7 Days - day one!

For seven days my blog is open to the public because I am taking part in '7days' a self portrait project at:
www.flickr.com/groups/sevendays


This is my day one picture! Once the project is over I will be back to having a private blog.....

Summer tag!!!

1. What is your favorite Summer Drink(s)? right now its diet iced green tea but normally it would be a Stiff Lemonade at Joeys Global :)

2. What is your favorite Summer Activity? Swimming in an outdoor pool :) I love the sounds of an outdoor pool :)It reminds me of my childhood!

3. If you could spend a lazy afternoon reading, what would be in your hands? Probably a good magazine or a a chicklit style book! I like light reading in the summer - something fun and probably British :)

4. What is your favorite type of craft/art medium? mini albums

5. What is one hobby/ interest you have been dying to have or try? beekeeping and I finally got to do that this year!!!

6. What are your favorite colors for summer? aqua/ turquoise

7. What is your favorite summer sweet treat? raspberry pavlova

8. Are there any summer activities that do NOT interest you? anything that involves commitment....summer should not involve commitment - summer should be carefree :)

9. What is your favorite summery song? I'm loving Colbie Caillat right now because she's so Summery :) but most reggae always seems summery to me :)

10. How do you 'pamper' yourself during the hot summer days? relaxing on the porch reading.....ice creams.....and of course I LOVE air conditioning!!!

11. Do you have any kidlets or pets? 5 children, 2 dogs, 2 cats and a piggy and several thousand bees :)

12. What is your best potluck dish for summer get togethers? a low cal dessert that is kind of a mousse on a biscuity base with a fruit topping - its yummy but it doesn't have a name! I got the recipe from my WW group a few years back!

13. If you could take a summer vacation anywhere, where would it be? Marthas Vineyard

14. Describe your decorating style. Does that say anything about your personality? Kind of Hamptons style......kind of Martha Stewarty.....a bit eclectic....it shows that I like thinks classic but I have 5 children so I compromise.....

15. What are your initials? JET

16. What do you look for in a blog? I like blogs that are eclectic....ones where I never know what I am going to find next....where I never know whether I am going to laugh out loud or find something serious to read along with.....whether there will be pictures to see or information to learn from...things to debate or jokes to make me laugh out loud.....I like blogs that get updated regularly but with interesting things and by people who are open and honest and real.

17. You have 25 dollars to spend just on you for a little treat. What do you buy? (you can list more than one thing) - I'd buy a magazine, a bag of Sunrype mini bites (my FAVOURITE snack) and some bubble bath....then I'd head to the bathroom and soak in the tub with my treats for a couple of hours :)

18. What's one luxury you absolutely can not live without? magazines - I buy far too many.....

19. Who's the last person you hugged? Lloyd about half an hour ago.....

20. What's your favorite number and why? I'm not sure I have one......am I supposed to have one?


Ok I tag Val - just because I know it annoys her (hahahahaha but hey there are NOT 60 questions lol) and then I tag everyone else who reads my blog!!!!!

Goldfinches

Our Goldfinches were on the feeders together this evening....the female is on the left...much duller in colour.....the male occasionally peeked his head around the corner.....

I spoke too soon :)

The hummingbird is back :)

how wonderful :)

Pig in boots!!!

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2105763/Meet-Cinderella,-Pig-in-Boots.html

Cute piglet scared of mud!!!

My week so far.

Monday - Abby had drama. Sat and chatted with Sandy...briefly with Jennifer who invited us to Nualas birthday party next week - Abby is thrilled! Sandy and I were discussing what plans we have for schooling next year - she is thinking about going traditional next year with her boys. I'm thinking the same with Abigail again...although we had considered going fully aligned with EIPS....but they have annoyed me so now I think I may go with THEE....Monday night there was running around but I can't remember what.

Tuesday - Sam had preschool - he made a Fathers Day gift for Lloyd :) While he was there, Abby and I went out for ice cream :) I was chatting to a friend of mine there and w were talking about the hummingbirds - we were saying how they were here for two weeks and then vanished and neither of us have seen them a week or so.....with the bad weather and everything we wonder if they have moved further north or south....but they have't stayed around here :( she was telling me about her cruise she won and how she has decided to take her Son with her instead of her Daughter.

In the evening Lloyd took Chris to an optometry appointment and Rosie to the vets to have her staples removed. Laurie went to his friends for the evening.

Last night Lloyd and I competed against each other at Jenga on my Nintendo DS. I got the game at the weekend and I love it :)

Today I have been at home. Sharon was going to come over but sadly her Daughter isn't well so we have postponed. Probably a good thing as I am feeling a bit unsociable anyway!! I have pottered about and cleaned upstairs - vacuumed. Sorted out a big box of homeschooling supplies for next year - worksheets and folders, workbooks etc etc. I got through a lot of laundry and washed a lot of bedding as the washing machine/ dryer have to be moved tomorrow for the flooring guys that are coming.

Played some games with Abby - one of them was so much fun as it was an action board game - so each square you land on makesd you get up and do something - jumping up and down or shouting things out. I kept getting sent back to the same square where I had to shout out my favourite marine animal again and again!!! Abby had to keep jumping three times again and again and then she had to make mosquito noises :) It was fun!!!

Sam was trying to play Spanish bingo on his own for some weird reason!!!

Abigail did her usual work this morning and Sam busied himself with his plane building and fuzzy felts which he has been in to the last few days. He and Abby spent part of the morning building a fort on the bunkbeds too - they love doing that - they get blankets out of the linen closet and hang them around the beds to create a magical fort and then they play in there for much of the day :)

After school was out at 2pm I drove Chris to the school to collect the carnival game he built last week and then I took him to his friends house to study. Now the kids are taking the dogs for a walk.

Oh and we had a surprise this morning - a squirrel sat on the big rock! Our first ever squirrel here! We don't have any spruce trees apart from little ones we have planted here, so we don't have squirrels here - so this was a first! I didn't get a picture as I wasn't fast enough so I hope it comes back! We were thrilled! Abby and Sam spotted it from the bedroom window :)

Chris got a welcome package from his new school today and has been invited to a few events during the summer so he is looking forward to that! He got his list of classes for the first semester too!

Tonight would have been date night but we are in town for so many appointments this week that we just want a quiet night at home tonight :) I think we may take the dogs for a walk together though just for some together time instead :)

Mrs Weasley!!!!

Ok so this is Mrs Weasley and no I do NOT look like her Sharon!!!! So it HAS to be personality they are talking about lol! ;) Doesn't it????????? hahahahahahaha!!!

At the optometrists..

Chris had a visit to the optometrists last night so while they were there, Lloyd was trying glasses on Sam in the opticians...

Monica - Lloyd took Chris to the mall for his eye exam and took Abby and Sam with him, but I stayed home for a quiet evening. They took Rosie t the vets to have her staples removed too. Laurie was out for the evening so it was just Susie and I at home and was a lovely and quiet evening :)

Evening visitor...

A deer was feasting in the back field this evening while we were clearing up after supper. It looked gorgeous against the green field.....everything looks so green and lush out right now after all the rain we've been having - I guess thats one good thing - the deer have plenty of grass to feast on right now...

Blogs updated

So blogger has a new feature that lets you list blogs that you read and lets you know when they've been updated - and each time one is updated it moves it to the to of the list - I LOVE it - it's really neat BUT it doesn't list all my favourite blogs! So if your blog isn't included its not because I don't love your blog, its because your blog doesn't have the right 'feed' or something! We tried all the blogs in the list at the bottom of my blog and some of them refused to work.....

And I also have a list of blogs that I read in my 'bookmarks' that I don't have listed on my blog.....and I haven't added those either....

Anyway...it's a neat feature to see when people have updated ;) and it's a cool way to nag you guys into updating too ;) when you see your blog get near the bottom its time to UPDATE ;)

cloned

Chris has cloned himself..he says two is better than one but like I told him, THAT depends on what mood he is in!!!!

(ps there is no sound and it's a very quick sample as he was just testing this out)

This afternoon.....

TORNADO WATCH for:
City of Edmonton-St. Albert-Sherwood Park
CONDITIONS ARE FAVOURABLE FOR THE FORMATION OF FUNNEL CLOUDS OR WEAK TORNADOES. CONDITIONS ARE FAVOURABLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF FUNNEL CLOUDS AND TORNADOES. THESE TYPES OF TORNADOES FORM OUT OF WEAK THUNDERSTORMS AND ARE USUALLY NOT AS DESTRUCTIVE AS THEIR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM COUSIN. THEY ARE DIFFICULT TO TRACK WITH DOPPLER RADAR AND CAN APPEAR WITHOUT WARNING. THEY NORMALLY MOVE SLOWLY AND CAN LAST FOR MANY MINUTES. THEY OFTEN APPEAR AS A GIANT COLUMN OF DUST FROM THE GROUND TO THE BOTTOM OF THE THUNDERSTORM. THEIR DESTRUCTIVE POWER IS USUALLY FELT OVER A VERY SMALL AREA. TREAT ALL FUNNEL CLOUDS AND TORNADOES SERIOUSLY AND AVOID WHEN POSSIBLE. SHOULD ONE DEVELOP NEARBY TAKE SHELTER UNDERGROUND OR IN A REINFORCED STRUCTURE LIKE A BATHROOM OR INTERIOR CLOSET. IF YOU ARE IN YOUR VEHICLE TRY TO MOVE AWAY FROM THE TORNADO AT RIGHT ANGLES. ENVIRONMENT CANADA CONTINUES TO MONITOR THE SITUATION CLOSELY. PLEASE CONTINUE TO MONITOR YOUR LOCAL MEDIA OR WEATHERADIO FOR FURTHER UPDATES. SHOULD YOU SPOT A FUNNEL CLOUD OR TORNADO...AND ONLY IF IT IS SAFE TO DO SO...YOU CAN CALL 1-800-239-0484 TO REPORT YOUR SIGHTING. PLEASE NOTE THIS PHONE NUMBER IS FOR REPORTING SEVERE WEATHER ONLY.

Grad album..

I'm working on a Graduation mini album for Chris...I've only done a few pages so far and he has taken it to school to get his friends to add some messages to a few pages and also to get them to send me some more pictures for it....here are a few pages that I've done so far - it's not just from Fridays celebrations but from the farewell camping trip and the climbing day at Vertically Inclined as well...it will also have the class picture in it and there are pockets inside for messages from his friends.....

Ambassador award...

This is the gift Chris was presented with for his Ambassador award. I think it's a beautiful keepsake that he can always treasure and remember his time at St Luke by.

My bee :)

Val came over for coffee on Friday with her little guy - I had such a nice visit with her - we sat on the porch much of the time which is always so nice to do :) With our long winters it's lovely to be able to sit outside instead of being cooped up indoors!

When Val arrived, she surprised me with this gorgeous gift!!! It's a ceramic bee!! Val takes a ceramics class with her daughter each week and I feel so TOTALLY honoured that she has painted this piece for me :) And its a gorgeous bee! She is supposed to sit outside but I'm not sure I can put her outside in all the rain, so I think I'm going to have to find somewhere inside for her to stay safe! Luckily I have requested nice wide windowsills on all my new windows - wide enough for plant pots etc so I will have plenty of places to pick once the new addition is built and for now she is sitting in my computer room where I can see her :)

I haven't named her yet - and as Val knows I always name everything :) `

Thank you so much Val - I love her!!!!