Yesterday a 100 year old building in my town caught fire and quickly turned into one of the largest fires we've seen here for quite some time. No one was injured but a wonderful piece of this towns history has been destroyed.

This photo was on page 7 of one of Canada's largest news papers, The Toronto Star, today:



This photo was taken by me (on my cell phone...yuck):


Damn right! That's MY photo!!! It even has my name under it.
It was also shown on the evening news and Breakfast Television.
Don't laugh...this is exciting for me.
I think I would like to do this for a living.

Here are some other shots from yesterdays fire:







Our Mayor:


The aftermath:



More to come.

I Joined GoodLife Fitness...

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

Tired of feeling sick.
Tired of being lazy.
Tired of extra fat on my body.
Tired of being self-conscious.
Tired of treating myself badly.

I want health.
I want energy.
I want muscle.
I want self-confidence.
I want to respect myself.

It has been a week since Mike and I joined and I am already noticing a huge difference in how I feel. I sleep better, I eat better and I have more energy during the day. I am a happier person. I have all but given up Pepsi, which is all I usually drink and replaced it with water. We are eating more meals at home and trying to make healthier choices without changing to much all at once. We do not want to become overwhelmed...that is a sure road to failure. We have a different outlook on working out than we had ten years ago. This is not about being muscle bound and shredded or all the unrealistic goals we set for ourselves back then and never came close to achieving. For me it's about feeling like this body I'm in...belongs to me. I'm not fat! I know that, but I also know that I can have a better body and if that is true...why not have it?
More than that, for me, this is about health. I want to be able to move when I'm old. I don't want my rib cage cut apart and have some doctor piecing together my arteries while chatting with the anesthesiologist about the new Porsche he just bought. I don't want to have a stroke and forget how to turn my stove on. Yes, these things could happen anyway but I am going to do something to try and prevent it. I still want to paddle a canoe when I'm sixty-five and go to Disney World with my grandchildren when I'm seventy. I want Bailey to see the rewards of a healthier lifestyle so that maybe she will get an earlier start than I did. Maybe she won't make some of the same mistakes I made. Maybe she'll notice the changes in her parents and understand that we are becoming better people for having made them and then maybe, it won't be so difficult to get her to eat a vegetable or walk a couple of blocks without complaining. I firmly believe that our desire to become healthy is going to do good things for our marriage. If he is happy, I am happy and vise versa. It is also an obvious fact that no one wants to admit but, I'm sure we would be more attractive to each other minus some of the belly fat. When you don't feel good about yourself it's hard for your partner to feel good about being with you.
We often go to the gym together. It's nice to spend that time with each other. Sometimes we go separately. It's also nice to have that time alone to work out issues in your head and release the stress that he gets from work and I get from life.
I will keep you all posted on my success. I might even post a before photo of me in a bikini (ewww). I'm not sure yet. You guys may never come back to my blog if I do...hee hee.
I am going to live the GoodLife!

I know, I'm a blog tease

I'm sorry guys. I know that I got ya all worked up and everything. The truth is that not a lot has gotten done recently so there is nothing new to take photos of. It's my fault. I have been taking my time painting my cabinets...have you ever had to do that?...it bites!
Listen guys...I'm OK but I will likely not be around for a few days. I'm just not feeling like blogging. I will try to get back soon and hopefully have an art room update for ya.
Also, I would like to say thanks to you all for taking the time to visit my blog. It means a lot to me.

I just couldn't pass it up!

I bought one of these!
The best part is...50% off!


So I bought one of these too!



Bailey loves hers.
I don't really get to use mine until my room is finished.
Can't wait!

Somebody Pass Me a Tissue...

My baby's growing up too fast. Today she is eight! Wow...the years really do go by so fast. Every birthday that passes is a very big deal for me. She's my one and only so I only get to do each one once.
This is, of course, a big day for her. This is the the day that, by Ontario law, she no longer has to use the booster seat in the car. If there were no gifts, cake, money, or birthday wishes of any sort...that alone would be enough to make this the best day ever in her eyes.
This year we decided that instead of having a party with several kids from her class, we would go for the less expensive option. We'll have Bailey's best friend and cousin, Hannah, over to spend the night this weekend. We'll take them out for dinner and I am going to make a cake. Then, when it gets warmer, we are going to buy a trampoline!!!


I took these this morning...Happy Birthday Bailey!!!!

April Fool's!!!!

This Easter Bailey's favorite treat from the Easter Bunny was (her words) "one of those really expensive bunnies with the gold wrapper and the red ribbon with the bell on it!!!" For some reason this was just the most amazing Easter treat ever and she is saving it for last.

Today is April Fool's Day.

Guess what I did.

Hee hee.....this is her Lindt Gold Bunny:

I made up a reason to have her look in her Easter Basket...at first she thought it was gone, she thought someone ate it. Then she saw this:



It was really hard to keep a straight face when I told her that it must have shrunk...her face was priceless!!!

APRIL FOOL'S BAILEY!!!!!


I'm going to eat the little one.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

It was actually yesterday but I was too busy to blog. Bailey and I took her some flowers last evening and a card. A store bought card! Ugh...I can't wait to get my scrapbooking supplies out of the boxes.

Anyway, my Mom is just the best person in the world. She raised six children and to be honest she is still raising a couple of us. She is always there to make soup when I'm sick, lend money when any of us need it, babysit her grandchildren, anything we need...she will always help!
A couple of years ago we almost lost her. She had a small heart attack. It was a good thing that she did. It was how we found out that she needed by-pass surgery....quadruple by-pass surgery...very scary quadruple by-pass surgery. The staff at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre were fantastic. They gave me my Mom back. She made a full recovery. I am so thankful that I can blog about her 76th birthday.
I love my Mom!


It was also twenty years ago today that her mother, my grandma, passed away.