The Journey, The Adventure

Come Here Often?

2011-11-07T14:23:00.000-08:00

Oh......hello. Funny seeing you here. More like funny seeing ME here. It still amazes me how life can get so busy and pull me away from things, things I really enjoy doing like coming here and writing and sharing with others. My poor neglected blog. How I've missed you.

Well a lot has been going on around here. A lot of really great things. We've begun to really embrace the homesteading lifestyle and are incorporating more and more of it into our day to day. Several months ago we began learning about canning. After growing some of our own food and preserving things in the dehydrator, I decided to take it a step further and try my hand at other methods of preservation. The only downside to this has been that I didn't grow anything I could water bath can, so I had to get my canning items from the store. Regardless, we now have several jars of apple butter, apple pie filling, peaches and pears. It's been such an amazing journey learning how to make things from scratch and get a slight glimpse of what the pioneers lives would have been like. It's really set things in motion for me to obtain a lot of that lifestyle myself. It's incredibly fulfilling.

During my time away from here I've also been working on several projects, all of which I will share here soon. For now though, I will share a group I started on Facebook called Love:Squared. Quite some time ago I had the idea to make blankets for people in need, but I didn't think I could do it myself because of the amount of time it takes to make just one blanket. So I thought that maybe if I got others to help me it would go much quicker, and would also be a great demonstration of people coming together to help others. The easiest way to piece together a blanket is with knitted or crocheted squares, or granny squares. So I started my Facebook group to encourage people who are interested in helping to whip up a square and send it to me. Once I get enough squares to make a blanket I'll stitch them all together and off it goes to wrap someone up in warmth and love. If any of you are interested in helping me with this project, please check out the group page!

So here is an idea of whats to come on my blog. I'm going to be sharing about my new adventures in couponing, some handmade products I've been working on and the opening of my first Etsy shop (so excited!!!), our journey into homesteading and a self-sufficient lifestyle, projects (for the kids, around the house, and lovely crafty things), more talk on homeschooling and sharing what we're up to, to name a few. I'm very excited for whats to come and to share it with you!

I hope you're having a lovely fall so far ♥

Seeds and Stuffed Raccoons

2011-04-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

Things are happening in my little egg carton garden. So far all of my tomato plants have germinated, all of my yarrow is growing nicely and after having a little peek under the soil I can see that my peppers are beginning to germinate as well. It is very exciting to see things grow right before your eyes.

Here is one of my tomato plants a few days ago, just after it had germinated

Here are my tomato plants today

The tomatoes are looking a bit leggy (long and reaching) because I didn't realize they needed to go under a light as soon as they had germinated, so they went light-less for a few days before I clued in. I don't yet have proper lighting (I will be doing that this weekend) but they seem to be doing well under the small light that I do have, which is just a CFL bulb in an Ikea light placed very closely to the plants. I'm doing what I can with what I have.

Something that I tried that worked really well to get my heat-loving seeds to germinate was putting them in the oven. Now hold on! Don't freak out. I didn't turn the oven on. Phew! Scared you didn't I? I placed them in a regular egg carton (one I hadn't messed with), closed up the lid and put them into the oven with the oven light on. After making yogurt in the crock-pot and learning how much warmth that little bulb in the oven puts off, I thought I would give it a try with my seeds. They stayed nice and toasty in the oven overnight, and the next morning I saw major growth. If you need a warm place to put your seeds while they germinate, try this!! Just make sure you don't forget they are in there and turn the oven on, like I always do with my frying pan (I have a very large frying pan that won't fit in my cupboard so it lives in my oven).

Here is my yarrow growing happily

Here is another view of the yarrow

I had planted a row of sweetpeas along the fence that separates my yard from my neighbours, but so far I'm not seeing anything happening with those. I think the seeds I had may have been too old, which is unfortunate. On the plus side, if they don't grow then I'll have more room to grow more food.

After making the knitting needle/crochet hook roll I decided I wasn't done crafting, which is a great feeling. For awhile I was in a bit of a crafting slump, my sewing machine was collecting dust, and I was very much uninspired. Lately my sewing machine has been quite busy, as well as most of my crafting tools. I'd dare to say that my slump is over, but I don't want to jinx it because I'm having too much fun. I made a stuffed raccoon for the kids the other day, and they haven't put him down or stopped cuddling with him since I made the last stitch. They named him Jasper :)

This weekend I will be putting a permit on my van and picking up most of what I need for the garden. I need to make some more soil for my raised square-foot garden so I can start planting in there, I need to pick up a fluorescent light or two, and a few containers for some Lavender, Lemon Balm, Stevia and Peppermint to go into. The sun has made a surprise appearance today amidst all of this heavy rain we've been getting so I need to get outside and enjoy it. I hope wherever you are the sun is shining also and you are out playing in the dirt!

This post is being shared on Homestead Revival's Barn Hop #8

Attempting Seeds and Getting Crafty

2011-04-04T16:37:00.000-07:00

After my last post and how I talked about not being set-up for starting plants from seed, I decided that maybe I should just go for it. Sure, I don't have any lights or a seedling warmer (I didn't even know those existed up until a few weeks ago), nor do I even have a seed tray. Nothin'. You get an idea of how new I am to growing my own food. What I did have, was two egg cartons that I had planned to give the kids to use for crafts or as a tray of somesort, and several broken egg shells which were drying and waiting for me to crush up and put in my compost bin. I've read articles and heard stories about how it was possible to grow things in eggshells, and that it can actually be helpful because instead of having to transplant the plant from a tray into the soil, you just plunk (gently) the whole thing (plant, eggshell and all) into it's new home in the garden. So since I already had these things on hand, plus a bunch of seeds just calling out to me to be planted (gardening is a sickness, really) I decided to give it a go and hope for the best.

I poked tiny holes into the bottoms of my eggshells, scooped up some of my new soil (1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss alternative, and 1/3 vermiculte) and filled up the shells. I labelled each shell with the name of what seed was going in, and placed them into the tray.

Then, because I'm me and I do things like this, I made my egg-carton-turned-hopeful-garden into something pretty and fingers crossed, functional. I cut out the centre of the lid of the carton and taped plastic wrap on, thinking that maybe I'll be able to keep some warmth in and at the same time let some light in.

I'm really hoping for the best, and will update as things happen....or don't happen. Whatever the case may be. I have had my eye on a pretty little set-up of a flourescent light with a stand for seed starting, but it costs $100 and I can't justify spending that much. The other morning I came up with an idea for my own version of said light stand that will cost me significantly less. I know I don't need a set-up because I've seen many people just hang a light from their ceiling and put their seeds on a table underneath, but I want something just a tad more functional, moveable, and, well.....cool. I'll share that project with you as well when I get started.

After making the egg-carton garden I got bit by the craft bug and decided to make something that I had been putting off making for awhile: a knitting needle/crochet hook roll. My hooks and needles are usually stuffed inside skeins of yarn or floating around the bottom of my yarn bin which endlessly frustrates me, and since I'm trying my best to not buy things that I can make myself then this was an obvious project. Because of all the rain we've been getting (again) I figured now was as good a time as any to spend some much-needed time with my neglected sewing machine. I'd spent a bit of time looking up tutorials online for making these rolls (there are plenty) but none of them looked like something I wanted to follow. I don't really know why. I figured I would just wing it and do one up myself. Please don't mind the not-so-great lighting in the following pictures, but the overcast skies just won't cooperate. At least you'll get an idea of what I did.

I really like how it turned out, and the colors just make me so happy that I know I will love unrolling this everytime I have a knitting or crocheting project to do, which should be very soon.

Happy homesteading! xoxo

This post is participating in Homestead Revival's Barn Hop #7

Surprises to Brighten My Day

2011-04-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

A wall in my kitchen

Well April is here (how did that happen so fast??) and as each day passes by I'm getting more and more excited for longer, brighter, warmer days. Even though it is Spring, yesterday almost felt a bit like Christmas. Not because of the weather (although it was a bit on the dark, gloomy and wet side), and not because I still have Christmas lights on my house (they were taken down in January for your information, unlike several of my neighbours who STILL have them up). No, it felt a bit like Christmas here yesterday because of the little gifts I received that completely brightened my day. The first thing to arrive was my order from the local seed company, West Coast Seeds. I've been eagerly anticipating the arrival of the first batch of seeds to go into my garden, and the first batch of seeds that I will be growing from, well, seed! In the last couple of years that I have been very lightly dabbling with gardening, I'd always purchased established plants and just transferred them into my yard. While there is nothing at all wrong with doing it that way, I've begun to realize that you don't really know much about that plant that you will soon be eating from. Was it genetically modified? Has it been altered in a way that will inhibit it to from producing good yeilds year after year? To know I'm getting the best possible plants I decided starting them from seed was the way to go. Now, I'm still new at this whole process, so I haven't yet begun starting seeds indoors. That is a project that I want to take on very soon, but it hasn't happened yet. Instead I am direct sowing the seeds right into my yard. There are some plants that I will inevitably have to buy established from the nursery because of the fact that I won't be starting them from seed indoors. One of those will be tomatoes, another zucchini, also cucumber and then the blueberry bushes I'm planning to plant. My goal for next year though, will be to start everything from seed. I'm also going to be reading up on how to save my own seeds from my own plants.

Seeds from West Coast Seeds are non-GMO, are untreated, and for me they are local

My West Coast Seed order was delivered to my door by our postal service, and shortly after my delivery I checked my mailbox for mail. What did I find there? Another little gift, or several! I found a bulging envelope with writing I didn't recognize. Curious as to what could be inside, I tore it open and I was greeted with this:

A lovely friend and fellow homeschooler (hi Kim!!) had promised to send me some seeds that she had, and that she did! She even took the time to make little pot-shaped packages for them. Aren't they darling? I almost don't want to open them! But when I read what they contain, I can't help but get excited for all of the things that will be growing in my yard.

Today is still on the dark, gloomy and wet side but my day is still bright because of small gifts like these. I plan on heading outside this afternoon and putting my sugar snap peas into some dirt. Afterward I think I will drink some tea and daydream about what's to come.

Preparing My Garden and A Day Like No Other

2011-03-27T23:01:00.000-07:00

Today was bliss!! It really was. And it's not because I did anything overly exciting or extravagant, nor did anything overly exciting or extravagant happen to me. Instead I spent the day doing things that made me extremely happy.

My day started off with a visit from my parents. My Mom's car has been broken for a couple of months now, so I've hardly seen her in that time which is unusual for us. So they came by for coffee and tea and chocolate cake. Thankfully I had made a simple chocolate cake the other night and had just enough left for each of us to have a sliver topped with a dusting of icing sugar. The sun was shining, the conversation was great and the cake was delicious. After they left I got started on a gardening project I had been meaning to do since last year: building a square foot garden bed. Before I get into details, I will give you a bit of a tour of my backyard so you can see just how much space I'm working with.

Here is a view of the right side of my yard when I'm standing just

outside of my sliding patio door

Here is the left side of my yard

Here is a view looking back at my townhouse

Here we are back to almost the beginning photo.
As you can see, my yard is a fairly good size for a townhouse,
but quite small for gardening. The wall that the birdhouse is on will be
the home of some Super Sugar Snap Peas very soon

Yesterday I threw a permit on my van (I've taken the insurance off of my van and am again attempting to go car-lite, which I will blog about very soon) and ran some errands to pick up everything I needed. I already had 4 4-foot length cedar boards from last year so all I needed to buy was the components to make prime square foot gardening soil. I'm told from the square foot gardening book, that the best soil for this type of gardening is a mix of 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 vermiculite. Since I'm a lazy compost turner (translation: I don't turn it) it takes a bit longer for the stuff to break down into soil, so unfortunately I couldn't use any of it for my new raised garden bed. Luckily my grocery store had a sale on for 4 20L bags of organic compost for $10.00. As I was shopping my local Home Depot for vermiculite and peat moss, I came across this stuff:

As you can read from the packaging, it is made from Coconut Coir and is a green alternative to peat moss. I though I'd give it a try because I like doing environmentally responsible things, and because the package was much lighter and much smaller than a 3 cu. foot bag of peat. What! Those bags are awkward!

After gathering everything that I needed, I put together my raised garden bed. I love working with wood, and this was probably the easiest thing to put together. I just pre-drilled 3 holes into the end of each board, lined it all up so everything would go together evenly, and drilled in the deck screws (very important to use deck screws). It took me all of 10 minutes.

After it was all together and beautiful I had to find the perfect place in the yard for it. The spot in the picture is where I settled on. I needed enough room around each side for tending to the plants in the bed and also for mowing with my manual mower. I also wanted to leave enough room on the right side of it in case I ever wanted to put in a smaller raised bed next to it, or if I want to expand the bed which I have already dug up (where the stones are lined).

After the bed was put together, I opened up the package of BeatsPeat. The directions seemed simple enough: "Combine BeatsPeat with 39 litres of water or until saturated. Watch it expand like magic! Mix into your soil for improved growing results". Easy, right? Umm, no. After searching unsucessfully for something to hold 39L of water in, I ended up filling the bags the compost came in with enough water to cover 2 squares of BeatsPeat (it comes in 4 squares), so I filled two bags. When I put them into the water, I half expected (okay way more than half) them to expand like magic, just like the trusty directions said. I pictured it fluffing up to the equivalent of a 3 cu. ft. bag of regular peat moss and then I would gracefully spread it into my bed. Nothing happened. So after 5 minutes of watching and waiting, I went inside to avoid that whole 'a watched pot never boils' thing. After 10 minutes I went back outside and still there was no change. I touched them and poked at them and they felt the same. So, the impatient me that I am, I ripped off a corner of one of the squares and broke it up with my hands and dropped it into the bed. Seeing that I wasn't getting anywhere fast with this stuff, I decided that is what I was going to have to do. I started breaking pieces off of each square, breaking the pieces apart and spreading them into the bed. Here is a picture to give you an idea of the size of the squares right out of the package:

BeatsPeat squares laying in my square foot garden bed,
which is 4ft X 4ft

It took me 1 hour to break them apart. My fingers were not happy campers after that. Once I had them all broken down, I mixed them together with the compost and the vermiculite and this was the result:

Beautiful, beautiful soil. I couldn't stop running my hands through it. It is the lightest, fluffiest, softest soil I have ever laid my hands on. As you can see though, I didn't end up buying enough of everything because only half of the garden bed is filled. In a few weeks I will make another trip to Home Depot and fill my lovely bed up. As for the BeatsPeat, if you are looking for an environmentally responsible peat that doesn't infringe on our fragile peat bogs then I wholeheartedly recommend this product. While I can't comment on it's ability to house any of my food just yet, I can say that it feels incredible. If you're not wanting much hassle with your gardening endeavors and just want to get the dirt in so you can start planting, by all means go for the bag-o'-peat. Your fingers, and your patience, will thank you.

Some other plans I have for my yard include the following:

That whole length of fence and lattice will house the sweet peas
I planted on Friday. I was going to stick with all edibles in my yard,
but I already had this pack of seeds on hand so I figured I may as well
use them. They will make for a lovely privacy curtain between mine
and my neighbours yard. The area in front of the compost bin
will hold a few blueberry bushes.

Here, at the end of where the sweet peas will be,
I will be growing Yarrow (Parker's Variety Achillea). It repels aphids,
attracts beneficial bugs to the yard, and can also be used a variety of ways
including tea or as an herb for use in cooking. It even helps speed up
the composting process! Yarrow grows up to 3 ft. tall
so it will fit nicely in this space.

This section of lattice will house my Purple Peacock Pole Beans, a
bean that is purple in color but turns green when cooked.
How fun is that?!

In this section of soil that is in front of where the Purple Peacock
Pole Beans will be, I will be planting Chamomile to be used mostly for tea.
I already have a Day Lily growing here (the green plant to the left)
which the hummingbirds love, and just in front of that my Bleeding Heart
has begun to come back. I have a couple other flowering plants in here
but I don't remember what they are. I'm also going to be growing
Dwarf Munstead Lavender and some Calendulas,
but I haven't decided if they will be in pots or in this garden bed.

This I received for my 30th birthday from my sister.
It will hold small bunches of herbs that I don't use often
and won't need too much of.

This plant stand I also received for my birthday and it
currently holds my Rosemary. You can't see in the picture,
but the stand holds 3 pots.
In the other two pots will be Basil and another herb.

Lastly are my Chives and Parsley which have come back from
last year's planting. I recently had noticed that I had a bad infestion
of aphids at the base of the chives and they were also on the
underside of the parsley leaves.
After mixing together a solution of hot water, 1 tsp. baking soda,
1 tsp. of salt and a few drops of liquid dish soap in a spray bottle,
I gave the aphids a good blast.
I did that once a day for two days in the morning and now they are all
completely gone. After I did that, my chives took off
and have almost doubled in size in only a week.

Things are coming together and I'm very happy. After I was done for the day with my square foot garden, I couldn't stop looking outside at it everytime I was in the kitchen. I can visualize the food that will grow there, and I can visualize myself tending to my little garden. While I was mixing the soil it was so peaceful outside. The birds were chirping but everything else was silent. It was slightly overcast out but the clouds weren't thick, and ever so often the sun would peek through and light up the yard. I had my hands in this living soil that was going to help produce food for my family. I found myself feeling more peaceful and content than I ever recall feeling. I was in awe of God and His provisions for us, how He thoughtfully pieced everything together to work perfectly. From soil comes food. Something so simple, and yet so incredibly complex and beautiful. Today was a very good day.

This post was shared on Homestead Barn Hop #6

Go Ahead, Make Something

2011-03-24T22:48:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks I have totally and completely immersed myself in being useful, productive, creative, and establishing this little house I call homestead. Here's what I've been up to:

Homemade bread and banana muffins

Making Bread- I decided that it was completely unnecessary to be buying things from the store that I can very easily make myself. Bread was the first thing on the list of no-more-grocery-store, and once I started I couldn't stop. I found two very simple recipes for white sandwich bread and whole wheat bread at The Frugal Girl's site. Not only does homemade bread taste fantastic, it really isn't as hard as one might think. The first loaf of bread I ever made turned out lovely, and I had never even worked with yeast before. If you've ever wanted to bake your own bread, give it a go. You just might surprise yourself.

Cooking from Scratch- Once I started baking bread all of the time, it dawned on me that I can take it a step further and make other things from scratch. I started with soups that had simple things in them like a variety of vegetables with lentils and beans. Not only is it easy to throw a soup like this together, but it is also super healthy and super frugal, which makes me super happy. Before making my own soup, I wasn't the biggest soup fan. I rarely ate the stuff, and honestly thought it was kind of a pointless meal because I never stayed full long enough to make it worth eating. Homemade soup with tummy-filling legumes can't be beat. Another frugal bonus to homemade soup is that typically we can get two dinners and one lunch out of one batch of it. I've been doing so much experimenting with trying new things that I've just thrown caution to the wind and if I have an idea for a dinner, I jump in with both feet and make it from scratch. Just the other day I thought Chinese food would be good as we haven't had it in a really long time. Then Wonton soup popped into my head, something I haven't had in ages but lovelovelove. So I thought, how hard could it be to make Wonton soup? 2.5 hours later I was eating homemade Wonton soup and vegetable Chow Mein. You know what else I made a couple of weeks ago? Yogurt. Homemade Greek yogurt to be exact. I'd always wanted to make homemade yogurt but I thought I needed a yogurt maker or some tools and equipment that I didn't have. After discovering I had a half-gallon of skim milk in my fridge that was a day past the expiry date I thought this may be the perfect opportunity to not waste all of that milk and make some yogurt. I did some digging around and I discovered that I could easily make it from scratch using a crock-pot, which I have. If you've been looking for an easy crock-pot yogurt this is how you do it:

Pour 2 Litres of milk (whole milk works best I find, but any type should work) into a crock-pot and heat on LOW for 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Turn your crock-pot off, unplug it, and let it cool for 3 hours with the lid on.
After 3 hours scoop out 2 cups of the warm milk into a bowl and add 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of plain yogurt that has active bacterial cultures in it. You need those cultures to make your yogurt. Any type of plain yogurt will work as long as it has those cultures.
Mix the milk and yogurt together well, and then pour the mixture back into the warm milk in the crock-pot and whisk it until it is all mixed.
With the lid back on, wrap the crock-pot up in big fluffy bath towels. You want to insulate your crock-pot well.
Place it in your oven with the oven light on (DO NOT TURN THE OVEN ON). Leave it to rest in your oven for 12 hours. Trust me on this, the oven light makes a major difference. You want your yogurt to stay warm all night long and the oven light gives off just the right amount of warmth.

This recipe is best done before you go to bed so you can leave the yogurt resting overnight. When you wake up in the morning you will have yogurt! Put it in the fridge to chill and firm up a bit for a good 8 hours. To make it into Greek yogurt I strained the yogurt over a bowl while it was in the fridge for the 8 hours, stirring it every few hours. This strains out all of the whey and leaves behind a thick, creamy, gorgeous yogurt. You can use cheesecloth to strain it, or if you don't have that on hand a plain cotton pillow case works just as well. Also, KEEP THE WHEY! You can use this in your baking, in smoothies or you can even drink it straight if you so desire. My favorite way of eating this delicious yogurt is topped with raw honey. Try it!! Frugal bonus- one 650g container of Greek yogurt in the stores here costs anywhere from $5.50 - $6.50 CAD. This homemade version makes enough strained yogurt to fill two 650g containers for the cost of one 2L jug of milk, which if you opt for organic whole milk is about $5.00 CAD. That's $2.50 CAD per 650g container. Woot! Another great thing, is that if you save 1/2 cup of your homemade yogurt, you can then use that as your active bacterial culture for your next homemade batch.

Making the Most of my Garden- Spring has definitely sprung, but my yard is empty. The chives I planted last year are growing like crazy, my parsley is slowly but surely coming up, and my Day Lily is taking off. But last year I didn't make the most of my yard and just dabbled in greening my thumb. This year I want a lush, productive, thriving oasis of edibles. I know it's still early in the season, but the lovely warm spring weather we've had the last few days has kick-started me into garden mode. I've been carefully plotting out what I would grow based on things that I know all three of us like to eat, where to plant them, when to plant them, where to get the seeds from, and doing a ton of research on growing food on the west coast. I'm waiting on an order I placed last week for Super Sugar Snap Peas, Little Marvel Shelling Peas, Dwarf Munstead Lavender, Single Orange Calendula (Marigold), Parker's Variety Achillea (Yarrow), Blue Boy Centaurea (Cornflower) and Chamomile. All of these things can go in direct seed now and I can't wait to get them into the ground!! All of it is also either edible or can be used for medicinal purposes. This is the first batch of things to plant. Next week I will be putting together a square foot garden (I'll talk more about that when I get going on it!) and I have visions of lettuce, beets, carrots, brussell sprouts, tomatoes, cucumber (upside down gardening), zucchini (upside down gardening), pole beans, herbs and a bunch of other stuff waiting for us to pick and eat. Before and after pictures will be coming, so stay tuned!

One thing I have discovered with all this making that has been going on, is how rewarding it is to create something and provide for yourself and for those in your family. It is a lot of work, but at the same time it is simple. It feels simple. I feel like I'm heading in the right direction. I'm beginning to feel like a homesteader.

Inspiration: Part Two

2011-03-07T22:15:00.000-08:00

All I seem to have to do lately is look around and I'm inspired. But not so much in the way you may think. When I go out I see people with their faces glued to their cell phones, texting or "social networking" and not paying any mind to what is going on around them. I see inconsiderate people far more than I see considerate ones. I see more cars and less bikes or people happily going for a stroll. I hear all the time about how hard it is to make ends meet these days and then I hear people obsessing over the latest gadget on the market. When I had cable I would watch news reports about food shortages and hunger crises, often very close to home. I see people religiously watering their lawns and don't have a single edible plant on their property. I see more and more concrete, and less and less places to curl up with a blanket and a picnic basket. I could go on. My point is, everywhere I look I am inspired. Inspired to do it differently. For a long while I got caught up just like everyone else. I felt poor and unimportant if I wasn't driving. I felt poor and unimportant if I didn't have a 3G cell phone and a $100 cell phone plan so I could feel rich and important all the while being able to ignore you if you tried to talk to me. God forbid I had to talk to someone in the real world. Ick.

I don't exactly know what clicked in me, but eventually none of what is so popular and mainstream these days was appealing to me anymore. Talking to people via text, email, Facebook got cold and lonely, and that seemed to be the only way people liked to communicate. I found myself getting more text messages or emails wishing me a happy birthday than I had cards or phone calls. I also found myself very unfulfilled. I was being inspired to break away from it all but I had no idea that inspiration would be leading me down a path toward self-sufficiency and a life of homesteading. Dragging my feet through big box grocery stores made me feel depressed, anxious, overwhelmed and drained and I started wishing that I didn't have to grocery shop anymore. I dreaded grocery shopping. Food was becoming a chore and I didn't really know why. I kept thinking about things like farmers markets and how I wished there were more of them in my area then there currently are. Something about farmers markets made me feel good. They made me feel connected to the community in a way that I wasn't feeling anywhere else. I kept thinking about real food, whole food, where it comes from. I often look at something and think 'how can I do that myself instead of relying on someone else to do it for me', and that thought process started happening with food. Could I grow my own food? How much? What can I grow where I live? Would it be worth it? Would I even be able to grow anything?

I started out small two years ago, growing just a few things in my small townhouse patio/backyard; cucumbers, tomatoes, chives, parsley, basil and some strawberries. It was fun, I enjoyed it, but something wasn't quite there. It didn't speak to me in the way I thought it would. Last year I tried again with the same things and again, wasn't feeling it. As the fall and winter came I dove head first into crocheting and knitting, something I hadn't done since I was a little girl. I loved everything about it; the calm and cozy atmosphere it created in the room, the busyness of my hands, my ability to create something essentially out of nothing. It was incredible. I started to look at crocheting and knitting, thinking 'could I do this and make stuff we would actually wear?'. A realization was starting to form in my mind that my independence had been quietly screaming at me for some time now to take things into my own hands and do them on my own, to be self-sufficient. I just hadn't heard or acknowledged it until now. One thing started leading to another. I began thinking about sewing clothes for us, about preserving food, using less electricity and more candles, making things myself instead of buying them, cancelling cable TV, line-drying our clothes, putting effort into cooking meals instead of throwing things together, making food from scratch, I started thinking about the garden again and how eager I was to get out there and see what I could grow.....it was a snowball effect if I'd ever seen one. Thought after thought, idea after idea, it wouldn't stop. I started poring over books, one after the other (most of which are in my blog sidebar). Books on preserving food, homesteading, backyard gardens, food storage, sustainability. For a time I was glued to my computer reading blogs all on the same topics, or on proper bread kneading techniques, or what flowers go best in salads or as a tea. I was on a mission, and my first goal was to start breaking away from my dependence on a grocery store, and start making the stuff I was buying. I started with bread and after my very first loaf I was hooked. Recently I moved on to other baked goods I typically would buy like scones, english muffins, hamburger and hot dog buns, and pita bread. After making each of them I laughed because it really was so easy, and I think deep down I thought I wasn't going to be able to pull it off and would have to resort to the store again. I thought they would be too complex to make, or would be too much of a hassle. Now I've gotten used to making these things and I do so all of the time. It's still a bit early to begin planting seeds in the garden, especially since the forecast is calling for rain for the next 14 days, but I already have a list of seeds to order from the seed catalogue that now graces my kitchen table so I can flip it open and daydream whenever I'm in the kitchen. In the meantime I've started growing sprouts in the kitchen. Right now I have a broccoli blend doing it's thing in a canning jar on my kitchen counter, and I have some alfalfa waiting patiently to be sprouted next. They help me with my insatiable need to grow something, they taste amazing and they are so incredibly good for you. These small, maybe insignificant things to some are huge to me. They have given me fulfillment that I can't even express to you, and this is just the beginning. Making things from scratch, working with my hands, providing for my family in a way that has been lost in our current generations, gaining independence and travelling down a path toward self-sufficiency is truly a thing of beauty. I feel useful, productive, and yet again I feel inspired.

This new journey has me very excited. I've already learned a lot about myself and about past generations. I've learned about how much I take for granted and how much I don't know. There is a lot to learn but I plan on learning it as I go, by getting my hands dirty, experiencing some failures and hopefully many rewards, and the best part I think is getting to do this alongside my kids while they learn with me. If I leave a legacy behind one day, I hope this is part of it. It all starts with one person, with one step, and my hope beyond hopes is that my children will follow in my steps and then one day be the ones making them.

Inspiration: Part One

2011-02-22T16:57:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been finding inspiration in places I didn't expect. I love when that happens. For the longest time I have been seeking some inspiration and I just wasn't finding it. I don't know exactly what I was looking for, but I needed something. Anything. I just needed to be inspired. Perhaps I thought inspiration would show itself to me in a certain way, and when I wasn't seeing it, I didn't recognize it when it did come. Perhaps it is like the saying goes, that when you stop looking for something, it's then that you find it. Either way, it feels good to be inspired.

For many years I've had a strong interest in baking, gardening, sewing, crafting and making things by hand. It wasn't until recently when these things started becoming a passion for me, especially as I was learning about the homesteading (or back-to-the-land) movement and how many people were making changes to embrace a simpler life, one that resembled a lot what our Grandparents or Great-Grandparents lives may have looked like, and one that was self sufficient. Slowly I've been making small changes and doing things like composting, growing a few veggies, living frugally, and not driving as much in an effort to be kinder to the planet. It wasn't until I started reading up on homesteading that I realized it was that lifestyle I was really after. It had a name. And I wanted in.

I didn't grow up living in a house filled with family members happily baking alongside each other in the kitchen. My Mom and Step-Dad both worked full time outside of our home and weren't around all that much. We didn't grow our own food. All we grew were flowers, and not even edible ones. The only time we used our wood-burning fireplace was once in awhile for special occasions. The norm for our house was to retreat to our respective bedrooms and watch TV. As was the norm for most other homes I visited, whether they were friends or family. The only real exposure I got to baking was in home economics class in highschool, and on the occasion that my Mom wasn't too tired and felt like baking, us kids got to watch. When I had my children the same patterns began repeating themselves. Traditions were never passed down to me so that I could pass them on to my children, and skills were never carried down the generational line. Or so I thought.

In sort of a haunting way, I've been thinking a lot about my Grandparents on my Father's side, who have both passed away. I typically only got to see them once in awhile when my Father had visitation of me and if we went to visit them. As a child, those visits were precious and I loved my Grandparents dearly. They were the type of Grandparents I would have dreamed of having if they weren't mine. They were sweet, soft-spoken, old-fashioned and lovely. And they loved me like crazy. As I got older, the visits slowed, and when I became a Mom myself with all of it's busyness, I no longer made time for them. I know I took them for granted, foolishly thinking they would be around for a long time. Now that they are gone, so is my opportunity to nourish that relationship. They have been gone for some time now, but for whatever reason, I've been plagued with vivid memories of the time I spent with them, which almost always leaves me sobbing into my pillow at night over how much I miss them, and how much I missed out on. Memories that I had forgotten all about, now play over and over again in my mind as clear as day. I remember the way my Grandma dressed, always in skirts no shorter than her knees and beautiful blouses tucked in and buttoned up to her neck. She always had her snow white hair pulled up into a bun. I remember only ever seeing her with her hair down once, during a sleepover at her house and she was getting ready for bed. Her hair flowed down past her waist, and I remember how beautiful I thought she looked. My Grandpa loved to show me his garden. They lived in a beautiful mobile home in a sweet little mobile home park. Their backyard was small, but they made room to grow quite a bit of food next to their umbrella clothesline. Grandpa would always take me out back and show me how well his radishes were doing, or he would sneak a strawberry off the plant for me to eat while Grandma was inside cooking dinner. It was always our little secret. Grandma's dinners were always unbelievably delicious, with as much of it made from scratch as possible. You could taste the love in her meals, and dinner at their house was something I always looked forward to. Following dinner we almost always played some sort of game. Our favorites were usually Skip-Bo, Uno, Cribbage, or Tiddley Winks. They had a TV, but didn't watch it much. From time to time Grandpa would watch bowling or a golf game, but usually he would be found napping on the couch in the afternoon, or puttering in the garden or in his shed. Grandma spent her free time reading her Bible, usually in the morning before anyone else awoke. When I would wake in the morning I would come out to the table and be greeted with toast and juice, and Grandma's Bible would be open on the table. On Sundays she attended a home church near by, but never preached to me. Not even once. She lived out her faith everyday, which looking back on now spoke much louder than words ever could have. My Grandpa taught me how to swim in the mobile park's pool and afterward we would walk back to their home to do a puzzle together. He loved his puzzles. Grandma taught me to knit and crochet, and instilled in me a love for crafting, and for old-fashioned/vintage decor. Their house had doilies and lace curtains, gorgeous (and tasteful) shag carpet, an arborite table in their dining room, pantings and house plants everywhere, two china cabinets and a spoon collection, and just about every other currently collectible item circa the 1950's that you could ask for. She also had a sewing room that dreams were made of. Their life was simple, and they were more than willing to share it with whoever wanted to be a part of it. They didn't live a self-sufficient lifestyle, but they introduced me to what was possible by living simply. They taught me skills that I can pass down to my children, and my children's children. They taught me to slow down and take time to enjoy the beauty of nature, to enjoy the closeness of family, to deepen my faith. Because of their willingness to share it, they planted deep within me a desire to do the same. Most imporantly I think, is that they taught me a different side to the life I was accustomed to, and showed me a better way of doing things. Growing up I took these lessons for granted, and forgot most of them. Now, these lessons have flooded back and no longer will I take them for granted. Instead, I will run with them. I will pass on the traditions they left with me.

I never thought inspiration would find me in the form of memories, but it did. Out of the blue, and completely unexpected. What a blessing my Grandparents were, and continue to be, in my life. What an inspiration.

Hello Cable-Free Life

2011-02-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks in my home have been glorious. Why, you might ask? Well I did something that I've wanted to do for a very long time, and finally after several arguments with myself, I cancelled our cable. I have to say it is the best decision I have made in a very long time. At first it wasn't easy. There was a lot of this happening inside my head:

"Okay. NOW is the time, cable needs to go. I'm sick of it, I hate it, and I don't want it anymore"...

10 seconds later-

"Well, maybe I'll just get rid of the digital cable package and hold on to basic cable, just in case I need a TV fix. And I'll definitely NEED to watch the news. A person can't live in this world without up to the minute information on what is happening on the other side of the planet.......right??"

7 seconds later-

"NO. No-no-no-no. The point of cancelling cable is to CANCEL the cable. The basic package is not necessary and I don't need it."

5 seconds later-

"..........but what about that show 'Parenthood'??? It's getting really good now and I can't miss the next episode because the one girl is dating that guy behind her parents back and now she's gone and run away from home just so she can date him and......oh screw it. Cable's going."

You know what the really sad thing is? I had conversations like that with myself for DAYS. It really shocked me at just how addicted I was to a box in the corner of my living room. What sealed the deal for me though, was seeing the immediate change in my kids just as soon as the power came on on the TV. They were instantly transformed into zombies, unaware of their surroundings and put into a state of complete mush-brain. It could have almost been turned into a game. Turn the TV off, they snap out of it and start playing. Turn the TV on, they freeze, flop onto whatever piece of furniture is the closest to the TV, and are motionless and unresponsive. I could have had fun with that. Anyway. After convincing myself that neither me or my children were going to die from lack of television provided entertainment, I made the announcement that there would be no more Dog the Bounty Hunter or Billy the Exterminator, and that was that. Not a whine or cry was to be had by anyone, surprisingly. The first day without the TV on was a tiny bit strange. There was a quiet in the house that wasn't typical, and of course we were all left up to our own devices to keep ourselves occupied. It turns out it wasn't that hard of a thing to do. I started catching up on books that I've been "too busy" (because of watching TV) to read, and Gabe and Vaeh started getting along in a way that I don't see very often. I started noticing that we would sort of migrate to the same areas to be near each other, even if we were doing our own things. I would be in my cozy chair reading a book, Vaeh would pull out a puzzle and find a spot on the floor right by the chair I was sitting in, and Gabe would put together a stack of books and plant himself right next to his sister on the floor. There would be this blissful, content quiet throughout the whole house while this happened; all of us peacefully enjoying our chosen activity but also silently enjoying the closeness of each other. We are a very close family as it is, but this was something new for us, and it was beautiful.

I can't say that TV has been non-existent in our home as we have started a nightly routine of watching Little House on the Prairie on DVD every night before the kids' bedtime. Does that even count though? And if I am absolutely desperate for a TV fix, there are always programs out there like Netflix and of course online. I can honestly say though, that we haven't missed one second of not having cable in our home, and it makes me wonder why I didn't do this ages ago. The last two weeks have been filled with baking, reading, crafting, conversations, cuddles under blankets, story telling by the fireplace, and a terrific feeling of freedom. I can't recall a time in my entire life where I didn't have cable. I grew up in front of a TV so it's no wonder why I was addicted, and the fact that it played such a prominent role in my life made me wonder if I could even do this without breaking out into a cold sweat and calling the cable company, begging for my service to be restored while I'm curled up in the fetal position. Let me tell you, if I can do this anyone can. It really does feel like breaking free from an addiction. It's a sad thing that something like cable can have such a grip on people, and I'm so glad I'm no longer one of those people.

Goodbye cable. Hello life.

Enjoying a Slower Pace

2011-01-25T16:37:00.000-08:00

Yes, after the hustle and bustle of Christmas it seems we are headed into recovery mode. Finally.

Last week we celebrated Vaeh's 8th birthday (how on earth did that happen so quickly???) so there was a bit of excitement and a lot going on. Over the last few years we had decided not to celebrate birthdays with traditional parties, but instead rather, celebrating as a family and marking the day a 'special day'. The birthday child picks ahead of time special activities they would like to do that day, and then afterward we head to a toy shop and they get to pick out a birthday gift. This year Vaeh picked bowling (5 pin) and a movie (Disneys Tangled). It was a great, fun filled day. She picked out a doll from the toy shop, and Grandma (who came along with us) had her pick out a new outfit as well. As per our tradition, her 'special day' started off with a 'special breakfast' of her choice: belgian waffles topped with blueberries and syrup, and sparkling rasperry-grape juice.

She said with the tablecloth, the rose and the meal, it felt like we were at a super fancy restaurant. It really did. And the best part is, we didn't pay a super fancy restaurant price tag.

Now that her birthday has passed, we can slow down even more and gain some perspective on life and on our lifestyle. For a long time I've been craving a simpler life; one that is slow yet steady, relaxed yet productive, and most importantly: wholesome. I get easily caught up in consumerism. I get easily swayed by "advice" from outside sources telling me how I "should" be doing things when every fibre of my being wants nothing to do with it. I get sucked in to the influence of the media. I get busy. Crazy busy. And I want off that ride. I've been taking steps to get to the life I've always pictured in the back of my mind, but I feel like it's time to go a bit further, be a bit more brave and not hold back. So what is this life I want to be living? Well it involves several things. Many of them might seem small and insignificant, but they are just small pieces that when put together, create the bigger picture. The picture of happiness, contentment, self sufficiency, inspiration, beauty, family, quality, health and happiness.

These are some things I have been doing, and plan on doing very soon:

Going TV Free. This is something I've struggled with a lot over the last couple of years. I hate TV, yet I can't stop watching it. I find most of it meaningless, pointless, fake and damaging, yet I still watch it. It interferes with productivity, it promotes laziness and it turns people into real-life zombies. Must I go on? I hate TV, so cable must go.

"Use it up, Wear it out, Make do, or Do without". I first heard this quote on a blog I subscribe to called The Non-Consumer Advocate. We are a throw-away society, and we are conditioned to believe that we need the latest, newest, thingymabob on the market in order to feel good about ourselves. I'm flat-out rebelling against that idea.

Making It Myself. I'm challenging myself to make as many things as I can myself. As much as I would love to go all out in this area by making EVERYTHING myself, and believe me that is very tempting for me, I know that isn't possible if I plan on sleeping at all. Sleeping is kind of necessary. If there is something me or the kids want or need, I'm going to do my best to make it myself.

Growing Food and Canning. Each year I add a little bit more to my tiny backyard/patio garden. This year I would like to double it and make most of my yard into a garden. Movements like Food Not Lawns inspire me to grow more food and have less lawn. Canning is something I've wanted to learn to do for a very long time, but never got around to. There is something so appealing about it to me.

Healthy Diet, Healthy Living, Less Meat. I'm not a vegetarian, nor am I trying to become one. I really do enjoy meat, but it is expensive, and this frugalista doesn't like expensive. By cutting back on how much meat we eat that helps to lower the cost of groceries. Also, I've seen the documentary Food, Inc. enough times to make me question the food that I buy and where I buy it from, especially meat. The past few weeks I've made some major changes in the foods that I eat, cutting out as much junk as possible and eating real food, not dinner-in-a-box or processed garbage. Traditional, wholesome (there's that word again!) food. I've cut coffee out of my diet and have been drinking water, green tea, and the occasional sparkling juice. I take my vitamins daily, I've been exercising and have been incorporating more legumes into our meals. All of these changes have resulted in me feeling fantastic. I feel rested in the morning when I wake up, I have much more energy than I did before and my daily headaches (which I discovered were from the coffee, and probably the junk I was eating) are gone.

Unscheduling and Proper Planning. In our house we fall victim to overscheduling. Taking on too much. Signing up for classes, making more committments than we have the time or energy for, continuously running errands because of poor planning (fail to plan, plan to fail). It isn't necessary and it has to stop. Simplifying life has a lot to do with simplifying schedules. My kids don't need to be signed up for every activity out there, nor do I. I don't need to make 3 trips to the store in a week, one should be enough. We've already begun to cut back on our scheduling and our committments, and it feels like a weight has been lifted.

Seek Inspiration. I have a very creative soul. When I was younger I used to create things all the time. I would sew, draw, color, write, daydream, glue, paint. As I got older, those things started to fade and now I struggle with finding inspiration to be creative. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with TV watching (did I mention it zaps creativity?) but there is a block somewhere, much to the tune of writers block. My imagination seems to have disappeared on me, and I'm desperate to get it back. I feel lost without creativity. A big piece of me is missing.

Those are just some things I am working on, and more will come I'm sure. I'm definitely excited about putting all of these things into place, and more. I'm excited to see how this year will unfold, and how much different life will look the same time next year. More than anything, I'm looking forward to the pace. Slow. Slow and steady. Wasn't there a book written about that? :)

A Little Bit of Grey, a Little Bit of Color, and a Little Bit of DIY

2011-01-24T16:40:00.000-08:00

It's raining again today. It's been raining pretty much the whole week and then some. I don't mind rainy days all that much. Living your entire life on the West Coast of Canada, you get used to these things. Besides, our spring, summer and fall completely make up for the lack of color and abundance of 'damp' that graces us each winter. Plus, rainy days are usually an excuse for cups of tea, comfy chairs, blankets, books, fireplaces, warm socks, and every other cozy thing that I swoon over. Speaking of which, a picture to share:

This is my new favorite spot in my house. Rewind a few days, and this corner was virtually empty. The only thing I had here was my guitar on its stand. Before that, the Christmas tree. Before that, my tv on its stand. After Christmas I decided to leave the corner open in the hopes that I would find a chair to put here. For some time I've really wanted a cozy chair in this corner so I could sit with a good book and a blanket, or just to have the opportunity to curl up and gaze outside on a day just like today. After a spontaneous trip to my local thrift store on Thursday evening, I spotted something floral and pretty in the furniture section. Like a moth to a flame I glided toward the soft burst of color that my eyes have been craving for weeks, and there it was. My chair. I say that because the second I saw it I knew it was mine. It looked brand new, no signs of wear whatsoever. I gave it a thorough exam, unzipping the cushion covers checking for marks of any kind that told me of the chairs previous love, I scoured it for the smallest tear that would, to some, justify its finding a temporary home in a thrift store......nothing. It was mint. Then, I looked at the price tag. $39.99. I was elated. I quickly found a store clerk and had them slap a SOLD sticker on her, and she was mine. I very carefully loaded my new-to-me chair into the back of my minivan, the kids squeeling with delight as I did (I swear, they are truly mini versions of me), and home we went. As soon as I got it through my front door I knew this was meant to be. The colors on the chair went so nicely with the color of my walls, and when I placed it into the corner by the fireplace and the window, my living room felt complete. Not only was this chair a great deal, but it is the most comfortable chair ever and all 3 of us can even fit into it. I finally have my cozy-curl-up chair. I'm super happy. I had been comtemplating for awhile about buying the Ektorp chair from Ikea which starts at $250.00 CAD, but frugal me wasn't thrilled to pay that much, and I knew if I held out long enough I would find the perfect-for-me chair at the perfect-for-me price. The step stool/side table in the picture is from Ikea ($14.99 CAD) and with a little DIY it goes very nicely with the rest of my decor. I purchased two of them, sanded them a bit, and stained them with a dark brown stain and now they serve multiple uses in our home. We use them to reach things on the tops of our bookshelves, the kids use one each when we are in the kitchen baking, they make for great side tables as you can see, and we also use them around our kitchen table as extra seating and for seating for our daycare kids as the stools are slightly higher than our kitchen chairs, which makes them the perfect height for younger ones to sit and eat comfortably. I also use them when I'm on my laptop in the living room. Great little stools they are.

Well I'm off to finish my tea and to watch raindrops fall outside my window from my new favorite spot. I definitely think a fire in the fireplace is in order this evening. Have a cozy night! ♥

One Year Passes, Another Begins

2010-12-31T20:06:00.000-08:00

It's New Year's Eve. The very last day that we will ever see 2010. Here I sit with my kids, all of us in our new Christmas PJ's, me typing away, them watching How to Eat Fried Worms on Netflix. It's just another night in our home, and it's just the way I like it. Last year I pretty much did the same thing, and spent New Years Eve with my little family. If we make it to midnight I will be very surprised, but it's not my goal. My goal for this evening is just to be. To surround myself with what matters most to me, and do the things we enjoy the most; being together, watching movies, snuggling, giggling, and not worrying about what the year has held or what the next year will bring. Yes, there are many exciting things already in the works that will play out in 2011 and if you continue to read my blog you will be able to follow along as those things unfold. But tonight that isn't my focus. I will wake up tomorrow like I wake up every other day, God willing. Tonight, well...tonight the highlights of my evening will be watching my son fall asleep in my arms, kissing my daughter's forehead and tucking her into bed, and making sure they both know how lucky I am to have them. That is something to celebrate.

All the best to all of you. Happy New Year :)

xoxoxo

'Tis The Season To Be Busy

2010-12-10T22:55:00.000-08:00

I've tried to make an effort to post. Really I have. What can I say? I'm exhausted!!!! There's been a lot happening around here, being that it is Christmas and all. With all of the crafting and knitting and baking and activities and planning and preparing, plus the typical day to day stuff, and then add in a little volunteering....that's a heavy recipe of stuff going on. I'm not complaining. Not one bit. The absolute best part of all of this has been the ridiculous amounts of fun I am having doing all of these awesome, feel-good-warm-fuzzy activities with my kids. I had hoped to be posting regularly about them, but it just hasn't happened, so feel free to stay up to date via my Twitter posts, which are in the sidebar of my blog. I'm working on slowing down some, and spending time away from the computer has helped. I'm hoping to be back here very soon, but I can't say yet exactly when that will be. I will try to post as much as I can, even if it is short and sweet posts like this one until things get back to "normal"...whatever that looks like. I hope your December has been filled with warm-fuzzies and beautiful memories so far!

A handmade treasure to last forever (craft night with the kids)

Advent Activities

2010-11-30T23:48:00.000-08:00

Well, as promised, I am sharing our activities for Advent. I hope maybe some or all of them will inspire or encourage you and your family to put a little bit of focus on togetherness, and maybe start your own tradition of an Activity Advent. Along with our activities, we also will be doing a Nativity Advent, which is 7 days long and will be interspersed with our activities throughout the month.

Here are the activities, in no particular order:

*Light the Lake- there is a lake just walking distance to my house that is surrounded by trees. In December the city lights up some of the trees with lights, and has vendors and activities set up in tents alongside the lake. It's a fun, low-cost activity (free admission, the only cost would be to buy things like hot chocolate or goodies).

*Make Paper Snowflakes- something so simple is so much fun. A great family activity and the bonus is you get to decorate your house afterward with your new creations.

*Light Up the Square- another 'light up' activity, but this one is a bit different. In our city there are a number of 'squares' or city centers (very small cities) that the city lights up. This one will have music, treats, arts and crafts, a lantern celebration, storytelling, cookie decorating, and my favorite; a tour of a historic house that is now a museum. Here we will have the opportunity to learn about old traditions, homesteading and how Christmas was celebrated and how a house was run in the early 1900's. It is rich with history, a perfect homeschooling opportunity, and something I really love to do.

*Bake Cookies Together- I think that one speaks for itself? Vaeh and Gabe both love to help out in the kitchen, especially when it involves baking.

*Donate Items to Shelter and/or Food Bank- remembering Christmas isn't just about us, incorporating a spirit of giving in with our celebrating is very important.

*Candlelit Dinner- another simple activity that could surprise you with the amount of joy it can bring, especially to little ones

*Craft Night- we all love crafts in this house, but more often than not we just don't get time to sit down and focus on a family craft

*Trip To the Library- we do this fairly often and the kids love it, but to make it an "event", we make it just a bit more fun. We'll bundle up and walk there instead of drive (about a 15 minute walk), and after we spend a significant amount of time there, we will pop over to the coffee shop on the corner right beside the library and sit and enjoy hot drinks

*Family Portrait- our first family portraits ever taken were in the summer of 2009, so there aren't many. A Christmas themed family portrait is definitely necessary

*Christmas Light Drive- something we all look forward to in the months before December. We compile a newspaper provided list of local Christmas light displays, and go on a driving tour of them all in one night, drinking hot chocolate or hot apple cider as we go. Last year we found some AMAZING walk-through displays complete with popcorn machines, cotton candy and hundreds of thousands of lights. Brilliant!

*Make Christmas Cards for Vaeh's Friends

*Paint Homeschool Room- we have been hard at work putting together our new homeschool room where the kids can have a dedicated space for learning together, or a quiet space for learning. This may not seem like a fun, Christmas-related activity, but Vaeh has been itching to have it painted, and to help me paint it, so this will definitely be a fun one for her.

*Wrap Presents for the Family -this is something else that can be overlooked as a fun time to spend with your kids. Of course you don't want to wrap their presents in front of them, but wrapping other family members gifts is a fun way to spend an evening.

*Make Gingerbread Pieces for Gingerbread Houses- a tradition in our house is to make gingerbread houses. This year I committed to making all of the pieces so we can actually EAT the houses (store bought kits are a bit on the stale side)

*Assemble Gingerbread Houses and Read Christmas Stories- fire included

*Christmas Eve Service at Church

*Bake Goodies For Family- another tradition. We always bake fun and delicious goodies for family members as part of their gifts. Last year we did Candied Orange Peels and they were a hit. This year we haven't decided yet, but I will most definitely post about it here.

*Winter Walk- this will be a walk where we go out and collect beautiful pieces of nature that remind us of the winter season and of Christmas. We'll then use these items in our craft night.

*Paint Window Scene- every year I paint the window at the front of our house with a Christmas related scene. This year Vaeh has told me how much she would love to help me paint, so we are making an activity out of it

*Mystery Events- these are sort of my saving-grace, so to speak. I have a few of these ones, and any time where I need to postpone an event or change the event schedule do to unforeseen instances, I pop one of these into a calendar pocket and when it comes time to pull it out, we brainstorm as to what we should do for an activity that day. It is very helpful too if a community event comes up that I wasn't aware of, I can replace one event with the Mystery Event label and we attend the new event that day.

*Christmas Movie Night With A Cozy Fire and Hot Chocolate- our favorite Christmas movie (or movies) will be watched. Some of them include A Christmas Story, The Polar Express and Home Alone.

*Toy Workshop in the Kid's Room- in an effort to keep clutter to a minimum, and to make sure the kids don't have more than they need, each year before Christmas we go into the kids room and go through their toys, bagging up things they no longer play with or want/need and we donate them. As awful as this may sound for a child-related activity, the kids really enjoy doing this and don't complain at all. They know that in order to have new gifts come in, we have to get rid of stuff we just don't need anymore.

*Vaeh and Gabe's Christmas Shopping- this will be an evening for the kids to do their shopping for family members.

*Game Night- the kids get to choose whatever game(s) they want to play and we all sit down together and play

It can be difficult to plan a full month of activities in advance. Doing this involves having a regular calendar on hand so you can see any classes or activities you may already have going on, so you don't double-book yourself in a sense, and so you ensure you don't cancel an activity because you forgot about dance class or Bible study or what have you. For us, Vaeh has a girls club she attends at our church every Thursday evening, so those evenings will have to have the activity completed during the day, or it will have to be something that can be accomplished before she heads off to her group. Also, activities that involve traveling and admission fees may want to be set up for a weekend, and/or around a payday if things are a bit on the tighter side of things in your house (which they are for most of us, especially around Christmas!). I make sure the kids don't know what the activities are ahead of time, so if I need to change around activities they aren't disappointed. It also feeds into the element of surprise and excitement, so that is a big bonus! We always pull out the day's activity on the morning of that day. This is very helpful and I highly recommend it.

I think the most important thing about the Activity Advent, is to focus on what your children really really love to do, and run with that. Also, if there were certain traditions you have been wanting to incorporate into your family, but weren't sure how to incorporate it or you weren't sure if it would be well received, having it as one of the advent activities can be a great way to do this and try it out. By incorporating this tradition into our family it has helped immensely to take the focus off of presents and receiving, and has put the focus on spending time together as a family, about growing closer, and about how we can do things for others. That right there is the best gift I could possibly receive for Christmas.

It Has Begun

2010-11-28T16:58:00.000-08:00

Christmas has finally made it's way into our home. Usually I have a strict no-decorations-until-December-1st rule, but the weekend before the 1st is acceptable. Right? Considering how many people I see on Facebook, posting that they have put up their trees and decorated their houses before our Remembrance Day (November 11th!!!!), I think I'm okay.

I am a total Christmas NUT. I love everything about it. The lights, the music, the decorations, the snow (if we're lucky!), fires in fireplaces, being cozy, hot cocoa, desserts, baking, candlelit Christmas Eve service at church, the excitement in my children's eyes, and the most important thing of all, the celebration of the birth of our Savior. I warn you ahead of time, this month of blogging is probably going to be heavily doused in Christmas joy, blissful coziness, and wintery love.

On Saturday, after turning on Praise 106.5 FM and hearing Christmas music being played, and after baking a very delicious loaf of banana bread, I have to say I really got in the mood to get everything set up. I pulled everything out of my storage closet and the kids and I got started. Last year I invested in a gorgeous 7' fake Christmas tree from Canadian Tire. They had a phenominal sale on, and this tree cost me $79. AWESOME deal for a tall and gloriously full tree, and it was the very last one, the display model in fact. I couldn't pass up such a good deal so the very kind employee that I dealt with took off all of the decorations and boxed it up for me. I ♥ Canadian Tire. While I absolutely love the look and smell of a real tree, I don't love the maintenance. From a frugal perspective, I'd rather spend a bit for a fake one that will last years and years, then continually fork over $30-$50 each year.

It took us the better part of Saturday afternoon to get all of the decorations set up, and the tree fully decorated, but we did it. Gabe was mesmerized by it all, as he has pretty much forgotten Christmases past, so this was almost all new to him. And he, at his tender little age of 3, appreciates beautiful things so much it almost made me teary watching him gently touch the ornaments, and ever so carefully place the baby Jesus in our nativity scene, or when he looked around the living room at the twinkling lights and in his little voice said "Mommmmmmmy. It's booofiful". Vaeh kept repeating over and over again "I'm having so much fun!!". She is my little assistant and adores helping me with anything I'm doing. She also loves everything I do about Christmas, almost as much as I do too. Christmas has taken on such a special new feeling once I became a Mom, and even more-so when it became just the 3 of us. We've actually been able to celebrate Christmases as they should be celebrated, full of love and joy and happiness and togetherness. I cringe at the memory of Christmases just a few years back, and that's not how it should be. So we have new memories now. Beautiful ones. Memories that project the love of the Lord and His guidance in our lives, and memories that are full of hope for what is to come for us, in the new year, and in our new life.

These santa and trees candles were in my home every Christmas when I was growing up, so they have some sentimental value to me. This year I've been working at making sure santa wasn't the focus of Christmas so we only have a few santa related things out.

This is our 'activity advent' that I bought last year. You can read all about how we use it here. In the next couple of days I will try to post the list of the activities we have planned in case any of you were looking for some ideas for your advent. This year will be slightly different with the calendar though, as Vaeh is learning to read, and really well, so the element of surprise for what our activity will be may be lost. I know she will peek at the paper ahead of time and read it. She's very impatient. Wonder where she gets it from.

This is something else that has been around my home for years. It plays 'Hark! the Herald Angels Sing' and the angel moves in and out of the church, the doors closing as she goes in and opening as she comes out. I cherish it :)

Well I' m off to cook dinner and then do some knitting. There is much to get done before December 24th!

Forgive Me If I Make No Sense

2010-11-21T22:51:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning with a cold. Fun. My head has been spinning all day, so I will do my best to put together a proper post. I apologize in advance if that doesn't happen.
As much as I *try* to take care of myself, I forget to take my vitamins every day, I don't get enough exercise, and I am a child care provider. What does this mean? I tend to get sick more than I like to. But not to worry. In the short term, I've been having spoonfuls of raw honey, drinking plenty of green tea and getting lots of rest. In the long term, I plan on fixing the vitamin and exercise problem. The daycare thing I'm kind of stuck with.

I've had a busy week. So what else is new! It's been a week of household projects and there have been quite a few. I've done some wallpapering, some painting and staining of furniture, some organizing of storage closets, and have been working on putting together a homeschool room out of the spare room in my house. I've also spent this week helping Vaeh and Gabe put together shoeboxes for the Samaritan's Purse: Operation Christmas Child program. Each year around the same time we fill shoeboxes full of goodies for less fortunate children in other countries and the children receive them by Christmas. Last year we did 2 shoeboxes, this year we did 4. I attempted to do 5 but I just couldn't get it done in time.

It has been a great experience doing this with my kids, and I'm hoping that I instill into them a heart for giving. I see it developing in Vaeh. For awhile Gabe seemed to think that I was filling up shoeboxes for him and got quite upset with me when I tried to tell him otherwise. I think he finally got it though as today he began filling up the 5th empty box we had with his own toys, saying he was filling his shoebox for kids. I think it's really important that we do things like this with our children, and show them there is more to life than ourselves. Not only did we shop for the items together, but we filled the boxes together, and while we filled the boxes we talked about the children who would get them. When the shoeboxes were ready to go, we prayed over them together that each shoebox would reach just the right child that was meant to have the items inside, and when it was time to drop the shoeboxes off at the church, we all carried them in. Even though they won't be able to see the end result of the children receiving the boxes, involving them in as much of the process as possible is a good start.

Well I will keep this post short and sweet, just like me, and get some more much needed rest. The hardest part for me with being sick is the not being able to get things done. Fingers crossed that changes quickly!

Nightynights
xo

Love Me Some Fall

2010-11-09T14:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find out I had the day off, so after breakfast the kids and I headed out for a walk to the mailbox and to play in some leaves. The streets in our neighborhood are covered in a gorgeous blanket of crunchy redness and it was just too hard to resist stomping on all of it. I thought it would be a great opportunity to collect some leaves for our compost bin as well.

Composting has gone well for us and has been a fun experience. In the hot days of summer we encountered excessive amounts of fruit flies taking up home in the bin and that wasn't so pleasant. I'm still learning though and realized it was because I had too much food stuff in the bin, not enough browns (leaves, grass, newspaper, etc.) and I wasn't stirring. My bad. Now that the weather has cooled there is not a bug to be seen and the bin smells like wonderfully rich soil.

As we headed out yesterday, the kids couldn't contain their excitement for our walk. I don't know what it is, but my kids have a tendency to *always* run to the mailbox.

On our way back from the mailbox we headed for the leaves. I think they enjoyed themselves. What do you think?

As it turns out, we had a bit of an audience.

After our noses started to match the shade of the leaves on the ground, and our fingers curled up inside of our coat sleeves, we decided to head home. Within minutes of us taking off our shoes and coats, this is what it looked like outside.

It was a lovely walk, and even lovelier to come back to a warm cozy home minutes before a rainfall. I love this time of year.

Taking A Moment To Appreciate Something Simple

2010-11-07T21:08:00.000-08:00

The kids are now in bed and all that can be heard in the house is the soft sound of worship music playing and a fire crackling away in the fireplace. I was recently told that my gorgeous wood burning fireplace, that I have spent many a night curled up to with a movie, a book or two beautiful children for stories, is being replaced by an electric heater mocking the very idea of a fireplace. Being that I live in a rental, I have no say. I have until January of next year to enjoy what I consider to be a simple luxury. So for now I am spending my evenings in front of it's warmth and looking forward to a gloriously cozy Christmas season of fireside stories, roasted marshmallows, hot cocoa and giggles, toasty toes and heavy eyes that sleepily close content with the warm glowing dance that performs for them.

I hope you have a simple luxury that you can appreciate before it's gone. If only the things we enjoy so much lasted forever.....

A Pattern To Share and A New Plan

2010-11-04T17:10:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhh, it's good to be getting back into the old swing of things. Writing here always makes me feel so good, it's a wonder how I can get too busy to do it. Hopefully that won't happen anymore.

I've been asked by a dear reader if there is a pattern available for the crocheted throw I made awhile back (it is actually a throw but I called it a blanket as I made it for Gabe and for his little body it's a blanket!) so I thought I would share with everyone in case others were curious and were wanting to make the throw as well. So here are all the fun details. There IS a pattern for it, but I followed it fairly loosely and changed it a tiny bit, such as not using the blue in it. The pattern is free and it can be found here. This was the first actual throw I've done so it is very beginner friendly. Any trouble I had I simply jumped on over to YouTube and searched for how-to videos on particular stitches I was having trouble with. YouTube is great for beginner knitters and crocheters. I highly recommend it! In the future I promise to share more details about what I'm working on so anyone who is interested can try it also. I'm actually in the process of crocheting another throw for my daycare girl who I will be giving it to for Christmas. I will share that in another post.

Something else I have been working on is a new plan for the house. I'm very big on lists and writing things down, and I've found that I am much more productive if I write down my goals for the day or for the short term. It really helps me organize my mind. If you are someone who tends to get flustered and overwhelmed like I do, try writing everything down. I am all about being more productive these days, especially with how busy I've been so today I started jotting some plans down for things I would like to change and/or implement. The list will no doubt grow, but for now I think it's a good start and I'm going to incorporate it into our days beginning today.

-Early to bed. This is something I have always struggled with, and something I know I need to work on changing. I've *always* been a night owl, but the problem with that is most days I don't have the luxury of sleeping in, and I'm one who absolutely needs at least 8 hours. 9 hours is the best case scenario and leaves me feeling totally rested and energized the next day, which equals me being much more productive. Starting tonight I'm going to try a 10:30 bedtime and see how that works out for me. If it enables me to get up earlier then I can also start my day with a personal and private Bible study, which is a great way to start the day.

-Get ready for bed. Yet another thing I struggle with. I'm very much in the habit of going to bed at what I think is an okay hour, and then lying awake for the next 60 minutes which actually puts my bedtime at an hour later than what I had intended when I went to bed in the first place. Instead, if I go actually get into bed a good 30 minutes before my intended bedtime, and do something like read or crochet or listen to music, I will wind down nicely and come my actual intended bedtime it will be much easier to fall asleep right away. My plan here is also to make sure that everything I need to get done after dinner, such as tidying up and the like, are done ahead of time so they aren't cutting in to my getting ready for bed. I will also do this with Vaeh, as she tends to stay up until about 10:30pm reading in her bed. Now I will tell her she can go to bed 30 minutes early and have reading time and then lights out, and if she doesn't choose to do that then it's lights out right at bedtime.

-Earlier dinner. In order to succeed with the first two things on my list, an earlier dinner time is necessary. A typical dinner time for us is between 6:30 and 7:00pm. My last daycare kiddie leaves at 6:00pm and that is usually when I start dinner. This has caused a lot of problems for us in the past, mainly because Gabe is a very slow eater. More often than not he is still eating at 8:00pm which is his bedtime. Starting today we are going to have dinner at 5:00pm and while we are eating my daycare kids can have a snack so they aren't feeling left out. By the time my last daycare child leaves we will be done dinner, and even if Gabe takes a bit longer to eat it won't matter. After that, my evening is free to finish other things up.

-Family worship. This is something I have heard many families do, but never tried it myself. We would read bedtime stories together when the kids bedtimes were at the same time (which used to be 8:30pm) but now that they have different bedtimes it has become harder to do story time. With family worship in the evenings, set at a time well before bed, we will curl up on the couch in front of a fire and I will either read from the Bible or read Bible stories to them and then we will have prayer time together. This one I am really excited about starting. Not only is it important to pray and worship with your family, but it is a special bonding time that I'm really looking forward to having.

-Weekly movie nights. As a family we watch quite a lot of movies together at home, but we don't have a scheduled movie night, so when our movie nights do happen they tend to happen spur of the moment and it ends up not being as enjoyable as it could be because things get forgotten and feel rushed. When we decide to watch a movie, we rush through dinner and then we're too full for popcorn during the movie, then we aren't sure which movie to watch and we just don't get settled, and before we know it the kids are up past their bedtime because it took us too long to get it together. A planned movie night will give us time to do just that, plan it. From time to time, if the movie is worth it in my opinion, we will venture out to the theater on our scheduled movie night.

-Chore charts/things to get done. In the morning I will sit down and write out (in the form of a list of course!!) what needs to get done each day and our goal will be to accomplish the things on that list first in our day. Each of us will have our own designated things that need to get done. I'll have to be a bit creative with Gabe, but I think this is a great way to instill responsibility in to them, and show them that we all need to work together to help things run smoothly in the house. I'm also going to do up a chore chart which I will make at the beginning of each week, where Vaeh and Gabe will have daily chores, or jurisdictions as the Duggars call them, that they will be responsible for. It will be small things such as sweeping the kitchen or tidying the bookshelf or getting together dirty laundry in the house. When they complete a jurisdiction they will get a reward certificate or slip that they will collect and can cash in with me each week or two. They will be able to cash them in for money to put in their piggy banks, or they can cash them in for a special activity that will have a designated slip value (ie: game night with their choice of game will cost 5 slips/certificates/dollars, whatever I call the reward, lol).

So that is what I have so far. I'm really eager to get on this as just reading it I feel a great sense of peace, that this is going to help immensely.
You may have noticed these last couple of posts have been quite picture-free. I've greatly neglected my poor camera along with everything else and have hardly taken any pictures these last few months. I'm making it a priority to take more pictures so not only can I tell you about what's happening around here, but I can also show you, because that is just a lot more fun. I'm also considering adding some video posts to the blog once in awhile. We will see how that goes.

xo

Ack! 3.5 Months!!

2010-11-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

Yes folks, that, embarrassingly, is the last time I have posted on my blog. But wait!! I have a note from my Mom! Okay I don't, but I do have a really good ~~excuse~~ reason for my absence and all around neglect. It seems I have entered into a significantly busy season of life. As if being a single Mom wasn't busy enough. We did seem to be going at a good pace for awhile there, taking it easy and handling things as they come. That season has passed. I miss that season. To be honest, I think what happened was I had been putting off a lot of things and just focused on enjoying a slower pace. Those things that I've put off are now screaming to get done (more like I'm screaming at myself to do them) and I've gone into accomplish mode. Now that Autumn has arrived (which I'm ecstatic about as it's my favorite season!) classes have started up again for the kids and activities are abounding. Vaeh is back in dance class (hip hop again, of course) and is also now participating in a girls club at our new church (YES! We found a great church!! I'll have to share soon). She gets to hang out with a group of girls from grade 1 to grade 5 one night a week for an hour and a half where they sing songs, do crafts, bake, have sleepovers and grow in their relationship with God. It's fantastic and I'm so completely happy that she is fellowshipping with other girls and is making new friendships. *sigh*. That makes my heart content right there.
Gabe has been keeping me *extremely* busy with his turning 3 and not wanting to be a recognizably sweet child anymore. Maybe that's a bit over the top. He does still have his moments where he rubs my cheek and looks intently into my eyes, saying in the most adorable quiet voice "I love you Mommy. You know that?". The other moments of the day, I want to pull all of my hair out. Really. This boy has skipped the terrible two's altogether and has moved on to the terrible three's. I should have expected this, as Vaeh did the very same thing. At two she was the most perfect child, sweet and angelic. When she turned three she developed this attitude where when people would ask me how old she was I would say "Oh she's three, going on thirteen". When she turned four she snapped right back into sweetheart mode and has stayed that way ever since. I am hoping Gabe is the same. Boy am I ever. The last few weeks he has decided he no longer needs naps and most days doesn't have one. Mommy on the other hand, *knows* he needs naps because come 5pm he is running around the house throwing toys, hitting, not listening to anything I say, climbing on furniture, being mean to his sister and the daycare kiddies, and basically being the complete opposite of my sweet guy. *sniffle* My patience has been wearing very thin lately. I keep reminding myself this is just a season, just a stage, and for the most part that helps.

Once the weather started cooling and the fall rains began, I decided that being car-free and biking full time wasn't a completely viable option for us. We did great with it during the summer, and while it did have it's challenges (planning ahead a lot, weather issues, time constraints, travel distance limited, etc.), I'm glad we did it. Aside from the weather, I realized how unsafe I often felt being out with my kids. I've never had an experience to really justify my feelings here, but I felt very vulnerable. I like to think I live in a safe area, but there is stuff that goes on quite frequently around my neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods and for awhile they seemed to be escalating. I found myself looking over my shoulder a lot, and having worst-case-scenarios go through my head more than I cared for. With our activities that we have happening, and daylight savings time in the fall, I would very often be walking around in the dark which made me uncomfortable. Another factor was just the lack of proper cycling infrastructure. I couldn't get comfortable riding on the roads alone, let alone pulling the bike trailer, and drivers were showing that they just weren't happy with me being there either. After giving it some careful thought, I decided that this is probably just not the right time to be trying to do this, and perhaps I could give it a go when the kids are a bit older and we are all more experienced riders. So with that I put insurance back on my van and really haven't looked back. The second I got in the drivers seat after months of not driving, I instantly felt safe. Isn't that funny?? I mean, really, when you consider how unsafe vehicles are, the fact that I felt safe there is bizarre. Knowing that I wasn't going to be completely vulnerable anymore though, was a huge sigh of relief. I don't enjoy the costs associated with driving, but I am staying much closer to home these days which I figured out quickly how to do while we were biking everywhere, so I'm not spending as much as I very easily could.

So right now I'm at a place where I'm really enjoying getting things done, and feeling quite satisfied with my accomplishments, but I'm also fighting with myself to find time to rest and relax and do things I really enjoy not just stuff that *has* to get done. Once the kids go to bed it gives me time to have Bible study or read or crochet or just do whatever I feel like. It's really nice, but it's not nearly long enough!! I've been working on getting to bed earlier (no more of this 12am/1am business) and unfortunately that cuts into my very precious me-time. You want to know something though? I'm really making a point to enjoy every second of my crazy-chaotic-busyness though, because every night when I go to bed and I see my babies' sleeping faces it makes me miss this time even though it's still here. I know there will come a day when they will be old enough to not need me as much, or want to spend as much time with me. And then there's the day where they will be grown and moving on to their own lives. Just writing that is bringing tears to my eyes. As much as they can drive me crazy, pulling me in all directions, they *need* me. My job right now is to be their everything. Being a parent is a blessing from God ( Psalm 127:3-5) and I embrace that blessing everyday. I couldn't ask for a better job, or a better gift. So as much as I may complain, or as busy as I may get, I'm incredibly thankful. This season will pass soon enough and we will enter into a new one that is full of new experiences and new adventures and I will embrace that season just as I embrace this one.

With that I leave a promise to be back here often to update and share, and a super awesome video that has become my new theme song that a good friend of mine has ever so thoughtfully shared with me. Hope you enjoy it!

Time Away, Simplifying and Finished Projects

2010-07-22T23:27:00.000-07:00

These last couple of weeks I decided to step back and take a bit of time away from all of the common day distractions that keep me so tied up time and time again. Mainly television and the computer. Instead of checking emails every 10 minutes, updating statuses every hour and watching garbage on TV, I dug into some wholesomeness and feel-good activities. Stuff I've really been needing mentally, spiritually and emotionally. I don't know about you, but I often feel so overwhelmed by all of the "stuff" out there that we all can't seem to live without these days. I find
myself anxious, flustered, stressed out and wired, like I've had too much coffee to drink. I really needed this. The first thing I did was grabbed my crochet hooks and got to work on a blanket for Gabe that I had been slowly piecing together. It was my first actual project and it took many, many, many hours to complete but once I did, wow. It felt fabulous. Working with my hands is so incredibly relaxing and therapeutic for me, so this was fantastic. Of course with crocheting being as addicting as it is, I also crocheted a produce bag and I'm working on a ring. Pictures to come. During the times when I am crocheting, Vaeh will put on a DVD of The Sound of Music and the three of us will cheerfully sing the songs together. Other times it will just be the sound of each of us doing our own thing together. Vaeh has been a very, very busy girl playing with her modelling clay, sculpting miniature watermelon and banana bunches for her miniature make-believe picnics in the park, or a row of hearts to show me "how much she loves me". The sound of creativity and fun is a much sweeter sound to fill the air then the sounds that come from the idiot box, as my Dad used to call it. I've been leaning closer and closer toward cancelling cable but I'm not quite there yet. In the meantime, long bouts of keeping it turned off is perfect.

After finishing Gabe's blanket I got motivated to do other things around the house that I've been meaning to get to. Namely, Vaeh's bedroom. Slowly but surely I've been working on each room of my house, painting and organizing, to put my touch on things and make my home as cozy and as reflective of me as possible. Not all rooms are completed, but I had done a lot of work on the living room, kitchen, powder room and my bedroom. I've been promising Vaeh a real bedroom for a few years now. When I was with my ex, we moved around so much because of his problems that Vaeh hasn't had a real bedroom. We never stayed anywhere long enough to decorate and make it her own. That really made me sad, especially since she wanted a room that was her own so badly. Every little girl wants a little girl room. The plan for her room was that she would share it with Gabe once he outgrew sharing my bed with me. Her room wouldn't comfortably accommodate two beds, so bunkbeds was the answer. I had an idea in my head of the type of bunkbeds I wanted to get for them but buying a new set was out of the question. I happened to be browsing Craigslist last week and low and behold, I found the perfect set. Thankfully I had a little money put away and I was able to get them. I don't have pictures to share yet but I will in the next few days. So with bunkbeds purchased, I picked out a paint color and got to painting their room. It took me all day to clear out their room, wash the walls, paint two coats of paint, let it dry and then assemble the beds, but it was so worth it. Doing things like this makes me really proud to be on my own. It makes me feel strong and completely capable of getting things done, feelings I didn't think I would have when I was just venturing out on my own as a single Mom. I'll be the first to admit that it does present a challenge, but it's not impossible. It's empowering. If you aren't being challenged, you aren't growing. Plain and simple. I'm incredibly grateful that I took the time to learn certain things throughout my life. I never left things like programming the DVD player, changing light fixtures in the house (involving rewiring), being tech savvy, home repair, etc., up to the guy. I always figured stuff out on my own (which is a big part of my personality) and it has helped me immensely.

Another thing I've been doing to create a little bit of mental peace is going grocery shopping early in the morning. Since we walk to the grocery store I decided it would probably be a good idea to do it earlier in the day. Traffic is calmer, the weather is cooler and the grocery store is near empty. Because I have daycare kiddies coming to my house in the morning I need to make sure we get home in time to welcome them. This is our shopping schedule:

-Leave home at 8:00am
-Get to store by 8:30am
-Shop until 9:00am
-Get home at 9:30am
-Welcome the kiddies around 10am

Some days I have kids arrive earlier than 10, so I plan our shopping trips to fall on days where they aren't coming until 10. This has worked out really, really well. The walking has been great, especially shortly after waking up. We typically don't have breakfast until we come home as I've found walking on an empty-ish stomach just feels better, in the daytime anyway. A walk after dinner feels great too. Shopping in a large grocery store that is almost empty is INCREDIBLE. I can't stand the lineups and chaos of packed stores, which is mostly why I avoid going to malls and shopping in general unless necessary. I have a very sensitive personality (see here and here about being highly sensitive) and things affect me more than the average person. It took me a long while to understand this, and now that I do I embrace it and love that I am highly sensitive. I don't always take care of this side of me though, and more often then not I get caught up in life and things and forget this very important part of me and before I know it I'm completely frazzled and overwhelmed. This will be something I work on for sure.

So I'm working on cutting back on things. A lot. I need more peace in my life and more things that stimulate me emotionally. I've committed to only checking emails twice a day, with the hopes to reduce that further to once a day in the near future. I'm working on reducing my aimless internet browsing to only looking up specific things when the need arises. This alone has cut back on my computer usage immensely. I only visit my Facebook page every other day or so and I've even gone as far as cleaning up my friends list, removing "friends" that I don't talk to regularly, if at all. So far I've removed almost half of my friends list, and I plan to do more. Simplifying to me isn't about making things easier. In fact, simplifying your life can be harder in the beginning, but it does get easier. Even exciting. Living simply is about cutting back and decluttering. Whether that be in your home, your office, your schedule, your mind, activities you participate in, your wardrobe, whatever. The old adage of "less is more" couldn't ring more true. And once you see the benefits of cutting back and/or organizing and/or decluttering one area of your life, you'll want to do more because it feels so good. I plan on doing much more.

Our First Car-Free Emergency

2010-07-11T01:26:00.000-07:00

Last night was a night most parents dread. A night a car-free parent hopes never happens. Just as I was about to tell the kids that it was time for bed, Gabe slipped off of the armrest of the couch that he had been sitting on, lost his footing when he landed, and went face first into the edge of our stone fireplace. It happened so fast and instantly he was crying. I scooped him up and hugged him while he cried and then told him to look at me so I could see where the owie was, and as soon as I looked at him I saw it. He had split his eyebrow open. It started bleeding immediately and as I rushed him to the bathroom I took a good look at it. It was deep, and I wanted to panic. All of these thoughts ran through my head; what do I do? Does he need stitches? Do I go to the hospital? HOW do I go to the hospital?! I have no insurance on my vehicle, and I'm not about to ride my bike toting my injured son the 25ish minutes it would take to get there by bike. What if he went unconscious on the trip? Should I call my Mom? What do I DO?! I sat him on the bathroom counter and grabbed the hand-towel sitting there. I got it wet and placed it on his wound. He had stopped crying by then and looked a little scared, probably because he knew by the way I was acting something wasn't right. I told Vaeh to get the phone and dial her Grandma, my Mom. She had just left my house maybe 7 minutes before this happened, and of course doesn't own a cell phone. Wouldn't you know it. I knew she wouldn't be home yet as it takes 15 minutes to get there if there is no traffic, so I'm not really sure why I called. I suppose I had hoped she had gotten home in record time, or maybe was about to get home and would see that I called on her call display and would call me back. I started thinking that if I could just wait long enough for her to get home, call me back, drive back to my house and then take us to the hospital then everything would be fine. I lifted the cloth on Gabe's eyebrow to look at his injury again and saw the blood running down his face and was reminded of how deep the cut was. Nope. We need to go to emergency and we need to go now. I scooped Gabe off of the bathroom counter and put Vaeh to work, asking her to grab our shoes, shorts for Gabe (he was in his underwear), a blanket (I wasn't about to look for a shirt for him), keys, check for Care Cards (our medical cards), get my purse, close curtains, lock doors, turn lights off and she did it all with excellent speed. We hopped into our uninsured van, Vaeh sitting beside her brother pressing the cloth against his head and off we went, praying. We said prayers that no police would bother us, we said prayers that Gabe would be okay, and we said prayers that the fuel gauge hovering a hair above the empty line would get us to the hospital. Again, wouldn't you know it. Lets recap: injured child, Mom just left my house, Mom doesn't have a cell phone, no insurance on my van, no gas in the tank. Lovely.
After getting stuck at 3 red lights and trying to remain as calm as possible, nervously glancing back and forth between Gabe and the fuel gauge, we made it to the hospital. We hurried in to emergency and boy was I relieved to see 1 other person in the waiting room. That almost never happens. After waiting a couple of minutes to see the triage nurse, we were given a form, Gabe's wound was rinsed and bandaged, we were sent to another desk to have another form printed out, sent back to the first desk where we got the first form and gave the second form to the same triage nurse, and were then told to sit down and wait. By this time, maybe 30 minutes later, the waiting room was full. Talk about timing. Thankfully Gabe was completely his normal self during all of this, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over all the sights and sounds of the emergency room, and thankfully the waiting room had a children's playhouse to entertain kids. I tell you, you would not even know that my little man had anything happen to him. He was laughing with his sister, playing house, telling anyone in the waiting room who would listen all about his owie, and striking random conversation with whoever else was nearby. I was so proud of him. We waited in the waiting room for about 30 to 45 minutes before we were called in to a nearby room that held beds separated by curtains. There was a young man and woman in the curtained off bed beside us, the young woman getting stitches on her finger. I heard her wimpering and moaning and I started to worry. How would Gabe handle this? It was just after 10pm so he was tired, he's never been to the hospital before, never had stitches.....I thought for sure he was going to flip out. The nurse that took us into the room had me sit Gabe on the bed so she could put a freezing gel on his eyebrow. She explained to him that she was going to put some medicine on his owie and that it was going to be very, very cold, like a popsicle. He nodded in acknowledgment and understanding, and then she asked him to lay down. He did as she asked right away. He flinched a bit while she applied the gel, and instinctively raised his hand as if he was going to move her hand away from his head but he put his hand down, and she was done. We were told it took 15 minutes for the gel to freeze the area and then the Dr. would be by to see if stitches were needed or if we could go another route. 15 minutes turned into 45, and after playing about 100 rounds of "I spy" and starting our third round of "The Sound of Music" songs, the Dr. finally made his way over. He peeled off the large plastic sticker-like covering the nurse had placed on Gabe's wound to keep him from touching the medicine (Gabe didn't like that too much! Try taking a big band-aid off of a deep gash and an eyebrow! Ouch. Still, he didn't cry.) and told me that we could get away with not using stitches but rather a medical glue to glue his wound together. I was SO relieved!!! The Dr. applied several coats of the purple glue while holding Gabe's wound together, and after 3 minutes or so was finished. Gabe lay on the bed perfectly still, admiring the stickers he had been given by a paramedic that was in the waiting room, and also by the nurse who took us in. 3 stickers in total. Lucky guy. The Dr. finished up, told me how to care for Gabe's wound from there on out and then advised Gabe not to operate any heavy machinery after a head injury. He was a nice man :) Gabe sat up and the Dr. walked over to a fridge just a few feet away. He turned around and had a popsicle for Gabe, and for Vaeh (who was amazing during all of this!!! She even got some stickers too.). Gabe was elated and so was I. My poor little guy. I wrapped him up in his blanket while he devoured his treat and we left the hospital. As I was buckling the kids into their carseats, I realized we still faced the issue of no insurance on the van and next-to-no gas in the tank. Again, we started to pray.

"Dear Lord, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease get us home safely. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease, pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease don't let there be any police along the way" (we emphasized that part A LOT when we drove past the police station).

We made it home safe and sound by 11pm. Thank you God.
Because Gabe hadn't lost consciousness, the Dr. said he should be totally fine to go to bed and me not have to worry. He told me it wouldn't hurt to check on him through the night just to put myself at ease but that wasn't an issue as Gabe sleeps in my bed with me (I practice Attachment Parenting, in case you are wondering why my 2 1/2 year old is still sleeping in my bed! See also Co-Sleeping). When we got home I thought it best to squeeze in a little cuddling time, just to unwind a bit from everything that had just unfolded. We curled up on the couch, all 3 of us, and watched a program about dinosaurs on the National Geographic channel. As their eyelids started getting heavy, I gathered them up and we all went to bed. Gabe slept just fine, right through the night, and woke up feeling great.

Through this situation I learned a couple of things about this whole car-free/car-lite lifestyle, doing so as a single parent of young children.

1. Don't get rid of the minivan. I had considered that if things went really well with us not needing the van I would eventually sell it. Now I realize that having it on hand, just in case, is really a smart idea for us.

2. Always make sure there is some gas in the van at all times.

I want to end by saying that I don't condone driving a vehicle without proper insurance because it is not safe and not all that smart. I also want to say that I admit taking a taxi to the hospital, or worst case scenario calling an ambulance, is definitely an option in situations like this and yes I probably could have utilized them. But considering this was the first major incident like this, I jumped on my first instinct to just get Gabe there as quickly as possible, and that involved utilizing the vehicle that I had on hand. I'm incredibly grateful that I had that option.

Today has been a much, MUCH better day. After walking to the mall this morning to hit up a sale at Old Navy for $1.00 flip-flops (now that is a frugal price if you ask me!) we headed over to Chapters to spend some time reading, snacking on treats at the in-store Starbucks (I had a $5.00 gift card I had won months ago) and playing with the train table in the children's area. We were having such a nice time in the gorgeously air-conditioned building that we decided to stay for story time and crafts. After spending about 4 hours in the store just hanging out and having fun, we agreed that we would try to head over there every Saturday for stories and crafts. Being a book and craft lover, I think that's a nice way to spend a too-hot Saturday afternoon with the kiddies, don't you? Fingers crossed this new ritual doesn't come after any more hospital-related incidences.

Birthdays, Biking and Bad Moods

2010-07-02T23:37:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy week! It started off with a celebration of my Mom's birthday with a family dinner at a nearby restaurant. My Dad had the idea to treat us all to dinner and the restaurant they chose just happened to have a location a few blocks from my house, so I suggested we hold the dinner there so me and the kids could walk. I figured since I was always the one driving out to them whenever there was an occasion, (most of my family lives in their city, which is only twenty minutes away from me) maybe they would be okay with coming out to my neck of the woods, and they all did. So far my family has been great and supportive of my move from driving to biking/walking. I do get the occasional "Really?! You're going to WALK to the store? Isn't it a little far, with the kids and all? I mean, it's almost 6 blocks each way" and to that I just kind of chuckle, and then realize that used to be my mindset as well. It's been almost 2 weeks since I took the insurance off of my minvan and parked it, and I still haven't had one ounce of regret. I walk past my van everytime I leave the house and I've yet to look at it with any longing or wishful thinking. Instead, I look at my bike trailer as my new car. I've made two grocery trips with it so far, both walking trips, and I am in love with it. If anyone is looking to buy a bike trailer I highly, highly recommend the Croozer 535. With Gabe in it, I can fit all of our groceries and it's still super light and manageable to push home. Some grocery stores are a little more difficult to maneuver it in which can be a bit frustrating. The Real Canadian Superstore (or Loblaw's) is great and I have no issues with the Croozer there. Other stores like Safeway leave me with an inch of clearance going through the store doors, and I have to use the wheelchair checkout, but other than that it's a dream. I think the best part of it though is the fact that we are getting outside and walking more as a family. No more excuses about not being able to carry enough stuff in an umbrella stroller, or not being able to go out when my daycare kiddies are over. Parking my van has actually given us more freedom (I didn't ever drive daycare kids), which I wasn't sure was possible.

The other day my Mom stopped by so I could go to an appointment and I of course rode my bike there. It was a 20 minute ride in each direction and it was a mostly cloudy, slightly cooler day which was fantastic. When I was headed home I got to an intersection where the light was red. At that intersection I encountered my first "grumpy driver". I was stopped at the line, waiting for the light to turn green. I "took the lane" (instead of remaining to the right of the lane, I hugged the left of the lane) while waiting because just through the intersection I had to turn left onto a dead-end side street. A woman pulled up behind me in a car and instantly laid on her horn because she wanted to turn right and I was in her way. We had a very short conversation that consisted of her telling me I shouldn't be in the middle of the road, and me telling her that I was where I should be. Our conversation was only about 15 seconds long and ended with an eye roll and a "WHATEVER" from the driver. To be honest, as short-lived as it was, it did shake me up a little bit. It was only my second time being on the road with cars, and she was pretty upset with me. More than anything I think it caught me off-guard because I was really hoping that I wouldn't have any kind of encounter with a driver, ever. I suppose that was wishful thinking. I think it taught me to really prepare for everything while on the road, and it also taught me that drivers really aren't aware that the rules that apply to them apply to cyclists as well.

The week ended with a celebration of Canada Day at a park just down the street from my house. I love it when events happen just a few blocks away from me so we can walk! I also love supporting local community events because I think we need more things going on around us that drag us out of our houses and force us to come out and socialize. It amazes me how much the sense of community has diminished in society. We all (well, most of us) congregate to neighborhoods, complexes and buildings to live in, close-knit and tight with other people, but how many of us know our neighbors? How many of us even smile at our neighbors? I often sit and think about how we are on this planet at this moment in time with all of these people, who, like us, are on this planet at this moment in time and yet we are strangers. And we like it that way. I suppose that is a topic for another blog post though :) All in all it's been a really great week. My yard/garden is slowly but surely coming together (pics to come soon!!!) and we may actually have a glimpse of summer weather next week. Now that is good news.

I didn't get much of a chance to take too many pictures of our Canada Day celebrations as Gabe was not in the best of moods. He's been going through some terrible 2's stuff lately, and he's added in a no-more-naps agenda just to make things interesting and keep me on my toes. I'm still fighting him on the latter. Gabe + No Nap = Terrible 2's On Steroids. I've also found it a bit difficult to take all of the pictures I want to take when I've got two small kids to manage. I've only got so many hands! I'll leave you with a few images of what I did manage to capture of our day. Enjoy your weekend!

A Lovely Little Garden

2010-06-23T00:04:00.000-07:00

I'm really working hard on making my little yard into the prettiest garden I can. Living in a townhouse, I have a small yard with a patio area, which unfortunately doesn't leave much room for planting pretty things and growing yummy food. I'm trying to be very creative in how I manage the space because I would like to grow as much of my own food as possible, as well as have room for little bursts of color that make me happy. I started my garden last year not long after I moved in, and planted some Bee Balm, a Daylily, Bleeding Heart (my favorite!), some Pansies and some chives and parsley in a planter box. I had also begun upside down gardening which was a first for me, but with my little space I thought I'd give it a try. I grew cherry tomatoes and cucumbers last summer and they turned out wonderfully! If you are tight on space I highly recommend upside down gardening. It is super easy and we had so many tomatoes and cucumbers to eat. My Mom, who is an avid gardener and knows her stuff, couldn't believe how big my cucumber plant was and how much it was yielding. This year I'm doing Beefsteak tomatoes, cucumber again and will be trying zuchini which I read does very well upside down.

Tomorrow I'm going to do some work in the yard and hopefully will have things finished by the end of the week. I'm going to be building an above ground garden bed and will be picking up the supplies for that (simple 2"x10" pieces of wood and some screws) but first I need to dig out the area where that will go. I also need to dig out some small unruly bushes that are taking up valuable space in the corner of my yard and will put my new composter there. I will of course cut up the bushes I dug up and those will be used to start my compost. Once that is all done I will prep everything for the autumn planting season, which will hopefully be a little truer to a typical autumn than our summer has been to a typical summer. We finally hit 20 degrees celcius today and the sun made an appearance. It was magical. We have hardly had any sun this past month and it has been a little depressing. I'm hoping the sun is here to stay, at least for a while. My garden hopes so too.

Day 1.5 of Being Car-Lite

2010-06-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

So I suppose I cheated a little bit. I know I told you that I was taking my van off the road on the 20th, today, but it turned out I ended up taking it off the road yesterday.

I took the kids to see Toy Story 3 as planned and my Mom came along with us. She enjoys coming out to the movies with us and really gets into the 3D part of it so I put out an invite to her and she happily accepted. It ended up costing me quite a bit more than I had initially expected. Turns out they didn't accept the half off admission pass I had on weekends, nor do they accept it on opening weekends for a new movie. Bummer. So whatever, I said okay to the cashier and said we want to see the 3D one as they offer both the regular and 3D versions at the theater, and 3D kicks butt. "Okay", says the cashier, "that will be 3 dollars extra for each person". Ouch. So my ticket cost $14.99, Vaeh's ticket cost $11.99, Gabe was free and my Mom paid for her ticket (thank goodness!). I have a bad habit of needing to buy junk food while at the movie. I can't enjoy a movie at all unless I'm munching on popcorn and chocolate. I get mad at myself every time because I know I shouldn't be buying food at the theater. It costs a small fortune for just a snack. I never learn though. I HAVE, mind you, changed the way I purchase said snacks. Instead of individual drinks for me and the kids, I get a large iced tea and we share. I also get a large popcorn for us to share, and one (sometimes 2) bag of chocolatey goodness. While this still costs quite a bit (almost $20 for those items, with a 10% discount using a Scene card) it is cheaper than if we went crazy and each got what we wanted. A kids pack, which consists of a small popcorn, drink, chocolate Kinder egg and toy, is $7.99. This is why we don't go very often. Here's a tip though: if going to a movie, go after eating. Pick a movie time that is after lunch or dinner, or even after you've had a large snack. You won't be as tempted to indulge yourself while at the theater. Another tip is to bring your own, much cheaper snacks you bought at the store. Technically it's not allowed (no outside food or drink in the theater) but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

After the movie (which was AWESOME!!! Definitely go see this movie if you are a Disney/Pixar fan!!) we headed home. I figured since my Mom was with us, it would make sense to have her watch Vaeh and Gabe while I whipped down to the insurance agency on my bike. So I did just that. As lovely and flat as my neighborhood is, it was a lot of work to ride. I haven't been on a bike in so long (17 years!) and I really didn't realize it would be that difficult. While I was riding it wasn't so bad, but when I got back home I was completely wiped out. Granted I did have to try 3 different insurance agencies because they all closed at 4pm on Saturdays so I did quite a bit of riding my first day. I should have taken it a bit easier and gone on some short trips beforehand, just to get back into the swing of things. If you are at all considering doing more bike riding in your near future, please take my advice and work your way into it.

I really should take my own advice too. That would be wise. After yesterday I guess I figured I would do better today and pushed myself a bit further. Okay, what I thought was a bit further ended up being way too much. I had to make a trip to the bank this afternoon, and because Vaeh isn't good on her bike yet, I didn't want to have her ride that far (about 3km's round trip) so her and Gabe hopped into our new bike trailer (which I bought yesterday). Let me say that I am almost always excellent with putting together and installing things, but for some reason getting the trailer attached to my bike was a pain in my bottom! I finally got it, but somehow managed to pull a muscle in the base of my neck and upper back. Oooh man it hurts. Anyway. The kids got in the trailer, I got on my bike and off we went to the bank. It was really easy to pull them and I really didn't feel them until I had to pedal even slightly uphill. I took a spin around the neighborhood to make sure I could handle it, and had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath. I'm so out of shape it's quite sad. I actually thought I was in okay shape, but after today I feel like Homer Simpson. Since I absolutely had to go to the bank I knew I couldn't just turn back and go home so off we went. I went right for it and rode on the road, even though I was very unsure about doing this and it made me very nervous thinking about it. Once I had seen the size of the bike trailer after it was put together, it looked like a Smart Car in my living room.

That's a picture of me getting ready to hook the trailer on to my bike. Okay it's not. But that's how it felt. I knew there was no way I was managing this thing on a sidewalk. I'd be pitching kids and seniors 15 feet in each direction as I rode.
I stuck to roads that were minimal in traffic and steered clear of busy areas, except for the complex my bank is in. Things went very, very well. Cars kept their distance and weren't screaming profanities at me as I had pictured them doing. The kids were squealing with joy in the trailer and having the best time. I had to stop about a million times because I got winded, even on the lowest gear on my bike, but I managed to stop whenever I needed to without any problems. Going into the bank complex was a bit scary because I had to use arm-turn-signals and all that foreign-to-me stuff. I know all the gestures, it was just weird doing them. In the bank complex I had to tend with speed bumps and a lot of traffic but we made it. I even went through the drive-through atm at the bank. It was fun. After I (finally) got home I almost collapsed. I'm not even kidding. As soon as I got off my bike my legs stiffened up and I could hardly bend them. I opened the front door to my house and instantly I wanted to throw up. I've never felt like that before. I needed to lay down so badly, but I had to get the kids out of the trailer, unhook it from my bike and collapse it so I could bring it in the house (it's too wide for my front door, and too big for my teeny foyer) and then I had to bring my bike in. After all of that, I flopped down on the couch and didn't want to move. I was moaning and whimpering and acting like a big ol' baby. It was pathetic. I asked Vaeh to bring me a cold, wet cloth for my forehead and Gabe came and laid down on top of me trying to comfort me. I felt better really quickly, but the kids felt so bad for me that they decided to step up and take charge. Gabe got off of me and tidied up the living room. He put all the toys away without me asking or even suggesting. Vaeh insisted on rubbing my feet and sat down at the end of the couch and did just that. She even massaged my calves. When Gabe was done tidying up he came back to me and showered me in kisses. I was all better. My kids are phenomenal. They know how to melt me :)

Now I feel fine, just my neck is killing me. I can't believe I pulled a muscle installing a bike trailer. So lame.
So folks, please learn from my mistakes and take it easy when starting something new. Never in my life have I pushed myself to the point of wanting to throw up. After all of that though, I don't miss using my van. I was worried that at first I would miss the convenience of jumping in and going wherever I needed to, but so far that's not the case. I've made it through my first day (and a half) and so far so good.

This message has been brought to you today by the letter OUCH.

Ants and My Final Week of Driving

2010-06-16T23:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had an exterminator come out to my house to investigate my ant problem and see what he could do. I told him my situation, he explained his 6 month guarantee of no ants, told me he used a non-toxic chrysanthemum-based spray, I said that all sounds like bliss, and he went right to work. 10 minutes later he was done. In just 10 minutes I was ant free. I could not believe my eyes!!! I searched everywhere for ants in my house and in my yard, and all I found was ONE in my kitchen, and it had already been meandering around for awhile, but moments later succumbed to his demise. If you've never had an insect problem before, I cannot express to you the absolute relief I am feeling. I feel like I have my house back from some force that was unstoppable. I really felt helpless, as funny as it sounds considering I was up against such a small creature. There is not one single ant to be found on my patio, where before there were soooo many. I never wanted to go out there, and that was really disappointing, because I've been working really hard at making my little backyard into a usable garden and a peaceful place to sit and enjoy long summer days and warm summer evenings. There were so many ants in my grass and in my dirt where my pretty little flowers are growing, it was really disheartening. Walking out there yesterday felt amazing! To top it off, last night I had the best night sleep. I didn't have one creepy-crawly feeling, no creepy-crawly dreams, and I slept ever so nicely. I am on cloud 9 today :)

This week marks the final week that my minivan will be insured. My insurance will be up on Sunday and then that's it. I've been working hard to get as much done as possible where I need the van, whether it be to pick up large items, or travel distances that are more difficult without a vehicle before I take it off the road. On Friday I am picking up a big compost unit that I'm purchasing from the city for $25.00, which I think is a great deal, and need the van to pick it up. I've been wanting to compost for quite some time now, but in all honesty thought they were a lot of work, I thought I didn't have the room, I thought you
had to use worms (and I don't have anywhere to bring them in to during the winter), I thought they attracted bears (which we have a lot of in my area, sometimes in my complex) and I thought they cost too much. After actually doing a bit of research on the subject, I found that they really aren't much work at all, and if I can re-purpose a lot of food waste into nutrient rich soil for my garden, instead of tossing it into a garbage can then hey, I'm a fan. I will definitely share my composting journey on my blog. Also on Friday I am picking up the bike trailer I talked about in a previous post. Lastly, on Saturday I am taking Gabe and Vaeh to see Toy Story 3 at the theater. We don't go to movies all that often mainly because of the cost, unless it is one that we have really been anticipating seeing. Toy Story 3 is for sure one of those movies, and yay me, I have a half price coupon for my admission! The theater isn't far via driving (about 10 to 15 minutes) but it is not at all accessible by bike with kids in tow and I'm not quite ready to tote the kids around on transit in certain areas of town because I just don't think it's totally safe for them, or for me. So these trips I'm okay using a vehicle for. After this weekend there won't be a trip to the theater for a long while, but luckily the mall just down the street from my house is having drive-in movie nights in the summer in their parking lot. We plan to bike-in :) There is also a company called FreshAirCinema that has an inflatable movie screen that they set up in parks throughout the Lower Mainland for people to come watch movies, totally for free. You bring chairs, blankets, toys for the kids, picnic stuff, whatever and you spend an evening chilling out in the park. I haven't been to one yet, but we will be all over this during the summer. I'm very excited to be parking my van. I'm excited about the challenge that lay before me. But more than anything, I'm thrilled that I'm taking a step away from my reliance on oil. Whenever I drive by the gas station and see the $1.12 per litre gas price (that's what it has been at for the last few days) I have a little giggle to myself knowing that very shortly I will no longer have to worry about that cost, and that feels good. Not only that, my health is going to improve as will my quality of life, my childrens' health will improve as will their quality of life, and I will have a little bit more money in my pocket, and that is always a good thing.

(photo courtesy of www.amsterdamize.com)

I Have an Enemy

2010-06-15T00:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right. I have an enemy. I am in a battle that I seem to be losing no matter what I do. I've tried turning the other cheek, but no matter what, my enemy will not cease from invading my life.

Who or what is this enemy I speak of?

Ants. I have ants in my house. I have ants in my yard. They won't go away and I want to cry :( I had an ant problem last summer and I hoped beyond hope that I had gotten rid of them after all of my attempts. This is not so. Last year they had started coming in from behind a baseboard heater in my kitchen. After taking the advice from a friend, I sprinkled cinnamon around the heater (because natural and non-toxic is always the best route to go with if possible) which deterred them and for a couple of days I didn't see anymore ants. I thought I had solved the problem. Silly girl. Beside my kitchen is a bathroom/laundry room combo and as I walked in one day to do a load of laundry, I found those wretched little things, again from behind a baseboard heater. I put an ant bait thing nearby but it didn't help all that much. The summer went by and eventually the ants went away. Blessed relief. When the ants started coming in again this year, I can't say I was very surprised, but I had clung to the hope that maybe they had found a nicer area to invade, somewhere centrally located perhaps, with a big deck and a view of the ocean so they could entertain the queen. Apparently these ants aren't in the market for a new nest right now. I was preparing myself for the same situation as last year with them in the bathroom. Well, they've decided to switch things up a bit. This year they are visiting me via underneath my sliding glass patio door in my kitchen, and from behind a baseboard heater in my living room. ARGH!!!! I should tell you that I am generally I very living-creature sensitive person. Live and let live is what I usually say. If there is a spider, beetle or other creepy crawly in my house I will more often than not scoop them up onto a piece of paper or into a glass and put them back outside. The only time this doesn't apply is if it has wings, or if it really ticks me off. Ants really tick me off. I've spent the last 4 days squishing, diverting, blocking, spraying, watching, waiting, and ~~pulling my hair out screaming~~ ever so calmly doing what I can to stop them from coming in. I even sprayed a "barrier" of Raid along the ground where the yard meets the house. Instead of keeping them away, they are crossing it and then dying in my kitchen. BUT STILL COMING IN. Lovely. Last night I decided to do a little research on ants to see if there was anything else I could do to stop this madness (because yes, I feel like I'm losing my mind) and read something that I had completely forgotten about. When you squish an ant, or even agrivate it, they release a pheromone that their nest mates smell and then come rushing to help. So after all the squishing I had been doing on my kitchen floor, I realized that more were probably coming in because they were coming to carry their fallen sisters (another thing I learned) off to the ant graveyard (and yet another thing I learned). This really seems like I can't win here. I've sprayed around the initial baseboard heater they were coming in from, only to discover a few here and there coming in under ANOTHER baseboard heater in my living room. I know the only way I'm going to get rid of them once and for all is to wipe out the nest and in turn the queen which I've been trying to do. I've come across two entrances to their nest in my yard and sprayed both with a substantial amount of spray (this should tell you I'm at my wits end if I'm spraying chemicals into my grass, something I don't condone. Chemicals are yucky.) and all they've done is created new entrances elsewhere. Tomorrow I have a pest control guy coming to have a look at the problem. My Mom set this up for me. I guess she could hear the desperation in my voice when I talked to her on the phone last night. God Bless her. I've seen so many ants this last week that I feel like they are crawling all over me. I just want my house and yard back, and in turn, my sanity. I read ant nests can be up to 20 feet deep, that ants can travel up to 700ft to find food, and the queen can lay hundreds of thousands of eggs.

Lord help me.

Cycling is Hard!

2010-06-02T23:24:00.000-07:00

And I haven't even gotten started yet! I've spent the last week doing research. Yes, research. On bike riding. Gone are the days where you just hop on a bicycle and ride to your hearts content. No my friend. There are rules. Rules aplenty! One thing I did know was that here in BC it is a requirement by law to wear a helmet while cycling. After doing a little reading on the topic, I was led to one law after another after another. It's almost become overwhelming, and I can honestly see why so many people don't bother to park their car and hop on a bicycle. That, and the requirements seem downright scary. For example, cyclists are considered vehicles and are therefore required to ride on the road with traffic. It is illegal to ride on the sidewalk. Period. I get why this law was put into place, and it would make sense if there weren't so many flaws with it. One major flaw is the serious lack of separate bike lanes which I feel is very very important. The way our roads are designed here are for the most part ridiculous on their own, and adding a cyclist to the mix I think is crazy. Another thing is not all cyclists are hardcore cyclists. For many, the idea of riding a bike on a major roadway next to crazy, road raging monsters is just too much. I am one of those people. Yes, it has a lot to do with the fact that I haven't been on a bike since I was 13 years old. When I rode a bike there were no helmet laws and nobody gave a you-know-what if you rode on the sidewalk. That was where EVERYBODY rode. Well, except for those hard-core-er's. So coming into this is, well, a bit daunting to say the least. The other thing I have an issue with, is that my children are required by law to do the same thing, ride in traffic. Gabe will be in a trailer but even that scares me. He would be down near the ground with a front row seat of huge tires rolling right by him. Ummmmm. Yeah. Scary. Then there is Vaeh. My little 7 year old, dainty little flower girl, is required to ride her bike alongside traffic. NO. WAY. I'm sorry but law or no law, I'm not allowing my babies to be that close to cars whipping by. I keep getting these images flashing through my head of her hitting a bump or just losing control and falling off her bike. Bam. No more Vaeh. So if it comes down to me getting a ticket because my daughter, or all 3 of us are on the sidewalk, so be it. I'm sorry to anyone who is reading this that is an avid rider but the safety of my children are way more important than any law out there, especially when that law is actually putting them in harms way. Until there are more cyclists on the road, and until there is more infrastructure in place keeping a solid barrier between a cyclist and a car, you will find me and my family ever so carefully, respectfully and politely making our way past pedestrians on the sidewalk. Now, all of that said, I do plan on planning our routes ahead of time every time we go out so we aren't taking major roadways and instead finding paths through parks, down "dead-end" (to cars) roads and on traffic calmed streets to get to our destination. I just think it really sucks that there isn't much carefreeness (yes, it's a word) to our society, and we are all bogged down with so many rules. I know there are people who are pro-alltherules but I'm not. Sorry. But, I'm going to make the most of things because at least I am able to bike ride where I live, and do it for free. Who knows how long that will last.

On a very positive note, I bought a bike!!! I don't have any pictures yet
but I will share some soon, I promise. I'm waiting for a nice sunny day to take it outside and snap some pictures. It's been raining here for 752 days. Okay maybe not that many. It feels like it though. I found my bike on Craigslist for half the price it would be new, and my bike is only 6 months old. I think I totally lucked out finding it. My bike new in the store would be $800 including tax. No thank you. Factor in the fact that I am boycotting the HST as much as I possibly can, as it is already in effect on certain items, and I am one of many who are against it. So by buying my bike used I managed to avoid it. Yay me! Next thing I need to get is a trailer for Gabe. I've been browsing Craigslist and saw a few on there that I would like, and after doing my research on the best trailer to buy, I settled on a Croozer 535. Ideally I would LOVE to have a Chariot trailer (*drool*) but those puppies require one to take out a second mortgage on their house. Given that Gabe is already 2.5, he's only got a couple more years before he's out of a trailer and on to a bike of his own, or a trail-a-bike. The investment in a Chariot just isn't worth it to me, even for a used one. A Croozer is a close second to a Chariot, in my opinion, and about half the price. For the trailer I really wanted to buy a used one, again to avoid tax and to save money, but after seeing how old some of the trailers are that people are trying to sell, and after going to look at one in person and seeing how beat up it was, I decided I should go new in this area. Gabe's safety is the most important thing, and I don't want him riding around on bent wheels, and attachment wheels that no longer function. Both of those were problems with the one I looked at. And I don't know if the person I'm buying from put it together properly either! The Croozers are great because they come with all of the different attachments included, Chariots and other models you have to purchase each kit separately (ie: jogging stroller kit, stroller kit, etc.). That equals more money on top of an already expensive item. We're all about saving money here people. So I'm saving my pennies and hope to purchase this trailer in the next couple of weeks, just in time for the Teddy Bear Picnic that is coming up! I can't wait for summer. Mostly I can't wait for the rain to stop.

It's About Time

2010-05-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

I've really been trying to set aside time to sit down and update my blog, but that has been such a challenge! It's always one thing after another and the next thing I know, months have passed.

A lot has happened. A lot has changed. A lot has been going on. I began dating someone and a short time later it ended. I was pretty upset about it for awhile because it was a total whirlwind romance and was beyond anything I could have ever asked for. It obviously wasn't meant to be though, and even though it was very short, I learned a lot about myself. Shortly after that I started having issues with my church. I was seeing signs of teaching going on that was not Biblically based and not true. I had a really tough time dealing with that and wasn't sure how to handle it. I had gotten planted there, met a ton of great people, I was taking my Bible college course there, my kids loved the children's church and I didn't want to give it up. At the same time, I was very scared that I was being misled without even realizing it, and in turn so were my kids. If you aren't well educated in Biblical studies, doctrine and theology, it's not hard to be misled. I don't believe the church I attended was misleading people on purpose. I truly feel like they are uneducated, and listening to other "teachers" who are uneducated. I decided the best thing to do would be to not walk, but run away. As hard as it was at first, I know I made the right decision. Doing that freed up a lot of time for me, and I realized then just how much I had been getting involved in and slowly overwhelming myself. Because of my Bible course I was required to serve 20 hours per month at the church. That may not seem like a lot, but if you consider that I live 45 minutes away (in each direction), how often I was having to go back and forth, how much it was costing me to do so, and how much more kept getting added to my serving plate, then factor in non-church related commitments we had, it was a lot. And I still wasn't even meeting my 20 hours of service time. Serving was becoming a burden, and I kept getting told by church staff that it is our duty as Christians to serve. But isn't it supposed to be with a joyful heart? I just wasn't there. And I think that's okay! I can't do everything, especially as a single parent. I started to realize that maybe my job right now is to just be a Mom. That is the season of life I'm in right now so I need to embrace it and do the best I can. Before I know it, this season will change and my kids won't need me as much as they do. I want to make the most of the time I have with them now, and train them in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6). Lord knows how quickly they grown up.

After all that happened with my church, I began looking for a new church, and one close to home. I think I have found one, but I haven't attended it yet so I don't have any comments to share about it. I did email the Pastor there and found out that he has been to seminary which I've learned is VERY important. I had never considered before if my Pastor was actually educated. I guess I just assumed that with having the title "Pastor" they would have had to complete some sort of education. This isn't so, and this is what I find frightening. How can you TEACH the Bible if you don't know it yourself? The Bible needs to be studied in order to be taught. I honestly feel a little bit burned, a little ripped off by my old church, so I'm taking a bit of a church vacation. I will attend this church close to home soon.

Now that I'm not making anymore trips into the city where my church was, I've found that I've not been driving much anymore. The city that I live in is, in my opinion, amazingly well planned and almost every single thing that I need to survive is within 2km's of my home. Lately we will go out to get groceries or pay a bill and that's about it. We've been doing this routinely about once a week. As I was reflecting on this significant change in my life, I started thinking. The first thought was that I was no longer impressed with how much money I was paying to use a vehicle 1-2 times a week. I'm lucky that my vehicle is paid off, but the costs of insurance and gas made my infrequent usage bother me. Gas prices keep rising steadily, and our government has also planted their hands deep in gas users pockets with taxes on the gas (somewhere around the 36% mark). The government has also implemented a carbon tax that increases each year for four years and started last year. For someone like me, a single parent who doesn't make much money, driving has definitely become a luxury, and a pain in the ass. Granted that with me driving less it means spending less on gas, but it's still money that I have to put out that I don't want to put out anymore. I also drive a minivan that is a hog on gas. The idea popped into my head that I could bike ride everywhere. Then the idea came to me that I should bike ride everywhere. Why didn't I think of this sooner?! All I would need is a good bike, a bike trailer to tow around Gabe, and Vaeh could ride her bike. If I got a 2 seater trailer I could put groceries in beside Gabe. I could then take the insurance off of my van, park it and start saving money. By hanging on to the van instead of selling it, it's there in case of absolute emergency and it's also there for the winter. This is the perfect time to tinker with such an experiment being that we are heading into summer. Right now I'm looking for a good used bike and trailer on Craiglist and once my tax refund comes we are getting started! The kids are super excited to do this, and so am I. I heard from somewhere once that the most dangerous part of a car is the seat. So many of us live planted on our couches, in office chairs, or in the seat of our cars and aren't being anywhere near as active as we should be. That's about to change for us. Pretty soon we will be a car-lite family and we'll actually be out and about in our community, not locked away in a vehicle or in the house all the time! You will probably be reading a lot about this as we move forward in this journey and I will share with you as much as I possibly can. Life is all about The Journey, The Adventure. Lets get out there and try something new! It will be uncomfortable at first not having a vehicle at my disposal, that I know. Trying a new thing is almost always uncomfortable, but it's in that discomfort where growth is born and if you aren't growing, you aren't living. Don't you agree? ♥

An Impromptu Break?

2010-05-05T22:35:00.000-07:00

Sure. Lets call it that.

I really don't know how it happened. Things were going great, rolling along smoothly. Just the way I needed it to be.

And then.....bam. I took on too much.

It's my own fault, completely. I get into things and before I know it, I've gotten myself into 100 different things and I just can't keep up. It got to the point where I didn't even have the time, or desire, to sit down at my computer and blog. I shall elaborate soon. Honest.

Crock-Pot Pineapple Upside Down Cake: FAIL

2010-03-11T10:32:00.000-08:00

Well, as you can read from the title of this post, my crock-pot cake was a fail. Unfortunately I have pictures to prove it.

Here is the first step, the adding of the melted butter and brown sugar mixture to the bottom of the crock pot.

Next I added the pineapple rings....

...and then poured the cake batter overtop.

Here it is, baking away rather contently.

Then the time came for me to shut off the crock-pot and turn it upside down onto a plate, hoping that the cake will gracefully slide out. I should mention that at this point I had turned the crock-pot off an hour before the recipe indicated because I was smelling a slight burning smell in my house (okay it wasn't slight, but I was firmly planted in denial. Whatever.) and thought maybe that's long enough. So, I turned it upside down and to my surprise, it did gracefully slide out. Too bad it looked like this:

As absolutely terrible as that looks, all was not totally lost. This side of the cake took the worst of it and was burnt to the inside of the crock-pot. After peeling away the black parts you see, I was actually left with an incredibly moist, albeit smaller, crock-pot cake. Here is a picture of the other side, which turned out perfectly:

Looks good huh!

We had a piece last night and it was really, really yummy. Some of you may be wondering why I would even try to salvage this cake, let alone actually eat it, but I couldn't waste it. I hate just throwing away money, and this cake had time and effort invested in it as well. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't serve this to people at a dinner party! But since it's just the 3 of us, it wasn't a big deal. I learned a lesson, if I ever do this again, to once in awhile turn the inner container that the cake bakes in. Since just one side of the cake was burned, I'm thinking that was the side where the heating element was, so if I turn it it should bake evenly.

It wasn't the prettiest birthday cake I'd ever seen, but it was mine :)

Last Day

2010-03-09T23:14:00.000-08:00

Well, today is officially the last day I will be 28. Tomorrow I turn 29 and will begin my last year as a twenty-something. If the next year is anything like the last couple of months have been, then I am so excited to see what the year brings.

Today I had an awesome day! I started my journey of baking and it was a ridiculous amount of fun. My first project was a yeast bread. It was a little intimidating at first as I've never even used yeast before, let alone bake any type of bread. It was a bit of a process, with having to let the dough rise not once but twice, and I'm just a little bit of an impatient person, but it was so worth the wait!

Here is my beautiful dough after mixing and a bit of kneading.

Here it is all puffy and gorgeous after it's first rise.

Here Vaeh is punching it down, getting it ready for rolling and putting it into the pan for it's second rise.

And here it is, in all of it's baked, crusty, soft, golden brown glory.

I'm so incredibly proud of myself. If you've never baked bread before, you must try it. The sense of accomplishment after you take it out of the oven is HUGE.

During the periods of rest for the dough to rise, I decided to make some granola in between those pauses. Granola is a very inexpensive thing to make and it's good to have on hand for snacking or for cereal. I didn't put much into this, I just used what was on hand; oats, ground flax, salt, cinnamon, melted butter and honey.

This is a picture just before going into the oven.

And this is after coming out.

I'm definitely going to keep this up. My house has never smelled so heavenly, and for whatever reason, all this baking happening today made me go to town cleaning my house. So now I'm relaxing on the couch with my feet up, enjoying the delicious smell of freshly baked bread, along with the faint aroma of cinnamon, my house is organized and I get to share my wonderful day with all of you. It's a very good day.

Tomorrow my birthday-day will start off with waking to a tidy house (how great is that?!) and then I plan on baking one of my favorite cakes; the pineapple upside down variety :) I found an interesting recipe for baking this in a crock pot and it's kind of piqued my interest. I'm doing a very basic version of it, not going too fancy, in case it totally bombs. That way I won't be so upset about it. After that I'll probably just relax at home (as much as I can while working) and at some point go and renew my drivers license and pay my cell phone bill. I know what you are thinking. My life is so glamorous. Please don't be jealous. Really. It's not very becoming.

So that is the plan. If anything changes I will be quite surprised, and it takes a lot to surprise me. So long 28! You've been good to me and started me off on a path I really never saw coming. To 29: you have some big shoes to fill, but I have no doubt in my mind that you will exceed my expectations.

Whew!

2010-03-07T23:06:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a crazy time around here. I can't believe I spent this long not posting here, but it was necessary. Once things started getting back on track after Gabe's bout with croup, we got hit with another wave of ickyness. We are beginning to get over it now, whatever it was, but it's still affecting me quite a bit. I have been really tired and not feeling myself at all and that part of it is hanging on. I'm thankful though that when we do get sick, which isn't all that often, we bounce back fairly quickly. I attribute that to our diet and basically taking good overall care of ourselves. It does make a difference. I will apologize in advance if any of this post doesn't make much sense. I'm still a little foggy, lol.

Tomorrow marks the end of term 2 in my Bible college class and term 3 begins next week. I'm loving every minute of it. I'm learning so much and making some great friends, and of course strengthening my relationship with God. I can't believe how far I was from Him just a short time ago, and now I'm closer than I've ever been. I've been able to accomplish so many things through Him and with His guidance, it's amazing. Truly amazing. I look back on the last year and I was just a mess, especially after ending the relationship with my ex. I didn't realize how co-dependent I had become on my ex until I left. The first time I had to go to a grocery store alone with the kids was absolutely terrifying for me. I was even scared to drive. I was so far removed from myself during that 7 year relationship that I spent much of my time at home, in solitude with my children. I didn't want to see or talk to anyone in the real world. I became so insanely shy, even talking to a bank teller or cashier was excruciating for me and affected me for days afterward. I would never go places or do things on my own. Ever. I always had to have someone with me, and that was on the rare occasion that I left the house. My life was in shambles. I wouldn't go to church because 1) I had to do it alone, and 2) I was horribly ashamed of my life, so I just didn't go. I look at my life now and I'm such a different person. I'm out, getting a life that I never had but always wanted. I'm meeting people, learning new things, making HUGE changes and stepping out of my comfort zone time and time again. Fear still grips me in almost everything that I do, but I press through it. I lived in fear for far too long and I won't let it have control over me anymore. It still has a voice, true, but not control. I've even started the process of auditioning for the worship team (singing) at my church. I've always wanted to sing but never had the confidence. This is a different girl!! I know none of this would have been possible without the strength of God in me.

I've recently decided to hold off on my studio re-do and I've contacted a homestay organization in the hopes of hosting a foreign student. Not only will this help my finances (things are VERY tight!) but I think it would be a great experience for the kids. I had an interview with one organization in particular and hopefully I will hear something from them soon. I figure since I already do so much of my crafting at my kitchen table, why not use my office for something that will be of a great help. I'm working on making some more changes in the areas of finances, meal/menu planning and smart shopping. So far I've managed to cut my grocery bill from around $500 a month to around $350 a month, but I know I can do better than that so I' m working on it. I will post about these changes soon, as they happen.

A few weeks back I watched the movie Julie & Julia and was completely inspired to do more cooking and baking. I have such a strong desire to make things from scratch, bake treats with the kids and create meals that make those who eat them close their eyes in pure enjoyment. I love how great meals bring people together and represent wonderful family moments and gatherings. I love how home-made baked treats make children eagerly sit in front of the oven licking their lips, and make them silently giggle while they eat them, filling up with the love that the baker put into them. I have a lot of wonderful memories of family meals and I want to experience those with my own children. It may take me awhile to start this "new" tradition here but I will keep you posted on every moment of it.

So that's it for now. I'm tired and should get some much needed rest. The kids and I were up at 5am this morning as I am helping out at my church every Sunday for the month of March. A bunch of us are making breakfast for the early morning service team and then we all sit down and eat together before service begins. It's such a lovely time, but it makes for a very tired Me come Sunday afternoon. I'm not a morning person at all. I'm not a grump, it just affects me a lot physically when I wake up too early.

Goodnight everyone! Bye for now ♥

Quick Update

2010-02-23T13:53:00.000-08:00

I want to start by saying thank-you for the warm comments regarding my baptism, and for my new followers!

It's been kind of a crazy few weeks for us which has left me no time for blogging. I was feeling a bit under the weather and as I started getting better, Gabe came down with a bad case of Croup (is there a good case of it?? Doubtful). He was really sick and I, of course, was really worried. Taking care of him took up most of my time and I fell behind on a lot of things. I missed one of my Bible college classes and in turn fell behind on my class reports. Ugh. It's been chaotic. BUT! Gabe is better now, I'm better and all caught up, and that's all that matters :) I'll be back to update shortly.

My Big Moment

2010-02-06T15:33:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, January 30th, was a big day for me. It was a life changing day and truly one I will never forget. Last Saturday I was baptized. I won't go into details of my testimony because it is very long, but since this blog is about me and my life, I thought this was definitely something worthy of sharing. It was a big decision for me to get baptized and one that I did not take lightly. I grew up as a Christian but never had been baptized. I'm glad I waited. Not only was it an incredibly moving experience, it was very overwhelming. At my church, my Pastor likes to baptize several people at once, kind of make it an occasion. After taking a 30 minute class we are all called up on stage during church service and each of us is to give our testimony. Out loud. On stage. Into a microphone. Gulp. I had NEVER spoken in public, or even into a microphone in my life, and it was one of my biggest fears. I was shaking and kept arguing with myself that I couldn't do it, yes I could, no I couldn't, yes I could. I had no time at all to prepare, thinking my Pastor would just ask one or two to speak. As the microphone slowly made it's way down to me, after incredibly moving testimonies were spoken bringing me to tears just hearing others stories, it landed in my hands. I was shaking. I was terrified. I remember the first thing I thought was that it was heavier than I imagined. The next thing I thought, 'Oh my gosh, I have to speak now. HELP!!!'. My parents and sister looked on, along with the rest of the congregation and I just opened my mouth. I nervously introduced myself, gave my testimony and then did my best to hold back tears as I finished. Wow that was hard. I passed the microphone to the next person and instantly felt relieved. And then the strangest feeling came over me. I wanted to do it again. WHAT?! I did not just think that. Yep. I wanted to do it again. I loved it! I conquered a major fear I have struggled with my whole life and now it's behind me. I can totally do it again.
After our testimonies were shared, we lined up to the baptism tank and one by one, we were baptized. All 7 of us. Strangers an hour prior. Now connected like never before. It was incredible. It all happened so fast, but I do remember taking in every moment. The temperature of the water, what the Pastor said to me, how long I was under the water for, coming up, wiping my eyes, turning and facing the church and throwing my hands up in the air. I did it.
I've spent the last week sort of reflecting, and realizing the huge leaps and bounds I've taken the last few months in my life because of my faith. It has been an amazing journey and I can't wait to see what is in store for me next. Bring it on!!!

Good Old Fashioned Wholesomeness

2010-01-27T16:23:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, in celebration of Vaeh's birthday, we made a visit to the Kids Only Market on Granville Island. It's one of her most favorite places in the world and it's become a bit of a tradition for her birthday that we spend the day there. A couple of years ago I gave Vaeh the option to either have a party, invite kids and do the whole party thing or just go somewhere fun and spend the day together as a family. She chose the latter and a new tradition emerged. I'm a little against traditional birthday parties for several reasons so I was elated that she was on board. I'm sure her ideals will change as she grows older, but for now I'm loving the way we celebrate. My favorite part about the Kids Only Market is that they have all these neat little stores that carry really cool traditional type, quality, wholesome toys. Part of our tradition is that she picks out a special birthday gift while at the market. This year we cheated a little bit and picked out more than one, but they are small and can be enjoyed by all 3 of us so we snuck in a few more. As you can see from the picture, she picked out bells, a harmonica and a kaleidoscope along with a wooden birdhouse making kit and a garden tool kit. To me you don't get much more wholesome than that. She so takes after me. I would've picked all of those as well. We are blessed in the fact that because we are registered homeschoolers through a certain organization, we get a learning investment which is an allotment of funds dispersed throughout the year to be used toward the cost of educating and providing supplies to the learner. All of the items Vaeh picked from the market fall under the category of learning so they were no cost to me. I love when that happens. Especially when you take into account the changes I'm working on, that learning invesment is incredibly helpful.

A few weeks before our day at the Market I was browsing the free section on Craigslist and found an ad from a husband and wife photography team looking to expand their portfolio and offering free photo shoots for the first 5 people to respond to the ad. I happened to be quick enough and managed to get myself a free photo shoot. Before we went to the Market we had our pictures taken, journalistic style (my favorite) at Kitsilano Beach. I'll talk more about this in another blog post.

It definitely was a great day. We've been working hard on our harmonica/bells jam sessions and I think we're improving. But that would depend on who you ask. Just make sure it's not my neighbor :)

Growing Up

2010-01-21T12:04:00.000-08:00

Today my little baby girl, my first born, my daughter, is celebrating her birthday. Her seventh birthday. My how time flies.

I've so enjoyed watching this little angel blossom and grow before my eyes. She is such an amazing soul and I'm Blessed to know her. This morning I made her favorite special birthday breakfast: french toast complete with syrup AND icing sugar, and a side of strawberries, specially requested by the birthday girl.

Today will be a quiet day celebrated together at home. We have plans to paint nails, play a game or two and snuggle up to a movie. Happy Birthday Babygirl ♥

Thrift Shopping and a New Challenge

2010-01-20T17:03:00.000-08:00

I hadn't had a chance to shop the numerous aisles in my favorite thrift shop in what seemed to be ages, but finally, FINALLY, I was able to pop in for a quick visit. I love thrift stores. It is really amazing the little treasures and everyday things you can find. My favorite is the Value Village close to my home, along with another little church thrift store close-by, but know that not all thrift stores are created equal. I've been in my fair share of thrift stores and location is key. Stores that are in "nicer" neighborhoods will more than likely carry "nicer" things. The Value Village I shop at is in one of those "nicer" neighborhoods and regularly I find clothing from H&M, Gap, Old Navy and many other name brands, a lot of them with the store tags still on. Something else I love to shop for at thrift stores is books. Some people may get all icky-feeling about buying used books but I have a tip for you. Put your "new" books into a bag and then pop them into the freezer for a couple of days. When you take them out they are fresh as daisies. Even musty smelling books loose their musty smell after a visit to the freezer. My favorite thing though, is finding vintage treasures at thrift stores. This can be hard as the good items get snapped up really quickly, but once in awhile you will come across something old and sweet, and you fall in love. Especially when those items remind you of your childhood. My most recent "love" purchase was these 3 little vintage glasses.

I'm sure at one point there were more of these oh-so-pretty glasses in the set, but that was all that was there. Since there are 3 of us here at home, it works out nicely. I really love these. They remind me of glasses my Grandma had when I was a little girl.

With all of the turmoil and devastation happening in Haiti, and all over the world, my heart has really been aching for people who need help. I do what I can, when I can, but it doesn't feel like anywhere near enough. I so admire all of the people who have dropped everything to be in Haiti in person, and I admire even more the people who left Haiti after the earthquake and are going back because they want to help. If I could do it I so would. But it got me thinking about my own situation. Safe, comfortable, happy, here. I feel guilty. I do. To ever complain about something not going quite right for me, I feel guilty. Selfish and guilty. With those thoughts sprung a challenge. Maybe it was God putting it into my heart, but nevertheless a challenge has presented itself to me and I am going to take it on. With all of my efforts on trying to live a simple lifestyle, with all of my efforts to not keep up with the Joneses, and with my love for thrift stores, sites like Freecycle and Craigslist, I'm going to live with less, and with purpose. I'm going to cut back on all of the things I don't need, and I've started already. I got rid of my fancy cell phone, used my FidoDollars and got a much cheaper phone, and a green one to boot. I also got rid of my fancy cell phone plan and went with a much cheaper plan, with the hopes of eventually going even cheaper once my contract is up. I've cancelled all of the fancy extras on my cable plan, as well as on my home phone plan, and plan to do more cutting back in these areas when I can figure out where (they rope you into so many things you don't need, but can't not have. Does that make sense??). This is just the beginning. I'm not going to get sucked into buying the latest gadget, upgrade to the latest must-have, guilt-tripped into buying the latest toy, or pay a fortune for something I can get much less (or FREE!). The purpose behind all of this, is to enable me to give more. I don't need a bunch of junk while other people are barely surviving. It doesn't make sense and it doesn't work. Not in my mind it doesn't. And what appeal is there behind all of these mass-produced, chemical laden "things" that fill our homes anyway? We can't take it with us in the end. And that's the point. I'm going to take the focus off of me, live with a purpose that is beyond me, and extend my hand. I hope I can make even a small difference somehow, somewhere. It's worth a try.

Batteries and a Beautiful Day

2010-01-16T17:48:00.000-08:00

Hurray!! I have my camera back! I caved and made a trip to the store last night, just for batteries. Vaeh and Gabe were perfect little angels and the trip was one of peace. It's been raining a lot here lately. A lot. We knew the weather report was calling for some much needed sunshine today, so last night we decided we would go for a morning walk to the man-made lake near our house. Camera in tow, we headed out.

It sure was a beautiful day.

This is the lake just a short walk from our home. I love it here.

The beavers have been busy. They have a home set up in the lake.

Throwing rocks into the lake is always a favorite.

She loves this special place of ours.

So do I.

Gabe was as happy as can be. He kept posing and saying "Cheeeeettthhhh!"

My sweet, sweet boy.

On our way home we passed through the community garden, and were greeted with little bursts of vibrant shades of pink. It was nice to see such color in winter.

It was the perfect day :)

Where For Art Thou

2010-01-13T19:20:00.000-08:00

I feel lost today. Utterly and completely without purpose. Like a shepherd without a crook. Like a painter without a paintbrush. I have felt like this for the last few days. The reason for my total dismay? My camera batteries have died. OH WOE IS....okay fine. I'll stop being so dramatic. But I do feel a little lost. I'd become so attached to my camera and used it so frequently throughout the day that I've lost the will to....blog. It's not as fun without pictures! I know what you are saying. "Ummm, why don't you go to that place called a STORE and BUY some batteries". That would be a logical solution to my problem. Unfortunately I just cannot justify making a trip to the store just for batteries. sniffle.

As sad as I am, I can't do it. Not only is it a huge waste of gas (in my mind) to drive to a store for one small thing, it's also quite an ordeal. Let me run through with you what I would have to orchestrate in order to make a "battery run":

1. Gabe would need to be dressed. Yes, he is only in a diaper. Yes, this is his preferred daily outfit. Yes, this is a regular scenario in our house.

2. Getting Gabe dressed involves a sudden burst of his favorite game "Catch Me If You Can, Mommy!" (not sold in stores). True, my legs may be longer, but that boy is shifty.

3. Eventually Gabe's uncontrollable giggling would slow him down and I would manage to snag him and put his clothes on. This is not an easy feat with continuous giggling and kicking feet. Trust me. I have bruises to prove it.

4. The jacket and shoes. (See: #2-his favorite game)

5. While all of this is going on, Vaeh is running around on all 4's acting like a dog, therefore encouraging Gabe's waves of excitement and giddiness.

6. Getting Vaeh to calm down enough to get her jacket and shoes on takes at least 6 repeats of "Vaeh", each time with Mommy saying it louder.

7. Finally I catch Gabe and with the help of Vaeh holding him down, I get his jacket and shoes on.

8. Me, flustered and now sweaty from all the "game" playing, don't particularly care about how I look and just want to get home before I even leave my house. Keys, purse, kids, lets go.

9. Load children. Each piece of cargo gets strapped into it's respective spot. More kicking, laughing, squirming, laughing.

10. 7 out of 10 times Vaeh gets her seat belt unimaginably twisted and can't pull it far enough to click it into the buckle. This is usually associated with stomps of frustration and mini tantrum-pulling (from her, not me). This then means I have to climb into the van, crawl over to her seat, hang over the back of her seat and try to untwist the massive knot of death she had somehow created. Odds are this scenario WILL happen if I dare venture out for a "quick run to the store". FYI: that doesn't exist.

11. Once we actually get on the road (Thank you LORD) and after they have been perfect angels for the 10 minute duration of the drive (why they can't be angels outside of the vehicle is beyond me) we arrive at the store.

12. Unbuckle. Unload. Lock doors. Make sure I have the keys in my hand. Close doors. Enter store.

13. I will save you from the horrific details of the goings-on that take place with my children in the store. There will be running. There will be grabbing of items off store shelves (glass is not immune from the clutches of Gabe). There will be crying (it's inevitable). There will be yelling. And that's just the first 5 minutes in. This is usually associated with stomps of frustration and mini tantrum-pulling (from me, not them).

14. Grab batteries. Buy batteries. Hurry out of store before store owner bans me from coming back.

15. Load children. (see: #9 and #10. Seriously?! Two twisted seat belts in one trip?!?! How does that happen?!?!)

16. Arrive home with a strong desire to kiss my living room floor. Pick up shoes, jackets, clothes (he is THAT quick) off the floor, hang everything up and put the shoes away. Beg both of them to please, please, please stop running in circles through the living room and kitchen screaming at a pitch that makes my eardrums vibrate.

17. Flop down on the couch and completely forget all about the batteries.

I don't know about you, but I think I'll just wait until I HAVE to go out. I can go a couple more days without my camera. Especially if it means staying sane.

Change Is Good

2010-01-10T13:56:00.000-08:00

I've noticed that when you start to make major changes in one area of your life, it starts to creep into all areas of your life. At times it's almost hard to keep up with it but it's necessary. At least for me. I believe that if you aren't changing you are just standing still, just existing. I think in order to move ahead in life we need to make changes. It's how we grow. I've been working hard at changing my lifestyle, my surroundings, my business, my state of mind, and I'm trying even harder to surround myself with things that best represent me and what make me happy. Including people. The Pastor at my church always says that if you want to see a glimpse of your future, look around you, because what you surround yourself with will determine where you end up. That's good stuff.

Over the weekend I got rid of some of my office furniture, putting me one step closer to setting up my ideal workspace. I haven't had much of a chance in the last couple of weeks to visit any thrift or antique stores to find a new work surface. I've been looking on Craigslist and have seen some really nice, big, old tables which is what I want for my new work surface, but they go so quickly!! They seem to be a sought after item. I know I'll find the right one soon enough.

Last night I spent far too much time working on my blog. As you can see, I made a few changes, but today I am exhausted. I was up late. I just couldn't stop playing around with the HTML. I never seem to put 'sleep' at the top of my priorities. I should look into that.

The Morning Says Hello

2010-01-07T17:46:00.000-08:00

What a greeting I received from the sun this morning! The perfect way to start off any day is with a little inspiration.

Yesterday I went on another organizing mission. It's starting to get a little obsessive. I guess there are worse things in life. One good thing about my cleaning attack was that I came across all of my old cross-stitching. I'm going to tell you something right now. This is perfect example as to why my resolution for this year is to finish what I started.

This here is my very first cross-stitching project ever. I did this one maybe, 18 years ago? That's not a typo. Notice anything about it? How about the fact that it's not finished!

Then there is this one.

This was started shortly after the first one. Don't adjust your eyes. It is still in the embroidery hoop. This one holds quite a bit of meaning to me as I was just a girl when I did this, and years later I had a little blonde daughter of my own that loves to pick me flowers.

Here we have another.

This one I started a couple of years after the last, but again, unfinished.

THIS one, I love. And this one I actually completed.

This I began shortly after I found out I was expecting Vaeh. I worked on this throughout my entire pregnancy in the hopes I would hang it over Vaeh's crib when she was born. Didn't happen. But at least I finished it! The stitching anyway. This one was a big project. To give you an idea of the size, I took a picture of it next to Gabe on the floor.

So there you have it. This is my year to finish what I started. At least I'm not in over my head. I don't think.

Free Hugs For All!!

2010-01-04T23:50:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to send out some virtual hugs to all of my virtual friends (and real life friends!) tonight. I had a wonderfully chaotic but fun day today, I received two hugs from two new friends, and I want to share the love. So hugs to you all, and make sure you go and hug someone and make their day. I promise it'll feel really good and make you, and them, smile :)

{{{HUGS}}}

Confessions Of A Single Mom

2010-01-03T22:14:00.000-08:00

Okay people. I have a confession to make. It's a doozy. Are you ready? Here goes........

I have a crush.....on Mantracker. Not only am I totally addicted to this show but I have a major, major crush on the guy. I'm sure I've got it pegged as to why. This guy is a true cowboy. *drool*. He's got to be, at best, twice my age but I don't care. He's a hottie. If you aren't familiar with the show, please tell me what rock you have been hiding under and then get your butt in front of a tv and WATCH IT!!! The guy, Terry Grant, tracks people in the wilderness with such a skillful relentlessness, you can't help but get sucked in. And he does it on horseback. Nummy :) It's not just me either. Vaeh thinks he's totally handsome and thinks I should marry him. So Mantracker....Mr. Terry Grant....if you ever read my blog I will put it out there that I would gladly accept a marriage proposal from you. It's the will of the children. We must oblige.

If you'll excuse me now, the commercial break is over and I have to return to watching Mantracker.

Sweet dreams everyone!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like....Spring Cleaning??

2010-01-02T23:13:00.000-08:00

Today I was a busy gal. Today I cleaned like a mad woman. And not just typical cleaning was happening. I was on an organizing mission. A mission that would rival Martha Stewart's best day. Okay that's a big fat lie. But I did get a lot done today and it felt fabulous. I think what triggered my madness was the packing up of all the Christmas things around the house that we did on New Year's Eve. As much as I love, love, love Christmas, it felt so good to take the tree down, pack up all the trinkets and get my house back to normal. It felt like a really good way to spend New Year's Eve as well. Waking up on January 1st and not seeing any fake snow, or plush Santa's staring at me felt like a fresh start to the year. We did, however, partake in one activity on the 1st that involved a Christmas tree.

Yes, that would be a Chia Pet. Vaeh has been asking for one for the last couple of Christmases and believe it or not the stores are sold out of them by the time I do my shopping. They only come out at Christmas time here, which doesn't help. This year she finally got one and has been chomping at the bit to start it. It's soaking in water in that picture but we have since spread the seeds and are awaiting sprouts. Exciting stuff, I know.

I'm a tiny bit disappointed as I really had the urge to do some crafting today but I got so caught up in cleaning that it just didn't happen. It was a cold, rainy day and it just made me feel so good to be at home. These kinds of days always seem to put me in the mood to craft. I did manage to get one small step closer to my big studio re-do and cleaned my office out. I did some crazy purging today. What a release that is!! Sometimes I wish there were more hours in a day so I could get more things done, but I'm satisfied with what I accomplished today. I recently read something about purging and things to remember when doing so. It went something like; get rid of everything you don't use, everything that is broken, everything that holds no value and anything that is not beautiful. I'll be keeping those things in mind as I continue to get rid of all the stuff I don't need, and simplify my life.

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T12:45:00.000-08:00

The end of 2009 is upon us. What a year it's been. If you had asked me on December 31st of 2008 if I thought I'd be a single parent this time next year I don't think I would have believed you. This time last year I was incredibly depressed and stuck in the mindset that my life was what it was and I just needed to accept it. As much as I told myself that, that inner voice inside me kept fighting those words, and thank GOD that voice was louder than mine. At the beginning of 2009 I don't think I had ever been more ~~unsure~~ ~~scared~~ terrified in my entire life. It's amazing how much of a difference a year can make in your life. 2009 has led me to discover a strength in me that I didn't know I had and I don't know if I would have ever found it if I had stayed where I was. 2009 has taken me on a journey that definitely had it's ups and downs, but without both I wouldn't be who I am now. Looking forward on 2010 I think it's important to look back. As we all gear up to make long lists of changes we want to see, we should look back on the changes we should have made. Mahatma Gandhi said "Be the change you want to see in the world". I think that is all the resolution we need.

Tonight I will be spending New Year's Eve at home with my children. Not out celebrating, not out drinking the night away, and it's not because I can't find a babysitter. Tonight I'm spending the evening with the people who matter the most in my world. I will spend the next year slowing down and paying more attention, finishing what I started, and being the change I want to see in the world.

Happy New Year :)

Forgetful Me

2009-12-30T17:03:00.000-08:00

I vaguely recall something I mentioned about possibly sharing a super cute craft project in my next post. This was over a week ago. Hmmmmm. I completely blame this momentary bout of forgetfulness on the Holidays. And hey...at least I'm remembering now and not months from now, which I could totally see happening. I haven't had much time to work on it so I won't post any pictures of what I've done, but check out http://www.rosylittlethings.com/ and have a look. These are one of the cutest craft sets I've seen in awhile.

Last night Vaeh and I played a very intense game of Mouse Trap. Okay maybe it wasn't "intense" per se, but there was some serious giggling going on. She got it for Christmas and couldn't wait to break it out.

I loved this game as a child and I totally remember why. Unfortunately for Vaeh, beginners luck wasn't present.

I was the red mouse.

I try to make a very conscious effort to be present in Gabe and Vaeh's lives and if it means playing board games everyday then so be it. You would think working from home would allow me to be present, but not necessarily. Sure I get to see them everyday and all day long but that's not the same as being present. It's important to set aside time each day where I'm engaged in their activities, their conversations and their special moments. No matter how busy I get, missing out on their childhood is not worth anything in the world and I make sure I remember that.

I think one of my resolutions for 2010 is to slow down a little bit. I have a tendency to take on too much at once so I need to complete the tasks at hand before starting new ones. Maybe that will be my ONLY resolution this year. Less pressure. I like it.

Last year my goal was to try new things, things that interest me, so I don't look back on my life saying 'I wish I had tried that'. There are a lot of things that interest me so I really need to pace myself. Right now I'm taking a course in interior re-design/home staging and I am also getting my first year certificate in Biblical studies. The smart thing would have been to take on one at a time but that's so not my style. Working, homeschooling and taking two courses is a lot to manage. I've definitely learned my lesson though and will take next year to finish the courses up and then go from there, focusing on one thing at a time. It's no wonder I'm so forgetful!

Come And Gone

2009-12-29T20:01:00.000-08:00

Another Christmas has come and gone. It's kind of nice to be through the chaos and to have calm back in my home. We had a nice relaxing Christmas Eve. We attended the candlelit service at our church which was amazing as usual, and then returned home to do some baking and read Christmas stories. I finished up the last of my wrapping and my gift-making, which included some candied orange peels for my Parent's and my Sister.

They were exceptionally yummy, and were a hit with the family. Gabe kept stealing peels while they were drying and stuffing them into his mouth before I could catch him! Luckily he left enough for everyone else.

Santa was good to the kids this year, as always. Vaeh loved the art easel she received from a friend of mine.

She insisted on drawing a picture of me.

Spitting image.

We spent 2 nights and 3 days at my Parent's house and it was really nice to have all of us together. Their house was so cozy, especially at night.

I spent the good part of Boxing Day playing with my new present, the camera I've been wanting for months!

These are shots of my Parent's backyard.

And more of their backyard...

I'm so happy I got my camera :)

I'm looking forward to the new year, the start of a new decade, and all the things that are to come.

All Things Christmas

2009-12-21T17:27:00.000-08:00

Well today is the first day of Winter and the week of Christmas. Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday so I love this time of year and everything that goes along with it. It's been a little bit more challenging though as I'm doing it all as a single parent so there is more work to be done by one person, but so far it's shaping up to be the best Christmas yet. We got our first dusting of snow last week but it was quickly followed by rain and the few centimetres we got was all washed away. It was nice to have even a little bit though.

One of the activities on our Advent Calendar was for Vaeh to make Christmas cards for her friends in our complex. She was so excited to get going and did a wonderful job. She has yet to stick candy canes to the envelopes and then hand them out. I'm sure we will do that tomorrow.

This year we have tried to incorporate as many handmade gifts into our giving and next year we are aiming for a completely handmade Christmas with all of the gifts we give will be handmade in some form or another. I thought it would be a great project for Vaeh to learn how to make beeswax candles and to give them as a gift to her Grandparents and to her Aunt.

Here she is rolling the candles for her Aunt.

I've spent the last few days working on some knitting projects and being cozied up on the couch near the fireplace. Of course my favorite special Christmas drink was on hand.

Tonight we are heading out to have pictures taken with Santa and then we'll return home to do some crafting. I'm going to be working on a darling felt and embroidery project that I found. I'll share the project in my next post. Have a cozy night!

Ode To Silence

2009-12-15T19:59:00.000-08:00

You know your kids are getting older when they are more than happy to play in their bedroom alone instead of hanging off of your pant legs. Gabe (2) and Vaeh (just shy of 7) have just left the dinner table to go play together in their room. Where does the time go? The nice thing about it is I have some much sought after quiet time. That's refreshing. I do know what has spurred this sudden desire to play together. We've been doing a lot of cutting back on unnecessary things. One of which, the television. I used to be really bad with the TV, watching it for hours upon hours a day and before I would know it, the whole day would be gone and I accomplished nothing but a butt-ache. That's a real thing you know. I always wanted to cut back on TV but I was raised in front of a TV and I honestly didn't know how to go about a day at home without it on. With all these lifestyle changes I've been making it's really caused a shift in my thinking and I just don't want the things that I used to want anymore. One day I woke up and just simply did not turn the TV on, and kept it off for the whole day. I was pretty impressed with myself, and notably impressed with my kids who didn't whine or complain once. Not that they do typically, but when a fixture like the TV goes off, kids tend to voice their opinions on that one. Now I have a bit of a routine set where I wake up in the morning, do my morning thing and then sit down on the couch with a cup of coffee and watch the news for about half an hour. At 9am I watch 100 Huntley Street and then occasionally I will watch CityLine at 10am. After that the TV goes off and I carry on with the rest of my day. Often times the TV won't come on at all. Sometimes we'll throw in a movie in the afternoon and curl up together to watch, but that's about it. I find myself to be much more focused after making this change.

It looks like I may have spoken too soon. The kids have returned to my sanctuary of silence and are racing toy cars around me and shrieking. ~~I should put the TV on for them~~ I should entertain them with something. I think a nice, quiet craft is in order :)

Inspiration

2009-12-12T23:07:00.000-08:00

I've spent the last few days perusing the inner workings of Etsy and I came across their blog called The Storque. Here they give you very detailed glimpses into everything handmade. As if all of the beautiful Etsy storefronts weren't enough, I'm now addicted to The Storque. Specifically, the 'Videos' section. The videos highlight different artists and crafters and show you a snippet of their studios, their art, their craft and their life. After seeing some of the studios that people are working out of, it has inspired me to completely redo my office and turn it into an actual studio. My office feels so... "office-y". It's no wonder to me that I do most of my crafting in my kitchen. I don't have dedicated workspace, it's unorganized and it has NO personality. It's so very blah. Thanks to Etsy I've seen teeny tiny studios, studios that make me drool, studios that are so loud they would give me a headache and studios that are incredibly humble. All in all, they made me feel inspired and that to me is what a studio should invoke. I want to walk into my studio and have it just feel amazing to me. I want it to scream that it's mine and more than anything I want to want to work in it. So I've made up my mind and I'm completely re-doing it. I'm so excited to get started! My first step is going to be to purge. I have too much useless "stuff" in it, doing nothing but taking up space so that is going to go. Once that's done I will be hitting thrift stores, flea markets and antique malls and infusing some life into my space. I'll post pics of my progress. Off I go!!!

Another Day At the Office

2009-12-08T16:43:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post this quickly to show what most of my day consists of while trying to work. Welcome to the life of a work at home Mom! When I sit down at the computer it's playtime for Gabe.

I snapped these with my webcam in my kitchen, hence the poor lighting, but you get the idea!

The Countdown Is On

2009-12-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

Last month I purchased a really cute Advent Calendar. I'm kicking myself because I totally could have made one, and I really should have, but I couldn't forsee having the time to do it. I saw this one at the store and thought it was perfect. I admit I'm a little against the cardboard chocolate filled advents you see everywhere because I don't give my kids junkfood too often, so a treat everyday was outrageous to me...even small ones. As an alternative to treats I typed out activities on a piece of paper, cut them out and slipped one into each pocket. Each day when Vaeh wakes up, she moves the candy cane into it's new pocket and pulls out the paper. She rushes over to me and excitedly waits for me to read it out loud. I've kept it a secret from her as to what the activities are :) I've thrown in a little torture element as well, where we don't do the chosen activity until the evening when I'm done working. The anticipation of the pending activity drives her nuts all day! Among our activities we have made snowflakes, attended a tree lighting festival and played charades, just to name a few. I think one of the best things about being a parent is that you can totally geek out and do fun things like this and you don't get funny looks. Well, most of the time anyway. To me this is what Christmas is really about; the excitement and togetherness of family time and of doing fun things together. Everyday of the year should be this fun.

Reflections

2009-12-03T23:05:00.000-08:00

Deep down, I think I've always known I want to do things differently. It's so easy to follow everyone else's move and constantly keep up with the Joneses, even if they're broke. Life these days is so much about appearances and how well you can trick other people into thinking you are fabulous. I completely got caught up in this mindset and I think the real me finally said ENOUGH!!! and gave me a good shake.
As a teenager I had incredibly low self esteem and it was so easy for me to conform. Conforming meant fitting in. Bonus. It worked! For awhile. I couldn't figure out why I wasn't happy. Revelation: It wasn't "me". The journey to finding the real me began when I had my first child, Vaeh. Let me say, it wasn't a great awakening that happened the second she popped her little head out. Here I sit 7 years later writing this blog. What does that tell you. With each day that passed after she was born though, something was stirring inside of me. The first big step out of my little box of safety was making the decision to homeschool Vaeh. This may not seem like a big deal, but even as little as 7 years ago, it wasn't an overly common thing to homeschool your kids. I had many reasons for why I chose to homeschool her, but my main reason was I wanted her to experience something different, and if I could facilitate that than I had to go for it.
Over the course of the next 7 years I had my son Gabe and was now a Mom of two, but not too much really happened in the form of life change, and I was screaming for it. I spent those years in a very rough relationship and I think that had something to do with me being stuck in life. I couldn't move forward no matter how hard I tried. I was seeking something different but I didn't know what, or how to get it. My life became Groundhog Day; each day replaying exactly as monotonous as it did before. At the time what I didn't realize was that change had to come in the form of baby steps, small pieces, that when combined produce the bigger picture.
Almost a year ago I ended my tumultuous relationship and that marked the beginning of my life. My brand new shiny life that I was determined to make the most of. Over the course of the last 12 months I have been making small changes and big changes and everything has been leading to finding out who I am and what it is I really want out of life. I thought I would have a little fun at the same time and blog about my journey, my adventure, and all the mishaps and victories that are sure to come.