A New Cousin

Friday evening we went to Auntie Lurdes & Uncle Cliff's house for my Godson Graeme's 3rd birthday. Roberta and the kids were in town this past week. The kids had a blast playing together. I will insert pictures in this blog post but not tonight. I've gone and stayed up way past my bedtime.

Saturday was a quiet lazy day. I even managed to squeeze in a nap while both boys slept. We had pizza for supper and I rented a few movies. Three kids' cartoons Carter hasn't seen and the movie "Zodiac" which I just realized is due back tomorrow night and we still haven't watched it. ::Sigh::

The weather has been stupendous this whole past week. Well, ever since we returned to work from our vacation time. Today I did a little laundry and we headed out to Mom & Dad's for supper. We got to meet our 4th cousin Kent, whose parents and mine traced each other through the family tree. Kent is in the area fighting forest fires and spent his weekend off staying with my parents.

Cindy and her family went too and everyone had a great visit. Chris took Carter fishing for awhile in the afternoon and Carter spent much of the day in the water. He has NO fear, which of course gives me fear.

Mom cooked an outstanding turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Cindy and I each brought a salad - her broccoli/cauliflower salad with cheese, sunflower seeds, raisins (that I pick out), and my oriental salad with coleslaw, homemade oriental dressing, ichiban noodles and toasted slivered almonds.

There was pie for dessert - two varieties; apple and blueberry which I was too full to even consider. I did opt for a very delicious frozen ice/coffee/ice cream/Bailey's drink that Cindy whipped up with the blender. Yum.

Carter wore himself out with all the swimming and other activities of the day and fell asleep on Chris. I fished on the dock with Noah for awhile but I didn't catch anything. He had caught a couple fish earlier (again, I have pictures but I will post them in here tomorrow).

We came home and Carter stayed asleep the whole time and Chris chucked him in his bed. I did the same with Cooper who had fallen asleep on the way home, but he got up for awhile. He had some warm milk and a banana and snuggled back down to sleep.

I chatted with my Amazing Digiscrapping Race partner Vicky and we completed our Challenge #4 layouts. Here is mine...we had to use the letter "G" - it had to be prominent in the layout and we had to use the word "goal".

ADSR Challenge #4

Here are a couple other pages I worked on this weekend. One for LaWanna's creative team and one for Nina's. I used the latest kit for each designer.

Big Shoes to Fill - "Hello Sunshine" kit by LaWanna Desjardin

My new favourite layout using Nina's "It's a Boy Thing" kit

Oh Yeah...I Forgot...

...forgot to mention in my marathon blog post of yesterday that I got my hair cut on my lunch hour yesterday. Fairly drastically. She cut off quite a lot and I now have layers and a totally different shape to it. It feels great. So far I'm loving it but we'll see what happens when I have to wash and style it myself...hope it lasts a few days!

Today we had fish'n'chips for supper. The simplest meals are always the ones the boys will actually eat. After supper Chris's Dad came over to visit for awhile. Cooper went to sleep a little earlier than usual and Carter just zonked out with Chris on the other couch. It's only ten thirty and I'm ready to drop myself. I've been working on a few scrap pages so hopefully I'll have something new to post tomorrow.

This Little Camel Doesn't Store Water...

Hi! My name is Melany...(just reintroducing myself since I haven't blogged in ONE WHOLE WEEK.) Crikey.

Let's see...last week...went to Bingo with Kelly again on Friday. Boohoo. We didn't win. Mom had another specialist appointment on Thursday/Friday and was scheduled for a bronchoscopy on Monday. I arranged with my office to be able to take her on the trip this time. Cindy had made the 400+ mile trip three times in one week for our Mom and her own mother-in-law so she let me go this time.

Cooper had a rough week of nights last week. His molars are on the move and he wakes up in the middle of the night (typically around three-thirty) completely inconsolable until the Tylenol kicks in and he sometimes settles with some warm milk. Carter was going through one of his non-pooping phases. He went almost an entire week without a poop then on the weekend he pooped FOUR times in three days. If he were a camel he could have made it across the desert without pooping!

On Saturday my parents' neighbours were holding their second annual fish derby and fish fry. We were invited so I took the boys to Mom and Dad's in the afternoon. Chris went four-wheeling with one of his buddies and met up with us later for supper. In the afternoon I played a bit with my Dad's brand new IMac. I've never even touched a Mac computer before. I must say I'm smitten and although I'd have to teach myself all over again it would be worth it. It's an amazing machine.

We headed over for the fish fry and Chris showed up shortly after. The kids had a blast all day playing in the lake and running around with the other kids at the fish fry. Carter hadn't napped and since Mom wasn't feeling 100% after supper she took Carter home (where he went in the lake again fully clothed this time)...Mom took him in the house to dry him off and he fell asleep wrapped in towels in the couch almost immediately.



Cooper was still going strong and after awhile I took him over and got him to sleep eventually. By then it was dark and getting later so I went over to collect Chris and my Dad to come home to watch a movie. We watched "The Last Mimzy"...we had already seen it but Ma & Pa hadn't. We ended up staying over since the boys were sound asleep. Mom had invited us to stay so that we could leave the kids with her and stay at the party next door but we made it an early evening.

On Sunday, Vicky (my Amazing Digiscrapping Race partner) and I collaborated on our Challenge #2 layout. We had to use certain criteria and work together on a page. We had to use flowers, a doodle, two pictures, and the colour red. Here's what we came up with...


On Monday Dad and I took Mom to her specialist appointment. By the way, ever since we finished our vacation time the weather has been absolutely fabulous. Summer is HERE. It was a gorgeous blazing hot sunny day for traveling. We took Mom to the hospital for her appointment. We were quite early, but it was okay since she had a terrible migraine and hadn't taken anything for it for fear of interfering with the procedure she was having done. They took her in and hooked her up to an IV and gave her a bed. We waited a few hours until they took her into surgery.

Surprisingly we only waited an hour for her to come out and she was telling me all about it right away. She had what is called a bronchoscopy. They froze her throat/esophagus and put a camera down her throat way down into her lung. At the end of the camera is a knife thingy that cuts a piece of the lung for biopsy. It sounded very interesting and I was so relieved that she breezed through it so well. That was, UNTIL the freezing wore off. Then she was in terrible discomfort, not to mention the still-present migraine and her voice was gone. Back in the hospital room she was allowed to take her migraine medication, which helped a little, but at the same time the freezing was wearing off and she was spitting up some blood from the irritation of the procedure. Needless to say, it was a very uncomfortable ride home for her.

We stopped at Prawda for a bite to eat; Mom hadn't eaten or drank ANYTHING since supper the day before. We tried to go to Mom and Dad's usual stop, but they were closed so we went to the other gas station/restaurant. We ordered our food from a nice young girl at the counter, while there was another very young girl doing all the cooking. It was a very busy place. While we waited for our number to be called, the staff seemed to change over and we ended up dealing with an even younger girl, who was VERY rude. Our food was finally ready, and I took the wraps that Dad and I ordered back to the table. We had to ask for the other items we ordered (all Mom wanted was some soup and it was the last thing we received)...the young girl went to get the soup but slopped some along the side of the bowl. My Dad went to reach to move the bowl and it slipped and tipped over. The girl got very very pissy with him. We had to ask for the water we ordered (we ordered tap water since we already had bottled stuff in the car). She reached in the cooler and grabbed two bottles of water and SLAMMED them down on the counter. She took the same soup bowl away from Dad (still slopped with soup) and took it over to the tureen to refill it. It came back even more messy. By then I had gone back to the table, and when Dad arrived with the soup, he reported to us that little miss nasty thrust him a rag and made him clean up the soup on the counter!!! There were other customers who had received similar treatment that were commiserating with us. It was the kind of thing that made me want to speak up or tell them that because of this girl's treatment we wouldn't ever be back. But we didn't bother. It's a busy place and they probably wouldn't give a crap if they ever saw us again anyway! Being a busy travel stop means they don't need repeat customers because of all the travelers passing through I guess.

I drove a bit from there so Dad could rest his eyeballs. The rest of the trip was uneventful aside from Mom's not feeling well. I was pretty tired and went to bed without even checking my email. Yes, it's true.

Last night it was super duper hot. We went over to Kelly's house. I went in and checked in on the cat again, and we took a little dip in her pool. When Chris and I took the cover off it, it was seriously as hot as a bath. Once we got in, it was refreshing since the water was cooler under the surface. Carter and Cooper had a blast. It was the first time Carter tried floating in his life jacket. He is getting braver all the time. Cooper hated his life jacket just like Carter used to, and preferred to be without it. Here are a couple pictures of the fun:


Both yesterday and today I took the boys out to Mom and Dad's after work to see how Mom is doing. I have phoned her a couple times and just said to her "Don't talk...I just want to check in on you..." So it's easier to see her in person. She is still feeling rough but is looking forward to feeling better and getting some good results from the doctor. Today she wanted to actually have a meal so I left Carter with her and took Cooper with me to go to town for some Chinese food. Dad was going golfing. Chris was just getting home from work. I picked up the food and Chris and we went out to have supper with Mom. Chris took Carter for a boat ride (silly Mommy didn't take any pictures) and Cooper stayed behind with Mom and me while we watched the movie "Because I Said So". Pretty good chick-flick. We headed home and on the way met Dad on the road.

Cooper fell asleep on the way home and Carter shortly after we got home. I actually got to chat with Angie for awhile; it's always great to catch up! And now I'm finally caught up on my blog.

I've worked on a couple more scrapbook pages; some for the race and some for my guest creative team position at NDISB. By the way, I'm so delighted that I have a feature in the NDISB newsletter this month for my guest CT gig...HERE is the link to the newsletter. To see the pages larger and see the designer credits, you can click my NDISB gallery. Now, I'm outta here. It's goooooooooood to be back in the blogosphere!

Soon...I Must Catch Up...

Brought To You By The Letter "H"

Today was a much much better day. I was happier than I've been all week. Happy.

I got my ass out of bed with plenty of time again to get us ready and out the door without having to be in a hurry. Hurry.

Kelly and I went out for lunch. It was awesome. We had this Santa Fé chicken thing that was an open-face grilled chicken sandwich thingie on garlic toast with red and green peppers, onions, bacon, salsa, with melted marble cheese. I ate every bite. I didn't even pick off a single pepper. Hearty and Heavenly.

I haven't been drinking enough water lately...none in fact. It's either French vanilla cappuccino, Coke, or iced tea. So today I figured I'd be better to my body and drink some water. Too... Much... usually I only make one or two trips to the bathroom during the whole workday but I did about three or four in a couple hours. Too much H20 = H2P.

After work I picked up the boys and got them Happy Meals for supper and we came home. Home. Kelly and I went to Bingo and although we didn't win (needed one number for every game except one)...we still laughed our asses off and had fun. Hilarious.

The past few nights Cooper has been waking up at precisely three-thirty. In order to be able to go right back to sleep, I have brought him to our bed. The little turkey is a bedhog, I tell you, and he always ends up perpendicular to both Chris and me, stretching his head and feet as far as he can, making us all into a perfect letter H. The real inspiration for the title of this post.

Another Beautiful Day

Again I wake to find a clear blue sky and a bright shining sun. Just freaking lovely! Somehow I already have the boys fed and dressed and I have my face on and hair done. We're ready to go but it's way too early!

Yesterday was the same but we did a Tim Horton's run. I don't like to go there every day but I sure have the time for it again! So therefore I'm blogging. Yesterday kinda sucked so I don't have too much to say about it.

We had hotdogs for supper and then watched "Flushed Away". The boys went to sleep at a decent hour and I was ready for bed not long after supper myself! I took off to bed just after nine-thirty. I had a restless night of sleep but managed to get up. It helps to see the sun shining to drag my butt out of bed.

Today we're having a farewell luncheon for one of our coworkers. Those are always fun. Tomorrow night Kelly and I have our Bingo date. One more sleep ;)

Not a Cloud in the Sky

Obviously our vacation is over...

First Blizzard of the Summer!

Well the last past few days of our vacation have had the crummiest weather, therefore there isn't too much to blog about.

Chris went out to play poker on Friday night. I pretty much didn't go anywhere in the past few days. Aside from all the grocery shopping we did. We all braved Wal-Mart and pretty much bought half the store. I took Carter to Safeway afterward to get the rest of the grocery stuff that our Wal-Mart doesn't carry. I spent almost as much as at Wal-Mart. Oy. But yay, we have foooood in the house!!!

Saturday afternoon Dominic and Noah came over while Cindy went to a wedding. They brought the movie "Arthur and the Invisibles". Very cute movie. Good for the whole family and Carter thought it was pretty neat.

Last night it was quasi-nice outside so we went to Dairy Queen for ice cream. I had my first Blizzard of the year...with Reese Peanut Butter Cups. Mmmm. The boys did well with their ice cream cones. We went to the much-loathed video store and I looked for "The Last Mimzy". They only have about eight copies and they were all rented. We went to the grocery store and found it there.

We came home and watched the movie and it was good too. Another good-for-the-whole-family movie. The kids were up not quite as late as usual, so I'm hoping to get them back to normal for the babysitter this coming week.

This morning I was actually the first one up. I had set my alarm early and pressed snooze a squillion times. By the time I dragged myself out of bed there was still plenty of time to get ready and go to church. Everyone else was sleeping until ten minutes before I left. I went to church and met up with my Mom and Dad, much to their surprise and to Mom's delight. It's been wayyyyyyyyy too long.

After church I was going to join them for breakfast but I wasn't hungry yet and I started trying to reach Kelly to see if we could zip out to Bingo this afternoon. Unfortunately by the time I reached her she'd been called in to work so we've set a tentative date for Wednesday or Thursday.

I spent the rest of the day sorting and doing laundry (finally). I needed something to wear to work tomorrow. Bummer. It seems like it's been forever since we started this vacation so obviously it's been restful. I could, however, easily get used to a life of leisure!

I did this new layout this weekend from when we went to visit Cindy and family out camping a couple weeks ago...you can click the image to enlarge it and click HERE for credits.

You Know It's a Cold Day When...

...Chris turns off the air conditioner. This is huge. Monumental. Un-freaking-believable! He opened the windows though, and it's cool in here (but no worse than usual when he has the a/c cranked!)

It's cloudy and yucky and we won't be playing outside today. Please oh please can we have another beach day before we go back to work on Monday? Puh-leeeeeze? So far the forecast doesn't look good...phooey.

I Think I Need A Bigger Broom!

To sweep these clouds away. It's been another couple days of heavy rain and it's booming out there right now. Yuck. That means all there is to do is housework. Icky-poo! I sorted out all the summer/winter clothes in my closet (yeah, it's practically winter again). Chris had Carter outside playing...in the garage and then they went out for coffee. Cooper is probably bored watching me sort clothes but he seems content making little discoveries all around me.

Yesterday wasn't too bad. The boys still got up at the usual early time which was pure torture for me. I managed to survive by taking a late afternoon nap with Carter while Chris and Cooper went out for awhile. I awoke to supper cooked by my husband. Wow! My sister had given us some spaghetti sauce and Chris cooked it up with some spaghetti. That was suh-weet!

After supper I got the boys ready to go see my cousin Roberta and her kiddies that are visiting here from Calgary. All four of our kids played very well together. No injuries and very little fighting over the toys. We had some of Auntie Lurdes' to-die-for rice pudding (just like my Grandma used to make). Roberta gave Carter a gift bag of stuff for his birthday that he was instructed to play with after Cooper went to bed. He actually very patiently complied and got to play with his new Transformers car and trading cards and Spiderman gooey stuff. It's like sand but gooey. Way cool!

I managed to get him to go to bed by eleven...we'd better shave that bedtime down before I have to go back to work next week!

So I've accomplished very little today therefore I'm going to get back at it!

Banana Hammock!

Let's see. Where did we leave off? On Saturday Chris took Carter all over and he fell asleep in the Jeep. Cooper fell asleep on the living room floor. I messed around in Photoshop but never completed anything. Perhaps partly due to the fact that I called up Angie to talk her out of cleaning her bathroom(s) and we talked for two seconds shy of 69 minutes! We obviously needed to catch up!

Season two of the Amazing Digiscrapping Race starts next Monday and my partner Vicky and I are paired up again! The prizes are outrageously awesome...Vicky are you sure you want me as a partner 'cause I can't qualify for the grand prize??? We're talking $800 worth of stuff! Whee!

Now seriously, I can't remember what the heck else we did on the weekend. If it comes to me, I'll post back here but it's LATE (it's after 1:00 a.m. and my dear sweet son Carter is STILL UP).

Today was a coworker's birthday, and since my birthday was the last one at the office, it was my turn to bring a cake for coffee break. I'm still off on vacation, but I said I'd still do the birthday cake duties! I made a gorgeous "death by chocolate" and dropped it off at the office. We were planning to head out early to visit Mike & Monique and the boys out camping, and we did.

We had a fabulous day. And I think I got enough sun so that I'm "off-white" now. Actually I'm even a little red. I'm sure I'll have plenty of new freckles tomorrow.The boys had a blllllllllast! The weather was nice...it was cool at first and there were zillions of bugs at the campsite but early in the afternoon we headed down to the beach. It was gorgeous! There were lots of clouds but they passed quickly and I kept the boys soaked in sunscreen. They both love the water and the sand.

Carter going for a spin on Mike's scooter!

Cooper sporting his "banana hammock"!

We came home and Chris loaded up his 4-wheeler to go for his first real spin with his buddies. Carter and Cooper fell asleep on the way home (around five o'clock) and they napped for way too long therefore they stayed up late. Cooper until at least eleven and Carter is still up with me. I'm trying to outlast him but I don't think it's gonna happen!

I bought two new scrapbooking kits and an element pack at Peppermint Creative this evening...I had won the gallery contest for June and used my gift certificate prize and then some! So I actually scrapped this page of Cooper at the beach today. I love this new kit! It's called "Little Bug" by Miss Mint.


Okay. I think I'm outta here...It's ONE-THIRTY in the morning and CARTER IS STILL AWAKE!!! That late nap was a hyuuuuuuge mistake! Tomorrow should be interesting!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

And we're having plenty of it! I meant to continue my post yesterday but we got ready to go and we never came back until late last night.

Back to Thursday...I ended up with one more haircut customer and cut Chris's hair. We went to Mom and Dad's for supper and we brought a movie. We had hamburgers and salad. Very good stuff. It was beautiful out and I managed to get a picture of all three of my boys with their new haircuts. Definite scrapbook material - this picture will be seen on a scrapbook page - soon!

We watched the movie "Breach". Not so terribly exciting of a movie. I figured it would be an exciting spy movie but it was basically a drama based on a true story and that was about all it was. We came home and put the boys to bed.

Yesterday after my brief blog post, we got ready to go places. First I had an eyebrow wax appointment...and not a moment too soon! I stopped in at the office for a minute then we headed to Wal-Mart to grab some snacks to go visit Cindy and the family out camping. Seventy-three bucks later we were prepared with snacks and a cooler for the drinks. I stopped in the McDonald's at Wal-Mart to grab some lunch and we headed out on the highway. Both boys slept almost all the way. We saw a moose (on the side of the road thank goodness) and a turkey vulture and a bear. We arrived safe and sound and had a blast. Chris went fishing and Cindy and I took the kids down to the beach. I got plenty of great pictures of the boys; here are a few. Plenty more scrapbooking material!

Carter Surfing

Cooper about to destroy my beautiful sand castle!

We had fresh walleye for supper and had more fun playing outside on a beautiful day. It actually was mostly cloudy for much of the time we were there and even sprinkled a little rain but it was still very warm. By the time we left it was dark out and I have never seen so much wildlife on and near the highway before in my life. We saw at least ten moose and ten deer and a wolf. Talk about a wild ride. My parents were following us and many times we had to come to a complete stop or slow right down and drive around the animals on the road. Once we got to the main highway we only saw one other deer. We made it home safe and sound and both boys were sound asleep.

I had a hard time sleeping since I'd had a sore back for much of the day and night. This morning it still hurt but I'm feeling much better. Chris took Carter out to run errands and he just brought me a FVC from Timmy's. Yum. Cooper and I have been playing off and on as I catch up here on my blog. He has such a great laugh and loves to be tickled. He has so many words now and is just starting to put them together. Very awesome. And he looks sooooo grown up with his new haircut. Like he went from baby to big boy instantly.

I'm hoping we all get out and enjoy the day again - and we get to do this for another week yet! Yay!

Oh Nooooo! It's Friday!?!

Wow it's Friday already. My first vacation week is already drawing to a close. It's been a great week.

Sweepin' the Clouds Away

We are enjoying some sunny days. Yesterday was a beauty. We actually got our butts in gear and took the boys to the park in the morning. I delivered a couple projects and we had a fun time at the park. Carter wasn't very 'photo-generous' but I got a couple cute pictures of Cooper playing in the water.
Chris did some more painting outside. He freshened up all the trim around the windows of the house and garage and the front doorstep and the cement below the siding.

Kelly called and we made an impromptu Bingo date. Mom was up for it too so Kelly picked me up and we met up with Mom. Kelly won fifty bucks so it was nice to get a little return on our investment!

I came home and Cooper was asleep on the living room floor all curled up in a little ball with his bum in the air. Carter was still up so we cuddled up and watched his movie until we both fell asleep!

I got up and put both kids in bed and went to bed. I can't remember what time it was but Cooper woke up crying and wouldn't settle on his own so I went and got him and brought him to bed. I was awakened with not-so-gentle smacks in the face and a tug-o-war with my hair. Obviously it was time to get up!

Chris had been up for some time and had already done a run to Tim Hortons's so there was a FVC waiting for me that had already cooled to the perfect drinking temperature. Sweeeeeet. The boys had some bagels and we've just been hanging out so far this morning. I decided to try to cut Cooper's hair. I started out just trimming the longer wispy pieces and ended up just using the clippers and trimming it even all over. His hair is very fine and thin near the front so I tried to leave a little there but I got a bit overzealous with the clippers. It turned out pretty cute anyway...he looks older.

Carter was my next (unwilling) customer. I buzzed him with the clippers too. I'll try to take some pictures today of the new 'do on each of them. It looks like another beautiful day so I'm going to go get ready to go somewhere!

Bubbles, Bubbles EVERYWHERE!!!

Yesterday was a great day. It wasn't too bad outside...not cold or rainy which was nice. We had planned to go by boat to Kathy and Dan's place with Sandi and the weather cooperated enough. I think it was Cooper's first boat ride (OMG what a terrible mother and scrapbooker I am. I have no pictures of the event!)

It wasn't a long ride and we arrived at the camp. It was nice despite the few brief appearances the sun tried to make. The kids had a blast playing down by the lake and on the tire swings. Now this, I have pictures of...



We had a fantastic supper. Steak, salad, cheesy macaroni casserole, creamy vegetables and fantastic desserts. I had the mint ice cream pie. I think they called it grasshopper pie. I must make this. The other ice cream pie had pineapple and orange. Delicious stuff! We had a wonderful afternoon with Kathy, Dan, Kaitlin, and Sandi. Dan and Kaitlin brought us back to the yacht club around eight. The boys had a full day with very short naps so they were ready for bed when we got home. The fireworks were taking place last night instead of Canada Day, but I didn't feel like waking and dressing the boys again so we decided to skip it. I missed watching the show, but there's always next year. I could hear the odd boom boom of the fireworks right from our house.

Today was beeeeeeeeyooooooooteeeeeeeeful! Though I didn't realize that fact until I got my butt in gear. Mom stopped by after her lunch date and I had a shower and did my hair and stuff. I took both boys for a Wal-Mart run while Chris was scraping and painting the window trim on the house. I came back with milk and pull-ups and sunscreen, hair dye, makeup...almost sixty bucks. Not too too bad. I did a grocery store stop too to pick up stuff to make taco salad for supper. They had everything except for the tortilla bowls so I had to improvise.

I came home and the boys played outside for awhile. I made some water balloons that were very short-lived. Chris needed some Varsol for the few paint drops that escaped the brush and landed on the siding. Oops. Overall I was actually impressed that he took the time to tape around the windows so a few drops here and there were no big deal. I took Cooper and picked up the Varsol, more water balloons, and some tortilla wraps for supper.

I managed to corral the boys into the house so I could cook supper and Chris could keep painting. I browned ground beef to make tacos and I drained it and let it cool. I sprinkled the taco seasoning on it and diced up some tomatoes, green onions and lettuce. Chris came in after awhile and we had cold taco wraps. A great idea for a hot day like today. I made wraps for the boys and Chris and we had a nice cool supper. I emptied the dishwasher and Chris cleared the supper dishes and started up the dishwasher. I was in the living room with the boys. Carter and Cooper were playing and Cooper disappeared into the kitchen. When I went in to follow him, I saw this HYUUUUGE foaming monster coming toward me on the kitchen floor. I hollered for Chris, who was outside. I went outside to holler at him more, asking "WHAT DID YOU PUT IN THE DISHWASHER??!!??"

My dear, sweet husband, instead of mentioning to me the last time he ran the dishwasher that we were out of dishwasher soap, decided to use "a little" dish liquid soap instead. OMG. There were suds EVERYWHERE. It wasn't too easy to laugh about it at first. Chris had no idea that would happen. I thought it was hilarious...I mean...hasn't everyone seen this happen in the movies? I distinctly remember a scene from "Mr. Mom" with Michael Keaton where there were suds everywhere...and this was just like that. I grabbed all the towels from the bathroom and started mopping up the mess. I asked Chris again how much he used and he "didn't quite fill" the soap dispenser. Oy. Usually Chris asks me if we have any more of something but this time he didn't. I had another box of dishwasher tabs in the cupboard. I said "Always ask your wife!!!" I ran the dishwasher with some real dishwasher detergent and after a few cycles the suds subsided. It's officially funny now. And boy are those dishes clean! The worst part of this? Now there's a very big clean spot on the kitchen floor and I'm going to have to scrub the rest of it to make it match the clean spot!

After the soap fiasco I did a garbage run and tried to go to get a 12x18 picture printed at the drugstore. They were out of 12x18 paper. Ugh. I tried Wal-Mart but the only print up to 8x10. That surprised me. And I had sent an order of prints online but their server has been down all day. I was out of luck in the photo printing department! I could see a gnarly storm brewing on the horizon headed toward me. I stopped at Tim Horton's and that's when the storm arrived. It was a dark and stormy night. Seriously! I did a very fast drive-by for Kelly and came home.

Carter was asleep when I got home. Cooper was up for a little longer then he stretched himself out on the floor and passed out. I chatted a little with Angie and I got a message from Jill that my Carter layout was selected by Miss Mint as the gallery winner for May, and I received a $10 gift certificate for Peppermint Creative! It's still my favourite layout I've ever done and I'm very proud that it was noticed and mentioned in Miss Mint's newsletter since she is one of my favourite designers. Here it is again...


I also started working on a layout using this picture of Carter that I've been wanting to scrap. It ended up being very simple. I only used one paper and blended the picture and added some minimal text. I really like it.


Since I went to Tim Horton's and I had my FVC, I'm not sleepy. That, and I slept in this morning pretty late. But I'm going to try to head for bed so we can have a fun day tomorrow. I just have to hope for some good weather so we can take the boys to the park!

Scrappers, Start Your Engines!

Are you signed up for the Amazing Digi-Scrapping Race yet?

Click on the image below to go to the race blog to sign up! And click HERE to go to the NDISB forum if you have any questions!

Happy Melany Day!

Oops. I mean Happy Canada Day...but it really was all about me today! This morning we went to the pancake breakfast at the Legion with my parents. It's a tradition we've had going for a number of years. We came home and I was yearning for a nap (because I'm so damn old now) but I was too busy. Chris's Grandpa stopped in to wish me a Happy Birthday. I had to run to the grocery store to get stuff to make a salad to bring to Mom & Dad's for supper.

Then it was time to go to Bingo! I've never gone on a Sunday afternoon before. Or on my birthday. So it was extra special! Kelly and Sabrina picked me up. On our way to Tim Horton's Kelly presented me with a yummy toffee vodka cooler along with the direction that I was to drink it on the way to Bingo. Hilarious. She handed me a "church key" which was the bottle opener for the cooler. I'd never heard that expression and got a big kick out of it. She had hoped to bring me some Mott's Clamato Caesars, but the LCBO was closed.

At Bingo my $20 admission was free because of my birthday. Sweeeeet. Kelly went all out for my birthday...she had a mylar balloon attached to a cup full of scratch tickets (and the cup was supposed to be for the Caesars). Cool. She brought chocolate cupcakes and candles and lit the candle on my cupcake. We had a blast and I actually won the "diamond" game...so I sort of got a diamond for my birthday! The prize was a hundred and fifty bucks. Niiiiiiiice. And we just about DIED because Kelly needed just one number for $14,700 in the arrow game. I really thought she was going to win. Regardless, we had funnnnnnn and during intermission when I came back from using the washroom, Kelly had lit up another cupcake for me. Gooooooooood times.

We came back and they dropped me off at the turnoff to my parents' house where Chris and the boys met up with us. We went to Mom and Dad's for a barbecue with Cindy and her family and some of her extended family from Thunder Bay, Uncle Cliff and Auntie Lurdes and some friends of my Dad's. I brought my usual oriental salad and there were hamburgers, my salad, potato salad, tossed salad, tons of fruit and of course birthday cake.

It was kind of crappy out but the kids played outside a little and everyone had a great visit. Before we left I helped Mom a bit with kitchen duty then we left to go home to get ready to go watch the fireworks. I dressed the boys in warm clothes and grabbed some blankets. I loaded the stroller in the Jeep and we headed down to the government dock to try to find a spot. We parked and tucked the boys into the stroller with blankets and glow bracelets. We walked down to the marina and found a good watching spot. Someone was coming toward us with a flashlight and we figured we were going to get kicked off the property, but the gentleman asked if we needed anything and I told him we were just hoping to watch the fireworks from there. He was kind enough to advise us it had been postponed until tomorrow. ::Sigh::

We came home and the boys who had already both fallen asleep on our way home from Mom and Dad's were ready for bed. I had many calls and messages to wish me a Happy Birthday today. From Janet, Tricia, Cecelia, Angie (she got me on the cell phone :) Roberta, Auntie Bev, Kathy, numerous emails and a ton of Facebook messages and forum messages from all the scrapbooking forums I'm subscribed to including a gift certificate from Nina (on of the designers I'm on a creative team for). It's been a great day. I feel very blessed. It's been a great birthday! Now I'm going to get my old self to bed.

P.S. A big Happy Birthday to all my birthday twins...I can think of at least five of them!