he's going away

D's job is taking him away from us. Not sure for how long. This is all very new to us...being separated at all. It's happened maybe twice for a week at a time in 6 years. He will still be fairly close...we can go see him maybe on the weekends. What a strange, strange adjustment. Me...I'm so busy that life will just have to carry on. But I'll miss him so much...just those moments of knowing he's there with me. The hugs, the kisses, the nice kind things he's always saying and doing...his love, his support. It will all still be there, but I'm pretty much going to be a single mama...at least during the week. And D. He seems kinda screwed up about it. He has NEVER been separated from Jaxon for more than like 3 nights tops. He's feeling weird. I initially was selfish...thinking of the changes to my own life and Jaxon's life and our daily routine. But he needed to hear something else from me...and I realized that thank god.
me: you don't need to worry about us...nothing is going to happen to us just because you're away.
d: it makes me feel so good to hear you say that.

It's a new challenge, but we'll be fine. I'm sure.

THE BEST MONDAY EVER!!!!!!!!

Mondays? Blech.
My birthday on a Monday? Slight cause for celebration.

Although I only have but a minute, I must update what has been a slightly depressing blog.
Because. I am. In NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM depressed. Not one bit.
Even work is OK today. Because whatever. It's my birthday!!!!

Check this...adding to my 4th day of celebration...and the real day...

birthday LOVE

I am so feeling the love. You bet your bottom dollar.
Friend rule. They make my world brighter and funner.
I feel special.
I've already been in tears.

Over and out for now. Pix for sure later. Oh yeah.

Thursday

Geez man have I ever been neglecting you my poor sweet blogaroo.

I have been a busy lil beaver. Spending much needed time with the J man and being more of a mum and a wife. D got a job. A freakin wicked job where he's gonna make real money doing what he knows how to do. Not what he loves to, but where he's got skills. I think this, combined with the fact that I am absolutely utterly head over heels in love with scrapping, is what is making me ugh my job. That, and also that it's busy time at work. I have to remember what's important tho.

To live in a victim place is to point a finger at someone else, as if you have no control over your own life.

Random, I know, but relevant.

my purse (aka Suitcase)

It's a big fat mess. I have to clean it. It's practically bursting at the seams. I can't close the zippers. This really deserves a picture so that you can all see what I mean, but I'm at work and I don't have my camera.

I am such a procrastinator when it comes to dealing with miscellaneous papers. Blech. I'm really good at making piles and tucking them temporarily out of site though.

I must visit Ruby Dog Art Store today. Ruby Dog houses the most eclectic collection of found art objects and STUFF. I love it. Imagination gone wild. This store is the Queen Ruler of Altered Art. Love it! I hope to find some fun stuff for myself...and maybe some fun for friends too. Yessir.

what a slacker!!!

In blogland anyway. I miss it, but I've also been actually busy doing actual stuff...you know, accomplishing things. That feels mighty fine. Experimenting with art and getting crazy with photoswaps. Much fun to be had by all.

My darling sister (one of) is asking me what I want for my birthday. Um. World peace? Resolution and safety and fixed lives for those suffering in the Southern US? A healthy child. For D to find a job. To be able to do what I dream about. To have enough time to stay in touch with wonderful friends and precious family. All these things that no one can give me. Today is not a day I'll be able to answer her.

The never-ending strive to not be a procrastinator...or at least not with things that make others feel good....this will be my goal for now. Cross things off the list. Give gifts of mail-love and art-love/scrap-love. Remember the word that was supposed to be the word of the day on my blog (it's been a loooong time since I've updated daily) last week...NURTURE. Nurture what's important in life...it will come back to you tenfold.

Happy Thursday...only one more workday after today and then it's the weekend. The fabulous weekend.

she got me (hit me baby, one more time)

Thanks Amber Poopy Tagger-Face.

Here goes. 5 RANDOMS.

1. A couple of weeks ago I broke a personal record for the greatest number of jeans I could put on at one time. My new record: 6 pair. Previous record: 1 pair. Yes. Red wine was involved.

2. My belly button is pierced and has a big fancy jewel in it. Hardly anyone gets to see it anymore. My tummy used to be really flat.

3. I want to take pole dancing lessons. Not to become a stripper, but because it looks like it would be a total riot, and what the hell, you get exercise at the same time (OK...exercise? Rethinking this as I type). My friend has the Carmen Electra DVD thing. Recently, I noticed we have a new fitness place : The First Pole Dancing class for Fitness Studio in Canada, they advertise. "Meet Your Sexy Side". Things are definitely looking up. Oh yes.

4. My favourite ice cream is Ben & Jerry's Half Baked. Sometimes I'm salt, sometimes I'm sweet.

5. I'm addicted to Sweet Pea body cream from Bath and BodyWorks. The only issue this really poses in my life is that the store doesn't exist in Canada. Meaning travelling over the border for lotion. Seems a bit excessive. But it smells so good!

And because it's all about me today, I will leave you with this:


And because I've been forced into this game, I will tag...

{hip}

picture of a sick kid?

OK. We're currently on puke #4. Sometimes being a parent means dealing with gross stuff. My poor lil man is sick. BUT you couldn't tell it from looking at him. Kids are so resiliant! I was convinced last night that he was all better as his mood was mighty fine. Same thing today. He still wants to have pillow fights. He still wants to jump off the couch. He still wants to play and watch movies and hang with dad. Does he want to sleep and rest and crawl into bed and chill like I would if I had the stomach flu (or whatever equally disgusting bug is currently making its way through his body)? No. We'll be hangin indoors, at least for today, with our "sick" kid.

made art - it's done!

It's done. finished. and i love it. hope amby does too. it was fun to incorporate the efferoony dare-e-ony numero quattro as well. on my agenda today? work schmerk, some good ol' quality time with the kiddo and then some scrappin, DANG IT!!!

finally!!!

i have not been online much lately. too freakin tired. not sure what's going on. something hormonal since i have the most giant mountain of a zit forming just to the left of my chin. most attractive and very sore. a sure sign of something awful trying to escape my body i'm sure.

onwards and forwards. had a most busy weekend and perhaps that also contributed to my lack of energy and happiness. oops. i said onwards and forwards!

last night i created. it's a long and lengthy layout that will take me a bit of time but it's soothing and getting the mojo a-flowin. have a movie date with a couple of my girls tonight but i hope to be rarin to go when i get home.

peace out sistahs.

tired but inspired

Funny. I was so dead tired when I got home. Barely spoke a word at the dinner table and D even asked me twice if everything was OK and once if I was mad at him. I wasn't being nasty...just quiet. But it's usually when he catches on that I know I need a few minutes alone doing something cathartic.
(***OK pause...funny story time. because I am so tired, I second guessed my choice of words there and went to look up "cathartic" in the dictionary (well, the online dictionary hee hee). The first 3 meanings had to do with laxatives and purging of the bowels. I quickly scrolled down, thinking...no...am I THAT far off base!? Nope I'm not...also emotionally purging...phew! That was a close call with seriously misusing a word!)
So, while I'm being all cathartic, sorting through my clothes for a clothes swap some friends and I are doing tomorrow, I felt tired, but somehow rejuvenated and motivated. I totally purged!! I'm taking 2 big huge bins full of clothes and shoes to swap. Yeah baby! Let's just hope I don't come home with two full bins of 'new' stuff!

And to close, I'm feeling the need to share a photo. Let me go find one.


OK it's an oldy but goody and it makes my heart smile (as AmbyN would say...smile...)

the bad blogger, running on fumes & figuring out the damn scanner

so i got one shot at the beach on friday and then the batteries died. go gen. but really, this is very much ok because i have a gazillion photos and i guarantee you i will not miss them.

i have been a bad absent blogger of late. Little reading of blogs, little time to peruse galleries...but i'm coming out of it. i think. less time on the computer = more productive, yes? no, not necessarily, although i have been participating in a scraplift challenge on LM. now, I AM getting lots done. I find it VERY easy to scraplift. I love it. I love being inspired by all sorts of different artists and friends. but, it's really made me think about the whole process for me.

I've managed to get SEVEN (yes, 7) pages done in less than a week, which feels great in terms of "wow, i accomplished a lot". it's also been a great way to get me going and really keeping my hands dirty, so to speak. because i find scraplifting fast and easy, i've been able to scrap almost every day. BUT while I'm realizing that it might be a handy tool and a fun thing to do once in a while, I look at the pages and think "they're not me". I didn't pour my heart and soul into these pages. great photos, great memories. no soul? hmmmm. i'm not sure. something to continue to ponder as i think about the next page.

i cannot BELIEVE the price of gas these days. totally ridiculous. i'm even starting to think like my girl coco j, who waits til nighttime to fill her gas tank because she says it always goes down at night. i'm usually one of those people who cannot be bothered with the hassle of leaving my house at night...especially to save just a few dollars. But $1.10 per litre of gas? You have got to be kidding me. Not that I'm quite ready to explore public transit just yet.

I finally figured out why my scans, especially of lumpy stuff, have been looking so completely awfully hideous. Two reasons:
1. I had it sitting on the carpet beside my desk while I was scanning. Um, I know that sounds totally dumb, but there's no room on my tiny desk that barely has room for my keyboard and mouse. So I would haul my scanner out of the cupboard above my computer, sit it on the floor, plug it in, and push away. Well, god knows what made me think that perhaps the scanner should be on a flat, hard surface (can we all say DUUUUH). Working much better now.
2. It was dirty. Like really pretty gross with glue and various bits of hair and projects from the past.

Phew! Need to update more often so I won't go on and on like I just did. If you've read my whole story, I thank you and send you much love.

it's friday!!!

I love Fridays!!! I'm excited to spend the weekend creating, relaxing, playing, sleeping, shooting pix, chatting, and all the fun stuff that comes along with a weekend! I have mucho to do on The List - all fun stuff tho - yipee!

We're going to the beach after our power walk around the lake (have I told you about our most recent joint venture into the land of the fit??) to have fish and chips. What some good exercise without a pile of grease to follow it, afterall. Friday is cheat day for the diet though, and we haven't done the fish & chips thing at the beach yet - mmmm the best. Of course I will take my camera - don't be silly.

When Dren leaves for work tonight...if I can pull my ass off the computer chair, I'm watching SATC DVDs and makin art.

Bring on effer dare #3...I'm going to really have to think about this one. Dust off the old CD collection...I miss the packaging and art since going digital.

Smooches lovely ladies!

my loves

i am thinking of what i love and appreciate...on both a serious and superficial level. my mum was diagnosed with skin cancer quite recently. an isolated spot on her nose. what with the problems she and my dad are having i really feel this is entirely too much for one beauty of a mama to handle in the space of 8 months. she is so brave and so strong. because we're so close now i can read between the words and know that despite all her common-sensical language she was scared and insecure and sad and really not wanting her face hacked up. it made me cry when she told me. she wanted to tell me in person. i had been trying to pry for months as she had all these "appointments" for this or that...never being clear as to what was going on. she told me 2 days before we left for toronto. her surgery was scheduled for the 2nd - the day we were due back. we were delayed. she had to leave for the island before i could see her. i saw her yesterday for the first time. she is so happy. it went so well. she's got a red line down the side of her nose and is a bit bumpy and bruisy. normally this type of cancer spreads into the cheek and they really have to dig to get it out. not this time. so lucky. they had to go in twice to get it all, but then she was done. she's still gorgeous physically, but what is shining is her relief and happiness that the surgery went so well and that it's done and over with. i'm thankful for the miracle of modern medicine and how they were so good to my mama and saved her face.

here are some of the things i'm loving today:
•my big man•my lil man•my mama•my dad•my sisters•patterened paper(oh did i have a blast petting it and gazing at it last night - it was hot)•jack johnson tunage on itunes right now•my bed(i'm daydreaming)•water•organic sprouted beans(don't ask...i'm trying to eat healthy, i really am and i actually do love these)•the view from my window•summer•my camera•the wicked shots i get with my camera•leaving work(happening any minute)•

love you!
(i'm just full of it today!)

confession

OK - I was in such a rush to get those pix up yesterday and then I had to run...didn't write anything. I must confess that it all looks fine and dandy in those beauty shots, but keep in mind:

1. Everything inside those drawers/file cabinets is a total effing (**take note: first time ever using the eff word in my blog) MESS from hell.
2. I pulled the table (yes Missy I scrap on the table too!) and chairs out of the way to take the pictures.
3. A lot of my crap isn't even in that area.

SO:
1. The pictures are a bit of a lie - just maybe a tiny bit of a misrepresentation :)
2. I still have a lot to do.
3. I still don't have a scrap ROOM...won't for a long time.

BUT:
1. It still looks kickin cool.
2. It makes me feel really good and inspired and like creating something.
3. I love it.

WOOO HOOOOO TOMORROW'S HUMP DAY!!!!!

weekend accomplishment

ghetto play

This cracked me up yesterday. Apparently our building has adopted a Home Depot buggy and keeps it in the parking garage for all to use. Yesterday the kids were pushing eachother around in it, and having a total blast. They seemed to think I was a bit nuts feeling such a need to take pictures of them (what's the big deal ma?)



kids + imagination + resident HD buggy = great ghetto fun to be had by all

finally a few photos

Photoshop decided to be my enemy last night. We battled, and I won so it died. I decided not to bring it back to life last night and instead went to bed. LOL Robyn...you won't be getting pix of the milky green cooler.

Now for a few pix from the wedding. Some of you may know that D's sister is a witch. That's right. There was talk a while back about she and her bridesmaids wearing fairy wings for the ceremony. OK then. It didn't happen (phew). I thought the whole thing might be odd, but it wasn't odd. As you can tell from her dress, she's a non-traditional kinda girl. The ceremony is called a hand-fasting, and part of it is binding the hands of the bride and groom together with rope.

JJ was absolutely amazing during the ceremony. I was so worried that he would get restless and start acting up, or see his dad up with the rest of the wedding party and feel the need to talk to him or go see him. But instead he sat through the whole thing and was an absolute angel. He rocks...he makes me so proud. At one point he was getting a bit restless/tired and he inhaled, and let out this HUGE audible siiiigh. All the guests sitting right around us, all family, got such a kick out of that. It was very cute.

Top right corner - YUM!!! Sneaking flying fish from the plate D's dad had so carefully put together. At least pretending to. D's stepmom and I were harassing dad for samples while he was cooking, driving him nuts. Flying fish is a Barbados specialty I was introduced to by this wonderful family several years ago. YUM.

Bottom right corner - the absolute gorgeous, totally affordable lanterns. They are made out of frosted Christmas lights, white paper bags, and some beautiful ribbon. Don't they look so warm and inviting and NOT cheap!!?? I think I took a gazillion photos of them, experimenting with the light and different settings on my camera. Oh - and it turns out I took over 400 shots - not over 300. Whoa dude.

The temperature was quite disgusting for our whole trip. I'm kind of a baby when it comes to the whole E. Coast humidity thing. Air conditioning is a gooood thing. We had to get J's hair cut the very first day there because his mop of curls was working against him. No worries - they'll grow back and I do think he looks quite handsome with his "shortcut" as he named it.

Today I must continue to organize and create. I'm hoping to get my space cleared up, my new piece of furniture (a small but beautiful cabinet) up, and maybe some pictures taken.

Happy Saturday all you wonderful peoples!

sejuice

I am drinking a yummy vodka cooler right now. it's name is "sejuice". it is a passionfruit and melon cooler. it's a milky mint-green colour which is what attracted me at first ("milky" and "cooler" in my nevertobe humble opinion are two words that should not be put together). The bottle also has a pink kiss image on it. Cute. I would take a picture but I'm too lazy. I'm not sure if I like it because I've already had 3 drinks or if it's actually good. Anyway, good name.

OK. pictures. Coming right up.

weirdo?

Well, that's just a given I suppose - I know I'm slightly OFF :D But...I really always feel the need to clean before I can sit down and scrap. My dining room table is my scrappin home and the kitchen is right behind me. If it's a disaster I feel like I need to clean it first...and scrub the table and make everything neat and nice before I make a huge big mess on the table with all my schtuff.

What a lame-ass boring post...sorry. I promise photos later, but for now I must go be anal and then get to makin some art.

back!!!!

I'm back and trying to get settled in. Major airline drama which sucked. We didn't get in until probably 1am last night (this morning). But we're HOME! And so thankful!!! The weather here kicks ass over the East Coast humidity that I apparently cannot handle. I'm sure I would get used to it, or at least get used to coping with it, if I had to...but I don't :P

I am so looking forward to checking out my fave blogs and I'm sure I've missed some awesome work and lots of fun.

Took over 300 pix...I suppose I should get my camera to downloading right quick.

While slightly marred by the delay getting home and no ride home from the airport, as well as more sweating than any human should ever sweat (yum, huh?) the trip really did rock, D's sister's wedding (make that wiccan handfasting, but it really wasn't too weird like a lot thought it would be) was beautiful, and his family is absolutely amazing.

Stories and photos to follow. Must read a bit, clean a bit, unpack a bit, and hopefully hopefully create a bit.

Love yall and missed you somethin fierce!!!!