Hurry home

Ok sat here bored.....hence the previous post. Chris is still playing his match - Lloyd keeps emailing me the score - right now they are leading by 5 points and its the final period.

I can't wait for Lloyd to get home. I can't believe this year so far - my anniversary we couldn't go out because Chris was in Vegreville for a badminton tournament...then we have had either crappy weather or me with migraines or birthday stuff to do which has meant we haven't been able to have a proper date night or celebrate at all - still haven't been to La Ronde....

And now Valentines Night and someone (I BET it was a man!!!) arranged the basketball finals to be on Valentines Night. How utterly thoughtless. Now I know much of LP is full of miserable buggers who don't celebrate 'because we show our love all year round and don't need a special night to celebrate' groooaaaannnn...but I LOVE Valetnines NIght - we do show our love all year round yes and Lloyd tells me he loves me every day and we are very romantic all year round but GEEZ its a wonderful silly excuse to celebrate our love even more!!!!

And then people go on about how its a Hallmark Holiday and over commercialised - I REALLY don't get that! Like ANYTHING, its as commercialized as you want it to be. My gift for Lloyd hasn't cost me a penny - most years we make our cards to each other - yes Lloyd makes the card for me too.....all the treats I made for Valentines day IN ALL came to about $7. (Gotta love Dollarama)

Valentines Day isn't a Hallmark holiday - its origins are fgrom a LONG time before Hallmark. ALL holidays can be over commercialized if you buy into all the crap that goes with them - but that doesn't have to be what it is about. For me its about fun and love and happiness and celebrating the relationships around us - friends, family and partners.

If you think its over commercialized then thats YOUR thinking......and maybe you need to simplify your thoughts about holidays and what they truly mean - because you can celebrate them all without buying in to all that commercialism if you choose to.

Ok anyway - back to my original point. It's Valentines night and my wonderful husband is at our Sons basketball match. I hope its over soon and he comes home. I miss him.

(edited to add have deleted image etc as we are exchanging gifts and celebrating tomorrow instead and L may look at the blog lol)

If I were...

I got this from Jennifers blog - and then saw it on Danicas blog too - so I'm not wuite sure where it came from lol!

If I Were.....


If I were a month I would be: July - the best weather - and so much fun - lazy days at the lake, out on the quads, sat out by the fire all evening and sitting on the porch watching the Hummingbirds


If I were a day of the week I would be: Saturday - Lloyd is home and I don't have that sinking feeling that he is going back to work tomorrow :)


If I were a time of day I would be: late evening. The house is quiet and I tend to wake up!


If I were a planet I would be: Saturn with its rings


If I were a animal I would be: a tiger - lazy and relaxed but with a nasty temper when I'm hungry!


If I were a direction I would be: forward


If I were a piece of furniture I would be: chaise longue


If I were a historical figure I would be: Marilyn Monroe.....lol!


If I were a liquid I would be: Water


If I were a tree I would be: a horse chestnut with its huge leaves like hands and its prickly conkers for the children to collect in the Fall.


If I were a flower/plant I would be: A bright jolly sunflower


If I were a kind of weather I would be: thunder - fun but unpredictable


If I were a musical instrument I would be: piano


If I were an emotion I would be: manic


If I were a color I would be: violet


If I were a vegetable I would be: a parsnip


If I were a sound I would be: rain falling on the leaves of a big tree


If I were an element I would be: air


If I were a car I would be: VW beetle convertible....old and quirky but fun to have :)


If I were a song I would be: What a wonderful world


If I were a movie I would be directed by: Drew Barrymore - it would be a fun movie


If I were a book I would be written by: Jane Green


If I were a food I would be: an aero - all bubbly inside lol!


If I were a place I would be: The Rockies


If I were a material I would be: photo paper - not too special but amazing at keeping memories alive!


If I were a taste I would be: marmite - you would either hate me or love me.


If I were a scent I would be: devon violets


If I were a word I would be: Champagne


If I were an object I would be: a diary/ journal


If I were a body part I would be: a thumb


If I were a facial expression I would be: bemused


If I were a cartoon character I would be: the girl from Enchanted - sometimes I feel like I am in this world filled with miserable grouchy people and I don't understand why they don't all look on the bright side of things....I just want to shake people and tell them to lighten up - life doesn't have to be like that!


If I were a shape I would be a: apple


If I were a number I would be: 173947213 - actually I made that up because I think thats a stupid question ;)

Couple killed in NYC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/7245158.stm

Very sad news story from the UK - a couple form my home town were killed in New York. My Nephew used to work with the lady. I will fix the link later when Blogger stops playing up for me in forefox. For now you will have to cut and paste!

Susannahs Valentines...

Susannah with some of the valentines she received at school today. Most of the candy has already been consumed lol. The balloon is supposed to be a heart but when you blow it up its just round with two NIPPLES which of course the kids find HILARIOUS lol!

Susannah is also shown holding the Valentine holder she made in class to keep all her valentines in.

Laurence got 3 Valentines from friends and is a little fed up - I tried to explain that in Junior High tye are a bit 'too old' to get much and he disagrees lol! I'm glad he got something in his lunch from me - he wore his cracker 'crown' all day :) At the end of the day he gave his friend Anna her cupid poop :)

Laurie took suckers/ lollipops for all his friends - which is why he is miffed that not many gave things out! Sad that he's too old lol!

Taste of Summer....

It may be snowing constantly today, but it doesn't stop us having a 'taste' of Summer this afternoon! MMmmmmm watermelon!

Snow buntings....

www.lgpix.com/bird_sp.html?l=en&id=129


www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Snow_Bunting_dtl.html


The Snow Buntings were back this afternoon and I tried to get a good picture of them - but there were so many - this is the best I could do.

For the blog newbies!

I was speaking to my sister just now and she was saying that she didn't know I had other blogs! So I figured I should do a post about my other blogs and the other blogs listed to the right.

On the right of this page is a list of blogs that I enjoy visiting. When you have time, please click on them and visit with my blogworld friends. Leave a comment or two (or ten) on each blog you visit - people love to have visitors to their blogs and LOVE to get comments!

The top few blogs listed are my blogs. I have a blog about my running journey (Running To Mickey) although I don't update that blog nearly enough!

I have a blog about our home renovations - called Our Home Reno blog...this is where I post all the details on the addition we are having built - if you go there and click on archives/ older posts you can see the plans our architect drew up for the house. I will be adding before/ during and after pictures of the house and building work.

My Abundant Blessings is my gratitude journal - where I post several things from each day that I am grateful for. I have kept a gratitude journal for about 5 years now, but recently thought I would do this in a blog format. I don't write in it every day so I am not sure how it is working for me - I think I prefer pen and pare but I will try and update there as often as possible.

Homeschooling First Grade - this is the blog that follows our journey through homeschooling Abigail - I po0st about things we do, how Abigail is progressing, as well as useful links and info on homecshooling in general.

Under my profile, Susannah and Abigail also have blogs - they are private blogs and if you'd like to read them then just let me know and I will send an invite.

All of the other blogs belong to friends of mine - some are people I have met in real life. Some are people I have met via their blogs. Some are people I have met online at Linking Parents etc and people I consider friends even though we have never met (I was trying to explain to my sister that Jennifer is a friend of mine - but Clare thinks its weird because I have never met her! Well all I can say is that some of my online friends are people I know more about and have more in common with than anyone I have met in real life. Jennifer is one of these people! I'm kind of scared to meet her in case we don't get on in real life because I don't want to lose the friendship we have.

A few of my friends have blogs that I love to read but are not listed here - either because their blogs are private or because I selfishly want to keep them to myself :)

Anyway - when you have time, please visit some of the blogs on the right and say hi :)

Patsys Ponderings is one of my favourite blogs to visit. It is always filled with such interesting posts and her podcasts are wonderful - all about a simple life and very much in the Sara Ban Breathnach style!

The cocoa room...

A quote from chowhound.com

Chocophiles...are happy in Edmonton

Just thought I'd let the chocophiles out there know that Kerstin Roos has now officially opened her store, The Cocoa Room by Kerstin's Chocolates. (She's the chocolatier behind the made-in-Edmonton Chocophilia line of really incredible chocolate bars sold in Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Edmonton.) My current fave is the "Hot Chocolate" bar made with 72% dark with chili, and the dark chocolate with Maldon Fleur de Sel. I am also fascinated by the "Lemon Dream" a white chocolate with candied lemon and lemon oil. And frankly, I detest white chocolate, but this stuff blows my mind.

Anyway, the store is small but great. She's got a corner for the very serious home chocolatier so you can get professional quality chocolate, sugar, etc and make your own creations; there's a little book shelf with some great books on chocolate; Kerstin's own line of bars and a half-dozen incredible imported bars (Slitti, Cluizel, Bonnat, etc.) There's even hot chocolate to-go made from melted chocolate and steamed milk.

The store is located at 10139-112 Street (just across the street from Stantec) in the main floor of a condo building. Just in time for Valentines Day. Of course, you can still order her chocolates off the website www.kerstinschocolates.com or get them at the retail locations across the west. I think there's a list of the current retailers on the site.

Breakfast with Vals crew!

This morning we had breakfast at Esso - Vals older three children joined us as their school is closed today. It was so nice to see them all - K was wearing her Lululemon jacket which was REALLY nice.....

I THINK I have lots of pictures of Vals crew because Abigail and T were busy with my cell phone camera! I need to look through those and see what they took pictures of lol - I know they got a glam shot of Val...I must remember to post that one later ;)

Val surprised me with this most beautiful birthday gift . I have hung it by my computer :) Thank you Val! I had forgotten it was my birthday not long ago.....the last few weeks have been a blur!

I have to admit though that it was the card that meant the most - Val wrote some VERY kind things inside the card and...well I was really touched! Thank you so much!

Breakfast was kind of crazy - and I'm not sure we actually finished even one conversation completely...but it was fun, nice to see everyone, good food and sooooo great to get out of the house at last!

I was going to drive into town but the roads coming home were yucky with the wet snow so I came home instead. Got to one junction and there was a minivan there that looked familiar - then I realised it was Val......I waved but was puzzled until I remembered Val goes home a different way...I wasn't expecting to see you there Val lol but we waved like crazy when you turned. I hope that doesn't count as watching you leave ;)

So now we are home. I started a blog for Abigail - she really wanted her own blog. It will be good for her to practice her writing, spelling etc etc but she may get bored in a day or two.

I am going to vacuum and wash the floors and then do some baking. When the kids get home from school I will go to the mail box. Abigail is waiting on a parcel and I am hoping my books will arrive from Chapters.

Chris has his basketball finals tonight - I hope he wins! His match starts at 5:30pm and Lloyd is going to watch.

We still haven't made it to La Ronde for dinner - it seems my babysitter is always at basketball or wherever - either that or the weather is bad or I am ill...so we STILL aren't getting there - maybe next week. Lloyd has offered to take me to the Cocoa Room downtown when we go - its a specialty chocolate store that just opened. It sells single origin chocolate - the REAL thing...and they do demitasse cups of hot chocolate which is REAL melted chocolate with chilli and cayenne etc added to it - its very much like the store on Chocolat!!! I want to try the Venezualan choccy bars - they say the bars they sell are like wines, and that the beans from different parts of the world have their own different flavours.

As for tonight though Valentines Day won't be too exciting. Lloyd may not be back from the math until 8pm...then he is making me a steak dinner (I chose) and then we will exchange gifts and cards and curl up with a movie - he is hoping to grab a copy of 'Becoming Jane'...the Jane Austen biographical movie....

I did wake up to a little note on my coffee this morning...and it was extremely corny lol - made me laugh out loud!!! It said 'Happy Valentines Day. Life without you would be like a broken pencil - pointless!' lol! Too funny!

I texted 'will you be my valentine' to Lloyd from the Esso and he wrote back 'sure' so I complained at how unromantic his response was - he laughed and said he was in a meeting at the time so was quick as he didn't want to leave me hanging! I told him that 'always' only has 2 extra letters lol - would that have been so hard to type???? lol! I love you Lloyd ;)

Val - thank you for breakfast - it was so good to get out and a nice change to have to get dressed properly and not slob around in tracky pants all day again!

Valentine treats...

Now that everyone (well, almost) has theirs, it is safe to post the pictures of the Valentine treats I made this year. The bags at the bag were the treat bags that I put in the childrens lunch bags this morning. Each had some chocolate hearts, some 'cupid poop', some valentine jokes that I printed from the web, and two Christmas cracker hats with hearts I drew on them!

The little bags each are filled with cinnamon hearts and a little poem about 'cupid poop' is attached.

I gave Val hers this morning and I had wanted to drive into town and leave one on Samanthas doorstep for when she gets home from work....but the weather is horrid and the roads were really slippery from the yucky wet snow that hasn't stopped all day. It's 0c today which is nice but it hasn't stopped snowing all day!!!! They didn't mention this morning that it would snow all day and at this temp its all sloppy and wet. Supposed to be warmer tomorrow and they say we may get a rain shower!!!! Such weird weather we are having!

The children each took some cupid poop bags to school for 'special friends' and teachers....and valentine suckers/ lollipops for their classmates.

Around the World....

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7244207.stm

I had no idea Valentines Day was celebrated in so many places around the world! These pictures are so interesting!