chipboard and chalks - layout

I painted the letter stencils red and then sanded them....other chipboard pieces are painted white and then 'aged' with black/ brown chalk.....the torn paper edges are also chalked......the journaling is about how Chris rarely smiles for pictures!!!

Chipboard and chalks....card

This is my card......I chalked the blue onto the plain white flower.....I used chipboard letters as stencils to create the 'love' letters......they are chalked....I embossed the chipboard 'frame' on the flower......I wnated the card to be simple and elegant...

Iron Chef pieces.....

This is round 4 of Iron Chef...and this Sunday they will pick only 4 people to go through to the next round.....and one of those is from the sous chef group...so from my group they will pick three people.....I am very doubtful that I will get through...I REALLY don't expect to....but I am pleased with my pieces...I put in a lot of planning despite only getting them done today - I work better with a deadline....my work doesn't compare to a number of the girls in the contest - I know that....I don't have that artistic flare that they have....BUT I have realy enjoyed taking part...I have learned so much....I have tried so many different ingredients that I would not have tried had I not taken part.....

It has been fun....I will post pictures of my pieces next....

Sam joins the fun...

Sam is always determined to join in whatever the older children are doing, so yesterday he had his own chopsticks and plate of beans.....he did pretty good really - even if it meant stabbing the beans with a chopstick ;)

Chopsticks....

Some pictures from yesterday when the children taught Dan to use chopsticks...they used jelly beans on a plate which is quite difficult but really helps you learn to use them well....then they had races to see who could move the beans from one bowl to another :) Now Dan wants us to have a Chinese meal so we can practice with the chopsticks!

I'm not sure Dan got the right 'hold' of the chopsticks but at least he was getting the beans in his mouth lol....

British Import Store visit........

On Wednesday night we took Dan to West Ed Mall for the evening - to see the dragon at Silver city that blows out real flames.....to see the hemp store.....do a little shopping - and visit the British Import store.......

Here is a pic of the treats that I bought!!! The Lion Bars were a thank you to Chris for babysitting.....the Hula Hoop chips were for the kids to take to school in their lunches - they did that yesterday and shared them with their friends....chicken chasseur mix is for Sunday dinner..the rest is ALL MINE!!!!!! :)

I had really wanted Frazzles.....but they didn't have any...and a DRifter but they didn't have those either :( Dan bought loads of stuff which is crazy as its expensive and he may be back in England ina few weeks (although thats looking doubtful as the job prospects are looking good!

Dan is spending a day with Sams DH on Monday - he will go to work with him for the day - meet the boss and give in his resume.....and he will get to see what life as an audio engineer is like...they may have a job for him....

Amazing stereo system!!!

Chris came back from school today saying his friends had found this cool way of listening to music.....you shove the earphones up your nostrils and open your mouth and the music comes out of your mouth!!!!

So they announce this just as we finish dinner..still at the table....so of course we HAVE to test this out and luckily Laurie has his MP3 player in his pocket so we try it and it WORKS...............

Chris says the earphones now need to be decontaminated and we can't mention this to his friend because they are his friends earphones hahahahahaha!

Friday...

I took Abigail and Sam along to the first drop-in playgroup at the community hall. Its free every other Friday from 10am until 12pm....

I went along to support my friend Samantha as she is involved in setting it up...I was only planning to stay until 11am as I ahve so much to do for my Iron Chef contest....but we had so much fun that we stayed the whole time...I met several new Moms from the area...and one of the little girls from preschool yesterday clung to me for the morning!!

The children decorated butterflies with glitter glue and sticky foamies.....and their favourite thing was when Deb made a huge soft play area and they got to run and dive through a hoop into the softplay mats......even Sam adored that!

We got home around 12:20pm and I have tidied up, made lunch, done some laundry, cleaned the bathrooms and Sam and Abigail have been playing playdough at the table....

Dan made himself a HUGE pan of Kraft dinner with tuna and sweetcorn....he is giving what was left to Charlie atm but it sounds very noisy in the mudroom - no idea what they are all doing in there!!!

We still have not been grocery shopping properly since Dan arrived so Lloyd has to stop off and get some tuff on his way home - we really need to find the time and motivation to do a proper shop rather than running out for a few things every day....

Tonight we have no plans.....maybe a movie.......I am supposed to scrapbook my iron chef pieces....I will NOT be ready for Sunday :(

I'm so tired....

Job.....

I've (kind of) been offered a job......I've been asked if I'd like to take over the running of the preschool from September....Debbie is leaving for another career and they need a new preschool teacher.....and they suggested I do it....

I'd have to get my first aid....and send in my resume......but I don't need to be qualified in early learning....

I can take Sam with me (and Abby if she isn't at Kindergarten those days) so I wouldn't need childcare........and its literally 5 minutes from my house...they said I could even choose the hours the preschool runs if I wanted to...but I think the current hours/ days are good........

So I'm going to think about it...look into the first aid course...talk to Debbie again on Tuesday and yes, maybe I will become a preschool teacher!!!!

In The Doghouse......

Lloyd with the doghouse he is building......with cedar shingles and it will have white siding..........

Moose alert......

Typical Dan pose...

Get up you lazy sod and make a cup of coffee ;)

Dan and Abby last night......

And today at preschool one of the other girls told everyone that her Mommy is having a new baby.......very exciting news...so then Abby announces that she has a new cousin!!! The teacher is all excited...a new baby cousin!!! So I had to say uh-no!!! he's 20!!!! ;)

Thursday is nearly over.....

I didn't get to have breakfast with Val and Christie today....last night just before 10pm, Abigails preschool teacher phoned to say her Grandma had died....so she asked me to work in her place today......she had asked the other day and I had said just to call if I was needed....I was disappointed to not have breakfast but happy to help...

I had to be there for 8:30am which isn't easy for me...geez I can't even get there on time at 9am.....so I got there at 8:45.....helped set up while Abby played with Nick....

6 children were off today so we had 15 in the class....I think....it seemed like we still had 600 in the class.....snotty noses, tears, temper tantrums...and I was on girl bathroom duty which meant I had to take 9 (I think) little girls to the washroom to use the toilet and wash their hands.....NOT as easy as it sounds!!!

I survived though and it wasn't so bad.....it was cute being called 'teacher' again and nice to get hugs from all the kids.....we drew around them all and they coloured themselves in....and we played with the parachute too...Sam LOVED that!

We went home and Dan made Sam and Abby lunch.....then he called his Mom for a chat...I vacuumed, did some laundry......cleaned the kitchen...then I had a lovely relaxing shower........

After the kids got home from school we got the jelly beans and chopsticks out and taught Dan how to use them....he did great and after a while of practicing we did some timed contests..who could pick up the most beans and put them in another bowl within a certain time....Laurie won twice and Dan won once...Susie did great too and even Sam went and got himself a bowl to try....I have lots of pictures to add.....

When Lloyd got home from work, he and Dan set off into the woods to look for body parts - the dogs keep coming back from somewhere with body parts of 'something' so Lloyd wanted to find out what....but they couldn't find anything.....the bones the dogs get are so disgusting looking...big too....gross but they won't let us take them away from them.....

Then Barry the water guy came to take samples of our water.....and he is coming next week to shock the well (chlorinate it) and then we are having the well changed in a little while so it will no longer be a big hole in the ground but will be all filled in...

Then we had dinner - home made potato wedges with cheese salad....and Dan had tuna mayonaise with his too.....

After dinner we chatted a while and were looking out of the window when we saw a moose walking up the road!!!! So we all went out onto the porch and it walked through the trees onto our land..........it walked a little way in, watched us for a while and then turned and walked back out....so Dan ran down the driveway to look for it...with Rosie with him...but the moose was gone...so we jumped in the car and went on a moose hunt!!!! We saw nothing...except a poor little black dog dead at the side of the road :( thats just so sad...I wonder whose dog it is...if there are children missing it? :(

Ok now to add some pics I guess.....Dan is watching Panic Room on dvd....the girls are in bed, Sam is asleep on the sofa...Chris just got back from his friends - he cycled there after school and stayed for dinner.....Lloyd is going to his workshop to work on the dog house he is building.....which I have pics of that I haven't added yet....

Its been a long day. I'm tired.

Central Vac....

Not sure if I blogged this....Dan is very impressed with our vacuum system here in Canada - we have central vac, which means there are pipes all through our walls that we attach a vacuum hose to...it starts automatically as soon as you plug the hose into the wall.......all the dust and bits get sucked up the hose and into the pipes in the wall and then it goes down into a big tank in the basement. Its much easier than having a normal vacuum..you just have a light hose to push around..kind of like a snake.....

Anyway Dan was impressed...although not impressed enough to volunteer to vacuum lol! Oh and hahahha Dan is such a girl - he laughed and told me he was sucking his stomach in in this picture - I thought only us women did that lol!