yesterday

...was a good day!

scrapbooking, breakfast and a movie.

make it quick, we're hungry

Wish I was a health nut and craved only healthy stuff. But I'm not. I should try especially being a mother of 4 to enforce good eating habits. But when there are hungry people around and they want something quick, here's what they end up with...

The plant is a surprise gift from Aliyah. What a sweet daughter!

foy

My baby boy turned 4 or "foy" as he pronounces it. These past 4 years have literally flown by like the wind. He will always be my baby. His sweet hugs and kisses are the best. I will always treasure how he seeks me out several times a day and looks adoringly up at me to express his love. He's a lot of work and demands a lot of attention, but his smile always brightens our hearts one way or another. I love you, Aiden!

pretty things

  Spring cleaning time. First up, clearing out the kitchen cabinets of things I don't want or don't even use. These are a few things that I will be keeping though...

kitchen window

There's absolutely nothing spectacular about the view outside my kitchen window. Just the carport and garage. oooh aaah! So might as well improve the view of the kitchen window from the inside. I've had this curtain for awhile now and have used it in the past but I accidently stained it with some paint splatter while cleaning some paint brushes after doing some crafts. So I took it down and replaced it with something else. It's fabric from Ikea and I like the print so I really didn't want to throw it out. Now several months later, tired of the current window dressing, I dug this up and decided to trim off the stained area by cutting around the outline of the pattern and ta da ,it looks like this now...

Pardon the uncovered light bulb . They brighten up our tiny kitchen ever so slightly even though you can't tell that from these photos (need to work on my photography skills for taking pics against the light).I'm liking it and that's all that matters, right?

valentine's day

Love doesn't make the world go round.

                                        Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. -Franklin P. Jones

anticipating...

Spring!

Sew busy

2013

A new year with hopes of new possibilities.

I've started the year off by being somewhat productive. Been working on my piles of fabric scraps and sewing up some patchwork pillow covers. I think I've already started 5!  They aren't fully completed (still have to put the backs and zippers) but I'm getting there. I haven't taken any pics yet but they are soon to come...

forty-one

Tomorrow I turn 41. Will carry these words with me as I celebrate and am blessed with another year of life...

Open your heart to the world around you
Open your eyes to the wonders of life
Open your heart to those who love you &
Always be true to yourself  

                                                                                                                                                                  Donna Davis

                                                                                         

the holiday season

The holiday season is finally upon. I have a mental list of what I want to give the kids for Christmas, but I haven't bought anything just yet. I'm one of those last minute shoppers. I plan to start getting stuff by next weekend and be over and done with it before the real rush at the stores kick in. Forget spell check- Jazzy is sitting here beside me while I type this and correcting my grammar. What a girl. Very nosy, yes she is.

As for plans for the holidays, I am scheduled to work on all the stat holidays - Christmas day, Boxing  day and New Year's day .... KA-CHING! Sounds great but all these days are within the same pay period which means the taxes will eat up some of those dollar bills. We'll probably do dinner with family on Christmas eve. It should be lovely.

Watching Ellen and wishing I was in her audience right now to receive the 12 days of Christmas giveaways.....

kid notes:

Aliyah wants to get her eyebrows done. I am still thinking about whether or not to allow it.

Darius is loving anything to do with Kingdom Hearts 

Jasmine is still sitting beside me.

Aiden's hero is Darius.

kokeshi

Thought I'd share my kokeshi doll collection...

Always on the look out for these during trips to local thrift shops.

When I grow up, i want to be...

...just like Martha Stewart. Well, not exactly, but to live in loveliness as portrayed in the Martha Stewart Living magazine would just simply be wonderful.  Yes, I know she has a whole team behind her thinking up all these pretty projects and lovely products. My dream job would be to actually be on that team and work on anything that had to do with the magazine.

And speaking of her stuff, I bought these binders along with various sheet protectors at Staples. I have been meaning to organize all the kids' school records (ie. report cards, school photos, awards etc.) and thought these would be pretty and perfect. I may change them out and get the red ones when and if they go on sale (I can't see myself spending 10 bucks on a single binder!)- the reason being,  I think Darius may feel his binder to be too feminine what with the floral pattern. But in the meantime , I am happy with these and am feeling better that things are in order. Thank you Martha!

relaxing mondays

Mondays tend to be my not so happy days. No, I don't regularly work on Mondays however because I am working on Tuesdays,  I am usually grumpy on Mondays. Fortunately I work part-time. Unfortunately, it's not a job I love with a passion. So even with just a couple of 12 hour shifts a week, I still kind of dread going to work because I don't know what I'll be up against until I actually arrive on my unit. I won't deny there are good days such as the last couple of weeks when the ER was shut down due to a flood. Empty beds meant less patients and therefore a lighter workload. Ahh, it was really nice. But today they will be reopening the ER and everything will be back as it was. BUSY! Nursing is a tough job both mentally and physically and after my 2 day work week, I am seriously exhausted. I don't know how the full-timers do it. Oh well, gotta pay the bills right?

I've decided to try to relax on Mondays. I usually feel anxiety that I need to get so much done because I am working the following day. Must change that mind set beginning today. I just plan to take it easy, do a few things here and there but not stress out too much. Easier said than done...

the notebooks

featuring self-portrait by Jazzy K

Found these notebooks at a closing out dollar store sale and wanted to give them a makeover. The covers are dreadful (to me anyway) and since I've got tons of scrapbooking paper to spare, thought I'd use some to make them prettier.

 What I'm going to do with all these notebooks, I have no idea. Homework perhaps?

me today

i like pink

I managed to make a couple of pink things this past week. A painting inspired (or rather copied) by this image and an apron.

photo by Jazzy K

waiting

Last weekend, there was a meet and greet for teen star, Ariana Grande at the Westin Grand in downtown Vancouver. It was scheduled for 1-4pm. Of course, Aliyah and Jasmine wanted to go and see her.  We decided to head out a bit earlier just in case there would be a long line up. So we left home at around 930am, met up with Aliyah's friend and then headed to the skytrain . We arrived but weren't sure where exactly the hotel was. We proceeded on to Robson street but were headed in the wrong direction (ok probably my fault). We turned around, went to the visitor booth and asked for directions. Oh gosh, did I feel like a tourist in the city I was born in. Anyways, whatever. We were back on track so to speak. By the time we got to the hotel , we saw what we didn't expect - a long line up. Seriously? I knew she was popular but I didn't think she was that popular. So we are here now, we might as well wait. The line was long but I thought we would be through at least by the 4pm. Nope, not even close! Of course I was bored so I took a walk around the block. Checked out HomeSense, and found and bought this book (one of the books I had posted about borrowing at the library). Then headed over to the Vancouver Public Library where they were having the final day of their book sale. I picked up Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson for 50cents. There were more but I have a lot of unread books at home and I didn't want to carry additional baggage. By 4pm, I went back to the lineup. They barely moved up. So there they were waiting... and waiting ...and waiting. I stood outside the line with some other moms, discussing the ridiculously long wait and the sacrifice we were making for our kids. At least I wasn't alone in this ordeal. Finally made it into the hotel at 7 but had to wait yet again for maybe another half an hour before getting to the front of the line and finally meeting her. So here they are, what they were waiting for ALL DAY LONG........

In the end, the girls were happy and I suppose that's what really matters. But boy, was I tired and aching the following day. Just thinking, which celebrity would I wait hours to see?

Autumn in my heart

I've always loved the fall.

 

Even though there's a chill in the air, there's always a feeling of warmth and coziness. I love seeing the trees change colours.

With this season quickly coming to an end, I thought I'd captures a few moments of  autumn 2012...

really?

I was just browsing through the Marc Jacobs site and I discovered that I have one of his dresses!!! Last monday, I went to the Value Village for their 50% off sale. I picked up this unlabeled dress . It was priced at $12.99 plus half off making it only $6.50 plus tax. It was in new condition and I really liked the print. It's a simple design and very comfortable to wear (yes, I already wore it the other day). On the Marc Jacobs site, I was just checking the dresses and I spotted this one. Hmmm, this print looks familiar. Took a closer look and by golly yes, it was the same print. Googled Night Bird dress and there was my dress!!! I like brand names and designer wear however with my current "budget" those are unaffordable (or you can just call me cheap). I hate paying full price on anything unless I absolutely love it.

Wow, I just save a bunch of money without even knowing it!

mini transformation

I have had this artwork above my bed for quite some time. The frames were originally black but I decided to spray paint them white to brighten things up. However, I was still not really satisfied. The images are lovely but I found them a bit on the gloomy side. Instead of replacing them completely, I decided to use my scrapbooking skills and do collages. I used a couple of prints from last year's Embracing the Day calendar, Crate paper - Random paper pad, mod podge and a Tim Hortons card (for smoothing the glued papers down).

 After choosing my papers and figuring out my layout, this is what I came up with:

I am pretty pleased with the results. Feels so much brighter and happier in my room...except for that pile of unfolded laundry on my bed.