Life

Hello 2012

2012-01-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

The year 2012. It sounds like something out of a science fiction novel. Here I am 33, married, 2 kids, mortgage, full-time job, full-time school, roller derby addict ahh life is good :) If you would have told me 15 years ago this is where I would be right now, I would have said you were nuts!!

It's a new year and I made many resolutions:

#1 - keep house tidy and clean

#2 - spend more quality time with kids

#3 - be more prepared for dinners

#4 - spend more quality time with hubby

#5 - exercise and eat better

#6 - commit to roller derby

#1 - trying really hard. I think we've been doing better on the collective whole but not quite 100%. This is a good reminder to kick myself into high gear with this.

#2 - I think this is working out quite well. Just becoming aware that the time I need to spend *quality* time with the girls really made me slow down and appreciate the time I get with them.

#2 - this is somewhat happening. I really need to get my hands on some good, easy, standby recipes and fill my freezer with pop in the oven meals.

#4 - biggest area that I'm lacking

#5 - slowly starting to happen. I need to get more prepared for lunches. I bring a great lunch, but need better snacks...

#6 - oh yeah baby! Doing this! I practice with the team once a week (can't quite fit in that second practice). I even have my derby name - Hello, I'm Blue Skittles, nice to meet you!!

I'm so excited for this year ahead!

Gearing up for some resolutions

2011-12-16T10:16:00.000-08:00

I have been giving my New Year's resolutions lots of thought lately. Each December I vow to either make no resolutions in the New Year, or to make many. This year is a "make many resolutions" kind of year.

For the most part my life has been going very well. I have everything I've sought out to get and then some. The part of my life that falls through the cracks is the fine details, and that is where my resolutions will come in.

One of the biggest peeves in my life is not having a clean house. I am a busy woman, this is obvious to everyone around me. I work full time, am a full time student and have two children - to say I am busy is an understatement. It's the busy-ness of my life that I love, but it means I have to make sacrifices and this typically shows in the state of my house. We do a decent job and try to stay on top of things but it's not up to my standard. This is my resolution #1 - keep the house tidy and clean. I will create a list of what needs to get done on which days and stick to it.

Resolution #2 - spend more quality time with the girls.

This brings me to resolution #3 - be more prepared with my dinners. In doing this I will be able to spend more time with my girls instead of cooking and shooing them to the basement. I will be making more freezer meals (such as chicken pot pie), make ahead meals and easier meals. The key to this will be to just be more prepared.

Resolution #4 - spend more quality time with hubby dearest. We watch some shows each night but don't go on nearly enough dates. I'll have to have a chat with him about how we can remedy this.

Exercise and eat better is resolution #5. Who doesn't put this on their list every year?! My plan for this is to wake up early each morning and do a little work out. Eat breakfast (that isn't a peanut butter sandwich) and make sure I have healthy snacks and a lunch for work.

My #6 resolution is by far my most exciting - make a commitment to roller derby! I will be skating with a local league on Sunday and occasionally Friday nights. So friggin excited about this! I still need to figure out a roller derby name - nothing at all has clicked. I also need to save up some moola to buy proper derby (not old school) skates.

So to recap:

#1 - keep house tidy and clean

#2 - spend more quality time with kids

#3 - be more prepared for dinners

#4 - spend more quality time with hubby

#5 - exercise and eat better

#6 - commit to roller derby

All while maintaining my honor roll GPA - I can do this right?!

December 1st

2011-12-01T08:27:00.000-08:00

Wow the last few months have been going by fast!

This semester I have been taking 3 classes while working full time. I don't know how I've done it but I have and it's almost coming to an end. One class this week, two tests next week and I'm done for the semester! A glorious almost month off school over Christmas, back at it in January with a schedule just as tight. I have to say, as busy as I've been, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Sad to say, though, with being this busy I haven't made it back to Roller Derby :( Saturday nights are likely the worst for me to have to attend something on a regular basis. It's the night that our friends get together, when most parties will be scheduled etc. So because of this, I emailed the local Roller Derby league and asked if they accept new (read: green) skaters. Lucky me, they do!! This group gets together on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Since I will have 3 classes again next term I will only be able to make the Sunday night sessions, but that works for me! Sunday the 4th is my first time out with this new group and I can't wait!

Skating Love

2011-10-24T11:44:00.000-07:00

I got a little reminder nudge, here's my update :-)

Roller Derby practice was absolutely AWESOME!!! It felt so natural to be on my skates, doing what the seasoned gals were doing. We did some fitness drills, stops (t-stop, plow stop), drops (knee drop, baseball drop), pushups, situps, hip work, squats, squats and more squats. Then we did some blocking practice which consisted of us skating around a mock track in pairs getting a feel for how to move back and forth on the track to block a jammer, and how to communicate with your partner through leg taps. We finished off with a game of tag, I was the "it" girl on the second round and even managed to tag out a some gals!

I learned quite a few new things, namely how to stop without just skating around in a circle... I met up with some friends later that night for a good meal and beer, boy did I need it! Yesterday I was a tad sore, but could still walk properly without wincing at all, today I'm feeling it much more! I'm proud of myself though I managed to do a set of my self prescribed morning exercises, only one set though... will have to work up to more and work on those squats! (my ass will thank me later)

Roller Derby Day!

2011-10-22T09:19:00.001-07:00

Wow, it's here! Today is the day I finally make it to a roller derby practice. Raw Meat is who I am today. Being as out of shape as I am makes me worried I might not be able to walk or move any limbs tomorrow. "Resident Evil" is the name of the practice tonight and I have a feeling I'll be thinking our Resident practice leader is Evil by the end of the night.

I've heard you should do one thing each day that scares you, well I think tonight's practice might make up for at least a whole week of things that scare me!!

Getting Pumped for Roller Derby!

2011-10-19T09:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday I'm going to go to my first Raw Meat practice. To say I'm nervous is a bit of an understatement. Truth be told I have not been on my skates much since I bought them and have decided to head out on this adventure. I'm glad this is a full protective gear sport. I need to figure out a few things if I'm going to continue on this ride. Where can I skate in the fall / winter months? What is a good off track work out routine? Where in the hell am I going to find time for all of this?!

Resurrection and amalgamation!

2011-10-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

I figured after almost a year and a half it was time to start blogging again. First step was to update my profile and amalgamate all my blogs into one! I was finding it quite daunting that I had 11 (yes 11!) blogs. Whether it be travel, boler adventures, pregnancy (never again thank you), roller derby, crafts, student life, or my superhero alter ego it will all land here.

So what have I been up to for the past year and a bit? What haven't I been up to is the better question!!

Starting September 2010 I started back at school. I've been taking classes ever since and LOVE it!! I got accepted into the Child and Youth Care Counselling program to become a youth worker and am so thrilled! Finally after many years of searching I have figured out what I want to be when I grow up. I have a short / mid / long term education plan - who would have ever thought that I was going to pursue a masters degree?! One step at a time though, gotta get me through the diploma :-)

The girls are getting bigger and bigger. Georgia just turned 4 and Audrey 2. As all mothers will say - I can't believe how fast the time is flying by! Big decisions have been made at the B household... drum-roll please... we will be a family of four! No more babies for us :-) I never thought I would ever feel "done" but I do. I feel like my family is complete. I love my family of four (plus 2 kitties) and don't want do flood the boat.

We did add a new addition to our family, however! Introducing Big Turk!

Check out the website for more pictures.

We took her camping a few times last year and we are itching to get out there with her again! Sadly we literally put the cart before the horse and don't have anything to pull her with unless we borrow a vehicle from someone, we are hoping to figure that all out before next year.

I have found a new love. No not an affair, but it might as well be! I have fallen in love with ROLLER DERBY! I don't know exactly how it happened, but boy have I fallen hard. I have watched a few bouts live, quite a few online, and read up as much as I possibly can through all avenues! This Saturday (in honour of Roller Skating month) I will be heading to a Raw Meat practice. Raw Meat is the term for those who have little to no experience and want to practice their mad skillz before trying out to become Fresh Meat. I figure it will take me a year or so of practice before I will be skilled enough to even try out! Plus I don't have much time to dedicate right now to a league, all in good time my pretty.

That's it for now!

My Summer Doozy List

2010-06-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

I have all these ideas that are floating around in my head that I really want to do. I keep complaining (to almost anyone who will listen) that I want to do all these things, but it's hard when on mat leave with a little one etc. etc. Well complain no more. I'm making my list and going to come up with a plan on when to get it all done.

My Summer Doozy List:
1. Finish basement (this has to be first cause I'll need the garage!)
2. Make headboard for master bedroom
3. Either re-finish current night stands or make new ones
4. Re-upholster foot stool
5. Make bench for in front of fire place
6. Make TV table / credenza (if I can't find a perfect one)
7. Make kids an outdoor house

(except for #1. not necessarily in that order)

Here are the blogs that have been inspiring me today:
Remodelaholic
Knock-Off Wood
my creative life

Okay so there is the plan. Next step in my plan - I am going to print it out and put it on my fridge. I am going to discuss with hubby when said items are going to get done and I'm going to organize baby sitting. Baby takes a bottle now so I am free to be without baby attached for more than a few hours - YAY!

(Oh and hey, guess what?? I'm fixing up the diapers today!)

Linking to New Nostalgia's Anti-Procrastination Tuesday

Watch out blog... I have lots of ideas brewing!

It's been awhile!

2010-05-31T08:12:00.000-07:00

I've been MIA for awhile for no particular reason. I haven't been up to much other than the every day goings on, which really as a mom of two is much when you break it all down...

The basement reno is (slowly) coming along. We now have all the walls primed! Next step is to paint / spackle the ceiling, then we can paint the walls. After all wall painting is said and done it's more painting of doors and baseboards then install floor, baseboards and we can move everything back in!! I am so ready to reclaim my space, like SO ready. In my living room right now we have an extra couch, the computer desk, ALL the kids toys etc. etc.

It has, however, made me realize how much I like having the extra seating in the living room. Having just one couch and chair for seating in the main sitting area just isn't enough when you have friends over.

I came across this post at Peppertowne and I feel that I just *must* do this for seating in front of the fire place! Here is the 'after' photo from her blog:

I've been searching craigslist for the perfect table to do this project. While on craigslist I have also been searching for the perfect sideboard/hutch that I can refinish to put our TV on in the living room - I have a good feeling about this week, will update if I find anything! Between these two projects and the headboard project I feel that I'm going to need to take some time off from being 'mom' to get anything done!

Stealing ideas...

2010-05-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

Don't you just hate it when you have a really great idea and then low and behold it's either out there already or a couple of years later it gets out there and you miss the boat on your niche? This happened to me today.

Two years ago a friend and I were shopping at Costco and I didn't have a carrier or stroller with me. My daughter got tired of being in the cart and wanted to be carried since it was around her nap time. I tightened the strap on my purse, flung her leg through and carried her on my hip asleep all throughout Costco. All the while thinking - I really need to make something to keep her like this, what a great carrier! Then I thought what a great idea it would be to have a diaper bag / purse / carrier all in one, eliminate the need to have that one extra item.

I thought about it again a few times over the years but did nothing about it.

And here it is:

It's today's babysteals item. If you don't know about baby steals you are truly missing out - I'm not a huge shopper so I don't go on often. The friend I was shopping with me called me about it and man am I annoyed I missed the boat!

Baby Steals

(PS I'm not promoting either company...)

well, I did it!

2010-05-18T12:50:00.000-07:00

I really psyched myself up and out, back and forth a few times today, but I did it! I hit the gym, yay me! I did 35 minutes on the treadmill, ran and speed walked with incline, nothing tremendous, but I don't want to kill myself and quit again. I'm in the parking lot, still red faced, just had to update.

A little old made new!

2010-05-17T21:56:00.001-07:00

Here is something that I`ve wanted to do something with for a LONG LONG time, what do you think??
Before:

After:

Any suggestions on what to do with the inside?

Back to the GYM - gah!!!

2010-05-17T21:46:00.001-07:00

I`m posting this for anti-procrastination Tuesday because what is one of the things that we procrastinate most - OURSELVES. I have a gym membership that I haven`t used in months. I tried to cancel it and the girl at the counter told me that it was fine, that I could cancel it, then low and behold 6 weeks later when I called to tell them they mistakenly took out another payment I was told that I actually couldn`t cancel it. Instead of griping about it to the manager (after being accused of lying to the girl I spoke with) I decided to just buck up and head back to the gym. Almost another month later and I`m going... Tomorrow. Now I know that I said I was only going to post things that I`ve already done, but here`s my plan... I am going to the gym tomorrow. I am telling all of you that I`m going the gym tomorrow. I am going to come back and post about what I did at the gym so you all need to hold me accountable okay?

No, really! If you have cruised over here, leave me a note to let me know that you are coming back at end of day Tuesday and that you expect an update okay?

back on my A game

2010-05-15T15:29:00.001-07:00

sometimes it just takes the realization that although you might feel down in the dumps life really isn't all that bad. in the last couple of days I have made Audrey some homemade food (finally!) got the diapers started, thanks to my mom helping and managed to head out for a ladies movie night! it was so great to get out for a few laughs with a couple of good friends - it's cheaper than therapy! I need to do that more often really.

And now, baby sleeping and toddler playing outside (naked) while I sip some wine in the sun. Today life is great.

In a blah rut

2010-05-13T10:36:00.001-07:00

I just can't shake the feeling I have. I am having a serious case of the blahs. The blah has crept in with periods of happy, just like the sun in my part of the world. It's funny you know, I've been doing a yoga challenge that I thought would make me all calm and zen and jubilant about life, but I think all the reflection time I've had at yoga has just increased the blah. I have been feeling like I've been swimming upstream and spinning my wheels. Trying so hard and getting no where. There are so many 'if onlys' right now. If only I had a day to myself to get the house REALLY cleaned up. If only my toddler wouldn't undo everything I do get done in a day. If only I could get myself on some kind of a cleaning schedule. If only the basement renovation was done. If only the garage was organized.

If only my fairy godmother would come and wave her wand.

Well. We all know that's just not going to happen now is it.

I have so many things that I want and need to get done that I'm overwhelmed, and the sense of blah has taken over. I am having a hard time asking for help because the one person I have asked for help from (repeatedly) seems to let me down at every turn leaving me broken down. I have said hurtful things to said person, and sadly the things I have said I do mean. I wish I could say that I don't mean them, but I truly do.

Being stuck in blahood makes me mourn my past happy town. How I would love to get back to that happy town. I have created a life for myself that I so desperately wanted, yet now that I'm here it's not all cracked up to be the perfect life. Now I'm no idiot and I know that life isn't perfect, but it should at least be satisfying shouldn't it? It should at least leave some kind of a smile on your face instead of increasing the wrinkles.

It can't all be up to me to get there. I am in charge of my own happiness, I know that, but when in a partnership it takes two.

On a happy note, the husband is coming home a tad early to BBQ. I picked up some coconut curry steak and can't wait to try it. This will put a smile on my face today!

New approach to AP Tuesday

2010-05-03T23:19:00.001-07:00

I keep saying I`m going to do things. I keep posting about how I`m going to get those diapers done... well they still aren`t done - sigh. From here going forth instead of saying what I`m going to do, I`ll post about what I`ve done.

I`ve been really busy in the past week! Sadly it has nothing to do with getting my home in order - that comes mid week this week for me, I`ll tell you about that in a bit. In the last week we moved ahead with the renovation. All of the construction is done and the drywall is up. I didn`t realize that I was going to be doing so much work with my father last week - turns out it was both of us putting in a full day. I can`t wait to show you the finished product, but don`t want to get ahead of myself and show anything until it`s all done. Such a tease - I know :P

On to the chore chart. I can`t even begin to tell you how much I love this! It is proving to be such a motivator. I start the week out gung how and keep on track less and less through the week - it has really opened my eyes as to how I operate. I love that the chart is there as a silent nag to keep reminding me to do this and that. I was raised by a white glove mother in an impeccably clean house, so have a very high standard that I want to hold myself to and feel like I just can`t quit until I get there!

I have a big week in store for cleaning. On Wednesday I am having my mother in law look after Audrey while Georgia is in daycare so I can clean. Stay tuned for what I get accomplished with no kids under foot!

I just want to say a huge thanks to Amy at New Nostalgia for keeping me honest and getting me to kick myself in the butt! Thanks Amy!

Stay tuned for my post on our Kentucky Derby party!

My Chore Chart and Diapers

2010-04-27T07:50:00.000-07:00

One thing that I've been procrastinating about is fixing the casing around the medium sized cloth diapers we have so Audrey can wear them. She's been in disposable diapers for too long now and although my father is coming over to help with renos, I am going to finish them up today! I'll have my mother help me since she is always looking for something to do. I need to just DO IT.

I wrote awhile ago about my chore list for AP Tuesday. I decided to take it one step further and make it into a beginning & end of day / by the day / monthly list. I used the linked post as a guideline and beefed it up. I then printed it off and took it to my local Staples and had it laminated for just over $2. I use it with my dry erase pen so I can check off each thing as a do them. Having it right there on my fridge for everyone to see really motivates me to actually do the things on the list! I know that if I don't have certain things written down I just won't do them. I'm sure I'm not the only one!

Here is a picture of my laminated list - it's blurry because it's taken with my iPhone - sorry for the poor quality!

Since it looks hard to read I'll break down what I have in each category.

Daily:
Make beds
Sweep main / lower level
Run / load / empty dishwasher
Clear / wipe kitchen counters
Clean kitchen sink
Wipe bathroom sink/toilet/counter/mirror
Take vitamins
Plan / cook dinner

End of day:
Prepare tomorrow's lunch / dinner
Clean kitchen sink
Clear / wipe kitchen counters
Tidy toys
Tidy front entrance
Lay out tomorrow's clothes

Weekly Chores:
Monday
Change hand towels
Wash towels
Wash sheets

Tuesday
Vacuum upstairs
Deep clean floors
Wash Steve / Lisa clothes
Scoop kitty litter
Clean out car

Wednesday
Wash kid sheets
Wash kid clothes
Dust / cobwebs
Tidy all bedrooms

Thursday
Random laundry
Quick floor wash main / lower level
Clean microwave
Take out garbage(s) and recycling
Banking

Friday
Clean bathroom
Scoop kitty litter

Weekend
Vacuum
Random laundry
Grocery Shopping

Monthly Chores
Clean out fridge
Clean kitchen junk drawer
Go through clothes in closet
Go through kids clothes
Clean front hall drawers
Clean front basket (this is a basket of random items)
Wipe walls in kitchen
Wipe walls in living room
Clean computer desk
Deep clean dust
Deep clean vacuum (furniture)
Clean windows
Organize filing

On my chart under the 'daily chores' I have 7 boxes (one for each day). Next to the 'weekly chores' I have one box for each item. Next to the 'monthly chores' I have a line to put the date complete.

So far it's working great! I get so much more accomplished with my list and some days end up doing much more than what is on the list which is great!

How's this for not procrastinating, I even wrote this yesterday when I had a few spare moments!

Audrey, pillows and curry oh my!

2010-04-26T15:20:00.000-07:00

Audrey is 7 months old today - how the time flies!! She can sit on her own for quite a long time and has two teeth. Her most recent development is that she has started to wave to people! It's super cute!

We bought a few pillows from IKEA to go on the new couch in the basement once the renos get done. I just love how bright they are and can't wait to see the room all finished!

My tip of the day. I LOVE curry. All sorts of curry. I had Indian food last night at a friend's place and was really looking forward to a traditional curry - she made other stuff (that was truly awesome!) but I still wanted curry today so I've made some for dinner. I make the traditional type curry that has loads of spices, onions, tomato etc. It's quite labor intensive so what I do is get everything prepped before and have it all waiting in little bowls ready to throw in. I make the curry during nap time (late for my girls today which works out well) and cook it then so I don't have 2 girls under foot. Then all I have to do is cook the rice at dinner time and try to resist eating the curry while I'm waiting for the dad to come home! YUM!

sigh is tomorrow really Tuesday again?

2010-04-19T20:43:00.001-07:00

Tuesdays mean anti-procrastination time. I am so thankful for Amy at New Nostalgia for kicking me in the pants each week to get stuff done, but it sure does seem to come around quicker and quicker each week! In this last week I did manage to get a few things done, but it was just a tad bit of here and there really. I had a busy week, renos, kids, friends etc. then this weekend it was all about my nephew (2 parties) and yoga (twice on Sunday!), I even worked for half the day on Saturday. I made my nephew a spiderman / batman cake, that I think totally rocks, what do you think? I always forget how long a cake like this takes to make. I am already starting to plan out what I'm going to do for each of the girls in September.

I've decided I'm going to make a couple of lists. One is going to be much like Amy's 'doozy list' and one is going to be for projects that I want to do. The projects are not things that MUST get done, but things that I WANT to get done. So tomorrow is Tuesday and I have a bunch of things that need to get done just tomorrow.

-get laundry caught up
-vacuum
-organize girls' clothes and clothing that was given to us
-print out and laminate my ultimate chore chart
-buy a new white board
-clean up our bedroom, and vow to keep it that way
-do a once over general tidy since my mother is coming on Wednesday! (and father to do more renos)

I have just got home from yoga and am bushed. I am going to shower and hit the sack early tonight in preparation of my big cleaning day tomorrow.

Thinking about decorating

2010-04-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

The basement is getting done. We have a few walls up - just one more wall and a ceiling to go. Then comes the job of taping and mudding - I'm so thankful that my father is a superstar in that department! We are going to have to respackle the ceiling, this is going to be a messy mess job! Then it's paint the walls, lay down the floor and baseboards and we're done! (I also have to paint the doors and baseboards, but am still feeling a sick, so will be getting on this soon).

I keep thinking about what kind of color palette I am going to go with and have decided on tan (had that color already) with lime green and orange accents, also lots of white. Not too much color, but just enough for some punches of brightness here and there, it's a basement so might need some brightening up.

Here are some inspiration ideas that I've found:

(photos from hgtv.com)

I love the way the white stands out here:

I love the pillows in this one:

While I won't have colored furniture I do love the colors in this one:

I love the way the orange pops in this room:

I'm getting very excited for the decorating stage!

It really doesn't pay to procrastinate...

2010-04-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

This seems like such a simple concept, yet I think we all could use that reminder or nudge now and then. As stated, I have been going through basement renovations. My washer/dryer are involved in the renos, therefore, I haven't been able to do laundry for some time. The day we started the renos I was 100% caught up on my laundry and the house was at 90%. I am now SO far behind that I am going to have to have someone look after both kids for a day so I can get it all done *sigh*. I have been justifying my procrastinating by letting myself slack because I'm sick. Not sick enough to ward off demolition, but apparently sick enough to put off cleaning - what was I thinking?! Today I put off going to the doctor only to find out that I have a chest / sinus / ear infection - great. I am now on antibiotics and am looking forward to saying goodbye to this infection that has plagued me.

Today I am getting caught up on the laundry and general tidy. Tonight I will be hanging some drywall and tomorrow my dad is coming to help again with the basement. Things will get done around here, I just need to summon that energy!

My final renovation tip to everyone - DO NOT PUT OFF CLEANING THE REST OF YOUR HOUSE... YOU WILL REGRET IT!

"This post is linked to "Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays" at New Nostaglia.

Lisa's Renovation Tips

2010-04-09T21:44:00.000-07:00

Since I'm 100% immersed in renovations I figured I would share some of my tips with you thus far.

1. How ever long you think you are going to take, tack on at least a few days, or double it.
2. If you have children send them away somewhere for the entire time, nights included as you will be exhausted and dealing with kids when exhausted after a day (or 3) of demolition makes no one happy.
3. If you happen to get a cough, cold, sinus problems or the flu (or all of the above - yes, that's me) either power through it or just give up and rest. I vote give up and rest, sadly that's not what I've done and I'm going on day 5 of being sick and tired and still have work to do...
4. If you get to a point where other people are doing work and you are standing around with nothing to do, make yourself a list of all the 'little things' that need to get done. Paint a door... Pick up some baseboards that you might need, go take a nap, or you can stand around holding a door and acting like the foreman.
5. Complain lots to everyone who will listen
6. Start a yoga challenge during the renovations, just for something else to add to your plate!

So, the renovations are going well. I had no idea how long framing, installing doors, and electrical was going to take. We did the demo (I did 90% of it) and it went really well - we were going full steam ahead and I got to get my hands in there and really rip apart the walls. Then everything seemed to come to a grinding halt. We pretty much lost a day of work, I was out and about, trying to stay out of the way of hubby and father in law, only to find out they couldn't get much accomplished. Today was a successful day, both doors installed, we're almost fully framed (just one little bit) and almost all the electrical is done. There is an area that I want to frame, but I need someone to show me how to use the saw first. I kept asking today only to hear - yes, once we're done this... well 'this' never seemed to get done and I did what I felt like was a lot of nothing. I was working with 3 men and I think that had a lot to do with it - two are old school and likely think I can't do much other than help me out, which frankly makes me angry as although I'm a little woman I can do just what they can do, I just need some instruction with the tools - they needed to be taught too right?

A demo sneak peak!

2010-04-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

Here is a little sneak peak of me doing some demo in the basement!!

Yoga and renos

2010-04-07T10:38:00.001-07:00

This is what my life is all about right now. We are on day 4 of our basement renovations, which is why I haven't been posting much lately. The demo part is done, wiring is getting done today, with a bit of rebuilding thrown in. I am also on day 2 of a 40 day yoga challenge. 30 classes in 40 days. I think the yoga is really helping me not get sore from the demolition of the basement. To top it all off, I have a really bad cold / flu. I am trying my hardest to ignore the fact that I'm sick and just power through it, thankfully with the help of Tylenol, cough meds and nasal decongestant I can function. Audrey has also been waking up 4 times throughout the night for the last few weeks, and Georgia is up for the day at 6:30 am. Once you're a mother sleep becomes such a luxury!

Just a quick update so you all know I haven't fallen off the face of the planet! I will post some reno pics soon!

Who are you?

2010-04-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

you know who I am... who are you?

I can see that some people come to my blog now and then, yet I don't have many followers. I have a measly 2. I follow numerous blogs and crave to have some followers (must be my narcissistic side again).

So who are you? Why aren't you following my blog?

Follow me!

My new love affair...

2010-03-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

I read about a headboard remodel idea on Remodelaholic and just KNEW I had to do this! After posting a facebook message asking my fb friends where I could find some used cupboards (since I was having no luck on craigslist) I had a few suggestions to check out the Habitat for Humanity Restore - O.M.G! I am so in love! We just don't have the salvage yards here as I keep reading about in the US, or at least I can't find anything so this store is a true gem! You can find anything for your remodel that you need in there! I had already purchased a door from IKEA 'as is' section so I wasn't looking for cupboard doors, but I did find some wood strips, molding and knobs that I love - all for less than $20!

My basement reno can't get finished quick enough for me now, because I need to start working on the bedroom remodel! We painted the walls when we first moved in but that is about it. My dad cut down a king headboard to a queen for us, but I hated the style. Our bedroom has always been a mish mash of pieces of furniture so I really need to make it 'our' space. This headboard remodel is just the thing! Stay tuned!

My husband the blogger

2010-03-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

I love that my husband has become a blogger. If you get a chance to head over to his blog to read you'll definitely make his day. I love most when he blogs about me - yes call me narcissistic, but I like to hear what he has to say about me when it's not said directly to me. Check out his most recent post about 'Slow Cow' at Inter Pocula

Update on the girls

2010-03-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love my two little girls.

Ahhh Tuesday. Tuesday to me is the beginning of a new week and what a week it has been!

Georgia is in daycare Tuesday through Thursday, and last week she has spent quite a bit of time on the 'big kid' side. She will be transitioning to that side soon. They learn about continents, colors, letters, shapes, animals, French etc. It's a Montessori daycare so it's not just play time for her. Since being on the big kid side she asked to go potty a few times and actually went pee in the toilet! I have tired a couple of times previously to train her but she resisted tooth and nail. We have been going full force with her since Thursday putting her on the potty and yesterday and the day before she peed 3 times!! Potty training has been one of those mommy moments that I have been dreading so it's nice that we are jumping this hurdle and I can get past my fear. Today she went to school with just panties on eek! Georgia has also slept through the last 5 nights! I know that just by sharing this news I have cursed myself tonight, but the last 5 have been so nice.

Audrey has started to sit on her own! She is still a bit wobbly and falls over to the side often, but while she is sitting she laughs and laughs - it's so darn cute :) She is grabby at absolutely everything and really wants to be involved with what you are doing if you are holding her.

We have started to feed her some cereal, bananas and I am going to try some steamed carrots this week. We're still trying to get her onto a bottle or something, and had some success with a sippy cup this weekend with a couple of ounces. I just may be able to leave her for more than a few hours soon (not that I'm complaining that I'm with her all the time!)

Audrey has a little boyfriend, the son of one of my bridesmaids, that she fell in love with upon meeting him for the first time - could anything be cuter?

It's been really nice to go through all the stages again with Audrey, and I have to say that through all the hard times I'm truly happy to have two kids! It's hard, challenging and oh so frustrating at moments but it's so worth it! I just love my two little girls!

Anti Procrastination Tuesday

2010-03-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, has yet ANOTHER week gone by?!

I have been tackling the basement and it's almost ready to be torn apart (YAY!).

This week my anti procrastination is super simple, yet highly sought after by many... come up with a schedule. A cleaning schedule that is. I have to figure out what works with me and what is actually attainable. It's a work in progress, but here's what I have come up with so far.

Monday:
-Sweep main level
-Wash, fold & put away towels
-Clean kitchen
-Tidy toys
-General tidy

Tuesday:
-Vacuum upstairs
-Sweep main level
-Deep clean floors main level
-Wash sheets
-Wash mine and Steve's clothes
-Clean kitchen
-Tidy toys
-General tidy

Wednesday:
-Sweep main level
-Wash kids sheets
-Wash kids clothes
-Dust
-Clean kitchen
-Tidy toys
-General tidy

Thursday:
-Random laundry
-Sweep main level
-Quick floor wash
-Clean kitchen
-Tidy toys
-General tidy

Friday:
-Sweep main level
-Clean kitchen
-Tidy toys
-General tidy

Weekend:
-Vacuum
-Random laundry
-Sweep main level
-Clean kitchen
-Tidy toys
-General tidy

Wow. It really looks like a lot when I type it out like that. I'm going to print it off and put it on my fridge. I don't have my husband's chores on that list. Maybe I'll make him his own list!

This has been linked to Anti Procrastination Tuesdays at New Nostalgia

Last day of clean sweep!

2010-03-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

I have been going like crazy to get the basement all finished for this coming weekend so we can start the renovations. I haven't blogged much because I've been cleaning, and cleaning and cleaning. My house is almost to my mom's standard and it's a good thing too because she's coming over today to look after Audrey while I finish packing up the basement and clean some more. I told my mom I was excited to wash the floors - what has come over me?!

I will be posting a video entry once the renovation is all done - I'm beyond excited to have a brand new basement!!

To continue on with my 1000 Things - I have purged to date another 124 Things!!! My total is now 442 - WOW! Quite a few of those things were Steve's magazines, but they still needed to get OUT of the house. I can't believe I'm almost half way there and I've only just started. Steve and I will be purging our clothes soon which will add quite a bit to the numbers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wrote the above 3 days ago and so much has been going on in the last week or so that I haven't even been able to post! Today we're going move all of the furniture out of the room and it'll be bare!

Getting packed!

2010-03-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

We are going to be renovating the basement in a couple / few weeks. It's hard to sneak moments in here and there to pack it all up with two little ones. Even when Georgia is in daycare and it's just Audrey home, she likes to be held, entertained etc. I had my mother in law come over today to look after Audrey while packing, I made SO much progress!! I'm so grateful to have inlaws who will help out like this. My father in law and I even made a trip to the dump - as part of Anti-Procrastination Tuesday over at New Nostalgia I have committed to get rid of 1000 Things, I am happy to say that as of right now I am 318 Things lighter!!! Some of them quite large that were taking up space in the garage!

Another Anti-Procrastination thing that I am doing is cleaning our master bedroom (and going to attain to KEEP clean and tidy!). My husband took back his laundry (to 'help' me out) when Audrey was born. Well he was cleaning his own clothes, but wasn't folding or putting anything away (at all!). I was getting fairly annoyed with his bin(s) of clean clothes and bin(s) of dirty clothes laying around various locations in the house. I had him fold up and put away all his clean stuff last night so I can get started on cleaning up the bedroom. Fabulous! I have even put a load of his stuff through the washer and dryer and low and behold it's going to get folded tonight (and put away if he's lucky).

Who sent you?

2010-03-15T13:06:00.001-07:00

Who sent you my precious little one? Your smiles are so bright and eyes such a twinkle in them. I wonder what far off place of pure bliss you came from to me. Some days I have so much frustration and anger inside of me and with one little smile you melt it all away. I see you figuring things out and that brain of yours working so hard, yet you don't get frustrated too much you just look over and give me the biggest toothless grin I have ever seen and you know I'll come rescue you since you can't do it quite yet.

Even when it seems as though Satan himself has possessed your, yes I'm two, sister and she needs to scream out the demons right outside your bedroom door, you just kick happily away in your crib waiting to give me my fix. Thank you to who ever sent you. I am eternally grateful.

Operation NO NAP!

2010-03-12T19:51:00.000-08:00

The girls and I had a GREAT day. It's so nice to type that out! We had an awesome play date at a friend's house this morning, came home and had some movie time while Audrey napped, then went to the park late afternoon even though it was freezing out! Came home for dinner and now Georgia is having a story read to her by Daddy. We've decided to see how her sleep is if we drop her nap for the next few days. She's been having a hard time falling asleep, and then also staying asleep. She'll cry it out for at least 30 minutes then she'll wake up around 3:30 am and be awake for around 2 hours. I've finally got her to a state where she isn't full on tantruming in the middle of the night, but it's still tiring to have to snuggle and sing and basically cater to her for the time she's awake. Something needs to change, so I'm hoping dropping the nap is it. I'm sure some thing I'm crazy as the nap time is generally the sanity time during the day, and I normally would LOVE to have my coffee 'break' (for 5 minutes until I attack the kitchen or something), but I would also love to sleep for more than a few hours in a row in the night. We'll see how it goes today!

Here's a few photos since I haven't uploaded any in awhile.

The great toy purge!

2010-03-11T16:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I did it! I purged a whack of Georgia's toys. I gathered up all the toys that were just laying around, all the toys that were in her bedroom, even the toys that were put away and threw them all in a big pile in the middle of the living room.

I set up an area for 'bring back upstairs to her room', 'donate', 'keep', and 'toss'. It didn't even take me long (90 minutes) and I can't believe I put it off until now to do! I weeded through all of her stuff and was really ruthless about getting rid of things. It was hard at first, but once a few of the items went into a box then it got easier and easier!

I even dropped the stuff off today at the Salvation Army! I am very proud that it is all out and gone. I also got rid of one of her stuffed chairs. She has 3 and a wooden one to sit in - and doesn't use any of them. One of the other ones I'm going to see if the inlaws want it at their house, if not it'll be the next to go. The next thing to tackle for purging kids stuff is her stuffed animals. She has FAR too many. The thing is though - she likes them and she does play with them so it'll be hard to get rid of some of them, but it's going to be done.

So of my 1000 Things, I am currently sitting at 133 - yay!

Thirty-Two

2010-03-10T09:05:00.000-08:00

Today I turn Thirty-Two. I don't know why, but, I like to type it out instead of using numbers. It doesn't seem to be an age if you write it out. I truly don't care how old I'm getting. Some days I feel 16 and some days I feel 86. Since having kids the 86 days seem to win. I do however dislike my birthday. There isn't really one particular reason why I dislike it, but likely a collection of reasons.

*I wrote out a list, but decided I didn't want to share*

On a more positive note :-) I am going to make a list of 33 things that I want to do for MYSELF this year. Why 33 things and not 32? Because I'm entering my 33rd year.

Read more meaningful books, less lighthearted ones
Take time for myself totally alone and out of the house each week
Spend one on one time with each child each day
Be nicer to my husband (yes this is actually something for me)
Go on dates with my husband
Get under 130 pounds
Buy expensive jeans (once I'm under 130 pounds)
Grow my hair out and find a style that I LOVE
Be more positive
Learn how to express myself
Do more yoga (each week, once at least!)
Go for more walks
Learn how to use my DSLR camera (take a course if needed)
Turn an acquaintance in to a friend
Get a tattoo (well, get one covered)
Dance more
Play the piano more
Discover my city as a tourist (buy a tour book)
Cook one totally new recipe each month
Learn to let things go
Join a sport
Be more patient with my children (namely the toddler)
Figure out how to stop nagging
Play outside in the rain
Be more open to suggestion
Let go of some control (this may be a tough one!)
Save money
Stop spending money (needs vs wants) (well other than the expensive jeans, which I'm already saving for!)
Spend less time on the computer (a little ironic that I put that in a blog post)
Write poetry again (I used to all the time!)
Keep my house clean (follow Flylady more)
Stop procrastinating!
Find peace and zen within myself through meditation (wow that's a deep one!)

I took a long time to come up with 33 things!

Happy Birthday to me!

1000 Things...

2010-03-09T12:28:00.000-08:00

(Wow, really 3 posts in one day?!)

I had this idea while reading some of the blogs I read, sorry can't remember exactly which one, and this is my version of their idea. I am in a constant state to declutter our house. I need to have more going out than coming in in an effort to do this I am commiting for the remainder of the year to get rid of / throw away / donate 1000 things. This doesn't include garbage, this is stuff - the things that I have kicking around that are not needed, not useful, not wanted etc.

We are starting a basement renovation in the next few weeks so it's a great kickoff to my 1000 things project. I have a great big box already 3/4 full ready to donate to someone on freecycle and once it has left my house I will post the total number of items in the box.

Edited to add - I threw out one thing today! I have to start somewhere right? Chucked a broken stroller (don't worry, she has another one...) that really needed to leave this house. It felt great!

Orzo

2010-03-09T12:07:00.000-08:00

I found some orzo in the cupboard while taking inventory and figured I would try this recipe for Tasty Tuesday, it sounds super yum and nice and light. I am going to pair it up with chicken drumsticks (shake and bake style) and some other kind of veggie that I will pick up while veggie shopping today, maybe asparagus if it's on sale.

Tangy Lemon Orzo

Ingredients:
4 tb Olive oil
4 Thin green onions, finely - sliced
1 md Red bell pepper, seeded and - finely diced
1/8 ts Crushed red pepper flakes
2 tb Water
1 c Orzo pasta, cooked
1/4 c Finely minced parsley
3 tb Lemon juice
1/4 ts Salt
Freshly ground black pepper - to taste
Optional: 1 tb Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. In a large nonstick skiller heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat. Add green onions, bell pepper and pepper flakes. Saute 1 minute. Add the water and cook 3 to 4 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

2. Drain the hot orzo and add to the skillet. Add the remaining olive oil, the parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper; stir over medium-low heat a few minutes so that the orzo absorbs some of the flavour.

3. Stir in the Parmesan cheese if using, and serve.

My March Challenge

2010-03-09T09:11:00.000-08:00

I have always thought that we spend way too much on food and toiletries around our house. I am always striving to figure out ways to cut costs. Each month that I seem to try I end up spending more! My 'months' run fiscally by our credit cards (we put every expense on two cards and pay them off in total every month to get points), so my month runs from the 6th - 5th with one and 11th - 10th with the other so 'March' is just starting for us. Also each month I set out a budget on what we 'should' be spending and for some reason the 'misc' category seems to triple or quadruple... (wow that was a lot of quotes).

On to my March challenge. Cut my grocery budget by 2/3. (YIKES!) That means this month I want to spend only $250 since I spent $776 last month. You'd think we are a family of 10, but no, we are a family of 4, and only 3 of us eating real food! $50 of these dollars will be allocated to lunch items for Steve. Today I'm going to empty out our cupboard and take inventory. We have a few meat items in the freezer so I'll have to look at the flyers to see what is on sale. I also have no idea what good meat prices are - I really need to get to know my prices. This is all very timely with the blogs I follow as the advice that is being given is bang on for what I am attempting to do - cut the budget and know what I'm buying. Today I only need to buy some vegetables as we have meat and carbs, but for how long - that I have to take stock to figure out.

For the calendar month of March I have also been writing down everything we've been eating for dinner - it's kind of meal planning in reverse. I seem to fail at meal planning at every turn so I'm taking a bit of a different approach, keeping track of what we've eaten instead of what we are going to eat. I am getting better with thinking ahead a couple of days and for now that's a success for me!

Dance Class

2010-03-08T14:06:00.000-08:00

Dance Class is a hit and a bust around here. All week Georgia talks about going to dance class and her teacher 'Ms. Annette', but when she gets there she sticks to me like glue. I really want to keep her in class but need to figure out a way to get her more comfortable in the space and participate a bit more. Next week we are back in the regular dance class room and I am going to try and get there a minimum of 15 minutes early so she can ease her way into it. I hate that she doesn't want to participate.

That said she sure does look darn cute in her tutu!

A husband post...

2010-03-07T10:48:00.001-08:00

I figured I would go easy on myself this weekend and just quote from hubby's drinks blog:

Yesterday at work, I got a phone call from my wife. She called to let me know that one of her friends was doing a fundraiser of some kind at the Pitt Meadows location of Jungle Jac's and that we would be going with the kids that very night. Jungle Jac's is a cross between Chuck E Cheese and a giant jungle gym. You've got the video games, the whack-a-mole, the bowling, and the basketball for tickets all set within a giant climbing apparatus for children. Every surface seems padded (have I been put away someplace?), and the passageways, slides, and overhead bridges seem everywhere.

My oldest daughter is two-and-a-half. Some would immediately throw out the term "terrible twos" but we try to avoid labeling, so let's just say that she can be moody. Well, she's still in diapers and whether she chose the moment we walked into Jungle Jac's to fill them or whether let's say nature just called, it happened. My lovely (and at this point I'll say courageous) wife drew the task of changing her. Minutes later, they emerged from the baby change room with my wife clutching my pant-less daughter under her arm with my daughter squirming and screaming bloody murder. We'd been in the facility five minutes, and it was already time to go. I hadn't even had time to text-message my single friends to self-mockingly let them know what they're missing out on. Back at the car, my wife decided she was not going to give up so easily. Her idea was to hit the Real Canadian Superstore next door for some pajamas and try again at Jungle Jac's. Fair enough. Let's try. At this point the Canucks were losing 5-1, so my backup plan wasn't looking so appealing anyway. Driving back, I noticed a liquor store in the complex too. That may come in handy later, I thought to myself.

My daughter's second chance in Jungle Jac's turned out far better than the first. Wearing her new "jammies", she ran around that place like a girl possessed. She climbed, she slid, she balanced over bridges, and she even played a little soccer with her dear old dad in a netted off soccer area that even I thought was pretty cool. She'd come around. The tantrum was over and she was having a great time. On numerous occasions, my wife and I thought it would have been great if we were able to purchase beer in there, but alas, I spotted the liquor store earlier and I knew after all this chasing of kids around we'd be hitting it later anyway.

And we did. I picked up the Anarchist Amber Ale from Cannery Brewing in Penticton, BC. It comes in 650 mL bottles, and really after chasing a two-year-old around for hours, you don't want any smaller. It's very north-west with its copper color and bitter finish. Not the best I've tasted in this style, but far from the worst as well. We certainly weren't complaining at this point. We didn't chill ours as much as I'd have liked, but a couple of frosty mugs from the freezer did the trick nicely. Once the kids were safely in bed, we toasted getting through another day with a two-year-old and the anarchist association we will always have for Jungle Jac's.

Burnt Toast

2010-03-04T07:55:00.000-08:00

That's how my day started and I need to hit the restart button! It seems in this house that we have one great night of sleep, followed by a horrible night of sleep. I am seeing a trend with Audrey that we can't put her to sleep before 10pm *sigh* I would love to get some alone adult time at the end of the day but if it means I get a better sleep with her awake until later then I'll sacrifice. It's also not that she won't go to sleep at 8pm, she does, she just wakes up 6 times! I think I got about 2 hours of sleep last night. Georgia was up for the day at 5:30. It's 8am - time for shower and get myself humanized, I'm going to have a nap later.

Oh - the burnt toast? I did actually burn the toast. Our toaster is broken. Not broken to the point where it is unusable, just to the point where you have to shove something into the push down thing to keep the toast down and toasting - well don't do that at 6am when you aren't quite awake and then go get a baby out of bed, change a diaper and totally forget about the toast. The house stinks. I'll have to air it out later today.

Jambalaya!

2010-03-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

I made a tasty dinner last night of Jambalaya! It was my first attempt and I have to say it was darn good! I didn't have any cayenne pepper so I used paprika - does that still make it Jambalaya?

Here's the recipe and instructions - you have to try this one!

Lisa's Jambalaya

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 medium sized onions diced
4 stalks celery diced
2 carrots diced
1/2 green pepper diced (can use a whole one, I just had a half)

Put all this in a big pot and cook on medium with lid on until all veggies are soft, stirring occasionally

1/2 pound smoked sausage diced
3/4 pound chicken thighs diced
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp dried onion flakes

Add all this to the veggies and cook on medium / high until chicken is cooked, stirring often

1 cup uncooked rice
3 cups chicken broth
1 small can tomato paste

Add these and cook on low with lid on, only stirring once until rice is cooked - about 30 - 45 minutes.

Super tasty! ENJOY!

Olympic Rundown

2010-02-28T07:42:00.000-08:00

Events attended:

Feb 20 - Men's Hockey - Latvia 0 vs Slovakia 6 (Steve, Lisa, Audrey)

Feb 21 - Men's Hockey - Sweden 3 vs Finland 0 (Steve)

Feb 23 - Women's Curling - Canada 6 vs Great Britain 5 (Steve, Lisa, Audrey)

Feb 23 - Men's Hockey - Slovakia 4 vs Norway 3 (Steve)

Feb 25 - Ladies Free Skate - Canada Bronze!! (Lisa)

Feb 27 - Men's and Ladies Team Pursuit - Men GOLD!!! (Steve, Georgia)

What a great Olympics it has been so far! 13 Gold medals for Canada - playing tonight against US in Hockey for the medal... who will win?? It's the old rivalry at it's finest!

I'm so happy to live in the host city for this event. I'm glad I got to see the city all a buzz. It makes me kind of wish I lived in the burbs of a bigger city, but only kinda. It definitely makes me want to live in the city again. But then I wouldn't have my yard, my grass, all my new friends... sigh - the trade offs of family.

Just getting around the city has been awesome! Granville Island, Livecity Yaletown, Robson Street, Granville Street, the buskers, the ziptrek - I love all the stuff going on!

When Steve got home with Georgia yesterday from Team Pursuit, he said she did great!! Cheered as the skaters came by on the ice and everything! She even got to enjoy a hot dog, what's a day out with Daddy without a hot dog?!

Steve got out and about quite a bit more than I did, and he checked out a lot of the 'houses' he has truly enjoyed the Olympics too!

Here's the rest of our pictures:

New Banana Bread Recipe

2010-02-27T16:44:00.000-08:00

I love banana bread. I'm always on the hunt for a perfect recipe. I have adapted a recipe from this blog - and made it my own with a few modifications. Here is my recipe:

Banana Bread

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup (2 medium) mashed ripe bananas
3 tablespoons milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Daddy's being brave

2010-02-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

Steve has decided to take Georgia to an Olympic event. Good on him! I'm not that brave - never would I do that right now. She's so active and go go go that I would be afraid to lose her, or piss everyone off around me cause she won't sit still! Thankfully that means I get a peaceful day with just Audrey (who right now is sleeping) ahhh. I've been sick the past few days so it's nice to have some peace and quiet.

Oh and on the topic of being sick - why is it that when ever you truly, really, honestly need rest that toddlers seem to know it and you and decide THAT is the night they are going to be up for endless hours (okay 4) throwing screaming tantrums? This is it people, the reality of parenting that sometimes you just have to cave and put on Finding Nemo (for the 549th time) at 4:30 am because you can't hear yourself think through the screaming... Some days she makes it hard for me to love her, then she'll ask for a hug, or snuggle into me and all is better again.

We've been out doing more Olympic stuff, but Steve has the camera so I will post photos later.

Take time to smell the flowers...

2010-02-24T10:20:00.000-08:00

Was running a little late for dance class with Georgia on Monday but we still took the time to smell the flowers. The daffodils are blooming in February, can you believe it!?

Sometimes you need to remember to take just a few moments of time to smell the flowers. I know that with Georgia being so 'active' this kind of small thing is priceless to me and I need to do it more often. She is teaching me so much. Everyone says that you learn patience when you have children, well it's just so much more. In a fast paced world of go go go Georgia is teaching us that we need to slow down... take our time... get more organized... take a few moments and smell the flowers.

Love ya kid!

Olympics again yesterday and today

2010-02-19T19:28:00.000-08:00

Went downtown with just Audrey yesterday and milled about the many people... It's so great to see everyone from around the world in the city! Took both girls on the train today BY MYSELF! Yes, I know I'm brave :) and met up with Steve when we got downtown - he had the stroller (thank gawd!!) The train going into the city was packed! Luckily there was a family jammed right by us so our kids had each other to yack to, share popcorn and grapes. Georgia wasn't in the best of moods and today was, to say the least, a very trying day for all concerned. We all maintained composure amidst the gawking looks of horror (and I'm sure birth control for some) and we will live to tell about it.

Tired...

2010-02-17T11:09:00.000-08:00

Audrey decided that she would rather eat last night than sleep. We put her to bed at 8:30 because she was tired, and it seems that when ever I put her to bed this early I am shooting myself in the foot. She was up at 11:00, 12:30, 2:00, 3:30, 5:00 and 6:30 - really kid? REALLY? She wasn't this bad when she was a newborn! I am going to up my water intake today in hopes that if I drink more she'll get more, and sleep more. I told Steve I was going to get to the 6:00am class this morning but after basically no sleep last night, how can I get to the gym... He drove Georgia to daycare (thank you SO much hun!) and I went back to bed for a couple more hours of sleep, I feel somewhat human now, and Audrey is happily bouncing away in the Jolly Jumper.

Since Steve drove G to daycare that means I walk into town to get the car. It's SUNNY out and I can't wait to get out for a walk! I'm going to put some of my new Indie Rock onto my ipod and head out after I get my wits about me a bit more and get some more coffee into me.

random ramblings

2010-02-16T20:36:00.000-08:00

There are moments when I can understand the mother who wants to kill her children, and there are moments when I can understand the mother who has 19+ children. Thankfully the majority of my days land somewhere in between. Most days my heart melts with joy that I am a mother, through the sleepless nights, the tantrums and the poop filled diapers I still love it all. At the end of the day when I take my few minutes to decompress and read my mindless teenage series books I am so thankful to have the title Mom.

When I was younger all I ever wanted to do in life was grow up. Then I had rent to pay, bills to pay, had to make all my own meals and ultimate freedom and was happy - I made it. Made it through the awful, horrid, emotion drenched teenage years of writing bad poetry and so many endless tears about things better left forgotten. Then the rent came due, the meals still needed to be made and I realized, is this it? This is what being all grown up is about, you wake up, go to work, go party on the weekend (and occasionally during the week) and then do it all over again, THIS is what I've been waiting for? So I adjusted, moved downtown and met my now husband.

I got to that waiting and wanting stage again, wanting to be married, wanting to have kids, just couldn't wait for that next step to happen, well now I'm here!

I think back though - why didn't I savor the moments more? Back to that teenager... I would give anything to go back to that for a few hours. To feel the raw emotion, to feel the passion that I felt - man I felt I could take on the world! A friend I once had said she distinctly remembers the first time she ever saw me - I was skipping from my car into the school. She thought how can someone be so damn happy, why is she skipping when everyone is watching? I want to find her again. Dance to loud music in the middle of the day... Dream about all the impossible things I want to do... Skip and jump even though everyone is watching!

I want to not take life so seriously, to enjoy the moments more, to live every second of every day. I want to laugh more, love more, sing more. I want to find the unafraid, unabashed, free spirit that is truly me!

Today is day one, today I will. And tomorrow when I wake up I will great the day with a great big hello (and likely Georgia at my bedside telling me she wants to go downstairs) and put a smile on my face and dance.

I'm such a dork

2010-02-15T21:58:00.000-08:00

I have these coming to me!

I just couldn't resist. I had some sidekicks in my cupboard (a guilty pleasure for me) and decided these cute little guys were worth the $7.29 s&h. It's going to be hard to wait the 6-8 weeks for delivery!!!

Click here if you want to order yourself some - Shakers

Olympics and Gung Hei Fat Choi!

2010-02-14T18:35:00.000-08:00

Amazing! Canada just won their first GOLD medal on Canadian soil! Fabulous day. Congratulations to Alexandre Bilodeau!!

We were out and about Vancouver all day today. I am so happy to be living in the host city for 2010. I just LOVE our city! Everyone is friendly and happy, I love to hear the sounds of different languages from all over the world and see all the people. There is such a wonderful vibe to the city it's hard to not get caught up in it all. I am not going to write a ton tonight as I am utterly exhausted. We started the day with the bringing in the Chinese New Year in Chinatown at the parade then wandered to Russia House (host of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi), then wandered all around the city. The kids on the whole did great. Minor meltdowns throughout the day, and even got a nap in.

Here's some photos. Inspired by Kelle from her blog enjoying the small things I brought my dslr and took some great photos today. I feel like it's always a fluke when I take a good photo so am always super happy when more than one from the day turn out!

Here's the photos from today

A new way to blog

2010-02-13T21:47:00.000-08:00

For those few of you who follow my blog, things are going to change. This is still going to be about my family and all of the things we do and get up to, but it's going to more than just that. I'm going to start spewing out more of what I have inside. I start right now, today.

I should be speaking this out loud to the man crushing ice right now in the kitchen, but I can't find a way to say it. I am so thankful to be married to such a wonderful man. He is so patient with my many moods, all the faces I put on, all the different sides to my personality. I often wonder what I did right to deserve someone like him. I need to tell him this more often and be much nicer to him because, well, since he's the one I love he gets the brunt of all of my bad moods.

Today we all went out to enjoy some Olympic events. We went to the RCMP Musical Ride and oh how I love to see those horses go. I am very patriotic about a few things, hockey being one, RCMP is another one. It could be that I was raised by a member or that the red serge just says 'Canada' to me. I'm so happy the Olympics are in my town - I'm very patriotic these days.

Oh and that man, now sitting here... just said - homemade lemonade is THE BEST. He can make lemonade out of lemons any day of the week, in any situation - I need to learn more from him.

Torch Day!

2010-02-11T09:55:00.001-08:00

We got up early this morning to see the Olympic Torch come through Port Coquitlam! I am really starting to get Olympic fever :)

Here's Georgia waiting to go into town with all her 'guys'

All of us waiting (it's hard to get a photo of all of us!)

Steve and Audrey, she was wide awake and alert for the whole thing!

Me and Georgia, she wasn't so happy towards the end...

Audrey and I with a torch bearer (need to figure out who it is... someone named Vicki?)

And here's the torch going by!

(Please excuse the composition of the video, I had to pick up Georgia half way through it so she could see...)

Meal Planning

2010-02-10T13:44:00.001-08:00

I am attempting to meal plan. I have 2 weeks of recipes all set out to make. I have already had to deviate from the plan twice and we're only on day 3 haha. Oh well my heart is in it.

Here is the recipe from Monday that was given an 8/10

Shredded Beef Chili

Night before in crock pot:
-1 pound stewing beef or really small cheap cut roast
-1 can whole tomatoes (19oz)
-2 drops liquid smoke (optional)
-2 Tbsp chili powder
In the morning take out and shred up the beef, take out and mash up the tomatoes in a pot (or drain the liquid and put back in crock pot if you are going to cook the chili in there)

To the beef and mashed tomatoes add:
-1 cup frozen corn (or canned)
-1.5 cups mushrooms
-3 stalks celery finely cut
-1 cup carrots cut small
-1/4 cup chili powder
-1 Tbsp cumin
-1/2 Tbsp paprika
-2 Tbsp oregano
-1 tsp chili flakes
-4 gloves garlic chopped small
-2 19oz cans diced tomatoes
-2 14oz cans kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
-1 19 oz can black beans (drained and rinsed)
-1 small can tomato paste
-1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
-1 Tbsp salt

Either simmer all day on low on the stove or in the crock pot.

This recipe gives the chili a bit of kick but is not hot. If you want it mild omit the chili flakes.

Parents are MAGIC!

2010-02-09T09:05:00.000-08:00

Something that came across my mind when I was up at 1am with my toddler (and a subsequent 3 more times with the baby).

When I was little there was just something about when my parents hugged me or cuddled me that made everything okay - it was like magic. Maybe it was the size factor me being so little and them that much bigger that they could wrap their arms around me and make me feel so safe.

Georgia was super freaked about something last night that I had to cuddle her for an hour to settle her down and realized that I was the magic last night. She wanted nothing but mommy and her blankie (two things that I would have wanted when I was little too).

I had such a joy for being a mom moment that I had to share that even through the hard times I love so much to be a mom!

There is a nice thought for you for the day - you are magic to your kids!

I love play gym!

2010-02-08T12:30:00.001-08:00

Our rec centre has a drop in free play time in a big open gym for tots. It's a bit pricey to take them more than once a week / couple of weeks but it's so worth it once in awhile! Georgia gets to run around like mad, scream if she wants, play with balls and slides and other kids - it's great! We then come home, eat lunch and she crashes for nap time *sigh* pure bliss. I coordinated the girls nap times today so I'm getting a few moments of peace to myself - the silence is golden :) Days like this make me think it would be okay to be a SAHM, and I think I am actually looking forward to that prospect one day!

A New Carrier!

2010-02-06T11:20:00.000-08:00

I have been coveting a hip carrier for a long time now. With Georgia I used the Mei Tai all the time, but haven't had to use it much with Audrey and she's not a huge fan of it. The hip carrier (Mei Hip) that I like runs for upwards of around $100. I just can't justify spending that kind of money on (yet another) carrier! SO I decided to make one. Using a photo (link above) as my model here is my new carrier that I can carry either kid in and not have to adjust it!

hmmm

2010-02-01T15:36:00.000-08:00

Turns out I think I measured Audrey wrong. Measured her today and she's only 26 inches. Still tall though!

Off the charts!

2010-01-29T17:29:00.000-08:00

Turns out Audrey is fairly tall right now! She's 28 inches long - that's off the charts for her height! She's 15lbs 11oz, that's just over the 90th percentile - my big girl!

4 months!

2010-01-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

Audrey is 4 months old today :) We have her shots tonight, hope all goes well - I hate to hear them crying in pain poor things. I'll update with the official weight, but i can say she's getting heavy!

Here she is at 4 months with a comparison to Georgia at 4 months.

(She'll always be compared since she's second won't she??)

What a difference!

2010-01-21T13:07:00.001-08:00

I can't believe how different my girls are!!

Sleep, oh glorious sleep!

2010-01-21T08:54:00.000-08:00

We put Audrey down early last night and she slept! It was so great to not have a baby awake until 11pm. She woke up once at 10:00ish and I fed her, then she slept through until 6:30am and is now napping again at 9am. I like this new schedule and really hope it sticks - might mean that I get to sleep before midnight!

Audrey Rolled!

2010-01-20T08:28:00.001-08:00

Audrey rolled over yesterday! January 19th. I was looking back through Georgia and saw that she rolled February 19th, they are 2 weeks apart. Audrey rolled quite a few times yesterday. She would get frustrated, grunt while on her tummy, then fall asleep haha. She likes to get her butt in the air when she's on her tummy - I wonder if she'll crawl earlier rather than later.

The story of Audrey

2010-01-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

(Written previously)

I've been in 'early labour' since Tuesday night (September 22nd). My sister in law gave me an acupressure massage Tuesday late afternoon, her and brother in law stayed for pizza, we went for a walk, contractions started. I thought, awesome this is it - called the midwife, she said to have a bath, call her if they got worse. They were sporadic at that point but about 3-4 an hour. I had a bath and they started to go away. By 11:00 at night I decided to go to bed.

Woke up at 2:50am with contractions, avg 6 min apart and really strong until 7:30am. Thought FOR SURE that was going to be it, so Steve got in the shower, we were going to drop Georgia off at daycare then head out. While Steve was in the shower, they fizzled out and died.

Steve took the day off work that day and I had contractions on and off all day. My midwife says that this can be normal for 2nd time moms - my cervix is dilating etc. All I can say is 36 hours of contractions (1-10 per hour) and nothing to show for it yet sucks. I've been walking, did a few jumping jacks (to amuse my husband) cleaned the kitchen etc. I'm getting a little grouchy.

Today at 2:30 I have a midwife appt, she'll do the stretch and sweep and later tonight my sister in law is going to come over to do the acupressure again. If the combo of both of those don't get this little one out then I've decided nothing will!

Updated on Thursday Sept 24th - Had my midwife appt. Everything is physically great. Baby is in perfect position. She checked in with the other midwife to see if it was fine to do the sweep since she's got another girl in labour right now too (that was an intense few minutes waiting and hoping) and she did the sweep - YAY! I'm at 3 cm and have a stretchy cervix. It's still fairly high but everything is looking good.

She gave me a cocktail that I'm to drink on Saturday morning if this does nothing. Unfortunately my SIL can't come out tonight as she put her neck out

Now it's just the waiting game. My mom is here and is taking Georgia overnight.

Updated on Friday Sept 25th - Contractions started at 7:30pm last night and were strong and steady ranging from 3ish minutes to 6ish minutes getting stronger as the night went on. I was able to watch Survivor and Grey's and spoke with my midwife after Grey's. She said this was very typical, that she didn't think this was it, but that she was at the hospital if I felt I needed to go. By 12:30am I had a bit of a meltdown as I was just so damn tired, I'd basically been up for 2 full days with contractions on and off this now being the second time of serious steady contractions. She said to give it an hour and to call her back.

I called her just before 1:30am since the contractions were MUCH stronger, but still only 3-5 minutes apart she said if I wanted to be assessed to come into the hospital, so we went.

She assessed me when I first got there around 2:00 am and was still at 3cm - I broke down again crying saying I was just so tired, I either wanted them to continue and get on with it or for them to just stop so I could get some rest.

She went and delivered another girl's baby and eventually got back to me. My contractions were still 3-5 minutes apart and strong, but I had only dilated 1 more cm. We decided to give me a dose of morphine and gravol and send me home to get some rest - I welcomed this. Had she not just delivered a baby, was it not 5:00am then she likely would have broken my water and I would have delivered eventually.

So here I am, still pregnant, but at least I've had some sleep. I've been dozing in and out all day, getting some very needed restful sleep. We'll see what today brings!

Final update Sept 27th - I had 2 doses of the cocktail on Saturday which had in it castor oil so yay, we all know what that meant - all day of it too! I had my second dose around 3:30pm and started having contractions again around 4:00pm. I wasn't all too optimistic that anything was going to happen as I had been getting contractions almost every evening leading up to last night. They started getting closer and stronger as the night went on.

Just before 7:00pm I called my midwife as they were around 2 minutes apart, she said we still had to wait - I was getting so frustrated, wait for what I said, she said either my water to break of I was climbing the walls.

Around 7:15pm my water broke so we called her and off to the hospital. Made it to the hospital by 7:45pm with contractions insanely close together.

When I got there I was only 6 cm - went in the tub and kinda thought I might die. I transitioned in the tub then on the bed on hands and knees. Around 9:00 I was 10cm and ready to push. 9:48 Audrey was born No drugs, no rips, no tears, no cuts - 9lbs 2oz! I never thought I would ever have a baby so big!!!

My midwife, husband and nurse were all so great with me. The nurse said she was really honored to be at my labour as it was her first one with a midwife and had never seen anything like it - I was basically silent once the pushing part started and really went into the 'labour zone'.

Here is a comment from her: And one more baby for the week! Sweet Audrey whose mama stayed so calm and peaceful... mama delivered her right into her own two hands.

Here is our beautiful big girl!

I feel awful...

2010-01-04T13:39:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted in ALMOST a year! New Year, will post more I promise!

Off the rails

2009-04-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

Doing this challenge while pregnant is hard. Doing it without thinking of recipes is even harder! I need to sit down and figure out what I can make for dinners. Steve keeps saying we need to start to go off bread and flour and I told him that as a pregnant lady who eats bread every single day there's just no way!

When I am left to make dinners I generally make 'breakfast' for dinner. Eggs and toast is easy.

Tonight my mom is coming over and I might rack her brain thinking of ideas for what to make.

I will keep posting more often now that I'm back to being inspired.

PIZZA!!!

2009-04-18T19:28:00.000-07:00

OMG YUM!

Steve and I made some home made pizza today, everything from scratch. I will put 2 disclaimers in this (well 3) I used oil in the dough and Steve used it in the sauce, the honey isn't local (only because I forgot to buy some new honey) and the 3rd is that although our Cheese is from Nanaimo I couldn't find out on their website if it's from cows in the area or if it's just produced there.

Here was the recipe I used (from fabulousfoods.com - Mitch's Basic Pizza Dough)

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons yeast
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

For all the instructions check it out on their site - Fabulous Foods

Steve made the sauce by reducing down 2 home canned jars of tomatoes for a couple of hours, then adding garlic, green onions and some olive oil.

We topped our pizza with mushrooms, yellow peppers, tomatoes and cheese!

My ball of dough (and some ingredients in the background)

My first attempt at making a round pizza shell, not so great

That looks better!

The toppings

The cheese

Ready for the oven

All cooked!

Funniest looking pizza!

Plated and ready to eat YUM!

Day 3 and SPUD

2009-04-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

Day 3 was much better when it comes to temptation than day 2.

Here's what I ate today

-toast and peanut butter (you will see this likely almost every week day)
-blueberry muffin
-egg salad sandwich
-apple
-chicken salad sandwich
-granola bar (not within 100 miles, but left over from before the challenge)
-coffee from the cafeteria to stay awake - don't even know where it was from
-cheese as my late night snack (I'm going to go eat that when I'm done this blog entry!)

I'm starting to think I actually don't eat that much during the day. I'm going to cut up some veggies and make some soup or something to go with my sandwich. Sadly I left the mayo out on the counter and Steve had to get rid of it. Oh precious mayo how I'm going to miss you. I'm going to need to find something to substitute it - what's a sandwich without mayo?!

Our SPUD order came today! It's really neat how they breakdown how many km's your food has travelled (perfect timing for a new format, it used to be lumped together and not it's itemized!). In order or km's travelled here's what we got:

15km-2% milk (Avalon Dairy)
35km-Organic Bumbleberry Spread (Eat It Up!)
53km-Mushrooms, crimini and white (Richmond Speciality Mushroom Farms)
55km-Artisan Caraway Cheese (Little Qualicum Cheeseworks)
69km-Organic Eggs (Biota Farms)
75km-Sharp Coloured Cheddar (Avalon Dairy)
150km-Beets (Ralph's Greenhouses WA)
349km-Ambrosia Apples (Harker's Fruit Ranch BC)
380km-Danjou Pears (Stemilt Growers WA)
600km-Yellow onions (WA)

We are going to have to do better with our apples, pears and onions... The average distance on our current order is 383km. The km calculated are to their warehouse in Vancouver.

I'll update each week how far our items have travelled. I just love SPUD.

Day 2

2009-04-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

I will start this post off by saying I cheated. I had a pregnancy craving and I caved!

I'm not even going to post the crap that I ate, it was 100% processed.

My plan for the weekend is to make some pizza dough, cook a whole chicken and make some good soup for lunches.

This is really hard being pregnant, why can't I crave carrots?

Day 1

2009-04-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

Day 1 is complete!

Here is what I ate (I will have to get Steve to let me know what he eats during the day so I can put it on here for him too)

-toast and peanut butter
-pear
-veggie sandwich
-apple
-oatmeal
-salmon chunks (might technically not be in the 100 miles, but I was starving and I thought this might be the closest option while at Thrify Foods)
-piece of cake (no this isn't 100 miles, but I'm not throwing out left over cake that is on my counter!)
-chicken and potatoes

I made some blueberry muffins to take for lunches. I'm going to have to get a bit creative when it comes to some snack food so that I don't starve while at work. I was far too hungry! I have a few oatmeal bar type recipes that I'm going to try as well as a good recipe for pizza dough.

I forgot the coffee rules

2009-04-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

The coffee and tea rules are this - coffee we can drink if it is fair trade organic and processed at a local place (Salt Spring Island Coffee).

When it comes to the sugar that I put in my coffee, I am going to use what is left in the house and slowly wean myself off sugar - this is all I put sugar in. I will start to replace with honey for now I guess. After the 100 days we are going to find a more ethical sugar company, try and find some fair trade sugar. Good thing we don't eat much of it!

The food

2009-04-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

Here's what we had in our cupboard to pack away. We ate a bit of it the past week, but we now have one rubbermaid bin with all of this in it and a bare cupboard!

The rules

2009-04-12T18:38:00.000-07:00

Here's our version of the 100 mile diet rules:

Rule 1. All food must come from within our 100 miles

Exceptions to the rule that we are allowed:
-Rogers flour
-Robin Hood oats
-Venice Canadian Rye bread

The two luxury items that we chose:
-Peanut butter
-Balsamic vinegar

We are going to finish off all the condiments in our fridge as to not be wasteful.
We are going to use up all the spices and baking items that we have in our cupboard.

I still have a pasta left over that I'm having for lunch tomorrow and we're having a dinner at the inlaws so day one officially is going to be Tuesday April 14th! Wish us luck!

Our 100 miles

2009-04-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

We live in Port Coquitlam, BC and here is our 100 miles:

The plan

2009-04-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

Steve and I have caught wind of the 100 mile challenge. What this is all about is it's a challenge to eat foods grown and processed within 100 miles of where you live. We just watched part 1 of 6 on the food network and are going to give this a go! We are going to set up some rules and concessions for ourselves, we aren't going to do this 100% I will make that statement now so I know not to kick myself in the butt when we deviate from the plan.

We're about to order the book online for some inspiration and I'm going to go take a look through our cupboards to see what we'll have to eat up. We're going to start in a week and go for 100 days.

Wish us luck!

So sick

2009-02-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

I saw my midwife last week and got a prescription for Diclectin. I have been suffering through the all day morning sickness and was barely able to function. These pills are great. They don't take my morning sickness away 100% but they definitely take the edge off enough to feel remotely human and not perpetually jet-lagged.

Other than feeling sick, everything is going well! The whole family got a stomach bug which passed quickly thankfully. That was a tough go though and thankfully I have people to help out.

At the meeting with my midwife she mentioned that since I had pre-eclampsia with Georgia she's going to be conferring with an OB. I will see one around 20 weeks. I am crossing everything that I don't get it again this time. It is said that the second time around there's less of a chance to get it.

On Feb. 28th I will have an ultrasound. It's an early one, but she wants to get my dates as accurate as we can so that if I do end up having to be induced early we'll know exactly how far along I am. I'm trying to not think of the end of this pregnancy and just get through each day/week.

So far I haven't really gained any weight :-) I thought I would balloon up right away this time! I started out with a little ponch and to have a tiny tummy, but I don't think anyone is suspecting anything yet. Today I am 9 weeks 3 day pregnant.

I'm Pregnant!

2009-01-30T15:35:00.000-08:00

It was our first month trying and I got the positive pregnancy test right on the day I was supposed to! I took 3 tests that day, 2 cheapie ones then one from the drug store.

I couldn't be happier that it happened so fast!

Here are the first two tests. The lines were so faint that I didn't believe it the first time so I had to take a second one.

Then since they were so faint on BOTH of the cheapie tests I went out and bought the digital. I was so happy to see this word!

I have my first midwife appointment next week. Right now I'm 6 weeks and 5 days along. The due date I found online this time around is September 21st, 2009. So far I've been feeling pretty nauseous. We just got back from a trip to Vegas and that was definitely a challenge. I have my good moments and my not so good moments. I remember this lasting until I was around 14 or so weeks - I am not looking forward to another 8 or more weeks of the nausea. I am finding it harder this time around to not tell everyone! It'll be around my birthday when we can tell (if my belly doesn't give it away sooner...).

Here's to another happy and healthy 9 months!

SHOES!

2009-01-18T12:45:00.000-08:00

Yup, she said it, her first actual word - SHOES! I am so not surprised that it's her first word since shoes are her most favourite thing in the world. She woke up this morning and pointed to her shoes as she always does, so I said shoes and she said it back to me! She has said shoes about a hundred times today, pointing to everyone's shoes and saying shoes. She even did it when she got up from her nap.

Boy am I in trouble, the girl loves shoes!

Georgia's Christmas Cards

2008-12-18T20:45:00.000-08:00

We decided this year to get some free labour out of Georgia while we can before having to pay her for her work. She painted our Christmas card for us! It took some teaching to get her to understand that the paint was not for eating, but we got something that somewhat resembles a tree.

Here is her first masterpiece (yes I did the star):

While my friend was snapping pictures of Georgia painting I also decided to capture the moment on video. You can see that she is still in the stage of putting everything in her mouth.

We got some snow in the last few days. I had a half snow day, gotta love working for a college! Georgia was a bit unsure of what to do with it all, and found that when she took her glove off and touched the snow she really wasn't too happy. I'm sure next year she'll be out there making a snow man with me.

Silly Georgia Video

2008-11-26T20:39:00.000-08:00

My daughter and husband are a bit silly:

Walking videos

2008-11-22T19:31:00.000-08:00

Georgia is getting better and better at walking. She's getting really fast and at times will run before she falls flat on her face. We've had quite a few bumps and bruises, and one very big welt on her head for a few days poor thing.

Life as we know it is very busy with me working two jobs, Steve working in Vancouver and Georgia running amok and keeping us all on our toes! I took a nap while she did today since she kept me up until after 3:00am!!!

We visited Santa today! Georgia was kinda timid and curious at first, then was okay for a good 6 seconds then wanted nothing to do with him and wanted to come back to mom and dad. We managed though to get one good shot. The Santa at our local mall is really great with the kids and has an awesome beard!

This first video was taken on November 15th

This second video was taken tonight

We miss you Grandma and Grandpa - can't wait until you get home!

I forgot!

2008-11-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post the best part!

Presenting Georgia the frog:

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a long time, I've been so busy being back at work (well 2 jobs) and trying to find that balance.

I don't have much to report other than Georgia has started to walk! The first video is from awhile ago when she was taking her first steps, the second video was from today. She's getting more and more confident everyday!

I'm so proud of my little girl!

Georgia's Birthday Party

2008-09-13T18:46:00.001-07:00

We had a family birthday party today for Georgia. She did well, she was pretty tuckered by the end of it all and had a great nap. She got some wonderful gifts and had some cake.

Here's a little video of us singing her Happy Birthday (and the 2 cakes I made!)

Georgia's new chair:

Her new soccer ball:

Eating cake:

Georgia is ONE!!!

2008-09-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that a whole year has gone by - it's been so fast!

Here's some pictures from this morning:

Daddy feeding her cheese for breakfast:

Here's a few past bunny shots to compare with
4 months:

7 months:

And the bunny shot today:

She's wearing her "I was born at Royal Columbian Hospital" shirt today.

Happy Birthday my baby girl!!!

New Camera... New Photos

2008-09-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

I finally made the leap to a digital SLR. If you are on my facebook you've seen these before. I really need to learn how to use all the features! I'm hoping Steve's brother will show me.

More caches, farther away!

2008-09-06T08:42:00.000-07:00

I have done a bit of geocaching lately but kept forgetting to blog about it!

My brother in law wanted to go for a hike, so of course I check out to see what kind of caches are near by. It was a great hike! Since I hadn't been doing much over the summer it did kick me in the ass a little bit. I made it through and kept on trucking. I wasn't sore the next day so maybe I'm in a bit better shape than I thought I was!

That's my prize from the first cache - the " amorous trees - we found of the day.

Then onward we went on our hike (and to the next cache). This next one took me a bit to find as I am still getting used to trusting the GPS 100%. I had the point marked and it really did find the exact location but I had to go make it tough and go wandering around through a river and back until I ended up back at the exact location it told me to be. Anywho - novice mistake. This cache - Creekside - was quite big and had a travel bug in it! I don't know why but I just love travel bugs! It kinda prompts me I think to get to the next cache quicker than I might have.

The purpose of this little camper travel bug was to travel around the USA. I don't know why someone then would bring it to Canada, but here it ended up. I scoped out a couple of caches state side (without knowing that I was headed there in a few weeks.)

Steve and I went for a night get away, our first away from our daughter. I let him be 100% in charge of choosing the place we stay at - he chose Annacortes. What a cute little town! And perfect for depositing this little bug back in the US! Since I didn't know where I was headed to for our mini-vaca I had no clue to bring this bug. The great husband that he is, (even though geocaching is my 'thing') he picked a couple of caches in Annacortes and made sure one was going to be big enough for this bug.

Off we went state side and to find the Burrows Channel Cache to put our bug in. Well he didn't decide to look at the terrain for this next cache. Not that it was hard terrain, I just shouldn't have worn flip flops (insert rolling eyes here). After making it much harder than it needed to be we found the cache (oh and after I got stung by a bee... yes I'm allergic still).

Even with all that chaos the trip and the caching was great fun. We only hit up the one in Annacortes, but I hope to get back there one day to do more.

My first week back to work

2008-09-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

My first week back to work went really well! I am glad to be back in the world of the working full time. I never in a million years thought I would miss work but I did. I started a new job on Tuesday and it's working out great. I am really enjoying it. I never did get other women who talked about a work / home balance thinking it had to be all or nothing, but I really get it now. My days fly by and before I know it I'm back to my little girl.

Georgia loves her daycare so the transition back to work for me was much easier. I feel awful for parents who's babies don't like daycare and scream when they get dropped off, that must be heart breaking for them. On the days that Georgia isn't in daycare her Nana (Steve's mom) looks after her. They just love each other so much! It's so great that she has agreed to do this, it's some great bonding time (and not to mention it makes it all much cheaper for us). Any time Georgia gets to spend with either of her grandparents is great. I'm so thankful that we live close(ish) to both sets of parents and Georgia will grow up having them around.

On a sad note it seems as though we're done breastfeeding. In the past 5 days she has only wanted to breastfeed once. We had dropped most feeds to just feeding in the morning but she's decided she's done that too. I wanted to feed her up until she was 1 year old, and I guess stopping a week early I'll have to take it. It's been a rough go especially in the beginning, but so rewarding. I have to say I'm quite proud of how long I breastfed, and that I didn't give up in the first month since it was so hard. Some women have it much harder than I did and some have it much easier! Our journey has been so touching to me.

I don't have many new photos of Georgia, I'm sure after her first birthday I will so for now, here's a picture of her from last night, and it is also what she is doing now:

Back to work so soon!

2008-08-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that on Tuesday I'm going to be back to work. I've been off work for a whole year! Georgia is going to be 1 soon. Wow. They said the time would fly by and I didn't believe it.

Georgia has started daycare 2 days a week for the past few days. She loves it! I'm so happy she doesn't scream and cry when I drop her off. She gives me great big smiles when I pick her up too. She is really loving it there and I can see that it makes her quite happy to be with a bunch of other babies to keep her busy and active. I'm quite happy with the choice of daycare that we chose (it's hard to figure out who to look after your kids!). We'll be doing a combination of daycare and family looking after Georgia during the week so she'll have a good mix. Next week she starts 3 days a week.

There isn't a whole lot new with her development, she is crawling really fast. She pulls herself up on everything and is getting into lots of trouble. Sounds like she's right on track :) I'm sure with her being in daycare she's going to be walking before I'm ready. She's one of the younger kids in the daycare so she has lots of influences.

Now here's the stuff you're really looking for some photos (that make me think I really need to take some more):

Here is a little video that Steve and I think is funny, but could be just because we're the parents. I was trying to capture how Georgia holds onto the piano bench and dances while I play but she had other intentions.

She climbs!

2008-07-28T21:39:00.001-07:00

Here is Georgia climbing the stairs - watch out world, here she comes!

More progress

2008-07-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

On Saturday at Georgia's Nana and Opa's Georgia decided it was time to start pulling herself up onto furniture and start cruising! What a big week she's had!

Here's the video of her pulling herself up after her nap today - the crib I think is going to have to be lowered again!

Here's a shot of her looking so proud:

One of her new top teeth:

Here's her new play tube:

Georgia Crawls!

2008-07-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

Yep folks, we have a crawler on our hands! She hasn't realized really what she's doing yet, she's just going with the flow. She hasn't crawled very far or done it very often, but I'll be putting up baby gates VERY soon!

Happy Canada Day!

2008-07-03T10:59:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Georgia's first Canada Day with a BBQ. The weather held out and it was much fun!

Georgia loves balloons:

Big toothey smile:

At the fireworks (crappy camera can't capture them!):

And this one just cause she's so darn cute!

A day in the life of Lisa

2008-06-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Georgia has a new cousin!

2008-06-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

On Friday, June 13th Georgia became a big cousin! She now has two boy cousins to protect her when she gets older. We would like to introduce to you Carter. He came a few weeks early, but was very healthy weighing in at 7 pounds 1 ounce. Mom and baby are both doing great. He decided to come just in time for father's day!

Happy Birthday Baby Carter!!

Geocaching weekend!

2008-06-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend Steve and I plucked a few caches!

We attempted Douglas Tunnel yet again, and there were two muggles setting up to drink and fish right at the spot so we couldn't go looking around for the tunnel - oh well, hopefully next weekend we'll be able to get there. I'm really excited to see this tunnel!!

On Saturday we were able to nab 2 caches. One was Mary Hill Ridge - what a great cache! There is a ridge above and to the south of the Mary Hill Bypass, it goes for quite some ways. You are fully covered for the most part by trees and such and no one would know you are there. I am not sure how people would have figured out to make this a trail but I suspect it was mountain bikers as we saw some jumps and such once we were heading away from the cache location. Neat hiking place!

Next we made our way to Marion Kroeker park and found Cache in a Flash after getting some much needed slurpees and Reactin for Steve from the Shell station. After finding the cache, yes in a flash, we decided it was time to play in the park and let Georgia has some fun on the swings and slide. I can't wait for her to be a bit older so she can fully enjoy it all!

Sunday we were out in North Vancouver and were able to grab 2 caches out there. First off though we had to give back the GPS we were borrowing from Steve's brother. We went to Deakin and bought ourselves a new GPS - this unit is great! It's color, much more accurate than Michael's old one, plus it has a geocaching mode - you can upload the cache locations right to the GPS, I'll be using that mode today - how cool! In North Vancouver we found North Vancouver Public Art Cache #1 and #3 - these are part of a series of 10 all hiden near public art pieces. Neat to see things that you might not notice otherwise!

Two more!

2008-06-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

I had to pick Steve up from the skytrain tonight so we decided to grab a couple of caches. The first one was Big Blue Mystery Box. I was here earlier today, but there was too many muggles around and I didn't have any time to devote to looking so gave up a bit too easy. When we got back to this location I found the cache in a matter of seconds! Neat location to hide!

Then Steve and I decided to tackle Maquabeak Park again and voila it was found! Without giving anything away, this geocacher has gone to great lengths to hide this cache. He / she is very creative! I really don't know if I would have found out where it was. Steve has much more of a spidey sense than I do! I am quite impressed with the hider of this one! It has to be my favorite cache so far.

In an effort to not spoil it for anyone who is reading my blog and wants to go seek this cache we have taken an obscure picture of Steve with the cache hidden in his jacket and no identifying objects in the picture!

Failure and Success!

2008-06-10T17:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Steve and I tried to go find Maquabeak Park cache, but could not find it. This one has a difficult rating so we are going to have to get stealthy! It was raining, we didn't have a stroller or carrier for Georgia and also didn't have an umbrella, clearly we weren't prepared to be looking around for a long time. We will have to go back and get our 'A' game on.

Today while I was out and about I found Best of Both Worlds cache. It was hidden quite cleaverly, but I found it in a matter of minutes, and didn't even have to get Georgia out of the car. I have seen something similar to this in the past with one of the other caches I found and like this idea!

I will be out and about near my parents house tomorrow, am hoping while on a walk they don't mind if I seek out a few caches so they can see what all the fun is about!

Cedars!

2008-06-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

I am SO happy! We got a great deal on cedars to go around our fence. Saturday we dug and Sunday we planted. HUGE job - 100 cedars total! Thank you so much to Dad, Carl, Dave and Alisha!! You all are great workers! Thanks to Mom and Val for looking after Georgia so I could be a worker!

(Click to enlarge)
Before:

After:

During:

Steve's Day

2008-06-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

We decided to go find a few caches this morning while waiting for a bunch of cedar trees to be delivered. Steve strapped on Georgia and off we went. The first cache we tried to locate was Douglas Tunnel. This tunnel has some great history - quote from geocaching.com:

In 1858 fearing invasion from the United States, Colonel Richard Moody and the Royal Engineers embarked on a secret project that has recently been made public. The Royal Engineers began constructing a tunnel under the Fraser River from Port Coquitlam to Surrey. The project was half completed before it was cancelled when the threat of invasion was eliminated with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. While the tunnel to Surrey was never completed, the first section of the project—a tunnel from Port Coquitlam—at the foot of Mary’s Hill was completed to Douglas Island halfway across the Fraser River. So impressive was this tunnel that the chief Engineer, Captain Ignacious Brunel was sent back to London to work on the New London Subway project.

Who knew my little neighborhood had so much history! Regardless of all the history this cache has we could not find it - boo. It has been raining for quite awhile now and although it wasn't raining today the river is high so we could not locate the tunnel. We'll try again when it's been dry for a few days.

After the Duglas Tunnel cache we continued down the path alongside the Fraser River and came to Mary Hill Cheaters cache. Steve was quick to identify where this was, but I didn't think we had the co-ordinates right so after a bit of fumbling around we came back to the original location and he found it within seconds.

Our third attempt of the day took us to School's Out - Canada Day Cache. This is one of the first ones I attempted. Today we had sucsess! Again I was too concerned with getting the co-ordinates bang on and Steve found the cache, drat! Out witted again. I'm starting to think I don't want him geocaching with me if he's just going to take the fun out of it! I told him next time we go out he can hold the GPS and I can do the searching!

We nabbed a geocoin from the last cache so we might go find another one tonight if we aren't beat after planting cedars as the goal of this coin is it wants to travel fast from cache to cache.

Spot the geocacher: