Paper Purge

I cleaned out my patterned paper stash.  I'm selling a large box full of paper, not individual pieces. It's all or nothing.

 I have partial packs of Making Memories 8x8 and Basic Grey 6x6 papers.

2 unopened Stampin' Up Simply Scrappin' Christmas Jingle kits.

 3 different lines of Stampin' Up papers, all have one full unopened package with approximately half an opened pack.

 And over 180 sheets, mostly double sided patterned papers. All 12x12.
All are brand name, no dollar store papers.
Amy Tangerine, Stampin' Up, Basic Grey, Echo Park, We R Memory Keepers, Kaiser Craft, Making Memories, Imaginesce, Bo Bunny. Some die cut papers.

That's well over $300 in papers.
I'm asking $80.

Hop To It!

 Around here, the last week before school is always a week of "I didn't get to {Insert pretty much anything} and now summer vacation is almost over!" So I told the girls if they got up early, I'd take them to see the kangaroos.

 S was scared to touch the giant bird and just after this she reached out and made contact, and said it wasn't what she thought, and the pot bellied pig she touched wasn't as soft as she thought it would be. Just after this she whispered "The giant other bird is right behind you." I was really surprised at how calm the birds were. Not like the lab puppy that was running around biting everyone, including Emily.

 I remember reading Capyboppy by Bill Peet and thinking that a capybara would be an awesome pet. We decide it doesn't look as soft and huggable as Linus, but it's still a pretty cute giant rodent.

 This was all fun and games until a small male goat came and got all inappropriate with the goat on the ground. Must have been watching too much Miley Cyrus.

 Some of the kangaroos just sit around and let everyone pet them.

 And this one, that we held last summer as a joey, was in a pen marked "Naughty". We all know albino humans are usually the villains in movies so why would an albino kangaroo be any different?

 A sugar glider. A distant, sweet loving relative to Rocky, the flying squirrel.

 And the moment they waited patiently for, the one they can cross off their bucket list....holding the sack of joey!

He was a licker. The kids said his tongue was softer than a kittens. He was pretty sweet. 

If I can't get a job as a baby holder, I might apply for a joey holding job. 

National Dog Day?

I've been misled.  All these years of dog ownership, and I thought every day was National Dog Day.  I mean, really, a whole day for dogs? Do we have to pet them more, feed them better kibble, throw the frisbee 2 more times, let them sleep in our beds, and let them drop extra dog hair on National Dog Day? It's not possible! 

Okay, I'm just kidding, I really do think these dogs deserve a whole month. Maybe a whole year!

Really, we should celebrate the most photographed animal in history. 

The very loyal dog. The one that will sit for endless photos waiting patiently to receive the great dog treat, the cherry tomato!

 We should celebrate the ones who make us laugh with their stupid antics.

 The ones that don't care if we look stupid or say stupid things, or wear socks with sandals.

 "What? Socks with sandals?" Oh, I guess they do care.

  "I said stay!" We should honour the dog that takes commands, because he's a people pleaser.

 The dog that always brings back the stick, maybe not necessarily to me.

 We should celebrate dogs, they take the blame for farts and never let on that it wasn't them.

 They listen to us and don't judge.

And sometimes they look like they are laughing at our stupid jokes. 

Happy National Dog Day! 

I better get my dog bone shaped pizza started, and fill the dog pool for the dog party later.

This is a sad picture. 

Even though I look "happy", I didn't know this sandwich would be my last real bread sandwich for a while. The doctor wants me to go gluten free for a month to see if it helps with all my stomach trouble. He says that while my tests came back negative for celiac's disease, he's had that happen before, and he can't rule it out, something about antibodies. Oh, joy of joys. I've survived 4 days, and I have to honestly say, it's okay. I'm not going to die. And I do feel better. Clearer headed. Not as bloated. And it's not as much work as I thought it would be. It's actually easier than trying to be dairy free. But there's a pill for that!

Kerry and Kelli's Big Adventure - Day 3

This is where we divide it into Kerry's Big Adventure and Kelli's Big Adventure.

Kerry has been trained to take pictures of everything. Like where his bike slept in Yreka, while dreaming of riding in Ashland.

He knows to take pictures of things like scenery in the park when he goes for a walk in 104 degree weather because it's too hot to mountain bike. 

 He knows to document what he ate, because that's what we do. 

I'm sure we were both awake very early, because that's what we are used to. I was up around 5 am. so I went out for a walk. I'd never walk around home before 6 am.
I used my Lensbaby for these shots.

 Jacksonville is so cute! I'd go back there for sure.

 The Hanna house was a beautiful location to call home for the days we were there. There were deer in the bushes, not afraid to pop out and scare us while we were just sitting around. We never got to just sit around, we were learning, eating, shooting....

 Karen had all kinds of great activities and learning planned for us! Here she's telling us to pay attention to our surroundings and lighting.

 Making sure we pose our subjects in a flattering way.

 And she made sure we were well nourished! There was a tofu dish that was to die for.

Karen took this of me. I'm tired, I've used up all my brain cells. Later on, I'll realize this shirt is not flattering to my middle.

We stayed up late, I thought the night before was late, but 12:30 am was the earliest I went to bed the whole time, and we were up by 7 and ready to go. And I don't think anyone really complained about it!

In more recent news, I'm addicted to Project Life, I've been busy working on some stuff and I really love the real kits, as opposed to making my own. A lot less work!

July Happenings!

I'm so behind! I still have so much to blog from our trip, and now I'm behind on our monthly blogging! But I know everyone's been busy, and Amelia might have forgotten to blog too!

I've been putting my newfound knowledge to good use, I think. I'm trying to properly expose, shooting manually. I'm still a little slow, but I'm sure with time I'll speed up. 

We took the girls to Kasagui Gardens in the rain early July. They had their ice cream from Moolicks, and I got a few pictures.

Justin came to town for Mom's 60th birthday. We went out quite a bit, shopping, taking pictures, lunching.

 We got eaten alive by mosquitos! I've never been bitten so much. Emily didn't get one bite!

For the last 2 years, we've gotten our blueberries from some guy named Rob (I've yet to meet him). He drives them up from the lower mainland. They are really nice, big berries. We decided to make a blueberry buckle from the American Test Kitchen Baking Cookbook. It was delicious! Normally, I hate the photos taken in my kitchen but with the help of my new Expodisc, the lighting and colour casts are too bad. I want to paint that red before the year is out.

It was my turn to host bunco, (nothing like having the girls over to get motived to clean the house) and I demanded a photo. Shannon was unable to make it, so Connie and my mom were subs. Mom is taking the picture.

I filled up the pool for the hot dog. He is so funny. He tries so hard to lay down and put his head down, but he starts blowing bubbles and doesn't know what to do. He needs a floating pillow. I may have positioned the pool near my pots for a prettier back drop.

 Emily's been working hard on her costumes for Anime Revolution mid-August. 

For Mom's birthday, I offered to drive her to Vancouver so she could attend Jeff and Jen's wedding. The day before the wedding, my friend, that I've known since grade 3, messaged that she wanted to get together. We haven't seen each other since Emily was a newborn, I think. We met at Queen's Park petting zoo. Mom came and was a hit with V's son! It was so nice to see her again. 

The wedding was held at the John M.S. Lecky Boathouse. It was a very neat venue. A bit hot. The bride looked lovely in the kimono. 

 The 5 sisters lined up for their almost yearly wedding photo. 

 Some of the cousins, only the girl ones!

 The bride and her friends and sisters made the 1000 cranes. I'd love that hanging in my house!

Jen's listening to Jeff sing a song he wrote for her. He's playing the ukulele too. I wish I could have gotten him in the photo too.

 Jen got changed into a wedding gown. It was very pretty!

 The view of the river and airport land from the boathouse.

The next day, we met up with Justin and went to Bellingham for a little shopping, before heading Mission. We hung out with this cute kid. She's so funny! 

I picked up some really thin corn tortillas so that I could try my hand at fish tacos. We decided salmon would be good. I made a chipotle cole slaw and pickled red onions to go with the tacos. I'll be making them again!

Don't forget to head over to Amelia's blog to see how she spent her July!