Yoga, bread making, nature walks, some rainbows and more yoga!

So this morning we started our day with some Yoga. Jessie was very insistent that we all do some first thing this morning and I really appreciate her insistence actually. We did some Sun Salutations, Downward Facing Dogs and various other poses. It felt lovely to start the day in such a way. Next she and Jack got everything out to make Bread Sticks. We have a great recipe from an awesome online friend and it's really quick and easy. The kiddoes got all the stuff out and with only minimal assistance from me, made the dough. I showed them both how to knead it and roll it out









and we had Jack use a pizza cutter to cut his strips.



They both did a lovely job. Jack had made something of a lattice pattern with his bread so I simply advised him what was going to happen as they cooked and he thought maybe separating them would be a good idea. I was happy to let it be either way ( it's only flour, folks! ) so that he would see the results, but he chose to make them the old fashioned way! ;D It was so lovely watching them both work so very carefully and Jack was doing his absolute best to follow my instructions! Bless 'em!











Whilst we were waiting for the bread to bake Jessie went a little rainbow crazy ...












Finally the bread was ready!

Safety first...!!







After our bread making and bread breaking we decided to go out for a Nature Walk! We thought it would be fun to try and incorporate all 5 of our senses on our walk and so we "tasted" the fresh air by sucking as much as possible into our lungs! We touched ice,



we listened to the birds, we smelled the earth and the wet ground and of course we looked around us for signs of warmer weather including noticing the geese flying high above on their way to the lakes! We also found a couple of new senses including balance



fun,



adventure and humor!




All good ones!! ;D


After dinner Jessie wanted another Yoga session so we tried several new poses and limbered ourselves up before bed. It must have done the trick as Jessie was fast asleep before I even got Jack into bed. He didn't take long either ... this meditation and relaxation business works like a charm! ;D


















We did a bunch of other little things today too including cutting out the fabric for one of those "Sweetie Birds" from the website I shared yesterday.







It's going to be so pretty I really excited to sew it together! For now though, I'm worn out. I can't wait to go to my cozy bed!! G'night all! ; D

Trying to take things slowly, spending hours shopping, the check is in the mail and felting eggs!

I found a lovely website through facebook the other day, and this little project really appealed to me! I talked to Jessie this morning about trying to be more mindful of our days and the way we spend our time and she totally jumped on board with it. We decided to slow things down, stop with the TV and computer and just be more connected. Well the first thing we did was to go shopping!!! If we were going to make felt eggs, why, we needed to get some wooden ones first! ;D I also wanted to get a new quiche plate from Goodwill so I can gift it to some friends when I make them a quiche tomorrow! Anyhoo... we went to Goodwill, and to Micheal's and we spent hours upon hours browsing... but we still had a great time! After all the shopping and browsing I swung by Lisa's house to collect her check for the BRAN ride! Gotta say, those ain't no small checks... the sure add up!! ;D Anyway, picked up her check and dropped it at the post office so they are on their way!!! Fingers crossed we get a slot!! ;D

Finally we made it home and made some felt eggs. I've never done anything like this before but we gave it a good try and they turned out really well!! I did run them through the washer and dryer to be sure they turned out but I'm really excited by them and want to make a hundred more! I just need a source for wool roving and a felter's needle too!! ;D

Here are a few pics of our eggs... the idea is to fill them with little treats or signs of spring and hide them around the yard. I think they are lovely! I MAY try some needle felting on the big white one, though I've never done that before either! ;D




Jack LOVED the roving and kept rubbing it on his cheeks!! He also grabbed it and ran off with is screaming YOU USE THE RED ONE!!! Little monkey! ;D













( sorry, I'm rushing! Hubby wants to watch a movie with me! ;D Yah... all this talk of slowing down and now I'm rushing to watch TV!! Still have some room for growth there!??!! I DID do some meditation and yoga with the kids tonight and put them both to sleep!! That was pretty special! ; D....)

OK!! Ok!!! I'm coming!!! ;D.............




sheesh.

Sleeping in, catching up, hanging around and freaking out!

Today was a much slower day than of late!! ;D I slept in a little bit this morning though had to get some paperwork done before 8 so didn't sleep in as long as I'd have liked...!! ;D I got lots of work done, tidied the house a little bit and sorted the laundry. I had visions of stripping the beds, emptying the trash, washing the windows etc but happily all that passed without incident! ;D I did hear from two friends who both said they'd like to come over for an hour or two around one o'clock! How perfect is that!?! Two friends, two sets of kiddoes, both at the same time!! Yeahy!! I LOVE impromptu gatherings!!! ;D Jessie was over the moon and Jack was excited as always to see his buddies "Wiyl and Sarlotte" !! He hadn't seen Elayne and her boys for a long time so they had changed quite a bit. Jack really seemed to enjoy having them around too! ;D It was lovely for me to sit and chat for a while with a cuppa tea! I felt bad for not having any nibbles to speak of, but hey, maybe they'll come back for project day on Thursday and I'll have something yummy then! ;D

The kids and I spent the rest of the day hanging around the house. It's finally starting to warm up out there, the snow is melting, birds are flitting around and the sun was out today!! ;D YEAHY!!! Soon it will be time for walks with the dogs and bike rides with Lisa...!! Speaking of which, once the mail came today I was in a real tizzy!!! Our BRAN registration forms have arrived !!! YIKES!!! I'm both excited and terrified at the same time!! I'll feel much better when I've been back on my bike for a while and can imagine riding 85 miles in one day. Right now, if I had to leave today, well, let's just say it wouldn't be pretty!! ;D I'll be much more excited when I'm back in the biking groove! ;D
Anyone got a spare bike they can lend me!?!? :D LOL!!!

Ok. So THIS is what "really tired" feels like!!!

Another busy day today! Went back to the farm for one last day ( well, almost!! I guess Rex is going back to help move the last of the cows tomorrow! ) and this time I cleaned the house from top to bottom!! ;D It was actually quite fun and very peaceful as it was literally just me! The kiddoes went with Rex to move furniture and cows and I just cleaned! Poor Laura, the owner of the farm, was mortified that I was cleaning it all for her and tried to convince me that she was "fine" and could get around "Much better now" since dislocating her knee on Friday. Yah. Right. Silly woman! ;D Anyway, I thought it would be really awesome if you knew you had a whole house to clean AND you had a bum knee AND you had a bunch of little kids, a new house to move into, a boat load of chickens, a heap of cattle, a lamb, a calf, a dog and a kitten and someone ELSE cleaned the house for ya !! ;D How cool would THAT be!?!?! :D I did work like a dog, but I wanted Laura to be really happy with the results! I hope she is! What I did notice though was no matter how much work I did do, I can only remember the things I didn't get done. I didn't get the walls painted, I didn't get the fridge cleaned out etc etc. Funny that.

Anyway, I'm going to drink a nice hot cuppa tea and go to bed. I've got a ton of work work to do first thing in the morning but then.. well, you never know, maybe I'll go back to bed when I'm done!!! Whooo hooo!! ;D

Just a quick one before I fall asleep!

LOL!!

Another day down on the farm!! This time moved another trailer load of furniture, some sheep, some cows and a donkey. One more day to go and then it should aaaaaaalll be done!!! Phew!! Farm life is exhausting!! ;P The children had a blast though... they got to play on the trampoline all day long.....

I love these pics of the kids bouncing soooo high!! Jack didn't dare stand up so the girls took it upon themselves to BOUNCE HIM as high as they could! ;D







This is a photo we took last night of me and the lamb! It looks like a happy little thing, doesn't it?!?! :D



Well we are all exhausted. The kids are sleeping, hubby is sleeping, if it wasn't for the cat playing marbles under the bed I'd still be sleeping in Jack's room with him!! Ugh!! Night night all! ;D

Getting things done around here is like herding chickens! ;D

Now I know what that expression really means!! ;D We had more fun on the farm today helping with the move and the last thing we did before leaving was to round up all the chickens into a trailer so we can move them in the morning! I've NEVER had to round chickens up before, not literally anyway!! It's quite fun really!! ;D I don't know how many chickens there actually were, but I know I'll be dreaming about them tonight!! ;D

We've had a long and busy day and we'll all sleep like rocks.... I already DID sleep like a rock whilst putting Jack to bed. I must have laid my head down and closed my eyes because suddenly an hour had passed and I had no feeling left in my legs!!! ;D

I'm going to bed now .... more tomorrow! ;D

G'night!!

The best laid plans, fun on the farm and blogging with a purpose.

Well!! Today was supposed to be unfinished project day.... and I suppose it turned out that way in the end, but it was supposed to be sitting at my house sipping tea and knitting!!! My usual suspects couldn't come today for one reason or another so I instead gathered up the kiddoes ( ok, two is hardly "gathering" ... maybe Puckering...!!) I PUCKERED up the kiddoes and we set off out to the house of some friends to help them pack up their farm so they could move out by Saturday!! They live faaaar away from us ( ok, about an hour or a bit less ) but they will be moving much closer, so that will be nice!! ;D Jack and Jessie LOVE going out to the farm... Jessie likes to play with the kids and the chickens, dog and cat.... Jack likes the big screen TV and the toys!! LOL!! The children were awesome and I got some exercise moving boxes to the garage! ;D We were there for a while and had a lovely time visiting as we worked! We'll be going back again tomorrow to do a bit more... I think they'll be moving the cows and chickens tomorrow too!! I'll stick to the boxes!! ;D It's so much easier to help someone else pack up and move than it is to do it yourself... I think it's just really overwhelming to look at your home and try to fathom out how on EARTH you are going to get it all in little boxes!! :D For outsiders it's just stuff and boxes... pack, carry, stack....pack, carry, stack!! Much easier!!!! Anyway, that's how we ended up spending the day!! Certainly not wasted that's for sure !;D

Finally I want to post a quick thread that I will be spending more time on soon. I'm not sure if you have heard of the Pearls?? Horrendous people who advocate such things as whipping babies and children until they are breathless to "Train them up" along with other unspeakable methods of parenting. Frankly it makes me sick just thinking about it. I've known about the practice for a while but have had my head in the sand as I couldn't bear to face that this was actually going on in today's modern society but recently a Californian child died following such "training". My fabulous friend Alicia posted about it all on her blog here. Read about it if you can bear to and please PLEASE pass this information along. We need to raise awareness of this sanctioned child abuse and make it stop. I intend to contact my local libaries, bookstores and churches and try to get the books withdrawn from the shelves. I feel it's the least I can do.

Oh My! Dear John!!

Lisa and I had a girl's night out tonight and went to see "Dear John"....!! Well!! Firstly I should explain that I really don't tend to like "romantic" movies...I'm usually about action or comedy... I think I just don't like to be vulnerable but there ya go. I happened to get a coupon for a free ticket to see Dear John from a DVD we bought recently and as I knew Lisa said she wanted to see it then I said we should go! Oh boy! I'm soooo glad we did!!! (Jessie, if you are reading this, stop now please.....)



(I mean it Jessie....!!!)





Oh my my....!!! Channing Tatum is just GORGEOUS in this movie!!! He spent faaaaar too little time with his shirt off but even when he was dressed in his army uniform.... wow. He is in SHAPE people!!!! I'm not even going to think about how YOUNG he probably is... I'm just not, but I WILL probably think about how goshdarn HOT the man is. Pheeeewwwweeeeeee!!!! It was hilarious in the cinema..... anytime there was any hint of sexuality, well, the entire audience held it's breath ( I should say "HER" breath, I didn't see one man in the place!! ) you could have heard a pin drop !!!!

Anyway!!!! Let me catch MY breath here......


****composes self****

I'm sure lots of other things happened today.... I imagine I did a little school with Jack.... if I recall correctly I played Taboo with the kiddoes whilst still in my pj's this morning and I'm pretty certain I painted something.... oh yes, a parrot....... but really..... who cares....!!!

LOOK AT THIS.....!!!


Sweet dreams folks! ;D

*****YAWN!!!********

Oh my!! I had big plans for tonight!!! Well, when I say big plans I don't mean "BIG PLANS" I meant, well, staying awake would have been one of them!!! ;D I fell asleep holding Jack's hand at the side of his bed... Jessie came and woke me up, I tucked her into bed, got my PJ's on and came and sat with Rex....aaaaaand fell asleep again. **SIGH**!!! THIS is my life people!! Living on the edge....of the couch!!! ;D

Today was one of those days where nothing much gets done yet I didn't find anytime to sit and vegetate either!!! If I'm not going to get anything done at least let me find the time for loafing around and reading a book or something!! ;D I did get to chat on the phone with a (VERY HYPER) "Old" Lisa who had clearly been at the coffee in the worst way!!! I've never heard her talk so fast!!! LOL!! It's lovely to catch up and chat with her once in a while though, I love how we can just start yapping like we only saw each other yesterday!! I also chatted for quite some time with "New" Lisa too!! I'm beginning to think that "Lisa" perhaps translates into "Is Really Easy To Talk To!!"

The kiddoes were their usual selves today! Jack turned over Daddy's chair this morning in an effort to make some sort of hideout I suppose! Jessie decided that she would like to learn to speak Greek...wowzah. We started her off on "Livemocha" but sheesh, it's a trick!! It's really hard to read! She had fun trying it out though! She practiced some more on the piano and is coming along nicely. I played a little guitar today and am working on my callouses! Jackster worked on some reading and letter writing this afternoon... he really enjoys it and I love that!! If he's really unhappy about something I can offer to "Do School" with him and he's always as happy as if I'd offered him a cookie!!! (Though if I gave him a choice I know the cookie would win, no doubt there!!! ) Perhaps the poor boy is just starved for my attention?? : ( OR he really likes to learn! Yes! That's it!! Later Jessie and Jack pretended to be Greek Gods and had mighty battles throughout the first floor. I banished them to the living room as their tearing about was making everything shake in the dining room! I'm not all that confident in our floors! Jack apparently had wing~ed feet which instead of making him fleet, made him jump up and down like a Jack Rabbit. A common occurrence in ancient Greece, I'm betting! ;D Apparently I am Hera, the "Calm Goddess of the Family"... **snort** !! I'm not sure there IS a goddess for "The one with the sarcastic mouth and quick temper" !!! Anyhoo.... I'm rambling!! I can't help laughing at the page I have beside me listing some of the Greek Gods.... here's one I'm amused by ...Hephaestus... The ill-favored god of Metallurgy !!!! LOL!!! Sucks to be him!! ;D However, I'm also intrigued by Dionysus.... the joyful god of the wine!! Well... who wouldn't be?!? :D
Anyway.. seems like this Lightning Thief book may well have opened some new worlds for Jessie to explore for a while.... looks like we'll all be having some ancient Greek fun in the next few weeks! ;D


**GASP!!** Wait!! I just re read the paper..... Hera is The MATURE Goddess of the Family.... Hestia is the CALM goddess of the Hearth!!!!! Ack!!! So not only does Jessie not think I'm calm, she ALSO thinks I'm OLD !!! LOVELY!!

I'm going to bed. What's the name of the Greek God of the eiderdown and feather pillow??!??! :D

Goodnight! ;D

Sometimes I blow MY mind!! ;D LOL!!

What an awesome day today!! ;D It started out innocently enough... not much going on, the kids were playing, Jack's plan appeared to be to wreck the place






and Jessie decided to try and play the piano (since we don't have a violin yet! ;D) so she worked on playing When You Wish Upon A Star! It's starting to sound really nice!! ;D **Is very proud!!**




I had a play with my guitar... I have a cunning plan to learn to play Time In A Bottle before Rex's birthday next month. Hah. I'm going to have to practice A LOT~~ There are a lot of chords in there that are preeeeetty tricky!! My fingers are sore already! Anyway, it will be worth it in the end! ;D ( oh and don't tell him, 'k?? sshhhh!!!)

Jessie and Jack worked on some more words for Jack today whilst I ran the dogs out for a quick walk. He LOVES doing those magnet letter words and his writing is really improving! Yeahy! ;D Jessie worked on a thank you note and then made some lovely art which she put on the window.... the setting sun made them luminous and they look BEAUTIFUL!!!









After Daddy came home the mood picked up even further! He was in great spirits and we were all just giddy with joy! I made a DELICIOUS dinner... just a simple pasta but I made a sauce that was fantastic (AND Vegan!!) I cooked up some zucchini ( Courgettes! ) and some red onion in some olive oil until they were browning. I added some salt and pepper and stirred them some more. Then I added some delicious sauce from a teeeeeny town near here, the hearty vegetable one I think it was. I stirred that up until it bubbled then added fake meat!! ( oh YUM I hear you cry!! LOL!!) Morningstar crumbles are really good as far as fake meat goes! I cooked THAT up and THEN added a great slooosh of port !!! Ah HAH!!!! yep. Port. Deeeeeefrickin'lickinlicious!!! Oh it was so good!!! EVERYONE loved it. I had TONS!! WAAAY more than I should have had and THEN I wiped my finger around the pan before I washed it !!!!!!! LOL!! I'm SOOOO gross!! ;D We washed down our dinner with just a liiittle wine and I had just a littttttle couple of glasses more.... yummy!! I'm going to get into this wine thing, I can just see it!!! ;D

Hmmm... just realising this post isn't very "parenty" is it??! LOL!!! Ah well!! If Mama ain't happy.... and all that!! ;D


Toodles yoodles! ;D

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

How we spent our Sunday....!

We worked a little on reading words from our cards, then finding the letters from the fridge magnets and then writing the words on to paper.....








We did a little art....!! This is "Daddy MAD!!" !!!



We watched some movies.....



Took naps....






Played in our rooms....



and headed to our cozy spots to read.......



Perfect!! How was YOUR day??? : D

Migraines in the morning, South Pacific in the evening, Migraines at Supper Time...!

Pah. Mummy and Jessie day started out with my waking up with a migraine. Damn Migraines. A pox on them all. I choked down two migraine pills and went back to bed for a while and woke up feeling much better. We decided to pass on the scented candle shopping though...a recipe for migraine headaches if ever I needed one. We left the house a little later than planned but Jessie was all showered and coiffed, fingernails painted, lovely outfit on, necklace chosen with care, purse filled with suitable Mummy and Jessie accoutrement...! Adorable! I asked her to help me pick out my outfit too and she helped me chose a necklace that would fit the bill nicely! ;D We set off via the gas station and sucked half of the money out of our bank account to fill the van! Then to music store to check out the Violins..!! Jessie is convinced she would like to learn to play so we looked into their rental program ....! We also tried out the banjo's, strummed the beautiful guitars and fiddled with the keys on the keyboards! After that, the library to drop off a book, then on to Hobby Lobby to browse the yarns and the crafts. From there, Michaels... More Yarn, more crafts!! After Michael's Barnes and Noble....!! Ahhhhh!!! We love the smell of the place!! I looked at crochet books and wine books and Jessie looked at all sorts of other books. I tried to show her how the Magic Eye books worked but my head was NOT going to let me fool around with that sort of thing and Jessie had no idea what I was talking about. Sad. She'd love them once she could SEE them! :D Anyway, from Barnes to Panera! Chicken Noodle and Hot Chocolate for the Beans, Black Bean soup and hot tea for me!! We sat and chatted as we ate and watched the snow start to really accumulate out the window! After we'd picked up some soup to take home to the boys we headed out to Super Saver to get some milk and also some apple pie and donuts. (shhhh!! Don't tell anybody about the junk we eat...!!!) We then started for home with Jessie reading her book along the way ( oh, she bought The Lightening Thief book... whatsisname and the Olympians...) The boys were pleased to see us when we got back and they gobbled up the soup immediately! ;D Rex put on South Pacific and we sat together and watched that, singing along with the songs! At intermission we ate apple pie and hot custard ( Rex and I ) and donuts for the kids. It was gooooood!! ;D Once the movie was over it was pretty much bed time. I took Jack up and gave him a quick bath and Jessie got herself ready. Jack went to sleep in no time flat and Jessie was almost asleep when I went in to say goodnight. She kept thanking me for a great Mummy and Jessie day....!!! I really LOVE spending the day with her, she's a delight.




Once the kids were sleeping I came back down and sat with Rex. We watched some real life murder thingy ( which I KNOW I have seen YEARS ago...) and I crocheted some more on a shawl I'm making. I noticed after a while that my head was pounding again and when the news came on and police lights were flashing on the screen, well, that was that. Another migraine, to round out the day!!! ARRGHH!! ;D Still... my wonderfully sumptuous and cozy cozy bed awaits.....

Goodnight, all.

Finally Friday!!

Well.....! Hmmmm..... I feel like I have spent the day poorly today! I can't seem to come up with anything I did that is worthy of note! I was cranky a lot of the day, grouchy for some of it and tired for the rest of it!!! ( Poor kids!!! ) I tried to do some school with Jessie ( MORE Set Notation ) and succeeded in making her cry... I'd asked her to "just do one page" whereupon she lay her head on the table and sobbed! I tsked at her and told her she "just needed to ask if she wanted help..." and I took a look at the questions......um....... then I phoned a friend!!! :D Luckily I have several smart friends and Lisa the Math Prof is just the one to call at times like these!! ;D She was very helpful and set Jessie and I back on the right track again!! Poor kiddoe!! I remember doing Set Notation when I was in school ( but never since, interestingly enough!!! ) Ah well! It's Mummy and Jessie Day tomorrow so hopefully that will make up for my tyrannical nature during the week?!! :D

Jack was a sweetheart at bedtime tonight. Jessie had accidentally smashed a glass in the bathroom sink and was upset about it. I was brushing her hair and she was teary due to the knots, the glass and the fact she was tired out! Jack thought I was abusing her head with the hairbrush so he asked if he could brush her hair instead! I let him have a turn and veeeery veeeeeery gently he brushed her hair saying quietly "It's ok... you can sing now..." !!! Bless him!! ;D

I put Jack to bed then went through to talk to Jessie... she wanted me to help her pick out an outfit for our day out! We picked something really smart! She'll look lovely! :D She kept telling me how excited she was and how she looked forward to this day more than she looked forward to Christmas!! Bless her! I hope she has a great time tomorrow! ;D

I'm going to get a reasonably early night I hope so I can keep up with her! ;D

G'night! ; D

Unfinished Project Day, Running for my life and Why Isn't The Mentalist On Tonight?!?! :D

Today was and is unfinished project day at the Baker house. Friends are encouraged to bring their children, their knitting, scrapbooking, sewing or craft project and work on it at our dining table whilst supplied with copious amounts of tea, good food and conversation! It's a winning combination!!! We had a fun time today with Mary and Marsha and all the children had a whale of a time screaming, tearing around the house and apparently riding ten dragons! Of course I'm usually faffing about doing this that and the other instead of working on my (countless) unfinished projects, but still, I'd rather chat anyway!! Knitting and such just takes my concentration away from the conversations!! ;D I wish every day were unfinished project day.....!!

After dinner tonight I went to the basement for another Wii Workout. I did my strength exercises, Yoga, aerobics and finished off with a "short" run. Usually I plan on just a quick little jog but I'd failed to notice this time I'd selected "Island Lap"... um.....!! I was exhausted when I finally crossed the finish line ( of COURSE it didn't occur to me to just quit...!! ) I've clearly got out of the habit of running but there ya go... what can I say?!?! :D

Once Jack was asleep I got myself ready for bed and hustled downstairs to watch The Mentalist.... only..... it was a CSI episode. An OLD CSI episode.... Hmph. What gives???? So looks like I will get to read my book in bed instead then! ;D Good enough for me! ;D

Oh and I haven't forgotten the Set Notation thingy... I have to get my computer hooked back up to sort pictures.... maybe in the morning all being well! ;D

Night night all! ;D

DATE NIGHT! :D

Whoooooot!! ;D Date night Date night!!! ;D Our fabulous new babysitter arrived promptly just before 6 and jumped right in to playing with Jack! He barely gave us a second glance as we left the house! Jessie was busy cooking dinner when we left...!! Times have indeed changed! ;D Rex and I went out to the mall first... I wanted to go to Penney's to try out some perfumes at Sephora. I got tons of little paper sticks and sprayed each one with a fragrance and wrote the name on it. I'm usually highly averse to strong smells but since taking my happy pills have found they don't affect me so much anymore. I'd love to have a "signature scent" so am trying to figure out which one is "me" ! I'm narrowing them down slowly! ;D Rex found some bargain sweaters... $5 each !!!! ... After that excitement we went to Grisanti's restaurant for a LOVELY dinner and I had some wine... (Wednesdays are half price bottle nights... who knew?!?! :D ) I just had an Italian Pinot Grigot ... slurp slurp!!! ;D I also ate way too much deliciousness AND had a Chocolate Monk ( A drink with about 600 calories per glass and lotsh and lotsh of alcholholol in it !! ) Hee heee!!! **tsk!!**

We got home just before 10 so that the lovely babysitter could get home; school in the morning! Jack and Jessie were both still up but went to bed as soon as we got back. Jack was already in bed but was sobbing as he didn't want the babysitter to leave!!! Bless him!! He loves her so! ;D Jessie was waiting up for us and said she missed me but I think she had a good time anyway. Jorie ( the babysitter ) played all sorts of games with them and I KNOW they had a wonderful time!! I'm SOOOOO thrilled! ;D I lay down with Jack to help him get to sleep and... um..... 2 hours later I woke back up....!! LOL!!!!

I'll hopefully remember to write more tomorrow about the neat game we played to demonstrate Set Notation and our trip to the pet store today where it was all I could do to NOT bring home two of the more adorable young cats they had for adoption!!! I told them I'd need a lot more money and one less husband before I could do that!! ;D

Alright ... to bed I go where I shall no doubt lay like a python having just swallowed a goat. I may be there for sometime! ;D

'Night!!!

Ugh! ;D

You see.... yesterday went SOOOO well it was perhaps inevitable that today would be a washout! The dog peed on Jack's bed again this morning and I literally became hoarse from yelling at and about her. I'm SOOOO beyond frustrated with her... I don't even know HOW she does it!! I NEVER see her do it!!! GAH!! Anyway, that sure didn't help my day! I did mountains of laundry again, some school with Jack, read Risa's latest blog post and promised myself that I would try that one out tomorrow ( tomorrow, tomorrow, always tomorrow!! ) I've fallen so far off my diet that it's impossible to imagine ever getting back onto it, and part of me is ok with that ( hint, it's NOT my butt...!) My computer has died... again. I'm using Jessie's at the moment. Mine looks suspiciously like it did last time when it got infected with a hideous virus and cost us $$$$$$ to repair. **sigh** AND I had piles of laundry stacked neatly all over the dining table ready to put away and Jack somehow managed to spray chocolate milk all over it with his drinking straw.



aaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!


I have put the call out to Rex. He's on his way home. With Chocolate.

I will be ok.
I will be ok.
I will be ok....!! ;P

Wow!!

I have been cleaning this house for almost 12 hours straight today!! Well it certainly feels like I've been cleaning it for 12 hours though I know I was on the phone for a while and I did use the computer for a while too but nothing like I normally do!!! I've been up and down my stairs, tackling the laundry beast, dusting, vacuuming, tidying, sorting, cleaning, clearing, emptying, washing.......!!! I even washed down my washer and dryer...!! ( I love those machines!!! They are so beautiful!! ) I put fairy lights up in the bedroom, I put away every scrap of laundry that had been piled up upon piles... ( I SO wish I'd taken pictures...!!) I painted my toenails and sat and watched a "How To Crochet" segment on You Tube whilst I had my lunch but that's the only time I can recall sitting down!!! My laundry room looks stunning, the kitchen is clean and shiny, our bedroom is a beautiful haven of peace and calm... the dining table is clean and clear with only two potted plants on it.... bliss bliss bliss!! ;D

I even managed to get a little school in with Jessie today! ;D We're currently learning Set Notation and I asked my friend Lisa O.K. for some ideas to use the game "Set" to demonstrate Set Notation! She gave me some great tips and I'll try them out tomorrow...!! Reee... Any ideas from you too?? I think the game is perfect for it of course! ;D

Anyway folks, I'm so tired!! I'm going to go to bed and dream of THIS beautiful thing and try to imagine what sort of colors I can put in it...!! Isn't it FABULOUS?!?!!?

More tomorrow! ;D

A Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a lovely Valentine's Day... I hope you did too! ;D We decided last night that Valentine's would be a diet amnesty day ( which I will regret in the morning I'm sure! ) so I have pigged out on all manner of sugary and high calorie goodness today. I know... I'm SOOOOO bad! ;P

Rex and I had a lazy start to the morning and we talked about ways to put romance back in our lives.... just little things every day to keep the romance going! He's such a thoughtful and considerate guy really there's not much else he could do but I know I need to work on it a bit. I'm always so busy with the day to day drama of a life with two kids, pets and a part time job that I forget to make time for love in my life. I'm going to start with things like making a nice hot bubble bath with low lights, candles and soft music for myself. I need to relax and FEEL more romantic. Maybe instead of reading all the murder mystery books I read, perhaps a romance novel once in a while. I'd like to hold hands when Rex and I go out together and maybe cuddle on the couch at night rather than me on the computer in one room and him on the couch asleep in the other....

And so with that outline of my day fresh in my mind I need to do two things...1) go work off that 15 pounds I just put back on today and 2) go spend some quality time with my hubby.

I LOVE that man of mine. :D

A sloooooooow start and a toasty finish!

Hmph. It turns out that telling the kids we MUST be out the house by 11:30 am at the LATEST means we'll still be here at 2pm. *tsk*. It is so frustrating when that happens but that seems to be the way things go around here this time of year. I can't WAIT for the sunshine and waking up to blue sky and warmth.!! I could TOTALLY live in California or Florida. Sure, it's nice to have snow once in a while, but you know what? I could live without it. I would get so much more done over the year if it were sunny out when I woke up!! ;D Ah well.... whine whine whine! ;D

So the day started out veeeeerrrry slooooowly.... I got the kiddoes to the grocery store ( whoopie ) and to the Hallmark store.... which is a test with Jack I'll tell you! :D We bought cards and stuff to make a poke cake for Daddy! ( I've never made one so we'll see how it turns out. I'm thinking cake, jello and pudding??? what's not to like!!! )

Anyway, once we got home hubby arrived not long after. I made dinner, totally cheated on my diet by eating not one but TWO cornbread muffins straight out the oven. And it was totally worth it !!!!!!!!!! ;D ymmmmmmmm!!!

Now the kiddies are sleeping, the fire is crackling in the other room and I am going to sit with my hubby! ;D

Hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day!

Changing my mood, getting stuff DONE and finding a babysitter!! YEAHY!!! :D

So I promised myself yesterday that today would be so peaceful... remember?!?! Rex went out at 5:30am (!!!) to have breakfast with some friends of his. I love that he does that, it's so neat! AND I get to go back to sleep!!! ;D And sleep I did. It was 9am before I even managed to drag myself out of bed. I was feeling really... bleurgh. Unmotivated really. I plobbed around for an hour or more before remembering something The Marvelous Risa told me about....
Improving your mood in one hour.
We threw on some great music from the radio, acted happy, contacted some friends and, most importantly, rid myself of a TON of nagging tasks! Ahhhhh.... I feel SO much better now... and so do the fish!! Man those tanks were nasty ( Weren't they, Mary?!! :D ) !! Now I just need homes for 14 female guppies! ;D

The most important nagging task I had been putting off was to call the folks who moved in across the street this past Christmas. I wanted to know if their teenage daughter would like to babysit! Guess WHAT!?!?!?! She WOULD!!!!! I asked he to come over and meet Rex and the kiddies..... she came!!! She didn't run away screaming AND she has a cousin with Down's !!!! Perfect!!! She also plays drums and guitar....!!! I KNOW!!!!! AND Jack and Jessie LOVE her!! I knew they would! She sounded lovely on the phone and the kids are suckers for lovely young ladies!! ;D We made a plan for Rex and I to have her babysit next week sometime and I.Can't.WAIT!!! The fact that she lives so close and her folks are near should she need help... well... what more could we ask for?!?! I've decided that we need to make this happen. If it's a choice between Boot Camp and a babysitter... well, I'm afraid the babysitter is going to win out. ( Sorry Lisa... : } )

I read a blog a while back that some friends had lead me to somehow, ( maybe they can remind me what it is again??! *thanks, Ree.... here it is..... creating-the-year-2010 ) and this lady had two children with disabilities. One was deaf and the other was disabled in some rather profound way. The lady and her family would, each year, pick a theme for the year ahead. The year of Traveling, The year of debt free etc. I'd like to make this the year of Can Do. We aren't in a great financial position, things are really tough right now, but this is the only life we have. We need to live it, grand finances or not. We are still cutting down our debt every month ( which is really amazing considering...! ) so we're not going to go wild with our money, but the money I make from my articles etc... well that can go to the babysitter for sure!! TOTALLY WORTH IT !! ;D

( and no, you can't have her!! ;D )

Off to work out and then do some couch loafing!! ;D Happy Friday, folks! ;D

A Valentine's party, never vacuum naked and answer the phone at the same time, is there such a thing as too much exercise?

Thursday?? So soon?!?!!? I knew this week would go fast! I had something going on everyday this week... tomorrow is going to be sooooo peaceful!!! ** I know, I know, famous last words!!**








So today I ran around like a maniac to get the house ready and decorated for a Valentine's party. We really made the house look lovely and had treats, a card making station, games, crafts, candy, cookies, healthy treats, strawberries, red peppers, tomato roses....!! It looked lovely!! I had to get it all done ( with the help of the kiddoes of course! ) before 10 am as my boss was coming over to have a conference call at my house. At five minutes before 10 I was to be found in the bathroom, vacuuming ... and ... um.... well. That's all I need to say isn't it?? Suffice it to say I was about to have a shower. Anyway, the phone rang and it was my boss asking if I was busy baking for my party...! I scoffed and said "hardly!!" but then rather rashly told him what I had been doing instead!! ;D LOL!!! We are friends, but really, it's just not right to know that the party to which you are trying to have a reasonable conversation with is in the altogether on the other end of the line!! I do have a tendency to open my mouth and the truth falls right out!!! Anyway, enough of that I think! ;D

MOVING ON!!!




So anyway, we got all our party stuff ready, the conference call was rescheduled, the children made cookies all by themselves and seemed to enjoy it. We had a lovely afternoon with good friends and the smell of cookies if nothing else!! ;D Only two more weeks and I can eat crap again!!! ;D ( you know what I mean I hope!! ) I did introduce Lisa to the joys of Soy Bacon, cooked mushrooms, spinach, slivered almonds and cranberries..... I don't think I could ever tire of eating that!!! SOOOOO good! ;D





I didn't get my morning work out in this morning so did my evening one after the mentalist... I'm getting better folks!! Not so shaky, strong strong strong....!! Lisa almost has me convinced to try the boot camp...... uh oh..... I'll keep you posted.... of course! :D

A beautiful morning, a comedy of errors and my lunch..!

We woke up this morning to a bright blue sky. I'm always tempted to run out into a blue sky day but thought to check the temps first.... um.....-4f. Chiiiiilly! I stayed in and instead took a pic through the window.....



Can you see the ice shining on the trees?? ***happy sigh***

This was about as peaceful as our day got..!! After that....

The daft dog decided that she should go walk about in this weather so if you'd looked out your window and you lived on my street you would have seen me in my pajamas, snow boots, columbia coat and gloves chasing the mutt back home. Happily there was no wind at all so, though so cold that the snow squealed and squeaked like styrofoam I was not chilled to the bone. Still, I would have preferred to stay in the warm house!!

The cat threw up on the floor....

The toilet overflowed all over the bathroom carpet....

The dog peed on the bed.....

Work stuff that you wouldn't believe if I told you came up....

Hubby had to drive to Iowa to collect a stolen trailer that ended up not so much being stolen and not so much being driveable....

Jessie and Jack have friends here for a sleepover and we thought doing some crafts would be fun.... so did Jack..... he thought it would be fun to decorate for Valentine's day by sprinkling glitter all over the chairs!! ;D Pretty!!!

Anyway, the day had it's good points, and looking back it was more good than bad... there was just a lot of headshaking and eye rolling going on today!! ;D

Jessie made scrambled eggs with cheese for breakfast for her and Jack.... Yeahy!!!



I made myself a delicious lunch...... oh yum yum yum....



I got two work outs in today ... the one this evening had Jessie and Charlotte helping me! I always thought I preferred to work out alone, but it's actually fun with more than one... it goes a lot quicker! ;D

Anyway, the kitchen needs cleaning again, Rex has a movie to watch and I want to knit at least one more row tonight before I fall prey to complete and utter exhaustion! ;D

Night folks! ;D

A work out or two, a busy day, a late night and a short post! :D

Well!! Today shot past!!! I decided to add some Umph to my work out / diet regime and work out aerobically in the morning and strength and yoga~y in the evening!! It did help my day get straightened around this morning since it started out with the dog peeing on Jack's bed ( AGAIN ) and the cat puking on the floor, not to mention misunderstandings and miscommunications to boot. Bleurgh! Anyhoo.... it all worked out!! We gathered up our library books, cares and woes and eventually made it out the house about 2:30 pm!! Normally if I'm not out the house by noon, why, it's not going to happen, but I kept pressing on! ;D We're hosting a little valentines party for some kiddoes on Thursday and I wanted to pick up some things for that so Super Target was calling!!! :D

We made it out to Target, spent HOURS there as usual and got home in time to make supper! I was so hungry that taking pictures of my plate was not an option tonight, but I had left over soup from yesterday and a spinach salad with mushrooms cooked with just a smidge of olive oil wiped over the pan, a delicious Gardenburger Portabella mushroom burger, some avocado and some roasted red pepper hummus. Followed by a banana. Yeah... I WAS hungry!! ;D I topped all that off with a 34 minute workout on the Wii and boy, I feel GOOD!!!!!!

The kiddies worked out with me ( by "worked out" I mean mostly lay on the floor and squabbled!! )then I put them to bed. Now I'm supposed to be watching a movie with Hubby AND I was trying to put a How To post together for you to show you the neat Valentines I'm making for a swap.... but.... eh.... it's not working out so well! ;D Maybe tomorrow!!; D

G'night folks! ;D

Don't let the sunshine fool ya....it's really cold out there, one shouldn't do the recycling at 12 degrees without gloves and boy my thighs ache!

Another SUPER day!! ;D Seriously! Since I finally remembered I'd not been taking my Vitamin B for months and started taking it again, life is PEACHY KEEN!! ;D **note to self, and others, if you don't eat meat and don't eat enough leafy greens, you DON'T get enough Vitamin B. That's some bad juju right there. **

So, I asked everyone I work for or with to not call me today so I could get some work DONE and some things around the house done, you know, little things, like raising my children, digging us out of the laundry mountain, FEEDING OURSELVES!! ;D **second note to self, did you know that 2 cups of spinach, one third of a yellow bell pepper and 2 tablespoons of Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus is a whopping ( and I'm being sarcastic here... ) 100 calories !!!!!! That's tons of food and power packed nutrition for barely the calories of one dry slice of bread!!! WOWZAH!! Oh and PS... it's flipping delicious!!**





So I spent the day working and focusing more on the children, and we really did seem to have a lovely day. The sun came out and the sky was blue again. Jack played with his toys making shadow puppets



and Lucy flaked out catching some rays.




I looked out the window and saw this.....



A vision of sunshine!!! I suggested we all go out for a walk, to blow the cobwebs out. It's a good job I thought to check them temps.... um .... 12. Degrees Fahrenheit. Ya. Dat's cold. That's minus 11 centigrade. hmm. It would do more than blow the cobwebs out that's for sure!!! Darn sunshine and blue sky! I decided that it would be best if I quickly took the van and picked up some stamps from the post office and dropped off the recycling by myself whilst the kiddies stayed home in the warm. I realised once I was in the car that I had forgotten my gloves. I debated going back in the house to get them but didn't want to take the keys out the ignition to unlock the front door. Yup. That's what it will say for the record. Bone idle. Anyway, I shrugged it off and drove to the recycling. Well. It may have been only 12 degrees, but it was also windy. Hmm. Wind at 12 degrees, for those who may not have experienced it, well, let's just say it's really unpleasant. I only had a couple of bags of recycling to drop off but truly, it was so cold, SO cold, my fingers started to curl up. The skin went red and began to pucker as the blood retreated from my extremities. I could NOT feel my fingers. I soldiered on, because I AM an idiot and put away the last few things. It seemed like an eternity before I got back to the van and then I couldn't feel my fingers to open the door. Never. Again. My hands eventually recovered but the feeling of the blood returning was quite painful. LEARN FROM ME FOLKS!! **sigh**

Anyhoo!!! Once the feeling returned to my phalanges I was able to make a delicious dinner ( when did this turn into a food blog?!?! ) of roasted vegetable soup using some left over roast veggies from the other day, more spinach, onion, garlic and some stock made up to half concentration to cut the sodium down. I also added some canned tomatoes and some chick peas. Jessie came down whilst I was cooking and said, and I QUOTE here...." What is that DELICIOUS smell!!!!! " Everyone LOVED this soup and we all snarfed it down despite the very obvious vegetables floating in it! I was going to puree it and started to, but the color went a little, um, odd, so I stopped. Jack wasn't thrilled at the idea of all the veggies so I told him I'd make him another kind of soup and pureed his! He did question the color, which I thought was funny, but then he ate the lot! It was SOOOO tasty!! ;D Totally on the diet sheet, looooow calorie and high in fibre and nutrition!! AND VEGAN. Man I rock! ;D



After dinner the kiddies and I did another Wii work out! I thought of Risa as this time I programmed a 30 minute workout, 15 minutes strength training and 15 minutes of Yoga. Both workouts were almost as hard as each other!!! My muscles are ACHING tonight!!! ;D I'd never have believed that a "virtual" workout could be as effective as this is!! ;D This ain't no boot camp for sure, but it IS doing something!! My legs are testament to that!!! ;D

A great day, eating out whilst dieting, a trip to the sports show and leaving the camera in the car..... tsk.

We had a GREAT day today!!! YEAHY!!! ;D Jack was a REALLY GOOD KID all day long!! ALL DAY!!!!! ***swoon!!*** Rex needed to go visit his Mum and we hadn't been out the house for a week so I asked if we could go along for the ride. We always pack things to do in the car as whenever we are out with Daddy we need to be prepared for anything! Jack took his huge backpack full of toys and his MagnaDoodle, Jessie took a book she was reading and I took my knitting AND crochet. When we got to the home the children waited in the car whilst Rex and I went inside. His Mum was looking well which was a nice change. We visited for a short while then we left and Rex suggested lunch at La Paz. I can usually eat Vegan food their quite easily, the Fajitas are delicious, but this time I not only had to have Vegan food, but also no carbs!!! LOL!! Oh what fun!!! So, I opted for black bean soup, no chips, sour cream or cheese and a side order of guacamole. Oh my... it was SOOOO good! ;D After our yummy lunches we then went to the grocery store to pick up all manner of delicious food that's on The List and even found the elusive Ezekiel Bread! ;D The children came into the store with us ( sounds like a small thing, but this is HUGE people!!! ) and they were so good!! ;D Yesssssssss!!!

After the store we went to the Sports Show at the event center.....! Not really my idea of a fun time usually, but hey, it's February and we'll take any amusement we can get!! The kids and I had so much fun trying out all the RVs and the enormous vacation buses !!!! MAN those things are fantastic!! Some of them have more counter space than my own kitchen!!!!!!!!!! Jack couldn't resist trying his hand at fishing for a trout and much to my horror he caught one. He was delighted and I was mortified. I made sure they let it go again...! Poor fish. I thought Jack just wanted to watch the fish but a very helpful lady took his hands, thrust a pole in them and basically helped him out. It was very nice of her.....!?!?

Whilst at the sports show we saw a gentleman herding geese though the displays.... quite a number of geese.... all wearing diapers. I kid you not. It was only then I realised that my camera, that I had specifically brought to take pics for my blog, was NOT in the bag I had with me, but rather was languishing at the far end of a wet and cold parking lot in the van. ** sigh** I did what I could with my camera phone....




LOL!

Anyway, after the sports show we headed home, lit a fire, made dinner ( I had a grilled portabella mushroom with olive oil and garlic along with a wilted spinach salad with balsamic vinegar dressing topped with soy bacon pieces! MAN it was delicious!!!!) watched America's Funniest Videos, worked out on the Wii for about 35 minutes, bathed Jack, put him to bed and now... here I am!! ;D

We're going to watch Sean of the Dead tonight and I'll no doubt do some more of my knitting and crochet!!! Got to get those dishcloths made!!