Ready already!?

3 more days till Christmas, and yet another overnight awake shift tonight...but I'm happy to say, most of my Christmas prep is done. I still have to cook of course, but all the shopping and wrapping is done. All the boards are dead tonight, probably because everyone's still trying to finish with their own stuff. I wonder who actually goes to those midnight madness shopping things. I guess lots of people do. Glad I'm not them.

I have discovered, though, that when you do your Christmas shopping early you tend not to stop. This morning I picked up a car-shaped paper punch from Scrapbooking Cafe for Antonio's stocking, and tonight I finished up an altered paint can for him...and filled it with art supplies. You just keep buying more stuff. It's not as stressful once everyone is bought for, but you still shop. OK, I do anyway.

Antonio's grandparents have sent out their gifts, and once again our tree is looking very well stocked. I'm so grateful for our family. When I think of how many problems people can have with theirs, I'm just glad we get along with ours. Especially at this time of year. Don't mind me...it's getting close to the 25th and I'm already getting sappy.

I'm going to leave a little early for my shift tonight as the roads are kinda crappy, but it's still not quite time. I enjoy the overnights actually. The day before is the hardest part...not knowing if you'll get a chance to nap, or if you'll be able to, or if you'll be able to keep your energy up. But I never seem to have a problem with it. It's quiet for the most part. Just cooking and cleaning, and there's just enough to do so you don't finish too far before the end of the shift...that's when you start to doze off. And I always have a song in my head. Generally I'm always singing a rotation of about 5, but usually it's 1 that keeps playing on repeat in my mind. Wonder what it'll be this week? Hmmm...that new Weird Al rap song has been running through my head a lot today...maybe that'll be it!

Countdown to Christmas

Don's one of those people who get irritated when people put up Christmas decorations early...so our compromise is the first of December. In my anticipation I have already wrapped some gifts:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I gotta say...my parents ROCK. They just DO.

It's like a family tradition. My dad always happens to be working in the US till right around Christmas, and whatever my mom can't find in Canada, he picks up down there. In 1991 it was a Super Nintendo...we were the first kids on the block to have one! This year, he found IT. Yes, the ONE thing I've been looking for since August...the ONE thing Antonio says he wants...my dad found Flo's V8 Cafe in the first toy store he went into!!! Wahhooooooooooooooooo!!!

We broke in the fireplace and our new fireplace tools. And set off the smoke alarm too! I guess it's a pretty efficient way when all else fails to figure out if the flue is OPEN or CLOSED!

Baked some gingerbread cookies last week, and some PB cookies for Don yesterday...getting into the holiday baking mode now! We've almost finished our shopping but still have to put things together, get them wrapped and send them off.

Antonio's pinkeye is better but now he's got the 24-hour flu. At least, I HOPE it's only 24 hours!!! It breaks my heart to see him sick. I had him with me all day and once he had his Gravol he thought he was all better and wanted food, but I couldn't give him any...I couldn't even eat anything myself, I just felt too guilty!!! And of course, he was totally uninterested in the Pedialyte. Hope he's himself again tomorrow morning!


Made a couple more LO's recently, just for fun. One for a KC challenge, one for a personal challenge...I think the main reason I picked up some of those BG LilyKate papers last summer was because I wanted to force myself to come up with a way to use papers that appear impossible to incorporate into any LO. Because I knew that once I figured out that way, the results would probably be surprisingly stunning.

I think my new favourite scrapbook product line is My Mind's Eye. Holy freaking wow the Bohemia and Signature series...and the new Magnolia line Scrapbooking Cafe just got in...this stuff was totally made for me!!! But then again...who can ever pick a favourite?!

I can't believe I'm still talking about this....

I decided after last week's choir practice that I'm giving up going early. I'm leaving to get there on time and relying on the power of prayer alone to find me a parking space.

So Antonio caught something from a kid at his daycare this week. Antonio actually doesn't get sick all that often, as kids go. But we got to spend Wednesday night in the walk-in clinic. Then on Thursday Don woke up with the same thing...so he went to the clinic straight from work, then I got to pick him up, and by the time we filled his prescription and I dropped them off, it was 7:18. Choir starts at 7:30. I took a deep breath, prayed to God to find me a parking space, and not only did I make every green light along the road to church, but lo and behold, right across the street from the church was an empty space on the edge of the street I could drive right into. Okay. I guess God wants me to stay in choir!!!

Tones is already feeling better...Don says he is too, but still sounds hoarse. I'm feeling fine. Just tired.

Antonio likes to watch this super adorable show on Treehouse called Wonder Pets, and they sing this cute little song...yet every time I hear it I can't help thinking it sounds a lot like "Underpants, Underpants, we're on our way..." don't mind me. I'm sleepy and my mind is grasping for silly stuff!

Warning: Petty Venting Ahead

I'm soooo sorry, I just have to get this off my chest, as whiney and ridiculous as it probably sounds. But something needs to be done about the parking situation at choir practice. I shouldn't have to leave an hour early for somewhere a 10-minute drive away only to circle the block for 20 minutes in downtown Ottawa. By the time I actually find a space I've been cursing out loud to myself to the point where I've ruined my voice and any sense of spirituality I hoped to bring in with me. I try to be the person who can see the humour in everything, who doesn't let petty things irritate me, let alone ruin my whole evening...but parking is waaaaaay up there. I WANT to be in the choir. It has always been a source of inspiration in the past and a service to God in a way I feel I'm suited to...but Thursday nights have been more stress than inspiration, and in my extra busy schedule I'd be lying to say the thought of dropping it altogether hasn't crossed my mind. Lord forgive me that I let something like this stop me from enjoying something I have always loved in the past. But I know I'm not the only one in the choir who feels this way.

In lighter news, I have discovered a serendipitous new way to use my Xyron 150. I was in the middle of trying to put my Cosmo Cricket chipboard letters through it, and I guess Xyron doesn't like chipboard too much, because the adhesive paper tore in the process, and when I tried to pull it through, it tore right across, so that only the clear stuff was coming through. At first I thought I'd broken it, but then I realized the roll of adhesive paper underneath could now be unwrapped the same way as regular tape. So I just opened it out and stuck all my letters on it directly. It worked just as well, and in fact, wastes a lot less adhesive because you can position your letters closer together and don't have to tear any excess off at the end. Cool!!!

I haven't been called for any casual shifts this weekend and am relieved. I need this break. Don's out getting more blinds to put up in our windows...I don't know if I can count on one hand the amount of times he's had to return blinds over the past 24 hours for some reason or another. But he's like me...once he starts something, he's not going to let anything stop him from finishing it! Helpful hint: expect everything you buy from big home renovation stores to have at least one missing piece or pieces that don't work they way the instructions say they're supposed to.

I've realized also that scrapping on a DT is quite different from regular scrapping. You're still always trying to do your best work, but now there are more specific rules about what you can and have to use in your pages. And all of a sudden, I can't just say "whatever" when my printer decides to put streaks through everything...it's off the the photo console at Wal-Mart! No more dollar-store rhinestones, no matter how cool I think they'd look on my LSS page...if she doesn't carry it, I can't use it. Except for ribbon...whew! And one of the biggest differences is I feel like I'm spending so much more time scrapping, and can't post anything. Here I've included my Guest DT pages as I've already posted them over at KC, but I don't know when it'll be safe to post my Scrapbooking Cafe pages. I don't even know if they're up in the store yet, so I'm not going to post them until I know for sure it's ok...she hasn't said we couldn't post them elsewhere, but it would be the courteous thing to wait till they've had their stint in the store first. I even threw in an old LO at the top to break up the space. And because it seemed to go well with the topic.

Once upon a time...

Rambo and an elf princess took a double-decker bus to the ball...


...and when all was done, the princess rode in her golden carriage to a Halloween crop. OK, so it was a Hyundai Accent. It was still gold.

She had a fabulous time and was super happy to break in her new DT kit.

Which, I must add, was totally spectacular this month. Not that it wasn't last month...but we really got spoiled this time. So I got this cool idea to make a mini-album out of my Cosmo Cricket chipboard box...and now have come to realize there are going to be more pages in it than there are days to finish it. So I've set a goal of one page at least per day...preferably more, as I'll still need time to put them in somehow, and alter the box itself. And make my 2 12 X 12's. Got one of those started this weekend...so far, so good!

It's lucky I got most of my KC Guest DT pages done before November started. Now all I have left to work out is ScrapQuest...which should be fun. Looking forward to it!

Here's some trick-or-treating pics:

The Stones reunion tour...uggggh

So ya remember that crazy day of work I had ahead of me last time I was blogging? After I'd stayed up till 2 in the morning? It didn't happen. Why? A most unwelcome comeback. Another friggin' kidney stone!!!!!!! My only advice about those is DON'T freaking get them. This is the second time I've had one and I actually had to call the ambulance from work. I'm not going into any details about the pain or anything...other than to say when I was finally discharged from the hospital it was with a handful of prescriptions for painkillers and such. Don came down to see me and spent the whole day with me...he was absolutely amazing. Of course, he had to go through this with me last time as well, so I guess we both have practice.

Anyway...I don't really wanna talk about that anymore, other than to say I hope I passed it and don't have to deal with it anymore. It's Sunday and I feel ok, and haven't had any painkillers today...I have too many commitments right now to deal with this again...ummm, on second thought, no. It doesn't matter how many commitments you have. The laziest bum on the planet still doesn't have time to deal with kidney stones. No one does. Don't get them. On a brighter note, I had an awesome day in Montreal and then had an online crop at KC to post challenges to today as well. I even scrapped a layout just for FUN!!! Haven't done that in like a month!

About the only thing I did manage to get done on Friday was before work I dropped off my DT projects at Scrapbooking Cafe. Lucky I opted to do that FIRST...or I'd not have gotten them in at all. Now that that's done, and the crops are done, I can get into the Halloween costume making mode. I even started Antonio's double decker bus tonight. Need more duct tape.

What the 80's didn't teach me

Just Say No.

Apparently I can't do it.

My first LSS DT projects (2 LO's and a set of altered cans) are due tomorrow (actually Saturday, but I'm cropping in Montreal all day). Oh, and also sketches, supply lists, and instructions for all 3. This morning, I still wasn't finished my last LO. Oh well, I planned to do it tonight and hand it in Friday afternoon no problemo.

Well, I got called in to work a 3-11 tomorrow. And I can't say no.

Okay...so I'll hand in my projects BEFORE I go to my morning job. We're still good.

So anyways, I'm sitting in the dealership waiting for my routine maintenance check, hoping to relax with a can of Pepsi and The Fellowship Of The Ring before I go pick up Tones. Suddenly, I get called in last minute for a 5-11 TONIGHT. And I can't say no.

Okay...so I'll just tell the on-call I'll be a few minutes late, call Don to tell him I'm out tonight, call Don back to get the number for church so I can call and get the number for the choir director to tell him I won't be there tonight for practice...the car's done...Tones is dropped off at home...and I'm on my way to work an evening shift when actually I should be scrapbooking! Oh well, I'll just finish up the last LO tonight, print off the instructions and supply lists (which thankfully I finished yesterday) and get those sketches finished up. Still cool.

So I get home and am all set for scrapping mode...and I realize I STILL HAVE THE KEYS FROM MY RELIEF SHIFT IN MY POCKET!!! And since it's a different house than I'll be in tomorrow evening, I can't just bring 'em back then.

Sooooo...I'm speeeeeeding back down into Ottawa and back again when I was hoping to be in my pj's watching Futurama while working on scrapbook sketches!!!

I still haven't finished planning out what pages I'm gonna work on for my Saturday crop, let alone even begun to think about packing for it.

It's almost 2 a.m. and I have to work from 10 to 2, then 3 to 11 tomorrow. Not to mention my regular client is probably not gonna be too impressed that I had to hang up on her today when she called me while I was trying to drive in traffic.

And I have a game to put together for the online crop at KC on Sunday.

Soooooo...what am I doing now?

I'm updating my BLOG!!!!!!!!!

October Rain

Just like last year. Rain rain rain. I think it must have rained almost every day last October, and it's starting to look the same this year. Lucky I'm a BC girl at heart.


At least it was sunny and mild on Thanksgiving Monday. I had thought I'd be working, but found out on Friday that I wasn't...so I got to tag along with Don, Tones & some friends on a beautiful walk through Gatineau Park to Dairy Queen. Gatineau Park is HUGE...this was just a tiny corner where a trail goes from right by our place to a street by the DQ. All those multicoloured Ontario autumn leaves...milkweeds flying all over the place...all the sappy sentimental nature stuff that's fantastic to actually be among but crazy cliché to try and describe to anyone.

So it turns out it was the last day of the season for the DQ...they were taking down signs and putting up other ones with something to the extent of "see you next spring" on them, and they were totally out of vanilla soft serve. Which meant everything you got had to be made with chocolate instead. Oh, the humanity of it all!


There was a huge line up but we all got what we wanted and it was the perfect day for it. Then Tuesday it clouded over and has been like that ever since.

Finished another layout for my challenge on Friday...can't post it till then.

Squandered my allowance at the LSS again...surprise surprise.

Scored a victory for the I'm-a-pretty-cool-mom-after-all side yesterday...on my weekly visit to Toys R Us I found Sarge. The ONE Cars car my son needed to complete his Disney Cars collection...and I FOUND IT!!! He'll be going into the Christmas stash with Nitro-ade and Leakless...but the important thing is all 16 Cars cars are accounted for now!!! Yeahhhhhhhh!!!

Now, if only I could find Flo's V8 Cafe we'd be cruisin!

I'm off to bed. Sweet dreams all.

I gotta scrap.

Literally.

I actually made up a scrapping to-do list the other night, and over the next 3 weeks I have 7 projects to finish--minimum. Two LO's and an altered project for Scrapbooking Cafe, two more challenges with LO's for KC, two Circle Journal pages...and I'm sure there'll be more too. Of course, it's really not THAT much when you consider I set my yearly goal at 150 LO's. I'm just not used to scrapping under a deadline...but so far I'm not in a panic yet. Just enjoying myself.

Some of them have been started already...and I'm happy with them so far. Here's a sneak peek at my October altered project for Scrapbooking Cafe:

If there was any illusion about shopping less now that I get DT kits...no, I don't think there ever was in the first place. Sure, the paper is just awesome...then you realize you need new ink to match the paper...and ribbon...and that's how it starts.

Meanwhile, after all this talk about "starting early", I still haven't started my son's Halloween costume yet. I have the box...that's all. I could be in trouble...now he says he wants to be a pick-up truck. Then yesterday I asked him again to see if he'd gone back to the double decker bus idea...and he said he wants to be Mack from Cars!!! Okay, okay...the double-decker bus I was willing to try...I thought it all out and saved a box...but a Mack truck??? Even if I made it...he'd never be able to walk in it! I think I'm at the point where I'm going to finish my scrap projects, ask him one more time, and whatever he says THEN will be what he gets. I'll probably try and negotiate him back to the double decker bus...being as that's what I was planning on already.

Ahhhh. Boys.

Double whammy!!!

Alllllll riiiiiiiiiiiiight!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This has been a spectacular week in the scrap department. First of all, the announcement was made yesterday that I have landed a spot on the Kindred Creations Guest DT for the months of October to December (Thanksgiving through Christmas...how awesome is that?!)

And THEN...I just officially found out that I've also made the Scrapbooking Cafe Design Team!!! Holy wow, this has been a wonderful ending to follow yet another 13-hour workday!!! Except of course that I got the call yesterday and since had to wait till this morning to hear the message...but I can't really whine about anything right now, can I?

Last weekend the new Scrapbooking Cafe in Gatineau finally opened and of course I was there. I have to admit I got the impression from the owners I'd already made the team but I never speak before anything is official. I think it was pretty cool that the announcement was made about both DT's on the same day. My scrapping friend Lynne also made the Scrapbooking Cafe team so we'll be on it together...I'm psyched! I think we both are!!!

With these new positions, plus picking up shifts with my casual job, plus being in the church choir, it does appear that I'm taking on a lot all at once. But really, it isn't any more scrapping than I'd already be doing...only now it'll be with kits, and while my LO's wait for me to sort them into albums, they'll be on the LSS walls instead of in a pile on my sewing desk. I think I can do this!

I think I'll try and put together a last-minute birthday card today for a party this afternoon...and I'll probably end up posting my first October challenge on KC tonight at midnight...can you tell I'm excited?!

Here's those Trading Pages pages I was putting together the other week. In an interesting coincidence, the girl I made these for is the OTHER KC Guest designer for October-December!

Slow...down...you're gonna crash...!!!

Well, it's been another of those weeks, where after lots of nothing, everything happens all at once.

MONDAY I had training for my new casual job.
TUESDAY I had more training for my new casual job.
WEDNESDAY I went to my regular job, THEN for my first practice shift at the casual one, 12 hours of work total with 45 minutes in between jobs, mostly spent driving and eating at the same time. But the evening was much more relaxed than the morning...and I also discovered that the group homes in the new company do...of all things you could imagine...SCRAPBOOKING!!!!! I got to spend an hour on Wednesday night looking through the group home scrapbooks and helping them re-organize their supplies. Oh yeahhhhhh...I picked the right place to work for!!!
THURSDAY night I had choir practice.
FRIDAY night was mostly spent making Lightning McQueen out of 2 Cherry Chip cake mixes and 3 cans of icing.



SATURDAY we had Antonio's birthday party...better explained in pictures.












I hope it doesn't make me a lousy mom that I'm not sad that my little boy is growing up. I'm as excited as he is that he's 4!!! I love to see him getting better at things, learning how to do stuff by himself, coming up with the funniest comments...I think it's the coolest thing ever. And when his daycare teacher came to the party on Saturday, he immediately switched to French. It was so cool! I can't ever get him speaking French around here!

SUNDAY I sang in the choir for the first *full* time. Last week was supposed to be my first, but DH had somewhere to be and I had to spend morning practice hour chasing after Tones. Thank goodness people understand what it's like to have a little boy.

It was a nice lazy afternoon for Tones to play with his new stuff and I actually scrapped 2 pages! This evening DH went out again and I even got started on a 3rd!

Random ramblingzzz.....

This evening DH was watching MuchMoreMusic's "Back In..." and the year was 1998. That's the year we were married. And now it's a "Back In". Craaaaaaazy stuff!!!! Seriously...I joke all the time about looking young for my age, but I'm really not THAT old...am I?

I seem to have gotten over my scrappers' block. I started my Trading Pages pages earlier this week and am really happy with how the first one is coming together. Funny how scrapping other peoples' pictures always gets the creativity flowing twice as fast. Some of my favourite LO's have been for Trading Pages! I think I just have to accept that not pumping out 5 LO's a week and actually not running out of stash before I can buy more does not mean I've lost my mojo.

One more week till Antonio's birthday party! I think we've finished getting his presents...except for whatever we get with the money my parents sent us. His DVD player bit the dust last week so he could use a new one, but we've also been eyeing this loft bed from Ikea...he really could use the extra space.

I started choir practice lastnight with the church. It really feels good to be singing again. I just don't feel spiritually fulfilled unless I'm doing something musical. The people were friendly, the music was just challenging enough, the parking situation left much to be desired but I can't complain...I arrived early with a book in my purse. Such are the habits I've adapted to deal with my parking aversion.

Anyway I'm forcing myself to stay up late so I don't wake up at 3 a.m. again, but in the absence of further creative thought, here's some pictures. This is DS last weekend at the French second-run theatre when we saw Cars for the 3rd time (actually, it was "Les Bagnoles"):



We also went to the Museum of Science & Technology again. The Member stickers were supposed to be for the 3 of us, but DS wanted to bring his 2 new friends instead:



Did I ever mention he likes cars?

Still scrapped out....

Well, I didn't make the Scenic Route team. Big surprise there...LOL. It was more just one of those I'm-gonna-kick-my-own-butt-if-I-don't-at-least-submit-something issues. But there is still hope for the Scrapbooking Cafe DT call. They won't be announcing that till later this month. I just hope they got my e-mail ok.

Which makes this next thing sort of uncomfortable to admit...but I have total scrapper's block right now. It's Saturday night, Antonio's out like a light, and Don just took off with a friend to see a late show. I should be scrapping, but I'm sitting here updating my blog. Why don't I feel like scrapping???!!! Sheesh, I don't even have the excuse of no motivating pictures anymore, I just got pictures from my KC Trading Pages partner today and I have to get those done this month. I can't decide if it would be better to scrap and get the momentum going again, or take a few days' break and give myself a chance to miss it a little.

One thing is I can't stand starting something if I can't finish it. And right now I have the stash, I have the pictures, I have some ideas...but I haven't come up with any definite sketches yet. Sometimes that's what takes the longest. And I usually find my best pages are the ones where somewhere in the middle of figuring out sketches I get a creative spark, and scrap like crazy from start to finish while the spark's still fresh. The big problem is I can't deal with being interrupted in the middle of scrap mode. I'm afraid by the time I get the spark Don will be 10 minutes from walking in the door.

I think I'm going to go make some sketches and see what happens.

Update: Looks like I managed to scrap tonight after all. Thanks to Canadian Scrapbooker magazine and the inspirational pages of a scrapper named Manon Dufour, I found some mojo and finished this one off:

All scrapped out

Whew. I'm exhausted. I just e-mailed in my submission for the DT call at my LSS. 8 LO's, 3 altered projects, an essay and a bio...why am I so nervous??? In related news, there are but 24 hours left to get the call for the Scenic Route DT...hey, a girl can dream, right??? Here's a new page I made yesterday.



I actually joined ScrapSubmit last week and submitted one page to a magazine already! One small step for scrapper...well, we'll see if I get any e-mails about it. I have decided if I am going to start submitting layouts for publication, I'm not going to let page calls dictate my style or scrap habits. If I happen to make a page that works for a particular call, I may just send it in. But I'm not about to start nitpicking about neatness and stuff...I already spend so much time scrapping that I can't keep my house neat. You should see it after finishing up all my DT submission projects!!!

Oh, and another cool thing happened last weekend...for the first time in our 8 years of marriage, we went camping together! Just for the weekend, with some friends of ours and their kids, but I really think we all needed that. I mastered the art of perfect marshmallow roasting in the dark and Antonio slept beautifully in the tent. It was a tad chilly, this not being BC where it's still summer till mid-October, but the lake wasn't swimmable anyway so whatever. Very beautiful though! Here's some pictures:

I start early.

Just like the stores do. It's quite standard for me to be planning out Halloween costumes in August. What can I say? I like to make my own, and that takes TIME. Especially when your son comes up with the strangest costume ideas. Last year was the first year we let him choose his own costume. He said he wanted to be a cat...a green cat. And it wasn't just a one-time deal. Every time we asked him, he was adamant about the green cat. So that's what he was. This year he says he wants to be a double-decker bus...NOW do you see why I like to start early??? I have no clue how I'm gonna pull this one off...well, making it's the easy part. Making it something he can WALK in...that's another story.

And yes, I dress up too. Since I started trick-or-treating, there have only been 2 Halloweens I didn't dress up for, both to my disappointment. Sometimes for work, sometimes for school, sometimes for taking kids around, wheher my own or someone else's...I love to dress up! I've been everything from Princess Jasmine to Axl Rose to that girl from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom...that one was when I was 7. I was the only girl in my entire Brownie troop that no one could guess what my costume was. As a rule I don't normally like to do the same costume twice in a row...but last year during my Fabricland days I managed to recreate my favourite dress from the Lord Of The Rings movies as a sort of sewing project...complete with cape and hood...and I would so love to wear it again. Plus it'll give me more time to work out a double-decker bus!!!

Having said that, I don't totally understand why STORES need to start as early as they do. If you're buying your costume premade, why do you need it 2 months in advance? Or candy and decorations for that matter? Unless you're one of those people who re-does their whole house for Halloween. Where do you people live? I wanna trick-or-treat at your place!!!

We did it! (insert Dora music here)

That's right. The mortgage has finally gotten final approval, and the house is OURS!!! In Quebec you can move in as soon as you make the down payment, so we still had stuff to finish up even after we moved in. But it's all done now. All we gotta do is pay the bills and not trash the place. Yeah!!!!!

We went out to the Chinese buffet to celebrate. They have different stuff on weekday nights than they do during lunchtime. Tried these little mini-pizzas that were actually made on what looked like wontons...they were actually pretty good! Not to mention this is one of only the 2 places we've found in the Ottawa/Gatineau area that has acceptable sushi.

Bought Antonio's birthday gift the other day...the Cars computer game. Shhhhhh, don't tell him. Oh, and I bought something for myself too. No, it's not MY birthday...but I finally found a copy of Punky Brewster Season Three on DVD!!! Yes, THIS is the extent of my wild and colourful life...getting giddy over box sets of 80's TV shows. But hey, Punky was one of my very first obsessions...I practically WAS her. Hey, who am I kidding, WAS???

Looks like another Wednesday has come and gone and we still haven't gotten rid of these boxes in the front hall. Arrrrrg. Don knows someone who wants them, but he only sees him on Wednesday nights. I never thought I'd ever say this, but I actually want to start organizing things in my house! Yep, you heard it from me. But don't expect it to become a habit.

Say it with pictures, Episode II

And the tour continues....



The laundry room. Also the storage room. Bigger than you'd expect in a condo, but not as much storage space as our last apartment, so it's a bit cramped. Can't complain, because it saves us a lot of elevator riding.



Our room from the doorway. I tried to take one of the whole window but the flash was arguing with me.



My scrap area, set up in our room. Pretty much the same as the old one but with more natural light. As you can see I've already been scrapping.



This is what you see out of our big bay window. Beyond those trees is Gatineau Park. You can also see Antonio's playground. He loves that.



Antonio's room. Quite a bit smaller than his last room, even without the slidey climber thing, even with the second storage room shelf. I think it's high time to donate some of his old toys. He doesn't seem to mind, though...hey, there's a playground out back!!!

And that's our new place. We're still loving it, though I'll be loving it more when we get rid of all the empty boxes in the front hallway, and actually get stuff on the walls. Don doesn't want to put stuff up till we're totally sure we have things arranged the way we like them, and we can't really arrange things the way we like them till we get rid of all these BOXES...oh well, there's time.

Say it with pictures

So here's your tour of the new place. I won't bother to apologize for the mess, 1) because we just moved, 2) because I'm fostering no illusion that the place would be any neater if we hadn't, and 3) because on the off chance that you're a clutterbug like myself and don't find this that much of a disaster, it won't give you any insecurities!



This is the view from out our front window. You can see our tree, and also our car (next to the red one).



Our living room setup.



Our computer desk/digital piano. This frees up the old computer desk for use as my sewing table. This was Don's stroke of creative genius and not my own...as much as I'd like to lay claim to the idea.



The hallway from the front entrance.



The kitchen. We've been living for over a week here and still haven't used the dishwasher. I guess living without one for a while forces one to learn not to dirty an entire cycle's worth of dishes within a day. BTW those ones in the rack are CLEAN!

Somehow I can't seem to get any more pictures on here today, so that's it for now.

Dreaming beneath the branches

Saturday morning I awoke with trees outside my big bay window. The air was moist and you could feel it on your skin, and you could smell the forest...it felt like we'd been camping. But it was just our new house.

I can not properly express how much in love I am with this new home. Windows on both ends...a through draft and more natural light. Antonio doesn't have the cars out his window anymore, but he does have a playground...and it's not quite the drop it was at the last place. You can see the path, the field, the forest at the edge of Gatineau Park...and all night long at a surprisingly loud volume...crickets. Lots and lots and lots of crickets. They've been singing each night since we first slept here.

We have a real kitchen. We have our table in there. We have a dishwasher and a food pantry!
We have a woodburning fireplace and a mantle.
We have trees outside the front and back windows.
We have big closets. And a linen closet...in the bathroom!
We have a blue tiled shower and taps that work well.
We have our own laundry room with a handwashing sink!
And a playground. A place for Tones to ride his bike.
A Dairy Queen just down the street.
Shopping and a movie theatre a 3 minute drive away!
A parking space you can walk to in under a minute...no extra keys required.
And it's nice and cool inside...even when the oven is on...because the kitchen is separate!

We shopped at the Loblaws on Sunday morning, and found a printer almost exactly like the one we have, only it was on sale for $57!!! Had to pick that up, being as we'd allotted some of my parents' housewarming money for that purpose anyway...now we'll just have more to spend on other things like a ceiling fan and new curtains...which I can't wait to start making!!!

This place really feels like home. I love it here. This is probably normal for a new homeowner, they probably call it the honeymoon phase or something like that, whatever. I just feel more at peace than I have in a long time. This isn't just some concrete shoebox to keep furniture in, this is OUR home. And no concrete walls either!

And it's so easy on frazzled nerves to fall asleep to a chorus of crickets and wake up with nothing but green leaves out your window.

I like to move it move it....

Friday is The Day. Looks like our crazy weekend of faxing back and forth with my parents actually paid off...Monday night we made our down payment, and were handed The Key!!! So for 2 days, I've been using the window of time between when work finishes and when Tones needs to be picked up, to start moving things. You know, stuff like coats and lamps, and those inevitable odd-shaped decorations that don't fit into any normal sized box. Today I lucked out...brought up a shopping cart to my apartment, and someone had left one on the 15th floor too, so I filled BOTH of them and transported a good haul today.



Then I got a call on my cell...looks like I landed another relief job!!! All right!!!!!

I started to make poutine for dinner only to realize I packed all my baking sheets. Arrrrrg. So I had to cook my fries in 2 casserole dishes instead. No biggie. It was still delicious.

I gotta say, last week and *most* of the weekend were VERY stressful. There's a reason I couldn't sleep and wasn't hungry. Monday I was even having shortness of breath, which I never have gotten before. Getting the keys on Monday night certainly was a big relief.

However, Saturday was a break from it all when I met a new friend Lynne from Kindred Creations and also her friend Carr, for an all-day cropping event! I also found out on Sunday that THIS LAYOUT of mine:

...won the very first Scrapper Of The Week contest at Scrapbooking Cafe's new website! Which entitled me to 10% off everything I buy this week. Lynne was kind enough to e-mail me and tell me they were having a 50% off sale, so Monday I headed on down only to find out it was 50% off EVERYTHING in the store...and therefore 60% for me!!! I took the opportunity to reload on rub-on alphas and 3 cans of KI Alphabet Soup...that stuff is so cool and I could never afford to do this any other time!!! Needless to say I'm in major need of letters for my layouts as I have often depended on my computer to help me in that department...and our printer has gone on us.

What else is cool...Lynne mentioned to me about another new and awesome scrapbooking website called Scrapbook Star and it's based in Montreal. So I go over to check it out...and not only are there a lot of familiar KC faces, but one of the new DT members is my friend Kris from Alberta...my son's godmom, actually! How cool is that?! And to top it off, it's my very first week there and my contest-winning layout has also been chosen as the featured page of the week on the Scrapbook Star homepage!

I'm feeling a lot more relaxed this week. So much good has happened, and I regret that I was feeling so stressed out when itall began that it's taken this much to pull me out of it. I can't wait to get settled in our new place and start scrapping again!!!