Day 59 - 2010

Me!

Getting (or at least feeling) bigger by the day!

Day 58 - 2010

We are continuing to use the JUMBO GRID calendar that I buy at Michael's for $1.50 every year. It is a full two pages and each day has enough space to write all of our activities. And really, can you beat the price? It hangs in our kitchen. We also received a free datebook from church which I have been trying to use regularly. I like that it has a scripture to read and a thought of the day but it is hard to get used to using more than one tool. The spaces aren't quite big enough for everything I want to write but the size is good to tuck in my purse to take places. Bottom line? I still haven't found what I'm looking for!

Day 57 - 2010

Your bedroom... or rather Cierra's bedroom getting a new addition. We purchased a wardrobe style unit to keep her totes and life boxes in. The door is silver and matches her other shelving and her bed. Matt loved helping Drew get it together. It fit perfectly at the end of her bed.

Day 56 - 2010

Mode of transportation...

Drew recently traded in his car for a new Murano.

Day 55 - 2010

The view from our front door.

We recently got some more snow and the kids have been taking full advantage of it!

Day 54 - 2010

Something we display in our home...

This would be our art display. Our refrigerator is typically covered so the door to the basement has become our art door. I can't say how often it gets changed up but the kids are pretty good at putting up their own artwork if they feel it warrants it! Works for me!

Day 53 - 2010

Laundry

The never ending task. Thankfully Cierra helps us a lot with this. The clean laundry comes to our room where she folds and sorts into each of our baskets. What a time saver!

Day 52 - 2010

Flower or plant...

These would be the flowers that Drew gave me a few days before Valentine's Day. Yes, I have a thing about buying flowers for jacked up prices on holidays - don't bother! But it is nice to be surprised a few days before. I love the colour and they have held out well. Nice pick.

Day 51 - 2010

Our living room

Not a whole lot different from a few years ago - we did move the tv downstairs which I haven't really missed except for Superbowl Sunday. We use the space, the furniture is comfortable, love the fire (and we really are going to paint the gold grills soon - promise) - what more can you ask for? Oh - maybe a paint job? One day...

Day 50 - 2010

Your scrap area right now

Okay. I know this is BAD. Really bad. And I have no excuse really. I am in the middle of LOAD but to be honest, this is how it usually looks. I need to put some papers away and purge some the pens on the desk but honestly, the area unseen has all of the dumped piles. What you see is nothing. The piles that I put in here to have the Superbowl party a week or so ago are still there - and still haven't gotten to. It doesn't really seem to cramp my creativity, I can usually find what I need (other then the paper pile) and no one else really uses this room, so??? On a brighter note, I have purged 2-3 boxes of stuff from here in the last month and plan to do more. In time.

Day 49 - 2010

A sign or billboard...

Matt created this sign for the kids for our Saturday night group - so they would know how to find the Wii.

Day 48 - 2010

Something colourful

This is one of our Valentines' Day decor pieces for our mantel - really just some colourful Valentines Day colours. Simple

Day 47 - 2010

A pile of...

kitchen junk. My hot spot. It's just easier some days to use a basket. It only takes about 5 minutes to clear it all out but many days I just don't want to. It's starting to take over though so I will have to do it soon.

Day 46 - 2010

My comfy...

Slippers. I have to be either in bare feet or slippers. I don't know what it is but that's it. I like these type of slippers which are more like slip on shoes with the rubber soles. That way I can go out on the front step or into the garage and not be bothered by dampness. I wish I could encourage the kids more to like indoor shoes or slippers but I haven't been successful at this point.

Day 45 - 2010

A yummy treat

This is my treat drawer. I keep a few "things" for Drew and I to munch on. We do have a candy bucket that the kids would love to be able to get into on a daily basis (well they usually do anyway).

My favourite treats continue to be chocolate (be it chocolate covered almonds, skor bars, choc bars etc), sour soothers and candy like fishies or hearts that just crunch. The odd time I like suck candies too. The kids like smarties, chocolate and chewy candies when they can get them. Actually lets just say they like any candy they can get.

Day 44 - 2010

The outside of our home.

This is the view from our back door into the back yard. There isn't a whole lot to see at this point. The size of the yard is great for us - enough room for the pool, play yard, my gardens and room to play. Drew has talked of one day having an inground pool and changing the deck to a stone patio... for now we are content.

Day 43 - 2010

A picture of family photos or any group of photos.

This is the wall where we've posted our "year-end" album pages. The year Marlee was born I had the idea to make a yearly layout for all of our family (6 copies) that showed the growth of the kids over the year (showing monthly photos). The first year I gave it in a frame and then the next year I gave an album as well so that they could transfer them at year end. I have loved the results and so have all of the family. I try to do a different layout every year.

This year I decided to do that with Cierra's photos too. I have had a hard time thinking of things to give her family and hopefully they might like this as well. At the very least I know I'd like to have ones of her along with the other kids as she really is a member of this family.

I have been having a hard time finding frames that work and finally settled on these ones from IKEA. I will have to post them in another room though as they won't fit here. I hope to go back and do a layout for all of the years that Cierra has lived here full time but I will probably do the ones for the family in digital instead (I've actually already done 4 and love how they turned out - good practice for me too). Anyway - this is the current state I am at. Maybe the next photo will have them all converted and hung on the wall!

Day 42 - 2010

A street sign. Well not exactly but this is on my mind lately. It's a sign. We have never had one of these for our cars. In a way it bothers me to think that people should be more careful driving when they see that there is a baby in the car. Shouldn't we just ALWAYS be careful?

Day 41 - 2010

A place I want to go to but haven't yet.

I'm going to have to say it's the restaurant The North. It's been on my to go to list for quite a while. I hear it is quite nice but expensive. Soooo.... one of these days!

Day 40 - 2010

Family shoes

We've been trying to get into the habit of taking indoor shoes with us to more places. So far this includes church, my parents house and friends places. I personally love my slippers but also just find my feet get hot when I wear my boots all morning at church. If we keep them all in a bag they are just ready to go. I like that.

Day 39 - 2010

Favourite drink.

Right now it is Sunny D. I may have to attribute it to an actual craving. I don't know what it is but I am loving it and I know that Drew has caught the bug too. I first picked up a small bottle at the dollar store a few months ago and tried it (hadn't ever before). I really liked it and have been buying the jugs for the last 2 months. Maybe it is the memory of tang from my childhood, maybe its the pregnancy. Who knows? I prefer the reduced sugar kind and try to limit myself to 2-3 small glasses a day. I'm hoping it is better then my craving of Kit Kats with Marlee!

Day 38 - 2010

Dinner

Good old beef stroganoff. It is still my favourite and I've been making it about once every two weeks. The kids aren't major fans but I just serve each part separately and they will tolerate a bite or two of the sauce. I know they'll love it one day...

Day 37 - 2010

Something or someone that makes you smile.

I'd have to say it's the belly right now. I wish there was a way to capture the feeling of the kicking, and the fluttering - maybe not the rib pushing but you know what I mean. I still have feelings of insecurity - is it really happening? And I can only trust that everything happens for a purpose. I can't wait for this new life to be a part of our lives and I am excited to see what is in store.

Day 36 - 2010

A place you visit on a weekly basis.

This is my parents house. We have a standing dinner date every Sunday night but usually it is at our house. With the kids in skiing lessons we have been going to their house where dinner is ready (usually, LOL!) and then we can dash out right afterwards. It is a nice arrangement that lets the kids do a few extra runs after their lessons but allows us to still have family time. They don't get over to their grandparents house that often so we've all been enjoying it.

Day 35 - 2010

Something you use every day.

I recently got myself an electric toothbrush. I had been putting it off for a while because of A) the expense and B) because of the environmental issues. When I thought about the environment though I realized that I'd actually be putting less waste into the landfill this way. I do still have to charge it up but I'm trying to do it minimally and only at night - every few nights. I really like the timer feature. I know how long to brush my teeth and I find I am running the water a lot less.

Day 34 - 2010

Our refrigerator (inside and out).

Again - same fridge, just organized differently. Every few months I like to switch things around. I'd really like a few extra drawers to go in it - I just can't seem to find the right sized baskets to fit our food.

We are blessed that we seem to always have enough. We rarely throw food out and leftovers are a staple in our lives. I'd LOVE to have a clean and tidy outside door (meaning nothing on it) but it just doesn't seem realistic at this point. I'm sure if we had a stainless steel fridge and had to have it clear we'd manage but for now - this is the stage.

Day 33 - 2010

Our mailbox.

I'll admit that we don't use this one very often as we don't have mail delivered to our house but we do still find that we need one at the house for friends to pick things up. My dad made this one out of barn board a number of years ago and I still like it. There really isn't a place to hang it up though. Notice the conditino of the porch??? I don't think the kids know how to place the sleds "nicely". Instead we just have this "heap".

Day 32 - 2010

Our pantry

Not much has changed - maybe a little fuller and a little differently organized. There are still lots of labels. I like to have the snack containers where the kids can reach them - it makes for a lot less travelling for me.

February POTD Goals

In February 2007 I participated in an online class with BPS called 28 Days. It consisted of a daily photo challenge and various scrapbooking projects to do along the way - basically emphasizing (or rather encouraging us to remember) that we all could find the time to do a little bit of scrapbooking every day. Well I couldn't. I did take the photos but have only JUST NOW finished the little album I made for the class. I did do several of the layouts and projects but some just didn't interest me anyway. I was pretty happy with the results although why it took me 3+ years to finish the album is beyond me.

So, here we are 3+ years later and I am wondering if anything has changed. I dug out the daily photo challenge list and have decided to make those my photos of the day. I am not going to scrapbook them but will just use the blog as a way of presentation. We'll see how it goes!