Feeling left out....

I forgot to add a piccy of my soap dispenser the other week! This is the cute little guy that now resides on my bathroom counter......isn't he cute? God I love Homesense! I think he was $9!!!! :)

Moose picture....

When Abby showed me the moose she had drawn I was really impressed! I actually asked lloyd if he had drawn it! But no, Abby drew it all by herself :)

My hero...

Lloyd is coming home to rescue me from my bad BAD day lol! I am so glad! He finished work at 2:30pm to come home early for me :) Yay!

As you can see, Sam is sick. He's doing better this afternoon but was throwing up all morning. We got to the restaurant for breakfast and he threw up in the car before I even got him out of his seat. I knew something was wrong as he had been so quiet and sleepy all morning, but figured it was from his cold. I guess not! I ran in and apologized to Lucy and then came home again! Lucy was fab about it and I promised that breakfast is on me next Thursday :)

Came home and got Sam out of the car and he threw up all over me (how lovely) and then I got him settled on my bed with Treehouse tv and had him ona blanket to protect the bedding...well he pushed the blanket away and threw up all over the bed! What a darling!

So I have done the laundry and changed clothes several times and this afternoon he is doing better - having kept some goldfish and dry cheerios down.

What else happened today? Well I ahd a rude awakening (second time this week!) as I woke up to a silent house. 7:50pm and the house was silent! Kids had overslept again! So I run around like banshee screaming at the kids to get up and dressed and out! And they were at the end of the driveway by 8am for the bus :) lol poor kids! But I had to drive them on Monday too and there was no way I was going to wake up Abby and Sam and throw them into the car that fast! And I couldn't be late for breakfast (or so I thought lol)....anyway they made it to school on time :)

Oh and the fish are dying....and we have no idea why.....I give up! Lloyd can see to them when he gets back!

What else? Oh, registration for my preschool classes was today and only ONE child registered! Normally classes fill on the first day or at least are half full on the first day - so it looks like I won't be teaching in January. Mind you, they still can't find an assistant for me anyway. You'd think plenty of Moms would want a job thats only 2 days a week and where you can take a younger child with you......but I guess not!

I'm not too worried about the job - I wasn't looking for work anyway - but I'm really sad that there won't be a preschool in this area.......

All in all its been a crappy day! Lloyd suggested we run into town later for a coffee and a break for me, but knowing how badly the day is going I think it would be safer for me to soak in the bath with Eat Pray Love and Canadian Scrapbooker magazine instead! And maybe the rest of the Purdys chocolate tree decorations I've been getting through today :)

In the pic above Sam has flopped off of the bed onto the floor where he lay for a while looking extremely sorry for himself!

Regular view from my kitchen window....

these are our regular visitors to our feeders....I can't seem to get a picture of the Blue Jay...I'll keep trying!

Could I be Your Girl?

I'm loving this right now.....

Appreciate what you have......

YOU're VERY lucky! YOU have a LOT to be grateful for today!

A little girl!

Nathalie and Mark welcomed a little girl into the world (On Monday I think!)

Little Lucy Katie Maisie!!!! Lucy's Daddy sent me a slide show of pictures and I have to say that little Lucy is one of the most beautiful little babies I have ever seen.....oh Nathalie she is PERFECT!!!! Just absolutely gorgeous. And Nathalie looks amazing too - and both Mommy and Daddy look just so very VERY happy with their precious little Daughter :)


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let me know if this works or not please....

Cold and chilly Wednesday....

....but the highways were lovely and clear :) I love living in a Country that knows how to deal with snow :)

It was -17 today and the wind was nasty for getting the kids in and out of the truck.....the only place that was nice was by the Pharmacy....(I love my pharmacy by the way - the guy there is just so nice and friendly and always uses my name when he greets me)! Anyway, the building sheltered the car there and it was nice :)

We went to Parentlink this morning......I wasn't really in the mood and neither were the kids, I finally got Abigail to go off and do something on her own and then Sam hit a little boy with one of those boomwacker things or whatever they are called lol...those plastic tubes you hit together to make noise......it could have gone either way as they were chasing each other with them at the time lol and luckily his mom totally understood :)

Spent the morning chatting with Samantha and Sandy and the other Moms, drinking coffee and doing crafts etc with the kids....one of the Moms was telling me about the chocolates she eats every night that have your daily recommended calcium in them....so she's bringing us one each next week :)

I got my Avon from Samantha and she also gave me a big box of books and items for preschool that she doesn't need any more! She introduced me to Sherry too - another preschool teacher.

After parentlink we went to the mall and had lunch and then I ran to the pharmacy to get a new supply of my meds......then home and we drove around the countryside for a while filling in time before the kids bus arrived - they are always so happy to have a ride home in bad weather :)

Came home and had coffee and watched Oprahs show which had Mitch Albom on it....he is one of my favourite all time authors! They were discussing For One More Day.

If you could spend one more day with someone from your past who has died, who would you spend it with and what would you do?

Then she had on the widow of the author of the Don't Sweat the Small Stuff books...I won quite a few of those books.....It was heartbreaking to listen to this wife who misses her husband sooooo much and to listen to the letter he wrote to her a few years before his death. It was a very emotional show and I spent much of it crying!

I bought the winter issue of Canadian Scrapbooker today and my Scrappers Haven friend Glenda has several layouts in it - it was so fun flicking through to find her layouts in the magazine. Her style and her writing is so unique and I find her pages and ideas so inspiring!

Lloyd will be late home this afternoon (well, late for him - 6pm) as he has a meeting with Andy, our builder. I could have been there but didn't see the point....Lloyd just had a few questions and wants to get him in touch with the guy from the sound system place as he wants the speakers and sound system for the theatre room put into the walls.....its all beyond me so I will leave it to the guys ;)

Tonight I have a letter to write to the little girl we sponsor in Peru....then I want to start reading Eat, Pray, Love :) I didn't get to read it last night as I wrote 4 letters in bed instead! We are delaying date night because Lloyd has a cold and I think he could do with an early night and staying home in the warm instead of going out into a -26 windchill!

Tomorrow - breakfast with friends :)

Resolutions for 2008....

I've been thinking about these today.....I don't take new years resolutions too seriously but I do love the fresh start that a new year brings...I just wish it was in April or so when the weather was a little more supportive of activities! ;)

What are your plans for 2008? Your hopes? Your resolutions?

I want to become more involved in our little community here...I love the village atmosphere here which is very similar to the village I grew up in. We have the one village store, the village hair salon, the garage and the little cafe/ pizza restaurant...

The hall is the centre of the village social scene and so many things take place there...dances, brunch's, playgroups, dance classes, karate, yoga, movie nights....there is a senior centre next to the hall..we have Trail days in summer......

This year I volunteered in preschool, we attended the movie nights, and I helped to run the Christmas party......I've also been in touch with the community league and offered help with anything that needs to be done - they asked if I would be interested in helping with the community communication....so whether that will be helping with the newsletter or putting up posters or sending emails or whatever.....they said they would love the help and will get back to me after Christmas!

I would also like to volunteer at the senior centre....but I am not sure in what capacity...so I need to find out more about that.

Jilles told me on Sunday that the lady who organizes the collective kitchen has retired from the job and so the collective kitchen will no longer run....so maybe I should find out more about that.....

There are so few communities like this left - where everyone knows everyone else.....where things are so simple and so relaxed and friendly...I love that I'm know at the hall now...I have my own keys, I can go in at any time...that they know me in the store.....at movie nights etc etc and I want to get more involved in this way.....

So thats my plan for 08 :)

southcookinglake.com/

News from the ice box.....

So, we've been at home for two days because of the cold....and its been fine, but tomorrow I am planning to go about our normal Wednesday plans and just deal with the weather....the snow seems to have stopped for the most part - just flurries now and then. The main reason we've been at home though is because Sam has a bad cold....Lloyd seems to be coming down with it too - he fell asleep on me last night after complaining of a bad sore throat and feeling horrid......I upped my garlic intake today lol - I may stink lol but I won't get a cold :)

I just drove to get the mail as its too cold to walk with the children now. Some gifts I ordered for Lloyd had arrived - Lloyd is soooo easy to buy for this year......previous years I have struggled to think of much beyond dvd's and a watch...but this year he has new interests that have given me much more choice :) I am so excited to give him his gifts :) He gives us all so much during the year and rarely buys himself anything....so its nice to be able to spoil him with things I know he'll love :)

A parcel also arrived from Lloyds parents - some chocolates for the children for Christmas :)

I have been having a mass clear out of the closets here - last night at 9pm I had this urge to clean out the linen cupboard - and I have a huge sack full of bed linen, curtains etc etc to go to the thrift store.....

I also decluttered all my bedroom drawers and my closet :) I plan to do the girls closet this evening and take all their clothes with the bed linens to the thrift store....

The children did some painting today - the results are on the homeschooling blog.....and they have had a blast playing with bricks for much of the last two days.....those bricks were such a bargain - $10 total for all of them and they have played with them daily since we bought them in the Spring!

Right now Chris is playing soccer in the basement with Sam and Abby - burn up some energy from being housebound :) Susie is feeding the animals and Laurie is doing the dishwasher...Lloyd is on his way home via the dry cleaners...he was supposed to pick up his shirts yesterday but they hadn't arrived back at the store because of the weather...so he will get them today......

After reading Heathers Far North Inspirations blog, and having watched todays Oprah (at least part of it lol) I have decided I wnat to read Eat, Pray, Love......so I've asked Lloyd to see if he can find a copy in Save On.....if not I'll grab a copy tomorrow......I finally finished A Recipe For Bees (FABULOUS book that I now plan to send to my Mom to read) and now have no book to read! Lloyd says I have several thousand (lol) bookshelves of books to read but he just doesn't understand ;)

Tomorrow on Oprah, Mitch Albom is going to be on talking about the movie of his book 'For One More Day'....wonderful book........

If you could spend just ONE more day with someone you have lost...who would it be and what would you do/ say?

foamy paint and foamy shapes...

The children mixed paint with shaving foam and used that with the foam shapes to create works of art :) Nice messy fun for a snowy day :)

Puffy paper...

I don't know the official name of this paper so I will call it puffy paper...it comes in thin sheets of 8.5 X 11 paper that you can run through the die cutting machine.....cut out lots of great shapes and letters etc and then when you place them in water, they 'puff up' into foam shapes for sponge painting :)

The Resource centre at Parentlink has endless die's to use to make shapes...seasonal ones too.....in fact they have endless resources for Moms or daycare workers or teachers etc.....very cheap too!

These foam shapes are also great in the bath tub - if you wet them they cling to the tiles or sides of the bath....

Tower of bricks....

A and S have been busy the last couple of days building with the S's blocks.......they make scooters and roller skates, castles and towers and have been having a lot of fun together!

They are both waiting for the temperature to warm up so we can go out for a walk and go sledding and enjoy the snow....in the mean time we have been finding ways to stay busy indoors!

Last nights dinner....

Cottage pie! Lloyds favourite :)

Just wonderful :)

It was Disability Awareness day and the folks at Fenway did a lot of great things for kids with challenges..here is one who sang and when he got nervous the Fenway Faithful helped him out