We had the office Christmas party on Thursday night and it went really well. We got together at the Washington Avenue Grill (WAG) in White Rock. The restaurant reminds me of one of the old fashioned Kegs - you know you walk in on the main level and climb the stairs to the second floor for the restaurant? Lots of wood and old stuff and some very nice looking purple chandeliers. There was entertainment - a 2 piece band - and they played jazzy type music, some Neil Young, Clapton, that sort of thing. Nice ambiance, good service and really good food. I'd go back again, possibly in the summer when you can actually sit outside and enjoy the ocean.

We did a tour of the new HQ building today. This thing is absolutely huge - it's 3 football fields long and will be 7 storeys high when complete. All state of the art! The completion date is supposed to be early 2013 and the building will accomodate 2800 employees. That's like a small city!

Not ready for Christmas, not even close to being ready! I've purchased one gift for DD and I've ordered some Purdy's on line for my dad. Other than that, nada! DD put the tree up for me today - looks fabulous and it's such a big help to me that she does this! I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it! I hope to finish up my christmas cards this weekend and get the ones that need to go a long distance out maybe Monday or Tuesday. The local cards can go out a little later if need be. If I can get the energy, I would like to try to do some shopping this week after work. Once the stores are open late every night, I find hitting the stores, after work, between about 5 pm and 7 pm works really well for me. I can get a lot accomplished in a short period of time and the hordes don't start to show up until after supper. We'll see..

Reno is still unfinished. He tells me that he'll be here on Monday to finish the tiles. I've told him I want this completed this coming week and he assures me that he only has a couple of more days of work to do. I'm looking forward to wrapping this up. My house looks like a bomb went off in it and it has looked this way since the end of August. It's starting to get on my nerves!

I'm off to a funeral slash celebration of life tomorrow. If I have the energy afterwards, I may do a little shopping. Problem is that when I go shopping for someone else, I always find tons of stuff for myself. Not good, not good! Sunday I need to work on some art and maybe get a little cleanup done in the house.

Treated myself to a new set of acryilc nails and I am so pleased. My hands no longer look like ugly claws - they actually look like human hands now. Vanity - thy name is woman!!

So little time and so much to do!

Work has been extremely busy. My supervisor is out with a death in the family, a second person who was in a car accident and couple of staffing and/or hiring issues we're trying to resolve. Then on Thursday, I found out that the gentleman I've worked for during the last 2 1/2 years is leaving the unit. His last full day was Friday. He's a very nice guy and I'm happy for him that he's moving on to a new situation but I'm also sorry to see him go. He's been very good to me. Since I act in my supervisor's absence, my already full plate is now overflowing. Good grief what more can happen? That was a rhetorical question, so universe do not feel the need to orchestrate anything else!

My reno is humming along. Counters, garburator and overhead lighting is in. My guy is working on the tiles and we're hoping that the backsplash is finished by next weekend. Then it's just a matter of the under-counter lighting, which should be a snap, and then he's done! Woohoo! It looks great so far and I can't wait til the backsplash is done.

Thursday morning I was walking across the parking lot at work. I had forgotten my phone so went down to get if from my car. On my way back across the lot to the office, I took a header on the pavement. I think I stepped in a little hole, but not really sure as it was so dark. I didn't have any warning, next thing I knew I had done a face plant on the pavement. Instinctively I put my hands out to break my fall so I'm very lucky I didn't hurt myself worse. The first thing that went through my mind was, oh my gawd my broken jaw! I did hit my face, but it's only a scrape on the front of my chin, under my mouth. I didn't actually hit my jaw on the ground, just some road rash which bled profusely. Now I have an ugly scab on my chin which everyone politely pretends that they don't see! I bruised my left hand and my left wrist is tender, possibly sprained from breaking my fall. I also have a skinned right knee and a tiny scrape on my right palm. All in all, very minor compared to the damage I could have done. To add insult to injury, I had an audience. Talk about life's embarrassing moments!

I've been busy this weekend working on art projects. I finished a couple of ATCs for a swap, have some christmas cards to send out for another swap and need to work on 2 scraplings. These scraplings are a totally new concept to me so it will be interesting to see how they turn out. As well, I have completed almost 15 personal christmas cards. These particular cards were fairly labour intensive, however they're nice looking cards so I think the effort has been worth it. I'm still trying to decide whether I'll make all this years cards the same or vary the designs. The only problem with varying the designs is that I won't remember which cards went where next year so not sure what I'm going to do.

I need to finish up a few things this morning and then DD and I might go out for breakfast. It will depend on what time she gets up. She has to be at work for 5 am every morning so she enjoys getting caught up on her sleep on the weekends and I certainly can't blame her for that! Sometimes she'll sleep late into the afternoon and sometimes she's up before noon. We'll have to play that by ear. We may both go for groceries or if she sleeps late enough, she'll probably go by herself and I'll stay at home and work.

Must run. Caio!

I had a great day today. It's not often that I go and do something that's just for fun. Today I attended a distress ink class at Be Creative in Pitt Meadows. The class ran the full day and was really good value for the money. It was a nice group of ladies, Lisa is a great instructor and I learned some new and very cool techniques to use on my cards, atc's and tags. Of course, it goes without saying that I also dropped some serious coin buying all the new goodies I need.

I thought I was so caught up with my christmas stuff but have now fallen behind again. I am creating cards for family and friends though and have done some of it by production line so it's working quite well. I can't take credit for the design - I saw it in one of the paper crafting mags and fell in love with it. I'm using the design for christmas, but it could be modified for almost any occasion. Just changing the background paper and the colour scheme will make the card look totally different.

The painters are almost finished painting my house and I'm very pleased with the colours and the work they are doing. Next week they start on my kitchen. The kitchen is not a total reno, more of a sprucing up as I did not replace my cupboards, however I'm sure the changes will make a huge difference. I'm excited about it as I can't really visualize how it will look.

I think I'm hooked on digital stamps. They're so affordable and the gratification is as close to instant as you can get. I've bought several from Mo's Digital Pencil - no affiliation, just a very satisfied customer ! I'm really pleased with the results I've achieved so far. I just bought 3 more this weekend. I'm not usually into cute stuff, but these are really cute and I'm sure the finished cards will be very popular.

Well must run. I have a journal spread to do and some cards I'm working on so no time to waste.

Caoi!

I'm disappointed and mad at myself that I don't update my journal as much as I should. Lately it seems that all I do is eat, work and sleep ! I come home exhausted every night and have no motivation to do anything. Just counting the weeks til we head off to Palm Springs again so I can re-charge my battery.

Work has been crazy - so much to do and so many meetings. Also lots of drama with an employee. It's physically and mentally exhausting to deal with all the goings on. It makes it difficult to get anything done. The work keeps coming and I don't ever seem to make any headway. Who knew I would be this busy?

My house is still a work in progress. The reno was put on hold while I recuperated from my surgery and then my guy got busy with another project which is now finishing up. The plan is he and his crew will be here Monday morning to start working again. He is reasonably confident that he can get everything done fairly quickly. I hope so however he really does have a lot to do. Right now my house is a bit of a disaster area and I'd really like to get things back on track in time for Christmas.

I made a couple of purchases last weekend. I haven't been able to entertain very much the last several months because my diningroom chairs bit the biscuit. I only had 3 chairs and everyone knows you can't have much of a dinner party with only 3 people! So I finally got around to buying 6 new chairs - very plain, parsons style with slipcovers. Not terribly expensive but serviceable as I don't really use my dining room that much. DD assembled them for me and they look great so I'm looking forward to actually using them now. I sure wish I could afford to replace my dining room suite, but I can't!

I also bought myself a bedside table. Good riddance to that horrible MDF thing that masqueraded as a piece of furniture. I bought the bedside table at Jysk as well and it's not bad for the price. At least it's real wood with a beech veneer not that awful MDF that Ikea is selling now. I remember back in the day when Ikea prided itself on well made, solid pine furniture. Not so much anymore! A lot of their stuff is just fancied up particle board these days. What's up with that?

Well must run. I'm all caught up with stock for the store, at least for the time being. However I have tons of cards to make for my own use and then would also like to come up with some new wedding designs for the spring.

Caio!

Dad had his hip replacement surgery on Oct 25th. When they did the surgery, they discovered that he had a broken hip which would explain why he was in so much pain for so long. Unbelievable! It didn't show up on the exrays so they have no idea how long his hip has been broken. The doc just shook his head. He says if Dad could endure the pain of a broken hip for several months, then his recuperation will be a breeze for him.

I checked in with Dad today and he's home 12 days after his surgery. He's not having any pain to speak of, at least nothing that his regular meds can't handle. He's getting around with a walker and has informed me that in a couple of weeks that all he'll need is a cane! He sounded really good, back to his old self again which is really good to hear. He had only been home a couple of hours and he'd had a beer with my brother and was looking forward to a roast beef dinner. I have much to be thankful for!

Yesterday a co-worker commented to me that it's only 46 days til Christmas. How the heck did that happen and where has the time gone? I'm making my Christmas cards to send to family and friends again this year so have started to work on some designs. I'm also working on more stock for the store. There are only a few weeks til the cards will start going out so I have my work cut out for me. However, on a bright note, I think that I'm ahead of schedule in the card making area so thats a good thing. I don't usually even think about making my own cards til much later in the month.

Work is a zoo and I'm totally swamped. I think someone comes in at night and adds more work to my desk ! This coming week is a short week as I'm out of the office at a meeting all day Wednesday and then Thursday is a stat due to Remembrance Day. Hmmm, maybe the fact that it's a short week is not a bad thing after all!

Well must run. I want to work on some more cards before I go to bed.

Caio!

Work has been crazy busy and I've been exhausted when I come home from work. However, things are finally starting to come together. Still a few challenges with staff and such but I think I'll be able to function without losing my mind!

As well, this is a really busy time of year for me with Christmas just around the corner. I'm working on stock for the Open House and have a couple of swaps to complete by the end of the month. It always seems like a good idea to sign up for these swaps at the time and then I usually have to scramble to get them completed on time. So why do you keep signing up, you might ask? Good question! I feel that these swaps help me to stretch my creative muscles and they're something fun to do. Sometimes I think all my stamping/creative time is spent on "business" stamping with little being done on the fun side.

On a side note, I'm really enjoying the journal partner swap I'm doing with HR. I'm not always sure what I'll write about but eventually some seed of an idea takes hold and I'm good to go. I never seem to have a plan, per se. I get a kernal of an idea and then it just kind of flows once I get working on it. Hopefully when this next week of busy-ness is over, I'll be able to set aside some time to do more of my personal art.

Today I took an alcohol ink class at Be Creative. It was great and I really enjoyed it and feel that it was very worthwhile as I learned lots of tips and new techniques. Of course, I spent a fortune on some "must haves" after the class but that goes with the territory. Now I can't wait to play with my new toys ! I plan to use one of the techniques I learned on my Christmas tags for the swap on CST.

Well must run. Caio!

And some Christmas cards!

Hey - almost forgot. Check out the tags I made. I think they're absolutely darling.....but then I could be prejudiced ! These little bits ( with the exception of the large red glitter snowflake) are ready made stickers to which I added glitter etc and then made into tags. Love them and I think they are spectacular looking. Just my opinion ! :)

Well....I'm very pleased with myself. I was able to complete all the order for the Open House at Little Cricket and made the final (well almost) final delivery yesterday. Afterwards I realized that I had forgotten to include the set of cards I had promised to include for the customer draw. Sometimes I wonder what I'm thinking! So I still need to deliver that item but that can be done earlier in the week.

Today was kind of a nothing day. I did the grocery thing and then played with my new food saver. Who knew these machines were so easy to use and so fabulous? Almost wants to make you run out and buy more food so you can seal and save it!

I should have been working on stock for the second Open House in Langley - that did not happen so tonight will probably be a late night. I must also come up with 28 tags for a tag swap I'm in and also a journal spread (by Tuesday if you please) for a journal partner swap I'm in. I have the idea for the page and now I just need to execute it. As usual I've overcommitted myself and not managed my time properly. I think that perhaps my procrastination/less than perfect time management may be a symptom of my perfectiionist tendencies. Interesting concept that is!

Well must run. I have tons of work to do before I go back to work on Tuesday and my studio is an absolute disaster. When I create the glittler and paper scraps are flying. Despite my best intentions to clean up after myself, it almost never happens. Who has time to clean up when there's so much to create?

Caio !

I've been extremely busy since my last post. Work is crazy-busy as usual. It doesn't seem to matter how much I do, I never seem to get to the bottom of the pile! This is my regular 3 day weekend so I'm really looking forward to it.

I managed to get most of my cards finished for the open house which is taking place next weekend. I'm very pleased with the finished product. I still need to create some 3 D cards, which BTW, sell very well! I also want to include one of my standard christmas cards. It's an image of a cat wearing a Santa hat and it's very popular. I've had it in the store for the last several christmases and it's a real crowd pleaser. I will also be creating some new gift tags for delivery on Saturday. And then I will start all over again to create stock for the second open house in Langley at the end of October. This is a very busy time of year for me!

Nothing else new. The surgeon is happy with my progress since starting to wear two sets of elastics so that's a relief. He wants to see me again in a month or so though just to make sure the progress is continuing.

Well must run. I'm exhausted as I took the day off and worked on cards all day. I was up at the crack of dawn and now I need my beauty sleep.

Caio!

I've been away from my blog for toooooo long!

I'm recovering nicely from my second jaw surgery. We're still having a few issues with my bite - my surgeon was a little worried there for awhile but now things seem to be coming together nicely. I'm back to work on Tuesday - I can't believe that the month has gone by so very quickly. However, I've had a good month. I've been getting lots of sleep and I'm gradually getting my energy back so it's all good.

All in all this surgery went much better than last one. Initially a lot of swelling but that dissipated very quickly. There is still some swelling but far less noticable than last time. Very little bruising as well. What is there is pale yellow - much better than the awful black bruising to my collarbone that I experienced last time. The toughest part has been wearing 2 sets of elastics to train the jaw to go into the new position; that was far more painful than the actual surgery. Who knew? The pain has now dissipated for the most part and any pain is minor.

The weather here on the Coast is fabulous. We had a lot of rain initially but it's been bright, sunny and warm for the last several days. It's been really nice to have been able to keep summer with us for a few more weeks.

On the art front, I'm busy getting busy for the annual Open House at the store. I'm a little behind on my samples but once I get them approved, it will be full steam ahead. I always enjoy this part as I love making Christmas cards. It helps me get into the spirit of Christmas, albeit a little early. However once I deliver the stock for the Open House it's only about 6 weeks after that until we get into the Christmas social season and all the parties and jovality. Where did the time go?

I've updated my Etsy shoppe and will be adding more goodies as I'm able to complete them. Please drop by and visit my shoppe: http://www.etsy.com/shop/stampedimpressions

Must run for now...busy, busy, busy!

Caio!

This last offering is $10. It's only been inked once or twice. Sold "AS IS", purchaser pays shipping which is extra. I'll be happy to unmount to save on shipping.

Everything on this page is sold "AS IS", Purchaser pays all shipping which is EXTRA.

I'll be happy to unmount to save on shipping cost.Stamps are $ 5 each.
Such a deal!!

Last week I mentioned that I planned to find new homes for some of my stamps. Well here they are!

Everything on this page is sold "AS IS", Purchaser pays all shipping which is EXTRA. I'll be happy to unmount to save on shipping cost.
Stamps are $ 5 each.

Such a deal!!

Last week I mentioned that I planned to find new homes for some of my stamps. Well here they are! Everything on this page is sold "AS IS", Purchaser pays all shipping which is EXTRA. I'll be happy to unmount to save on shipping cost.

Stamps are $ 5 each. Such a deal!!

This is a journal spread for a partner journal exchange I'm in with another gal in Ontario.

I'm home from the hospital and recovering from the second jaw surgery. I'm trying to get more organized and have finally got some art to post. Hope you like it.

I've been quite busy of late which explains my lack of recent posts to the blog. I've been trying to get all my tasks done, both at home and at work as I'm having a second jaw surgery. The first one didn't heal properly so yesterday I had a second surgery to re-break and re-set it. Now isn't that special ?

Surgery went well, not much pain so far and of course the swelling and bruising will be spectacular again this time. The surgeon created a new brace for me which I must now where 24/ 7. Liquid diet for 10 days, then soft foods for 7 days, then moderately soft for 21 day. Should be fun! However, on the bright side I guess I can look at it as a weight loss plan of sorts.

I'm involved in a partner journal swap with another gal in Ontario. This is my first attempt at this and I'm having some issues with my page. Hers is wonderful and now she's waiting for mine. I'm late, I'm late - does running late count as exercise? Anyway, I plan to get it out to her via XpressPost in a day or so and that will make up some time as it was supposed to go out on Sept 1st - clearly that did not happen!

Well must run and get my beauty sleep. Lord knows, I'm going to need it.

Oh, by the way. I'm "rehoming" some of my rubber stamps so check back here during the nexgt week. I guarantee there will be some major "bargoons"!

A few pictures of my garden!

My first attempt at drawing.....lots of room for improvement!

I've been busy all day making up some cards for the store. Here are a couple of new designs.

My daughter bought me an early birthday present - tickets to see Trace Atkins and Toby Keith. The concert was last night and it was fabulous! We had dinner at Applebee's first and then headed down to Roger's Place for the festivities. The crowd was a good mix, all ages and pretty well behaved. We didn't see any nonsense, although I'm sure there must have been some. Music was great and Trace Atkins is H-O-T! How hot is he? SMOKIN' H-O-T !!!

Kerry included underground parking when she purchased the tickts so we were able to park right under the stadium. It was quick, convenient and safe and we were out of there in good time, no lineups when leaving which is a huge bonus. She was the DD as I had a couple of beers - under those circumstances I will not get behind the wheel. Beverages were a little pricey - 3 beers, a bottle of water and a pop ended up costing me $33. I wasn't all the surprised as Kerry had warned me. I don't go to concerts very often and I never consume alcohol there as I'm usually the driver so it was kind of a treat to be able to have a few during the concert. It's certainly not something I do frequently so it was all good. Great time and a hightlight of my summer!

The weather here on the coast has been fabulous. We're into our third straight week of fabulous weather - finally! My garden is doing well, except for my green onions which are pretty much non-existent. I think I over-watered my red lettuce - it seems to have gone into decline although it is finally starting to perk up again. I have 2 tomatoes on my plants, small and green, but tomatoes none the less. I gave them some fertilizer, and also fertilized by flowers so they're doing pretty well all things considered. I'm looking forward to the time when I can finally eat some homegrown lettuce.

Well must run. I'm still in catchup mode. I need to finish up a few things so I can deliver them to the store today. Caio!

The past two weeks have just flown by. So much going on at work and so much to do. Last week I was busy - this week I'm crazy busy! My boss is on vacation so I'm acting for her this week. I had a ton of things I want to get done and luckily for me, I've managed to get a quite a bit accomplished. However, where progress is made in one area, things fall behind in the other.

The re-organization is still on-going. Things have kind of ground to a halt until we could meet with the Union rep again. We finally did this today and he answered our questions - very straightforward and knowledgeable. Anyway I had been waffling on what I will do but I think I have now made a decision. Hopefully everyone will be on board to make a decision now.

Looking forward to this weekend. K and I are going to see Toby Keith and Trace Atkins on Sunday night. Wooooohooo! Trace Atkins is H-O-T! how hot is he? SMOKIN' HOT!!! K bought me the tickets for my birthday and then the gal I was supposed to go with had to cancel. So K and I are going to do the "country thing". K says she doesn't like country music but I think she might be surprised and actually enjoy herself. Plan is to do dinner before and then go see my boys.

I have some new art to post - will do that this weekend. Until then, gotta' run so I can get my beauty sleep. Tomorrow is my short day so it will go quickly. Caio!

Summer has arrived on the coast with a vengence. It's been between 30 and 35 degrees celscius most days this week. It 's made it a little difficult to sleep. Don't get me wrong - I love warm weather which is why I go to Palm Springs every year. I thrive in the heat and it just sucks all the stress and nastiness (well most of the nastiness) right out of me. So I'm not complaining just commenting that it would be nice if it hadn't been so darn cold and then suddenly turn so darn hot. No happy medium there.

I've been out working in the yard all day and just came in for a quick bite and a little reprieve from the heat. I put some top soil down in my front yard and then some grass seed. Hopefully the grass seed will germinate quickly and I'll have some nice grass soon. The "stuff "I have there right now - I hesitate to call it grass - is pretty darn sad looking !! I've treated my roses and watered my garden and now hope to put in some border material that I bought last year but never got around to putting in. I'm hoping it will perk up the yard a bit. A couple of weeks ago I purchased a little bench with two kids sitting on it and I put it on the slate in behind the water feature and it really looks good. They look like they're pointing at the hummingbird feeder! Very cute. Should probably take some pictures and post them.

Well must run. Need to finish the yard work and then clean up. By then it will be 4 o'clock and time for an adult bevvie. Steaks for the barbie and I will be putting my feet up and relaxing.

If I'm not too tired, I may also get some work done in my studio. It's a huge mess because I'm having problems putting up the shelving. But that's a story for another time. Will post some pix of the studio when it's finally liveable.

Caio!

Here are a couple of new wedding cards. They came together quickly and I like the variation in colour. I made several and none of them are exactly the same.

Most of my wedding stuff is very beige or white. While it sells really well, I felt I needed a change and these designs were well received. As well, this design can be used for many occasions - birthday, anniversary, get well soon - well you get the idea!

Well the move to the new art room is about 75 % complete. We moved the cabinets up last weekend and got them placed where I wanted them. Today I plan to take the shelving down from the walls downstairs and install it on one wall upstairs. That's fairly easy just requires that we move some stuff first. I don't think I'll need to move all the shelving upstairs at this point, at least I'm hoping I won't. Being down in the basement I wanted everything up off the floor in case we had another flood. I was totally panicked that my paper and stuff would get wet. Now that I'm on the third floor, that isn't a concern any more so I can stack stuff on the floor under my work tables.

The room is lovely - it's bright and clean and it doesn't feel claustrophobic at all. It does get a little warm up there so I'll need to set up a fan, however it's lovely being able to open a window and enjoy the sunshine and the birdsong.

Unfortunately I haven't done a lot of creating the last couple of weeks. I did manage to design some new wedding cards that my guy at the store really liked so that's next on the list. He also wants me to make up some birthday cards for him. Right after DH died, I was feeling a little overwhelmed so I cut back on the variety I was making. I had decided to just do wedding, valentine and christmas. Well that never really happened and I still made Fathers day and Mothers day cards. Anyway we're finding that the trend seems to have moved away from Valentines, at least last year the sales were poor, so he's asked me to give him some birthday cards. They tend to sell well and are fairly generic so they don't take as long to come up with a design. Heaven knows that the designing part is what takes up so much time!

Well must run. I hope to get a few things accomplished today. I don't want to sit around too long or the urge to work will pass. Caio!

And here are a couple of more designs.

I've been busy making wedding cards for the store. These are quite labour intensive but I think the result is worth it.

So - yesterday I completed part of the move. Washed the walls and window, took down the blinds and washed them. Moved the bed downstairs, but still need to set it up. Can't do that til both tables are moved upstairs - right now I don't have room to set up the bed. Moved one work table upstairs and hope to move the second today. Once the second one is moved, then I can move supplies up in stages and not be required to do it all at once. Not sure how I will move the 2 armoires. Will need to think about placement as well.

I must say that it's really nice to have such a nice bright area. The room really isn't much bigger than the space I was using before. However it's bright and I have a big window, a large closet (which needs to be cleaned out so I can use it) and a door. Wooo hoooo! Looking good!

Today I'll embark on phase 2 - hauling all the bits and pieces (and there are one hell of a lot of bits I have to tell you!) I don't even want to think about how much money I've spent on this stuff!

Last night I had to move all the junk from on top of my bed to the floor so I could actually go to sleep. I have an obstacle course in that room right now but I'll just pick away at it til it's all cleaned up. Well must run. Caio !

I currently have my workroom at one end of the basement family room. It's a small space, no doors, one small window, but it works. DD has not been happy since the day I moved in there several years ago. She considers it her special space and tells everyone who will listen to her that I've invaded and/or taken it over. Boohoo! What a little miss! :)

Anyway, at lunch Friday we were talking about various stuff. One gal mentioned she had a sewing room and that it was so nice to be able to close the door and walk away from it because the door corralled the mess and closing the door hid it. I was bemoaning the fact that I didn't have a room with a door but I had a spare room with a new bed and that the spare room seldom was used anymore.....how I'd like to take over that room for my studio but had no place to put the bed and that I don't want to sell it. One of the gals suggested moving the spare bed to the basement ! It was like a light went on. Who knew you could do that? That thought had never entered my head!

I discussed it with DD who was luke warm to it because she's afraid that I'll disturb her when she's trying to sleep. She starts work at 5 am every morning so must in bed by about 730 every night. So - the more I thought about it , the more I like the idea. I talked to DD again Saturday morning and assured her that if I disturb her then I just won't work in that room (across the hall from hers) when she's sleeping. She says she's a pretty sound sleeper and really I seldom work on my crafts late into the night during the week cuz I'm just bagged when I come home from work.

I'm excited about it even though moving up 2 floors will be a big job. However it will give me a bigger, brighter room with a large closet for storage. She'll get her own space back and I'll have a place I can go to work when she's home - apparently I offend her with my presence when I share her space downstairs so she often moves upstairs to watch tv or whatever.

Like I said....Little Miss! But it works so we're going to do it! Woooohoo!!

I was up until 11:30 last night trying to finish off the Father's Day stock so my daughter could deliver it for me today. Unfortunately at 11:30 I still had at least an hour of work still to do so I wasn't able to finish up last night. Plan is to complete the order tonight for delivery tomorrow. I am sooooo keeping my fingers crossed !

I have accomplished next to nothing in my new journal. I've managed to paint up 2 pages but it has been a struggle. I don't know - I think maybe I'm too structured to be able to work in a journal. I painted and repainted the one page at least 4 times before I was happy with the end result but now what? I don't seem to be free enough to be able to just add paper and images without there being a purpose or a story. What's that all about? Why can't I just go with the flow and not be so constricted by the end result? Frustrating!

One of my groups has journal preparation as a current topic. I'm loving reading everyone's responses. I'm hoping to gain some insight into why I seem to be so blocked.

Here are a couple of more Father's Day designs. I really like the way the tropical card turned out.

Here are a couple of my Father's Day designs. It doesn't show up really well, but the ship is 3 D, sort of paper tole-y.

I've been busy the last week - not sure where the time went. I was sick with a lousy cold (received from a co-worker who should have stayed home in bed instead of coming to work!) for a couple of days so really didn't have a lot of energy.

This time of year is fairly busy for me. Wedding season is in full swing and even though Mother's Day is over, I need to have stock made up for the store for Father's Day. I always seem to be playing catch-up but I guess that will never change! Tonight I plan to finish up my order for the store and my daughter will deliver it for me tomorrow. The last push is to finish up some 3 D wedding cards and get them delivered by the weekend so I can relax for a few days. It's supposed to be sunny here on the coast - finally - for Saturday, Sunday and Monday so it would be really nice to be able to enjoy it. It's also my 3 day weekend ....woooohooo!

I'm in a townhouse and my tiny amount of grass is not looking so good. Too many weeds! They make me crazy! I have some top soil to put down and I plan to re-seed/overseed (whatever they call it) my front lawn. To coin one of Popeye's phrases - "I can't stands it no more"!

Anyway, not too much else new in my little corner of paradise. Gotta fly!

Lately I have been preoccupied with my dear husband's passing. The pain doesn't go away. It may hide and trick you into thinking it is not so sharp but it's still there.

I think of him and talk to him a hundred times a day. He's always with me and some days it hurts more than others. Grief doesn't go away. Whomever said it goes away, lied. The pain is there, sharper some days, but always there.

There is not a day that goes by that I don't miss him, that it doesn't hurt! I have a hole in my heart and a hole in my life that nothing can ever fill.

I will always love you and I miss you sweetheart!

Just popping in to do a little catch-up.

I was away on course Tuesday thru Thursday this past week and came home after work on Friday exhausted. The course was good but was a serious case of information overload. So much to absorb. However I have a manual to refer to and a CD as well as a list of contacts so it's all good.

I had Monday off last week, so before heading off to my course on Tuesday, I planted all my flowers and put in my container garden. I decided to try to grow some lettuce and tomatoes in containers - never done that before so we'll see how sucessful I am. It may not go well but I won't know until I give it a try. I checked on the tomatoes yesterday and I swear they've grown 2 inches since I planted them. Amazing!

Last Monday, I made a quick trip to the GP. Bealzabub the boil came back and brought along a couple of his friends. Unwelcome visitors, all 3 of them! Thankfully no lancing required ! Doc tells me I'm very susceptible to staph infection and put me on antibiotics for 10 days and then, after the 10 days, on a prescription for 3 months. Hopefully this will eradicate the cooties, otherwise I guess I'll be on the meds for longer than 3 months. I think I'm having this problem because of all the other meds I take, which can compromise your immune system. Doc says not so I guess it may be a coincidence. I'm just keeping the fingers and the toes crossed that the drugs send them packing!

Well must run. I'm finishing up an order for the store and I must deliver it today so busy, busy, busy. Once that's out of the way, then I want to work in my journals. They've fallen by the wayside and need to be updated.

Caio!

Game 5 for the Canucks series starts at 5pm tonight. GO CANUCKS!

Keeping my fingers crossed and sending good thoughts and confident vibes their way. I think Vancouver is a far better team than Chicago. Unfortunately they have not been able to capitalize on their superior skills. If it weren't for bad luck they wouldn't have any luck at all! Is the Chicago goalie good? Absolutely. But Vancouver is making him look a lot better than he is by shooting straight at him. Lou is far better but for some reason seems to be off his game a bit.

GO CANUCKS! One game at a time!

Here's another Mother's Day card. It could also be used for many occasions. I really like this stamp but haven't used it all that much because it's a little tricky. I'm pleased with how it turned out.

These are a couple of Mother's Day cards I made for the store. The one on the left is more generic and could be used for pretty much any occasion. All that would need to be changed would be the sentiment used.

I've been threatening to upload some new work for weeks now so.....here goes!

This is a card I made for a dear friend's 65th birthday. There's a gorgeous green glitter border along the bottom edge of the card and "congrats" is also glittered. Unfortunately, the glitter doesn't display all that well in the scan - it looks dull. Anyway, I hope she likes it!

Just popping in to update the blog although not much exciting happening in my world. My second week at work is done, but not without some issues. The boils that I cursed prior to and just after my surgery are back. I had to make a trip to the family doctor to have this one attended to. It appears that boils are a staph infection - who knew ? - and that I'm very susceptible to that sort of infection. Isn't that special? I won't go into all the details, suffice it to say the doc had to open it up. Nasty business that and still nasty 2 days later. This explains why I've been feeling sick and dragging my behind for the last several weeks because I had no energy and have been so tired!

Work has been busy but I think we're finally making some progress. I think the message that we're sending out is finally getting across so hopefully things will be a little smoother over the next several weeks. I'm still not clear on what my role will be but I think it will evolve into more responsibility and I'm ok with that so it's all good.

For those of you who are not canadian, April 30th is the deadline for paying the dreaded tax man. I had so hoped to get a refund but clearly that's not happening. I ended up taking my taxes to the accountant to do and I only owe about 2K instead of 4K - something to be glad for I guess although it means that I'll have to rob Peter to pay Paul. Does it ever end?

Well, must run. I'm in the middle of making up some mother's day cards for the store. I need to deliver them tomorrow so I'd best get to it!

Caio!

I went back to work this week and it didn't take me long to get back into the swing of things. It felt good to get back!

I have my final post op followup with the surgeon on Wednesday and then it will be back to regular orthodontist appointments. In addition to wearing braces, I'm also wearing elastics 24/7. At first they were really uncomfortable but now I'm accustomed to them so it's no big deal. The purpose of the elastics is to get the maximum movement in the teeth before the jaw bones grow back in. That accelerates the date for the removal of the braces, provided they can move the teeth enough. Woooohoooo! Wearing braces for almost 4 years is enough already! Then the next step is getting the veneers done and then I'm finished. I can tell you I'm really looking forward to completing this process. It's been a long time coming!

I'm working on some Mother's Day stock for the store. Then the next production push is for Wedding cards. The store sells a lot of them and I need to get a good supply of stock and designs in place. My biggest issue is that the creation of new designs is sooooo time consuming. I'm very time challenged anyway, or maybe I just don't manage my time all that well. Anyway, the next couple of months will be very busy for me and my business.

It's been awhile since I posted any art. I'm sure everyone is getting tired of hearing my jaw saga. I haven't done much in my art journal lately. I need to allot more time to that as I really enjoy working in it, I just have so little time. I'll be posting some new work later in the day so check back soon to see what's new.

Caio!

The recovery is going well. The swelling has gone down quite a bit and the bruising is almost gone. My jaw line and chin are still frozen but I'm starting to get feeling back in most of my face. I am still finding myself to be very tired when I exert myself but other than that things are progressing well.

I'm back to work next Monday so this week has been spent trying to get some things on my "to do" list done. I was going a little stir crazy so yesterday I painted the ceiling in my bedroom. This afternoon I gave it a second coat. It looks pretty good and clearly, the time I spent taping everything paid off as the is very little paint seepage on the walls. The original plan was to paint the walls next but I have several things on my list that are a higher priority so the walls will probably have to wait until next weekend.

I haven't been all that inspired to do art but did manage to get one journal page completed. It was a bit of a struggle and I'm still not all that happy with the colours but finally gave up. It's a bit dark but perhaps that is appropriate in light of the journal entry.

I'm feeling better but still tire easily. The swelling has gone down a lot and the bruising is almost gone. My teeth are aching something fierce and I've had a permanent earache ever since I started wearing the elastics on my teeth 24 / 7. I see the surgeon again on Thursday and I'm really hoping that he'll tell me I only have to wear the elastics at night. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I'm going back to work next Monday so this week I'm trying to work through the listof things that need to be done. I painted my ceiling yesterday - still need to do another coat. I bought a gallon of paint but the ceiling just sucked up all the paint so will need to go back to Home Depot for more paint. I originally planned to paint the walls this week but I don't think that's going to happen as my "to do" list has some things on it that are a higher priority. Looks like the walls will nee to wait til next weekend.

Must run - caio!

I've done very little over the last couple of days. Saturday I was very productive and accomplished a lot in the way of re-organizing my workroom. It's about 75 % done and I need to complete the other 25% before I can start to use it again. I had planned to do that both Sunday and Monday but I just have no energy whatsoever. I spent yesterday aftenoon sleeping on the couch and most of the this afternoon doing the same thing.

DD and I had planned to do a run to Home Depot and Homesense today to pick up some things I need. I specifically wanted the "the Magic Bullet Express" which happens to be on sale until closing today. However DD and I discussed it and we decided I'm still too bruised and beat up looking to be seen out in public. DD ran in and bought the Bullet for me - it is huge! It's got all the attachments I could ever want. It will very quickly replace my 40 year old blender.

I'm finally starting to eat some solid food, albeit it takes me a very long time to finish it. I'm hungry a lot of the time and while the slurpees are good, they just were not cutting it for filling me up. Tonight we ordered in from Boston Pizza. I had the Boston Lasagne and it was absolutely scrumptious. I think I died and went to heaven.

Gotta run for now. Caio!

Things are going well with the recovery. I had my first followup appointment with the surgeon on Thursday. He's pleased with my progress and says everything looks good. I was initially planning to return to work on the 8th, however I think I will extend my sick leave for a week or so. The bruising is still pretty severe and there is still some swelling so I think it appropriate that I take more time. I have more than enough sick leave to cover the extra time so will take advantage of it.

Saturday was an interesting day! I've been stuck in the house for 10 days with my only outing being to go into the city for a doctor's appointment. Can you say cabin fever? I had a bit of a melt down regarding something one of the cats did. I told K if it happened again that I'd be opening the door and throwing all 3 of them out! As if that was going to happen! Anyway after I had my little temper tantrum, I was still mad so I went on the rampage down in my studio. It's quite amazing what one can accomplish under those circumstances. Poor K took one look at me and could see that I was about to lose my mind - she very calmly suggested that I might want to take a deep breath. She's such a good person! Even when her mom goes a little crazy she still stays calm and so very reasonable. She certainly takes after her dad in that regard.

Anyway, long story short I rearranged a bunch of stuff and then K volunteered to go to Canadian Tire and buy me a new cabinet. She went, picked up and brought it home and put it together for me. It is now nicely ensconsed in my workroom and what a huge difference it makes - both visually and psychologically. The purpose of the reorg was to make better use of the space I already have. I always seem to end up with everything piled in layers on the little bit of workspace I have. It's annoying and frustrating. Since I've moved things around and now have this new cabinet, I'm really pleased with the results. I'm so looking forward to working in the newly arranged studio soon.

Things are going well with the recovery. I had my first followup appointment with the surgeon on Thursday. He's pleased with my progress and says everything looks good. I was initially planning to return to work on the 8th, however I think I will extend my sick leave for a week or so. The bruising is still pretty severe and there is still some swelling so I think it appropriate that I take more time. I have more than enough sick leave to cover the extra time so will take advantage of it.

Saturday was an interesting day! I've been stuck in the house for 10 days with my only outing being to go into the city for a doctor's appointment. Can you say cabin fever? I had a bit of a melt down regarding something one of the cats did. I told K if it happened again that I'd be opening the door and throwing all 3 of them out! As if that was going to happen! Anyway after I had my little temper tantrum, I was still mad so I went on the rampage down in my studio. It's quite amazing what one can accomplish under those circumstances. Poor K took one look at me and could see that I was about to lose my mind - she very calmly suggested that I might want to take a deep breath. She's such a good person! Even when her mom goes a little crazy she still stays calm and so very reasonable. She certainly takes after her dad in that regard.

Anyway, long story short I rearranged a bunch of stuff and then K volunteered to go to Canadian Tire and buy me a new cabinet. She went, picked up and brought it home and put it together for me. It is now nicely ensconsed in my workroom and what a huge difference it makes - both visually and psychologically. The purpose of the reorg was to make better use of the space I already have. I always seem to end up with everything piled in layers on the little bit of workspace I have. It's annoying and frustrating. Since I've moved things around and now have this new cabinet, I'm really pleased with the results. I'm so looking forward to working in the newly arranged studio soon.

The bruising is now moving down my neck and into the collarbone, lots of black and purple and a little yellow thrown in at the cheeks. Very colourful but more thundercloud than rainbow. The incisions are a little tender but the jaw itself is good so I've only used the odd painkiller when I start to get a twinge.

I've had a revovling door of visitors bringing me flowers, cards, homemade soup and well wishes. I've never been the type to need it to be "all about me" so it's really nice to have all this love and caring showered on me.

On the art front I've done nothing but battle with the workroom - I'm making progress.....Wooohooo! Aside from the fact that I have waaaay too much stuff, things are finally coming together. I need to make some cards for 2 swaps, create some Wedding and Mother's Day samples for the store and I want to work on my journal pages so my next few days will be busy.

Wednesday I go into the City for my first followup with Dr. M. I'm feeling well and aside from being tired and lethargic from the anesthetic, things are good. I'm hoping there are no issues with the incisions - they're tender, as they should be I guess - but I'll feel better once he checks them out.

On the weightloss front, I'm down about 10 lbs. I know it's not the ideal way to do it but I'll take the loss however I can get it!

Caio!

Just thought I'd check in before I pop off to bed for the night.

I'm feeling great, have no real need for pain killers, but will take one tonight just to be on the safe side. The swelling has increased and I'm getting more colourful by the hour. Lovely purple bruises starting below the chin and up onto my lip and the side of my face. Wonderful! I can hardly wait to see what it looks like tomorrow. You can bet I won't be leaving the house anytime soon!

So tonight, after sitting around all day, I decided to work on my studio and try to get it tidied up after the marathon card making session before holidays. Quite a mess but I've made some headway. Rearranged some general storage as well as some paper storage and labelled a bunch of stuff. It's amazing how many scattered piles I found that were paper I thought I was out of. ?God grief! Tomorrow I'm having company in the evening - coming over to see the rainbow in progress! However, during the day I hope to get some more cleanup down here so I can get some work done. If I'm going to be stuck in the house I might as well play with some of the new stuff I bought - but first I have to find it under the pile of stuff on my work table.

Well must run for meds, ice and beauty sleep - I'm not sure there's enough sleep to be had to cure this face ....and so it goes.

Caio!

I'm home, swollen, temporarily disfigured but none the worst for wear. The surgeon was in to see me this morning before I was discharged. I commented that I was still quite swollen - he said with the work he did that I should have been swollen up like a football. The fact that I had so little swelling was fantastic. He said I looked "fantastic" - his words not mine - not sure I'd go quite that far but whatever! I will be taking progress pictures which I may or may not share. I'm afraid some people may never let me live them down and they will come back to haunt me. We'll see....

The meds they gave me were good, very good, and I've had really very little pain and very little need for the meds. The operation went well and was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be so it's all good. I'm still alive and while not quite my "sassy" self, I intend to be back in full form again very soon.

Just wanted to pop in and update you on what's going on in my little corner of paradise.

Today is a big day for me. I'm finally having my jaw surgery - it's been two long years of waiting but it's finally happening today. I've tried not to let my mind dwell on it. I know myself well enough to know that if I allow myself to go there, I'll get myself all worked up and anxious. I keep telling myself that it's no big deal and that it will be a walk in the park.

Hmmmm. Maybe not so much! Guess we'll have to see.

Anyway, I'll be out of commission for a bit, not sure how long. I do know, however, that I'm on a liquid diet for a couple of weeks and then on soft foods only for another couple. I'm hoping to lose some weight - pretty radical method I know - but one can only hope!

Gotta run. Will check back in once I start to feel better.

Caio!

Here's another doodle page. It's titled "Friendship".

It was fun to do and I'm pleased with the end result. However, I'm finding it a bit stark and perhaps a little harsh because of the absence of colour. I think I'll try a differnt style with my next page. Definitely something a little softer and with more colour.

Title is "Drama Queen"

This page is one of the doodles that I created in Jodi Ohl's online class. Her class has really opened my eyes to some new journal styles and possibilities. And it was lots of fun to do - very freeing.

This one is titled "Of the Sun"

Thought I'd share one of the journal pages I did while in Palm Springs. I'm pretty pleased with it and I hope you enjoy it as well!

We're home from Palm Springs. We were originally scheduled to leave on Sunday Feb. 28th which would mean we were travelling while Canada was playing the gold medal game against the US. My daughter has been following every game in which Canada played and really wanted to see the final game. We decided to change our plans and flew out Saturday instead so we could be home to watch the game on Sunday. It worked out well as it will give us an extra day to relax before going back to work and getting back into the routine of things. It cost us extra because there was a difference in air fare but I figure in the long run I actually saved money. Had we stayed in Palm Springs the plan was to go to the casino on Saturday night and that generally is not a good thing to do. So.........works for me!

The flight was uneventful and going through the border was a breeze. We had a fabulous holiday, however we're happy to be back home with our three fur babies. It will be nice to sleep in our own beds again.

Well, must run. It's been a long day and I need my beauty sleep. Caio!

I follow Mama Dinis blog and she had a link for a free digi stamp. I cruised on over to Motivet http://motivet.com/blog/?p=1724 for the freebie. Check it out - it's free and it's really versatile - would do for a get well soon, happy birthday ....any number of things.

A big thanks to Motivet for sharing this with us.

Yesterday we played a round of golf at Taquitz Creek Resort. It was a lovely day for golf and K and I were reasonably pleased with our scores at the end of the round. After a cold beer, we headed off to Lumpy's. We talked to a gentleman there about K's problems using her dad's driver. Turns out it will be very difficult for her to hit it well because it's a stiff shaft designed for someone who is a power hitter - which my husband was. Long story short, I bought her a new ladies Taylor Made driver, 5 wood and 7 wood. She has really taken to the game of golf and she needs the right equipment. She was surprised and pleased to have these new clubs. We traded in DH's old driver, 3 and 5 woods. I got very little for them but have no use for them so no sense in keeping them. I was able to put the amount of the trade in on the new clubs so it's all good.

This is an early birthday gift - her birthday is April 18th - but I thought she might as well have them now since we're here and playing golf. We play again tomorrow so we're looking forward to some improvement in her game.

The weather this last several days has been great, perfect for playing golf. Just not so great for lying around the pool. Today started out well but then clouded over with sporadic sun so I didn't get any pool time. My only remaining opportunity for pool time is Saturday so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's a good day!

Must run as I'm going to lie down for awhile and watch some of my decorating shows. Then at 4 pm we'll watch the Canada / Russia game. Go Canada!

Our trip is winding down and we're just starting into our last week in Paradise. This time of the trip always makes me a little sad as I know our time here is coming to an end soon. SIL has invited us to join her and her husband in Barbados next January, however we haven't committed one way or the other. We'll need to sit down and discuss it. We're both creatures of habit and we really enjoy Palm Springs. However, Barbados is beautiful and would be a nice change. We'll see. Decisions, Decisions.

Both K and I are missing our "girls" - Socks, Kirby and Daisy. Even though our neighbour is taking good care of them, we feel badly for leaving them for so long. T says they're lonely and that Daisy, the newest addition to the family (10 months old) is the official greeter. Daisy comes running to the door to greet her and meows up a storm every time she goes over to feed them. Socks is still hissing at her every time she comes in - big surprise that ! I expect that Daisy and Kirby (who is our gorgeous maine coone cat) will be ecstatic to see us. Socks, not so much - she'll give us "the tail", meaning she is not pleased - for the first little while. Then the three of them will swarm us and we'll be subjected to mass cuddles and kisses. I can hardly wait!

My SIL left for Ottawa yesterday so it's just K and I here now. We thoroughly enjoyed SIL's visit and hope she enjoyed her trip as well. Now it's just the two of us for the remainder of the trip and we'll enjoy the wind down prior to going home. Today will be a day spent by the pool and tomorrow we'll golf again.

The weather here has cooled down a bit - the last couple of days it's been mid to high 70's instead of high 80's and 90's. The weather has been perfect for golfing - not too hot and with a little breeze. Regardless of the variation in the temperature it has been fabulous weather and we are thoroughly enjoying the pool and backyard.

Well must go - I hear the pool calling my name. Caio!

We golfed at Taquitz Creek yesterday - my game was less than stellar but I enjoyed the day nonetheless. The weather was absolutely fabulous! We have no idea what the temperature was but suspect it was close to 90 degrees. On Sunday it was 84 degrees in the shade by the pool and Monday sure felt hotter. We were late teeing off because of a backlog so we didn't finish our round until about 3:30, then we had a very well deserved glass of ice cold beer. Nectar of the gods!

I checked the thermometer this morning at 8:30 and it was already 70 degrees so I think we're in for another hot one. My kind of day - I so enjoy lying the pool when we're here. Plan is to have burgers tonight for dinner so it should be a very lazy day.

I've managed to do some journalling. I should have brought some supplies with me but didn't so I had to purchase them here. I've never really liked doing my backgrounds ahead of time but now I can see that doing that is the way to go. I realize that when I want to work on a page, I want to work on it now, not after I wait for the page to dry. It's a lesson well learned!

I'm happy with my supply purchases and since it's all "stuff" I can use at home, it won't go to waste. I'm hoping to do a few more pages before I go home. Will scan them and post when I get home.

Gotta run - I hear the sun calling my name!

It was another glorious day in Palm Springs today. It was 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We spent the day alternating between swimming in the pool, floating in the pool and lying in lawn chairs by the pool. After such a lazy day, we decided not to cook so we went to Applebee's on Date Palm and had a lovely supper. We made it in time for happy hour and were able to enjoy a couple of half price margaritas and an appy before having dinner. Of course we couldn't pass up the dessert shooters and by the time we finished the chocolate mousse we were well and truly stuffed. Tough life :)

After supper we headed off to the Spa Casino for a couple of hours. Kerry and Joyce held their own, me ? Not so much. Hence why my visits to the casino are few and far between.

The issue with the tv has been resolved. The owner's son came by today and replaced the tv and left us a couple of bottles of wine to enjoy. A very nice gesture!

Sunday we're looking forward to another fabulous day in paradise! Pool time, relaxation, maybe some adult bevvies? Paradise!

Today we golfed at Indian Canyons in Palm Springs. We had a tee time of 12:26 so we were starting to lose daylight by the time we finished. The day was spectacular and I played a good round. We played with a gentleman who was 83 and looked about 70. He was amazing and came in with an honest round of 90. When we told him that he didn't look 80 nor did he play golf like he was 80, his reply was that he didn't feel 80. He golfs in the summer and skies at Whistler in the winter. Unbelievable. It's so nice to see someone in his golden years who has such a full life and such a wonderful attitude. I sure hope I'm able to enjoy life as much at that age.

Depending on which channel you listen to, the weather tomorrow will range between 75 and 85 with the weather becoming steadily warmer through the weekend and into the beginning of next week. We plan take a few days to lay around the pool and enjoy the weather and will golf again on Monday.

Having a wonderful and relaxing time!

I'm happy to say that the issue with the TV is getting resolved. We reported it to the rental company and have had conversations with the owner. Thankfully he's very understanding and apologetic about the problems we're having and is not pissed with us. I feel badly that we've had to keep bugging him - he's looking into getting the problem resolved for us.

Last night SIL took us out for dinner. We went to a fabulous Italian restaurant, voted the best in the desert for several years. Formerly "Mario's", it's now operating under the name of "Di'Carlos". Great meal and great atmosphere. We ate out on the patio where the heaters kept us nice and warm.

My SIL got up ths morning before both myself and DD. She found a nice little present in the pool. A big fat rat, thankfully deceased! Thank goodness the pool guys came this morning to deal with it. They had just removed it when I walked out onto the patio. EWWWWW! Thank God one of us noticed before anyone jumped into the pool! More chemicals please!

After all my foraging for art journal supplies, I remembered (after I drove past it) that there's a Michael's very close to the house. DUH! I'm going to try to stop there sometime today or tomorrow to pick up the supplies I'm missing.

We're off to play some golf today and then we'll have a nice dinner at home.
Gotta run....Caio!

Dear SIL arrived last night and is settling in after a long trip. She and DD went swimming late last night when she arrived. Apparently the pool was nice and warm but the air was cool so they didn't hang around outside too long after getting out of the water.

I woke up at 730 this morning to the house alarm going off. I guess DD forgot to tell her about the alarm so of course as soon as she opened the door to the patio it went off. Luckily when the alarm company called this time, I actually knew the abort code and security code for the alarm. Thankfully no need for police attendance!

We're having issues with the tv in the living room. For some reason we are getting a totally blank black screen. We're getting audio but no picture. I've reset it several times but it's not correcting the problem. Pain in the ass! I have no idea what button I touched (totally by accident) to make us lose video and no matter what I touch I can't get it to come back. I really don't want to be without tv in the living room for the remaining 3 weeks - but I'm really embarassed to have to call the rental office, yet again, because of a problem with something. I'm really hoping that we can rectify it soon. Always something!

I felt the need to do some journalling so DD and I went out and foraged for supplies. I was able to get almost everything I needed at a very reasonable price. The only thing I couldn't find was a white prisma pen so I purchased one of those white out pens figuring I could use it in a pinch. The other thing I'm missing is a brush for my watercolour pencils - guess I'll improvise with some Q tips. So far I haven't done any journalling but hope to do some soon. Maybe later today.

Well must run as I feel the need for some pool time! Wish me luck with the TV. Caio!

Today was a bittersweet day - it would have been DH's 60th birthday. DD and I golfed at one of his favourite courses and then toasted him with a beer afterwards. The day was lovely and DD and I enjoyed it very much. The weather was fabulous - somewhere in the neighbourhood of 80 degrees. They didn't pair us with anyone so it was just us girls, very relaxing. The game was much better today and we managed to trim 10 to 15 strokes off each of our games.

Not much planned for tomorrow. The weather people say the temperature will be high 60's but we find that the temperature in Palm Springs is usually about 10 degrees higher than the temperature in LA at any given time. I'm looking forward to getting some pool time.

We had issues with the garage door on Monday. Appears it came off the rails and jammed up big time. The repair guy came by yesterday and just shook his head at the way it had been installed
in the first place. He was amazed that it had worked at all. He managed to get the door down for us but we're still waiting for it to be replaced. I'm really hoping that gets done some time this week because I will need to get into the garage to do my laundry. Worst case scenario, I guess I can wash some stuff by hand. That usually is not a pretty sight though!

Must run. Caio!

We're now in Palm Springs. We drove down to Bellingham Wednesday night and crossed over at Aldergrove. The border guard was very pleasant and didn't hassle us. It was a fast, pleasant and painless experience. Apparently we only look like terrorists and/or prostitutes in the light of day!

Weather in PS is good - still a little cooler because of the bad weather everyone is having up the coast but nothing to complain about. My youngest SIL is coming to stay with us for 2 weeks and arrives on Saturday. We enjoy her company and she and K get along famously so we're looking forward to her arrival. The other relatives will not be joining us this year so it's just the 3 gals - no boyz allowed! It should be fun!

We've been enjoying the peace and quiet - no stress and very relaxing. We spent the day in the pool Saturday and Sunday and golfed yesterday. The golf game was less than stellar but considering that this is our first round since this time last year, it could have been worse. We had a great time and that's all the matters.

I had computer issues again when we arrived - not sure why but never could get access through the house. I was not prepared to sneak out under cover of darkness again this year to find free wi-fi. I had visions of being pulled out of my car by the cops because I was acting suspicious. So.... We bought one of those Verizon stix, cost me a fortune but at least we have access when and where we want it. I'll have it the next time we venture south so I guess I can somewhat justify the extravagance. I bought 500 MB but am quite certain I will have to reload before mid month. Who knew we would use so much bandwith. I'm sure part of the heavy usage is Kerry's crazy Farm game....whatever!

We've been to the casino twice - just an hour or so each time - no need to get carried away and the marathon gambling visit is definitely not a good thing for either of us. I got lucky last night and won $500 on the slots! That was nice and, of course I enjoyed gambling when I was winning. And I cashed out while I still had my winnings. Bonus!!

Gotta run cuz the bandwith meter is definitely ticking :) Caio!

Things have been very hectic the last few weeks. My arthritis had been bad and became even worse in the last few weeks. I was in major pain last week and ended up at the Emergency department at our local hospital Sunday morning. The pain was quite different and I was convinced that I had broken a bone.

After a fairly long wait, they sent me for x-rays. The doc came back and informed me that I had "quite significant amount of arthritis" in that knee. He said it had really progressed since my last x-ray about a year ago. He prescribed me some arthritis meds to help with the pain and stop if from progressing, we hope He has also referred me for physio.

I'm not really all that surprised that I have arthritis as my dad has a serious case of it so I guess it's to be expected. In some ways I'm relieved that now I know what is causing the pain. I was also glad that I actually had something wrong with me as I was afraid they would tell me it was all in my head.

The count down is on for Palm Springs. Woooohooo! We finally hired someone to take over my old job and I'm busy training her. I'm also trying to deal with some of the backlog before I go so that she isn't totally stressed out at being left with all this work. Unfortunately it cannot be helped - the backlog is the result of the position being empty for 14 months and us never being able to catch up because we don't have enough staff. Anyway, I'm feeling much less stressed than I was a few days ago now that there will be someone in the office in my absence.

The sunshine, the pool, a good book and some adult bevvies are looking pretty good right now! Only 6 more sleeps!

I'm on course in Vancouver Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. I take the WestCoast Express in - although I missed the first train this morning - and it's a nice trip. No fighting traffic, stressing out about finding a parking spot and so on. The course is good, the instructor interesting and entertaining, although the subject matter is a bit dry. My only issue is that I'm having a hard time sitting in those chairs all day.

Anyway end of day comes today and I walk out onto the sidewalk on Seymour Street for the 3 block walk back down to the train and I jar my bad knee. OUUUUUCCHHH! I thought I was going to go down on my ass right there in the middle of the sidewalk. I don't know what happened. The only thing I can think of is that the pavement was sloped and a little uneven. Iwas in serious pain and I limped my way back to the train and finally made it home. Not fun!

This is really not a big thing, however, my knee was just starting to get back to normal and now I've injured it again. Frustrating as hell! And I have the 3 block walk - uphill - to look forward to tomorrow morning. I think I might break down and wear my brace tomorrow altough I'm not entirely sure that it helps. Oh, well, such is life!

Must run to change and then put my leg up and ice my knee. Isn't that special?

Looking back over the last 20 months, I acknowledge that I've experienced a lot of change in my life. I've grown and evolved and my perspective on life has changed. Recently, I had an epiphany of sorts in both my professional and my personal life. It finally dawned on me that I am the master of my very own universe. I run my own show! I don't need to justify my actions or explain myself to anyone. It's glorious to realize that, acknowledge it and revel in it.

My life is good! I'm happy with it in spite of the loss I suffered. How ironic is that? I'm working at my dream job and I'm challenged and I'm learning daily. I'm invested in things that are important to me and I'm rebuilding my life. It feels good!

I'm a hopeless romantic and "Gone With The Wind" is one of my all-time favourite movies. Scarlett is the epitome of "southern gentility", albeit a scheming little minx, but southern gentility nonetheless. And Rhett? What can one say about Rhett? He's the symbol of chivalry and rogue, all wrapped up in one! The perfect hero for the perfect heroine. So for all the southern belles and southern gentlemen of whom I am so very fond, here's my tribute.