Just Us

Issues!

2011-05-15T02:39:00.000-07:00

So, where have I been? I have had limited access to Google therefore limited access to blogger (a Google operated company/site).

Apparently I've been attacked by a nasty virus/spyware/adware/malware/rootkit/cookie/what-cha-ma-call-it/piss-me-off-like-crazy. As far as I can tell it's something that had/has hijacked my access to google.

When I type in "google.ca" (same as regular google but because I'm in Canada it automatically uses .ca) it comes up with what looks like the "real" google search page. It is NOT though.

What comes up is very similar to a google search page, search box, logo and all. When I would type in a search, say "hats" and click "search" it would bring me to a page that also looked like the google search results page except it was in a mix of English and a foreign language (backwards letters and foreign words). Also the google logo in the side bar (see picture, it's in the upper left) was weird.

See image below, you can click on it to enlarge - It had a blue defect in the "Google" image, right above the blue lowercase "g" as if the image had been clipped out. Possibly somewhere where there had been two google images/words one above the other. It looks as if the lowercase blue "g" of the word/image "google" above the other was still in the image. Hard to explain but it was definitely NOT correct authentic Google.

After receiving the weird results (see example above, click image to enlarge) I re-typed in "google.ca" and up came the google search page including the normal search box and options. I decided I would take a closer look at it. Below the search box section there was a copyright date but it was not current. The copyright year was 2009 and I highly doubted that google would have an old copyright date on their main page (turns out I am right). That was clue #2 that I was hacked.

Clue #3 was that when I clicked on "advanced search" I automatically got redirected back to the same google search page. I decided to try the other links on the page and sure enough they did the same.

Clue #4 - I decided I needed to find out what I was dealing with so I used an alternate search engine (ask.com) to search for info on the problem I was having. I sifted through the results and every page that came from "google" automatically redirected me to the "fake" google search page. I couldn't get access even to the google help forums because they are all similar to something like this - "http://www.google.com/help" and because it has the "www.google.com" part it automatically redirected me back to the "fake" google search page.

Clue #5 - In the search box as I typed the automatic search suggestions feature was not on. Regular google has a GREAT feature I use quite regularly that automatically gives you search suggestions and helps sometimes when I do not know the correct spelling of a word/place.

The situation was so VERY frustrating! Round and round I went.

Solution - Who knows......

I have not completely found out the solution. Apparently it is back to normal now. I am able to view what I believe to be the correct google with out any problems. I am also (well, as you can tell) able to access blogger (if you don't know, it is a google operated site).

I used AVG Free first (which I do like and have used for years). If found nothing when I ran the virus scan and the "rootkit scan".

I then decided that maybe it was a potential compatibility problem between Internet Explorer 8 and the newer version of IE 9 because I had been instructed to upgrade recently but had not yet done so. I upgraded it and still....same problem.

(**To note - I HATE the new version. They made some silly changes to where the tabs are and it's actually quite difficult to use....boo IE9! I may try and go back to the previous version**)

Next I thought it might be an issue with Internet Explorer (maybe a hack on IE rather than my computer). I decided to download and see what would happen with Mozilla Fire Fox. I really like Mozilla Fire Fox but had decided to stick it out and try using IE8 because it was what came on my computer when I got it. After downloading it I tried "google.ca".....same problem!

After doing some research (without the help of any "google" related sites ie. google help forums) I ended up downloading 4 programs/scanners to try and "find" the "THING".

I downloaded a free program from Kaspersky. Ran it, and it found nothing. (seems like a decent "freebie" though but I do not know where I found the actual link to the download because I've deleted all my history etc).

Next I downloaded and tried "spybot" a program my Dad had recommended a while ago. I had it on my old computer and I have absolutely no idea if it worked. It is considered "shareware" and is kind of hard to work/understand. I ran it and tweaked the scan settings to be like a "fine toothed comb"......still nothing!

I downloaded a third scanner (can't remember the name, possibly HitMan Pro)...still found nothing.

I then downloaded a free program from Microsoft. Don't know how I came across it (I think it was in my computer setting). It took quite a while for it to download, install and then update to the most recent databases. I ran the program but by this time I was so tired I could barely see. I went to bed letting the program run.....

....In the "morning" I checked to see what the result was. 12 hours later it was still running with ZERO problems found. About 45 minutes later up came an error message that the program could not finish scanning and that I should update the database to the most recent one available. PURE FRUSTRATION at this point. I had thought this one would be a thorough scan and that it would work smoothly. WRONG....well, to a point. I updated the database and ran it again. This time it went faster (possibly because my computer was on and not in sleep mode) BUT....NOTHING FOUND!

Finally I decided to call my Dad. I had been pulling my hair out and had tossed and turned all night with this.

My Dad recommended another program called "MalwareBytes". I downloaded it, updated the database and ran it.  Can you guess what happened?

NOTHING! It found absolutely NOTHING!

By this point I was so stressed and pissed right off. After MANY hours of downloads, scans, computer restarts, tweaks to my settings, clear-outs of cookies and cache....STILL NOTHING! What on earth was on my computer!? I finally said "F-it!" and got dressed (yes, it was way past noon by the time I got dressed for the day but I was totally consumed with fixing my computer).  We headed outside for some fresh air and a much needed break.

After coming inside (it was after dark) I decided to check to see if google was still weird. I opened an Internet Explorer browser window and typed in "google.ca". Can you guess what happened now?

?

?

?

?

It worked!

Can you believe it?

For some reason it has worked now for quite a few searches.  I've typed it in at the very least 10 times now and it has come up correct every time and has given me the typical google style search and results with the correct logos etc. The copyright date is 2011 (which one would expect from a big company like Google) and all the links work. I also have complete access to Blogger again.  The only hiccup is that some of my sites I normally visit (like blogger) are having difficulties with the fact that my security settings are higher and are not allowing cookies etc to be "planted into my computer" without my knowledge or consent.

I have NO idea what happened, if it is fixed, if it is hiding or what.

One of the most frustrating parts of this was that I had absolutely ZERO access to contact Google or access to their help pages/forums. I could not contact them to ask for help and I could not get to the info provided by others and their google techs on their forums to figure this out. In the past I have had problems with the Google ran "Picasa Web Albums" and found their forums to be extremely helpful/useful. I was able to see that others had had the same problem I had and the issue was resolved fairly easily (I mean in comparison to this "THING").

Oh, by the way, do you know how many cookies your computer gets each day and how much of your info gets sent out? It's kind of creepy how many cookies our everyday sites "plant" into our computers. Sites like Facebook, Blogger, Google, Youtube....seemingly everyday sites we all use....kind of scary.

I'll definitely update this "Google Saga" as things progress (hopefully for the good). I now have to run two more scans....it's late and I can only hope they will run thoroughly but quickly so I can go to beddy-by! I'm also (while it's working) will be searching the google help forums and might contact a google tech to find out what I might have had or still have and what the solution should be etc. Wish me luck!

Definitely more to come.....pictures too! It's been a beautiful spring here and we really have been enjoying the weather!

Hope you are well!

~M~

Added - Now that I have access to "real" google, I've found this link on Redirect issues in their help forum - CLICK HERE.

Also from the help forum -

Malware Removal Forums

www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?

www.dslreports.com/forum/cleanup

www.geekstogo.com/forum/forums.html

http://gladiator-antivirus.com/forum/index.php?

www.lavasoftsupport.com/index.php?act=idx >>>> (Ad-aware)

http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/ >>>>> Malwarebytes Anti-malware

http://forums.spybot.info/ >>>>> (Spybot Search & Destroy)

www.spywareinfoforum.com/index.php?

www.techsupportforum.com/

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?s=9f2e01f8a21aed44ecdfaa42d7249203&f=35

And here is another site to regarding "Badware" - Stop Badware

Ugh, I could go on and on....there are so many products, links, sites, forums, instructions....ugh. I am so confuse and frankly pissed off. I hate this. I sure hope that this problem does not come back but I am not at all convinced I have solved this issue.

Fishing.....

2011-05-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, another "lull" in my blogging. Oie! The hubby is home and I think that is playing a little roll in why I have not been posting so much. We've been taking care of a TON of things around here lately.

I am currently typing this from my new computer desk which means my "new" computer (got it for Christmas) is now in it's proper place, no longer on the kitchen counter/bar.
I now have a filing drawer (in the new desk) to help me get organized. I will finally be able to clear off the corner style student desk I had before (it had ZERO practical storage spaces on it). I can't wait to get the hanging file folders and get started! When cleaned off, out goes the old desk to make room for possibly an additional dresser or other storage in the bedroom!
The tree that fell on our porch is gone as well as a second tree that was beginning to pull out of the ground and the area behind our house is cleaned up a bit (we had lots of branches fall with the high winds so it was pretty messy back there).
I cleaned out my flower beds, moved stored "junk" around a bit to make more room in my garden area and bought four new brown "Adirondack" style plastic garden chairs. The chairs are really cool, I'll have to take a picture and share them. They were on sale for only $15.99 plus tax and I liked them so much I couldn't pass them up. Originally we were only going to buy two but K figured it would be better to buy a set of four because who knows when we'll find these exact ones in the future if we decide we needed more than two.
Went on three "mini roadtrips" as a family. On the way back from one we stopped by "our" beach near our new house. H loves the rocky beach!
Bought our fishing licenses and brought H fishing at the kiddie pond (unfortunately it was totally fished out but will be stocked very soon).
Got a new hose and hose nozzel because my old one got crunched, cracked, and squished in the winter. My Brother-In-Law pulled out my hose after I had drained and coiled it up for the winter and left it pulled out, it snowed over the hose and then subsiquently got "plowed" into the snow-bank. Once the snow thawed I discovered the hose was in pieces. I was not thrilled one bit.
Made a HUGE dump run to get rid of the 6 bags of recycling and 3 bags of garbage I'd been storing until K got home. Now I've got quite a bit of space on the porch to do some more organizing. I couldn't believe how much recycling I had but it isn't smelly so I don't mind storing it. When K is gone H and I "make" about one grocery bag of garbage in a two week period because I recycle nearly everything I can.
Celebrated Easter with family.
Bought H a new big girl bike (well, with training wheels). She loves it but has fallen off three times.
Watched the hockey play-offs. Unfortunately all the teams we like are out so it's pretty much over for us.
Planted some peas in the garden with H. She's excited to garden more (and plant her purple carrots) but I want to add some more ammendments to the soil (ie. composted horse poop).
Purchased four, yes you read right, FOUR new African Violets. I'll introduce you to them in a later post. I am in LOVE with African Violets. Oh, oh, oh....and my leaf cuttings I "planted" from my other African Violets (5 total) have started to grow leaves! I am thrilled!

Oh, this list could go on but I am short on time. Sorry the list is not in any particular order but I am listing them as I think of them....lol!

Gotta run. Many more pictures to come....:o)

~M~

It's been a while!

2011-04-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

So sorry to have been slacking here. Yikes! It's been forever! I honestly think this is the longest dry spell I've had on this blog! Things have been pretty busy with colds, outdoorsie things, K coming home for a little over a week now and the Easter holiday. Oh and can't forget it's hockey play-off time!

Montreal Canadiens play against Boston Bruins tonight....it's a game #7 elimination game. Which ever team loses tonight is out of the play-offs....oh it's going to be intense in our household tonight (well, 4 or 4:30 p.m). Last night we watched the Vancouver Canucks (boooo) beat out the Chicago Blackhawks in a game #7 elimination game. We were cheering so hard for Chicago and when they tied the game up with only a little over two minutes left in the game to force a sudden death overtime we were thrilled. Chicago even got a power play (where the other team is penelized with one less player on the ice for some sort of infraction) and they couldn't get a goal. Then Vancouver scored ending the game and the Blackhawks season. Pretty bummed out because we really do not like the Canucks (even though they are the only NHL team in our province, we still don't like 'em). If Montreal does not make it through this game later tonight I doubt we'll be watching much more of the play-offs as there are really no other teams we like left. Frankly all of the hockey games I have watched so far have been AMAZINGLY good. Back and forth, fast paced hockey with a lot of action both ways. Excellent!

I'm currently sick with a nasty cold that started out when I accidentally choked on a corn/nacho chip and launched it up my nasal passage (yes, you read correctly...launched it up my nasal passage). Apparently I still have a problem with that......

.....Here's the story - When I was younger I had a really bad problem with runny noses so my Mom decided that I should get my Adenoids taken out (around age 5-6 I think, I honestly have no recollection of this event). At around 12-13 I started having problems with getting rice stuck in my nasal passage from simply eating it and maybe coughing or doing any slight snorting action. Later on I found out that I also had the problem with corn. Oie! I have since learned to be very careful with what I do when eating those two things because once the item is up there it can be quite painful. It is sort of like when you get water in your nose and it stings but with pressure from whichever item decided to migrate upwards instead of down my throat. To get the item out I either have to blow my nose really hard (if the item was really far up there) or snort it back down into my throat (if it was only slightly up there). Yes...this is a very weird situation!

Anyway.......

....after not realizing or feeling that I had launched the chunk of chip up my nose when I choked I went to bed that evening. At around 5-6 a.m. I started feeling a lot of pain from the upper back part of my throat/nasal passage (where nasal drip tends to be). I couldn't figure out why it was so extremely sore. I pushed through it and slept until 10. At that point I was in pretty bad pain and decided to sip on some tea and take a tylenol to help sooth my throat. After being up for about half an hour things started to get really drippy/phlegmy and snotty in the upper back of my thoat. I ended up having to snort/spit snot/phlegm and after about 5 minutes of struggling with a lot of snorting/sputtering/phlegming, out comes a triangular chunk of chip in my spit. It was about the size of an eraser on a pencil (but triangular). Wow. I was shocked! After I got that out things started to calm down a bit. I thought after things started to get better that how badly I had felt was all from that chip chunk but later in the evening I started to feel achy, snotty, stuffed up and tired. From that point on I've been going through the regular symptoms of a cold...yay! Not!

I will try to post some pictures soon from our Easter holiday, more spring fun and time with Daddy! Hope you all are well!

~M~

Spring Fun!

2011-04-09T19:38:00.001-07:00

We have had a GREAT start to our spring! H and I have had so much fun with what spring has to offer! Bugs, kites, fresh air and sun on our faces! What more could we ask for? Well, there is one thing....daddy to be home, but he will be home soon!

Tonight I worked on a dress for H to match a dress I made her doll Sara and at first it was turning out nicely but now that I'm trying to finish off the neck and arms it's giving me difficulties. We'll have to see how it goes but tomorrow I'm going to be doing some seam-ripping to fix the problem areas. I made her a skirt the other night too but it ended up too small and I had to totally re-do the skirt. After a TON of seam-ripping (more than I have EVER done before) I was able to get it done. I am so very happy with how the little skirt turned out. I also made her a simple skirt out of the Tinkerbelle fabric I bought her after Christmas. I don't normaly buy fabric "full price" but she just had to have it because it was Tinkerbelle and her other fairy friends on a purple background. It was cute, just not high quality. Licensed fabrics tend to be spendy for the actual quality you get so it's not something I will do in the future often. Anyway....pictures soon, I just have to get around to uploading them to my computer.

More to come!

~M~

Clothes for Japanese Kids....

2011-04-09T19:26:00.000-07:00

Today through one of the blogs I read (Sew Like My Mom) I found out about a fairly easy-to-do project that will help benefit the children of Japan. It's called "Cranes For Kids" and it's through "OshKosh' B'gosh. OshKosh will donate up to 50,000 pieces of clothing to children in Japan. What a great way to help and to get kids involved in the cause. If you can, try your hand at it. There are instructions on how to fold cranes in two skill levels (Older Kids and Adults and Children 3-8 years) on the "Cranes For Kids" website to help. I'm sure even a few will help make a difference to a child in need and help them heal after this horrible tragedy.

CLICK here to see the "Cranes For Kids" facebook page for more information and pictures of cranes added by others.

They will be collecting cranes up until April 25th so the deadline is getting closer. I hope to be able to do some with H soon and would LOVE to see/here if my readers make any!!

Keep this cause in mind when thinking of ways to help Japan!

More to come!

~M~

New Music!

2011-04-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

Oh! New song from one of my favorite bands (if not my VERY favorite) Seether!!!! I've been waiting for their new CD for a while now and apparently their new song ("Country Song") came out middle of last month on itunes and the CD will be out May 17th. I can't wait! H really likes this song (if you remember, Seether has been one of her very favorite bands since she was just over a year and a half old...lol!) and I think it's pretty good and the more I listen to it the more I like it! :o)

So, I am going to share some other really awesome Seether songs....

Yes, they did cover the George Michael song "Careless Whisper" a.k.a. "I'm never gonna dance again", an AMAZING cover!

HERE is a link to a clip about the song "Rise Above This" where they talk about the song being a reminder that suicide effects more than just the one person. It effects the family and loved ones. The lead singer's brother commited suicide and he wrote this song about it. Very sad story but so very important to spread the awareness.

My very favorite Seether songs are probably their accoustic versions of their songs. I've added a few of them as well.....

HERE is the link to the Seether song "Fake It" that H has loved since she was ever so tiny. She used to "head-bang" to it before she could walk! LOL! She loves this band as much as I do!

Well, that is all for now! As you can tell, I really like this band especially their accoustic versions of their rock songs (but I do like them all).

More to come!

~M~

Wind and Wasps....

2011-04-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

or Hornets, or Yellow Jackets....not really sure.

Yesterday a friend of the family came over and helped me out. He climbed up on the roof and took a look to double check that there were no branches that peirced through the roof of the house. Lucky for us there were none, thank goodness! He also took a chainsaw and cut down the majority of the tree that was above our roof. The rest will have to wait until K get's home because this job requires more than one guy. He also climbed a ladder to wrap a chain around another tree that is starting to come down but is currently resting on another tree and hasn't fallen yet. That too will have to wait until K gets home because that one is in a VERY tricky spot and will be quite difficult to deal with. Hopefully things will hold solid until K can get home and we can then do something about it. Fingers crossed!

It was really nice to visit with our family friend because he's been out of town all winter and we hadn't visited with him much before he had left. H kitten sat for him last fall and had so much fun with the kitty!

After he left, H and I headed out with our kites again. H was able to get her kite to fly for quite a while but the wind was doing some super weird things and I was unable to get my kite up in the air. I finally decided today was not the day I was going to get to fly my kite. I was putting it away it took flight briefly, picture it...me carrying this 6' wide kite back to the spot we're storing it as it's trying to take flight with two spools of line getting all tangled! Oie!

H got cold pretty quickly because the sun went behind a cloud and the wind can really chill her little hands. We packed everything up and went for a visit to her Grandma's. While we were there, I remembered how my Mother-In-Law and I had recently talked about a wasps nest in the rose bushes. It needed to be taken care of before they become active again when the weather warmed up. I did not know if the nests would be active, dormant or just slower than normal because of the cooler temperatures. I really had no idea what I was facing.

I checked out the nest and ended up wiggling it quite a bit while trying to get through the bushes to get to it. I figured there wasn't much danger considering I saw/heard zero movement/sounds.

Our original plan was that the two of us would go into the bush, one person would hold a plastic bag to cover/hold the nest and the other person would cut the stems holding the nest up. I told my Mother-In-Law that I could just take care of it myself because trying to get more than one person into those pokey bushes would be difficult. She had some handheld pruning shears that I used to cut the stems that the nest was attached to. I carried the nest out by the cut stem and still did not see/hear any activity.

My little "Brother-In-Law" showed me where there was a second smaller nest that was only 5-6 inches off the ground so I went and got that one too. As with the first one, there was no sign of "life" from it.
We were so curious to know if there were any living wasps, hornets, or yellow jackets in the nests we decided to take them apart. It was really neat and I was able to show H what the inside of a nest looks like (she was inside her Grandma's house and I showed it all to her through the window) and of course I took pictures!

Pretty interesting eh?

This whole thing worked out really neat because last night I had read a book to H that talked about how wasps make their "paper" nests. They chew pieces of wood and it mix it with their saliva (spit) to create a paste and that is what they use to make the nests and the "comb" part.

There were no "live" larvae but there was one single wasp (well, whatever it is). It was fairly large, possibly a queen (?), and I am not sure if it was hibernating or just dead and crispy. My little "Brother-In-Law" described it's consistancy when he squished it as being "like a chicken nugget" and I am truly unclear what that is. LOL!

It was a really neat to see the inside of these nests considering they were "problem" nests and needed to be gotten rid of, they were WAY too close to the house. We do not want to run the risk of H, the boys, or the animals running into one. You can see in one of the pictures, the second smaller nest we found was only 5-6 inches off the ground and could easily be something that a pet or H could stumble upon. The older boys are often running around the yard when they have friends over and that could be bad as well.

This time of the year seems to be a good time to get rid of the "problem nests". We'll should be good as long as they make their nests far enough away from the house that it's unlikely the kids and pets will accidentally run into them.

Mission accomplished (well, until we find the next nest)!!

Well, more to come!

~M~

Let's Go Fly A Kite.....

2011-04-06T02:40:00.000-07:00

Up To The Highest Height

Let's Go Fly A Kite, And Send It Soaring......

Up Through The Atmosphere,

Up Where The Air Is Clear.....

Let's All Go........

Fly A Kite!

(Song from Mary Poppins)

Today was a cold but typical spring day. It was overcast and slightly windy. After the tree incident I've been a bit leary about staying inside our house when it gets windy so I decided maybe a safer place would be outside exploring in the wide open away from trees. After exploring we thought it would be fun if we tried flying kites again because this time the wind was sticking around. I quickly got the kites together and we were flying kites in no time. H is an excellent kite flyer considering that she is only four years old! She was able to keep the kite flying for a steady 5 minutes in some cases. To me that is very impressive. She understood that she held the "spool" in one hand and with the other she would pull back on the line to help keep the kite in the air. She was brilliant and caught on so quickly! I REALLY enjoyed watching her fly the kite and the look on her face was priceless! When I was a kid we didn't really have much luck with kites so seeing her doing such a good job made me happy!

We had so much fun!

H's kite has super-heros on it. She picked this kite out because Bat-Man was on it. She thought it was so cool watching Bat-Man, Green Lantern and Superman flying through the air! My kite is the purple one above. I did not get a chance to try flying it because by the time I got everything set-up (in between helping H with her kite and trying to read the directions) the wind was gone. I really can't wait to try flying my kite but it might be a challenge. I have never flown a kite that has dual control (two lines). Could get interesting! LOL!

Below are a bunch of pictures from our exploration today!

Well, that is all for today! Hope you are well!

More to come!

~M~

Spring....

2011-04-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

In the last week or so many of the blogs I read have been featuring lots of Easter and Spring related ideas. I love it! Here are a few that I have gathered through the blogs I read -

Little Lamb Pillows - EASY, tutorial includes FREE pdf download pattern. You could use various types of felt or wool. Really cute project!

Sheep Eggs - EASY craft for kids! I think we may try this for easter! I can't wait! I'll definitely take pictures if we end up doing it!

Pocket Easter Eggs - Sewn Easter eggs. Looks fun. I may just try using some of my scraps.

Here are two Easter Egg related links.

Natural Egg Dying - Really neat techniques and ideas.

Dying Ideas - I especially like the marbled look made by using nail polish and water! Cool!

Also, I found a new blog I may add to my favorites. It's called "The Cottage Home" and as far as I can tell, it's adorable! Complete with tutorials, "Cooking. Sewing. Crafting. And All Things Domestic." as the blog title state. I can't wait to really get in there and explore this blog! :o)

Oh, oh, and another cute blog filled with tutorials (many of them repurposing). It's called "Happy Together" and I also look forward to exploring this blog and all it has to offer!

I came across a wonderful set of "Children's Tutorials" from blog "Ruffles and Stuff". One of their ideas is a "T-Shirt Dress" made out of an shirt a few sizes too big. Really neat idea! Also, an idea - "Little Skinny Jeans Tutorial" - too cute for words!

Here is a neat blog/site that has lots of links to wonderful tutorials etc. It's called "The Purl Bee" and I like it! :o)

Once Upon A Thread - GREAT blog site with many, many links to amazing crafting/sewing blogs also with a ton of tutorials. I can't get enough of this one. They are currently doing a theme of "Children's Books" where featured guest blogger/crafter/seamstresses do a project based off of a children's book of their choice. It's truly a wonderful idea! I love it!

Okay, that's all for now....I will definitely be bringing together some more "spring-like" links in the next few weeks!

More to come!

~M~

Photo fun and other stuff!

2011-04-04T02:51:00.000-07:00

Today H woke up early at about 4:30 - 5 a.m. She's got a cold and has been fighting me about blowing/not blowing her nose. She constantly wants me to blow her nose because she can't stand the feeling of a plugged nose. Last night she blew her nose so much that she irritated the membranes in her nasel passages and caused them to bleed slightly (there was light pink on the tissues). She did not like seeing that so I was able to get her to understand that blowing your nose over and over is not going to help in every situation and that sometimes you just have to wait for it to start dripping. She gave the whole blowing her nose thing a rest thank goodness! Currently she's got a major tickle in her thoat that has plagued her all day long. Constant coughing. It's dry and most times unproductive but it's super annoying when she's coughing all day. I figure that she's probably over doing the coughing and irritating it more like she did with her nose. We'll just have to see how things go tonight!

Because we were up so early I decided to pass some time by playing around with our web cam program. We always have so much fun with it and love the funny pictures!

---------------------------------------

Right now I'm watching one of the more serious episodes of the show Mythbusters (Mythbusters US) on the Discovery Channel (Discovery US). It's the one about cars being submerged under water (like in situations where a car would go off the road and into a body of water). It is so very scary and one of my greatest fears. Adam Savage goes under inside a car and as the water fills the inside of the car, he tries to open the door but can't. It is a pretty intense episode. They do feature two commercially available tools that will help you escape a car that is being submerged in water and they work just as they were designed to. Mythbusters is one of our very favorite shows and I think they are awesome. CLICK HERE to meet the Mythbusters team.

Another two shows we have been really "into" this past winter are both on the History Channel (History Channel US) and by we, I mean all three of us as a family. I guess if it's worth watching it should be worth watching as a family. The shows are, Swamp People (Swamp People US) and Ice Pilots NWT (North West Territories) . Both really awesome shows to add to our favorites list -

Mythbusters - As you know one our family favorites! Love, love, love these guys and all that they do!
Monsters Inside Me - H's favorite show, click the link or the clip below to see why and I am 100% not joking, it is her one of her favorites!

River Monsters - A neat show about a guy that travels the world searching for fish of myths and truth. He researches them and then tries to catch them so see if they really do live up to their "monster" name. Just a super interesting show and truly one of my favorites based on the extremely nerdy interesting content!). H likes it too! Jeremy Wade (the main guy/narrator/fisherman) tries his best to release the fish back into the water and you can tell he cares about the fishs well being. I did like how one time he brought back one of his River Monsters to help feed the community that helped him in the "third world" country he was fishing in. I rate this show as a 9 out of 10! Below are some clips but not actual clips from the show. More like bonus video but you'll get idea of the show.

Ice Pilots NWT - Awesome airplane show based out of Canada's North West Territories.
Swamp People - Follows the traditional now regulated month long hunt for alligators in the swamps of Lousianna, USA. Very neat insight into the family tradition of alligator hunting and how it sustains their family life. One family practically lives off the swamp. They eat nearly anything they can get out of the swamps and one son even catches snakes to sell to universitys and labs. Some of the alligators they have caught are so impressive. One alligator they caught that was over 11 feet long came from a part of the swamp that was a very short distance from a common swimming area. Interesting show.
Pawn Stars - A show following the business of a Las Vegas, NV pawn shop and the various items they have come through their doors. They will either buy it, take it on pawn or pass on the item. They get in some really neat antiques, rare and/or extremely valuable items. All in all pretty good show and we get quite a kick out of it. Unfortunately I have been having a hard time finding when the new episodes are on and most times I catch the show it's been re-runs. I know there are new episodes but I just can't find when they are on.
American Pickers - I like the show but the main people seem a bit cooked to me. I don't know what it is about them but it is something I can't get over. I've never really seen anything to prove that they are but it just comes off that way somehow. Basically it's a first impression that won't go away. The show is interesting because they find really neat items when they are out "picking" for antiques. They travel the midwest mostly trying to find old barns, old hoarder holes etc to find "farm fresh" antiques complete with dust, rust and cob webs. I do like antiques so I figure that is my draw to the program. I like seeing how much each piece is possible worth.
Dirty Jobs - Mike Rowe (not sure it that is the correct spelling of his last name) travels around the US looking for some of the dirtiest jobs out there. I've watched a few with H and she is not quite sure what she thinks of it. I like it quite a bit but I don't know if K has caught any of the episodes though. This is one that we don't normally watch as a family.

---------------------------------------

Totally random picture below......

Me wearing the earrings I won from the Pro-Soup Propaganda give-away and made by HoneyWild! Love them! Thanks again Brittany and Stina! :o)

Well, that is all for now. I'm in the middle of making H some double chocolate muffins, then buttermilk blueberry and then off to bed we go! G'nite! Take care!

More to come!

~M~

Things That Are Happening Here Lately!

2011-04-02T04:38:00.000-07:00

Baby Dutch Babies - A while ago I wrote about my Mom's recipe for "Baby Dutch Babies" and the other night we finally got around to making them. They were delicious! I topped mine with apple pie filling and H's with syrup and powdered sugar (for fun). She didn't care for them all that much but I hope she'll try them again in the future with maybe something different on top.

(Above - H watching them "puff up"....)

(Above - Starting to "puff up", right before I quickly took them out of the oven and added the apples)

(Above - Almost ready!)

(Above - Yum! They were so delicious!)

(Above - H's syrup and powdered sugar)

----------------------------------------

Something does not look right with this picture......

Can you guess what it is?

You can click on the image to make is larger if you need to.....

Figure it out yet?

YES, that IS a tree across our skylight!

We had high winds on Thursday and well, you may have guessed it. A tree fell on our porch/house. It was nuts!

H and I were just doing our normal thing in the house and all of a sudden some of the highest winds I have ever seen came through our yard.

There were four or five big gusts and then....

BANG, BOOM, BONK!

It tore right out of the ground! The soil was so saturated with melt off that it couldn't hold the tree in anymore and a big crash is what resulted! Oie! It was pretty scary. H did not freak out much but my nerves were shot. I quickly got a ladder out, climbed part of the roof to take a look and thank goodness nothing went through the actual roof. It came so very close to crashing/breaking our skylight! Can you imagine? Holy cow that would have been bad! I honestly do not know what I would have done!

Now what am I going to do? I've got a tree on my house! K is out of town and I certainly can not cut the tree down. We'll have to see what happens as the week goes on.

To make lemonade our of our lemons (ie. the tree falling over because of the wind) we decided to try flying kites. Sure enough, as soon as we got out there the wind was non-existant! Lucky for us, H's kite flew enough when she ran with the kite. She was so proud and had so much fun!

----------------------------------------

Well, that is all for today.

More to come!

~M~

Mish-Mash....

2011-03-30T23:16:00.000-07:00

This blog post is a mish-mash of stuff. Nothing really connects together in this post. It's just a bunch of stuff I want to share.

- I finally got around to taking some picture of the wonderful earrings I won from "Pro Soup Propaganda" and "HoneyWild, Handmade Jewelery".

- Here are some amazingly funny links that my little brother shared with me lately! The first one I was laughing so hard I was crying!

E-Mails From An Asshole
FML - Your Everyday Life Stories
Awkward Family Photos

- Here is a cute easy felt project. Rose Barrettes from "The Purl Bee". Super cute, may just be my next project.

Hope you all are well! More to come!

~M~

ANTS?

2011-03-28T23:44:00.000-07:00

So, what do ya think?

Ants?

Wasps?

Other?

(Top view, looking down, see entrance holes and ALL the little pine needles!)
(Remember you can click on any picture to enlarge/see close up)

(View showing how big it truly is and the stump it covers)

Last summer in all the chaos of the fires, a small lump on a hill near our house caught my eye. I forgot about it until just this spring when it caught my eye again after the snow had melted off. It no longer was just a "small lump" but rather a large hill. After finally taking the time to climb the hill it was on I found out that was really big! The hill itself is on a slope and it measures between 3.5' and 4' high!

The hill is made up of pine needles (as seen in the above close-up) and is quite impressive. I am not 100% sure yet that this is truly an ant hill though. My first impressions were that if could be either an ant hill or a wasp/bee nest.

I am in the process of "researching" pine needle ant hills and from what I see in the pictures I think that it is indeed what we have (however I need to research possible "pine needle wasp nests" just to be sure).

(source - HERE)

Here are some links to some interesting ANT pages!

Wikipedia - ANT COLONY!
CLICK HERE - to see an impressive picture of giant pine needle ant hill.
HERE is a link to suggestions on how to get "rid" of ants and ant hills.
HERE is another link of suggestions to get "rid" of ants and ant hills but EcoFriendly/Green methods.
HERE is a really cool educational page with lots of info (kid friendly too) on ANTS! It is also the site that I got the cute little ant graphic featured above!!

I will be sure to update you on what we end up doing with the ant hill. We want to make sure that we do the right thing so that the ants do not "relocate" closer in to the yard. We may just decide to leave it alone considering they are in a not-so-terrible spot (not great but only alright).

Hope you all are doing well and that you are having a wonderful spring!

More to come!

~M~

Got the Earrings!

2011-03-24T17:51:00.000-07:00

Today I got the earrings I won from "Pro-Soup Propaganda" and "HoneyWild Handmade Jewelry"! I am so happy! They are so pretty and I can't wait to taking some pictures of them, unfortunately I did not get a chance to do so yet today.

H was my very good little helper! She did an excellent job doing "her chores" as she called it. I think it's important that she know that cleaning up is a group effort if we as a group make that mess (ie. vacuuming, garbage, sweeping etc).

I have been cleaning and getting rid of old empty plastic CD cases. We have an entire shelf (small shelf, but when you have no room to store things even small shelf space is super important) full of them. See in the pictures above of H vacuuming.

What on earth do you do with them all? Any suggestions?

Currently I am removing all the CD booklets and even taking out the back side piece of label (the part where all the songs are most times listed) and stacking them by genre so if we needed them in the future. It took me over an hour so far and I have close to 50 more CD cases to attack and remove all the paper parts. I just had to take a break because my back was killing. Honestly I doubt we'll ever "need" to look at them. We haven't looked at a single case in well over 3 years I'd say. Makes me just want to say, "enough with them, we don't need them, recycle it all!" We shall see in the end.

My plan for the newly found small shelf space?

I am going to remove the shelf and make one larger shelf to store more DVD's. Currently our DVD shelf (above the small shelf) is full (two layers) therefore causing the excess DVD's to be put elsewhere which drives me nuts (see in the picture of H vacuuming, there are DVD's stacked on her bottom shelf that are not her movies but they have no other place than stacked on the ground near the shelf...and that isn't all of them that don't have a home....frustrating!). Hopefully all the DVD's will now fit on the one shelf (although because they are stacked two deep it makes looking for DVD's pretty difficult and frustrating).

Yesterday was a beautiful day but I was not feeling too great. I had the migraine day where I hid away in my bed so that night I was all out of whack from having rested the entire day before. I couldn't sleep well. That next day after tossing and turning all night I woke up at 5 a.m and stayed awake until about 12 p.m when I just had to take a quick nap. My brother called and I really wanted to talk with him but unfortunately it cut my "nap" short. I pushed myself to stay awake and H and I went outside to try enjoying the warm spring air. Needless to say, I was dragging my feet. I felt super hung-over like....YUCK! H and I did get in a few races around the yard after the coffee my Mother-In-Law gave me kicked in. It was so nice outside last night and we didn't end up coming inside until it was dark. Reminded me more of a May evening rather than a day in March!

Speaking of weather! The snow is nearly all gone now! I cannot believe it and it is starting to worry me a bit. I honestly had been hoping it would stick around longer. I can only hope that the snow melt has saturated the ground enough to provide proper levels of ground water this year. Last spring it rained a lot and even into the summer so the plants and grasses grew like crazy, then we hit super hot drought like weather and all the plants and grasses died off causing lots of fuel for potential fires. It was nasty last year. I really hope that this year is "normal" and that we don't have problems. I used to LOVE summer but after having two summers of fires, smoke, and evacuations it has turned from something I love to something I fear. Pretty sad.

Well, I should get going. I have to fold a TON of laundry and vacuum the bedroom. Next I am going to finally get all my boxes of Christmas stuff put up in the loft crawl space...finally, finally, finally! H wants me to bring down her "cupcake" a.k.a her light up Halloween pumpkin. I don't know why but she's been bugging me to do it for 5 days now! It takes me getting a giant ladder to get up there so I've been putting it off. Silly girl, but at least it gets me going to get the Christmas boxes put up while I have the ladder in the house. Thank you H! :o)

Last night we decorated the sliding door with Easter "clings". H had a blast doing it so now we're officially thinking about spring! I really aught to go out there and check out my garden to see what needs to be done once the weather gets a lot warmer.

Well, gotta go....

More to come!

~M~

Headache!

2011-03-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

Ugh, today I had a terrible headache and spent nearly the entire day in bed hiding from the light and sound. Today was a difficult day. H behaved rather good considering. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

Last night I had started researching things locally that we could do this summer for fairly cheap. Some ideas I had were -

(Click Read More below to see the rest of this long post)

Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory - although it might just be a little bit too advanced for a 4 year old. FREE admission.
Okanagan Observatory - A group of space/star enthusiasts get together every Friday night and head out of town with their telescopes. They offer the public a chance to view various night sky sights with their equipment. The have a phone number you call to find out if the friday night is a "go" or "no go". The drive out there would be about 30 - 40 minutes from town so not too bad and I think H might like it. I just have to figure out how easy it would be for her to use telescopes with her glasses because sometimes she has trouble with binoculars. I'll have to check that out before. FREE admission.
Summerland Trout Hatchery - Should be fun. This hatchery provides stock fish for many of the local lakes we fish including the kiddie pond in town we sometimes visit with H. FREE admission.
BC Orchard Industry Museum, Okanagan Heritage Museum, Okanagan Military Museum - All three museums I have wanted to visit so hopefully we can at least get to one - All FREE admission.
ECCO Center - Has various exhibits on throughout the year and "discovery backpacks" that you can check out and use. There are two to choose from, "Pond Study" and "Nature Walk". Donation admission.
O'Keefe Ranch - Historic O'Keefe Ranch, I've wanted to visit here for a long time. Definitely on the "must-see" list for this summer. Adults $12, Kids (6-12) $7, Youth (13-18) $9, Toddlers (Under age 5) FREE!
Davison Orchards - Lots of fun things to do for kids farm related. Farm animals, kid zone, tours (Johnny Popper Orchard Tours), and antique tractors. They offer fresh fruit and other fun farm items. Should be neat. FREE admission.
Planet Bee Honey Farm - Open year round. Site sa
ys you can watch live honey bees at work. FREE admission.
Kettle Valley Steam Railway - I do not know if we will actually do this because it is rather expensive although it would be super cool. Tickets - Adults $22, Kids $13.
Enchanted Forest - 2.5 hrs away between Sicamous and Revelstoke. It has nature walks, a castle, giant toad stools, enchanted creatures. I think it's similar to the Enchanted Forest outside of Salem but it's actually in the forest. It is more of a nature area with creatures and figures throughout. I've never been but from what I've seen it looks like a lot of fun! Admission $10 adults, $8 Kids - Not too expensive considering you could explore there all day (K says that food and drink will be the expensive stuff, but I say why not just eat in the truck and bring our own water etc).
Bowling - I REALLY want to try bowling with H. I just have to convince the hubby to go...lol! Adult $5/game or $5.50/game cosmic bowling, Junior $4.50/game or $5/game cosmic bowling, Shoes Rental Adult $3 and Junior $2.75. They do have a "Parent/Tot Special" of M-F 11 a.m - 5 p.m. Adult $4.50/game FREE shoe rental, Under 6 $4.50/game FREE shoe rental.
H2O Center - Run by the "YMCA" it's the largest publically owned swimming and fitness facility in Canada. We wouldn't go for the fitness facility but definitely for the pool! There are three waterslides, a wave pool, one of those things that simulate waves so you can surf on it, and a weird water thing that people go around and around in (the water is pushed around an island of sorts causing people to go around it with the wake, hard to explain). They have a REALLY good kid area where the water is only calf deep and it has double slide for toddlers and kids too small for the big waterslides. H had a blast the last time we went (in 2009) and I've been meaning to go back, this time with K so he can see how much fun she has there. It isn't cheap though (but then again, maybe I'm just an extreme cheap ass) - Admission Adults $10.35, Kids (3-12) $5.90, Youth (13-18) $7.00.
CrocTalk - A local animal sanctuary for Crocodiles, Alligators, Turtles, two Wild Cats and other reptiles. Admission is pretty spendy considering I think what they have is rather limited. I guess their cost of care and feeding of the animals is rather high, but it does seem a bit spendy for me. Admission Adults $13.50, Kids $11.
EnergyPlex - We've been there before and have had a blast. H just loves it and it is really hard to get her out of there without a fight. We went there for her birthday in December with he Uncles and it was K's first time there. We both took turns climbing though the four story Cube or "tube maze" with H and we all had a blast in the gymnastics room. They have other aspects of their facility like a climbing wall, small pool and swimming lessons. They also host birthday parties (but they were WAY too expensive for a 4 year olds party). Cube, unlimited time $8.50 (2-3) $9.50 (4-12) $9.50. Gymnastics - 1 hr $6.50 (2-3), $7.50 (4-12), 2 hr $10.50 (2-3), $13.50 (4-12). For the Cube 2 parents are free with admission of child but I am not sure if for the Gym it's the same or if adults need to pay. I'll have to check that out. We generally have done both. One hour in the Cube and one hour in the Gym and then a little more time in the Cube before we leave.
Parrot Island - A sanctuary for birds in need of homes. Parrots can live up to 80 years and often outlive their owners. I have read that if you are going to get a parrot that you should adopt a mature bird, possibly one that's owner has passed away or can no longer take care of it. Parrot island may or may not be open to the public but I will be checking into it. On their webite they do not make it clear but mention donations are always needed so it may be admission by donation.
Shannon Lake - Bring H fishing to the other kiddie pond in our area. It is a stocked lake which should be good for her getting the chance to use her new fishing pole (she got a new one for Christmas).

I need to find out more about these events/activities but they sound like fun!

Outdoor Concerts in the Park - Hopefully we'll get a chance to actually bring H. We often drive past were it was going but it is over. I'd love to find a schedual of musicians, I'll have to get on that. Admission FREE.
Outdoor Movie in the Park - In the past there have been at least one movie offered in the park. I do not know if they will have it this year and how much it costs.
U-Pick Fruit - I'll have to look into this more but I think it would be fun!
Bike Riding - I'd LOVE to get bikes for us and figure a way that H can participate (she does not know how to ride a bike yet). FREE (besides the cost of bikes)
Mardi Gras Street Festival - I don't know much about this but it sounds fun and it has stuff for kids, music and street vendors. FREE!
Father Pandosy Mission, Guisachan Heritage Park, The Laurel Building, Kasugai Gardens - I will need to research where these historical attractions are located.
Kelowna Farmer’s and Crafter’s Market - I have always wanted to check this out but everytime we remember, we're driving past it when they are taking things down for the day. FREE admission.

Mini Golfing - There are two places in town that offer Mini Golf and I think H is at the age where she would enjoy it. Need to look into cost.

Arlo's Honey Farm - Tours by appointment. I'd like to do some more research on this one but it sounds really neat. H is interested in bees ever since I let her carefully watch them on some sunflowers this past summer. She also has watched the "Magic Schoolbus" episode on bees.

Lazer Tag - I am going to have to discuss this one with the hubby, but I LOVE lazer tag but I am not so sure if H at 4 years old would enjoy it and be able to meneuver the area in the dark (with our help). We'll just have to see.

--------------------------------------------

The last time I actually walked through Mission Creek park (The ECCO Center is located at this park) we had an interesting experience. My Mother-In-Law, little Brother-In-Law and I encountered two black bears and the biggest pile of bear poop I have ever seen! It rivaled a cow pie in size! It was HUGE! We should have clued in that it wasn't a great day to walk through there because when we first entered the park and there was an ~~idiot~~ beginner nature photographer using a "deer in distress" call to lure the bears (which happened to be a mother with a possible cub(s)) closer to him so he could take pictures. We saw the mother bear briefly and being smart enough to understand mother bears will do anything to protect their cubs, passed him thinking "what an idiot" and continued on our way. After we had walked around the park for quite a while we started heading back. All of a sudden we heard a ton of crashing and a dark black bear came running through the woods towards us. We started clapping our hands and I picked up two large sticks to make noise. The bear stopped in it's tracks and sat there all sorts of confused. As we continued to walk out of the park we were sure to keep our eye on the bear and to continue to talk loudly and clap the sticks together so it knew where we were. We made it out of there but it was enough to give us the creeps and we haven't been back since (it was in 2005). It may have been that the ~~idiot~~ photographer had really stirred up the wildlife in the park with his calling or there really were a lot of bears in the park. Either way, we haven't been back since. I'm thinking maybe this summer we might give that park another chance.

Well, more to come for sure. I've got to compile this list somehow neatly by dates the placese are open etc. I think I may need to get myself a calender. :o)

~M~

Agriculture Proud....

2011-03-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

...a new blog to add to my favorites. Growing up active in 4-H was a wonderful experience for me and I feel that it made me realize a lot of things about life I may not have otherwise. Where our food comes from, how much work goes into raising an animal (for both breeding stock and market), and the satisfaction of working hard. Agriculture Proud is a wonderful blog written by Ryan Goodman, a cattle farmer from Arkansas. CLICK HERE to read his story. He bursts of pride and passion about farming and is using "social media" to share and spread his passion. Not only does he write of his day-to-day life in the cattle industry, he writes about all facets of agriculture. I thoroughly enjoy reading his blog and I hope you do too!

~M~

Random Movie Review...

2011-03-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

So the other night after H fell asleep I decided to pop in a movie I had bought for $5 a long time ago. The hubby said at the time I bought it "I'm never going to watch that" so it became one of those movies that are "just mine". Since he's out of town I figured it's the perfect time to watch some movies in the "just mine" category and chose "Mommie Dearest".

I had heard various "talk" about this movie over the years and so it fell into another category for me, the "must watch dispite it being terrible - because you just have to watch it to say I've watched it and check it off the curiosity list" category. What other movies are in that category you might ask? Deliverance, Rosemary's Baby, and The Exorsist, all of which I have seen. Most recently The Exorsist was on t.v. close to Halloween, I finally broke down and watched the entire thing.

"Mommie Dearest"....what can I say about it....hum....

It was odd!

It was a sad, violent, and emotionally twisted story of sad lady (whether it is true or not).

My favorite quote from the movie?

"Don't fuck with me fellas. This ain't my first time at the rodeo." - Joan Crawford character (played by Faye Dunaway) telling off Pepsi executives trying to kick her off the board of directors.

It made me burst out laughing!

Another crazy quote -

"Joan Crawford: No wire hangers! What's wire hangers doing in this closet when I told you no wire hangers?! EVER!!!! I work till I'm half dead and I hear people say she's getting old! What do I get ? A daughter who cares as much about a beautiful dress I give her as she cares about me. What's wire hangers doing in this closet?! Answer me! I buy you beautiful dresses and you treat 'em like some dishrag! You threw a 300 dollar dress on a wire hanger! We'll see how many you got hidden in here, we'll see! All of this is coming out! Out! Out! Out! Out! We're gonna see how many wire hangers you got in your closet! Wire hangers. Why? Why? Christina, get out of that bed! Get out of that bed! (picks up hanger and begins to beat Christina) You live in the most beautiful house in Brentwood and you dont care about crease marks from wire hangers, and your room looks like some two dollar unfurnished room in some two- bit backstreet town in Oklahoma! Get up! Clean up this mess! Did you scrub the bathroom floor today? Did you?" (Quote Source - Movie Quotes.com)

I had heard of the "wire hangers" rant but really only a small bit. Basically all I had heard was that she was angry about wire hangers for some reason. This had sparked my curiosity.

Anyway. It wasn't all that bad of a movie, just odd. I did do some research before I watched the movie to find more information on who Joan Crawford was etc and who her daughter was. I highly suggest doing so before watching this movie or you will be quite lost.

In doing the research I found out that after famous actress Joan Crawford died she left nothing for two of her four adopted children saying something to the effect of - For reason's well known to them. After that, her daughter (the one left out of the will) wrote a book titled "Mommie Dearest" and it was then made into the movie. It does make one suspect of the facts though. Maybe she was just really angry about her mother's choice to leaver her and her brother out of the will and decided to trash her mother's name. Who knows. No one will ever know for sure.

I'd give it a 6/10 for enjoyment and a 3/10 for rewatchability (yes, I made that word up!)

Well possibly more "Random Movie Reviews" in the future.

~M~

Next projects!

2011-03-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

Today I found some ideas for my next projects. They are within my level of "crafty skill" and I look forward to making them!

On The Go Book - Made for "So You Think You're Crafty" by a woman named "Kalleen" and I just LOVE it! She did a wonderful job! I cannot wait to make this and plan to even add some additional pages to it!

Magnetic Paper Dolls - Also made for "So You Think You're Crafty" by a woman named "Shilo". It is a "real" paper doll set with magnetic background based off of pictures of your own child (I guess this could also be used for a boy as well). H got a magnetic house set in a metal box and really enjoys it so I bet she'd love this especially if the "doll" part is a picture of her! Too cute!

Just really cool crafty ideas I wanted to share -

Superhero Reading Nook - From the "So You Think You're Crafty" and made by a woman named "Cheri" from the blog "I'm A Momma...Hear Me Roar". It's a reading nook shaped as a car and decorated like a "superhero car". Her awesome secret? It's made out of cardboard and extremely awesome! If I had more room I'd definitely try to make one of these for H! You can check out this blog post on "I'm A Momma...Hear Me Roar" for more!

What's Up Weekly Board - Again from the "So You Think You're Crafty" site and also by a woman named "Cheri" from the blog "I'm A Momma...Hear Me Roar". It's a magnetic weekly board so that kid can see what is going on each day of the week. GREAT idea for all ages!

That is all for now, more to come!

~M~

Sew a little....

2011-03-20T01:35:00.000-07:00

I decided to do some some sewing. I am constantly reading tutorials of wonderful projects and am itching to get some sewing done. Well, today I decided to sew a little pouch for H out of some scraps I had laying around. My Mother-In-Law gave me some zippers of rather odd colors but fortunately for me, the scraps I had laying around match with one of the zipper colors.
H went through a crazy 1"-2" growth spurt while she was sick so all her jeans that fit her before she was sick no longer fit her (they are visibly high waters!). I had set a pair of her jeans with a hole in the knee aside to patch but now they are too short. My solution? I will patch and lengthen them with matching fabric. These jeans were my favorites to put her in because they were faded and fit her so well. If this goes easily enough, I will attempt to lengthen her other jeans because there is still a ton of life left in them.

Of the last three projects I sewed, two were a success and the other was not so much a success. These projects started 4-5 weeks ago.
The first project was a pair of pj pants for H and a matching pair for her doll (Sara) made out of super cute flannel. The flannel has little moose in a diamond pattern with light green camo in the alternating diamonds. I guess it would be better to show than explain. They turned out alright. A little big but cute none the less. She likes them so that is all that matters!

For the second, I decided to sew H a dress out of this really light weight fabric I had bought (from the discount section at FabricLand). I really like the weight of this fabric for summer dresses. I modified and made my own pattern off of a pattern my Mother-In-Law had picked up at a thrift store. Lately I've been dabbling with modifying and making my own patterns on wax paper and it so far seems to have been working out quite well. I sewed the dress up in one night with minimal difficulty and a lot of learning. I was quite happy with the results and H liked the dress. I do not have pictures for this project yet but will take some as soon as I finish more projects.

The third project was a shirt made of the same sort of light weight fabric. The fabric was a little bit different because it was made to be "crinkled" looking which caused it to be more difficult to sew. The shirt was just a shorter version of the dress but for some reason it has been one difficulty after another. I have yet to finish it. I don't want to forget about it but I just couldn't figure out how to finish it the way I needed it to be so I gave it a rest. I will most likely finish it in the next few days if I get me sewing machine out. I also do not have pictures for this project but once I finish it I will take pictures.

So, pictures to come and hopefully success.

More to come!

~M~

*UPDATE* - I finished the pants and the little zipper pouch. Below are the pictures! I am so happy with the way that they turned out and I learned a lot on both projects.

Well, more to come!

~M~

Sunny day....

2011-03-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

....sweeping the clouds away.....

Today was a great day outside.

It was sunny and had some of the prettiest bright white and grey-blue clouds against the crisp blue sky. If you are a regular reader of my blog you may know that I LOVE taking cloud pictures.

Seeing a captivating cloud makes my day! There is just something about clouds......

Below are just some pictures of our wonderful "almost spring" day. It was beautiful!

(Above)

Handsome Hunter

H got upset because at one point her boot got stuck in the mud and when she went to step forward her foot slipped out. She just barely touched the mud with her sock foot but for some reason she got extremely upset about the whole bit. In the spring when she was much younger she was playing in a big mud puddle and her boot fell off so I let her run around in her sock and one boot on. It doesn't bother me and didn't bother her then. DIRT don't HURT is my thoughts. I really do not know why she got so angry about it but in a way it was a bit comical as a parent trying to get her to explain why it was so bad for her and me trying to explain that it doesn't matter if she got muddy on accident and that I didn't care. For the most part we had a great time out in the mud and puddles (until she lost her boot).

--------------------------------------

This evening I decided I did not really like my blog background I put up after Valentine's Day so I headed over to "The Cutest Blog On The Block" to find a new background. It normally takes me close to half an hour or more to pick just the right background but this time I got lucky! I found it on the very first page of blogger backgrounds. I LOVE it! I am a HUGE fan of roosters and this background is so very adorable! Thank you to whomever took the time to create it! If you're in the need of a super cute blog background head over to "The Cutest Blog On The Block"!

--------------------------------------

Through one of my favorite blogs (Noodlehead) I found a link to the always super cute Beatrix Potter's "Welcome to the World of Peter Rabbit". It has some really adorable games for kids and a "make your own puppet show" with Peter Rabbit. They have three sections in the "Play" section. "Play Games", "Make and Do" and "Meet The Characters". H had fun doing the games but some of them were harder than others. She needed my help to read most parts of the games and to help her create the "make your own puppet show". It is a really good site though and I don't think we discovered all it has to offer so we will definitely be back to check it out more!

--------------------------------------

Well, that is all for tonight. I hope you are all well! Stay safe!

~M~

Oh, so good!

2011-03-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I heard back about the giveaway I wrote about on Thursday. It was hosted by Brittany @ProSoup Propaganda and Stina from Honeywild.

Well......

Can.....

You.....

Guess.....

What???

I WON!!

A wonderful pair of earrings!!!

(image source - HoneyWild)

They are handmade by Stina, you can check out her Etsy Shop HERE to buy a pair of your own or check out her other beautiful jewelry pieces. She is a wonderfully talented jewelry maker!

Here are some links you may find helpful -

CLICK HERE to check out HoneyWild's Facebook Page

CLICK HERE to read Stina's Blog

CLICK HERE to check out ProSoup Propaganda, the host of this AWESOME giveaway and one of my favorite blogs!

Thank you very much to both these awesome ladies! I am so very thrilled!

Also! I am 91 pageviews away from hitting the 2000 page view mark! It's hard to believe 2000 page views! Woowhoo! I can only hope to continue to bring in more readers as time goes by!! :o) As of today I have 273 posts and I just might have to do something special for my 300th blog post (if I remember to keep track of my posts! Ha!)

~M~

Ta-Da!

2011-03-15T00:09:00.000-07:00

Last night I mentioned that it was raining. I had wondered what sort ot mess we would wake up to. Turns out that it was cool enough that not a whole lot melted over night despite the rain but at about noon things really started to happen. The temperature must have warmed up quite rapidly because while I was outside spreading out some bird seed I saw the "stream" had started to flow again. I went back inside to change my clothes and put on my golashes and came back out approximately an hour later and it was really flowing (see picture below). H loved it though as she can't get enough of mud and mess!

After playing in the water and mud, H and I headed over to her Grandparent's house to visit with her young Uncles. She had a "disco party" (her Uncle L put on his disco ball light thingy and playes dance music for her) and "played" some video games. She loves "playing" video games with her Uncle L and I, although she really isn't "playing" them. We give her a seperate controller and she picks which screen view she is but it is just L and I playing. She thinks she's playing though. Most times I really think she just likes watching us play. Sounds weird, but she asks to play them and enjoys it.

After that we headed home for dinner (leftover pizza) and H did some watercolor painting.

Above is the picture H painted tonight. It is H and K iceskating together. She's the purple one and he's the green one. Too cute!

All in all a pretty darn good day!

Well, enough for now! Hope you are all well!

More to come!

~M~

Oh! P.S - The reason I was outside spreading bird seed is because I saw some little chick-a-dee birds which made me really excited to see them. They must know spring is on the way! When I came in to change my clothes, a squirrel climbing down a tree caught my eye. He/She was coming down to get some of the bird seed I had spread on a stump out there. It was so cute but I didn't get a very good picture but I'll share them anyway!

Isn't he CUTE?! Hope you liked them!

It's Raining!

2011-03-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

It's pouring, I should be snoring!

It's coming down pretty good for the time being. I am truly curious as to what we will wake up to tomorrow. No more snow perhaps? Now that would be pretty shocking because we still have quite a bit in certain places, especially where K and my Father-In-Law piled snow they plowed off the driveways and walking areas (see pictures below of H climbing one of the piles).

Today was a really slow day for H and I. I was feeling pretty groggy today and just felt like vegging out on the couch watching the crappy satellite programming they have on Sundays. H did some water color painting and played quietly by herself most of the day. I think she felt the same way I was feeling too. We cuddled and she took a short nap and we "played" the game "tell me a story" where I make up a story and tell it to her. I made up the characters - A little girl 4 years old named "George" and her Mom named "Billy Bob". H got a kick out of the stories. It was quite fun. It makes me happy and proud of her that she can be so easily entertained.

Here are some pictures I forgot to add to the last post -

Above - H's glitter tattoo she got when we visited the local costume shop. They use a stencil to apply/paint on this glue/sticky substance over the stencil. They wait for the sticky stuff to turn clear/dry and then they dip a dry brush into various colors of glitter (you could mix the colors). The glitter seamed to stick to the brush almost as if it was statically charged. You can see in the picture that the lady used three different shades of purple and one shad of pink for it. It was super cool and I bet you don't have to just use the provided sticky backed disposable stencils. You could use pretty much any type of stencil when applying the sticky glue stuff as long as you didn't let it move and the design get smudged.

Above - H was pretending to be a pilot the other day. She is wearing her pink ear protectors for hunting and shooting and the new yard hockey helmet she got from her Uncle L for Christmas. The chin piece she pulled up to pretend it was the microphone the pilot talks into! What a funny girl! I just had to get a picture!

Above - H and her Uncle L playing hockey with the new stick he got her from a hockey game he attended recently. Broken sticks work well for little girl sized hockey sticks, you just have to cut he end off cleanly and tape the end to protect her little hands from any possible sharp bits. She's gotten two now from her Uncle L this winter (plus Santa brought her one with purple hockey tape, Daddy just needs to cut it off to the right size but considering she has two hockey sticks that work for her right now maybe we'll keep it a little longer for when she grows).

Above - H LOVES playing on the computer. Her favorite website is "Treehousetv.com". She'll play it for hours all by herself. She knows how to use the "back" button, "refresh" button and can maneuver around the games like a pro! She is such a techie (for being only 4 years old she used to know how to use her Uncle L's Ipod Touch too!). Tonight she wanted to listen to her very favorite song and she told me "Go to YouTube".....how funny is that!

BTW her VERY favorite song is by KISS - "I Was Made For Loving You Baby" - She saw it one night on MuchMoreMusic's late night music videos and has been hooked ever since. She doesn't like their other more popular songs or "versions" as she calls them, just the one. She also really likes Finger Eleven's - Living In A Dream and pretty much any Metallica or Nickleback song. Lately she likes Rihanna, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, Three Days Grace and of course Seether. When she was little she used to "head-bang" to "Fake It" by Seether. By little I mean before she was walking she would crawl up to the edge of the bed and pull herself up, I would put the song on and she'd go crazy bobbing her head side to side then she'd really get into it and actually "head-bang" backwards and forwards. I've got such cute video of her just rocking out.

We (as a family) play this game in the truck called "The Song Game" where we switch through radio stations and whoever calls out the singer/group that does a song first gets a point. We always have a pad of paper and pen to help us keep score. After playing this game for so long H has really begun to catch on to the songs. She has actually beat us a few times. She's beat us on Mariana's Trench, Snoop-snoop-a-loop (on Katy Perry's California Girls), Usher, Queen (We Will Rock You) and Adam Lambert (for some reason she's a fan of his music).

Recently we were looking in the card isle and I picked up one of those singing/talking cards and when I opened it "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" started out. Quicker than I could even realize what it was, H yelled it out! "Cindy Lauper! " I was blown away! My kid knows music from such a wide variety and it makes me pretty proud. Often I ask her "Whose this?" and she will only make a few guesses before she figures it out. I think she's got quite the "ear" for music.

Oh, and speaking of music...one of my new FAVORITE songs - "Say You'll Haunt Me" by Stone Sour. I LOVE this song! The lead singer of Stone Sour is from another band called "Slipknot". It took me by surprise when K told me he was the lead singer of Slipknot. I have never paid much attention to that group because of their "image" as being rather shocking/scary and to this day I have not actually listened to anything by the band. I REALLY like the guys voice though when he's singing with his band Stone Sour and at some point out of curiosity I may check out some of the music by Slipknot to see what it is all about.

You know what, after writing all that about Stone Sour, I am pretty sure I posted about that song and included the embeded video a few weeks back. Oops. Just goes to show that I do really like that song...haha!

On to other things....need a laugh?

A friend of mine shared a link to the website "Awkward Family Photos" and I've got quite a few laughs out of it this evening so I thought I would share it.

Happy Monday!

More to come!

~M~

Doggy Rescue

2011-03-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

I recently found out about a Dog Rescue center in Merrit, B.C. It is called "Angel's Animal Rescue". They have applied for a grant through the Pepsi Refresh Project to recieve $100,000 if their cause recieves enough votes to be voted #1. I have started voting (you get a vote a day/per cause).

"Angel's Animal Rescue" is a place for neglected and abused dogs needing vet care and a safe home. They work to educate the public on the importance of spay/neuter of pets and work with kids to pass on the message.

To VOTE for "Angel's Animal Rescue" CLICK HERE! Remember you get 1 vote a day/per cause so you can go back every day to cast another vote!

CLICK HERE to view information on what they will spend the $100,000 on if they should win as well as more information on this cause.

To view their website "Angel's Animal Rescue" CLICK HERE! They have dogs and puppies available for adoption and they share their mission statements.

PLEASE take the time out to vote for this cause. All it takes is a minute of your time!

~M~

High-Ho, High-Ho....

2011-03-12T00:44:00.000-08:00

...it's off to work we go. Today was hard-core cleaning. I mean down and dirty....scrub, scrub, rinse, rinse.....I'm a disaster but things got done!

I had been meaning to tackle our toilet...yes, you did read right. I am REALLY going to go into this topic. Everyone has one and everyone has to deal with cleaning it. Why not talk about it...:o)

Anyway...

We have hard water. The toilet and sink over time get a build-up of what we call calcium (well, we assume that is what it is). The toilet has always been a challenge. Over the past year, there has been a slow build-up of stained calcium in the bottom area where everything flows out. It was solid. In the past I have used CLR (Calcium, Lime, Rust) poured into the water and lots of scrubbing, but had been unsuccessful. This time I was determined! I used a syringe to suck out all the water in the bowl and poured in the CLR straight (no dilution). I used an old toothbrush and sponge to apply the foamed up CLR to the other "problem" spots like where the water flows in and where the water line is. After about 5 minutes I flushed the toilet to clear the water and started chipping away at the build-up in the bottom. I used the tip of the syringe to do most of the work. I was absolutely blown away at how much build-up had accumulated and how difficult it was. I chipped away at it for close to half an hour and was finally able to get rid of it all. It chipped off in shockingly large chunks of hard stained calcium. Gross, I know, though I am quite proud that I was successful.

I don't know if I am quite ready to "share" the pictures, but I am sure there are other people out there that have been in the same situation as I. Maybe I'll add them to the bottom of this post.

On a TOTALLY different note.....

I was able to find time to add some recent pictures (well, not too recent but from the past month). Enjoy!

(Above)

Three beautiful pictures from February. Such a beautiful day!

(Above)

H photography....gotta love it!

(Above)

Pictures from the last snow we got (about 5 days ago). In the picture with my feet, you can see that under that snow there is a thick sheet of ice still at that point.

(Above)

Pictures of what I saw in my garden yesterday. Water and lots of it. It was warm but cooled off today so there wasn't as much melt-off. I hope that the snow and ice will melt of gradually so we don't end up with major mud and puddles!

(Above)

Cactus sprouts!! We've got two different types of cacti that have started to grow! I am so thrilled because I did not really think that they would sprout in the "winter" sunlight that shines in our kitchen window. If you click on the picture you might be able to find them. I will take a better picture tomorrow because they have turned more green now that they have been out of the soil for close to a week.

Well, that is all for now. Hope all is well with you! Happy Weekend!

----------------------------------------------

WARNING!!!!

IF you happen to be curious....

Below are the before, during and after pictures of the legendary toilet battle!

BEFORE

(You can see the build-up and the calcium ring around the water level)

DURING

(Pretty nasty eh?)

AFTER

(Sparkly clean! I am so proud! Ha!)

More to come!

~M~

Sharing

2011-03-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

I have really been slacking on the blog writing lately. Maybe it's that time of the year again where I don't feel like writing.

Not much is new here. I am trying to enjoy all this snow, ice and slush considering it is so very important to us when it comes to the summer and the start of the fire season. The more snow pack the better. To be honest, I am starting to dream of spring and getting out there in the garden again. Currently my garden is covered completely in ice, slush and snow so it won't be happening anytime soon. We've had really warm weather the past two days and the snow and ice has really begun to melt. Lots and lots of water and mud is in our near future. I figure that April will be the month of "mud" and we'll go nowhere without our galoshes! I am sure H will be thoroughly thrilled!

Later today I may get around to uploading some pictures from the past few weeks.

Oh, oh, oh.....

I thought I would share/pass on my friend Brittany's blog once again. This week she is hosting a "give-away" and it just so happens to be a beautiful set of earrings made by her friend Stina.

In past blog posts I have mentioned her blog but I thought I would take this time to mention her wonderful blog again! I always love checking out Brittany's blog. She shares new and often environmentally friendly products, wonderful photographs of her many adventures, and stories from her ever adventurous life! Also, can't forget the recipes! One of my favorite features of her blog is the "Things I'm Loving Lately" posts.

Anyway, check them out, they are pretty awesome!

Pro-Soup Propaganda - Brittany

HoneyWild - Stina - I look forward to reading more of her blog in the future!

Stina's Etsy Shop - Really beautiful jewlery.

You can also find both on Facebook, please feel free to "like" them -

HoneyWild - Facebook

Pro-Soup Propaganda - Facebook

More to come!

~M~

Coupons...

2011-03-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

***I found this blog post saved as a "Draft" and I honestly do not remember how long ago I wrote it! I decided that I should post it anyway although it is not a full post or a post I really ended up putting a lot of thought into. Either way I guess I should post it....***

---------------------------------------------

Those of you who read my blog and are located within Canada, here are some coupons and coupon sites I've recently found. I am trying to get "into" the whole coupon-ing thing and thought I'd share a bit of what I've found.

Save.ca
GoCoupons.ca
Healthy Shopper (coupon site for natural and organic products)

Also, I am posting this on here because I don't want to lose this link as I may want it in the next couple of weeks. Anyway. It's titled "Turn a Commercial Pattern Into A Permanent Pattern".

---------------------------------------------

Well, that was it. Yeah, short I know....lol!

More to come!

~M~

Re-Working...

2011-02-23T02:15:00.000-08:00

~The Gardening Mommy~

Today I was going through pictures and old blogs and came across my "old" gardening blog. I had started it but did not get around to post actively. I decided I would rework my "old" gardening blog in the next few weeks. I have a ton of things I want to share garden-wise and hope to get a chance to post them soon. I have mentioned in the past how I take a LOT of local wildflower pictures and I have never got around to making a post with them. I will be putting together a post for my "old" gardening blog soon! :o)

To check it out, click HERE!

Thinking of spring and summer! More to come!

~M~

Baby Dutch Babies....

2011-02-16T16:32:00.000-08:00

Today I was reading a blog (TundraGypsy) and she had a blog entry on Dutch Babies. She wrote about how her mother used to make Dutch Babies for her when she was young. Well, my Mom used to make a certain special kind she called "Baby Dutch Babies" and after reading Tundra Gypsy's blog entry it brought back memories of how yummy they were! You can put pretty much anything in them from breakfast style (we always used jam and cream cheese) to something more savory (in my Mom's recipe she suggests "Chutney").

We ALWAYS had them breakfast style. Delicious! I can't wait to make some with/for H so we may just have a breakfast style dinner tonight!

------------------------------------------------

Here is my Mom's Recipe -

2 tbsp. - BUTTER or MARGARINE
2 lg. - EGGS
1/2 c. - ALL PURPOSE FLOUR
1/2 c. - MILK
1 sm. pkg. (3 oz) - CREAM CHEESE

About 1/4 c. - CHUTNEY (chopped if pieces are long)
OR
About 1/4 c. - Favorite JAM

Directions -

Use muffin pans with 1-1/2 or 2-1/2 inch cups. You need 24 small cups or 12 large ones.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Divide BUTTER equally among cups. Set pan in 425 degree oven to melt BUTTER (about three minutes).

As BUTTER melts in oven, combine in food processor or blender the EGGS, FLOUR, and MILK. Whirl until blended.

Cut CREAM CHEESE into cubes equal to the number of muffin cups. 1/2 tsp. size for small cups and 1 tsp size for large cups.

Next, spoon about 1 Tbsp. batter into each small cup or about 2 Tbsp. into each large cup (depending on your muffin cup size). Use all the batter.

Bake small cups 2 minutes or large cups 5 minutes to firm bottoms.

Remove from oven and quickly add 1 piece CREAM CHEESE to each (size depending on muffin cup size) and add 1/2 tsp. chutney/jam for small muffin cups or 1 tsp. chutney/jam for large muffin cups (also depending on muffin cup size).

Bake 10 minutes longer for both sizes, until puffed and browned on the edges.

Allow to cool slightly in pan, then scoop from pans with a large spoon.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

MAKES - 24 small or 12 large BABY DUTCH BABIES.

------------------------------------------------

Sooooooo yummy! If we end up making this for dinner I will try to take some pictures to go along with the recipe! :o)

More to come!

~M~

(I'd like to thank TundraGypsy for the idea/reminder of how great Dutch Babies really are. It's has been a very long time since I had my Mom's Baby Dutch Babies and I am going to really enjoy sharing this with H!)

***EDITED TO ADD***

"Dutch Baby Babies" - Link to a blog that has great pictures on what "Baby Dutch Babies" should look like and a variation on the recipe above.

Thought I'd share this silly news story...

2011-02-16T15:30:00.000-08:00

.....of a "Cat 'Burgler'" from the Associated Press on Youtube.

Now how cute is that? Maybe a little annoying if you were his neighbors, but so very funny! Gotta love those kitties!

Happy Wednesday!

More to come!

~M~

In spirit of the "LOVE" day....

2011-02-14T02:27:00.000-08:00

.....I thought I'd share somethings that I am "loving lately" (inspired by - Brittany).

LOVING LATELY #1

My Family. I love them to pieces. Many live far away (Grandpa in Thailand and many in the Midwest states), while others live a bit closer. I wish I could see them ALL more often. My Dad was able to come up to visit this summer/fall and it was so nice to finally see him after such a long time! H was so very thrilled (except for the crab...she was definitely not so thrilled about the crab my dad brought us).

LOVING LATELY #2

My daughter's Beta fish. She just loves the fish that Santa brought her for Christmas. She had been talking about wanting a blue fish and guess what....Santa brought her just that! It is a beautiful fish with an amazing blue and teal body. He/She (depending on who you talk to, I say "He" and H says "She") loves to "rest" on the petals of the fake plant we have in the tank and He/She does some of the funniest water acrobatics. I thoroughly enjoy watching this new addition to our family. For GREAT information on Betas click HERE!

Beautiful isn't He/She - H is correcting me...."It's HER, it's always HER! Isn't SHE beautiful? It's ALWAYS a SHE!" Hahaha!

LOVING LATELY #3

I am absolutely addicted to "Emily of New Moon" television series! It is not a new/current running series but I have been watching sequential reruns on the BRAVO network. Apparently the show is based off the books titled "Emily of New Moon" and I think I may just have to track some of them down to read for myself. The show is just great. It's a historical view of life on the east coast of Canada (Prince Edward Island I think). I started watching sort of in the middle of things but have tried to watch every episode each day. I can't get enough of it!

LOVING LATELY #4

Match Game. Such a GREAT old "game show"!

(source - http://www.charles.tripod.com/matchgamepics.htm)

Match Game - So far I've only caught Match Game 74 and Match Game 75 (the years) episodes. It too is so very addicting! Cracks me right up. I catch it here on the GSN (Game Show Network).

LOVING LATELY #5

Sewing blogs. I can't get enough of them and as far as I can tell there is pretty close to an infinite amount out there! I am absolutely thrilled by the creativity of these women (and sometimes men). They do such a wonderful job with their photography, tutorials and have such great "blogging" skills. Here are a few of my very favorites -

LOVING LATELY #6

TOSH.O on Comedy Central. The hubby and I cannot get enough of his comedy. This guy has a really warped sense of humor and I've seen some pretty crazy things on his show but I just can't help but laugh until I am crying. He takes wacky/odd videos off the Internet and adds really hilarious commentary to them. K and I really enjoy his stand up and I saw on his show that he has a new Comedy Central special coming out in March. I can't wait.

LOVING LATELY #7

My ice spikes! I could not go anywhere around here with out these suckers. They are great. I have two different types but each works well. There are a few pros and cons to each and with that I know which one is my favorite.

Ice Spike #1 - Magic Spiker by Tracker (Christmas gift from my Mother-In-Law to replace the original pair she got me years ago).

-- Pros - These suckers have one heck of a great "spike" for gripping. They do their job very well even when walking up solid ice patches on our path.

-- Cons - They only have spikes on the front part of your foot. I sometimes slip a bit when I accidentally walk on my heels. I just have to remember to walk with more pressure on the front of my feet. They also do not stretch as far or as easy as the second pair therefore you have to make sure you pick the proper size.

Ice Spike #2 - WinterTrax (sold at Walmart and possibly other stores).

-- Pros, they cover the majority of the foot, are a bit easier to put on (not as stiff rubber) and won't hurt you if you decide to put them in a pocket or purse (coils are skin friendly...). Another pro, one size fits most (I haven't tried these on my hubby's boot yet but he is a size 11. I'd be curious to see if these would fit his too but until I try it I just don't know).

-- Cons, NEVER wear it on solid slick surfaces like tile floors, YOU WILL FALL ON YOUR BUTT! Both H and I have experienced this. NOT fun! Another con, they can slide on really solid sheets of ice but do fairly well on the average snow and ice. To be sure, you have to walk cautiously on the solid ice (especially the kind covered in water).

Both pairs are GREAT but my favorite is the second pair (WinterTrax) because they cover the most surface area (the more grip the better I say!). Remember, nothing will make walking on ice absolutely safe and fool proof, ALWAYS walk cautiously on snow and ice to help prevent spills.

LOVING LATELY #8

My can opener. I have no idea if this is a common type of can opener available anywhere but I have only seen this can opener once (at HomeSense). I absolutely love this can opener!

It leaves NO sharp edges and I feel confident when I put the lids and can into the recycling that no one will get cut. I LOVE IT! I highly recommend this type of can opener!! It is made by LEIFHEIT.

----------------------------------------------------

And for a sort of twist to the "loving lately" theme....things I'm NOT LOVING LATELY!

NOT LOVING LATELY #1

My hair. I set a goal for myself to grow my hair out just one last time to donate to "Locks of Love". I have cut off a total of over 20 inches of hair to donate (2 time X 10 inches each time) and decided I wanted to continue it.

Unfortunately after the second donation I realized my hair is not growing as fast as it used to and I am having a hard time "living with" my long hair. I pretty much have to grow it down to my bum before I am okay with donating it. The minimum donation is 10 inches and after the 10 inches are cut off I still want my hair to be below my shoulders.

It's a long story about why I don't like my hair short but in a nutshell.........

I got a horrible haircut - "the mushroom cut" - when I was in 7th or 8th grade and it was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life (just short of going to school smelling like a skunk after two male skunks sprayed while fighting under my parents house - although, I think I am more scared by the whole hair thing rather than the skunk spray....hum....). After that, I am extremely uncomfortable with the idea of my hair being cut above my shoulders....eeks!

Anyway...I can't wait for my hair to get to where I am ready to cut if off. I really hope to do something different with my hair (considering I've had straight for my whole life and my natural brown for close to 6 years now). I used to be strictly blond (high school to like 23/24 years old) but after getting tired of the roots I decided to go back to my normal brown. At the request of my hubby and daughter (don't know why she but she's obsessed with the idea of blond hair), I just might try that again - that or get a perm....yeah, I said that word....PERM! I have hair that is so straight that you have to practically weld my hair with hair spray to get it to curl and stay that way! It's nuts!

Anyway, anyway.....

I'll have to get K to measure 10 inches of my hair to see where it would be to see for sure but I'm guessing that my hair is about 6 inches away from my "goal" and it just doesn't seem to be growing fast enought....someday....lol!

(Note - I want to make something clear though, I am very happy that I am growing my hair long and am donating it to "Locks of Love". I am just getting a little impatient...)

For more information on "Locks of Love" and how to donate your hair please visit their site - "Locks of Love". If you have long hair and are thinking of cutting it short, PLEASE consider cutting 10 inches or more and donating it to the wonderful "Locks of Love" (why waste it?).

NOT LOVING LATELY #2

Saturday/Sunday satellite programing. It stinks. They put all the terrible stuff on during the weekends! They also tend to put all the REALLY awesome stuff on after midnight during the week when you really shouldn't be up that late but then you decide to stay up because you really want to catch that super interesting show.

Now when I'm talking about the "REALLY awesome stuff" I'm not talking about the average sitcom or the shows on the big "fancy" channels (ie. FOX, NBC, CBS etc), but more like documentaries, great old-old movies (caught an old version of Brother's Grimm the other night), reruns of GREAT television shows (like Emily of New Moon as mentioned above and The Red Green Show).

I don't get why they do this. It's weird. I channel surf trying to find something interesting but fail to find decent programming on the weekends. Pretty much annoying considering we pay a pretty crazy amount of money for it!

NOT LOVING LATELY #3

ICE. We still have a ton of ice. When I had to pick up all the branches I was practically sliding down the hill. I had been going everywhere with my "spikes" on until we got that really big dump of snow and didn't need them as much as I need them when there is a total sheet of ice out there. So, long story short, I should have worn them today. Anyway, I'll take a picture of the ice hopefully tomorrow.

-------------------------------------------------

With ALL that being said, I hope you all have a WONDERFUL, LOVELY, SPECIAL and/or ROMANTIC Valentines day!

More to come!

~M~

Lights Out!

2011-02-13T19:53:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a crazy wind storm that blew through. It lasted almost 3 hours and we have plenty of branches and trees blown down. The lights shut off and back on twice and finally went off about 1:30 a.m-ish and stayed off until 8:30 a.m-ish. H did not like the wind storm and was up when the lights went out and then got super excited that we had lights out and could "pretend camp" in our house.

I lit a candle and cuddled on the couch with H. She played with her Leapster2 and I read my Agatha Christie book (The ABC Murders - A Hercule Poirot Mystery). After a bit I was my eyes were getting really heavy so I blew out the candle and we headed into bed. I ended up reading her my book aloud and she fell asleep in a matter of minutes. Must not have been interesting enough for her...lol.

In the morning, "little brother-in-law" stopped by to tell me that a bunch of our garbage blew all over the yard after our garbage can had been blown over. Oh Joy! It had blown all the way down to the horse corral. Nice sloppy horse corral poop soup and garbage! Fun times!

I got dressed in my galoshes and gloves, headed out to do some clean up and noticed all the branches that had fallen all over our driveway. I ended up cleaning up the garbage then picked up and piled branches to clear off the driveway. Turns out that a tree fell down and is partway on the driveway so it will have to be cut apart before total access to our driveway is available. I was unable to move it by hand (but I tried :o).

After cleaning up, I was on my way in and heard a cat fight. Oh, boy....I ran to where the sounds were coming from and it turns out it just so happened to be up in a tree. There I found Hunter (my In-Law's cat) and another possible stray cat halfway up this really weird tree. The tree itself is not in very good shape, it has a really weird cluster of malformed branches that form a canopy/ball of branches. It's hard to explain (I'll have to take a picture). There I saw Hunter and the other cat growling at each other. I actually said out loud "how in the hell am I supposed to get him out of that tree?" Fortunately I was able to get his attention and he made his way slowly out of the tree. The stray just sat there looking down. I carried Hunter into our house (which included going down quite a slick path) and headed back out to check on the stray cat. The cat was still there. It just crouched there looking down at me and would not respond to my calls to come down. I decided to leave it alone (as I had three dogs with me at the time) and headed in to check on Hunter.

He was found asleep on my bed all stretched out and content. Nothing wrong with him thank goodness because last summer my Mother-In-Law had to bring him to the vet over 5 times to clear up an abscess on his arm caused by a cat bite. They first chose to lance it and just clean the wound but after a few days it started to swell up with infection. She brought him back in and they did it again. Same thing, a few days later it swelled up. She brought him in again, this time they decided it was time to put a drain tube in it and give him antibiotics. Frankly my first choice would have been the drain tube and antibiotics but for some reason they chose not to (not sure, maybe they wanted more $$ for each visit in, not all vets are good vets). Anyway. I think it was about a week later she had to bring him in and get the tub removed. It was a long ordeal with plenty spent on vet bills and she (we) did not want him getting into more cat fights. After that last fight there hasn't been any as far as we knew until today.

Three hours later I went out to check if the cat had gone (the one still in the tree) and of course it had not. Now what? Well, I left it as it was and will have to check on it tomorrow. I honestly have NO idea how we may have to try getting a stray cat out of a tree that hangs over a rock covered steep slope! We'll just have to see in the morning.

Other than that it has been a normal winter day. It was beautiful outside but ever so slippery. Tomorrow I hope to get out and find something to do with H. We could really use a good walk and some fresh air!

More to come!

~M~

Edited to Add - Tonight something got into our garbage can. I don't know if I actually closed the garbage can completely because I had planned on running inside to grab another garbage bag because there had been a hole in the first one. At around 11 p.m. my "little brother-in-law's" dog came up onto the porch. I decided to go out and see why she was out there and I looked down the stairs and sure enough something was wrong! Yucky nasty trash spilled out all over the ground. I was not thrilled considering I had already done garbage pick up earlier in the day (blown out into the stinky horse poop muck). I ran back in grabbed my gloves and headed out to pick up the garbage in the dark. Fun, fun, fun! A day full of garbage pick up! LOL! I made sure to close the lid properly so I hope tonight whatever got into it stays away!

Ugh....

2011-02-08T22:50:00.000-08:00

I wrote this blog post a week ago but did not get around to actually posting it. I've been mulling ideas around in my head trying to figure out what I want to do.....

----------------------------------------------------------------

Today I read some pretty creepy blog post regarding the unauthorized use of blog authors pictures. I am pretty freaked out.

HERE is a link to a post by a woman who had pictures of her children from her blog stolen and posted on an "imposters" Flickr account. The person was pretending to be the mother of the kids! SUPER SCARY!

HERE is a link to a post Dana from the blog MADE posted. Her own picture was stolen, photo-shopped and used without her okay or knowledge. They photo-shopped in a small blue purse (replacing a candy bar she had been holding) and made up a name and some sort of quote promoting their online bidding site. It is rediculous and scary.

Honestly, I am definitely rethinking how I post my pictures on here. I like sharing my story and pictures with "normal" everyday blog readers, but it is the bad out there that is starting to freak me out.

Have you ever found any of your pictures used with out permission? What do you think about this whole thing? Does it scare you much? Any ideas on how to protect a persons blog content?

I wonder how a person could go about finding/tracing their pictures and/or blog content to see if it's been stolen. Hummm.......?

(EDITED TO ADD - Here is a website that is a sort of reverse image search engine....it's called "TinEye". Check it out!)

I am going to do some hard thinking in the next few days. We'll just have to see what I come up with.

More to come....

~M~

Happy Ground Hogs Day....

2011-02-04T15:36:00.000-08:00

Happy (Belated) Ground Hogs Day!

Apparently the ground hog did not see it's shadow and spring will be on it's way.

Yeah right and I'm VERY thankful for that. This time last year we had t-shirt weather. Currently it is 21 degrees F, snow and ice everywhere and I'm okay with that! Last summer was yet another scary year for fires here. I HATE fires season! It scares the living crap out of me. My stress level is through the roof for a solid 3 months! It took me a month to wean myself off the fire scanner I was glued to for all of July and August. Oie!

I am still not sure that we have enough snow, but it is WAY more than we had last year. The more snow the better here for us as far as I am concerned. :o)

Well, gotta go!

More to come!

~M~

Random thoughts....

2011-02-01T01:54:00.000-08:00

Well, this post is going to be filled (just typed thrilled instead of filled....jeeze, what are my fingers trying to say? LOL!) with a few random things I've got to tell ya all about!

Random thought #1 -

Despicable ME

Too darn cute, this movie is great! We bought H three new movies the other night and all three are a hit! Tonight we watched "Despicable ME" as a family (H had already watched it last night while I did housework and K was working late). I think it's a pretty good animated family movie with out any inappropriate stuff added in. We will definitely be watching this movie again as a family!

The two other movies we got were -

Nanny McPhee Returns - We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the first one (Nanny McPhee). They both are really good family movies with no inappropriate stuff thrown in, just a classic family movie! Both Nanny McPhee movies have Emma Thompson as "Nanny McPhee" and she is one of my favorite actresses!

Toy Story 3 - The third installment of the Toy Story movies. I think this is one is the best. It was quite funny and the story-line was really good. I'd recommend watching this one especially if you have seen either one of the other two Toy Story movies. The little girl character in the movie reminds K and I of H so much (she's wearing rubber boots and a tutu and has a GREAT imagination!)

They are in pretty much the order in which I like best. Despicable ME, Nanny McPhee Returns, then Toy Story 3. All good family movies!

Okay....now.....

Random thought #2 -

Ring worm......Here is a picture of H's ring worm on her back after three days of treatment.

It looks greasy and super red around it but I had just taken the band-aid off to check it and to clean it. I had applied Oregano Oil to the pad part of the band-aid. The actual size of the circle is a bit bigger than a quarter. I sure hope that it gets better soon and that the Oregano Oil works. I don't really want to end up having to put "antifungal" cream on it.

A friend of mine recommended using "Grape Seed Extract". It's supposedly antifungal like the Oregano Oil. I'll have to "research" it and share what I find in a future post. :o)

Random thought #3 -

Cactus seeds.....

H and I planted the cactus seeds in two pots. They are going to take a long time to germinate so we're in for a wait. We'll just have to see how it works out. I sure hope we have enough light and warm enough environment. :os

I am pretty happy with the way these pots turned out. My Mom however reminded me that with the terracotta pots being so pourus, the acrylic paint I used might bubble or flake off when the soil is moist. I have yet to see if this is the case though. I am hoping that for some lucky reason it isn't that case for these.

You can see on the two smallest pots (the cactus pots), I have covered them with plastic wrap to keep the humidity up so that the seeds will germinate. I will be (as soon as I find the giant bag of rubber bands I bought a week ago) wrapping a rubber band around the top and will then poke holes in the plastic. HERE is a good site for cactus germination information.

Well, that is all for now!

More to come!

~M~

A-MAZING tutorial!

2011-01-31T00:42:00.000-08:00

Attention sewers or future sewers! This tutorial by Dana (from the sewing/mommy blog "MADE") on bias tape is so amazingly GREAT! I could go on and on!

I have used store bought bias tape in the past (for apron neck holes and arm holes of other projects). It really is great stuff but the cost can add up when your doing a project that requires a lot. I can't remember off the top of my head how much they cost per package though.

Just before Christmas I purchased the "bias tape maker" thingy-ma-gigg and fiddled around trying to figure it out (the brand I got came with very little instructions). After figuring it out, I came to the problem of not knowing how to "find and cut on the bias".

I have read various instructions in my two sewing books but have not tried making any of my own. The "MADE" tutorial teaches all about bias tapes, how to make them and gives examples of their uses. It is VERY well written to boot!

HERE is a write-up on bias tape from the Martha Stewart website. (For additional info and a nifty project idea for making a pocketed tote and other project ideas!)

I couldn't find any pictures of the bias tape maker I have but if you click HERE you can see a similar example. It is really quite simple and not all that hard to figure out.

Right now I'm also browsing Fabric.com to check out their selection of fabrics and their prices. I just might feel like ordering some day. I don't know enough about international shipping and if/how they charge duty when it gets shipped into Canada. Hum...wish I knew. I think I know someone that could help answer that question though so I'll have to look into it.

Well, I'm getting side-tracked looking at their clearance fabrics so I should end this post.

Before I go....here are some pictures when H and I were playing around with my web cam this evening.

We had a lot of fun playing around with the web-cam! :o) Surprisingly these pictures loaded SUPER fast (like less than 3 minutes), honestly a record for uploading!! Most picture uploads take up to 20 minutes to load!! Oie!

Well, off to bed I go now. It is way late.

More to come!

~M~

Cough, cough....

2011-01-30T15:23:00.000-08:00

....cough. Poor H. She's got one heck of a cough. I'd describe it as a "productive cough" but because she does not know how to spit out the phlegm, it just cycles back into her throat. :o(

We went to a few pharmacies to try and find something to help with her coughing and runny nose. Well, apparently they no longer treat children under 6 with cough medicine. There is ZERO! I repeat ZERO medicine out there for children under 6 years of age to treat either dry coughs or productive coughs! What gives? I asked the pharmacist why this was and she said something about how they found out that cold medicine really doesn't help children under the 6 and that it is a case of medicating with out any true benefits. They figure that kids will get through it and that medicating just for the heck of it, is not necessary. If that is true, then I agree. You don't want kids over medicated. It is however rather frustrating that there is nothing out there that will help her.

I was able to find some Homeopathic medicine. The pharmacy actually offered it as a way of helping ease H's symptoms. It is called "Kids 0-9, Cough & Cold" and it's made by a company called HOMEOCAN.

H's first dose of the "Cough & Cold" seemed to work quite well. Her coughing fits had stopped and she was feeling quite good. She played around the house and then had nice bath. After her bath, it was time for her second dose. As far as I can tell, the second dose did not help. Nothing changed. She had major coughing fits, snotty/plugged nose. She was sleeping, coughing and fighting me when I tried to have her blow her nose (sorta all delirious). What a rough night and that was Friday night.

Last night was nasty! I think all night I got cough-spit on while I slept. H and I fell asleep on the couch and she ended up sort of facing me (well, more like facing my forehead area). She started one of her coughing fits and cough-spit all over my forehead. Yeah. Gotta love being a Mom. This happened on and off ALL NIGHT LONG! Yuck. It'll be a miracle if I don't get sick myself.

Today H's behaviour is much better and now that I look back on some things from over the past two-three weeks I think most of her bad behavior was because of her getting sick. I really do. She's been so good the past two days with a few little "naughty" moments but NOTHING like last week. I am happy that things are getting better as she starts feeling better. She still is sick so she's definitely not back to her "normal" self but I can see it getting better!! Yeah!

Right now I am watching the NHL Hockey All-Star game! It's GREAT. I sure LOVE hockey! This year they got two teams with a "captain" on each, and two "assistant captains" on each. Then they got to pick (draft) their own teams (like a fantasy team) from a selection of the BEST of the BEST current hockey players. It was amazing!

On Saturday they all participated in a "Skills Competition" which is really all for fun, but they get to show off some of their talents and their competitive sides do come out. One category was "fastest skater" and another was "hardest shot". It is really fun to see.

The neat part is that the players that form the All-Star teams are from all different NHL teams and today they came together to play the All-Star game. Fun, fun, fun.

Well, gotta go and eat my "play cupcakes" that H just made me for my pretend birthday (plus a wonderful pretend birthday song from H!). :o)

More to come!

~M~

Jumping and skipping!

2011-01-28T02:18:00.000-08:00

Well, H is feeling much better. Last night she may have been running a slight fever but her energy level has definitely increased today! Lots of skipping around, crafts and a little bit of TV in between!

One thing that has NOT returned to normal is her behavior!!! She has been pretty naughty the past two weeks and it's driving K and I up the wall. I figure it's just a stage that we have to work through but man is it trying sometimes!

The newest things she's been doing really are quite nasty. She has been doing a lot of yelling at K or I and with that comes some pretty snotty comments/responses from her too. I am shocked and I guess I wonder where she gets it.

One example - Tonight she yelled at K for trying to give her a chocolate donut hole (A Tim Horton's Tim Bit), "NO SUGAR FOR ME TONIGHT!" and stomped off. What is with that? What kid passes up sugar and why-oh-why was it necessary to yell it and then stomp off? Is my kid a DRAMA QUEEN? Neither K or I are overly dramatic, so I wonder where she is getting it lately. I really do!

She also is getting bossy. When she sees something in a store and she's in the cart seat, she'll yell/whine at us to go back and if she's not in a cart seat, she pulls on us and/or touches EVERYTHING! I asked her to stop and then I make sure she understands that it is NOT okay. It seems like every time we're out she's been pulling that. She also hasn't been stopping it when we ask her to stop, often it takes too many "stop that H", and "H that is not how we behave in stores, please don't do that" responses. I do know one certain way of stopping her bad behavior in stores - just leave the store with her when she's been naughty. She'll be upset about having to miss out on the shopping trip and it will feel like a consequence to her misbehaving. It just might be a little embarrassing on my part with her screaming in my arms as we leave the store, but I can live with a little embarrassment if it teaches H a lesson.

I've got to get things back under control. She's ALWAYS been a good girl and maybe that is why I'm so shocked that this behavior is coming out now. I do know she has always gotten a bit naughty when she's about to come down with something and I've been a bit easy on her knowing she was sick and all. Maybe going easy on her made her think that was "normal" and "okay" to behave certain ways. Who knows.......

I'm going to have to flat out lay down some consequences to her bad behavior soon. Things just HAVE to change because I know she has been such a good girl in the past. Oie! Fun times ahead!

On other notes -

We bought some "Cactus Mix" soil for the cactus seeds we want to plant.

We will be doing that one of these days soon. It kind of depends on H's behavior and her ability to "listen to directions". If the whole "listening to directions" is not happening, then the cactus thing won't happen for a while. We'll just have to see.

Here is a picture of the cactus seed packet -

(Should be fun!)

I also went shopping and got some new clothes for myself. I haven't done that in ages! I'll try taking some pictures tomorrow. I bought two pairs of jeans ($15 ea), two grey t-shirts ($3 ea), a navy blue tank top ($2), a green t-shirt with upper left zipper pocket ($10), and a button up sort-of white/red/blue plaid shirt with cuffed 3/4 sleeves ($15). I absolutely fell in love with the button up plaid shirt and am still contemplating going and getting the other two patterns they had. I have been looking for something along those lines for a while, but had not found one that really looked like what I had pictured in my head. I am pretty happy with it (only wish it was a bit cheaper, yes, I am a VERY cheap person!). We also found some fairly cheap DVD's -

Jetsons, The Movie ($4.99)
Maurice Sendak's Little Bear - Exploring & Other Adventures ($4.99)

-- I LOVE Little Bear and H has two or three others in the DVD series and two or three Little Bear on VHS including "The Little Bear Movie". Maurice Sendak is the guy who illustrated the "Where The Wild Thing Are" book and then they recently made non-animated which is not a kid movie, titled the same "Where The Wild Things Are".) --

Chasing Amy ($6.99) - the last of the "Kevin Smith" movies needed for our "Kevin Smith" movie collection (minus the not-so-great-as-far-as-I-remember, "Drawing Flies" and Jersey Girl, which I have never seen nor heard of).

We also grabbed a "Clerk's II" sound track for $1.96. How can you pass up for $1.96 when it's got - Jackson 5, "ABC", Alanis Morissette, "Everything", and B.J Thomas "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" and others (franky I don't reconginze the names, but I might know the songs) all inner-mixed with dialog from the movie! Nice!

On a totally different note -

I decided to try and get rid of H's possible "ringworm" with Oil of Oregano**. It is supposed to be very good for MANY things one of which is fungal ailments.

I have in the past mentioned how much I believe the Oil of Oregano** helped get rid of my infected gum area after a popcorn shell slid down the gumline of my wisedome tooth causing an irritation that turned into an infection. I had used traditional antibiotics and they only got rid of it temporarily. After using the Oil of Oregano** on the gums and orally (drank it with lemon juice), it stopped completely and has (knock-on-wood) not come back since! I also have used it in the past to potentially boost my immune system (but I have no proof if it helped or not) and H and I steam with it when we have had chest congestion and plugged up noses from colds (and I feel positive it a makes a difference). To steam with it, I boil water and then put a few drops of Oil of Oregano** into the water and then breath in the steam (often with a towel over my head to help funnel the steam towards my face). I re-heat the water and repeat the process through out the day as needed.

My first attempt so far is to put some Oil of Oregano**oil on a fairly large band-aid pad and put in on the effected area (now is that right? A-ffected or E-ffected? I never know which to use :os). Oil of Oregano** can cause a buring or warming sensation and fortunately she said it felt weird only a few times in say a 5 minute period and after that she's said nothing - thank goodness! I sure hope this works. I'll try and remember to take some pictures tomorrow of that too.

Well, off to bed I should go. This is a LONG post with a little bit of everything, my goodness! I hope everyone is doing well!

More to come!

~M~

(**My suggestions of using Oil of Oregano as a treatment of Ringworm and other ailments is purely my opinion and I am NOT a doctor. Please do your research and always consult a doctor.**)

The sickies...

2011-01-26T02:53:00.000-08:00

Well, we've officially gotten our first sickness of the winter. H woke up on Monday morning telling me her tummy felt weird. I passed it off as she was just hungry and made her have some yogurt for breakfast (just to get something in her tummy). She seemed really groggy so I let her watch some tv and relax on the couch. Well, about an hour later she jumped off the couch, ran to the bathroom and barfed. Oh, joy!

She made it all the way to the toilet so I had no "barf mess" to deal with. What a good girl! After she finished, all she wanted to do was lay down. She ended up sleeping the entire day and throwing up once more.  I had her drink sips of water and later in the evening sip on broth. At about 10 p.m she was able to hold down about two cups of broth (with carrots and celery).

She was running a low grade fever at around 1 p.m and it slowly increased. By 6 p.m I decided to give her some Junior Strength Advil because she was becoming more and more uncomfortable and I was not comfortable with the fact that she felt as hot as she did.

This morning (3 a.m -ish) she woke up asking for something to drink and from that point on every 15-20 minutes she woke asking for either water or to use the potty. Not much sleep for Mommy!   She felt pretty warm again so I gave her another dose of Advil.

At around 10:30 she woke up and I decided to let her watch some of her shows (on the KNOWLEDGE NETWORK - Arthur, Magic School Bus, Dino Train, and other great educational shows). She watched them for about 45 minutes then crawled back into bed with me asking me to rub her back (still wondering why her back was sore??). We slept until 1 p.m (she was so exhausted as was I).

After she woke up she seemed to feel a bit better. She had a little more energy but still wanted to stay on the couch and cuddle while watching her shows. At about 3:30 p.m we decided to go to town with K to get out of the house and get some fresh air. H was feeling better by then - she had been skipping around the house a bit, had done some coloring, played a low-key tickle game with me and had even eaten two peanut butter sandwiches.

(Notice how Otter is by her side! She goes everywhere with her and it there to comfort her when she's sick.)

While in town, she started to have issues with her throat. For some reason she developed a pretty irritated throat and kept saying "I can't take it anymore" over and over again while trying to clear her throat. I had some water with us and she sipped it but after a while she got annoyed with that. I gave her some Advil again to help with the sore throat and as far as I can tell it helped. She hasn't complained about it since the stuff kicked in. She took two pretty long naps during our trip into town so she got plenty of rest and I don't think she over did it.

When we got home she's nibbled on some small snacks - peanut butter sandwich, ham bits, cheddar, and one small chocolate donut hole (Tim Bit). She drank some milk and lots of water. She asked for orange juice, but I am still hesitant to give her something so harsh at this point, maybe tomorrow.

I thought she was starting to feel better but at around 11 she started to say she was cold. I honestly have never felt her hands and feet as cold as they were. She's normally our "heater" as we call her. It was WEIRD! I bundled her up in some blankets and she played with her Leapster 2 for about half an hour. After that she was back to normal temperature-wise.

After reading her some books (around 12 a.m) she finally fell asleep on the couch. She seems to have a slight fever and it just might be getting warmer. She also seems to be coughing a bit so I'm concerned about that. I don't think she's ever had a fever this long.

One other odd symptom that she's got is a weird round rashy thing on her back, the shoulder blade area, about the size of a quarter. I noticed it yesterday and I think it might be ring worm (only because it's so round and has a slight ring around the edges). I'll take a picture of it. I REALLY hope it is not ring worm. It is really odd that it just randomly showed up although I really hadn't checked her back over much lately. I will have to keep an eye on it. I cannot think of how she might have come across it if it is ring worm. I've got no clue. I've racked my brain to think of where or how but it's winter now and she's always in long sleeved shirts.  I have no idea how skin to skin contact would have happened with someone that has it or even just how she would have come into contact with the ring worm fungus. We'll just have to see though. If it gets worse we'll have to take her in to the doctor. :o(

One note - I don't like giving H a lot of medication (there are too many over medicated kids these days) so when I do chose to medicate her it's got to be for a good enough reason. I don't like taking much medicine myself. I have read that a fever is the body's way of fighting infections and other problems in the body so it's best to let it run it's course. If the child is comfortable, let it go but if they are in pain, or uncomfortable then it is often time for some medication to help them. She's always such a good girl when she's sick and often plenty of sleep, lots of cuddles and water are enough to get her through it.**

I have never tried the Junior Strength Advil until now. It is for ages 2 -12 and it's the Blue Raspberry flavor. H seems to like it and has asked for "more" after she's finished the one dose she gets. I've had to explain to her twice now how "they make medicine so yummy because sometimes when you're sick you don't feel like taking medicine and when it's yummy sick people will take it".  She's ALWAYS been really good with not touching or getting into anything she has been told will hurt her or that she should not touch so I'm not OVERLY worried, just cautious. The Junior Strength Advil (Ibuprofen 100mg Tablets, Chewable) is good for 6 - 8 hours and it seems to be pretty good. The reason I have changed from Motrin (also good for 6 - 8 hours) is because recently (as in the last year) there has been a recall on some of the Children's Motrin products (also Children's/Infants Tylenol) in Canada. I think for now I'm good with the Advil product.

Anyway.

I should get to bed. It is late and I need all the sleep I can get, I don't want to come down with this sickness!

Hope you are all doing well!

More to come!

~M~

(**Please do not take anything I write as medical advice, it's just what works for us or what I have tried. Always talk to your doctor about what is best for your child**)

P.S - Here are some pictures from this week's craft paper cutting, gluing and drawing:

G'night!

Edited to add - She's got a fever of 38.1 degrees C (100.58 degrees F) so I'm debating wether or not to give her some Advil. Hum.....

Hair Clip Holder....

2011-01-23T00:14:00.000-08:00

....SUCCESS!

I finished the hair clip holder this afternoon. I am REALLY happy with it.

Here is a "step-by-step" for the hair clip holder -

#1 - First I painted the canvas. I originally painted it with three colors (magenta, blue and purple) in a sort of abstract square pattern but it did NOT turn out very well. I painted over the whole canvas with the purple after I had decided what ribbon I wanted to use and what colors looked best. It looks blue in the pictures, but it is actually purple. I left the canvas to dry over night.

#2 - Next, I measured and cut the ribbon to the sizes needed.

#3 - I decided to try using super glue to attach the ribbon. It did NOT work. So my second attempt was to use hot glue. It did work this time. I actually think it worked quite well.

#4 - I glued down the top ribbon using the hot glue after I figured out how I wanted them spaced.

#5 - Next, I glued the bottom edge of the ribbon to the back side. Making sure the spacing was just right.

(Above - You can see how I glued the ribbon to the back. I used my sewing seam guide to help make sure the spacing was right. Easy Peasy!)

Finished product! I LOVE it!

The only down side I see is that it was a small canvas. I think it was a 5"x7" canvas so it doesn't hold all her hair things. I originally wanted to put all her headbands and clips on them but the canvas was definitely too small. I don't want a canvas too big. I will have to keep my eye out for just the right size.

So, what do you think of it?

More to come!

~M~

Home-made hot chocolate mix....

2011-01-20T20:10:00.000-08:00

...SUCCESS!

Cocoa Powder, Sugar and Salt, that's all you need!

I used THIS recipe from Martha Stewart because I had everything it called for in my cupboards. I also halved the recipe because I did not want to waste too much cocoa powder in case this did not turn out and I did not use as much salt as is called for (just eyeballed it, roughly half of what the halved recipe called for).

It didn't mix well enough and I didn't want to "whisk" them mixture by hand so I used my whisk attachment on my KitchenAid. It worked quite well. After that I put the mixture into a "sealed" container (see the top picture, it's in the red lid container).

This stuff is yummy. It was super, super easy to make. Also when I prepared the hot chocolate I used half boiling water and half whole milk. I would definitely not suggest using any more than half water if you choose to use any water at all. I made sure that I stirred everything really well before I put in the cold whole milk. The milk really cooled it down nicely for H. The main reason I used water was because it was what I had warmed up at that point in time (had it ready for some tea).

Remember the project I wrote about a few days ago? The one that H and I did with the terracotta pots? I finally got some pictures of the somewhat finished product. I still have to re-pot two of the AV's but I had to wait because the new soil I bought was really cold from being stored on the porch. :oS I really think they turned out quite cute. Two "pool blue" ones, one bright magenta and one purple. The ones H painted are bright magenta and purple (so I'll have two of each color once I put her's up there too).

No pictures of H's yet (except you can see them in the upper left corner of the very top picture). Once we get the soil ready for the cactus seeds we'll be ready to use her pots and they will be set up in that same windowsill as the AV's.

So pretty! I am VERY happy with how they turned out! I may try to get more to put other places in the house. The pots could be used for other things through out the house (I am hoping to get a new desk for my new computer and the smaller ones would look nice as pen/pencil holders and holders for other office supplies), and I could paint them to match my ones in the windowsill I quite enjoyed that project.

Oh, oh, I found a small canvas that I will possibly make a mini hair clip holder out of. See THIS blog entry for more on the details of this project. The supplies needed are a canvas, acrylic paints, ribbon and staples. I had all but the canvas until I found one today in my craft bin. The canvas is small! I am talking like, 7"x 5" so it's not going to hole a whole whack of clips, but it'll make for a good practice project. I'll learn what works and what doesn't on the little one so when I get a larger canvas I won't mess it up too badly (although this project seems pretty "fool-proof"). I'll have pictures of this project soon.

Well that's all for now, gotta go and play some Call of Duty with my little Brother-In-Law and hubby!

~M~

Hot Chocolate Recipe

2011-01-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

I came across the idea of making a "homemade" hot chocolate mix while reading a blog today (Noodlehead). K and I had been buying premade chocolate mix at Cost-Co, but this last trip, we couldn't justify the cost to enjoyment ratio. Needless to say, we didn't buy any this trip.

She (Noodlehead) shares this blog - Creature Comforts and then that blog entry links to THIS site that has a really nifty minute and a half video on how to make your own hot chocolate mix and how to prepare it once it's been made. It is REALLY easy looking (just a guess consindering I haven't done it yet) but it does call for a vanilla bean (which not everyone has laying around in their cupboards...lol).

The Creature Comforts blog above has some other recipes on there as well so it's worth checking out if you're looking for variations.

She (Noodlehead) also links to the Martha Stewart "Homemade Hot Chocolate". The Martha Stewart recipe is about the same, minus the vanilla bean and milk chocolate chips and adding some salt (not sure why, but I know I've tasted some salt in store-bought/pre-packaged mixes in the past). Off to make hot cocoa mix with H! Pictures to come!

~M~

Skating rink....

2011-01-18T21:58:00.000-08:00

We've brought H skating twice this past weekend and the theme of "ice" continues into today.

As I stated in a past post, we have had crazy warm weather accompanied by rain. The warm weather is following a major snow storm that snowed close to a foot and a half of snow.

(Above - A picture of all the snow we got before the warm temps)

Well, guess what we're dealing with now? ICE, ICE, ICE and.....more ICE!

Nasty, Nasty, Nasty ICE everywhere!

(The second photo above is not a picture of the driveway, it's a picture one of our walking paths)

We headed to town and on our way out of our long driveway it was pretty slick (late afternoon). The temps were pretty warm so the ice was covered in a layer of water from all the melt off. We did a little grocery shopping (Cost-Co) and headed for home. By then the temps had dropped a lot (it is currently, 25 degrees F, -4 degrees C).

As we headed down the driveway, things started to get slippery! Nasty slippery! At one point the truck was diagonal on the road, front tire in the left snow bank and back tire in the right snow bank. Fun. Not.

K was able to straighten the truck out by backing up a bit but as soon as he stopped trying to go in reverse, we started to slide down the hill. The really bad part of this is that the hill is slightly sloped but solid ice and it has a perfectly placed left curve with a tree right there waiting to get smashed into. As a matter of fact, we "bumped" into it last year (similar situation).

It is quite nerve wrecking when your sliding halfway sideways down a hill in a heavy truck (practically pulling itself down the ice) towards the tree and fence posts. No ability to stop what-so-ever!!

K worked the brake and the steering and finally the truck started to do what he wanted it to do. He was able to get the truck to catch and start going to the left and NOT into the tree and fence posts.

I honestly can't believe that we didn't hit anything (knock on wood). We were sliding quite fast down the hill (I think it's the weight of the truck pulling itself down the hill). I mean, the hill isn't that steep, but when it's solid ice it is NOT good!

I'll try to take pictures of the icy hill tomorrow. K's brother said he could see the marks K's studded tires made in the ice when it was trying to grip. I can only imagine!

Well, off to look up more African Violet sites, more sewing sites and catch up on some blog reading.

~M~

P.S. - Weather wise, we're supposed to get some snow on Thursday and sleet Friday. The temps are supposed to stay pretty warm though. Oh-Boy!

Purple Haze....

2011-01-18T14:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday when we bought the new terracotta pots, H also insisted on us buying her some carrot seeds. We saw them over the weekend and she thought they were neat. They are called "Purple Haze" and are from McKenzie Seeds.

They are really odd looking. CLICK here to view the whole seed description. It should be quite interesting to see how these turn out. I am a little unsure about how I feel when it comes to eating purple carrots!? Sort of strange. I did enjoy eating yellow (like orangey yellow) cauliflower. I don't know if they are still selling it or not, but it was quite delicious. I honestly am having a hard time picturing what these are going to be like. Like I said, this is going to be interesting!

One note to add - the package says, "It's purple exterior with a bright orange interior will keep it's color when raw in salads or coleslaw and cooked quickly as in a stir-fry. When cooked in water, the purple color will fade. Delicious and tender with a sweet flavor. The kids will love eating it!"

I wonder if the purple just fades when cooked slowly or if it bleeds out? I am thinking if I used these in chicken noodle soup, would my broth be odd colored? I don't know. Could be an interesting sight. We'll just have to see! (I just hope I'm able to get some to grow without the rodents eating everything in my garden again this summer!)

H is a little bit upset because she can't plant them inside and she can't plant them outside. Oie! At least she is as excited about gardening as I am...lol!

Today we are going to try finding some sand to make some soil for our cactus seeds. I need to do some research online to find out what kind of soil break-down is best for cacti. Also I will post pictures from yesterdays project (terracotta pot painting).

More to come!

~M~

p.s. - New RANDOM blog. I was searching for images of Purple Haze carrots and came across this blog titled "Purple Carrots & Fairy Smoke". It seems quit wonderfuly random. From bird watching/identification to squid and octopus. Definitely different....but interesting and worth the read.

Project....

2011-01-17T23:31:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to get the required supplies to make H's clip/bow holder thingy yet but I did manage to get supplies for a project I've been wanting to do.

A week or two ago I got a new African Violet from Wal-Mart. I already had one "old" one that I've had for over 4 years and a "newer" one I got this summer from my Mother-In-Law's Mom (her AV had over grown it's pot and needed to be divided. I got some extra pieces that didn't fit in the two containers).

(Above - My newest AV, purchased from Wal-Mart for less than $3. "She" is so pretty! I hope to get some nice starts from the leaves that I have cut off. I am trying to propagate them from leaf cuttings, apparently pretty easy with African Violets. )

I am so excited about AV's and I often check various flower/house plant areas at our local grocery stores, Wal-Marts and hardware stores for decently priced AV's. I have truly fallen for these house plants! They are fabulous!

(Above - My first African Violet, between 4 and 5 years old. They are pretty easy to care for and seem to really like my kitchen window in the winter months.)

The project that really wanted to do was to get new pots to replace my mish-mashed rather random and ugly pots I had currently.

Today K, H and I went to Canadian Tire and I bought six Teracotta pots (4 - 4" and 2 - 3" - I think that was the sizes. I measured them and they are roughly that size measured from inside to inside). This evening H and I painted them. I chose to use acrylic paint, colors - bright magneta pink, light purple and pool blue. H painted the two smaller pots and I painted the four larger pots. I really liked the way they turned out.

I will have to post pictures tomorrow because I forgot my camera in the truck. Oops!

(Above - The AV that I got from my Mother-In-Law's Mom. It is such a beautiful deep pink/magenta. I love it!)

Here is a really neat AV website -

http://www.lyndonlyon.com

They have all sorts of AV's for sale by the leaves (2 in a pack) and by the plant. Some really stunning varieties!

Well, time to go! Definitely more to come!

~M~

Project...

2011-01-16T01:53:00.001-08:00

I finally found a project I am definitely going to do! I have found so many wonderful projects that I "want to do" but until this one, I had no plans to do any of them yet.

Hair Bow Holder Tutorial - By "My Magic Mom"

This is such an easy and affordable project!!!

H has a TON of hair clips, bows, headbands etc. They are currently stored in her "hair bin". It has been working out alright up until recently when she received a few new headbands (the non-elastic ones) and some new bow clips (adorable!). The headbands don't fit well in the drawers (bins as we call them) and I am afraid of her bow clips getting smooshed. I have trying to figure out what to do about this and am pleased to have stumbled on this tutorial!

I will definitely be posting on this once I gather all my materials and am ready to do it. Can't wait to do it!

I may just add "My Magic Mom" to my "Blogs I Read" list too! I've added so many new wonderful blogs lately (mostly sewing related)!!

(Notice that H has "Otter". She goes everywhere with her! We almost lost her in the snow though so now H has decided to be more careful with her and not bring her out to play in the snow during future snow adventures!)

The other day (Wednesday), we got a ton of snow! H up to her thighs in snow and I had a blast playing in the fresh fluffy white stuff! Tonight it's raining (almost constantly for 5-6 hours now) so tomorrow will be interesting to see what we'll be waking up to. Who knows how much snow will be left, how much water will be out there and/or how icy it gets as a result of this melt off rain-a-thon.

Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be 54 degrees F (12 degrees C)! That is CRAZY warm! Right now the temp is 36 degrees F (2 degrees C), also quite warm. Tomorrow we will wake up to some sort of surprise out there!

Well, now it is time for bed. I do hope all is well with you all!

More to come!

~M~

Ice Skating...

2011-01-15T23:18:00.000-08:00

Today we took H ice skating! She had a blast and did remarkably well. I had a blast watching. I've only skated 3 times in my life and I think it would be counter productive if I was out there trying to "teach" H how to skate. K did a great job with her and it really was fun watching. Next time I'm going to make sure I use the bathroom before we get there as well as make sure I bring some sort of hand warmers. Once it started to get dark it got COLD! Plus I really had to pee.

Here are some pictures from H's first skating adventure!

Well, gotta go for now. It's late and I want to look up some more sewing blogs to feed my sewing fix...:o)

Hope you are all doing well!

~M~

Another!

2011-01-15T02:55:00.000-08:00

Oh boy! I've got another really AWESOME sewing/crafty/parenty blog that I am adding to my "Blogs I Read" list! This one is great!

It's called "MADE". Do check it out!

Here is a really awesome idea of making play food out of colored felt. I recently worked with felt on H's Halloween costume (and Sara's matching bat-baby costume) and quite enjoyed it. It was really easy to work with. I had come up with an idea similar and am happy to see some instruction and ideas. CLICK here to view her tutorial on making felt "play food". Really neat idea!

~M~

Missed one...

2011-01-14T14:53:00.000-08:00

I missed adding one REALLY great Instructable to my last post. Here it is -

Make Your Own Grocery Bag - I am definitely going to try this once I get all my sewing stuff back out!

Also one note - So far I've found "Sew Like My Mom" to be an amazingly helpful with the various ideas and tutorials she's put together. Definitely one of my new "Blogs I Read"!

More to come!

~M~

Instructables....

2011-01-12T21:17:00.000-08:00

I love, love, love "Instructables"!

"Instructables" is a WONDERFUL website that people post instructions and tutorials to make so many interesting and useful stuff.

Topics you can choose from -

Food
Health
Living
Outside
Play
Solar
Technology
Workshop

Then within those topics you can find many sub-topics. For example, I clicked on "Living" and then from there I went to "Sewing". I found some REALLY great ideas that I hope to try once I get my sewing machine and accessories out again.

Here are some of the ideas I liked -

Fastest Recycled T-Shirt Tote Bag - Super easy and practically free!

Wall Mounted Sewing Station - This idea could easily be modified to suit any needs and any space.

Toddler T-Shirt Purse - A purse made out of a toddler sized shirt. I really like this idea because H is always growing out of things and I could re-purpose some of her shirts!

Personal Pin Cusion - Make your own "finger" pin cusion using some recycled components. I like this idea, but I think I'd make a wrist version.

Handy Dandy Bottle Cap Pin Cusion - Cute idea. Sort of goes with the above link/idea.

Wings For Your Shoes - Kinda like this idea. I may try these for a pair of H's shoes to add some funky/fun!

Felt Flower Brooch - LOVE this idea! I may make some to send to my Mom for her to sell. These could be made to suit pretty much anyone!

The Shirt Skirt - This is how to make a skirt out of a shirt. You could also make one of those elastic like summer shirts (you'll just have to check the instructable/tutorial to see what I'm meaning). I LOVE this idea. I am going to have to try finding some elastic thread the next time I go shopping for sewing supplies!! Fun, fun, fun!

Oie! The list can go on and on. There are just so many interesting sewing projects on there (and many, many other topic how-to's! I HIGHLY recommend this site if you're trying to figure something out or if your in the mood to try doing something home/hand made)

Also....

A NEW sewing blog that I am going to add to my "Blogs I Read" list! I found it through the Instructables website (she posted a tutorial on there). Her blog is called "Sew Like My Mom". I haven't totally checked it out but it looks promising! I LOVE me a good sewing/craft blog!

Well, gotta go for now. Time to read H her bedtime "fairy tale", possibly "Stumplestiltskin" as H calls it.

G'night!

~M~

Oh, oh, oh!

2011-01-12T09:03:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post on this. Recently in town there was an incident of an RCMP officer "allegedly" assaulting an older gentleman as they were arresting him. "Apparently" there was an 911 call reporting of a man with a shotgun firing shots off on or near a local golf course. The RCMP officers "apparently" caught up with the "suspect" and that is where the video begins. Here is the video -

What do you think?

Here is a video including more information of what allegedly happened before and what is happening after the incident -

Here is a link to an article on the incident - CLICK HERE to read.

Here is another link to more on the situation - CLICK HERE to read and view an additional clip on what is happening currently.

Here is more - CLICK HERE for another article.

And another interesting article about the RCMP's bad press lately - CLICK HERE to read. If you read nothing else, please read this one! It sheds quite a bit of light on why people in B.C are so shocked and angered over this incident!

I'll leave it at that and see what you all think of this whole situation. I'll definitely be posting my own thoughts in a future entry.

~M~

p.s. I think that Kelly Hayes the Castanet.net reporter who took this footage was very brave and did a good thing by recording this. He did not back down, he made sure that this story was seen and for that I think he should really be commended.

I'm awake....

2011-01-12T07:41:00.000-08:00

Ugh, I've got a big headache, I can't sleep and it's only 7:28 a.m! I didn't go to sleep until well after 2 a.m. Today is going to be one heck of an interesting day!

Last night it snowed close to 6 inches and the trees and ground look so beautiful all covered in snow. I had no idea that we were going to expect this much snow and I had figured last night that it was going to be a light dusting. Guess I was WRONG!

I feel so icky! Almost hung-over like. I'm blogging, reading the news, and just got a load of laundry in the dryer. Fun, fun, fun!

Time to go back into beddy and try to get some more sleep before H wakes up. I've still got another hour and a half before I can take some more tylenol too...:o((( Oie....I'm a mess!

More to come....

~M~

Seeds...

2011-01-12T00:19:00.000-08:00

No, I am not thinking about seeds to plant in the garden just yet! Haha!

I am actually talking about cactus seeds! I bought a $1.89 packet of cactus seeds (novelty mix) for H and I to plant. I thought it would be a neat thing to try and add to our house plants (currently three African Violets). It says "this choice assortment of the most attractive cacti makes a fascinating indoor display". Sounds fun to me!

To grow these seeds it says "Press seed gently into sandy soil. Do not cover as light aids germination. Keep soil fairly warm and moist for the first 4 - 6 weeks. Cacti seeds germinate very slowly. Once established, the plants require very little watering. Keep in sunny window."

The germination in days is stated as 7 - 60 days. Maturity, varies.

I did mention to H that once these grow that you don't touch them, lol! I'll have to go to the thrift store and pick up some new cheap pots for the seeds (and possibly some new ones for my African Violets, I don't really like the ones I have so new ones would be nice).

Well, it's very late! Gotta go to bed!

More to come!

~M~