I am taking a(nother) blogging course, hoping it will help me learn how to personalize my blog and hopefully keep up a little more regularly.

I took some photos the other night of the "Super Moon". The moon is the closest to Earth than it will be for the next 18 years. I was lucky it was a clear night and got a couple of nice shots. The boys were at moms for a few days for March Break, so I called them to have a look at it. They love astrology, esp Harrison.

Quote of the day : Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.

Well its been so long, I forget how to post....we'll see if this works and I can actually post some pix.

The Bond family got a new toy and although we've only had it for a short while we are enjoying it immensely and can't wait for a new boating season to start.

We decided we should take the plunge now and enjoy it as a family before the kids get too old and don't want to hang around with the old folks anymore. Although, I think we'll start seeing more of Jason and Brendan next summer and Jay has already asked if it was in his best interest to get his boating licence. Ha!! that's a good one, we always knew you had a sense of humour! Nice try buddy. It is our floating cottage, and we are looking forward to spending some quality time with family and friends on it, in the next few years.

We thought about naming the boat "Bond ing", but of course Richard had to have something with James Bond in the name. First we named it just 007, the JB logo, but everyone at the marina said it was missing something, so we renamed it after a Bond movie. I will post those pix when we officially have the name on the boat and have christened it.

There's Always Next Year...

Well, so much for keeping up with my blog! (insert rolling eyes) It's been a month and I haven't even thought of it, (well maybe a passing thought), but it's been a busy Christmas and New Year and going to be even busier in 2010. I have taken on a few more projects, so the blog is going to be the last thing to be tended to (unfortunately) this year.

I'm OK with that, because I am doing Project 365, this year, about documenting a year in your life, with photos and journaling. I am really committed to this, so the blog, is going to have to take back seat. And really that is why I wanted to do the blog, to document regularly and (ultimately) day by day, but the Project 365 will do that this year, so along with the other "stuff" I have going on, ("stuff"= new on-line course for getting the best use of my on-camera flash, 2 on-line digi scrapbooking courses, an on-line course on learning to use my Wacom tablet, as well as keeping up with the scrapbooking challenges at 2 peas, scrapping more, and doing some home renovations, AND looking for more hours to work) I'd say I have my hands full and this blog will be an occasional thing. Hopefully in the year, I will learn some new things and maybe enough to update and customize my blog to the way I want it to look, and if not.... well there's always next year! =]

QOTD: Procrastination always gives us something to look forward to...

My Flashback Friday lo. Click link for credits.

QOTD: "The greatest thing about being an artist, is that no one can tell you you're not".~Unknown

Christmas Chaos! I love Christmas, I really do. It's my favourite holiday, but I always seem to be so rushed and overwhelmed this time of year, that I begin to hate it! I don't want to hate it! I just have to stop taking on so much, or start earlier. I get a bit done and start to feel complacent and then it creeps up and I start to feel rushed. Breathe......just Breathe.....

It wasn't bad last year b/c we went to FL with the in-laws and I didn't decorate or put up Christmas lights and most of my shopping I did on-line and had it shipped, but the kids hated that we didn't decorate for Christmas, or have a tree and frankly, so did I.

I think b/c Kristi and Wells and Donovan are coming and they will be here early, I am a little more stressed than usual. I am soooo glad they are coming, but more people to buy for (we are doing a gift exchange at mom's) and they are staying here, so R has taken to doing major projects before Christmas!! I love this man with all my heart, but he always seems to decide that he doesn't "like" something in the house and it needs to be changed, 3 weeks before Christmas.

So he has taken to renovating the downstairs bathroom and painting the rec room. He is also putting up shelves in the cold room and above the freezer for storage. I LOVE that this man is handy! and that he starts things and gets them done, I just wish he'd pick another time, other than the Christmas rush!

I also hurt my shoulder a week ago, (I have no idea what I did, but I couldn't MOVE it for 3 days and was at the Dr. for anti-inflammatories and pain killers and then the Chiro for acupuncture. It was the first time I had that and weird sensation, but made me feel better fast! The arm is still sore, but feeling much better!

So I am going to try to keep up with the blog regularly instead of having verbal diarrhea everytime I get on here. There are alot of courses I wanted to take, about journaling your Christmas, just to document the journey during the month of December, but with the amount of stuff going on, I am going to pass, (I don't need more to stress me out) but I thought it would be a good time, b/c Kristi and Wells are coming, so I will try to keep up on my blog, instead of trying to scrapbook it all, just with a few lines and a photo or two. Wish me luck!!

Oh I have also been nominated for the Creative Blogger Award, and I will have to address that some other time, when I have more time! A big thank you to Debi!! but it is one of those things that requires some time and links, (which I have to review) so I'll get to it, but thanks Debi, you're so sweet!

I'm sharing a lo I did for my Flashback Friday group, (we have challenges every Friday to scrap photos from the past, especially about ourselves and our memories) to make sure we are included in those books we so easily do about other people, but rarely about ourselves. It was a Christmas memory and b/c I don't have any Christmas photos scanned, I did one of my artwork. My drawing hasn't gotten any better, but my artistic passion still there!

Started....finally

I started my Christmas shopping. Finally! (and a little shopping for myself too, of course) I went with Wendy and her girlfriend Jana and we had a nice day and very productive! We went to the Walden Galleria mall and Target, (said with a very French accent) =] in Buffalo.

The border guard on the way down wanted to know where we were headed and when we told him, he said "of course you are, 3 women in a car, where else would you be going?" "Either Las Vegas, or the Walden Galleria." We got a chuckle out of him.

We had a nice lunch at TGI Fridays, I love their pecan crusted chicken salad, yummm and Wendy and I split a Thai chicken wrap that was just heavenly. Of course I saw waaay too much that I wanted in the stores, and I found a new (to me) store Lord and Taylor, wow, I was in my glory!! Esp if you need a dress to go anywhere nice! I could have spent thousands in that store, but I restrained knowing I had to cross the border, and I don't really need a new one this year.

Before I left, I asked the boys to give me ideas of what they would like for Christmas. Well all my little bookworm Harrison asked for was books, surprised, no....happy and so very proud, yes.... He is like his mommy in so many ways, I love to read too, (although not as much time to do it, as I would like these days) I spend too much time blogging and scrapping and peaing..... only so many hours in a day....sigh...

I love that he LOVES to read, so doesn't bother me a bit that he wants books, but I'll have to come up with something else as well for Christmas..... Carson on the other hand, wants everything he sees and asked for more Lego. He does play with it, but we have sooo much....I'm sure mommy will cave....gotta get them what they want.

So on the way home, we were so sure that we were going to get pulled over and have to pay duty, but we got another humorous guard on the way home, boy did we luck out today, (so many times they are just stuffy with no sense of humour and on a power trip), but this guy wanted to know where we lived, what we did for a living and what we bought and how much we spent on toys for the kids! He sat and chatted us up for quite some time, and I'm sure the people behind us thought we were going to be pulled over, but he was just friendly and it must be a boring job if you don't make it fun. We were all over the limit, but he didn't bother us at all, just wanted to know if we had alcohol or cigarettes and just told us to have a good night.

Ironically, don't I run into Shilpa (Owen's mom) and the family at Walden Galleria, and she said she had run into Joanne (Georgia's mom) earlier that day! Too funny.

/>Since I am having issues downloading some photos of the Santa Claus Parade on Sun., I thought I'd share a digi page I did a couple of weeks ago. A family bike ride along the Niagara Parkway trail. (Click on page for credits)

Full Plate

Can you say too much on your plate..... yeah that's me, but I do work better under pressure. Although sometimes it keeps me up at night (and I don't sleep well as it is), never have, never will. R always says that I don't sleep, I just close my eyes, so it's a good thing I work for a dentist, because between the teeth grinding and clenching, I soon may not have any left.

I have joined a class to help me with sprucing up my blog...OK, you can say it, I haven't had much time to look at the classes, but I will get to it! Hey I just learned how to put a link on here, gimme a break. BTW thanks Nancy for your help!

I also joined another class on another one of my favourite websites, Jessica Sprague's website Grow your skills about documenting the holidays. It is supposed to be fun and stress free, but that is still to be determined. On top of that I also threw my name into the hat for a CT spot on my absolute favourite place on the web, 2peasinabucket, but a lot of very talented girls applied for that, so I'm not really expecting then to be knocking down my door, but a girl can always hope.

Anyway these classes are supposed to be stress free, but I guess that will depend on what else I throw onto my plate.....

QOTD: I read somewhere that the typical symptoms of stress are overeating, impulse buying and driving too fast,...are they kidding? That's my idea of the perfect day! =]

Full Plate

Can you say, too much on your plate?.... yeah well that's just me! I do it all the time, but I work better under pressure, although sometimes it keeps me up at night too. It's a good thing I work for a dentist, because I clench and grind my teeth and if I keep this up, I won't have any left.

I have joined a class to spruce up my blog, as you can see I haven't had much time to go through the classes yet.... and then I joined another class on another one of my favourite sites

Here Comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus lane....

I remember as a little girl going into Toronto on the GO train with my great aunt Marg to see the window displays at Eatons and Simpson Sears, along Yonge St., at Christmas time, it was just so magical! I didn't care that we didn't buy anything, I could have just stood there for hours watching the elaborate holiday displays, with the bright colours and animated moving figures, in window after window. I never did see the Santa Claus Parade IRL as a child, but we would always watch it on T.V. from home, as a family, but it was something I really wanted my kids to be a part of, the 105 year old tradition.

So we took the kids to the Santa Claus parade in Toronto today, and it was certainly a great day to go. The weather co-operated, and although it was overcast, it was supposed to be about 13 degrees, (not sure what it made it up to, but it was probably pretty close to that) which made for a pleasant day. A few weeks after I first met R, he was taking his boys down and asked me to join them, and it was freezing cold that day and not enjoyable at all!

Of course Carson whined and said he didn't want to go (as he does with everything?) sometimes I wonder why we bother? Are our kids just too spoiled because we take them everywhere, maybe its just not special anymore?, anyway we made him go and he had a good time despite himself. The boys liked traveling on the GO train and are always in awe of the size of the buildings in the city.

Mom met us at Union Station and we didn't have to walk too far to get a good seat, (we found a place around Yonge and Adelaide, although we waited about an hour and a half before the parade finally started. Carson's DS kept him busy for the wait, while mom and I and Harrison, all walked up as far as Queen St. to see if any of the stores had their windows decorated. We were really disappointed to see that none of the stores did and I'm not even sure if they do that anymore now that Eaton's is no longer. It is such a shame and I am really sad that my children will never get to experience that!

Well we all enjoyed the parade and everyone agreed that they were glad we went, but mom and I thought the floats weren't as good as we remembered......was it that, or is it the truth, that you just can't go back?......

QOTD: Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again. ~WILLA CATHER