dragons and cousins, cousins and dragons

We're back from our short visit with my sister and her family. We had such an awsome time, even for the short time we actually were together. I'll curse the damn ferries to get off this Island as well as the border lineups on our trip back home a rerouted way (hoping it would be shorter or in the least, that there would be more ferry runs so we COULD get home last night).
The girls could NOT get enough of my nephews bearded dragons. They have two .. a male and a female that just layed eggs in which two are actually fertilized. So they have two babies to look forward to .. very exciting!
I really had some good chatting time with my sister and got that fix I was starting to need after not having seen any family since April. I get that way after awhile .. kinda depressed that although I chose to live here, so far away from everyone .. it doesn't always seem like paradise when I'm here without siblings. But, it's all okay now, cause I got that fix. ;) 

alissa update

I got a call from the doctor we saw at the walk in clinic, last night. She was calling to tell us the results of the x-ray .. which showed the start of pnuemonia in Alissa's right lung. She's already on the antibiotics so the only other thing the doc wanted to make sure of is that I had made a followup appt with our own physician. Of course .. and the appt is this afternoon. She's feeling and acting her usual self, so I'm positive the meds are doing their thing. I'm glad we were able to catch it at the onstart of it, so the recovery period is significantly shorter then what it could have been. And we'll chalk that up to fatherly instincts. (yep .. I guess even dads have an instinct to when their children aren't feeling themselves)

I have to post this picture of the little survivor. This was taken last weekend while camping. Alissa has this habbit of sniffing, even if she doesn't have a cold. The one side of her nose goes up slightly more then the other, which is so darn cute when you're her mother and love every little bit of her anyway, then she adds this little quirk. I could just shower her with kisses! Somehow, even with the delay of the camera .. I was able to capture her in mid sniff. lol I think this may be one of those pictures she'll be rather embarrassed to have had taken, when she's a vain little teenage girl, so shhh .. no telling her it's plastered on the 'net. ;)

Andrea Yates

That woman is sick, sick, sick! I know this happened years ago, but her trial has just wrapped up and I'm none to pleased with the verdict. Not guilty by reason of insanity??!!
Yes this woman had mental problems, trying to commit suicide however many times she did. But don't chalk killing your five kids up to being PPD (Post Partum Depression)! I dealt with PPD after both my girls were born and for months afterwards, and not even on my worst day would I have thought about killing either of them. You'd think that at some point while she watched the faces of her beloved children staring back at her from underneath the surface of the water, that her mother instincts would have kicked in and she'd come to her senses. Perhaps she never deserved to be a mother in the first place, and that's why she lacked motherly instincts. Perhaps she was brainwashed by their minister. Even to go further .. maybe her husband dragged her through one hell of a life, living in a small 30' trailer and later a bus with all. those. kids. But no matter what .. she had some small choice in her living arrangements .. in getting the help she needed for her depression .. for stopping the conception of yet another child .. for killing her five precious and innocent children.
I understand this is a very contraversial subject, but I figure since I've dealt with PPD, and lived to tell the tale (my kids still intact), I have a tiny little right to have my say on the matter. I honestly think she should have been given a life sentence in prison, rather then the cop out time serve in an institute. Come on jurors .. what were you thinking? Oh, and she should be fixed so she can NEVER EVER have any more children!

*here's a couple links to her story, and her verdict.

polly pocket be damned

As a little girl, I would have LOVED to add these wonderful mini dressup dolls to my collection. To dress them, play with them, even comb their hair and style it. Yep .. I would have been in blessed heaven. Now a Mom to two girls .. I'm cursing the damn thing.
If you've never had the pleasure of seeing a Polly Pocket, perhaps count your blessings. She's this tiny little 2" tall barbie type doll that comes with rubbery clothes and shoes. Kids are supposed to dress her in these rubbery/stretchy clothes and micro mini shoes. Shoes that disappear soon after the package has been opened fresh from the store. Clothes that can easily go missing too, but more then likely will rip from the aggressive application of them. Try pulling rubber over plastic. It sticks and resists movement, hence the need for a parent to help. But they did fix this problem by bringing out a Click-It Polly Pocket. She uses hard plastic clothes that have a magnet glued to the inside, and they click to her that way. Actually these are more enjoyable to play with because there are other accessories (vans, limo's, dressing room) that come with them.
Okay, so I don't really despise Polly, because she's brought many hours of wonderful play and enjoyment to my girls. And the inner child in me loves dressing up and playing with Polly just like I do with Barbie and Bratz. I have to admit I'm happy I CAN play and not look silly, because afterall .. that's what life's all about when you have two little girls. :)

a little tuesday this and thats

I had a sick little wheezing girl on my hands yesterday. She was listless and laying around (in our bed then on the couch) watching movies and napping all day. When D got home from work, I ran her up to the walk-in-clinic where on of the doctors (ours wasn't on the extended hours) listened to her breath and confirmed my suspicions as well as added on more. She was having asthmatic symptoms (I knew this because Hailey's has had asthma since she was 2) as well as more rumbling in her right lung which the doc suspected a mild case of pneumonia. I took her for x-rays today, and we won't see our own family doc for a follow up until Thursday, but in the meantime she's on meds and a puffer. Today she's playing fine. Has energy and spunk, but still laboured breathing. I think she'll be fine, if only I can get her to take the darn meds a little easier then she does. She. does. NOT. like. liquid. medication!


On a brighter note.
While having the car in my possesion today, I detoured past a gas station with a commercial vacuum and got the car all cleaned out. Then once home, we brought out the hose, bucket of car cleaning stuff, and put that elbow grease to work. The girls were such great little helpers, but have the attention span of a dog. ;) I finished it up, wiped it down, windex'd the windows in and out, then armour-all'd the inside. It's looking all perty like again.

The weather has finally cooled off a little too. So far the high for today is just 24, which is bareable. There's only so long that a body can be put through such severly hot weather without wilting. We've had a couple forest fires close by supposedly started by mother nature herself. We watched water bombers go over our house a couple times yesterday, heading for a lake we frequent. The fire was just behind the lake, up on the ridge of a surrounding mountain. They're clearing out most of that mountain in way of logging it out, and alot of people are a tad pissed about that anyway .. ya think they'll be happier it gets charred instead?

We're off on more adventures this coming weekend. We'll be dipping into the United States for a couple days, to visit my sister, hubby and their three kids. It's been 5 years since I've been to her home (we've seen eachother quite a few other times since then, just not on the south side of the border). They've done so much to their home and yard in way of renovations and beautifying the yard, that I'm so excited to see how things have changed. Not to mention seeing my sister, who I haven't seen since last summer. It'll be a short couple days, but fun just the same.

We're ba-a-a-ack!

Well, we're back from our HOT weekend away. Wow, was the temps hot or what?! Reaching the mid thirties every day, and am I super happy we took a site in a campground with a pool. The girls and I swam every day (3x) and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The rodeo was fun fun fun! It ran a little longer this year, and I'm thinking it was because of it being the 30th year it's run .. but once the bull riding came, you can believe we were sitting at attention, with our cheering voices and hands ready to keep those boys upon their bulls.

and we're off

Today will be spent gathering more food items and packing the clothing .. the rest is already lining the hallway and parts of the kitchen in anticipation for the arrangement it shall take in the trunk of the car. We're camping only about a 1/2 hour from home so the girls and I are going to go set up the tent and enjoy the pool (yep, we're 5 starring it this time, baby), then come back in later to pick D up from work .. and then our weekend begins.

Have a wonderful weekend to my oh so dedicated readers. ;)
And you know I'll be posting pictures come Monday. hee!

oh the joys

For us, I don't think there's any better way to camp then to do it the "old fashioned" way. I love to tent it. I like snuggling under a huge layer of blankets just to keep warm, having the option of keeping the fly off the tent to help with the star gazing, the giggles and snuggles we get as the girls fall asleep way past their normal bedtime, the stiff neck upon waking, having to dress quickly to hobble off to an outhouse before my bladder bursts. Yep .. we figure if you're going to camp .. may as well REALLY rough it. Anyway, but the down side to that is that we don't have an already stocked RV with the necessities. We're camping this weekend, and my "job" in the next couple days is to haul EVERY bit of camping gear out of the two storage closets we have. You can well imagine what a huge undertaking it is to gather everything we'll need. Thankfully we're staying close to a store/town this time, so if there's anything we end up forgetting .. it's not that big a deal. But despite all that .. I'm SO excited to be getting out away from home and the phone and TV, and relaxing around a campfire (hoping the ban won't be back in force), attending the rodeo we have traditionalized for our family, and just plain old VEGGING!

Mmm Mmm .. fresh bread!

I bought my first ever bread maker from a friend when she was having a garage sale a couple weeks ago. She had THREE, and wanted to get rid of her oldest and for only a couple bucks, but promised it worked or I could have my money back. Yep .. that couple dollars guarentee. lol

Today, after having bought the one ingredient I don't normally keep in stock (dry milk) yesterday, I decided to see what that baby could do. I have to admit, I had plans of setting it's timer, going to the park and 5 hours later, coming home to freshly baked bread. Then Dave called like he does a couple times during the day, and when I mentioned my plans, he clued me in to it may not be a great idea for the first time. Who knows if the measurements were for sure accurate and I wouldn't come home to a burned down house do to dough overflowing in it's little pan, setting fire on the burner .. leading to the demise of my home. Ahh .. good idea. So we found something to do at home instead, so I could try out the machine. Let me tell ya how WONDERFUL it was to taste yummy homemade bread that didn't take me ALL day kneading/rising/kneading/rising. Oh and the need to turn on the oven to bake would have been disastrous. So yes, I'm in love with this thing. I'm happy that I won't have to slave again just to make a little homemade goodness for the man and our girls. I bet my Mom wished she'd had this when we were growing up. We made bread enough to feed the big clan that my family was .. no store bought stuff.
Oh, and I think I'll have to keep this pleasurable task to a minimum because these hips can NOT succumb to what my tastebuds may do to them. Yikes!

the shape of a mother

I came upon this site via a link on another blog. I've spent some time reading the posts and in turn have had some of my own thoughts and feelings clarified. If you're a mom, I think you'll gather much inspiration and even a kindship with the stories by these other beautiful women.

*click on picture to be directed to the site

ewww, a frog!

We went to the lake yesterday .. for some relaxing time and a dip and play in the water for the girls. Okay, so the water ended up being REALLY cold after the bout of chilly weather we've had, so only Alissa braved it up to her waist.
Hailey and Dave decided to do a little 'esploring' and brought back a frog. Yuck! I'm such a girl when it comes to reptiles, rodents and nasty insects .. but the girls adored it. About an hour later, had it not been on our better judgement to let the poor critter loose .. I'm sure we would have had to perform a funeral, the poor thing got SO loved.

I found a creature that I DO love. What a pretty colour, hey?

been scrapping

I'm currently progressing through an album titled "View of Vancouver Island" in which I use and scrap my favourite picture for that month. You can go here to see May and June's pages, as well as see a couple other recent layout's I've created in the past week.

politically inclined? I am NOT!

I'm so not a political person. I never drew interest in politics or the government unless of course it affects me directly. And by directly I mean things like income tax, etc. When it comes to dollars spent on building things such as a new ice rink in our town, when perhaps one really isn't needed .. I'm not about to get my panties in a knot over that one.
This particular bit of news delighted me tho. I'm a SAHM, and I chose to do this. Nobody pays me to do this .. although if there WERE a dollar amount attached to spending 24 hours a day taking care of the children, I don't think it would even match what that time is worth. But we won't go there. However, the government has decided to do something that can be classified as both evil and genious. It affects me in a very positive way because I don't pay out childcare costs. It looks like I will get $100 above the CCTB that I already recieve every month for the girls .. but this $100 is because Alissa is still under 6 yrs old. Woohoo, yippee, yahoo, and all those other glorious words.
Now putting myself in the shoes of a friend of mine who works and has both her boys in daycare. Where the gov't used to subsidies daycare costs because her and her dh's combined income was within a certain annual amount .. now they've taken that away and replaced it with the $100/kid under 6 for everyone, not just daycare kids. It was costing her nearly $700/month to have one child in afterschool care while the younger was in full time daycare. She was being subsidised (sp?) almost half that, which obviously adds up to more then $100. She has been forced to make alternate arrangements for the boys now because she's getting less per month and it's made it not even worth it for her to work the minimum paying job she held. Now how sad is that?
So although this decision by the Canadian Government is a double edged sord of sorts .. in this particular incident .. it works in my favour which is rather nice.

playing with such beauty

I'm not a huge fan of daisies, but when Hailey brought this gorgeous, gigantic daisy home yesterday, I knew I had to capture it's beauty. Have I said how much I love my camera lately?
A fellow blogger was saying just a few short days ago, how he wished he had half the talent of some of the most famous photographers. Because I too, wish I had the talent most of them have in just their pinkie, I continue to strive to take different angles, experiment with backgrounds or different profiles, etc. However, I did respond to this bloggers comments by saying that alot of these awsome photos have been played with and tweaked in some sort of photo altering/enhancing program. Sad to say, but true.

So wanna know what I did to tweak this photo? I only have JUST become owner of Photoshop, and have yet to learn even to open the program. But I have Picasa2, which has alot of options. I adjusted the lighting and contrasts in the colours and then gave the edges a soft blur. That's it.
Now I wish I could master Photoshop and learn to do THIS. 

an epiphany

or something like that.

Yesterday I was thinking as I went about making dinner. We had just arrived home from picking DH up from work and he came in, put down his lunch box and headed back out the door to walk down the block between us and the nearest 'beer and wine' store. This happens very frequently, and I think I finally put two and two together. Not like I'll ever put my own choices onto someone else, it just fit this time. Let me explain.
DH likes his beer. I wouldn't say he's an extreme drinker. He CAN go a few days without the yeasty stuff, but he chooses beer as his thirst quencher instead of water (evenings and weekends only, otherwise it's water while at work). I'm a huge water drinker (other then coffee) and promote it as the main choice of beverage when someone in the household is thirsty. It's natural, it quenches your thirst, it's healthy, and it was meant to be what we use to drink (other then milk) because it's not manmade. With that said .. my nagging falls on deaf ears. He continues to drink much to my dismay. He can polish off a six pack in a night if he chooses, but usually it's just a couple. And beer has no affect on him. He has had upwards of 12 in a short time frame and acts/looks as sober as if he hadn't had a drop. Not like I'd ever let him drive like that .. and he's always good about that. The law is the law. Absolutely NO tolerance!
Anyway .. I'm so against this beer drinking thing he does that I myself have made a totally opposite reaction to alcohol of any kind. I like a cooler or glass of wine on occasion (read: maybe once a month), but mostly always turn down a drink if I'm offered one.
It's hard to explain in words the feeling I get when he's downing a beer. I get frustrated and at times, outraged, and even tho he's aware of these feelings .. he doesn't choose to acknowledge or do anything to help me with them. I guess subconsciously I've given myself permission to have a 'crutch' as well. My crutch is food. When I'm in need of winding down after a long day, when DH turns to a beer, I'm turning to some sort of food. Usually it's something high in carbs, because that's comforting. A salad just won't cut it when I'm looking for comfort. I know this can be classified as an eating disorder .. and if you listen to or ever read any of Dr Phil's books or show .. I've got a problem. And that problem will not go away until DH does something about his 'problem'. Of course I could use some willpower and end the cycle and stop putting this on him, and take the blame myself. But today .. a weak emotional day .. I'm choosing to say "it's because you drink that I eat". Tomorrow I'll worry about tackling my own feelings, my own actions and owning them.

200 .. already??

This is my 200th post! How have I chatted that much info stuffed into THAT many posts already?? Perhaps that not much for 7 months of bloghood, but for me it seems like it.

Today it FINALLY raining. The weather forecasters have been predicting chances of showers for this entire week and it wasn't until the early hours of this morning that the raindrops started falling. I do have to say it was nice to know they were wrong for the first two days because quite honestly I think I would go stir crazy with two little girls that like their outdoor playtime. Only one is awake thus far, and I hope I can talk them into some sort of crafty play today. Perhaps the oldest will drag out her scrapping things and be my little companion while we create magic with our photos.

Speaking of which. Here's a few layouts I've managed to squeeze out in the past few days. Thanks to Jen's wonderful sketches (meant for digi scrapping but I took them to paper instead), I created these two. (don't forget you can click on the image to enlarge it)

I really love the patterned paper quilting look on the one on the right. It was a great way to use up small pieces of scrap paper, as well as give a variety of patterned paper (colour and pattern)look to a layout.

And yet another milestone layout. Couldn't let this one pass me by now could I?

always looking for a change

Ever since cutting my waist length hair when I was 24, I've been up for a frequent change, and like to do that by dying my hair. I have the need to do so now thanks in partial to my dear hubby and wonderful angels that give me those dreaded grey streaks, as well as the inherited genes from my father.

I've gone from a blackberry purple (think dark dark, with a highlight of purple only seen in the sun) to burgundy brown, blonde, rusty reds, and a colour quite close to my own natural glimmering yet boring brown. I like streaking it occasionally, bringing out a little highlight here and there, especially if it's layered. Today I'm freshening things up again. Time to cover the temples, and since it's summer .. may as well add those golden streaks. I always wonder how it'll turn out when I'm finished. It's always a surprise because, if you've ever coloured your own hair, you'll know what they show on the side of the box for 'what your colour will be if your natural colour is...' tends to be off more times then not. Especially if you're like me and dying over old colour after old colour AFTER OLD COLOUR. :P

I'll see what I can do about a new picture once it's dry and stylable.

******************************************************************************

And the 'do...

I really do despise colour photos of myself, but since it does no good to share a picture of my new hair colour after the photo's turned black and white .. here comes the colour. Just be warned tho.

Hmm, the lighting sucks in my bathroom, but you can sort of see some of the streaks at the top.

Ever ride a whale?

Hailey did today. Actually it's an old torpedo painted to look like a whale, sitting outside an army surplus store. I wonder if one day she'll want to swim with the fish for real .. whale, dolphin .. hmm. The ocean is her playground.

surprise!

This afternoon, the girls and I walked to our neighbourhood playground/wading pool park for a little sun and fresh air, and water for the girls. I was sitting, catching a little novel action after making sure the girls had settled into a nice play, when I felt that feeling you get when you know someone has walked up to you but you can't fully see them in your perifial vision when your nose is deep into a book. I looked up to a smiling face holding an equally sweet faced baby and was asked if I was Rachel. Oh. My. Goodness. I recognized who it was immediatly. My dear fellow townite and newly blogging friend, Krista and her sweet baby, Sammy. Of course we knew it was just a matter of time before we ran into eachother in this rather small town we live in, but had never met other then by way of eachother's blogs.
You see, one day I was hitting the "next blog" button and came across a blog that's most recent post had a photo of a scene I see quite regularly. The photo was of the bay in which the ferry comes into from it's journey from the mainland. Only someone living here would recognize that photo immediatly, and that's what I did. Since then we've discovered a few things we have in common, (motherhood, crafting, the enjoyment of our surroundings, etc) and my goodness was it ever nice to meet her and her three gorgeous boys in person. I can now officially say I've met my first online friend finally in person!
So Krista .. if you're reading this .. it was so very awsome to run into you today, and chat. I'm definitely up for another park meeting sometime soon. Your boys are adorable and as sweet as they are portrayed in the photos and stories you blog. :) See you around!

the bond of a sister

Of course I've experienced that special bond personally with my own sisters (I have 3), but until yesterday, I don't think I fully saw the depth it had developed into between my own two girls.
It happened like this ...
The girls were looking for something to tie them over until supper was ready, and Dave mentioned Freezies. Hailey was helping him get them from the freezer atop the fridge, and Alissa was acting like her silly self and crawling along the floor right behind them, waiting for her chosen colour/flavour. Dave stepped back to close the freezer door and apparently stepped on Alissa's thumb, but didn't realize it. Poor baby ran crying into the livingroom, cradling her thumb in her other hand. Dave handled the situation while I continued cooking, trying desperatly not to let the boiling pasta water boil over. When he had her all settled down, she came to me to show me her owie, and that's when I discovered the pad part of her thumb (where the bottom joints into the rest of the hand) was quite swollen and to the light touch, it felt like it may even be out of joint. I dropped everything and was going to take her up to the ER, and ran upstairs to tell Hailey (who was playing with her friend in her bedroom) that I was leaving and she and her friend would stay with Daddy and have supper after he finished making it. She melted into a puddle of tears. I tried consoling her, knowing I should get Alissa to the ER too .. but not wanting to bypass Hailey's feelings either. It boiled down to how sad she felt that her sister was hurt enough that we needed to take her to the hospital. Now you have to know that Hailey's had her share of ER visits, with sudden asthma attacks in the night, to breaking her collar bone last fall .. so to her, this is a place where she connects fear and uncertainty. I have to admit that I shed a tear or two as well, trying to tell her things would be alright, and the worst case scenario would be that Alissa would have to wear a splint or cast. So after having spent minutes consoling Hailey .. in the meantime Dave had managed to get Alissa to move her thumb in many directions, and it seems that it's fine .. nothing broken, or sprained, just swollen and with applications of an icepack .. she'd be just fine.
After finishing supper and the dishes, Hailey opted to come with me to drop her friend off at home and go grocery shopping with me. This gave me the opportunity to have a heart to heart with her. She teared up again as we talked about how important her sister is to her, and how sad it made her feel to be helpless in the situation. She even expressed how she would have wished it happen to her rather then Alissa. THAT'S when the tears started again for me. I didn't know whether to cry over the fact that all the little talks of how a sister is your only true best friend, how friends come and go but your sister is in your life forever and how she's let that actually sink in .. or to cry over the fact that my dear little daughter has empathy .. something I have helped her develop and nurture. I explained to her that what she was feeling is exactly what I feel everytime either of them gets hurt physically or emotionally. Her answer? "You must love us so much, Mommy". *more tears*

So as much as I gripe about breaking up fights between the two of them, or how much Dave comments on how he so wishes the girls were more into the sporty/boyish kinda pastimes, we are so very fortunate to have two dear little girls who love eachother and have such a strong bond of sisterhood. I hope I can only nurture that more and when they are adults, they'll benefit from the friendship like I have with my sisters.

I'm seriously running out of clever title captions!

I'm fired, I know. You all were waiting patiently for pictures of the river, weren't you? *dripping sarcasm* I opted to not take the camera so that I could swim along with the girls and Dave and not worry about it sitting on the shoreline with scads of college students perched along the rocks just waiting for me to turn my back on our belongings. Just kidding. I'm sure they weren't looking to steal, but who am I to put temptation there for them to try and resist. So even the cell phone with camera was left at home.
You'll just have to believe me when I say it was divine! So refreshing, and warm and perfectly what we needed after such a stifling hot morning.

I'm thankful today's a little less hot, although the sun has burned off the haze covering the sky, and it's beating down much like the entire weekend, but thankfully not with such high temps. We're just hanging out here at home, and Hailey has a friend over to play with. I got the usual chores caught up and even scrapped a little. Like my priorities? hee!

I enjoy challenging myself with some of the paper we recieved as sponsor product at 123-Scrap!


Through scrapbooking and blogging, I've had the opportunity to make some wonderful and close online friends based in the United States. Today I'd like to send many memorable wishes to them as they celebrate Independance Day. Happy 4th of July!!
To my sister and her family as well. Stay safe and have a wonderful family day!

how good that felt

Unless you have a passion for a particular hobby, I'm not sure if you can fully understand how good it felt to accomplish a layout after not having scrapped a page (we're not counting all those cards for teachers here) in well over two weeks .. maybe pushing a month here.

And because I had these pictures still sitting out after having just developed them, I needed to scrap them!

sand .. surf .. sun

This is how we've been spending the majority of the weekend. However, it's not ALL at the ocean. This was Saturday. If you look really hard (okay it probably would take more then just a microscope) you can perhaps see Vancouver over yonder. This particular beach isn't sandy unless the tide's way down, but it didn't stop the girls from digging, splashing and enjoying themselves.

Then we watched a ferry come in, and I had to play around with my style of pictures. I think this one turned out really artistic, in a weird way. I zoomed in 10x and used my knees as a stabilizer. I wish I could bring my tripod everywhere, because it's when you least expect you'll need it, that's when it would come in handy.

And this afternooon .. we're off to the river. I'm so grateful to have so many options to choose from. Lakes, rivers, ocean. The river is a little more dangerous of course. It's surrounded by cliffs and rocks that make it the most stunning place to swim. The ever flowing water forces us to keep our eyes glued to the girls at all times even with lifejackets on. I should scrounge up a picture from last year. Hmmm .. let me go search. ......okay, nothing that shows it's justice so I'll have to make sure to get some good pictures today.

Happy Birthday Canada!

Today we celebrate Canada's birthday. I believe she's 157 years old, and looking mighty fine at such an age too. ;)

Just a little patriotism being expressed as I listen to the anthem here.