as a Mom.
-- Post From My iPhone

Knowing You - Knowing Me: December.

2009-12-08T13:51:00.003-05:00

Oh dear...time once again for that monthly interview project started by my girl, The Fairy Blogmother. I say, "Oh dear" not because I don't enjoy it (I do!), but because this means I know I will now be back to work in 3 months. eww. But, let's not think about that right now...

1. Are you an egg nog fan?

You know, I used to be but I haven't had it in so long...who knows? I'll be serving it at Festivus, so we'll see. And, btw, why didn't you vote Shanny??? I didn't know you thought it was vile, or I would have said I'd do the cranberry punch, instead!!! :( {sorry}.

2. What is your favourite at Christmas treat?

Oh, I know! Quality Street chocolates. Is that lame? My mom always buys me a tin and now Dave does, too, so I usually have lots of cankers from all the cheapo chocolate by January...but those strawberry ones are just soooo yummy.

3. How is your tree decorated? A theme like red and gold? Or does it have a more eclectic slant?

We are still working on this. We don't have a bunch of "beloved" ornaments or anything like that, so we've been just throwing crap from the dollar store at our ugly plastic tree for the past few years. This year we will have a real tree and we'll have to start working on our own family collection of loved ornaments for my girls.

4. What's your favourite Christmas movie?

Oh, I love the Grinch (the real one, not the overly maniacal Jim Carrey version), and I love Charlie Brown (especially the scene with Linus quoting from the bible. I'm not a religious girl, but I just think Linus sounds so cute in that scene. It's so peaceful and sweet)...but, my favourite is probably National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. The scene with the squirrel makes me cry laughing every time I see it.

It wouldn't be the Christmas season if the stores were any less hootered than they are.

5. New jammies on Christmas Eve?

No, but looking back on the last few year's Christmas pictures...I can see why this is a popular Christmas tradition! One year Jamie is opening all her presents in just her under pants and a ratty ol' t-shirt. That's okay, though...it's us...ratty t-shirts and all.

P57 Arms and Abs

2009-12-06T09:51:00.002-05:00

So, I've been feeling like quite the unhealthy slug lately. During the spring (oops. I mean "summer". I guess that was our summer) I was out taking nice long walks with the baby everyday. Just walking and using my butt for something more than sitting felt so good. Then winter (I mean, "fall") set in and it became too cold for me to venture outdoors. So that was that. No more exercise.

Well, no exercise is something I can live with for...well...about 3 months, apparently...before I actually go bonkers. So, yesterday was The Day! I got back on the ol' exercise mat and did a Physique 57 work-out.

I decided to just do a 30 minute DVD (I bought all 3) since I am such a slacker, and I realized about 2 minutes into the work-out that I had never actually done this one before! It was the "Arms and Abs" one and it started off great with a little warm-up standing on the floor, then moved into the arm work which I love! Warning--they just tell you to have a "light set of weights" and a "heavy set of weights" available and, basically all of the arm work is done with your "heavy set". I don't know about you, but I can use much heavier weights for biceps than I can for triceps...so you may want to switch up your weight choices as it goes along.

My second complaint with the DVD was that there was absolutely no stretching done after working the different muscle groups. This lead to me getting a cramp in one of my arms midway through the arm work and then feeling a bit grumpy-wumpy about the whole gig.

The DVD then leads into ab work on the floor using the playground ball to dig awkwardly into your back. There was also a lot of pilates style work with the ball clenched in between your legs. There was a "beginner" girl who you could follow but she did stuff I only aspire to be able to do...so that was just discouraging.

I love Kelly Rippa and I know she thinks this work-out is a ton of fun but, personally I am not thinking, "Gee! I can't wait to do that one again!". It's more like, "What a bunch of show-offs. Hrrumf".

Of course, this is my perspective as a quite admittedly out of shape, 40 year old, mother of 3. Maybe i'll have a better opinion of it next time I try it...but...that's gonna be awhile from now! I'm going to find my Jari Love DVDs to do tomorrow!

-- Post From My iPhone

The 5th Day of Christmas

2009-12-05T19:07:00.001-05:00

It's less than a week now until "Festivus", the cookie exchange party I'm hosting with a bunch of my girlfriends. And, knowing how much my oven truly sucks it is imperative that I get in a few practice rounds of cookie making before the real deal. That's why I was pretty glad that Noelle, our Christmas Fairy, suggested we make Christmas cookies together today.

The girls had fun getting all the ingredients together and they are even enjoying some of the cookies. I mean, if my oven didn't spontaneously jump from 350 to 450 halfway through baking (yes, it was well preheated. So, what the?!?!) then the middles would probably have had a better chance of getting baked before the bottoms got burnt, but whatever.

I still had fun with my girls.
And that's what Festivus is all about.

-- Post From My iPhone

The Fourth Day of Christmas

2009-12-04T20:59:00.001-05:00

Our family fun activity for the fourth day of Christmas: Charades!

This idea was our favourite so far. It is free, includes the whole family, and was a ton of fun.

I wrote down the Christmas themed items on slips of paper that we folded up and placed into our special charades can (which was recently filled with nummy treats from my girl, The Blogmother. Thank-you, B!!). Each of us took turns picking out a slip and then acting out the item.

We had titles such as "The Grinch", "Gingerbread Man", "Candy Cane", "Stockings", and "Christmas Tree". All the rest of us would guess what that player was trying to act out.

We didn't have teams. We didn't keep score. But, we did laugh a lot.

It was great fun! So much so that I'm kind of hoping that Noelle the Christmas fairy may suggest this activity again.

-- Post From My iPhone

On the 3rd Day of Christmas...

2009-12-03T17:20:00.001-05:00

Our Christmas fairy left for us...
A note to read a Christmas Fairy bo-ook.
(or, at least a couple chapters...)

Thanks to The Blogmother for the festive book loan (which has fit in so nicely with our 25 Days of Christmas), and to Noelle, our very own Christmas fairy, for another great family fun idea.

-- Post From My iPhone

The Second Day of Christmas

2009-12-02T18:49:00.001-05:00

So, Noelle the Christmas fairy did end up visiting our house again last night! The girls are finding her visits very exciting. So exciting that they are waking me up at the crack of dawn to share her notes with me! ;-)

Noelle's plan for us today was to do a Christmas craft. We decided to make paper snowflakes. The girls were pretty darn good and created some beautiful decorations for our windows!

Great idea, Noelle!

I wonder what cool plan she'll have for us tomorrow.

-- Post From My iPhone

Design Your Life.

2009-12-02T09:28:00.004-05:00

I soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo want to take this class.

Is that craziness? It starts after Jamie's birthday, after Maddies' birthday, after Christmas...it will end just before I have to go back to work. It will give me a huge kick in the pants to actually get some of these gajillion digital pixels I have into scrapbooks. You know, something someone can actually look at, and love, and cherish. If I don't do it...will I ever get up the gumption to actually get 'er done?

But, it's $99 dollars. U.S. dollars.
Our dollar is pretty good right now.

I'm on mat. leave.
Money is tight.
I tried to win a spot in the class.
I didn't win it.

I sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo want to take that class.

Advice?

Welcome Christmas, Come This Way.

2009-12-01T20:57:00.003-05:00

So, that little box in the girls' room...it had a note in it. Not just any note, but a note from Noelle the Christmas Fairy! Can you believe that?! She said in her note that she will be back every night to help us celebrate the 25 Days of Christmas (started over at A Peek Inside the Fishbowl). And, it gets even weirder! I think, somehow, she over-heard what the hubs and I were talking about last night, because she put that in her note, too!

We had discussed starting off the Christmas season with a showing of "The Grinch that Stole Christmas" and the fairy told the girls in her note that we would watch a movie and have some cookies and hot chocolate. So, I tried to make some cookies...

My recipe needs some work.

And, I tried to make some hot chocolate...

But, we discovered there have been some mice getting at our stash of cocoa!

Still, the movie was great!

We love the Grinch.

And the night was fabulous. Because the Christmas season will always be...

Just as long as we have we.

-- Post From My iPhone

Small Packages

2009-11-30T23:00:00.001-05:00

It's about 11:00. I just went to check on my big girls before heading off to bed myself and I spotted this in their bedroom! I wonder what it is? I wonder who it's from?? I can't wait until they find it in the morning and then we can all find out!

The 25 Days of Christmas starts tomorrow! Are you ready? :)

-- Post From My iPhone

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-26T19:49:00.001-05:00

Christmas is in the air (and on my cup).

Oh ya, it's Thursday. Oops. ;-)

-- Post From My iPhone

Five for Jamie.

2009-11-25T10:23:00.008-05:00

My Little Jamie James just recently turned 5. We had a little family party on the actual day and then a class friend's party later on. I've been pretty busy with that and a couple of photo shoots, etc., etc., but I didn't want to forget to list...

Five Things that I LOVE about my Jamie...
in honour of her 5th Birthday.

1) Sense of Humour: Jamie is the funniest little kid I've ever met. She has such a great sense of humour and she loves to make people laugh. She tells jokes, makes funny faces, does her patented "funny run" (this little run, wiggle, thing that only she can do...and it makes me burst out laughing every time she does it). It is pretty much impossible to be in a bad mood when Jamie is around. I love that about her.

2) Kindness: Jamie is also the most sensitive kid I've ever met and every time I see her go up to some other child who is upset, or hurt, and put her arm around them, it makes my heart swell with pride. She does this totally without being self-aware. It is not something she does because she thinks she should or to get "points", it is completely automatic. She genuinely cares about other people. She has a huge heart. I love that about her.

3) Intelligence: Jamie is as smart as a whip. I'm not even just saying that because I am biased (which, of course, I am). I just got Jamie's report card yesterday and while the teacher's don't give out A's or B's or C's anymore (they are still letters...but they are different...and it's kind of confusing...they're like...X's and Y's and T's...??) let me just say that she got the equivalent of Straight A's! Her teacher told me that she has "absolutely no concerns about Jamie". She said that she is a "joy" to teach and that Jamie always comes to school with such enthusiasm and she is very quick to learn new things. She told me that she is "amazed" by Jamie's reading ability and that she has often seen Jamie pick up a book that they've never read before and she will listen to Jamie read the whole thing all by herself...sounding out the words and getting them all right. She was so amazed by Jamie's reading that she sent her over to another classroom of older kids and had her read a book to their class. They were all impressed, too! Then she went on to mention how kind Jamie is and how she is always helping out the other students and she is a friend to everyone. So, of course, I nearly started to cry right there and then in the middle of the classroom. I'm just so proud of her.

4) Beauty: is it okay if I throw this one in there? I mean, she is just so pretty and she has the biggest, bluest, eyes in the whole wide world. I would still love her if she wasn't so darn adorable, of course, but I just can't help but mention that she is. You know. So. Darn. Adorable.

5) Five. My Jamie is Five. I love that she is five because five is the age at which I can best remember me as being me. I don't remember 4 or 3 or certainly not 2...but I can remember five. And now Jamie is there, too. At the age where her memories will remain clear...forever. Knowing this I want to make doubly sure that those memories are good ones. I want to give her lots of things to be excited about. Lots of things to laugh about. Lots of things to learn, and see, and do. Because she is my Jamie. And that is my most favourite thing about her.

I'm so lucky that she is mine.

I love you, Jamie James.
(times 5 Hundred Gabillion).

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-18T00:12:00.001-05:00

From my new most favouritist book in the world, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" by Mo Willems.

You can follow his ~Tweets~ @the_pigeon

-- Post From My iPhone

Cookie Exchange, 09

2009-11-17T02:16:00.000-05:00

Ahhh...Sunday morning was soooo nice. The kids (well, the two bigger ones) had slept over at their Grandma's house and the little one even slept in until about 7:30! When she did wake up, the hubs went to get her and give her some breakfast and her bottle and change her...leaving me to just lay. in. bed. Ahhhhh. No, it doesn't stop there! He even went out to get me a coffee. And I just stayed. in. bed. waiting for him to get back. And when he did? I stayed. in. bed. some more! I drank my coffee and followed all the interesting tweet-links I found and just read, and read, and read. It was heaven.

One of the most fun and interesting links I came across was this one for the Yummy Mummy Club. The thing that specifically caught my eye was this post on hosting a Cookie Exchange. I have wanted to do one of these for awhile now, but I wasn't sure exactly how it would work. Lisa's fun post cleared that all up and gave me lots of great ideas. I was so excited about the whole thing that I decided to plan my own Cookie Exchange right there and then (well, after I was done my coffee...and finally got my butt out of bed).

So I headed on over to my Facebook page and updated my status with the question of "Who is down for a Cookie Exchange?". I got a couple of nibbles (so to speak) right away so I went ahead and started a group for it and then invited just about every female Facebook friend I have. Like Lisa says in her post, "it’s the perfect opportunity to hang with your girlfriends before the hectic holiday season takes off".

Are you hosting or going to a Cookie Exchange this year? If so, I'd love to hear all about it! And, I'll be sure to post lots of pictures from my gig once it's over. I've put up the call for gaudy get-ups.

It should be Sweet!

(sorry).

Mr. Pitiful

2009-11-16T12:04:00.004-05:00

So, as some of you already know...we've had a cat in our house for the past week.

Now, I am ~absolutely~ not a cat person. I mean, I love kittens. Adorable, adorable, little things. And I've even met many very cool cats. When I go to someone else's house, and they have a cat, well, I'll be all over the furry kid. But, do I want one in my house? No. No, no, and no. It is my belief (and I am really hoping to be proven wrong on this one) that if you have a cat, you have pee in your house. I have never known a cat that did not pee in the house. If the litter box isn't completely clean, if it isn't in the right spot, if there aren't enough litter boxes around, if the cat gets spooked, if they cat isn't feeling well, if the cat woke up on the wrong side of the bed...it pees in your house. It'll even pee directly on your clothes or your pillow, if he is really pissed...no pun intended. Would a dog do this? No. A dog will not pee on your pillow because he is cranky. So, I'm a dog person. It's not much of a contest.

We will never have a cat in this house.

I've said those words to my daughter (who has been begging for a cat for, I think, pretty much all of her 7 years. I think her first words were, "Can I have a cat?"). Well, never say never...right?

Enter Mr. Pitiful. Literally.

Last weekend we found Mr. Pitiful in the ditch at the side of the (80 km/hr) road. I thought he was just a baby because he looked so tiny. Hubby pulled over to check him out and he came right up to him, meowing away. Dave brought him into the truck so I could check him out and, I suppose, "assess" the situation (I'm a professional veterinary technician, but I don't play one on t.v.). Well, kitty was actually about 7 or 8 months old. Not neutered. No collar. Ear mites, "walking dandruff", and probably a wide variety of intestinal parasites. He was severely malnourished with his hip bones clearly visible. And, he had a pretty awful upper respiratory infection. So, now, I guess I have a cat.

Well, I couldn't just leave him there.

Right?

(Just kidding).

Poor little guy. He really is a very sweet cat. I mean, most cats hate being in a car, but he just started purring and kneading his feet as soon as we touched him. It was like he was so thankful and relieved that someone picked him up.

We brought him home and got him set up with a litter box (a spare from my rabbit) and some fresh water, a blanket, and the only food we had to offer him...a can of sardines. Wow. He went to TOWN on those. We've also had him checked out by the vet and he has been treated for all his worms and mites and parasites (oh my!) and he was going to be vaccinated but, sadly, he was too sick to risk the vaccines. He is still very underweight (despite eating like a crazy cat for the past week) and he is still congested (he is blowing snot all over my house, people!!). All kidding aside, he really is a very sick little guy and we actually had to get him tested for Feline Leukemia and FIV. We don't have those results back, yet.

Mr. Pitiful is so happy here in the house and he has completely tolerated being dragged around the house like a rag-doll by Jamie. Maddie and Jamie both are head over heels in love with him. I'm letting him sleep with them at night so the two girls have been sharing the bottom bunk (so he doesn't have to jump too high to visit Maddie). I went in the other night to say "Good-night" to the girls and sing them their songs. Maddie was reading him a book!! He was lying in bed, right between the two of them, with just his head poking up above the covers to see the story. It was the sweetest, most adorable, thing ever!

I just hope Mr. Pitiful doesn't pee in my house.

And, we hope Mr. Pitiful will be okay.

Knowing Me - Knowing You: November Edition.

2009-11-13T12:31:00.003-05:00

It's that time once again... time for that monthly interview project started by my friend Shan over at Tales from The Fairy Blogmother - Knowing Me, Knowing You.

1. What's your strategy for gift giving this Christmas?
I think this year (with me coming to the end of my mat. leave and, therefore, our savings coming to the end of...uh...existence) we will really, really, need to set a budget and stick to it. The hubs is super big on the girls having "lots and lots" of shiny packages waiting under the tree for them on Christmas morning and I think it is very sweet that he thinks that...but I think we should really make the day more about our family and togetherness this year. I think if we discuss this with the girls in advance, let them know that we only have so much to spend on presents but, because Mommy won't have to work Christmas day this year, we can spend the whole day together, as a family, doing lots of fun stuff. Really, the unwrapping lasts only about 2.5 minutes anyway...regardless of the number of presents!

2. How do you feel about the holiday newsletter?
I'd love to get one! I'd even like to write one. But, really, who would i send it to? The people I care about already know everything there is to know about me and my family...and the people I don't care about...well, I don't think they want my newsletter.

3. What's your favourite board game?
I really like pictionary. I fancy myself as an artist which makes me love this game. However, I fancy myself an artist which makes me truly suck at this game. I mean, I want to do all kinds of shading and shadowing and I like to work on dimension and perspective...kinda' makes the ol' time run out before I've finished anything recognizable. ha ha! But, really, I think a game night would be fun. I'm hoping to get an invite to Shan's "Night at the Bal-derdash". ;-) {subtle hint?}

4. What's your favourite cold weather comfort dish?
Hmmm...Oh! SOUP! Davey's soup! He makes some really, really, fabulous soups! He made one last year that had sweet potato and curry and I don't know what else. It was soooooo good. I've been begging him for more ever since, but he can't even remember exactly how he made it. He needs to start writing his recipes down. Then I could turn them into a book. And you'd wanna' buy it! And I'd get rich! Really, he's very good at making soup.

5. What is your favourite new show this season?
Are there any new shows on this season? What about the old ones! I'm still waiting for American Idol to come on! What's the hold up? And, what happened to Rescue Me?! I waited forEVER for that show to come back on and they gave me, what, like 8 kinda' stupid episodes (sorry, Tommy...I mean Denis...but, really, it was not the best season. Not. Even. Close). At least I still have Dexter. Man, that show is good...but I really, really, wish they didn't kill off Lundy. sigh. I've also, finally, discovered The Office. Steve Carrell is adorable. He reminds me of a male me. We are very similar people, I think. Is that bad?

Thanks for the fun again this month Shan...
although each one of these reminds me of how little time I have left off work with my baby.
(barf).
But, still...fun.

If you'd like to join in head on over to the home of the Fairy Blogmother right HErE!

Scraptastic!

2009-11-02T14:50:00.008-05:00

Hi everyone!!

Did you have a fabulous Halloween? Was it as quiet around your place as it was mine? I'd say we probably had about 60% of the kids we had last year! Crazy. And, we even bought extra chocolate this year so we wouldn't run out. I swear, my butt is getting bigger just thinking about all the chocolate we have lying around this place. I saw on someone's Tweet (I'm really sorry...I forget who said it now) that they buy their kid's chocolates from them. The kids can then use the money to buy a toy, instead. Well, isn't that brilliant! We asked the kids what they thought about that and they thought it was a great idea, so we will totally be doing that next year. But, what do we do with all their junk? Suggestions??

Anyway, despite fewer kids we still had a fabulous time. My family went Trick or Treating with The Fairy Blogmother's family. She and her hubby were so funny to walk around with. I mean, you just had to be there to watch them doing the choreography from "Thriller" in the middle of the road. Priceless! {One of our neighbours sets out a massive stereo system every year and cranks up the theme music. It makes things so festive on our little street!}. You can read more about the night and see one pic. of all the kids (who were able to make it...poor Maya was home sick) right HERE. I'm waiting for my MIL to send me some pics (we just used her camera...) and when she does I'll give you some cold, hard, evidence of how incredibly cute my little girlies were. ;-)

Until then...
I just wanted to say that....
Gawd Help Me
I have decided to take the plunge into scrapbooking. Do I have time for this? No. Not at all. I still have photos to process, a Photo Blog to update, a Photo Website to create (I bought the thing a few weeks ago now, and haven't even looked at it), and two more photo-shoots to do. I mean, don't get me wrong...I'm so thrilled and really, really, um...what's the word? Shocked? Surprised? Happy? Honoured? to have people ask me to photograph their kids...without even having ever advertised my services...but I just wish I could get some block of time to get that whole biz. thing organized. I kind of feel like my horses have gone running out of the barn...or...uh...what is that saying? Well, I haven't started my business, yet...but it's going ahead almost without me!! :-0 What a thing to complain about, huh? Yeah...that and "my wallet is too small for my fifties and my diamond shoes are too tight".

Sooooo...to make a long story (a bit) short-er...I am still going ahead with the scrapbooking thing.

WHY?! you ask?

Well, as the Blogmother will tell you...
my horrible, shameful, secret is...I have picture frames hanging on my walls that contain pictures of other people's kids and dogs in them. I hung them up to see how they would look, fully intending to put, you know, our pictures in them- but I haven't yet!! Isn't that ridiculously awful? And, despite having three gorgeous babies and a burgeoning photography business, I have next to no pictures of them anywhere! No albums, no frames, no canvases...nothing.

So I am officially kicking myself in the pants. And it all starts HERE

(FANTASTIC book my Stacy Julian which has totally helped me with a plan of attack for organizing my stuff so I can get going)

and HERE

(4-Drawer Storage Cube...part of Stacy's "Library of Memories" System)

and HERE

(my very first "I'm a Scrapbooker" purchase - a 3" square craft punch...also to help implement Stacy's system)

and HERE

(Ali Edwards "December Daily" Project. I'm hoping this will be my first paper scrapbooking success. I hope you'll pop over to the link, read all about it, and join the fun. If you do...please let me know so I can check out your progress, too.)

All for now! Gotta go set up my Storage Cube!!!

Fix-it-Friday: iPhone edition.

2009-10-23T15:56:00.011-04:00

It's Fix-it-Friday at I ♥ Faces. I'd like to play along on my iPhone. I don't know if that's allowed, but there may be some people wondering what the different photo apps can do...so I'm going to go ahead and play. I'm not sure yet whether I'll link up. I'll try to check with Angie and Amy (the I Heart Faces founders) and see what they think...

So, anywho...
This week I'm going to just use Photogene. This app. allows you to fine tune your photos with cropping, straightening, sharpening, and exposure tools. You can also add "speech bubbles" and vignettes and frames. It is definitely one of my favourite iPhone photo apps. A must have.

So playing with the photo supplied by Carebear at the Two Under Two. Whew! blog and I ♥ Faces here is my before...

And after...

I decided to put more emphasis on this little guy's happy face with a tight crop that eliminates some of the distracting hot spots. I thought the glowing green goo was pretty cool (enough to make any boy happy!) so I also made my crop so that it put his hands more in a position of interest. I also used Photogene to bump up the exposure a bit and warm the overall colour up a bit. Finally, I added a vignette (I can hardly ever resist adding a vignette!) and a Polaroid-style frame. And, that's it! I mean, it's doesn't work the kind of magic you can work with PS, but it sure is fun and a pretty cool way to jazz up your little iPhone photos and then e-mail them on...with just an added touch of fabulousness. ;-)

Hope you like it. And...if you have an iPhone maybe you'd like to share your app-processing with me! Head over to I ♥ Faces. Grab the photo. And let's see what you would do!

-- Post From My iPhone

You Capture: Technology

2009-10-22T19:34:00.006-04:00

The challenge this week over at I Should Be Folding Laundry is "Technology". I'm going to participate using my iPhone and I'm just sticking to one single form of technology...my laptop!

Ahhh...my poor laptop. You are so neglected ever since I got Pinky (my iPhone. Yes. I named her). But, I still love you. See...

Showin' the love.

-- Post From My iPhone

Cute. Noted.

2009-10-19T12:22:00.001-04:00

When I got home from swim lessons with the girls I noticed this tiny sign on their door.

(Welcome to Maddie's and Jamie's room!).

Cute.

Then I noticed the girls made a little sign for their baby sister's door, too.

(Welcome to Colie's Room. I love Nicole).

So stinkin' cute.
I love my girlies.

Knowing Me - Knowing You / October.

2009-10-08T10:26:00.005-04:00

Time once again for that monthly interview project started by my friend Shan, over at Tales from the Fairy Blogmother. Why don't you join us, answer the questions yourself and then head on over to Shan's blog to link up? It's fun!

1. Crunchy peanut butter or smooth?

I'm not much of a peanut butter fan, myself...although I do get cravings for it once in awhile, usually when I'm sick and always with a cup of coffee. We get the smooth type and only the all-natural peanut butter. The kids balked at that at first...but then I started getting the kind that still has the "Bears" on the label, but the ingredient list is: "Peanuts". Seriously. That's it. I found out some of the other kinds are just filled with sugar and I have a thing against foods with super unnecessarily long ingredients lists. So, anyway, they eat the natural stuff now. It's actually really good. And, it has the "Bears" on it...so they are fine with that. LOL. Kids!

2. Do you do any volunteer work? (No judgment, just curious. I'm always on the look out for new ways to get involved.... like I have time for more stuff.)

I used to. I used to volunteer with the Humane Society as a dog walker and kitty-cat player-with. I also fostered for the humane society and I had a couple of dogs living with me as they recovered from surgery. I'm not good at that, as I tried to adopt both. I get really attached. I was crying my eyes out at work the day I had to hand one of the dogs (who had been adopted out) back over. So very professional. The other one I did adopt. I was well on my way to being "that crazy dog lady".

I also used to volunteer for the neighbourhood school. It was really fun volunteering there because I actually spent most of the day in the classroom. I got to help the little kindergarten kids do their work - basically explaining what they needed to do and helping them to do it as the teacher couldn't be everywhere at once. It was fantastically fun for me. I also helped some kids whose first language wasn't english in a special enrichment class (just them and me) once a week. And, I helped some older kids (one on one) who were having trouble with reading once a week, as well.

Anyway...
now I find I really, really, don't have time for anything extra. Between the older girls, and their activities, and trying to start a business, and having a little baby who is with me all the time...
well, I just don't feel available anymore. :-/

3. What's your favourite cold weather drink?

Hmmm...those sorts of questions are so hard. It is always mood/situation/time of day dependent. A nice cold Stella in the summer is a lovely thing. I also get cravings for Caesar's once in awhile. Oh, and there's always a nice, cold, can of Coke. I'd like to say that my favourite thing is water, but I'd be blatantly lying to you. I have so much trouble drinking as much water as I know I should. It's a problem.

4. What is your favourite holiday?

I would like to say Christmas but I think for the last few years Christmas has been a bit stressful, really. I seem to be on maternity leave a lot. LOL. Seems I'm always on mat. leave around Christmas...which means I'm bringing in about half my normal income. Dave and I haven't been buying presents for each other...but we still want to make sure the girls have lots of "stuff", but then I stress about what a waste that all is (I mean...they love the "stuff"...lots of shiny packages...and all that...but they really don't need one more toy! They have a
whole room full of just their toys. Its crazy!). So, I find it stressful. The whole thing.

I like Halloween. I love dressing up the girls and going trick-or-treating. They always look so cute! But, then, there is that huge bag full of junk that I don't really want them to even eat. Oh, do I sound like a humbug now, or what?

Can I say "Thanksgiving" then? I usually get to go to my MIL's for a delicious dinner, see my brother and sister-in-law (who I love catching up with), chit-chat, just have a nice time. A time that doesn't involve the spending (wasting?) of hundreds of dollars or the devouring of pounds and pounds of sugar. It's nice.

5. Okay quick - you gotta hop a plane right now, to anywhere with anyone - where do you go and with who?

Okay. My very quick answer was "Back to Jamaica with my husband. Only this time we wouldn't be getting married...so we could just relax and enjoy all our time lying around on the beach together". But, then I read Shan's answer and that sounds fairly wicked, too. ;-)

So, what would you do??

My Favourites #iPhone #Photo ;-)

2009-10-07T20:13:00.034-04:00

The theme for this week at I ♥ Faces is "My Favourite Things" (I'm Canadian...so I have to put the "u" in the word "favourite". It's the law.) and since this week is not being judged...well, I'll get to share a bonus favourite thing!!

So now,

in no particular order,

here are a few of my favourite things!!

My baby girl.

My sweet, adorable, baby girl.

And all her sweet, adorable, little parts.

A favourite time of the day for me is when she is getting her bottle. Then I can just sit and stare at her. It is such a peaceful, quiet, lovely time in the day...when I can just love her up!

I also love to love this kiddo up. My silly girl. This picture is her. To a T. That look on her face. That's her. Funny. Full of Beans. Lovin' Life.

Pony-girl. She is a bit more serious. She takes life a bit more seriously.

She is always trying very, very, hard to do her best. But, she definitely has her goofy side, too.

I'm so lucky to have all my girls. They really are best kids you could ever want. Three big favourites!

Then there's The Man.

He is the best, too. A hard worker, smart, funny, a great daddy...just an all around great guy. This picture is not him to a T, though. He looks very serious in this picture. He's generally a bit more goofy than that. Something a bit more like this...

Yep. That's him. And, I love him. He's a definite favourite. ;-)

Another favourite are pink roses! Like this one!

The Man bought me this one, and 11 more just like it, just a couple of weeks ago. Ahhh. So nice, huh? He also bought me these three little pigs that I just love.

Aren't they cute? He got me these because he knows I have a "thing" about pigs.

I love them! Well, I love lots of animals (like my doggie, for example).

But, my girls will tell you that I also love elephants, and skunks, and goats, and ferrets, and cows. I love cows. I swear, one of these days I'm gonna' get rear-ended because I have to keep pulling over to stare at all the cows that live around me. I don't know what it is. But, they are a favourite.

Another favourite that comes to mind right now is summer! I love summer! I love being warm and being able to go for long walks around the neighbourhood with my family.

I love hanging out at the park with my girls.

I love this...(the morning glories that climb up my number post in the summer)

NOT this...(the changing of the leaves. It's 9 degrees outside. In the middle of the afternoon!)

Ah well,

at least it does make one other favourite thing even more enjoyable....

Mmmmm....Timmies....

I love Tim Hortons coffee. And, now that it is colder outside...I can drink even more of it!

Another definite fav.

Okay. That's a lot of favourites, already.

Time for just one more?

Here it is.........

My iPhone!!!

"Pinky" (as I like to call her) is my newest favourite. I LOVE my iPhone and I don't really know how I got on without one before. I think my very favourite thing about my iPhone is the iPhone camera (and all the cool iPhone camera apps. you can get).

Like Chase Jarvis says, "The Best Camera...is the One That's With You. All The Time".

I love that I can have this camera with me...all the time. It's great for capturing the little day-to-day tidbits of our lives that I would otherwise miss because, let's face it, I'm not always going to lug a SLR around with me. And you know what...it's 3 mega pixels! That's not too shabby. Not like the camera-phones of yester-minute...this one takes shots that are good enough to print.

So, it may not win ya' any challenges over at I Heart Faces (then again...maybe it might! You never know! Chase Jarvis could probably enter a few iPhone shots and do alright for himself!)...

but it is still one of My Favourites!!!

So, thanks for the great theme Angie and Amy! It was so much fun to share all these iPhone Photo Favourites!

For more favourites...or favorites...be sure to head on over to the I Heart Faces site by clicking right HERE or on the button below!

Thanks!!

Ask Me Anything!

2009-10-04T11:31:00.007-04:00

{This is me. Right now. Hair not combed. Not a stitch of make-up. Coffee in hand in my favourite Pepe la Peu cup. My teeth aren't even brushed yet! Yep. The Real Me. More of that to come...}.

By the way...

I just had my 200th post!!

WooooT!

That is all the more exciting because it was ~actually~ about my 275th post.

Huh?

Well, you see, there was that whole period of time when I was pregnant, and having serious problems with my back, but didn't know why (turns out I have a wonky uterus and I was carrying the baby all on one side of me...which I knew a little bit about, but not the whole story...which was probably a good thing...cuz apparently it was pretty fantastic I even got pregnant in the first place...let alone carrying 3 babies to 38 weeks...) and I was all grumpy and miserable. And, then, our country plumbing went totally on the fritz for a serious amount of time so we couldn't wash dishes, brush our teeth, have a shower, or flush a toilet. Certainly, bigger problems in the world, which is something I would remind myself of over and over...and, yet, when you are 8 months pregnant and using a port-a-potty in your own home and wondering where on earth you are going to bath your new baby when she comes home...your focus tends to get a bit...myopic.

So, anyway, ya...that was a big ol' whine fest and I felt really bad about being such a whiner. So, what did i do? I erased ALL THOSE POSTS!

I felt better about it at the time. No one wants to listen to someone complain on a blog. But, now, I kind of regret it. It was a part of our life. A part of my pregnancy. Things I was feeling -- even if they weren't all dusted off and prettied up. That was me.

Sometimes I think Mommy bloggers pretty things up a bit too much. Gawd forbid you should let anyone know that, sometimes, you are miserable and grouchy and self-centered. Not me. Certainly not me.

So, I would like to celebrate this bloggy milestone (whether that's 200 posts or 275 posts) by opening up my in-box to your questions and I'll let you know more about the real me. Much like my friend Widney Woman does from time to time...ask me anything and I'll try to answer your questions as honestly as possible. Of course, I may only get 2 questions...but that's okay. If you are a lurker...please let me know and come on out and ask a question!!

I thought of doing a 200 things about me post or maybe just a 20 things about me post...but I'm never sure what to say.

So ask away!!!

And, thanks for reading by blog.
:0)

Not Wordless. Not Wednesday.

2009-10-01T11:37:00.003-04:00

Hi Bloggy-readers! Yep...I'm still out here. But, for the past week or so I've been emersed in the whole "Branding" process. I'm going to try and take my photography up a knotch. I've been trying to come up with a new name, an entire theme to go with the name, a new logo, and a new website. All this takes a shocking amount of time when you (meaning me) aren't really all that terribly computer literate. But, it's been very exciting and I can't wait until it's all ready. Then it will be time to **GASP** actually ~tell~ people about it. So far, the only people who know about my photoblog are...well...you. And You. And the I Heart Faces people. And, um, yep...that's about it. So, I was thinking, if I want to start taking pictures for people, maybe I should let them know that I can do that. Brilliant right? Yep. I'm kinda' smart like that.

So, I'm hoping to have some exciting stuff to share with you by next week. But, I just wanted to have a quick little pop-in here in the meantime...

And, now, how about a little Wordless Wednesday. On Thursday. Cuz', ya, I'm smart like that.

Well, I saw The Blogmother's Post and I just had to play along.

See you soon!!!!

TT: The Laundry Room Revisited.

2009-09-22T11:38:00.002-04:00

{Note to Reader: I am currently obsessed with my iPhone so all pictures on this blog will be from that source. Until I get over it. Which will be...neh-ver! ;-)}

Yes. I did overhall my mess of a laundry room a few months back. Why do you ask?

Oh, ya...it's a little bit "Here we go again", but whatcha gonna do? That's the life of a Mommy. Let's just concentrate on the small accomplishments for now, shall we?

Before:

Omg! It looks like an episode of "Hoarders", and I've never even watched that show (Yet! I hear it's fabulous). How many rolls of paper towel do we need? And, is that a professional dog grooming dryer?? (Lots. And, yes...another lifetime).

Get to the after! Get to the after! I can't take it!!

Okay....

Ahhh..
Serenity Now.

With storage bins all neatly stacked and labelled no less!!

Why, yes, I DO rock?

Oh, but before I get too comfy...there's still alllllllll the girls extra clothes to go through/sort for sizes/store.

Sigh.

Wish me luck...

For more great tackles go check out 5 Minutes For Mom by clicking the button below.

Thanks!

-- Post From My iPhone

Candid Camera

2009-09-21T11:10:00.003-04:00

Hey there!

I just wanted to say that my entry for this week's photo challenge over at I Heart Faces is up now on my photoblog. I'd love for you to check it out. It's a picture of my friend's adorable, adorable, daughter. Trust me...she'll fill you up with cutie-pie happiness if you go take a peak!
:-)

Thanks!
Have a great day!!!!

You Capture: What the Heart Sees

2009-09-18T09:58:00.006-04:00

If there are two things I love (I mean, other than my handsome hubby, my darling girls, my cute pets...you know, all that kinda' stuff) it's
1) A photo challenge and
2) My iPhone camera.

The problem is, you can't really win a photo challenge using an iPhone (well, unless someone was having a specific iPhone Photo Challenge...which, by the way, would also be very cool). The picture quality you get off a phone just isn't tha-a-a-t great.

But, there is something about the pictures I get on my iPhone that I just love. There is something about them that is very charming to me. Maybe it is the rough quality of them that reminds me of photos from my childhood. Who knows...but something about them just makes me happy.

Enter the weekly photo challenge held over at I Should Be Folding Laundry! There is no winner for these challenges...it's just for fun...a little something to spark our creative juices. Perfect!

So, if you all don't mind, I would LOVE to participate using just my iPhone. I have a blog for my "real" photos over at Stella B (that's my dog's name...I could NOT think of what else to name my future photo biz! And, I've been struggling with it for weeks!! So, that's it for now). You can head over there if you'd like to check it out. Lots of cute bay-beees... ;-)

Anyway...
here are my entries then for this week's YOU CAPTURE photo challenge which is "Up Close". While these, of course, are not true macro, they are getting in close. And, i have to say that these are actually my very favourite type of photos! I love this because when you get in really, really, close you are forced to include only what really matters to the photo. If you will allow me to get a bit mushy-gushy for a moment...there is nothing else to distract from what your heart sees.

I know, very mushy, but that is how I feel about it, anyway.
And this is a little bit of what my heart sees...

Thanks for stopping by!!!
This was fun.
And Have a Wonderful DAY!

:)

Family Fun Night: Fail

2009-09-15T10:47:00.008-04:00

Oh dear...

Well, yes, it's Tuesday. Family Fun Night linky is supposed to be up on Monday, isn't it? My post was supposed to be up on Monday, wasn't it? Not only that...but it's only week 2!! I know. I suck. I'm sorry. But, in my defense {here come the excuses, so please just skip past the next paragraph if you don't want to hear them}...

Maddie got invited to get off the bus at one of her school friend's houses on Friday after school. When she asked me if she could go I said, "But, but, it's Family Fun Night". She said she knew, but that she really wanted to go to her friend's house because ~that~ was going to be really, really, fun, too. What could I do? So, yep, FFN got cancelled in its second week. This does not bode well, at all. The best laid plans...and all of that. But, I have learned an important Mommy lesson (more on that later).

So, we didn't really have a FFN, but we did still have Kidtastic Saturday!! This was Maddie and Jamie's "Jammie Movie Afternoon" as inspired by The Fairy Blogmother (who likes to get together with a few of her buds for a movie at her house...in jammies...once a month). Their first guests, in fact, were the Blogmother's own two sweet kiddos...The Abster and My-Pie.

The girls sent out invitations almost 2 whole weeks prior. They wanted to be sure their friends would be able to make it! We set the time to be from 1-4 pm. I thought this would give them some time to get here, get settled in, chit-chat, then start watching the movie...have some snacks...and then when the movie was over they could just hang out in the newly spruced up (i.e. "cleaned") toy-room for a bit.

Well, everyone was so excited to get right down to the movie! We rented "High School Musical" which my two girls just LOVE. I mean, we have to listen to the soundtrack to this movie in our truck every time we go anywhere, now. It has gotten so that I am singing along with the songs, too, and I know all the words!

So, we got all the kiddos some popcorn and some flavoured waters, dimmed the lights, and started the show....

just about then there was a knock at the door. A little friend from down the street made a pop-in so, I couldn't be a meany, and I invited her in to join the party. Yep, I broke the rule of "1 guest per kid" on week one! So, now I had 6 little girls in the house to take care of. Ah well, no biggie...they'll just all play downstairs together, I thought. Uhhh....no....

The new guest was on the younger-side and she preferred to come upstairs to explore our house and play with the baby toys and wander around. We were trying to get the baby down for her nap, so we kept herding her back down to play with the other girls. Then, the movie was over (I think! I mean, that was fast!!) and they were all heading out the door! We tried to get them to stay in the toy-room, but it was too nice a day outside so that was that! The rest of the party took place out on the front lawn...with me holding a tired and getting cranky baby while trying to make sure none of the little kids got hurt, everyone was sharing and getting turns with the various toys, everyone was staying off the neighbours lawn and well away from the road, no one was riding bikes without helmets, no screaming...all that kind of stuff that makes you want to go kiss your kids' teacher's feet (How do they do it? Gawd love 'em).

So, Kidtastic Saturday didn't go quite how I had imagine, either...but the kids had fun. And, of course, that is the point of all of it and all I really wanted. Ya' gotta go with the flow as a Mommy of three little girls...so that's what I'm going to keep on doing. We'll always do something fun with the girls, every week, but that may be a Kidtastic Saturday, or a Family Fun Friday, or whatever else we can manage. We'll just have to see!

Laptop Lunch Love

2009-09-12T21:46:00.001-04:00

We have always been big on reducing the packaging in our girls' lunches. Honestly, this wasn't so much from an environmental point of view as it has been from a health point of view. Generally speaking, packaging tends to = not so healthy. So we always sent the girls to school with "Lock and Lock" containers full of fresh, mostly "clean" foods. Lots of fruits and veggies and whole grain sandwiches. I must admit to feeling all warm and fuzzy inside when I've had their teachers mention to me how great it is that they eat so healthy.

So, this year, with Maddie headed off to grade 2 (and being the very responsible kinda kid that she is) we decided to invest in a Laptop Lunch system for her. I'm not really sure who was more excited about this...her or I?

Now, I say "invested" because they are not cheap. Not at all. But, they are also very well made, and free of all the icky stuff that you don't want lurking in your childs lunch container. They are also all kinds of fun. I love how you can see all your food when you open up the "laptop", I love the little container that is so perfect for dips and dressings, I love how it all fits together perfectly- including fork, spoon, and drink...with a spot for an ice pack and a "lunchbox letter" which her Dad and I take turns leaving for her... Every Day.

Cuz, you know, we love her to pieces.

-- Post From My iPhone

Knowing Me - Knowing You / September

2009-09-08T13:19:00.005-04:00

It's time for that monthly interview project know as Knowing Me, Knowing You - hosted by my friend, Shan, a.k.a. The Fairy Blogmother. Here are my answers...why dontcha' share yours, too, and then head on over to Shan's blog and sign Mr. Linky so we can get to know you better. :0)

1. What is your favourite smell?

Oh...that's tough...to pick an absolute favourite. I really like the smell of a wood fire. I also like the smell of a freshly brewed cup of java. Or even just a bag of coffee beans for that matter. And, as soon as the onions and garlic get thrown into a pan of sizzling olive oil...I'm drooling. But, my favourite has got to be the smell of my own whittle baby-one (especially when she is a little sweaty. Is that weird?).

2. Did you/would you/are you co-sleep(ing)?

I, personally (who else would "I" be??), am a huge fan of co-sleeping. Huge. My mom always told me that after I was born she was so afraid I might stop breathing that she kept me in bed with her at night. Maybe that stuck in my head, because from the time my kiddos were yanked out of me...they were staying in bed with me. I slept with them in my tiny hospital bed (well, they slept, I sat there holding them...while sitting up...all night...) and they slept with hubby and I once we got home. My plan was always 4 months in the bed, 2 months in a crib next to the bed, then into their crib, in their bedroom, at 6 months. We stretched that a bit with Colie because, well, she's just so darn cuddly. Hard to give her up when she seemed so at home between us there in her little spot.

Of course, this is just what worked for us. Dave is a light sleeper and I don't move...so the girls were fine there between us. And, just rolling over to feed a baby after she's just whimpered a little bit is so much easier than having to get up and go get her after she's had to cry for a bit on her own. I think it makes for a more secure baby and one that is better able to sleep through the night later on. She has grown up, thus far, knowing we are there for her and we will meet her needs when she needs them met. So, there is no need for a lot of crying or fussing. And...for us...it did work. We've had 3 really excellent sleepers.

Also, I have it in my head that the baby just hearing us breath...somewhere in her brain...triggers something to remind her to breath. That is my theory and I'm sticking to it.

3. Fall fair season is upon us, so what's your favourite fair food?

Huh? I don't think I've ever eaten any food at a fair. I don't think I could even tell you what fair food is. Maybe I just haven't been to enough fairs...? I'm usually so busy hanging out with the baby goats and cows that the rest of my family has to come back for me and drag me away when it's time to get going. I'm not even kidding. There is food at a fair?

4. Thinking about Christmas shopping yet?

Is it December 24th? Then, no.

5. What's your favourite colour?

I'm a bit of a girlie-girl when it comes to colours, I guess...I love pink and lavender. I am also a huge fan of a greeny-blue. We used to have this chemical that went into one of our chemistry machines at work that was this beautiful, beautiful, greeny-blue. That chemical is one of my favourite colours.

So...there ya' go. Getting to know me a bit better...and getting more and more scared all the time, huh? ;-)

And now...because every post is better with a picture...

here is Jamie and I...right here, right now!

(I've got Pinky tethered to run my laptop. Pretty cool, huh?)

Now let's get to know you! Head over to Shan's site now!!!

Family Fun Night - So Long Summer

2009-09-06T18:51:00.004-04:00

Wa-Hooo! It's time for my first EVER, official, Family Fun Night post!! We had so much fun here at the MP's house and I am just so excited to see what you did with last week's theme...

"So Long Summer".

Here's our take on the theme...

Well, summer is the only time for Drive-In movies in these here parts, so we gave the girls something a little similar...a "Driv-ing Movie". Thanks to Davey for sitting at Starbucks on his extended lunch-break to download "Hannah Montana" for the girls. They were thrilled to be able to watch a movie on the iPhone while driving around in the truck.

When we were finished with our errands we came home and the girls and I made Rice Crispy Treat "Burgers". These were disgustingly sweet to eat, but fun to make (recipe to follow). We had our "burgers" for dessert out in the living room picnic style - complete with sunflowers (the flowers were from Davey's Birthday, but made a lovely centerpiece for our picnic blanket).

Once we were done our indoor picnic it was time for some summer-time fun. We had indoor wheel-barrell races and potato sac races. Colie wanted to get in on that fun, so Davey ran her across the finish line. She was so excited! Funny!

Then, as bedtime came (and went), we finished up our last activity: time capsules! The girls each had a can to decorate for their capsule and inside the can we put a piece of string that we used to measure their height, an outline of their hand and foot prints, a completed questionnaire, a photo , and a drawing.

We'll put the cans aside until next year -- when it becomes time to say "So Long" to "Summer" once more, and we'll see how much the girls have changed. Time sure flies. I was so glad to get this last activity done because it will be a great momento of our first ever, super fun, Family Fun Night!!!

If you didn't get a chance to play along last week...
I really hope you'll be able to play this week.
You can hold your Family Fun Night on any night of the week that it is convenient for you and your family.
Mr. Linky will go up again next Monday for this week's theme....

"Back To School"!!

{As a side note--this is also the theme this week at I Heart Faces -- so if you capture any great back to school photos be sure to enter them over there}. ;-)

Thanks!!!

***If you are joining up to Mr. Linky below, please be sure to leave the link to your Family Fun Night post ONLY. Do not leave a link just to your main blog, or I'll have to take your link down. We want to see what you did for Family Fun Night!! Thanks again!***

Family Fun Night!

2009-09-04T18:07:00.001-04:00

It's Family Fun Night here at The Mommy Project's house! This week's theme is "So Long Summer" and I've got a few ideas for celebrating our (almost over) summer-time before my oldest heads back to school on Tuesday.

Are you playing along with your family? It's not too late!! Mr. Linky will be going up on Monday for you to share your Family Fun Ideas - so you still have all weekend!

So, have fun! Hug a kid! Kiss a spouse! Pet a pet! And I'll see ya on Monday!!!

-- Post From My iPhone

Starting them young...

2009-09-03T23:28:00.001-04:00

Well, Tim Hortons coffee ~is~ good.

-- Post From My iPhone

You Are Invited!!!

2009-09-01T23:34:00.000-04:00

Hey! I just got word that The Blogmother is game for playing along in this, the first week of, "Family Fun Night"! So exciting to have her play along because she is one of the most creative Moms I know. I am really looking forward to not only playing with my own family, but to seeing what she (and hopefully You) comes up with to do with hers.

So, in case you missed it - here are the details:

*FFN* will happen once a week and each week will have it's own theme. It's great if you can come up with related
1) Food
2) Decor and
3) Activity
to tie into the theme.

It doesn't really matter when in the week you play (whatever works best for you and your family), but the Mr. Linky for you to share your version of each week's theme will always go up on the following Monday morning.

So, this week's theme is "So Long Summer" and we will be sharing what we did on this Monday September 7th.

Have fun and I hope to see you then!

-- Post From My iPhone

Tackle It Tuesday: The Toy Room Edition.

2009-09-01T11:29:00.014-04:00

I haven't done one of these posts in awhile...

and, sadly, my house shows it! Seems like the most I can ever get gone is "maintenance" kind of cleaning. You know, clean the bathrooms, vacuum the floors, do 20 loads of laundry a day, pick up kids' stuff off the floor...pick up more kids' stuff off the floor...and then, for a change of pace, pick up some more kids' stuff off the floor. This keeps the main areas of the house looking pretty okay. But, those "non-main" areas tend to get terribly neglected and before you know it, it looks like a V.V. has thrown up in your laundry room. But, I can't think about my laundry room right now. I must focus on the small victories to keep me going...

This latest victory is the Toy Room. The girls and their friends managed to put a lot of team effort into completely destroying it at the very beginning of the summer. And, I just have not had the time, energy, or inclination to get it cleaned up since then. So it sat. One helluva big mess. All summer.

But, as you know I have big plans for this school year - including Jammie Afternoon Saturdays when each of my girls (except Colie...she'll just have to hang out with her Mommy and Daddy 'til she gets a bit bigger) gets to invite one friend (that is "one" friend) over for an afternoon of snacks, and a movie, and some play-date time (Oh, how I love the play-date vs. the "someones banging at the door, can I get it?" It will be so nice to have a (small) hand in just who the girls will be spending (at least some of) their time with again {Is that awful?}.

So, anyway, this desire for a weekend Play-Date precipitated my need to tackle that nasty Toy Room once and for all. And, btw, those before pictures do not do the situation justice. Much like an iceberg the real trouble lies where you can't even see it...like under the futon, in the closets, in all the play bins, in the t.v. stand...you know what I mean.

It took 3 afternoons (in the little chunks of time baby-one would allow me), 2 bags of garbage, 2 boxes of old toys to be donated, 2 baskets of laundry (why were the girls leaving their clothes in the Toy Room?), and a lot of patience. And...

Ta-DAH!!

Now we are ready and the first invitations will be sent shorty (BlogMother's children...you know who you are...we are thinking of not this weekend but next, now, since I believe you will be at your Grandma's and it is the last weekend of the summer...so we'll probably do something else fun with the girls this Saturday)!

I can't wait!!!

{I think the girls, and Bun Bun, are pretty happy about it all, too}.

For More Tackle It Tuesday Posts go right HERE! Have a Great Day!!! :0)

And this is why...

2009-09-01T09:49:00.001-04:00

We need a dog run.
I'm so glad I got a picture if it first. Jamie is going to be so mad.

-- Post From My iPhoneo

Bean Loving You for So Long.

2009-08-31T22:23:00.001-04:00

When Jamie finished school for the year she came home with a little sprig of something she had planted into a red plastic cup. This poor little plant was more out of the soil than it was in-hanging by just a couple of wispy thin roots. I didn't really think there was much hope for it, but Jamie really wanted to see it grow. So, we gave it it's own pot in a nice sunny location, and Jamie made sure it got lots of water (and a few rocks around the perimeter to protect the little plant from dogs, or dragons, or whatever may try and do it harm).

For weeks we wondered how this little thing would make out - and what it was to become. Well, now we know. My little gardener took that tiny sprig and turned it into a thriving bean plant! She was so excited and proud and she
shared the biggest and most perfect bean with me.

Wonderful to see what surprises unfold as you help something to grow - isn't it?

-- Post From My iPhone

A Schedule of What Matters.

2009-08-28T10:44:00.007-04:00

Ok...

so I wanted to tell you about all my big plans for this coming school year. And, to be really, really, really, honest with you [;-)]- these plans are what I am excited about. I kind of feel like the summer has been fairly unstructured and, because of that, it seems like it has slipped by without notice. Or, maybe I should blame that on the almost total lack of heat and sunshine. I mean, seriously, what did we get? One nice week? Jeez!

Anyway...all tied up in my panic about my girls growing so fast, I am feeling the need to start squeezing every moment out of 'em that I can. So, as much as I have never been a "schedule-er" I am gonna' give in and start. I am beginning to learn that without a schedule things tend to not get done. One of my favourite wedding photographers, Jasmine Star, once put a quote up on her twitter account that said something to the effect of "Without clearly defined goals, we find ourselves strangely devoted to trivial matters". Well, that's the gist of it anyway. I think that is such a great quote (the real version of it was, anyway) because it applies to all aspects of your life - your business and your family.

So...here is my schedule for the coming school year:

1) Mondays: Mommy and Colie swim lessons day. I've signed us up for the parent and tot classes. But, how on earth are you ever going to get in a swimming pool every week, Mommy Project? You hate being cold! (I can hear you say). Well, fear not, sweet reader - I signed us up at a place that has what they refer to as a "Hot Pool" which is kept at 93 degrees. mmmmm. Loverly. Can't wait.

2) Tuesdays: Maddie's Drama Day. I've signed Maddie up to participate in a drama class complete with singing, dancing, and acting. Cool, huh? No - it gets better! It's a High School Musical drama class! I think she just about peed her pants when I told her she was going. So, this will be Maddie's special day of the week and I also plan to let her pick our (healthy choices only, though) dinner for this night of the week.

3) Wednesdays: Its all about Jamie Day. On this day, after school, we will be taking my little dancing queen to Hip Hop class. She loves to dance and I think she has a lot of natural talent in this area. She really gets the beat and is very graceful and bend-y. I know she'll love it and I'm excited that she'll have her own special day of the week, too. Jamie also, of course, gets to pick our dinner this night (no, James, not Happy Meals).

4) Thursday: Catch-up Day. We don't want to be too scheduled. Kids need a bit of down-time, I think...plus...we may need this day for catching up on homework. So - nothing - is going on this night and I hope to keep it that way.

5) Friday: Family Fun Night. This is the night that we hang out together as a family. I'm hoping to have a theme for each week and I'm starting this next Friday. Btw, I would so love it if you would participate, too, because it would be really fun to see what you would do with the same theme. What creative ideas you have that I may steal...uh...I mean, borrow in the future! So, I think I'll be putting up a Mr. Linky for this one on Mondays. That gives me the weekend to get my pics. together and my blog post written. I'll try to have my posts up nice and early.

The first theme week (in honour of there being only 11 days left before school starts) will be "So Long Summer". So, Ill be having that Fun Night on Friday September 4th and I'll putting the Linky up on Monday September 7th

My goal is to have planned a Fun Family...

Food
Decor and/or Craft and/or Location and
A related Activity and/or Game.

It's nice to have a few things that tie into the theme so those give my some ideas of what to think about.

6) Saturday: Swim Lessons. I've signed both Jamie and Maddie up for swim lessons because they have enjoyed our pool so much this summer. They were in there when it was too cold for most penguins...so I know they really love it. I wanted that fun to continue into the fall and being a good swimmer is an important life skill, as well. Now, since the whole week has been pretty much taken up with other activities and school, Saturday will also be "Kid Crazy Day". Both Maddie and Jamie are allowed to invite one child over for a Jammie Movie Afternoon. The Fairy Blogmother has been hosting Jammie Movie Nights for some time now and my girls have become totally jealous of that fab. event. So, I'm going to let them host their own!

7) Sunday: Mom and Dad's Day. This day is for us. Couple time and a little bit of peace and quiet is important for a healthy relationship and a happy family. So, on this day we are going to try to keep things quiet. {shhhhh}. No activities. No kids over. Nothing. In fact, we may try and see if Grandma wants to visit with the kids once in awhile. This is our Serenity Sunday...and I also plan to make it my Pig Out Day where I get to eat whatever I want. MMMM...now this is a day I'm looking forward to.

Oh! As I was typing this post the mail person knocked on my door. I just got my Physique 57 dvds!!! It took 3 weeks for them to get here and one case was broken when it arrived (hopefully the dvd will still work...it's pretty scratched up). But, I am very excited that they are here!! So, now I have to hop back on to the fitness bandwagon and try and fit that in my schedule, too. I'm not sure, yet, where I'll fit that in but I will!

I need to become devoted to the stuff that really matters and next week...I'm going to start.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

2009-08-27T15:20:00.006-04:00

They're going ba-ack!!

{to school}.

And I am very excited about it to be honest with you. It's not that I don't want my kids around, but I'll be even more honest with you...it's just that I don't think I'm going to miss having every sassy-mouthed, mess-makin', loud screamin' kid in the neighbourhood hanging out at my house. NOT that every kid in the neighbourhood is like that. Not at all. It's just that the sweet, polite, and quiet ones seem to be at the sitters during the summer and through some, ironic, twist of fate it's all the lovin' spoonfuls that are available to come over every day. I know that may sound very mean and grumpy, but this is the first summer in my life I've ever had a new baby in the house and two school aged kids at home. That is a, at times, very frustrating combination.

I'll tell you that more than once I've been in the bath-tub, when my kids have let other kids in the house and then come flying into the bathroom (as they always do when I forget to lock it). I'll screech "Shut the DOOR!!!" just in time. However, there was at least one occasion during which I stood there in just a towel when two neighbourhood kids were standing outside the door staring at me. For how long they were there before I even noticed them, I'm not even sure. (They just let themselves in my house!)

I've also been sitting on the couch nursing the baby when the kids have all come flying up my stairs. Now, I don't cover myself all up nice and discreet-like when feeding the baby in my own home so unless I whip the baby off and manage to grab her spit-up blanket for cover within 0.0003 seconds those kids were in for an eyeful. This happened a few times this summer. Not exactly the peaceful experience it is supposed to be for baby-one. She must have wondered, "What the...?!?"

And, the biggie, is the never-fail banging on the door 2 minutes after I've gotten the baby to (finally) go down for a nap (kids don't knock, then go away...they bang, and bang, and bang, and then kick, and kick, and kick at the door until someone comes to answer it, dammit).

Wait...that isn't even really the biggie. I think the real biggie is the fact that these are not my kids so I don't usually feel free to, let's say, remind them of their manners and/or common-sense when they are screaming, hitting, pushing, calling names, throwing stuff, littering, lying down in the middle of the road, dangling each other off the back of our truck, playing in the back of my husbands trailer with all his landscaping equipment, putting crap all over my lawn and my front entrance way, helping to completely destroy the Toy Room, yelling at my dogs, telling my little 4 year old to go "change her shirt" (because her tummy was showing and she) "looks disgusting", stomping on and killing the flowers in the bed at the side of our house...you know...that kind of stuff.

I'm actually really going to miss having my kids home. We've had a lot of fun together working on our "summer homework" and playing in our pool out back, and going on little adventures together. This special time with them made me question that Staples commercial in the past (What is so great about them going back? I wondered).

But, I've gotta' say, I think I get it now and I think it probably is

the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

{Anyway....

now that I've gotten all that off my chest...

with the kids headed back to school in just 12 short days I've started planning lots of fun stuff for us to do together. I'm really going to miss them and I want the school year ahead to still be full of adventures and Family Fun. So...more on that tomorrow...}

Help You, Help Me.

2009-08-25T15:19:00.006-04:00

Well, it seems like summer just started (we had, I'd say, one week of really nice, summery weather) and now it is winding to a close. The house was below 70 when I got up again today, I had to wear jeans while I was taking the baby out for her walk, and the start back to school is looming heavily in the air.

Since I can't go to Staples and buy myself a cool new pencil case and lots of new pencil crayons and markers and pens (from what I've been reading...all us Bloggy Moms are addicted to that stuff), I start obsessing about my "Game Plan", instead.

Last year (I am ashamed to admit) I cannot tell you how many times I misplaced this or that form, this or that library book, or forgot this or that event. Brutal! There are just so many pieces of paper to keep track of. I tried to have a system (which was a shelf for each of my girls in the cupboard to be their "launching pad", and a white board for writing memos, which has a small swatch of cork beneath it for hanging forms). Well, the cupboard turn into a huge mess in no time (all the girls' artwork, and homework, and papers got thrown in there along with their school work so it was a disaster in no time). The white board was okay, but it didn't provide enough space to write everything down, and the little swatch of cork at the bottom was a joke! I bought a nice big, huge, and necessarily ginormous cork board to put up this year, but Davey doesn't want me to put it in the kitchen. He says it's too ugly. But...I need it! It's not his responsibility (for some reason) to take care of all this stuff...if I can't see it, I'll loose it or forget it! {sigh}.

So, that board is up in the girls' room, instead. I think I'm sneaking it out of there tomorrow.

We need to know what is going on this year and I refuse to misplace any more forms! My girls will not go without pizza on pizza day again!!

Now, having said I'll that...

I'm looking to you for help.

What tools do you use to help keep you on top of things? Any systems that have been shockingly good at keeping you organized? Any websites, blogs, forums I simply must check out? Any downloadable forms (grocery lists, chore charts, household cleaning plans) that you've been keeping to yourself?

I need all the help I can get. I've got big plans for this little family of mine this school year {which I'll blog more about soon}, but the first step I need to take is

OR-GAN-I-ZAY-TION!!!

And, if you have any ideas for how to make my great, big cork board look pretty, too, that would be great.

Thanks!

Apple of My Eye!

2009-08-24T18:33:00.004-04:00

OH MY! Do I ever have lots of exciting news to share with you!!

1) I got an iPhone!!!!!

My hubby got one for himself the other day and asked me, several times, if I wanted one. I kept saying "Nah...I really don't need one". Well, that was until he got his home and I completely fell in love with this little slab of wonderment. So, today, hubby went back to the store and brought one home for me. Not only that, but he got an adorable little pink cover for mine. Is he the most adorable guy ever, or what?

2) My iPhone records video!!! Now, I have only practiced with it once and I stopped it after 10 seconds so I'm not sure for how long it will actually record if you let it go -- but I'm so thrilled and excited about this. I just recorded the little snippet of video, plugged the phone into my computer, and uploaded it directly to my blog! How Exciting!!!

3) Now you will get to see lots, and lots, and lots of videos of my incredibly cute kids!! Ha Ha Ha! Okay. I'm not sure how big a bonus that is for you...but I'm pretty happy about it.

So...sweet reader...let me introduce you to my darling Colie...the animated version!!! :0)

Poor Mommy.

2009-08-20T10:54:00.003-04:00

My two older girls (6 and 4) just went outside to play. I asked the 4 year old if she had to go "potty" before she left. She laughed at me and rolled her eyes and said, "Paahh-teee!??!".

Oh. Sorry. Do you have to use the ladies room before you leave?
-I asked in my best proper-British accent.
{sigh}.

And guess where the baby (6 months) slept last night? In her crib. All night. That was the first time. I won't tell you what precipitated her sudden move to the crib {I would loose way too many good Mommy points if I told you that one...}, but lets just say I feel much better about her sleeping somewhere that is surrounded by bars that, um, hold her in.

But, my baay-bee...

She slept just fine without me. She even slept-in a little bit this morning.

Maddie (the 6 year old) wants to change the toy-room downstairs into her own bedroom. She doesn't care if it is downstairs. She doesn't mind. She isn't scared to be off by herself. She wants her own space.

I think I need to get pregnant again.

Woo-Hooooo!

2009-08-15T10:19:00.005-04:00

Ya-hoooooooo!!!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the screaming, but I just found out that the photo I entered this week into the I Heart Faces challenge ("silly faces") won for "Amy's Pick"!!! I am sooooo excited! I just love I Heart Faces. It is largely thanks to them (Amy and Angie) that I started taking my photography more seriously and placing in the top 10 awhile back with the picture I took of Maddie on the swing is what prompted me to even start my own Photo Blog. I've been taking lots of pictures of kiddos and babies and I am hoping to start doing that, "for real life" (as Jamie says), within the next year or so. I still need more practice, but the inspiration, incentive, and encouragement I've gotten from I Heart Faces has been incredible. Thank-you so much Angie and Amy! Now...off to get some "bubbles" pictures (that's next week's challenge if you want to come play along....). ;-)

Reflections

2009-08-13T11:51:00.008-04:00

We Picture {this} is a fun photo-site for Moms who love to take pictures. They have lots of talented photographers over there and it is always fun to check out their photos, their ideas, and their themes. This month's theme is "Reflections". This is my favourite "Reflection" photo of the girls because we just captured this one weekend walking around the neighbourhood. There was a big puddle by the side of the road and the girls stopped to play by it. I love the little look that Jamie has on her face as she looks up at her big sister. It was one of those fleeting moments that made me so glad I happened to have the camera to my face at the time - usually those moments happen the second I put the camera down!

{If you click on the photo, you can see it a little bit bigger...}

To check out the rest of the theme photos or add your own be sure to head on over to We Picture {this} by clicking on the button below.