Hello stranger!

Oh dear, oh dear...A bad blogger over here!

Well, there is no POSSIBLE way to update everything...so I am not even going to try!

So what's new with me...

I am working full time this year...8-5, M-F.  So much less time for scrapping...I have been mostly doing cards.  But thanks to the 5th annual Crp For The Cure hosted by Veronica Reis, I did manage to get a fair number of pages done.  I haven't snapped them yet so no pics...sorry!  I will do that another time.

Two kids in High School???  How the heck did that happen? 
Yep...my baby graduated in June...she was gorgeous that evening...so proud of her!

Here they are on their first day(s)...Elysia had to go on the Tuesday...grade 9 orientation day...Gregory got an extra day off!

Here are some cards I have made since the last ones I showed you...

a condolence card

for my best friend's 50th

for my daughter's 14th

for billet hosts from boys on choir exchange

for billet hosts from girls on choir exchange

At work I have really been getting my craft on.  I am working every morning for 45 minutes with grades 2-6 and I decided to do month-long projects. I have been using The Crafty Crow for inspiration and instruction.  Great site...if it's not their own project they link you to the instructions.  In October we made this aluminum foil art that looked like an antique ceiling tile(foil art) and for November we have been doing string art .  I am excited for December...we're making Christmas cards!  I have already been shopping for materials and with the 50% off coupons that Michael's had for the "black Friday" here in Canada, as well as the door crasher/one day sales and my teacher discount, I was able to get $80+ worth of materials for around $40. Cha-ching!!  I have enough stuff to make 100 cards.  There are 22 kids in the group every morning, most of them are there every day, so they will make at least 3 cards each.  I am going to make up a couple of samples for them on the weekend so they can get an idea of how to work with sketches.  (I made up a few sheets of sketches chosen from Page Maps for them to use as inspiration)  I am excited to get started.
The best part about this...even though we only get to work for about 30 minutes every morning, the kids are loving it and so far they are so enthusiastic about what we are doing.  And the parents love it!!

Ok, that's enough rambling for tonight.

Take care, and if you got this far...well, good on ya!  LOL!

See you soon...I hope...

One week to go!

I will be back at work next Monday...can't believe how ast the summer has gone by!  And, as usual, I didn't get half of what I wanted to accomplish done!
Last week was Elysia's birthday and mine was Saturday.  I have entered the next age group on the forms and questionnaires...yikes!

I know in my last post I said I would continue with my updates, but I just wanted to pop in quickly this evening.  I will try to get to the rest of the update later this week.

For now, I will show you how I spent my summer holidays at the trailer...we went up for 6 days.

Reading!!!

And Card making!!  These are for this year's round of cards at work.  I have about 15 more to make, I may work on them this week...

Have a great evening!

Well hello there!

My goodness, it's been a long time...a really, really long time!
I have so much to update, it is a little overwhelming...I guess I will just start in April...

Easter...dyeing eggs, living at church for 3 days (or so it seems!), I accompanied the youth choir on my clarinet for the Good Friday service!  First time playing in public since high school, and first time solo!
On Easter weekend we buried Nan and had the family back here for lunch.

Gregory rediscovered his Thomas set...too funny!  He had gotten out the trains for our great-nephew and the rest as they say is history.

Larry's birthday...had the family for dinner and we all gave him a bike!

 Made a card for my co-worker.  All of us who worked directly with her pitched in for a gift and this is the card that went with it.

And now for May!!

Made some more cards for staff b-days....

A condolence card for a choir member...

My baby girl had her confirmation!
I made her a card but I haven't taken a picture...

 Made a card to give Larry on Father's day using clipart from the web.

The 18th was our 21st wedding anniversary, I re-did my gardens on the long weekend, watched mama robin (my new header pic) lay eggs and raise her babies over 19 days, witnessed them leave the nest and saved one from the neighbours window well.

Ballet recital time!  Elysia had some private time with her teacher and she was able to catch up to the class.  It was her last year of ballet and she was beautiful and fabulous!  We bought her flowers...she got a bunch for her first recital so I figured it was fitting to present her some for her last as well.

And, yes I actually scrapped a page this month!  If I remember correctly it was for a sketch challenge at the scrapping bug...

I'm going to stop here and hopefully in the next couple of days I will post the rest of my update, along with lots of cards.  That's all I have been making lately it seems!

I have a bunch of pictures I wanted to share with you but there was a problem uploading, both with Firefox and IE.  The one above on Larry's b-day is the only full size pic that uploaded correctly.  Not sure what's going on...hope Gregory can help me figure it out!

See you later and thanks for stopping by!

A couple of cards....

Thought I would pop in quick and show you a couple of cards.

This first one is a birthday card for one of our staff.  I made it as a challenge for the February crop at The Scrapping Bug.  It's being signed and presented tomorrow.  That's a linen flower received from my scappy friend Diana under the vellum sentiment.  I used my new Sizzix Texture Boutique to emboss the cs and I inked it.  The floral pp is a VERY old scrap I found.  I love how it turned out!

 

This is one I made for the wife and daughters of our choir member who had passed away.  I knew I had this scrap in my stash and knew immediately upon hearing of the death that I would use it for this card.  I cut the title and flourish from my Slice and I used Smooch in pearl on the flourish.  I was very pleased with the result.  The whole choir signed it before we sent it off.

Good night!  Back to work tomorrow...

Death and illness...

The last while has been quite the rollercoaster around here and that is why I haven't posted.  If you are my friend on facebook you will probably know all of what I am about to tell, if we are on a message board together you may know some of it.

I guess I will begin with Thursday March 8th....the day my husband's grandma died.  We knew it was coming, she had been in the hospital for a week and a half, had been sick at home for about 3 weeks prior to that.  We took the kids to see her in the hospital on the Tuesday and I am so glad we did.  Got the call at 6:30am.  I woke the kids right away so they could process the info before they had to go to school.  I stayed home.  While I was waiting for the call from Larry to meet him and his mom at her place I decided to start gathering pictures to use at the funeral home.  I figured it was only natural that the "picture queen" of the family take on this task and it turned out that my mother-in-law was happy I decided to do it.  So between what I had in the computer, in my old albums (we've been together for 24 yrs so there's a lot of family pics), and Ma let me go into Nan's albums, I was able to gather up over 60 pictures that I printed and did up 4 bristol boards to display at the funeral home.
This is Nan at 16...

This is Nan and my daughter Elysia in November, we were visiting her on the occasion of her 88th birthday.

She will be missed....especially her smile and her jokes!

So the March Break began with Nan's funeral on the Saturday.  Even though we were all brought together for a sad occasion, it was nice to see all the family.

The rest of the March Break was busy...Monday we went to see Happy Feet 2 and Rocky turned 3, Tuesday was the big cleaning day, Wednesday the kids had to see the orthodontist, Thursday Larry and I sang at a funeral for one of our choir members who had died suddenly a couple of weeks before, Friday I took the kids bowling, Saturday was Gregory's last hockey game of the season and Elysia was back to ballet.  Sunday was church and I took Rocky over for a birthday playdate with his sister Bailey.

And then....the sickness.....

Sunday after I got home with Rocky I wasn't feeling too hot so I went to lay down...figured I was tired because as usual my sleep patterns got all messed up on holidays.  Slept for 2 hours!  Didn't feel too great for the rest of the evening either.  Woke up Monday with a fever!  Oh no!!!  Woke up Tuesday with a fever but feeling marginally better...I did sleep pretty much all day Monday after all....Stayed home, but felt well enough to go to our staff meeting.  I sat apart from everyone though-just in case...good thing too because after attempting to go to work Wednesday morning but failing and then going to see the doctor it turns out I had "an influenza-type illness" (as he called it).  He said I had better stay home the rest of the week, given that I work with children...

HOLY CRAP!

I honestly do not think I have ever had the flu.  Nothing like this anyway....this was brutal!  I had fevers that peaked at 102F and with Tylenol never went below 99F, I was sweating or chilled, I had no desire to eat and sleep?  Did I ever!  On Thursday I woke up at 11 am and went back for a nap at 1! He said 5-7 days and sure enough, day 5 (Friday around 4pm actually) something clicked and I started feeling more like myself...much more present and aware of what was going on and actually caring.  Today (Saturday) I actually had a shower and got dressed and went OUT OF THE HOUSE!  That was big...I was wiped after being out for an hour and a half and I only went to my mother-in-law's while Elysia was at ballet.

So now, I am taking amoxicillin for this bronchitis-type cough (because we don't want it to become bronchitis of pneumonia) and darn it if I don't bloody pee myself with every coughing fit...grr...

You know what the worst part of this past week has been?  Well, other than being horribly sick....

I slept through all that fabulous weather!!!!  WAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lol...I walked out the front door with Elysia to take her to dance and said "Hey!  The grass is turning green!"  She said "It's been like that all week Mommy!"  I said "It wasn't like this last Sunday!"  Now I know why my son is feeling the need for his allergy meds....

And the best part about this week?  Yes...there was a good thing....

I lost 6 pounds!  It's a sucky way to do it but hey, it's gone nonetheless....now I just need to keep it off!

Last time I posted I told you I had more projects to show you, but for now I had better go and get myself to bed.

It's been a crazy time....

And I am not the best blogger!

Well, there was an online crop at The Scrapping Bug last weekend and I managed to get all the challenges done...
This is my fave page!  The challenge was to use kraft and a pop of colour.  I didn't have any kraft and was happy they accepted light tan as a substitute!  Do you know how hard it is to get your hands on 12x12 kraft??

I'll share more another day!

Life just gets so busy and I find I don't think to come and post, or if I think of it I don't really have all that much to say so I just don't bother.

As for my weight loss plan...well that's not going so well!  With the weather about to warm up I think I will find it easier to walk the dog but my stupid sweet tooth is going to be the death of me!

Well, I have a busy week ahead of me...I am working full time this week as one of our staff is on holidays and I am covering her after school group.  I also found out tonight that my fellow toddler room teacher is sick so she will be away.  There's something going around and I hope I don't get it!  I really hate being sick...

Ok, off to bed now...hopefully I can remember to post more often this week, I have 8 more projects to show you!

Good night!

Where does the time go?

Really?  Where does it go???  It has been 13 1/2 years sice I had my daughter, 14 1/2 years since my son was born, 21 yrs 9 mths since I married my wonderful husband, 22 1/2 years that I have been friends with my bestie Gina, 23 1/2 years since Larry and I started going out, 13 1/2 years we've been in this house, 7 years for my second round at the daycare (the first was 6 yrs 7 mths and I was away 6.5 yrs) and 15 years that my other bestie Kim has been in my life.  Her oldest son will be 25 this year...her second will be 20 on Tuesday!  The younger two turn 16 and 15 this year....I don't feel that much older!  Well, in my head anyway...seeing as I work with toddlers I have noticed a change in my physical abilities...the floor is a lot further away than it was before!

So all that leads up to the fact that I cannot believe it has been three weeks since I last blogged!  Really, when you look at the above list, 3 weeks is very short....LOL!

So what have I been up to?  Well, not much really!  I did make the family some Valentines...I haven't even taken a picture yet!  I will...I promise!  Any other scrapping?  Well, the intention is always there but I am so easily distracted by this damn computer and that stupid television....doesn't help that I have no ink right now (unless I want to pirnt B & W) so if a challenge inspires me I have to hunt through what's printed already...and those pics don't always fit....so....ahhh....I'm making excuses, I know....I guess I am just in a slump right now!  I will get back to it...

I find that when I am tired from working a lot of hours (which I have been the last little bit) that my scrapping is the first thing to take a hit.  And unfortunately my walking has dropped by the wayside too....I will get back on track!  I have to!

Ok, enough blathering...

I went to Walmart to pick up a few things yesterday and I decided I was going to get one of their dressier plaid trench style coats which were regularly $50 and marked down to $35.  I got a nice surprise at the cash...it rang in at $19!  Cha-ching!  So I told my daughter about it and today she and I went shopping and finished up at WMart where she bought one of them...she's lucky though, hers is purple...I wanted the purple but they didn't have my size....sigh.... Anyhoo...the coat isn't super warm, but it's perfect for this weird winter we've been having.  I have found my other coats to be too much, which is why I wanted this one.

So, I guess that is all I will say for now....

Thanks for stopping by!!

Been a busy week....

Man, it seems like this past week flew by in a blur!  Had a pretty quiet week at work and managed to be fairly productive which is always a good thing!

The walking wasn't very good this week....due to very wet weather and icy sidewalks and too much going on and a cold, I only walked on Tuesday!  Poor Rocky....

I did my first weigh-in on Wednesday...lost 2 lbs!!!  Yay!!!
Starting to track on Wednesday...that means weighing and measuring...oh boy!

Went to my friend's mother's memorial service yesterday afternoon.  Cried like a baby of course...she was a great woman and the thoughts put out by the family were amazing.  My daughter cried too...she spent a lot of time at their house with her friend (grandaughter) and as she put it "I knew her like family!" which, when you think about it, is an amazing way to think of her.

This evening my choir took part in a Choral Extravaganza put on by Arts Richmond Hill at the Centre for the Performing Arts. Rehearsal at 4, pick up takeout, go home and eat, back to the theatre by 6:45, and we went on around 8:00, home by 9:30.  Both hubby and I are in the choir, so the kids stayed home...played video games and watched tv...what a life!

And so here we are...another weekend done and over with...sigh....And looking to the week ahead, I have 2 days off so in between running around to school and appointments, I should be able to relax!

Have a good one folks!

My update on my resolve...

Just thought I would pop in and let you know how the rest of the week went...

Walked Rocky for 20 mins on the 17th, 35 mins on the 18th, skipped the 19th, 55 mis on the 20th and 40 mins today.  Not bad....he's happy!  I've noticed my back didn't hurt as much tonight as it did on Tuesday...

Food?  Well....not really keeping track yet but I am trying to eat better...made cookies for the family on Friday...baaaad for me!  LOL!

Water?  Always better M-F than the weekend unfortunately...

For now I will focus on moving.

Bought a vegetarian meal cookbook today...will have to see what tantalizes me!

I'll keep you posted!

Happy Hump day?

LOL!

Happy middle of the week folks...it's all downhill from here!  Well, actually, I have Friday off so tomorrow's the end for me!  It's going to be an odd few weeks for me actually...Monday I worked an hour later, today I had to finish almost 2 hours early, Friday I am off, next week should be normal hours, then the following week I only work 3 days!  Darn bus strike and PA days...

Anyway....I quite honestly haven't been scrapping since the holidays...but, I always want to and I always look around for inspiration so that the next time the urge strikes me, I'm good to go!

TOPIC CHANGE!!!!

lol!!
Any of you who know me well know that I have struggled with my weight forever....well, sort of struggled.  Being overweight has always bothered me, but I just don't have the will power to stay away from sweets and bread products, nor do I like any type of exercise.  I am quite sedentary.
Back in 1994 I actually joined Weight Watchers and in about 6 months I lost 31 pounds and was at my lowest weight since I had become an adult.  The way it was then, they gave you a goal weight and if you had a need for a different one then you had to get a drs note, then you did maintenance and then became a lifetime member.  Well!  The weight that I was given was TOTALLY unattainable for me, which was evidenced by my 6 month plateau and total inability to get any lower no matter what I did.  So off to my dr I went, he was happy with what I had achieved and had no problem giving me a note.  Well, I think it was about 3 or 4 months after I became a lifer that we started fertility treatments and whoosh!  10 pounds over goal!  So, of course, I stopped going.
Long story short, I fell off the wagon for 6 years while I had my children and dealt with my anxiety.  My neighbours and I got out all our materials and made a pact, and in the summer of 2002 I reached my goal weight again!
Fast forward to today....I have gained so much weight back...my body shape is different but in pictures, in my opinion, I look like a whale!  I am currently 27 lbs over my goal weight.  No, Christmas didn't help!
I will be 45 this year...impending menopause is no excuse to just let the weight continue to pile on!
So, I have made a vow to myself that I will lose 20 lbs by June 1st, 2012.  How?  I am going to get out my old selection plan info (it's what works best for me), I am going to up my water intake and I am going to walk my dog!!!  Yes, I have a built-in excuse to exercise...and he's like the energizer bunny!  LOL!
On February 1st I will start tracking again.  Until then, I am just going to watch what I am eating and make healthier choices with smaller portions so that come the 1st the measured portions won't be such a shock to my system!  And I am already walking Rocky.  Yesterday it was so cold and windy but we went for 20 mins.  Tonight was better and we did 35 mins.  My vow is 30 min/day M-F and a good hour or more once on the weekend, unless it is pouring rain or the windchill is dangerously cold (like frostbite dangerous for either his paws or my nose!).

Ok....that's enough rambling for today!

Want to see a page anyway?  This is a calendar page I made for my dad.  I made a 2008 calendar for him and this was the August page because my daughter and I are born in August.  I love this and I should have made one for myself!!

So it's Blue Monday?

I have never heard of this before but it's been all over the news today....huh....I suppose I could google it but really, I have better things to do!

Honestly, right now, the only thing I am feeling blue about is this absolutely pathetic winter we're having.  That picture at the top of my page?  It was an anomaly...and not even taken in my town!  That was the day we went for our Christmas tree, at the tree farm, about a half our north of us.  We had absolutely no snow at our house that day.  Today, it's mild and raining now and the forecast is for rain all day tomorrow.

I love snow!  No, I do not like driving in bad weather, nor do I like the bitter biting winds.  I like a snow covered ground that you can go out and play in, be it tobogganing, walking the dog, or skating on the Mill Pond (which isn't safe yet!)  Big, fat, fluffy flakes falling gently to the ground make me happy!

So, on that note....

This a page about my family skating at Mill Pond at the Winter Carnival.  (I didn't take my skates) Held the first weekend in February and I think this year will be the 46th or something like that?  These pics were taken last year!
I sure hope we can skate on the pond at this year's carnival....

A week already?!?

Wow...I can't believe I haven't posted this week...I guess I was busier than I thought, which I suppose is what happens when you get back to normal routine!

Well, this week I was fortunate to be off work early on both Monday and today, plus today was a pj day so I was super comfy all day!!!!  The rest of the week was pretty normal...except for the fact that a dear friend's mother passed away early Wednesday morning, and it would have been her 73rd birthday on Thursday.  Wednesday night the four of us...wait...you don't know who "the four of us" are!  LOL!  Well, there's me, my bf/son's godmother Gina, Corrie and Donna-the one whose mother passed.  We have been pretty tight for years and have supported whoever needs it at the time, and we have a blast hanging out, drinking, man-bashing and processing what we are living at the time together.  Anyway, Corrie decided that the 3 of us should go see Donna on Wednesday evening to hold her up.  We did, we toasted her mom with Bailey's, and we just talked.  So then Thursday my daughter and I went to high school info night and had our tour and what not while my son was at cadets and my hubby rested-he was sick.

So no, I haven't scrapped in the past week, but I still have more to show you!

These pages weren't meant to be virtually identical, but I was I was doing them I realized I could do this with the supplies I had, and, in the end, it will be easy for the kids to claim their own page later wen we divvy things up!

So, that's it for today....and, if the universe is willing, I will scrap something sometime this weekend!

Christmas has left the building!

And that's it for another year...all the decorations have been put away (except for a few stragglers that I just found-oops!) and the tree is at the end of the driveway to be picked up on Monday.  Our living room looks so big right now!  And tidy...but I'm sure that won't last long :)

Tomorrow, it's back to the reality of our Saturdays...hockey for Gregory, ballet for Elysia....no rest for mom and dad!

Tonight I had hoped to scrap, but after a day of un-decorating, cleaning, and sqwaking by Elysia I decided to sit with my tea and watch The Smurfs with Elysia.  A pretty good family movie!  Maybe I can scrap sometime this weekend...we'll see!

I'll leave you with another page I made at the Crop for the Cure in November...
In honour of the end of the Christmas season!  The paper is an unknown leftover bit I had in my stash put together with a piece of Bazzil to make a 12x12.  Seam covered with ribbon, Thickers and Slice lettering, journal spot cut out with my Slice as well.  Reindeer embellie is a rubbery stick-on from Dollarama!

Have a good one!

Happy Thursday?

Well, I made it through my first 2 days back...granted they were quiet with very few toddlers present but still, considering I am usually off for two full weeks it was quite the change for me to work those days!
I have to admit though, I am looking forward to getting back to routine...now if only those damn town buses would get back to work then I wouldn't have to leave an extra 10 mins early to drive my son to his buddy's for a ride every morning!!!!!!!!!  (They have been on strike since October 24th....40,000+ regular riders affected, some have lost their jobs.  Parents driving the kids to and from school means they are out of the office more = less productivity.  Enough is enough!!!)  Anyway, the kids need to get off their electronics and be humans again!  LOL!  We've had no snow to speak of se we haven't been able to get out to play much...sucky winter break!

So today I will NOT be scrapping...I have a to-do list a mile long to be covered in the next 2 days and unfortunately scrapping is not on it.  Maybe I can reward myself Friday night with a session?  LOL  I have to get it all done first!

Anyway, I will leave you with this page...never posted anywhere before....I made it at the Crop for a Cure put on by Veronica in November.

I hope you can see it all right...these pics were taken on our annual pumpkin trip.  We went to an area that backed onto the forest and I had them pose!
The leaves are chipboard, I inked them with distress ink then I used distress stickles on top.  Turned out ok!

Have a great day!!

All finished!

I have successfully completed the Scrapbook Star online crop!  It's all posted over there, but I will post them all here for you too!

This one was inspired by an ATC by Glenda.

This is my mother-in-law at her surprise 65th.  The challenge was to put the title on the picture.

The challenge on this one was to be interactive.  Worked well for me making all these flaps because there are sooo many pictures of this party!

This challenge was for a multiphoto layout..not a problem for me!

We were asked to make a card!  So I did one for the next staff birthday on the 10th.

This was a scraplift!

So was this!  Thanks Barb!

Christmas layout challenge....

Sketch challenge by Fleur.

Shirley's new technique...This is Larry and I at the RH Santa Claus parade.

Colour challenge...kraft and white plus whatever else....I had to dig through scraps to find this bit of kraft paper...Larry said Torrie looks like I cut and pasted her onto the picture!  I like how this turned out.

Song title or lyric....now I have Vogue in my head!

Use sheet music...I printed this sheet off the internet.  This pic goes way back to Gregory in grade 1!

Use music themed paper...thanks Elysia!  We found this piece in her scraps and it worked perfectly on this page!

So that's what I have been up to for the last 24 hours.  Feels good!

Back to work tomorrow for a couple of days....Elysia is coming with me.  Have a good one folks!!

I have my mojo....

Watch this space, and the Scrapbook Star online crop for what I have created in the last 24 hours!

I just wish I had more ink in the printer because the pics I have are not speaking to me....I suppose I could go into the old pictures (from my childhood) if I run out!

2012!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!

So I was right! At 12:52am one of us was a wee bit tipsy...ok, ok...it was me!!!  We had a fine time last night and arrived home very late (try 3am!) and then of course I had to give Rocky some attention....so I went to bed about 4:30...so that means I got up this afternoon!  12:15 to be exact...and although I have planned to scrap the day away, I am finding it hard to get going.  Maybe I should get dressed?  I may feel motivated then...

Later!