A play, a ballet, and piercings

I am so proud of my little girl. T* had a school play a few weeks ago. This is the first one she has been in as her school begins letting them in the plays when the kids reach grade 1. It is not mandatory, those who would like to be in it have to audition and get parts. I'm pretty sure that all the grade 1 who auditioned got parts, it's just nicer that way right? The kids did such a great job! The show was a pieces of 5 different Broadway plays, Grease, Sound of Music, Annie, Oliver,and now for some reason I can't remember the other one. T* was an orphan in Annie, they were all soo cute! The little ones didn't really have any lines, but did have to sing and dance for 2 songs, it was a really great show! There were a few older girls in a couple of the other shows whom I can totally see becoming famous singers, they were truly amazing! I love the fact that T* is into that kind of thing. It's so much fun seeing her up there on stage getting into a "role". I am totally looking forward to next year, I really hope she decides to be in the school show again!

The following week, T* had her last Ballet performance for the season. I love watching her in Ballet, I love seeing all the girls, they are all so beautiful and it's amazing to see what they can do. T* has been in Ballet now for about 4 years. It seems so strange to say that because she is only 7. I am really hoping that she sticks with it, I would love to see her really go somewhere with it. Our last performance for this season was a Gala performance. This was the first one (gala) that T* and I have been involved in (I am part of the parent advisory committee). It was a lot of work leading up to it, we needed to find sponsors and donations for our silent auction, it took a lot of work but it totally paid off. The show was amazing. It was truly a celebration of dance (which is what the whole gala was called). All the girls, young and older were in tutu's for the first part of the performance, then there were 2 more sections. We were pretty much sold out which was really great to see. The silent auction went really great as well, as far as I know we sold most, if not all of our items. It kind of became a community effort. Even though most of the seats were taken by parents and other family members, I'm pretty sure there were a lot of other people as well. That goes with all the advertising that we did leading up to our show. I am so glad that I got to be a part of it. T* was awesome! She is truly becoming a little ballerina, and I am so proud of her. She really works hard in ballet, I really really hope that she sticks with it. I'm pretty sure she could be a very great ballerina.

This is an overview of the girls. T*'s one of the ones in pink.

I got a really funny story out of the ballet as well. I always volunteer for all our performances, I'm usually backstage helping out with the youngest dancers, normally there are a few of us backstage but because we only had one performance this time all of us parents wanted to be able to watch the show. The other volunteers all went downstairs before the show started but I was to come down with them, just to make sure the girls remembered to stay quiet and to make sure all the costumes and shoes were on properly (I was watching the girls between the ages of 5 and 9). While we were waiting for our cue to go downstairs I was standing with the younger ones. 2 of them started to play with my hair, "you have really long hair, it's nice", then it went to "I like your nail polish", "you have a lot of earrings", "how come you have so many ea rings? (I have five in each ear) so I told them "because earrings are fun, you can dress anything up with different earrings". Then one of the girls said "you have a sparkle on your nose", so I had to tell them that no it wasn't a sparkle it was a nose ring, I then had to take it out and show them how it went in my nose, that started a whole thing on how much it hurt and if I could change it or not. Then I told them that I also had a ring in my tongue, well.. that launched a whole big discussion on how it gets in your tongue, how you change it, how they pierce it, how you eat with it....... The funniest thing about the whole discussion was the girls around 8 and 9 kept saying "ewww that's so gross, can I see it again?", "I'm never going to do that to my tongue!" and yet they kept asking me all about it.... I'm sure their mom's will just love the fact that I was talking to them about my piercings, but it did keep them quiet and occupied for the time that we had to wait lol. I have discovered that belly button rings and tongue rings are very good entertainment for little kids, it's pretty funny. I have kept 1 year olds occupied for 1/2 an hour before just showing them my tongue ring lol. See, tongue rings are good for something! lol

Books, books and more books!

As anyone who knows me can tell you, I love to read. I'm sure I have said it on here before and I will probably say it again (I'm bad for repeating myself, just ask R* lol). I'm always looking for new books to read, new authors to check out and I love when I find something good.
Here are a few of the authors that I have been reading lately:
Kay Hooper: Total suspense! The Bishop series is awesome! I have read a few of her other books and I want to check out more. I find her books very gripping! Each book sucks you right in and makes you want to read more. They are totally good reads if you enjoy psycho thrillers, which are my favourite books!
Lisa Jackson: Again psycho thrillers! Very riveting, they get you right at the beginning and you have to find out what happens next. I am actually reading Running Scared by Lisa Jackson right now!
Sherrilyn Kenyon: I am working my way through the Dark Hunter series. My sister-in-law actually got me onto them, I think M* has read most of them. They are more of a fantasy book then a thriller but they are still really good! They do have the suspense that I like too!
Donna Kauffman : Romance novels, ahhhh romance. For the most part if I am not reading a psycho thriller I am reading a romance. I really enjoy Donna Kauffman's writing style. I love that pretty much all her books take place in Scotland, after all I am part Scottish. The books totally make me want to see Scotland for myself!!
Diana Orgain: I found Diana one day while looking through the racks at the library. I still haven't read the 1st book in the Maternal Instincts Mystery series. I have read the 2nd and 3rd one though and they were great! They totally made me laugh! It's such a great story line and as a mom I totally remember when I was new to having a baby and all the weird things I questioned. So looking forward to reading more from her!
Richelle Mead: 4 words The Vampire Academy Series! Awesome! I know they are a young adult book but I so don't care! I loved each and every one of these books! I read WAY into the night so that I could find out what happened, I will so be reading these again!

So that's my latest in books, I'm sure I will add more. I hope that I give you guys some new ideas for books to read. Let me know if you think there are any that I should check out!

Mother's day

I know I'm a little late in writing about Mother's day, but that's pretty normal for me lol. I am kinda annoyed though, I actually had a nice post all writen out, all the pictures added and I posted it, only to come back here today to find it gone, all gone, all the changes that I made to the lay out, gone. Soooo annoying, but oh well, what are you gonna do right?

So, Mother's day... It was awesome this year. The weather was supper nice, not really hot, just nice enough that you could sit outside in your shirt sleeves and not get cold. The sun was out there was a nice breeze, it was great.

T* woke me up at about 8am to give me the little flower pot she had decorated at school complete with paper flowers with her picture on them, and the card that she made for me:

I LOVE my age, not really crazy about my dress size, but I choose to think of it as my waist size instead (it says 21 if you can't see it). The best part about my name, is that the day T* was writing it out there was an open house at her school so I was in her classroom. T* actually asked me how to spell my name, "for no reason" (as she said) and yet she still didn't get it right lol! I love it though. I had such a great laugh when I woke up and read this (I waited for T* to leave the room before I laughed), what a grate way to wake up on Mother's day! R* got me a G.C so that I can get my hair cut, which is awesome! I haven't gotten a trim in 2 years, and though I keep talking about it I always find other things I would rather spend my money on. So I am excited to go get that done, and see guys DO listen (sometimes) lol. R* also got me a Timmies breakfast sandwich and a coffee, mmm love my coffee!

After lunch T* and I had a birthday party to go to, I know what you're thinking, "who has a birthday party on Mother's day?" It was actually really nice. My friend had booked everything and made up invitations and had everything ready before she realized it was Mother's day. Honestly it was great though. T* and I got to go out for a bit, she got to play while I had some adult conversation with the other moms that were there. We totally enjoyed ourselves! After the party was over T* and I went over to the birthday girls house to hang out in the sun for a few hours and let the kids play some more.

When we got home we had some other family over, so it was nice to see everyone, a couple that we hadn't seen in a while. There was more good conversation and even some cake!

At the end of the day we had some very cute little visitors to the house:

We have a family of rabbits that live in our front yard that we get to see every year. This year the first sighting was on Mother's day, not only did we get to see the mommy but.... We got to see one of her babies too. Isn't it cute! I love seeing them every year, they are so tiny at first and we get to watch them grow. They weren't our only visitors either
It's hard to see but the robin has a worm in her mouth, you could tell that she was taking it home to her nest for her babies. It was Mother's day for everyone!!

Hope everyone out there had a Mother's day as nice as mine!

Birthday's, babies and balloons oh my....

And so it begins again. The beginning of the school year always brings out a ton of birthday parties, during the winter it kind of peters out a bit and then the spring hits and there is another onslaught. I honestly don't mind it, I enjoy being able to get out and spend time with friends, have some adult conversation and see all the kids running around having fun. It always gets me how many babies there are though. It seems like ever birthday I go to there are more people with babies. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, not at all I LOVE babies, that's the problem. T* is going to be 7 this summer and I am soooo longing for another baby. I know there is never a perfect time to have a baby, I know that if you wait for the perfect time it will never happen. There are just some things that R* and I need to do before we can have another one. It's really hard being around all these babies when you want another one so much. Forget biological clock I have a biological bomb going on in my body. When ever I am around babies it just makes me want one even more, I think I know at least 6 people that are pregnant or just had babies. Then, I'm also turning 30 this year, the big 3-0. I know that lots of people have babies after 30, or even 40, it's just that T* is almost 7 now and I don't really want that much of an age gap between my children...... Oh well, if it's meant to be it's meant to be right?
The birthday today was great, I had a wonderful time watching all the little ones running around. Enjoyed some great conversation, and saw lots of babies :). Near the end of the birthday party a group of balloons got lose and floated up into the sky. It was quite funny to see about 20 adults all staring up and watching the balloons as the floated up. We were all standing there for about 15 minutes, just staring up. It was too funny. I wish I had thought to take a picture of everyone. It was pretty crazy to see how far the balloons went. They just went straight up, didn't really catch a breeze or anything, we watched until all you could see was a little tiny dark dot on the white clouds. Very easily entertained we were lol.
All in all it was a great afternoon. Now to do it all again tomorrow and next Saturday. I'm sure there will be a few more after that, like I said, spring brings out the birthdays!

It's been a while

Those who read this may have noticed that I haven't added anything new for a long time. I'm sure most understand that you get busy and life gets in the way. I do enjoy writing a blog, I just don't always feel that I have much of interest to say. I will try again at getting on here more often, even if it's just to let people know what's going on in my world.
The reason that I got on the computer today is because my lovely sister-in-law M* has a new blog herself. M* is an amazing cake artist, she can pretty much make anything and this is what her blog is about. So stop on over and check it out!!
You can find M*'s blog here: http://lilttlekitchencakes.blogspot.com/

Is arachnophobia hereditary?

Ever since I can remember I have been afraid of spiders. I can't stand them, hate them, don't want to be in the room with one. They scare me, totally freak me out. I still remember waking my dad up at whatever hour of the morning (I read really late) to come and take the spider out of my room, I couldn't do it myself. I remember trying to suck one up in a vacuum and crying so much that my whole body was shaking because there was no one else there to get rid of it for me. Evey friend I have ever had has known just to get rid of a spider for me without telling me that there is one, that way I don't freak out. I remember the very first nightmare that I ever had was about spiders. I can't even touch a picture of a spider, it just gives me the heebie jeebies. You know how most older brothers will tease you with the things you are scared of? My brothers never did that with spiders, they knew that spiders were the one thing that you just kept away from me.
I think I have passed this on to T*. She will call me or her dad whenever there is a spider in her room, or any other room that she is in. She has scared the crap out of me by screaming in the car because there is one somewhere in the back (almost caused an accident a couple times). She will not let it go until you go up and kill it, and honestly I can totally relate to her. As much as it creeps me out, I have found the one thing that lets me get close enough to a spider to kill it, that is T*. I don't want the spider anywhere near her, so I am able to kill it to keep it away from her. Hopefully she will be able to do the same thing for her daughter, unless arachnophobia skips her generation......

Just singin' along

I guess you never really notice how often you listen to the same songs until you realize that you know all the words. I tend to pick up the words to songs that I like fairly quickly, if I can't figure them all out on my own, then I will look them up. I am thinking that T* is just as quick as I am. It always amazes me when we are driving along listening to a C.D when all of a sudden I can hear this little voice in the back ground, just singing along, only missing a word here and there. It's so funny and cute at the same time. I think the craziest part of all is the songs that she knows. Now I do have kids C.D's in my car, but they do get a little annoying after a while, so usually I have some of my own music on. T* learns most of the words just from being in the car. One of the first songs I hear her sing was Enter Sandman by Metallica, it was soo funny! T* was about 2 1/2 3 at the time, then there was Beautiful by James Blunt, now it's a huge mix of songs, anywhere from Taylor Swift, to Rise Against, to Paramore, to Pink. It's so cute hearing this little voice in coming from the back seat. She has her favorites too, she never fails to ask to hear them again and again. I have had to tell her a few times that if you listen to the same song to many times then you wont really like it anymore, it will get annoying, but she doesn't believe me, she tells me that she will always love whatever song it is. I wont prove it to her because I actually like these songs as well and I don't want to get sick of them!
It's rather enjoyable driving along singing with T*, I really have a lot of fun with it. I am hoping that she keeps her music tastes eclectic as she grows up. I have always been into a huge variety of music, it doesn't always make sense how I jump from genre to genre, but I enjoy it. I hope that T* has the same kind of love of music as well!

1 down, 19 to go?

A few months ago at T*'s last dental check-up we were told that she had some teeth lose, 4 to be exact. The first 1 has finally fallen out! It looks so cute to see her little smile with a hole in it. It makes me kind of sad though, it means that my baby is really growing up, pretty soon she wont let me call her my baby at all! As proud as we are of our kids as they grow up, it's rather bitter-sweet. On the 1 hand it's nice to see our little ones getting bigger and becoming more independent, but on the other hand it means that they don't need us as much anymore.

Anyways, I made T* a nice little 'tooth pillow' to put her tooth in so that the tooth fairy can find it and have somewhere to put the money. Now all I have to figure out is what the going rate is for teeth these days.

New book, new author, new friend

I just read one of the best books! I honestly didn't want to put it down, I took it with me when I went out just in case I had the time to read for a bit.
It's called 'The best day of someone else's life' by Kerry Reichs, and I just loved it!
It's about this girl who is obsessed with weddings, beginning with the first wedding that she was in at the age of 6. From then on she dreams of her own wedding day, planing ever detail. It then moves on to present day when she is in her 20s and either taking part in her friends weddings or just attending them. I wont go in to the whole story or I will end up telling all of it. But it's such a great read! It's ridiculously funny (Kerry Reichs has a great way of telling a story), poignantly sweet, thrown in with heart break and love, it really gets to your heart. It explores the ideal of marriage that everyone believes when little and moves on to a more accurate and mature reasoning as the book goes on.
I truly love this book and am looking forward to reading anything else that she writes, I'm hoping to find her other book tomorrow so I can read it right away.
What makes it even better is that Kerry Reichs is the daughter of another of my favorite authors Kathy Reichs. They write for different genera's, but I think that just makes it better. I have read all of Kathy Reichs' books, and now look forward to reading those of her daughters as well.
Really a great read, so happy that I picked it up at the bookstore the other day!

I really like you

Yesterday I had some shopping that I wanted to get done. So when T* and I got up in the morning I gave her 3 choices: we could have breakfast at home, go to Tim Horton's and get something on the run, or we could go to a restaurant, just the 2 of us, and have some pancakes. She thought about it for a few minutes and decided on the pancakes. The two of us have never really gone out to eat somewhere, just us, sure we've eaten at the food court in the mall or had a quick bite at a fast food place, though usually that's on the go. This would be the first time that we actually went to a restaurant, just us, to eat.
--I've actually been looking forward to this kind of thing for a while now, I've been waiting for a time when we could do something like that without me having to constantly tell her to eat, a time when we could actually talk a bit.--
So we got ready and headed out. We went to this nice diner where they serve breakfast all day, have good prices and good food. We both got pancakes, T*'s were chocolate chip, a very rare treat, I usually don't let her eat chocolate (or any other junk food) before lunch, but hey it doesn't happen all the time. We sat at our table talking and coloring while we waited for our food. It was really nice, it was a great breakfast and I really enjoyed myself.
As we left T* was holding my hand while we walked to the car, she looked up at me and said " I really like you" I kind of laughed a bit and said " I really like you too". It was one of the sweetest things T* has ever said. She's a very loving girl (most of the time) and will randomly walk up to me and give me a kiss or a hug, tell me she loves me or that I'm the best, but I just found it really sweet that it was so matter of fact the way she said it. Sweetest thing ever!
The rest of the day was pretty good too, very few arguments during our shopping trip, or after we got home (actually I don't think we had any arguments at all until we got home). Truly a great day with my little sweet heart.

Olympic Gold!

Well, I have to admit that I am not much of a hockey, or Olympic, fan. I do enjoy watching some of the events, but I find it just seems to take a long time to really see anything. I did watch a bit this year, though not much. However, I do have to say that I am soooo PROUD to be CANADIAN today! Though I rarely watch any hockey, I did catch the game today, and it really was pretty awesome. It was such a close game, and to come in at the end with 3-2, it was great to see! Hockey is truly Canada's sport this year!! Gold for women's and men's. Way to go Canada!!!!

Not only did our hockey teams win gold, but Canada won the most gold medals than any other nation EVER!!!! GO CANADA!!!

Great Olympic high going on all over Canada tonight!

I think it's time I fork over the cash to get a spare car key

So T* had a dress rehearsal for her ballet today, she was suppose to be there at 2 for all the make-up and such, then the rehearsal would start at 3. At about 20 to 2 I went outside to put everything in the car and clean it off (we have been getting a lot of snow lately). I have power door locks, so I unlocked the car, put everything inside, tossed the keys on the drivers seat, grabbed my brush and closed the door. I started brushing the snow off and heard the doors lock, not thinking anything of it I continued on my way. Then I went to get in to start the car so it would be warm when T* got in. However the doors were locked, with my keys sitting on the drivers seat......of course there are no windows open because it's winter, none of the doors are unlocked, because they are power locks, and I have no spare key because the car is previously owned......... I start freaking out at this point because now I am going to be late, my purse is in the car, my car seat, T*'s dance shoes, everything!!! Of course I no longer have CAA because I let it lapse, not really ever using it. I get in the house and start calling around trying to find someone to open my car. The first place I call wants at least $98 to open it (not a chance!), the second place (a key shop) doesn't open cars but knows a tow company that does, the only thing is he can't remember the last 4 digits for sure, so he gives me 2 numbers to try. I call the first, a man answers,
I ask " is this --- Towing?"
he says it is, so I start telling him my story, keys in car, can't get in.... he asks where I am, "at home", he asks if I have CAA,
"No" all the while thinking that this is a kind of odd conversation to be having with a tow company, he asks if I have a spare key,
again I say "no, it didn't have one when I bought it", so he comes up with this idea that he will come to my house and use his CAA card and get my car opened because then it's free, he asks if this would be ok,
I say "yes that would be great", but then I start to think, this really doesn't sound like something that a tow company would do, unless these guys are just really really nice,
so I tell the guy " I don't think your talking to the person you think you are, is this --- Towing?" pause guy "No is this ---?" , me "No". Turns out that the last name on my phone is the same last name as his daughter and I sound just like her, and apparently locking the keys in the car is sounds like something that she would do.
I finally call the right number and the tow company gets to my house, 25 minutes later (I know they take a while for something like that). When the tow guy gets there he sets to work on trying to open my car, but he's not used to the tool that he has to use, so he calls his wife to bring his lock tool kit over, gives her directions, and we start to wait. A few minutes later his co-worker calls asking where the truck is because they are doing a shift change shortly, so guy #1 tells guy #2 where he is and asks him to come and use the tool that he has in the truck, apparently guy #2 is a lot better with it.
About 5 minutes later, two more vehicles show up at my house, guy #1's wife with his tool box, and guy #2 to use the original tool and take the tow truck. It took guy #2 about 30 seconds to get into my car, I am finally the happy recipient of my car keys, pay the guys, get T* out of the house, and we are finally off to dance rehearsal.
Talk about a whole big mess for something that only took the guy 30 seconds, but I was very thankful to him!!!
Really need to see about getting a spare key though, and that is the last time I throw my keys onto the seat and close the door!!

I forgot how much I missed that

I had a baby yesterday...... just for the day, it was my nephew. He actually turned 15 months yesterday. Such a sweetie! My sister-in-law needed someone to watch him, he had been sick the day before so wasn't able to go to his daycare. I was available, T* was in school, so his mom brought him out to me. We had a great day. He still seemed a little quieter than usual but other than that he was great. For his morning nap I put him in my bed and laid down with him. It was so cute, he just laid there playing with his Scout dog, I thought that maybe he would fall asleep faster if I left the room, so I got up and went to the door, as I was closing it N* sat up and started to cry, so of course I went back and laid with him till he fell asleep, it actually only took another 3 minutes. Then I did a few things around the house while he slept. He was up 1 hour later, and had lunch, seriously this little guy eats, it is soooo nice to see, he just love to eat all he gets, and there's nothing picky about him, I wish T* was like that, she is always so picky about what she wants to eat and it's always the same things over and over again, sooo annoying!!
After lunch, N* and I played around a bit, I folded the laundry, then we got all ready to go pick up T* from school. He chatted away in the backseat most of the way there, so cute to hear that again. Got to the school, a little later than I should have, so not used to all the things you have to get ready for a little one anymore, put him in his stroller, got T*, who was totally happy to see N* there and had to bring all her friends over to see her cousin. Then while I talked to some of the other moms, T* went sledding down the hill while N* watched. He loved it, it was so cute, he kept pointing at the kids and doing his little chatter. When we were finally getting ready to leave, I put him in the car and he started to cry, until I got T* in and he realized that she was coming too, so sweet. So we got home, they played for a little bit and then N*'s dad came to get him. All in all it was a really nice day, but it made me realize how much I miss having a baby in the house......maybe one day there will be another one, fingers crossed!

Procrastination

It seems as if it is something that runs in my family. Is it possible that there is a genetic glitch that causes my family to be like this?? Who knows but it's nice to think that there is someone or something else to blame for being a procrastinator. No matter what it is I seem to be bent on waiting till the last possible minute to do it. I don't know why, and I don't do it for everything all the time. I do procrastinate enough that it cause me problems. Which is funny, you would think that if I could make things easier for myself, I would sit my arse down and get it done, but you would be wrong.... Even now I am procrastinating, just by writing this, I know there are things around the house that need to be done, but instead I am sitting here writing in my blog. I'm not even really writing about anything interesting........ Ahh well, never do today what you can put off till tomorrow....... Maybe one day I will just get down to it and get things done..... Maybe I'll start today..... nahh it can wait till tomorrow.......

Feeling.....lost

I'm not sure what it is, maybe the weather, maybe the after Christmas blahs. Lately I just feel really out of it and rather down. I try not to, I look on the bright side as much as I can, it just seems so hard sometimes. I have had problems with depression in the past but ever since I got pregnant with T* it has pretty much just stayed away. Now it seems like it's coming back at times. I really don't want that, it's not something that I want to go through again. I really feel for all those out there that have depression, I know what it feels like to feel that you just want to be gone and have it all over with. I know that everyone experience sadness at times, but it's a totally different feeling to be depressed. It's like you are drowning in your own mind, if feels like you could stand in a room full of people that you know and still be totally alone. It's not something that you want to feel, but it's hard to get over it. I don't think I have hit the lows that I used to, now I am able to pull myself out of it after a little bit of time, I am so thankful for T* and R*, as well as my really close friends, the ones that I can turn to with anything, if it wasn't for them this would be a lot harder. I hope that with the warmer weather, hopefully soon to come, things will look up again. Remember, call those people that are close to you just to chat, call that friend who seemed a little down the other day, just having someone to talk to for a little while makes all the difference!

Holidays are over

The holidays are finished, T* had her first day back to school today. It's so cute how much she enjoys school. When she got up this morning she told me that she hadn't been able to sleep, she kept waking up every hour, it was soo funny the way she said it. She's very happy to be back at school with all her friends, although all I have gotten since I picked her up after is nasty attitude. I'd like to say it's just cause she's tired but I don't think that's the case, she's been getting pretty lippy lately (well, she always has been but lately it's a bit more). I'm not sure if she is just going through a phase or what is going on. I haven't been able to figure out how to get her out of the attitude. I'm not really sure what to do about it. I wish there was just a button to push that would make her my sweet little girl all the time. I am sooo not looking forward to the teen years when I never get to see the sweet girl anymore. I am hoping that she wont be that bad. I want to have the kind of relationship with her where I feel a part of her life, a part that she is happy with. Who knows right, maybe she will be a great teen, maybe she is getting it all out of her system now... I can only hope.
After school T* had her first ballet class after the holidays, so it was a pretty busy day after 2 weeks of mainly relaxing. She enjoyed ballet as well. I love watching them, they look so cute in their little leotards. They are going to be in 2 productions this term, so that will be fun to see. I love being able to see real progress from T*, having something I can look at that shows me how far she has come.
I'm still home till I find a new job, unless I can finally find something that I can do at home, that's my dream. I would love to be able to work at home, never have to worry about going somewhere else to work, it would be great!! I have got a head cold now so it's not all that great. I hope it's gone soon, I hate being sick, nooo fun!

Happy 2010!!

I can't believe that's it's already 2010, it seems like it was just the beginning of 2009 last week. This last year has gone by sooo fast! It wasn't too bad of a year, it was alright. There were a few things that happened that I wish hadn't but over all it was pretty good. I'm looking forward to making this year even better. So many things that I would like to be able to get done this year and I hope I can do it! I didn't really make any resolutions, just have things in my mind that I want to do this year. I find that no matter what if you try and make resolutions they never seem to happen, you just never seem to get any of them done, but if you just have the idea of somethings, and don't try and force it you will accomplish a lot more.
We had a pretty good New Year's Eve. The 3 of us went over to some a friends house. The kiddies were all up insanely late, it was pretty crazy, but I figure it only happens once a year, they got to ring in the New Year with us and they had a great time. It was nice to just hang out, have a couple drinks and talk. I think I enjoy that more than I do going to a great big party. Usually if we go out we only go to a house party anyways which is a lot nicer than going to a club, at least that's how I feel anyways. All in all a good night! I hope you all had a great New Years as well. All the best in the coming year!!!

New Author:
Shanna Swendson: She writes these books that I kind of call a bit Harry Potter, but for the older crowd. They have romance, and a bit of suspense, a bit of humor. I'm totally enjoying the series, although I haven't read the first one, they haven't got it at the library here so I haven't found it yet. I have read the other 3 though, I totally enjoy them, a very good read.

Christmas

Well, the Christmas rush is finally over. I have noticed that with a child it seems to last a lot longer than it did before, there are so many people that you have to get together with, so many friends who also have kids. I think this year we have had about 5 'Christmases' so far and there are still a few more friends that I haven't seen yet. Even though I know T* is being spoiled, I don't really mind, she's our only child so I figure why not?
This month has been great. We had my family Christmas, all my Aunties and Uncles and cousins. I love getting together with my family, we always have such a good time. This Christmas was great too because we got to see one of my cousins who lives in British Columbia, because he lives there we don't get to see much of him so it was a really great surprise to have him here. It was a great time had by all. We all get along really well, we talk about all kinds of things together, I never feel out of place with any of my family, they are truly great! All of us (the adults) get something for all the little ones and they all go crazy over their gifts, ripping a tearing all the paper off. Then for the adults we do the best thing. Each couple buys 1 or 2 gifts that can be for a guy or a girl, wrap it up and then we put them all in a pile. We each pick a number (depending on how many presents there are) and whoever gets the number 1 goes first, that person chooses a gift and opens it, the next person can either steal that gift or choose a new one. The game goes on like that with everyone trying to get the presents that they want, it's a total blast! We put a $30 spending limit on the gift so you don't go all crazy with anything, I think its actually more fun trying to figure out what to get that way, you not only have to get something that's not really expensive but you also have to try and find something that anyone would like to get. Gift baskets are a good one, most people will be happy with one, you just have to come up with a theme, then go find it all, and home made gift baskets are much better than store bought ones. This year was actually pretty quite for the gift game, there wasn't a whole lot of stealing, oddly enough we were kind of disappointed that the game didn't last too long. We had a great time though, catching up and hanging out.
R*, T* and I had another Christmas with my brothers and their families, we tried to save money this year by doing secret Santa's, though we all knew who was buying something for who, it was still nice, it gave us all a chance to figure out what the other person really wanted, then we all just hung out and relaxed.
T* had her Christmas pageant at school the week before holidays started, it was so cute, her class (senior kindergarten) and the junior kindergarten class were all together singing Do a Deer and Rock Around the Christmas Tree. They were so cute to watch. T* always looks so shy when she is on stage for the pageant, she sat really still and didn't move very much, you could see her moving a bit but they were very soft movements, she was singing too, though it was probably pretty quiet. The last day of school had us going to a Christmas party at one of her friends houses, the kids had a blast and even got a visit from Santa. He was great, he read them The Night Before Christmas, got pictures with all of them, and he just did a great job with it. T* was hilarious, I had taken her to get her picture with Santa at the mall the week before so when it was her turn to sit on his lap at the party, she puts her hands on her hips, looks at him and says, 'I already got my picture with you!', but she still sat on his lap, let all of us moms take pictures but then Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she got all indignant, looks at him and says 'I already told you that don't you remember??' Santa was great and recovered quickly, telling T* that he just wanted to make sure she hadn't changed her mind. He really was a great Santa, apparently he has been playing Santa for friends and neighbours for about 30 years. It was a great kids party, even all of the parents had a good time.
After the party T* and I had to run off to her dress rehearsal for ballet. It's so cute to watch all the little kids dancing in their little costumes. This is the first year T* has been in a Ballet school that does a huge production with all different age and grade levels. It was really cool seeing the older girls dance in their toe shoes. T* though it was really neat to see it, even asking me if she would ever get to dance in those kind of shoes. I told her she just has to stick with ballet and one day when she is older then she will have toe shoes. It pretty neat to think that even though she is only 5 she has been dancing for 2 and a half to 3 years. She loves it, any time you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up she says a ballerina princess, and has been saying that since she was 3.
Christmas eve T* put out her milk and cookie for Santa, she was so funny this year, soooo excited about doing that, last year it wasn't a big deal but this year she was so excited to leave it out for him. She had gotten this little Ziploc baggie from her teacher that had (reindeer food) in it from her teacher (it was oats and some silver glitter), she was to put it out Christmas eve so that the reindeer could find their way to our house, we had R* put it out by the windows so that we could see it sparkle. Then we checked the Santa Tracker to see where Santa was and T* played some of the games before going to bed. Christmas day saw us with R*'s parents, sister and her husband and son. T* was up bright and early, running into our room and yelling 'Mommy, Daddy come look what Santa got me!!' She is always so happy Christmas morning, it so cute to watch her face light up as she opens her gifts. I really love Christmas, I would be totally happy not getting anything but just watching other people open their presents with a smile.
Last year I started this thing with T* that I am happy to see has stuck with her. Before any holidays where presents are involved T* and I go through all her toys and get rid of the things she doesn't play with or the things she has more than one of, then we put them all together and give them to a second hand store. It's our way of helping others that might not be able to get many things. It makes me feel really great to know that my daughter is able to think of others at a time like this. She has actually started bringing it up on her own. Randomly throughout the year she will tell me 'Mommy, I think we should go through my toys and give them to kids who don't have much', it's great to see. I would like to find a place that actually just gives the toys to kids but I don't know if there is anywhere.
All in all this has been a great Christmas. I am actually writing this from the comfort of my couch on my new laptop! My Christmas present from R*, I love it!!
I hope you all had wonderful Christmases too!!

Commercial love

I don't know what it is about Whiskas commercials, for some reason they just make me laugh like crazy. I enjoyed the ones with the people pretending to be cats, my favorite out of those ones was the guy pretending to be a kitten. But my all time favorite commercial by whiskas now has to be the tee time one, it cracks me up every time I see it so I thought I would share it with everyone, just in case you haven't seen it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV4WjCM2S_c
Enjoy!

Lost in a good book

For the last month or so I have been rather busy, lots of places to go, things to get done, and that kind of thing. I have had all kinds of things that I have been trying to work on, projects that I want to do. For some reason though I have spent a lot of time with my nose in a book. I just can't seem to get enough these days, I keep finding new authors that I just love, different styles of writing, different subjects, though in some ways I guess they are all mysteries in one way or another. So I though that I would share some of my new favorite authors with everyone. Like I said they are pretty much all mysteries, and all very good.

Rhonda Pollero : Her F.A.T Mystery series is great, I have read all 4 of them and can't wait till she writes more. They are a lot of fun.
Victoria Laurie : Sooo much fun to read both series that she writes, I've read most though not all of hers. Everything that I have found at my local library has been devoured by me lol.
Madelyn Alt : The Bewitching Mysteries, very interesting reading. Totally worth a look. It's kind of neat reading about 6th sense and that sort of thing, they way you feel certain things for certain reasons.
Katie Fforde : I guess these aren't really mystery, they are actually romance and very good ones at that. They are a lot of fun to read because no one in them is the perfect person, every gets things wrong and acts like a knob at times but you still get your happy ending. I love them!
Victoria Holt : I'm surprised that I never stumbled onto her books before. They are a little odd, but still a good read. I guess she actually wrote under a number of different names but I haven't read any of the other ones yet.
Julie Kenner : Seriously, her Demon Hunting Soccer Mom series is hilarious! I love reading them. She throws all these day to day problems of a stay at home mom in with hunting and fighting demons, soooo funny. It still has the sad parts of parenthood and couple hood in it, and the edge of your seat parts, just great writing all around.
So those are some of my new favorites. I'm sure I will find more in the next while. Until I stop reading all together (never going to happen) I will always be on the look out for something new to read, or old favorites to go back to.