Just Jen

Well that was fun...

2010-11-09T21:18:00.001-05:00

I just spent an hour working out with my Wii! I haven't used it in ages. Tonight I played Just Dance and Golds Gym Dance Class (?). Fun!

I was doing this tonight because first, I should be exercising every day and I have let that go the past few weeks and second, I just received my S2H (Switch to Health) wrist band in the mail today. If you haven't seen this you should check out the website! Basically, you put this wrist band/watch on your wrist and exercise. There are these bars that add up as you exercise. Once one hour of exercise is complete a code appears! You enter the code on the website and you receive 60 points! These points add up and you can redeem them for stuff! How cool is that? What a great motivator for exercise...and wearing it on your wrist all the time is a constant reminder to exercise!

Love it! :) I have been busy making cards since I signed up for a table at the kid's school Christmas Bazaar this year. From what I hear though, selling cards is a tough business! :) Thought it was a good cause though and I like to support my kids! :)

I will take some photos and share them soon! I'm up to about 50 unique cards now and I have made some sets as well by digitally designing them, printing and adding some slight embellishments. I will sell these in packs of 10. The originals will sell individually. I also plan on making some Christmas gift tags as well. We will see how it goes. The sale isn't until the beginning of December so I have a bit of time. :)

Well, hello there!

2010-11-04T20:04:00.002-04:00

Here I am! I'm back. Hoping to make a good go of this blogging thing now that I have some more time on my hands.

I'll keep it short for today and share some cards and a layout for my probably-not-noticed return to blogging. :)

I think I'm ready....

2010-10-10T09:12:00.001-04:00

To start blogging again...

Another layout

2009-01-20T17:39:00.004-05:00

'Cause I don't have much else to say today. :)

This layout is a result of the ad challenge over at The Scrapping Nook as part of their winter IceCROPades event. We had to make a layout inspired by an ad that was provided to us. There were two and I chose this one.

I was drawn to the curved lines. I really liked the retro feel of the ad and realized I had the perfect photo already printed off just waiting to be scrapped!

This was my end result. The layout took a surprisingly long time to scrap...which usually happens to me when I have a picture in my head of how I want the end result to be. In the end I think the simplicity of the layout does true justice to the ad. Thanks for taking a look!

I hope to be back in a day or so to share some more Project 365 photos with you...although already it's only a few times a week. I'm easing into it I guess. Off to night shift tonight. Wish me luck! :)

New Gel-a-tins!!

2009-01-18T15:08:00.005-05:00

I love the new Winter CHA release Gel-a-tins. I have hundreds of ideas swirling in my head with not nearly enough time in the day to make them all come to life. Here is my first layout with two of the new releases, "Flower Power" and "Butterflies are Free".

I went back to my tried-and-true alcohol ink technique for this layout. Using a transparency on the smooth side, drag coloured alcohol ink along the length leaving it looking striated. This will give you a stained glass look. I then flipped the transparency over and stamped the butterflies with Pinecone Versa Color and sprinkled Gel-a-tins Pearly Glitter embossing powder over top. Then you just need to tap off the excess and heat emboss on low. Taking your handy-dandy scissors, cut out each image and bend up the wings so the butterflies look as if they are landing on the page.

For the flowers, stamp with coloured ink on Kraft cardstock and heat emboss with the Pearly Glitter embossing powder. Hand-cut out each flower and leaf. I also outlined all the petals on the flowers with my brown Slick Writer to give the individual flowers more contrast. I bent the edges and popped some up on the page to add dimension.

It takes a while to complete all the steps but I think the end result is well worth the work! I hope you do too! :)

Things you forget to tell your kids about...

2009-01-15T10:25:00.005-05:00

So it's 9am and the phone rings...I look at the phone and it says it's the kids school I answer and I hear, "Hi Mrs. Backler. It's _______ school calling. Grace is okay. There has been an incident. Grace says she was pushed and got her tongue stuck to a pole. I don't know how she fell with her tongue sticking out but she pulled it off herself and now the tip of her tongue is bleeding. We were wondering if you wanted to come down to the school to look at it." In my head I'm saying, "Seriously??? WTF? Why didn't I tell her what would happen if she did that?" and "No I don't really want to go to the school to see her...I have a bunch of stuff planned for today." So I say, "Well how bad is it?" and she says she will get Grace to talk to me on the phone. A couple of minutes later Grace is on the phone and in a teeny, tiny voice she says she wants to come home. We go pick her up. Now she is home the tip of her tongue is raw, we gave her Advil because I don't know what else to do. There isn't a lot on the internet on how to treat this kind of injury! :) I'm going to try to take a photo of it later for my photo a day. I doubt she will let me though. ;)

You will be happy to know that we have now had a talk about not sticking tongues to poles on the coldest day of the year (even if someone "triple dog dares you") and if you "just happen to fall against one with your tongue sticking out when someone pushes you", (::rolling eyes here - 'cause I don't believe that for one moment::) don't pull your tongue off yourself! Wait for help if you can (and warm water).

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

I have been scrapping up a storm the past couple of days. School hasn't provided me with much homework this week and I'm enjoying my last few days to myself before I start my new job. My layouts are all challenges from the Nook's IceCROPades event going on now through March. I highly recommend it because it really gets the mojo going again.

I made this first one in 31 minutes (it was a 30 minute challenge). So I didn't quite make it but 30 minutes is a huge stretch for me.

This second one was to use a quote provided. It was about winter and snowflakes. I had this photo of a tiny snowmen the kids made a couple of years ago hanging around for ages. It was perfect for the quote! I cut the snowman out from the photo and popped it up so that you could make the edges of the snowman out.

The last challenge was to use this layout by Deanna on the site as inspiration for your own layout. I took inspiration from the colours, the word "big", and the arrow. I had scrapped this photo as a digi layout in the past but really wanted to do a paper version of it. I'm happy with the result. Thanks for the inspiration Deanna!

Project 365...

2009-01-13T13:06:00.007-05:00

I love the idea of it. I don't think I can take photos everyday of the year but I'm hoping that mine will be a bit more like Project 201 or something. I'm starting a bit late and I have already missed some days. I have seen some great things this week that I wanted to have photos of but didn't have my camera with me. I have to keep my point-and-shoot in my purse at all times! Bad Jen.

I started out following a challenge on another board using their suggestions of what I should take a photo of but quickly realized that I wasn't going to be able to keep up. So now I'm just planning on trying to take some daily photos and posting the best of the day.

Here is what I have so far:

This was to be a self-portrait. You can't really make it out but there is a stethoscope above the keyboard in this shot. It really says a lot of my life and the direction it's going in the coming year. Blending my nursing with my interest in technology and through it all having my family to hold me together.

The next shot was to be something you can see from your desk. I took this photo of Simon's Webkinz who is patiently waiting for a tail reattachment surgery. Isn't he cute?

We were then to take a photo of the inside of our fridge. Here is mine in all it's messy glory.

Here is the view from my front door. I was trying to get the handle and welcome mat into the shot. Not very well exposed (I'm learning as I go).

Here is today's shot. I was completing the photo challenge for the Nook's IceCROPades photo challenge. This week's word was "ice". I'm really happy with how this one came out.

I'm going to try and post my photos weekly. We will see how that goes. Maybe my blog will keep me accountable. Fingers crossed.

So....

2009-01-13T08:28:00.003-05:00

I started school this past week. It's going to be a lot of work. I'm a bit nervous about all of it to tell you the truth. It's been 10 years since I was in full time school and I wasn't working full time as well! I'm excited about what I'm going to learn though and it still sounds like a great program. I realized yesterday that I don't have to work Saturday's ever again...well, for at least a year or so. :)

I'm going to be staying at my SIL Jenn's place on Thursday nights (for as long as she can stand me) as school starts at 8am on Fridays (I have a full 9 hour class day on Fridays). I'm looking forward to spending time with Jenn and chatting it up.

Paul is still looking for a job. We are starting to feel the crunch now. Here's hoping he hears about another interview soon.

I'm off until Thursday when I have to go back to school and I don't have a ton of homework yet so I'm planning on actually scrapping! The Scrapping Nook is having the iceCROPades online crop right now and I'm itching to get to the challenges. I love a good challenge and these are going on until March. Stop by and check it out! There are going to be some great prizes.

Paul gave me an iPod Nano for my birthday so I have been busy loading that up. I'm looking forward to using it! I'm hoping to start a learn to run program soon and I love the idea of the Nike+ system. They have beginner running training programs and I think it's a great way to stay motivated.

I'm getting ready to cozy up by the fireplace over the next couple of days because the cold front is a coming! It actully said "frigid" on the news forecast this morning. Yikes!

I'll cry if I want to...

2009-01-05T15:10:00.002-05:00

'Cause it's my birthday! I worked last night and I'm working again tonight so not much celebrating here. That's okay.....I'm getting O - L - D. :) Joking....I'm really not moaning.....much.

Not much new....more later.

Some news...

2009-01-04T09:13:00.008-05:00

So, most of you know that I have recently been obsessed with digi-scrapping. I have been asked to join the CT of Ashalee Wall Designs! I think this will fit in nicely with my paper scrapping commitments and should allow me to actually get some scrapping done! It seems like I need deadlines and commitments lately to get anything done. ::rolling eyes here::

I'm excited about this appointment because I feel that Ashalee's designs mesh well with my style. Here are a couple of layouts I did with her latest kit "Ollie". Wonderful, jam packed kit for boys/tom girls. I still have to do a layout using a photo of Grace...I have the picture in mind and everything.

If you haven't tried Digi, I would definitely recommend giving it a try. I felt I knew my Photoshop inside and out and I have learned so much more making digi layouts.

I'm off to bed now....just got home from the night shift and I'm back in for the next two nights....yay me. Have a great weekend!

Emerging from the caos...

2008-12-31T21:26:00.005-05:00

Wow.....what a whirlwind! This holiday season was a flurry of activity for us! Unfortunately I had to work this Christmas but it wasn't so bad. I managed to get most of the night off on Christmas by making a switch with one of the SO nice girls at work. We spent Christmas with the Backler family including Carole and Roy who made the trip over from England. It was so nice to catch up with the whole family again. The 27th brought Paige and Aiden's 4th birthday...so a party at Sarah's house. We were back to Sarah's house on the 28th for our Klunder Christmas. On the 29th we fit a lunch in with the Backlers and Paul's Aunt Pat and cousin Lee. Carole and Roy then spent the night with us and managed to survive two overtired, overstimulated, cranky kids all day on the 30th. So sorry again guys if you happen to be reading this.

Grace was crying for over an hour last night because of Auntie Carole and Uncle Roy leaving for the UK. She is going to miss them as are we. It's too bad our visits are so few and far between. I feel like all we do is get caught up and it's time for them to jet off home. I promised Grace that she can send weekly emails to them and that seemed to calm her down enough to fall asleep at last.

We saw the movie, Bedtime Stories yesterday. I quite enjoyed it. If you have kids, I would highly recommend going. Funny and entertaining. I wasn't expecting much with Adam Sandler but was very pleasantly surprised. In a somewhat related thought, I do admit to loving his "Red Hooded Sweatshirt" song though....it really cracks me up.

Today has been a sit around and rest day...we need it! I feel like I need a vacation from the holidays! :)

School starts on the 8th for me so I'm getting nervous. I have managed to be replaced at work for the shifts I wouldn't be able to make due to school until I start my new day job (::insert me jumping up and down here::) on February 2nd. Looking forward to spending more evening and weekend time with my family. No night shifts for at least 8 months!

Here is a digi layout I completed today...still stuck on the digi. All supplies can be found at Scrap Orchard. I used Ashalee Wall's kit "Dreamy" and and overlay and alpha from Pineapple Plantation Designs.

Doing it Digi...for two days anyways...

2008-12-09T14:28:00.005-05:00

Just another layout today. Feeling tired. :)

It's been stressful...

2008-12-08T18:16:00.004-05:00

It's been a stressful week around these parts.

Paul still hasn't managed to find a job. We're hoping for early January now. Thank goodness for severance!

I still don't know the start date for my new job and I'm trying to balance my current position with the occasional shift in my new position. I also have weekly meetings to attend as well.

I had my last exam today for my Web Design Certificate. I'm taking a break now from that while I concentrate on the coming year.

I will be working full time while I attend school full time as well. ::clenching teeth with the stress of it all::

I hope it will all be worth it.

Happy notes:

Simon got discharged from the psychiatrist on the first visit (we thought he might have Selective Mutism last year but he came out of his shell over the summer).

Grace was discharged as well after only a couple of months for her Separation Anxiety. She is doing amazingly well. She goes to sleep without calling us back most nights now.

We saw Santa this weekend.

Coming up to 30lbs lost from my body forever!

I relaxed a bit this afternoon after my exam and did a quick digi layout. Loving the digi layouts lately.

A good day...

2008-11-30T18:12:00.006-05:00

We had a nice day today. I managed to scrap a layout this morning. Good for me. Paul managed to sleep in. Good for Paul. The kids played nice together this morning. Good for all of us. :)

This afternoon we went to see "Oliver" at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton. My parents bought tickets for us and them as part of our Christmas presents. It was a lot of fun. Grace is walking around the house singing all the songs and calling Simon "Mr. Bumble". This was their first real theatre experience and I think it went really well. They both seemed to enjoy it although Simon lost a bit of interest towards the end.

I managed to finish a couple of layouts with my November kit from The Scrapping Nook. To be honest I was worried I wouldn't get them done in time. I'm hoping to get a mini book completed as well. Hopefully in the next week or so. I used the Basics line from Glitz design this month.

Karen T. offered up an unofficial challenge (I'm not really sure she knew she did) to see if a romantic style layout could be made with this paper. I tried. Not sure it's romantic...but I think it's pretty sweet. My "Be Merry" layout also features the new Holiday stamps from Gel-a-tins, Holly Jolly. I also used the Save the Date set as well. For the large holly, I stamped first with lime ink and heat embossed with the Christmas Pine scented Gelly Powder. I then stamped the berries in red and heat embossed with the Ruby Slippers Embossing Glitter. I coloured in the holly with a lime coloured crayon. The small holly leaves are double inked with lime ink and evergreen ink on one edge of each. I heat embossed with clear Gelly Powder. All the holly was cut out of white cardstock and matted onto black cardstock and re-cut.

I'm taking a self paced class on Jessica Sprague's site right now called Up and Running. It's a beginners digi scrapbooking class. To be honest I thought it would be a bit too beginner for me as I feel I'm at least intermediate in my Photoshop skills. I have to say I have learned quite a few tricks already and I'm only done week two! Here is a layout I completed last night after completing the week two assignment. I have a long way to go but I quite enjoy learning this new craft.

Card Sketch a Day

2008-11-29T09:15:00.006-05:00

So...after seeing Jen Roach's post about contributing to the Card Sketch a Day blog, I decided to give it a try. It's a great blog with a different sketch each day and tons of contributers! Anyone can contribute a card and the blog owner lists new calls frequently.

My contribution was to make a card from the sketch of a United States Passport. This is the card I came up with.

I got it!

2008-11-02T15:41:00.002-05:00

Just found out I got the day job I have been crossing all my fingers and toes for! I'm not sure of the start date yet but have been officially told I got the job and that I should start attending the weekly Tuesday morning meetings. The stars are aligning in my favour! :) It's been a good week.

Now...if only Paul could get some news on his career. Jobless as of Friday. :( At least I have some fingers and toes to cross now for him! :)

I have some photos to post...soon.

October DT layouts...

2008-10-15T18:23:00.005-04:00

I had fun working with the Heidi Swapp World Traveler line for this month's DT kit at the Scrapping Nook. All of the stuff on the layouts can be purchased in their online store with the exception of the Fancy Pants felt (they are sold out) and the very old Rusty Pickle chipboard numbers from my stash.

I had fun making this layout of the 10 places I would like to visit in my lifetime. I could easily add to the list but I thought this would be a great jumping off point. I had fun pulling out my Dymo Labeller for this layout! I'm going to try to do more of these BOM type layouts. I need more documentation of what my life is like. If you have any ideas for layouts I should do let me know!

The photos for this Aiden layout have been printed out for over a year! This Heidi Swapp paper worked perfectly with the photos of my sweet nephew. I love how intent he was playing with that car! SO happy I managed to get these photos!

I seem to be doing a lot of hand stitching on my layouts now. I can no longer cross stitch...I think I have overuse syndrome in my right hand, so these small amounts of stitching are just the right amount!

P.S. I'm down 3.2 lbs this week! Yay me!! :)

Not thankful for the Night Shift...

2008-10-13T03:37:00.003-04:00

Here I sit at 0340 Monday morning. I am ti-r-ed!! Very tired tonight. As you can see, things have settled down at work and I have a bit of time to surf my favourite blogs. I missed out on a Thanksgiving dinner today with today with the inlaws. It's one of the hard things of being a shift worker. Most people are enjoying holidays and weekends while you are at work. Don't feel sorry for me though. I'm going to my Momma's tonight for some great turkey before heading back to work for another night shift.

Sad tonight that I didn't get to see the kids before coming in to work. It kind of sets me off on the wrong foot. It's funny because I SO enjoy my time to myself but I need my kid fix too! I miss not being able kiss them good-bye before I head into work and having them give me a great big hug. The words always follow, "I love you and I'm going to miss you".

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and gave their loved ones one extra kiss this year. We all have so much to be thankful for. I'm going to post a belated thankful post this week I think.

Man I'm sore!

2008-10-09T18:48:00.003-04:00

As part of my weight loss journey, I have been trying to exercise a lot more. Really any exercise is a lot more but I digress. Some weeks are better than others. This week, so far, is a good one. Yesterday I completed one of my Pilates routines (I have a DVD) and rode the bike in the basement for 20 minutes (yes I know that only 20 minutes is pathetic). Today I logged 45 minutes on the Wii Fit doing mostly Step and Boxing to get my heart rate up. I finished with some strength exercises.

Love the Wii Fit! If you don't have one I would highly recommend it. I love the interactive competitive aspect of it. I'm always trying to beat my scores...I'm the only one playing it right now. I'm trying to get Paul into it so that I can have some friendly competition going.

I feel good that I'm doing something about my weight once and for all. I'm positive that this will be a lifestyle change for me. I'm determined that this will be the last time I have to go through this weight loss roller coaster. I'm looking forward to living a healthy and active life for the rest of my days. There. I wrote it down. Now I have to follow through. It would be nice if it didn't hurt so much to go up the stairs though! All in due time, all in due time. Now, where did I put that ice?

Afternoon Date

2008-10-08T09:06:00.005-04:00

Paul and I managed to get a little date in yesterday afternoon. Unheard of for us! We went and saw Burn After Reading. I quite enjoyed the dark humour and I felt the movie was very well cast. Funny in parts and suspenseful in others. Although not my favourite movie of all time, I would recommend it to others who enjoy somewhat strange movies. I love Brad Pitt in these off beat rolls. One of my favourite movies of all time is 12 Monkeys. I think he is amazing in that movie.

On the home front, things are looking promising. Paul has had a couple of phone interviews for new jobs. He is very excited about one of them, and he feels that the interview went very well, so we are hoping to hear back from them soon. Fingers crossed that he lines something up by the end of the month.

We had Grace at the doctor's again on Monday. It looks like we are mostly dealing with Separation Anxiety and Oppositional Behaviour. The good news? They don't think she is going to need medication! They said that it was good that we sought help when we did as her anxiety could easily transfer to other areas of her life. Thankfully it hasn't yet. She loves school and her activities and thrives there. We are incorporating some behaviour modification techniques into our lives and I think she is doing amazing so far. She even went to her room on her own last week when she was annoyed with Simon! That was a first and she was, of course, praised highly for recognizing that she was angry and not acting on her impulses. She has always thrived on our praise so I'm hoping that this will work well for the future. It's so much easier now that we know what we are dealing with. It will be a long road but we are all learning as we go and growing together as a result.

Off to the dentist again today. I'm not sure if I mentioned this but I really dislike going to the dentist! They offered to let me use the Laughing Gas for my appointment today so I'm going to give it a try. I'm a bit nervous about that as well but I'm hoping it will ease my anxiety a bit. Gee...I wonder where Grace gets her anxiety from? :)

Colour Challenge #2

2008-10-03T14:53:00.005-04:00

There is a new colour challenge posted here over at the Scrapping Nook. You have until the 15th to complete the challenge and I will then draw a name for a little RAK from me. To win you just have to create a layout using the colours in the thread, post your layout to the gallery, and provide a link to your layout on the thread. Hope to see your layouts!

Here is the layout I created using challenge #2's colours:

I'm off to bed...I have to work nights tonight. Blech! Talk soon! Have a great day!

Dental therapy...

2008-09-30T14:49:00.002-04:00

I went to the dentist today for an overdue check up. I never used to be nervous about going...in fact, there was a time when I wanted to be a dentist myself. I even had extensive jaw surgery at the age of sixteen. That all changed when a dentist yelled at me once after causing me a great deal of pain at an appointment. Ever since that appointment, I have needed to push myself to keep my appointments and pretty much white knuckle it every time I go. Even for the cleanings! In all fairness, the dentists and hygenists I have had since switching dental offices have been wonderfully kind and friendly. That doesn't really seem to help.

Fast forward to today. My first appointment with a new dentist. I have some outstanding work that needs to be done from my previous dentist (see above and my fear of dentists). The very nice, young dentist and I talk about what needs to be done. I say okay. She then goes on to ask me how I feel at my appointments. I said I was very nervous and that I don't like them. She nodded like she understood...and...I get to use gas at my next appointment! I'm so excited that I might actually be relaxed!! I hope it works....I will keep you updated. My next appointment is next week. If I write something silly next week, you will understand why! ;)

I ordered some new glasses yesterday as well. They should be ready in about a week. Looking forward to a new look. Since we found out that Paul's work contract is not going to be renewed, we have been trying to use all the benefits we can before it runs out at the end of October.

Paul has applied to a bunch of positions but no word yet. I'm starting to get nervous. I'm happy that I work full time and we should be okay for a bit. Worse comes to worse I can pick up some overtime shifts at the hospital. One advantage of being a nurse! Yay me! <-- Did that sound slightly enthusiastic?

In my continued effort to lose weight I'm down another 0.4lbs this week. I was sick all last week and didn't exercise much so it was pretty much what I expected would happen. I'm telling myself that I'm happy whenever the scale moves in a downward direction. I had a good loss last week and hopefully a good one in the week to come.

With that thought I'm off to get myself a peach from the fridge! Maybe then I can get my scrap room/office organized once and for all! I'm almost there....

Time for a new layout...

2008-09-29T16:41:00.005-04:00

I commited to participating in the "Lift the Pea Above you" thread over at Two Peas. I have never participated in one of these and it was fun! I really enjoy challenges like this. It's fun to see other people's takes on one design.

Here is my layout lifted from the super talented Judith Mara's "Motherhood" layout over at Two Peas.

I have previously scrapped this photo with the same title at an earlier date and it was published in Layout Blueprints 2. The only problem is that I don't have my layout or my copy of the publication despite numerous phone calls and emails. I have given up hope that they will be returning to me so I decided to scrap this photo again since I loved the photo so much. I apologize for the poor photo quality but my camera battery died after only three photos and clearly they were not of the best quality. If I get around to taking a better photo I will post a replacement shot. Don't hold your breath though! :)

I used Basic Grey rub ons for the flowers on white cardstock and coloured them in with my watercolour pencils. I really like how they turned out. The butterflies are rub ons as well. I cut them out and tried to make them appear like real butterflies.

Lazy Weekends...

2008-09-27T18:28:00.004-04:00

Love them. Although I did have to work a bit so far. My sister and I had three tables at a mom to mom sale this weekend. SO not worth the work! We have SO many clothes from our kids and we tried to sell some of them. We managed to make $280 total. I'm done with trying to sell my used clothes when there are so many in need. Lucky for us, Sarah knew a couple of people who just had babies and the remainder of the clothes (6 huge rubbermaid totes) were dropped off at each of their houses! I'm so happy to be done with them all. I'm sure Sarah is as well since they were stored at her house all of this time.

Not much else planned for this weekend. Maybe some scrapping - I have a couple of layouts I need to get done. I think a short visit to Grandma and Grandpa's is in order tomorrow afternoon.

The new Scrapbook and Cards Fall issue has been released. You can download the whole issue for free by following the link. I was honoured to be asked to try for the cover layout. Mine didn't get picked for the cover but it was shown on one of the inside pages. I used the new Gel-a-tins stamp set called "Sheltering Tree" for the cute little tree by the title (It's the same set I used for my blog header). This is my favourite new stamp set from Wendy's releases. I would also like to point out that the wall behind the layout is not bright orange in real life! I'm not sure why it is SO vibrant!

Hitting the books!

2008-09-24T17:57:00.002-04:00

I did it! I got into the program I applied for at George Brown College in Toronto. It's a one year full time post-graduate certificate program in Health Informatics. I will be going to school one weeknight as well as Friday and Saturday. The program runs for 3 terms and is supposed to be quite intensive. I looked at the book list for one of the term 3 classes and it had 5 required text books! Yikes! I will still be able to work almost full time while attending classes.

I'm hoping that this program will combine my nursing with my other current interest and part time studies in Web Design. I'm also hoping that completing this program will enable me to land a regular M-F 9-5 job. I'm missing being with the kids in the evenings and before school. I hate that I miss out on weekend functions because of my shifts. Mostly I miss not making the special holiday events like Christmas, Easter, and Halloween because of work.

It was a big decision to go back to school...and I'm sure it's going to be stressful for all of us. I feel in my heart that it's the right decision though. So...wish me luck! I think I'm going to need it!

Some Summer pics

2008-09-21T10:23:00.008-04:00

So I thought I would share some of the photos from our trips this summer. In the middle of July, we went to Rochester for an overnight trip. The first day was spent at the Strong Museum of Play. The kids loved it! I would highly recommend this outing for young kids. Here are a couple of photos of the kids having a blast at the Play museum. Grace delivering the mail at the Clifford exhibit. I swear she could have stayed there all day playing the mail game!

Here are Simon and Grace in one of the funny mirrors. They love these things!

Simon tracing a picture on one of the light boxes.

Simon trying to prove how strong he is and pure of spirit. :)

We spent the night in the hotel and the next day we were off to the Seabreeze Amusement Park. It is the fourth oldest amusement park in the United States. Great little park. For those of you that remember Crystal Beach, it was much like that. The rain held out all day for us and there were hardly any line ups for rides! They also have a water park with water slides, I don't have any pictures of that because I was enjoying them too! :) Paul fell out of his tube on the lazy river though...which had me in tears for weeks! I wish I had a photo of that.

This is the oldest part of the park - the carousel. I loved the architecture of it all and had to get a photo. They had a pipe organ that played the music. Fascinating to me...the kids couldn't care one bit. They just wanted to ride it!

This last picture was at the end of the day. Grace was on the roller coaster and Simon was tuckered out. He wanted me to take a photo of him with this straw in his mouth. You can tell how tired he is.

The following week we were on to Manitoulin island to spend a few days with Paul's Aunt Vi and Uncle Collin. We all had a great time and it was so nice to get away and spend long days on the beach!

Here are Grace and Simon on the Chi-Cheemaun Fairy on the way over to the island.

Grace and Simon having fun on the beach and in the waves - they loved riding the waves...once they got the hang of it!

Random shots around Manitoulin with Paul and the kids:

Manitoulin has a couple of wind turbines on it and you can drive right up to the base of them and read about wind energy. I had read that one of the criticisms of wind turbines is that there is a lot of noise emitted from them. Other than a slight sound of the turning blades they were pretty much silent. It was actually quite calming and I love the gentle look of them as they turn.

From Manitoulin it was on to Sudbury for a visit to Science North. We wanted to take the kids there because it has special meaning to the Backler family. Paul's Grandfather was one of the architects for Science North. How cool is that? Love this photo I was able to get of the architecture inside the building. The bones are from a whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling.

And finally, what's a visit to Sudbury without a visit to the giant Nickel? It was two seconds away from a complete downpour so I managed to snap this shot before the rain came pouring down. Love the look on Simon's face as he tries to hold up the Nickel. I would have liked to get a better composed shot but there wasn't enough time.

What a great summer! I had a ton of fun and I think the kids did too!

Let's try this again...

2008-09-20T13:00:00.008-04:00

So I thought I would give it one more try...this blogging thing. I enjoy reading all of my friends blogs and keeping up to date with their lives, so I thought, "what the hey!" maybe they want to know about my life! I even updated my blog header as well! Thanks to Jen for the size instructions and inspiration! I used Gel-a-tins Stamps for the header. These are one of my favourite sets! I mixed the ink on the stamp to make it appear like leaves changing.

My life. Lately....stress is the word that describes it. Thanks to my family and friends though we will get through it all. I feel better knowing what we are dealing with and having some tools to help us on this journey. Sure there have been days with tears and filled with worry, but there are many great days in between as well.

We had a great summer this year. Outings included a trip to Manitoulin Island/Sudbury, Rochester to visit the Strong Museum and Seabreeze Amusement park and a trip to the African Lion Safari. The kids had a great time. They spent two weeks at Reptile Camp...what was I thinking comes to mind. Now they are always asking for a pet snake or lizard! Do you know what you have to feed those things?? Grace came home one day from camp to inform me that they tried to feed a baby pig to one of the giant snakes at camp named "Popcorn"! ::insert startled eyes here:: I guess I should have asked if cute baby animals would be fed to the reptiles in front of the kids before camp started. The thought didn't even cross my mind! They absolutely loved it all though and are already asking to go again next year.

Grace started gymnastics again. This year she is in Competitive Workshop so it will be more of a challenge for her. I like the discipline provided to her at gymnastics. We tried to sign Simon up for Karate...he said he wanted to go...but after the first free class he said, "it was too much work"! This from the kid who jumps up and down the whole time (and I mean the whole time) he plays video games!

I will sign off with a few new creations I made for The Scrapping Nook.

This last one is for a new colour challenge I'm hosting over at the Scrapping Nook. I have seen these challenges on other sites in the past and loved the idea. Here is the first layout I made with colour challenge #1. Click here to go to the challenge thread at the Nook! There is always something great posted there and Patti and Elia are just the greatest!

Some New Projects...

2007-12-11T19:02:00.000-05:00

I had a great time playing with my December kit from The Scrapping Nook! I loved working with the Foofala Indian Summer line when it is getting so cold outside. I also broke out the UTEE for the first time in a long time...I'm addicted again!

I had this photo of Simon blowing out the candle on his cake on his fourth birthday. I thought it would be a great twist to journal about what I wish for his future instead of what he may have wished for (probably chocolate treats) when he blew out his candle.

To make the chipboard owl, I inked the edges of the Maya Road Owl with brown ink an drew in a beak with my journaling pen. I then heat embossed three times with UTEE. This gave it a neat pottery kind of feel. For the eyes I added two little orange buttons.

I also made this little mini book using the lyrics from the song "We are Family". This project is going to be our next free download on ScrapAbility and I hope many of you will visit and download it. I then hope that you post your creations because I want to see them! You can look for this class to be posted hopefully by the end of the week! Also, while you are there, would you mind answering a couple of polls we have posted at the moment under "ScrapAbility News"? We are getting ready to launch some new classes for January and would love to know the direction you would hope to see ScrapAbility go in the future. We want to offer the classes you are looking for (obviously) and are willing to find the most amazing teachers to teach them! Thanks so much for checking it out!

PS. Two posts in one day...this has to be a record!

I did it!

2007-12-11T11:22:00.000-05:00

I was afraid to try. I managed to make a very primitive blog banner. I will work on it and make a better one soon! Need to get some digi elements I think!

Quick post...Grace and Simon and my attempt at a holiday photo. I will post again soon!

Where does the time go?

2007-12-05T09:40:00.001-05:00

I just can't seem to keep this blog up to date! You would think that I have tons to talk about but I don't. Life just seems to take hold and before you know it, it's December.

I'm working on my layouts with my Novemeber kit from The Scrapping Nook! I love the paper we were given this month. I would love to post a peek but I haven't taken a photo of the one layout I have completed thus far.

November brought some changes on the scrapping front for me. After one glorious year designing for an amazing company, they decided that they were not going forward into 2008 with a design team. I was extremely sad that I wouldn't be a part of the team anymore but Cosmo Cricket and the people behind it are wonderful. I was so honoured to be a part of the team and will value the friendships I have made as a result of being on such a close knit team. Thanks Cosmo!

Wendy at Gel-a-tins brought out some amazing new Holiday stamps and I'm still in the process of making my Christmas cards as we sit here today (insert embarassed face here). Both sets of stamps are a build-your-own set and very versatile! I love the Holiday postage one. So vintage looking! I hear that Wendy has some awesome stuff up her sleeve for CHA winter as well! Can't wait for those designs. Creativity will be oozing I'm sure!

I took my first exam for the Web Design certificate I'm enrolled in at the local college here. I'm loving the program so far. I'm learning all kinds of things I didn't know before. Before I know it I will be a web design goddess! :) It was so weird walking through the halls of the college on the night of my exam. At 35, I feel young but man did I feel old walking those halls. My mom said that people probably just thought I was a teacher. Thanks mom!

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Steel City Safari here in Hamilton. It was an amazing show put on by the Reptile store and a bunch of other community zoos and conservation organizations. There were amazing educational segments and the opportunity to get up close and personal with many animals. The kids had a blast. Grace was the usual dare devil and couldn't hold enough of the snakes and birds. These photos are her holding a couple of the snakes. She wasn't afraid one bit. In the photo with the funny face, Grace was told to make a face like she is afraid. Can you believe it? That snake was on her head! Simon wouldn't even touch the snakes. He did however touch the shells of the turtles (when they weren't looking). *snicker*

Christmas is in full swing here. I put the trees up on the weekend of the Toronto Santa Claus parade. That is my tradition. I love the trees so much so I try to optimize the length of time that they are up at our house. Now that we are in the new house I have room for both trees. One is actually in our bedroom since we have this really nice arched window in it and it looks so pretty from the front of the house at night. I will take some photos and post at a later date (Read: don't hold your breath).

I'm so thankful that my friend Patti's husband Ron made it through his surgery fine and is home now on the road to recovery. You are doing an amazing job my friend. What an amazing nurse you turned out to be! You had absolutely no need to doubt yourself and your abilities! The patience of a saint I tell you...that handbasket is going to be empty for quite a while! ;)

Heavy Heart and some New Layouts

2007-11-11T11:30:00.000-05:00

I have been spending the last week consumed with thoughts and well wishes for my dear friend Patti and her husband. The surgery will be on Tuesday and I'm hoping (and yes even praying) that the surgery will go well with no complications. You are always on my mind Patti and I'm here for you whenever you need me. Please take care of yourself.

This month I had the privilege of working with the Daisy D's Autumn line for my DT work at The Scrapping Nook. I love this paper and I feel a couple more layouts coming on. I created these two layouts with the kit.

The first one was a labour of love, cutting out all the flowers from the patterned paper but I love the final look. It's funny how we as scrappers, always have a favourite layout and how that favourite changes all the time. I admit that these two new layouts are my new favourites!

The second layout is my family being goofy. I had to laugh as someone commented, "that picture of your husband must make you proud" on one of my message board sites. It's true, it's one of my favourite photos of my husband and he didn't want me to make a layout about it. I was planning on using it all on it's own but thought this was a bit more subtle. I love what a great husband and father he is and how he is willing to wear the crown if his daughter (and son for that matter) demands it.

On the ScrapAbility front, we are getting some new classes ready and should have some up for registration in the coming week or two. Watch out for some great project classes and a Photoshop class!

Catching up...a bit

2007-11-02T09:28:00.000-04:00

Well...I guess my good intentions have gone to who knows where. I really do try and update the blog more often but before I know it a month has gone by.

We are settling into the new house well although Grace still says frequently that she misses the old house and her friends. It breaks my heart to hear her sad like that. She seems to have settled in well at the school and she likes her new teacher.

The middle of October was busy for me. I had the Crop for Kids in London. I had a fantastic time and the event seemed to go amazingly well. Kudos to Sarah and the gang for pulling off an amazing weekend that raised thousands for the Children's Hospital! I'm honoured to have been even a small part of it all. The women I met that weekend were all fantastic and I even managed to meet a couple of people I only knew from online so that was fun. All of my supplies made it to my classroom and the classes seemed to over well which was a relief.

I have the honour of being a part of The Scrapping Nook's DT. Last month I had Dream Street Papers to work with. I decided I would do a canvas with some of my paper. It took a long time to finally finish it as it was a work in progress but I'm happy with the final result. I hope my friend Patti liked it too (she's the owner of the store).

I also decided to enter a Prima contest this month as I already had the paper that was required to enter and I was dying to try it out. I had a lot of fun working with the Paintables. For the blue and pink flowers I painted them using my watercolour pencils. I used texture paste on the red flower and painted it with red acrylic paint. I accented all the flowers with my glitter pen for a bit of shimmer and outlined the black outlines on the red flower with my black Glaze pen. I'm very happy with the outcome of the layout. Loving the Kraft cardstock lately.

Halloween has now come and gone. The kids had a great time. My sister's kids, the twins, came out as well to go Trick or Treating with us. There were many great displays in the neighbourhood so it looks like we have some competition! We love to decorate the house for Halloween and there were a few in the neighbourhood that even had haunted houses in their garages! It was a lot of fun walking around with the kids. Grace was a bit timid at a few of the scarier houses and I heard her say to Simon once, "You go first Simon because you are braver than me". I love my kids!

I am T-I-R-E-D

2007-09-09T07:21:00.000-04:00

Why can't I sleep past 3:30 am lately? This past week there I am, wide awake staring at the ceiling at 3:30. Why?? I guess I have a bunc of stuff on my mind. I can't think of any other explanation unless it's that arched window in our bedroom! It's the only thing about our new house that I don't love. If I had the choice, it wouldn't be there. We are having a hard time finding a covering for it. Of course I sleep on the side of the bed where at 6am, the sun shines directly on my face. I have also noticed lately, that at, oh around 3:30, the moon is also shining on my face! I have a mask but I never sleep as well with it on. I guess I will have to give it another try. Keep your fingers crossed that I will find some suitable covering for it soon!

Grace started school this past week. Her first week in the new school and in grade one. It seemed to go well. It's her first time riding a bus to school. I was worried that she would be to afraid to get on the bus all alone, to a school that she has never been to, and to a class full of kids she didn't know. Boy was I wrong! She hardly had time for a kiss goodbye! She ran over to that bus, got on, and waved happily from the window. I guess it was mom that was too afraid!

There was only one story from the past week that broke my heart. She said that she asked some kids to play with her at recess and they said no. She said that she spent the rest of the recess standing by herself by a tree. I cried when I heard that. The next day she took a skipping rope to school and the report was that she played with Mackenzie at recess. So we are getting there! New kid in the new school syndrome. Grace is so sociable so I'm sure it won't be long until she wants to invite her whole class over for a play date!

Simon starts school this week. We will see how that goes. I found out last week that he is still on the waiting list for speech therapy in Hamilton. We waited 8 months to get in at Erinoak in Burlington. We were told that there wouldn't be a wait here since we already waited so long in Burlington. I guess they were wrong. The thing that bothers me is, that it was one of the deciding factors about whether or not we should move. Since we thought there was no wait we figured it would be okay. Another tearful day for me on Friday. I'm so embarassed to say that I actually broke down and cried on the phone with the speech therapist intake coordinator. Simon is so resistant to speech therapy at home with us. He needs that one on one with the therapist. I know we will get there...it's just such a long road and I'd rather get back on it sooner than later.

Here is a picture of Grace on her first day of school. Love that missing tooth! Just as Murphy's law works. My battery died on the camera after the second shot! Bad mommy not checking the battery level the night before!

Giving...

2007-09-05T19:45:00.000-04:00

I watched Oprah today. It as an episode about giving. Bill Clinton just wrote a book about it apparantly. On the show they mentioned an organization that helps people in developing countries sustain themselves by giving them loans to run their businesses. The best thing? You can donate and directly help someone! When they pay you back, you can use that money to help someone else! The donation amount is set at $25 right now due to the overwhelming response. Almost everyone can afford $25 and you can read updates about how they are doing!! Oh...and their payback rate? Something like 97%!!

It's amazing...check it out!

Kiva

Canadian Scrapbooking Crop for Kids

2007-09-03T17:17:00.000-04:00

This October (the 12th-14th to be exact), I will be teaching at the London location of the Canadian Scrapbooking Crop for Kids. All proceeds from this event will go to the Children's Hospital in the city that the event is held. The Crop will be held in 5 cities across Canada and I can't even tell you how dear this cause is to my heart.

My son Simon, although healthy today, had two stays at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto immediately following his birth. Had it not been for the amazing doctors, surgeons and nurses that work in the Neonatal ICU there I wouldn't have my son here with me today.

Let me see if I can find some old journaling I did on a layout about the events surrounding my son's birth and hospitalization. One sec...

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Okay I found it!! Here we go...feel free to skip this part if you aren't at all interested...it's a bit long.

Simon’s Story

March 31, 2003. The day you were born, the height of the SARS crisis in Toronto. Daddy and I were the only people allowed in the hospital with you when you came into this world. No one would be able to see you until we brought you home from the hospital. You were born by c-section at 36 weeks because I had no amniotic fluid left to sustain you in the womb. Your birth was very exciting and you came into the world surprising us all that you were a little boy. You were beautiful and 6lbs1oz, a good size for being born at 36 weeks.

Shortly after birth you developed breathing problems and had to stay in the nursery on oxygen so that they could keep an eye on you. I went to see you a short time later and you looked comfortable lying there in the incubator. I wasn’t able to hold you yet because of the oxygen.

Through the night your breathing became more laboured and the doctors put you on a CPAP machine which would help you breath easier. Because of the CPAP, the pressure in your lungs built up like it sometimes does and you developed a collapsed lung. In the morning the nurse informed me of this and I immediately went down to the nursery to see you with tears streaming down my face. Your father was on his way.

They told me that you would need a chest tube and would need to be intubated. Since this was what you needed you would be transferred to Sick Kids in Toronto. Because of SARS it took them hours to arrange the transfer since they had to get special clearance. The nurses that transferred you were wonderful and took some Polaroid’s of you without any tubes so that I could keep a picture of you by my bed since I wasn’t able to go with you. It was less than 24 hours since your birth.

That night was one of the hardest nights I have ever experienced. Daddy wasn’t allowed to come back to the hospital because he had now been to another hospital that may have had a suspected SARS case. The next morning I signed myself out of the hospital so that I could be at your bedside with you. I sat by your side for hours on end. Your little body hooked up to so many machines. Daddy and I had to take turns because only one parent was allowed in the hospital at a time. This was extremely hard on us to not have each others support at your bedside.

You did very well and 3 days later the chest tube was pulled and you were extubated. This is when I was finally able to hold you for the first time. I was sobbing as I held you in my arms, so tiny and through so much already. Later that day you were transferred back to Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington.

In Burlington you were still being tube fed as you wouldn’t take a bottle well. We were having difficulties with your feedings as you were vomiting them all up. The nurses told us to be patient and that everything was fine. We just knew that something was wrong. When you were 7 days old you began vomiting green bile and then the doctor’s knew something was wrong. They told us you had what was called Malrotation.

It occurred when you were developing inside me. The intestines didn’t attach to the abdominal wall like they were supposed to and now you had developed a rotation in them that caused an obstruction. This required surgery.

Again they started the process of transferring you back to Sick Kids. Hours later we were on the road again. At 1 am and 8 days old you had surgery to fix the obstruction and take out your appendix as it would now be in a different than usual spot. Daddy and I were allowed in the hospital together just while your surgery was taking place and then it was back to one at a time. We waited anxiously and after what seemed like an eternity, the doctor came out and told us that the surgery went well and that there was no further damage done. What a relief!

The next 11 days were long and tiring to say the least. We spent hours on end at your bedside. The nurses and the team at Sick Kids were wonderful and always took the time to talk to us and update us on your progress. You were kept asleep for a few days while you recovered so that you could receive pain medication.

After they took your breathing tube out for the second time, the work of getting you to drink from a bottle started. It was frustrating to say the least. The one wonderful thing about it was that we could now hold you as much as we wanted! We would sit in the rocking chair at your bedside and hold and rock you for hours.

Finally on Easter Sunday and almost 3 weeks later we were allowed to take you home! What a wonderful present for Easter! We brought you home at 5lbs1oz. One whole pound less than you were born at. You were so tiny! Finally the rest of the family could meet you! It was wonderful to see Grace’s face when she met you for the first time. She just kept saying, “baby” and would so tenderly touch your face.

A month or two later we got a call from Sick Kids. They wanted to send a photographer out to take pictures of Simon so that he could be in their annual report. The photographer came and took tons of pictures (I wish I had copies). Later we found out that you were going to be on the cover of the report! The picture turned out fabulous and you looked so cute on the cover held in daddy’s arms.

I’m so thankful that everything worked out okay and that you are a healthy toddler today. I love you buddy.

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Well that was four years ago now and I am now able to give a little back. I hope you will help me if you are a scrapbooker and come out that weekend, take some classes, and crop for a while. Classes are only $20 each and are taught by some amazing teachers (humbly leaving myself out of that group).

Here is a peek at my classes. My layout class, sponsored by Cosmo Cricket, will be taught at all the sites and my layout in a tin class, sponsored by Gel-a-tins, will be taught at a few of the locations.

Gel-a-tins Coaster Album in a Tin

We will bind this album together making a board book of sorts from coasters. When completed it will fit inside the altered tin. We will use brand new release stamp sets from Gel-a-tins and explore some stamping techniques like heat embossing, masking, layering, and shadow stamping. We will also be breaking out the alcohol inks for this one!

Gel-a-tins Altered Coaster Christmas Wall Decor

We will use coasters to make this altered Christmas wall hanging. We will use a new font set from Gel-a-tins along with the amazing Fancy Flakes set and a tried and true alphabet. Techniques include heat embossing, layering, and a unique use for heat embossing as well. I can't wait to put this up on my wall this season...who am I kidding..it's already up!

Cosmo Cricket Use Your Diecuts Layout

We all have them and sometimes don't know how to use them. In this class I will get you to think outside the typical diecut to use them in new ways. Using the brand new Gretel Line we will rip, sand, paint, and ink our way to a beautiful aged layout with hidden journaling!

Cosmo Cricket Dates to Remember

In this class we will alter a Plain Jane Cigar Box from Cosmo Cricket with the brand new Gretel line and "to die for" Ready Set Chipboard Letters. Inside you will find a perpetual calendar where you can store all your important birthdays and anniversary's of loved ones. We will even make a couple of cards to get you started!

Tables and chairs and couches oh my!

2007-08-30T17:50:00.000-04:00

Paul and I spent the day today at the decor centre in Missauga after a friend of mine, Vicki, told me that she saw some amazing stuff there. In and out of the stores we went. I think we might have found some stuff we actually like and nothing we like more than the living room furniture and dining set we found already so that is good since we are buying the latter this weekend!

This is the recliner that we are buying, the couch is slightly different. The colour is going to be a dark brown, so darker than what is shown in the photo. Also the head rest comes out...I don't like that piece.

I think we found a kitchen table we love and a stand/bench for the front door area. We also saw a chandelier that we both agreed on! That is BIG news. We rarely find lights we agree on.

This is the bench we saw. It also comes in Black so I'm not sure which way I'm leaning on this one...we might not even get it. It would just be great for the kids. Looking at it now, I think I like it better in black! Man this is hard!

We also saw some art work that we would love...now to save the $5400 we would need to buy it! This house is going to cause me hours of overtime I can feel it!

Have I mentioned that my dad's brother is an artist? I would love one of his paintings but I don't think I could ever afford one. My mom has one on layaway at a gallery. She goes in and puts money down on it all the time. One day she will own it!

Here is a link to a gallery that carries some of his work.
Harold Klunder

It's very abstract and I love it...plus he's my uncle! :)

The Funny Things Kids Say

2007-08-29T09:45:00.000-04:00

So the kids come home from daycare the other day and Grace has this little piece of paper with her writing on every little bit of the paper. I ask her what it says. She says, "It's a list of what Simon and I want to be when we grow up". I ask her to read it to me. This is what it said.

"I want to be a horse back rider or a nurse (I happen to be a nurse), and Simon wants to be a Chef, a Wrestler or a Giver of Flowers."

Then she goes on to ask me where she will be able to find a horse for riding. I tell her a farm and she seems happy with that. I ask Simon what a "giver of flowers" does and he replies, "I give flowers to you, daddy and Grace". Just like that. Very matter of fact.

I love these kids! :)

Updates Galore!

2007-08-28T14:35:00.000-04:00

Two times in one month! Now I'm getting somewhere! So...what's been happening with me? The short answer is lots!

On July 24th we moved into our new house. We are absolutely in love with it! Almost all the boxes are unpacked and we are getting to the point where we almost feel brave enough to put holes in the wall! It's funny to me because I never had this problem before. I guess this is the right house for us because I just want it to be perfect. Our appliances are finally installed, grass is growing, towel bars are up, and the inevitable search for some new furniture has begun!

I will post photos of the house soon. It's much nicer now that we have grass. I just have to get out there and take the photos!

We have been spending a lot of time at the Binbrook Conservation area the past few weeks. It's just minutes from our house and the kids love it! The beach is perfect and the shallow water is corded off. They also have a great splash pad. We bought a season pass so that we can go whenever we feel the urge for some sun and sand.

Last week we took the kids on their first camping trip. This was our first time camping since Grace was born six years ago! Of course, it had to be the worst two days of the summer. The kids had a blast just the same. We didn't go far so that if something happened and we couldn't get the kids to sleep in the tent we wouldn't have far to come home. They loved sleeping in the tent and roasting marshmallows on the fire. The hammock that Sarah (my sister) demanded we put up, turned out to be a tremendous hit. We also tried "fishing". I put that in quotes because we mostly just threw the line into the water. The kids fishing rods didn't even have hooks on them.

On Wednesday we went to the African Lion Safari. We decided that we would drive our car through the animal reserve so that we could stop where we wanted and move on at our own pace. It was a good idea I think, since the kids were so excited and very loud! It wasn't too hot so the animals were pretty active. I got some great shots of the animals too. My favourites are the monkeys (Baboons) and Giraffes.

I have to say though, that I was very bothered by some of the patrons of the safari that day. This is the problem with parks like this. People just don't think about the animals' well being. Many people were feeding the animals through their window and I even saw a teenager pull on a baby camel's ear! I was hoping that the camel would spit on him but he didn't. I left feeling sad for the animals as I usually do when I take the kids to places like this.

On the creative front, I have completed a couple of layouts for The Scrapping Nook where I am honoured to be a part of the design team. This month we worked with the yummy Cherry Arte paper. I have also been finishing up my projects for the Canadian Scrapbooking Crop for Kids coming up in October. This is a Cross-Canada event for an amazing cause, Children's Hospitals.

Those of you that know me, know that this is a cause close to my heart. Had we not had an amazing Children's Hospital near us when Simon was born, he wouldn't be here with us today. The doctors and nurses that work in these hospitals are amazingly talented at what they do and I as a nurse bow down to them for all that they do every day! I don't know how they do it but I'm so thankful that they do.

Saturday marked our annual Klunder Family Reunion. My dad has 10 brothers and sisters and most of them have large families as well. This yearly event is the one time a year that a lot of us see each other. We have to wear name tags now to keep all the 2nd and 3rd generation straight! Grace and Simon had a good time although we couldn't stay long since I had to work nights at the hospital.

Speaking of hospitals, we had a family outing to our local hospital last night. Simon fell off the swing at daycare yesterday and got a cut on the back of his head. When Bern called us to tell us about it, it didn't sound so bad but when Simon came home and we got a closer look we knew it needed stitches. He wasn't too happy about it but he ended up with 4 staples in his head by the time we left. Other than that he is doing completely fine.

We have two new classes up for registration at ScrapAbility. Please stop by and check out the classes by the lovely Michelle Engel and a new teacher at ScrapAbility, Pamela Mosby. Both have designed amazing projects for you. We also have a new free project available for download in our forum. It was created by Pamela for us and the project will be part of an upcoming class at ScrapAbility. Downloading the project will give you a good idea of how we deliver classes at ScrapAbility. Plus, as an added bonus for registering on the site this week, we are giving away free classes to two lucky new registrants in our forum! Hope to see you there!

Phew! That was a lot! Hopefully I will get better at all of this!

Tagged!

2007-08-08T01:45:00.000-04:00

SO....I guess in an effort for me to keep my blog updated, I was tagged by my friend Tara. The game is Scattegories and for the record, "j" is a hard letter!!

My Name is Jen:

1. Famous singer/band: Janis Joplin (oooo 2 points for that one!)

2. four letter word: jack

3. Street: Jones St.

4. Colour: Jaundiced (it's a medical skin colour...hey...it's the only thing I could think of!)

5. Gifts/presents: Jewellery

6. Vehicle: Jetta

7. Things in a sovenir shop: junk

8. Boy Name: Jim

9. Girl Name: Janice :)

10. Movie Title: Jurassic Park

11. Drink: juice

12. Occupation: Janitor

13. Celebrity: John Travolta

14. Magazine: Journal of ...

15. U.S. City: Jacksonville, FL

16. Pro Sports Teams: Jacksonville Jaguars (hey! 2 points again!)

17. Fruit: juicy

18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Jam in traffic

19. Something You Throw Away: junk

20. Things You Shout: " Jinx!" (remember yelling that?)

21. Cartoon Character: Jerry (Tom & Jerry)

I bet you were wondering...

2007-07-30T04:07:00.001-04:00

if I am still alive! I am...but I'm very, very tired! :) I was away at CHA from July 18th to the 23rd. We arrived home at 6pm. We were gone for almost six days but it always goes by so fast! I had so much fun being with my friends that I only get to see a few times a year! I miss you already Kerry! CHA is a lot of work but spending time with friends and hanging out after the show is always a ton of fun. Wendy had a great show (her best yet) and managed to out last many of us at night despite "her condition". Michelle, her usual cheery self, belting out the show tunes and quoting the movies. Natasha was great to have along...so young but I think she held up good with us crazy girls! My prairie girl Kerry is always a laugh to have around. Can you believe she didn't know that we have farms here in Ontario? I was laughing about this again yesterday as I drove by the tractor dealership on my way home from work. It was almost as bad as the "Regina, Calgary" quote of another friend of ours.

For the first time, we had to deal with a significant theft from the Gel-a-tins booth. Kerry made a wonderful altered tin that held her son's hockey medal proudly inside. Sadly, we returned to the booth on Saturday at the end of the show to realize that it had been taken. I just wish they would have left the medal for Kerry. There we were, standing in the booth all of us crying for Kerry. It was a hard day for us but poor Kerry had to go home to her son and tell him that the medal was stolen. So sad.

We moved into our new house on July 24th (the morning after I got back from Chicago) and we are still living in a house with half unpacked boxes everywhere! The good news is that we now have a new stove, fridge and microwave. It's good news because it has been a daily battle with the people we bought the appliances from. Daily phone calls since they just didn't show up on Tuesday. The bad news is our dishwasher was mysteriously cancelled without our knowledge or notice...so we have no dishwasher until next Saturday. I sense there will be quite a few more phone calls and letters written in the near future.

The kids have settled in well. I was worried about Grace because she never wanted to talk about the new house. It made her sad since she was going to be leaving all of her friends. We told her that everyone else in the neighbourhood was looking for a friend too and that she would meet some as soon as we moved there. Sure enough, we met little Jessica the day after we moved in. She is our backyard neighbour. I'm excited because she will be in Simon's class in the fall. So he will at least know someone when he starts school. It should ease the stress for both Simon and Mommy as well.

That's really all I have to say now...I hope I will update more frequently...but you know me, it will be sporadic at best I'm sure! :)

Exciting news!!

2007-06-05T11:37:00.000-04:00

It has been announced and now I can share some great news. My two very dear friends at The Scrapping Nook, Patti and Elia, have asked me to join their design team! I'm super excited to be a part of this team. How wonderful to be on a team with your friends, working for your friends! This site has become my home. It's a place where I can go to chat with friends and get amazing inspiration. There are always wonderful challenges going on!

Patti and Elia are also planning an amazing getaway weekend next May....Destination Create!! You MUST check it out! I'm so excited that some of my friends will be coming from across Canada...it will be my first time meeting some of them!

I made these layouts lately with the Prima Just Us Collection available in the online store at the Nook.

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I feel the need today to talk about something else. I believe that everyone should be allowed to share an opinion in this world. It makes for great conversations. I live my life trying to do things that I think are right. I have many strong beliefs. I support companies that in turn support humanitarian efforts and stand for excellent business ethics.

There are places that I won't shop at because they stand for things that I don't agree with (ie. Walmart). There are products that I won't use because of how the products are made or tested (ie. veal, known sweat shop use, unethical business practices). Recently a company that I was involved with chose to do business with a company that I felt lacked business ethics. I spoke my mind saying that I personally wouldn't support such a business, sighting my reasons and the fact that it was my opinion only. Some agreed with me and some disagreed. It was all okay because they too have opinions and they don't have to agree with me. I was quickly banned from where I posted my comments. I assume it was because I didn't agree with the choices that these people made. They were not posted publicly...it was a private area. I was merely stating an opinion and trying to get people to look at things differently.

I am hurt for so many reasons. I am hurt because a place that I loved and helped build up to what it was had now turned it back on me. My best friends in the world came from that place. I shared many ideas about how I thought the place could grow and be even better than it was before. I gave monthly ideas and support. I'm hurt because when I made the difficult decision to move on, I gave them more time at their request and in the end, I was merely deleted...without a word of thanks or a good bye. It makes me sad. It's like I can't go home anymore. I feel like I'm looking through a window but I'm no longer allowed in. I'm not saying I can't come in. I can...it's just that I no longer feel welcome. And that is what makes me sad.

I'm moving on...I just needed to get that off my chest. Thanks to all of my friends who support me and understand.

And so it Begins...

2007-05-25T09:03:00.000-04:00

It was inevitable. You buy a new house and you want nice stuff to go in it. Yesterday, Paul came home early from work so we decided to go looking at appliances. We will need a new dishwasher and microwave for the new house because the ones we have now stay here with this house. Beside Sears Appliance store is a store that we have never been in before. Amish Furniture Outlet. I'm not really sure what the Outlet stands for because I didn't find the prices to be outlet prices. But man! The furniture in that store is absolutely gorgeous!!

I found the dining set I have been dreaming about. It will even seat 10 extended! But...and this is a big but...when all is said and done, it will cost almost $10000.00! Ouch! But it is oh so pretty. I think I have to keep looking. Here is a photo so that you can feel my pain. The photo doesn't even do it justice. You need to go there and just feel it. Patti said that I could be buried with it if I wanted. I'm actually thinking about it!

Happy Days

2007-05-19T12:57:00.000-04:00

We have had quite a few happy days lately. The stress has decreased significantly around here. We sold our house in only 2 days and finalized all the details of our new house. We got 99% of our asking price and are extremely happy. I still can't believe that we bought our dream house. The house that we will hopefully grow old in (until we can't climb the stairs anymore).

We have been to the new house weekly since we bought it and have spent long periods of time inside and imagining what it is going to be like when we finally move in. The big move date is July 24th which makes me a bit nervous as I won't get home from CHA summer until the 23rd most likely! Eek!! Just thinking about it makes me a bit nervous but I'm so happy that we will be moved in with a month of summer left. The kids will get a chance to make some friends before school starts in September.

Here are some photos of the new house. The outside, two shots of our kitchen, and the great room (minus the carpet). Ignore the mess...I haven't dusted for a while! :P

Simon turned four March 31st which somehow got lost in my blog posts along the way. I can't believe that my baby is 4. What on earth have we been doing that four years has gone by so quickly? After our rough start with Simon, he has grown into quite the young boy and SO happy all the time too. We are incredibly blessed to have two wonderful children.

Just to keep with tradition, Simon made sure to have a nice fall the day before his birthday and had a nice upper lip abrasion to show for all of his photos. I think I should do a layout of my poor battered children on their birthdays. I have a ton of photos that show the evidence. I'm totally going to do that!

Grace started soccer on Monday. She was SO excited! She loves soccer. I think it is her favourite. Unlike Ballet. She is counting down the days until the end of ballet. I guess we won't be signing her up for it next year. I must admit that I was surprised that my tom-girl wanted to sign up for it in the first place. Soccer is much more her style.

Not much else... it has been nice to just relax a bit after the whirlwind house selling. I promise I will try my hardest to keep up my posts in the future! I swear mom! :)

I'm still alive....but barely kicking! :)

2007-05-03T23:55:00.000-04:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

I know that I have been a very bad blogger...I'm so sorry...life has been turned upside down for the past couple of weeks. We bought a house (rather suddenly) and have been spending every spare minute getting our house ready to sell. The sign goes on the lawn tomorrow and we have an Open House planned for Saturday. I hope it goes quick...I can't take much more of this!

I'll be back real soon...I promise! :)

Pheww!!

2007-04-11T19:04:00.000-04:00

I know I have been missing in action...but I have an excuse!! I swear!!! I am ecstatic to announce that ScrapAbility has gone live!!! It has been months of work and it is so nice to see it all completed. Thanks to everyone for their support. The response has been great so far and you won't believe what we have in store for you! I'm still working hard on bringing you even more amazing classes.

I need to thank a few people though. First to my dear, dear friends Patti and Elia. You are the most amazing friends a girl could ask for. I'm pretty sure that Patti is ready to say "Stop calling me!" We talk a few times a day and still we aren't sick of each other...well I guess I can only speak for myself. These two girls know business like no one else I know and have such high standards for ethics and morals as well. Amazing is all I can say. I'm so privileged to know the two of you much less get to work with you!

I also want to thank our first set of amazing teachers! Without you guys willing to take a chance, ScrapAbility wouldn't have been able to get off the ground! Thanks for believing and trusting in me. Your faith in our idea humbles me and I am honoured to also call you all my friends. Trust me when I say this...these classes kick a*%!!! Each of these teachers brings something amazing to the table. There is truly something there for everyone.

A big thanks to Patti and Chris the minds behind Blue Kangaroo Studios who brought our vision for ScrapAbility to reality. I'm sure they are sick of our constant changes and requests but the end result speaks for itself! Thanks guys!!

If you haven't stopped by already, please do so. If you register in the forum you can download this free class and you will be entered to win a prize package! The deadline for registering for the prize package is April 15th. I can't wait to see you!!

I'm here....just busy!

2007-03-29T12:31:00.000-04:00

So...It has been mentioned at the Nook that I haven't posted in a bit. It's mostly because I don't have much to say right now that isn't about ScrapAbility. And I can't give all of that away right now....so I decided to take Kristi-Anna's challenge and do the 100 questions about me survey!

1. When’s the last time you ran?

I don't do running...although I would love to be able to say that I am a runner. When I was young people used to make fun of the way I ran and now I'm too self conscious to run. I did run upstairs today to get some clothes for Grace! Does that count?

2. Do your jeans have rips, tears, and holes in them?

I used to think I was SO cool in highschool when I had this...remember the safety pins?? I don't have any holes in my pants now though.

3. What are you dreading right now?

I'm anxious about the launch of ScrapAbility. I'm not really dreading anything though.

4. Do you celebrate 4/20?

Am I dense? What is 4/20? Easter? Not this year. Hmmm.... how about I'm not sure?

5. Only child?

No..I have one younger sister, Sarah.

6. Favorite ice cream?

PC Caramel Chocolate Crackle Ice Cream and Baskin Robbins Pralines & Cream

7. When was your last doctor’s visit?

About 8 months ago...the dreaded yearly physical! I'm kind of anti-doctor for myself...which is odd considering I'm a nurse. I guess I just worry that they will think I'm silly for coming in for nothing.

8. Do you get the full 8 hours of sleep a night?

No...I don't even know what that is. I don't think I have slept through the night since Grace was born almost 6 years ago.

9. “First Loves Are Never Over;” is this true for you?

No...although I admit I have thought about my first love through the years.

10. Think of all your exes. Would you take any of them back?

No...never.

11. If anyone came to your house on your “lazy days” what would they find you wearing?

Probably PJ's or track pants

12. Have you ever been on your school’s track team?

In grade school I was on the cross country team...see my earlier post about running...and in high school I was on the gymnastics and field hockey teams.

13. Do you own a pair of Converse?

I did when I was in high school. I just bought Grace a pair of rip-off high tops all blinged out! I love them on her!

14. Who did you copy and paste this survey from?

Kristi-Anna

15. Do you eat raw cookie dough?

Yuck! No...I would much rather have the cookie.

16. Have you ever kicked a vending machine?

No...but I have rocked one in the past.

17. Don’t you hate when the radio ruins good songs by playing them over and over?

Not really... I only listen to the radio in the car so I'm happy that I get to hear the good songs when I'm driving.

18. Would you rather them play the whole video or just a clip of it on TRL?

I have never been a video watcher...so I guess I don't really care.

19. Do you watch Trading Spaces?

Yes

20. How do you eat oreos?

I just bite into them...it's really how they were intended to be eaten! ;)

21. Have you ever stayed online for a very long time waiting for someone?

Yes...all the time...I'm kind of embarassed to admit that.

22. Are you cocky?

No...I don't think so

23. Could you live without a computer?

Definitely no!

24. Do you wear your shoes in the house?

No

25. At what age did you find out that Santa wasn’t real?

I'm not really sure...maybe sometime around 8?

26. How many phones are in your house?

4 plus 2 cell phones so I guess 6

27. What do you do when you’re sad?

Eat!

28. Who would you call first if you won the lottery?

Paul and then my mom and sister

29. Last time you saw your best friend?

It's been too long but I talk to her multiple times a day!

30. Who or what sleeps with you?

Paul, my hubbie

31. Are you/have you ever been in love?

I am in love now with my husband (and scrapping) :)

32. Pancakes or french toast?

French toast with strawberry jam

33. How do you like your eggs?

Over easy

34. Are you in highschool?

Thank goodness...no!

35. Is anyone on your bad side right now?

Oh...there are a couple of people!

36. What jewelry are you wearing?

Just my wedding ring set

37. What’s the first thing you do when you get online?

Check my email

38. Do you watch Grey’s Anatomy?

Ummm...of course! Is there any other show as good??

39. How do most people spell your name?

Jenn .... I only use one "n"

40. Would you wear a boy/girlfriends clothes?

If they fit me I would...why not?

41. What was the first movie that gave you nightmares?

Blair Witch Project - that movie creeped me out...we were living in a house in the forest at the time!

42. Favorite 80s teen movie?

Breakfast Club I guess...I loved all of the 80's teen movies though

43. Is Justin Timberlake becoming the next Michael Jackson?

I'm not sure...I do know however that he is bringing the sexy back! BTW...check this out!

44. Do you know someone that wasn’t born in Canada?

Yes...a ton!

45. Favorite name for a boy?

Simon obviously! :)

46. Will you keep your last name when you get married?

I changed mine to Paul's

47. Your favorite restaurant you don’t get to eat much at?

Alice Fazooli's or Milestones

48. When is the last time you left your house?

This morning...with the kids

49. How do you eat your steak?

Medium...on a side note, I was a vegetarian for 11 years and now I love a good steak occasionally!

50. Do you return your cart?

Always

51. Do you have a dishwasher?

Yes! Thank goodness!

52. What noise do you hear?

The hum of the fridge and my fingers on the keyboard.

53. Would you survive in prison?

I think so but I would be terrified!

54. Next concert you hope to go to?

I would love to go see one of my favourite bands from my youth including but not limited to...Depeche Mode, REM, The Cult (I hear they are getting back together), U2

55. What was the last thing you ate?

A pizza pocket...and it wasn't even good!

56. When was the last time you said I love you and meant it?

This morning

57. Who is the youngest in your family?

My son Simon who is turning 4 this weekend! Where has the time gone?

58. If all of your friends were going on a road trip, who would be most likely to over pack?

Probably me. I like to be prepared!

59. Do you know anyone with the same name as you?

Umm....yes...doesn't everyone know someone named Jen?? My sister in law is also named Jen and so we have the EXACT same first and last names...much to her disappointment! :)

60. How many syllables does your name have?

5 for first and last

61. When is the last time you ate peanut butter?

Yesterday!

62. What service is your cell phone?

Telus

63. What’s for dinner?

Not sure...I guess I should start thinking about that.

64. What’s the last thing you purchased?

Gymnastics classes for the kids.

65. Do your siblings ever pay for stuff for you?

No but why should she?

66. Where is your cell phone?

In my work bag.

67. Is your phone on vibrate or ring?

Ring...but it's always turned off unless I need to call out.

68. What brand are your pants right now?

Not sure...bought them at Costco though!

69. Ever been to Georgia?

Yes...as a child

70. Did you do breakfast this morning?

Yes...Honey Nut Cheerios and banana

71. Do you like marshmallows?

About once a year...roasted almost until they are burnt

72. What irritates you most on the internet?

I would have to say unsolicitated spam emails

73. What brand is your digital camera?

Canon Rebel

74. Do you watch movies with your parents?

Not any more

75. What song best describes your life right now?

I can't think of any right off the top of my head...I'm not very good at that...I keep singing "Paxil Back" in my head.

76. Do you own expensive perfume/cologne?

Yes...but I never wear it!

77. Are you taking college classes right now?

No...but we are getting ready to start our own school! ;)

78. Who are you dating right now?

Patrick Dempsy...oh...did I just say that out loud?

79. Do you like sushi?

mmmmm.....sushi!

80. Do you get your hair cut every month?

No...about every 3 months

81. Do you go online everyday?

Why yes I do!!!

There....are you happy now?? :)

I'm tired...

2007-03-14T19:22:00.000-04:00

I don't really have too much to post about today. I have been spending a fairly relaxing week at home. I have been working on some more of the behind-the-scenes stuff for ScrapAbility. I can't tell you how excited I am about all of this. The night that we went live with our Splash page I couldn't sleep! The response so far has been fantastic! Thanks SO much to everyone who has left us comments and let us know that we are doing the right thing by starting all of this. It makes all the work SO worth while! We are working at bringing you all something unique and inspiring. I really hope that you will all agree once you see it for yourselves.

I have had 3 layouts picked up this week for publication! I'm so excited. I have recently started submitting again and to have success so early after starting again is fantastic!

SO next week is the week that we will find out that my friend Michelle Engel has indeed won CK HOF. I was privileged to get a sneak peek at her wonderful work and I'm quite certain that she has an amazing chance of getting the nod this year. She has an amazing, cohesive style that I just love. One talented lady she is! I guess I just have to sit back and wait for the calls to start. Then I will get the call from Michelle that will say "You were right Jen" and I can say, "I told you so". I've been waiting to say that. :)

I guess that's all I have to talk about today. Life is good. It's wonderful to be surrounded by great friends and family. Realizing my dreams is becoming a wonderful, fulfilling experience. Did I mention that I'm tired?

Announcing....

2007-03-11T23:48:00.000-04:00

So I can finally reveal what I have been working on for the past little bit! I'm so excited! Patti Thompson, Elia Cabral and I have come to together to bring you something that we are so excited about.

Please take a moment to visit our new site...ScrapAbility!

Here is a bit more info from my friend Patti:

When will we launch--We do not have a specific date, but will let you know when we do. What I can tell you is that we are very close, and are working on it at a feverish pace, so it should not be too long. Obviously we will keep you up to date. Who are we--I have to credit the concept of SA to Jen Backler. Elia, Jen and myself have worked hard to round out the concept and bring something truly unique to everyone. We are a separate company from The Scrapping Nook.

What are we--The classes that we will be bringing the consumer are top notch classes, taught by industry leaders, design team members and top manufacturing companies. We will launch with a small array of classes to test the waters and continue to grow from there. We have a long list of teachers who have agreed to teach for us and who understand our concept and our goal.

What is our goal-- Our goal is to reach everyone. We have a distinct Canadian feel, but have included international teachers to really round out the experience. We felt a real need in the industry to reach scrapbookers, paper crafters and photographer "wannabes" all over the world. It does not matter if you live in Fonthill, France, Ft. Myers or anywhere in between. Everyone will now have the opportunity to learn, grow and flourish as an artist regardless of where they live.

We are incredibly excited and honoured to offer this to you! We would love to have feedback on what classes you would like to see offered, and any other comments you might have. You can reach us at info@scrapability.ca

So...here we go again...

2007-03-10T20:43:00.000-05:00

I know, I know...it's been forever, but I'm here now and I plan on staying on a "fairly" regular basis. My life seems to have been just crazy lately and many things have had to take a back seat lately including this blog.

I am back working full time at the hospital and that has been a bit of an adjustment. Trying to balance work, kids, my designing commitments, and new adventures has been difficult at times but I'm liking the direction my life is taking.

Start with the kids you say? Well...even if you don't say that I am...so there. :) Grace is doing well...sassy as ever. I can't believe that I have an almost 6 year old! Where does all the time go? Simon has started speech therapy (after an 8 month wait on the waiting list) and we are having almost weekly sessions. Another challenge in our lives right now but much needed for Simon's sake. He will be starting JK in the fall and I want people to be able to understand him. He still drops the majority of the ends and beginnings of words and has been classified with a "moderate to severe" speech delay. Right now we are working on the "f" sound and he is making slow but steady progress.

I will add a couple of photos of the kids enjoying winter...just because! :)

I'm starting a new schedule at work next week and I'm excited about that. It will be a 4 days on and 5 off schedule. SO much easier to manage my life (or at least I hope so). Shift work can be so hard, especially when you have to work 2 weeks of nights at a time. I'm hoping that this new schedule will find me less tired on a day to day basis.

I recently finished my very first scrapbook teaching experience at the Nook! It was a fantastic first experience. I love my friends Patti and Elia. Working for them is a pure pleasure and they made the whole experience so enjoyable! I had a ton of fun throughout the day and I hope that I will be able to teach again soon! It was great meeting some new people and seeing a bunch of my friends as well. I hope it was as fun for those taking the class as I had teaching it.

I have started submitting again. Yay me! I figured it was time to get myself out there again. I just heard that I got a layout picked up for Blue Media's Layout Blueprints 2. SO excited to be at it all again!

And...I have something very wonderful in the works right now. Unfortunately I can't share the details yet but I am so extremely excited about it all! I have been working very hard on this along with a few other friends and I hope that you will all be as excited about it as I am when it is all finished! I can't wait to share more...and I'm sorry about the tease. It will all be revealed real soon! I promise.

If you stumble across this new post...thanks! I know that many have given up on me and if you come here on the off chance that maybe, just maybe I posted a new entry, I love you for not giving up on me! I will try very hard to be a better blogger I swear!

I am thankful...

2006-10-04T14:05:00.000-04:00

My friend Elia started a thread about what we are thankful for over at the Nook (their online forum). Since I read the thread I have been thinking of the things I am thankful for. It may seem strange but the thing I am most thankful for in my life is the adversity that I have overcome.

I am thankful that I grew up in a wonderful loving family. My mother was quite sick when I was growing up and was in and out of the hospital a lot. I am thankful for that. I am thankful that through that, we are closer as a family. I have come to the realization that my father is a wonderful father and husband for sticking by my mom through it all and raising us when he my mother wasn't around. I think that because of my mother's illness, I am a more compassionate person and I am empathetic to the people around me who themselves face adversity.

I am thankful that I had a boyfriend in highschool who was verbally and mentally abusive. I am still affected by his actions towards me but I truly believe that I am in some ways a stronger woman because of it. I had the courage to walk away. I knew I deserved better. I never put myself into an abusive relationship again. I broke the cycle. I truly believe that coming through that pain brought my to my wonderful husband Paul. He is my best friend and soul mate. He treats me with respect and as his equal. He is everything I ever hoped a partner would be and he is the most amazing father for my children. I am extremely thankful for his patience with my sometimes low self esteem and residual scars from my past. He is warm, compassionate, and giving. He is everything I needed and everything I will ever want. He is who I strive to be. A wonderful, strong, compassionate person.

Last night I let a labouring lady through the doors of the hospital. She was about to have a baby and I felt a tinge of jealousy that I didn't get to experience labour and the natural childbirth of my two children. As I sat there thinking about it, I realized that I am thankful that I had difficult pregnancies and childbirths of my two children. I am not a natural mother and I believe that it was through this adversity that I have been able to form strong bonds with my children. I had pregnancy induced hypertension with both and that caused a bunch of complications.

Grace was born at 38 weeks via C-section after a failed attempt at induction. My birth experience was tainted by a terrible birth experience through which I experienced a huge amount of pain that I won't go into here. She was healthy. My husband, my pillar of strength yet again. My family came together and stayed with my through my labour. I became closer to my SIL in that day as well. I was not successful at breast feeding and spent many a night crying over that with my daughter in my arms. Through those first nights in the hospital, I was able to bond with my daughter. My daughter and I are extremely close now.

My son Simon was born during the height of the SARS crisis in Toronto. He was born at 36 weeks and had some difficulty breathing following birth which led to complications. He was transferred to Sick Kids at one day old and I left the hospital one day post-op to be with him at the hospital. The doctor only let me leave because of the SARS crisis. I am thankful that I was allowed to sit with my son and touch his hand. Until this time I hadn't even touched him! At 5 days old I was finally able to hold my son in my arms for the first time. I was overcome with emotion and bonded with him at that instant. Holding his little body with all the tubes everywhere. How lucky was I that I could hold my baby in my arms when so many lost their babies. There were other complications and Simon had to undergo surgery at 8 days old. I am SO thankful for the doctor that operated on Simon and the amazing nurses that cared for my son following the surgery. My son would not be here today had he not had his emergency surgery. I was an amazingly difficult time but I have a healthy, loving, and caring 3 year old today because of all of this and for that I am extremely grateful.

I also believe that I have some of the most amazing friends in the world. They are always there for me when I need them. I am so truly thankful for them. Maybe it was my adversity through life that brought them to me as well. They make me happy, they support me, and they love me no matter what mood I am in!

I was at the doctor's office a month or so ago and there was a poem on the wall. I read the poem and spent an hour searching the net for a copy of it. I found it! Read it....I was almost in tears in the doctor's office. We have so much to be thankful for.

Thanks for bearing with me through all this! And thanks for reading...it means that I have friends who care what I have to say and who respect my feelings and thoughts. I love you guys!!

I Am Thankful ... **
...for the taxes that I pay because it means that I am employed.
...for the mess I have to clean up after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends.
......for the clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.
......for my shadow who watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.
....for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.
...for all the complaining I hear about government because it means we have freedom of speech.
...for the spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking.
...for my huge heating bill because it means I am warm.
...for the lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means that I can hear.
...for weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been productive.
...for getting too much e-mail because it lets me know I have friends who are thinking of me.

It has come to my attention....

2006-10-03T18:21:00.000-04:00

My dear sweet Paul came up to the bedroom where I was sleeping after my night shift today to inform me that my sweet neighbour Kim thinks that I may be pregnant again!

It appears that Kim read my blog and came to that possible conclusion...insert the "eek" smilie here!! I must assure you that I am in NO WAY pregnant. My secret is definitly "scrap" related. I can most definitly only handle two children! They keep me more than busy and happy for that matter....although I must say....seeing a newborn.... ;)

Here is another layout I finished with the gel-a-tin stamps. I used the Weathered Letters, Laugh Out Loud Letters (1" Lowercase), and the chocolate card set that was premiered at CHA Summer. Can't wait to get the new Memory Trends releases! They are gorgeous! I am itching to create with those stamps!

SO....I'm still alive and kicking!

2006-10-01T19:17:00.000-04:00

Well....I'm going to give this another go. It has only been since June! Just a little vacation! ;)

Off to Memory Trends next Sunday. I'm getting excited. I loved Vegas last year and I'm looking forward to exploring it more this year with some of my fellow Gellies. I have been scrapping a lot this week in anticipation of the show. Did some new Gel-a-tins stuff. Let me know what you think!

I also made it to round 3 in the Scrappin' Trends Summer Bash contest. The deadline was Saturday and we had to upload 2 layouts and an altered cube for this round of the contest. There will be 3 winners from the 15 left. I mostly was hoping to make it to this round so that I could work with the brand new Urban Lily that I was digging! I am in love with what I did so it was all worth it whether or not I win. Winning would be cool though! ;)

I have recently found out about a couple of other cool things scrap related that I still have to keep a secret for now. I am so excited about it all and I am bursting with excitement to talk about it!!
Just one more week for one of them!

I have been hanging out in a new place (besides my regular haunting ground on the net). My friends Patti and Elia started a forum for their store in Fonthill. It's called the Scrapping Nook and I just adore their little store with all the up to date current stuff! The forum is turning into a fun place to be as well! I'm enjoying the small feel. Great job guys!!

Two weeks ago I started my new job in Emergency at my local hospital. So far I'm liking the small community feel of the hospital and the people I have met have been really nice. It's hard being the new girl but I think I will like it there. The pace is (so far) a little but slower so that is nice AND we get our breaks!! Two more orientation shifts and then I'm on my own! I'll let you know in a couple of weeks if I still like it when I'm flying solo!

Having Fun With Blending Modes

2006-06-17T19:06:00.000-04:00

I have been wanting to add a little more digi to my scrapping and have recently been introduced to Jessica Sprague's awesome blog with Friday Photoshop tutorials! This week Jessica talked about blending modes and OMG I can't wait to use it on everything that I have! I love the mix of digi with traditional paper layouts. I see a new trend in my future!

Check this out! Isn't it so cool? You can do it to! It really wasn't hard and it was SO fun in the process. Now I can't wait to scrap this photo! Nothing like a cool new technique to get the 'ole mojo flowing again I say!

Thanks Jessica! You rock!

I'm so tired....

2006-06-07T22:55:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling much better today although I could do without the nagging cough and constant dribble from my nose.

I would like to know why it is that my children, both of them, feel the need to wake up 2, 3, even 4 times a night. It is really driving us insane. Sure they go back to sleep right away but it makes for a very restless night. That coupled with a VERY long day at work makes me a very tired girl. Still, here it is, almost 11pm and I sit here, writing on my blog.

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

I feel frustrated tonight with my work. I often feel frustrated after a shift at the hospital. A lot of people have said to me that what I do is important work and that it must be so cool to save lives. While I agree that my work is important, nurses frequently feel unnoticed and unheard. While it can sometimes feel fantastic to save a life, we sometimes are forced to keep people alive that we know will have not have any real quality of life when we do save them. What are we saving these people for? So that they can sit in a wheelchair in their nursing home where no one comes to visit them? Where they probably don't remember their caregivers who care for them on a daily basis? Or for those who we don't even know if they even have any family at all, where their only "family" is a public trustee who has made them a "full code" 3 years ago and hasn't bothered to revisit the patient's code status? Now there is a poor man who I am sure has suffered a lot, who probably won't recognize anyone who he should recognize, clinging to life in an ICU, with a tube in his throat helping him to breath, and more medications than any one person should have running through an IV just to keep his blood pressure high enough to sustain his life. Not one person came to visit this man while he was under my care today and our attempts at finding any family that we could speak with ended with the nurse at the nursing home. There was none. Not such a rewarding day. The sad thing is it happens all the time. I tell everyone I know to let their family know their wishes should the unthinkable happen, because it WILL happen. Will your family know what to do?

We do. Nurses do. Doctors do. Those of us that see this on a daily basis. We see tragedy, upon tragedy in our Emergency. We joke about having DNR tatooed on our chests. Or about stock piling medications so that when the time comes we will have our own choice to make when we can make it. Sure we see wonderful things as well. Sure there are many happy moments as well. The majority of people leave the hospital tired but okay but some don't and I am saddened by the families that have never discussed these topics or the patients that have to die alone. If you are reading this and haven't discussed this with your family, please make sure they understand your wishes. Please.

This isn't a self pity party about what a bad day I had. There were many fine moments of my day. I even laughed today. But patients like this can sometimes weigh heavy on your soul. I never really know what to say when people will say, "Wow, you work in ER? It must be so exciting! You must have some great stories!". The truth is that I DO have some stories but the "stories" that I remember the most, that stay with me and are easy to recall are the ones where someone is usually critically injured or ends with me (and others) having to support a grieving family.

It's just hard. That's all there is to it. Mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually....hard. I don't know how else to explain it. Often, I just want to go to an office, do my job on my computer, not hold people's lives in my hands, and go home. I know that that can be hard too, but I sometimes think it really isn't the same HARD.

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

So now I've gone back and reread what I have written and although I feel like taking all the middle part out, I'm not. I feel the need to say those things tonight. I feel the need to let people know what it is really like sometimes.

It's strange reading it all again because I see the dissociation with it and then me tapping into my feelings about today. Often I just push all those feelings down. We have to do that. It's a coping thing I think. Two seperate entities...my home life and my work life. But tonight I'm just so tired...

I Am....among other things...

2006-06-06T16:03:00.000-04:00

Melissa posted a challenge to bloggers on S! the following list. So....being the obedient young lady that I am, I will oblige ;) Plus I might win a RAK!! Nothing like the promise of a prize to get me going I say!!

I AM: Everything that I wanted to be and more...and some things that I didn't want to be.
I WANT: to get in shape and kick my food addiction in the butt once and for all.
I HAVE: everything I need
I WISH: I had more will power
I HATE: mean and arrogant people
I MISS: having time to myself on a regular basis
I HEAR: children laughing and playing...five minutes ago it was children screaming and crying
I WONDER: what my life will be like a year from now
I REGRET: not allowing my creative side to come out during my schooling years
I AM NOT: happy with my nursing job right now
I DANCE: when no one is watching
I SING: only to my children because to them I have the best voice in the world
I CRY: when I see children suffering
I AM NOT ALWAYS: patient
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: my own works of art
I WRITE: because it calms me and allows me to share my thoughts and feelings
I CONFUSE: my husband
I NEED: love and companionship
I SHOULD: be cleaning my house
I START: everything with enthusiasm
I FINISH: projects with a deep feeling of satisfaction even though it sometimes takes me a while to get there

Thanks for the challenge Melissa! You helped me keep up with my other challenge to post to my blog daily as well!

Under the Weather

2006-06-05T23:18:00.000-04:00

Feeling pretty crumby today. I started yesterday with what I thought was a cold but seemed to morph over night into the flu. I woke up this morning with a fever and the feeling like I might vomit at any second. I'm not a really good sick person. I spend my professional like looking after sick people, you think I would be able to handle it. I can't. I sit around feeling sorry for myself. Good thing I have a good man who puts up with me.

This was the worst time of the month to get sick too. I was supposed to be working at Wendy's today getting the kits out. I feel like I have let so many people down. Everyone is always so excited to get the kits and when one factor in the already hectic schedule isn't in place, everything gets thrown off wack. Wendy was so sweet too...she even offered to let me use her "sparkle puke bucket". Thanks. :)

I don't have much else to say since I spent the day sleeping and lounging in my PJ's. I did manage to start some organizing of my embellishments by colour families. I read about it in the Big Picture book. I loved the concept and I can already see how it will be perfect for me. My only concern is trying to pick what colour to put an item with when there are more than one colour. I have put those to the side for now. It's a big job but I think it will be worth it in the end. I will post some pictures (maybe) when and if I ever get it done. It's funny how you have zero strength when you are sick. It's like opening a cupboard takes all the energy in the world.

I'm leaving with a posting of my last layout for the Scraptivity June kit. I loved this kit and I admit I pushed for this paper, so if you don't like it I guess you have me partly to blame! I am so pleased with how this layout turned out. I admit that I was a little afraid of the Festival Letter stamps but I love how the work so well with this layout.

I think that is about it for today. I should at least get some brownie points for keeping up with my commitment to post to my blog. No? Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully a healthier day!

Here's to tomorrow!

It's been a real long time...

2006-06-04T09:03:00.000-04:00

SO...it has been forever since I have written on my blog and I made a promise to myself today that I was going to try and post much more frequently. Even if it is just a couple of lines. I think I was feeling this need to write a novel and that was stopping me from coming on and posting. The funny thing is, once I get started it is sometimes hard to stop! Cheap therapy I guess.

Life has been a little hectic lately. I have gone back up to 30 hours a week at the hospital and that hasn't made me very happy. I'm trying to balance that with working with Wendy and getting my own scrapping done. I feel SO good when I scrap but I find that I am SO tired lately and just getting down there to my desk is hard in itself. I think I just have to commit to sitting at the desk every day and looking at my photos and supplies. Then inspiration will set in and I will start scrapping. It usually works every time if I can just get myself down there.

We have Grace registered in Blast Ball and Soccer this summer. So far she is loving every minute of it. Blast Ball is a step below T-Ball. It just gets them used to working as a team and hitting and fielding the ball. It is one of the cutest things I have ever seen (even though I have only managed to get out to one game so far due to working at the hospital...grrr). Basically there is a T and one base. The kids (about 6 of them) stand on these little black pads all around this one base. When the player hits the ball, they all run to try and get the ball. It's so cute to see a group of 6 kids scurrying to get the ball. So far there hasn't been any huge fights.

A cute thing happened at one of the first games. Grace's team is called the Rockies. When they were leaving the field to go home, Grace turned around (not knowing the kids names yet) and screamed, "Bye Rockies number 5!!" It was adorable!

On the scrapping front, I'm thinking about entering Masters this year. That's about as far as I have gotten. I am loving the design team work I am doing for Scraptivity. I love that those kits are constantly pushing me to come up with new ideas and techniques! I was talking last night how I feel like entering the CK HOF contest this year was one of the best things I have ever done in my scrapbooking. It was a challenge to complete those 10 layouts but I felt so fulfilled when I sent in that entry and I feel like it has really helped me to grow as a scrapper. Really good things have come from me entering that contest too.

I believe that things that are happening now are a result of me entering that contest as well. It has given me more confidence to put myself out there. You can't win if you don't try, right?

I'm so excited that yesterday at the CK Convention in Buffalo, I won the Scrapworks Award of Merit prize! I was so excited! There were so many wonderful entries! I saw a few of them myself. I want to give a small shout out to my friend Kim who in my opinion should have won a prize as well....her layout was amazing! I loved all the little details of it. I hope you will get to see it soon on a gallery or better still in an up and coming book or magazine!

Kudos of course to my friend Vicki for bringing home the "Best in Show" award too! Her layout was breathtaking of course...any one who knows Vicki's work would expect no less. I'll be waiting for my dinner Vic!

See? I can't just write a couple of lines...my mother used to always say I talked too much...perhaps she is right.

Creativity in Sickness

2006-03-22T19:46:00.000-05:00

Not feeling so well today. I called in sick to work last night because I think I have some sort of stomach virus that I probably picked up at the hospital while working. There has been a lot of that going around at the hospital. I am feeling a lot better today and actually got a layout done as well!

I decided that I am trying out for the 3 Bugs in a Rug design team. I love their paper and love the layouts I have made so far with it. I think it would be a good match for me. I managed to get this done today after my nap and before picking the kids up from daycare. I used my new Gel-a-tin Weathered Letter stamps for the title and I must say that I love them! I was inspired by Grace's hat in the photo and duplicated the pattern in the border on the bottom. I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I love this photo of Grace and I have been waiting for a while to scrap it. I love photos from behind like this. There is something about the mystery around the subject I think. I was reading on a fellow scrappers layout the other day about this exact thing. She came to the realization that she too loves these photos. She continued to say in her journaling how she realizes now that from the moment a child is born they are walking away from us in one form or another. I love reading other people's realizations that they come to through their scrapbooking. It has happened to me on more than one occasion. It's like cheap therapy!

On a lighter note, I made a page with the photos of Simon eating his ice cream. It's made with 3 Bugs in a Rug paper as well. It will also be part of my entry. That boy sure does love his ice cream! I just wish he was a little neater with it! I guess the photos wouldn't be so good though then. It's a catch 22 really.

I want to also add my congratulations to my wonderful friend Vicki Boutin for winning HOF this year. She is so talented and I didn't for one second think she wouldn't win this year. Her entry was amazing. You rock my friend!

A Week of Realizations

2006-03-18T17:42:00.000-05:00

HOF has come and gone. I didn't get a call and I'm okay with that. My friend Vicki talked me into attempting the contest and I'm glad I did. I wasn't sure I could do it. To be honest all the assignments intimidated me. I didn't really think I would finish. I finished one layout and then two. Before I knew it I had six under my belt, six that I was proud of, and I suddenly "needed" to complete my entry. I cut it close but I finished with some time to spare. I never thought I would ever win the contest but as the weeks went on I admit to dreaming of an Honourable Mention. It didn't come and every time the phone rings I still joke that it's Lisa calling to tell me I was a last minute addition to the winners. I still love my entry. I am proud of what I accomplished and I am so excited to hear who the winners are. I hope that some of my friends will be on the list this year. I will continue to do what I do and submit as I see fit. I like the freedom of that right now when life as I know it is hectic and crazy at times.

Grace had a tiny operation yesterday. She had a tongue tie that was getting worse as she got older. She was having difficulty with her "th" sounds and the surgeon said that her gums would eventually pull away from her teeth if we left it. We spent yesterday morning at the hospital where Grace underwent a general anesthetic for the very short procedure. In the end she didn't even need stitches. She was a little teary following the procedure but bounced completely back after about an hour at home. We had to force her into staying inside yesterday.

I admit that taking Grace to the hospital for the tiny surgery was a little unnerving for me. I guess it is memories of Simon's surgery coming back to haunt me. Rationally I know it is nothing and I deal with this every day in my professional life, still I just felt uneasy. I was happy to have her home.

Grace could only eat soft food yesterday so Paul took Grace and Simon off to the grocery store to get some healthy and nutritious ice cream...in three varieties!! It was very well received!

Today we went to Mountsberg Provincial Park to observe the maple syrup making. I'm still trying to warm up! It was only -3 but the wind was cold and this has been a fairly mild winter so I feel like I'm not used to any kind of cold. The kids seemed to enjoy it. I think the stomping through the mud was the best part for them though. It is a beautiful park. We walked out to the Sugar Bush and had a horse drawn wagon ride and watched some maple syrup being made. It's great how when you have kids you learn things that either you never knew before or have forgotten about.

My favourite photos of the day are of an eagle and Grace's muddy boots. I love these family outings although I'm not so fond of the meltdowns when both of them have had enough and are completely tired and probably hungry. Grace had one of those today. Nothing I could say was right and she was screaming and crying all the way back to the car. I know every parent has gone through this at one time or another but it is so difficult to ignore the behaviour and walk in public with your screaming children in tow.

I have found a new way to deal with these breakdowns Grace has though. I let her have her "fit" for lack of a better word for a few minutes and then I ask her if I can give her a hug. She always (so far) agrees to it and then we agree to start over. There is no more talking about the melt down or the events leading up to it. I can't get over how well it works and it is definitely a lesson in restraint for me since I too have to let it all go. She is definitely my spirited child!

Simon is doing well on the potty training and has fully taken to the reward system that we have set out for him. It is funny how he will say he doesn't have to go at all and Paul will say that he can have chips if he "poops" on the potty. I have never seen anyone run so fast to a toilet!! At this point, whatever works is good with me. I'm so sick of the diaper thing!

I think that is all I have to report at the moment. I have read the comments about wanting to see my floor from all 2 of you! LOL! I will try and take some pictures and post it as soon as I can!

It's been a while....

2006-03-07T10:57:00.000-05:00

A month I guess....wow that's bad. I have been so tired lately. This two job thing is catching up with me I think. I love working with Wendy and my other job....don't love it so much. I love the work I do as a nurse. The politics and abuse we take as nurses I could SO live without. I'm finding the night shifts harder and harder to bounce back from. Hopefully life will settle into a routine sooner rather than later and I can put the nursing thing on a back burner for a while. I wouldn't give it up completely....just do it casually.

Anywho....that said...what else is new? Met up with a bunch of my friends from Scraptivity this past weekend. I am always so thankful for having found an online community of wonderful women that I now call my friends. These have quickly become some of the best friends I have ever had. It's great that we all share the same hobby. I have never laughed like I do when I am with them. I've said it once and I'll say it again...they are good for my soul. I couldn't go a day without a small dose of my friends.

This weekend was a crop and I was proud of myself for not bringing a single thing with me! I find that I never scrap at these things because I am too busy jibber-jabbering my mouth off and catching up with my friends. I often go home with all my supplies, nothing completed. I then have to put everything away again and it is a REAL pain in the neck to do so! After the crop we went for dinner and then to a bar! I haven't been to a bar in probably 10 years at least (besides the odd pub of course). It was an older crowd and fun but I have to tell you that I am so happy to have Paul and not have to go out and try and attract the opposite sex anymore. It's so wonderful to have someone I love to share my life with.

On the home front, Grace has to have a little operation on March 17th. She has a tongue tie and I feel it may be affecting her speech. She can't say the "th" sound right now and can hardly stick her tongue out. The oral surgeon said it will affect her gums in the future if we don't get the procedure done. She has to go under a general for it though so that makes me a little nervous. It's funny how when you are a nurse you are always first a mom when it comes to your kids. I don't feel confident in myself when my kids are sick. It's like I forget that I know things. I guess my knowledge would kick in but it still makes me uneasy.

Grace and I have taken to a new night time ritual. We have started telling little secrets to each other at night when we go to sleep. I have learned more about the way she thinks in the past week through her secrets than I ever have in the past. It mostly revolves around me telling her how much I love her and that I missed her while I was at work. I try and tell her how proud I am of her. Last night she asked me if we could pick flowers in the spring. How cute is that? She also asked me if we could go to a museum and look at the dinosaur bones (one of her recent obsessions).

I am constantly amazed at how much knowledge a child can absorb. Grace has been obsessed the past couple of weeks with learning about dinosaurs and planets. We have been reading about all the planets and she is always telling me dinosaur facts. She has all these songs she learned in school about the dinosaurs and she sings them all the time. I love listening to her. She told Simon the other day that dinosaurs were extinct. I hear Simon say "extinct?" and she goes on to say that it means that they are all dead. Well that started a cry fest. Simon was quite upset.

I got some great photos of Grace with her dinosaurs the other day and I can't wait to scrap them. I also scanned a dinosaur that Grace drew for her friend because she wasn't feeling well. When she brought it over to me I was amazed!

I think I'm done now. This was a long entry. That's what I get for not posting for a month I guess. I realize that this was a very Grace centric post so next time will have to be tidbits about Simon!

Happy day in the end...

2006-02-09T22:30:00.000-05:00

So here I am sitting amongst the shambles of our main floor. We are having new flooring installed right now and our life has been turned somewhat upside down. The kids are off the wall and I feel somewhat out of sorts. The floor is looking great so far and will be finished tomorrow so everything should be pretty much back to normal by the weekend or so.

My son Simon has a very strong bond to Paul, my husband. At times it bothers me. I mean a child is supposed to prefer their mother. I have been battling with my feelings about this. On one hand I'm so happy that my husband has such close bonds to his children. I think some of it stems from working shifts. He is the only constant in their lives most of the time. Some days I just feel like crying when I try and put him to bed and he says, "No! Daddy!" But then there are days like today when I realize that Simon really wants his mother around and loves her too.

This morning Grace, Simon, and Paul were standing in the front hall when I came downstairs. I didn't have a direct view of Simon and I hear a little voice say, "Daddy move. I can't see Mommy!" I tell you that was all I needed to make up for all the other times that Simon didn't want to talk to me or to "see" me over his father. It's funny how kids do that to us. One hug, look, or statement can melt your heart and make you forget that you were angry, sad, or or just plain fed up with their antics. Gosh I love them.

Jumping on the Wagon....

2006-02-04T17:46:00.000-05:00

Well here we go. I'm jumping on the bandwagon sort of speak. I was feeling like I was missing out on all the fun. Woo hoo!! My first post on my very own blog! I hope that by doing this I will write more and share more with my friends and family about my daily goings on. I will use this spot to post photos I love, new scrapbook pages, and musings about my everyday life. I feel like I am forgetting lately all the cute and wonderful things my kids say and do. I'm hoping that this will help me to jog my memory when the time arises that I am thinking....what was it that Grace or Simon said last week? I don't think I will update on a daily basis but you never know! Stay tuned...