A Slice of Life

Beautiful little you

2011-12-27T00:22:00.000-08:00

Today you were playing quietly across the room, when suddenly you said "mommy", then ran over to where I was sitting on the couch with my legs up on the coffee table. Once again you said "mommy" in the sweetest little voice, so I said "Emma" and again you said "mommy", laying your face against my legs. Over and over you would repeat "mommy" and I would say "Emma" while you cuddled up to my legs and smiled the sweetest smile at me.

It was all so cute and adorable and sweet that I actually teared up with such love for you in my heart.

I love you so much baby girl, so so much.

I want to remember

2011-11-08T23:49:00.000-08:00

I want to remember that this week you have started to love on your baby dolls. Suddenly you need them to go everywhere with you. You like them to go in the car with us, you need them to go in your crib with you for naps and nighttime. You push them around in your doll stroller and hug and kiss them. Sometimes you throw them on the floor on their heads - but mostly you just love them.

I want to remember how when you fall, or need comforting, it is almost always me you want. No matter who is around, if I am there you want to come to me for a cuddle snuggle to make it all better. Sometimes when I am busy I forget and wish you would just go to your daddy, but then once you snuggle in, and lay your head on my shoulder I remember, that these are the sweet spot moments that I live for... and for as long as you need me to comfort you, to fix your owies - I will be there.

I want to remember how sweet your little voice is now that you are talking more. You repeat many words these days and I just love hearing you explore words and sounds - singing and yelling and talking. It is so cool.

I want to remember how it feels to sing you to sleep at night. Lately you have been having a little bit of separation anxiety, and dont like to be just put to bed so I have been singing to you at night. And no matter how upset you are you always settle when I start singing...

This little light of mine, Im gonna let it shine

Let is shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Everywhere I go, Im gonna let it shine

|Everywhere I go, Im gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Jesus gave it to me, Im gonna let it shine

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

I want to remember how much you love my Gir Cat. You love all your animals, but have a special bond with Gir. You are always patting him, and walking up and laying your head on his side while he's laying down. You give him kisses, and last night I watched you go take a clean dish towel from the laundry pile and walk over to cover him up with it as he was sleeping. You wrapped it around him just like it was a blanket, gave him a little pat and walked away. It just about melted my heart.

These are just a few of the things I want to remember about you right now my sweet girl.

A Day in the Life - Wednesday

2011-07-27T23:31:00.000-07:00

Woke up just after 6 to Emma crying, brought her to bed, had some sweet morning cuddles. Lovely how initial annoyance turned into sweet joy. Up and off to work to do the bank deposit at 9, at the bank by 10 or so, then the morning trek to Timmies. Next up went to see Brendan at Future Shop to buy a new printer as my old favorite finally gasped its last breath a few days ago. Next drove out to Cloverdale for dog and cat food. We drove along Marine Drive on the way home which made Kalli sad, she cried for the Ocean the whole way, so we kept on driving and went to the Dog Beach in Blackie Spit and let her swim and chase her ball for an hour or so. Came home only to get a call from a sales rep and had to journey back to Deals to buy some stuff. Brea met me there and we went to do Lani's deliveries as Lani and the family are away in Pentiction this week. After finishing deliveries at 5, Emma and I waited around Deals to watch the Snowbirds perform their ariel act above the bay. Brendan met us there at 6 but we didnt feel like dealing with the traffic/crowds on the beach so just watched from the sidewalk in front of Deals. After the awesomeness was over B went home and I wandered off to Safeway to buy some dinner. Emma and I chose chicken, asparagus and salad and once we got home and made it, it was delicous! Big Brother was up ext, followed by some tidying up and laundry sorting. I was all ready to veg out at 10 when I realized I forgot to go back to Lani's to let Booties out. Drove over there, pet the cat for a while then drove home. Now here I sit at midnight, sleepy, ready for bed and too tired to add photos I think! Tomorrow!!

Week in the Life 2011 - Monday

2011-07-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

Woke up to my alarm at 7:30, turned it off and promtly went back to sleep. Probably a bad idea as I was supposed to be at work at 8. Woke up again just before 8 to Kalli barking, which woke Emma up too. Got ready, had to have Brendan distract Ems so I could leave, she cried anyway. Still feels bad to leave her when she cries, hurts my new momma heart everytime.

Arrived at work, (late) at 8:45, did morning duties, chatted with Joanne and Kathie when they came in, had my appointment cancel so headed off to the bank at 9:30, drove to Timmies after for my usual French Vanilla and Cinnamon Raisin Bagel - enjoyed the bagel more than usual. Worked on the gift section most of the day, fairly uneventful but I enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing it all organized and neat when I was done. Had an appointment at 2pm, she ran late but eventually arrived to sit and rush through a furniture and frame order with John and I.

Ran out of work at 3:40, hoping to get home to pick up B and Emma and race out to Surrey to apply for Emma's passport. Got home to find B not ready, Emma dressed strangely, changed Emma, nagged B into being quicker and we all jumped in the Jeep at 4pm and got on our way. Decided to check the passport office hours on my iphone just to be sure and saw that they closed at 4:30, not 5. Aborted that plan and decided to go have an early dinner at Boston Pizza instead.

Arrived at BP to find it empty but one table and sat down and enjoyed yummy pasta dinners, Emma enjoys coloring at restaurants now, and it makes it much easier for us to eat out. She also occassionally eats the crayons :)

Arrived home after 5 and noticed that I had forgotten to water my plants in the front yard, tomatoes were badly wilted/dying which saddens me as it is my first foray into vegetable gardening in a long time and I am really hoping to see fruit this year. I watered the garden while B played with Emma inside, then admired all my little tomatoes and peppers and found a mini cucumber that has just come out. I then decided to weed the two front gardens and halfway through B brought Emma out to "help" momma. She likes to dig in the dirt just as much as I do and as much as her Bama did. I love this about her.

Emma went to play in the back while B started my leaf blower up for me, I blew all along the side of the house and walked into the backyard with the blower which scared Emma, made her cry and be all afraid, cute and sad at once. Paul arrived for a visit which cleared her tears right up. We hung out in the front yard feasting on some Okanogan cherries Paul brought back from his trip for us, then decided to head down to the beach for a walk and some Gelato.

At 7:30 we parked at the beach and walked over to the Gelato place where Emma shared my Bacio/Foresta Nera gelato while sitting on my lap. It was her first taste of the treat and I am pretty sure it wont be her last. Next we headed across to the pier where we met up with Christina and then enjoyed an hour and a half walk, with Emma being so happy and cheerful. She wanted to "swing" while holding her grandparents hands, sat on some benches with daddy on the pier, waved and smiled at all the seagulls that passed, and toddled/ran along the promenade with glee. She is such a sweet, joyous baby. I love that about her too.

Finally came home and read some books to Emma before putting her to bed at 9:30, then came here to write this, upload the few photos I remembered to take today and surf the net a little.

Now its 11:49 and time for bed. Goodnight!

2010-10-23T23:18:00.000-07:00

There used to be a photo of my mom giving me a bath in the kitchen sink when I was a newborn... I always thought it was cute and decided to give Emma a bath in our sink tonight. She seemed to enjoy it and in all honesty it was simpler than using her baby bath and quicker than me having a bath with her. I think I see many more "sink baths" in our future! :)

2010-10-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

Emma has a cold and was not very happy this afternoon so in an effort to stop her screaming I let her feed herself... mmmm rice cereal! :)

2010-10-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

It was cold today but Kalli needed exercise so we bundled Emma up and headed to Dogwood Park so the dog could have some attention. Emma looked pretty cute in her little fleece sleeper.

2010-10-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

Today Emma and I went to Halzemere Pumkin Patch with Lani, Sam, Leesa, Carson and Brea. It was a gorgeous day... and really a lot of fun!! There was a petting zoo, and a tractor ride out to the pumkin patch. Emma was more interested in eating straw and playing in the dirt than the pumpkins but she still enjoyed it. Next year will be even more fun when she's able to walk around and choose her own pumpkin :)

2010-10-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

The first taste of food!!

2010-10-09T20:56:00.000-07:00

Puppy Love!!

2010-04-03T01:45:00.000-07:00

I have been having an issue sleeping this past week. Technically I haven't been sleeping well for a long time, mostly from having to get up to go to the bathroom every hour or so but this past week its more that I can't sleep at all. It's 2:30am right now which isn't bad, last night I went to sleep finally around 4am. I imagine that it is mostly nerves and partially that being on bedrest I do not expend much energy throughout the day so don't get as tired? I thought I would sleep really well last night as I actually was out for about 7 hours yesterday, a few hours at work, a few errands, some last minute baby shopping mixed in with a lovely mental health visit to my favorite scrapbook store. I was more than exhausted and feeling terrible by the time I got home but I still couldn't sleep last night... so yeah it must be nerves :)

I am so excited to meet our little girl, but have all the new mom doubts too... I worry some about the actual birth, how will it go? Will we both be healthy? How long will it take, when will it actually happen?? And I worry some about afterwards. It is scary bringing a little human into our world... life changing. I worry about how we will cope together as parents, how will she affect our relationship? What kind of mother will I be? I worry about my health, being healthy enough so that I can play with her and have a long life with her. So many more worries... I think really the only thing I don't worry about is what kind of father Brendan will be, I know he will be awesome. Loving, fun, patient. I knew it as soon as we started dating. He and I talked a long while tonight, turns out we had both been worrying separately about many of the same things... and I had been feeling very lonely. I feel better now, maybe not completely but much much better. He is still the same Brendan, just more stressed out than usual apparently.

So onwards with this journey we go... really it is exciting... we should have our very own little precious baby girl here with us no later than say a week? Gosh maybe tomorrow, who really knows other than her and God. She will make her way out when she is ready... or when we decide to induce her on Tuesday, either way, shouldn't be long now.

Here are a few random photos from the last week or so.

Stacks of baby stuff, all washed and ready to go.

Brendan playing "hockey" with Kalli, and her happiness afterwards.

Paul and Brendan spent last Tuesday together, finishing up some work on the Passat, then enjoying a few hours at the 2010 Car Show and finally the evening at a Canucks game. Brendan bought Emma her first official Canucks gear - his first purchase for the baby that he made my himself :)

2010-03-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

Let's start with the positive today... this is a photo of a pillow I got for Emma's room, to go on her glider. It just makes me smile for some reason... and smiles are good.

I had an ultrasound and monitoring appointment at Peace Arch Hospital today... I had a bit of a rough morning before, jut not feeling well and stressed out - which is the worst thing for me right now - and had an argument with B on the phone which ended with me hanging up on him - after telling him that I couldnt deal with him and was going to hang up - somehow that makes me feel better. I just wish that he wouldnt put things off that are important and need to be taken care of... maybe because I have a lot on my mind and feel like I can't be the one to worry about everything. He got me the info I needed though and gave me a nice stress relieving hug when he got home to take me to the hospital.

My ultrasound went well, Emma was squirming around a lot and weighed in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces and the tech told me that she is head down again. This is good and bad news, well mostly good meaning that we will not need to schedule a C section right now. Bad news is that we were both sort of hoping for that outcome at this point only because then we would just be able to schedule it and have her be born now and wouldnt have to worry about any Pre-Eclampsia complications. But in the end if I can deliver vaginally it would be a good thing and they still may induce my labour sooner than at 40 weeks because of my blood pressure.

Next I was admitted and went upstairs to the maternity ward to have my labwork, Non Stress Test and blood pressure monitoring done. It is a little boring sitting in the little room by myself, but one thing I do enjoy is hearing Emma's heartbeat magnified through the speakers... it is such a reasurring sound. My BP was better today, classified as High Normal, I am still showing protein in my urine which was the start of this whole thing and Emma was doing okay. They were a little concerned that she wasnt moving much although her heartrate was good but I explained that she had been moving a lot during my ultrasound so she might just be tired. They still kept me hooked up longer though to be on the safe side and sure enough she woke up after about an hour or hour and a half and seemed to take some joy in booting me in the tummy for a good ten minutes. Finally convinced that she was happy and healthy they let me go. My sister had come to pick me up and we just stopped at the desk to make my next appointment for monitoring on Monday and get a refund for the prenatal class that B and I were supposed to be attending on Saturday and are no longer allowed to go to and then we got to leave.

This photo is of the machine that monitors the baby, that is heart rate on the left and all those squiggles on the sheet happen every time she moves inside me.

Once home I took some pity on Kalli and took her out in the back yard for some playtime. Technically this is a no no but she is really missing her daily exercise so I just sat in a lawn chair with the chuckit and threw her ball for her for a half hour... she was so so happy!

The rest of the day was better, went to bed to read a bunch of information they gave me at the hospital that we would have gotten at our class on Saturday, then fell asleep until B came home. He went and got stuff to make dinner, my dad stopped by for a few minutes to give B a package that had come for him, I watched some tv, ate and now I am about to go to bed again.

The days are passing quickly at least... and I have a lot to look forward to!

2010-03-17T17:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, during my weekly Maternity Clinic appointment my blood pressure was found to be dangerously high. I was once again admitted and sent up to the third floor for a non stress test, blood work and to have my blood pressure monitored every ten minutes. Brendan was at work so I hung out by myself for a while and then decided to call my sister to come sit with me to pass the time. My first few BP checks were also really high but once my sister came and sat with me they leveled off to a more normal range. The non stress for Baby Emma was fantastic, her heartrate was in the perfect range and she was very active.

After a few hours my doctor finally got my blood work back and came to talk to me. The news wasnt great, although of course it could have been worse. She had called a specialist to consult on my case and together they decided that I will have to be on bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy due to Pre-Eclampsia. I technically only have three weeks left until my due date and maybe reading this you will think "oh that's nothing" but for me it feels like forever... I was already having trouble being on "homerest" so actually having to lay down on my couch or my bed and do nothng wasnt something I was very receptive to hearing. The only thing I am allowed out to do is my Maternity appointments, the ultrasound on Thursday and also to go to the hospital every two days for monitoring.

The doctor wrote me a prescription for a home blood pressure monitor and then I left. I called my sister so we could meet up to give her my prescription so that she could deliver the machine to me today but when we met up I realized that I had somehow lost the form when I left the hospital. By this point I was completely overwhelmed and had tears in my eyes but managed not to start bawling, and Lani and I retraced my steps and she found the prescription on the ground outside the hospital.

Then I went to Brendan's work where I prompty burst into tears! He took me to get some dinner and drove me home so I wouldnt have to drive back later to pick him up and then I hung out on the couch and ate, watched some tv until I heard a knock on the door.

My sister had come over to bring me flowers and a Pecan Mudslide from Dairy Queen. She had seen how upset I was when we had met up earlier and thought that flowers and ice cream would help to make it better. They did of course!! :)

So today I took a photo of my sunny happy flowers, because it was sweet and they are pretty and because I am trying to be more positive. Three weeks of bedrest in exchange for a beautiful healthy baby girl is a pretty good trade off. Now to keep reminding myself of that!

Slice of Life - 2010 - Day 1

2010-01-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

Well here I am again, ready and hoping to do better this year. In only a few months Brendan and I will have a new and wonderful addition to our family... which will give me new inspiration for photos I hope. Either way I plan to just do my best with this project this year, and enjoy it. I hope you will too...

This is a portion of 2009 in Facebook Statuses... isnt that funny? And here also is Kalli wishing everyone a Happy New Year!!

Slice of Life - Day 256

2009-09-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

Brendan bought my my anniversary gift today... he would have gotten it for me sooner but it just came out. I pre-ordered it at Clipper Street Scrapbooking Company in early August and it was supposed to be released at the end of August but it took longer to ship than expected I guess. It is a die cutting machine put out by Making Memories and is in a limited edition PINK color (for breast cancer). I'm excited to try it out... hopefully it will help motivate me to start scrapping again :)

Slice of Life - Day 255

2009-09-14T21:14:00.000-07:00

We saw Dudley at the Dog Park today... he has grown so fast and so much, its crazy. He's only 7 months, already larger than Kalli and still growing. Also included in today's photos is a picture of the salad I made quickly today with some organic veggies that Christina bought us when we went to Eat! Fraser Valley on Friday. It was so yum!

Slice of Life - Day 253

2009-09-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had the yummiest Mexican dinner... that I made at home!

We had a mix of soft tacos and hard tacos, filled with yummy chicken that was cooked in hot sauce and some of our new Blackberry Honey Dijon sauce... fresh avocado, grape tomatoes, sweet orange peppers, lettuce, jalapeno peppers, fresh cilantro, sour cream salsa and cheese and then had Spanish rice on the side. It was so delicious! It also made me remember how much I miss actually cooking dinner at home rather than eating out all the time.

Not the best photo but its all Ive got! :)

Slice if Life - Day 252

2009-09-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight we finally made it back to our Friday Night Dogpark Party... we had missed a couple because I had been so sick and just not up to it but we had gotten in trouble from our friends so we promised to go tonight. Unfortunately I had a pretty busy day... and uh fell asleep after about a half hour... oops! :)

The only photo I got before snoozing was of the pizza and crazy bread that was our contribution to the menu. The little parties have gotten quite big now with lots and lots of food... from Krispy Kreme Donuts, homemade blueberry cheesecake, cheese and meat trays, pizza, spinach dip, etc etc etc. It is really so great!

Slice of Life - Day 250

2009-09-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

This is what I came home to tonight...

Brendan bought me a dozen pink roses because today marks the 5th anniversary of my mom's death. He knows that I am feeling a little sad lately that shes not here to see me pregnant and that it makes me so sad to know that she will never have the chance to meet my baby.

Slice of Life - Day 246

2009-09-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

Today at closing Leesa came into work and her, Carleigh, Elisa and I had some fun playing dress up... this is the three of them dressed as Batgirl, and Bucaneer babes :)

Slice of Life - Day 245

2009-09-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

I went over to Leesa's after work today to help her decorate Batman cookies for Carson's 4th Birthday party on Sunday. Not being good at this sort of thing it was a little more difficult than we expected but after some thinking and a trip to the dollar store for a cake decorating kit we did all right. Carson thought they were pretty cool so that's all that really matters :)

I took a photo of the poster that Elisa drew for Leesa at work that was part Leesa's idea, part mine. Well really the idea of it was all Leesa but I made it better and Elisa listened to both of us and actually made it. It is for Carson's party and they will use it to "pin the bat symbol on batman" instead of pin the tail on the donkey. How fun is that?

Slice of Life - Day 241

2009-09-01T22:21:00.000-07:00

A happy post today, today was the day of our very first prenatal appointment at the Maternity Clinic at Peace Arch Hospital. Although all we did is have a consult and fill out forms it was exciting! Somehow it made it all seem a little more "real"... which is nice.

Our doctor is a Russian dude who seems nice... but slightly odd :) He will only be my doctor for the few weeks as the doctor who usually sees patients on Tuesdays (our appt days) is currently on maternity leave herself and will be returning at the end of the month.

He prescribed me something to help with the constant nausea and vomiting as this much of both isn't good for the baby. I go back for a full physical in two weeks and am hoping that we might get to hear the heartbeat during that appointment :)

Slice of Life - Day 208

2009-07-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

Today's photo is not actually a photo... it's a screen shot of a news story about the record breaking heat today. I thought to take a photo of a thermometer somewhere today to document how I felt today (HOT and SWEATY) but I didn't come across one anywhere so this at least documents the day.

Brendan came home from his conference tonight... its nice to have someone besides puppies for company :)

I would also like to wish my mom a Happy Birthday today... I love you, I'm thinking of you, I miss you.

Slice of Life - Day 207

2009-07-29T01:08:00.000-07:00

So long time no posts... My computer is still broken, B doesnt seem inclined to fix it although he did something one day that has made it a little better. So instead of waiting even longer and getting more and more behind I thought I would at least keep up and add the old posts as I go.

So here is today's photo taken with my Blackberry. It is of Smoke learning to swim at the pond at Dogwood Park. Kalli went in to get a stick and he just followed her right in! The next photo is of them cuddling on the couch later in the afternoon.

Slice of Life - Day 205

2009-07-27T23:34:00.000-07:00

Brendan went off to Vancouver today for three days to attend a Vendor Fair for work. He is staying at the Sheraton Wall Center on Burrard Street. He sent me this photo of the hotel so that I get to be nice and jealous :)

Slice of Life - Day 202

2009-07-24T23:27:00.000-07:00

We got a call from one of my dad's friends in the US today to tell us that he found my dad unconcious on the bathroom floor. My sister and I braved the border without passports to go get him and brought him back home to Peace Arch Hospital. Never forgetting my photo of the day project I snuck a photo of him in with my camera phone while my sister and I giggled about what the nurses would think. It worked to lighten the mood anyway :)

Ooops!

2009-06-24T22:51:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to check in tonight and let everyone know that the blog isnt done... its just um... on delay! As some of you may know I have been feeling quite exhausted by all the hours I have been working so that has played a part in the non posting. But I have also been having computer issues for the last couple weeks and although B keeps saying he will get around to fixing them he hasnt yet. He says it is an internet explorer issue that causes the internet to crash repeatedly resulting in having to manually turn the computer off to reboot and I honestly havent had the patience to try and upload photos and blog only to have it crash at that point (this has happened a couple of the nights that I have tried to catch up). I have however been taking photos each day though and am hoping to be back to regular posting soon!

Slice of Life - Day 167

2009-06-19T22:51:00.000-07:00

Today we had a "party" at the dog park... So often while we are hanging out at the picnic tables people have jokingly said that one night someone needs to bring alcohol... of course that never happens. However about a week ago we decided to do it tonight... I wasn't sure it would actually happen but sure enough Dave (the cop!) and Sue showed up with a cooler full of all the mixin's for drinks. Vodka, Scotch, Tequila, Rum, limes and lemons, all the stuff to make Ceasar's including the stuff for the rim of the glass... ice... little plastic cups etc. It was so fun and silly and goofy! We did get a few weird looks from people... and strangely a lot of strangers came up and talked to us... probably hoping to be invited!

I took a few photos with my blackberry but only got a handful of people who were there...

The park police came to lock the doors around twenty after nine and as we were all driving away we noticed an undercover cop driving toward the park... we laughed thinking someone probably called the cops on us!

Oh how I enjoy our dog park buddies!

Slice of Life - Day 166

2009-06-18T22:50:00.000-07:00

I pinches these peonies from the yard of the house that is getting built across the street. The pile of discarded building materials/garbage has been creeping closer and closer to the peony bush so finally I decided to "rescue" these blooms before they got squished. They are so beautiful and smell just divine!

Slice of Life - Day 165

2009-06-17T22:49:00.001-07:00

Okay so this post is going to have tons of photos... but I just couldnt narrow them down because the subject matter was so stinkin cute! This is my dad's new dog... meet Smoke! He is a 9 week old Anatolian Shepherd pup. Can you imagine how big he will be when he is already this huge at 9 weeks!! He is a total cuddle pup and snuggles right into you when you hold him... I adored him the second I met him :)

Even though I was having a super busy day I asked my dad to take me over to Future Shop to show him off to Brendan... and toured him around Deal's to meet Brea and all the staff... even the customers loved him!

Slice of Life - Day 164

2009-06-16T22:47:00.000-07:00

We went into Vancouver today to pick up some dog and cat food at Sysko's Supper. When we got there Lisa kept telling me to come in because she had something to show me... I had been hanging back by the door waiting for her to come out so that Kalli would not pee on the floor when she saw her. After getting the excitement pee out of the way I went inside and Lisa thrust a tiny little ball of fur at me... oh so sweet!

Meet Smudge!

Slice of Life - Day 163

2009-06-15T22:46:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for photos on Thursday!

Slice of Life - Day 162

2009-06-14T22:45:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for photos on Thursday!

Slice of Life - Day 161

2009-06-13T23:50:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for photos on Thursday!

Slice of Life - Day 160

2009-06-12T19:05:00.000-07:00

I am off to Shuswap Lake today with Becca, Mike, Mandeep, Christine, Courtenay and her boyfriend for Becca's 25th birthday celebration. I think the actual area we are going to is called Tappen. Brendan will be joining us tomorrow because he needed to be at work tomorrow due to the grand opening of his new store. I think there are some other people joining us late as well.

Posts will probably have to wait until I get home because blogger doesnt like my blackberry or my blackberry doesnt like blogger... :)

Today's photo is of my hippo all belted into the front seat of the Passat... I need someone to cuddle with seeing as B will be late!

Slice of Life - Day 159

2009-06-11T22:05:00.000-07:00

So I forgot to take a photo yesterday... it makes me sad but Im not going to dwell on it. The photos I took today are nothing to write home about... it was super sunny at the park and as we all know full sun is not exactly ideal when taking photos. I took them anyway though because I have talked a lot about Jewel the dog lately so I thought I would snap some photos of her to show you all. She is washed out in the photos due to the sun but you get the idea :) The dog Kalli is playing with in some of the photos is Roxy... a pug/chihuahua cross that they think has Boston Terrier in there as well. She is cute and fun and her and Kalli love each other. In case anyone needs a refresher Jewel is a Greyhound/Husky cross and was bred up North for sled racing but she didnt meet the standards because although she has the correct build she doesnt have the Husky coat which is needed for warmth up there. She is an amazing dog and I just love her so much. The man in the photo with a bunch of dogs is Alec, he is Jewels owner and always has treats for all the dogs so they all go up to him and sit pretty for treats.

There was a dog at the park today that liked to dive in the pond for objects. He would walk around feeling with his feet for things and then dive under the water to dog them up with his mouth. Sometimes he would be deep enough that you couldnt even see him until he would pop back up with some old ball or stick in his mouth and his face covered in sludge. He could stay under really long too! He was a Bernese Mountain Dog cross with a Golden Retreiver and was quite huge! I didnt think to snap a photo of him which is too bad cause we all really enjoyed watching him. He did it over and over again for about 30 minutes and only stopped when his owner was leaving. The funny thing was that when he would find something he would bring it about 4-5 feet from the shore and then just drop it back in the lake :) He had no interest in playing with the things he found, just liked to dive I guess!

Slice of Life - Day 157

2009-06-09T23:40:00.000-07:00

Today a good/bad thing happened. We sold my Cavalier. Yes it is good because it was time and it was just sitting but it is bad because I am sad. It was only my second car and the only one that I bought brand new using all my own money and I really loved it. It had a lot of miles on it and had taken me a lot of places. It was a great little car that really gave me very few problems in the 10 years that I owned it. I am sad to see it go but glad at least that it is going to someone who appreciates it and is excited about it and who will take care of it. Good Luck on your next journey Betsy! Stay Safe!

Slice of Life - Day 156

2009-06-08T22:20:00.001-07:00

Filled up today... and I hate to be one of those people who complain about prices of everything... but ouch!

When I first drove by the gas station regular was at 1.10 a litre... but then thankfully on my way home an hour later it had gone down to 108.4. Of course Brendan doesn't let me put regular in the passat so I paid 121.4...

Slice of Life - Day 155

2009-06-07T23:54:00.001-07:00

A photo of an iris from my garden... pretty!

Slice of Life - Day 154

2009-06-06T23:22:00.000-07:00

Meh, today was a long day... and neither B or I enjoyed it much. B started work at the new store and is very much regretting... or at least second guessing his decision to move. He is not fond of some of the people or his tech room... but are both hoping that once things settle down and get into a routine and people get trained there will be benefits to him being at this store. I in turn just had a not great day at work due to some staffing issues and a bit of a bad attitude on my part.

After work we came home and took Kalli to the dog park. She was not pleased to have both of us at work all day today so had spent the day tearing the house apart so she really needed a walk/play session. We hung out there for an hour and a half with our dp buddies and then went to Nando's for dinner because B had a craving for it.

We were sitting there after we ate all meh like and I looked out the window and saw the sun getting close to setting so I suggested we at least end our day on a better more beautiful note so we drove down to Crescent Beach and watched the sun go down together. At least we know that no matter how craptacular our days are we always have each other to go home to.

While at work I had a few visitors... carleigh all made up for her grad celebration tonight. She had just spent the morning getting her hair done at Chatters and her make-up done by MAC. I just wish she wore her dress in to the store to show me too!

Leesa and her son Carson also came for a visit and Carson found this St. Patricks Day Headband and decided he wanted to wear them so I snapped a quick photo. This kid is uber cute!

Slice of Life - Day 153

2009-06-05T23:54:00.000-07:00

This is where Brendan starts working as of 8am tomorrow morning!! Yay!!

Slice of Life - Day 152

2009-06-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

This is a summer mini book I made on my afternoon with Sam. She was making cards and I was doing this. I am hoping to use it as an ongoing little scrapbook of our summer adventures :)

Slice of Life - Day 153

2009-06-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

Remember my post from Monday with my "Craigslist Special" Wicker Patio Set? Well here's the after photo... after a few cans of spray paint and some cute cushions! What do you think?

Slice of Life - Day 152

2009-06-02T23:20:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to spend some time with Samantha today... we had a good day of hanging out with Kalli, gettin crafty, being silly and photo taking. I love this kid!

Slice of Life - Day 151

2009-06-01T23:52:00.000-07:00

This photo is of my new patio set that I got so super cheap from Craigslist, like super cheap. I have plans for it which will show up in tomorrow's post.

The other photos are from the park today, the cottonwood trees are germinating like mad and it is allergy central over there for everyone. It looked like it was snowing today with all the cotton floating down from the trees... and areas of the forest and field were completely white along the ground. It was kind of pretty/cool. It is kind of hard to see in these photos because they were taken with my phone but if you click on them to make them bigger you might get the idea... and you can see all the cotton fuzz on the pond while Kalli swims.

Slice of Life - Day 150

2009-05-31T22:16:00.000-07:00

Last week at the dog park one of our doggie park friends dog (Harley - my fave) had an altercation with another dog. There were conflicting reports about what had happened but to be cautious Terry (Harley's owner) has decided to muzzle him at the park pending meeting with the dog trainer this week. I have been saddened by the whole thing because he is such a great dog and really friendly. I have trouble believing that he started it. Also his favorite thing to do is play with his ball. He fetches it but also really likes to just lay under the picnic table with it and now that he has a muzzle he no longer has a ball. He has seemed quite depressed all week and it really makes me sad.

Well this afternoon at the dog park he managed to somehow get a hold of Kalli's ball... he has the exact same kind of ball so I think he may have been extra happy to steal hers seeing as its his favorite kind. Anyways I snapped a couple photos of him because he learned how to suck it into his muzzle and looked quite cute!! It was so nice to see him happy and back to his old self today :)

Sorry to my readers who are sick of my animal photos! This one isnt even one of my own but ya know what? I love this dog...

Slice of Life - Day 149

2009-05-30T23:42:00.001-07:00

Bum-ble-bee...

Get it? Get it? Ha ;)

Slice of Life - Day 148

2009-05-29T23:08:00.000-07:00

I had surgery today, they had a cancellation and called me Wednesday night to see if I wanted the slot. I said yes of course and was happy about it because it means I wont be all sick and sore on Becca's birthday weekend seeing as my next surgery date was for June 12th - the day we are leaving for her cabin in Shuswap.

We took Kalli out to Vancouver to leave her with Christina for the day and then headed to the hospital. This time I had been told that there would be little to no chance of getting bumped so I became quite nervous but B stayed with me right until they took me in to the operation room so that helped. I kept telling him he could leave but he was a trooper and hung out. The surgery and recovery took a lot longer than they said it would but they didn't tell me why.

I had given my camera to Brendan so that he could take today's photo of the day while he was spending time with his mom while I was in surgery but he forgot. So instead I took a photo of all the things that him and Christina went and picked me up at Granville Island for tomorrow. I will be home alone tomorrow and we are not sure how I will feel so they got me some of my favorite goodies to eat so I don't have to try and make something, how sweet eh! They also picked up the stuff to make my favorite dinner... chilli ginger garlic stir fry. Yum!

The other photo is of my pain pills... I am all drugged up as I write this, can you tell?

Now I am off to sleep, not feeling so hot at this point... but I am glad that it is all finally over!

Slice of Life - Day 147

2009-05-28T23:42:00.001-07:00

Slice of Life - Day 146

2009-05-27T23:01:00.001-07:00

I am so aggravated tonight, angry, tense and pissed off! Ive been having a little flame war on Buckcherry.com tonight because a friend of an ex band member has decided to come on the site and basically be a jerk and cause fights and respond to threads really rudely. It started yesterday actually but we decided it was not at the lever of banning him from the site yet. It has worsened today with a three page thread between him and I which has gotten me so worked up I cant barely even form a sentence. Thankfully I'm well loved on the site and people stuck up for me but for some reason I'm still annoyed! Usually I am calm and rational on the site but this guy just struck a nerve.

I am pretty exhausted from work today, that is probably the reason. I had a shipment come in weighting a couple thousand pounds that I had to move to all the aisles by myself so I had intended to go to sleep early but now I am all riled up!

Getting too old for this junk!

Slice of Life - Day 145

2009-05-26T22:34:00.001-07:00

I worked this morning for a few hours and then went out to Langley with my sister to do a little bit of shopping. Once back in White Rock I picked Kalli up and we went to the dog park for a record 4+ hour hangout session with our dog park friends. We have finally been totally "accepted" by the "in crowd" (lol) and I quite enjoy my time spent there yakking it up with my new buddies and playing with the assorted dogs. There are definitely lines drawn about who gets accepted and who doesn't, who are newbies etc. It is quite funny and very much like high school all over again although its not done in a mean fashion. Most of the "outcasts" are people who don't control their dogs, or abuse them and the park. Anyway it was a nice afternoon after all the rain in the morning and Kalli came home a tired and happy puppy.

Once B got home from his training in Richmond we went to Earls for dinner and quite enjoyed a delicious meal!! I am already excited to go back again because they have some new menu items that are quite delicious!

Slice of Life - Day 144

2009-05-25T23:47:00.001-07:00

I spent this morning at the dog park with Kalli while B slept in and then went and did a little shopping while he washed his truck. One of my stops was at the local pet store to stock up on bunny supplies but while there I picked up a new toy for Kalli. They market them as nearly indestructible... however after only a few hours it was missing both ears and was slightly mangled :)

Slice of Life - Day 143

2009-05-24T22:31:00.001-07:00

Today after work we drove out to a park in Newton for a Future Shop bbq. I don't really enjoy going to these things anymore, been to too many and nothing ever changes. This one was a little worse than usual because no one I actually know showed up so it wasn't a lot of fun. We took Kalli with us which was probably not the best idea but Brendan wanted to show her off :) We found out that a lot of his coworkers are afraid of dogs... and Kalli really wanted to play with all the balls that people were throwing around. She also nicely knocked not one but two plates of food out of Brendan's hands...

We didn't stay long cause neither of us were feeling it and then headed to the dog park to throw the ball for Kalli a bit on the way home. While we were there we played a little part in rescuing a dog. Her owner came running out of the forest with the dog in her arms and asked us for help. The dog had been running with a stick and had tripped and gotten the stick lodged under its tongue. Obviously the dog was freaking out, shaking and crying so I held her while the woman managed to pry her mouth open, then Brendan reached in, found and got a hold of the stick and pulled it out. It was probably about a half inch thick and three inches long, which on a very small dog was pretty big! The dog seemed to be fine afterwards but they were looking for an emergency vet just in case. It was good to help!

Slice of Life - Day 142

2009-05-23T23:37:00.001-07:00

Slice of Life - Day 141

2009-05-22T23:36:00.001-07:00

So I sleep with a big soft pink hippo... yes I really am 35 years old (although I am sure there has been some mistake there somehow). Becca gave him to me and I really don't have a name for him other than Hippo... and yes he's a boy... and yes he's pink.

This is him on the bed waiting for me... and yes that's Brendan sleeping... and no the camera doesn't even faze him... he is very used to it.

And this is him in the bathroom on a dining room chair... pink male hippos like to hang in the bathroom didn't you know?

Slice of Life - Day 140

2009-05-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

After work today B and I went to the dog park with Kalli. After Kalli had a swim and a walk through the forest I laid down on one of the picnic tables and just soaked up the beautiful warm sunshine. What a blessing it felt like. The photo of the sky and trees was taken while I was laying there. The trees in the photo look like bushes but they are actually the tops of really tall trees! I also took the photo of Brendan there too. Ha! While laying there a little fluffy small dog jumped on the table and was sniffing me and then jumped on my tummy and started racing around in circles (on my tummy) joyously while I pet it... too cute!

Later I took Bun-Bun outside for a hop around the yard. Kalli was very unimpressed by the rabbit jumping around in HER yard... but the bunny had fun anyway :)

Slice of Life - Day 139

2009-05-20T23:45:00.000-07:00

I worked today, then went to the dog park with Kalli after then had a quick visit with my Dan, Lan and Sam at their place (Jake was out). While at work I took a few photos to send to Anna so she could see what I did to "her" section today since she's gone. The furniture section has always been her domain and it was weird to change it around without her... but change is good and I like what I did. I think she will too!

Slice of Life - Day 138

2009-05-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

Today is my sisters birthday. I got to spend a little bit of time with her at the dog park and a few more minutes later at Jake's baseball game. She was pissed that I got her a store bought card rather than a home made one... but I was short on time today and decided that I would go in to the card store and see what there was but if I didn't find one that "felt" right I would make the time to make one for her. However I found one that said everything I wanted to say...

This is what it said...

She’s the one
You’ve known forever
The one you go to
For honest advice
And genuine support.
The one who accepts
Your quirky little habits
And understands you
In a way few others can.

She’s the one
You can call at any hour –
To laugh or cry or complain...
The one whose voice has been there all along,
Sharing secrets and dreams
and singing your song
when you need to hear it most.

She’s the one
Who can read your mind,
Hear your heart,
And love you just the way you are.

She’s your lifelong friend....
But so much more.
She’s your sister.

My sister means the world to me, and maybe that sounds like a cliche but she is anything but that. She has always been there, and I'm sure that hasn't been easy. I'm needy, I admit it, plus she is so normal and I am so neurotic and I know that sometimes it must be hard for her to relate to me and my issues. But she tries, and she listens, and she loves me anyway.

We never had the normal sort of upbringing or family life, and there were a lot of times that she had to take care of me... and who knows, maybe she resented it, maybe she bitched. But I don't remember that, what I do remember is her being there, taking me to work with her before school when she worked at the Pantry... she would set me up in this little booth across from the windows to work on my homework and buy me breakfast... some sort of waffle thing I loved. Just taking care.

I could go on and on... but I just wanted to recognize her a little today... on her birthday, for being such a great person, an awesome mom to my niece and nephew and the best sister that I could have asked for.

If you are reading this please know that I am always thankful for you, and love you. Happy Birthday!

Slice of Life - Day 137

2009-05-18T22:58:00.001-07:00

Today was all about the dog again. When we woke up we got ready and took Kalli to the dog park where she played with her friends. Luckily we finished there before the rain really began. b and I went to lunch at White Spot after and then home for a short nap before it was time for Becca, Mike, Shelby and Tessa to come play. They were running late and called to ask us to meet them at Quizno's for an early dinner first and then we were supposed to be taking the dogs to the beach. We had dinner but then realized it was just pouring way too much to go to the beach so ended up back at Dogwood again. At least there is a shelter there and also the forest to keep you a little drier. It was our first time meeting Tessa and boy is she a cutie! Her photos do not even come close to doing her justice, she is so sweet and full of character. After. we got thoroughly soaked we came back to our place for a little bit more puppy play before they left and we watched the season finales of 24 and CSI:Miami.

The first photo is of Harley, one of Kalli's dog park friends :)

Slice of Life - Day 136

2009-05-17T23:24:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day! Slept in until around 10 then got up and took Kalli straight to the dog park for playtime. It was so hot out while we were there and I really enjoyed my chat with my little dog park social club :) Kalli found a new friend (Bentley) and they were attached at the hip the entire 2+ hours that we were there. We met a new puppy named Billie who is a Shepard X and is absolutely adorable! It was love at first sight for me. All of the usual suspects were there and both Kalli and I were sorry when it was time to leave. After this we went shopping for some food as we had arranged to have Chris, Brea and Kyah over for dinner... went and got some steaks, potatoes, corn, salad stuff and pie and then came home to get some yard work done. I mowed the front and back lawn, planted a few things, did some weeding and built a mini stone creek bed to the ditch for the driveway to drain into when it rains and then got dinner ready to go. After I got everything ready I had an hour to spare so went off with Gir to do my favorite thing - nap! Had a quick snooze and got up just in time to get the potatoes in the oven and finished making the salad right when B came home. Then Chris, Brea and Kyah arrived and we spent the rest of the night watching the puppies play and having good conversation with friends in my very pretty yard. Yet another awesome day!!

Billie

Zoe

Mick

Bentley

Slice of Life - Day 135

2009-05-16T23:57:00.001-07:00

Today I spent the day cleaning our house. It had somehow become quite messy with a big pile of dishes in the sink, tons of laundry and a very dirty floor. So after sleeping in nice and late I tackled all of the mess and got it pretty clean in here. I had a companion the whole time that I slept late in the morning and again later when I had a quick nap. Gir has been very cuddly and lovey lately and sleeps on my head most nights. This is him curled up against my pillow while we napped :)

Slice of Life - Day 134

2009-05-15T22:22:00.001-07:00

Today was my surgery day... we went to Burnaby Hospital (got lost on the way and called Becca to google the correct address for us, thanks Becca!) and got checked in. Had my urine test to check for pregnancy so that they wouldn't kill the baby if there was one but there wasn't as I already knew. This time the nurse got my IV in one try which I was quite excited about. We sat there, and sat there, and sat there some more as my surgery time came and went. Brendan had just stood up to go get some lunch when the desk clerk came to me and asked who my nurse was. I pointed her out and watched as the clerk went to my nurse and said a few sentences and then they both looked at me and I overheard my nurse say "so the doctor is coming to talk to her then, okay good" and they parted ways. Brendan sat back down, I think we both knew what was coming but then nothing happened. I heard the phone ring at the nurses station and another nurse answered and listened and then said "I thought the doctor was coming to talk to her" and then looked at me, saw us watching her and lowered her voice and had a 5 minute conversation then got up and talked to my nurse and then left. Then finally I lost interest again and looked up to see her walking towards me with a concerned look on her face. So as soon as she got to me and opened her mouth to speak I said "I'm getting bumped aren't I?" and she nodded yes and proceeded to apologize all over the place. I told her it was okay, I mean it is hardly her fault. Then we waited to get my IV out, I got changed back into my clothes and we left.

It was now around 1pm and we were starved so we decided to go to Granville Island, but had to make a detour to Sysko's Supper on Commercial for pet food first. Did that and then got to the Island and had lunch at the Mexican place in the food court (it was decent) and then stopped at Terra breads for foccacia and cookies. Next it was time to go back home as it was already 3:30 and rush hour was already starting. We got home and took Kalli to Dogwood Park for some playtime and then got some Indian food for dinner... and that's about that.

These are randon photos from the day, all but the Granville Island sign taken with my cell phone so please excuse the quality.

Slice of Life - Day 133

2009-05-14T23:31:00.001-07:00

Today I spent the day at work trying not to think about tomorrow... and the night getting ready for tomorrow while trying and failing not to worry about it. Brendan went out to an Intel thing in Richmond so I was home alone and not completely happy about it. Sometimes I wish he would at least try to understand that this stuff freaks me out and not just laugh it off...

The season finale of Grey's Anatomy was on tonight though so that saved the night!

I had to take my nail polish off for tomorrow so goodbye manicure! Oh well, its just an excuse to get another :)

Then I spent some time in the bathroom goofing off...

Slice of Life - Day 132

2009-05-14T00:03:00.000-07:00

Dinner

Slice of Life - Day 131

2009-05-12T22:15:00.000-07:00

Brendan and I took the dog to the dog park today where Kalli knocked me over from behind and sent me flying. I got a scraped and bloody knee and some very bruised pride :) Then we went to a specialty sewing store in Langley where I got some tools for needle felting which I am quite excited about. I made another coffee cup snuggly but haven't finished it... but I did some needle felting on it which was fun. Then tonight we finally went to see Fast and Furious which I really enjoyed. It is on the end of it's theatre run so there were only 13 people in the theatre, awesome!! Good movie, good day!

Slice of Life - Day 130

2009-05-11T23:34:00.000-07:00

Today I made a coffee cup snuggly. It is my first one and not even done yet but I am super excited about it. I re-use all my paper sleeves from Tim Horton's but it would still be better to use not even one... and now I won't have to. I made it out of felt and have already heat tested it with a hot chocolate from Tim's because they are always mega hot and it worked great. I want to embellish them more and make them cuter... I'm sure you will see more variations here in the coming weeks :)

We took Kalli to the dog park where she met a dog who looked a lot like her and had a nice swimming session as it seems to be her new favorite thing.

Slice of Life - Day 129

2009-05-10T22:38:00.000-07:00

We just got home from having dinner with Christina in Vancouver for Mother's Day. While sitting at dinner and again in the car on the way home I reminded myself to take a photo of her and Brendan once we got back to her place for my photo of the day today but managed to forget again by the time we got home. So now its twenty to eleven and I do not want to take any photos so I have decided to go retro and use old ones.

I did not have time to do anything special to honor my mom today... but ya know what, that's okay. I remember her in my heart each and every day and that is enough. She has been on my mind the last couple days so although I didn't spread any ashes or light a candle or plant a flower for her today I remembered her, thought of her, loved her. Happy Mom's Day Mom.

I did take time though to make my sister a card and get her flowers, she has always been there for me, even when she was a child herself and I love her for it, and for everything else she is, on Mother's day and every day.

And as I said earlier we went to see Christina tonight to celebrate this day with her. We took her a plant and a card and took her for dinner at our favorite pizza place and had a visit. I know that I am lucky to have her in my life as well. She has opened my eyes a little since I have known her, taught me to be a little more open to different things, different people, different food, other cultures and a life lived outside of the box. But most of all I am thankful that she gave birth to and raised the wonderful human being that I am lucky enough to call my husband. I know that Brendan wouldn't be the man he is if not for her - Paul gets a little credit too ;) - and I am so thankful for both of them.

Slice of Life - Day 128

2009-05-09T22:56:00.000-07:00

A beautiful mess - I say this because I am in love with my mess because I am in love with what I created while making that mess... let me just say that my sewing machine is my new best friend. How could I forget how cool it is to sew? I am hopelessly lost and really have no idea what I'm doing (it is not like riding a bike apparently) but I had great fun making stuff tonight anyway. And it is super small and cute... although I am already thinking of when I can get a bigger one that does more things (cute decorative stitches). So ya! I can't show what I was working on tonight except a little sneak peek...

I also went and took a few photos of the dogwood trees that line the park portion of 131 street because they are in full bloom and are magnificent!

Slice of Life - Day 127

2009-05-08T22:58:00.001-07:00

Today I went in to work for a little "birthday party" for Anna... it is her birthday today and her last day working at the store so we wanted to have some sort of celebration for her. Next I went for lunch with her and her friend/sales rep Lisa at Five Corners Cafe. Then I took Kalli to the dog park for a 3 hour play/swim session. It was not my intention to be there for so long but once she started swimming she didn't want to stop and then each time we went to leave a new puppy came to play with her. Her old friend Zoe even showed up! They had a great time getting reacquainted :) Finally I dragged her out of there and came home to clean out both of my cars... got everything personal out of the Cavalier so at least when we finally get around to selling it will be cleaned out for people to look at and ready to go. B finally came home while I was doing that and we went out to Langley to see the new X Men movie, it was good!

I also went to Canadian Tire this morning and bought a $40 sewing machine that was on sale for $2o in this week's flyer. I want to use it for scrapbooking and maybe a little sewing... I'm not sure how well it work but I figured for only $20 it was worth a try!

I pilfered these lilacs out of my sisters yard yesterday :)

Slice of Life - Day 126

2009-05-07T23:46:00.001-07:00

Oh Happy Happy Joy JOY! A new Blackberry for me, yay!

Slice of Life - Day 125

2009-05-06T23:04:00.000-07:00

Weirdly tonight's photo is also of food... and Brendan. Not a good photo of anything by any means but it is the only one I took today so it will have to stand up. After I got off work I picked B up at home (he stayed home feeling a little under the weather today) and we drove out to Vancouver in a lovely rain storm to get my Blackberry fixed. Unfortunately there was more broken than could be seen but he did replace the lcd, the casing, the keyboard and the battery cover so at least it looks normal. The backlight for the lcd doesn't work so you still cant see anything on the screen so Brendan will get it replaced under warranty tomorrow at work. I cant wait to have it back! One lucky little surprise was that when we got to the guys building and were walking around the corner I noticed that he lives in the same building as the nice Lombardo's Pizza!! So when he went upstairs to do the repair we went to Lombardo's and shared a pizza and a salad... what a nice little surprise :)

Both of us have been feeling exhausted for the last couple days so we are off to bed now... goodnight.

Slice of Life - Day 124

2009-05-05T23:39:00.000-07:00

Brendan and I shared these for dinner tonight... gotta say YUM! Oddly, meat in little teeny tiny tidbits tastes much better :)

Slice of Life - Day 123

2009-05-04T23:42:00.001-07:00

We slept in today, then hung around the house trying to find the best/cheapest place to get parts for my Blackberry. We went to Nando's for lunch and then to Canadian Tire to purchase the screwdriver that B needs to fix the Blackberry. Then we took Kalli to Dogwood for a walk and then came home and napped/watched tv... cuddled with Kalli and the cats on the couch until it was time to make dinner. We also caught up on some of the downloaded tv shows we have been missing while we waited for 24. I made some cookies for dessert and we just lounged around for the rest of the night.

Slice of Life - Day 122

2009-05-03T22:31:00.001-07:00

Today we woke up and were very lazy after going to bed sometime after 3am. We lounged then all of us went down to Look Watts Cooking for brunch again as Rob had really loved the breakfast burritos and Ronda had really loved the White Chocolate Mocha's. After eating we drove back home and they got ready to leave... Dan and Lani stopped by to grab their BBQ and then we left, leading R&R down to the truck border because they weren't sure how to get there. Then B and I went to the Car Wash and washed the Jeep before returning home. B then waxed his Jeep and I started cleaning up the mess from the BBQ until Christina came over to bring Kalli home. She helped clean up the rest of the mess in the house and yard and we all sat for a little visit before she left. B and I watched Bride Wars on DVD and then just hung out until bedtime. I love lazy days!

Slice of Life - Day 121

2009-05-02T14:26:00.000-07:00

So this post is unfortunately two posts in one... it was after midnight by the time I remembered to post for Friday's post so I was only able to make one post.

Slice of Life - Day 121 (Saturday)

Today was the Buckcherry show at the Thunderbird Arena up at UBC in Vancouver. Show days are usually busy, getting ready, running around, then heading to the venue to see the guys hopefully before the show. This show was a little different though as the band had been on a break and this was their first show back so they flew in, meeting the buses/trucks/crew here and their plane landed only a couple hours before the show. Keith went straight to the radio station from the airport for an interview and the rest of the guys got ready so we didn't see anyone until after.

We spent the morning lounging before I took R&R down to Look Watts Cooking for breakfast and white chocolate mocha's while B went and got his haircut. After eating R&R went and did the tourist thing on the pier and at the White Rock before going home. After that we lounged then got ready for the drive into Vancouver... last minute we decided to take Kalli and drop her off at Grandma's house for a fun filled sleepover so she would have some attention while we were busy playing groupies. We left there and then were going to drive through Vancouver for a little photo taking action but realized how late it was and drove right up to UBC... once there we drove around and around looking for something quick to eat and finally had to call Paul for some emergency 911 directions to McDonald's :)

Got to the venue to find that a huge line had formed since the last time we had walked by it so got in line and shuffled slowly forward as a guy yelled out hockey highlights from the Canucks game... Rob and Ronda looked around in amazement as the entire crowd pumped arms in the air and cheered as he called out that it was 2-0 for the Canucks. They had no idea how much of a hockey town Vancouver is and didn't really get the concept as Seattle has no NHL team. I think they thought it was kind of cute lol. Anyways once we got into the venue Rob and I both went and bought the new Buckcherry hoodie. After all these years of my Buckcherry obsession I don't own even one BC hoodie... I purchased one for a friend at one of the last shows but never have I seen one that I just had to have... finally on this night I did and although I shouldn't have spent the $$$ on it I just needed it :) We made our way down to the floor (second row) and I texted Carleigh to see where her and Matt were sitting... she saw me and waved and later texted me again saying she could see my tattoo from way up there after I took off my hoodie... sweet!

The opening band started (Rev Theory) and I wasn't really a fan... it was so loud that everyone but me decided they had to go back to the middle of the floor because we could all feel the bass drum thumping inside our chests... like a trooper I stayed up front! Not giving up my spot for anything at this point! Becca, Mike, Mandeep and Christine showed up at this point and Brendan came back... R&R moved down the rail to the end one Keef's side front row because they didn't want to deal with the crowd in front of Keef. Next came The Trews which I guess are pretty good at what they do but what a weird band to have on a BC bill... total pop... my goodness they even had a keyboard. It seemed almost like the promoter/label wanted another band on the bill and they just checked out who was available and picked the first band. Finally Papa Roach came on and got the crowd roaring as usual. My love for this band just grows and grows with each show I see... Jacoby is an amazing frontman...simply awesome... in my opinion one of the best out there right now. He just knows how to get the crowd going and has a great voice and awesome presence. At one point in their set a fan got past all the security on stage left and ran up on stage, right to Jacoby and started singing along. We all waited for him to taken down by security but watched in amazement as Jacoby wrapped and arm around him - telling security to back off - and finished singing the song with the dude as the the guy took one handed photos of him with Jacoby, the crowd, the stage, himself on stage etc. It was so cool! Josh would never let that happen, never lol. After the song Jacoby explained that the guy had snuck into a video taping at Riverview the day before and Jacoby had dared him to sneak onstage at the show... and the guy managed to do it... mad props to him!

Finally Buckcherry was next! They busted out on stage with Tired of You... then played an hour and 20 minute set that included 14 songs including Cream as an encore. I took some photos but none of them had "wow" factor... there is one I like of Josh that has Keef in the background giving me the finger. The girl beside me looked at me kind of shocked as I yelled "fuck you!" back at him while returning the favor... I think she was kind of confused not knowing that I know him. So it probably looked weird to her as I fingered him while yelling "Fuck You! Don't give me the finger you jerk" or something similar :) It's a bit of an ongoing joke. They completely rocked it out there and finally seemed to be on their arena/stadium game. The crowd went nuts for Crazy Bitch as usual... oh and they played tow songs from Timebomb, one that I haven't heard in a while... Porno Star! I was quite surprised at the cheering that went on when they started playing it... there must have been a lot of older fans there too.

After the show B, R&R and i went back to the car to keep warm while waiting for Keef to text me... it was taking forever so we went to get something to drink and as we drove by the gates I saw Jacoby from Papa Roach talking to a couple fans by the gate so I asked B to turn around and ran up to him and just stared at him with a big smile on my face like an idiot. He asked "whats going on?" and I just stared some more before mumbling "nothing" and stared at him some more, practically vibrating in excitement! Finally after what seemed like minutes I blurted out "I'm just so excited to meet you" LOL! He kinda smiled and then I said how much I love them and what he had done for that fan and so on and he said "well way to represent" because of course I was wearing Buckcherry gear not PR gear so then I told him all about how many times Ive seen them now and how I just love them more and more... finally I asked for a photo and looked around wildly for Robbie who I had thought was right behind me to take it. Next I took a photo of him with R&R and he left right as B was getting there after parking the car again. Hopefully next time B can get in a photo too cause he likes them a lot as well. After that Jimmy came and chatted with us for a while and then finally I called Keef and he came and found us. I had taken them a chocolate chip banana loaf from Watts Cooking and a can of Timmies for the tour bus so he was quite excited... they love their "timmie hoes" as he calls it. He wasnt feeling well so we kept our visit short but he expressed disappointment that we didn't get any real "visit time" in and asked if I was going to the rest of the shows... I said I wasn't and he said we should at least go to Prince George and he would hook us up with passes... I told him I would let him know and we said our goodbyes after posing for one photo.

We drove home... leading a couple girls back to the highway that we had met who had come all the way from Salem, Oregon for the shows. They drove the whole way up that day and then all the way back that night but had gotten lost trying to find UBC and were nervous about how to get back to the border.

As always I loved every minute and am already craving my next show... we decided there was really no way for me to go to Prince George since the Passat has a broken exhaust so it would be bad for it to drive all that way there and back.

Slice of Life - Day 120 (Friday)

Today is the start of my Buckcherry Weekend! Rob and Ronda came up from Tacoma, Washington and we had a BBQ with a bunch of our friends and Paul and Christina. I think everyone had a good time... we had a fire and roasted marshmallows. It was good!

I had written this on the chalkboard before everyone got here... :)

Slice of Life - Day 119

2009-04-30T22:43:00.001-07:00

We went to Costco today and purchased stuff for our BBQ tomorrow night... we went cheap and got burgers and hot dogs... still spent $150.00... and forgot a few things (or wanted smaller packs)... got this HUGE bag of potatoes... yummm baked potatoes! I liked the package :)

I am working on my "to do" list tonight to get ready for our BBQ and our house guests this weekend... but what I really want to be doing is reading my new book. I figured if I put my book with my to do list then it might keep me going... because the sooner I get my list done the sooner I can read...right?

Slice of Life - Day 118

2009-04-29T22:54:00.000-07:00

My "new" car has a broken muffler and is extremely loud and rumbly :(

Not impressed... at all.

Slice of Life - Day 117

2009-04-28T23:21:00.001-07:00

We made Nachos again tonight... I like this because we have fun making them together. They were yummy but oh my gosh, so filling.

Then we sat on the couch for hours catching up on all the episodes of House. While watching I looked over at us and had to giggle... us, two cats and a dog all snuggled on the couch together... how silly... and sweet.

Slice of Life - Day 116

2009-04-28T00:08:00.000-07:00

Today B and I worked in the yard again for hours... clearing behind the shed some more, planting up some pots, trimming, burning, raking and just general cleaning. Brendan kept saying "gardening is so tiring" over and over again... and it showed in the photo of the day for both of us...

Him passed out in his chair 5 minutes after coming inside... and me napping with animals later that evening :)

Slice of Life - Day 115

2009-04-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

B and I were invited to Chris and Brea's house for a BBQ after work today. We took Kalli and had a very yummy dinner of barbecued steak, baked potatoes, corn, Caesar salad, garlic bread and blueberry pie for dessert! Good job Chris!! - and Brea for the dessert ;) The puppies had a lot of fun playing and B and I enjoyed it as well because we realized that we never really go to anyone else's house for dinner, we always have people here. Chris and Brea are good friends and it is a friendship that I am really thankful for. It is sort of like how people have friends and then have kids and start doing everything together and then their kids grow up together... except our kids are Kalli and Kyah :) Too cute... and funny!

Slice of Life - Day 114

2009-04-25T23:39:00.000-07:00

Today I went to work and forgot my Blackberry on my bedside table... I realized right away and went home to get it... and found it on the living room floor. It seems Kalli decided to punish me for something... probably because she didn't get a walk yesterday. I am very sad... especially because to replace it will cost $700. We are looking into a place that does repairs for much less... and I am hopeful.

Slice of Life - Day 113

2009-04-24T22:46:00.000-07:00

I got up late today because I didn't sleep much last night... so when I got up and saw it was a gorgeous day outside I felt bad for wasting the morning sleeping so I went right outside into the backyard and got to work! It has been a bit of a mess out there since the fall and with the addition of Kalli to our family it has gotten a lot worse. I started by cleaning up all the puppy poo, then raked the entire yard (phew what a load of work!). After that I took a quick detour to Rona to get some yard paper bags, to Timmies for a french vanilla and then a quick stop at Potter's Nursery to pick up some flowers with color to make me feel that spring really is here. Went back home and filled a bunch of bags, then mowed the lawn, then trimmed up the bamboo in the back part of the yard.

Then I decided to get started on a project that I have wanted to do for a while but kept putting off... cleaning out beside our back shed. There was a massive pile of branches, yard waste, junk etc back there... taking up about 20 feet of space. Most of it was there before we moved here but it has always bugged me and I think mice live in it so I decided to burn a bunch of it. I know it could have been bundled up to get recycled in the yard waste program but it would have taken so long to cut and bundle it all up. So I started a fire in the pit and kept adding and adding to it. I had the fire going all afternoon and probably got about half the mess cleaned up! We are going to finish the rest on the our days off this week hopefully. While that was going I did a bit of weeding and then trimmed the three large hedges in the back and some of the boxwood from along the fence. I never got around to planting my flowers but that can wait for another day... I'm almost too tired to move!!

I forgot to take a before shot or an "in process" shot of the mess beside the shed... but some of you who read this probably know what I'm talking about (Paul). I will post a photo of what I've got done so far tomorrow maybe...

In the middle of my adventure Brea texted and we made plans to meet up for dinner... so once B came home I had a shower, we put out the fire and drove down to WING'S on the beach for dinner... it was very yummy as usual but again as usual we got the waitress who is not very good at her job and it sucked. Always nice to have a Chris and Brea fix though! We treated ourselves to White Mountain ice cream for dessert (because the gelato place was closed) and then came home. Now I have written this, browsed online for a while and am off to bed :)

Slice of Life - Day 112

2009-04-23T22:28:00.000-07:00

We went to Dogwood Park after work to give our crazy monster puppy dog some playtime. When we got there we saw some Scouts planting some new trees out front between the parking lot and the fence. They seemed to be having fun doing it and I thought it was pretty cool.

A couple of our "dogpark pals" were there as well, Debbie with Mick and Dana with little Tara... Dana was quite busy in and out of his truck and on the phone so I babysat Tara for a bit. I absolutely adore Tara! Generally I'm not a huge fan of little dogs but she is just so great and spunky that I cant help but love her. Her favorite toy is a soccer ball or volleyball (even though she is only as big as one!) and she is fierce while protecting it. Its hard to get past her with the ball, I have ended up kicking her a couple times because shes so quick and seems to know which way you're going to aim no matter how hard you try to trick her.

Slice of Life - Day 111

2009-04-22T23:10:00.001-07:00

These are Kalli's "babies"... we trip over them all the time and have them shoved against our knees and hands when she wants to play... they are pretty damaged and probably should be replaced but I feel bad throwing them away because she loves them so. Her favorites are probably evident by the amount of dirt and damage done to them. She loves Blue Bear, Ducky and Leopard the best, followed by the dinosaur and the other yellow duck with no eyes. The other ones have been kept at the bottom of her toy chest to come out once in a while when the others ones are in surgery :)

Slice of Life - Day 110

2009-04-21T23:35:00.001-07:00

It seems we do daily battle with laundry around here. It is always ongoing, always loads to wash, to fold, to put away. I am forever stepping over Brendan's dirty clothes on our bedroom floor as I get in and out of bed. My scraproom has looked like a laundromat for weeks. It doesn't seem to matter how much laundry I do, there is always more. I can't even imagine when we have a child how it will multiply even more so... and the thought of cloth diapers totally overwhelms me. I just ran around the house taking photo's of piles in different rooms... and those don't even show the things that are not in piles that I know need washing... like our bedding in our room and the spare room, the couch cushions, a couple throw blankets on the couch... sigh.

Slice of Life - Day 109

2009-04-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

Took Kalli for a walk down on the beach... not such a great photo but oh well... we were too interested in just soaking up the beautiful sunshine to care :)

Slice of Life - Day 108

2009-04-19T23:50:00.001-07:00

While browsing my favorite blogs tonight I found a girl talking about using bleach as your ink while stamping. I thought that sounded so cool that I had to try it... so I made an "anniversary" card for Brendan. Our dating anniversary is coming up in May - 6 years! - and although now that we're married I know that we are supposed to celebrate that anniversary instead I still want to recognize the day that we started dating and began our adventure together.

The card is kind of girly - well more that kind of I guess - but I am sure he can handle one girly card. I usually try to make his cards more masculine but while trying this new technique I found it doesn't work well on all colors, and the color it seemed to work best on was these pinks... The two hearts are what I stamped with the bleach. It kind of "eats" away at the pigment in the paper and leaves you with this white-ish impression.

Nice to get my craft on again - it's been a while.

Slice of Life - Day 107

2009-04-18T22:49:00.001-07:00

Dogwood Forest

Slice of Life - Day 106

2009-04-17T23:27:00.000-07:00

Today was "Girl's Day" with Becca. We haven't had the opportunity to spend much time together recently and Becca is off to Mexico for a week tomorrow so she treated us to a mani/pedi today. It was nice to hang - just the two of us and catch up. We did a couple errands, had some lunch, shopped a bit and then went to our salon appointment to get pampered and generally just had a good time all around. There is no one out there quite like Becca and I am thankful to have her in my life.

Slice of Life - Day 105

2009-04-16T23:39:00.000-07:00

Today after work B and I took Kalli to Dogwood for a walk. When we drove in B was like "oh wow, look at that dog". I knew right away what dog he meant... there was a Malamute/Border Collie cross running around over by the corral that looked just like Kalli. Well I guess not "just like" but very similar in their coloring and size and he looked very much like Kalli's sister that we liked that had long hair but was already taken when we went to look at the pups. He looked so much like that dog that B mentioned how odd it would be if we were to find out that it WAS her. Anyways as soon as we let Kalli in the gate she immediately ran over to that dog and it was like love at first sight. I was standing there watching when I heard a man say, "wow look at that dog" and looked over to see that it was the owner of the other dog exclaiming over how much Kalli looked like his dog just like B had done a minute earlier. He found out she was ours and came right over with questions, wondering I think if they could possibly be related. Oddly enough they are the exact same age, only a day apart and both came from a litter of 9 pups. His came however from a shelter who had gotten them from a Native Reserve in the interior where they were going to be either shot or drowned if the shelter didn't take them. They were taken from their mom when they were only 4 weeks old :(

The pup's name is Magnum and his owner Roger and I think that he and Kalli would make THE cutest puppies... but luckily Magnum has already been neutered. I say luckily because you know if that happened B and I would be keeping one of those puppies! We have made friends with Roger (and Magnum) and have exchanged emails already regarding future play dates! So today's photo is of the two of them, and also one that Roger sent me from when Magnum was just a baby. Looking at the photos I am thinking you don't see how much they look alike... I guess you would need to see them in person. No matter what they are both super cute anyway.

Slice of Life - Day 104

2009-04-15T23:44:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting today's photo ... I left my camera at work and was not able to get the photos from it. I am also quite disappointed in the photos that I took anyway... they looked okay on the screen but once I downloaded them they were terrible, out of focus and bad composition. All but three got deleted and they would have been trashed too except I needed something for the daily photo. Bah Humbug!

Slice of Life - Day 103

2009-04-14T22:53:00.001-07:00

Nothing too exciting to post today... Brendan and I had a marital hiccup that I am not quite sure how to resolve... went out to Vancouver to pick up pet food at Sysko's Supper... had lunch at Nando's... took Kalli to Dogwood Park... had a quick visit with Brendan's dad... went to my sisters so that Brendan could take a look at their computer... still sick... cant wait to go to bed... not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.

(all photos taken via Blackberry)

Slice of Life - Day 102

2009-04-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

A note to Mr and Mrs Schneider - hey look, no animal photos in this post ;)

We spent the morning walking Kalli and looking at a lottery home, then in the afternoon we drove into Vancouver to have dinner with Paul and Christina and pick up the Passat. Christina made a yummy dinner of Chicken, Gnocchi and salad and Paul did an amazing job of cleaning the inside of the Passat, I don't think its looked this good as long as we've owned it. Thank you to both of you for a job well done! ;)

Tonight we came rushing home to watch the 10pm episode of 24 and wow... what a cliffhanger for next week! I have a love/hate relationship with this show... its so good, but it should be a movie so you can watch all at once... the suspense just kills me week to week.

I have a fascination with flowers, tunnels and Paul's view!

Slice of Life - Day 101

2009-04-12T23:42:00.000-07:00

Wow were now in the triple digits on post numbers... rock on!! I have been seriously lacking in the exciting and entertaining post department around here lately. Unfortunately I am continuing that trend tonight. I spent most of the day in bed today... woke up around noon... got up briefly to continue the clean up effort in my scraproom... then wandered back to bed around 3 because I was super dizzy from all the coughing. I had meant to only stay there for a half hour or so but woke again around 5 knowing that I had heard my cell and home ring quite a few times while I slept. Returned some calls, had a shower and went back to bed, reading/dozing until B came home at 630. He climbed onto the bed fully dressed to rough house with Kalli for a bit before falling asleep fully clothed for a two hour nap. He was tired from working all day while having a cold too so I let him sleep although I know he doesn't nap well. He woke a little grumpy as I knew he would and watched family guy, then we went to Wendy's to get some dinner at 930... then finished watching the Masters on TV. Now I'm off to bed and hes tucked in his chair watching more Battlestar episodes... not really a fun day and I didn't think to take a photo of anything until we were eating dinner so I took a photo of my frosty... these things are so yummy!

Slice of Life - Day 100

2009-04-11T22:55:00.000-07:00

After work today Brendan decided he wanted to make Nachos so we went to Walmart to buy Nacho making stuff :) He made them all by himself except for the chicken which I had to make because I'm some sort of spicy chicken making expert apparently. He sort of "forgot" them in the oven a little longer than he should have because he was watching sports highlights so there is no "after" photo but they were quite yummy regardless. We are both still fighting our head colds so a nice spicy dinner was kind of nice, as was actually cooking* and eating in for a change.

*not that I'm sure we can call making Nachos cooking ;)

Slice of Life - Day 99

2009-04-10T23:03:00.000-07:00

In honour of Easter I thought it must be time for a bunny wabbitt post. So here's Bun-Bun!

(Her favorite place to sleep all stretched out is on Brendan's chair)

Slice of Life - Day 98

2009-04-09T23:55:00.001-07:00

Tonight we had the opportunity to go to a Canucks game thanks to Brendan's dad Paul. He had some tickets for great seats and generously asked us if we would like to have them since he has already been to three games in the last month or so. Of course we said yes! We played against the LA Kings and won 1-0. It wasn't a super exciting game but it was a good game, well played. Although we have secured our spot in the playoffs we are still in a race against Calgary for our division championship. If we win our next game on Saturday and Calgary loses one of their next games then we will win...

I was very excited during the game when the mascot Fin came to our aisle to shoot the gun thing with the t-shirts out at the crowd. I love Fin and spend much time looking for him while I'm at a game... he was standing two steps away from me but I was too shy to ask for a photo with him which I am totally mad at myself for now! Oh well, I did get some photos of him at least... he was wearing bunny ears for Easter :)

Slice of Life - Day 97

2009-04-08T23:10:00.000-07:00

Can't believe I am sick again, it seems one thing after another lately which makes me feel like a loser. I tried to get B to take today's photo but he didn't want to play along so the only thing I could think of was a shot of my temperature. It was taken in bed with my Blackberry. Obviously I have a fever, maybe it will go away and then I will be magically better... lets hope!

Slice of Life - Day 96

2009-04-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

So this seems to be turning into the "Kalli" photo blog... but hey she is a big part of our life and he walks take up a lot of our leisure time so I guess it is to be expected. Today's shots are partially from her first walk of the day at Dogwood Park where she took another mud bath to cool off and then some more from her second walk with her bff Kyah at the beach.

Slice of Life - Day 95

2009-04-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

Today Kalli swam for the first time!! We took her to Dogwood Park and then down to the beach and gradually got her to go in the water deeper and deeper. She was still hesitant and cautious but finally her ball went pretty far and the tide was coming in so she had to swim to reach it. It wasn't much of a swim, she could just barely touch the sand I think so she didn't really even need to swim but she didn't seem to realize that so I guess her natural instinct came out and she started to doggy paddle. It was adorable :)

A few photos from our walk... I didn't catch her swimming cause B had the camera.