Thursday ramblings....my first car service :)

This morning we headed over to Calgary Trail and met Val and her Daughter Jessica for brunch at IHOP.  They each had their little ones with them too, so there were 9 of us in all :)  Food and service were again not great...in fact it took ages for them to take our order and a LIFETIME for the food to come...but this time at least the coffee was good!!!  And the company was wonderful - and thank you sooo much Val for treating us!!!  xxx  It had been far too long - lets not leave it as long next time!!

After IHOP, we headed to Sherwood Park to Park Mazda.  I had a coupon for a free oil change and 21 check service with them.  It had to be used up by May 1st and as I am heading out of town I figured it was a good time to get the truck checked out!!  They are fully booked up up between now and May 1st with people using up their coupons, but said they'd fit mine in over the lunch time period as they had finished all the morning services.  I was soooo grateful!!  I explained that I had NEVER taken a car for an oil change or service before and knew nothing about cars/ services etc.  They talked me through the WHOLE thing!!! The guy was amazing!!  (amazingly cute too...far too young for me sigh....but very cute lol)  He explained about when to book the truck in to have the tyres changed, about how often to have it serviced, what they do....everything.

We left the truck there and headed up to run a few errands and look around a few stores....and we stopped in for frozen yogurt...before my phone rang to say the truck had a dirty air filter and did I want them to change it.  I said yes.  They also said that the free oil change only included up to 5 litres of oil and my truck may need more than that but it would be about $5. more....and the coupon had said that so that was fine...he said the truck was ready apart from that so we headed back....

When we got there he explained that the air filter hadn't arrived yet so they had sent someone to get it....and it wouldn't take long, so we sat for a little while and then I walked Sam around the dealership and we looked at all the cars....one of the salesmen overheard Sam talking about horsepower and prices and various things and laughed and said he knew more than most of the salesmen in the showroom :)

After about probably less than 30 minutes they explained that the air filter hadn't arrived - they apologised for having us wait so long (??? I didn't think they had) and said because of the wait they would return my coupon but cancel the expiry date of May 1st - so I can use it for my next service in August or whenever I next take it in....they also said they wouldn't charge me for the extra oil.....AND they said just to call in any time and they will just pop the old air filter out and the new one in because it's an easy job.  They can probably do it when they do my tyres.  They said it isn't so bad that it NEEDS to be done urgently, so it's fine :)  They did say that it might just make it run a little less economically - I laughed at that because of the cost of gas going up...sigh.....

I was soooo nervous about going for an oil change and going to a drive through place and whatever....but in the end I think I picked a really good place - they treated me sooo well and were so friendly and helpful.  Best of all it didn't cost me a penny and neither will next time!!!  :)  Fabulous!!  :)

All this probably doesn't sound like much to many people, but a year ago I didn't even know how to pump my own gas!!!  I wouldn't drive in the dark or in bad weather.....OR downtown or to much further than Sherwood Park.  Now I don't even think twice about where I'm going - or when - or what the weather or traffic or parking is like.  I just want to go somewhere and I go :)

Now I've done a car service....that's another step towards independence I can tick off ;)  LOVE IT :)

A little bit Twisted :)

This afternoon I took my car for a service (Yes - really!!) and while we were waiting, I had to run into H and R Block where my friend Sandy works, and then we went to Twisted Yogurt.  I've never been there, but it's very much like Marble Slab Creamery - the ice cream place - except for yogurt!!  You do it all yourself - fill your tub with yogurt and then top it up with all the toppings you want - then you pay by weight - but it was pretty cheap really - I was surprised as it's about half the price of Marble Slab!!  

The kids REALLY enjoyed the experience and gobbled down their yogurts.  I picked Pistachio and chocolate yogurt with granola and chocolate oreo crumbs.  It was delish :)  

Pretty...

This is actually one of the lights in Twisted Yogurt....I thought they were lovely so I snapped a picture and was pleased with how it came out :)  You can hardly tell what it is :)

What????

I know I'm not allowed outside....I'm JUST sunbathin' on the rooftop!!!

Tables!!

These tables were both under $10. each.  The round one is going in Abigails room, and the rectangle one is going to be a bedside table for Susannah, for her lamp, books, water etc etc... 

They love them!!!  :)  

Susannahs new writing desk...

Susannah wants each piece of furniture in her new bedroom to be a different colour - a BRIGHT colour - purple, pink, lime green, orange....etc etc....so this week I found this old writing desk at Goodwill for $19. and thought it would be ideal as either a desk or a dressing table with a mirror on it....It still needs another coat of the purple and i will let her choose a new handle too if she wants to - and I think she wants to stencil on a music note or too before I spray it with lacquer....but then I think it will look wonderful - I loved the shape of it when I saw it and that it has a drawer and the shelves...so she can have her basket of make up or some books or whatever she wants.

Most of all I love that it's individual and you find another one like it anywhere :)

Two dogs dining :)

Saw this on Scrapdolly's blog and thought it was HILARIOUS!!!  Enjoy :)

From Bravegirlsclub.com

(Art not my own)

What you lookin' at???

Field trip to the library!!

This afternoon we went on a field trip with another homeschooling family, to one of the Edmonton Public Libraries!  We had such a GREAT time and I am sooo pleased we went!!  Because there were only four children, they got so much attention and were given goody bags as well as plenty of time behind the scenes to have tries with the book sorting machine and on the book trucks (the carts that they move the books around on).

We were also given an online tour of the EPL website by the librarian and she showed me soooo many online resources that I had never heard of before - designed for teachers and kids - that will be sooo useful for us!!  

The lady that showed us around was so enthusiastic and really inspired a love of the library in the children.  Abigail had not been too keen about the trip to begin with as she had thought she knew everything there was to know about the library - but she REALLY enjoyed it!!  All the kids loved the book sorting machine and had great fun taking turns putting books and dvd's into it and then trying to guess which bin they would end up in - and racing along the line of bins to watch them fall :)  

I was especially proud of Sam, who was the first to answer almost every question asked about childrens books/ alphabet etc....I have not pushed him to read until he has been ready for it, and suddenly in the last few months he has been really keen to learn....always writing and loving to sit and read with me, so I was really proud and pleased when he knew the answers and called out the right letters etc...

His favourite book at the moment is The Three Little Pigs, and his favourite part is when the wolf falls into the pot at the end :)  Although he DOES love to yell out that the Wolf was 'bad and he was mad'!! and various other well known parts from the story :)  

The children are off to the main library downtown with their dad this weekend and next week we have more library plans - including heading back to our own AMAZING library!!  We are sooooo lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful libraries here - they offer so much more than books these days and once you have your  library card much of their services/ programs etc are free!!  :)

Our morning...

This morning Sam was colouring in a book he has on The Prince of Egypt...it lead to us talking about Moses and 'Moses Baskets'....and then we looked online for the story of Moses...we read an online picture book all about the story of Moses from his birth all through to when he left Egypt with the Hebrews....to the burning bush and the ten commandments.  We then looked at an activity where we had to make our own stone tablets and think of our own list of commandments for getting along with people...Sam was good at thinking things up like 'sharing' and 'being nice'....

We aren't a religious family, but I do think these stories are good stories for the children to know and understand and I do think the commandments are mainly good moral codes to live by.  

The picture above is of the children colouring in their books.  At the time Abigail was colouring in her Rainforest book - once it is coloured in, she can pull out separate parts and build it into a 3 dimensional rainforest full of all the animals - and each animal she colours has information beside it all about that creature and the part it plays in the Rainforest....or some interesting fact about it.  

I had to laugh though as they were busy colouring and Sam turned to Abigail and said "Do you think you could colour more quietly"?   Hahaha  I guess pens can be quite noisy ;)

Abigails story - Alice the Black Cat.

Alice the black cat.

Once upon a time there was a black cat named Alice.  She lived in a small town named Canmore.  Now in Canmore everybody thought black cats were unlucky.  So poor Alice had no home.  But one sunny morning a girl named belle came in she was from America. and she loved cats but of course alice was the only one in the shop. so belle picked her,  before she was taken out of her cage she got spiffyed up it was her big day.     When alice got to her new home she was amazed she’d never seen anything like it before. A few years past and she met a male had a kittin and the rest of her life forget about she was the most popular cat around.   

The end

I hope no one was listening....

Last night I went out for supper with my friend Sharon - we hadn't seen each other since before Christmas, so it was great to catch up!!!  

We had such a great evening - shared a couple of starters, and enjoyed an amazing dessert each.  We even got the desserts for free because we ordered Sticky Toffee Pudding and they didn't have any - so the Manager said he'd give us our desserts on the house!!  :)  PERFECT!!  :)

We also shared some hilarious conversations and some of them were rather *blue*.....and I wonder still if anyone from the booths either side of us could hear hahahaha!  lol....it was a funny night - so many topics covered and so many smirks and giggles :)

Thanks for a great night Sharon - lets not leave it as long next time :)

xxx

Our Tuesday....

Yesterday Abigail was up early and wrote a story on the computer.  Then we went into town and ran a couple of errands before heading to Michaels for their free make and take workshop - making Easter chicks out of plastic eggs :)  It was just a sweet little craft but fun!!  :)  I joined in and we had a good time chatting with the girl who was running the class. Sam refused any help and got busy with the scissors and foam etc....

Sams chick is yellow, mine is blue and Abigails is green.  While at Michaels we stocked up on a few things we needed - Abigail needed some really thick yarn for finger knitting - she had been researching ways to improve it on youtube and one girl said to try really thick yarn.  We got talking to one of the sales staff there and chatted with her for ages...and we also found a punch art kit reduced from $17. to $3.  Not something we have ever tried before, so we bought the kit and need to find a tool somewhere as they had sold out.  Abigail is excited to try this new craft!

We got glue and Sam bought a canvas to paint.  

In the afternoon we met some friends at Kidz Quarterz.  We haven't seem them for a LONG while, so it was great to catch up.  They are fellow unschoolers - their first year unschooling, and the kids had a blast burning off some energy and finding endless tokens and toys (???) while J and I talked education, ideas and homeschooling all afternoon :)  Oh and we also talked over a few business ideas and about art journaling and crafts etc etc - a love we both share....

All in all it was a great day!!!  And anyone who says that KQ is not an educational field trip is sorely mistaken - just watching these children all afternoon is amazing....watching them sorting out money, tickets, candy.....sharing things out, making decisions, compromising, ordering food, drinks, counting change, reading menus, caring for siblings, making new friends, dealing with bites (???).....playing games, taking turns...but at the end of the day they were there to have fun - and they did :)

As did I :)

Night night....sleep tight!!!