365 shopping days left to next Christmas

I don't know what makes me sad more, the day after Christmas or New Years. I always get sad at New Years for some odd reason. But the day after Christmas always makes me sad. It's like we rush rush rush to Christmas Day and then boom, it's over.

This year I was so busy, I arrived here on Saturday, took the kids to the theatre, Sunday I met with my friends, hung out with the kids, Monday I went in to work, and then we did the usual Christmas Eve. Getting ready, getting the kids to bed, getting some time together in (I hang with my sister and brother in law) and then it's suddenly Christmas morning.

The kids were up early. Well, the oldest was up at 5 and told to go back to bed. We all got up about 8:30 and headed down to see what Santa brought. Hijinks ensued. Got the turkey in the oven and managed to take about ten minutes to relax after getting ready and cleaning up. My sister, brother, mom and my brother's girlfriend arrived shortly after noon and we opened presents for several hours (that's the part I love about Christmas). And then my cousin and her husband and son arrived for dinner.

We shut 'er down around 2 a.m. when my cousin's husband and her son left. The weather turned so much warmer (fog anyone?) and they just walked around the block home. Now I'm up, saying goodbye to the nieces (they're off to the grandparents) and heading home to pack up my other suitcase for Texas. Can't wait to see Jen and hang out, but still a little sad that it's all over for another year!

Hoping that all my friends had a wonderful fun filled Christmas with their family/friends or whomever they spend it with!

Traditions

Christmas in my family means many traditions. And a few my sister has carried down with her kids. The one in particular that I love is "mom's store". My mom started this when we were kids. She would stock up on little gifts and then she would open her "store" and we would take our money and buy little gifts for each other. Nothing cost more than a dollar and it was a great way for us to be involved in it. We had other gifts for each other that our parents bought, but these little gifts were extras.

Tonight, "mom's store" was open for business. My two nieces went shopping. What's cute about it is a few minutes ago, while my sister was doing some dishes, my younger niece came down with a big sad face saying she needed her to open her store back up because she didn't buy enough for me. Adorable. So my sister's answer was "one, my store is still open, and two, everything is free". She turns and gives me a big grin and takes off to do more shopping. Love it.

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Tonight's sleep will be brought to me by Gravol. Because I am in serious need of some sleep. I swear, I don't know what happened to the last three weeks but they are gone! Tuesday I realized I hadn't sent any Christmas cards out. This was after I started making them in October! I furiously sent out about ten and then gave up. And then, I went and got the last minute things I needed to get for other people on Friday night and went to bed at midnight. Woke up in a panic at 5 thinking I wasn't done! After whipping around yesterday morning to pack, get my stuff organized to come home and pack up for Texas on Boxing Day and then organized and left. Last night we got home from Anne of Green Gables (more in a minute) at 11:30 and I stayed up to talk to my sister. Finally at 1:30 I fell into bed. Again with the wake up in a panic thing. Woke up at 5:30 this time. Fell back asleep and then my nieces came in to me at 8:30. I couldn't get back to sleep no matter how I tried so I just got up. I am a walking zombie!!! I don't know how my sister is doing it. She went to bed at 4 last night!!!

Anne was excellent. I have never seen the PEI version, it is good from what I hear. I decided to do two things different this year. I got front row seats AND we went to an evening performance, instead of a matinee. Neither of them slept and my nieces are the kind of kids who get "drunk" when they're tired. We didn't leave the house until 7:20. On a good day it takes about 30 minutes to get to the theatre and we had to find parking. We actually made it in 20 minutes and found parking right away. My younger niece wasn't so into it. Again. After every song the younger one would turn to me and say "is it over now?" because she wanted to leave. Although, she was hilarious at the end of the play after the curtain call she says to me "I want to be an actor".

My little groupie (the older one) wanted to meet the star so we hung out in the vestibule at the stage door. Drunk moment came along when the younger one tripped on the step. Fell flat and proceeded to cry. My drunk moment was before the show when I didn't grab my camera. Wish I had, it would have been cute to get a photo of them with "Anne". The actress came out and was so good with them. But I have to hand it to my nieces, they say the funniest stuff. Favourite part of the show "when you dyed your wig green" (the youngest). "Where is her tour bus?" from the older one. "She gets paid to sing and dance? Cool!" from the younger one.

It was fun...really looking forward to Christmas Day with them. But really looking forward to some sleep first!

Bring us some figgy pudding

Ok, that's it, I'm done. Well, not quite done. But almost done. Sort of done. Well, I'm done. Other people are not done. So I have to help them be done. Then I'm done.

That is how I describe my final plans for the holidays. Last night I tripped on over to the States to pick up a couple of things and lo and behold...sold out. And it wasn't like it was a fight for dolls in the toy department. These were electronics....FOR ADULTS. Well, not those kind of electronics...so now I have to go and get them here in Canada. Sucks!

I took my car in the other day for the oil change and brake service and also got it all cleaned inside...nice. I love it. That was last on my list. Now it's off to London for the holidays. Have to make a couple of stops then it's pick up the kids and go to the theatre for our annual tradition of seeing a play.

Definitely worth the snow conditions

I have to say, right up front, aside from the substance abuse problems....Nicole Kidman is one lucky woman. While I'm sure her relationship with her husband isn't all roses and candlelit serenades etc....getting to be married to Keith Urban...is a gig I could go for.

I stayed in London last night to go to the last concert of his tour. It was my gift to my sister, she likes him, I've really only heard a couple of his songs in passing and boy was I glad I stayed to go. At one point, on the way to the show my sister said she wouldn't be disappointed if I decided we should turn around. We had a huge snow storm that day and the roads were pretty bad. I told her to do what she thought necessary....she pushed on. Really glad we did.

Urban is an incredible performer...he puts on an amazing show. I can't even quite put it into words...I would have paid $150 for the tickets it was so good. I'm sure others will argue that there are other great bands that put on great shows (I won't argue that U2 is a good show, because dudes, it's Bono!) but he is the best I've seen so far. I managed to get some awesome seats...we were about 13 rows up from the floor so we were above it and could see everything. He has a stage that comes out in a walkway to a circular "in the round" stage in the middle of the floor. He spent a great deal of time walking out into the audience that way. At one point he yelled at security to let people in the section across from us come down to shake his hand. And he made the show so personal by changing words to his songs like "Raining on Sunday" to "Snowing on Sunday" and also adding "wishing I had a snow plow". He's just so great and we had such an awesome time.

I do realize I need a better camera...for some odd reason the photos kept coming out fuzzy in no flash mode...and he's such a nimble little sprite that he kept moving!!! But definitely a great show.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow?

I think it might have been overkill at "Let it snow" because we have been walloped. I'm not kidding. And this isn't me all Canadian saying "oh that's nothing....when I was a kid we used to get four feet of snow and still go to school!" This is bad.

Thankfully I had already planned to stay in town tonight as we're going to the Keith Urban show in town. But still, I'm a little scared about driving home tomorrow. It took someone else I know three hours to get to Chatham with limited visibility! That's about 45 mins to an hour normally!

But I do have to say, it's kind of funny because my brother in law just got a new snow blower and he hasn't really had a chance to put it to use this winter (a couple of inches isn't really all that good for one of these things...you want the snow storms like we've got now that dump about 30 cm an hour to blast through). Well, the funny thing is, two of his neighbours have come over already to clean out the driveway. Meaning there isn't going to be much for him to do!

Junk in my trunk

I have had one of the busiest weekends of my life, which is surprising since I spent a great deal of time on the couch, or at least I think I did. I also understand why I end up sick...

I went up early because I had an appointment with my doctor in London. I haven't given up my "family doctor" back home because of the shortage of doctors in this province but also because I really like this doctor and he knows me, he knows my history, he knows what works and what doesn't and I'm not about to go and set up that history and rapport with another doctor. It was a nice visit though, we got to catch up and I was able to ask a few questions and find out that some of my worries were for naught. And it was nice to see him so much more positive since the last time I saw him. He's changing his practice and he's hoping it will help him with his patient load.

It was a professional development day for the schools so my nieces were off. I had agreed to look after them. They were with my cousin while I was at the doctor so I went and met her at the mall because that's where they wanted to go. After a nice filling lunch of fries (oh man) we looked around and then went home. I was of course exhausted because I had also had a tetanus shot at the doctor and that just wiped me out. Didn't stop us though. We then went to my mom's house to go for a swim in the complex's indoor pool and after two hours of that and then dinner, we were ready to come home.

Saturday it was go go go again. Errands, things to do, places to go...exhausting again. The kids stayed up to watch Home Alone while I was making some christmas cookies. I taught my niece the saying "junk in the trunk". She thought this was the most hilarious thing she had ever heard. I thought her reaction was one of the funniest things I had ever seen. Until she positioned herself under the Christmas tree and told us all she was a new puppy waiting for Christmas morning. Good times.

After about four hours sleep last night I got up and finished up my cookies and then went to Costco with my brother in law to get a gift. I headed home shortly after that. I was welcomed back to town with icy rain and frozen over driveways. Fun.

I'm actually looking forward to going back to work. I might get back on a schedule!

Darn you Mother Nature

I have to buy snow tires.

I have no idea how I am going to go about buying snow tires but I have to buy snow tires.

I have put off buying snow tires in the hopes that really my little car would be ok in the snow and ice.

I have come to the realization that buying snow tires will be a good idea.

I am embarassed to say that I know that they sell tires at tire stores and car stores and other stores that carry tires but I have no idea how to actually pick out which ones are best, which ones are a good investment and which ones will make my car drive better in the snow.

I have to buy snow tires.

I am a little scared.

And so on...

The Future Shop saga continues. Apparently someone at head office is now "looking into it" because they were wrong to deny me the 10% off the difference. I love seeing how that all plays out on the message boards. I took the camera back and got my money back, but still, it's nice to know someone is going to do something about the complete lack of customer service.

Still shopping for the camera though. I keep seeing all these crazy deals but then back away. It's like playing with fire methinks.

You have got to be kidding me

I went and bought my digital camera this weekend. Now this has been quite the shopping endeavour. I have spent the last few months watching and researching this thing. Future Shop had a deal on weeks ago but then it was one of those "while quantities last" kind of thing. Turns out, they only had four per store. So I missed out.

Finally, Best Buy had it on. I went to Future Shop to take advantage of their "Get it for less guaranteed" program where it states that they will beat a competitors price by 10%. Nothing in there about what it is, how it's advertised etc.

So I did this. I wanted to go to Future Shop because I had a $100 gift card to be used. Turns out, their little policy is totally bogus. It only applies to the item that is exactly like what they have there. Meaning, they have to offer the bundle there as well. They matched the price, but didn't give me the 10% off because they don't sell the camera and zoom lens as a bundle (which was what I had). But because they offer the camera at the same price, it's considered within 10% so they don't give you the deal.

Maybe they should make that clear in their policy hmm?

Now I'm trying to decide if I want to take it back over $70 or if I want to just suck it up and forget about it.

Camera phones are awesome

Almost forgot I had this photo. It's totally a shout out to Jen and to my trip to Texas after Christmas.

My favourite things

I love spending time with my nieces. Not for the tantrums mind you (several this weekend) but for the funny things they say. Sometimes I wish I could be inside their heads so I can actually hear what they're thinking when they come up with this stuff. A few samples...

Friday night at dinner, the five of us were sitting at the table (sister, brother in law, girls and I) and the oldest pipes up "Mom, I don't want you to get married again because I don't want to have two dads." No idea where this came from, my sister and her husband have no plans to divorce or remarry. My younger niece pipes up "that's ok, you'll be my favourite" to my brother in law.

Yesterday in the car my younger niece asks me "how did Hilary Duff get famous?" I try to explain to her that she was on a television show that thousands of kids watched. My older niece says "well I've been on the news a few times". I can see in the mirror my younger niece think about this and then say "ya but you're not famous so that's not how it happened." I then proceeded to explain, with great difficulty, the Disney marketing machine and how it pumps out stars. I still don't think she got it.

Then while we were in Canadian Tire she tells me she wants to go look at the Christmas trees. They had all their trees displayed in a forest type of setting so you walk under an arbour and peruse the trees. She holds my hand and stops. Above us is mistletoe. Which she loves because of the idea you have to kiss someone under it. So I give her a big fat peck on the cheek. Then we walk through and her sister ends up under it, then proceeds to jump back because she doesn't want to kiss her. I took the honours. She says to me "I wish it was Christmas all year long so we had to give each other kisses under the mistletoe."

(Note, that sounds kind of creepy but in fact it was pretty cute.)

Then, during the Bee Movie, she shouts out "Sting him again!" yes this is my lovey little niece.

Definitely enjoy spending time with these two.

A lot like...

Christmas is what I was going to say. But really, it's looking like that because I'm in the mood for creative stuff. I was reading Ali Edwards'blog and got inspired. But it may take a bit of work on the part of my sister. I've decided I want to do a "24 days of Christmas" album with the girls this year. They're old enough and it sounds really cool and I love it when my sister calls me in December to tell me something cute they've done. This way we can capture the memories and also do something fun. I want her to take photos of them. Either opening their advent calendars or staring at the tree or of course, the requisite snow picture once we have our first snow fall. (Which if you want to split hairs, happened on Tuesday up there, but who's counting?)

I also loved the idea Ali has for the little mini box advent wall art. I just have to a) find the boxes b) run it by my sister and c) find stuff to put in there. They really don't need anymore candy but I was thinking of maybe a fortune cookie idea. Possibly find a Christmas story or Christmas carol or something and print out the words and put it inside the boxes with a little fun thing they can do or possibly a neat ornament or something. Ideas? Share!

Then I started cutting out the cute little things on the Color Me pages I received from Luxe and I started to get all kinds of ideas for cards and the like. So I will be working on that too. Just can't wait. So excited for that! I love feeling this creative. I also have to finish the three albums I am putting together for Jill.

Also this weekend? I'm trying to decide if I want to take the girls down to the Cenotaph to be a part of the Remembrance Day ceremony. I've never done it, and they normally have a ceremony at school, but I thought it might be unique for them to go and see the veterans that go. That way, they can truly understand what it is that we come together for. Their ancestors fought in the wars. We'll see what they're like and whether or not my sister feels this would be ok.

Running on empty

This week has been a "week" and I'm ready to just toddle off to bed. Yes, I know it's only 7:30 but I'm spent. I've been up and down the highway three times this week and now I'm just ready to tuck in and be done with the week from heck knows where.

It started with all the usual business after I got home from Toronto last weekend. Wednesday it was up to London at quarter to seven in the morning for a meeting with our CEO. Then from there it was up the highway to Toronto for media training. That was interesting. Missed out on all the Halloween stuff I love. Thursday it was the train ride from hell with the seatmate from Fidgetyville and I swear to pumpkin I was ready to break the emergency window and toss her out. I got home, emptied my bag and packed my car for this weekend. I was back in London this weekend to celebrate my sister's 30th (eek, when did we all get so old?) and also crop all day yesterday.

The cool part was that I was recognized as a "Luxe girl" at the crop by someone who runs a store in Dorchester. Talked with her a bit, showed off the new "Colour Me" line and then put together 30 two page spreads for three albums I'm making for a coworker.

Got home a few hours ago, unpacked and am now about to (as mentioned) toddle off to bed. Sleeping never felt so good.

Although I have to say that the best part of this weekend was this morning at brunch when my brother and sister decided they wanted to join us for our Black Friday shopping spree in Port Huron. Gotta love the mob mentality when it comes to ill advised shopping excursions. Speaking of ill advised, don't eat Chocolate Cheesecake at 1 a.m. when you're ready to go to bed.

Because I have the time

Man what a difference having three extra hours makes! I managed to get packed for Toronto, get organized for tomorrow (road trip at 6:30 a.m.? Yikes!) and get my stuff packed for the crop on Saturday. Now I'm about to shower, change my sheets, put my laundry away and get to bed. But first, I've been tagged by Jen, unfortunately I don't know seven people without making Jen's list have to post twice, so I'll just do this for me....here goes....

Rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random - some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names - link to them
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

1. I'm double jointed in my right hand. I can get my thumb to bend all the way back in a weird way.

2. I'm completely addicted to shopping in the States now that the dollar is so ridiculously low. I keep thinking of places I want to go.
3. My memory is completely shot. I can't remember anything I need unless I write it down. Case in point, this morning I realized I forgot my boots at my cousin's house. In addition to forgetting several other items at her place on Sunday (which we went back for) and then forgetting my aunts cell phone a second time when we dropped the kids off.

4. I'm constantly waiting for "the other shoe to drop". It's horribly pessimistic of me but I can't help it. I always expect bad things to happen eventually.

5. I have this thing about travelling now. I really want to go away somewhere cool but I'm trying to balance that with paying off my last student loan. Fiji is the next big one. But I have to wait for Elaine's schedule to open up since it's a friend of hers we're going to see.

6. I have this recurring feeling that I'm a bad friend because I don't really keep in touch with people. It makes me feel so guilty it's not funny. It's not that I'm trying to be a bad friend, just that time seems to get away from me for some strange reason.

7. This time of year is my favourite because it means cool nights, warm blankets, good television and the wonderful excuse of it being cold enough to drink hot chocolate. I can actually taste the hot chocolate as I look outside at all the fall colours changing.

Good things

This weekend was the big Halloween party weekend and it was also "no-sleep 2007" weekend. I had the kids with me at my cousin's for her daughter's 10th birthday. Last night I did my mountain of laundry and thankfully today I was able to get out of work early due to toxic fumes in the office from the roofers. I'm taking this time to pack for tomorrow/Thursday as I am off to London and Toronto for a town hall with our CEO and media strategy development on Thursday. Then it's back to Windsor and repack for the weekend in London and the all day crop there.

You know your life is sad when you actually look forward to room service and a nice bubble bath. But hey, I'm staying at the Four Seasons Toronto, so why wouldn't I look forward to that???

From this week it's just eight weeks to Christmas and the warm weather is completely throwing me off. Let's hope I can stay healthy since I want to spend a few days after Christmas in Forth Worth. Good thing though, my two packages I had been waiting on arrived today. One from Luxe Designs (woo hoo, thanks ladies!) and one from Crafty Scrapper for the crop donation.

A few photos to keep you sated until I'm back...

Fun

This weekend was one of those weekends that I love. Just to sit home and chill out and play. Last weekend I furiously put together an album for Morgan's 10th birthday and once Jill saw it, she wanted me to make a couple for her for her niece's. Which I'm still working on.

But the best part about this was that it made me want to straighten up and clean some old stuff out. I have piles of stuff that I've bought and haven't used and it's all been put into a box and just sat there. So I got rid of a bunch of things and pulled out a few other things to use. Got part of my christmas cards figured out and part way organized for the crop I'm going to.

Also this weekend...plans for a trip to Fort Worth and possibly to see the Spice Girls in Toronto. And go ahead and laugh, you can't say it won't be a good show!

The Little Car that COULDN'T

I'm having a bit of a love hate relationship with my car lately. Except it's been more hate hate than I care to admit. In fact, I actually had to call GM Canada the other day to lodge my hate hate complaints with them so that they know that their car building sucks.

Which is kind of funny because I live in motor city Canada. Right beside the real "motor city" and I have this thing about buying North American cars. And really, my car has seen me through a lot. Two moves, countless trips up the highway, a farmers field in the middle of the winter. You know the drill. But the past month has seen me in the dealership to have it repaired three times.

First, in September my front brakes were making this horrible sound. Kind of like if you had a younger sibling and you were holding them down and punching them in the kidneys. It did this while driving, while turning, while braking. I knew it was bad. Turns out, it was a rock in the brake pad. A rock. In the brake pad. How the hell does that happen? So they removed it and only charged me $75 for the labour. I won't get into the amount of time it cost me going all the way out to the dealership and then all the way to work and then all the way back and forth again.

Then, I took it in for the regular oil change. That was last Thursday. Monday night my car alarm started going off for no reason. I just left it unlocked because the car alarm is this high pitched wailing sound. Not pleasant in the burbs. This was kind of bad because there have been a few break ins to cars and actually, my car was broken in to in the driveway a couple of months ago. So I figured I'd check it the next day. No alarm at all during the day. Pull into the driveway on Tuesday night, boom, alarm goes off. I actually had to leave the trunk unlatched to stop it from automatically locking and arming. I took it in the next day. Turns out I had the exact same problem I had a year ago. The wiring system shorted out because it got too close to the body and heated up.

While I was there the service guy noticed my serpentine belt was cracked. He asked me if I wanted it repaired. I asked him if this was something that should have been found in a semi-annual inspection. He says "are you due?" and I said "yes, last week, when I had it done". He talked to the manager and they decided that they would replace it and I would only be charged the cost of the part, not the labour.

So I called GM customer service this week to discuss with them the cons of owning a Pontiac Wave. Not to yell, not to be all bitchy, just to tell them a few things so they can look into the design of it and maybe make a better car. After all, the only way they'll know about these things is if someone tells them right? Well, I got a free oil lube and filter for my trouble.

Really though, for a car that is supposed to get great gas mileage and have such a great model, it's not been an ideal car. The driver side windshield wiper has never laid flat against the windshield leaving a big blur along the bottom. The car shakes when you go over 105 km/hr. The alarm system has shorted out twice. The car doesn't get the proper gas mileage it's supposed to. It's had two recalls on it already. The automatic model has really uncomfortable seats. And in addition to all the regular maintenance, you have to have special maintenance done to the cooling system because of the size of the car. I'm sure I've forgotten a few things that I'm unhappy with but ya, that's a good list.

Sigh....only 14 more months until I can trade it in...

This is fun

I'm trying to get motivated to go to Target. Kashi cereal is 2 for $5 this week and with the dollar low, it's definitely worth it.

Ok my life is officially sad.

Onwards! Stolen from Jen!

1. your rock star name (first pet & first car). Freddy Sunfire
2. your gansta name (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie). Chocolate Chip Chewy Chips Ahoy (notice a pattern? oh and how fierce!)
3. your “fly girl"? name (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name). LRac
4. your detective name (fav color, fav animal). Red Persian
5. your soap opera name (middle name, city where you were born) Jane North Bay (hee hee hee)
6. your Star Wars name (first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first). Racle (That's MS. RACLE if you're nasty)
7. superhero name (the? + 2nd fav color, fav drink). The Pink CC
8. nascar name (the first names of your grandfathers). Edward Theodore (Although I prefer Theo Eddie--sounds faster!)
9. stripper name ( the name of your fav perfume/cologne/scent, fav candy). Lavender Skor
10. witness protection name (mother’s & father’s middle names ). Marguerite Noel
11. tv weather anchor name (your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter). Andrews Amherstburg
12. spy name (your fav season/holiday, flower). Autumn Lillies
13. cartoon name (fav fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie" or “y"). Honey Dew Jammie
14. hippy name (what you ate for breakfast, your fav tree). Peanut Butter Maple (I'm suddenly hungry....)
15. your rockstar tour name (the + your fav hobby/craft, fav weather element + “tour"). The Scrapbook Rain Tour

Happy Autu--Summer?

We're a little confused around here today. You see, this is the weekend I normally take apple picking photos. All in the name of autum/fall themes. Except this weekend it was too hot to pick apples. How hot was it? It was over 100 F. Hot enough to warrant a cancellation of the apple picking and a trip to the air conditioned movies instead. Hot enough to consider going to the beach for the day. Hot to enough to wish Donna hadn't closed her pool. Hot enough to melt while taking a few autumn photos.

Not hot enough to roast a turkey though....Thanksgiving just wouldn't be the same without it.

What a drag it is getting old

I don't know what's been wrong with me the last couple of weeks. I've been really dragging it and it sucks. For some odd reason my knees have also decided to give up on me and have been aching for about three weeks now. Who knows what that's about.

I also had to change allergy medications because the other one just isn't working. Finally gave in and went for acupuncture for my sinuses as well.

I tell you, this getting older thing really sucks. I liked it better when my metabolism was faster, when my legs didn't ache, when everything didn't crack when I moved and also when these stray grey hairs didn't pop up everywhere.

I hear it's all downhill from here though. Wait til I have kids they say! Yikes!

Looking forward to a long weekend. REST! For the wicked!

I was working in the lab late one night...

I've been tooling around on other places (I BLAME YOU FACEBOOK) so I have little time for blogger. But I've also been working on other projects too. Like prepping for a Halloween party I'm helping with/attending at the end of the month.

Last night in the lab we put together spider egg balls and ghostly beings....woooo hoooo haaaa haaa haaaa.

Life is a highway

Or at least that's what it felt like this weekend!

I tried to surprise the kids at school on Friday when I picked them up (they normally take the school bus) but that surprise quickly faded when the Principal demanded I have a note to take them with me. We sorted it all out. And it kind of made me mad but I realized they needed to have that measure in place. However, my surprise slowly faded when most of the kids who know who I am ended up walking by me in the hall to the washroom and telling my oldest niece that I was there. So she wasn't so much surprised as she was frustrated that she couldn't leave the classroom to come and get me.

I was here on a stopover to Toronto because I was teaching an Arty Party for Luxe Designs at Bizzy B's in High Park. I love to find new neighbourhoods in Toronto. Part of me secretly wishes I lived in Toronto and I think I would if it wasn't for the high rent and the fact that my heart is in Southwestern Ontario. It was fun to go up to teach though. And the store was just awesome. So much to look at it was like sensory overload. I ended up picking up a couple of new stamps for my Christmas cards. And I also learned some new tricks. I'll be watching for these neat Luminescence paint things in the future now that I know how to use them. I probably could have done some serious damage in the store if I didn't already plop my paycheque down on my student loan.

Then it was dinner with my friend Anu. Anu and I used to work together so we talk daily but it's still fun to hang out with your friend in person. Almost every single one of my friends lives in Toronto so it's hard to pick who I can see and who I can't. I feel kind of bad. I wanted to see all my friends but my trip home had to be right from the store and Anu is on the way. So we met in Mississauga for dinner which turned out to be hilarious.

I did not know that the QEW and the 403 separate. I always thought the 403 turned into the QEW and that was that. Nope. (Somewhere Annette is shaking her head muttering "Cape Cod June 2004" to herself). So here I am in South Mississauga trying to find the restaurant thinking that I just came off the 403. Anu called me and realized what I had done wrong so I had to make the long trek north to the 403 and the restaurant. And to make matters worse, I ended up behind someone who was learning to drive a stick shift. On a major street. In rush hour. Sigh...

Dinner was awesome and we had a few laughs about her old job and my current one. I miss having her on our team because she did such a great job for us and now we're stuck with...well someone not as good. It took forever for the waitress to get back to our table with our cheque and I ended up not getting on the road until an hour later than I had hoped. I hate driving at night and I equally hate driving through construction at night and the trip up the mountain in Hamilton always terrifies me in the dark. I was exhausted when I got home. But still, it was a fun day.

So now I'm just helping my sister can some green tomato relish (she says "mmmm", Elizabeth says "what smells so bad?") and then we're going to hang curtains and then it's back home for me. I hate these weekends where I feel like I've spent the entire weekend in my car but it was worth it. And hey, I should get used to it. Creative Festival is in four weeks!

Idle Hands

I've been a bit busy the last couple of weeks. Coming back from vacation was good to get back into a normal schedule, but that has also meant getting back into a swing of things. And of course with the new season there is a bit of organizing to do. I had to pull out my winter clothes and decide what was ready for retirement and what needed to be hung up. I was also up in London for a few days extra to take the girls to see Hilary Duff (great show, and we met la Duff afterwards outside) and various other tasks that needed to be completed. Including going to the fair (deep fried mars bars are evil but taste oh so good).

The other news I alluded to recently was a former coworker who left a few weeks ago. It has been REALLY nice not having that around the office. So we've been busy cleaning out, organizing and getting ready for the next round of stuff going on. I can safely say that the work environment has vastly improved in the last two weeks.

I'm off to Scraptivity this weekend in the Bloor West area of Toronto. Looking forward to that. I'm doing a make 'n' take for the ladies there with all the fabulous Luxe stuff. I'm pretty excited to do that. And I'm sure some neat things will make it into my shopping bag...I'm also off to celebrate the girlies birthdays with them. Have fun stuff for them for their birthday.

Then we'll be into October. Which means Thanksgiving...frost...apple picking...and all the good things I love about fall.

A New Era

I'm sure I've been a little vague lately and that's a given. I'm going to be still more vague, but that's for protection. Let's just say this: there is a new era dawning in my life and it's really nice.

One element of my life that has been causing me great stress has been removed. Someone in my life who has caused me this stress is now gone and I am very happy. To the point where I was actually able to sleep this week without worrying about conversations that may or may not happen, comments that may or may not be made, and responses that I may or may not have needed to have handy. Two of us cleaned out and cleaned up and it's the start of a fresh new time which is really nice. I'm very happy this week and it's a really good thing.

Yes, happiness abounds around here lately and it's really really nice.

Happiness

I'm an evil person, I know, but you'll get over it!

Changing Direction

I hate vacation weeks because they always seem to go by so fast. I still have three days off and really, going back to work on Thursday and Friday will be good for one very important reason and then it's a four day week next week so I shouldn't complain but....I hate when vacations come to an end.

I also know that this one is going to be hard to leave because it means leaving my nieces after a whole week together. I'm pretty impressed at what we accomplished though. My goal was to come up and help them get organized. My sister and the hubby did the laundry room (which entailed painting, installing several shoe cabinets from Ikea, a bench in the closet and hooks throughout the room for things like backpacks, bathing suits, coats etc.) and I tackled the kids rooms and the basement. I managed to get it all done last night by 8 p.m. It wasn't easy. We tackled the oldest ones closet on Monday and the younger ones room on Tuesday. Neither one of them was interested in trying on clothes and while some clothes say a certain size, they were either bigger or smaller depending on the item. Several meltdowns ensued. And not just by me.

But now they're looking at a completely organized house. I also managed to get the basement carpets and stairs vacuumed. (Unfinished basement, gets really dusty). I also put most of the old photos from my moms into boxes and organized my sisters scrap booking stuff. I feel like I've climbed a mountain.

We also squeezed in a trip to Birch Run Michigan for some new shoes for the kids. Picked up a pair of new shoes for myself and a new outfit for the fall. I'm off to Cedar Point for three days now with my cousin (aka: the other big sister) and her two boys and two of their friends. I'm pretty stoked about another three days away. Should be fun.

I figure I'll sleep this weekend....HA!

People in canvas shelters shouldn't hate camping

I survived the monsoon of 2007. Well, I shouldn't say that, it isn't fair to people who actually have been through a monsoon. And really, my sister bore the brunt of it. But after all was said and done, I still hate camping.

We camped at this place outside Leamington which was actually quite nice, and by saying I hate camping, it has nothing to do with where we were, what we did, the people I was with or the activities we participated in. I just hate camping. I hate sleeping outside. I hate having to wear a winter hat to stay warm at night (it's August!) and I just hate all of it. Hate smelling like smoke, hate getting my eyes burned from said smoke while trying to adjust the fire. I hate loud neighbours in the morning (seriously, it's 7 freaking a.m., can you not shut up your 500 children all with a first name starting with J about the daddy long legs spiders???) or the loud neighbours at 3 am (were they trying for the record number of times getting told to shut the hell up?). I just hate all of it. But mostly, I hate it when it rains and you're soaking wet like today.

It started raining last night around 11 pm. And continued. And it's still raining. I bet it will still be raining 40 days and nights from now which is when our tent will finally be dry. I absolutely hate it when it rains and you're trying to tear stuff down. Although, like I said, my sister had to do most of the work. We came back from the indoor splash pad and all that was left was the tent and loading the car. That became roll up the tent, roll up the tarp, throw all the other crap in a bag, chuck it in the car and get the heck out of there.

I have to hand it to my sister though. She tried really hard to make me not hate camping. And really, it's not that I don't like camping with them. I just hate camping. I like camping food, I like camping fun, I like sitting around the fire (minus the smoke) and I like the company. I just hate the rest of it.

Sleeping in a nice bed will cure me of that feeling though.

I hope.

Later

I've been so busy this week. Work has been kicking my ass and I've had little time to do anything. Today I'm off for a weekend camping with my sister and my nieces and then I'm heading up to their place to help them get organized for school (closets, drawers etc.) and then I'm off to Cedar Point for a few days. Really looking forward to a little chillaxing.

I also received REALLY good news this week. Not that it's all that exciting or anything, I'm just not going to talk about it here yet. For those who know me, and know what I have been doing through for the past year and a half--it's really good news.

But I did promise some artistic examples the last time I was here. I did a bit of crafting that weekend. Mostly knitting but some scrapbooking. Here are a few samples...

Long Weekend

I love long weekends. LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM. If only because it gives me an extra day to do whatever it is that I'm doing for the weekend. And this weekend I am doing nothing but sleeping and crafting. Yup, finally getting to play just for me.

But first, I have to come clean about my little adventures last night. I decided that I was going to go to The Scrapbook Zone last night to check out their Freaky Friday offerings. Except, it wasn't the Friday for Freakiness. I was thinking it was July 27 but it was actually August 3 yesterday. And no, I'm not that stupid, I'm just losing track of time.

Anyways...I digress...I went to the Zone to check out a few things and since I was heading over to mail a package of chocolate (seriously, $4.80 at the U.S. Post Office and $23.00 at the Canadian one? What the hell is that?) I decided to go check it out. Well, I spent a little bit of money. But it's all good because I used my 40% off coupon to get this:


Which I haven't actually used yet. But I have big plans!

So today I slept until about nine but then got up, had some breakfast and went back to bed for a few hours. Yes, I'm lazy, deal with it. I then hit Michael's because I am sick and tired of my crappy ass paper cutter. Then I came home and went to town. I'm so lucky because I scored some new Luxe stuff and have completely fallen in love with the Pashmina line. No seriously. Three of the five pages I worked on today are all Pashmina. Love love love it! It's so cute.

And then I saw my big mess and decided to quit for the day. Because I said I was going to take it easy this weekend people! Besides, I still have two days to play left!! Woo hoo!

No worries, pictures will come soon.

This is pretty cool...

So I stole this from Jen's blog where she asks me five questions about myself and I have to answer them. It's pretty cool, especially some of the questions she asked others who commented. So here's how it works, I answer the five questions Jen asked me and anyone who posts a comment in my blog, I will ask you five questions that you have to answer in your blog. You take the whole description of the game and who sent it and get others to do the same. Sort of like the wave right? Or maybe not.

Here goes:

1. Did anything about CHA surprise you? Or was it exactly what you expected?

Yes and no, I guess I could say that I expected CHA to be bigger. But it was still pretty big. I also expected to see a lot more BIG WOW stuff than I did. And I also expected to see more in the other creative pursuits as well. It seemed like every booth was scrapbooking and only a few scattered here and there in other crafts. However, I was pretty impressed with many of the company's presentations. Some booths were done better than others. When you said to do layouts that would draw attention from far away I totally got it, but seeing it in person was something completely different. Because we didn't go in to the booths, we had to strain to see a few of the new things. And some of the examples. Which was disappointing because I really wanted to see how they used a lot of new stuff, instead of just seeing the new stuff. I'm really looking forward to CHA Winter when I think the companies will release a lot more cool stuff. Or maybe we've reached the edge of the universe so to speak and this is it for the new stuff. Funny enough, it was so easy to find the Luxe booth because of the way it looked in the see of blah. Hard to put in to words but it really looked head and shoulders above the rest of the booths in that area. (Admit it, you thought I was going to say I could smell it with the lilies).

2. What is your "must have" wardrobe purchase for fall?

A really hot pair of black heels that are both cute yet comfortable to walk in. This seems to be my holy grail every year. Find a pair of shoes I can wear with skirts that are easy to walk/stand in but still look reasonably cool and not so much "matronly". I always end up getting stuck with a pair of shoes that are either comfortable but ugly or hot but dreadful on my poor little feeties. And for some odd reason, black heels are either too sex kittenish or too "I work as a museum guide and wear ugly oxfords all day".

3. Favorite food?

Kraft macaroni and cheese with cut up hot dogs. We had this argument the other day here at my house and then again at my sisters house. There is a new HP commercial with this delicacy in it and my mouth waters when I see it. However, my aunt and my cousins kids (9 and 8) think this is the grossest thing ever ("like, cooked hot dogs? Or raw hot dogs?") yet I think it is the biggest best kept secret ever. How can you go wrong, kraft dinner and cut up hot dogs! Add a little ketchup and you're laughing. Full of good vitamins too. That's the one thing I remember from Home Ec. in school, the macaroni and cheese nutritional card had all the bars near the top. I was telling my sister about this at the table on Saturday night with my brother in law and his buddy sitting there. The two of them wrinkled their noses at it and Noelle and I were all "what are you TALKING ABOUT? It's so GOOD!" you can tell we were poor kids, all the good stuff is cheap dinner ideas.

4. What color is your duvet?

Ha ha, trick question...the duvet itself is white but the duvet cover is a dark tan colour. It's actually this one from Ikea. I picked it up in the fall when I went on a little "spree". I love it because it's really neat looking and feels really soft.

5. Best book you ever read?

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I read this book when I was eleven and it's still my "nothing else to read" book that I grab when I just want to be able to read a good few pages. Not delve right into the book, but pick it up at a spot that I enjoy and read it. So much about this book made me question things. Made me interested in history, made me sad, made me happy, made me think. And I loved the heroine in it. I liked being in her head and seeing how she thought. It was important to me as I grew up because I felt somewhat normal in "living" Francie's life and seeing how she felt in certain situations. Still a book I would recommend to anyone. This book to me is like "comfort food". It's just that good.

Ok people, now it's your turn, leave me a comment, anything random and I will ask you five questions. From there you answer the questions on your blog and do the whole thing over again.

Oh and Jen? It's not strange that you do that with your icons. I have to have Outlook as my first icon in my taskbar. If something happens during the day with our server and it goes down, I have to shut all the other programs I have running and put it back up first.

I'm telling mom

Who knew the labour laws in Canada had changed...

No worries, we didn't let them drink beer.

CHA recap

So CHA was awesome. Really awesome. I didn't really know what to expect but it was so much fun. Not just walking the show and seeing as much of the new stuff as I could, but also hanging out with the Luxe team. Seriously. These ladies (and Paolo and Kipps!) are the most friendly, wonderful people a girl could be friends with. As I said to Jen yesterday, they made me feel so welcome. And the best part is, I am actually going to get to help them out a bit this year. Can't wait for CHA-W in Anaheim in February. That will be awesome too.

Also excited about the new products I managed to score. I already have a few layouts I want to put together. But for now, the few layouts that made it onto the display at the show. A few more made it into the new catalogue.

Oh and Cuttlebug and Cricut weren't the only "celebrities" I managed to see on the trip. Also managed to bump into Bob Guiney aka The Bachelor in the DTW airport whilst getting my baggage.

Chicago bound

Today was a good day.

I can't get into the details, but suffice to say that today was a really good day. I feel really good today and I'm quite impressed with myself.

Tomorrow is going to get better because tomorrow I'm off to Chicago to hang with the Luxe girls and to walk the floor of CHA. I'm so excited it's not funny. Bag is packed, stuff is ready and I'm just confirming details for my trip.

Can't wait to see all the cool stuff and also see my friends.

What little girls are made of

So this:

is what 32 looks like. Yup, that would be me holding my beautiful flowers that my aunt surprised me with at lunch time. Or what should have been lunch time. So how did I spend my birthday? Well I started work at 7 a.m. and rushed out to the doctor at 5 p.m. minus a proper lunch break (lunch was a couple pieces of pizza eaten in ten minutes in the boardroom with my boss). We were go go go all day today. But it was still nice, see the flowers from my aunt. My sister sent me a text message at 1 to wish me a happy birthday so I called her and received wonderful well wishes from my nieces. I came home to a birthday email from my brother and a pile of wall postings on Facebook. I definitely feel loved! All in all a good day.

Four more sleeps to CHA

Or what I like to call: Let's pretend you're not turning a year older tomorrow. Yup that's right, four more sleeps until I leave lovely Windsor for the bustling metropolis of "outside Chicago". Well, I know it's just a suburb of Chicago, but still, if it's near the airport, it's not in Chicago.

I'm heading out to CHA or the Craft and Hobby Association summer show. Jen (www.jenidallas.typepad.com) (let me say I hate Google Blogger or Blogger Google or Blogger Beta or Blogger #$%@ because I can't link properly) and her lovely Luxe ladies (www.luxedesigns.com) are debuting their next lines of scrapbook supplies and she has a pass for little old me to go and check out what's new. I get to see all the cool new products being launched by all the companies and decide what I want to save my money for, and what I just want to have right away. We all know it's going to be the latter rather than the former.

Counting down the days man. Especially since this week is shaping up to be kind of hell like at work.

In other news, I turn 32 tomorrow which is almost mid-thirties (TM Jessica Simpson) which is almost 35 which is almost dead! KIDDING! I don't know why 32 bothers me more than 31 but it is. And not because I'm not doing anything for my birthday (seriously, once you get old, you like to just mellow and enjoy a glass of wine on your b-day and not worry about the rest), I think it's more of the "what have I done with my life this year" kind of thinking. Who knows though. I still feel like I'm 25. Well, emotionally anyway.

FOUR MORE SLEEPS! Yup, that's what I'm going with.

10 Useless Facts About Me or I'm a Big Copycat

Chris (http://newnewfie.blogspot.com) had this idea on his blog, which he borrowed from someone else. I'll be less polite and say that I'm outright stealing it from him. So here you go. 10 useless things you didn't need to know about me.

1. In elementary school my siblings and I were known as the 5 little rascals. Because it sounded like our last name and there were so many of us. This was also cause for "how many more of you are there?" from many a high school teacher.

2. I'm actually the middle child, though many people think I'm the oldest. But that's only because my oldest sister is far enough ahead of me they forgot about her all together. (Sorry Noelle, you know I love you....well your kids anyway KIDDING!)

3. I was born in North Bay, which isn't really exciting except for the stories about how cold it was in the winter, how gross it was during shad fly season, and how much we went to the lake when I was a baby.

4. I stutter when I talk fast.

5. I hardly ever finish anything I start--this mostly applies to crafting activities. My siblings took a photo one Christmas of the hats/mitts I was making them. Only three of them actually got hats and only one of them got the mitts to go with it. I'm working on this one.

6. I always look at peoples photos that they have out in their homes when I go visit. I'm a big picture fiend. I believe you can tell a lot about a person by the photos they take and display.

7. The older I get, the harder it is to figure out anything technical, dance in a non-embarassing way, hear anything anyone says, or understand anything new.

8. I am afraid of the dark.

9. I have this insane ability to remember totally useless information that I learned god knows where. Pythagorean theorem? Check. Old OHIP number? Check. The fact that you only see one side of the moon? Check. The date of American independence? Check. It's sad, because I cannot remember to pack my lunch each day, but I can tell you how to figure out square footage.

10. I have this really big dream to one day become a novelist. Which is hilarious, because see 5, I can never finish anything I start. One story just leads into another story without coming to an acceptable conclusion.

I've been really happy this week, for the first time in a really long time. No idea why, my horoscope thinks it's something to do with Saturn in my sign or something like that. I just like to think that it's been hiding under the surface for a while. Or maybe it's just a few new things I've learned in the last two weeks.

Whatever the reason, I decided to just say screw it and headed over to Ikea with my aunt on Friday night. I've been trying to not spend money but decided that needing a new jar for ribbons and wanting to look at a few pretty things was definitely worth it. I picked up a new large jar for ribbons and two smaller ones for loose ribbons. Sounds corny I know but they're just so cute. I also picked up a neat little tray thingie to put all my paints and other glue/paint/etc. type products in on my shelves. I like to have interesting organization things.

I also went and got a long needed hair cut on Saturday. I went back in April for a new haircut. I have this thing with my hair. I want it to be long but have realized that if I want it long, I have to have it cut into a style otherwise it becomes unmanageable. I had really neat colour blocking done the last time but I didn't like how it faded out. In addition, because my natural hair colour is so dark, it's awful when the roots start showing. So I went back in and got it done again only this time I went for all over colour of a darker brown. The cut itself is so awesome. How he managed to get my hair to stay poofy ALL DAY with minimal product is beyond me.

Not the greatest picture, no makeup really shows but it's still a good capture of the new hair.

I was also able to do some cards this weekend too. Problem is I always make like 8 of the same card so I didn't really get a whole lot done. But it was a nice weekend all the same. I'm looking forward to working some more next weekend. And of course Chicago the weekend after to check out CHA and hang with the Luxe crew.