Seven Up!

Fun, fun! My first tagging! I was tagged by Karla to do the following:

Go to the photos folder on your computer.
Go to the seventh folder of photos.
Go to the seventh photo.
Put the seventh photo on your blog along with a description.
Invite seven friends to join.

So here's what the mathematics turned up:



This picture was taken by me on December 21, 2008 - just a few days before Christmas. This Christmas was a white one, and then some! I don't remember there ever being as much snow in winter around here, ever. This isn't a fabulous shot - it's not artsy, or technically sound, or particularly evocative - but here it is, the seventh of seven.

So now - I have to tag seven people. I tag Margot, Eleonor, Rachel, Stacey, Sheryl, Carla, and Kat!

Alright, friends - post your pics!

A Lovebug Blog Challenge...

I'm so excited that Lovebug has a blog! I, like many other people I know, are addicted to blogs, so it's great to have another blog to check in on. For those of you who are not familiar with Lovebug Scrapbooking, it is the friendliest community of scrappers that I have ever encountered. Along with the blog, there is a forum, a store, and a gallery. A little something for everyone!

This challenge was a scraplift challenge, and the chosen layout was by Lys, aka 'iamalloverit'. Lys had turned out to be my 'secret Santa' this past Christmas, and I ended up using some of the chipboard she sent me - thanks again, Lys! I'm not a 'literal' scraplifter - I usually use the inspiration piece as a launching pad and then head off in whatever direction I end up going. With this layout, I kept the basic composition and the 'time' theme, and ran with it. Thank you Lovebug, and thank you, Lys - the blog's first scraplift challenge was good fun!

Just sharing some newfound goodness...

I am absolutely in love with the blogging world, especially as it pertains to scrapbooking, photography, and all things crafty and creative! Last week I discovered this lovely lady's blog o' plenty, and this week via her blog, I linked up to this creative wunderkind. The goodness just never ends, I tell you!

A funny email...

My sister sent me a funny email today that actually made me laugh, and because I could relate to enough of it, I thought I'd repeat it here:






BIRTH ORDER OF CHILDREN

Your Clothes:

1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as your OB/GYN confirms your pregnancy.

2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.

3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.

Preparing for the Birth:

1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously.

2nd baby: You don't bother because you remember that last time, breathing didn't do a thing.

3rd baby: You ask for an epidural in your eighth month.

The Layette:

1st baby: You pre-wash newborn's clothes, color-coordinate them, and fold them neatly in the baby's little bureau.

2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and discard only the ones with the darkest stains.

3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can't they?

Worries:

1st baby: At the first sign of distress--a whimper, a frown--you pick up the baby.

2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to wake your firstborn.

3rd baby: You teach your three-year-old how to rewind the mechanical swing.

Pacifier:

1st baby: If the pacifier falls on the floor, you put it away until you can go home and wash and boil it.

2nd baby: When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some juice from the baby's bottle.

3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.

Diapering:

1st baby: You change your baby's diapers every hour, whether they need it or not.

2nd baby: You change their diaper every two to three hours,if needed.

3rd baby: You try to change their diaper before others start to complain about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.

Activities:

1st baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics , Baby Swing, and Baby Story Hour.

2nd baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics.

3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the dry cleaner.

Going Out:

1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call home five times.

2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number where you can be reached.

3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees blood.

At Home:

1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.

2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.

3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children.

Swallowing Coins (a childhood classic):

1st child: When first child swallows a coin, you rush the child to the hospital and demand x-rays.

2nd child: When second child swallows a coin, you carefully watch for the coin to pass.

3rd child: When third child swallows a coin you deduct it from his allowance!

So how much did you find yourself relating to this?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Top of the morning to ye! Kiss me! I'm (1/16th) Irish!

Wishing everybody, green or otherwise, a very Happy St. Patrick's Day!








An Irish Blessing, to mark the occasion:

Lucky stars above you,
Sunshine on your way,
Many friends to love you,
Joy in work and play-
Laughter to outweigh each care,
In your heart a song-
And gladness waiting everywhere
All your whole life long!

And one more, for good measure:

May you be half an hour in Heaven
Before the Devil knows you’re dead!

Sláinte chugat
(Good health to you!)

Cup Half Full...

Okay. Lying here feeling all sorry for myself is getting old, so now I'm taking a moment to focus on some positive things.

Positive Thing #1
In between naps, I have been blog-hopping, checking out other people's links, etc. and I serendipitously happened upon a blog called 'One Little Word'. OMGosh - I'm in love!! My boring, painfully long sick days have now turned into lots of free time to dig into this blog! Yay!

Positive Thing #2
Casey came home from soccer school super stoked, proudly sporting a new jersey, and not nearly as wet as I anticipated him to be!!

Positive Thing #3
My sinuses popped, relieving much pressure in my face AND in my ears - and I'm actually feeling clearer right now than I have in days!

Positive Thing #4
My husband. There will never be enough words, or enough time, to ever be able to come anywhere close to expressing just how amazing he is and how lucky I am.

Positive Thing #5
I just realized today that I have had this blog for over TWO years already!! How is that possible?? I was so skeptical when I first started it, somewhat sheepish about having it, but have grown to love it ever so much!! It has been so great, so fun...so here's to another couple of years of happy blogging in Jillville! :)

Frustrated!!!

So here I am again and still, blogging from bed. Dang it! I am no better today than I was almost a week ago when I first got sick, and I'm super p*ssed about it!! I would so rather be at work! I would so rather be cleaning the house! I would so rather be doing anything other than lying in my bed, stuffy and achy and tired and BORED TO DEATH!! Frustrated!! I promised myself that this was NOT going to be another self-indulgent post about poor me I'm sick boo hoo etc. SO - moving right along...

Let's talk about the rain! Ah yes, Vancouver's liquid sunshine. Such a classic Spring Break on the Wet Coast! Casey's in a week long half-day soccer school program and he is super excited about it! Of course, we signed him up for this before he came down with pneumonia, ear infection, etc. So now he's out in the elements, running around, exerting himself, soaked through from head to toe...I remember reading a long time ago a magazine or newspaper article called "Old Wives Tales Debunked!" or some such thing. The article stated that the whole myth about kids catching cold from being out in the rain and/or cold etc. was untrue - colds are caused by viruses, not weather. Okay, makes sense. But I still can't shake my sense of guilt about sending my newly recovered Casey outside for three hours on a day like today! He has been SO excited about it though - to tell him he can't go would probably be worse for him than the weather and us Vancouverites, we gotta be tough! We can't slow down or stop for a little rain! We'd cease to exist!! I remember seeing a t-shirt when I was a kid - it said, "Welcome to the Vancouver Rain Festival! September 1 to August 31!". It took me a minute to figure it out, but once I did - HAH! I loved it! And that about sums it up, doesn't it?! So that takes up back to Spring Break. I do feel disappointed about the weather. Between the rain and me being sick, there's not much fun going on around here for the kids. So, I have to toss aside most, if not all, of my plans with them for the week, but I'm still holding out for Friday. We have been planning on driving down to Seattle to spend the weekend with my sister and her family - my little niece is turning 2 on the first day of Spring! She's only seven weeks younger than Cody. We haven't gotten together with all the kids in months and months, so this trip HAS to happen!! I HAVE to be better by then! Rain or shine, it will be a splendid, excellent, super fun time. Fingers crossed!

Sigh...mustering effort...

Gotta love a laptop! I'm home sick from work today and am blogging from bed! If I didn't feel so sh*tty, I'd feel decadent! I have to confess - I am a big, sniveling, whining wimp when I am sick! I loudly and proudly display all of the characteristics and mannerisms that, in healthy days, I actively despise in other people! I hate being sick - and one of the reasons why, I realized yesterday through today, is that it's boring, and it is the only time that I am ever bored! Too tired, achy, creaky, snotty, weakened, sweaty, chilly, itchy, irritable, thirsty, chapped to be able to do anything. Clothing on my skin is uncomfortable and annoying, my bed sheets and covers get all twisted and tangled, my hair is all flattened and agitating...the curtains are closed when I want them open, then they are open when I want them closed...my beloved bed and mattress now seem much to high off the ground to bother swinging my feet around and down to the floor to get up and fix the curtains - besides, I'm too stiff and sore. I try doing a Sudoku puzzle but my pen runs out - aw, for f*cks sake! - FINE! I'll multitask to make it worthwhile - haul myself miserably out of bed, head to the bathroom (you know how when you're sick so that it even hurts to pee?!), shuffle back to my room, find another pen, head over to the curtains and fix them to be however they're going to be until they again end up all wrong, and then stagger back to bed, straighten (at least a little bit - too weak to do it all)the covers, climb WAY up onto the mattress that, until I felt so wretchedly miserable, was coveted for it's high, plush qualities, fall back against the pillows with a sacrificial, wheezing sigh...burning hot again and winded from this taxing, torturous trek...

I told you. I'm pathetic. The worst! Of note, (and yes, I am fully aware of the absolute hypocrisy of this) if anybody else EVER behaved in my vicinity even remotely like I do when sick, I would gleefully volunteer to put them out of their misery for good. So how do you like me now?! Bleh!

I do feel a moderate amount of shame and embarrassment for my unequivocal wimpiness, especially in contrast to my 5 1/2 year old son, Casey. This kid has just spent over a week home sick from school (which was very disappointing to him - he just LOVES school) because he came down with pneumonia. Pneumonia! How on earth my healthy, active, gregarious little boy developed pneumonia is beyond me, but develop it he did, resulting in a visit to the Emergency Room of Children's Hospital, and a week's course of antibiotics. Of my three children, and in my 13+ years as a mom, I have never had a child so sick for so long. Raging fever, sometimes with hallucinations and nightmares, zero appetite (my slim, sometimes skinny little Casey didn't ingest any solids for over a week!), headaches, stomachaches, ear infection, coughing that made his throat sore and disrupted his sleep, nose so stuffy he felt like he was choking and couldn't breathe alternating with a nose so runny that his poor upper lip became painfully raw and chapped...just horrible for a little guy. And remarkably, no word of a lie, throughout the entire time, Casey did not complain ever. Not even a little bit, not once. The boy was patient and brave, and though I already think the absolute world of him,he earned a whole new level of respect from me, and showed me what grit really looks like! (Move over, Clint Eastwood!). So now, do you think I can muster even the slightest bit of stoicism or endurance in the face of his impressive example? Nope. Not a bit. Say it with me now, folks - PA! THE! TIC!

Now all this blogging has weakened me...I must rest. Oh, my failing energy...

Oh Happy Day!

What a day! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the Spring is springing! All is well in Jillville!

For starters, I left work this past week on the afternoon of Friday, February 27th. On the morning of March 2nd, I returned. I was feeling pretty fine. Sit down at my desk, fire up my computer, flip my wall calender over - Goodbye, February - Hello, March! Glanced at the upcoming week and about fell right out of my chair. Next weekend is Daylight Savings! Yes - NEXT weekend! Oh Hallelujah, I heard the angels burst into song right at that very moment! The darkest days are behind us, and nothing but sunshine up ahead! There was a time, many many moons ago, that I would have said that Fall is my favorite season, but no more. As I have grown older, matured, given birth to a few children, Spring has become the more favored of the two seasons. Truth be told, I'm REALLY partial to Summer, but ah...Spring. It's the kickoff to summer, and where the fun is just beginning. Especially after the monstrous amount of snow that fell this particular winter - but we don't have to talk about that anymore! No, it is March, and it is (almost) Daylight Savings, and this calls for cake, wouldn't you agree?!

So that takes care of the beginning of this work week. Now we arrive at Wednesday, the middle of the work week, 'Hump Day' so to speak. Had a great drive in to work this morning - radio set to CFOX, as it always is when it's Mommy's turn for the radio. First song played not too long after setting off was 'Kickstart My Heart', classic Motley Crue. Had to crank that bad boy up to an unhealthy (but oh so rockin!) volume. Then, some morning show banter, etc. GREAT morning show over there on the Fox. Makes me laugh out loud every time I listen. Which is another great way to start a day - laughing out loud. Can only get better from there, right?! Oh, and it did! Almost to work, the Fox turns out some STP. Oh yeah, baby - crank the volume dial real high again. Pull into the parkade, zip to the roof, back smartly into an ideally located parking spot, and saunter on in to my department with five minutes to spare. Perfecto! Oh, and as a bonus - I realized that for the first time in months, I hadn't used the heater in the car on my way to work. Not once! Oh happy day!