Katie's Home!

Yes Katie is home for good now. She has been away at camp for the past 8 weeks, only coming home for 12 hours each weekend. It has been a long summer and I missed her greatly. She had an awesome time, made tons of new friends, learned how to manage groups of homesick children and has made memories that will last her a lifetime. I think being a camp councilor is one of the best summer jobs ever. You get to have fun while learning, there is always something new and exciting going on, you make life long friends, you get an fantastic tan and spend hours out in the fresh air. I know both my girls wouldn't trade their camp experiences for anything. I may have missed them when they were gone but I wouldn't take the experience away from them- it helps them grow up so much.

I now have both my girls home with me together for the next week- but wait, Nicole has to go to work and Katie is off to school for student council planning- oh well - I thought I had them here :(

My Bathroom

I love my bathroom. Shawn redid the whole thing a few months ago and it is still my favourite room in the house. I spend many hours there, just soaking in the bath. I had been looking for decorations for my one blank wall - I wasn't sure what I wanted but I knew that I would know as soon as I saw it. Guess what? I did!
I was at the towel outlet in St Jacobs on Tuesday, we were picking up stuff for Nicole's apartment, when I say these really cute sayings in a can. I found the perfect one- one that sums up my feelings in my bathroom. Now I just had to figure out how to get it on the wall.
It actually was fairly easy, I gathered up my tools and set to work.

The biggest issue was just making sure the whole thing was centred and level. The application was actually easy. I am used to using rub ons in scrapbooking- this was the same thing just on a much bigger scale. You just tape the quote to the wall then rub it on with the applicator- voila you are done!

I am very happy with the outcome. Makes me want to go have a bath right now!

A Bit of This and That

****Ok- something strange happened with this post. I did it like I always do and moved the pictures to the proper places but they duplicated and now I can't get rid of any of them!****

Well I am down to my last few days of holidays. This is when I start to get panicky and make sure I get to do everything I wanted to this summer. I have stuck to my goals very well I must say. I did go into Two Scrapbook Friends at least once a week to scrapbook, I have been going to the gym on a regular basis and I have been taking lots of pictures.This past week was a busy one. Last Friday Shawn, Nicole and I went to Brantford to have a tour of Nicole's residence apartment. Well were we ever impressed, it is bigger and nicer than Shawn and mine's first apartment. It was great to get to see the space and figure out what is needed and where everything will go. Josh had a baseball tourney in Brantford that weekend so we got to see one of his games on Friday night.


On Saturday I took Karan's 2 layout class at 2 Friends. I learned a couple of new techniques, used a sewing machine on paper and got to catch up with Kelly, Sam and Veronica. Saturday night we celebrated my brother's 40th birthday with a family dinner at Ye's. It was a really fun night but I forgot my camera and my brother hasn't sent me the pics he took yet so I have nothing to show you.

On Monday I went to lunch with a bunch of my co-workers, it was great to catch up and start to look forward to the new school year. After lunch Gen and I went to see a matinee of Post Grad. It was a cute movie.

Tuesday Nicole and I went to the market with my parents and my 3 nieces. It was very fun, there was a bouncy castle, balloon animals and yummy food for lunch. Afterwords I went out for dinner and a movie with my ladies. We went to see Inglourious Basterds, although it was very disturbing it did keep us very entertained for 2 1/2 hours. Yesterday Gen and I were back to Two Friends scrapping- unfortunately this would be my last week of daytime cropping for the summer. It was a good day, full of conversations and laughter as Caroline, Joanne and Karan were all there. We got to see some of the new products and layouts and I am totally caught up with my summer pictures- all set for the upcoming year.

My Birthday!!

August 18th-- It was my birthday last week while I was away camping. This caused my birthday celebrations to become a week long event! First my parents took me out for lunch and shopping before we went away. I really wanted a new pair of birkenstocks. I love my birks, I have had them for almost 10 years. I wear them from the minute the snow melts in the Spring until it starts to fall again in the Winter- they have never let me down. I have had them resoled and resealed and they fit me like a glove. I decided to go with a new colour and style. I got black 3 strap sandals this time. I am slowly working them in- I think they are going to be great. Many thanks to Shawn and my parents for my new shoes!

My birthday was actually on Thursday. This is the first year that I was not with any of my family on the actual day. I thought it was going to be my first time ever not having a birthday cake- I should have known better- my ladies wouldn't let me down. They had a cake hidden in the cooler and pulled it out after dinner. They sang to me around the picnic table- it was great! My ladies are totally awesome! Thank goodness for technology- I got texts all day long, from Shawn at home, Nicole at work, Katie at camp and other friends- I felt so loved.

When I came home from my trip and Katie got home from camp the girls gave me my present- I got a home made gift certificate for Two Scrapbook Friends (I wonder if the store will honour it??) My girl's understand my scrapbook obsession and the best gift of all- a Patrick Chan water bottle from McDonald's! Now have you seen the commercial where the little girl gets her bottle autographed by Patrick for her mom? Well that could be me. I have had a little bit of a crush on him since he showed up in the commercials during the summer Olympics. There is just something about him. I expect big things from him in February!

My mother in law showed up today with a mall gift card- I get to go shopping. Gen gave me a pedicure gift certificate so I got that done today- all in all I am a very lucky, very spoiled women. I am very thankful and grateful for the wonderful friends and family that I got to share all my birthday celebrations with!

Nicole's Moving out!

August 17th-- We found out last week that Nicole got into residence at WLU- Brantford. This is a huge relief. She had been on the waiting list and we were keeping our fingers crossed that she would get in. Brantford is not that far away and she would have been able to commute daily but I think that being in residence is a huge part of the university experience. It helps you to grow up, manage for yourself and just learn some life lessons- all in a fairly safe, contained environment. She is still going to keep her job at Zehrs for now, with not having classes on Mondays it should be fairly easy for her to come home every weekend and of course Josh is still here in town, doing his Victory Lap at Huron- added incentive to come home.

Well once we knew she was in my brain started to go into over drive. The residences at Brantford are apartment style. She will be in an apartment with 4 other girls, there are 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and kitchen and living room. So much stuff to buy- so much money to spend but so much fun shopping! A trip to Ikea was called for. We had such a good time- we made a list and headed out. We spent a lot of money and were exhausted by the end of the day but I think she is fairly well stocked up.

Facebook is an awesome tool. There is a group for the residences and it it broken down by apartments so Nicole has been talking to her Don and 3 of her roommates- you get to kind of know them before you even meet. They have been able to sort out who is bring what to furnish the apartment. Being in an apartment rather than a regular dorm means they will be able to make all their own meals rather than have a food plan- this works for Nicole because she feels she will be able to ward off the dreaded freshman 15 better this way- we'll see.

As always life brings us another adventure- we're still heading down the road, looking forward to what lies ahead.

My Camping Trip

Aug 9-15 I went camping at Rockwood Conservation area this past week. For the first couple of days I was with my parents and Shawn. We have spent many hours at campsites together but usually we have the kids. Katie was of course at camp and Nicole went to a friends cottage so it was just us grown ups. My parents have a great house trailer, it has 2 TVs, DVD player, fridge, stove, shower, microwave- all the fixings for a great holiday.

On Sunday night there was a huge thunderstorm. It was wild! The lightening was flashing, the thunder was booming, the rain was coming down, and the wind was incredible. We were all set- we had the TV and some movies- no problem. Well then doesn't the power go out... for the next 10 hours! We actually had a good night, we played cards and relaxed, it was fun.

On Monday we went for a walk in the woods. We could see the devastation from the storm, there were trees down all over the place. It made for some interesting maneuvers on the trail that's for sure. There is a very nice look out point on overlooking the lake- well worth the walk.

Tuesday was a lazy day- we sat around the campsite in the heat and basked in the sun.

Wednesday was change over day. My parents and Shawn left and my ladies came. This was our second annual camping trip. We ate, read, drank, laughed, talked, ate, drank, read, napped- you get the picture. We had fantastic weather, we had campfires every night. We had our book club discussion for the month at the picnic table-- so much fun. We went for a walk and checked out the old Mill and the caves. Our campfire discussions were very productive. If all the world leaders could get together around a campfire there wouldn't be nearly as much strife in the world.

I missed my girls for sure but I had a very relaxing, fun-filled enjoyable week!

Gone camping!

This is where I will be spending a few days with my family and then the ladies- see you in a week!

The Princess Cinemas

August 4th & 6th—We are very lucky here in Waterloo Region to be home to the Princess Cinemas. These theatres are privately run and get in films that are not main stream. I like quirky movies, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine and Lars and the Real Girl are a few that come to mind. This week Nicole and I went to an afternoon showing (yes I did it again) of 500 Days of Summer. What a great movie! It states right at the beginning that it is a story about love, not a love story. The movie does a great job of flipping around the 500 days of a relationship, the music is great and I loved the wardrobe. I am glad that with the Princess we get the opportunity here to see films that we otherwise would not be able to.

Another reason to love the Princess is that they host the movies in the park. This is a free (food bank donation accepted) event that is open to the public. My mom, Nicole, Josh and I went to Waterloo Park last night to watch Coraline. What a great night! The weather cooperated; there were hundreds of people there, from babies to retired folks, sitting on blankets and lawn chairs. There was a band playing live music first, people were dancing and clapping along. As the sun started to set the movie screen inflated at the front of the crowd- so cool. The movie started and everyone was quiet- it was amazing. I must say I didn’t really like the movie- it was kinda dark and twisted for a kid’s movie but I did really enjoy sharing the experience with the people I was with. It made me think of living in a small town or of the good old days when I think community events like this were more commonplace. It was an experience I would recommend to everyone and one I hope to repeat- say on August 20th???

An Update: Katie's Ears

August 6th—Katie has been having some many issues with her ears that our doctor finally set us up with a specialist. I picked Katie at camp Thursday afternoon and we headed into Cambridge. I wasn’t sure where we were going exactly so I gave us a lot of time to get there. We ended up getting there an hour early. We had enough time for Katie to get a junkfood fix- camp food can get a bit boring.
The doctor was a nice guy. He checked Katie’s hearing, which is fine, stuck a very long scope up her nose that hit the back of her throat and checked her ears. With all the problems Katie has had with her ears over the last few years he decided the best course of action would be to put tubes in her ears. The doctor thought that Katie was older than 15, being 5’10” can give that impression, so he thought that she would be able to have the adult version of the surgery. This would mean that Katie would be awake and have to sit still in his office while he performed the operation! Once I explained to him Katie’s aversion to all things medical (she has fainted after getting shots, she gets cold sweats whenever a doctor goes near her, sat with a broken arm for 6 hours because she didn’t want to go to the hospital, and the dentist gives her laughing gas so he can clean her teeth) and he realized that she is only 15 we decided it would be best for Katie to be knocked out for her surgery. Katie is of course very nervous about this but she knows there is no way she would be able to lie still and be awake while he is working on her. We have a couple of months for her to get used to the idea of being in the hospital. So come November she should be all fixed up and painfree!

Will I Ever Get Used to This?

Aug 1 & 2nd-- My children are out to get me. I am going to become an exhausted bag of bones by the end of the summer. I absolutely can not go to bed when the girls are still out. I have tried- it just doesn't work. I know they are very responsible, conscientious girls. They have good friends, they don't get into trouble. I just can't sleep until I know they are safely home. This weekend was a rough one. I have no one to blame but myself- other people can sleep no problem- including Shawn. Now is this because he knows I am up and will let him know if there is a problem? I'm not sure, all I know is he is in bed snoring away and I am in the living room reading until they walk through the door.


On Saturday Katie went to the movies with some friends- now whatever happened to movies starting at 9 and being done by 11? They start so late these days. Her movie did not start until 10 and it finished at 12:30. Then I had to go and pick her up and drive her boyfriend home- now that is a funny story- I pulled into Nathan's driveway and she walked him to the door. I was sitting there with my headlights just about blinding them. I didn't want them to think I was staring at them so I tried to inconspicuously back out of the driveway to give them some privacy. There was a car parked on the road in front of Nate's house so I kinda ended up waiting the the middle of the road with my hazards on- well now doesn't a police car pull up behind me to check out the situation- so instead of giving Katie and Nate a couple of minutes of privacy I end up causing a huge drama in the middle of his street! subtle I am not. Needless to say we laughed about it all the way home and I didn't get to bed until about 1:30.

Sunday night Nicole and Josh headed out the the all nighter at the drive in. I love going to the drive in- haven't been yet this year but I was excited for them to go as Josh had never been before. I set up the GPS for them so they would be able to get there. If you haven't been to the Mustang Drive in it is kinda hard to find. It is out in the middle of nowhere in Guelph. I had Nicole text me when they got there so I wouldn't spend the night worrying. I knew they would be there for a few hours so I did attempt to go the bed. I had asked Nicole to text me when they where starting to drive home so I would have some idea when they should be arriving. Since there were 4 movies playing I didn't know if they would stay for all of them or what they would do. So Nicole texted me about halfway through the 3 rd movie- they were coming home. Well that was it- I was wide away, they ran into an accident on the 401 so it took quiet awhile for them to get here so it was about 3:30 when I got back to bed.

I am glad that I am off for the summer. I can nap if I want to. I just can't handle these late nights like I used to. My friend Peggy tells me it will get better. I just have to wait until they move out then I will be good!!

The Last week of July

July 27 &28--such miserable, rainy, cold days for the last week of July. I spent these 2 days in front of my TV. I found a new HBO show that I love. It is all about vampires and they are not the cute ones from Twilight either. It is called True Blood. The show is in its second season so I got to watch 18 episodes in a row. It can be gross at times and there are some intense sex scenes but I like the story lines so I will keep on watching. July 29th--Road trip!! I love spartaberry candles, they are my favourite scent. I have bought these candles from craft shows and home parties but I have never been to the place they are made. Gen and I decided to head out on the open road and discover just where exactly Sparta is located. It took us an hour to get there, just outside of London. They have a cute little gifts shop called Anything Used. We stocked up on candles, looked around the village then headed into London to have lunch and look around White Oaks Mall. It was a very nice relaxing way to spend a day.

July 30th-- I spent 6 hours today cleaning out my cold storage room. I wish I would have taken a before shot so you could have seen what it looked like. I usually do this about every 3 years. It looks great for a couple of weeks then we start throwing stuff in there and the downhill slides starts all over again. I hope to not fall into the same old bad habits again and it stays looking this good for a long, long time.

July 31st-- Our ladies who lunch day. I mentioned in a prior post how decedent it feels to go to a weekday matinee- well I did it again!! We decided to travel down the highway Guelph this week. We wanted to try out Moxies. It was very good. I had the salmon on capaletti- yummy! We shopped around Stone Road Mall for a bit- I had never been there before then we went to the Galaxy theatre and saw Funny People. It was a good movie- not as good as The Ugly Truth but still good.

Aug 1st-- The sun, the sun - yay!! Today was such a nice day. I got to hang my laundry out to dry, I read in the backyard under our new awning and I decided to weed the gardens. As I was pulling out the weeds something jumped out at me. I just about had a heart attack! It was a toad - he was huge. I grabbed my camera and got this shot then he took off. It was a great day and a great way to end the first month of the summer. I just hope the next month stays as nice.