TANGIBLE

Going in..

 

Morgan goes to an amazing school with some one- of- a- kind programming. They've been voted one of Canada's best schools five years running and are frequently written about in Parents magazine. We are so fortunate that we received some excellent advice, while the boy was still in Elementary School, advice that made us look farther than the school system we were in at the time and find a Junior High that has been perfect for him.

Sure they seem to validate his need to blow shit up occasionally with guests who put on demonstrations involving large explosions...and they occasionally seem to employ the odd crazy person...

....but the point is he is excelling and is interested in going to school each and every day.

Yesterday was Parent-Teacher interviews. Just one more thing I love at his school. They do 3 interim reports with a Parent-Teacher interview after each report and then a month later is the actual report card. Genius. Nip it in the bud while there is time to make change. LOVE IT. I also really really love the opportunity to talk to the people who see the boy wonder in action. I know what his marks are. I see the work he brings home when he brings anything home..but is he a "playah.."? Who is his girlfriend? Sooner or later someone slips up. This year it was the English teacher without the aid of any bright interrogation lights telling me him and "Lauren" make a nice couple....(insert double take here).

But I am getting ahead of myself..

So we arrived at the school with appointments to speak to the 3 teachers that were new to me this year. It involved the traditional locker stop. The one were I usually find all the things that disappeared mysteriously from the house. The BBQ tongs, my flip flops and of course more candy wrappers than anyone would ever see in a single lifetime.

No wrappers, no missing tongs and most importantly...NO BOOKS...

Waste of a Pillow

Last night I had a horrible case of insomnia. I don't know if having one sleepless night counts as an actual case, but I literally could not keep my eyes shut. After laying in bed for nearly 2 hours I got up, made a cup of tea and surfed the Internet until 6 am. At that point I was finally able to say good morning to the kids and then finally go to bed where I managed nearly 4 hours of uninterrupted shut eye.

In the wee hours between midnight at 6 am I managed to play hours and hours of Bejewelled, read more blogs than I can count do and some online Christmas shopping.  It was all good cause I rediscovered some sites I had book marked ages ago.

Enjoy.

Go to How about Orange and learn to make your own gift bows out of recycled materials.

How about some real Pop Art? Check out The Craft Junkie and how she uses actual pop cans to make coolio jewelry and canvas art.

 

Check out the Pantone 2010 color forecast at Apartment Therapy. Great way to plan your wardrobe shopping...

On the retro food front. Check out A Year of Slow Cooking. If you love your Crock pot and if you know me..you know I am am blissed out on those days I have it together enough to put dinner together before I leave for work..Very cool and smells good too.

Ok...and if you really happen to have alot of time on your hands and a spare gourd or two...

 

Yup..this is Yoda..

It came through like a Hurricane..

The scene in the kitchen mid afternoon Saturday. A whole bunch of "works in progress". No worries. No one died and all the Pioneer Women recipes worked out fabulously. I think the best part about her recipes on her blog is her pictures of the recipes. You can actually see the consistency of a batter and compare it to yours. It really gives you a feeling of whether you are on the right track or not.

One thing this weekend that I learned....

I will always from here on out put some kind of alcohol in my whipping cream....OMG SO GOOD!!

Saturday turned out to be a truly, one of a kind, seldom seen good day. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between all our house inhabitants to keep focused on the big prize. For me, the prize was a shower at the end of my cooking day.

For him...

It was getting that little piece of paper he is holding. His "Learners Licence". How quickly time has gone by. How he ever got to this stage of growing up I will never know. I mean, I've done absolutely everything I can think of to stunt this kids growth and he seems to manage to shake off all the coffee grounds and forge ahead. Whether I am ready or not.

Welcome to my new life sitting in the passenger seat.

Remember kid....I still get to control the radio....

Let the cooking begin!

I can always tell when I am officially over some illness by the need I feel to get back into the kitchen. When I am sick; toast, soup and the occasional scrambled egg is about all I have energy for. The kids are the ones who really suffer..or do they..hmm. If my parents were part of the meat and potato generation, I am of the soup and sandwich. Home made soups are made bi weekly and my veggie sandwich with avocado is well...legendary. The kids and I could live off those sandwiches for the rest of our lives.

So good.

Today I walked through Safeway and knew in an instant I was over being sick. All I could see were cooking possibilities. Totally random things hit the basket and we all know it doesn't help one flying fig that I was hungry too boot. Safeway annoys me though. Finding canned pumpkin annoyed me..One till open at 9 am annoyed me. (Diane would tell you I was cranky when I left work.) I really like Wal Mart Super Center for  groceries and the selection. You can hiss and boo me all you want but I bet I could of found at least 6 varieties of canned pumpkin there..sigh.

Once home from my short work day and grocery stop, all I could obsess about was the 40+ tomatoes I had in a bowl on my counter. Tomatoes from our plants that were pulled a week ago before the snow hit. Even more tomatoes were discovered in the veggie crisper. Red, yellow, purple and in all shapes and sizes all courtesy of patient with a massive green thumb. So out came my big stock pot and they were all introduced to some garlic, onions, celery and assorted good smelling spices.

Nothing and I do mean nothing makes my family happier than as they walk down the blocks toward our house and the cooking smells get stronger and stronger the closer they get to home. You would think they never get fed by the reaction when they finally open the front door.

Today was a happy day for them. Morgan correctly identified the smell as tomato sauce and started making dinner requests. A portion of red sauce was very efficiently turned into pizza sauce. Dough was made, toppings sliced and Friday night pizza night was reborn.

The results were amazing and now we have left overs for lunch tomorrow. I plan to be cooking most of the weekend as I am feeling inspired by Pioneer Women. Pumpkin Cake with Whiskey Whipped Cream and  Fresh Corn with Wild rice are on the agenda along with, by request, Stuffin Muffins. Not to mention I am hoping to gift a special Italian with some goodies.

If you have a special to die for- OMG Laurie has got to try this recipe!! I would so love to hear about it as I am totally in the zone!

Happy Cooking!

Day Something or other..

On Day 6 of a killer headache that rates on the Richter scale at a class 7. About every 2 days it crosses the headache fault line and  goes into Migraine mock 10. I've been adjusted so many times I think I'm now 5' 4". Massaged until tears and many many profanities have been uttered. Have now resorted to coffee and chocolate.

...ideas anyone? Keep in mind I can't take my old med's and I hate the dude who does acupuncture at our clinic.

Maybe my mother needs to come and take care of me....just  a thought.

This is hurting...going now...

October

I love October. Really, I love fall in general. It is when I miss living out in the country the most. The crunch of leaves under a horses feet and the smell of the frost in the morning. Seriously though it is about all I miss about living in the backwoods of Edmonton, it's a nice place to visit though...

Today my goals were very very simple. To get dressed at some point and go outside before I miss fall completely. With my luck winter will be here by Sunday and I will not have seen hide nor hair of my favourite season. It was 4pm ish and I finally dragged my ass off the couch and put on some pants...and a bra, and took Lola outside of a walk. Couple of hours later we did it all over again. It was good. Even better, the fresh air did not try and shut down my lungs...

But that was all I did. In fact today's supper was scrambled eggs {oriental style with soy and bean sprouts mixed in} and a sliced tomato...and then I went back to my puppy, my blanket and the couch.

Tomorrow I plan to be even more goal oriented and have a shower!

Nothing to See Here.

Monday I sneezed like 40 times. I knew I was getting sick. Even had an adjustment to try and ward it off...no go. Tuesday woke up with a wicked sore throat and the start of a head full of cotton. Crap. Still had to go in though for 6:30 am to open the office. Would you like to be called at 5:30 and asked to sub in? ugh..couldn't do it to my fellow work mate. When she came in though at 7:30 am the boss man and her had already conferred and I was hustled right out of the office.

WOW..

Never have I worked in a place where you are told to go home when you are sick. No one making you justify how sick you are. In fact they pretty much just took one look at me and said "get out"..but in a nice way of course.. Very cool. Thank you.

So yesterday I came home after a quick stop at Safeway to pick up orange juice and Kleenex. Home by 8 am back in bed by 9...

Today I called into work and was very nicely told to stay away until next week.

I was so unbelievably busy today.

6am - Woke with the alarm at . Made sure I laid my eyes on the little's. Confirmed that Sarah was wearing something appropriate and that Morgan had on clean underwear. Waved goodbye.

7am - Lola and I went back to bed.

10:30 - Stuffy head made more sleep impossible.

10:30 - present...laid on couch, surfed Internet all while still in Pj's...

Soon I will have a nap and then perhaps do some internet shopping...good times...

And your day?

After work today I put on my trusty tube dress and let the last rays of the day beat down on me.

It was good.

A few words about my love of tube dresses. I have 2 of them. This one I am wearing is a $14 WalMart find. I love it. It totally makes me think a blind Ukrainiane made this out of assorted table cloths and old curtains...not  in the sweat shop it was more than likely mass produced in...but I digress...back to my few words...

A tube dress does not require the wearing of a bra.

Break it down...

So Dwayne came home unexpectedly this weekend. Not that I was "caught" doing something illicit and lurid...but I had made plans. Sucks to be us. Friday I had to work but I had him into the clinic to get adjusted and then treated him to a massage for his anniversary present. oh..and about a $100 dollars worth of vitamins. Yup.. I give great gifts.....

Then we went shopping for me but found clothes for him..I'm not bitter.

Saturday I was here.

Sitting in a room with a bunch of health happy Chiropractors and their assistants. For 4 hours they talked about connecting with their intentions, their patients and each other. It was exhausting. So much connecting.

When it was over I went home, picked up the troops and we went for our early anniversary dinner at the Sicilian Pasta Kitchen.

Look at us old people. 19 years married 21 years together. I really was a child bride...

Monday was the official day. I made chicken and rice and thought of him all the way up there in Fort Mac eating something fried with gravy. Later we bonded over the phone and the events of the day.

 

enter

 

EVENTS OF THE DAY

8am - took Sarah for her EEG. No big thing but it did mean an early morning at the hospital with a fair bit of the usual sit and wait.

11am- Sarah arrives back at school and I head to work for a meeting.

12:55pm - message on cell from Morgan's school telling me to call them as he has gotten into a "bit of trouble"

1:55pm- I decide just to show up at the school in person instead of calling.

I should have just called..

Apparently while walking in the hallways at lunch time, my boy had moment where he temporarily lost his senses. Not knowing the Principal was walking directly behind him, he stomped on one of those unopened packages of cheese spread and crackers that was on the floor, left by someone else. A small but cheesy explosion was the result. Principal was not impressed. Rightly so.

but

Then he apologized and cleaned up the mess.

OK ALREADY! It was a stupid move. We all get it. But you called me about stomping on some cheese and crackers??? OMG!

Apparently the Principal wasn't finished with him. After cleaning up he had to apologize to like 6 staff members all while missing class. THEN he had to stay for detention after school, and had to write a letter of apology to the custodial staff.

one more time...

HE MADE A MESS!!! HE DID NOT LIE, CHEAT OR STEAL TO GET THOSE CRACKERS...NO ONE WAS INJURED IN THE CHEESE AND MOST OF ALL NO ONE BUT HIM HAD TO CLEAN IT UP.

Can we all say...OVER KILL???

I think I get an Anniversary do over...

Shine Yellow~

Oh my! it is so freakin nice outside right now. According to the fine fine folks at the weather network it is about 26 degrees. Feels like 30+ in the sun though. Lola is out there basking in a ray, chin up and everything is all a glow. It is a wonder she doesn't go blind looking directly at the sun like that. Wonder what the heck she is looking at...hmmmmm

Makes me think of these two HomeSense finds I got for my eco baby's room.

I know. I know. I could have painted them myself...but I didn't and Sarah loves them anyway.

Small panic getting to work this am. I thought I had lost my keys. The keys to the kingdom so to speak. They open all the doors to the clinic, the supplements locker, the float....ugh...Luckily Dr. Rick had gotten to the clinic before me and I fluffed my way through all the other stuff until one of the other girls came in to save me. Came home at 11 and found them in about 2 minutes flat. I must not have turned the lights on this morning when I was looking as they were practically right in front of me. Made me feel incredible incompetent this morning but now I know they don't have to change all the locks just because of me...sigh..

Yesterday was a nice day in the studio. Nadia and Joey came to spend much of the day with me.

Joey is a doll. A big fluffy, always moving (blurry pic), white sweetheart that brings a smile to my friends face. Lola spent most of the day just watching him move from place to place touching and smelling her things. She did pretty well in the sharing department as he seemed only interested in things not ball related. But man...if he had dared to touch one of her balls...it would have been a different story.

I managed to finish this painting that I had started about 2-3 months ago. Feels like forever now but I think the message still rings true to me as it did the day I saw it written on the  swimming pool dry erase board. I love the colors and am really thinking of painting one of my kitchen walls the celery green that is in this painting. Weird to be at a point when I actually want to put my own stuff on my own walls but the last 3 things I painted were really just for me. I like that.

Perfect for the impatient person that I am. I want it hanging where I live to remind me to not to forget to breath and just keep on going. I tell myself constantly not to  give up and keep making those small changes that will all add up to a life that will shine so bright.