did we talk about Ottawa?

... so DD#1 is in 7th grade and there is a trip to Ottawa - conveniently about 5 weeks after we get back from Ottawa!

Ottawa trip #1 occurs just after chrsitmas and goes till january 3; it is a hockey tournament. over the chrsitmas holidays... when DS made the A team, we were told about it at the first parents meeting way back in april ... no problem...i love ottawa - there is tons to do there for a week.

Ottawa trip #2 occurs on february; found out about 3 weeks ago; costs a FORTUNE!! literally.

i am not happy about this trip for a number of reasons : i feel like i am being blackmailed by the school - this $500+ trip would NOT fly at many other schools! there was no consultation w parents about it before it was announced to students; there is a huge assumption by my childs school about the average mean income of families ... basically i get to be the bad cop.

DD#1 was in a panic because i was complaining about the cost and the redundancy of the trip. if it was up to me she would be one of the 3% (which is 1.8 students) who didn't go ... finally i suggested that she contribute some (like HALF) of the cost and she agreed (!) ...

well. she has sold batches and batches of cookies to her friends at school, she is making cards of all kinds and selling them to her friends at school and is trying flog some home-made gifts to HER FRIENDS AT SCHOOL ... heeheehee!

my DAH is a bit weirded out by this but i am quite pleased. a special thanx goes out those parents of DD#1's friends - the gargantuan allowance you pay little sally sue is finally going to something useful! LOL!

GO DD#1!!!!!!!!

newly reformed glitter JUNKIE...

for a few years now i have been philosophically opposed to GLITTER ... i LOVE the way it sparkles ... it fills ALL my requirements for shiny-ness but it is a FREAKING nightmare of a mess maker! and when you have small kids who like to "help" with projects and do crafts and work on THEIR scrapbooks, glitter is a BAAADDDDD idea all wrapped up in temptation!

i am pretty sure i have an un-natural need to make things sparkly (my therapist thinks its my lack of engagement bling manifesting itself into my art ... BA-HAHAHA!!!!!)... even DS's books have bling-y sparkly bits in them ... but i digress ..

to solve my need for sparkles i invested - yes INVESTED - in every colour of Stickles (tm)... they check all my boxes AND they come in a liquid glue medium so no GLITTER clouds or burned out vacuum motors (yup, too much glitter has been know to blow up a Kenmore Elite canister vac motor!)... the little people can also use them without too much trouble and when spilled can (eventually) be cleaned off my antique wooden kitchen table.

soooo, a few weeks back we had a few requests for GLITTER RITZ ; the Scrapbook Queen ordered it, it arrived and we decided to demo it; i played with it a bit yesterday morning before we scheduled the demo ... HOLY HANNAH that stuff rox!!!!! wows! easy, CLEAN, glittery ...! Thanx to Ms Shelley for showing us even more awesome things with the Glitter Ritz! (you can layer it, you can stamp on it, you can touch it and it doesn't flake off) .... i may have a new addiction ...

if you missed the demo, we still need more ornaments on our tree so come in Tuesday between 10 and 3 and i will enable you to also LOVE Glitter Ritz!

Tag Make and Take

come on down to SCRAPBOOK QUEENS tomorrow around 11am to try this demo for yourself! Better yet, sign up for the PRINCESS CROP and hang with us for the whole day! call 905-542-8811

sleepovers .... like em? hate em?

... hmm, i am personally not a fan - i would like everyone in their own beds thank you very much ...

when i was a kid i LOVED them ... with good reason - i am an only child (or Lonely child as i used to describe myself...); i had a couple of friends who i would regularly have sleepovers with - mostly at THEIR houses cause they had cable tv and mums who bought junk food ... i did have one friend, Michelle who was not allowed to sleep away from her house... i always felt sorry for her. she missed out on all the fun... mr and mrs ferranato, i owe you apologies - you are NOT the meanest parents on the planet - you were the smartest!!!!

it would appear the 2 eight yr olds are NOT going to sleep ... EVER .... *sigh*

check this out :

www.motocrossgirlsrule.blogspot.com

i think i am in trouble .... pt II

( HAPPY THANXGIVING TO ALL OUR AMERICAN FRIENDS AND TO THOSE CANADIANS LIVING IN THE U.S. AND BEING FORCED TO EAT ANOTHER TURKEY - lucky buggers!!)

...so here is what i hope is DD#2's favourite chicken ....

VIETNAMESE CHICKEN

3lbs of chicken (skinless boneless thighs are my fav but orig. receipe calls for breasts)
4 tablespoons light soy sauce
4 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon black pepper
5 cloves crused garlic
2 tablespoon canola oil
2 cups water

* combine all ingredients except chicken in a small bowl
* place chicken in the slow cooker
* pour sauce over chicken
* cook on low for at least 5 hours

Serve with steamed broccoli and Jasmine rice.

This serves 5 and there are never any leftovers!

ENJOY!!!

i think i am in trouble ....

... NO! not that kind of trouble!!!!!

....i love it when my kids request a specific food for dinner. i love to cook stuff they like to eat!

now keep in mind i don't eat red meat ... for about 10 yrs before i had DS i didn't eat red meat and very little foul i was almost a vegetarian ... mostly it started out cause i was POOR and when i came back to Toronto after uni, i had lots of debt and cut out lots of stuff....i was a bit over weight and quickly needed to lose weight ... it was a good balance... i lost weight, felt better, and ate better..(DS wrecked all that cause when i was PG with him, i could have eaten a whole cow at one sitting...)

...and nor am i a particularly GOOD cook ... i would love to learn. i have a slow cooker that could easily replace my oven (in fact mostly our oven is a storage unit) ... i am not sure how people with busy lives cope without a slowcooker (or crockpot for you yanks! LOL)

SO when i get this, it isn't always so helpful : " mummy, can you make that chicken in the slowcooker that i like??!!!??" hmm, i use the slowcooker 5 out of seven days and cook ALOT of chicken ... "sure, what did it taste like??" .... " oh, mummy! you know... GOOD!"

.... i may just be up a creek today ...

and now for something crafty ...

...so i don't know if you scrappy, crafty girls know Quick Quotes but if you don't, check them out. i knew them a few yrs ago, they had these vellum sheets with various quotes on them (they still have them ... ) nice concept but not stuff i would normally use. anyway, last may i went to MegaMeet in Novi, Mi with my scrappy girls and checked out their booth - WOW!!!

lines of paper and embellies and kits for pages and canvases and altered products OH and the juiciest inks ever ... REALLY nice ... i took one of their classes and fell in love not only with the product but with the company. everyone was energetic and helpful and FUN!!!!! it was a fast class and i didn't even remotely get near finished but it was by far the best class of the whole weekend (and i think i took 6 or 7!)...teacher Michelle ROCKED the box!!

they offer these PRIVATE RESERVE weekends and i signed up for one with a couple of my scrappy girls. its a project driven weekend NOT a crop weekend. i took very little, just my basic supplies and few specifics ... there was some prep to do BEFORE the weekend but nothing outrageous. the actual Weekend started friday night with a class but there were extra classes you could sign up for during the day (which of course i did ... ) ... loved everything i made friday and saturday and then sunday ... SUNDAY we did an entire album track - which i got about 3/4 of the way thru (good for me!!).

anyway, their dates for 2011 QQ PRIVATE RESERVE are up http://www.shopquickquotes.com/store/private-reserve-c-165.html - check out their website while you're there! (and if you like the papers, head up to Scrapbook Queen's in Mississauga - we have the papers and embellies ...)

if you want a fun weekend with lots of great projects and super instructors - then this is the weekend for you. i would suggest staying at the host hotel as the evening activities go till midnight ... get your scrappy girls and few bottles of wine and have a great weekend!

mostly still sick but definitely better than last night ...

... i have a sore throat and am coughing still ... i DID get thru the entire season 1 of SPARTACUS (yay me!!) ... i plan on sleeping the rest of the day and getting up bright and early in the morning for work!!!

on a different note, Gramma had her second hip replaced today so i am thinking about her and VERY sorry i cannot help my dad out this week - something else to feel guilty about, eh? anyway, the first one went really well so hopefully so does this one!

... kay got to get to sleep b4 the Kidlets get home ... dinner is in the crock pot, kids!!!

xox sick mummy!

i am sick ... sniff ... sniff ...

... i have a sore throat, a croaky voice and the sniffles. if i was DAH i would be on my deathbed but i am super-mummy; i waited until i had 2 days in a row to be sick, i started taking my cold FX immediately upon feeling a bit run down got everything done yesterday and this morning including making a big pot of home-made chicken and veggie soup. my fridge has apple juice and ginger-ale in it. i have warned everyone that i am not getting up in the morning, they must make their own lunches and DAH can sort it from there... i am pretty sure i already feel better ...i fully intend to be at work Tuesday morning ...

so riddle me this, batman ...

how does a child who gets all E's (in their brilliance the board has done away with a grading system we can understand and adopting a N-needs improvement S -satisfactory G-good E-excellent system) on her report card only be progressing Well (options incl progressing with Diffifculty, progressing Well, progressing Very Well)???

back to the drawing board i say.

still single ...

...well not REALLY but DAH is still away and i am getting REALLY good at this single mum stuff ... hmmm

well, except for cooking. i used to cook dinner EVERY night. even when 3 kids have hockey games.

until this past week.

i am working now and its really hard to get dinner slotted in. well, they EAT dinner but our local grocer had a hot table and thats were i have been shopping for a few days. today gramma felt sorry for us so she made chili for tonight.

i used to mock those women who would say to me "o, i don't cook" - WTF??!!??!! how do you have 3 or 4 kids and a DAH and a hockey/horseback riding/ lacross/swim team schedule and NOT COOK??? ok, i take it all back now ...

well, off to eat my lunch of leftover chicken and steamed veggies "batagila style"!

so finally something crafty! this is a terrible picture - my big yummy camera is on the fritz so you have to settle for iphone images... LOVELOVELOVE this stamp! and the paper is new (to SQ) from Quick Quotes ... i finally caved and took a Copic class so hopefully future stamped cards will be prettier! might even take another class... LOL!

i am a single mum ....

... it happens EVERY year. DAH spends a bunch of weekends up on the "plot" on Manitoulin Island ( ask me about it sometime!) and then in MO-vember him and my dad and a bunch of other DAH's go up for about 12 days (2 weekends). they are deer hunting ... or more accurately , BEER hunting! LoL!

seriously, when we were dating, he never got anything - i was HAPPY - he was a terrible hunter ... then it all changed and he started to go with my dad ... now i have a freezer full of venison that i can't eat (did you see BAMBI?????) and my rule is they cook it and eat it when i am not home ... i need to go out more!

anyway, weekend one of Deer Window Week is done, i am dead and my kids ate crap for dinner! maybe tomorrow they will get real food .... or pizza

something to ponder ...

... i totally poached this from a friends FB profile (thx GlendaP) : "People are often unreasonable, irrational and self centered. Forgive them anyway." i love it. its hard to do.

PhatPinkyz: remember ...

PhatPinkyz: remember ...: "i know i should have posted this earlier but i was crazy busy today ... so my challenge to you is to take a moment EACH day to remember and ..."

remember ...

i know i should have posted this earlier but i was crazy busy today ... so my challenge to you is to take a moment EACH day to remember and thank all those service men and women who have so bravely fought for this freedom that we so easily and carelessly enjoy everyday.

after watching so many clips and tributes over the past number of weeks, one thing has stuck out at me. it haunts me. it has made me go scrounging thru scrapbooks and websites alike. and now i have this knot in my stomach. a fear almost.

i have been surrounded by images of boys fighting in wars. these young men are someone's sons. some very brave mama stood back and watched her baby take on the burden of his nation and go off to a strange land and put his life in the hands of other young men he barely knew. some mother DID NOT scream and wail and beg him to stay home, go to school, to play ball. some woman, took a deep breath and asked calmly whether he had thought this thru? she asked why? she listened as this baby told his mama in the words of a man that she taught him well, she did her job.

as the years went on these mothers were also sending off their daughters as well as their sons. what was wrong with the world, where had it all gone wrong? weren't things supposed to be getting better? wasn't the time of war in the past. it appears not.

yet, it is.

look at all these young faces, these babies, who are so brave as to think that THEY, the mere children of their mothers, that THEY can save us. they can show the world that THEY will protect our freedom. and they did. they do.

i will forever be in their debt; and the debt of their mothers. thank you for your sacrifice. your gift.

could you do it?

tweenage girls are here ....

really to prove that i should drink more! so my DD#1 begged me for a FB account - i held off along as i could then came up with a bunch of rules. the most important of them was that i had the password and she understood that i would "check" her account frequently and with out warning. she agree to this. the reality is that she is my "friend" so i didn't have to check all that much.

yesterday i decided to tag her in an album and lo, she wasn't on my friend list ... i double checked ... nope still not there. so i decided to check her account and guess what? the password had changed. well her email account is an old one of mine. i did some magic and soon had reset her password and went in and read some typical tween age crap - also some not really necessary tweenage girl banter.

girls are mean. there is no denying that. the internet lets them double their mean-ness. i hate it. i also hate lying and cheating. MORE THAN ANYTHING.

guess who has neither a FB account nor an email account? guess who doesn't know it yet?

i am sure you will hear the freakout later ... please have wine for me.

xod

I FOUND IT!!!!!

....holy captain crunch! it was not anywhere where i thought i put it and it was NOT in the bag i was looking for! stay tuned ... it may show up here when its finished! .... off to cook then walk then buy DS clothes for tomorrow ( oh, mum, can you get me a white shirt and black pants ...sure, maybe sunday .. NOOOO i NEEEDDDDD them for tomorrow ... of course you do ... sigh...)

xod

MO vember

congrats to all the guys who are participating in MOvember! pls send pics if you wish ...

... in silent protest of not being able to grow facial hair (big loss to us ladies, i know) i have joined in the battle and have stopped shaving my legs. all i can say is THANK GOODNESS its cold in MOvember and i wear long pants even to the gym. no one ever accused me of not getting involved.

power to the 'stash

xod

please check this out ....

... http://bringingthecrazy.blogspot.com/ ... if this blog doesn't make you laugh and feel normal, then you are truly broken!

its lost!

i am sure i have lost a layout! DAMN!! it was cute too AND it was the next beginner class - oops! well, i have looked EVERYWHERE so it must be lost - either that or someone broke in, stole it and locked up after themselves! .... this is a direct result of disorganization ... maybe ... will keep you posted!

so my next gripe is non-scrappy yammer ...

my DS plays hockey - well, we all do but he is playing A this year so its like 2 extra kids playing hockey ... our schedule is a nightmare! literally, it sometimes wakes me up at night trying to figure it all out! LOL! anyway, because most of his games are during the week, i don't get to all of them ... i am working now plus the girls have activities PLUS PLUS PLUS, right?

....so last night he had a game and his coach got ejected! wow talk about missing all the excitement, eh? not so much ...so far this season i have never in my life heard so much bullsh*t from parents (the other teams-mostly) and the refing is very often questionable at best. i am old school, i think that if you don't like the outcomes of a "ref'd" sport, change sports. i don't believe yelling at the ref or being derogatory towards coaches and players A)sends the right message or B)accomplishes anything ... so its very hard for me to sit thru some games ... back to the coach

i REALLY like my son's coach. he is very respectful; he has a great philosophy; he has a great sense of humor ... basically, he's not too over the top! from what i can see from the stands he is not too chatty, doesn't yell at the kids or the refs - in fact, some parents sort of think he could be MORE verbose ... apparently, last night was his night, and i missed it!. there were some bad calls and (along with a few parents) he shared his opinions w the ref - who promptly ejected him.

so my question here is why on earth would anyone want to ref hockey? i think you would have to be a bit sadomasochistic, seriously, i do

so Monday is my one guaranteed day off ...

the store is closed so there is NO chance of working; i have a standing date with my trainer (we will call him M today but sometimes he may be refered to as the TASK MASTER .. the TYRANT ... DR EVIL ... you get the point... don't get me wrong, i really like him; he is a great guy who really has helped me but my deal is : i pay the $, i get to do the whining - not to be confused with WINE - ing - and happens with my Girls ... but i digress ...)

anyway ... MOM-DAYS - i get up, get the rug rats off to school (late as always), have a delicious shake for breaky then walk to the gym - 5km; i work my ass off for an hour, then walk home (still 5k). sometimes i go take a hockey lesson, sometimes i get groceries, sometimes i hole up in my craft room ... whatever big errands need doing get done on Mondays.

i had a VERY busy weekend! my team and i ran the 5th Annual 24hr Crop 4 a Cure in mississauga at SCRAPBOOK QUEENS friday night! it was awesome! we had fun! we cropped, ate, sang, joked and were generally pretty goofy! DAH took off to manitoulin island at the last minute so i had the 2 DDs with me and DS went with DAH! we got home saturday night and went into coma mode till 11am sunday; dragged my a$$ out of bed and walked and then struggled thru the rest of the day ... by monday i was ready for MOM-DAY!!

the gods weren't smiling on me tho ... smallest DD wakes up sick and cough-y and whiney ... damn ... there goes $60 for the trainer right down the pooper!!!!

why can't the kids be sick on the weekends their dad is home? is that too much to ask?

so its been awhile ....

but i am back! i really needed a break. i holed up; took a break; learned some new skills.

i am BACK! i can now PLAY HOCKEY, RUN A MARATHON and cook a few things outside of my slowcooker!

i lost my creative drive for awhile but i think its back!

i think this blog is going to take a bit of a new turn - its going to be a bit scrappy, and bit everyday and a bit mummy!

thanx for coming along for the ride!

xod