Sunday

You can tell Christmas is around the corner. Things are getting crazy busy around here although most days I couldn't tell you exactly what I've done. I've got a list of things to do longer than my arm and the girls are only in school for 2 more weeks. This year the kids are out almost a full week before Christmas. I'm looking forward to the break and spending time with them but it does mean I have to get lots accomplished between now and then. Wish me luck. I'm sure most people are in the same boat so I wish you luck too!!

Here's my most recent Project 365 page.



As always, thanks for looking!!

Well.

I’m doing my best with these 365 pages but I don’t seem to be able to get caught up. I got this one completed today so I’m actually only a couple of weeks behind. Some weeks I do a good job with the photo taking and other weeks I find myself scrambling to take photos that represent our life right now. I do believe I will do it again for 2010 but I need to shake it up a little to keep it interesting.

Our weekend was a good one. We went into Toronto to the AGO on Saturday to see the King Tut exhibit. I know I saw that myself when I was a child but I don’t remember much of it except the chocolate King Tut on a stick I got when it was over. I didn’t manage to get a chocolate this time but I think I took more away from the exhibit than I did when I was a child. It was crowded and hard to get a good look at the artifacts but it is truly amazing that such riches were buried and undiscovered for so long.

Dave and I watched Angels and Demons last night. I tried to read the novel a couple of months ago but couldn’t make it through. I found the movie fascinating. I’m not one to watch a movie more than once, but I think I would like to with that one. I think I’ll also take another crack at the book (when I’ve finished the 15 or so waiting for me by my night table!!).

Today Meredith went to a movie with a friend and Isobel had a friend over then Skyped with Victoria in Australia. I got some chores done, and some laundry done, and some scrapping done.

It was a very nice, well rounded weekend. How was yours?

365

This is going to be a quick post. We're heading out in a bit to pick up my mother-in-law and head to Mississauga for dinner with Dave. After that we're going to the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga to watch Meredith perform. I'm quite looking forward to it!

Anyway, here are a couple of Project 365 pages to share.

Thanks for looking!!!

P.S. Mom - if you're reading this - I'm thinking of you!!! xoxo

Simple Woman's Daybook

This is a meme from the Simple Woman's Daybook. Barb does it often and I thought I'd give it a try.

FOR TODAY...

Outside my window... a beautiful fall day. The sun is shining and the temps are mild. I’m hoping to get off this computer and out for a walk soon.

I am thinking... that there’s not much time before Meredith’s birthday. I can’t believe my baby is going to be 12.

I am thankful for... the love of my family and the laughter of good friends.

I am wearing... yoga pants, tank top and a black hoodie.

I am remembering... how nice it was to see my mom yesterday even though it was only for a few hours.

I am going... to get off this computer soon!! Really.

I am reading... Handle with Care by Jodi Piccoult. It’s a very thought provoking novel – all hers are.

I am hoping... that I can get a lot of Christmas shopping done this week. I’d like to have it out of the way.

On my mind... the one week scrapbooking retreat in September I’ve just committed to. I’m so excited.

From the scrapbooking room... I’m about 4 weeks behind on my Project 365 pages. I’m hoping to get them done today (they’re digital – so much for the plan to get off the computer!!)

Noticing that... I’m in a much better mood when I’m not rushing around trying to do everything all at once.

From the kitchen... It’s an easy supper night tonight. Dave plays squash early. We’ll be having salad and the kids’ favourite – chicken fingers and fries.

Around the house... I’m trying to figure out where I can put vinyl decals from sixty/forty. Hmmm . . .

One of my favorite things… walking down by the lake on a beautiful day.

A picture I'd like to share...

This is where I’ll be headed in September. Wow.

SURPRISE!!

I am a bad blogger. I’ve been very caught up in life lately, and haven’t managed to post here at all. This video was sent to me recently and it really got me thinking.



I DID think social networking was a fad, but this has me thinking otherwise. I’m not a very sociable person. But I think it’s about more than that. I do my best to keep up with technology. I’ve got Windows 7. I have an iTouch and numerous apps. I know how to run a blog and optimize a website for search engines. I even know some HTML. I’ve gone so far as to have a Facebook page and a Twitter account but haven’t really utilized them to their full potential. I haven’t used this blog to its full potential either. I’m convinced no one reads any of these and that no one really cares, but does that matter? I need to keep up. I need to blog and update my status more often. I need to make time for these things if I’m going to keep up with the way the world is moving. Soon, my children are going to know more than me, and I want to feel that I’ve at least tried.

More 365 pages

Clearly I'm not finding/making the time to post regularly to this blog. I am up to date on my Project 365 though, so here they are:

Thanks for looking and thanks for your patience. Have a great day.

M.

3.6.5.

Guess what? I am totally up to date on my Project 365 pages. I just finished last weeks' page but I’m not going to post it yet. I have so many to posts to catch up, I thought I’d do it a few at a time. That way, I’m guaranteed at least a couple of day's worth of blog fodder.




Thanks for looking and I hope you and yours had a great Thanksgiving weekend. It’s back to the real world tomorrow.

Gobble. Gobble.

Thursday Thirteen

My friend Barb does the Thursday Thirteen most weeks and in my new found desire to blog more I thought I’d try it. If you’d like to participate, go here.

This is a list of 13 things that are on my Never Ending To Do List right now (in no particular order). Most of them have been there for some time.

1. Paint all the hallways in the house. It’s been a few years since we did this last and I’m starting to be quite annoyed by the gouges, scratches and little fingerprints that just won’t wash away.

2. Replace the pot lights in the kitchen and paint the ceiling. We have just recently evicted our little squirrel friend who decided to make our ceiling its home and munch away on the wires for our pot lights. We are left with a patchy ceiling and lights that no longer sit nicely in their holes. Plus one light works some days, but not on others.

3. Tile the backsplash in the kitchen. It can’t be that hard, can it? I know Home Depot offers seminars on various DIY projects for women. I’m hoping to take one of those.

4. Go on a hike with the girls and Dave. This one isn’t actually on my To Do list but I really want to do it.

5. Finish the half completed albums in my drawer. I’ve got an "All About Me" album, one from our trip in 2001 to St. Petersburg Florida, and both of the girl’s school albums which have not been updated since Grade 3 and JK. They are in Grade 7 and Grade 3 now.

6. Order and do pages from Donna Downey. I love the fabric, dimension and colours in her kits. Just yummy.

7. Try my hand at a mosaic page. I’ve carefully collected all the required supplies. Now I just have to do it. You can see some examples here.

8. Rip all my CD’s onto my computer so I can play them through iTunes and on my iPod. I’m going to need to get myself an EHD before I can accomplish this one. My computer is getting quite full.

9. Steam clean the carpets. It’s gotta be done.

10. Catch up on my Project 365 pages and all the digi pages I’ve got planned out and ready to go. I think I need more hours in the day.

11. Get to the LCBO to stock up on wine for the Holiday Season. You just never know when you’ll need to go somewhere and bring a bottle with you, or when someone might drop by for a Christmas drink. Right now, we are totally out of wine, so don’t drop by for a drink. We’d have to pull out the hard stuff.

12. Clean the stovetop. I did some serious ‘boiling over’ yesterday and haven’t managed to clean it yet.

13. Paint the door to the basement. We have a french door at the bottom of the basement stairs that opens up into the playroom. About 3 years ago I carefully taped each and every window in the door so I could paint it. I don’t know what happened but I never got around to it and I notice the tape is all gone. I guess I’ll have to start all over.…

Well, that’s my 13. Most of these have been on my list a long long time. I’m skeptical I’ll ever get all of them done. I was going to say if I won the lottery, I’d have the time to do them but quite frankly if I won the lottery, I think I’d pay someone to do most of them.

I'm Back . . . Again

Well, I’m back.

I think.

For today, anyway!!

It’s been a long time but I’ve been quite busy. School is back in and I’ve been struggling with establishing some kind of regular routine. I’m determined to increase my activity this year and am either walking or running 6 days a week. It’s a lot to fit in and I’m convinced that’s why I’m having such a tough time carving out time for things like this blog, but I know it’s the right thing to do so I’m not giving it up.

Briefly, here’s what’s happened here over the past couple of months:

We went to Lion’s Head for a week and had a great time. We hopped on the Chi-Cheemaun for a day trip to Manitoulin Island and enjoyed numerous beaches including Sauble Beach and Singing Sands. It was a great trip.

We went to the Ex before school went back in. I always have a great time there.

Both girls are back at school and settling in nicely. It seems to be a bit harder this year to get the older one up and out of the house in the morning, but we’re getting there!! They are in grades 3 and 7 this year. I find that remarkably hard to believe.

Dave and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary and his 41st birthday.

Isobel celebrated her 8th birthday with a party at the Airborne Trampoline Centre. We had 15 children in attendance and they jumped almost non stop for an hour. It was great. After the party our good friends Emma and Megan spent the night. It’s always good to have those girls over.

Isobel got a Chinese Fighting Fish named Fisher Jack for her birthday from Meredith, who has already died. (The fish, not Meredith!!) It was quite traumatic and I didn’t even manage to get a photo of him. He has since been replaced with Swimmer Leo.



Meredith seems to have had a growth spurt. None of her clothes from June fit her now. Even the pants I got her in late July don’t fit so we’ve been doing some shopping.

I’ve been working hard on my 365 pages. Here are a couple of them:

It looks like I’m going to be doing a bit of paid work again. Yay me!!! I’m going to do my best to keep posting.

Thanks for putting up with me and checking back here regularly.

A Project Completed

I don't have any Project 365 pages for you today - no whining please!! BUT I did complete my Lion's Head album from our vacation last summer. It only took a year. Not bad for me, I'd say. LOL.

Here it is and as always, thanks for looking.

Gimme a 3 and a 6 and a 5!!!

Here's my Project 365 page from last week. Can you believe I'm still doing these? I certainly can't.

They are all I've got time to post these days, but I think they keep you up to date with what's going on here.

Have a great day, week and summer and thanks for looking!

3.6.5.

This seems to be all I have time to post these days. I'm actually quite amazed that I am still managing to get them done and posted. Thanks for looking. Here's last weeks page.



Have a great weekend!

365 Pages

Well, I can’t believe that I got them done, but I did. Here are 3 more 365 pages.

Thanks for looking.

An Update

I’m not going to post photos and I’m not going to do any links. I’m just going to do a quick post to keep this blog up to date.

My time is not my own right now. We’re having a great summer and, as always, I wonder how I got things done when my girls were home with me all the time. It seems to be that back then, I didn’t have quite as much to do. And I don’t mean things I NEED to do, but rather things I WANT to do.

Anyway, so far this summer, we’ve gone to Wonderland, the AGO, the Science Centre and the Royal Botanical Gardens. We’ve got together for play dates with the Roberts, spent some time with Grandma and had a week of swimming lessons for Isobel. I’ve managed to still crop most Tuesdays for a couple of hours and we’re planning a garage sale for this weekend.

Last weekend we were away at a friend’s cottage. It was 100 years old and had boat access only. It was absolutely beautiful and we all had a great time.

The summer is only a few weeks old and we’re doing well so far. The girls are enjoying their ‘old fashioned’ summer without camps to amuse them every minute. We are playing with friends, reading, swimming and spending time outside. We are doing chores and watching TV. We are just hanging out and sleeping in.

Thanks for reading. I’ll post again when I can.

Look What I Did

I was on Jessica Sprague today and saw a link to this tutorial.

I turned this photo:

into this watercolour painting:

(Click on it to see the detail)

I'm very impressed with myself. I'm off to see what else I can do.

Mmmm.... Food

Pastor Ryan's Bolognese Sauce

Photo Courtesy of Pioneer Woman

Does anyone out there follow the Pioneer Woman? I’ve read her blog for over a year now and I do enjoy it. Some of her posts are long, some are short but all of them are accompanied by some very beautiful photographs. Her life is so very different from mine, and I look forward to reading about her family’s exploits in their daily life.

She is putting together a recipe book and has a whole section of her site dedicated to cooking. Her recipes are neither low fat nor simple, but they all look delicious – and of course are all accompanied by the most mouth-watering photographs. When this recipe was posted I wanted to try it out so badly, but I’m not a very adventurous cook. I put it on the schedule many times but always managed to find a reason not to make it. This weekend it dawned on me – Dave is a great cook and he loves to try new recipes. I really think the harder and more challenging they are, the more he enjoys it.

He made it for us last night for dinner. I’d done the shopping for the ingredients, but wouldn’t you know it, all the staples we generally keep in the house that the recipe called for were almost out, so I had to rush out not once, but twice during the cooking process for red wine, Worcestershire sauce, parmesan cheese and milk.

It was, by far, the best Bolognese Sauce I have ever had. Even Isobel, who doesn’t normally eat ‘red’ sauce, loved it. The recipe made enough for us to freeze two more meals, so we get to enjoy it again in the future. So, if you’re looking for something special to make and you’ve got the time – or better yet, someone else to make it for you – I highly recommend it.

And check out these little lovelies:

Chocolate Cookies Dipped in White Chocolate and Rolled in Candy Canes
Photo Courtesy of Pioneer Woman

I think I might have to attempt them at Christmas!

Random Thoughts

I haven’t had the time (well I have, but that’s a whole other story) to post all the random thoughts churning through my brain. So here they are, in no particular order:

Report Cards – The girls’ report cards came home on Wednesday. I’m not a particularly ‘type A’ parent. I don’t need my kids to have straight A’s but I do need to feel they are doing their best and trying their hardest. Their report cards this year definitely represented that. Meredith gets the award for most improved. She has had such a good year – both socially and academically. And to think, I was worried about the move to a new school. What a difference a little confidence and a good, caring teacher can make. Isobel gets the independence award. I can honestly say the marks on her card totally represent work done by her. She did her homework and her projects this year entirely on her own. Way to go girls.

School’s Out For The Summer – Yee haw. School is out for the next two months. Whatever will we do? Ha ha – not to worry – I’ve got lots of ideas. For the most part, I’m going to expect them to entertain themselves and help me out during the day. If they tell me they’re bored, I have a list of things to help occupy their time. Things like ‘clean out your night table drawer’ and ‘pick up 10 pieces of garbage in the yard’. I don’t think they’ll be telling me they’re bored too often!!

Canada’s Wonderland – We took the girls on Friday. What a blast. I went there a lot in my teenaged years. Some of the rides I remember were still there plus a whole slew of new ones. I knew I wouldn’t be able to go on the rides that spin or go backwards but I was sure I’d be okay on the roller coasters. Hmph. Little did I know. The first ride we went on was a stunt car roller coaster ride. We weren’t even halfway through it and I felt my neck go ~CRACK~ and the pain started. Ugh. And today I have the resulting migraine! I did manage to go on one other roller coaster – Dragon Fire – but that was it. However, it was a great day!! Here are some photos:

Michael Jackson AND Farrah Fawcett On The Same Day? - I have to admit I’ve never been a huge MJ fan. I’ve certainly enjoyed his music but I’ve never actually owned any of it. I think he would be happy with his death. In a way it mirrors his life – secretive yet full of controversy. I am a little disappointed to see how little press FF’s death is getting, though. I think she deserves a little more air time. It was tough to see her battle with cancer and I hope she’s at peace now. You know you’re getting old when the icons of your youth start dying.

Last but not least are my 365 Pages. Yes, I’m still managing to get them done. Thanks to Dave taking the girls out to play badminton this afternoon, I got these two completed.

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

Free? Photo Editing? I'm in!!

I just signed myself up for this lovely little FREE class over at Jessica Sprague.com. I've taken many of her digital classes and loved every single one of them. This one starts on July 6th. The kiddies will be home. I will be distracted. Am I crazy? Probably. But they're good kids. They'll understand!!

Care to join me? It's free. There's nothing to lose, but so much to gain.

I'm Back (I think)

So, I’m back.

I just can’t make up my mind about this blog. On the one hand, I don’t always feel like I have anything very interesting or thought provoking to say, but on the other hand, since I made the decision to discontinue it, I’ve thought of all sorts of things I could have been posting. I just find I spend so much time on my computer. Between the day to day emails, the newspaper, the message boards I like to follow and all the blogs I read, I feel like I’m on here all the time. I’ve got a few friends who are dedicated Facebook users and I thought perhaps that would be a better use of my time, however, I find Facebook doesn’t give me enough room to say what I need to say. So, here I am. I’m back.

I cannot promise to blog every day or even every week. I can’t promise that it will always be interesting – in fact, sometimes it might be downright boring. I think when I started this I thought I would amass a following and that hasn’t happened. I stopped posting because I figured if I couldn’t do it right, I wouldn’t do it at all, but now I realize I really don’t do this for other people, I do it for myself. Sometimes the words and the thoughts race through my head and I need somewhere to park them. This blog serves that purpose for me.

So, now that I’ve gotten all that off my chest, here are my most recent 365 pages – yes I’m still managing it!! Some weeks the photos aren’t taken the days they say they were taken, but that’s okay, right?

Thanks for looking. Please be sure to check back here again. You might find a post from me and you might not.

If you’re in my neck of the woods, I hope you’re enjoying this rainy Saturday.

See Ya Later

Well, I think this is it. My last blog post. I haven’t done a very good job of posting regularly lately and that seems to be happening more often than not. I’m running out of things to say and don’t feel like boring you all with the minutia of my daily life, so I’m hanging up my bloggers hat. That doesn’t mean I won’t put it on again one day, but for now, I’m putting it away.

I’m going to try to post photos, layouts and updates on Facebook, so if you will, please follow me there.

See ya later everyone, and thanks for looking.

M.

Manic Monday

Another meme. That’s all I seem to have to write about these days. This one is the Manic Monday.

1. Imagine you're packing a picnic lunch. What would be in your basket? In my basket would be flat bread with artichoke and asiago dip, cut up veggies and fruit, perhaps a shrimp ring and a book.


2. If your life were a weather vane, which direction would it be pointing right now? It would be pointing north because I’m cold today.


3. What's something that people do in traffic that really annoys you? Turn into my lane when they really don’t have enough space, pick their nose, and creep along slowly looking for a parking space.

Oh, and here’s my 365 page: