Thursday

Thursday morning I got up early (for me) and baked a tray of brownies nice and fresh to take over to a friends house. My friend Jennifer had invited us over to her place for the afternoon. I hadn't seen Jennifer for ages and I really enjoy her company - she is the most interesting person and has the most soothing voice! I could listen to her talk all day!

So after lunch we headed off to their home which isn't far along the range roads. They have a lovely acreage with a paddock of sheep and a DAY OLD LAMB!!!! AWWWWWWW

We sat in the kitchen chatting while the children played...the brownies disappeared pretty quickly which made me feel really good I have to admit :) and Jennifers daughter asked if they could keep the few that were left which was so flattering :) Yay - they thought I was a good baker :) It was Jennifer that gave me the recipe for the Anzac cookies

On the way out to the car we went out to say hello to the baby lamb i'll add the video I made. Sam had fun getting soaked by splashing in the puddles there...we had a lovely afternoon talking homeschooling, chatting about schoolboards, plans for the future, summer camps....life :) we even discussed downloading porn lol.....and how NOT to lol ;)

It was a lovely afternoon......

Thursday evening I cooked honey mustard chicken.......omg sometimes I wonder about the things I blog...

Wednesday

Wednesday was a lovely day although I was very tired.

Abigail, Sam and I planted some seeds - we planted pumpkins and sunflowers. We have a lot more to do but will do those at the weekend with Lloyd. Abigail did some reading. She did some writing in one of her Starfall writing workbooks. She had to write about 'The hardest thing she has ever learned to do....'

She spent the morning working on some magic tricks. Sam and Abby played in the bath for quite a while. I worked on some more decluttering.

School ends early on Wednesdays. Chris went to his friend Max's house after school for a few hours. He was home in time to babysit for date night.

Date night on Wednesday was at La Ronde. I was a little worried as everyone had said how fancy La Ronde is and how it was ll cocktail dresses and really smart and dressy...nothing could be further than the truth! It's just a typical hotel restaurant! Business dress but no smarter - I think I would feel over dressed in anything more.

We had a lovely evening - It was sooooo relaxing! The restaurant was empty! There were only a few other couples there - maybe three or four and the restaurant spaced us out so well that we couldn't see anyone else.

Our Waiter, Daniel, was wonderful and only came over once during each course, which was perfect. I really don't like it when servers bother you during meals.

It was so lovely watching all the twinkly lights of the city and the cars and everything and just sooo relaxing - the chairs are amazingly relaxing - you can laze back in them as you chat to each other and look out of the windows and its so weird that the restaurant turns around as you sit there.....sipping wine with the twinkly lights and everything talking to the man I love was just such a wonderfully relaxing way to spend an evening :)

My starter was the best thing I have eaten in a long LONG time omg INCREDIBLE!!!! The main course wasn't that great but was ok...the desserts were STUNNING......portions were PERFECT size - I couldn't have eaten more - and the drink I had to end with the Frangelica was AMAZING!!!!! WOW!!!! Called a Sedative!!! I'm going to get some when we get our new coffee machine in the new kitchen!

This is what we had if you are interested :)

Starters:

Me - Cider roasted beet salad

Lloyd - Greens, Eggs and Ham Farms Local Duck Paté

Entree -

Me - Fennel Seed-Crusted Arctic Char

Lloyd - Spice-Rubbed Grilled 8 oz. AAA Alberta Angus Striploin Steak

Dessert -

Me - Raspberry Cream and Warm Almond Tart

Lloyd - Apple Strudel Nouveau

coffee:

Me - Sedative - Frothy milk with Frangelica (OMG to DIE for!!!!)

Lloyd - regular coffee

Tuesday

On Tuesday I decided to drive for the first time on my meds. Still migraine free WOOHOO :) I got to the mall and realised I shouldn't have driven! Wow....so I called Lloyd and we decided I should go have something decent to eat, have some coffee and see how I feel and if I feel no better to call him and he'd come and drive us home.

I took the children to the library to get some books about Owls for the projects we're working on right now - we've been invited to the Raptor centre next week to see the owls and to get some owl pellets for the projects and lapbooks we're working on, Abby and Sam chose some books and played on the computer and with the train. WE read some stories and looked at the audio books.

After dropping those back to the car we headed to Zellers to the restaurant there. I have eaten in the Zellers restaurant three times and three times it has been HORRIBLE. HORRIBLE food and HORRIBLE service (OK this reminds me of a hilarious post on someone elses blog lol - I should have learned!) I felt a bit better - well enough to do some retail therapy anyway lol and bought myself a new top and handbag (purse) for date night :)

We drove home via the range roads (rural roads) and I decided to stick to roads around home for the rest of the week.

Monday

Monday I still couldn't drive anywhere because I was still all drugged up and couldn't focus and would stare off into space and stuff...my short term memory is still a little bad now...

So Monday Abigail started sewing a purse...it's pink with a big heart on the front which is padded.....it's cute and she was doing really well but has lost a bit of interest now...maybe she will get interested again in a few days - things got busy towards the end of this week with other things and we haven't had much time to focus on it...

I seemed to swing from sitting staring into space blankly to moving around like crazy doing things, so I decluttered the closets in my bedroom and through out soooo much 'stuff'.....OMG I can't believe half the crap I hang on to sometimes! I blame my Mother ;)

I played Rummy with Abigail. We baked brownies and flapjacks (the English kind which are like an oaty cookie as opposed to the Canadian kind which are like a pancake lol)

We played Hi Ho Cheerio's. We went outside for a while and Abigail skated and Sam played on the slide and swings and we walked up and down the driveway and splashed in the puddles etc.....I have pictures of the day to add later....

In the evening Lloyd and I went to Costco. On the way we went to McDonalds because Lloyd was worried as I hadn't eaten all day - the tablets have really killed my appetite and I just do NOT want to eat. He wasn't hungry either so all we could think of to do was go to McD's for a salad and he'd have a cheeseburger. But they didn't have the salad I wanted and the one I got had no tomatoes on it and it was basically frozen dried up iceburg lettuce and was nasty and the diet coke was really watered down and nasty and the coffee Lloyd had was horrible so basically we just left lol....we laughed about anyway and just went to Costco.

Costco with Lloyd on Monday night was so much fun - he was in a really sarcastic mood which is so funny :) We did a big shop which was much needed as our cupboards were BARE!!! WE keep putting it off and putting it off and making small trips to Safeway instead as weekend lately seem to have been so busy and our weeknights too...

So that was our Monday.

Last weekend

My tablets hit me really hard Thursday and Friday and I was a bit of a zombie.....so bad that I did nothing but sit by the computer really (hence the fact I needed a break)

Last weekend we watched a couple of good movies - both pretty depressing though!

Friday night we watched Becoming Jane - the story of Jane Austen's love affair with a man with no money. I love Jane Austens novels. My favourite is Emma. I think what I love most about her novels is that they show that even in the 17th century, women were quite assertive and active participants in relationships...quite outspoken. I guess, until I read her books I pictured women of those days to be quiet and reserved....and dull!

Saturday after the Orchid show we ventured to leduc (friendliest Tim Hortons I have ever been to!) and then to Peavey Mart (Lloyd says we will NEVER go there again lol and swears they all in-breed lol Christie says welcome to rural Alberta (sorry Jennifer lol) I must say I wasn't impressed with Peavey mart either - we just didn't think they had anything you can't get at Home Depot or Greenland Garden Centre lol...

Saturday night we watched Away From Her - brilliant movie - VERY sad.....about a couple dealing with the wife's alzheimers. Absolutely heartbreaking.

Sunday morning we sat in bed and played the Greys Anatomy board game which was so much fun! I won of course :) lol! How could Lloyd NOT know that it was 'The Nazi' that said ' No one gets to scrub in until I'm so happy I'm Mary Frickin' Poppins'!!

After that Lloyd made the children pancakes and then we headed out to Greenland Garden Centre. It is so nice there this year. They ahve a little water garden inside. They have extended the coffee shop by the ponds and you can sit by the fish ponds there and have your coffee and cakes :) Sam loves sitting watching the fish :)

When we got home we went for a walk outside because the weather was so nice. Abigail put on her ice skates and ice skated on the driveway (it melts during the day and freezes at night so has become a bit of an ice rink lol) Sam had fun shovelling in the snow with his little shovels from the sand box.

We got Lloyds quad bike out and went for a ride on that for a while which was great fun - first time this year :) It felt so good - the sun was warm on our backs and it was just so great!

Lloyd told me to get his tractor out of the workshop for him YIKES...so that was an experience lol - its a LOT bigger than the lawn tractor.....then I had a go at clearing some snow - not as easy as it looks lol and not as interesting lol - one try and I handed it over for Lloyd to play with - he cleared all the snow around the trampoline and climbing frame so the children could get out there all week and play.....and we have GRASS!!!! it's been great all week for the kids to get out and swing and slide and jump on the trampoline!!! Wonderful!

While Lloyd cleared the snow, Chris and I cooked a big roast dinner - Chris helped me prep all the vegetables.

So that was our weekend! Sunday was my first migraine free day in a LONG day.....

So the meds were starting to work :)

Ok...catch up time....

So I guess I should catch up...one day at a time....

Getting back into it....

I have to get my head back into blogging but its a bit of a struggle. Tonight is crop night at Scrappers Haven but for one reason or another I am not in the mood to scrapbook so I am just popping by now and then to say hi and chat. My mind is elsewhere. My mind is with a friend. I spent this afternoon with someone very special to me - someone who needs and deserves lots of love and hugs and wonderful things.

The rest of my posts tonight will be filled with all the fluff of life - the day-to-day nonsense that goes on in our lives....the stuff that really doesn't matter - but does matter.....if you know what I mean.......the small stuff.....

And I just want to say......that even though I'm posting about all this 'fluff'....my mind isn't really on it all.....and 'friend'...if you read this...if you need anything - any time - just call!

Just droppin' by!

Just to let you all know I'm fine! Just busy doing other things :)

Normal blogging will resume soon I'm sure!

Extravagant Beauties.....

Playing about with colour........

Orchidacious

I can't believe a whole year has gone by since we went to the orchid show and I brought Dorothy home. This morning we went to Orchidacious - this years Orchid show. We took Susannah with us - with her camera and we had fun taking pictures of all the flowers there. I wasn't as impressed as last year - for a start the staff at the door were really rude and snooty and miserable. Some of the flowers were really droopy and looked as though they were not well looked after - they looked half dead! Some were stunning though! But not as amazing as last years as far as I was concerned!

I love how the top one looks like little hands :)

Tess tagged me :)

Tess has tagged me:

You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name. After you've been tagged, you need to up-date your blog with your middle name and answers. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name.

So here we go:

E: Excitable - this is the closest term I can think of to obsessional lol....and I would have to say that I tend towards obsessional for some things - like blogging ;) and photography ;) and Lloyd lol and chocolate eggs :)

M: Moody - yep - life with me is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. I like to blame the fact I'm Aquarian ;) Generally I'm happy go lucky but I do have a bit of a temper....I'm rarely sad but I'm either happy or pissed off ;) I think it also means I am emotional and loving though and thats a good thing and I'm sure Lloyd is happy to put up with the occasional mood because the rest of the time we are all lovey-dovey - in fact we really only argue when other people are around :) If everyone else in the world would just piss off we'd be happy all the time :)

M: Migraine sufferer :( it sucks. I live in dread of my next one and lately they have been almost daily and I don't know why.....I am trying to find something that prevents them or at least makes them happen less......

A: Artistic when I get the chance.......I love to create...with paint...with paper, with words, with cameras, with fabric,

I have to tag four people so I tag:


Jennifer
Danica
Val
Cori

Me and my girl......

Susie took this of me with Abigail the other day......Abby wanted a picture with me for her blog.......

Want to wind up a three year old?

It's so easy to wind Sam up right now....just call him a baby :) He is so proud to be a big boy that if you want to wind him up you just have to call him a baby - and to wind him up even more I just call him a baby in a diaper!! Then he has a big melt down lol! And whe he gets cross with anyone he just calls them a baby!!! Its so funny he gets cross and shouts 'You Baby'!!!

Farted fakes anyone?

Sam: "I want farted fakes pease mommy"

me: farted fakes? are you sure? You want farted fakes?

Sam: No!! NOT farted fakes....FARTED FAKES!!!!


Me: (laughing) so you want farted fakes????

Sam: getting cross: NOT farted fakes FARTED FAKES!!!!


Me: (laughing harder) Ohhhhhhh Frosted Flakes.......ok :)

Jump, jump, jump.....

This is for Andrea......and is t show her what my children spent their morning doing :) jumping from the top bunk onto the blankets ;)

Flower power....

Yum!

Giant bugs...

We've been taken over by GIANT bugs.......waaaaaaah!!!!

Come and be my neighbour.......kind of lol...

www.mayaday.ca/Sherwood_Park/Alberta/Homes/Meadowbrook_Heights/Agent/Listing_1343538.html

Me at the end of a LONG day

My guy.....

Daytime dozing..

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7257270.stm


stroke warning.....


Dad - quit dozing in front of the soccer!!!

16 year old has 7 children

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7258072.stm

My not so great pics of the eclipse...

Last night we had a total eclipse of the moon. It was also date night and to be honest I was more interested in spending the evening with Lloyd than watching the eclipse as I have seen plenty of lunar eclipses in the past. The children watched the eclipse at home and Lloyd and I caught glimpses of the first half before and after dinner. We watched some on the way home from dinner and I took a few snapshots when I got home, but I wasn't really interested. Maybe I should have been because it seems the rest of Canada was fascinated.

Abigail was thrilled with the binoculars that Grandma and Grandad Spicer sent her last week for her birthday - they actually worked better for the eclipse than our real binoculars!!!

Anyway, in some of the pictures you can see two dots sandwiching the moon - the one to the left of the moon is Saturn and it's rings were visible with a telescope....and the other is Regulus.

Don't forget you can click on the images to see them much bigger!

Last nights sunset...another beautiful one!

Catch up...

I haven't really posted with news for a few days...the weekend was nice - on Sunday I got a surprise phone call - from my friend Hiromi!!! OMG we haven't been in touch for sooooo long. I ran into a friend of ours the other week and asked her to say hi to Hiromi for me - and then Hiromi called me :) Such a lovely surprise and we are trying to plan to get together! Her Daughter went to kindergarten with Susannah. Hiromi is Japanese and she is used to the Canadian accent but not used to the British accent so I'm always aware that I need to talk a little slower on the phone! Unfortunately she called a few minutes before Susies party was due to start - and then when I called her back, she was busy - so we still haven't planned to meet up but it will be so great! One day she walked over to my house with a home made cheesecake!!

Monday was Family Day which meant Lloyd had the day off :) It was a lovely relaxing day at home....Lloyd cooked a big roast dinner, we all curled up and watched The Last Mimzy together.....just pottered about all day here at home and it was lovely.

Tuesday was a Monday in my head because of the holiday Monday. Part of my book order arrived (I have to go into town to pick the rest up tonight - Mom I ordered the snowflake book at last!!) The children went back to school, I caught up with chores around the house - laundry and cleaning etc etc and Abigail did her school work...Sam played with his playdoh a lot.

This morning I had my doctors appt. Appt was at 11:15am. I eventually went in at 12:20pm!!!!!!!!! OMG what fun THAT was (not!!) My doctor has prescribed ALL new meds for me to try - so I am now on Topamax daily as a preventative.....100mg twice a day. Then I take Maxalt when I get a migraine...and if this doesn't help within a few weeks, then he has given me a prescription for BOTOX!!!!!!! Woohoo lol......well kind of! He will inject it into the normal cosmetic sites - around the eyes, between the eyes and in the forehead...it paralyses the muscles in the forehead which can prevent migraines (the ones caused by stress I assume????)

I'm a little worried about this idea - Lloyd of course thinks its hilarious that I may look stunned for a few days lol......actually he thinks its kind of cool that my Doc thinks beyond meds....and of course because Lloyd works with Pharmacists and Doctors all day long he straight away checks up on all the meds I am taking and gets all the thoughts of his colleagues ;) Not sure if that is a pro or a con of having him work for the EHR!!! lol!

The stress of going to the doctors...and missing lunch because of the wait time...meant I took my first maxalt this afternoon - they are kind of cool as they are wafers that dissolve on your tongue - much better than imitrex.....and they are minty......and the side effects have not been anything near as bad as with imitrex!!! So thats good already!

Date night tonight! I am sooooo looking forward to it :) Not sure where we are going yet though. I am looking forward to having my husband all to myself for a few hours away from here :) basketball season and birthdays are over with for a while and so we can get back to regular date nights :) hopefully migraine free :)

On a frustrating note though...my pharmacist Darren, suggested that I take just one Topamax tablet for a few days as they can have strong side effects and can make you jittery, make you tired.....slur your speech etc....so he said take just one a day for a few days and see how you are....so the plans I had for the next couple of days may get cancelled as I may not be able to drive. We WERE off to the science centre tomorrow for the day but maybe not now. Acne and weight loss are side effects of topamax - I'm kind of hoping for the weight loss but knowing my luck with side effects, I will get the acne and not the weight loss lol!

Ok off to tidy myself up for my hubby now :) Have a great evening everyone!

Last nights sunset for you...

It was a stunning one! I was supposed to be checking the parsnips but the sun goes down so fast at the moment that the sunset changes in seconds - and the parsnips had to wait ;)

Sams sing-along with Barbie....

Deere, deere, deere...

Lloyd has named his tractor Bertha!!! He wanted to call it Dorothy but he can't - my Orchid is called Dorothy!