Back to School

The kids were so excited to be going back to school, especially Ruby who was off to her first day of Pre-school at Acorntree. She'll be going 2 mornings a week. Simon is now in a Grade 4-5 split class, and Cameron has started Grade 2. I never look forward to them going to school, but maybe it's because that means Summer is over... and I don't enjoy structure, routine or making lunches. Yuck. Oh well, the kids need to be fed and it's my job, after all! I will enjoy 2 mornings to myself though, as that has never happened before. Not only are the kids out of the house, Rodger has moved his office out of the house as well... yippee! Off you go... miss you! :-)

Road Trip 2011 - Woot Woot!

I don't think we've ever been away from home for so long before... 2 1/2 weeks this Summer! It was such a great holiday, other than the driving part! :-) Anyway, here's my Reader's Digest version of our adventure:

Blue Lake was our first destination, for my parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration. The whole family was there, including my nephew and family from Sweden! Such an awesome time was had by all, and it was definitely too short!! But we didn't have time to fight that way.... the highlight was playing in the lake, but of course just being together was the best part of all.

Highlights of the rest of our roadtrip, besides the obvious of just being with family:

Edmonton: West Edmonton Mall, swimming at the local pool, Slurpees, Edmonton Valley Zoo, going to the movies.... all of that done while Rodger worked with Josef out in Leduc.

Hotel in Red Deer: First time in a hotel with the kids! Pool, waterslide, TV in bed, breakfast (cereal dispenser a big hit). Saw Sharon (Grier) Adams and family for dinner! Hadn't seen her for 20 years.

Royal Tyrell Museum: Awesome!! Very impressed, what a fantastic place. Spent several hours wandering the museum.

Medicine Hat: 2 horses boarded on my parents' land, Mom and I went to Mook's fabric store one morning, while the rest did the daily trek to Redcliff. Played Scrabble, checked out Mom's luppies, ate ice cream at DQ (we had to do it, it's tradition), rode on the Quad, went to church, visited with Irene & Mike.


Kimberley: Awesome food and coffee, train ride tour of the Sullivan Mine, movie day, Scrabble, just hanging out.

West Kelowna: day with my sister, wine-touring, quilt shopping, burger eating. The kids went to the beach that afternoon.

And then we were home!! Lots of long days of driving but the kids did great!

We came home to a very dusty, stale house, from having our sky-lights finished. It'll take days to clean everything up and reorganize our house. Not the best way to come home but we were all very happy to be back!

Camping at Lake Cowichan

Digital scrapbook personalized with Smilebox

What we've been up to these days

Free scrapbook design created with Smilebox

Value Village and Royalty in one day

Thursday I spent a lovely evening with my dear friend Melissa at our most favourite store... Value Village, or the VV Boutique (sounds better.) I had a "30% off everything card" which needed to be used by the end of April, so we just managed to squeak in a date before it expired. I loaded up the cart 'til overflowing and we headed to the change rooms. Melissa didn't end up with anything but I managed to spend a good chunk of money, as always! :-) But for 30% off, how can you go wrong?? I am still kicking myself for not buying a couple more things that I was waffling about... seriously, who waffles about a $6 dressy top?? Me. I can be so cheap sometimes. Anyway, I was happy with my purchases: 2 pairs of longer-style shorts, 1 pair capris, 1 unlined summer jacket and 1 lined black jacket, which I hope is at least water-resistant (my "score!" purchase). Total $41.56. So happy!

Now I think I am set for the Spring and hopefully Summer too... using mostly hand-me-downs and Thrift Store/Consignment store purchases. I also bought a few new items from an actual store as well! :-) I am also counting on the fact that I will have lost a teeny bit more in the next couple of months in order to wear my shorts from last year. I can do it. I am happy with my wardrobe right now, which I haven't been able to say for a very long time.

After VV Boutique we went to White Spot, sterilizing our hands before we sat down to share some yummy zoo sticks and chicken fingers. What a fun evening.

That night I couldn't sleep if my life depended on it. It happens fairly regularly but this time I was annoyed because I was really tired. at 12:30 am I finally decided to get up and hang out on the couch... then I suddenly realized that it was the Royal Wedding "day"! Lucky me, I had something interesting to watch and suddenly I wasn't tired at all. So for the first time in a decade (at least) I pulled an all-nighter and watched Prince William marry his Princess. What a lovely wedding. Kate looked gorgeous and William was dashing in his uniform. And all those gorgeous hats - what a sight! It was fun to be a part the day in a small way, and to see the unbelievably huge crowd that had gathered for days beforehand to catch a glimpse (if they were lucky) of the royal couple. A truly magical fairy tale wedding.

Friday was a long day, considering I hadn't slept. But i made it through and went to bed very early. I think I actually slept quite well and I'm feeling slighly refreshed this morning. The sunshine helps too!! (Don't get me started about the crappy weather we've been having!! Seriously!) Today I plan to exercise with the kids in the yard before my morning shower, then clean up the house a bit before taking Cameron to a birthday party down the road. During the party I will go into Sidney and try to scrounge together a few gifts for Ruby's birthday next Friday. I hope I can get what I need in town, because I don't want to have to drive into Victoria on one of my evenings next week. Buddies Toys, don't let me down!

Hats

I am wearing too many hats these days... something's gotta give. Well, some things have gone already, but I want those things back. Which is why I need to get rid of some hats. But I'm not sure how, or when.

Obviously I have to keep the mom hat. It's attached to my head permanently with some crazy=glue... like toupee type glue. (Do people actually use glue on their scalps to keep those rugs on?? Mmmm... I'll have to google that sometime. Or ask a certain family member, after I've had too much wine.)

But I have all these other random hats which I keep wearing on occasion, but do I really like those hats anymore? Did my head outgrow them, did my style change or did the hat just become too big and bulky?

I've worn the Stampin' Up hat for 6 years now... happy anniversary to me! And I've had so much fun with it and met some awesome people through that little venture. But these days I don't seem to have much time to enjoy that hat... no motivation to scrapbook or "play" with my stuff. Should I let that hat go??

Then there's a relatively new hat which smells of Epicure spices. Mmmm... I love food. And I love this new venture! I went to an Epicure meeting a few weeks ago and was awarded with top sales for February and March in our Unit. Kind of comical really... doesn't say much for the other consultants! But who cares, I got a nifty pen and a certificate! :-)

My brand new hat is a working hat. I've been doing some work for Rodger for the past month, and it's been interesting so far. It's flexible, I can work for an hour here and there and mostly it's been working out okay. But it's difficult with Ruby around, so she ends up watching TV more than usual. Not tons, but more than normal. She doesn't mind, but I do. I like the prospect of making a bit of money for myself (well, it will actually go into the financial abyss of "the pot") but it's just another thing that's crowding up my brain these days. Another thing to think about. Augh.

And then there's the big, floppy, heavy Sunday School hat. This is the hat that I am hoping to toss away by the end of June. I've had this hat on 24/7 for 3 years and I've had enough. I'm so tired of my hat-head. But I can't just throw away the hat, I need to give it to someone... who will that be? Only God knows. And He better come through soon so I can stop stressing about it.

Of course there are other hats that I wear. And right now, it's too many. But I'm hoping that with some Spring cleaning of hats, I will have time to do the things that I've missed doing... I need therapy soon!!! And by therapy, I mean putting on a funky, creative hat and doing some serious scrapbooking... or quilting... or cardmaking... or even painting again. Sigh.. that sounds awesome!

That's so random!

When I was thinking of my "random thoughts" today, it reminded me of the other day when I was chatting with a teenager at church. I don't even recall what we were talking about but at one point he said (like many kids these days) "Dude, that's so random!!"

So anyway, where was I?? Oh yeah... random ramblings. In no particular order:

I have now eaten all of the junk food in the pantry... and we're talking 2 big family-sized bags of Cheetos and 1 Costco-sized bag of Veggie Straw thingys. I did share some of these treats, but mostly I just inhaled them myself over the span of 2 weeks. Now that they can no longer call to me in the middle of the night, I felt it was time to get out my healthy cookbooks and do some serious menu/snack planning.

I put in my first couple of hours as a newly hired employee of Enefen. Direct Supervisor: Rodger Talstra. Yup, can't believe it either. Rodger and Joseph needed some help with filing/organizing of projects as they are starting to come in more regularly. I don't know how many hours they need me for, but Rodger mentioned it may be about 10 hours per week to start. Not sure how I will manage with Ruby around but I'm going to give it a try and see how it goes! Day 1: success.

I made 3 loaves of bread today, and managed to keep my grubby paws off the warm, yummy bread.

Sorted through an Epicure orde4r that arrived today. Have I mentioned how much I love getting parcels?? So fun.

(written way too long ago to remember any more random thoughts... so I'll hit POST and forget about it!!)