Lost

So I have been watching LOST for 5 years now. It is my favourite TV show. I watch a lot of TV and movies. I like to be entertained, mysteries are my favourite- shows that make me think. I always try to figure out what is going on.

Well LOST certainly fit that bill. I can't figure it out. Every time I think I know what is going on something happens and it blows my mind! Never have I been so consumed by a TV show. I try to analyze it with my friends, I read about it on the net and I re -watch episodes. I love that it is in no way predictable, they come up with new and creative ways to keep me guessing every week. I really like it when they show past episodes with pop ups that explain how things fit together. This summer I plan on watching all the past seasons again.

LOST is the first show I have watched that has a end date. The series has one more season and will finish in May 2010. I am excited to see how they wrap it all up. I am looking forward to finally finding out all the mysteries of the island- until then I will faithfully tune in each Wednesday night to get my fix.

Wild Wings

Last night Shawn, Nicole and I went to Wild Wings for dinner. It is a fairly new restaurant that has opened near our neighbourhood, by the corner of Fischer-Hallman and Ottawa. A friend of Shawn's, Dan, opened Wild Wings after he was also deemed an excess employee last year by the same company Shawn worked for.

There was a time when wings were the only food that Nicole would eat in a restaurant, didn't matter where we went as long as there were wings to be had, Nicole was happy. She has since developed a broader range of things she likes to eat when we go out but wings remain near and dear to her heart. Well, at Wild Wings they have over 101 flavours to choose from. It was very interesting to read over the menu and see what some people will eat. They have everything from your standard mild, medium and hot wings to pickle flavour, Cesar flavour and salt and vinegar.

We tried a couple different kinds, our favourites last night were Farmer's daughter. It was a really fun night. The place was fairly busy but very relaxing and homey. Dan has done a great job, there are TVs to watch the game on, a nicely set up bar area and a family friendly dinning room.

If you are ever in the area you should check this place out.

Bath Time!

I love baths. There is nothing more relaxing than sitting in a tub filled with bubbles and a good book. My love of baths goes back to when my girls were little. We were sooo busy, running around, playing and having fun. Shawn was working nights and I had the girls 24/7. On Sundays Shawn would take the girls out for an hour, to the park or for a walk and I could have a quiet bath. I loved that peaceful hour. A bit of me time, time to relax and regroup and get ready for the new week.

Well the girls are grown up now, no longer require my one on one attention all day long- but my love of baths has not diminished. I know that all is right in my world if I can steal away for a couple of hours, book in hand, down into the bubbles.

We started our bathroom renovations last week. The first thing to go was the tub. I am getting new, deeper soaker tub- so exciting!! I can't wait to try it out. It has a sloping back, it's wider and it even has armrests. It's going to be great, but I really need a bath now. With all that has been going on this past week I had to have a bath, needed to prove to myself that I was ok, that everything would be ok. So I headed over to my Mom's- hey they're still gone on holidays. As I filled the tub and slipped quietly into the water- so warm and soothing- I realised that yes, everything will be alright.

Everyone can use a Little Mothering

As I have said before family is very important to me. I live about 10 minutes from the house I grew up in. I talk to my parents every day and we eat there at least once a week. We still take at least one camping trip together a year. My girls are extremely close to their grandparents. This is especially nice for me to experience as I have never had grandparents who lived in Canada. My grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all live in England. The world is a much smaller place with computers. I can keep in contact with everyone in England and we visit back and forth but I have never had the kind of relationship with my relatives that Nicole and Katie have with theirs.

My parents are at the stage in life now when they can travel and take time for themselves. I am so happy that they can do this - they deserve it, they have earned it. They take off in their trailer with their gang and head out on the open road a couple of times a year. They are usually gone for 6- 8 weeks. They have seen some amazing places, I envy them.

With all that has happened this week I have come to realize that I still need a little mothering. Shawn and I are a team- have been for over 20 years now. There isn't anything that we can't face together. While I am very sure of that fact I would still like to have my Mommy tell me that everything is going to be OK. My parents are my touchstone, my safety net, the people who I know will go to end of the earth for me.

My Mom and Dad are into week 7 of their Spring trip. We joined them in Florida for a week in March and we haven't seen them since. Skype is OK but it is not the same as a face to face. On Thursday when the stuff was hitting the fan I really wanted to talk to my parents. They must be psychic because when I walk into the house the phone was ringing.. it was mom calling to see what was new.. exactly what I needed to hear.

Friends Award

My friend Joann gave me the "Friends" award. I am very excited- it is my first award.

It came with the following description that accompanies the award: “These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more."
Such a sweet sentiment! I don't have eight bloggers to pass on to but here are the ones I loves to read. The four bloggers I would love to pass this 'Friends' award to are:

Peggy

Carolyn

Joanne
Karen

Check them out- there is some good reading there!

Another Bump in the Road

So life never fails to amaze me. I have a very good life, a husband who loves me, great kids and a job that I love to go to everyday. I am thankful for all that I have and I try not to take anything for granted. Well you should never get too content because you do not know what is waiting for you around the corner.

Today my husband got laid off from his job. Shawn has worked for the same company for over 26 years, ever since he was 15 years old. He went to college to become a marketing major and that was a role he grew into. Shawn is fantastic at his job, his employer gave him many promotions and commendations. Shawn was a loyal and dedicated employee. Nobody worked harder than Shawn or was more motivated. I guess these things don't count for much in the economic times we are living in. Companies just look at the bottom line and not at the people any more. Large corporations are going to end up paying for these decisions in the future.

We are going to be okay. Shawn got a good package which will afford him the time to find a job that he will love. One where he will get the respect he deserves. He has lots of contacts and is well respected in his industry. His phone was beeping all night tonight with messages from friends and coworkers, checking to make sure he was okay, offering to help with anything we need. I made me happy to hear how well loved Shawn is.

We know there are people out there who are a lot worse off than us. We are safe, happy, nobody is sick or dying, it is only a job, only money, there are more important things in life.

We live by the motto that everything happens for a reason. We know there is something good that will come out of this- we just have to wait and see what it is!

Earth Day

Today is Earth Day. At school we had an assembly, letting the kids know all the things they can do at school and at home to help save our planet. After the assembly the entire student body went out to clean the schoolyard. It didn't take very long with everyone pitching in but boy did it ever look good when we were done.
Tonight I went with some friends and Nicole to see the movie Earth. What a great film! The photography was amazing. I was happy to be apart of the premier evening and I was glad I bought tickets in advance because it was a sold out show. It was great to see all the families there sharing the experience. I think everyone should see this movie. When you see what animals go through it makes our struggles seem small- we don't have to swim 4000 miles for food, or travel across an entire continent for water and what some birds in the rain forest will do to impress a girl is hilarious.

There are some sad parts of the movie- it ts the circle of life after all. They do a good job with the editing and it is not gross but people with small children should be ready to do some explaining. I have always had a fondness for polar bears so that story had a real impact on me.

I am trying to live a greener life, I recycle & compost. I have changed all my light bulbs, turned down the air conditioner and unplugged excess appliances. Every little bit helps. I even found so ways to go green in my scrapbooking on the Two Friends site today. If everybody tries a little we can do a lot!!

Banks-what a pain!

So today when I dropped Nicole off at work I went in to pick up a few groceries. As I went to pay with my debit card I was declined. My card had been cancelled! What the heck! I have money in the bank, haven't had any issues, what's the problem?? I stopped in at the bank on my way home, apparently there had been some kind of breach of security at "some terminal somewhere" and that my card "may or may not be compromised". Now I am all for being secure and I appreciate that bank lose all kinds of money from fraud but should they be allowed to cancel my card whenever they feel like it? I don't think so. Luckily I have other accounts at other banks so I was OK today but what if I didn't? What if I was travelling? What if I was Katie, my daughter, in a foreign country? People depend on these cards to survive -you can't just take away our lifelines. Things like this really tick me off. Isn't this why my card has one of those chips in it? Wasn't that supposed to prevent issues like this?

Thanks for letting me rant.

Renovations

We moved into our house 9 years ago. It was everything we wanted, a 4 level back split on a quiet court, double car garage, big backyard and not far from our our families. It was only a year old when we got it and it was more than twice the size of our semi. We loved it from the moment we saw it and have enjoyed all the time we have spent here and the memories we have created.

Last year Shawn and I decided to renovate our entire main floor. We wanted to put hard wood throughout, add a peninsula ( NOT an island, as we were informed) and update the kitchen. We had so much fun shopping around and getting ideas. We did all the work ourselves ( with the help of family and friends). It didn't take us long, about a month only working weekends but it was very disruptive to family life and very, very messy. We were ecstatic with the results. It was great to see how all our choices came together and just made the whole house flow better.

Well now since we had so much fun Shawn has decided that we need to renovate the main bathroom. We are putting in ceramic flooring, a new sink and vanity and I am getting a new, deeper bathtub! Yesterday all the tile was taken down off the walls and my bath is gone. I am excited for the change and really looking forward to see the new room but if you thought that not being able to use the kitchen was hard try not having a toilet for awhile!

Spring is in the air

Yesterday we celebrated one of our rights of Spring- the first barbecue of the season. The weather was great, the air smelt fresh and there was steak to be eaten. Nicole and Josh were as well as our friend Dave. It was a very nice relaxing meal. The Spring barbecue holds promise of all the great things to come.

I was sick last week for a couple of day so Saturday was my first time out in the nice weather. It was invigorating! I was inspired to open all the windows, wash all the bedding and freshen things up. One of the jobs of Spring I hate is the annual cleaning up of the backyard. I love my dog but man oh man I truly hate that job. I wish I could be one of those people who keep on top of this chore. I usually start of well but as the days get colder in the fall and the snow starts falling he is on his own out there. I want to stay nice and cosy in the house. It is not a terrible job, it doesn't take to long but I wish he could pick up after himself!

Speaking of picking up after themselves- yesterday after I washed all the bedding I had to remake the beds- this is quite the job in Nicole's room, it is hard to maneuver in there. Nicole has the smallest room in the house. When we moved in here 9 years ago Katie had a hard time leaving her friends and moving to a new place. Nicole being the protective big sister, willingly gave up the bigger girl's room and took the smaller boy's room- with a coat of paint it no longer looked like a boys room but we couldn't anything about the size. We built lots of shelves and organized a desk - the room is nice but there is not a lot of room once you put in all Nicole's stuff, and boy oh boy she has a lot of stuff! Long story short my decision to give everybody nice fresh bedding caused me to end up spending 3 hours tidying and organizing Nicole's room. So I didn't get to spend much of my first Spring day relaxing but I did have a very happy, grateful daughter who can now get to her bed with out risking life and limb.

Hobbies

I think that everyone should have a hobby. Something that you feel passionate about, that you enjoy spending time doing, something that belongs to you that you can take pride in.

My hubby Shawn's hobby is golf. This is something that Shawn feels very strongly about, something he spends hours playing, talking about and watching. I know once the nice weather gets here in the Spring that I should no longer plan on seeing Shawn most Saturday or Sunday mornings. Shawn is an early riser, he is usually up and gone by 7:30 in the morning, this means he gets his 18 holes in before lunch, then he is home to do things with the family or around the house. Not a bad deal for me- I still get to sleep in :). Shawn's golfing has taken him to many wonderful spots across Canada and the States. I am envious of some of the beautiful places that he has gotten to play.

My hobby is scrapbooking. It is something that I have been doing for the past 8 years. I have met so many wonderful people because of my hobby, learned so many new techniques and gotten so many great ideas that my passion for scrapbooking has not dimmed at all. It gets me out of the house, I get to visit and catch up with friends when I go to crops at my favourite store- Two Scrapbook Friends- in Waterloo. I get tones of pages done and have a fantastic time when I attend their retreats. I love to share my finished books with my family and I have created albums for many of them as gifts for weddings, or special birthdays.

Hobbies are personal, nobody should ever judge someone for something they are passionate about- you can't understand it unless you feel the same way. A couple of years ago I thought I would take golf lessons to see what the big deal was. My girlfriend Gen and I took 6 weeks of lessons, we learned all the basics. It was a lot of fun and I had a good time but quiet frankly I didn't get it! What could compel me to get up early every weekend, hit a little white ball for hours and want to go back every week to do it over and over again? I realized at that point that I was better of to let Shawn enjoy his hobby with other who felt the same way as he did ...after all I can't imagine him sitting with me at a scrapbooking class getting excited over bling, buttons and ribbon.

Not so Smart

So have you ever done something silly, or had as my girls call them a "blond" moment? When you do or say something that later you look back, shake your head and say what the heck was I thinking?

I recently had my biggest blond moment ever. One that I will probably never get to live down. Possibly because it was so amazingly ridiculous that I can't help but repeat the story over and over to anyone who will listen. I don't care if people laugh at me, I have no problem being the butt of my own jokes. I am a habitual over-sharer. I share many aspects of my life because I think life is too short not to laugh.

A couple of weeks ago my husband Shawn and I were out shopping for some bathroom renovation items. During our travels we stopped in at the new Lindt outlet. Now if you have never been there it is a store filled will kinds of Lindt chocolates, all different sizes, shapes and flavours. Well with my love of all things chocolate I was in heaven. I wondered around the store reading all the labels, checking out all the different flavours, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, mint, orange.. you get my drift. As I was reading the labels on the packages I picked up some chocolate carrots. Now don't ask me where my brain went because at that moment I was sure that Lindt had created a carrot flavoured candy. I thought it was a very interesting choice but hey I'll try anything new so I bought 4 and brought them home.

We were having a nice Sunday dinner, roast beef, yorkshire puddings, all the trimmings. Nicole's boyfriend was joining us. Dinner was great and now it was time for dessert. I served the cheesecake- with a Lindt carrot on the side. As I explained to everyone that these were new carrot flavour chocolates that we all had to try I got the first inkling that my thinking was off, and as the laughter broke out at the table and I actually thought about what I had said I realized that of course they weren't carrot flavoured... just carrot shaped. Well I couldn't stop laughing, what the heck had I been thinking???

Last week was Easter and Josh bought Nicole a Lindt bunny and of course he added the carrots- he saw them and couldn't resist. As I said this is something I am probably never going to live down- it will rear it's ugly head every Easter I am sure!

Reading

I love to read. I spend many hours lost in other worlds, sometimes I forget to eat, do laundry and even get dressed. I love books, all kinds of stories. I think my favourite type of fiction is historical but I am not opposed to any type- except for trashy romance- can't stand them! Being a part of a book club helps to get me to try other types of books, different authors, books I maybe would never have looked at at the library but have ended up thoroughly enjoying.

I love the One Book One Community initiative that we have going on here locally. I have joined in by reading their selections for the past few years. For the most part I have really enjoyed the books. This year they have chosen The book of Negros by Lawrence Hill and I am thrilled with the choice. I bought this book for my friend Gen 2 years ago for Christmas. I saw it on the store shelf and was drawn in by the cover, it is very powerful. She loved it and let me borrow it. We decided to read it for our book club and had great discussions around it. It is a very moving story about the slave trade. Everyone should read this book- you will not regret it.

I am always looking for new books to read. I will admit that I am guilty of judging books by their covers. If a cover doesn't draw me in I won't pick it up. I know I miss many good stories by doing this. I'd much rather read books that others have read and recommended to me. When I find an author I like I read all the books they have written. I have authors that I follow, I eagerly await their next release but there is always more books out their for me to read. I would love it if some of you would recommend books for me to read and I will give you a brief list of some of my favourite books for you to check out.

1. The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

2. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

3. Plain Truth (or anything) by Jodi Picoult

4. The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon

5. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

The is also The Harry Potter series, The Twilight books, and my all time favourite Gone with the Wind.

Happy reading everyone!!!

Craft it Forward

I read an interesting post on my friend Joanne's blog today and thought I would take up the challenge! The first three people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (but I'm sure you will!)
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It’ll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it’s going to be.
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
6- Y0u need to post whether its for a girl or a boy! (That way I can really make it personal.)

The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 3 people who do the same on your blog. The first 3 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they have it up on their blog....will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!
Ok, so, who's in??

Girlfriends- Gotta Have 'Em!!

Last night I went out for sushi and a movie with my 3 closest girlfriends. It was another evening filled with laughter, great conversation and good food. After I came home I was reflecting on how lucky I am to have these women in my life. We certainly are a diverse group, we range in age from 50 down to 37, we have adult children in University and youngsters in primary school but we do have some important things in common- we all work educating kids and we all love scrapbooking!!

Gen is our oldest member, I meet Gen when I started my job as an EA at Franklin. I work with Gen all day everyday. She is my partner- we share the same vision for the kids in our special needs class, my advisor -her kids are older than mine so I get some good advice and we have spent many hours together at synchro meets cheering on our daughters.

Kirsten is my partner in crime. We meet volunteering in our daughters' grade 2 class together. The girls are now in grade 10 and still best of friends. Kir and I have done soooo many things with our 4 girls, from scrap club, to camping, to pumpkin and apple picking. Kir and I live close together so we run car pools, take care of each others dogs when we go away and are each other emergency contacts when the kids are at camp or we for get to pick them up!!! We are each other's kids surrogate mom. Kirsten now works with autistic children and I am inspired by her dedication.

I met Michelle through Kirsten and her creative memories business about 6 years ago. Michelle is the parent of the youngest child from our group. We love hearing Michelle's tales of primary school issues. Michelle is also a high school teacher so we get a lot of advice from her as our kids move up in the system. Michelle is our mathematician, she figures out our tabs & our tips. I spend many hours on my computer with Michelle- she is a whiz and she has a truly wicked sense of humor.

For many years when my kids were little I didn't have a lot of time to spend with friends, life was just filled up with kids, activities, volunteering and lets be honest- I was exhausted half the time!! As the kids have gotten older, more self sufficient and no longer require a babysitter life has gotten a lot easier, I have more free time- time I can now spend with my friends. We try to get together about once a week. We have a monthly book club that we all take turns hosting, we have a scrapbooking day and we go out for dinner and a movie. We solve the worlds problems, cry on each others shoulders, rant about husbands, kids & jobs. We share in each others successes and failures. It's not always easy, it does take some planing but we have all come to realize that friends are not to be taken for granted, time does need to be set aside- after all if you didn't have the girlfriends to turn to what would you do??

It's Too Quiet in Here!

Yesterday was Easter Sunday. I had a great day but I was very aware that something was missing. Family is the most important thing in the world to me, there is nobody I would rather spend time with, no place I would rather be then with my loved ones. My youngest daughter Katie is on a 3 month exchange to Luxembourg. I know that this is a wonderful experience for her, filled with memories that will last her a lifetime. I am usually OK thinking about the great time she is having but this weekend was a hard one. Most days are so filled with work, household chores, the daily stuff that keeps you busy that I don't always notice that someone is missing. Having a long weekend, with all the free time that comes with it and being such a family oriented occasion I was missing Katie like crazy! My house is usually full of the girls and their friends, laughter is everywhere and there are always teenagers underfoot. With Katie gone, Nicole working and having a boyfriend it is sometimes downright silent in here- I can't stand it! I do think of it as a way to prepare me for the next stage in my life- where my children are off at university and Shawn and I are here alone but I have come to realize that I am not ready to let go yet-- I need more time!

Easter

Easter over the past couple of years has changed a lot in our family. Last year we were in a hotel on our way home from Florida with my parents. This year Katie is gone on her exchange and Nicole is almost an adult. There was no colouring of eggs, no early morning egg hunt and Nicole didn't even get out of bed until 10:00 to open her present. It was very different then the years of past when we got up with the sun to hunt down mini eggs from all over the house, when I had to come up with a hundred and one ways to use up hard boiled eggs because girls would colour dozens of them and there were fancy Easter dresses.

My girls are the oldest grandchildren in both of mine and Shawn's families- luckily my brothers and Shawn's sister still have little kids. We went to the in-laws yesterday for dinner- my parents are still in Florida this year. Millie and Bill have always had a egg hunt fort the grandchildren This year that was changed as well- Nicole and Josh got the job of hiding the eggs for the cousins. They had a great time finding all the nooks and crannies to put the eggs in. Wilson and Evan raced around the place hunting them all down.

Easter may have changed over the years but that isn't necessarily a bad thing- just a sign of the times.

My first post :)

I am new to the world of blogs. I discovered blogging because of my passion for scrapbooking. My favourite scrapbook store , Two Scrapbook Friends, created a blog quite a while ago and I have been following it ever since. They introduced me into the world of blogging, I love checking in with them and seeing what is new. I have found a few other blogs since then that I like to follow. I find it very interesting how people you have never met can seem like friends. I am interested in what is happening in their lives and want to see what happens next. I can't imagine anyone feeling that way about my life but hey I can write it all down just for me can't I?