Confused? Yah, me too. Just kidding, I have been sick lately and absolutely tired. Haven't recovered yet from the holidays. I managed to get myself pretty stressed out despite making a lot of effort to simplify the season for our fam. Anyway, I have been feeling sick for a God-awful amount of time now and so I can't help but be a bit complainy. I do have to stress however how much I realize how blessed I am in the big picture, and I remain grateful and appreciative of everything I have in my life right now, hence the bizarre post title. the "crew": One major reason to be grateful right now, is my trip to Peurto Vallerta, Mexico with my best girlfriends for one of our "crew"'s wedding. I am very much looking forward to it and I think it will be the beginning of a fantastic chapter in my life and this new year. I just turned 30 about a week and a half ago and I am really certain that it will only get better from here. I think this is going to be a huge year for me on a personal growth level and I am so ready for it. I am stressing a little ( a lot) about being away from my kids and David for that long and the likelyhood of some homesickness. I am also terrified of airplanes and have not been on or around one since 2000. Actually. It was the trip that did me in. Australia. Enough said. Love the country, absolutely stunning, just loathed getting there and back. What I especially loathed, was the fact that not only did we have to take like 4 flights to get to the place, we flew all over the frigging place once we were there. I think I remember taking something like 50 take offs and landings in the month that we travelled. No biggy...if you don't, like, really truly believe that you're going to die every single time you happen to take off or land in a plane. You guessed it...I really truly believe that I'm going to die every single time I happen to take off or land in a plane. Yup, that's me, I'm that girl. The good thing is that it dulls down to a somewhat bearable general sense of dread once we are in the air, but the anxiety doesn't go away because I know about the whole landing thing that is inevitably going to happen. None of this would even be that bad if it weren't for the fact that the low-grade terror keeps me from being able to get out of my seat(even to go to the bathroom, I just don't go), or sleep, or look out the window(it's just so unnattural for this huge machine filled with hundreds of people to be gliding and propelling its way through the air, tens of thousands feet above the ground). Then there was the "incident" that occured mid-flight over the Pacific, going the opposite way of the sun for the entire flight (ie, pitch blackness the entire time) on our way to Australia. It was an incident that both completely solidified my loathe for flight and proved my ineptness in the face of crisis in one fell swoop that came in the form of a man collapsing. Let me set the stage first, I was actually the only person around me that I could see that was awake for miles on the plane. I was miserable, exhausted, and watching "Ninth Gate" of all things (a horror movie), when all of a sudden I notice a rustling behind the sheet that acts like a second smell barrier(I'm assuming) that is in front of the bathroom door. Suddenly a man falls through the curtain, BAM, flat onto the floor on his face. Doesn't move. Nor do I. It was probably only a few seconds, but it seemed like an eternity that I sat there in sheer terror, paralyzed with fear, both because of the shock and the watching of a horror movie, staring at the man which I believed to be a corpse, at this point. It was then, that rather than get up to help the man(because I was scared he was dead), I clamoured for the attendent buzzer and started whisper yelling "help please!!!!" "help!!!" while frantically pressing said buzzer. They came pretty quickly and it turned out that he had just passed out. Anyway, it was a miserable little lesson that told me that I need to get a hold of myself in crisis. Yikes! HA! One thing I do have to say is that because my step mom travels a lot, she was at the time a part of the AIR Canada VIP lounge, so we got to travel going to all of the lounges in every airport. Lots of free food, booze, showers, comfortable places to relax, games at some of them. It was awesome and honestly made the whole thing so much more bearable for me. Anyway, this time I am hoping to get a prescription for something...maybe horse tranquilizers? Okay so, gazillions of pics and stuff to share: LO of the fam jam on the beach on Owen's bday: Boxing Day at my Dad's and Step Mom's: Christmas Day at my sister in law', David is the freak with his toque on in the background, kinda cute though, because the toque he refused to take off was his new John Deere toque from Owen and Ella: Christmas morning, 5:30, ungodly: Christmas Eve, we watched Elf: December 23, my sister and her bf Alex came over for our Christmas celebration, the kids had so much fun opening the awesome gifts that their Auntie got for them: After dinner, it was Monopoly time, I was the bully fish that kept cornering everyone's pieces. Yay, playing outside: My birthday dinner, my sister and I: Then out to a comedy club after, can't explain everyone's weird faces: Steph's wedding shower: My best friends: Ornaments that I made for Owen's teacher and the kid's babysitter: So finally that's done for sharing old pictures, I have many more new ones and some ScrapMuse stuff to share, but it will have to wait, I am tired now. Good night! ~Tricia
Cards I made for Christmas:
Recent lo:
Bathtime:
Card I made for Steph and David:
Christmas pageant:
Tree Farm:
David lugging our HUUUUGE tree inside:
A little poster I made for my Dad to advertise his jam group on Kijiji:
1.07.2010
I’m a very grateful and appreciative WHINER
Posted by tricia at 1:36 PM 9 comments
2010....Tricia 2.0...a list of new intentions
Happy 2010 blog world!!! I want to make 2010 and my 30th year the best of my life so far! What are your goals? ~Tricia
Labels: 2010, goals, intentions
Posted by tricia at 11:54 AM 9 comments
12.08.2009
New Layout, more December Daily, catch up
It finally snowed here in Ottawa, Canada yesterday and with the snow came my Christmas spirit, thank goodness. It is a perfectly fitting time to share my first layout with you guys from the December kit, which also happens to be a Christmas layout. It is called In Anticipation and it is a picture of my kids and their two cousins last year waiting to open their presents. For this part, I Cut a window through several pages in order to add embellishments with dimension, but still be able to close the book. An added benefit of this is that you get it for a few pages. I just used a craft knife to cut through the layers. The bottom right corner became sort of weak, so I reinforced it by wrapping it up with ribbon. Lots of embossing too. I have sooooo many pictures to share from the last month or two that I have just not had the time to share. Here are just a few: These ones are from back in November, this is a friend and her daughter, Ainslee: Owen and his friend Wyatt, they had on the same Wolverine t-shirts. Here's one I took on the beach on Owen's birthday: Ella: Owen wouldn't get off the slide: Barney, excited to run free: Ella, staring down an approaching neighbour, really friendly face eh? That's better: Black forest cake I made for David's birthday, it was deeelicious: Grandpa and Daddy's combined birthday party: Gingerbread house: A current picture of our house, with windows all done, siding, fascia and soffet and new roof. Now we just need to get the steps done and the landscaping, painting the door and garage and putting up the trim around the door and we will be done all of our outside work: Ella modeling her Christmas dress, $19 at Costco: I also wanted to give an update about this post when back in October I had asked for some words of comfort for my dear friend, whos father was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. He passed away with his family surrounding him in the hospital on November 28. Needless to say, this will be a very difficult holiday season for my friend and her family. I am once again asking for anyone to contribute any kind words for them by leaving a comment on my blog. I will make sure any comments get passed on to her, as I did the last time. It really warmed her heart when complete strangers left comforting words for her. Sometimes, advice from someone who has been there is the best thing for you. Sorry for the long post. Have a great day!!! Tricia
Close-ups:
I have had such a wonderful time using this stunning kit. If you havent checked out ScrapMuse, you definitely should. They have great kits every month. I have not been disappointed.
I wanted to also share two more completed pages of my December Daily. I canèt remember now if I shared the first 2, hmmm. I think I will just re-share what I have so far.
Labels: December Daily, loss, photos, ScrapMuse
Posted by tricia at 9:56 AM 10 comments
12.01.2009
December Scrapmuse Preview
AMAZING!!! So rich and sophisticated. Perfect for Christmas layouts, but not over the top. I love this month's kit and I have absolutely adored working with it so far. So, here is a first look at this month's kit, aptly titled "Glizmas"
Here is the supply list:
Fancy Pants Designs - Christmas Magic - Good Cheer
Fancy Pants Designs -Christmas Magic - Merriest Tale
Fancy Pants Designs - Christmas Magic - Chestnuts Roasting
Pink Paislee - Mistletoe and Co - North Pole
Pink Paislee - Mistletoe and Co - Reindeer Games
Pink Paislee - Mistletoe and Co - Joyeux Noel
Pink Paislee - Mistletoe and Co - Naughty or Nice
Making Memories - Mistletoe - Flocked Snowflake
DCWV - Glitter Cardstock - Black
Bazzill - Varished Cardstock - Cream Swirl
Bazzill - Dotted Swiss - Red Scallop
Pink Paislee - Fetching - Cardstock Stickers
Scenic Route Paper Co - Capital Hill - Upper Case Chipboard Alphabet
Fancy Pants Designs - Glitter Cuts - Snowflake Oval Frame
Shimmerz - Paint - Angel Wings
Prima Marketing Inc - Raja Centers - Aqua (8)
Tim Holtz - Ideology - Film Strip (1 yard)
Maya Road - Chipboard Key Chain - Anticipation Words
Sky Blue Pink - Punchinella - Black Square (1 yard)
Sky Blue Pink - Gold Heart Key
Teresa Collins Designs - Tear Drop Crystal - Blue
fancy Pants Designs - Christmas Magic - Grosgrain Ribbon (1 yard)
candy bar
Here is the add-on this month:

Also, this month we had 6 new designers join the Specialty Design Team at ScrapMuse to work with Missy's new Specialty Kits, they are smaller than the main kit and they are a great price $25 and come with everything you need to make several pages.
Here are the Specialty kits:
"Family Times"

"School Boy"

Awesome stuff eh??? Have a great day!
~Tricia
Labels: ScrapMuse
Posted by tricia at 11:12 AM 2 comments