Goodnight all :)

Hahahahaha keep on guessing guys ;)

Chris cooked dinner for the kidlets tonight :) Lloyd and I went into town - the plan was to stroll around the farmers market which I thought was still at the Salisbury garden centre - but I guess it isn't (my bad!) but instead we had supper at Timmys (yummy chicken and rice soup 1/2 a 12 grain bagel and a coffee) then we went to the garden centre and strolled around there for ages.....actually it was a lovely evening......just strolling round the garden centre together talking about our plans for the bees, the garden, the flowers, the vegetables, the porch...the land. the deck furniture etc etc.....and Lloyd being funny about listening in to the class that was taking place there.

I did buy a new hummingbird feeder ready for the weekend :) And we bought a little watering can for Sammy and a big one for Lloyd - one that I can paint little bees on :) Not that I'm obsessed or anything of course ;)

Guess what I am - part 3

Hmmmmmm Can you guess what we are?????????
;)

I BET you can't ;)

So sad!

Scrappers Haven is closing down!!!

I'm so sad!!!

I mean, I'm so happy that its because Donna is moving on to her PhD and to better things....but I'm so sad that SH won't be there any more!!! It's such a nice friendly crowd of girls - I've met some lovely friends through there!! We were hoping to get together for a weekend crop retreat! I loved the monthly online crops - even if I didn't get much actual scrapbooking done - the chatting was fun :)

Here is the Email I woke up to this morning :(

Well ladies it is with a heavy heart that I am posting this announcement.

I was accepted into a Ph.D program starting in July and this is something I have wanted to do for myself for a very long time and I also want to do it right. I need to have the time to commit to doing my doctorate work so we have decided to close Scrapper's Haven, because I know I cannot do it all.

What does this all mean, it means as of June 30 we will be closed. Starting tomorrow we will start selling off inventory at discounted prices. You can use your e-vouchers if you have some, but we will not be issuing any new ones. We will continue with the Iron Chef contest but there will be no more contest, online crops or newsletters... sorry.

The close out sale will be as follows

- week of May 1 - May 7 - 30% off
- week of May 8 - May 14 - 35% off
- week of May 15 - May 21 - 40% off
- week of May 22 - May 28 - 45% off
- week of May 29 - June 4 - 50% off
- week of June 5 - June 11 - 55% off
- week of June 12 - June 18 - 60% off
- week of June 19 - June 25 - 65% off
- week of June 26 - June 30 - 70% off

Discount coupon codes will be listed on the main page of the store and on the website.
You truly have appreciated your patronage of the last 4 years.

www.scrappershaven.ca

Another warm day :)

20c today I think. Sam had preschool this afternoon so Abigail and I spent the afternoon at the park. I met my friend Samantha there for a while and caught up with all her news.

Abigail met a friend and had a blast playing on the climbing frames and I also got some studying done which was good :)

After collecting Sam from class we raced over to Holy Spirit to get Laurie and his friend form their badminton tournament. So very glad my children don't go to that school - what a nightmare that place is every afternoon with traffic!!! It made me glad my children go to a quiet rural school!!!

Headed home and got back not long before Lloyd. My Beekeeping for Dummies book arrived in the mail which was good. We dropped Lauries friend home.

We tidied up in the yard a little and Lloyd worked on the vegetable garden - the black dirt arrives on Thursday - 5 truck loads of it!!!! Woohoo!!! All ready for the weekend!!!

Tonight we had the first thunder storm of the year :) that was nice :)

Lloyd barbecued again which was also nice :)

Lloyd and I just washed all the floors and now we are going to bed - yes at 8:30pm :) early night to read and relax. We were laughing and sayingw e wondered what people would think if we were to video us washing the floors together and blog it - would you all think the way we do it together is crazy...we have this method you see and its probably quite different to the way most people wash their floors.....

If we were Jon and Kate and were filmed all the time what would people make of us....

We were asked once to be filmed as a homeschool family for a year. A tv show were looking for a Canadian family to film for a year. We changed our minds in the end. I wonder what people would make of us if they were flies on our walls all the time lol! I'm not much different to how I am on my blog lol. Not really. Am I Val? lol!

Hhhmmmmm Charlie has eaten everything we gave her and left the tortilla licked clean on the porch...she liked the hummus and coleslaw and burger and everything else...just left the wholewheat tortilla!!!! GREAT!!!! now I have to go out and get it :(

Never a dull moment here ;)

Goodnight all :)

Fairy Door!

image1.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.25274057.jpg

I ordered my Mom a little gift for Mothers Day at the weekend and the Etsy seller was going to mail it yesterday. I called my Mom this morning to say that it was on it's way and to not open it until May 11th - as it was for Mothering Sunday!

Too late - it arrived today!!! How fast is that for service???? Wow!! My Mom had already opened it and loved it :) It's a Fairy Door :) or Fairy Portal :) This one belongs to a fairy who has gone away on holiday!

Anyway - you can place them in the garden or by your baseboard/ skirting board and you can use them to entice fairies into your home! You can also use them to entice the tooth fairy into your home to get your childrens teeth!!

You can find plenty of them online at my favourite website etsy.com!!!

I hope the link above works to see the picture!! It's just 15cm tall :)

Another first tonight!!!!!

Before I go!!!! The frogs are awake!!!! They're croaking!!!! They want SEX!!!! They are horny!!!!! The frogs in our pond are making their calls for the first time this year tonight - they are calling for sex (this is what we tell the children lol)!!!!! hahahahahaha!!!

Our evening.....

We spent the evening outside enjoying the warm temperatures and the lovely sunny weather. The children were on the quads so Lloyd and I got on his (Laurie was on mine) and Sam was on with us and we went all up over the fields and it was lovely :) Back through all the woods and I had my camera with me so got some pictures of the girls going through the puddles left by the melting snow.

The quads need a good wash this weekend I think! But it was great fun!

Lloyd also spent some time getting the vegetable garden started - he ordered the topsoil today and he bought all the lumber for the raised beds yesterday. It should all be done by the weekend nd as we are covering all the plants with frost protection, we should be able to get them all planted out this weekend! We found a seller of polytunnels :)

Ok busy day tomorrow and things to do now so switching off and going up to bed! Goodnight all have a great evening and a great Tuesday!!!

Enjoying being outdoors again!

After last weeks winter storm that brought 31cms of snow and canceled all our classes and plans, we were glad to be outdoors again! A is very glad to be back out on hr quad bike and has been enjoying all the puddles left by the melting snow!!!!

A little early for Fall pictures but......

Jasper seemed happy to pose amongst some old Fall leaves....

Jasper

They're back!

Just run inside to share the news!

I have my first mosquito bite of the year!!!

The bastards are back! And they are BIG!!!!

Egghead updates!!!!

Here are our eggheads now that they are grown and ready to be 'trimmed'!!!!!

Remember all you need is cress seeds, cotton wool, water and an empty egg shell!

Susies free book!

Susannah and her free book - she got this today because her Hannah Montana book wasn't in stock :)

What a difference a day makes :)

So - it was a crappy day yesterday - great day today :) still in pain but my I didn't let it get to me today :)

Lloyd took the day off of work and that cheered me up as always :)

The guys came to do some work here - it was the air conditioning guys that were here today so we now have the air conditioning unit moved out of the way for the new addition.

Lloyd phoned the Provincial Apiarist and got me registered with him. And he did some other phoning round for me (I have this aversion to phone calls lol)

We took Abigail to her drama class and then went to get some lunch. Got back from lunch and sat outside Festival PLace chatting with Sandy, one of the other homeschooling Moms and her DH (I'm assuming anyway lol) We were chatting about leaving Alberta and where to go and how...which seems to be a major topic amongst Albertans wherever you go these days.

Then we went to get my permit for my beehive. So I am all legal for the next year :)

Then we went to Costco and got groceries.

Then we drove to Millwoods and picked up the butterfly larvae that we ordered ages ago ready to study butterfly lifecycles. Very cool - and you can see pictures over on our homeschooling blog!

Came home and checked mail and found a gorgeous card from the wonderful Kendra over at Scrappers Haven! Inside was the cutest embellishment abou pigs ready to use ona layout about Charlie :) Thank you so much Kendra!

I switched on the computer and got the best news - Kendra won her group in the Iron Chef contest this week :) Congratulations Kendra! Thats wonderful - and well deserved because your pieces this time were amazing!!!! That altered notebook was WOW!!!!!!

I was having such a funny conversation with a guy on my beekeeping forum last night - a guy in Texas was saying how my house looks like something from a Stephen King novel hahahahahahha!!! I thought that was hilarious :) He posted pictures of himself barbecuing and adding a certain kind of fuel to the bbq from his butt OMG you would never guess the things they discuss on a beekeeping forum! But then I guess you ahve to be slightly insance to want to keep bees hahahahahaha!!

Came home and then Lloyd went to get Chris from his drama rehearsal. I unloaded the groceries and tidied everything away and cleaned up the kitchen etc etc....threw in some laundry and all the boring stuff.....read up on the butterflies....

Lloyd just bbq'ed a pizza for the kids and is now doing a steak for me. The children are playing outside and eating ice creams as it is 19c outside!!!! :) so glad the good weather is back :)

Susie is very happy today. They have run out of her book from the book order so have reordered it - so they gave her a FREE High School Musical book to apologise!!!! - so she is happy - and she got yet another birthday party invite for next weekend. swimming in town. So she is happy.

OMG Lloyd is cooking potatoes on the bbq and it smells like Palmers chippy back home - I want fish and chips from the chippy!!! The REAL chippy not the fake stuff they sell here that they THINK tastes like British fish and chips but really doesn't lol.... I want the smell and the taste and the feel and OMG I can smell it and I want to taste it!!! Lol!

Which is funny because when I lived there I probably only went once a year! I don't think I ever went when I lived in Scotland! I guess when you know you CAN'T have it it's always different lol!

Still Lloyds spuds on the bbq smell GORGEOUS :) and the steak :) MMmmmmm nice bit of cows bum :) or whatever bit of cow it is :) we always tell the kids its cow bum lol!

Lloyd spoils me :) I sit here blogging and he brings me chocolate milk, plonks it in front of me and says 'drink this'! Then he goes back to cooking my dinner :) I wish he stayed home every day :) I love having him home :) Poor guy would probably die of exhaustion if he stayed home lol! He probably goes to work for the rest ;)

I love you Lloyd!!! I'll make you a nice cup of tea later baby :)

Laptop time...

A is doing really well on the computer right now. She is still enjoying webkinz but is enjoying a game called pony love right now.

I love the picture above where her brother is helping her with a game :)

Our butterflies arrived!

Today we went to collect our butterfly larvae - we are going to study life cycles this Spring - not just butterflies but the bees in our very own beehive (you can see those on our bee blog via our profile if you like). We ordered a butterfly lifecycle kit and today was the day we went to collect them!!

The larvae are the teeny tiniest caterpillars we have ever seen!!!! They came with food for us to feed them. We will photograph their journey from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly and post it here for you to enjoy :)

Our butterflies are Painted Ladies :)

........oh

........just to add to my miserable post below!

One thing I DID do today!

I tried on all the clothes in my closet - the clothes that I have kept for years but couldn't wear because they were too small!

Well I decided to try them all on because I know I've lost weight from being on these tablets - although I have not been able to weigh myself as I have no scales - I have had to go and buy new clothes as my others were too big - and my new ones are now quite loose too. So I thought I'd try on my old clothes :)

And ones that were WAY too small for me now fit comfortably :)

So now there is nothing in my closet that doesn't fit(well apart from the things that are now too big and I have now thrown out lol) :) This is a wonderful feeling :) It has been YEARS since this has happened!

Someone on Scrappers Haven (Thanks Vintage Girl) reminded me that they will weigh me at my doctors annual medical in June, so I am not going to buy scales after all - and will wait until June and get weighed then and just enjoy the fact that my clothes fit nicely and I am a nice size at last!

I'm still a bit over weight of course - still not at the goal weight WW had set for me (I think that was 118 lbs) but at this rate and losing about 1lb a week with a few weeks off for the occasional lapse, which is a safe loss, I should be there by Labour Day weekend!!!! Although to be honest I think I'm looking to be more around 12lb - 130lb!!! I think thats more realistic at my age and frame :)

Tired.....

I am tired of this pain. I can't do anything with this pain. I can't take the tylenol 3's and we haven't bought the Advil extra srengths as we forgot. I will get some tomorrow. So I am just suffering through and to be honest it HURTS :( It hurts to breath it hurts to move. It is AGONY to sneeze or cough. It hurts to laugh. It hurts to shout. It hurts to soak in the bath it hurts do anything. It makes my back ache from having to sit so still.

Did I say it hurts?

So I can't paint my hive. I can't do anything outside. I can't do anything :(

So today I haven't done much of anything but sat on the porch watching Lloyd potter about and checked out Scrappers Haven and my bee forums and the occasional blog.

I did get my letters written and delivered to all my neighbours (thank you Laurie) informing them that I am getting bees.

Lloyd went to Home Depot and got a load of supplies for the new vegetable garden - fencing and raised beds, for the new hummingbird feeders and for my hives.

Our friend Jeff came over to get his boat and Jetski that we have been storing for him all winter. Chris's friend came over to get something.....

The kids took the dogs for a long walk - I didn't go.

Charlie has done nothing but sleep - but she is a little like a sun dial and she sleeps in different parts of the yard moving as the sun moves - a few yards at a time :) it's kind of funny to watch :)

And I have done nothing but rest - and sulk - and ache.

Lloyd keeps offering to go into town - he offered to drive me in and go to the scrapbook store too but I'm just not in the mood and I wouldn't let him go into town just for tablets when I'm in town tomorrow anyway.....I should have just let him go but I just didn't see the point.....so I sulked instead :( silly really :(

And its been very boring and painful and tomorrow when I am in town during Abigails drama class, I have to run to the county hall and get my beekeeping permit AND go and buy Advil extra strength!!!!! :)

Tomorrow night I promise to be a little happier :)

I'm loving this right now...

Ok how have I NEVER heard of this guy until last night?????? how???? HOW??????? And you can tell how old this song is just by how old Dakota is in the video....

this guy was on Graham Nortons show last night and we just thought he was sooooo great on the show that we've been listening to him on youtube today and I think I'm going to pick up his cds this week if I can find them.....

what a talent! Rufus Wainwright. He sings such a variety of songs too....a real mix of styles! I love it!

I blame Susan!

Ever since Susan introduced us all to the wonders of Bento and I stupidly intorduced the idea to my children, they have hinted that they think they would be a wonderful thing to take to school to impress their friends with and I might actually win points against Supermom!!! OMG!!! wow can you imagine!!!???? - have I mentioned Supermom before????? Hmmmm remind me to tell you about her one day ;)

Anyway, every few days I go through my bookmarked links of bento sites and get more ideas for lunches and think about it but still have yet to do it - but I think maybe this week I will hunt down some Bento boxes online and order them and SHOCK the children one day :) lol!

www.flickr.com/groups/396900@N24/pool/

lunchinabox.net/links/

But I won't be doing this every day or even once a week lol - I mean...who has the time????? lol! Maybe supermom hahahahaha! And I am NOT her!!!!

Do they do this in the UK now?????? Any of you over there know????? Any of you Moms send your children to school with these lunches????? Pretty cool for a special occasion aren't they?

I think it was Susans Daughter that found them!!! I had never heard of them before! Maybe I will make them more when I have a nice kitchen rather than a hell hole that is falling apart - that I don't even like going in......that I try to avoid at all costs.....

For Val :)

Sam in Vals wig :)

Pinocchio!

Today we went to see Chris in the dress rehearsal performance of Pinocchio - they invited families with young children to watch - and we could have taken Sam, but we decided to go and watch with Abigail instead, and we left Sam at home!

The show was WONDERFUL!!!! OMG It was soooo impressive!!!! they have worked soooo hard on it :) This week they start performing in front of their school and then they perform in front of the parants and in front of other schools in the area :)

Just wonderful :)

Saturday goings-on!

We ran into town this morning for some groceries - trying to make do until we head to Costco on Monday.

On the way home we ran to Callingwood Cove or whatever it's called to get Susannah from the birthday sleepover party she went to from school yesterday! She had fun - they all looked very tired! We headed home and then I set to work with Chris to sort out his wig and make up for his play! Then I drove him to school and he is now at school getting ready for his play this afternoon - first of about 5 performances I think over the next two weeks.

We are going to watch this afternoons performance.

Tonight I am invited to the first of a Stampers 12 get together that I'm taking part in - it's at Tess's house in Edmonton and I'm really hoping to get there! Tess is doing a class I think :) It sounds like fun and I have met almost everyone that is going so it sounds like fun! I have stopped taking the tylenol 3's but we forgot to pick up the Advil (duh!!) so I have no painkillers! So I will see how I feel after Chris's play! I can always stop off on my way out I guess!

I bought the new WW magazine on Thursday and there is a recipe in if for these wraps so I bought the ingredients this morning and we made them for lunch - I thought the kids would love them in their school lunches - its 1 soft tortilla spread with hummus and then filled with coleslaw mix (ie diced up white and red cabbage and carrot). I bought the red pepper hummus from Sobeys as it's a little less fat and yummier! Anyway these wraps are GORGEOUS!!!! I bought the wholewheat wraps and the size I bought works out to 2 points for the entire wrap!!! Not bad for a big sandwich for lunch :) Very filling and nutritious!!!

I don't count points or anything in fact I'm not dieting as such as I have absolutely NO appetite with these tablets but I like WW magazine and the recipes and exercise part and am still hoping to lose some weight for summer with these tablets - but thought I'd post about the recipe because I know quite a few of my blog readers are doing WW right now! The recipe in the magazine says 1 point for a mini tortilla but I couldn't find the mini fat free tortillas in Sobeys and found the large wholewheat ones to be more filling and nutritious anyway!

Work starts outside on the new kitchen this week - moving the air conditioning unit - gas lines etc etc.....they have marked out where the kitchen will end with posts etc and it looks huge and weird from the posts but hard to picture in my head because it will be a walk-out so where the posts are will actually be kind of 'upstairs' and where the deck will be. All very weird and strange and odd for me to think about. The workmen were here for ages on Thursday and that was annoying so what on earth I will be like when they are here EVERY day I have no idea :( STRESSED is an understatement. The gas guy was laughing at how stressed I looked and was saying about how much mud there was going to be everywhere and how I was going to have to get used to having mud everywhere. I must have looked a bit upset!!!! :(

For some reason I had this picture in my head that the front of our property would stay all nice and neat and lovely looking and all the mess and mud and building work would stay all contained at the back. But now the gas lines have to be dug at the front......which does upset me...but then Lloyd said - well you do realise the trucks are going to have to drive up the driveway and across the front lawn anyway????? The front is going to look a mess anyway too!!! Well no, I hadn't thought of that to be honest. I was expecting the front to be our private little quiet and clean area for the summer away from the noise and mess. Thank Gawd we are getting the rough mower for the tractor - I think I will get Lloyd to cut the grass up on the side field up towards Marys land - then we can just picnic up there and play up there and try and forget all the mess and noise by the house. Or maybe I will just sit down by my bees and listen to their hum and meditate on that.

Monica tagged me!

Monica tagged me WEEKS ago and I wrote this out weeks ago too but in my notebook! I just forgot to add it here :)

So here you go :)

7 more weird and wonderful things about little old me :)

1. I love 'Mom pants' - as in high rise jeans. I know they aren't in style really and you shouldn't wear them and really you should wear low hung jeans that come to the belly button or slightly below but to be honest I HATE those and when I wear them I am constantly trying t pull them up! I LOVE high waisted jeans but they are so hard to find but Reitmans do them in petite too :) so I almost ONLY buy my jeans there now - in their BASIC FIT and I love them because I don't spend my life tugging up my waist band and I don't feel like my underwear is constantly on show and I don't have my flesh hanging out for all to see when I bend over or stretch up - I'm sorry but low rise jeans are NOT flattering for over thirties and they are NOT comfortable. I don't care what you say!

2. Although I wear high rise jeans, I only wear thong underwear during the day - I do not go out in anything else. I can not bear to see knicker/ underwear lines on people. I think it looks awful. And no I don't find it uncomfortable (most of the time at least. Occasionally it drives me nuts but most days I don't notice it. Thong underwear under low rise jeans is awful - but then again seeing any underwear under low rise jeans is awful - I really don't like low rise jeans - unless you are VERY skinny low rise jeans look terrible!

3. I shave my legs EVERY day. For me. No other reason. I LOVE the feeling of just shaved legs. I hate the feeling of stubble or hairy legs so I shave every day all year round. I can't imagine not shaving my legs for days on end and being that hairy. YUCK :(

4. ON the subject of hairiness, I can't stand hairy men. Eeeeeeew!!!!! I just am sooooo NOT attracted to hairy men at all. I can't stand hairy chests - or beards or moustaches, arms or hands....YUCK!!!! Can't deal with any of that! And hairy backs!!! EWWWWWW!!!
NO THANK YOU!!!!! My first husband was not hairy at all thankfully and then quite by chance Lloyd wasn't either PHEW! how lucky that was because I don't even remember asking him if he was or not!

5. I hate the protective covers that come on books. I have to remove them and I often throw them away. I know thats the wrong thing to do but I just don't like them! I know they are there to protect the book but they annoy me.

6. As soon as I get a new magazine I turn to the back page and I flick through it from back to front. I tend to read all my magazines from back to front first just flicking through and reading little bits and then I will read through it properly from cover to cover from the front to back. Then I decide if it is worth keeping or not and if not it goes in a bag ready to pass along to a friend.

7. None of my drawers and cupboards contain what you think they will contain. None of my kitchen cupboards contain kitchen things - they all contain kids craft supplies. All my bedroom drawers are filled with ringbound notebooks and craft supplies for me and the rest are filled with business papers for Lloyd or rtactor/ boat/ dirtbike brochures (lol guy stuff) but nothing bedroomy! I don't really have anything kitcheny in my kitchen or bedroomy in my bedroomy and I often wonder what other people keep in their bedrooms! lol!

Ok thats me done :)

World Vision and rising food costs..

Val was telling me about this yesterday at breakfast. Vals Daughter took part in a fast in aid of World Vision a coupe of weeks ago at school, and as I am sure you are aware, our family and our company, sponsors two children through World Vision. A little girl named Margori in Peru, and a little girl name Malle in Mali, West Africa.

On Wednesday I spent some time packaging up another set of letters ready to go off to our girls. We send them stickers and a pictures, letters and other bits and pieces. We are only allowed to send things that are flat - so bookmarks and stickers etc. I'm just about to order a book for each of them in Spanish and French (their languages....but we are limited to what we can send them...but I LOVE writing to them and the children all help choosing things to send and writing letters and drawing pictures.

I know that our sponsor children will continue to receive food and aid from us but their communities may not do as well through this difficult time. While people in this country complain about the cost of gas and food prices here while they sip their Timmys and munch their junk food (picture me rolling my eyes please why don't you) I hope they take the time to appreciate everything they have in their lives that many don't have. I count myself extremely fortunate to be in the position that I am in. I am so very VERY lucky to have all that I have in my life...from the very small things in life to gas guzzling truck outside, from my 5 healthy, happy children to the fact we are having a huge addition built soon, from our vacations on airplanes to our walks on our own land with our pot bellied pig and my bees soon to arrive. I am so very very lucky. But most of all I feel very grateful to be in a position to be able to now help two families in other countries - not just by sponsoring them monthly but by the purchase of gifts such as goats and other animals for their villages and communities and through other projects through World Vision.

When we first signed up with World Vision I wasn't too sure about them. They are a Christian organisation and we are not Christian. I was concerned they might push their beliefs on us or on the children in their programs. I have been very impressed so far! In fact Malle in Mali is Muslim and we have been asked to be respectful of her religious beliefs!!!! I am so impressed with that!!! How great is that? That just goes to show how open minded World Vision is in their programs!

Anyway, I wanted to post a couple of links to news stories about the problems World Vision is facing at the moment. If you are in the position where you can afford to sponsor a child then I wholeheartedly recommend doing so - I know our family has gained so much from welcoming Margori and Malle into our hearts :)

www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/04/23/worldvision-cut.html?ref=rss

www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080423/world_vision_AM_080423/20080423?hub=TopStories&s_name=

www.worldvision.ca

Eeeewwwwww!!

Medi centres are disgusting places!!!! Doctors offices are bad enough but medi centres are just so much worse! They are full of sick people!!! YUCK!!!

Last night was date night and guess where I spent it!!! YES! In the medi centre! After almost a week of pain in my right chest/ rib area, Lloyd had had enough, so he insisted I get checked out. So as he had had the afternoon off for us to meet with our contractor for the new kitchen, we headed into town to the medicentre. (For those in the UK, a medicentre is like a drop-in doctors office that anyone can go to - you don't need an appointment and it isn't your own doctors office - you don't even have to have your own family doctor over here - we do but I didn't bother making an appointment there this time so we went to the medicentre instead)

Well, anyway, I signed in at 4pm and they said there would be an hour or so wait, so we went to Joey Tomatoes for dinner!! Had a nice quick early supper before heading back to the medicentre to be told there were still 15 people ahead of me and it would be another hour and a half wait so off we went AGAIN - this time to get a birthday gift for Susies friend. Got back at 6:15pm to be told 8 people still ahead of me and it may be another hour STILL!!!! I decide to wait anyway but tell Lloyd to head off and get the groceries (I sent him to get GARLIC!!!!) while I wait.

So I sit in the only vacant seat. This is when I start to regret my decision. This is when I start to think that Michael Jackson has a lot more sense than people think he has! I wish I was wearing a mask and could stop sharing the same air as th epeople around me. The woman next to me is on her cell phone telling someone she thinks she has pneumonia - she then starts hacking up 'something' and coughing it into tissues which she puts into a bag. The man opposite is constantly sniffing (one of the things that drives me INSANE), all around me are sick people and I can literally see their germs crawling towards me through the air......SWIMMING towards me...I want to pull up my sweater over my mouth and nose and I want to turn away from the lady next to me but I don't want to be rude. I want to screw up my face in disgust every time she sneezes and snorts. OMG I am such a snob but it's HORRIBLE in there. All these sick people should NOT be out in public...


lol ok ok I KNOW it's the medi centre but REALLY!!!!!!!!

Lloyd eventually arrives back and comes in and sits with me and I can see on his face he is thinking EXACTLY the same as me and of course he isn't as subtle as me and he starts whispering (far too loudly) things to me....about private medical treatment and how Alberta really should have private doctors and offices where you don't have to wait and don't have to sit with sick strangers (I won't use his real words here) and of course I try and explain about how most Albertans are against the 'third way' but he doesn't listen lol......and in some ways I do agree with him and in the UK it does ease up the public system a lot by having people who can afford to pay for their care pay for it and go through faster.....I know some of you won't agree with that but why have those who can afford to pay take up valuable places in medicentres??? In may ways it helps both sides.

Anyway.....I think I went in just before 7:30pm!!!! 3 1/2 hours after arriving!!! But at least I wasn't actually sat there waiting all that time.

The Doctor is pretty sure I've just badly strained all the chest muscles on the right side but couldn't rule out a fractured rib - so she sent me off to have chest x-rays and prescribed a months worth of Tylenol 3's to be taken every 4 - 6 hours. She said it could take 3 - 4 weeks for it to heal. They said they'll send the results to my own Doc today but whether its strained muscles or fracture the treatment and healing are the same....

The cause? Coughing!!!!! I had no idea you could cause this much pain from a cough!!! You can actually cause a fracture from coughing!!! Who knew!!!! lol!

Tylenol 3's are not agreeing with me :( I didn't sleep last night :( they make me dizzy and drunk and feel weird. They only really take the edge off the pain...not sure I'll bother.

I'm eating lots of garlic today because I am paranoid I'm going to come down with some weird virus from all those germs in that room last night lol - omg and I am not normally a germaphobe but really, eeeeewwwwwww!!!

Cheerios Addict....

Thinking of Cheerios Addict...who today became Mom of two :) Her and her hubby were due to welcome their precious Daughter into the world by C-section today :) A baby sister for their little boy!

They are all in my thoughts today and I hope everything went perfectly for them :) I can't wait to see pictures and read all about it!!!

ATC Swap!!

I forgot to post pictures of the artist trading cards I got back in the swap! They arrived back on Friday. Here they all are! The aim of this swap was to make an atc for each person in the swap that had a picture of yourself on it. It also had to have your username from Scrappershaven on the front of the card!

It is so nice to have a card with pictures of all the people from scrappershaven!!! this was such a fun swap to take part in! Can you spot Tess in there? Aren't they all wonderful???? Some talented scrapbookers and cardmakers at SH for sure!!!! And atc's are so much fun to make and send to each other - these little cards are just 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches!!!

The bottom picture shows my little atc tin that I keep them all in - but I am now taking part in a 'Hottie' atc swap and then my tin will already be full so I need to go and find an atc album or something I think!

Almond Roca Squares

The Squares the children made together this afternoon....

For Cori.

Cori, I've been chatting to Chris, my 15 year old, about your Son. Firstly we were talking about your Son shaving. Chris desperately wants to shave. Every few weeks he will come to us pointing at his top lip and saying he needs to shave. He does NOT need to shave. There is not a hair in sight. Sad but true....Occasionally we think there may be a bit of a shadow. We all stand around and look in all different lights only to decide it's either a smudge of pencil or simply bad lighting.

I think he's a little miffed about your Son NEEDING to shave ;)

Anyway I was showing Chris your blog and we were laughing about your Sons choice to cut his hair off rather than wear a hair net or pony tail for food classes at school! Cool guy you have there! Chris couldn't get over how grown up your boy is compared to my 12 year old Laurence!!

Which is when he says:

"Now Mom, see that guy there....can you imagine HIM sticking a penny up his nose and getting it stuck there????? I mean....REALLY????????"

And he's right.....I look at your Son and I just can't see him doing that! He looks too grown up. And when I think about it, its the kind of thing a three year old does! Sam should be doing it!

But this morning Laurence comes downstairs with a penny stuck up his nose - literally stuck - Queens head facing out!!!! Up his nose!!!! I mean.....WHY??????? Why would he do that??????? Why????????? lol!!!! It looked hilarious

So if it's ok with your Son Cori I think Chris wants to switch brothers!!! He wants the cool younger brother (who actually looks older lol) who would rather cut his hair off than wear a ponytail and who doesn't stick pennies up his nose!

Pumpkin flowers

Our male pumpkin flowers......and yes, this is my dining table which we have pushed up against the doors for more light....

Making brunch..

The boys made brunch today....pancakes and hash browns! Chris peeled the potatoes and par boiled them then diced them up and fried them in cajun spices! Laurie made the pancakes! Susie, Abby and Sam got to enjoy the results for an early lunch! Maybe these snow days aren't so bad after all! Chris even brewed coffee for me!

This afternoon Susie, abby and Sam have made Almond Roca Squares supervised by Chris - they are in the oven at the moment.

Yummy :)

Earth Day 2008

Normally I would be all in support of Earth Day. Normally I would post links to all kinds of great websites full of ideas on ways to help the planet. Ways you can all recycle...play your part in reducing your environmental footstep.

But today, as I look out of my window on the 4th day of continual snowfall, on the second snow day when school buses have not run at the end of April, when the storm has gone full circle and we continue to sit amidst a winter storm warning and have another 10cm of snow coming towards us at least!

If it was just wet snow at warmer temperatures I'd understand but it's damn cold - -8c and a 50km winds with a COLD windchill of close to -20c again so the dogs can't go out for long and Charlie can't go out because the snow has drifted too deep by the workshop for her. It's up to Chris's thigh when he goes to feed her.

So screw it!

BRING ON GLOBAL WARMING!!!!


Normal cheery and more environmentally friendly thoughts will resume once this shitty weather passes, I'm sure ;)

Two more assistant beekeepers!!!

Susie and Sam in the bee veils :)

Cheering me up...

Lloyd stopped off to get milk on his way home from work and also brought me home these beautiful roses to cheer me up on this miserable snowy day in April! I'm so glad I picked today to make him his favourite dinner :)

Thank you baby - they're gorgeous!!! A deep, dark, velverty red!And perfect for playing about with my macro lens :)

i think tomorrow I'm going to flick water at them and take pictures of them like that ;)

At home due to the weather, snowed in, in April lol.......it's driving me KWAZY!!!!!!!
The roses defintely cheered me up :)

Off to make my gorgeous hubby a cup of tea :)

(this picture didn't come out well because my flash batteries need charging - and I can't be bothered to wait so I edited it BADLY lol....but thats why its so crappy)

A rose by any other name.....

would smell as sweet...

Chris's latest plan......

Chris has a plan. He says he's been doing research on the net. He says if you stay in bed for three days undisturbed, you can grow up to four inches in height. You can't get up though and have to have your meals brought to you.

He'd like to try this over the next long weekend.

He does say that the effects don't last long though because of the effects of gravity.

He was trying hard not to laugh while telling me this.

I was trying hard not to laugh while listening.

I suggested he ask his Father about this at dinner tonight,

If his Dad agrees then he can try it over Victoria Day Weekend (not very likely lol)

The things teenagers will try to get to stay in bed all weekend!!!! OMG!!!

Not a normal Monday

We got the phone call at 10pm last night to say school buses were canceled. So today is an official snow day. The children are home. We also got a phone call to say Abigails drama class is canceled for the day. The roads are very bad - lots of cars in the ditch. Lloyd took my truck to work as it's much safer in these conditions.

It is after 2pm and I am not dressed. So lazy but I emailed Val and she too is not dressed so I am not the only lazy slob on a day like this :) That makes me feel better :) Val is a lazy slob too :)

Our pumpkins are flowering like crazy so I posted on LP about hand pllination and Andrea posted a fab link about how to pollinate them - it seems I can wait a week or two until the female flowers (still in bud) flower and then I can pollinate them myself by hand quite easily - or they may not flower until the bees arrive which would be ideal!!

I spent all morning sat in bed studying my bee text books. Then I crawled out of bed and made toast and then have since spent the time at the computer studying bee forums and LP. Sam and Abigail are not interested in me at all when their much more interesting older siblings are at home - so there is nothing for me to do - I did all the laundry at the weekend - we vacuumed and dusted yesterday and I cleaned the bathrooms yesterday too - the kitchen was done by the children this morning (woohoo they are home and its their chore if they are home woohoo) so I am being ultra lazy. I will get showered and dressed in a bit and then make a cottage pie for dinner.

This weather has put me back in lazy sleepy winter mode - I want to hibernate like a bear again!

sigh........

Weren't we basking in +24.9c temperatures this time last week???????? Enjoying my porch and thinking Summer was here?????

What happened?????????

Assistant beekeepers at the ready!

Trying out the new beekeeping veils! I won't be wearing one after the first day I doubt, but Lloyd wanted one and we got a childs veil too so that the children feel more comfortable around the bees to begin with.