How happy are you?

Take the Happiness survey at www.happyinside.ca


My results were:

6 out of 10
Calmly Content
It's time to celebrate, you are officially happy. While you may not be jumping for joy, you are perfectly satisfied with your day to day life. Try pushing your happiness to the next level with a fun new hobby belly dancing anyone?

spending

How long could you go without spending?

I was reading an article earlier in my Unschoolers Live Free - Learn Free magazine.......the writer had read an article about a family who moved into a cabin in the woods and survived on $500 a YEAR!!! The writer thought this was a wonderful idea but a little extreme...so she set her family a different challenge.

All of 2006 they didn't buy ANYTHING...they paid for housing, medical expenses and food but apart from that they didn't buy a THING.......she talks about the challenges they faced with their children...with birthdays and with 'wants'......it's very interesting and so I was talking to Lloyd about it and whether we could cope for long with not spending....

He doesn't think we could.....neither do I lol! Although I don't enjoy shopping very often, sometimes nothing cheers me up the way buying new books in Chapters does...or a new magazine......or eating out! I could go a year without buying clothes I think......for any of us.....but thats about it......

I think maybe I could go three weeks without buying anything....how long do you think you could go??????

The power of ten............

10 Firsts

1. First best friend: Sarah Bailey...our Moms were friends.

2. First car: Peugeot 306XT sport

3. First love: Carl Docking (gross lol!!!) I made him a valentine card when I was about 5 and he never knew it was from me!

4. First vacation: As a child Sandy Bay in Devon, England. As an adult.....Southern Ireland with friends....

5. First job: delivering newspapers.....then working in a corner store.....(actually it was Louise that got me that job!!!! Thank you Louise..what was it called R and B News or something???? It sold newspapers and candy and a few groceries etc....)

6. First piercings - my ears when I was 16...a birthday gift from my friend Amanda

7. First concert: Paul Young.

8. First record/cd/ cassette bought: I could be Happy...by a Scottish band - I can't remember their name..Claire Grogan fronted the band.

9. First real love: my ex husband.

10. First screen name: Janemma

9 Latest

1. Latest alcoholic beverage: wine or Baileys but its been weeks - I can't drink on my new meds.

2. Latest car ride: to pick Abigail up from preschool at lunchtime.

3. Latest movie watched: Shrek 3D at Universal Studios...or Cars on dvd CONSTANTLY lol!

4. Latest phone call made: to change my doctors appt this morning.

5. Latest jacuzzi bath: Wednesday night last week with Lloyd.

6. Latest played CD: The Fray (big surprise huh??? lol!)

7. Latest time you cried: 2 weeks ago......

8. Latest meal: marmite on toast for breakfast...or butter chicken and naan bread for dinner last night (home made)

9. Latest curse: a spot under my chin which is driving me nuts!

8 Have You Ever

1. Dated one of your best friends: well Lloyd and I have been friends since I was 8! And we still date ;)

2. Been arrested: no

3. Fallen in love at first sight: only with 'things' and not with people.

4. Had a bone broken: yes, my nose.

5. Had your heart broken: not really...I've NEVER been dumped.....it has always been me who did the dumping.....

6. Said you love someone without meaning it: yes

7. Made a prank phone call: yes - as a teen I would sleep over at a friends house and we would order pizzas etc for the house opposite and then watch out the window when they were delivered!

8. Shoplifted anything: not knowingly...but I've walked out of stairs pushing the stroller only to find my toddler has grabbed something and stolen it without me realising.......that happened in Florida too - Sam stole two magnets in the Men in Black store!


7 Things You Wear

1. g-strings

2. two white gold/ diamond rings - wedding and engagement rings.

3. L'instant perfume

4. My ultra soft red robe/ dressing gown.

5. my black boots

6. yoga pants when at home

7. ear rings when I go out.


6 Things You’ve Done Today

1. Taken Abigail to school. and picked her up again afterwards.

2. Played Hi Ho Cherry-o with Abby and Sam. Sam one the first game :)

3. Washed the baseboards on the main floor

4. Read 3 chapters of The Glass Castle

5. sorted more photos from our trip

6. eaten a rice krispy bar



5 Favorite Things (not people)

1. Purdys Todd Bars (kind of Like Marks and Sparks 'Now' bars!

2. my Kitchen Aid mixer

3. Greys Anatomy dvd's

4. spiral bound notebooks

5. my keepsake boxes and whats inside them!


4 People I Can Tell Anything

Lloyd - and thats about it!

3 Choices

1. Black or white? either

2. Summer or winter? summer - for sure!

3. Chocolate or chips? chocolate - I don't like chips.

2 Things to do Before You Die

1. Visit the pyramids at dusk.

2. Visit all the US States and Canadian Provinces in an RV with Lloyd


1 Thing You Regret

I don't really have any big regrets.

The video that started it all...........

Debbie!!!

When are you coming over for lunch???? Lets plan for the next week or two!!!! I don't have your email addy any more as I lost my address book when Lloyd reformatted the pc......so email me!!!

A few more wedding pictures

Again I don't have my editing software but I will get around to doing the pictures properly and have some done in black and white etc.......but here are a few pics to share with you from our cd of wedding pictures.........

In-store detail.....

The Disney stores go all-out with their decorating....the ceilings and displays are stunning! Here are a few pics of one of the stores at Downtown Disney.

Candy stores.....

Anyone going to Orlando HAS to head to Florida Mall at least once! We went three times for various reasons but its a great Mall - fun stores :) The Mall isn't that big compared to West Edmonton Mall or anything but the stores are great.....the kids loved M&M World and I of course HAD to visit Dylans candy bar :)

Since Lloyd reformatted my pc I can't get my photoediting software to work so you will just have to turn your heads to see the pics :) Some of them are sideways.......Christie - just turn your monitor ;)

The Lego store.....

Laurence and Chris are huge Lego fans...especially Laurence who always spends any spare money on new Lego.....so the HUGE Lego store at Downtown Disney was a must for us to visit! You can buy individual pieces in every colour of the rainbow.....in one of these pictures you can see Laurie stood in front of the tubs of lego pieces that lined the walls...it was like a candy store! You can also design your own Lego men by choosing various pieces and accessories and you get three for $10...so Chris had fun doing that! I bought Laurie a Lego mug with his name on but he put it in the mug cupboard at the villa and didn't tell us grrrrr so we didn't bring it home with us :(

The Lego store is a great place to visit and the statues outside are FAB! Oh and in the window scene you can see they have designed London complete with tube system! And the phone in the phone box rings!!!!!

The den......

Here is the den at the villa....an upstairs sitting room with tv, playstation, computer etc etc...it's where I blogged from each day while on holiday.....the sofa's looked nice but weren't comfy and the scatter cushions looked nice too but Sam was constantly taking them off and making piles with them......and he also loved to bury people in them as you can see from these pictures of Lloyd underneath a mountain of cushions!

All the bedrooms had tv's and dvd players which the kids LOVED as none of them have tv's in their rooms at home (thankfully lol) and our bedroom had a chaise longue too!!! There were 5 bedrooms in all and 3 of them had ensuite bathrooms....there was an upstairs laundry room too which I loved and which I would definitely opt for if we built again! So handy having the washer and drier on the same floor as the bedrooms so you aren't constantly carrying laundry baskets up and down the stairs.....these things matter when you have a family of 7 and all that laundry!!

Fun in the pool........

Some pics of everyone having fun in the villa pool.......

Ariel and our villa!

Two pics of Abigail in her Ariel Princess dress from Disney....and two pictures of our villa.....one is of the front sitting room and one is of the family room off of the kitchen/ dining area.....the front sitting room also has a formal dining table that was beautifully decorated when we arrived but I moved everything off because all the tableware and floral arrangements would have been too tempting for Sam!

The first day of school..........

The children got home at 3:15pm yesterday...they made me jump by tapping on the window...I didn't expect them until closer to 4pm but the school day ends at 3pm! I don't think they stopped talking from the moment they got home to the moment they went to bed...they were all so excited and full of news......

Susannah LOVES her new school and already has a best friend named Cassie.....in fact she got straight on the phone to this new best friend and chatted away and then Cassie gave her the number of another friend and so the evening was spent with Susie on and off the phone....

In the end I spoke to Cassie's Mom and we arranged a play date for Friday.....she has 5 kids too! And they live just around the corner from us! She has a Son in Chris's class so the deal is she will drop Cassie off here on Friday and pick Chris up and take him back there....then later in the afternoon I will drop C off and pick Chris up!

The Mom sounds really nice too thankfully :)

Susannah then told us that her class is studyinga country beginning with I but she couldn't remember the name of it, so we got the world map down and had a look for it......it wasn't Iraq or Italy or any of the other countries we could find......so she called her friend back and then says 'Its Tunisia!'...............too funny ;) So much for beginning with I!!!

Laurence likes his class but can't remember the names of any of his new friends....his class is going on a field trip soon and he's looking forward to that although he can't remember where they are going!

Chris had a blast and of course LOVED being the centre of attention all day.....today his class is going bowling and then back to school for a movie afternoon and pizza lunch...then tomorrow they are spending the day at Millennium Place...swimming, skating etc etc......he obviously picked a great week to start school! Next week his class is going to the Telus World of Science to study South America and are taking part in a South American martial arts class.....

And they have Thursday and Friday off....

Its nice that they are all happy with the school :) I hope that lasts....I told Chris to give it until June and if he doesn't want to stay he can homeschool next year....

Abigail went back to preschool today after our holiday.....she took some Disney chocolates to share out in class today.....her teacher was asking her all about her trip and then asking if I'd recommend Disney for that age group as she was considering going with her children....

So this morning after waving the children off to the bus, I got Abigail and Sam ready and took Abby to preschool...chatted there for a while then came home and took the garbage to the end of the driveway.....cleaned up after Charlie...made toast for Sam and he is now playing with his cars and Fisher Price garage beside me here.....

It is snowing very gently out...big flakes just falling softly......very pretty...like a snowglobe :)

Sadly though the roads are NASTY....so if you live around here and are out on the roads please take great care!

A quote for today....................

Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day.
by Dalai Lama

Very sad....

On the news this morning they reported that the gorgeous green stables just along the highway from us burnt down yesterday....the horses and a dog were killed......the riding arena was also burnt.....

Terry and Chris, I am sure you will remember the stables/ barn I mean...just along by the big red hip barn that Lloyd likes....

Such a shame....the owners must be heartbroken....to lose all those amazing animals and those beautiful stables......

Its a Small World After All.............

I'm sat here listening to the tune of Its a Small World' playing on my snow globe :) Its a Small World hasn't changed at all.....it's really tacky and old fashioned and after a while the dolls start to look evil lol but you can't help but love it...and love the song :)