Lloyd

I love love LOVE listening to you helping Susannah with her math...all the little math problems you ahve designed for her tonight...how patient you are and how long you have been helping her this evening...and you can tell you are enjoying it too and she sounds so alive and loving math now as you explain it all!

Thank you for being you!

Spring Clean your Dreams.............

Got dreams? Spring is a time that’s fairly crackling with possibilities for forging ahead. But how can you effectively harness all that energy, and turn it into actions that really move you forward?
I say have a "Clean Start Planning Retreat." This is a technique I've been using for several years that really helps focus and ground your actions. And even though it may be brown and muddy outside (if you’re in New England) ... you can still rise up and harness the abundant energy in the rebirth of spring.

1. Schedule two full days in which you can do something just for you.

Begin by scheduling in at least two full days sometime before spring really kicks in that you can designate "Clean Start Days." You can schedule them together, or separately. Saturdays can work well for this. (If you tend to be a guilty parent, use this as a chance for someone else who loves your kids to spend the day with them.)

2. Record your results for the last year or quarter.

Day One is dedicated to assessing what progress you’ve made on your dreams. It may be that you’re just beginning your dream, and have few or possibly no ‘tangible’ records of progress yet. Take a look through journals, and notebooks from classes or programs.

On the other hand, you may be launching a business, or just starting to sell your work. If so through ledgers, stat reports on web sites, check book registers, receipt piles, Quicken files, sent email files, even phone bills. Compare what you unearth to any goals you made for the last year. It doesn’t matter how much time you span – use your intuition on which parameters to use...

Read more at: http://www.soulfulliving.com/spring_cleaning_dreams.htm

I forgot date night!

I forgot to post about last nights date night...

For any newbies to my blog (and there are a few this week) Lloyd and I have date night every Wednesday night.....it really varies as to what we do....last night we went to Home Depot woohoo :)

Driving up Hwy 14 I was kicking myself for not having my camera with me because the sunset was GORGEOUS!!!! Ah well there will be plenty more!

So we went to Home Depot and strolled around to get some ideas for Lloyds birthday, to look at bath styles and sink styles and lamps and a few other things...then we strolled around Home Sense.....we didn't buy anything in either store.....

After that we debated where to eat supper and decided to try Swiss Chalet.

I have NEVER been to a Swiss Chalet before.....neither had Lloyd...e weren't sure what to expect.....the atmosphere is kind of like a Smittys or a cheap kind of family restaurant...not our usual choice of atmosphere but it was convenient and we have always wanted to try it....

Lloyd had a quarter chicken with fries and dipping sauce and a roll....I had teryaki chicken on rice....and we shared the sundried garlic loaf.

Service was wonderful - friendly and fast...I didn't even see her take my glass to refill it.....Lloyd said the coffee was really nice too....

The Teryaki chicken was ok.....not wonderful but I enjoyed it.....the garlic loaf was TO DIE FOR!!! OMG really REALLY good garlic bread!!! Mmmmmmmmmm

There were very few people in there so it was a nice quiet place to talk......Lloyd has so much happening with his business right now and we had a lot to talk about....we are updating his website at the moment BIG TIME because some very important contacts will be looking at it in the next few weeks.....

He is so busy with contracts that he asked if I would be interested in training to do some of what he does...I can work remotely from home doing the basic testing and QA of the scripts or something........he said he would pay me a salary if I wnat but I told him I don't see the point...why take the money out of the company and pay tax on it if we don't need to......

So yes as soon as his website is finished and he has finished the documents he's working on, he is going to teach me to do testing......then I can REALLY work for my own company :) he says he already has work projects planned out for me :)

The way I see it, he can pay someone else to work for us or I can do it and we keep the money in our company :)

So we were chatting about that and we were chatting about our days and this and that and although the restaurant isn't our normal kind, it was a good place to chat......I wouldn't choose to go there on date night again BUT it is definitely somewhere I would take the kids :)

I love listening to Lloyd talk about work......its very sexy :) You have to realise that I have known him since he was 7..........he was always 'my Lloyd' just this boy who lived next door......that I played soccer with and tennis and teased and who teased me.......and now he's this successful business man with so many responsibilities and so many plans and ambitions and although he is so sweet and soft and gives in constantly to me at home, at work he is the boss.....he runs meetings and makes big decisions and delegates and takes charge.......I LOVE listening to him on the phone on conference calls and talking to his team.....so yes it was a good date night :)

Ok Lloyd just finished helping Susie with her math homework so now I can go relax :)

Goodnight!

The evening is here :)

So I soaked in the bath and read 50 pages of my book The Girls (I will be sad when its done but I can't wait to find out the ending!) I also nibbled my way through several mini eggs while in the bath....actually they are the ideal chocolate for bathtime because if they roll into the water they don't melt! You can scoop them out and the shell is still hard :)

They are also the ideal chocolate for scrapbooking...kind of like minsterls from back home......melt in your mouth and NOT in your hand...so this time of year if I go to a crop then I always take the jumbo bag of mini eggs to share :).....right now I have a jumbo bag in my knickers drawer AND a jumbo bag in the kitchen cupbooard for scrapbooking at home :)

Yep I think I am DEFINITELY # 31 on my list with THE most boring blog...I can spend 2 days talking about the pros and cons of eating mini eggs......sigh!

Dinner was a HUGE hit...we had a nice garden salad with our pasta and the meatballs I made earlier and there are some left which Lloyd is taking to work for lunch tomorrow......everyone loved them including Sammy :)

And I saved enough of the Rigatini pasta for Sam and Abigail to paint and decorate tomorrow to make necklaces from.......

Laurence is watching Open Season tomorrow at school...its movie day......and so the kids can take chips or a snack to eat during the movie.....I don't buy chips...very VERY rarely do I buy chips....so he is taking a bag of home made popcorn and a bag of cereal to share instead......and luckily we have Lucky Charms and Honey Nut Cheerios atm because they were buy one get one free.............so he can take some of those.....

Talking of popcorn.....Christie finally noticed yesterday that we don't own a microwave......I thought everyone knew that! We just don't need one...can't think of anything we would use it for (except heating ovaltine I guess) So yes, we don't have a microwave.....we did use the one in Florida at the villa - once, to make microwave pocorn that no one liked.......so I don't know that we will ever buy a microwave.......what would we use it for? we don't reheat food......we don't have 'leftovers'......we don't eat microwavable foods really......so I cna't think of what use we would have for one....

I had one years ago and I used it to 'crackle' CD's........for card making and altered crafts.......you lay the cd in water and zap for about 30 seconds and you get coloured sparks in the microwave but when the cd comes out it is so so pretty :) all crackled and prismatic! Then you can decorate them or add them to other crafts.......

Tomorrow is Friday and I am not sure what we will do yet.......I may go to Parentlink and see Samantha......I may go to Broadmoor Lake and the library.....I may stay home and relax and then go for a walk in the afternoon......Susannah is sleeping at her friends house tomorrow night...not sure what the boys plans are....Saturday we have to go to Coscto as its 3 weeks since our last trip.....we go every 3 weeks or so.....

Ok well I am going to cuddle with Lloyd and Sam in front of Madagascar for a while........have a great evening everyone......

Lloyds answers......

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From Debbies blog :)

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Last few from yesterday......

So yes, Christie came over again yesterday...Val called and couldn't make it as she was stuck at home still wiating for Leons to deliver her television....but Christie brought her gang with her......including Sugar, he gorgeous dog! Although Sugar doesn't seem to think she is a dog lol!

The kids all walked to the roadway to meet my kids from the school bus and then I made a big bowl of popcorn and some juice and they delved into that while Christie and I took our walk......A. had grown so much since we saw him last and had fun with Abigail (until Abigail was sent to her room lol) and Susie was thrilled to see her friend D :) Laurie of course was in his element with two boys his age to play with :)

Waiting for snowballs

Rosie patiently waiting for Christie to throw another snowball to chase......

Wintery Shadowlands............

Scenery................

Some pictures of various places on our acreage and the skidoo trails on the side field.......

Amber, Rosie and Christie........

More pictures from our walk yesterday...........

Rosie

Christie had suggested we go out and take some wintery photographs this week, so yesterday afternoon we left all the children at my house and walked over our acreage and onto my eighbours land...May has 80 acres that are beautiful and she let us walk the dogs there and use the quadnikes on there and everything ...its peaceful and just lovely and often we see deer and moose and other creatures up there :)

We took Rosie and Amber with us and headed off through the snow.....the next few posts will be pictures of our walk...

The snow was DEEP in places and we kept screeching each time our feet went through the snow and we ended up knee and thigh-igh in snow! It was so much fun and quite the hike.....

We were supposed to take picturs of the scenery and snow etc but Christie seemed to tke manly pictures of me looking like a fool stuck in the snow!

Here are some pctures of Rosie our 1 year old Golden Retriever.....

Rocket man..............

Abigail and Samuel playing in their rocket ship this afternoon............

Thursday.....

Its Thursday afternoon. Been a busy day.....again fun!

This morning I helped out at preschool which was good because the teacher had to leave half way through for an emergency dental appt...so another Mom and I ran the rest of the class......the kids had LOTS of energy and 3 hours can seem like a LONG time...but there were two birthdays so we got cupcakes after snack :)

Of course the chocolate cupcakes had lots of frsting and we were left with very sticky children with chocolatey hands and faces so I marched them all off to the washroom to wash their hands afterwards.

We played Earthball or someting at the end where the kis all got to play with this HUGE ball....that was chaotic but afterwards we thought of other games wih it...my idea was to get them all in a circle and each child had to think of a lette and then they had to roll the ball to a child whose name starts with that letter...they did really well and it calmed them down too......we ended the session with a rowdy game of Whats the time Mr Wolf?

Home again and I made lunch and then vacuumed up the mess Sam made with his lunch........I've done a few loads of laundry and I made the meatalls and they are now in the oven ready for dinner........(see pic above). They are in a tomatoey sauce with lots of garlic and vegetables and I have covered the top with cheddar cheese....we'll have them with pasta of some kind......I make my meatballs with egg, breadcrumbs, an oxo cube, big spoonful of grainy dijon mustard, various seasonings and a diced onion with quite big chunks of onion......then I brown them in a pan before putting them in the baking tray with the sauce.......

Sam and Abigail watched a little tv after preschool and since then have been playing space ships downstairs in the basement...they have the old mattress and have it covered in cardboard boxes and I keep hearing things like 'Quick Sam we have to go or the aliens will get us' and 'We have to blast off Sam so I have to lock you in'..........Sam being 2 probably doesn't have a clue what is really going on but he is having fun and keeps repeating the last word Abby says..... 'in?' or 'us?' and then you get 'me, me , me' and 'BIG'........

When the kids get home from school I am going to soak in the bath and read for a while before Lloyd gets home.......and I want to browse through the Partylite Candles catalogue too.....

I have to blog about yesterday first and add some pictures....