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Sunday, March 22, 2009

VEGAS Baby!!!

Oh yes baby, I'm in Vegas!!!

GEEEEEEEE!!!

Just thought I'd pop on and let all of you know that we've made it, enjoyed the last few days an are looking forward to the upcoming week!

I have a ton (yes TON) of photos to load and show you once I'm back!

Have a great week! I'll be posting more with stories next week!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Paisley Lane Giveaway - Making Room For Baby!

Natalie over at Natalie's Sentiments is having another wonderful giveaway!

This one is called 'Paisley Lane Giveaway'... Which is her etsy store. She create beautiful handcrafted jewelry which is to die for.

As Natalie puts it: "I am going to send one reader a personalized jewelry package - all pieces custom chosen for the winner. The package will include a necklace, bracelet and earring set, three pairs of earrings, and some surprises. Value over $100!"

How can you go wrong???

So head on over to Natalie's giveaway!!! Follow her three rules for entries!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Schedule!

This Weeks schedule:

Sunday:
1-4pm: Church
Family Dinner afterwards until the wee hours of the morning.
Drive home (about 45min's).

Monday:
Have a bit of an insane minute and tear the master bedroom apart. *ahem*.......... ALL day and night.
Emma to and from school.
Able to stand inside the walk-in closet and close the door! Geeee!
Oh! Tyler hung the mirror in our room finally! *L* Nothing like an insane wife to get you moving on it! ;P

Tuesday:
Laundry, laundry, laundry... More laundry.... Laundry, laundry, laundry and even MORE laundry.....
DH Kid.
Emma to and from school.
St. Patrick's Day Party for the DH.

Emma and Zoë in their St. Patrick's Day outfits eating a green healthy snack....

More laundry....... (Folding).....
Missed Enrichment gathering *sigh* but had a wonderful steak dinner with my family made by Hubby... <3


Wednesday:
Laundry, laundry, laundry... More laundry.... Laundry, laundry, laundry and even MORE laundry..... (This is what happens when you tear apart the Master Bedroom that hasn't been unpacked yet for almost a year! Boxes and boxes and boxes of packed clothing.....)
DH kid.
Emma to and from school.
Drop off Emma's old glasses so they can transfer her lenses into her new ones (grrrr.....).
More laundry...... (and more folding....)
Meet Sarah at 'our store' (AKA: Wal-Mart) to pick up hair color and any last minute items for the trip......
Color hair.....
Attempt to pack.......

Thursday:
Hopefully all laundry will be done. If not, they'll do without!
Confirm packed bags.
Emma to and from school.
Emma's glasses: Get fitted in the morning.
Pack Zoë for her sleepover at Great-Grandma and Grandpa's starting on Sunday (until Thursday)....
Organize Emma for her week at school while I'm gone (I keep envisioning a week filled with missed library books, lunches...... Snow pants.... Ugh!)....
Confirm child care for Emma once again (she's going to one of her good friends house whose Mom happens to be a DH provider that I like! *L* Starting at 6:15am until 5pm with three walks to and from the school..... More later!).....
Confirm time my Grandparents will show for on Friday (they're watching the girls during the day and taking Emma to and from school as my flight leaves at 1pm).
Passport ready. Passport ready......
Last minute clean of the house (we have the professional sound checking guys coming on Monday.... Our neighbor is in control of our house at that time.... I'm a bit nervous that we won't be here.....)....
Cats food and water (I hear this keeps them happy......).
Clean out fridge...
Watch Grey's and ER.... (That ends at midnight)

Friday:
CHAOS!

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(More later!)

Friday, March 13, 2009

The Have Travel Will Story Contest!!!

The amazing Rhonda over at 'Because Mom Said So' has thought up this wonderful thing to do for one of her lucky readers... She's decided to share her miles that she racked up while
traveling across the States last summer for her two oldest daughter's weddings (you should read about the work that went into them! Goodness!)..... (Click on her link above to see the contest).

I'm entering in hopes to win the grand prize (who are we kidding, the only prize!) of a round trip ticket with my name on it to and from Connecticut!!!! Geee!

And with how today has gone (that post will follow unless I take a break from this one, then it's before this post), I could use a pick-me-up!

So here we go..... The rules state that I have to post a "humorous travel story"... Ha! That shouldn't be too hard... Except that I don't recall traveling a whole lot in my life.... And if I did it was pretty boring in the 1.5hrs to the lake lot and then back on weekends...... I was pretty young when we did the house boating stuff.... And remind me later to post about my DQ adventure leading to Lactose Intolerance. *L*

In the meantime I shall write about the summer of 1990. I would have been 7 years of age. I remember some parts of this story stronger then others so I actually had to do some research on this! Wish me luck!

It was 1990, me being 7 years of age. My Mom, her boyfriend, her best-friend and I crammed ourselves into my Mom's tiny two-door hatchback Toyota Tercel. Have you seen these things? They're like a glorified clown car, honestly! *L* Anyhoo, we crammed the four of us and all of our belongings for the trip into our car and started towards the U.S. of A! Oh yes baby, we were heading to the USA on a single Mom's budget!

Now quite honestly I don't know a whole lot of what happened during this amazing trip we took..... Or the majority of it. But what I do remember is sleeping in a tiny hotel room.... And then near the end of our trip we went horse back riding. I was thrilled! I may not have shown it, as I was painfully shy then.... But I remember being really excited for this! My Mom's boyfriend dropped us girls off at the stables and took off for a bit. I remember walking to where all the horses were and being amazed at just how tall they were! *L* We met the leader of the trail ride and then they paired us up with a horse. I was old enough to have a horse of my own! Geeee!!!! (Remember, I'm 7 and a total city girl!)..... So off we go. We were in the mountains and they decided to take us up this one mountain cliff that they did all the time. Everything was so vibrant... Green. And the air smelt wonderful! I remember watching an eagle flying in the air and that's when I realized just how high we were.... This whole time I had been keeping my mind focused on watching the horse in front of me, watching the ground for holes, etc. and listening to my Mom talk behind me.... All of a sudden the sky started to get dark and huge rain clouds appeared. At this point I wasn't all that scared. I remember thinking that I wouldn't get cold as I had my pink little summer jacket with me! If only I could figure out a way to un-grip my tiny hands from the horn of the saddle.... Hummm.... *L* We were about 40 minutes in and then it happened. A crack of lightening and thunder happened and my lazy horse took off! I'm on the side of a mountain with, honestly, just enough width for my horse to walk on and this new, young, still being trained horse.... takes off! What in the world??!! I remember looking back at my Mom while I bounced along, up and down, up and down.... hearing her scream after me. All I could hear was "HOLD ON! DON'T LET GO!!!!". Yeah okay... My horse is running at, well horse speed on the side of a steep, rocky mountain cliff and what did you think I was going to do, a circus trick??!! ACK!!! *LOL* So I hold on for dear life! I can hear my Mom trying to catch up to me but it was hard as there wasn't a whole lot of wiggle room up there.... Eventually my horse had to stop galloping for there was the line of horses ahead of us and unless it wanted to push it's way past and throw them off the cliff, it was going to stop! And it did! Apparently from my Mom's point of view all she could see was my horse take off in a full gallop while she dealt with her heart in her throat! *L* I've been informed that she was yelling at the leader and those behind him to get their horses running so mine wouldn't try to go around them... As there was a 300 foot drop on our left side and a wall of mountain on our right. Thankfully my Mom is a quick thinker on her feet and an even quicker thinker on a horse!

We made it back to the main point where they pried me off the horse probably amazed that I hadn't cried the whole way back! *LOL*

A few days later it was time for us to pack up and head home. While in the States we had bought a silly amount of fireworks to shoot off for July 1st (Canada Day)... Well let me tell you a little secret, Canadians aren't allowed to bring fireworks back from the States. Ha! Imagine our surprise when we figured this one out.... We had been staying at the Waterton Lakes National Park and decided it would be a good idea to drive to the other side of the Park's border and shoot off the fireworks then head back into Canada..... Nothing could possibly go wrong here, right??! Riiiiiiight..... *L*

My Mom, her boyfriend and best-friend really wanted to put on a show for me.... And that they did! They found a flat space that looked like a big quarry. The 'shore' was all rocks of all sizes including boulders. I remember those quite well. Around nightfall the grown-ups started to set off some fireworks... They ended up not being 'all that'..... So us girls took a moment to stand and chat about which one should be lit next...'Cause, ya know, that's what girls do! ;P In the meantime my Mom's boyfriend decides to forgo the small rockets we'd been letting off and goes for the BIG rocket. Like boys do. He lights it and starts to run back to us. When he was about half way to where we were standing the rocket takes off.... It flew three feet in the air and then...turns... for us! To heck with this, all of us start to run as fast as our feet would go (imagine Fred Flintstone in his car or a cartoon character trying to get away.... Oh yes!).... As we're all running from this rocket that has decided to try and take out the humans I see my Mom's best-friend fall over a boulder! Do we stop and try to help her? Heck no, run like the wind! The three of us (my Mom, her boyfriend and I) keep running! Eventually my Mom and I ended up running together and this is where it happens..... My Mom looks at me... Looks behind us at the human-bound rocket and makes that split decision.

She. Shoves. Me.

Apparently she had hopes that I would somehow find refuge behind a boulder, sort-of like her best-friend did, while letting the mad flying rocket chase her.

Save her little girl!

INSTEAD the stupid rocket chased me! ME!!!! I'm 7, what in the world could I have possibly done to make this rocket take a sharp left and chase me??!!

So here's my split decision.....

I hit the bloody ground!!! *LOL*

The rocket just barely misses me on it's way over and crashes into the rocks.

Well then.... That's enough of that. After regrouping and wiping ourselves off (believe me I have no desire to ever run that fast again on a rocky shore like that!) we decide it's time to head back into Canada where we were camping.....

Then we realize it....

We weren't far enough out of the border for the National Park....... And you can hear the sirens of a RCMP car......

I remember everyone being very calm and not moving a muscle.

Somehow we didn't get caught..... We booted it back to our safe land without the huge fine we could have ended up with....

To this day the things that happened in this holiday are still some of my most favorite memories as a child. I mean who gets to have their horse take off on the side of a cliff and then have a rocket attempt to harm them all in the span of a week and a bit??!! Honestly! *LOL*

I would like to let my Mom know that I do not hold anything against her for the decisions she made during the above trip.... Although I may have to hold it against you for the rest of your life.... *LOL* j/j

And that fellow bloggers is my hopefully-somewhat humorous travel story that I hope you enjoyed!

*fingers crossed!*

Ahhh memories!

*Not my Mom's actual car, but exactly the same!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

My Mini Grown-up!

My first born has decided to take in upon herself to be a grown-up....

A few days ago she spoke with me about wanting to have Chase (yes, the current love of her life from the first week of school!) over for a play date. She informed me of this while we were on our way home. When I asked if she had his phone number she told me 'No but his Mommy said that she'd write it down for me so we could call and make arrangements!'... Just.Like.That. None of this 'can you ask for me Mommy??!' pleading crap, my little one takes charge!

So after explaining to her that we probably shouldn't have him over when the Dayhome kids are here (unless we have an open space!) but I'd be willing to set something up for afterwards or on a weekend. She was happy with this.

Then a day or so later Emma and Zoë are chilling on my bed watching some TV while I'm working on the computer.... Emma leans over to Zoë and says 'Tell Mommy.... *whisper*'....' This caught my attention so I look up in time to hear Zoë say, quite loudly, 'MOMMY!!! Lucas kissed Emma!!!!'...

Um humm.... My 5 year old has it going on... Not sure if I want her to have 'it' yet.... So I investigate by asking such questions as: Where? On the lips or cheek? Where were you guys? What were you doing? How many times has this happen? Her responses were, Cheek. We were getting ready for home time and he just kissed me! And no, it's never happened before (said with a shy look and slight giggle that would melt your heart!).....

All was well with that. I did have to inform Daddy of this. He didn't look to impressed until I mentioned that in the past I've seen her take charge and tell another little boy 'No. More. Hugs!' All while holding him away with her arm straight out in front of her chest to make sure there was some distance between him and her. Good girl!

TODAY we were late picking up Emma from school. Zoë was moving the speed of molasses (uuuuugggghhhhhhhhh.....) and then needed to use the washroom! Ack! So by the time we made it to her school she was playing with a few others that wait for their parents to pick them up. Nothing major (and her teacher stays out there until all the kids are gone)... Anyhoo, on the ride home she tells me that Chase's Mom was 'just too busy' and forgot to write down their phone number. But she will!

When I asked her if she needed me to ask his Mom she said the following (imagine some short questions from me between them):

'No! I already did! I asked his Mom if she had their phone number for me to give to you. She said she was just too busy and forgot but she'll make sure to write it down for us. That way we can call and make arrangements for a play date. And he's still allowed to come to a play date at our house! I also said that he couldn't come over when the Dayhome kids were here.... So we have to call!'

Me: 'Alright well, I'll call her and ask when is a good time for a play date once I have their number'

Emma: 'I'LL call!'

Me: 'You're going to call and ask his Mommy??'

Emma: 'Yeah! I can do it!'

Me: 'Okay then!'

And that was that.

*L* Yes.... This week has been a bit on the emotional side for Emma. She's been distracted at school, overly emotional at home.... At one point I honestly thought I might have to boot her outside just to stop hearing her be bossy and then cry at the drop of a pin! Ack! Not sure if it's the weather change, time change and/or the full moon thing but whatever it is it was wearing my down! And then she pops up with this.... Forwardness, take charge attitude... that I quite enjoy!

So that's been Monday through Today (Thursday). Emma has been invited by her friend down the street from us to go to Girl Guides with her for 'Bring Your Friend' night... They'll be playing outside in the snow today. I'm excited that Brook-lyn thought to ask Emma. They haven't hung out in awhile due to both families crazy schedules! I just know that she'll have a blast tonight!

In the meantime Zoë and I will be painting our nails!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Eeek!

Quick Blog:
Woke up this morning and took my time getting on the computer... At 7:42am my weather network thing is saying it's (are you ready for this??!!) -40 BEFORE factoring in a wind chill!!
Yippee!!!

The high this morning? -34 and then we'll warm up to -24 in the afternoon.
Gotta love this.... Gotta love this.
Brrrr......
This is from Fort McMurray where I was born. -40 on a day like today is warm there. Ugh!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Drifting Away Part 2... Photos!

It caked onto the stuff on our veranda...
Weird....
Snow drift on my sidewalk... I could ski on it! Perfect slope!
Behind our garbage can you can see the snow drift pattern....
Alright so on the left of this photo behind my fire thing is a snow drift as tall as my Husband. Pretty tall.

More soon!

Support Needed!







Hello All!

I write you in hopes that you will please support my very good friend, Julie (some may know her from Church or through me) in her journey for The Weekend to End Breast Cancer. The last time Julie walked in 2007 for this cause (she had a beautiful baby boy in 2008), I gave her as much support as I could. We threw a fundraising party and watched her on her journey all weekend long! It turned out wonderfully for the cause and I would like to go over and beyond that this year.

I myself am unable to walk with her and most likely won't be able to watch her on her journey that weekend as I will be working on a wedding.... But I want her to understand that she fully has our support. This is not only for Julie but for all of those who have been affected, will be affected and all the people tied to those individuals as well.
I honestly believe that we will one day find a cure for this. And if my small donation will help towards that, then I will give!
As she states below, you can donate online from the comfort of your home; print off a donation form online and mail it in or, if you like, you can get in touch with me and we'll make your support come true!
Thank you for your time!

Always,
Mista and Family
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A message from Julianne:
Dear friends and family,

I don't know if you have heard yet, but I am walking in The Weekend to End Breast Cancer, August 8-9, 2009. I'll walk 60 kilometres over the course of one weekend with thousands of other women and men.

I did this walk in 2007, and I'm so glad that I did. The Weekend was not only an amazing experience, but the funds raised through it are providing funding now for research that will make breakthroughs bigger than ever would have been possible without The Weekend.

I've agreed to raise at least $2,000. Would you please consider making a donation? Use the link at the bottom of this email, and go visit my site. If you are uncomfortable with donating online, you can print off a donation form from my website and mail it in with a check to the address on the form. Any amount is appreciated!

You can help me again by passing this on to others who may donate. The net proceeds will support breast cancer research, treatment, and services through the Alberta Cancer Foundation.

Thank you so much for your help!

Sincerely,

Julianne Sanders

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Drifting away!

Would you believe me if I said we woke up this morning to snow drifts as tall as our car??!

Pictures to come soon!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

My Secret...


Is that I've always wanted to be a photographer.

Since I can rememebr the thought of holding a camera and capturing whatever was on the other side of it has excited me!

How could it not???! You get this wonderful opportunity to freeze a moment in time!

*sigh*
One day... One day I may get to take a course or even save up enough money to buy a camera worth taking places to capture what I see..... Or deem worthy of my memory card space... *L*

I remember being in Jr. High looking at catalogues and trying to figure out how I could afford to buy a Nikon....

It hasn't happened. And now Married with kids I can't imagine spending that amount of money #1 on myself and #2 not putting that money towards things that we need to put it towards.

But as I said... One day I'll be old and the kids will be out of the house... And then maybe I can justify putting some 'extra' cash towards a camera I love...

Until then I shall continue to daydream that I'm fairly talented at photography... For now my Blackberry will have to do! *L*

Cashing in just under $10,000! I suppose I could do with a less expensive one... *L*

Oh yeah! My new phone!! Geee!