Four Simple Goals.

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.

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!!

First Brett Favre, and Now This!

I'm back, baby!

First Oprah, Now This!!

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!!!}

Ask Me Anything!

{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)

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

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...}

:)

Hi Again!

Hey! Well, it's that time again. The time at which I become over-come with guilt for having neglected my blog so badly. Not that anyone (except for maybe my two loyal blogging-buddies) really cares. I mean, life goes on whether I blog or not. ;-)

But, still...I feel guilty. What can I say? I was raised Irish-Catholic. We are riddled with guilt for the rest of our lives...

So, anyway...
I just thought I'd do a (hopefully) quick little wrap-up of why I have been so absent...

For one, I've been the mad photographer as of late. I have a few friends who have recently had babies (some within days, others within the year...and another who is expecting...) and they have been so incredibly kind as to let my practice my photography with their kids. And, I need the practice. There is so much to learn. The more I read about photography, the more I learn how little I know. I mean, I have studied photography in the past but a) most of that education came before the age of digital and 2) I never studied flash photography. Everything was available light. Flash photography is a whole other ballgame, I'm learning.

But, I love it. Love it, love it, love it. The babies, the pregnant girls, the camera, the flash, the cuteness, the joy, the love...all of it. Love it! Can you tell I'm excited?

So, I've been taking pictures, and processing pictures, and reading books, and reading forums and setting up photo sessions, and getting pictures developed...and all the while I've got two little kiddos home from school and one baby-one on my hip. This means, ironically, that despite the fact that I now (once again...as always happens) have lots of fun stuff to talk about and lots of cute pictures to share...I have no time!! As I sit and type this the baby is having her nap. That usually only lasts half an hour. I just got out of the tub and I haven't even combed out my hair! I'm sure she will be awake any moment...so you see what I mean.

Plus, there have been lots of fun social engagements lately. My friend's wedding shower, another (dear, dear, dear...love ya' Vic!) friend's surprise 40th birthday party, going to check out another friend's new house complete with new baby chicks and turkeys! Lots going on.

And now...I hear the baby.
So, I must get goin! Just wanted to say "hi" and play a little catch-up!!

Hopefully, I'll be able to post more and include a few pictures soon. But, if not...that means I'm still taking photos and having fun. So, that's not too bad.

;-)

So, like, Not me.

I've always wanted to do one of those "Me/Not Me" memes. You know, the ones where you put up a picture of something that is so you, or something you like, and contrast it with a picture of something that is so not you, or something you don't like...or maybe, something you can't for the life of you begin to understand...

Well, here is a short one for you.

Me:

So, not me:

So don't even get it me:

American Idol you have wasted so many evenings of my life.

Why America? Whhhhhyyy????

Forty Things About Me.

1) My eyes look brown, but they really aren't. They are mostly green with just a small star of brown in the middle.

2) I have naturally curly hair and it drives me crazy. When you have straight hair you can wake up in the morning, brush it, and go. When you wake up in the morning with curly hair you have a mass of tangled stuff all over your head and brushing it would only turn it into a fuzzy mass of stuff. My hair bugs me.

3) I don't like my legs and, so, I rarely wear skirts or dresses. But, I wish I could wear skirts and dresses more. I think they look so pretty.

4) I have a huge scar down the front of my left knee and a few on my left arm as a result of being hit by a car in my twenties. I had to have surgery on both and now I have a rod and some screws in my arm and three large screws in my knee.

5) I had to be in a wheelchair for awhile after that and I've discovered that people think you are stupid when they see you sitting in a wheel chair. Why your lack of ability to walk should have anything to do with your mental ability...I don't know. But, I was glad (and lucky) to get out of that chair after a few months. I actually had a woman working in a store offer me a piece of candy, like she was talking to a 6 year old, when I was in the wheelchair.

6) I was going to school to become a Veterinary Technician when the accident happened. I've been a Vet. Tech. for a long time now.

7) I plan on a total career change (hopefully) within about a year

8) I love animals. Too much to have a job taking care of them, actually. My favourite pet ever was my ferret named Molly. She was incredibly smart and sweet. That may be hard for you to believe but, I'll tell you, the first thing she always did when she woke up was run around the apartment looking for me. When she found me she would run up on top of me, give me a little kiss, then run back down and go play. She was amazing. Her and my dog Emmy (who I adopted from school) were just the best. I miss them a lot.

9) My dad died when I was 12. I remember that he smoked a pipe, had huge hands, and always kept jelly beans in his shirt pocket.

10) I can't remember the sound of his voice.

11) I never thought I was going to have kids. Until I met my husband.

12) We have three girls (Maddie 6, Jamie 4, and Colie 3 months).

13) I can juggle.

14) My grade 12 art teacher made me promise her that I would continue to study Art in University. I took English instead. I should have kept that promise.

15) For what it's worth: I'm Irish, I was born a red-head, and I'm a Taurus.

16) My fake bar-name was "Kendra Hayes". As it turns out Dave had one, too - "Mike Starr".

17) I love coffee. I don't drink a ton of it, but if I don't get a cup in me by 10 o'clock I'll have a headache for the rest of the day.

18) I love 80's pop music and I was a member of the Corey Hart Fan club. I received a two page letter from him once as well as two letters from his mom, Mindy.

19) I lived in the house, next to the parking lot, where Kristen French was abducted. It was very strange seeing my old house in the newspapers for such a tragic reason.

20) When I was in high school my best friend and I were chased all the way home by a maniac in a white van. He followed us into surveys and even drove his van across the school yard trying to get us. We finally made it to my house (without him seeing where we went) and we hid there until he drove away. The police were called to look for him, but I'm not sure if he was ever caught.

21) Also when I was in high school - I had a maniac reach out of a truck and try to grab me off my bicycle while I was cycling with my friend. She was yelling behind me for me to look out and I managed to veer away in time. There have been a few maniac run-ins in my life come to think of it.

22) I think I am a bit agoraphobic now. I'm guessing that stuff would be why.

23) I like to go for walks around my little neighbourhood, but walking in crowded areas or places where there is more traffic gives me panic attacks.

24) I don't think that I am shy. I think I am just quiet. I find listening to other people more interesting than listening to me: I already know my own stories.

25) My Mom and Dad met in a bowling alley. Dave and I met in a bowling alley.

26) I used to be a vegetarian and I wish I was again. I'm working on it. Eating meat really bothers me. I hate having to think and worry and stress about my food. It is so much easier for me to just eat tofu.

27) I can not take the cold. I find it painful. Seriously. I hate winter.

28) I love the heat. It can't really get too hot for me. I love the summer and I can feel all my back muscles starting to relax once the temperature goes over 25.

29) Dave and I were married on a beach in Jamaica. Just the two of us. That was the best decision ever.

30) Other than photography, my biggest extravagance for the wedding was my $300 veil which I wore for about one hour. I don't regret that at all. It was so beautiful.

31) I love rhubarb. My favourite dessert is a pie with rhubarb and any kind of berry.

32) I love Indian food, and Thai food, and even some Mexican food. I don't like Mediterranean food. I don't like feta cheese, or olives, or oily/vinegary kind of concoctions. I do love spice.

33) I have an incredibly great little family. I wonder sometimes how it all happened. My hubby and my kids are something I never even imagined for myself.

34) I moved 10 times between birth and grade eight and went to 6 different schools by the time I was in grade 6.

35) My favourite memories as a kid are the sound of the rain hitting the canvas part of our camper-tent when we went up north in the summer, waking up to the smell of bacon and eggs cooking on the weekend, and my dad bringing me boxes of timbits with all the kinds I liked...in the right numbers of each.

36) I was named after my Mom, by my Dad.

37) My parents had two boys together before they got pregnant with me. I was told my father was really hoping for a girl. I was born the day before his birthday.

38) I am a night-owl. If it was up to me (which it isn't), I'd go to bed at about 2 in the morning, and get up around 10.

39) Every year on my birthday my dad would buy me a pink rose. After he died, without my even thinking about it, my mom started to bring me a pink rose. She has never missed a year of keeping up that tradition. She said my Dad would have wanted it that way.

40) It's my 40th birthday today. My Dad would have been 80 tomorrow.

Time flies.

Why Didn't I Realize That Before?

Look what Jamie James got in the mail! It's her "Welcome to Kindergarten" post-card and on the back her teacher has written all the details of her upcoming first days of school. Of course, Jamie was beyond the moon thrilled to not only get her own mail, but for the mail to be related to her going to school. Thrilled and beaming ear to ear. And, me? You know what? I didn't even get choked up. I was just excited for her, too. And, you know what? I was a little excited for me, as well.


A change is coming over me!


Maybe it's because I'm expecting another little one to be hanging around the nest soon. Or, maybe it's because Davey is rubbing off on me. But, all of a sudden, I'm actually having trouble remembering what I was getting so upset about. Jamie is so excited for this - no apprehension what-so-ever, so there is no concern there. And, it's only 2 days one week...and 3 days the alternate week - the rest of the time she is still home. And, you know what I just realized...I am going to have one day a week, guaranteed, to myself. O.M.G. The alternate week I will have TWO days to myself. I swear to you that this had not even occurred to me until just a couple of days ago. Why didn't I see that? That is going to be fantastic!


I haven't had a day to myself, where I wasn't either looking after the kiddos...or working...or frantically trying to get an assignment finished...since...since...uh...I actually can't remember that day. What am I going to do with myself? Woooooootttt!!! I'll tell you one thing, this house is going to get super organized. I am going to organize our office, I'm going to get the kids toy room moved downstairs, I'm going to decorate the baby's room, I'm going to spruce up the girls' room, I'm going to have lunch dates with my mommy friends, I'm going to get my hair cut, I'm going to go shopping for cool mommy clothes, I'm going to cook dinner and enjoy it, ahhhh...what WON'T I do?


So, I'll see ya' when you get home from school little Jamie-James. You and Mommy are going to have a GREAT time.

Honey Bunny

So now you all know the big news of the new addition we are expecting to our family. That baby is due on February 8th. That makes me just over 10 weeks along right now, but my belly is already getting big. Seriously. When I was pregnant with Maddie no one knew I was pregnant until I was about 7 months along. At 8 months I had people saying, "I wasn't sure if you were pregnant or not, but then I noticed your belly button". Yeah. My belly button almost grew bigger than my whole belly! My boss actually asked one of my co-workers several months into the pregnancy, "Is she really pregnant??". LOL. But, I don't think I'll have that problem this time around. Let's see if I can take a quick "self-portrait" a la Widney Woman of my tummy for you to see...

See. It is definitely already out there. I go for my first ultrasound on the 28th. Let's all hope we're not having twins. We were out test driving potential new vehicles on Monday (yes, my wagon has definitely seen better days and needs to go to wagon heaven soon) and Dave and I both really loved the Honda CR-V we took out. She's a `bute! Then it dawned on me..."Dave - if we have twins all the kids won't even fit in here!". So, we had to delay buying her right there and then (as we wanted to) until I go for my ultrasound. Our other choice is another big lug of a pick-up truck which is a great right-off for the business, but not so great for just booting it around town to pick up groceries and stuff. Parking is a bit of a challenge. But, anyway...

My real point of this post was to tell you about the new addition to our family that just arrived on Monday.

Meet Chloe!

Chloe was adopted from an organization called "Rabbit Rescue". She was one of hundreds of rabbits and bunnies that were saved from the horrible conditions they were being kept in at a meat processing business in Barrie, Ontario. The cruelty case is currently ongoing so I don't have a lot of details but when you consider the fact that rabbits aren't even protected under the "Humane Slaughter Act" (which means they must be rendered unconscious before they are killed) in the U.S. or Canada, and that these poor animals were "just" being raised for meat (so who really cares how they were treated)...you've got to know the conditions must have been pretty shocking.

I am very grateful to Rabbit Rescue for saving all these bunnies and for letting me adopt little Chloe who, as it turns out, is one of the cutest, gentlest, funniest little bunnies you'd ever want to meet. She has made herself right at home here and is even coming right over to my girls for pets and snuggles (then she's hopping off to play again). For how her life started out...how she had been treated by people...it's quite amazing how sweet she had remained.

If you would like more information on the "Humane Slaughter Act" and to sign a petition to fight for *some* rights for these lovely little animals then please go here. As for me...I've just bought two new vegetarian/vegan cookbooks.