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.

A Weekend of Work

Over the holiday weekend a lot of progress was made on my room. Mike took the whole weekend off and we finished up the lighting, built all the cabinets (no doors yet), laid the flooring and started the counter tops. I can't believe how amazing it's starting to look. It's coming together so well and much faster than I had anticipated.

Have a look for yourself:

Here you see the cabinets (need doors and paint) and counter tops (need laminate) that we made this weekend. I can't wait to fill this wall with yummy product.


The upper cabinets on this wall will have glass in the doors and the tall cabinet for my paper still needs to be built.


I have never had my computer or printers in the same room as my scrapbook stuff before it is going to be so convenient.


I love this floor. It's vinyl plank. You glue it down...it's so easy and it will be a dream to keep clean.

I have to say...I am so lucky to be married to a man that can do this. We don't have to hire anyone for anything. Mike can do it all...framing, drywall, electrical, cabinetry we do together and I do all the painting. He hates to paint.
I am very thankful for his talent. He is very good at what he does. I love him very much.

5 Random Things About Me

1) Hey Jude by the Beatles was my very first favorite song. I remember my parents playing it on our record player. That seems like a million years ago.

2) For 2 1/2 years, I was a licensed driving instructor. For the most part I really enjoyed it.

3) 15 years ago, I gave my sister a kidney. March is kidney month.

4) I wore glasses until Grade 8. I broke them on purpose (shhhh...don't tell my mom) and never wore them again. I found out years later that I never needed them in the first place. Geez thanks for the childhood full of torment and pain!

5) When walking, I will veer slightly from my path so that I can step on a crunchy leaf or kick a small pebble. Weird...I know.

...so that's just a few random things that make me who I am...who's gonna go next?...Jodi? Jennifer? Tara?

You Can Do It... We Can Help!

I took Bailey and her cousin Hannah to Home Depot on Saturday. They hold little workshops for kids. In this particular one they got to sand and paint a birdhouse and they were each given an authentic Home Depot apron. Best part....it's FREE! I love finding free stuff to do. Especially since everything else seems to cost a fortune. Forty bucks for an adult and a child to see a movie and eat popcorn! Oh and don't even get me started on Chuckie Cheese!
After they finished and while we waited for the paint to dry, I figured I should embarrass them by making them pose for photos in and around the various store displays. Hey...it's only fair that I should get some free fun too.

Here are some of those shots (I took them on my cell phone, sorry)...enjoy!

Then they helped me clean up the tools and junk in my art room/construction site. I took this one with my SLR.


And here is Bailey's birdhouse...she's got her daddy's talent for working with wood.

Art Room Update

So I thought I would share the progress being made on my room. I am so excited and so happy and so thankful for the work that Mike is putting into this. He comes home from doing this same type of work all day long and spends all evening working on this for me. He's a good husband. I don't say that enough.

Here's what's been going on:

Looking in through the door with drywall on the walls. Still need a new window:


This is the wall that will have upper and lower cabinets.
Look... you get a glimpse of the wall colour. Don't worry...i know what I'm doing:



Slat wall will be going on the wall where you can still see the studs and insulation. Under that will be base cabinets:


The desk wall. We have special plans for that square cut-out:



Ta Da!!!!! this is the colour. You won't see so much of it once the cabinets are in and stuff is on the walls. I just wanted something fun and inspiring. There will also be an accent colour but you'll have to wait and see:


Cabinets will cover much of this end of the room:



Again, this is the area for my computer stuff. I cant wait to show you this when it's finished:



I have a pocket door! and it's black for a reason...chalkboard paint!!!! Bailey and Mike can leave me messages and I can write things on it to inspire myself. The beam above the door will remain exposed but we'll clean the drywall compound off of it:


There you have it. What do you think?
If you have a great room or have seen any on-line, send me links. I'd love to see them.