A canvas I did just before bed last night...

'Trust'...

Using a Kelly Rae image - LOVE her work :)

Two canvases from today...

These are two canvases I created today....The second one has a picture by Kelly Rae Roberts on it....my favourite artist!!  Sam, Abby and I spent several hours getting all messy and creative today and are really happy with the canvases we created :)

Springtime in Alberta...

....and as a friend on facebook said......ahhh it reminds me a lot of Winter in Alberta ;)

(yep its been snowing all day here....sigh....)

These are a few of my favourite things......

One of my favourite mugs:

My favourite adhesive - and it now comes in a mini size so I get to keep one in my journaling pack that I take everywhere in my bag

This beautiful paper snowflake that JoAnne gave me for Christmas and which reminds me of our lovely day out last year - to the craft sale and to the Lantern Festival xxx

One of my favourite art journal pages from the last year:

I would also include long conversations reminiscing with an old 'friend'....getting all messy and arty crafty with soul glue :)  reading and posting on the Now Radio 102.3 Facebook Page, and the feeling of a little arm wrapping itself around my neck each morning as Sam tells me he loves me :)

What are your favourite things?

Tag time...

No matter what mood I'm in, I can always go for a:  long soak in a bubble bath......bliss!!!

My favorite go-to outfit would have to be: Jeans and a long sleeved black T.  Often with a scarf.  I have a huge collection of scarves for al seasons :)  Today I'm wearing jeans and a long sleeved GREY T :)

A good source of inspiration is: the All Things Thrifty blog....
I am so glad my parents taught me: not to use credit.
A song I like to dance to is: Dynamite by Taio Cruz
I wish everyone knew about:  how damaging school is to the average child.
The best thing in my makeup bag is: I don't have a make up bag.  I occasionally wear mascara....that's about it.  I do wear perfume every day though.
My dream spring break vacation spot is: Canmore.....my older kids are probably fed up with it, but I will never get bored with going there.  Susannah and I are planning a trip alone just to hike.  She really enjoys it.
This may be a surprise, but I am passionate about: snowflakes - and also introducing the joy of art back in to peoples lives after school art lessons have destroyed it.
A favorite book that changed me for the better:  Sara Ban Breathnach - Simple Abundance - a Daybook of Comfort and Joy
One of my pet peeves is: At my Doctors surgery, if you are 5 minutes late, they cancel your appointment, but EVERY time I go now they make me wait at LEAST an hour PAST my appointment time to see my Doctor!!  And you can't complain as that is seen as harassment of the reception staff!
My favorite daily ritual would have to be: Snuggling with Sam in the mornings.  He sleeps in his own bed but wanders in to mine in the early hours...so I wake up with him snuggled up to me each morning like a hot water bottle....when he wakes up he throws his little arm around me and tells me he loves me...all sleepy :)
I am trying to be better at: dealing with my Ex......for months I have been nothing but nice and done my best to put all disagreements to one side - especially in front of the children.  But yesterday.....omg yesterday he was SOOOOOO  arrogant and pigheaded.  He always has been an arrogant man, but I had asked him not to come into the house and he refused to do that and then continued in this arrogant pigheaded way the whole time he was in my home :(  I'm so disappointed in myself that I lost it....and ended up forcing him out physically :(  That is NOT what I wanted my children to have to witness :(  I should have done better.  But I put up with 10 years of his arrogance and pigheadedness and didn't even realise it until after he left....and sometimes it is overwhelming.  I am not proud of my behaviour yesterday though.
The most recent rad thing I found online was:  Jen Lemen's latest post - which feels as though it was written just for me.  I posted it to my FB page...and sorry - I'm back in to blogging but am sooo lazy I'm not posting links yet am I??
I can't live without: little ways to relax....my journaling, tanning and saunas, cuddles with the kids, FB time, bubble baths, crafting time, coffee with friends.....I NEED that little break from reality....

I'll get by with a little help from my friends....

I have had some amazing friends help me through over the last year....these pictures above are just SOME of the amazing people in my life!!  There are soooo many more.....some who I have known for years...others I have only know for a matter of weeks/ months yet they already mean so much to me....and without all these people I wouldn't be as strong and secure and happy and together as I am - and as able to cope with everything that is thrown at me these days.  

To each and every one of you.....that has listened, that has taken time to ask ow I am, who has had coffee with me in the last year or messaged me to say you have been thinking of me....

THANK YOU

xxx

Instagram and the Santa Maria...

At the weekend I took Susannah to West Edmonton Mall to get her stage costume for the talent show this weekend.  We stopped off by Booster Juice for a drink and I snapped this picture of the Santa Maria.    I love using the Instagram app on my iphone - you can get such great pictures with it!  If you use Instagram let me know and i'll add and follow you!!  I'm Janemma1234  on there :)  

Zentangle...

I got this idea from some homework Susie was given...so I spent some time working on this in one of my little Moleskine books....

Charmed.....

This is my favourite necklace at the moment....I'm loving it.  

Birthday girl.....

I turned 39 in January and with it I made a list of 40 things I'd like to try and do before I turn 40.  

There is a whole mix of things on this list...a few I have already done...a few have to wait until Summer...and a few I think will probably get changed for other ideas...but they are all things that are reachable within the next year!!

Christmas at our place...

For those of you not on my facebook, you will have missed out on all of our Christmas news and pictures.  We had a WONDERFUL December and Christmas - probably one of the best in a long time.  It started early with Christopher scaring me half to death by jumping out from the living room doorway as I came down the stairs!!!  He had arrived by taxi at 6am and waited in the living room until 8am when we all woke up and went downstairs!!  It was the best surprise ever to have him there!!  We had the loveliest, most relaxing day....some gorgeous gifts, endless laughs and just a really lovely family day :)  

Perfect :)

My Spring flower.....

I snapped this cute picture of Sam in the car this afternoon.  He looks so cute wearing his little Daffodil charity pin.  So full of Spring sunshine :)  

What this picture doesn't show though, is that we had driven in to town to go to the office of the town newspaper.  Susannah is taking part in their talent show at the mall on Saturday, and we had to fill in a bio for her - so they can read out something about her before she performs, and also print something about her in the paper.  

I stood at the desk helping Susannah fill in the forms  and while we were concentrating, Sam and Abby helped themselves to two of the Daffodil pins!!  They thought they were free like bowls of candy in most offices!!  :)

They were so pleased with them!!  I didn't have the heart to make them put them back, so instead I just gave them a few dollars each to put in the box and we went back to the desk and paid for them before heading back out to the car.  

A little sunshine in a horrible grey and snowy day :)

Cookies :)

'cookies' Abigail decorated for me and emailed to me via an app on my iphone this afternoon :) 

For today......

Outside My Window... it is snowing lightly....only lightly...it is breezy...but I think it is warm and have my window WIDE open....

I am thinking...that my Daughter is very strange...she has added an app to my iphone that lets her shave beards...and she can cut the men she shaves and you can change their hair colour and skin colour and they can have lice that you can tap to kill ????? And the sound effects are HORRIBLE!!!  You cover them in shaving foam and then shave away and are supposed to try not to cut them....who on earth creates these????

I am thankful for...a relaxing day as I did not go to sleep until after 4am - I felt sooooo ill last night.  Today I needed to be gentle with myself as I had a migraine from lack of sleep.  And was feeling dreadful.  Felt better by lunchtime so soaked in the bath and the children were happy to snuggle and watch movies, chat and just relax together.  Sam did some finger knitting, I read, it was a day we all needed after a busy day yesterday.


From the kitchen...Susannah is obsessed with baked potatoes lately, so we have had a lot of those.. luckily we almost all like those!!  Laurence is baking a lot of cakes so he can decorate them - I took him to Bulk Barn last week and he was able to get a few things he needed from their Wilton supply aisle.  Abigail baked a wonderful banana bread loaf last week.  I have been adding garlic to as much as possible to try and fight off this flu we all have.

I am wearing...jeans and my black bra...no top because I'm really hot.  Think I have a temperature again.

I am creating...art journals, canvases, and a beautiful home on a VERY tight budget!!

I am going...to celebrate the start of Spring by having lunch/ coffee with a good friend at a local garden centre as soon as I am healthy :)  
I am reading...The Gift of Imperfection.  and  'How to be single' by Liz Tuccillo.

I am hoping...that Wednesday goes ok.....

I am hearing... Sam and Abby fighting over who gets to cuddle Rosie the most....who gets to use her as a foot rest...who gets to have her head end and who gets her tail end.....lol...

Around the house...so much painting to be finished when I have the time and energy ....

One of my favorite things...hunting Goodwill for bargains and finding furniture to refinish for my home.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...get healthy, get the children healthy.  I have a Doctors appointment on Wednesday and I'm really hoping it goes well.  Head to the newspaper office to fill in Susies bio.  Watch Susie in the talent show at the mall!!  Get my application in for another job posting!!  Hopefully be well enough to see some friends!!

Good intentions.....

I have been looking for the right push to get me back in to blogging for a while now.  I've really missed writing our family news, and having a record of our daily happenings to look back on, but I just haven't felt inspired to get back to it.  Each time I've come to my blog it just hasn't felt like the right moment.  

A couple of weeks ago Shimelle wrote to say she was repeating her 'Blogging for Scrapbookers'  class that ran a couple of years ago, and I knew this was just what I needed to get me started again!!

And so I have good intentions of getting back in to writing here regularly!!  Adding pictures on an almost daily basis, posting Friday Fill-ins and other me-me's!!  

Watch this space ;)