Pics from Easter

The morning starts of pretty well, the Easter Bunny left some treats on the van, as he does every year. This year, Sally and her keen ears heard the bunny leaving the treats on the van and then we all saw Kelly-Next-Door doing the deed! She has left treats every year since we moved here! We have great neighbours! And she leave my favourites. Which I only ate about 1 little package's worth spread out over Sunday and Monday, and Sunday I had to have 3 20 minute naps after eating them.

The hot cross buns that didn't get all given away, 2 went to Kelly-Next-Door, 2 went to Kerry's mom, some were going to get traded for cabbage rolls but someone ate all the cabbage rolls before the trade off and the rest got eaten up. They were so much better than the store bought ones that Kerry and Shaun ate them too. I cut them, buttered them and then broiled them and they were a huge hit. Sadly, they are all gone. I ate one last night and then fell asleep at 9 and couldn't stay awake to see the last Corner Gas, or Medium. I was a little angry when I was woken up hours later. I need a shirt that says "Don't poke the BEAR!"

Kerry and his new shovel. You'd think the guy had never had a shovel before but this is a straight edge shovel. He's been working wonders with it this weekend.

This bunny said no to the sequins on the ears and wore them backwards. He even got up early to find his eggs. He'll be 20 this year, I wonder if the Easter Bunny will ever stop leaving him treats?

This bunny is jumping on her little trampoline. She was agressively looking for eggs this year and actually found more than her brother. The Easter Bunny hid them too well this year.


The nice thing about the burst mode on my camera is that I can get consecutive action shots like these. Sally found an Easter egg in her ball and that prompted her to play with it all morning so I tried to get a few good shots of her. Linus, ever the jealous dog felt he needed to be in the pictures too.

We had a great dinner at my Grandpa's. My cousin and his family from Maple Ridge came up, we haven't seen them in ages. The kids are getting so big. Candy brought up her Silpada jewellery and it's beautiful but I resisted, it was very hard. I have spent too much on yard plants,(that I said I wouldn't buy) and my photography class and I am trying so hard to be a good girl.

Thought for the day...

Why do most holidays revolve around sugar?
Easter, Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, birthdays...

I got a large bag of Cadbury mini eggs from the bunny yesterday, I split it with Kerry. I then split my half again with him leaving myself with less than 1 cup of mini eggs. I didn't eat them all, I put more than half into hiding. I then ate 6 Purdy's chocolates. I had a nap before noon. I had a nap after 1 pm. I had a nap before dinner. 3 naps, all for about 20 minutes each. I was a zombie for most of the day but did still manage to ...
1. help find eggs that the bunny couldn't remember hiding.
2. help dig up sprinklers in the back yard.
3. put down landscape fabric and rocks around a few plants, ran out of rocks, have to get more this week.
4. clean house.
5. wash dog paws because no matter how much grass a person has in their yard, the dogs will always choose to walk in the mud.
6. wait all day for the cable guy who never did show up, even though we called on 2 separate occasions and were told it was an all day appointment and he would call first. Even though I said "on Easter Sunday?" He never came and when I called back after 5 pm. I was told he never was coming, the appointment was for the 19, next Sunday. I said some words, 1 being Pissed Off and the other starting with an F but quickly changed to Freakin'! We haven't had all our channels since Tuesday. I'm getting a refund, because by the time the guy does show up, it will be almost 2 weeks.
7. take pictures but haven't looked at them.

Today, I have stuff to do, like work, so I won't be eating any chocolate.

Good Friday

Do not buy these nuts. You will eat them all and they have a bit of kick to them but you won't be able to stop. Thank goodness they are at Walmart and are cheap.

I have a Kitchenaid mixer and have used it to make bread but it wasn't the best machine for the job. Now that I have my handy dandy food processor with dough blade, I think I have found a new way to put on weight. After following all 10 steps to getting the machine out of the box, I set to work with my America's Test Kitchen cook books. But first Emily and I made the cheese pretzels from her home ec. recipe. They didn't make very many, a double batch made 6 pretzels and they weren't big, but they were yummy fresh out of the oven. She called Grandpa to come over and have one, she had an ulterior motive, Grandpa has one of those tiny little trampoline's that were popular in the 80's and he was bringing it here.
The pretzels were so easy that I decided to try something only Pizza Hut seems to do, deep dish pizzas out of the cook book. And HOLY CRAP, I love them! Made in a cake pan, they are small but filling. I did not eat the whole thing, just a slice. Made a beef, mushroom and onion one and a cheese one for Emily.

Then I found a recipe for Hot Cross Buns, it's Easter weekend, I figured it was fitting. They are proofing right now. We aren't even big HCBuns fans, so they will go to someone else's house.

I love my Kitchenaid food processor!

This is the other thing I bought myself at Costco. I went with the vibrant pink hydrangea, I might go back and get the blue one, but maybe I will wait and see if I kill this one.

We talked to a very nice, very talented guy about getting our carport fixed and turned into a garage and it's got the wheels in our heads going! This needs to be done because the carport roof leaks and is rotting, and we could just fix it, but after much deliberation we have decided to build a garage, with a breezeway between the house and the garage. It will cost more, but it's what we want and we don't want to have to do it again in 5 years. And I want to have the cutest house on the street, isn't that what it's all about?

And it frees up a whole other room in the basement for scrapbooking, I mean a family room! Maybe we'll get a bigger tv too. I can hear the cash registers going!

Got me a new toy.

The American Test Kitchen Family cookbook highly recommends having a food processor. I follow everything they say. So when I took Shaun and Jenn to Costco and saw the Kitchenaid one that they also recommend on sale for $35 off, I had to get it. Had to. Kerry told me a couple weeks ago to get one, we figured $200-300 for one, so really with the money I just saved us, like over $150 I should be able to get some other goodies, or I mean I should be able to get a nice sturdy back wheel for Kerry's mountain bike. Yup, that's what I really want!

I need a bigger kitchen too. Although I figured if we move/eat all the food in the pantry, and adjust the shelves, I might be able to fit my mixer, food processor and Margaritaville drink concoction machine it there. Then I'd have some counter space. But then I'd have to pull them out daily, so it's just as well they are all on the counter. Who needs room for dishes, fruit baskets and un-opened mail?

the rest of the day

I worked on my taxes for most of the morning, hung out with Jaynee and baby Noah for a bit, then took Shaun to Walmart after dropping his car off for repairs. Bought a bag of chocolate covered malted eggs, ate half the bag, and now I feel like crap. I made him go to Home Sense with me. We found this book...

and some Memory Dock stuff, which I have been wanting but can't find anywhere. I heard a while ago that Home Sense sometimes has some stuff but hadn't seen any. Today we found pencil boxes, photo boxes and this...which I bought. I thought about what the above book might have to say if I bought pencil boxes and photo boxes that 1)don't match, 2)won't hold all my pencils or photos, 3) I don't need. But this I need, it's black(matches everything) and will hold those larger photos, like Bay Portrait Studio ones that will never get scrapbooked but I can't throw away!

Made an appointment with the dr. for about 2 weeks away. I could be in a sugar induced coma by then, I mean come on, it's Easter! I can't be expected to avoid sweets.

And now after eating those eggs, I must have a nap before Emily gets off the bus.

I Won Something!

http://schwooo.blogspot.com/
Angie over at Schwoo picked me! Well, the random integer picker picked me! I won some blog candy! It's always exciting to win something!

Thought this was funny...

On the other hand...we have different fingers. Ha Ha Ha.


I'll be calling the dr. today. I've noticed in the last week or so that when I eat sweets, like cheese cake or truffles(I'm trying to eat better), I fall asleep immediately afterwards, like instantly. Last night I had 4 truffles, even though my limit is 3, over 3 makes me sick, but after class I was craving something sweet so bad that I couldn't stop at 3, Kerry ate 10, the jerk. Then I fell asleep, it was just after 9 pm. Emily tried to wake me up, I acknowledged her, and went back to sleep, only be woken up hours later by Kerry. I did not get to watch Heroes or Medium. I woke up severely pissed off. I've fallen asleep as early as 7 pm and it's a dead sleep.

E.'s been taking the bus, which means she leaves the house much earlier than normal, so I'm off kilter. Usually I drive her, and am back home by 9 am. She's gone at 7:45 am. Really, I could go back to bed until 9 after she leaves. Hmmmm...something to think about.

I have until tomorrow to get my taxes in order. I don't want to. There I said it. It's always an eye-opener to see how much I made and how much I spent. It's terrible having it on paper. I know I have to, I've had months to do it and I had started at the beginning of the year, but then the adding up of receipts put me into shock and I stalled out. I must do it today. Maybe I should eat 4 more truffles and call it a day.

You know it's Spring when...

Sally gets her Spring hairdo.

This year with all the snow, she'd gotten especially matty and in her golden years she has no patience for mat removal. But now she's all sparkly and clean! And smells like a marshmallow.

She doesn't enjoy the first few days with the new do, I think it's because wind is reaching areas it couldn't before, like the nether region. And her paws are tidy and no longer Grinch feet.And this jerk...I can see it in his beady eyes...Mamma, where'd my smelly sister go? WHO is this marshmallow scented, neat and tidy sexy thing trotting her stuff around the house? Why sexy? Because he's fixed, and he's been trying to hump her all afternoon. And he won't stop barking at her.

Sunday's walk in the park

We did something we said we would never do. We bought one of those pinchy pokey collars for Linus. He's so stubborn, he's impossible to walk. He's got his own agenda, and 2 sessions of obedience and 6 other collars didn't help one bit. And he's stronger than I am so I take my life in my hands everytime I go out with him. But now, with on jerk he's paying attention, kind of, at least he can walk out in public and it doesn't look like he's dragging us. So, with hope in our hearts we took him on Kerry's dream walk. Ever since we have gotten a dog, he's wanted to be able to walk a dog downtown on the boardwalk...I could care less if I take those rotten scoundrals out and about. Sally could care less too, but Linus, he's our social butterfly and so it was a great day for him. We also made the furless kid go with us, with bribery, 1 Copic marker and an icecream.

Outside the art gallery we found a tumble weed, kind of weird for the middle of downtown. Maybe it was a gallery installation? Anyway, everyone had to pose with it.

Linus had to try the water, now he smells bad. Yes, he looks sad, but when a dog doesn't have a tail it's kind of hard to tell when he's happy.


Her eyes are closed, by accident, but really, she hates these half naked statues and I made her sit beside them, so it's probably eyes closed on purpose. I wanted her to lay down and pose but she wouldn't have any of that.

Then for icecream, and they have free baby cones, for babies, I asked if they were free for dogs, and they were. 1 plain vanilla baby cone for a pretty good dog! He got lots of compliments, mostly from the homeless looking people...gorgeous boy, so well behaved, what a good dog! What they didn't see was the pokey collar and the dog that tried to snatch a sandwich from an unsuspecting couple on a bench.
Kerry: Please take a picture of that car!

Guy with camera phone to his friend: Stand beside it and I'll take your picture.

Me: What the heck?

Kerry:It's a Lotus, it's my favourite colour. Sigh.

Me: It's across the street from Kelly O'Bryans and patchos. Sigh.

Other things to note:

Lots of motorbikes, lots of police pulling them over.

The power was out downtown, almost all businesses, except the icecream parlour were closed.

We saw a woman, Kerry didn't know what she was doing, neither did I, but whatever it was, she was breathing really heavy. We think her workout was skipping, jogging, high stepping, Irish dancing and speed walking. Everyone gave her lots of room on the boardwalk.

Kerry was thrilled to be able to walk his dog downtown.
Kelli was 100 feet from the scrapbooking store and didn't want to go in.

Bloody Hell!

If you know me, you know I can't stand the sight of blood. I can't even help it, I try very hard not to pass out, but it just happens, things go dark, I get dizzy. I got asked to stop donating blood. I want to do it, I have AB-(if I remember right) and it's the rarest blood type and I want to help. But when your body goes into shock when you donate and you pass out, it kind of scares other people. So I'm allowed to go and have cookies while waiting for Kerry, who has pipes ripe for drilling and takes only minutes to donate. I don't go, it's like rubbing salt in my wounds.
What the heck am I getting at?
The neighbour's dog, Wilson, was in the yard and Linus found a new spot to squeeze under the fence, we thought we had 'fixed' it all. As he's going under, I grab him and stop him but this causes him to turn on me and growl, which gets him a growl from me and a figure 8 collar and in turn rips off 1/2 my finger nail. Of course, I let go, and under he goes. Even though he is having a good ol' time running around with Wilson, I drag him home with the concern of the neighbour following me. You see...I'm dripping blood from my finger. I drag that mangy mutt up the stairs and without looking I clean my bloody stump up and put a bandage on it tighter than I probably should have. Then I call Kerry. His boss must know about my problem and Kerry called back ASAP. But I put on my big girl panties and said I was fine, even though I was super queasy. Shaun will be home in a few minutes and I will have him look at it.
Now if only the blood bank would take my sink full of blood as a donation.

The Flintstones - Open Up Your Heart And Let The Sunshine In

Ah...memories! Almost bought the tin of Flintstones DVD's at Costco.

Laid Off

Kerry's in the building supply business. For years, there's been a boom but of course this year has been slower, although he says things are picking up. But because his bonus reflects the last year's business, we knew it might be less than previous years. This bonus is what keeps me from having to enter the work force with both feet. We never actually touch it, it gets plunked into RRSP's right away, then we get the income tax return and that usually goes towards paying off big bills, and maybe things like buying the van, the truck and my camera. This year we were told it would be given later in the year, which mucks up RRSP time, but oh, well, at least he's getting one. Then we were told it would be less, oh, well, at least he's getting one. Now we were told he'd get a little here, a little there and a little maybe not at all. HOLD THE PHONE! I believe a promise is a promise, and that's my income you're messing with! And my hubby worked his butt of last year to earn that bonus. Anyway...

At least he has a job, a percent of the company got let go recently, his office was untouched, thank goodness! So a smaller bonus means the carport getting fixed might take a bit longer, or just go on credit, it's rotting off the house and has to be done.

We joked about the whole thing, because crying about it doesn't help one bit. It hurts because we took out a rather large amount of RRSP's thinking the bonus would cover it, because the company told us it would, and now the money to pay for it isn't coming in. Oh, well, at least he has a job!

That means I, on the other hand, just got my pay decreased by a substantial amount! My hours are cut back, I still have benefits, but there are things I won't be doing any more. Like vacuuming, cleaning the fridge, picking up dog poop, cleaning out the van, I just don't get paid enough to do that!

But on the plus side, I heard we are on the other side of this economy thing, that people will start spending, I never stopped, and that things will start looking up.

Here a sneakpeek of my layout for class on Monday. I haven't added the pictures yet. I like it just the way it is.

I didn't post these earlier because they were for a swap with Rae, now that she received them, I can post them. We each made 10 layered flowers to mail to eachother. Mine are coming from her soon! I can't wait to see them. I had fun making them, although like Rae, I couldn't part with my first one either.

I'm re-reading Photo Freedom. I need a re-fresher. I plan on sorting my albums, they are in no order what so ever!

Mother Nature must be a man...

Because only a man would think it's funny to prolong Spring and all things new and clean. This is what we woke up to this morning, and it's still coming down. It's wet and it's cold right now, but it's supposed to get up to a whole whopping 8 degrees later today. So the yard will be a muddy mess for dogs to stomp in.

But at least I have these to brighten my day...

Kerry brought them home for me. He has only ever given me a cactus, no flowers. But that's my fault, flowers die, I would rather have something that will be around for awhile. Like chocolate, it sticks around my middle for months!

I guess I can't be too surprised by the snow on April 2nd, because this was April 19th last year. My poor daffodils.

And yesterday I cried, I cried and I cried. Emily just finished reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. She told me about the saddest part in the book, I won't say what it is incase you want to read it. But it bothered me so much that I started to cry and then had to leave the room so she wouldn't see me full out crying. And then she told Kerry about it and I cried some more. Even thinking about it made me cry. She said it wasn't a true story, but I know that the premise is real, I know what did happen, and that maybe it couldn't have happened that way in the book, the feelings, the horror, it all happened.

Off to look at my daffodils, I need a happy thought.

Mr. Roboto and Friend

Normally, I stick to buying Stampin' Up stamps, it makes better business sense to me. But once in awhile I find a set that speaks to me, like the boy's set from Sandylion and this background from Cornish Heritage Farms, it's huge!

I made this one, sorry it's blurry, just regular old stamping with black ink on patterned paper, gator and robot are coloured with Copics, stamped with Memento ink. Paper is Stampin' Up. Rub-ons are American Crafts.

This one is the oposite of the first, I stamped with Versamark, embossed with clear, inked all over with black ink and a sponge. Then I placed my paper between folded newsprint and ironed the embossing powder away. The embossing powder acts as a resist.
Here's where you can see the difference. And my little boo boo that I didn't see until I did the pictures, just under the Later arrow is another Later but it was too hard to see on the background hence the arrow to cover it up, but obviously it was so hard to see I didn't cover it all up. I fixed it now.

Have a great April Fool's Day!

Yard Maintenance

We did some major work on the yard on Sunday. Kerry finished pruning the rest of the trees. We decided that tree pruning was something we could do on our own, after having my 80 yr. old grandpa do it the first year we owned the house. We didn't want to be responsible for broken grandpa. So with some 'guidance' from me, Kerry learned how to prune. I can prune just fine, and I'm happy to do it, runs in the blood, but I'm not so happy to climb the ladder. I can climb, kind of, but I can't use my arms for anything other than holding on for dear life.

I found this, I think it's a rhododendron, but can't really remember, it was bigger, had flowers on it when I got it as a gift from my mom. But then I planted it in the ground, looked at it, and then Linus came alone. So I'm very happy to see it is trying to thrive. I'm planning some kind of blockade to protect my few remaining plants.

The back yard after the massacre. Kerry gregariously trimmed the walnut tree because it was either that or as Kelli wanted take it down. I love the sound of a chainsaw in spring! But common sense prevailed and the largest shade making tree gets to stay another year.
Our trusty, rusty, concrete mixing construction reject wheelbarrow. I think this baby cost us $25 from Bob the Builder and has been the best, heaviest wheelbarrow ever. I decided it could use some sprucing up. So ....

I photoshopped the crap out of it! Lovely!

The mailman brought this for me. When I first saw it and said "it will be mine" and now it is. Although I have no idea what to do with it. Or even how to use it, I will Google that.

I've had a busy Tuesday. I woke up, yay me! I made buscuits for Emily. I sorted my huge SU order, went grocery shopping, dropped off 6 orders, did my banking, raked yard, did dishes, unloaded groceries, vacuumed, did my Wii Fit, slaughtered some Rabbids, photoshopped some pictures, and ate lunch all before 1 pm. Now I'm finished blogging, I will google the stamp, pay some bills and watch Y&R.

Shamwhat?

Here's a mess he won't be able to clean up with the Shamwow!

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0327092sham1.html

I won't be telling the kids about this one, they think he's cool. He's the reason we had to buy the Shamwow!

Christian the lion

Get the Kleenex box!

Snakes on a Plane and Creativity

We took Emily to see Coraline today. It was good, but it's not a younger child movie, even says in the description that it may frighten young children. If you like Tim Burton, and weird is your thing, then go see it.

I'm watching half-assedly watching Snakes on a Plane and full-assedly scrapbooking. I haven't seen the movie but have a little interest in it seeing as how Bruce James, which isn't his real name, is in the movie. I grew up with him and his brother and sister, his parents still live in the same house only blocks away from here, right next to the bowling alley of last night. He looks the same as he did in school. It's weird seeing him on tv. Anyway, the movie stinks.

The on-line crop at www.artfreckles.com has motivated me. I did this layout for DYL and one of the artfreckles challenges. Picture makes me look like I'm in pain, I'm over it.

Used a photo from last night's bowling that I photoshopped the crap out of to make it useable. Made that little cupcake too.

And a spring/Easter card. Loving that Forest Friends set.

Did you know...

that the politically correct term for bowling alley is bowling centre? Alley is derogatory? Bad things happen in alleys, everyone knows that, which is kind of fitting for our local bowling alley, yes, alley. Sunday a man was stabbed in the bowling centre, in my mind turning it back into the bowling alley!

Anyway, it was my SIL's 4oth surprise birthday party last night. Not wanting to miss my chance at taking less than stellar photos in a weirdly lit alley, I took the whole kit and caboodle with me. And I'll even take the time to say, if I took your picture and it turned out half decent, I'm blogging it. You're fair game for the sake of photographical education.

All photos are SOOC, with my Canon 50mm, f1.8 lens, flash diffused and bounced of ceiling and bald heads.

f2.5

1/30 sec. (setting AV)

no flash

subject: Kerry with his don't-hate-me-because-I-only-bowl-once-a-year-and-bowl-better-than-the-league-bowlers-in-my-family look.

f4

1/60

no flash, even though it says flash used.

Kerry's neice, eating a Big City cupcake. I would not try to take it from her, that girl loved her cupcake.

f5

1/15

no flash

Kerry's brother telling his uncle that snacks have been served.

f/4

1/60

no flash?

Kerry and Emily play fighting.

f/5

1/10

flash ?

Same as above.

f/5

1/8

flash
The girls.

Kickin' It Old School {updated}

Many moons ago, I purchased and read Stacy's book, Photo Freedom (http://www.stacysbigpicture.typepad.com/). Although I didn't feel instantly freed from my photos, I did put the plan into action. I organized the We Love way...People We Love, Places We Love, Dogs We Love But Sometimes Hate, etc. And then I left well enough alone. Fast forward to January, when everyone feels the need to purge, organize, and clean their spaces. I gave Kerry a photo box and our large Rubbermaid container of emphemera and said "put the pictures you want to keep in this box, recycle the ones you don't want, don't touch my stuff" and he did just that. He sorted the photos and then for some strange reason, instead of "Place We Love" he organized in "the envelopes they came in" and then put the lid on the box.

Fast forward to today...I'm sick of seeing that darn Rubbermaid container sitting there at the end of the desk, it's in the way. Oh, wait, it's freakin' Christmas ornaments! Where the f@#$ is that container of crap? I found it, and it is still filled with 20, yes, 20 years of cards, cards from Shaun's baby shower, our wedding, every single birthday since then, Emily's baby shower, class photos for both kids and....sweet mother of pearl...33 of these babies!!! Now to find my 45 record player...I bet no one even sells the needles anymore...I can't wait to shout "Drop the needle!" Oh, Billy Idol, Cyndy Lauper, Poisen, Patrick Swayze, the Cars, those were the days. Now I have about 6 songs on my ipod.

We played this oldie lots in our childhood, it was originally my moms. She probably would have tossed it out or donated it to, or sold it at a garage sale, she can let things go. I did not get that trait from her. Although I do remember a green garbage bag full of cards in her closet that we used to play with as kids.
And I just finished cutting and binding this...It's not even close to being finished but I had to share it. I used the cards from the kwerner's kit and SU's Parisian Breeze papers. The MOM and flower aren't even adhered but you get the idea, it's a MOM book!

Finally Using It

I've had my Quickutz Silhouette for over a year. I hardly ever use it, I used it in February to cut out the word LOVE for classes, I can't remember when I used it before that. We have a love/hate relationship. It's become an expensive dust collector.

But today...I was checking my favourite blogs and found some great cutting kits on http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/ so I quickly purchased the following 2 and set to work on the above card. Love it! Love the shapes! Today I love my Silhouette! Thank you, Kristina!

Karma, she's a bitch.

Shaun was going on and on a few weeks ago about how he hadn't been sick in a long time and everyone around him had been sick. Well, guess who came home from work after 1.5 hours?
In his own words...what doesn't come out the top end, goes too far and comes out the bottom end. He's been puking since 5:30 am. The first Gravol didn't work, he puked it up and seemed pretty proud of the fact he could identify it. The second seems to have worked. He's giving me too much info, which in turn, I'm sharing here. He's so empty he doesn't even have bile left, or so he says and he says the upside of having both diarrhea and vomiting, his intestines have never been cleaner. I think he's delirious.

Kerry went mountain biking yesterday and because it's so wet and muddy, he came home with mud in his teeth or at least that was what he told me. Then he brushed his teeth and said "Hey, check it out, it's not mud! It's a bug!" Guess who isn't getting any kisses any time soon?
He needs a bug screen for his full faced helmet.