My first whimsey jar.

Thank you Stacey :) Here it is - my very first whimsey jar! I painted it at Staceys house on Monday, added touches the last couple of days and finished it this morning.

Edited to add: Stacey I ended up doing dots of stickles around the pot to cover up the dots where the paint had peeled off BUT I actually love how it looks :) I had covered the lid in a thick layer of stickles that took all night to dry anyway so it coordinates with that anyway! Worked out well in the end thankfully - and then I had to use stickles around the neck to cover up the glass that was showing because I didn't paint high enough up the neck - but I guess its just a learning curve ;)

Wednesday

I am hoping for a quiet day at home, then an evening out with Lloyd before going to collect Susannah. Susie is going curling tonight - She's been invited to go curling with her friends family - it's 'Bring a friend to Curling' night and she has been invited for the last two years and wasn't able to make it so this is third time lucky!

Lloyd and I are going out tonight to get Abigails birthday gifts ready for Friday, and run a few errands that we need to do. I've been honoured to be asked to do something very special for a friend and so I want to go and get the supplies I need for that special project tonight. Lloyd has to go and collect his new filing cabinet - which means I get his old one - which isn't very old - it just isn't working for him (yay) - I soooo need this - I get to put all of Abigails homeschooling supplies in it and clear off the sideboard in my bedroom! No more clutter driving me crazy in my bedroom! I can feel organized in there at last!

I'm not sure we'll have time to eat out tonight - maybe at Timmy's...we'll see!

As for today, our school work is focusing around Valentines Day, and I also have a few cards to make - Monday was my friend Samanthas birthday, but we are celebrating with dinner out tomorrow night.

Sam and Abby are already at their books.....Denis and his other workman...and the electrician are already hard at work....I guess I really should get going. I've been awake since 4am though and I'm soooo tired now! blah!

Favourite book atc swap....

The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd.

Not my favourite book, but an easy ATC to do as I had a bee stamp ;) Stamped and watercolour painted....

Roses...

Lloyd gave me these beautiful roses last Wednesday after I'd had a long baaaaaad day....he thought I needed cheering up :) I didn't take this picture until yesterday so they are looking a little sad now but when they were fresh and new they were STUNNING. So gorgeous - thank you baby! They really made me smile Lloyd thank you!

Cool

I think its cool that I can sit in my bedroom window typing my blog and looking up at the international space station - it's so bright in the sky. I wonder what they're doing up there. What time zone are they on? Do they have their own 'space station' time or are they on our time?

Tuesday......

Sam had Pre-K, Abigail and I went swimming and for the first hour there were more lifeguards around the pool than there swimmers IN the pool :) it was wonderful! Last week the pool was crowded with school kids, today it was empty and we were able to enjoy the waves, the slides, the lazy river - and the hot tub :)

Tonight Susannah has dance class - the last rehearsal before she dances for the Mayor on Saturday at the Valentine Open House at Salisbury Greenhouses. She's very excited. Abigail isn't at her class tonight.

Lloyd and I plan to relax and watch Enchanted. Lloyds prepping some paperwork for taxes and I'm prepping some work for Abigail.

We picked the colour for the kitchen tonight.

I finished my whimsey jar - just waiting for it to dry before I photograph it and can't wait to show my 'muse' Stacey :) Yes, I have a 'whimsey muse'........the only thing I'm disappointed with is that I didn't paint high up the neck enough so when the lid is on you can still see clear glass - so I need to do 'something' about that (ie sneak back to Staceys and use some more of her turquoise paint lol).

Kitchen work continues...poor Denis..he came into the kitchen this morning as he could hear me yelling...he said 'Good morning' in his sing-song French accent and I started yelling at him! 'No it isn't! It ISN'T GOOD morning - it's just MORNING - there's no GOOD about it!!!' hahahaha! " I can't find anything in this stupid kitchen - I can find the coffee, but I can't find the stupid coffee filters, so you can only have instant coffee" and he laughed and said "we're here and we're alive so its a good morning" and then he said "It's my fault you can't find anything so I will have the instant because it's my fault" and then he laughed!

It's good that Denis knows I am not a morning person and he understands my sense of humour ;)

I eventually found the coffee filters in a completely separate cupboard from everything else!!! Why???? WHY???? Is Lloyd playing games with my mind????? hahahahaha ok this kitchen reno is going to drive me insane!!! The oven is like miles away from any counters and the sink has no counter to one side and it turns out the old dishwasher has been leaking underneath for two weeks since Lloyd tried to remove it! And we have everything we use crammed onto one tiny counter and what is left of the cupboard and the hamster...

The HAMSTER....I KNEW Lloyd would NOT look after that stupid hamster - I just KNEW I would end up looking after that bloody thing! Grrrrrrrrr ;) bloody cheesy is going to end up with all the other bloody cheesy's at the end of our driveway me thinks......

I love you Lloyd :)

Monday - a visit to Staceys.

Yesterday we went to Staceys house (Mollys People blog - link to right) for the afternoon. We had a great time - chatting, playing, drinking tea and painting whimsey jars! The children each painted one too - I will add the photographs of theirs later although I didn't take my camera to Staceys house and I wished I had afterwards!

When I got home from Staceys I found my kitchen GONE. All that is left is the small piece in the middle now. I will add the pictures to our home reno blog (link also to the right)

I spent the evening finishing more of my jar and making some ATC's. I received two in the mail yesterday - and Susie received a 'kids can make atc's too' swap in the mail yesterday too.

Oh and Stacey - Anaconda was on tv last now!!! too funny! I didn't see it but Sam and Lloyd watched some of it while I was in the shower ;)

Thinking of a friend...

My friends family have had some very sad and sudden news. The death of a young, beautiful lady. A Sister. A friend. A bride just two weeks ago. Someone full of life, taken far too soon. They are reeling from the shock. I can't imagine.

They are in my thoughts.
xxxx

Breakfast!

Joanne looking as though she thinks I am crazy for taking MORE pictures - especially of her with her breakfast hahahaha! The waffles were delicious (Thanks Val) and we had a choice of strawberries and cream or apple cinnamon and cream YUM!!!

For Abigail!

Abigail thought it was crazy that I was going on a sleepover - and with VAL!!!!! So I promised to get a picture of Val in her pj's and slippers JUST for Abby ;) Here is Val preparing the waffles in the make-shift kitchen!

Scenes from the crop......

Plenty of wonderful food, wine, Mamma Mia, oh and as you can see quite a bit of scrapbooking ;)

A couple more of all four!

Scenes from the retreat - early morning.

I couldn't resist snapping pictures of the sunrise on the old barn and tractor - so beautiful!

Scrapbook pages....

These are the pages I worked on at the crop this weekend - I didn't do the journaling and on some I didn't do the titles either. I also worked on another project while I was away but I can't post that until next week ;)

Home again...

I'm not going to update with a proper post today - just going to say that I had a fabulous time with Val and everyone at the scrapbooking crop this weekend - thanks Val so much for inviting me! I have a ton of pictures to add when I have more time. Here is just one picture to share - taken just before we left.

Great fun, lots of singing, dancing, laughing, talking....and actually (shockingly) a LOT of scrapbooking!!! :) Great food too :) YUM!

Anyway - I LOVE this picture :) It sums up the atmosphere of the whole crop :) A good time was had by all :)