oh the pain!

I've been trying to find a balance for exercising that I can manage without taking away from any time I need/want to spend elsewhere. I'm a total lazy butt and when I'm not doing household related chores, or dealing with the girls in one way or the other, I like to plant my butt on the couch or the computer chair. I know it's because I'm just plain lazy and also addicted to the TV and Computer. What can I say, I like to chat and keep up with my friends and family and if I don't spend a great deal of time on the computer, it's hard to keep up with all the blogs, the message boards, the emails, etc etc etc. I've found a happy medium there tho, and make it a reward. So I do dishes, sweep, clean the bathroom, get a load of laundry started. STOP. Computer break. Switch over laundry, fold if necessary, do some child oriented thing. STOP. Computer break. Continue... It's my reward, what can I say.
Anyway, so to get back to what I was really going to talk about. I've been doing the one mile Leslie Samsone Walk Away the Pounds DVD for abit. I'm working it to be every other day or so, and get right to it after walking Hailey to school. I never really felt that pain afterwards tho. I don't consider myself a physically active person so that actually made me wonder if I was doing the DVD right. I guess those daily walks to and from the school, and a million trips up and down the stairs (small bladder and bathroom is upstairs with the bedrooms) each day has given me enough stamina to withstand a one mile power walk? So today I decide it's time to step it up a notch (pun intended ;)). I did the 2 mile walk. Holy freakin' cow! My legs ache already, my butt hurts, my arms and shoulders are screaming at each move I make. YES! Finally I feel like I did something. I've always been under the assumption that unless it hurts, it ain't working. So alas, I must be doing something right.
I'll let you know how I feel tomorrow .. OY!

snow, scrapping and a little insight

That silly little tongue is catching snowflakes that decided to fall on us Saturday afternoon/evening. I'm so not a snowbird, but my girls love the sight of snow and couldn't wait to get out and start tasting it. The flakes were so tiny and hardly put a skiff on the ground until later and then melted right away, so there was no playing in the snow, making angels/snowmen or the like, but this was enough to appease their appetites and now BRING ON SPRING!


I've been on a scrapping binge over the weekend. I have been so anxious to get this one particular kind of paper (since WELL before Christmas) and I knew that's the paper I wanted to scrap our Christmas pictures with. I finally broke down and bought it online through one of the stores I frequent. Which reminds me of how aggravated I am that we don't have a local scrapbook store anymore and I have to pay so much on stinking postage. UGH! Anyway, back to my layouts. I'm so impressed with how they turned out and how fast they came together. One was based on a sketch and two I scraplifted the design off a fellow scrapbooking friend (thanks Cheryl ;)) and that's half the battle done for me. It was such great therapy for me while one of my children was sick with the stomach flu and I had to be housebound anyway.

Speaking of therapy, this brings me to another thing I'd like to spill my guts and soul over. My passion. I remember when I first started scrapping. It was about 3 1/2 years ago. I started with just the basics. My SIL and I dove into this together, with big dreams of making gift albums for family for that first Christmas and starting on our own personal albums. This is where we split ways and I forged forward while she lost interest. I had boxes and boxes of baby pictures of both girls and so much inspiration stuck in this head of mine. I found that taking some "me" time and being creative gave me an outlet I had so needed. See, after both girls births, I suffered with Post Partum Depression (PPD). The first time I decided to take care of things myself and didn't go the route of taking any RXs. After a good talk with my doctor while pregnant with the second and promising to not do it on my own again, I was put on a perscription. I was like any drug dependant patient and thought I could just go off them on my own after awhile. WRONG! So without having to go into all the details of what happened, I ended up back on them for another while. It was during this time that I started scrapbooking. I put scrapbooking on a very high pedastal, because in my books it was my life savor. It is so therapeutic to express my creativeness in a form that is going to later give my decendants such pleasure. I enjoy making each layout a piece of art. Not always perfect, but always worthy of being adhered together and carefully slipped into a page protector and safely stored in an album upon my shelf. I see how I've grown and found my little style in the scrapbooking world, how I'm always inspired and challenged by the many friends I've met through this hobby and I'm so very thankful I plunged in head first into this great past time.

So there ya have it .. just a little tidbit of info about moi on this lovely sunny Monday. :)

Stupid Cars!

We're in the market for a new car. I don't think we'll ever be able to "afford" one, but it's a necessity at this point in time, and makes more sense to buy something new and reliable then something dumpy and run down only to need repairs that as much as my hubby would like to fix, he just can't. We're saving for a nice downpayment, cuz realistically without one .. there would be no way a single income family could afford the payments.

So why must the market be so hard to handle? Ideally I'd love a specific car. I've sat in it, stared longly at all the wonderful features the online photos show, even picked out the colour *I'd* like, but the more we talk about it, the more it's just not a reasonable purchase. So to set our goals a little lower, but not junky? argh .. I HATE shopping for a car. It's stressful! And we haven't even started with the test drives yet. *sigh*

And here starts the weekend. Yippee! Okay well maybe not really a big yippee. The kids had Monday and Tuesday off school due to Pro-D days, and that made for a very short school week. I must admit I'm NOT ready to have them home for two days again. I was tested to my very limits and had to threaten some pretty severe "take aways" if behaviours didn't improve. I hate acting like the meanie monster, but when I'm the one spending the majority of the day with them, obviously I'm going to do the majority of the diciplining. ahhhhhhhhh just the bad that comes with the good of being a parent.
Well .. not like this tidbit of info was needed to make my post complete, it's here anyway.
I'm off to get these demanding little kiddles of mine off to bed.

Looks like I've been tagged again!

Thanks Pam .. and I'm glad it's slightly different then the other one I filled out too.

See below for the rules to this one and to see who I am tagging!
1. What are your three favorite life moments thus far? The obvious... wedding day, birth day of daughter #1, and birth day of daughter #2

2. Who are the three most important peeps in your life? My husband, my daughters and my parents.

3. Where were you three years ago? Exactly where I am right now! Same house, same occupation, same amount of kids, etc.

4. If your only three fast food choices were Taco Bell, Mc Donalds, or Burger King which would you choose? Burger King all the way baby. But alas, my girls love McDonalds so that's where we end up.

5. If you could meet three celebs and talk to each one for 1/2 hour who would you choose? Oh Man! This is a hard one! Kelly Rippa, Oprah and Judge Judy. (don't ask my reasonings for any of these :P)

Rose (the tag originator) writes: Here's the catch though if you're tagged you need to come back to my blog leave a little comment that you've tagged up. So at the bottom of the questions when you copy and paste you'll need to grab and include the link to this very blog so others can continue on and let's see how many peeps participate.Here is the direct link to Tag Up in Rose Farver's comments!http://digitallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2006/02/little-tag.html

And as for who I'm tagging? I'm going to have to think on that. :P

Two very happy little girls!

Who knew all it would take to put a smile on two faces, and a giggle on two sets of lips was to make these little people something special just for their very own. Okay, so I'm insisting on the letters be hung on their bedroom doors or they won't last a day, but the girls are okay with that.

Here's what I'm talking about.

Hailey (the reader that she is) asked why I put the "sassy & sweet" sticker on Alissa's letter and not hers. Well .. I think I picked the perfect stickers for both letters. Alissa is my challenging child. She has such a sweet kind spirit, but yet she hides cat claws inside those sweet little hands of hers. Hailey, on the other hand, is pretty even tempered and truly such an easy going girl. She takes life in stride and loves to show her girlie side. After explaining this to her, she agreed "Lissa has a mean streak don't you think Mom?" Damn, why is it that we hear our very own words echoed back to us at the most unprepared moments?

Ever have one of those days where you woke up and already there was a song running through your head? It stuck with you all day, and you just HAD to listen to it to have a fighting chance of dismissing it? Or maybe that re-energized the song in your head and kept it going until you put your head upon your pillow.

This is one of those songs. I just LOVE Jacob Hoggart and his band Hedly. I fell in love with Jacob's style when he tried out for Canadian Idol last year. He came so close to winning, but alas, the rest of Canada didn't think he was as great and he had to go home. But his band took off straight for the moon after his exposure, and they're doing better then ever.
Enjoy!

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Just a little scrapping today...

I managed to get a wee break from things yesterday and today, enough time to create a layout each day. I wanted to show that this blog is proving to be successful and helping me in the area I'd hoped it would .. my journaling. I shared this photo when I first took it, and I used the words I posted here (added a little and changed the wording abit) for the journaling hidden behind the photo. Yay .. this blog is NOT wasted space on the net. ;)



And this layout I did yesterday, based on a sketch by Darlene at www.lovebugscrapbooking.com. The paper is once again sponsor product from 3 bugs in a rug. I am so getting more paper from their other lines. YUM! And the stamps also sponsor product but from Sugar Loaf Stamps.
The photos are from Alissa's first birthday.

TGIF!

Happy Friday! I always look forward to Fridays, but I haven't a clue how I'm going to get through this weekend. It's a LONGGGGGG one for us because Monday and Tuesday are Pro-D Days for the school, so that's making it a four day weekend for my dear Hailey. Why on earth they put two pro-d days back to back is beyond me, but it does have something to do with the strike we had earlier in the school year and how they have one owed to the teachers. What? Two weeks off for the kids and they think they can afford an extra one? Anyway, if the weather continues to be sunny and clear (not necessarily warm), we can at least get out for walks and spend time at the school playground.

Well, I'm off to sanitize bottles so when Dave comes home we can bottle up this batch of wine. Blackberry wine .. YUMMMM! *drool* And no, I'm NOT a lush. ;)

Thirsty Thursday

well .. that's what Dave calls it anyway. I'm not sure how that came about, but I think it stems back to his Shipyard days when he worked with a bunch of beer guzzling guys (can't call most of them men cuz well .. that would be above them) that would use any excuse to drink .. or smoke pot for that matter. Thank goodness Dave was never into the latter one.

Another lovely day, brisk and sunny. I'm rather fatigued from childminding other peoples kids this morning then coming home to make lunch for Alissa and I and start dinner early so I could pack up Dave's dinner into his lunchbox. On the menu tonight is pork chops smothered in mushroom soup with some extra mushrooms for added flavour. Linguini noodles for the kids and a nicely tossed salad for Moi. So there ya have it .. now you know what I'm having for dinner.

It's Survivor night. Woohoo! I'm curious to see how things will go, and how far my pick from a Survivor Pool will go. I hate random picks cuz I would NEVER have picked her. Wow, I can't even remember her name right now. lol She's the one that freaked out over the dead turtle on the beach on the first episode.
*Note to self .. check Survivor's official website for name of weird girl.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I never approach this day with any expectations. I have the sweetest hubby, and he always makes me feel wonderful but I don't feel like today should be the only day that he shows me his feelings. With that said, my sweetie brought home a beautiful bouquet of carnations in pink, red and white for me (I like carnations over roses anyday .. they last longer ;)) and brought his little princesses each a potted African Violet. The girls love being spoiled by Daddy! His idea behind it was for them to nurture and take care of the flowers and in turn, they'll last alot longer then cut flowers.

Tonight, the girls and I will nibble on chocolate dipped strawberries and whipped cream for desert while our hero works the night away. He works so hard!

Tantilizing Chicken

I just made THE most delishious chicken I've had in a very long time. Or maybe it was delish because I haven't had it before and my poor bored tastebuds longed for something different then the normal meals I prepare. So earlier today I was sitting in front of the computer thinking about what to make for dinner. I have to cook early in order to get Dave's dinner cooked and in his lunch box by 2pm before he leaves for work. If the meal is a one dish type meal, then I cook the entire thing early and just reheat our portion at 5pm. So I knew I wanted to cook chicken and went on a search for a recipe. I just LOVE www.allrecipes.com and their search engine always reveals such wonderful recipes. Here's the recipe in case you want to tantilize your own tastebuds. ;)

Chicken Breasts Pierre
Submitted by: Nancy

Photo by: Caroline C
"One of my husband's favorites. I've been making this for over fifteen years, and he's not sick of it yet! Serve with pan sauces, crusty French bread and a tossed green salad."
Original recipe yield: 6 servings.
Prep Time:
30 Minutes
Cook Time:
40 Minutes
Ready In:
1 Hour 10 Minutes
Servings:
6 (change)
INGREDIENTS:
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
3 tablespoons butter
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, with liquid
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
DIRECTIONS:
In a shallow dish or bowl, combine flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and ground black pepper. Coat chicken breasts with flour mixture. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat, and brown chicken on all sides. Remove from skillet, and drain on paper towels.
In the same skillet, combine the tomatoes, water, brown sugar, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. Season with salt, chili powder, mustard, celery seed, garlic and hot pepper sauce. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and return chicken to skillet. Cover, and simmer for 35 to 40 minutes, or until chicken is tender, no longer pink and juices run clear.

I served it with rice for the kiddoes and just as is with a side of vegies for myself (low carbing it you know. :P)

What's with this wind??
I can't believe this wind we're having! Wow, the trees are swaying against the pressures, every bit of debris being whipped up into the air and thrown meters from it's home. Even this morning's garbage cans out for pickup were being twirled down the road on a journey far from it's home. And most annoying of all? The cable cutting in and out during one of the girls programs. UGH! Nothing like that sharp snowy screen sound to freakin' drive me nuts and kill my ears. I just hope the power doesn't go out during the night.

Afternoon of exercise ..

for the kids that is. :P
Yesterday afternoon, the girls and I took an adventure by way of transit bus for a little afternoon exercise at Jumpin' Jiminy's. In all reality, I did follow the girls for the first bit and took pictures, then found a cozy out of the way table and settled in to read my magazine. There's really not much one needs when a play gym this size has so many little nooks and cranies to explore (yes, even after many a trip, there's still so many places one has never seen), and so all the girls asked of me was refills of juice and one snack of mini oreos each to jump start their energy level again. Oh yes and then there were the many bathroom breaks thanks to the high intake of juice. So here's just a few photos to help complete the visual.

(top) caged in ;)

(bottom) headfirst down the BIG slide!

YAY!

Blogger finally fixed the nasty mess of a profile and links column and now my blog is looking a tad better again. I'll need to do some "decorating" soon, but yay .. I'm so happy things look normal again! :D

Going into hiding

I don't mean to ignore or neglect my little spot on the web, but this weekend 123-scrap is celebrating our 2nd birthday and I'll be consumed with online crop challenges, games, chats and the like. If you're a scrapper and want to see what I'm up to, come check it out.
http://123-scrap.com/forum/index.php?showforum=43


here's one layout I've done so far. Oh how I LOVE this 3 Bugs In A Rug paper line! It's scrumptious! *drool*

Busy Day, as Thursdays always are. Eeek

Well, I'm just getting to the computer now after a busy busy day. Thursday mornings are always busy with working up at the Health Unit, then getting home well after lunch, having about an hour to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off, then off again to pick up munchkin #1 from school. Ahhhhh it feels so good to be home and my feet ACHE from walking everywhere, but maybe that's just what I need. That walking I mean. hee!

Tonight's Survivor and for this reality junkie, the highlight of my week! So I'm off to finish up the day with the girls, and then put my feet up for the remainder of the evening.
So if you watch Survivor, we'll talk tomorrow ;) and if not, why the heck not? Just kidding!

Hi Mr. Sun!

Oh I just love winter days like this. The sun is shining, the temperature is a balmy 10 degrees and the air is brisk and fresh. I get such spring fever when we're blessed with days like this but the dutch blood in me only wants to clean clean clean. Why? Maybe it's the sun shining in the window, revealing fingerprints in places I didn't realize were there. Highlighting cobwebs that ordinarily wouldn't show during the dark overcast and rainy days. I feel like ripping the plastic off the windows (yes, we have those stupid one pane windows and would otherwise freeze with the wind that comes seeping through the cracks but since we rent there's nothing we can do but put up plastic), pull open the window and let the fresh air flood in. But alas, it's only February and even though I hate to think about it .. a month or more of winter left. Did the groundhog see his shadow? I can't remember what the outcome was.


This poor little ball has been sitting ever so patiently all winter long waiting for little hands to pick it up and toss it and for little feet to kick it in soccer style. Me thinks I'm not the only one wanting spring to come. ;)

A quote for the day.

"The shorter way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time."
-Mozart

Hmm .. NOW I find out multitasking isn't the way to go? Obviously Mozart was NOT a mother (kay I think that's rather obvious since he's a man), because I certainly don't know how I would have gotten through the baby and toddler years if I didn't do more then one thing at a time. This quote is totally something men would say. I don't know of one man that could nurse a baby while reading a story or preparing a meal for a toddler.
My dh tries, but I have never seen him do more then one thing at a time unless it's simple .. like watching TV and putting on socks and shoes. LOL Nah, I'm being to hard .. he's a great guy and he tries his best. :)

So back to the original reason of posting that particular quote...
Maybe if I switch over to this way of thinking, I can accomplish much more in my day? Perhaps I should try this for a couple days and see how it works. I'll report either way.

Dh has to renew his PAL (possession acquisition License) as his is expiring soon and you must have one of these in order to have any firearms in your possession. Because dh is an avid hunter, I guess it goes without saying that he'll need this. Anyway .. I needed to take his picture to send in with the forms and had the camera out anyway so clicked off a couple fun photos of the two of us. Yes I have a timer on my camera, I also have a tripod, but ya think we used either one .. nope! So the whole moral of this speil is to say, here's a photo of my man and me. ;)

Knock Knock

Alissa: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there?
Alissa: Banana
Me: Banana who?
Alissa: Bless you!

This is just a small sample of my little ones jokes. She tries oh so hard to remember them from tv shows or when her sister tells them, but she always mixes them up. I still laugh. :)


On another side note...
I got to scrap today!!! *jumping up and down with excitement* I suppose realistically if I just pealed my butt off this computer chair, I may get more of my own personal things done then I currently do now, but I spose I'm just addicted to this particular machine.
So wanna see one of the layouts I did? In honour of the upcoming Valentine's Day, this is just a little love I wanted to share, and I also wanted to try the little ribbon design thanks to my scrapping friend Pam .. so voila .. a LOVE layout.

Apparently I'm "COOL"

So the other day after my big toe poked through yet another pair of socks, I realized I NEED new socks!
I have been slowly throwing away my socks due to threadbare spots or literally full blown holes developing. I can understand why too, because it had been a few years since I had bought any. You have to understand that I'm NOT a sock person. I only wear socks when I have to put on my shoes to go out, and that's only when I can no longer wear flipflops or sandals. So for about 4-5 months out of the year, I need these socks!
Anyway, as you can see, I made a trip out to the store on a mission. I got me some new socks!
Apparently I'm cool because Hailey thinks they rock! She doesn't think she's ever seen a Mom wear socks with kittens or frogs or pigs on them before. So out with the white boring socks, and in with the new "cool" socks! I am now a hip Mommy. heehee 

I took this picture to document and hopefully to one day scrap it, that my dear little 6 yr old can whoop my butt in a game of Go Fish. Yes .. you heard right. I've been completely smeared on the floor, stepped on and giggled at. Here's why and how come.
Last night I decided to really read the instructions that came with the game. We've always played it that as soon as you got two of a kind (a pair) you could put them down and they were out of play. The rules say that you're to collect four of a kind (keep them in your hand until you've accumulated four). Wow, does this make it tricky. I hoped Hailey wouldn't catch on to what in the end she did. She's a smart one, I tell ya. And I'm not just saying this because she's my kid. :P
She figured out which group of numbers I was always asking for even when I threw in a random one to throw her off. Then when she'd pick up one of the numbers she remembered me needing (how she remembered what numbers I needed and what all was in her hand too cuz she rarely looked at her hand when I asked if she had something, is beyond me and my 32 yr old brain) she'd aske ME if I had that number. She got me so many times with only needing that one, so she'd steal three from me, add that to the one she just picked up and voila .. a set to put down.
Last night we played 3 hands and she won all three. This morning we played two hands and she won one, and I won one. That girl's to damn smart for my liking. :/

 

ahhhh

It's Thursday again! It's that day JUST before the day we all look forward to. Or at least *I* look forward to. We're finally feeling better and it's been nice to get out and breathe in that fresh air. What wicked wind storms we've been having tho. Where that came from I have no idea!

I had to pick up a couple essentials from the grocery store this morning and browsed the magazine aisle at Save-On-Foods. I came across a mag I hadn't seen but chalk full of ideas I knew I could CASE (copy and steal everything). It's called Card Creations by Paper Crafts. Yes I'd heard of it, but never laid my eyes on it before. Wow, what alot of ideas for cards! I can't wait to get out of the rut I had made for myself and my card making. Can you tell I splurged and bought it?

Well I think I've put off sweeping the floor long enough. I'm off to do my domestic duties, then walk to pick Hailey up from school.

Could it really be?

I'm finding it so hard to believe that already it is February 1st. It doesn't seem like a month ago we were celebrating a New Year. I can tell by the way it's started off, that this year is going to zoom by in the blink of an eye. Can I put in a request for it to slow down? I have only 7 months to enjoy my "baby" before she's off to Kindergarten. :( I'm so not ready for that part of life just yet. So if you don't mind, I'm just going to dig my heals in and hold onto those reigns and try my utmost to hold back this year. I want to enjoy the spring as it rears it's gorgeous head, I want to enjoy each sun filled summer day .. packing up picnics and spending the day at the water parks, listening to my girls squeal and giggle, watching their faces tan and their hair lighten, and then finally letting fall take us into yet another wonderful season where the leaves turn and the air turns crisp. Oh but lets not talk about that season just yet, I'd like to see spring play it's share of days first. :)