A little Summer in Winter...

Another thing I've been enjoying lately to help me relax and survive the VERY long winter here, is heading to the tanning salon!!  I got a fab coupon book from my friend Samantha back in the Fall.  It's full of the most amazing deals for all kinds of businesses in our local area.  Restaurants, oil changes, bowling, facials....cupcakes, fitness...

Some of the coupons were for a local tanning salon, so I decided to make the most of them.  Luckily when you get the package for tanning, it also includes free use of their infra-red sauna.  This sauna is a three person dry heat sauna that is sooooo wonderful!!  You book it for an hour at a time and its best really for a maximum of two people.  I've taken Susannah with me and I've also taken Abigail with me.  Susie LOVED it :)  

I have really enjoyed the tanning and it's helped my skin and also helped me cope with the long dark winter months - it's a little bit of sunshine and summer in the midst of the bleak winter.  I have a golden glow now that I just love!!  The 12 minutes of peace I get in the beds or in the stand up is just bliss - like being on a tropical beach in the summer breeze!!

Roller Boogie....

Took the kids roller skating on family day at a roller disco in Edmonton - we went with Christie and her family!!  It was sooooo much fun!!!  They do a great family deal that includes a food coupon and skate rental - enough that we have extra for next time.  

I wasn't sure if I was going to skate, but I did and I'm sooo glad that I did - it was fab being back on skates again - first time since I was at school I think!!  The hall it was in reminded me exactly of the roller rink I used to go skating in each week in Yeovil as a teen.  Susie and I skated round together and it was really fun but boy did my legs ache by the end of the afternoon!  

Abigail of course was a total whiz at it - endless confidence that girl!!  

Sam had one of those walker type things that beginners use and he skated round holding that and had a great time!  We're heading back next week for Spring Break and the kids would like to make it a regular thing!!  They really enjoyed it!!  A nice fun family activity and I prefer it to ice skating because it isn't cold!!  :)  Plus the music is fun :)  They even have retro nights on Thursdays!!!

Welcome Springtime!!

These are going on my dinner table on Easter Day :)  

Salt and Pepper shakers - found at the thrift store - 99c

What a bargain - and sooooo tasteful :)  

If a pictures says a thousand words......

I wonder what this one says....I snapped it in a coffee shop several weeks ago....I was actually in a really really good mood, but look soooo miserable :)  But I just love this picture :)  I think because I don't think it looks much like me.....and because it's DARK.....in a gloomy dark moody kind of way ;)

Sometimes when I'm trying to snap a picture of myself with the iphone I concentrate so hard I forget to smile ;)

One of my new most favourite things to do.....

....is sit in a coffee shop, preferably in a corner or at a window table.....and journal while I drink my London Fog....I carry a little wallet in bag that has a Moleskine journal, some markers and my scissors and glue.  Sadly I forgot I had my scissors with me when I went to court a few weeks ago downtown, and security took them from me on my way in to the courthouse :(  sniff sniff :(  My good Stampin Up snippets!!  They wouldn't give them back to me afterwards either :(  

Life as a single Mom can be stressful, going through a divorce can be stressful, so I have found ways that are easy to switch off from the stress of life that are healthy and make me feel good without costing the earth.  One of these is my journaling over coffee :)  A couple of hours by myself, writing, listening, thinking......and all is good with my world :)

Homeschooling continues.......

...and both Abigail and Sam are doing really great!!  I love the person Abigail is becoming....she is such a character with real confidence and we get along so well.  She has an amazing imagination and such an incredible memory...some of the things she tells me really shock me.  We have long talks about all kinds of things.  We have so much in common but I love how independent she is and how she knows her own mind....if she doesn't like something or doesn't want to do something she is more than happy to say so.  She loves thrift stores and like me, she likes to hunt for furniture that she can alter.  She loves pottery and other arts and talks of being an artist.  She has been obsessed with dog training lately and has been reading endless books and websites on how to train Rosie and teach her tricks.  We have a field trip to the humane society booked and I'm hoping to plan some other trips to do with animals as soon as she is over the flu.  

Sam is learning to read and write and is doing sooooo well.  He loves spelling tests and often gets them all correct.  He loves to journal and has his own Moleskine that he doodles in and will then write in too - he has other journals that he writes endlessly in and always takes one out with him so he can write if he has time.  His reading is going well too and he is really enjoying it.  

We are all taking an online art journaling class at the moment called 'out of the blue' which is based on colour.....the children are enjoying that.  Abigail and I also took a doodling class.  I have signed Abigail up for some online lessons in science and history.  

We have an AMAZING new library and community centre/ art gallery in our town now and we are making the most of it - we head to the library about twice a week and spend the entire afternoon there.  I journal or read, Sam will play, read, journal, draw, use the computers....Abigail will chat to the librarians...go off and buy herself a drink (there is a cafe in there), find friends, use the computers, read, journal, do work, draw......they even have a games corner with endless board games to choose from and lots of comfy chairs and beanbags...it is right next to Lauries school so we tend to hang out until he finishes school and then he comes to meet us.  I really wasn't keen on the library moving from the mall, but now we have seen the difference, I am soooooo happy they moved!!!  And they are opening an Education Station right next door too!!

A few weeks ago we watched a school class being shown around the library - the kids looked bored, most of them didn't look as though they had ever been in the library or had any interest.  They were being marched along like soldiers and being told the most obvious things.  They were the same age as Abigail roughly.  I saw a few of them watching Abigail.  Abby was really puzzled by the idea of them having a field trip to the library and the idea that they don't all get to use the library with their families. Abby walks around the library like she owns it...looks up books on the computers, asks librarians to search for things for her.....requests books and dvd's they don't have...I'm always finding her deep in conversation with librarians...or one will come up to us as we're leaving and call out to say she has found such and such for Abigail after all!!  

Bad weather and illness has caused us to miss out on many field trips and playdates lately.  We haven't even been to the library for our normal visits for a couple of weeks.  I'm hoping that now Spring is here we will all be healthy and the weather will improve to let us get back out there to see everyone!!

ps. The picture at the top is my favourite.  I love that Abigail has her own style and isn't afraid to wear it. The second picture is also one I love - it shows the bliss that IS homeschooling!

 :)  

I restored my soul......

I took part in a 6+ week art therapy class called 'Soul Restoration, that I am continuing to work through.

Some of the work we had to do was extremely emotional and exhausting.  Intensive therapy of the best kind, that worked in a very unexpected way.  While I expected to be working through feelings about one thing, it turned out to be about something else entirely.

  This class has changed me and changed my life in many ways, as well as bringing many MANY amazing new friends in to my life.  There are times when life gets too busy for me to focus on the work that I've done and I know I need to take a day or two and spend time with it again....but I know if I need them there is always one of these special women there to give me the perfect advice or shoulder to lean on.  They just seem to know what I need to hear.....we have all been through so much....are going through so much...but we know we can open up to each other in total confidence. 

It's a good feeling :)  

We've had a couple of lovely trips to the mountains....

.....and I'm soooo proud of myself!!  Single Mom, furthest I've ever driven on my own before, first time I've ever had to book, plan, pack, drive, and do EVERYTHING myself.....but it was easy peasy....and to be honest it was much more fun and MUCH more relaxing....as we were able to just do what we wanted the whole time....the kids could hang at the pool as long as they liked.....we'd walk in to town...go for drives, hike trails, laze in the hotel room until lunch time....relax in the hot tub until late at night.

And last Summer we met our friends Samantha and Josie....Josh and Jason spent the evening at the hotel with my kids and I went to the pub to watch a live band with samantha and Josie.

These days I don't even think about where I'm going, parking, weather or daylight/ darkness.....what a change considering a year ago I was scared to drive in snow/ ice.....scared to drive after dark....didn't know how to put gas in my truck....and would NEVER drive in to Edmonton - not even really much further than Sherwood Park!!  These days I even drive in to downtown Edmonton!!  West Ed Mall is no problem even in the worst snow storm of the year in the dark in heavy traffic because of two accidents....I DID it.....I have DONE IT....I CAN do it :)  

It's amazing how much more independent I am these days...can't imagine being as dependent as I used to be....how things can change in such a short time!!!  Yet I don't feel all that different!!  I love being able to do so much with the kids though and take them places - and enjoy it soooo much more without someone with us who is constantly looking at their watch ;)  

So freeing :)

I've had a few different styles...

...these are just the ones since Christmas ;)

We got a LOT of snow this Winter.....

...and even though it's officially now Spring, there is more on the way..

The last year has brought me closer to my children....

....than I ever thought possible - despite what we have been through, I can definitely say there has been a LOT more laughter in this house than tears :)  

Life has been an adventure......

......but there is never a dull moment :)