The week

We've had a crazy, but fun week...

I got back from New York, we got our new Nissan Quest Van registered, inspected and now to get the full insurance on it this week. We drove it down to Kananaskis for a weekend away that Trent's work put on as a wind up celebration for his team. It was gorgeous there. It was pouring rain all the time, and those trees and mountains and puddles were awesome. I could have played all day. :) We stayed at the Delta Lodges at Kananaskis, which was the most family friendly place I'd ever been to. I'll post more about it later, but wow, they really catered to families, and we will definately return.

Now we're getting our Pathfinder ready to sell this week. I love this truck so much, I will actually be a little sad to let it go, but the van is more functional for us at this time. My Pathfinder was so great on the winter roads out here, it was the best thing ever when I needed to feel more confident driving to and from work last year on those rural highways. :) I'm going to get the kids to help me with the inside and out, it should be fun :)

Anyone need a gorgeous 06 Pathfinder?

New York Trip

So one day home and all the family drama is still in full swing. whatever. My dad already has an offer on the house after the first day being on the market. We'll see what pans out. My dad is being a tyrant and totally disrespectful to my brother, kids and sister and spouses. First he badmouths them for not helping. Then he's yelling and screaminig at them while they're trying to help. You can't win. All my childhood memories of that stuff is coming back swiftly. clearly. you're damned if you do.. damned if you don't. whatever.


Copied from my bc babes forum as I told my great friends about my trip :)

My trip to NY was awesome. Lorena broke the news to me that she was newly pregnant, by some fling she had. This is another story. Lorena told me about her new pregnancy on the first day. She's very nauseous and sick all day and night, and very tired within a few hours of doing anything. That was a bit disappointing because I spent most days on my own...and even the mornings I spent with her I found her quite moody and unpredictable, so it was like walking on eggshells a bit. I'm glad I ventured on my own...there was no way I was going to nap in a hotel room at 1 in the afternoon! I was already embarassed to be crashing in bed at 9pm! But that was after walking around for a good 10 hours each day.

macy's was HUGE!!!!! Oh my god I cannot believe how many floors of shoes and clothing......

The city is gorgeous...old buildings, rickety buildings and cobblestones in places. The little grocery stores that are crammed with narrow aisles... the many different ethnic groups everywhere. The locals sitting on the brownstone building steps and laughing and chatting (just like in the movies!) Everything you see in the movies or tv shows...it's just like it!

Central park was super - all the huge tall buildlings surrounding it, and the trees camouflaging the city. People are really really nice there, very polite and friendly. Fast pace, but I didn't meet one negative person. I even had a very clutzy moment in the subway system where my ticket flew across the turnstsyles...the lady picked it up and handed it to me. I got stuck in the turnstyle And then my ticket wouldn't work because I had just swiped it prior to getting stuck in the turnstyle...the same lady saw me having troubles, and came back and swiped her card for me and told me to have a good day...don't worry about it! So cool.

The bagel shop we ate at most mornings was a typical NY deli/Jewish bakery place...the 70 year old man hit on me each day The first morning we arrived he walked right up to me (cross eyes) and told me how beautiful I was and asked me if I wanted to join his naked volleyball team (with his one eye crossed the whole time, so hilarious!). Then he screamed out to his counterpart - - Mike! Call the Rabbi, I'm getting married! I got a daily bantering from those two, and it made for a lot of fun

Shopping was amazing...they had so many shops, but to tell the truth, I came home with two pairs of shoes and that's it. Everything I wanted, they didn't have my size...everything seemed picked over. Shoes - all the 9-10's were gone, and the 12-14's, L-xl's didn't exist from so many people being there, I guess. It was so busy everywhere. DSW had a line up of 47 people when I was there on Monday. It was PACKED everywhere, so part of me not getting alot of goods was the busy-ness just wore me out and put me out of the trying on mood. That and the size thing being not available. But I was happy to just walk around and explore.

Soho was proabably my favourite place it was so beautiful...very expensive elite stores, but really amazing architecture and feel to the neighbourhood. I went to Chelsea (very nice too), Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy (very little) and downtown by ground zero. Uptown and midtown were where I did most exploring and shopping. Union Square... Our hotel was midtown. TimesSquare was a 15 minute walk from the hotel. It was busy busy busy everywhere!

We went and saw a broadway show called Wicked - it was super too. It was basically the story about the wicked witch growing up, and how she became wicked.. Very cool

Chinatown was one of my favourite adventures! Canal Street is where the asian jewelers, pashmina, purses, etc kiosks were. Tons of them. You'd walk by (with the other zillions of people) and the asian vendors were muttering quietly coach coach, tiffany, prada, rolex... and they'd lead you through their little "store" and near the back or side was a hidden door behind a wall of hanging goods, and they'd lead you behind and up some rickety narrow stairs into this closet like display of all the illegal goods. I went to about 3 of these (along with some others...I kind of just followed people so I wasn't alone) and then another lady led me to a van on the street and she had a makeshift operation in her minivan. I faked a nausous/hot feeling in that circumstance as I felt uneasy being in there by myself i nthe back of the van. It was wild! So I fed the illegal industry and bought a coach bag in black (large carly signature bag in black) for $40. Then I appeased my guilt of buying illegally by buying a similar, obvious and legal knockoff one with C's and A's on it, but the pattern was black/silver/zebra/grey's and slightly smaller. It was so much fun, I was starting to get very serious about the purse shopping, I almost bought another 2, and then talked myself out of them as I'm usually a one bag owner anyways. I don't know if I'll even wear the two I bought, but it was just the whole experience of being led somewhere sneaky It was os fun!

Our hotel was great. I would recommend it to anyone. the room was small, yes, but the bathrooms were really clean and the showers were awesome! In the room, there was a sink, mirror etc to do some stuff if you needed, but it was perfect for us. We had bunk beds...and on each bunk you had your own little tv that swung out and you could plug in earphones to listen and watch what you want. It was actually one of my favourite parts of the evening after a long day...I went and bought yummy snacks and drinks and had a little party in my cave while watching the Kardashians marathons each night.

It rained most of the time, we had one gorgeous day though, and one beautiful morning where we went to central park. Then rain the rest of the time, but that was fine. How can you complain about rain when you are in such a great city?

Dear Mom

I still miss you. I think of you every day and wish you were around to give me your take on things. Even if I didn't always agree. I wish you were here to see the boys and how incredible they have become. I wish I could hear your stories of being a mom, and any struggles and worries you had as we grew up. I wish you could see with eyes of awe, the different milestones Ethan and Cameron are achieving. Just like I am. I wish I could share with you my life as a mother, and share motherhood with you. I miss you so much. I know Dad is thinking of you today too...and remembering how dear and important you were to our family.

We miss you forever.
Happy Mothers Day where ever you may be.

Sadness

My dad has decided to list the family home and sell it. He has bought a new apartment. I'm happy that he's doing this for him, the house is way to big for him. It will be so much easier for him to travel etc. He is giving the dog to my sister's boyfriend's parents. That will be a big toll on Dad. I wish the timing were better as we were interested in purchasing it. I understand that he can't wait forever, and who knows, maybe this is a good thing, that perhaps I shouldn't be buying it, and maybe waiting for better things to come along, like a better home, and better timing...or a better job offer/location (halifax still dangles)

I'm just feeling quite sad about it all..the memories of my growing up there...my dad is feeling really frustrated and overwhelmed about all the clearing out, gardening, painting, organizing, and I'm sure memories that will be left behind from him and my mom, our family home... living there for 38 years. He needs to get the house ready for selling and for moving. I just wish it wasn't so quick. So I need to get out there and help him clear out. My bro and sister are there, but we all need to help out, and my bro isn't the best at that kind of stuff, and K and Dad fight alot.

My life has had so many huge emotional swings to it lately. This one is making me feel pretty awful though. I knew it would come, I just didn't expect it to be a hard one.

Worm Composter

I finally got a chance to empty out and sort through my worm composter today. I think it's called harvesting the compost. Anyways... I dumped the bin on to the ground on newspaper, and made a couple of tall mountains with the stuff. The worms hate the sunlight, so they dig down deep and then you can skim off all the compost. only thing is, mine was a bit clumpy (too wet) and so quite a few of the clumps hate wee baby worms in them, so I was meticulously crumbling and sorting through them.
My husband would roll my eyes at me if he saw me trying to save all the baby worms *lol*

So now, I have 3 icecream pails full of compost for the garden! But before I unload it all, I'm going to take it to Ethan's class, and the kids can have a go through the compost and see if they can dig up any of the hiding worms. I know there's a ton of them left in there, babies especially...towards the end I got fed up of all the sorting, and started to get lazy ;-)

Tomorrow, I'm bringing it in for Ethan's class, and he's going to tell/share about the composter, and we're going to build a new one for his class. The kids will try and identify some of the almost composted things (peels, carrot stick, newspaper shreddings) and find some of the worm eggs, as well as big worms and baby worms...and the little microbial bugs in there.

It's either going to be a hit, or a big scary miss. :)

Bargello Quilt Top!!

OMG my bargello quilt top is almost done, and I want to photographic so bad, but Trent has the camera right now!!! ARGH!!! I may have to figure out how to take a pic with my cell phone and download it to here. I have no idea how to do that. It takes me 10 minutes to figure out how to take a picture from thatthing! :)

Bargello looks really stunning!