Halloween

Well, I've had it really easy the last few years with Halloween.  My kids are so easy going, and really don't take costuming too seriously.   

This year, Ethan wanted to be a dinosaur.  We couldn't find any at the stores, other than the cutesy baby/toddler ones.   Then, as easy going as he is, suggested an animal.   Meh.  

So I went to the fabric store and found a so-so pattern for a dinosaur costume.  Then I found wonderful (and cheap) green fabric and scaley fabric.   I'm building the costume now, and it's tricky. 

It's revived my love of sewing garments...I used to sew alot in my teens, really well.   It's also reminded me of how much I hate cutting out pattern tissue and fabric, and marking the fabric.   But the whole building process is so much fun.

The body of the costume is done, including the scaley spine.  Now onto the head, feet and hands, and I will reveal the product soon.  Obviously before Halloween.

The best reward of all is Ethan.   He is just beaming when he tries on the costume, and loves his tail and his spine.   And it is not even close to being done.   Can't wait to see his expression when it's all done.

Although quilting is still my favourite...I have a desire to sew a winter coat for myself.   I may just sneak that in.

Shreddies and the NEW diamond Shreddies.

I loved Shreddies as a kid.  Remember the 100% whole wheat squares cereal that would eventually mush up if you left them too long in the milk? I still remember waking up extra early on Saturday mornings to watch the Jetsons, poured myself a huge bowl of Shreddies and piled a layer of sugar on top.    Loved loved loved them.

Now, Shreddies has a new marketing campaign which I think is the cutest and cleverest thing...they have now come out with "diamond" shaped Shreddies.   They haven't changed at all.  They're just doing a silly spin.

As I was walking around Zellers today, I had a good giggle about the newest gimmick - The new and improved Diamond Shreddies COMBO pack!  You get 1/3 of the regular shreddies combined with the diamond shreddies in the box!! OMG I just loved the cleverness of this marketing!!  

For any of my American readers (do I have any?)  Shreddies appear to be only a Canadian cereal (kind of like ketchup chips)

www.diamondshreddies.ca

Getting the urge

Isn't it funny how once the weather starts to change, the hibernation and cozy mode sets in?   I feel the urge to quilt again.  finally. 

Well, it was a hellish month of September so no desire there...

Ethan's doing well!! It's been a week of more success!  I'm so proud of him!  

Woohoo!!!

Four out of Five days without any major outbursts... a few grumbles, but no "scenes"!!!

The kicker.

One of the forefront thoughts that always come to my head.  

I've taught for 10 years, 5 of them in one of the toughest schools in the lower mainland.  Chairs thrown, lockdown mode, crazy maniacal children upsets.   I can handle all those situations and even help them improve.  But my own kid?  I can't "cure". 

   Maybe he knows me so well, he just knows what buttons to push.   The attachment apparantly is better than I thought. 

I'm a teacher, I've been trained in this!  I have read hundreds of discipline and child development psychology books.  How can this happen????

Some progress

Major tantrum about going to school on Monday again.   Totally blew me away as he was totally calm, ready to go, no warning signs except for a small "my tummy doesn't feel good".   

He ran into the playground and played with his friends, ran together with his friends to the school, where he put on his brakes and froze as soon as he passed the bootroom.   I was able to walk/drag him to his coat hook where he firmly planted himself in his no position, in his ready to fight to the bitter end attitude.  I of course had to leave, and the EA took over, as I heard the screams echo'ing down the hall.   

I called the school 45 minutes later to see if he had calmed down.   As soon as the secretary answered, I could hear my angel, er jekyl screaming in the background.    Apparantly he calmed down sometime after that.

I finally got hold of the new counsellor that started on Friday.  She touched base with me and will be touching base with Ethan and having a few chats, etc with him.   She assured me that it is not much to worry.  

ah, yeah.

Anyways, the past few days seemed to be pretty good and here's hoping that the rest of the week is as successful.

It's been emotional and stressful, and most of all difficult to hold myself together and not shed any of my anxiousness/stress/frustration on him.

The good part of this all, and yes, there is good stuff.   He is fine after he settles down and is as happy as a clam afterschool with all his friends on the playground .  It's as if nothing occurered in the a.m. and he's his happy go lucky self. 

I love him to bits, but good god  I need to get my hair done after this - the grey's are popping up everywhere!!!

More...

Things are getting a little better.  DH had worked from home a few mornings and we all went into school together.  That made last half of last week, and Monday/Tuesday successful with no probs.  Yesterday was allright, as it was Cam's first day of playschool, and Ethan was excited for him, knowing that it was in the building next to his school.   Today went fine, but the tears and a little reluctance appeared.  No anger or physical reactions though, other than a little sadness.  

Tomorrow is Friday and family night.  If tomorrow goes well, Ethan's family night is at a local play place in the afternoon/dinner rather than the movie night.   I think he's very excited about it, and it's a reward for getting through the last week and a half without the big outbursts.

Grade 1

is not going well.   Major anxiety, fear and anger about going.  Full blown tantrums getting ready, on the way, and entering the school.  "cool down" in the office like a caged animal.

in front of everyone. 

moms trying not to look at me, or looking at me with that "i've been there look".  oh no you haven't.  have you had your 61 pound kid physically out of control in your death grip and raged and screaming that he wants to go home in front of 30-40 odd parents and their kids in the hallways?   I trying to hold my head up high, and sucking back the stinging tears hoping they won't overflow for everyone to see...walking as quickly as I can without drawing any further attention to myself. 

 only one day without resistance, the day he figured his tooth was loose.

i totally lost control today.  I screamed. loud.  it wasn't pretty.   i even phoned my husband and screamed a voicemail to him.   i removed any bit of interesting things from his room.   I told him he would stay home today and remain in his room. no toys. no fun sheets, no nothing.   about 15 minutes later he decided he wanted to go to school again.  

it's been 7 days of school.  5 of which have been horrific.  i've tried every ounce of life in me to remain calm. today i could not.

oh no folks.  this isn't a cute and soft crying boy.   it's ugly.  and it better stop soon.   my husband has finally checked in and will be accompanying me and the boy to school every day until it ends. i'm done.

The School Year is about to begin...

It hasn't even started yet, and I'm missing him already. I'm hoping there's no anxiety on his part and that he enjoys his new class.  He will be gone for such a long day. School starts at 8:30 and ends at 3:30 here.   He will be tired.  His little brother will miss him so much.  I'm going to miss him. I hope he makes some good friends and they will accept him for his gentle nature and his kind and caring ways.  He's not a rough and tumble boy.  He's very empathetic, cares for animals, environment and has not an aggressive bone in his body.   Even though I have Cameron at home, it won't be the same.  We're such a team right now, and we are always snuggling and playing and laughing and doing things together.   I'm going to miss you big guy.  But I know you're going to love school... 

I know this is an older picture, but it so captures your warmth, smile and love of life...

Fabric Bargains....

Anyone who shops at a quilt shop knows that the fabrics range from 13-18 dollars per meter here in Canada.   I'm in the middle of doing  a scrappy quilt like this one  except mine is in bright bold black and white, with fushia, greens, reds....stay tuned for the results.  Should be very bright.  Anyways, as scrappy as it is, I didn't have enough fabric, so I had to buy a couple pieces to get me through.

As I was shopping I gravitated to the bargain corner, and lo and behold they had Denyse Schmidt fabrics, Moda, Free Spirit fabrics galore... for $5 a meter!  Oh my gosh, I was in heaven, and also in confusion.  Anyone who knows me knows that I have a hard time making a decision.  So this is what I picked up today.  I'm going back this week sans kidlets to do some more thorough shopping there again.  I couldn't decide on the DS fabrics, so I resisted and just bought these for now...

   

Meet our new robot

Isn't he gorgeous?  

After living with my MIL for two weeks and watching hers magically transform her floors, and hearing how the rest of the inlaws have one,  I went out and purchased one.  myself.  A totally expensive, frivolous and so exciting purchase!   He's wonderful! Charming, he plays a tune when he starts, when he docks back at his station.   He whizzes around table legs, under my kitchen table and through all the obstacles of my main floor.  He does carpet too, but I'm just using him now for my hardwood/tile and floor mats.   He is wonderful.  Handy, tidy and and independent thinker.

As I said to my friends...how come I don't excited about designer clothes and shoes.  I could easily buy a coach bag or a pair of manolo blahniks (sp) but I'd rather have this dude.  Much more gratifying.

He's so wonderful! Did I say that already?  The kids love him too....see the dinosaurs going for a ride?

Highly recommended if you don't have one. 

Afterthoughts...

So after not much contemplation, I'm going to keep my blog open for now.  It doesn't do much harm to keep it open, and when I feel like posting, I will. 

 I think I really needed my vacation to recharge, and rethink things.  I'm coming down from the major stresses of possibly moving cross country (thank god that's over with), moving to another city in this province,  to buying a tent trailer(not this year), to selling our suv, to mil with cancer, to dad moving house, to buying a minivan, to major meltdowns in my 5 year old (which have now subsided).  Some days, I honestly was so thankful to have the internet and blogs to read and escape in.  Other days, I felt so totally wasteful of time, nothing accomplished.   Yet, it really helped me get through some of the monotony of the everyday stuff being alone with my kids and all the heavy thinking to do in my adult life.  

Yes, I'll blog, no I won't stress when I don't have time to blog or anything really to say.

Like now.

I'd like to introduce a new family member to you....I'll post about it later.

Back

Back from our trip... I'll be shutting down my blog in a week or so after I figure out how and what to do with all my posts.  Try and print it somehow.   I may start another one for my quilts, as I frequently read and follow a few quilter bloggers whom I'm sure would like to reciprocate the read. 

I'll be on facebook, and check up on that regularily...as well as my bcbabes who know most of my what's happenings anyways.   

My goal is to slim down my blog reads, my time personally blogging, and my forum reads.   considering withdrawing my subscription to a parenting forum here in my area as well, as I just need to scale down. 

Look who turned three years old on the 17th!

A cool drink at the beach
 At the outdoor ice cream shop!
Jumping Jupiter!  he wasn't even afraid!
Happy Birthday to you sweet pumpkin!
Big brother showing Cam the ropes!

Adios Amigos...

Going on my vacation....  hope everyone stays happy and healthy.

Contemplating shutting down my blog and keeping the millions of thoughts trapped in my head, rather than in cyberspace.

Computers are such a time waster and one of the things I intend to do is pare down my blog reading and forum readings.  It just zaps too much time, and before you know it, time has flown by and accomplishments, or lack thereof, have to.

I'm becoming old fashioned with my age...trying to simplify, declutter, etc.  I need to renovate myself.

Dinosaur Quilt

Well, it's probably the easiest scrap quilt, no pattern quilt that I could make, yet it took me forever.   I had purchased the dinosaur fabric on my New York trip, from The City Quilter.  Only bought 1/2 yard of each.  I was so overwhelmed with all the gorgeous stuff, that I really didn't have a plan for a quilt.  So I thought 1/2 yard would suffice.   I probably needed more for a more substantial pattern, but I just concocted this on my own. 

I took lots of time off from quilting.  Had some weeks of no production at all. Procrastinating, summer things to do. But it's done.   It's not perfect, but the boys adore it.     I used the ultra soft minky fabric on the back which is so cuddly and warm.  There is minky fuzz everywhere in my sewing space right now, which I'll have to tackle with the vacuum soon.  I used minky for the binding as well, which wasn't as difficult as I thought.    This was also a great project to practice my meandering stitch on, as if it's not perfect the kids don't care, right?

Also, this was my first project using spray adhesive to baste the layers together.  OMG I will never go back!  I had no puckers at all, and no problems with shifting.  It was awesome. 

still trying to tackle tension problems with the bobbin thread tension at times.   Sometimes, just stopping, snipping, and restarting helped.  I think a bit of it may be just my speed and the rate at which I move my fabric.  Still working on that.  

I'm debating washing the quilt right away...I love the look of the puckery character, but I'm just enjoying and feeling proud of the work I did right now.

Still two more quilts to machine quilt, but I have an itch to start a new project. We'll see.

The beauty of Alberta..

Everyone says Alberta is ugly and flat...yes it is in some parts, but there are many parts that I find absolutely breathtaking. 

I love the canola fields in the early summer.  This is just northeast of us near the town of Mundare.    All that's missing is the huge ominous black thunder clouds...

Myrtle Beach Bound!!!

Well, mil is feeling much better, not 100%, but is on the road to recovery, and she really wants us to come down and stay with them for our holidays.  Woohoo!! We're very excited and relieved too.  The kids LOVE to see them, and the holiday down there is so perfect for us.   We just really have to pay for our airfares and of course we pitch in for food and gas...but we have the house, the community pool, the golf cart paths to bike on and of course, the beach, the shopping (OMG IT"S BEEN SINCE MAY THAT I"VE GONE SHOPPING!!)  and the fun touristy stuff. There's a new HardRockCafe theme park  and our favourite Broadway at the Beach.   We stay in Pawleys Island, which is south of Myrtle Beach, a sleepy town with huge old trees with moss hanging down. The beaches there are quiet, lonely and white soft sand. The kids love to play there.

I can't wait to see the old southern homes, the beautiful scenery...and of course, my inlaws.   I'm so lucky to have them as my inlaws.  I know some people really dread visits with theirs, but me...I feel so grateful to have a mom and dad like them.  The only gripe I have is that they would come and visit us more often, but they usually reverse the idea and help us out with airfares, so we can have a holiday down there with them instead.  Makes sense, who wants to visit up here anyways? ;-)  

So in August, I get to warm up and complain about the humidity of South Carolina.   Not a bad complaint. 

Remember, you can click on the photo to enlarge it and see more detail...

The things I love.... a refreshing post

Oh my gosh...look who is interested in photography!  Ha!




I love to garden...my garden has been so LATE this year!  My lilies have just started flowering and it's almost mid July!  Anyways, here's how the garden is coming along...not all has bloomed yet, but we're getting there.    This year, I threw a few lettuce seeds and tomato plants in one of the side gardens by the house.  I'll take pics of there later.  The lettuce is HUGE, and if anything, it's a very cool looking green plot :-)  I have no idea of the names of some of these....

Jane - please note the bee on my purple flowers.  They LOVE the two purple bushes (one is lavender, the other I'm not sure)