Exposed

I have been holding off stripping the wall paper off the kitchen -- as much as I despised it, and wanted to puke everytime I looked at it. I learned (from stripping the horrid paper off the hallway and finding a huge hole in the wall) that you don't know what the wall paper is hiding until it's ripped off and anything hidden is extremely exposed. We can't do every project that I want in the house -- I wish we could just do every room and make it as beautiful as I want it. It's especially frustrating because we did so much in the condo - the kitchen, the entrance, the beautiful basement rec room......and now we are starting all over again.

So I couldn't hold off any longer. Garnet did some adjustments and moved the fridge and the stove so that the kitchen now looks a lot more open that it did. With the kitchen already ripped apart I thought - what the heck? Might as well strip it off now........

before




after















Now, instead of gross, floral, yuck -- I'm stuck with holes, scrapes and someone's love for all colors in the pepto bismol range. Garnet says he'll have it patched and atleast primed within the month......but there's so much left to do in the kitchen (besides the walls) that it's not worth painting it and totally finishing it right now.
I had these friends that everytime they bought a new house - they built it. At the time I thought it was insane! Now, I'm beginning to see why.

Finally!

Sunny Bouquet

The whole reason I put a Garden in this year!!

My Favorite

Sammy

Puppy Training.....Sammy is so smart for 4 1/2 months!

Happy 6 years, baby!!

Today is our 6 year anniversary. Garnet is working nights all weekend - keepin' the romance alive, baby! We'll do something special next week. September 12th is our anniversary of when we met 8 years ago -- and in keeping with tradition we are going back to Canada's Wonderland where he first spotted his little Harv.

What have I learned in 6 years? I've learned that happily ever after is great fairy tale ending....but the fairy tales never go beyond the honey moon. The real deep layers of marriage - that no one wants to talk about - are the intense moments of two lives meshing. Where two very different people from very different pasts come together to make a new future.

Marriage is work. Marriage is bringing the baggage from every other aspect of your life and dumping it at someone's feet --- asking them to love you while they wade through it all. You will never agree on everything - somedays it feels like you agree on nothing. It's a learning experience as two people grow in life and change - together. It's fun having someone to laugh with and share the joys of life - it's beautiful to think of growing old together. And best of all, it's having your best friend there beside you at the end of every day to kiss and lean on and protect - and there every morning to start fresh.

Dooce, who's writing is magnificent and hits close to home in more ways than the bitterness of the religious past - wrote a beautiful entry on her anniversary. To quote;
"But every single morning one of us leans over and kisses the other like we promised we would do four years ago, even on the mornings when we don’t feel like it, even on the mornings when one of us would rather punch the other one in the balls.

Each morning we start over again because we want this to work."

And not to sound cheesy on quoting Dr. Phil - but he said something to an arguing couple on a show that hit pretty close. To the husband: "What if you woke every morning and decided that everything you say to her today was going to protect and encourage her self-esteem, show her love, and enhance the woman that she is," and to the wife; "And everything you said to him today was going to show him that you were proud of the man he was - without having to prove anything, and showed love and trust. What about if everyday was about showing love instead of being right."

Yup. Love you, Honey.

Tim's Makeover......

So he decided to give Hillary one too! 

Making Muffins! 

My soft spot for grumpy old men

I had a really cute experience this morning at volunteering. My favorite part of my time there is my interaction with the patients - which happens quite a bit at meal times. Unfortunately, I sometimes have to wake them up to feed them. I was warned that this one man in particular was not a morning person....."or an afternoon or evening person either for that matter." joked the nurse

I was cheerfully calling out his name, and trying to think of the most exciting way to tell him that I was going to help him eat yummy hospital food. He grunted a few times and shook his head, I kept perservering. Finally, he opened his eyes and growled; "Nurse - I need sleep a hell of a lot more than I need food right now. I'm not eating that crap."

I suggested a few more things and his eyes finally showed interest when I mentioned coffee. I chatted for a bit and unsuccessfully tried to get him to smile. He took a sip of coffee and it was too hot, I offered porridge and he said his dad used to force him to eat it - and he hated it. The cheese didn't taste right and he wanted to know; "how in the hell do I get out of this place!?"

I kept trying to make him comfortable, giving him sips here and there of his coffee. Trying to get him out of his morning grump. Finally, the coffee was cool enough to drink, and it was good! I joked with him; "There! Now we've found one good thing about this place!"

"Nurse, what's your name?"

"I'm actually not a nurse - I'm a volunteer. My name is Jessica."

"You're not a nurse?"

"No, I will be in a few years though."

"I'm calling the governor."

All I could think was - Oh crap. What did I do?

"I'm calling someone - I'm going to make you a nurse - cause you'd be a damn good one!"

It's all her fault!!

See what happens....Hillary moves in and I become a slacker blogger just like her. It's scary - I can't even begin to imagine what a horrible influence she is going to have on me.

I'm such a bad liar.

Actually, we've just been having too much fun around here to sit down and type.

Yeah, that's a lie too. I've just been lazy.

I've had a few more shifts at my new job - I'm still loving it. I've made a few goofs at the cash, just when cute customers come in- but everyone is being very patient with me. I'm really excited to be in biking distance because I've always wanted to bike to work - but was never able to because I had a Tim-Tag-A-Long.
Garnet is doing well getting into the "Dad at home while Mom is working" --- he called me at work to ask where the rice was.....and I had to explain to my co-workers that this was all new to him. But I came home to a yummy plate waiting in the fridge for me. My friend said I should have done this years ago -- since domesticity is not one of Garnet's strengths.

I wrote the best letter of my life to my former employment; "Please accept this as my 2 weeks notice of resignation, I can't wait to get out of here, screw you all, oh and one more thing (as she flips the bird)....."
I used to be scared to write bad things on here about that place - (see Dooce link on the side she lost her job because of her blog) but now I really don't care. Ang, you got out at the right time!! I have 7 works days left. Hallelujah!!

I have more interesting things to write about - our 6 year anniversary is coming up....and we're supposed to be doing some more fun things before summer is over....I'll try not to be so lazy.

xo J

The Birthday Cake!

Working hard!

Awwwww!!! He did such a good job - Garnet loved it!

When I asked Garnet what he was going to do for his birthday - he said he was going to relax and do nothing! Of course that means; "rip out the shower and replace the head and a few pipes, might as well sauder a few more and fix the shut off valve in the basement while I'm at it too".....So I don't know how relaxing his birthday was especially because he had to go in to work midnights - on 1 hour of sleep after all that! That's Garnet ;)

Happy Birthday, Honey!!!

My hubby turns 25 today!!! (Yes, I robbed the cradle)

Pictures of the birthday man (if he'll let me take some) and fun cake (I promised Tim that he could decorate it) later today.

Terrain Twister!!!!

Gotta test it out in the water!

Tim finally celebrated his birthday with Papa Little....it seems like we've been celebrating for 2 months now!! He got spoiled with a bunch more clothes and toys -- and of course this cool Terrain Twister!

Home Depot Workshop

Tim thought this was the coolest! He got to go and build this pencil box at Home Depot, complete with a personalized apron, goggles and a certificate of completion! Very cute idea!

Cross eyed geniuses

Hillary and Tim were amusing themselves one day by telling stories -- cross eyed. Yes, they are perfectly normal....really.

them are so smrt

Goodbye to Josh.....Hello to Hillary!!!

My mom and Dad came for a visit after the reunion and picked up Josh :(......bye buddy!
Hillary is now officially boarding here. With her first Little "WAKE UP CALL!!!!!!" she was off for her first day of placement yesterday!! Tim is loving it immensely.....but we are making an Open/Closed sign for her room so he knows when she needs some alone time! Funny videos (of course!) coming soon!

Wet cuddles for dry Hillary :)

And of course for Jessi too!

Papa Don getting some air -- before the knee injury....

Watching the boats at sunset!

Grandma and Tim

Hilsy and Tim

Listening intently to Papa Don

Quinn Reunion - August 5, 2006

My Mom's Brother's and Sisters
Youngest to oldest (almost.....Quinn brainfreeze {the ladies in the middle} and minus the 3 missing) --- (L-R) Jack, Keith, Shawn, Vanessa (standing in for mom Faunie who was gone for a swim), Mary, Vicki, Nancy and Sue.
Missing; Tim, Terry and Mick

I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked -- I'm relying on the real photographer in the family (Uncle Hans, please?) to email me his collection as I'm sure there are a lot of great ones!
I found out there were a lot more fans of the blog than I had thought, I'm so glad you all enjoy hearing about my crazy life.....you should use the comments!
I will owe Garnet for months now - for dragging him to this.....my own immediate family gatherings are hard enough on him!! If anything, this will help him to understand my mother a little better - and realize that genetics is something you just can't help ;)

Cousins out for a walk - Hillary, Tori, Danielle (front) Vanessa and Matt in the back

Aunt Mary worked on a family trivia game - to help divide all of the family heirlooms left by Great Aunt Jane who recently moved into retirement living and handed down her belongings to the family.
Let the games begin!!

Aunt Mary was the MC and the boss!!

They even got Garnet to wear pearls from Great Aunt Janey

The fun blue team

Hillary and David from the 'slower' team.....but they were having fun ;)

The orange team -- clearly having a blast!!

Shopping for the goods

Mom in a pretty hat.....and of course by 'pretty' I mean if she ever wears it out in public I will disown her

Baseball!!

Tim chilling with Brittany and her (very brave fro coming!) boyfriend!

Playing Catch

The human ball --how cool to be six!! (mom, I remember somebody playing catch with me at the beach when I was this age.....I'll have to get you to use your 'good' memory to remember who it was)

boys....

Flying!!!

Weee.....

Serious boys 

Feelin' hot, hot, hot....

It was 36 degrees celcius (97 F) yesterday - with the humidex it was 48 C (118 F)....it was too hot to move! I told Josh I wish he wasn't here, because with him here I have to wear clothes!! (Just one of the many things I say to traumatize my siblings.....can't wait for Hillary to come hehehe)

And it's supposed to be even hotter today! I am not removing myself from the pool today at all.