Customs Skating Party

The Little Men skating


Boy, they look like pros ;)


Visiting with Santa

Carpet

carpet is almost in....this week hopefully!!!

The main room is done - the stairs were supposed to be done tonight but there was a little change of plans. Hopefully it will all be done for when my family comes on the 9th!!

Oh, and by the way...

(from the bath);

"Mom, I'm ready for you to come and give me some shampoo so I can wash my hair."

(water gurgling)

"Oh, and by the way, you're the greatest!"

Thanks kid, but I would have given you shampoo without that :)

The Little Things

I was reminded today what a great husband I have. I fell in love for a reason, I married him for a reason and I'm still here for a reason. But sometimes in the monotony of our every day lives the spark dwindles, we get sick of each other and those reasons start to dim. Every married couple knows how the stress of everyday life can be hard on the passion.

It's always the little things that bring it back.

No special day, no dozen roses...just him. I dropped his lunch off just after I dropped Tim off at school. He winked when I handed him his bag and asked if I was going to stay or if I had a 'strict schedule' for the afternoon. I watched him walk with me up to the lunchroom, joking with the janitors, and co-workers on his way up. Calling everyone by name and usually acompanying the hello with a questions about their lives. I sometimes forget what a likeable person he is and what a funny person he is. He somehow is able to get along with anyone he meets, and can usually be joking with them in minutes. We had a pleasant visit together without the usual 5 year old interruptions. Laughed together without thinking of the stress of money, or of the basement being done, or the state of messiness that the house is in. We flirted subtly and winked about inside jokes.

It wasn't a romantic date, it wasn't even alone time....but it was nice to be reminded again about the little things I love to share with my man.

New Car

Our Replacement Beater

L'il Blue

Success in the Jeans department ;)

Being cursed with the JLo butt, the 'pear shape', the 'spoon figure' whatever you want to call it -- it's hard to find a pair of jeans that fit. Being that I'm short, makes it all that much more difficult. My last decision was that I would not buy another pair of jeans until I could find a pair that fit perfectly. I love low rise - but I'm tired of bending over and showing the world what kind of underwear I've chosen that day, I'm tired of cinching the waste with a belt just so that I could buy a size that fit in all the other areas.

Well - I'm here to say I have succeeded!!! I found the best pair of jeans -- I modeled them 4 times for myself today and another 2 times for Garnet. And the best part is that I got an awesome deal!!

I'm struttin' my stuff all over my house today......I'm so tempted to take a picture of my butt right now!!
I know......I'm such a geek -- but a hot geek in my new jeans - so it's all good :)

The Celebration of Lights

The lights!!!!!

A little cold....

Fireworks

Typical day...

I went to work,
Garnet came in to see me just before noon,
My co-workers have begun to expect Garnet to say;
"I'm test driving a car."
So, no big surprise;
"I'm test driving a car."

His car (the Escort - not our 'lemon') is dying.
He took Tim to Mickey D's,
Came home at 1 to tell me,
"I bought a car."

This makes it our 10th car in 5 years together...
and every single one has been bought in this same crazy-ass spontaneity that I like to call;

Garnet.

Yee Haw.

Our Lemon is wet....

Huh??

Let me explain.
We bought a brand new car a year ago and have had nothing but problems. It's our lemon.

Today, after work, I got in the car in the pouring rain.... to hear a gushing sound from the passenger side.

I looked down to see water pouring in from underneath the glove compartment. Gushing in....

It is currently in the dealership shop completely gutted. The seats, carpet, dash everything is out. We don't know if it's from the 'repair' after the accident (most likely) or just a design flaw....but whatever it is they made us wait all day to see if we would have a rental car -- cause they didn't know if it would be covered under warranty!!!

Can you imagine?? Yeah, it's normal for a 1 year old car to gush water inside, so that's not covered under the warranty....are ya stupid????

Oh, the luck of the Littles.

Stupid car, stupid lease, stupid Dodge SX2.0, stupid Chrysler and their stupid cars......oops, did I say that out loud??

Ready for Christmas

The Drywall dust is finally cleaned up -- and I have waited patiently until November 15th this year!! (My tree is usually up on Nov 1)

The tree is up -- which means we'll hear Tim at about 5am tomorrow morning sneaking down to turn the lights on....oh yay! (Everyday occurrance until the novelty wears off....which is by about Dec 24th :)

I'm in the Christmas mood though - so nothing can bother me for about 2 months now :)

Getting the lights on


Waiting "patiently" to get the star on


star is up


Decorations on


Relaxing candles, Christmas music and Hot Chocolate....


The only person in the world that loves Christmas more than I do!!!!

Christmas

New Baby

My best friend Emily and her Husband, Cam just had their 3rd little boy!!!! (And their oldest is only 2 and 1/2!!)
Sebastian Alexander was actually born on October 21st weighing 7 lbs 2 oz. But because of a few complications, setbacks and horrific stuff we finally just connected tonight. Mom, Baby and everybody is fine now - they all just went through more than anyone should in the first 2 weeks of life.

Emily is the strongest and sweetest person I know, and both her and her husband are beautiful, amazing parents. I am so happy for them.....and can't wait to meet little Sebastian!!
This is a picture of them from Thanksgiving when we stopped by for a quick Dinner on our way home....she was ready to pop :)

Helper

Big tools for a little Man!!

Workin' Hard

Tim's new Home Depot Toolbox came in handy today when Garnet and I were busy in the Basement. He nailed every imaginable scrap into the big sheet of MDF.....carpet samples, drywall scraps, shiny duct cardboard.....he was in heaven!!

Then, when it was time for us to do some painting - he helped with our primer and then took his own paint and painted his board.

We didn't hear from our poor 'neglected' kid for about 3 hours.

Expensive change of plans...

the floor


We decided (after a few mishaps this week) to go with DRIcore floor under our carpet. Because we live in a condo - there is only 1 sump pump for all 4 of the units. Unfortunately, the owner with our sump pump isn't the brightest and clues in a little late when there is something wrong. The breaker has blown twice and both times resulted in us having moisture -- not another flood - just moisture. So, we had thought about Ceramic Tile for a little while, changed our minds -- and then decided to go with this flooring to save our carpet. It's an expensive choice for our first little home -- but I don't want a stinky basement!!

The Case of the Home Depot Widow

I'm not sure how many of you actually read the story about my beautiful roses from my wonderful husband. It was a post in my other blog. I never gave the actual reason because I felt it wasn't that important to share - until now.

That particular time, Garnet was out shopping at Home Depot when he was supposed to be here with Tim - so I could go to a very important Doctor's Appointment. Obviously, he felt horrible for forgetting - and I have forgiven him.

Today, however I am beginning to realize now that hamburgers have been nixed from the diet maybe I'm fighting another love in his life; Home Depot.

8 o'clock this morning Garnet was off to the lovely Depot to look at carpet and who knows what else. With both sets of keys.

I called Home Depot hoping to find someone with a good sense of humour;
"Hi, I'm sure you have many cases of lost husbands wandering around Home Depot and their wives wondering where they are...."

A snotty "What?" was the only response.

I tried to be serious and asked her politely if there was any way for me to get my husband out of Home Depot. "Could you page him out of his dream-like stupor and ask him to return his wife's keys....?"
She sighed rudely and said she'd try. (remind me to give up on my comedy act)

I wouldn't have cared except that I was supposed to be at work a half hour ago.

When that didn't work I decided to walk. I was just going to get Tim's bike when the doorbell rang. There was Garnet's friend, Rob. Ironically, the same friend that hunted him down at Home Depot the first time.

"You have a knack for showing up in time to witness husband of the year, Rob!"

Rob gave me a ride to work. We talked about how Garnet's one track mind might benefit from a little more brains. Garnet called me a 1/2 hour later. I grabbed the phone with a big smirk on my face, while 4 women sat around me laughing waiting to see what was going to happen. Obviously, I have to keep my sense of humour, I do love this man.

"Roses just ain't gonna solve this one, Babe."

Hilsy

My sister has a blog now!!!! (finally, gee....way to get with the times ;)

(linked on right)

Progress.....

Taaa Daaa......(now you can stop calling and asking what colour it is, mom) 

Primer

Primer is going up as I write this!!!!!!

I thought the guys looked so cute all dust covered and white faces, I had to get a shot of it :)
Wayne posed very nicely, Garnet - as always - was so eager to get his picture taken......

Hockey Pictures (finally)

They look so little!!

Looking serious...

Relaxing....

The "I'm ready" stance

Looks like a pro, huh?

Our Tim Horton's Date afterwards

Being Silly (he has to have his Hot Chocolate in a mug now, as you can see......)


Hockey has been awesome the last two weeks....no crying, hardly falling and really enjoying it. The coach worked them extra hard today -- and he kept up, worked hard and didn't even try to give up. It's much better for him......and for my heart :)

Beware...

of the new instructors!!

Sandra and I couldn't make it to the Monday and Wednesday Spinning classes - so we tried the Tuesday night. Ouch in all new places!! This instructor was on some good caffeine pills or something she had us doing sprints and push-ups like mad and then a race for a full 8 minute song!!! Our other instructor is all about the tension (always screaming "more tension, feel the burn") this new one was all about the speed.

At one painful point, we are drenched and dripping in sweat, airways burning, legs numb. The instructor screams "Keep going, we're almost there!!" and Sandra yells out in pure agony;

"Where the hell are we going???!!!" .....I nearly fell off my bike laughing.

Strangely enough - I feel like I got a much better workout and I felt absolutely amazing afterwards. Sandra and I are both built the same way -- a little extra junk in the trunk. So we were warned about using too much tension on the bike and building more muscle in the legs...thus making them look bigger. So we think we've both found our niche in this new instructor. And it's amazing the endurance and strength in my running that I am gaining from the classes...working different muscle groups I guess.

I'm also finding the benefit from going with a workout partner. Tomorrow we are both working all day....so it will be interesting to see if we can encourage eachother to still go!

progress....drywall is up.

even more progress --- drywall is taped and mudded!!! 

The Spanish Computer

I thought this joke was hilarious....and so true!


A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.''House'' for instance, is feminine: ''la casa.'' ''Pencil,'' however, is masculine: "el lapiz.''. A student asked, ''What gender is 'computer'?''
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether''computer'' should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that ''computer'' should definitely be of the feminine gender (''la computadora''), because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory forpossible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine (''el computador''), because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

...The women won!