Don't ask me to look after your balloon

There is a yearly street festival near our place that the merchants association puts on. Last year we were visiting family and attending my cousin's wedding so we missed it. This year we missed the parade portion of the event but we made it to the rest of it. For better or worse we went to the street festival.

I say it like that because it seemed that the Peanut was at once pleased to be there and not quite satisfied with what was on offer.

We started great; with a free pinwheel and pencil, Daddy got her a flower balloon. There was music playing everywhere. Which was wonderful; except the Peanut thought that even though it was happy music, it was also too loud, and she wouldn't stop to dance.

Then we waited in line for face painting. Daddy ran off feed us (because this is what good Daddies do) and came back with a tasty sandwich and water. The Peanut was given a helium balloon which we tied to her stroller, the flower balloon we also added to the helium string. (it was a good idea at the time and was working). We managed to get in on the last of the face painting (only two other kids were painted after us) but the Peanut took one look at her Lion Queen face and melted into a sad puddle of "But I wanted a pink nose" to which the face painter quickly added a pink dab onto her nose.



Daddy got her an ice cream which she happily enjoyed while us parents went to get one of our own. The sun was out (after what feels like a forever of rain and gray skies an extra blessing on the day) and her ice cream was quickly melting in rivulets onto her hands and clothes. We stopped so I could clean her up a little, and ended up entertaining an older couple sitting on the side of the road when instead I missed her ice cream entirely and it landed on the road. Of course the Peanut took one look at her ice cream and melted into a puddle of "I want my ice cream!" In an attempt to appease her, since it was my fault, i gave up my ice cream and we carried on.

By this time it didn't matter what we did or where we went the Peanut was ready to melt into a puddle at the drop of a hat, so we were somewhat pleased when we noticed her flower balloon missing but she didn't. (I did say that it was a good idea at the time, and it did work for at least 2 hours) We found a bouncy castle but were turned away because the festival was coming to a close which resulted in a repeat of above with the title of the puddle changed to reflect the situation. Then we hightailed it homeward.

Later, once we had made it home and were all relatively puddle free, the doorbell rang. My Niece and her partner had dropped in for a surprise visit. They are planning on moving here in a month or so and had spent the day looking at places (insert my happy dance here). We offered them dinner (high class cuisine of chicken fingers and watermelon) and they suggested going out to eat. So out came the stroller so that we could walk up to the Italian place at the top of the hill and off came the helium balloon in the process which resulted; yes you guessed it, in a Peanut puddle of "I want my red balloon!"

So what did we learn from all of this?

Next year we're going to catch the parade
The Peanut's ear protectors will be added to the stuff we bring with us
I will hold out for the Butter Chicken, Naan and Rice from Bombay Bhel
oh, and the wings from Burgers Etc.
Oh yeah,
and I am not going to be put in charge of cleaning up ice creams or holding onto any balloons.



All in all it was a pretty fantastic day, if you keep the puddles out of the equation (and I'm going to). How was your Saturday?

Rain rain rain

but at least it's warm and we can splash in puddles. We'll be headed out to do some splashing today, if I can find the rain pants that is. If not we'll be tiptoeing through the puddles so that our pants stay dry; not nearly as much fun.

I'm not feeling 100% right now; I have a bit of a tummy bug that's keeping me right off the food, mix that up with a good dose of heartburn whenever I do manage to eat something and it's a right treat. On the positive side; these things are temporary and I have the whole "I'm glad that's over with!" to look forward to.

We kept the weekend pretty low key with lots of fort building, and movie watching mixed with just enough errand running and chore finishing to make it feel like we weren't just lumps. on the don side the Peanut has had some pretty juicy morning wakings, I'll be changing her bed again today and we'll be on extra vigilant potty duty at bedtime tonight.

But enough about me, how was your weekend?

in a few words

Best Dance class ever, good friends, roast Lamb and apple pie. Breakfast at the Diner (the one featured in Fringe a few weeks ago), garden centre, English lavender, black earth, free bike. Morning snuggles, I love you to the carrot and back, Mothers day portrait, playground, walk past dream home, bus, outside painting, BBQ, Strawberries and Whipped Cream

Up all night and awake all day

could be the theme of the weekend for us. The Peanut woke up early (and I mean so early that it was still late) Saturday from a nightmare and crawled into bed with us and fidgeted and squirmed until the Husband left the room and went to sleep in her room. We were up nice and early Saturday then we repeated the whole process again last night with a wet bed in place of the nightmare. Add in a fierce windstorm and we were awake most of last night too and up this morning.

Also on the agenda this weekend was a lone trip for me to the book store and and afternoon to myself where I immersed myself in a new project with my x-acto blade, papers and glue and my latest 5 question feature... other than our sleeping issues it was a good weekend. How was yours?

Shopping, an uninterrupted meal, poop and planting

are some of the things we did this weekend but I should explain, about the poop anyway, just in case you get the wrong Idea about what kind of blog post this is. We decided that if this weekend had at least one nice day we were going to transplant our seedlings into the garden. of course before that we wanted to spread the manure into the soil so our seeds and seedlings would have something good to grow on... so there was poop in our weekend.

I'm going to be honest and say that we didn't get everything in the garden that will eventually go in the garden; but by next weekend I plan on being exhausted, stiff and a little dirty. For now there are onions, lettuce, carrots, strawberries, watermelon and pumpkin and a nice hole ready for a raspberry bush sometime tomorrow rain or shine.

And yes I did manage a whole meal uninterrupted when the Peanut and the Husband went out after our family shopping trip for some father daughter bonding... heavenly.

How was your weekend?

I stood out in the rain

all morning on Saturday, I also crouched, lunged, tilted and a few other positions; all in the name of getting a great shot.

It's not often that I get a chance to photograph people over the age of four let alone a group of people none of whom had any children in attendance. So who was I shooting and what for? Let me tell you, but first some back story to set the stage, if you will.

The husband plays bass in a few groups. Recently he joined a cover band and, as it happens one of the guitarists in this cover band is also one of the guitarists for a local metal band here in Vancouver; Lethal Halo. I'm not a huge fan of Metal music but I can appreciate good music when I hear it; regardless of musical genre. Their music is really good. If you are a metal head, or know someone who is; send them the link to Lethal Halo's website.

So getting back to what I did this weekend; They were looking for someone to do a photo shoot for their website and upcoming albums and that led to me hanging out in downtown Vancouver on a very rainy Saturday morning with some really fantastic people. The shoot went off without a hitch, except for the loud and obnoxious junkie who didn't take too kindly to having us on her turf. I got some really great shots and I can't wait to see which frames they decide to use and whether they are the same shots that I like or not.

I want to get the band their copies before I share with everyone. For now, you can see on of the locations we used above. I hope your weekend was a good one!

A big Grumpapotomus

Thank all Gods that the husband stuck close to home today and took over the Peanut. Lethal Halo; The band I'm photographing next week played a live show Saturday night and he went out to watch them and then slept in on Sunday. The moment the Peanut woke up all evidence pointed to a grumpy little girl. We've gone diaper free over the last 10 days and have remained dry all night but keeping her in the mindset of going straight to the bathroom first thing in the morning is a bit of a struggle even with the dry bum. There was a lot of whimpering and moaning and whining and a little crying and at lasted on and off all day long. When the Husband got up he was awesome and took over, going out with the Peanut to the park and shopping for supplies and letting me have a little me time.

Of course this morning is shaping up to be pretty similar. We are waiting on the call to go pick up the Peanut's eye glasses (It's been three weeks since they were ordered) and she's already tried to divert my exasperation with requests for hugs about 50 times. She's a smart little girl.

Oh boy,

So last weekend the Peanut woke up coughing a nice phlegmy cough with a mild fever, by last Monday she was dripping from her nose and by Wednesday her nose was spouting green. On Thursday the green was less opaque and was turning orangeish in colour, she was still coughing but the fevers were gone. And we are headed into day nine of her cold and there seems to be no end in sight. We're out of tissues and using TP (toilet paper) I'm considering getting out her old receiving blankets to make her some flannel hankies. This is the worst cold she's had and she's turned into a little emotional terror. If Mommy does something she's asked Daddy to do she melts, if she wants milk with her breakfast she doesn't ask for it she melts, if I can't find the toy that she was just running around with she melts... you get the picture.

My patience is like a yo-yo since I am not a martyr and there are lots of hugs being given out to soothe little egos and hurt feelings and sore noses. Somewhere in there the husband caught something and spent most of yesterday in bed and will probably stay there today as well. So far I've kept it at bay despite having boogers wiped onto my hands, being coughed on with impunity and sharing kissy kissy faces with the Peanut. My white blood cell count must be at an unusual high, keep your fingers crossed that I'm not jinxing myself.

Friday night we had roaring wind and heavy rain. At one point I was sure that I felt the house being shoved a few inches and I know that I saw the double glazed windows bow in a few times. We hunted for eggs yesterday and the Peanut bit the ears off her first chocolate bunny. I cooked my butcher's ham with a Dr. Pepper Glaze, garlic mashed taters, peas, carrots, salad and apple pie for dessert. The ham was big enough to feed about 8 so we're going to be heartily sick of ham by weeks end. My Thyme has sprouted and I think the pumpkin or maybe it's the watermelon but I think I'll have to try again with the rosemary.

In other news I have a photo shoot planned for the middle of this month. I'll be shooting a local metal band for their website and possibly their EP cover. It's a freebie meaning I'm doing it for free and to have my name in the credits. The guitarist is also in one of the husbands bands so it's a networking thing too. I'll be researching the work of Anton Corbijn to get ready and I'll be posting some of the finished shots here.

How was your weekend?

You'd think we were tearing her limb from limb

It's not easy to get a three year old out of a place she's having fun at. Lesson learned have the what's going to happen when it's time to leave talk a few times before you even get there. But oh the blood curdling "you are ruining my life" screams coupled with the dime sized crocodile tears...

This weekend we did a jam session BBQ at our good friends place. Good food, good music (he wrote a beautiful song for her for their 23rd wedding anniversary) and great conversation always makes for a great night. The only draw back was the Peanut's response to the news that it was time to go home...

Last week I was fighting a nice little stomach bug. I had thought that it was something I ate but really not so much. So I was tired all week long, had little to no appetite and was running around getting things packaged and mailed. So not a whole lot got done. I managed to make dinner every night and a load of laundry did get done here and there. The bug made it's exit for Saturday, just in time for BBQ steak and prawns, rice and corn and a crisp green salad. We supplied pie.

Yesterday the husband treated us to brunch and then took himself and the Peanut out for the afternoon. I got some painting done and and I'm looking forward to sharing the new project I've been working on. I'm hoping to share soon.

after

weeks and weeks of clinging symptoms I finally felt well enough to get out and see friends. How fortunate that this was the weekend of the holiday party for Peanut's set of friends and incidentally mine as well.

We trekked to the north shore and into our friends home while light and fluffy snowflakes drifted down and settled on our cheeks like fairy kisses. I know, I know it's a little cliched but I'm leaving it as it is. I like the idea of fairy kisses anyway.

Last week I listed all the things we had done to celebrate the holidays and here's an update:

We baked sugar cookies and butter tarts. (my grandma gave me the super tasty recipe she uses for hers which my great grandma called toffee tarts)

We decorated our gingerbread house, and made more paper snowflakes.

We went out to do some holiday shopping (we limit our time doing this though, shopping in the crowds is too much stress and takes away from enjoying each others company. We went to the local Ikea for a new sheving unit for the living room, a bedside table to pile my mountain of books on and a storage unit for the Peanut's art and craft supplies. These are our gifts to ourselves this year and we can't be more pleased with them.

And of course we attended the Christmas party I mentioned above.

On deck this week:
Stanley Park Bright Nights Train ( a favourite of the Peanut's) more baking (as I type this shortbread cookies are scenting my house), a gingerbread man decorating/ play date with our good friends and a little more shopping (this time at some local businesses) I'll also be attending the public Yule ritual on Saturday this will mark the first time I've attended a public ritual other than for Samhain, usually we're heading out to Alberta to visit family around this time so I'm very excited to add this onto my list of activities.

My posts lately have been a little on the word heavy side and super light on the pictures. I've been neglecting the camera in favour of being a part of the fun. I've taken one or two photos along the way and hope to post some here soon. Also I've been feeling the urge to go all lyrical on you but I'm trying to think of a pithy title to use, I'm open to suggestions.

27 days

As I'm writing this I'm starting my 27th day with a cold that will not quit. Well, it's starting to slow down (This next part will be full of TMI but I'm a sharing kinda gal. I won't share my germs but I'll tell you all about them) I still sound like Bea Arthur when I talk, I'm still feeling the pain in the ol' sinuses and I'm still coughing the big phlegmy coughs but it's not the non stop can't get that stuff out kind of cough any more. I think I see the end of the tunnel.

I may have bitten off more than I can chew with a new project for the holidays. Last year we did all our shopping handmade online, with a few exceptions. This year we're doing it all over again except that most of our gifts will be handmade by us, either in the form of a family portrait that I will be setting up in the next week or so (thank all Gods for the timed shutter release) or tree ornaments/ sun catchers that we are putting together. Doing the handmade online thing leaves so much more room to celebrate the season without the stress. We'll be spending more time together as a family baking, decorating and visiting the Bright Lights train and adding some new activities to the list of family time, which leads me to the project that is turning out to be more work that I thought when I decided to do it.

I'm making a handmade advent calendar to help us count down through holidays. Growing up my parents used to bring us the calendars with the cardboard pop out doors filled with cheap chocolate molded into sometimes unrecognizable holiday shapes with the one big door for the 24th. I always wanted to be able to reuse them (I'm a bit of a pack rat). Last year we bought one of them for the Peanut and I got the idea that I should buy a wooden one to reuse every year but with money being so tight I never got around to it. Then a few weeks back I came across a do it yourself version that I thought looked pretty simple...

Well I'm in the midst of making one and I'll be documenting all the bits for another DIY tutorial coming up this week.

MIA why I haven't been posting

When I get sick it's a long drawn out affair which lasts way longer than most people's battles with the cold and flu. My body likes to attack the Neutrophils (a type of white blood cell) in my system so my abilities to fight off illness is a little compromised depending on whether the roller coaster ride that is my my white blood count is on a rise or heading downhill. The good thing, according the the hematologist we went to last fall, is that my body does reproduce the cells, but I get my blood tested every four months to keep track of the ups and downs.

So I'm heading into week three of a coughing, hacking, nose blowing, sinus head aches and sore throat bonanza. I'm on antibiotics this week though, after two separate visits to the clinic last week. These visits really illustrate how the whole H1N1 scare is affecting people. The first involved the Dr standing as far away from me as possible, asking a few questions, treating me like I was wasting his time and putting him in danger of catching something with the advice to come back if it didn't get better in a week. The second visit with another Dr involved a look at my throat, in my ears and a thorough listen to my lungs with a prescription for strep throat and advice to come in again if I experienced pain when breathing and or blood when coughing.

And I haven't really felt up to posting, the laptop has actually been closed most of the week while I've travelled to and from the pharmacy to pick up more tissues, cough drops and some vitamin C for the Peanut who had a fever for three days last week and is now stuffed up. I've been reading my favourite blogs and commenting here and there but posting myself has seemed like too much work. I'm hoping that this week I'll be feeling more up to it, as well as getting the house decked out for winter celebrations.

How are you faring with all the bugs and ickies floating around?

there's a beluga

hanging out in my sinus cavities. That's how I've finally managed to describe how Mommy is feeling to the Peanut. It's kind of backfired though, she wants me to take it out so she can take care of it. on the plus side the barnacle in my throat seems to be shrinking, now if I could just get rid of the bend you over, breath stealing coughing fits I'll almost be feeling back to normal. Of course the cold meds are to be thanked for that.

I'm just pleased that the Peanut has so far managed to avoid the bug from us. keeping our fingers crossed and washing our hands like we bought shares in the hand soap industry. We got started on our holiday shopping on the weekend. We're going handmade/vintage wherever possible this year. We have three gifts off the list and about ten more to go not including the Peanut or ourselves. Next on the list is for the nephews we have six on the list, the rest are on the gift draw (wow time flies it seems like yesterday that they were watching Mumbo on the VCR and crawling into my lap for a story) I'll be doing another gift giving post in the next few days if the cold doesn't tackle me again. hope you are all feeling well and keeping the flu and the cold bugs at bay

The candy coma

is continuing here but only because I've hidden the goods from the Peanut and the husband. Last week was a rough one, as was the week before with sudden cases of bad sinus colds and too much to do and a lot of it not getting done.

On a positive note our Toilet has been revamped with water saving plumbing type things, the wall behind the tank is sparkly clean as is the back of the tank since we took the opportunity of getting a good bathroom cleaning in while the the toilet was in pieces. My husband is not a plumber but he did an awesome job and there is no longer the soothing sound of running water coming from the bathroom.

This week we start our holiday shopping. On my side of the family we draw names. With one grandma, two parents, an uncle, four siblings and their significant others, and 10 kids the holidays could get pretty pricey so we draw names. My husbands side of the family is a little easier and a little trickier but there are less of them.

This year the husband got my Pa. Pa is my second dad. He's a rough gruff cowboy farmer who thinks that a covered wagon camping trip is the epitome of camping, with a wagon that includes a small battery run fridge and heat and a fold down bed from an old camper I don't think he's that far off. He built his covered wagon from the base of an vintage wagon and added a hand sewn canvas my Uncle (a upholsterer and glass artist) made and slowly added little luxuries as he thought of them so that he could entice my Mom into going with him.

He keeps Draught horses and a few cows and he's the mighty machine Grampa in the family.

This year we're doing the buy hand-made route again adding to that we've included vintage to the list of acceptable purchases for gifts as well. To look for Pa we looked in both handmade as well as in the Vintage section of Etsy. Without giving away what we've decided on I've listed a few picks to suit the Pa. When possible I'll be browsing local artists and arts and crafts venues.

When I'm buying for someone on Etsy I take into account their hobbies and personality, among a few different terms that fit the Pa, I also went looking for "covered wagon" in the Etsy search. This term brought up these things from Susantique, MaineMooseToys and CountryWindows on Etsy:

Prairie Chick...Vintage Covered Wagon Still Bank by Banthrico
if Chicago from Susantique: Vintage covered wagon still bank by
Banthrico Inc. of Chicago.Lots of detail cast in base metal with what appears
to be a copperwash, and there is a lot of patination that has occurred
over the years. Coin slot is on the bottom. Key is long since gone.

Measures 4 1/2" x 4" x 2 3/4".




AVON-DECANTER-COVERED WAGON from MaineMooseToys
was first sold in 1970 and last sold in 1971.
CONTENTS: 6 oz. WILD COUNTRY AFTER SHAVE.
Dark amber glass bottom,white painted top,gold cap,
with Original box. Around 4 1/2 inches long.



Old Wagonin Sepia from CountryWindows:
An old wagon that did havethe cover on it at one time, bu was
taken off. The days when peope traveled across country in
covered wagons. This print is 8x10 inches

Of course there was a lot to choose from on Etsy but these items really caught my eye and were on the short list. The final picks aren't here. My Mom reads the blog and you never know who may be looking over her shoulder. I will post links to the shops that we did buy from once we've made our purchases, in the meantime the shops listed here have some pretty incredible items to choose from. If you have the rough gruff cowboy/farmer type on your list these are pretty good places to start your gift search.

Are you buying online and handmade this year?

Friday night my husband left me

to go to the guitarist in his band's weekend long bachelor party. I was worried that a whole weekend with no one to give me a break from the little ball of energy that is the Peanut that I might be a frazzled mess by Sunday night; so I planned the weekend carefully so that I might wear the Peanut out enough that she'd melt into bed at night with minimal fuss.

We are planning a dress-up tea party play date on Tuesday and we did a little getting ready for that. We had frozen Pizza for dinner and went to the outdoor pool that is within 10 minutes walk from our place and stayed up late Saturday night for a kid friendly movie on PPV. Around the middle of our movie we had a big storm descend which led us to some serious storm watching. We had a few good hours of flickering lightening, bright sudden flashes and sharp cracks body jarring booms and rumbles. There were at least four strikes that were close enough that the thunder followed in less than a second. It tapered off around ten, the peanut at about nine.

Sunday morning brought us a new little friend when I brought in a tattered edged pink rose from the garden. We had fun watching the inchworm loop across the leaf he was on and then set him free on the backyard and got ready for a nother swim at the pool.

While I'm sharing, here are two more blogs that I'm really digging lately:


Lately I've been leaning a little towards the work and writing of some of my fellow Canadians. Akane Designs is one of these. An eclectic mix of personal snippets, favourites and art features, Akane also includes shop giveaways and marketing tips for online sellers and product reviews. A true believer in the "share the wealth" philosophy and it shows. Her Blog is beautifully designed and illustrated with bright images and I look forward to seeing what she'll be posting next.

Bees & Trees is simply a beautiful blog full of artist features and the authors own works. I love that in addition to posting their work they also talk about their process, the ideas behind it and the style they are working in. since these are all things that I love to read about and the work that they post and feature is so stunning, I couldn't be happier about stumbling upon their blog. They are well worth a look.

Don't forget to help me celebrate one whole year on Etsy and enter my giveaway! The deadline to enter is rushing this way, you don't want to miss out.