hey all, been really busy lately with a flooded house due to a burst pipe if you can believe it. Everything is ruined of course, but I am sticking to my new way of looking at life and finding the good, (well , yes i had a moments breakdown...wouldnt you??) and i'm looking at the fresh start im going to have, as i was talking about redecorating at some point anyways. Finding the good. Finding the good. And I have made another decision-----I will never again say these words "what else in the world could possibly happen to me?" -----as those words came out of my mouth about 4 hours before. And now I know. However, I am actually laughing about it now, as there is not much else for me to do...and finding the comical side...and there is one. I even grabbed my camera and started taking pictures, of everything. My dad running around hair all mussed up in knee high rubber boots, victoria sitting on top of brookes toy car trying to get from place to place, and brooke in her rainboots thinking it was the most fantastic thing and that water fairy's must have come to the house and wasnt it nice to have rain puddles she can splash in? And, depending on the insurance settlement, maybe i can exchange my drowned computer for the mac I have been wanting. Lots of upsides to this, and thats what im stickin to.
hope everybody had a nice valentines day, and was able to share some love! be back soon!

Just a few pics of my girls over the weekend. I just realized that we live near some woods, (yes i know, not very observant, lol) and decided to take the girls on a nature hunt of sorts. They loved it and it was so much fun watching them trying to climb every tree, picking up the most common twig and being amazed by it. It was like snow, and trees, and twigs all seemed to look different to them because we were in the woods, lol! We spent the majority of our time there trying to hunt down the bunny whose tracks victoria found....and we found one, but he moved to quick for me to nab a photo :( I guess the term quick like a bunny definitley has some merit, hehehe.






Anyways I took tonnes of photos, and got so many good ones, I was thrilled. I even got to practice a bit of photography technique, so am keeping in line with my goal mentioned in my last post :)
Jess took Victoria ice skating again, and she is getting so much better! That time together is really helping them reconnect! It is really good to see.
Other than that, Victoria and I had an arts and crafts day. It was "hundreds day" at her school. That means for those that don't have that, that on the 100th day of school, each student brings in 100 objects with the same thing...example 100 pennies, or anyting that they want and they trade them to the other students. At the end of the day each child is hoping to have 100 different objects and none of what they came with. Victoria hasnt done very well with that the last couple years so we decided to get creative and make some rock pals. Doesnt sound real interesting, lol, i know, but we painted them with glitter and paint, and put little googly eyes on them, and they ended up looking very cute!

hundreds day ended up being delayed due to bad weather the day of, so I am excited to see how she does this year. Otherwise she is going to come home with 100 rocks, lol!
Anyways, that is all for me! Only other thing is that Jesse is in interviews with an amazing job opportunity, and has made it through almost all the stages of interviews. If he gets it it will mean an end to alot of our work difficulties, as I won't have to work so hard, and it won't matter financially if the centres are sold. Really sounds too good to be true, so i am trying not to get too excited, but am keeping my fingers crossed. Heres hopin :)

hey all, I'm back and still blogging strong! yeah me, lol. Can you believe the month of january is almost over already? I am literally floored at how quickly time has flown over this past 6 months. Really crazy how we can get so busy or absorbed in what we are doing that we don't notice until the times gone. I havent been doing a whole lot on my end, still working on the deal to rid myself of the centres, and keeping busy with that as well as work odds and ends, and my girls of course. I made a new resolution this year. Not for the new year, just because I feel so guilty, that I have a wonderful camera, love everything about photography, photographs, and just the basic concept of it, yet I cant really use it to its full potential. So that is my resolution! To learn my camera inside and out. (it is a rebel xti if you were curious). Now I have a long way to go as I have always allowed myself to rely on photoshop for fabulous photos, lol, so getting the great photo at the get go is a completley different concept. I have been thinking of enrolling in some photography classes and have been scoping around, but I am not really sure if i would have the time to carry it out. So I have also been looking at some online classes, but wary, as I am not sure how beneficial that would be. If anyone has any input on that I would love to hear it! Anyways, I am teaching myself for now, and really trying to come to terms with aperature. Again, I have a long way to go, but I do love this photo I took of Victoria the other nite either way
I think she looks lovely, and so "her" if you know what I mean. It is rare these days for her to let me near her with a camera, and if she does let me she just gives me exasperated expressions, hehe. I am sure all scrapping moms get that same reaction as their children get older. Ilike the next one too, tho I did apply an action I made on it, so it is not just the photo. I am so used to playing with photos in ps after taking them that is going to be a hard habit to break.


This weekend, we tried for some normal behaviour and family time, and Jess is trying to make up for some of his missed time with Victoria, who really needs it from him right now, and he took her ice skating. She loved it as it is not something she really knows how to do well, and so he is teaching her. I dropped in to take a few photos, and then took Brooke down by the river (see new blog header, lol) to spend my quality time with her.
We walked around and looked at the big chunks of ice, and a few geese that she thought were frozen to the lake,(which gave me fits of giggles, as she was so worried for them, lol) and then she played hide and seek behind all the trees at the park. Fun was had by all...tho it was very cold.
Today it was so cold that I was literally a prisoner in my own home. The front door, back door and the garage door were all frozen shut! Victoria had to leave to catch her school bus and we couldnt get out! It was really quite funny as I am using all kinds of props to try to pry the doors open, and finally after 20 minutes, I did it! Of course then, i couldnt get it closed. I pushed, lifted, shoved, slammed, and nothing would work. Finally, the wind was so terrible it flew the door out at me and I reached out and pushed to save myself from getting slammed, and the door slammed closed. Ihave never had that happen before, but one of my centres had the same problem this morning, and then several people I know also complained of such things. At times like that I so wish I lived in sunny california. Winter is truly beautiful, and I love to watch it from my living room window. I just don't like to participate in it, hehe.
Anyways, that is all for now! Be back again soon :)

good day

this has been a very up and down week for me. It is hard to keep things normal and uneventful in life when you are "cleaning out your closet" so to speak. One minute, I'm feeling positive, and excited about turning things around, and the next minute I am bogged down by all the stress and complication of it all. One of the steps I am trying to take is to simplify my life. With that in mind, I am trying to sell my businesses. 5 years ago, when I was pregnant with Brooke, I had an opportunity to purchase the franchise that I worked at. Thinking of job security at that time, and having a second baby on the way, i thought it would give me more time with my girls, my family, and help with finances for sure. A year later, still thinking of financial security I opened my second one. The next year, I purchased four more all with the expectation to work my fingers to the bone for a few years so that I would be able to give my little ones a good start in life, things I never had, and then be able to relax and not work so hard.
Unfortunately, things dont quite work out the way we want. In the last few years, all that has happened is that i work 10-15 hour days, am stressed with work all the time to the point that I cannot enjoy the time I have with my family the way that I should, and I am tired all the time. Yes, financially we are fine, but is it really worth it? My family has always been the most important thing in the world to me. It is why I worked so hard...but do my girls really care? Answer is no they do not. They would rather have a more relaxed mother who is not on edge half the time thinking about all the things she has to do. Unfortunately my husband was not the most helpful, though he thought he was...and when we started having problems....not just due to work, but it certainly didnt help.....I decided I just couldnt do it anymore. I dont know if we are able to fix our problems, as again they do involve more than work hours, but I know that my girls definitely need a bit more time with mom. So I have been in negotiations to sell 4 of the 6 franchises for the past few months. I have met with a gentleman who is considering, and am keeping my fingers crossed that we can arrange a deal. At this point I am ready to give them away, and really need to get back to basics.
I just kinda needed to "say" that out loud, so for those of you that are reading this, thanks for listening, lol. There is nobody around here that is aware of the difficulties that I have been having with family, or work except for those effected by it, and it has become difficult not to scream it from the rafters.
now i feel better, lol. It is days like today that put it all in perspective for me...the need to get back to basics, being normal, and just slowing down to enjoy the good things in life...which for me are my girls, and today was my youngest daughter Brookes 4th birthday.
sigh, 4 already...all mothers can relate to the big sigh i make when i say that with pride. She had a great day, and loved being the centre of attention so much that I was unable to get her to sit for barely a photo, but i snagged at least this one of the bday girl before she flitted off



and it seemed there was a theme this year, tho it was by accident. She received a trunk of princess costumes, a princess tea set, which is her favorite game, a princess puppy, etc. etc. It kind of fits with her personality right now, lol.....so she loved it.
and the cake!....talk about effort, and made for a princess, lol! Now, I am not much of a chef, nor much of a baker no matter how I try, so this was quite a feat! and a family affair! My husband, my oldest daughter Victoria, and myself all co-operated in making Brooke a princess castle cake. It took hours, lol...but I dont think it turned out that bad at all, and she just loved it! Never again will i do it, hehe...so i had to take a pic for darn sure!
We were all very proud of ourselves, and brooke just loved it! and that is what counts!
She changed into about 4 different princess costumes before she decided on the purple one being perfect for cake time.
I definitely needed that day, in so many ways. And now I have a four year old. sigh. :)
Starting school this year, and so sassy. So much more assertive than my oldest ever was at that age. She is the one that is going to give me all my grey hair.
I have started taking more photos again, since I had really fallen off, and already I am feeling so much better. Scrapping them shouldnt be too far behind I am hoping.
Well, I am off for the nite, thanks for listening to me gripe, lol! But hey, 2 posts in one month! I am being such a good blogger! hehe

forever and a day!

Yes i know it has been a very long time for me since my last post. And i know that nobody probably even checks over here anymore, but here i am. I have been, and am going through some very difficult times of late, and honestly have been unable to keep up with most anything going on or of intrest in my life. But after months of being beaten down, i have finally said enough and have started to take control of my life once again. No longer reacting to situations but acting by choice, if that makes any sense to you. Things are still tough, but at least i'm taking a stand. Anyways, have been extremely uncreative, and unmotivated for anything lately, but the last day or so have been trying to push the issue, and this is what i came up with


I wouldnt exactly call it a layout, more of a photoshop experiment. This is brooke, a very bad photo of her actually (my fault not hers :) ), wrong setting lots of noise, blah blah blah. So i was basically seeing what i could do with photoshop to fix her up and then grabbed 4 or 5 stock photos to put her in to make up for the terrible background scenery she was really in.....my downstairs playroom, toys everywhere, moms, you know what i mean im sure. Anyways, i kinda like how it turned out tho i want to give it a different frame/edging.
hopefully this will get my creative juices flowing again!
hope everybody had a great holiday!! tatat for now!!

Hey all!!...no i have not fallen into a ditch somewhere, I have just been soooo busy!! I couldnt possibly catch up on everything all in one post....so i will start simple :)
Gettin the work stuff out of the way...I am down to needing only 3 more girls!! yeahhhhh!, and most of the girls i've been training are turning out wonderfully! (knock on wood). I had to make a few changes with them at the centres, which caused major upheavel, but it is so far all turning out for the best!thank goodness, lol! I had a work conference in Banff Alberta last month...it is soooo beautiful out there! I took sooo many photos...some of which iwill upload in a different post. Even tho it was a work event, jess and i managed to sneak away when ever we could and get some quality time in. We get so little of it, it was nice to even have a day or two.
Annnnnddddd.......my really big news, which i have as of yet only told a very few people is that jess popped the question! Down on bended knee and everything!



This is the beautiful ring he gave me. He told me that he dreamt that we got married and this is what the ring looked like. He then went and had a jeweller create it for him. Pink is my favorite color and so he added two pink saphires on either side to represent both our girls Victoria and Brooke.
Aint he sweet? It was a total surprise!! And it took him alot of courage too, cuz since i met him i have told him steadily that getting married wasnt something i felt i really needed to do. Truth is im terrified to actually walk down the aisle, but even tho we have had our problems together, I really dont think i will ever find another person who will ever blend together with me more than him. So..of course i said yes, lol! He wants to have a wedding as soon as possible, but I think we should wait til next year. We will see who wins, hehe.
More good news for me, though not nearly as life changing is that I got published!!!
Twice!! I was really excited! and in two of my fave magazines!...well Simple Scrapbooks is my fave magazine, but the digital scrapbook magazine is new..so that cant really be my fave yet now can it?, lol



and then again in an australian magazine called For Keeps. I really love this one cuz it is one of my favorite photos of Victoria

.

Well, it's getting late, and i have more interviews again tomorrow so now that i have shared my good news, Im off to bed. I only just got my computer back yesterday, after it was left in jess' car and taken off to the mechanics from the car accident he got himself into. Wont even go into details on that, but he is fine and it is good that he has a hard head. So below are two layouts i made in the last few days trying to grab back some creativity. I didnt have any kits on hand to use, so i just played around to see what i could come up with myself.
This one is of Victoria. Some of my fave pics taken on her 10th bday last year. Her 11th bday is on monday. This year just flew by!! And now she is double ones!! eekk!!


This is my Brooke of course. Was tryin to use alot of whitespace here....largely in part to not having any kits, lol!!


Well tata for now! ill be back soon!!

post op

well, brookes surgery went smoothly. sorry kim...i thought that i had posted about it earlier....forgot what a bad blogger i have been and i have talked about it so much i thought everybody knew by now, lol!..It was nothing serious, it was dental surgery. Serious to me of course, but not in any other way. It turns out that she has a special type of enamel that erodes very easily. Her teeth are a MESS! We almost had to pull two of her teeth out, but really fought to keep them so that her adult teeth wouldnt grow in badly. The doctor told us that the surgery would take 1 hour, but they were in such bad shape, that it ended up taking three. I was going crazy! She woke up at 5 in the morning, and was in great spirits tho. She got to play in the huge toy room they have for child patients, and didnt start to get too worked up until it was time to hop up onto the bed to be rolled into the pre-op area. At that time we gave her some medication, (not sure how i feel that we gave it to her, but it was highly recommended) called versitat?..and what that does is calm her down, keeping her aware of everything, but makes it so she doesnt end up screaming and being upset prior to going in. It even causes mild forgetfullness, so some children that may otherwise be traumatized, wouldnt be. I dont know if it was the right choice to give it or not, but it worked wonderfully, and honestly i dont know what i would have done if they had rolled her away crying and screaming and scared. As it was, she was smiling and going "weeeeeeeee", as the gurney carted her off.
When she came out of it i was the only person allowed to see her.....one parent at a time they said. Jess was outside, pacing, and when i saw her i thought i was going to cry. She still had blood smeared all over her, and her face was soooo swollen and puffy. She was crying and trying to get her bandage off her arm where the iv was connected. I dont think i have ever felt so helpless in my life. The nurses had to let me pick her up to calm her down, and when it was time to bring her to her room, i carried her up. Can i just say i was utterly heartbroken?? But she is such a trouper!! About an hour later she had woken up and i was able to put her in her bed, and then about 15 minutes later she was giving her first puffy swollen smile.


We told her that she now had "treasure" in her mouth (the 2 silver caps that were put in), and since she is showing everybody her teeth and her special treasures. After popsicles etc. etc. we were able to take her home, where i spent the next 5 hours cuddling with her on the couch. After that she was up pretending to be a ballerina and dancing and jumping, and you would never have known what a mess she had been just a little while before that.
Victoria had never been sick before, not even a little so this was my very first jaunt into any scary parenting health issues. I hate it!
Other than that, i have become an auntie! Jess's sister had a little girl named Ruby, he is pretty excited, but disappointed i think that he wont' be able to see her for a bit.
We hired a new girl last week, and the verdict is still out on whether she is going to work out or not. Please please please let her work out!!! We still need 3-4 more to be properly staffed.
sigh.....i dont think it is ever going to end!
I also did a little upgrading to my blog. Not quite done with it yet, still playing so we will have to see how long before i actually get it done, lol! Does anybody know a good photo hosting site besides photobucket?..It seems they only let you goup to 800 px wide, and i was looking for something a litte larger.
Okay, i have to run off to bed now!, i have a looonnggggg day tomorrow, and the rest of my week doesnt look to pretty. But maybe i can swing something last minute to let me have some fun!!!