On a scale of 1 to Ottawa...this is worse!!!

Does anyone even read this anymore? Since I switched to my card making blog, I hardly ever post here anymore...it's not that I don't have anything to say...it's just that most of what I DO have to say relates to card making!

However...this has NOTHING to do with card making, so I thought I might as well post it here...as I type...with one eye swelled SHUT!

So yes...on a scale of 1 to Ottawa, this is much, MUCH worse!

Let's go back about 19 years...

The summer before I was married, I was working for a company that decided to implement a Point of Sale system in their stores. If you haven't been around long, I know it's hard to believe that there was a world before scanners and automated everything, but trust me...it existed.

Anyway...I spent the summer travelling and planning our wedding on weekends...that's a WHOLE OTHER STORY for another day...

While I was travelling (and living out of a suitcase - UGH!) I ate out A LOT! One evening, one of the ladies that worked in the store I was training on the new system invited me for dinner. I thought this was just FABULOUS as I wouldn't have to eat another restaurant meal all by myself.

I didn't know it at the time, but she had cats. I'm allergic to cats...VERY allergic to cats...as in get me an inhaler before I have an asthma attack allergic...yeah...not fun.

So, I went to dinner and we chatted and I had a great time with her family...until my eyes started to itch...and my nose started to get stuffed...and my breathing became laboured. And that's when I discovered she had cats. Well...I got the heck outta there in a hurry, went back to my hotel and took some meds. Of course, by then it was TOO LATE!!!

The fluid had started to build up in my eyes and by the next morning (despite the meds!) they were pretty much swollen shut. I had to wear sunglasses for three days straight, around the clock so I wouldn't scare little old ladies and small children. It was THAT bad!

Flash forward to last night...I was out with some girlfriends and had the same reaction. However, there were no cats to be seen. There was a dog, but I've been with this dog before, had him lick my face and snuggled with him...the whole nine yards. And besides, he's a shit-zhu. The friend that owns him is EXTREMELY allergic to both cats and dogs. This dog LIVES with her and she has NO problems. So...it wasn't the dog.

So...by the time I left the party, I had to drive with the one eye almost closed - goodbye depth perception - and just barely made it home, driving MUCH more slowly than I should have been on the highway. In hindsight, I should have taken a side road, but I wasn't exactly thinking clearly.

By this morning (having taken both allergy meds and ibuprofen to help bring down the swelling), I'm working with a left eye that is just barely able to open to about a 1/4". This is NOT COOL!!! I have a class to teach (card making, of course) to some young ladies on Sunday and can't do it looking like this! My hope is to be able to postpone the class...or at the VERY least that the swelling goes down enough for me to be able to function at least with a pair of shades.

So yes...on a scale of 1 to Ottawa? This is much, MUCH WORSE!!

A Two Picture Day

I decided on protein for breakfast this morning and this is what I made:

Scrambled eggs with some left over Pico de Gallo and a small side of guacamole - YUM! Next time I think I'll try it an omelet and slice the avocado.

On another note, it seems that little stinker Whiarton Willie must have been right and we are indeed getting another 6 weeks of winter. This is what greeted me outside my window this morning:

My friend Karin said she heard the weather man say we were supposed to get about 1 to 3 centimeters. Clearly he needs to go back to weather school, because there was AT LEAST that much on the ground when I took the pic and it's STILL falling 5 hours later!

I'm hoping my friend Kim really did see that robin the other day and that this is just some cruel joke!

Hope you're enjoying the weather wherever you are! Thanks for stopping by!

25 Random Things...

This has been going around Facebook for the past couple of weeks, but in case you're not on there, here it is:


1. I was born and raised in Montreal.

2. I can speak French and English fluently and don't have an accent in either language. That means if I'm speaking French, there is no way that you could tell that I was raised in an English family.

3. I went to two different high schools. I chose to switch because the second one's motto was "Dedicated to the encouragement of Excellence". I know, weird.

4. I went to university in Montreal. When I was there, I paid just $500 for each of my first two years tuition. My last year cost me $1000 tuition because the government lifted the tuition freeze imposed in 1969. Quebec is STILL the cheapest place in the country to attend university.

5. I went to university because I could and majored in Spanish. I had visions of being the Canadian ambassador to Spain - HA! I got what I really wanted though...to be a wife and a mom.

6. I moved to Mississauga the day after I wrote my last university exam.

7. I've never lived alone. I went from my parent's house to live with DH.

8. I lived in sin for 4 months before I got married.

9. I have a tattoo that I got because my girlfriend had one and I was jealous. Some guy named Pluto did it for me. I'm pretty sure he was a Hell's Angel, but he did a great job. I want another one.

10. I've always wanted three children...yes, always - got 'em!

11. I've been in all the provinces except for Saskatchewan and Manitoba. My favourites are by far the ones on the East Coast. I haven't seen any of the territories.

12. My DH proposed to me over a clean car...remind me to tell you the story.

13. DH and I were married by Banns, not by license.

14. I spent the entire summer before my wedding traveling for the company where I was working in order to train people on a new cash register system. I had to plan the wedding exclusively on weekends.

15. I postponed my honeymoon for two weeks in order to open the flagship store in Montreal for said company, because I was the only at head office that was trained on the new system and could speak French.

16. DH and I honeymooned in Disney World and I have been hooked ever since.

17. DH and I got new wedding bands for our 10th anniversary. They have Mickey heads on them (see # 16)

18. DH and I have two children with congenital heart conditions (I HATE the word "defect"). It's NOT genetic.

19. I have more online friends than IRL friends. I'm cool with that because they're all AWESOME!

20. I met most of my scrapping buddies online before I met them IRL - how cool is that???

21. The week after 9/11 I flew to Sault Ste. Marie. All my friends thought I was nuts, but I figured it was the safest time to fly.

22. DH and I still celebrate the anniversary of the day we started dating - Feb. 28th, 1986. It works out perfectly as it is almost 6 months to the day of our wedding anniversary. It's kinda cool to have an anniversary twice a year. We always go to the Keg.

23. I have enough SB paper to scrapbook every single photo I have printed (not ones still on computer) and not run out - SCARY!

24. I took 500 pics of DD before she turned 2 - YIKES!

25. My youngest DS had three open heart surgeries before he was 5. He's not done.

Thanks for stopping by!

Battling a NASTY cold - UGH!

So...it started on Sunday with a bit of a tickle in my throat. I gargled with salt water. Problem solved, right? NOT!

On Monday it started...congestion - ICK! By Tuesday, I was having to take drugs for it (Tylenol cold day AND night) and had entered what I call the "shoot me now" stage of the cold. Not good.

Yesterday was a fairly good day...the congestion had left my head and I could actually function. But then yesterday afternoon, the whole thing went "upper respiratory".

So now, I'm coughing and hacking my way through the day...it's nuts! Not like I have time to be sick for heaven's sake!

On another note, Jonathan was asked to go to the "tee grab" at the Argo's game tomorrow night. We had an opportunity near the end of August, but unfortunately there was an "incident" (read: I dropped Jonathan on his head when I tripped while carrying him) and he wasn't able to go on to the field. So, we're trying again this Friday.

On a creative note, Saturday is world card making day, so I hope to have LOTS of goodies to share with you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Word...

...on the street that is!

We had a GREAT time today!

We headed out just before 10 a.m., which was a good thing, because as we approached downtown, we began to see traffic...lots and LOTS of traffic...and blocked exits...ALL the ones we could have taken to reach our destination.

So...here's what we did...

We had to go ALL THE WAY to the end of the Gardiner, turned left on Carlaw and then left on Eastern again. Eastern became Front Street at which point we followed it along to Yonge and turned right. We had to go up Yonge quite a way before we found a spot where we could actually CROSS Bay Street. Lo and behold, our chance appeared (coincidentally) at Elm. We turned on Elm so we could park at the Hospital for Sick Children. On Sundays the parking is CHEAP ($6.50) and all the money goes to research at the hospital...so it's a win-win situation. (edit: the money from the parking goes to research at the hospital every day...not just Sunday - OOPS!)

It took us about an hour and a quarter to get downtown...it didn't even take me that long when we went down for Jonathan's photo shoot on Thursday and we were driving in rush hour traffic - YIKES!

So, we parked the car and headed out of the hospital...all the while giving Lauren's friend Heather the equivalent of a "tour" as she had never been there before.

We walked up University Ave. from the hospital to Queen's Park, pointing out all the hospitals that were there: Mount Sinai (where Jonathan was born), Toronto General (where Lauren and Jonathan will go once they are 18) and Princess Margaret. We also pointed out where I went for my bi-weekly appointments with the high risk OB's near Mount Sinai. Scott remembered pushing me along the under ground tunnels between Mount Sinai and Sick Kids...there are a LOT of memories in downtown Toronto!

We all just love going to Word on the Street! Scott and I like to people watch and see which bargains there are to be had...the kids are all about trying to see how much money they can get us to spend.

The boys (Scott included) got some graphic novels, Lauren got herself some chick magazines and a book on Pirates and I got a new cookbook - WOOHOO! Heather picked up a couple of books too.

Just before we were done for the day, Scott and Colin stopped in one last time at a booth where Colin wanted a Star Wars Clone Wars graphic novel and Scott looked at some other things too.

As Scott was browsing, I snapped this:


I just LOVE that they all like to read!

Then we headed back towards the hospital. We wanted to get some coffee (Starbucks) and found one with a patio outside of Toronto General Hospital. So, we all enjoyed some drinks and snacks and on our way back to the car, I spied this:


and had to snap a pic!

Hope you all had a stellar day! Thanks for stopping by!

It's busy around here!

I started working on my bookmark yesterday and it's about 1/2 constructed - LOL!

I wanted to attach it to a card so that there would be a small "gift" with the card, but that is only 1/2 way done too - UGH!

Since I already had out my Buckaroo Blue and Four Seasons DSP out, I decided to use that...so far so good...just not done!

In other news, the school routine seems to be really sinking in, which is GOOD! I've even got Colin making his bed every day without having to bug him...too much. Jonathan springs out of bed in the morning and makes his bed before he even leaves the room.

So far, there hasn't been any rushing around in the morning...the kids know they have to be ready to walk out the door with teeth brushed, dressed to shoes, lunch made and back packs ready before they can have any electronic privileges. That seems to be working out well too!

That's about it for now...life is good...though a little hectic sometimes, but definitely GOOD!

I need to get some chores done and then just MAY have time to stamp a bit before it's time to pick Jonathan up at the bus stop and head off to cooking school. Hoping to have something to share with you later.

Thanks for stopping by!

YIKES! September 21st?

Clearly I need to spend a little bit more time updating my blog. You think???

Hmmm...so, I've been doing some more digi scrapping - here is my very own ATC:


And I've also been making cards. Here's one of my more recent creations (well, more recent than September 21st anyway - LOL!):


Other than that, I have been hanging out at the Hospital for Sick Children with Jonathan after his open heart surgery and getting ready for Christmas. SO much to do and SO little time!

I'm off to make some more cards! Enjoy your day/evening (depending on where you are reading from!