damn girl

by JT is the bomb-diggity. Everything is the bomb-diggity these days. That's what Jaxon thinks, and that's what I think so it must be true. He's been incessantly watching Shark Tale. So that means he's talking like a Jamaican jellyfish, or sometimes like his father. This morning he told me that on a field trip with his class he said to a kid "yo mon, wha do you rude yout?" (ie: yo man, why'd you do that you rude youth?)(or something) I'm not exactly a speaker of Jamaican patwa, but hearing my 5 year old pick up phrases that I normally hear from my husband is both bizarre and hilarious all at the same time. And I seem to slowly be picking them up myself.

So I was going through old baby photos of J (the kind I used to get printed in hard copy at the photo finishing place) and scanned a bunch cause I want to start scrappin' 'em. Sweet dude. Now for some printage this weekend and we'll be in business. How is THIS one for a heart-breaker!? He must have been super fresh (like a month at the most) here and he only slept on us. Talk about serious bonding time. And how do you like the leopard-spotted fuzzy blanket? Don't be jealous.


Tonight I'm heading over to Christina's house for pizza and also to dig her out from piles and piles of product that need to be packed and shipped. Jaxon and Carmichael will come and chase the Lulu kitty and watch Bluray discs on T's playstation. They will be in heaven.

Happy Canada Day! If you're not from Canada, head on up. We have Monday off.

Gratitude:
Today I'm grateful for Friday and long weekends. (duh).

he's done!

As of today at 11:15am, Jaxon is officially graduated from kindergarten. What a little pumpkin. He's worked so hard and it's paying off. He's reading, writing, and has hugely improved fine motor skills. I was able to drop him off today for his last day (which meant we had such a nice, slow morning together) and his wonderful teacher handed me a huge folder filled with all sorts of his work from January on. Stories and pictures and his reading folder. A poetry book and bits and pieces of math (counting, measuring, sorting). Brought a grin to my cheeks and a giggle to my throat. And just a tiny tear to my eye. I'm very, very proud today.

Gratitude:
For teachers everywhere who care about children and do their best to help them learn. You amaze me.

wednesday shall be bitch day

I have been very upbeat and positive and while I think that's a great thing and positive thinking and critical thinking have helped me (a lot) I don't want to fool anyone into thinking that I am always happy-bubbly-go-lucky girl. Anyone who has read my blog more than for the past week would know that anyway. But still. While I'm on the "upswing" I would like to keep a realistic perspective. I get grumpy, I have PMS, I'm a total klutz and things piss me off. So while thinking about how irritated I was this morning and having funny witty things to say to Josh (my co-worker) about our wonderful clients, I realized that I can get it out and not have it be a total downer. It is not all good in the hood.

Bitch Wednesdays are born.

I am such a klutz that it really doesn't phase me much when I whack my (insert applicable body part here) on (insert applicable hard item here, usually a door frame, railing, cupboard door, desk, car steering wheel, etc.). I just say "ow" or "ouch" and move on. Today I have an unusually sore spot on the part of my hand that is hard (not the palm but the back do we call it?)...nearly where it meets the wrist. I examine it. There is no huge amount of swelling or a bruise really, but mousing makes it hurt and so does pressing on it (trying to figure out exactly what is going on there). I vaguely remember whacking it on something and rubbing it really hard. Yes, I'm sure that's what happened. I have bruises all over my legs. Usually not shin ones like Jaxon gets - mine are more desk level and bum level. Those would be bum bruises then, not leg ones. I realize that.

I have a headache today and I don't feel like taking anything for it. I'm such a pill-popper and today I'm seeing if lots of water will do the trick. What a matyr.

Some people are so dumb. Talking with customers on the phone who don't know their own project title (as in, filling out order forms, asking "project title? what's that?"). Listen mister...if you don't know what the project is called, you probably a) should not be allowed to do said project, or b) should not be in charge of filling out order forms for said project. If you are over 15 and can read, I should not have to help you fill out the order forms. Seriously.

My house is a friggin disaster and while I want it to be clean I have no desire (and I mean none) to clean it. Normally I'm a cleaner. If it's messy to the point of bugging me, I clean. I no longer bitch and nag and insist we split up the chores into some sort of regular routine. Let's face it - he needs a uniform to wear to work and my supply of clothes is practically endless (well, it won't run out before his will, anyway) so he gets stuck with the laundry and that's a pretty big chore. The rest just isn't worth fighting over. Maybe I'll clean today when I get home. But also maybe not.

I have no childcare for before and after school come September. I'm seriously stressing.

I would much rather be at home playing. I surfed a bit this morning and read blogs and totally procrastinated and wasted time. I should probably get back to work, but really all I want to do after receiving mountains of inspiration is go home. To my messy house. Put on my headphones and drown myself in a bucket of gesso and paper.

Gratitude ('cause even pissed off people can be grateful)
Today, I'm grateful that my seriously dirty hair looks really cute all piled on top of my head. At least, I think so.

back!

AWESOME weekend.
Here is a brief summary in poor-quality photos.
(I spent much more time actually enjoying the experience than capturing it)

cool shot that Colleen got on the way down

the suite. high ceilings, fireplace, hot tub, balcony...superb.

cheers-ing in the hot tub. opening the wine w/out a corkscrew is another story.

leaving the one, the only claim jumper, leftovers in tow. (i <3 claim jumper)

driving. look - it's us in that shadow! (i <3 highway driving)

leaving. drove back amidst some very strange weather.

Serious fun was had by all.
Played blackjack for the first time. Loved it (uh oh).
Laughed (a TON)
Slept (a little)
Room service breakfast (the best)
Shopped at Target (twice)
Ate (bad but good food)
Drove (a lot)

Yay for girlfriend getaways!

Gratitude:
I'm grateful today for the lessons I am learning and re-learning as I teach them to my child. I didn't realize that having a child could be such a huge catalyst to living a better life and becoming a better person.

my toenails are red :)

A couple of shots of the 20x20wip...they're not great, but they are what they are, and they're recording stages and moments. The life of a painting. We're at the stage where there are masking tape strips on the painting. They will come off. They better come off!

In all my excitement yesterday, I forgot to post my gratitude bit. So today, I'll post two.

Gratitude:
1. So very grateful to look out my window at work and be able to see eagles soaring. Around and around in circles without one flap of their wings. It's very relaxing.
2. Super grateful that my sister is willing to have both Jax and Carmichael over for a sleepover so that Colleen & I can get away for the weekend. Family rocks.

Have a fabulous weekend.
xog

soSOso excited

Leaving tomorrow night for a girls' weekend. EEEEK! (sometimes my caps lock key goes on all by itself...I think my 'puter has a ghost. for the eeeek! it seemed appropriate though. good job ghost!)

Me, Dee & Colleen. My co-op buddies. This is SO needed and we are all excited beyond belief. An executive suite at a casino resort. I don't gamble, but I'm gonna get my toes wet for the first time! (can you believe I went to Vegas and didn't gamble not even a nickel??) There is a jacuzzi spa in our room, two TVs, a dual-sided fireplace, two restaurants and a pub right in the building. We might not even leave the hotel! An all-out-super-duper-girly-fun-self-indulgent weekend. Just what the doctor ordered, I do believe!

Tonight I'm sharing my this week's dare, as well as a page for the challenges going on over at 'ologie. The dare this week is "love at first sight" and i twisted my page up a bit. I'll post the journalling (hidden behind the white cardstock behind the transparency in the top left corner.

Journalling: Tonight it was the East India Pale Ale from the Brooklyn Brewery in the cute packaging. A new beer and a new experiment. 5 years and 8 months ago it was baby Jaxon. Falling head over heels in love with him. Love and first sight indeed. You don't need to ask me twice. Nope.

For the Pick Me Up! challenge at 'ologie, I've been keeping it simple. Just trying to get back into the groove of scrapbooking without feeling like I'm just making a big mess (note above dare page...fits into said mess category).

Last night I watched Conversations with God. A self-help book (which it originally really was) in movie form. But fictional. So very interesting. At times a bit slow...but try to slow down with it. Take time to think about the messages. Apply them or discard them at your will, but it was nice to just slow down by myself for long enough to absorb the movie. Tonight, I'll be watching Griffin & Phoenix.

And working on the painting! I got all excited and got working yesterday without taking a photo :( but tonight I'll take one even though there's no light. I'm excited about tonight's step and to see if it fixes what I think I screwed up last night. Yeah, oops.

OK! I'm taking my laptop with me this weekend 'cause I want to stay in touch and I'm sure there will be some serious down-time in the hotel drinking & eating room service and chatting, so it will be fun to pop on. We are in the executive suite, keep in mind. I better do something executive-ish, like use a laptop.

xog

driving + lots of scraps

I came in to work extra early today to get caught up on some stuff. I drove in while the morning sun shone its special morning light and there were hardly any cars on the road. It was a tiny little piece of heaven. I got to work and was greeted by a brand-spankin new operating system on my computer (good) and all my preferences and presets so not there (bad). Good thing I came in early...certainly not caught up. Blech.

Ready to be smacked in the face with a bunch of pages and stuff? The first bunch are all using the June 'ologie kit. Such good times, as usual. The girl seriously knows how to thrown down some serious kit action.













Then, there's a thing I did for the Lazar Street Team challenge for June (they forgot about me but I harassed them enough to put it up):

We were to use a digital product from Lazar and a manilla folder. Because I'm superduper lucky (and happen to live in the same location as the fabulous owner of said company) I added some other Lazar goodies in for good measure. And used my typewriter for the first time in a long time. And made a mistake. But I don't care. Live, learn, move on.

I worked some more on the 20x20 last night too. Have to take some shots before I work on it today. Really, I should clean the bathroom. But painting is so much more fun!

Gratitude:

really, need i say more?

little miss sunshine

That's me today. Little Miss Sunshine. I think it's just amazing how the weather can affect my mood(ssss).

Lately, I have sucked at scrapbooking. I just feel that way. Whatever. It goes that way sometimes I guess. I dug up an old challenge from March @ 'ologie and pumped this one out in about 5 minutes last night. No text, no journalling, no title, not much of anything except the 5 items we were challenged to use. And a photo. Simple. Forcing myself to get back to my roots - back to basics...think about the design. And I actually like it. I've been having so much fun altering things and making minis and painting that I'm scared to scrapbook. Or when I do I for some reason feel like I need my scrapbooking and other stuff to "match". That doesn't work for me. That's no good. Green cardstock, a swirly something, a star, some tape, and one brad:


Then, fun times with Lu over at the studioWERX Streat Team blog. Boo-ya baby! I needed a kick in the ass last night to make something. Pulled out my journal, got messy w/ gesso and used some fave POD stampage. Again, just simple. Getting free and messy, but in a structured way...thinking about placement and colours. This journal is an old photo album with all the photos taken out but some of the corners left in place:


And, more on the 20x20. Threw another layer on last night. I really love to paint. Wouldn't it be cool to have a whole wall of your house all textured like this? That's a dream. Maybe not red...that might make me crazier than I already am.


Gratitude:
Simple pleasures...the iced latte on my desk right now. Yum.

wip:twenty by twenty

My new work in progress...a 20"x20" canvas. This is my sister Aley's Christmas present. Christmas of 2006, to be exact. I think I will take photos of the process throughout. I saw it leaning on the chair and was struck by the bold colour. I love red.

SUCH a monday. UGH. Was so tired all day. So.....

Gratitude: Today I'm grateful for coming home to a house where the dishes were done, the carpets were vacuumed, the laundry was done...and where I'm about to get a massage. Wicked end to such a Mondayish Monday.

Sunday, June 17

Gratitude:
Today I'm feeling extremely grateful I have a husband who is a wonderful father.

ahhh...the weekend.

Gratitude:
It's Saturday. I'm grateful for the weekend and being able to spend some much-needed quality time with the boys.

The big one has to work tonight, but we'll be enjoying the middle part of the day today. Heading off to Loomis in just a few minutes. They are donating some product for me to use in my Crop 4 Kids classes - yay for generous and wonderful sponsors! J will get a new colouring book as a bribe to pull him away from Saturday morning cartoons. Speaking of...must go and encourage the shoe-puttonage. xog

slammajamma

work is insaaaane! oh well, makes the day go by faster. especially when i'm feeling the beer from the night before. badly. maridee and i went for a stroll through our 'hood last night...checked out her husband's childhood home. so cool.

here's a sneek of a lil sumpin.

Gratitude:
Today I'm grateful for the blue sky trying so hard to make an appearance. I'm grateful for the fact that we are in spring and moving towards summer and for flowers. I'm also grateful for amazing friendships I'm blessed with. Also, it's the weekend and I'm grateful for that too. Today, I'm extra grateful.

thursday

Here are a couple more things I did on top of the Dare layout last week (hopefully that link will work). We were sponsored last week by the Story of My Life kit club. Such a fun kit...I had to just keep playing! Harajuku lovers theme for reals. You can see the rest of the mini album here.



The mid-month gallery @ ologie goes up tomorrow. I'm super stoked about it because once again, Ranjini rocked out and provided a kit that, well, makes a girl wanna scrap! And did I ever...

Gratitude
Today I am grateful for Jaxon being in kindergarten with a great teacher who takes them on field trips, like the one they went on today to the beach. The boy's backpack was fuller than it's ever been, with a bucket, 3 different digging devices, shorts, change of clothes, sunscreen, a hat, and lunch. Good times.

Seeking: One Still Life

Yeah, right. In my dreams maybe.

While it is the opinion of plenty (and often mine as well) that I am entirely too busy, I do thrive on busy as long as I don't let it overwhelm me. I'm realizing that stuff has been overwhelming me lately. But I am in control. So, time to make some changes. I'd like to try to write on my blog every day. It will be a check-in with myself. A "grounding" mechanism. The whole gratitude concept has been somewhere in my mind for years - ever since an ancient episode of Oprah, where she talked about keeping a gratitude journal. Each and every day I will be grateful. For something. Small or large...silly or serious. Just something. I'm sick to death of continually thinking about and writing about how busy I am. Stop making excuses and do something about it.

I want to keep my goals in mind...short terms and long term. Wants and needs. Prioritize. But keep striving and achieving. Because that's what makes me feel happy and fulfilled. Happy & fulfilled Gen = better woman, wife, mother, friend, sister, daughter...a better me. Self care. It's been lacking lately.

Wanted: A Bit of Routine
To get me on track.

Coming soon: A Ton of Stuff I've Been Making
Because I have been incredibly focused creatively lately. And for that I am grateful.

light/tunnel

One heckuva week, it's been. In some ways, 4 days of sick kid seems to have gone so fast...tomorrow is Friday already! In some ways, not so much. There is something about a sick kid that feels like it's never going to end. There's something about finding out that he's got an ear infection and the beginning of a throat infection and is prescribed antibiotics and is about 75% recovered within 24 hours that is such a relief.

Yesterday I couldn't sleep, thinking about all of the work waiting for me and what were we going to do, knowing Jaxon wouldn't be ready for school. I woke up around 3:00 and started work at 4:00ish. This morning, I arrived at work at 6:00. Trying to get in as much time as I could before racing home to relieve Dren so he could leave for work at 10:40. Squeezing every possible second out of the day. I've been tired, but also happy and highly productive. The same thing happened the last time J was sick. We spend so much GOOD time together. He said to me on Tuesday "I love the way you take care of me when I'm sick mama." I said "Oh yeah? How's that?" He said "It's just so great." Being a parent is tough sometimes, but oh-so rewarding.

We're going to go outside and do some planting in a bit. Seeing as how he's 75% better and all...let's get some fresh air.

Spring bouquet from Aunty Aley's garden:

shhhhhh

home with a sick kid today. it's beautiful out...keeping a close eye for the steam-cleaners who are coming to give our building a facelift...at which point i'll have to run and close all the windows and doors. j's had a headache and fever off and on for a couple of days. no fun :(

this morning i was listening to the radio and heard about this. there's a bunch of commercial hype because it is, afterall, a product, but the core concept is one i find really interesting. going to do some more reading about that. i love wikipedia.

so it's time to answer a few questions....

stephaniehowell said...
shoot, i missed the questions??

here are a couple-
what makes you really, truly happy?
what are you the most proud of?
what makes you laugh the hardest?

Happy? There are so many things! Especially right now as spring has sprung and the weather is getting warmer and warmer. I love having fresh flowers in the house...the life and colour and brightness they bring really does make me happy. I am happyhappyhappy when I have a clean house. I'm happy when I'm making art, or when I'm in a bubble bath with a glass of champagne (<---this doesn't happen hardly ever...maybe once in my life...hmmm...i should do that more!). But honestly, my truest happiness comes when I'm spending time with people I love. It has to be complete, 100% dedicated time...that's the only time you will ever really enjoy I think...when you're utterly and totally invested in it. Laughing with my boys (happens constantly), chatting with mum, hanging with my sisters or friends.

Proud. I'm so incredibly proud of the job that Dren and I are doing together as parents. Jaxon is an incredible human being. We are raising him to be a good person. It's so important to me that he is kind to people and animals, that he is aware of how his actions/choices affect others. Sometimes it's a really REALLY tough job. People tell me that they like Jaxon...that makes me so proud.

It's always in interacting with people that I find myself in stitches. Jaxon and I goof around together (a lot). Dren will sometimes say something funny that I haven't hear 95000 times before and we will spend 10 minutes just howling. I have a great little group of friends who understand eachother completely...we are sarcastic and scandalous and we are forever making eachother crack up with random digs and insults. Sigh. I love to laugh.

Thanks Steph baby!


Angela said...

Hi there! I love reading your blog, and check in here all the time so maybe I should actually leave more comments and not be such a lurker! LOL

Here are a couple of ?'s for you:
if you could be a famous entertainer(actor or singer, from the past or present), who would you be?
what is your favorite smell?
what is the last thing you thought before falling asleep last night?

Hi Angela! (you lurker)

WOW...that's a hard question! If I could be a famous entertainer.....I'm thinking it would have to be an actress, but I've never thought about being someone else before. I can think of half a dozen actresses and singers whose work I love...but that doesn't necessarily mean I know them or know what there life is/was like and that I'd want to be them. Am I making this much more difficult than it needs to be? OKOK...then let's say Julia Roberts for the down-to-earthednessish thing she's got going on along with her talent and charm...Drew Barrymore for her fun, cute, quirkyness and talent genes, Angelina Jolie for her humanitarian side (ok fine and for her lips and cheekbones)(oh, and minus the husband-stealing bit), Audrey Hepburn for her classic beauty and my fave of that era. In other words, I suck at this question. Ha!!

Mmmm...I love scent. I loooove candles & air fresheners that are not too overpowering. I like mildly sweet. Exotic essential oil from the Body Shop is one of my all-time faves. I like melon/cucumber sort of combos...some things that say they are "rainshower" scented, and currently have the citrus cilantro reed diffuser from pier 1 still rockin. YUM. Apparently "what is your favourite..." is going to get a variety of responses from me. This is because I can never make up my mind about anything...well, most things. I can't even make up my mind about whether I can make up my mind.

Last night before I fell asleep I thought "I hope Jaxon is feeling better in the morning". Ha! again.

Kelly S. said...

yum Apricot beer....
Ok I have a question-
Why did you start scrapping?
How did you meet your sweetie?

Why I started scrapping. Huh. Well, I was big into making cards and "found" a little scrapbooking store I could start buying a huge, beautiful array of cardstock. Then a friend and I checked out another store and they had Cathy Zielske's first book and I was so drawn into the way she put these stories together about her kids and family. Not the actual stories, but the design of the pages. The graphic designer in me was totally inspired and after thinking about it for a few days, I went back and bought the book. I figured I would use it for inspiration for card-making. I love her use of typography and colour and her photography alone is totally inspirational. So I started actually reading some of what she had to say...the text of the book and the journalling. I read the stuff in the back and checked out a couple of her fave links. One happened to be 2 Peas in a Bucket. Well, as a lot of you will know...that was the beginning of the end for me! It still took me a few weeks of cruising around, but it was also post-Jaxon, so it didn't take too long before I was a scrapbooking fool.

Dren and I met at school. Douglas College, to be precise. Quite a funny, only-slightly-less-embarrassing-as-I-get-older story. I had spotted him several times around campus. Hi. I mean...he's totally hot. One morning in the cafeteria we exchanged a look and a smile (he doesn't remember...I do...oh do I ever). I had been broken up with my ex at the time for approximately 2 weeks and was officially, definitely, committedly, single. I wanted no part of a relationship. But apparently that didn't deter me from noticing that he was sitting by himself in a computer lab in the room next to my classroom on my way in one morning.

As I sat with my friends waiting for class to start, I could NOT stop thinking about him...about how school was almost over and I might never see this guy ever again. I left our classroom and went next door. I sat myself down a couple of rows behind him. I was trying to figure out how to send a message to his computer (we had figured this out and had lots of fun with it during class)...but I couldn't do it that time for some reason. So I typed up a note and printed it out. Walked up to the printer, grabbed the paper, folded it like 8 times and walked up to him. I stood in front of the table where he was and said "Hi. Can I give you something to read?", and he said "Uhmm...ookaay..." (like who is this weirdo!?). I handed him the note and practically ran away. I did not introduce myself or engage in any sort of conversation whatsoever. Clearly, I was not practiced at picking guys up. At all. I had never in my entire life approached a guy.

I booked it back to my room where the instructor was getting set up, and whispered what I had done to a friend next to me. I let her read my note and she thought I was absolutely insane. That helped my insecure, embarrassed, what-the-hell-did-I-just-do feeling immensely. That afternoon he paged me (...all the cool kids had pagers in those days) and I had no idea what his name was from his message. I let my two best friends at the time hear the message and we sat brainstorming as to what his name might be.

Brent? It has to be Brent. But it really sounds like Gren. What the hell kind of name is GREN?? So there was more embarrassment when I phoned him back and hesitantly asked for Gren. Yeah. He then explained his nickname Dren and we chatted for like 45 minutes while he walked his dog. For the most part, the rest is history....we talked every day, had a first date and saw eachother almost everyday afterwards.

I was 21. He was 28. It was March, 1999.

Thanks for asking Kelly S...that was a fun trip down memory lane...I should break out somma those old 1999 pix methinks!

OK off to try to get this kid to eat or at the very least drink a little something. He's fully immersed in Arthur and the Invisibles. Great show.

What's the sitch?

Thank goodness for red lights and a quick shoving of the heads together for a snapshot of us on our 4 year anniversary. I simply cannot train the boy to look at the lens rather than the screen thingy. Here, the one and only existing photo us from last night.


We saw a play called Unity 1918 at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island. It was kind of funny, kind of interesting, and kind of good. Put on by the Senior Theatre Troupe of Arts Umbrella, the story was about "the panic of a Saskatchewan prairie town during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. This dark comedy explores the drastic meausres taked to keep the illness out." As mum said this morning "it's really more about the experience of going". Totally true. We will be getting out to see more local shows. We talked about that at dinner...what we would like to work on in the upcoming year. Changes, continutations and wants.

We had dinner at The Sandbar. The outdoor patio is situated under the Granville Street Bridge...a totally cool combo of city and serene. We got the last table for two right next to the glass, overlooking the water and the downtown side of False Creek. It was a gooorgeous night. You know things are looking up weather-wise when you can be wearing a strappy top at 10:30pm on a patio by the water.


Thank you for the well-wishes for us and for my mum. They kept her in again last night. J and I visited yesterday after work. She is doing well; her heart seems much calmer and under control. What a relief. She's a bit irritated at staying in the hospital ("I really need to get home") but she understands that it's for the best. Let me tell you though, if they don't discharge her this morning, they better look out! Seems to be just a need for adjusting her meds and due to a change they had to monitor her a bit.

So we got home at midnight and picked up J from Colleen's house (snatched him right out of his slumber, poor lil spongebob-clad dude). Stayed up til 2ish completing this week's dare (not that it took me 2 hours...). I think the fog may be lifting. Do you know I realized that all I've really been doing is playing with paint and glue and working on one 'ologie project for like the last 2 weeks?? I haven't actually done any scrapbooking with photos in a long time. So, I think I need to. I love photos and I'm re-realizing that. Here's this week's Dare brought to you by ever fine and fabulous scooter-lovin, New York-trippin Jamie:

Not entirely thrilled, but it's fine and colourful and I think helped open my brain back up again. Open brains are good.

*update! Mum just called me and it looks like she can be discharged! One more blood test and hopefully she'll be sent on her merry way.

I hope the sunshine lasts (although there is a chance of showers I hear) and I hope everyone has an awesome weekend (awesome LONG weekend to my 'merican buddies).

xoxog

night-time

It's time to think and reflect. Time to be tired. Time to interact, or not. Time to relax. Time to feel stuck, and to practice that good ol' cognitive behaviour therapy. Critical thinking.

Feeling a little bit less-than-stellar these days. Not unhappy...just kind of...edgy. Not like PMS edgy, but restless. Fidgety. UNinspired. But I'm working through it. Fighting through it. Trying new and different things. Taking breaks. But also forcing myself. I have a couple things I gotta get done and then several things I want to get on to. So c'mon. Work with me here, brain/body/spirit. Ya know??

Mum's back in the hospital tonight. She is just not feeling comfortable...her heart rate is not normalizing, not feeling comfortable. More than likely, her medication has to be adjusted. But I didn't go to emerg with her tonight. And now I feel sad that she's in the hospital overnight (because they're messing with her meds they have to keep her for observation) and she's alone. I wish that I could have seen her and talked to her...just been there to have kept her company. I wonder if that's for my sake or for hers. Anyway. I'll call first thing tomorrow...hopefully Rhi will go see her during the day and then I'll go after work.

Tomorrow is me & Dren's 4 year anniversary. We have plans, and I'm sure they'll still happen despite mum's jag in the road to heart recovery...Think good thoughts everyone!

Love you mama.

xog

Oh - and yes, I will answer the other questions asked...just not tonight.

orange bikes

This is definitely one of my favourite photos from the last several months. I get so discouraged from taking pictures in the winter. It's dark when I leave the house in the morning, it's dark when I get home, and on the weekends it's either raining or threatening to rain or too dark to take pictures. OK, I might be exagerating slightly. But I just get blah about it. The other day I was waiting for a friend outside a shop and this image immediately caught my eye. I mean, how often is it that you're going to see an orange bicycle and an orange motorcycle parked like this? Not often, that's for sure. The people sitting at the pub patio I think thought I was a little bit nuts, taking different angles and...so many shots. It was fun. Do you know I once pretended I was crazy because I had to wait for the bus at night in a shady area of town? I really didn't want the other crazy people and dealers and junkies approaching me. It totally worked. I'm sure that's the moment I realized being crazy is not necessarily a bad thing.

I got asked a total of two questions on yesterday's post. Fabulous. I think K asked if I wanted to eat Jaxon because he's so cute. The answer to that is most definitely YES. I want to pinch his lil cheeks and squeal at him and slurp him right up and maybe even nibble a lil bit too. But I don't, because now that he's 5 and cool and all, that would be totally an uncool mama type of thing to do. And the other questions came from someone anonymous. Right then...

how long did it take for you to come into your scrapbooking style? If you could have a day off from being a mom, what would you choose to do? Favorite comfort food?

Hmmm...style to me is for sure an ever-evolving thing. Sometimes I look at my stuff and think "this is so not me". As far as how long it took me to get to a point where I thought honestly that I don't want to do what I'm "supposed" to do or told to do from books and articles, it took me a few months. I wanted to experiment and mix up art and scrapbooking. There was a day at the very beginning of learning to scrapbook where I wouldn't make a page unless it involved the computer in some way. I couldn't even think about the possibility of hand-writing on a page. I love typography, I'm in graphics for a living...why would I possibly mess things up!? But then it got to a point where I would be all messy from paint and having fun and I couldn't be bothered to get up and go to the computer. Lately, I've started to go back to the computer once in a while for titles and journalling, and it's been fun. So I really think that my style will never be able to be defined as one thing...at least, I won't be able to define it :)

If I had a day off from being Jaxon's mama. I really hope I get a day of from being a wife too. And a daughter, sister, and friend. So if I had one day entirely to myself, I would spend the day prior to it cleaning my house. I would clean and clean and clean so that the next day my house would be all sparkling and organized. I would kick the boys out of the house. Early. I have not one clue what they're going to do all day (we're all such homebodies) but that's really not my problem, because it's my day off. I would use gesso and paint. I might play around on the computer a little bit and probably then I would get all inspired. I would look at photos and write down thoughts as I had them. I would draw and probably glue some stuff down. I'd probably think of someone and make a card for them. I might make a phone call and then I'd make some tea. Or maybe have a beer. I've discovered this super yummy beer from Quebec called St. Ambroise Pale Ale. They also have apricot ale. Mmmm. I might have a snack. I might flip on the TV and see if an rerun of American Justice or Cold Case Files or Project Runway was on. I might remember a movie I'd been wanting to watch and pop it in and then make my way back to my table. I'd listen to jazz and probably DMB. Loud. I'd definitely use stamps and rubons. I'd start to miss my family and wish we had a cat or a dog. And hopefully it would be almost time for the boys to come home. I'd make another phone call and try to finish up a page or a project but the boys would come home and interrupt me. And a sense of annoyance that I wasn't alone anymore would wash over me. But really that's just a habit because I'm really very happy that they're home to keep me company. And that. Would be my ideal day to myself.

Comfort Food? Funny. I just had to answer this question for something else today. Putting a bio together for the Lazar Street Team ...this is gonna be a fun team...nothing like anything else I've done up to this point. So I'll wait til that comes out to share about food. And some other faves.

I'm glad I only had 4 questions to answer from two people. If I had had more, I might be here all damn night!

Now I wanna paint.

G'night.
xog

PS. Banner creds: Lazar Digiwerx Ledger Paper, and Eduardo Recife (I previously said Jason Gaylor - oops) brushes. Finally, the girl has a banner.

PPS. I put the link to pre-order the Dare Book over there to your right! Check out the hot price on that puppy! clearly, amazon is the place to shop. that's good to know.

tuna maki

holy bad bloggedness. that's me lately. not good at anything really...just cruisin by at all of it. a veritable roller coaster of with it/out of it, happy/not happy, healthy/sick, feeling smart/feeling stupid, feeling boring/feeling fulfilled.

what else? here is a picture of ME according to JAX on mother's day. sigh. my outfit is slammin, i have a big heart, round shoes and am holding fresh flowers. on my shirt. there is nothing else i need in the entire universe.



what else? how about some Q&A? anyone want to know anything about me? i know there have been questions on comments in the past where i thought "oh, i should answer that" and then i forget. so now is your chance. if you have questions, ask them. because you never know...most certainly i will go back to my blog-slacking, boring self if ya don't.

i'm also counting the minutes until the canadian long weekend. ok, maybe not the minutes, but i'm in full-on recognition that tomorrow is friday and then after that the weekend is here. and i'm hoping my flat of flowers and various grasses and succulents (which are not supposed to die but i managed to kill all of last year) survive until i can plant them, hopefully on saturday but more than likely on monday.

i would also like to fully credit the two tuna makis i had at lunch for helping put me in a blogging mood. tuna maki is the shiz.