My Pintrest Love Affair

Here is the the scarf I finished yesterday from Pintrest. Its just felt, cut into 6 circles of varying size and sewn close together on a long scarf size of felt. Isn't the color gorgeous!!! I'll have to take  a pic when I actually wear it!

Here are my next projects!

We are going to try this over spring break when my niece and nephew arrive.

This will probably happen for my DD's bday party in April.

A Fork Ring - can't wait to scour the garage sales this spring for funky forks to turn into rings!! Couldn't you do this with spoons too?!

Ice Cream  AND you get to eat the bowl. What can be better?!

My folks should be arriving any minute on their way home from Florida. They weren't supposed to arrive until nx wk but my sister was diagnosed with a blood clot, above her collarbone that is affecting her right arm. She's only 38 so my parents are obviously very worried about her and want to be close by. They all hope to be able to come down for Easter still. We'll see how she responds to her blood thinners this wknd. Crazy stuff - at least her spirits seem to be good still.

Ahh the parents are here - happy Thursday everyone.

Easter decorations!

I was having trouble deciding what to blog about this morning but I really wanted to write. So I picked Easter.
My sister and her family, and my mom and dad are coming for Easter!! I'm so excited. Its been 2 months since I've seen my parents and I never see my sister enough. It will be chaos at the house with 6 adults and 4 kids running around but I really do hate the quiet for too long (remind of that when I blog monday morning about how i LOVE the quiet).

I am decorating the house for Easter and picking up little trinkets to put in the kids eggs instead of chocolate (gotta be healthy!)

These are Cascarones! Think paper mache eggs filled with confetti. The mess will be enormous but I cant wait to see the look on the first unsuspecting victims face when they have an egg cracked on their head!!

I picked these little bunnies up at Tuesday Mornings. My table cloth is green like the ribbon around their necks so I think it will look really pretty on the table together.

This is not pretty but with 4 kids going on an egg hunt we had to keep fairness in mind. I don't know if you can see the black initials on the eggs. Each egg has an initial on it so the kids know if its theirs or not. The blue A's are for my boy, and the pink A's are for my niece.

Can you see the purple boot?! I have two spring boots that I fill with flowers. LOVE them!  I've gotta open the curtains to the right of the flowers so they'll lean that way. 

My hubby is tolerating the "clutter" :). I love it!!

Here are a couple of things I'm hoping we have time to do next week before the family arrives.

Isn't the flower arrangement beautiful?!!!   The other pic is of Easter Egg cake pops! But I still have to make sugar cookies like this for DD's competition this wknd first.

Happy Tuesday folks. Hope its a great one!!

Another quickie!



The bathing suit is finished! And just in time, her first competition is next wknd!!
I think it turned out great for my first time and I can't wait to see her compete.
What do you think?

I had a major migraine episode yesterday and am slowly recovering today. The day after is a very slow, depressing, foggy kind of day for me. Especially if I've had to take pain meds in addition to the max amount of migraine meds. The GOOD news is its been 3 wks since my last migraine AND I've been keeping a headache journal which shows that my tension type headaches ARE responding to my chiropractic adjustments (YEAH), my last migraine happened on the day I took my first birth control pill of the pack and so did yesterday's. That helps me anticipate and therefore react faster. The month before that I didn't get a migraine but I did have some serious anxiety. Hmmm I do think they're related.
I found two great blogs from women who suffer frequent migraines and their attitude is wonderfully uplifting! That is dearly needed when I'm feeling down as I do in the post drome phase.
A Daily Headache here and Rachel here.  Rachel creates her own loose tea. I bought some from Etsy and it arrived this week (great shipping Rachel). She also sent some calming tea to try too. I was soo excited to buy a tea infuser!!! I did try it yesterday with a bit of sugar. It didn't cure the headache but the Amerge almost didn't cure the migraine either so I'm not disappointed. I'll try again in three weeks when I start my next pack of birth control pills as a preemtive strike!!
Well my happy family is outside enjoying this weather, playing tennis, I think I'm feeling well enough to join them.
Stay tuned tomorrow - I'm off to the wildlife rehabilitation center!! We took in some baby foxes this weekend!! Can't wait to see them.
Happy Sunday!

St. Patty's Day Visit!

I have so many ideas for blogs that it was hard to decide what to write this morning. But I went with the most recent events.

I haven't seen my sister and her kids since Christmas so we planned a "meet you in the middle" St. Patty's Day visit. She drove South and I drove north and we met in London, Ontario.

It was fun, fun, fun.
Here are the treats we brought.

My sister bought us green tees from Old Navy.

My son and I made these pot o gold treat bags from Pintrest.

These little pics were from Pintrest. You print a picture of someone's face, I chose our family, laminate them, then use dry erase markers to add whatever grafitti you want. The kids had a lot of fun with these while waiting for dinner.

 Saturday we went to the Children's Museum, a little gem in London. They had shamrock cookies for the kids to decorate, a McDonald's playset for the kids to pretend they worked at the Golden arches, a fossil dig, a space center, an old fashioned school house, an egypt exhibit (complete with mummy - see below) and so much more.

Finally we headed back to the hotel for nap time for the youngest and waterslide time for the oldest.

It was great to see the kids and my sister, although we've decided that maybe next time we should have a spa date, just for the moms!!

Happy Tuesday lovelies!

BYOC

Thanks for BYOC Draz. Here we go!!



1. How do you feel about college? If you have kids or siblings - will you encourage or require them to go? How long did you go and what for? 

Both my hubby and I went to college (university as we call it in Canada) for 5 year programs - he's an engineer and I'm a teacher. Neither one of us could have done our jobs without the degree. That said, we are both pro college, however, if my kids are interested in something that can be done better without college then it doesn't make sense to go. I'd support them.

2. Pink or purple? Coke or Pepsi? Pen or pencil? Cursive or printing? Ketchup or mustard?

Purple - jewel purple!!!
No pop - I just don't drink it.
Pen  - Gel pens: LOVE them!! Ahh I feel a fix coming on...
Cursive  - printing takes too long.
Ketchup

3. If you could live in any generation - which one would it be?

Hmmm I really don't know.

4. What do you sleep in?
I'm like draz  - whatever. I have pjs, sometimes I wear workout clothes to bed because they're comfy and sometimes I crawl into bed in my clothes (esp when I'm too cold to change) If my hubby is home and in bed with me I usually put pjs on - although he's always suggesting I go neked! Men!!

5. Repeat question - summarize your week!
A good week in real life, got my oven fixed after the lightning strike.
My daughter's swimsuit is almost finished.
My son was sick yesterday but I don't really believe it was the flu, I think it was just a rogue hiccup so that wasn't a negative to the week.
Best of all - the kids and I are travelling 3 hrs to meet my sister and her kids for the weekend. YEAH!!!! We live 5 hrs apart and its been 2.5 months since we've physically been in the same place. I'm sooo excited. Pics on Monday!!
In blog life, I'm 7 new followers away from my goal of 25, at which time I'm getting a real blog design!! So I shamelessly promote myself - spread the word. Thanks Draz for your shout out it really helped.
I also found Rachel at Migraine Mindset if you suffer from migraines check her out, she's got some great ideas.'
That's it folks - have a great Friday!!!

Bathing Suit Stretcher

Good Morning all
Here is the next installment of the Synchronized Chronicles. 
My DD is a synchronized swimmer - think dancing in water. Its a demanding, artistic sport.

This is not my video - but it does give you an idea of what my DD is working towards.

Many girls buy custom made suits. As we joined the sport late in the season we couldn't do that so we bought the red suit from swimoutlet.com a great swimsuit website.  A plain suit is no good for synchro though, so I am bedazzling it. To do that you have to stretch the suit, if you don't and you sew on sequins with the suit flat the thread will stretch and snap when its put on - disaster. So the suit is on a swimsuit stretcher, then you add beads.

On the stretcher

Halfway finished. The white phallic things will be swords!

My DD's routine is to Pirates of the Caribbean so she has a skull on her suit. Here's the suit as is now, I still have to add the swords around the skull.

Marketable skills for me, no?! Who wants their suit bedazzled!! 

Just some tidbits for your Wednesday morning!! I'm off to walk n whine with a friend. Have a great hump day lovelies!

House Hunting

We are moving - someday, hopefully soon. Within the same town but something of our very own.  We have been renting for 7 years as we waited to decide if this was a permanent arrangement (living in the states instead of canada). Well, we are here for good and are finally ready to buy!!! Yeah - huge dolphin claps. I like our rental house but the list of things that need to be fixed is long and expensive, so even though we could probably get it fairly cheaply and even though we love the yard and neighbors we are house hunting!!
I went out today for the first time with our real estate agent. Soooo exciting. I could have moved into either of the two houses I saw.

This is the view from the upstairs looking down into the family room. Kitchen and eating area to the right

This is the kitchen: the range hood is not shown over the stove but is very modern - my DH loves to cook and I love to bake. The kitchen is the single most important room in the house to us.

There is an eating nook to the right so I don't know what this area would be called. (how do I add arrows Draz? you do this all the time)  This pic is looking out across the kitchen sink. The  fireplace in the other picture was to the left.
This house is brandspanking new!!! They were laying the carpet as we walked about. Its already sold but another one, exactly the same is going in right next door and could be finished by September! That means we could make small changes to things to customize it just for us!! The backyard is not quite what we're looking for, so I don't think it will fly but I LOVE these rooms. Unfortunately the $ is not really negotiable.

This is the other house - cool curb appeal huh?! Over the garage to the right is an extra room. There are already 5 bedrooms!!  Each person can have their own room and playroom including hubby and me!

  (crap that means I have to clean each room)

This is the only part that won't work. The kitchen is shut off from the rest of the house. We like to be able to cook and entertain and see the family room from the kitchen. I'd love to move the staircase that closes in the kitchen 180 degrees and open it up more but I suspect it is a load bearing wall and I probably can't do that without the house coming down on me. The best thing about this house though is that it is a short sale so we could definitely haggle about the price.
I hate waiting to see what houses come on the market next but its so exciting to find THE house for our family.

What's your favorite room in your house? Happy Tuesday lovelies!!

Make a List Monday

Thanks to our Radical Robyn, we have a new segment called Make a List Monday. I think this is supposed to help with that blargh...back to work Monday feeling!

This week’s category for Make A List Monday is your top ten current TV shows. This list should include shows that are currently on television. So, no Brothers and Sisters or LOST which are both shows I miss.

 

1. Grey's Anatomy:



2. Private Practise:



3. Hawaii 5-O:





4. Big Bang Theory:

5: House:

6. NCIS: los Angeles

7. True Blood



Wow - That's it!! Those are my favorites (that are still running new episodes)  Terra Nova would have been 8 but I just heard that its discontinued! :(

Running

Laura at Beer, Dogs, and Getting Healthier has been challenging herself to get up and get moving every morning.  It got me thinking about how I motivate myself to workout.
Note to self - I haven't done it yet today!!!
I am a morning workout gal too (usually). Then its done and there are no excuses, events.... that could get in the way.
 In high school I HATED running with a passion, but I had to for Cross Country ski team.
Now I LOVE running. I feel fast (I'm not), I feel strong (ok, I am a little) and I really feel like I've burned some major calories when I'm done.

Some basic info: I run at approx 9min/mile.

I run on a treadmill - its easier when you have kiddos you can't leave alone and I'm a fairweather jogger. If its not 60-80 degrees farenheit fugedaboutit.

How do I motivate myself? Taking a good look in the full length mirror, stepping on the scale, trying on my bathing suit..  Okay I'm only half kidding those things do work though.

When I'm on the treadmill and feel like I don't have it or my mental game SUCKS:
 I play mind games with myself. 
1. I calculate what my final speed will be, I use a distance of 3.1 miles and a time of 31 mins. If I run at 8:36min/mile I'll finish in about 26:30 - that would be a grrrreat time for me. If I run at 8:25 for 1min... what will it be, by the time I figure it out I'm almost done my run!:)
2. Sometimes I run sprints. 1 minute as fast as I can and then 1 minute at a comfortable pace....
3. Sometimes I run 1 mile as fast as I can and then I take a complete break, put the treadmill on pause, until I'm ready to start again (usually 1min). Then I run the next mile as fast as possible.... Until I have a PR 3.1 mile run. Its a mental game folks

I'm not running for anyone but me so it doesn't matter what I do or how I do it as long as I get to run.
And finally, I always have great music or, lately, I've been able to watch shows like Hawaii 5-O and NCIS while I'm working out to keep me motivated!

 Now that's motivation!!

One final note, as blogger Illiterate pointed out to me, for every pair of  TOMS you buy, $$ is donated to charity! So go laura go! Get up and run so you can buy your TOMS and help others!!

Happy Weekend everyone, I'm off to run!!

BYOC

BYOC - Bring Your Own Crazy!

Thank you Draz!!!

1. When you're sick - what comforts you?

When I have a cold/flu I'm happy just lounging on the couch with a big fluffy blanket and a great show, sometimes my cat lets me cuddle him, but if I've got the anxiety bug I want my mom, second best my hubby glued to my saddlebag.

2. How attached to your cell phone are you?

Not too much. I like it for the peace of mind it gives me that if the kids need me I'm available but when they're with me I could care less where it is.

3. What brand, color and kind of sneaker do you own to work out in? Why? Do you get a custom fit or just pick one off the shelf?

I have worn Ascics forever!! I have high arches and killer orthotics and they work.  I can't do nike, they don't agree with my feet

 

4. Do you ever wish you'd picked a different name for your blog and why?

Yes!! I often wish I was Cleva with the blog names like Draz and laura but this is me, heart on my sleeve, literal and it gives me huge leaway ( how the hell do you spell that word) to write about whatever is going on in my life. Some day I'll spend the dough to get a fancy blog background, maybe when I hit 25 followers. I'd better get some good blog topics!

5. Repeat question. Summarize your week in real life and in blog land.

This week has been like a roller coaster ups and downs .  My DD had a crazy Monday, Tuesday I was lower than a snakes belly (damn full moon and sun surges!), today was a good day.... you know normal stuff! I'm starting to bedazzle my DD's swimsuit tomorrow while she participates in a junior olympics thing. Pics tomorrow.

ooh and a running blog.  happy Friday lovelies!!

 

So many fun things!!!

#1 T-shirts:
I finally got out and bought new phones for our house after lightning fried our old land line BUT that is not the exciting part, while in Target I found these shirts that I NEEDED to match (to justify) the new necklace I bought at Charming Charlies. If you have not been to a Charming Charlies STAY AWAY! It is an accessory crack house - I love it!

 I'm going to keep the bluer shirt, my sister is bringing a grey drapey cardigan nx wk for me that will complete the look!! Love the jewel colors.



#2: Snowball Target
This is my DD's brain child. A target drawn with window writers to throw snowballs at. FUN!!!

#3 Hunger Games: I found this little trinket at Target too! The Hunger Games are coming!! If you haven't read the books yet - DO IT, NOW. They are fabulous.  I found this little figurine (max 2") and had to have it to feed my Hunger addiction. Thankfully I put the other one back. This is the tribute from District 6 -  "The female died when she flung herself in front of Peeta to protect him from the monkey mutts on the second day." Seriously, doesn't that make you want to read the books, and see the movie on the 22nd?!

#4 Bathing Suit Stretcher:

This is a bathing suit stretcher. My DD is a synchronized swimmer

so she gets to wear fancy bathing suits embellished with lots of sparkly bling. Guess who gets to add the bling?!! Ding, Ding, Ding, thats right ME. I have learned that you can't sew sequins on a flat suit, when said DD puts it on the thread would stretch and snap so you have to sew on a stretched suit. Cool Huh?! I borrowed this suit stretcher from another synchro family but I think I'm going to go to Home Depot to get the stuff to make my own.  I'll post a pic of the finished suit. Its going to have a sparkly skull and crossbones on it as my DD is swimming to Pirates of the Caribbean.

That is my randomness for this morning. My plan is to blog about running next!! Have a great Thursday my lovelies!

Dr. Suess

So many of you have such deep, profound thoughts this week. I'm almost embarassed to post today BUT Friday was Dr. Suess's birthday!  Here's what we did....

My Things wearing Dr. Suess cat in the hats, and their Thing shirts ( everyone in the family wore a thing shirt to Florida last year - my kids were Things 6 and 7)

Cat in the Hat treats (marshmallows and fruit by the foot) - this was in their lunch boxes.

This was just for me, I put inspirational quotes on our dining room mirror to encourage my kids and give us something to talk about at meals. To kinda set the tone for the day.

Now I'm getting ready for St. Patricks Day - we're meeting my sister and her kids half way between my house and her house at a great hotel with a waterslide. Cant wait. She's already got the t-shirts!!