Five things I have to have every day :)

My Iphone  -  I HEART my iphone!!  Love love LOVE it!!!  Can't imagine not having it with me!  It's like my third arm now :)  I am the Queen of apps and have pages and

pages of them now :)  

Coffee first thing in the morning.  Lloyd leaves it by my bed before he goes to work.  Sometimes he leaves a little note on the top and I've kept all of these notes over the years and have them in a special jar.  I prefer the mornings when he goes in late though - and he has coffee with me before he goes!  On those mornings he spoils me though because he still makes me an extra coffee in a thermos and leaves it by my bed so I get two coffees on those days :)

My mac laptop.  Used for my coursework, for blogging, for editing pictures, for staying in touch with everyone.....for writing, journaling, Emailing, Facebooking....EVERYTHING!!!  My source for information, music, recipes....my go to for anything these days....

No day is complete without this guy......'nuff said ;)

Or this crazy bunch ;)

and the rest of the family (the furry/ hairier kind) - (the cats there are plenty of pics of lol):

So I guess thats more than 5 things but family kind of emcompasses more than one thing - 

so forgive me ;)

My day.....

Feeling like shit crappy!!

The Family Stone...

Last night my festive mood continued after spending all that time sorting through Christmas supplies ready for the Christmas Class I will be taking.  So Lloyd and I went to bed early and curled up to watch one of our favourites movies together - The Family Stone!!  If you haven't seen this movie then I totally recommend it!!  It IS our family!!!  Everett is Chris - oh sooooooo Chris!!!  Ben is Laurence.  Sam is Thad.  Amy is Abigail - and Susannah is......Susannah!!!  ;)  and they are sooooo much like their characters ;)   the only thing different is that Sam isn't deaf!  I am just like Cybil and Lloyd is very much like Kelly.....we ARE the Family Stone!!!!

A few of my favourite websites lately......

One of my favourite websites at the moment is  Sprinkles - one of Stacy Julians websites.  It's a 'random act of kindness' style website that is about bringing joy into your life and the lives of others.  Stacy posts a new idea every Monday on how you can bring a little sprinkle of happiness into your life or into someone elses life - some of the ideas are as simple as sharing a glass of chocolate milk with someone you love using two straws :)

One website that I read almost daily and am frequently sharing on facebook, is FreeRangeKids. This amazing website talks sooooo much sense to me!!  It's basic philosophy is that children should be allowed to be children - they should be allowed to ride their bikes and walk to school, play outside and trick or treat without parents hovering over them needlessly.  This website is definitely 'up there' in my favourites right now!!

This next blog is full of ENDLESS ideas and inspiration to keep craft-loving children busy!!  The Crafty Crow is a fabulous site with links every day to more and more crafty sites - you need never be stuck for seasonal and holiday arts and crafts or recipes for children again!!!  My children are constantly asking to make and do - and this website is perfect as a go-to resource!!!  Every Mom should have this website bookmarked (and a drawer or cupboard filled with craft supplies ready to go)!!

Writers Digest Promptly is a blog where writing prompts are posted three times a week....you can post your responses to the prompts directly in the comments section, or post a link to your response and post your response in your own blog....or don't post your response at all ;)  There are also articles on writing, on blogging etc etc...

One of my favourite recipe blogs is Eat Me Delicious.  I have made quite a few of the recipes from this blog now and have never been disappointed!  Totally yummy!!!  The pictures on here are always amazing too :)  Enjoy!!!

One last one - not a favourite website but an important one to us as a family - and this is one on Tourettes syndrome.    My 7 year old has Tourettes syndrome, and THIS website is designed for kids and has plenty of simple information about what tourettes is and why a child may have it - why they may or may not be able to control their tics etc etc.....My Daughters main tics are mouth opening and licking her lips but she also has some obsessions that go along with the tics....this is a great website that explains things to her and to any friends/ classmates etc....at their level!!!

Hump Day.....

Lloyd went in to work a little later today - so he stayed and had coffee with me.  This was nice as always except I couldn't drink much of my coffee this morning.  I didn't sleep well last night and was up much of the night feeling sick.  I took gravol for nausea and that has helped a little but hasn't got rid of it all.  Now I'm just left feeling tired on top of feeling sick.

I'm totally bummed because I was supposed to be having brunch with my friend Val this morning - she got back from Hawaii last week and I wanted to hear all about her trip and see her pictures...we've postponed until Friday.  I think we were both looking forward to getting together as it's been ages since we saw each other!  At least I HOPE Val was looking forward to seeing me ;)

Laurence went to work with Lloyd this morning.  Today is 'Take our kids to work day' - all grade 9 kids get to spend the day at work with a parent experiencing the work day with their parent.  I guess he COULD have spent the day at home with me and I could have got him to clean the toilets and kitchen floor and make Sam and Abigails lunch....but I think he'll find going downtown with Lloyd much more interesting ;)

When Chris went with Lloyd two years ago, they went out for lunch with IBM for a lunch meeting to a nice restaurant.  I told Lloyd to take Laurence to Lux as it was only fair - but Lloyd said no as there was no meeting and last time IBM was paying ;)  He said they could go to the food court in Telus Plaza lol!   So not fair - so I've been nagging him and saying he should take his Son out for lunch!!!  We'll see if he does or not!!!

So as for me - I am tempted to rip open one of the Christmas gifts I have already wrapped and let the kids watch a new dvd - keep them quiet for a little while - we can snuggle in bed and relax while I don't feel well.  I can do some of my coursework while they watch....I'll see how long I last before I resort to that!  It's early out today from school, so Susannah will be home nice and early which is good - hopefully I will feel better by then and we can at least go for a walk.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!