2.27.2009

Yay Friday!!

Not much has happened around here lately, I'm just looking forward to hopefully a mild weekend and some time with the fam. Maybe we can actually go out and do something. David and Owen are going to the boat show tomorrow with Grandpa, so Ella and I have the morning to ourselves. Maybe she'll want to sleep in. Right. I've done a few scrapbook pages in the last few days.

Paper lo:
Digital LO:

Digital LO:
Digital LO:

Anyway, that's about it for now. I will post some more pictures later.










2.23.2009

It has been a while.

We've been very productive around the house lately. Most recently David and I tackled the bathroom wall tiles ourselves. Because our bathroom reno wasn't exactly budgeted for, we had originally decided to just put up a tub surround(those cheap plastic things that you glue and caulk onto the wall), for the meantime rather than doing the whole bathroom reno right now. Anyway we bought the surround, but it was repulsive. Also, we had just spent the money on the tub and hardware it seems a shame to surround such nice things with such junk. We then decided that we would just have to do the tiles now, this also means putting in a potlight now. So I volunteered to do the tiles. I figured how hard could it be if we research it and plan it properly? David reluctantly agreed and we set out to find the tiles that I had envisioned for our new bathroom. We started putting them up on Saturday night and we finished the tiles last night. Right now David is prepping to start with the grout. We produced a work of art. Our job is almost flawless if I do say so myself. David was the main brain behind the op. I told him what was required by me design wise and precision wise and he figured out the game plan. He squared everything all out with patient, careful planning and I placed them with a pleasure much like I get from scrapbooking. I loved the entire process and am so incredibly proud of us. David does this type of thing all of the time, but for me, this was huge. I have started thinking differently now and there is no lid on my box anymore. I am learning that most of the limitations that Iusually think are the reasons that hold me back, are merely "perceived" limitations much of the time. Anyway the payback on this is huge. We did our tiles for about $400 + our time, which was all enjoyable, I get to get into my tub everytime with pride and I got the bathroom exactly how I wanted it.

Anyway, the rest of the bathroom reno will be saved until we can find the funds. We will be retiling the floor, painting, wallpapering and I am planning on making a new bathroom vanity by ourselves. This will be done once I find what I want. I'm going to start going on the hunt for a piece of furniture that will work as a vanity, we will remove the top or cut a space in the top and either put granite on top and a bowl or fit a bowl on top or in said furniture piece. I want to find something CHEAP(not like particle board cheap)! I might paint it white depending on what the finish is. This way I'm not limited. I might just wait until fleamarket and garage sale season starts. I bet I could find something perfect by the end of summer. I could probably wait that long. We'll see... So this whole renovating experience is so gratifying. We have lived in houses that weren't ours up until this one, and have been patiently waiting in this house until we had the chance to do all of this. We have been together for 9 years this July and this is the first time that we our doing everything our way. I am on top of the world!

On a lighter and funnier note, David came home last night and proudly announced to me that Andrea(David's sister)'s friend had seen a picture of David and asked "who that hottie" was? So David can officially be called a hottie now. He was literally beaming as he told me. Anyway, I keep calling him a hottie now. He laughs it off, but I can tell he's loving every second of it.

SO now, a million pictures to share:

Valentine's day with Nana, Ella proudly showed off her Kinder eggs and her first Barbie. Which incidentily became her first disabled Barbie as well. As Owen was trying to get Barbie's dress off to see if she had any underwear on, he popped off one of Barbie's legs. Luckily Ella was a good sport about it, in fact she even took one for the team. When she got home she popper her other leg off too.
Owen got a Porsche:

Meaghan, I played with the colours for fun:
The following are pictures of Alanna and Zohra as Alanna received the news of Steph's upcoming wedding, Congrats BTW Steph!!!!!
Here's Alanna seconds before she exited the room to hog the news by herself.
Here, Zohra explaining how difficult it was to keep her mouth shut all night (because she knew already):
Alanna in the midst of question tirade: more excited ramblings:
Zohra watching Alanna:

Played around with lighting and colour:

Owen explaining how the closet "is seriously his new bedroom":
Owen showing off his "new room":
Ella:
Owen asking for some cookies:
Owen sulking after his request for cookies was denied:
Settled for a juice box instead:
Daddy tickling Owen with the legless Barbie's hair to cheer him up:
Awww, David and his pup:

OMG!!! David trying to make out with his dog:

Recent "paper" layout, Owen last year at Jill's cottage:

Digital layout that I did based on my 25 random things:
Kids playing restaurant in Ella's room:


And finally, bathroom pics, here, our curved shower curtain rod, finally the stupid mildewy shower curtain won't try to cling itself to me anymore

Tiles (not grouted yet): An hour in the life of Ellie this morning:
This one's my favorite:
Oh and some cute ones I got of Barney today:

2.14.2009

Happy DAy...we have a mini-excavator in our backyard!!

First, here are the last three layouts that I have done. I have been really only been doing digital scrapbooking lately and I am loving the opportunity to learn new skills.




Today, the man who will be working on our septic system dropped off his mini-ex to commence work next week. What a miserable job that will be. Anyway, at least we get to obsess over the machine all weekend. Owen is going to be all over that thing AND he left it unlocked, so maybe if he is lucky, he might get to sit in it. ANyway, I took a bunch of pictures of it for Owen. He loves the scratches and dirt that are all over it I am told. I'm not sure I will ever really understand boys!



Owen checking it out through the window. I propped him up on top of our bureau to look at it. This positioning was a huge thrill for him because it doubled as a deck for him to jump off of onto our bed. What a weasel. I let him sit up on top because he said he would be good, the second I relaxed he seized his opportunity and executed his daredevil jump. He will not be enjoing the mini-ex from this vantage point again! Slippery snake children.
moments before said jump:Here, I think he was devising his plan, it's all over his devil face:
Such a sad little face. Imagine, I was asking him to look at Mommy for a second that took away from his mini-ex viewing time. Poor guy!
He insisted I get a picture of his "cool" tattoo:
So, hopefull we'll get lots done around the house this weekend. No big plans really. The kids and I are going into town for lunch with my mom tomorrow for V-day. Then the plan is to have nice dinner and a yummy dessert at home. Not sure what yet. I am such a slacker. Years ago, I used to plan our v-day meals in advance and try to come up with something festive, not so much anymore.
Family day is on Monday so I am trying to thing of something appropriate to do in celebration of our new holiday. It would be nice to do something as a family that does not include or involve construction in any way. That would probably be a great start. Not that I'm not totally appreciative of everything that's getting done. Just wouldn't mind a break. My house is a disaster.
Yesterday, I came across a short artcle on "toxic stress", that I thought was a good overview of ways to combat it. Here's the link: http://www.canadianliving.com/health/mind_and_spirit/5_steps_to_control_your_worry.php
I think this is helpful for anyone and everyone.
Oh and watched Zack and Miri make a Porno tonight, loved it! Both funny and cute in a porno kind of way. Not to be watched if you're sensitive to the f-bomb, nudity and as many different varieties of words for genitals that you can imagine, all that sort of good stuff. Basically right up my alley. Makes me want to direct porn...kind of.