Thankful Thursday

this week i am thankful for:

-camping with friends who love our kids (and our kids lu-urve!)

-watching my uber-cautious daughter becoming more brave than i was at her age

-s'mores and this girl (even when she wakes up at 4:45 am!!)

-this dad and his small girls

-sunny summer days and sunsuits

-early morning time spent with Isla and in the Word

-love this girl so so much!!

today we also had a goodbye party for my friend Kerry.

she is a lovely co-worker/co-nurse of mine who initially replaced me on my first mat-leave.

she is moving to the states in a few weeks and we are all very sad.

i am so thankful to know her and to have worked with her.

i am also thankful that we were able to bless her with a lovely surprise present.

a little Pandora bracelet with some meaningful charms.

it has been a lovely week indeed.

and i am super thankful to be off to the spa with my girl Becky tomorrow!

woop!

Thankful Thursday

This week I'm thankful for:

-being back at blogging :)

-Isla attending a morning of Junior Kindergarten (how did that happen?!?!)

-voting with these ladies

-these lovely Toms from a thrift store! Holla!

-morning runs in sunshine

-and cutie cute tiny boots

Thankful Thursday

this week:

-watching Isla fall in love with puzzles!! girl after my own heart!

{all by herself!}

-having my mom visit this past weekend

-talking to Auntie Rozzy on speakerphone and having Megan shouting "HI! HI! HI! HI! HI!"

       (we love our Auntie Rozzy!)

-family day pyjama day dance parties!

-my job

-having my lovely friend and co-worker Becky babysit last night... and i totally forgot to leave any kind of putting Isla to bed instructions... whoops! she feels like such an old friend that somehow i just assumed she knew the bedtime routine... even though it was her first time at our house! Sorry Becky!

-date night that turned into free meal date night because they forgot our order in the kitchen! i have no problem spending an hour chatting with my husband and get a free meal for it!!!

Thankful Thursday

this week I am thankful for:

-these lovely lasses. sigh.

-a 30th Birthday weekend away (for my bestie!) with 6 ladies and a baby: 

time to sleep in, eat good food, laugh, shop and reconnect

-Olympics!!!! Yay!!

-My mom coming in on the train today

-Isla. Here are some things she has said this week:

           "look, my breathing is dusty"  (in the cold)

           "Mommy? When I'm a woman, can I drive your car?"

           "You know everything don't you?" (to her Gramma Kiki)

           "Uncle Ryan is silly, huh?... And Uncle Noah... And Mike"

           "You came back!" (to me after I was away for the weekend)

         

it's a new year!

wow.

2013.

it's funny to watch old tv sitcoms from the 80's where they think that by this time we will have hover-cars and robot butlers and all kinds of crazy "futuristic" things.

not so much!

i've been working out a small list of resolutions in my head, mostly i like to pick fairly achievable ones as i like to cross things off my lists :)

so in no particular order, here are some:

1-to finally stop biting my nails for good -- disgusting habit, even more so when you are a nurse. blech.
2-to go outside with the girls in the winter! -- this is tricky for me, i don't like being cold and it seems like a tremendous amount of work to bundle up 2 littles when i don't want to be outside in the first place!
3-to get back into cloth diapering -- i was a cloth fiend with Isla, and i had a pretty decent start with Megan, but kind of fell off for awhile (mostly they get cleaned and then live on top of the dryer for weeks at a time!)
4-to sew some things -- really i just want to sew, anything at all.
5-to read 40 books this year -- as mentioned here.


so, those are a few of my resolutions... do able, but i also know that i have to be intentional about them all.

i like that.

oh jimmy.

when Isla was still just super tiny,
and we were doing the whole nursing every few hours on the couch kind of thing,
i would watch Late Night with Jimmy Fallon which played the next day at a very reasonable time on E!

for some reason they took Jimmy out of the daily schedule at some point during that year :(

but oh how i laughed and laughed while watching that show.

Jimmy is your best friend.

on the road again...

er, in the sky again?

on sunday afternoon,

Isla and i flew from Ottawa to Toronto

we're staying with my mom while Thom is doing another week of training.

expect a post later this week about thoughts on how amazing single parents are!!

here is Isla in the Porter lounge in Ottawa, waiting for our flight.

she is staring at a little boy who keeps trying to steal her straw cup.

and she is enjoying a little chocolate chip cookie.

Porter is fancy.

Isla was a trooper, she's flown a few times,

but she doesn't really like being held in the 'burping position' for take off and landing,

she was pretty clear on that one.

too bad, so sad miss Isla!

Porter was having a 50% off ticket sale, and since Isla still flies free,

it was about $200 including taxes. 

Not bad when you think about a 6 hour drive by yourself with a 15 month old.

yikes!

*does anybody else love that the Ottawa airport code is YOW?

                                                                  i always think, "YOW!" when i see it*

Day 30: three wonderful things that happened this month

#1

Isla girl turned 1!
one whole year has gone by since that we girl came into our lives.
this was a momentous occasion!

don't judge me because my daughter is eating a giant cupcake.

#2

i went back to work and it's been pretty great actually.

Isla transitioned amazingly, i transitioned mostly amazingly
-with a little tiredness thrown in, and of course, missing out on chilling with Isla all day.

#3

i discovered that i can indeed keep blogging while being back at work full time!

if i can keep up doing a blog post every day (i wasn't even late once!),

i can certainly go back to doing a few posts a week :)

Day 25: the contents of my purse

Day 23: eight things you didn't know about me

i found this to  be a fairly random list since i am usually pretty open and honest.

i don't have a lot of secrets.

but, without further ado, here is the list:

1. i have a blood clotting disorder called Factor V Leiden.  basically it means that my blood can forget to stop clotting once it has started.  so after having Isla, i had to give myself injections of Fragmin in my stomach. not fun.
2. i secretly love 'Keeping up with the Kardashians'.  this is a terrible indulgence of mine.  i used to love 'The Hills' when it was still on tv.  i must have a need to have a really over the top, ridiculous reality show in my life at all times.
3. while i was pregnant i didn't have a lot of cravings, but i did weirdly crave pop music.  i rarely listen to the radio in the car, but while i was prego i pretty much was hitting the scan button just hoping to hear some Ke$ha, or Britney or Lady Gaga (and may i point out that i never listened to these ladies before!)
4. i pierced my own nose. twice.  yup, one summer at camp i decided i wanted a pierced nose and i found a cork and a needle and away i went.  then i took it out and apparently the next summer wanted one again, so another needle into the nose it was.
5. in grade 12 i shaved my head.  it was something i always wanted to do. my youth pastor Rob did it. i loved it so much and kept it shorn for about 8 months, but my mom said that she would not pay for my Grad dress if i kept it shaved. (seems weird that a girl with a shaved head would care, but oh how i loved my grad dress!!)
6. i do not have a strong desire to travel the world. it always seems to me that most people want to travel all over the place, but i have always felt like i would like to see a bit more of Canada or the some parts of the UK, but other than that... meh.  even in high school i didn't have the travel Europe bug or anything.
7. i used to be a journaling fiend.  I have milk crates filled with journals from grade 11 to about 3rd year university. i'm not sure how or when i stopped journaling regularly, but for some reason it seemed to slow down. i still have a journal that i take notes in on Sunday morning, or write some prayers or scriptures in, but not my day to day business.
8. i have a guitar that i don't really know how to play. i got it for Christmas in grade 10 and i never had any lessons. i taught myself a few songs, but never really stuck with it. but it still goes with me every time i move!

Day 20: a childhood anecdote

this is a kind of silly, kind of sad little tale.

it's a reminder that kids don't always listen and often they think that they know best.

i will remind myself of this story when Isla is growing and getting into more things!

when i was about 7 or 8 years old

i remember that we often had pie at our chalet.

my favourite was (and still is!) lemon meringue.

mmmmmmmm!

we were having pie for desert and i was pretty confident i could get it out of the fridge.

my dad told me to leave it.

multiple times.

i was still so confident,

so into the fridge i went,

the pie, in it's little silver pie tin slid out,

and

promptly folded right in half and fell on the floor.

as you can imagine my dad was not happy, 

-nor was anyone else who was expecting to enjoy that pie, i'm sure!-

funny how we carry some of these stories with us isn't it?

such a non-significant event,

but so vivid in my mind.

Day 19: a silly self portrait

is this silly enough?

Day 18: what i wore today

so, this is what i wear most days now that i am back at work.

usually i have a stethoscope around my neck and my hair in a pony-tail, but you get the idea

(i left my stethoscope at work and my pony-tail was hurting my head today)

these days, when i get home, i usually put on some stretchy kind of pant with a hoodie-glamorous, i know!

so i basically go from almost pyjamas to lounge wear.

a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

let me tell you, the nights i go out later make me sad...

get out of my comfy clothes?

what?

*sorry if you were expecting a real life version of this post! (maybe sometime in December)

Day 14: a favourite movie

a long time favourite movie of mine is Babe.

i love those talking animals,
i love that wee Babe's heart,

i love the irrational duck Ferdinand ("Christmas means carnage!")

i love that Farmer Hogget is humble and loves simply,

and don't get me started on those singing mice!

it may be a children's tale but it always makes me feel nice and content and refreshed.

it is a simple story, and i love it.

Day 11: something i've been craving

oh man.

if you know me, and you've been around me at all near Christmas, you know that live off of occasionally like to indulge in President's Choice Candy Cane Ice Cream.

I definitely had been scanning the ice cream cooler at Loblaws and Superstore 

(and to be honest, the Independent as well-a little desperate? it has been 10 months!)

but nothing.

then.

on thursday.

we got our flyers, and included was the President's Choice insiders report.

it was all christmas, and lo and behold there was my ice cream!

woot!!

i've been on a pretty good no dairy (minimal dairy?) kick since June (lost 15 lbs btw-apparently i like cheese)

but i will give in for this. 

seriously, i wait all year for it.

i know that a lot of people don't like the bits of candy cane, but oh i do.

i finally found it and bought one little tub (such restraint, i know!)

and i've even only had one little bowl.

i can hear it calling to me.

have i mentioned...

that we're moving?

I don't think that I have.

But we are...

On Saturday.

Sorry for the late notice.  :)

In September, we were hanging out with our friends Mike and Kristen.

While we were taking a tour of their newly renovated bathrooms, we went into the basement where they have had students living with the before.

Pretty much as a joke Kristen and I said that it would be awesome if we moved in.

Ha ha.

Ha?

So, after talking to Mike she said, "no really, you should move in"

Which is funny, because we had just been praying for a way to pay off our debt really fast. 

And this happened the next week.

We hummed and hawed about it a little bit.  

It will be a total of 4 adults and 4 kids living under one roof with one kitchen...

But then we decided to go for it!

What a blessing.

But as you can imagine, in the meantime around here, there have been piles of boxes, piles of what to keep out, what to store, and what to finally get rid of already(!), piling up in our apartment.

But we are super excited.

It's a good reason to go through things and decide:

-do we really need this?

-when was the last time we used this?

-do you think this bleach stained towel with holes in it is really worth keeping?

Since it will be for about 6 months to a year, it has also been tricky deciding what to put away in storage for that time. We don't need any of our kitchen stuff and we won't have space for all my nick-knacks.

So, books are in boxes, magazines are in boxes, crafts are in boxes.

And all I can think about is how excited I will be when I get to open it all in a year!

Just like Christmas!!

i am so in love with this!

oh my gosh.

a couple of summers ago i bought a dollhouse from a garage sale.

it was in pieces (ahem, it is in pieces)

but i had a vision for a lovely dollhouse for my someday, maybe daughter

(or to be perfectly honest, if i didn't have a daughter it could be for me!)

it looks huge, i paid $15 dollars for it.

it currently resides in the basement of some friends (remember, still in pieces)

the lady who sold it to me said she bought it to make for her daughters... uh oh.

but a few weeks ago, Nicole wrote about a big doll house project called the

it actually was started by Emily Henderson, from HGTV's 'Secrets from a Stylist' 

(you can find her blog and the original post here)

essentially it is a dollhouse decorating challenge.

i am in awe

i am enthralled

i am so excited whenever a new post comes along containing any dollhouse related details

i sure wish my dollhouse was able to come out now, but we don't currently really have the space

so i will live vicariously and plan....

 i guess i now have a dream house file and a dream dollhouse file!

blogiversary

the week at Young House Love, they are celebrating a 4 year blogiversary.  

suddenly I thought to myself, hey wait, how long have I had this ol' blog, and when is my exact blogiversary?

turns out it's this Friday!!

And it will have been seven years...

huh? wait? what?

that's right folks. SEVEN YEARS!

here is the first post ever.

a lot of people I knew were blogging, but it seemed that most people didn't make it past the first year.

in fact I recently had someone from that blogging bandwagon say to me: "wow, people still blog?"

um....

yes.

blogging for me started as a way to keep in touch with my saskatoon peeps.

now it is a fun therapeutic kind of thing.

where will blogging lead? we will have to wait and see.

so.

since this little ol' blog is turning seven, I thought that I would have a little giveaway.

so come back on Friday to enter a little contest for the big day!!

does anyone else ever find other people's grocery list's in their cart or basket?
Is anyone else as fascinated by them as I am?

here is one I found yesterday, word for word, on the back of a Scotia Bank envelope.

-milk
-lunch stuff (meat, bread/buns, snacks)
-pickles
-veggies
-cherries (if they're cheap)
-dry fruit for snacks
-cookies ☺

and yes, there was a little happy face beside cookies.
love it!