too slow..... no patience

I have entered the official realm of digital photography - purchasing my first SLR this weekend. The Cannon XT was the camera of choice, with much debate over the XTi, but I just couldn't justify the extra cost considering I will likely not take advantage of the upgrades.

My intent was to make a lovely little post ripe with pictures, but the first attempt to upload failed and the second and third took f o r e v e r!


So I give you my dear sweet Eme after her nap... the best time for snuggles OH the SNUGGLES

The spoils of a first Easter egg hunt - full of organic yogurt covered raisins, fruit juice gummies, and raspberry yogurt covered pretzels - all a hit! And yes I can see that I am turning into my parents.... (and it is not as bad as it used to seem - love you guys!)

And finally the oblogatory self portrait that seems a must when you have a new toy to play with - and as I am an obviously available subject.

forgot to mention

• Em is sleeping throught the night again
• I purchase concealer for under my eyes to cover the signs of parenthood and bring back some of the fleeting signs of youth - no longer the spring chicken
• Em has had another hair cut this weekend, growing like a weed
• living TV free is great, now more time for the computer hee hee
• I think I might be a little smarter... just a little
  

in short

:: we have cut off our cable

:: Emelia hasn't slept through the night in a week (and we are losing our mind literally)


:: I am part of a teaching body of assistant directors for a school play with rehearsals
3 days a week

:: the sun has been shining for many days in a row and that is what is keeping us going

:: Eme got a hair cut - a few weeks ago, but news to you... a bob and so cute

:: Anna and I are on a month hiatus from spending - no new things till April 24th

:: I am still no smarter than I was before (despite the cable being cut off) Darn - I thought it might be that easy :)

I saved a worm today...

Em and I were at the park, the sun was shining the sky was blue and the air crisp. Moving from activity to activity, squishing our feet through the gravel, no cares, no worries. We made our way to the digging equipment, and practiced loading and unloading rocks with the bucket and that's when I saw him. I feel it was a him, he was wriggling and dry getting closer and closer to being scooped up indiscriminately.

Em didn't see him and darted towards the scoop, her little feet barely missing his tiny body, fighting against the gravel and yearning for the wet cool grass. My heart jumped and I started to panic. Literally, I felt that feeling of tension that happens in your chest when someone or something (usually a loved one) comes fatefully close to serious injury.

The strange thing is I hesitated, not because I didn't want to save him, he most certainly deserved it and was working hard to gain his next shot at salvation. I imagined his feeling a sense of despair at the vastness of the gravel that surrounded him like the desert, reprieve was somewhere, but he was just to small to make it alone. I wanted to help him..... but I just didn't want to touch him.

I sucked it up scooped him up, like the hands of god, and re-set the path of his life in a few seconds. How did I get here he pondered, how is it that my fortune has changed in an instant, miracles do happen. I believe!

Yup, I saved a worm and I have to say I am feeling pretty good about it.

Instead of a dream house.....

Gwen over at Muddy Yellow Dog just posted about dream homes and what hers would be like. I too could go on for hours about the ideal and mine is not to far from Gwen's... instead of a dream house though I am here to offer you a look at the inside of my cupboards.

This is not something I would normally share as they are generally in a terrible state of clutter and it would normally take me ages to find what I was looking for, even though I have a mental catalogue of everything. (No wonder I am tired a lot and have little brain power for other things if I am cluttering my brain with this kind of info.... ah I digress)

I am sharing now as FIL and I have recenlty spent a little time and money attempting to get more organized - and although I am realizing now that a before shot would highlight better out success, you can still get the idea.



My newly arranged appliance cupboard - previously these items were strewn about the kitchen in dark and hard to reach corners - and this cupboard area was a giant catch all.

This masterpiece is above my fridge - the ever underused area above the fridge with the antique china set from FIL's mom - that I have not had occasion to use, but once. It previosly took up the whole of this giant cupboard, but with a few handy shelf inserts I got it down to half and used the front for more contemporary platter storage.

And finally the "piece de resistance" our pull out pantry drawers. Literally a choir of angels sing each time we open this.... in fact the first day FIL requested I open it while having supper because it made him so happy. We are so strange. We also have a tupperware pull out drawer in the lower cupboard and, wonder of all wonders, we can actually find the lids now.

Lastly I leave you with The Emster on her new Radio Flyer Wheels. (Nice Duds hey Sar?? - look familiar?) If we could only get her to lose the soo soo. Pick your battles.

I will feel the love for my house again once the sun starts shining.

:: notable ::

There have been a lot of things happening around here lately, and most of them just seem to chalk up to living - however a few of the more notable occurrences are:

:: we have decided to cancel our planned trip to the UK - it was not an easy decision and one that was made for us, by unexpected expenses, those that come with owning a house, and although we could have put the trip on the credit card, it seems too daunting already, the idea of having to pay it off.

:: alas it was a lovely idea and fantastic while it lasted and not all is lost - Mom, Dad, Phil, Anna, Eme and I will be trying to plan a trip together in lieu, somewhere much closer to home.

:: I have been struck with illness as of late - going on two weeks now with a chest infection and cough to accompany. It is definitely on the mend, but I am getting rather sick of the tension that is resulting from the nagging hack - not to mention the $100 plus inhaler that the Dr. prescribed, makes one appreciate health and alternative medicine - that is another story all together.

:: Emelia is still amazing me with her constant ability to master tasks with one observation, making us acutely aware of everything we do, and sometimes too late and after the fact. She has many words in her repertoire - the usual Mama and Daddy, yup and NO ( a much favoured word) duck, truck, eooww (the sound a cat makes), vroom (car and truck and airplane noise), juice, tees (please), keys, tea, hot, tee (tree), down, uh uh uh (anything that is wanted immediately) - and I am sure more that I can't think of at the moment, but you get the idea.

:: spring break is coming and I am very ready for the break, or should I say change of pace - looks good for Phil to get some time of then as well, so it will be much needed and enjoyed trio time.

:: probably more to say, as it has been so long - but I am getting overtired and need to head for the pillow - if you have unanswered questions or queries, make a comment and I will post you and answer.

:: XO

I wonder where she gets that cheesy grin from????

Here are a few of the shots that we managed to get yesterday while doing chores in the yard, and the last one is Eme's new favorite passtime... her daycare has taken to sending her home with fountains growing out of the top of her head. I must admit though - the double pony is very cute.



Everything is CHEESE these days..... I guess it goes well with the HAM that Phil and I are dishin' up.

We have had a few problems recently with our computer (and our digital camera...) things are somewhat better, but if you know us can you send us an e-mail so we can get your address again as they were all lost as a result of a fried hard drive.

XO.

TRUE LOVES... british crisps

A friend is currently visiting the "big island" and I am not reffering to Hawaii. And so I thought is appropriate to wax poetic about something dear to both of us....

The British crisp - no this is not just another potato chip this is a thing of wonder.

I could literally eat bags of these things, and as per a much beloved movie noted (although at the time they were talking about The Colonel's Chicken) they "have an addictive chemical in them that makes you crave it fort nightly - you smart ass!"

They are "crisp" no doubt, and light and perfectly seasoned and never burnt and "wafer thin" which is just so much more appealing.

In fact I recall that this was one of the strongest cravings I had while pregnant with Eme. Phil happened to be in the UK at the time and so it worked extremely well to have him import several bags of the salt and vinegar variety for me. In fact I remember he met me off the plane with a bag in his hand - ready and anticipating that he would get a much longer greeting if he got that out of the way. In fact between us (3 of us at the time, as Anna was here too) we mad short work of what he brought and so asked a friend that had not come home yet to bring in some more! How pathetic is that. But what a pregnant woman wants - a pregnant woman gets!

To be fair Anna and Phil had a bag or two each and soon realized it would be a far greater punishment than death that would meet he who dared deprive me of my crisps!

And so with that in mind I leave you with this.... but an intageable and tempting reminder.

Does it count if you think about posting?

Just wondering if I can get credit for thinking about my blog - if that is the case then I am the best blogger ever.

I don't think it works like that.....

A few favorites from this years festive season... no one can deny the cuteness.

TRUE LOVES....

:: TEA ::


warm and inviting
presented in tea cups with stories in abundance
coating the insides
and warming the soul
solving problems
and curing what ails you
with milk and sugar
straight up
or with friends
inviting a treat
requiring a sit down
a rest
a breath.

Expanding Ones Attributes

It has been a long time since my last post and so to be sure that this is not too boring I shall use the opportunity to answer a "tag" that was passed to me by Muddy Yellow Dog.

:: 6 WEIRD THINGS ABOUT ME ::

1:: I will not leave the house without putting on mascara. I know it sounds vain (and there has been the odd exception), but as a rule I can't see myself the same way without it, so on it goes.

2:: I collect all manner of things - and my husband thinks all of this behaviour is weird, but the strangest thing I tend to collect is bizarre and borderline, well actually sometimes beyond tacky printed fabric - and I can never think of anything to do with it. And so it sits in large bins in my downstairs.

3:: I think that my dead great grandmother is my Guardian Angel. I have felt her presence and can smell her from time to time. (the strongest I ever felt her was after a near disastrous car accident when a Jeep swerved across the road and hopped the meridian sliding within a foot of my door - thanks Nana Payne!)

4:: Despite the fact that my husband and I can rarely communicate about anything without having to clarify the other persons meaning (we speak very differently) we often have the same thought at the same time which is confirmed most often by me stating the thought or asking a directly linked question - this happens on subject matter that is unrelated to prior conversations and can occur when we have not talked for hours)

5:: I hum incessantly. Sometimes it feels a little OCD-ish. I am not always aware of it and sometimes it is inappropriate. I can be caught at any given moment humming up a storm and I will often sing requests, and give mundane directives in my own little tunes.

6:: I was having trouble coming up with this last one - certainly not because there aren't enough weird things about me to talk about, but sometimes they are hard to think of, as I have grown quite accustomed to my own weirdness. So I asked Phil - and he thinks that 1) the fact that I used to eat "nit wit balls" as candy when I was a child on Saltspring Island is weird (very healthy balls made of carob, honey, peanut butter, sesame seed etc... you get the picture) and
2) my obsession with little white buns, cranberry sauce and white turkey the day after Christmas and Thanksgiving.

There you have it.... please feel free to inform me of any weird things you have noticed about me, who knows I might not even know about it yet. There is always room for expanding ones attributes n'est pas?

XO