Arrggh!

Well our camera got dropped and unfortunately lost its life. I was somehow still able to pull off the few birthday photos!! ... It may be a while before we can get a new one because we need to repair somthing on our computer first ( cause the kids need it for school) Maybe we can borrow a neighbours camera if we have anything uber exciting.

OK... this is a pretty ugly cake! It is a gluten / sugar/ dye free carrot cake. I even made myself a grain free treat that tasted like carrot cake. too yummy. So looks pretty sad... but tastes yummy!

My baby is four!

Another long time between entries here! We just got back from a two week vacation in the Okanagan Valley. We went especially for a family members wedding , but were really happy to spend some extra time there as well. Got to cruise the old " hood" and check out all of the old hangouts! It sure has grown in the past five years.

We came home to fall in full swing. It has been pouring rain and pretty cool as well. The house was just so cold when we came home! We caved and turned on the furnace ( I like to keep it off until the end of October if I can help it) . We also had to put up the dreaded plastic on the windows. I hate the filmy look and lack of fresh air, but the house is too drafty and too much of an oil guzzler without it. It feels nice now, especially with the addition of an electric heater in the living area. Its the first time I have felt really warm and cozy in this house ( 5 years!) ... a big difference from the first couple of years when we could only afford to heat the house enough to keep things from freezing... you could still see our breath! Its not always enjoyable to have to wear hoodies and toques and multiple layers in your house all winter . As much as I am for energy conservation an all!

So today we are all getting over a bit of a cold. It is really raining and windy outside still... a real chill out kind of day! We used the rental car for the last day we have it , to head out to the farm for some harvest veg. They werent in full swing yet, but we picked up quite a bit of goods for super cheap... made some delicious juice to help boost our systems, and a huge gluten free carrot cake for the birthday boy! I cannot believe that he is four already! My sweet little bug!

Birds!

The morning adventure so far consisted of me trying to somehow get a bird out of the house. It flew in a doorknob hole on the back porch... we always have birds exploring that hole! I frantically paced the kitchen with a towel in my hands waiting for it to land somewhere. In my mind I remember something about the darkness calming the bird enough that you can gather it in the towel to take outside. I got it under the towel a couple of times but it wriggled its way out trying to bite me the whole time. I admit I wasn't exactly feeling confident about the whole thing! I felt all panicked inside while it flew all over slamming into the window and flying up to the fan and every high spot ... wrecking my towel plan entirely. In the meantime it had scared birdie diarrhea all over every surface of my kitchen. I resorted to opening the backdoor and repeatedly walking through it while making cooing baby talk trying to " show" him the way out and coax him through! Good lord! lol some technique that is! Happily he did find his way out! And we all cheered!

On another note... the landlords are coming by today to take care of the HUMONGOUS chunk of the chestnut tree that fell off into our yard. Thankfully we weren't out there when it happened!. They seemed a little annoyed that I called them about it... but I want the rest of the tree checked out to make sure it isn't rotten. And besides... with my gibbled arm and no chainsaw... or truck for that matter... I have no idea how we would remove it anyways. This pic doesn't do it justice... the trunk part of the branch that fell is at least twice the size of my trunk. The fence is completely snapped in half in a couple of places. Now there is a huge bite out of this beautiful old tree. it has created a nice little nook though to sit under.... that is the only shade available in our yard all summer, so that is a bonus!

Payload!

A couple of months ago I made a trade with another mama for our old futon we were attempting to get rid of. I wanted to just give it to her , but she generously insisted that there was no way!Today she dropped by with the booty... a brand new bunch of mama and family cloth!!!!! Yippie! She brought a half dozen organic cotton velour pads with pockets, six inserts, 3 nighttime cloth and a couple dozen family cloth wipes! Sweet! A wet bag will be on the way as well. What a great trade! ( nice toes in the pic! lol. I tried to edit that out but it managed to sneak its way in there somehow!)

Another exciting week flies by...

We hired a babysitter for the first time last weekend on a whim. Decided to take advantage of the break in the weather and head out into the forest to enjoy some of the local mountain biking trails. It is so beautiful in the mountains.... with all of the rain this summer the mushrooms are flourishing already! So the crappy part is that I took a pretty hardcore tumble over my handlebars and plowed through the dirt. I am not sure what i hit... but i went down hard! Clint heard me hit twice and looked back to see my bike hit me on the way past and land a good 6 metres in front of me facing the opposite direction. I started to get up but couldn't really. I kept blacking out. I fully passed out twice... one of the times had convulsions. I kept vomiting everywhere. Finally after about half an hour the blacking out joy subsided and we were able to hike out of there. After a nice ER visit I came home to enjoy a nice week with the boys one armed. Looks like i will be in a sling for up to 6 weeks. A week later the brutally bruised ribs and various other minor injuries are looking better... the arm/ shoulder/ upper surrounding area, are super sore still. Oh well... at least it was something that WILL heal though.

on an updated note A( littlest guy) woke up barfing this morning. Not looking so hot. I hope we don't all get it!.

Hope this week is better!

Catch up!

Ugggh! Time is just flying by! Busy weeks... busy weekends!

Last weekend we went to a 3 day music fest in our tiny little community. It was so wicked! Headlining , were Corb Lund, Michael Franti, Sarah Harmer and Xavier Rudd. There were too many other fantastic shows to mention! We were so incredibly tired by the end of the weekend that it took the whole week to recover. The kiddos fared really well for some severe over stimulation. We brought earplugs, snacks, blankets, games and the wagon for them to crash in... festivals sure are different when you have a family!

This weekend has been catch up ... as well as prep for the start of the " school year"( pulling together goals for the year with a very loose plan of attack!) and a trip we will be taking in Sept for a family wedding. ( as well as the garage sale we are attempting to pull off sometime before we go!! Ahhh!)

Not on my list was an impromptu flannel board for my little guy who is showing an interest in letters( finally at almost 4! I am sure this will be mastered quickly) Made them from some flannel bits I had hanging around and a white board, taken apart and recovered temporarily with fabric. For well under 5 dollars I put together packages of upper and lower case letters as well as some numbers to go along with some other flannel story pieces we have tucked away.. Looks like it will work anyhow!

Hmmm...

So with a kind collaboration of birthday funds I purchased myself a little something special. I had my eye on a turquoise pendant for about six months now. It was in a tiny import store in our small town... I was drawn to it because it was imperfect in shape and a much different piece of turquoise than I had seen. I kind of loathe the colour turquoise... don't know why exactly but it does not appeal to me. This pendant was more green with a lighter , almost illuminated center.Absolutely beautiful to my eye!

Through research... of course I do it after the fact right... I see that the green turquoise isn't as desirable ( OK... cool.... but I like the green which is enough right?) Turquoise changes colour and richness when worn as well. It used to be thought that a change in colour meant that the wearer was thinking thoughts of infidelity, or that there would be impending death or something! Now it has been seen that it absorbs the oils in our body because it is a soft stone. The lower quality stones absorb it more readily. My stone has changed SIGNIFICANTLY since I got it. It has gone much greener with some bits of brown in it as well. ( I have to say ahead of time that I do not use any cosmetics , lotions, or perfumes that could have contributed to the change.



The main reason for this post is that, mysteriously,appearing in the middle of the stone.... where there was nothing before.... is an oval ring. It is green in colour and pretty darn obvious. I had been wearing it for about two days when it appeared. there was no " sweating" or dye appearing on the surface( I don't know?! imagining the jeweler trying to cover it up or something!) It definitely looks to be a natural part of the stone. I was disappointed a little... I don't buy myself things like this ever. It was a lot prettier without the " thing"! I took it to the store where I bought it , to show the owner. I don't know why! I wouldn't want to give it back or get ,y money back or anything. She was really weirded out by it... she said that it is " very eerie". She thinks that it is very special... ( it crossed my mind as well... I did try to search for symbolic meanings! How flaky new age of me eh? What is this trying to tell me!) She is calling the people whom she bought it from tonight to inquire anyways! Hmmm. very strange? What do you think?! ( I had trouble getting a good pic... my cheapo camera is pooping out on me.)


It is about the length of a double A battery for size reference. The mysterious " thing" is about the size of a peanut.