break

I'll be taking a break for a bit I think. DD's birthday party got postponed until next week due to weather so when that comes around I will share the ideas from that. But I'm all sorts of burnt out and beaten down right now, on a personal level, and I'm just taking some quiet time. A mental health break, as it will. Not that this blog is strenuous. ;) More like I'm just not up to extras right now. I'd love to stand around and vent all over the internet about all my problems, but I'll pass on that pedestal. But I will be back when I'm feeling better, whether that be a week or whether that be a month! So don't forget about me! ;)

busy girl, busy girl

Okay, so, granted, I have a birthday party that I should be planning. And/or preparing for. And/or baking for. But, like all good crafters, when I have something important to do... I do crafts instead! ha. So, first we have what we will pretend is a before like you can't see that I started working on the bottom there already. And pity my wilty flowers. And now we have the after! Tadaa! The ribbon and trinkets are just to jazz it up a bit. Bling bling and all that. The idea for that part, by the way, comes from Inspirational Home by Jeanne Winters. If I had a more inspirational charm I would have used that, but I had been making a bunch of these blue and white things and decided to toss three of them on.
The jute is just from dollarama, and the vase was a gift but probably also from there by the looks of it ;) This takes a while, with a few bucks and a glue gun you can have a stylish vase! Good project for when you're watching toddlers "move it, move it!'

And more tulle came in today! I finished my tutu! I'm so tickled. DD is a busy girl, too, as you can see. Even a princess needs to mow her lawn, kids.

She is divalicious. She grabbed the sunnies and put them on herself. If you are curious about the extended broom, that would be her new boyfriend.

I am not the only busy girl around here, as you can see. "I love 'Cole!" he says.

this is two

This is two candles blown out ever-so-neatly with family and friends.
This is a batch of cupcakes eaten icing-first by little people, and some big ones too!

This is the happy birthday girl, eating one of her favourite things.

This is a neatly made bed (I will treasure the picture, lol) with a new comfortor from Gramma.

This is the terrible twos, relished quickly and with lots of enthusiasm.

This is a princess and a monkey and mommy and daddy's precious little baby, already two years old!

(And... we did it! We waited for her birthday to give her the kitchen! LOL... we have a bit of a reputation for NOT waiting to give gifts on the proper day. PS, how cute is this kitchen? It has little baskets! And a pot rack (not shown)... mine doesn't compare!)

PS: I totally forgot... this is the Market Skirt from MADE's tutorial! I plan on adding the adorable pockets yet, but DH needed me to turn a longsleeve sunday shirt into a shortsleeve one tonight. So... later!

Dear Facebook

Dear Facebook,
Okay, for serious, I have one less notification than you say I do. And 1-1=0 so that can be incredibly aggravating when it says just 1. Because I always click anyways. JUST IN CASE.

Also, I can't seem to comment on most pictures, you're just taking me to my home page or some random picture. This is very aggravating. Half the reason I'm on facebook is so I can make overly enthusiastic comments on my friends' cute babies. So.... get on that.

Love,
(not really, recently)
Laura

(k guys I know this is super hot but please don't start stalking me now. I'm so taken. And possibly don't swing that way, depending on who's asking.) (also, this is from january, so for all you know I've gained sixty pounds since then.) (I haven't. Thank goodness. I've actually lost five. So maybe do stalk me cos I'm getting sexier by the day.)

LETS PLAY A GAME, GUYS. SEE HOW MANY CONSECUTIVE BRACKET STATEMENTS YOU CAN USE. (I WIN. AUTOMATIC.) (SORRY.)

Nicole would like to add: "No More Monkeys."

Bubble Party

I decided on the theme for Nicole's 2nd birthday party... Bubbles! At walmart, I found bubble (aimed at bath) themed party decorations (napkins, tablecloths), and then I picked up bubble favours as well. Here are three links to tutorials for things I will also be using for this party!

A crown for the birthday girl... not sure I will use bubbles on it, I think I'll just match it to the next item... a bubble dress! Am I not so clever? (Take my word for it, I am. lol) And last but not least, homemade bubble potion. Then I can even use my environmentally friendly dishsoap and everything! Hoo-rah for me, sir.

Of course, that's not everything. Bubble machine... be in a bubble... and possibly a few more. ;) I'm pretty pleased with myself to have a theme and the ability to go a bit batshit crazy overboard, but still keep it at a level appropriate for toddlers. But still fun for thier older siblings! (because it wouldn't be a party if it wasn't a coffee social for the mommies, too.)

IT LIVES!

I survived my sleep-deprived EEG! Caught a few hours of napping this afternoon and I'm actually pretty fine! I have to say, though, once you hit 24 hours of no sleep, or at once I do, you get very disoriented and I was having difficulty sorting through my memory. Couldn't even remember at first which hospital to go to!

I totally had a I WENT THROUGH TWELVE HOURS OF LABOUR FOR YOU moment today. My 2 yr old basically spent the whole day with Grandma b/c gramma took us to the hospital, played with her during my test, and then took her so I could get some sleep. Then when she went to return this child, SHE DID NOT WANT. Me or her papa. Just wanted to go to Grandma's house. Grandma works at a school so she's off for the summer, so she decided to indulge her little monkeyface. DH and I are home alone for the night. I'm a woman of leisure tomorrow, too. Don't know what I'll do with myself. I'm sure I could come up with a few things. :D

Have to start really planning for DD's birthday. It's on saturday, we're having a little family thing this weekend and then I'm having a birthday party / mommies coffee social next week. So I'll probably wind up running errands for that! (photo is from last year's family dinner)

Okay I just remembered that I was planning on making a birthday crown and a birthday outfit and lots of stuff so I am pretty much doomed. Somebody mail me yourself to help. Why did I not get started on this yet?!

FREE: nearly-two-year-old bully

FREE TO GOOD HOME, one nearly-two-year-old bully. Enjoys biting, pushing, and yelling "GO AWAY!" Would do well in a home with big tough older brothers to whip her into shape.

Definitely not the highlight of my mothering career when my DARLING two year old clamps her teeth down onto Little Friend's arm in the middle of Safeway and Will. Not. Let. Go.

Ah, if it were only a few years ago, the appropriate reaction would have been the whupping she surely deserved. As it was, I conked her on the head with a box of Kraft Dinner*** in a near-panic through the stroller netting that separated me from the offending child while Little Friend hollered "COLE BITING ME! COLE BITING ME!" She finally released Little Friend, mainly to stop the yelling - she could have cared less about my cardboard 'weapon.' I was sure steamed. I marched out of there as soon as possible, straight home, and into her room for her longest timeout ever! OOOH! I am ramming my head against a brick wall lately with that girl! How did my sweet, friendly girl turn into such a bully? And just for funsies, too - the Safeway Incident was totally unprovoked.

Admittedly, she only seems to be bullying Little Friend. She has never bitten or pushed around any other kid, to my knowledge. She actually has a reputation as a little sweetheart! I'm pretty sure she's just being territorial. I feel awful for Little Friend, she's been crying when she gets dropped off at my house in the mornings! I would too, in her position!

I shall be doing some yoga and drinking half a pot of coffee during naptime. Perhaps saluting the sun will suddenly give me a brilliant solution. At the very least it will invigorate me a bit.

I have to stay up until... well, until tomorrow night. Sleep Deprived EEG tomorrow morning, so no sleep for me tonight! Expect a wierd, disjointed and/or emotional post in the middle of the night. LOL


***disclaimer: Had it not been for the netting, my reaction would have been to grab her jaw to prevent her from biting Little Friend. I am not a person who strolls around attacking people with Kraft Dinner all willy-nilly; in this case, it seemed like the best way to get her attention. Considering she ignored it, clearly I should have tried Hamburger Helper instead.

Little By Little

I just realized I took this picture in the dark (heaven forbid that i turn on the light and wake this child. My sanity can't take more than the already provided waking hours.) for NAUGHT because I never posted it! I finally hung up that bulletin board the other week, and then some flower hooks from Dollarama to go with it. I'm going to add another one or three hooks yet. lovelove.
So enjoy this vague photo and know that I, like most of you, am putting my home together one little area at a time.

Also, I think... no, I demand that you all buy yourself some flowers next time you're in a store that sells them. Safeway has bunches for as little as $2.99 right now, so NO EXCUSES. Put them in a vase, put them in a pitcher, put them in a mason jar or two. I don't care. Give yourself a little lovin'.
Personally, I always keep my kitchen much cleaner when there is some fresh flowers on the table.

Shiny and New

Ooh la la, I have fancy-shmancy looking titles and suchlike now! What do you think? If the font is 'too much' I may switch to something simpler.

The tutorial on how to do this fancy stuff (actually pretty simple when they hold your hand and walk you through it, don't be intimidated by the fancy lookin' word-thingers!) and the font I'm using is courtesy of kevinandamanda.com ... they actually have a LOT of really cute free-to-use fonts! If you're a digital or mixed-media scrapbooker you better get over there NOW.

Thankful Thursdays

I always forget to do this! But today I remembered. Today I will be thankful that my daughter is capable of keeping herself (mostly) entertained when I have Busy Time (like crafting or cleaning.) I wish I wouldn't turn the TV on as often as I have been this past week, it has been dreadful weather, but I'm glad she wanders into her room to play instead of watching. :)

* I am what awesome is made of *

Ever get into one of those moods where you feel like that? I'm right there right now. At least, until I go back into the kitchen to clean up post-crafting, that is. HA.

I just finished a little sewing project / giftie. Inspired by the http://www.youcanmakethis.com/ name pillows, and to be honest I'm sure I've seen other name pillows too, but those are the first that pop into my head. This took me about three hours from start to finish, including the time spent placating my toddler and being anal-retentive. (ironing over and over, anyone?) These are quite possibly much simpler than the YCMT pillows, but I'm not sure.

This is an envelope pillow, camping-pillow sized. Camping pillows are available at walmart, and they're about, oh, half the size of a regular pillow? Perfect for toddler and perfect for little accent pillows, too!

If anyone wants a tutorial, speak now or forever hold your peace! Nicole wants to keep this pillow, but for obvious reasons she will not be getting her wishes, this will be going to her cousin Morgan for her 7th birthday gift. With a pillow inside, of course. Anywhoo, I have tons of extra fabric, and since this accidently matches the colours for Nicole's room (the blues in particular) I'll make her one almost the same. :) So if you want a tutorial, I'll make one!

The other reason I'm on cloud nine is I am feeling FABULOUS. I have been working out for at LEAST half an hour every day for the last few days. I'm pretty impressed with myself, and I'm starting to get that energy spike that comes with it, too.

5 Things You Can Do With A Small Girl

1. Have a princess tea party (strawberries and water)

2. Play with makeup (in an attempt to keep her on the potty)

3. Clean up the pee from the hall just outside the bathroom right after playing makeup while sitting on the potty for more than half an hour. (I decided to go with another makeup picture for that one.)

4. Have her 'over for coffee' (and by coffee I mean frothed milk and then pour in a smidge of coffee while making a big deal out of it) and a chat.

5. Make her a dress to dress her up for church in.

Just a Simplicity pattern, not my own invention. Instructions were a buttload of "whaaat????!" in two or three places, but I battled through them until they turned into engrish. Chris helped me with this, how cute is that? He pulled out the gathering stitches for me, and helped pin some godets in place while I started sewing the first few.

All in all the last few days have been fun. :) PS, I play golf like Happy Gilmore, rumour has it. Except it's like I am generally either the top of the scores or the bottom. It's more the haphazard WHACK. I do play with two hands. Listen, girlfriend plays hockey, not golf.

KangaRoom Cupcake Storage Organization

KangaRoom Cupcake Storage Organization

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HOW CUTE ARE THESE CUPCAKE STORAGE CONTAINERS????! For $25 for two, I'll actually order these instead of making them myself, too.

(a white)Christmas in July

Now, as those of you who know me irl and thusly have me on facebook have noticed, I have an ongoing battle going on with the weather. I'm losing, by the way. It has been noted that the weather would pretty much be nice all the time if I stayed inside. If I put up my laundry to dry? It pours. If I sit outside on a lawnchair? It pours. Get on a ferris wheel? Pours. Start the barbeque? CHRISTMAS IN JULY, THAT'S WHAT.

It's also been noted that once I run inside, the sun comes out.

Anywhoo. Christmas in July. Plus a minor flash flood in my backyard. Behold.

My hostas have been SLAUGHTERED. They are all pegged through with holes. For those who know nothing about plants, a) fear not, for I am one of you. My neighbour told me this was a hosta. and b) The hosta is the big green leafy one. And it looks like it had a run in with a smalltown teen with a BB gun.

And for the record, it was around 26 degrees celcious for most of the day. Then I fired up the barbeque, the sky got dark, the wind roared in and scared the pants off of me, effectively disarming the screen door in the process. So then I had no pants and Chris had to screw the army bracey thingy (technical jargon, it may be beyond your comprehension) back into the wall while I clung onto the door so it wouldn't slam open. All the while, our barbeque hissed and steamed.

And I really did have no pants, but to be more honest I actually took them off because when the sheet of water slammed into me I got soaked in two minutes. That top picture where you can see a few inches of water? I took that literally three minutes into the rain. YEAH. I KNOW.

PS for my reputation's sake, I will state that the pants where on during the screendoor part of the fiasco. I think I changed into shorts AFTER that.

Product Review: Pulse Perfection Mascara

I was one of http://www.ChickAdvisor.com Pulse Perfection Mascara reviewers. Thought I'd share with my readers my opinion on this mascara, as I'm sure a lot of the people who have heard about it are curious.

As somebody who is a self-proclaimed mascara guru, I felt the vibrating wand made no difference in the coverage I got out of this mascara. I tried it with and without the pulse, and didn't find there was a difference, for me. In and of itself, the mascara was nothing special.

That said, I think that if you have a hard time applying mascara and getting good coverage, definitely give this a try. If you have a steady hand, a slow application from root to tip could have you covered.

(Personally, my favourite mascara price-to-value is still Lashblast.)

Potty, Where Art Thou?

So, I decided that since Nicole is nearly 2 (just two weeks away already!) I would give potty training a go. I decided to forgo Pullups or whatever brand alternative in favour of going straight to training pants and panties. To me, pull ups just seems like a diaper that fits in a different way. Good idea for kids that are already well into potty training, and for leaving the house of course, but at home it seems like a waste. Especially considering how expensive they are!

Now, aside from searching the net for advice, and deciding that it seems like there are more people who aren't quite sure what they're doing then those who confidently have it down pat, I just winged it.

lol

I know, right? That went well.

Potty was exciting to sit on. She peed in it a little bit. Then we went to the kitchen to phone daddy and tell him, and she peed all over the floor. Whoops. Apparently she does not want to actually let go of bladder control when she's sitting on the potty.

Tried just giving her the 'well you pee in the potty or all over yourself, up to you' approach, all casual like. That backfired like NO TOMORROW. Now she does NOT want to wear panties AT ALL. Or sit on the potty. She was very stressed out every time she wet herself, and still did not want to 'let go' on the potty. She actually asked to have her diaper back.

I've decided to give her a few days to destress. Plus it's the babysitting days, and while she IS willing to sit on the potty at the same time as Little Friend sits on her own, she still won't pee. But I'll leave her in diapers until Thursday, when it's just her and I again. Then I think we'll go back outside armed with panties and potty for the day. Hopefully it won't put her back into DIAPER. PLEASE! mode again.

So if anyone has any advice....? By all means. Lay it on me. And don't tell me it's just too early, I'm pretty sure if a kid can start the car, she can figure out potty training. She just needs to relax about it a bit... (and I can't give her any awards like stickers etc until she actually pees on that potty. Which she is trying her darndest not to do. Halp?)

An A-Fair to Remember

Chris, my hubby, has been looking forwards to taking our little bitty to this amusement park since I got pregnant in 2006. It was torture for him to have to wait all this time, but this year I finally said, "Hey, why don't we head to the amusement park today?"
He suggested we invite my parents and siblings (or at least, my youngest three siblings who still live at home) and so we all met at the amusement part to have a good time, and to watch Nicole have a good time!
I was a little worried that the amusement park wouldn't have enough rides geared towards the youngest set to make it worth it, or that the rides would freak her out, but I needn't have worried. The only time she would freak out is when we would take her off the rides! (click to see this next picture enlarged, her expression is PRICELESS)
When it started raining, we left the amusement park and went to Grandma&Grandpa's house, since the amusement park is halfways between our place and thiers.
(Naturally, Chris and I had just gotten on the ferris wheel when it started to rain, so we got soaked. And we went around a second time because I told the operator to let the crying kids above us off first.)
We had a nice dinner, visited with some old friends who were in town, and then packed up in the car to go home. And ... crash! (Nicole, not the truck)

This trip got us two solid sleeps... first through the night (mostly, although we still woke up to find her sleeping at the foot of our bed, just like every night lately) and then the next day when I went to put her down for her nap she was already crashed out on the couch!

Commentluv

Okay, so I'm trying to get commentluv working. Somebody test it for me and let me know if it works for you, k? lol

WIP, office/craft room

Okay, so as you may remember, I repainted my office the other month. Unfortunatly since I was preparing to leave for a trip I never finished reorganizing it, and then it fell into a black hole and become the Hotspot of the house, where everything that didn't have a home got shoved. Add that to the fact that I continued using it as an office/craft room... ugh. Anywhoo.... on we go.
This fabric was less than $2/m at Wallymart, and I thought it would be a nice complement to the room. As you may or may not be able to notice, I just cut my 5m in half and clipped it up. Still going to jazz it up a bit, Nester-style. Its actually very sheer (when it's daytime outside) and since it's located right near a vent it's always fluttering, so I will definitely need to weigh it down with some trim at the very least on the bottom. Will probably do something about those sides, too, as you can clearly see the selvedge LOL.

I've become a Flylady Flybaby this past week, and for my 15 and 2 minute drills I've been folding fabric and putting it on the shelf, as well as tossing the stuff I don't like in a bag. (I inherited boxes of fabric here and there and everywhere.) (the fabric and pattern on the bookshelf are my next sewing project, a dress for DD.)

I hung my scrapbooking shelf. Then I pulled out a level and hung the one side a whole inch higher. I fail at eyeing it up LOL. I've started putting things away slowly but surely.

More scrapbooking stuff... A small amount of my paper, plus clear stamps, and then some embellishments organized by colour.

And to be fair, this is what the rest of the room looks like. LOL. The bucket organizer I stole from Nicole's bedroom b/c she was just like 'Well hey, this is easy to empty." So it wasn't really organizing ANYTHING. The red Zellers bag is stuff I'm going to get rid of, the stuff beside it is going to go back in the big fabric bucket (clothing to refashion) after I finish going through the bucket and folding all the actual fabric. As for the rest, I have no real excuse, except that my DD likes to toss things around and my DH likes to toss things in this room instead of finding them a home. It's not all just on the floor, though, although it looks like it... it's stuff stored in (open) boxes waiting to be put away. Mostly. (Some of it is just stuff on the floor)

WHAT IS YOUR HOTSPOT?????

Evolution vs Progression

"Still remember a stage production I saw a couple of decades ago. Nothing before or since has impressed me so much; One particular scene was a representation of an Aboriginal campfire, complete with clap sticks and didgeridoo; I truly felt I was experiencing something from our real, ancient past.
Far more real than anything the Abrahamic gods can emulate."

Ok, this is something I stumbled upon on Amazon while looking at a book. Granted, I don't believe in evolution in the first place, as a Christian, but this kind of made me chuckle. Firstly, I wonder if this person realizes he basically is indicating the Aboriginees are less evolved, by his argument. Secondly, whether evolution is fact or fiction, this guy truly was experiencing something from our real, ancient past. It's called progression, not evolution, in this case. I'm sure this guy felt very enlightened typing this all out, though, despite the fact that it was kind of silly.

(I can't help but wonder sometimes if hundreds of years down the road, the theory of evolution will be compared to when all of civilization considered it a scientifically proven fact that the world was flat....)




I know, not my usual post at all. Sorry. lol.
Here, have something cute:

The precious child was rubbing chocolate ice cream all over her sweet little self. Children amaze me some days.

Please don't barrage me with arguments for evolution, you and I both know neither of us are going to budge any time soon so there is no point on arguing, yes? Fortunatly/unfortunatly I am a fairly educated little 'churchie' (as the neighbourhood kids used to call us) so we really could argue until Kingdom Come. So instead, let's agree to disagree.