• Our Master Bedroom Redecoration

    01/09/2014 - By 

    We rent. However, our rental property doesn’t have to be a jumble of random hand me down furniture and a flurry of photos. We’ve been here 5 years and will probably be here for another 5 years before we can afford to buy. We are in no hurry to buy and are okay renting. The only thing that bugged me was our bedroom. After I did Isabella’s bedroom in May, I realized the potential of these rooms. The current colour of my room was the cheap ivory colour that the landlord had put in. It was somewhere between dirt and…

  • So Our Camping Trip Was a Fail.

    25/07/2014 - By 

     I think I come off to some as someone who prefers to be pampered. Who likes things around me to be happy. I am Type A, who loves a plan and things to be properly in their place, to be sure, but I am adaptable when need be. I do like my bed. But I am not against camping at all. I’d rather be at a rustic cabin, cuz that is what I grew up knowing, but I have been camping in my teens. I’m not quite the stepmother-to-be from The Parent  Trap (Hayley Mills, I love you). When I…

  • Preparing for Our First Camping Trip (In Over a Decade)

    07/07/2014 - By 

    We have had no time for anything except preparing for our vacation. Thank goodness the medicine I took for the infectious colitis I suffered seems to have nearly worked, and I can almost function normally and eat properly again. That was rough. Now to focus on the next thing ahead! We are going to visit friends and then we are camping for a weekend before coming home. I should specify! In this day and age there are a lot of people who go camping with portable houses basically (“glamping” or “glamour camping”) and then there are those with RVs or…

  • Infectious Colitis and Nightmares

    29/06/2014 - By 

    So it has been a hard week or so. Josh’s 30th Birthday went by quietly. His mother showed up for a surprise visit and we went out for dinner Thursday night, Vietnamese. I felt bloated, nauseous, crampy,  and awful that night and most of the next day but ignored it. Friday the 20th was Josh’s birthday. We played games and watched the World Cup. That night my Mother-in-law stayed to babysit and we went out for drinks with a couple true blue friends. One of my fave people, Shanna, came too. We talked each other’s ears off until after 1…

  • Distant. Always.

    06/06/2014 - By 

    A poem I wrote.   Distant. Always.   I had my guard up. I raised my fists high. I raged.   I was all alone; There was no one to fight But I fought til I was drained   I am all alone still, Fists clenched at my sides, No fight left in me.     My tears could fill oceans Because nobody sees Past my thrown out bored small talk   We touch base in computer keys, No voice to set the tone. Distant always.  

  • A Poem About My Daughter

    24/05/2014 - By 

    When I was 14 I used to write a poem or two or ten every day. I have notebook upon notebook. Just those plain black coiled notebooks. Most of it is TERRIBLE. I was never formally trained so they have no rhythm and I couldn’t tell you what type of poem any poem is- of mine or anyone else. I grew up completely enamored with Lord Alfred Tennyson and E.E. Cummings and read their poetry over and over. Growing older I realized some song lyrics are very much poetry as well; such as everything by Leonard Cohen and Hawksley Workman’s…

  • The Two Person Book Club Continues!

    23/05/2014 - By 

    As I blogged earlier, my Husband and I have a two person book club. We are both avid readers but we found, once we had two little ones running around, we have less and less time to read. My Husband works at a job where he has the drive to a client, the drive between clients during the day and the drive home to listen to music or the radio. He decided one day to use that time to finish a book on tape. I found the same book in our library and started to read while the kids ate…

  • Isabella’s Room Redecoration

    20/05/2014 - By 

    I love decorating. Often it is more crowded and organized chaos, nearly bohemian, than most people’s tastes. This time I decided to be more clean, straight forward and focused. My mother-in-law generously offered to take the children for 6 days for Husband and I’s wedding anniversary present. Although we carved out some time for a date night (we saw “The Lunchbox” at Eau Claire theater and I HIGHLY recommend you go and see that movie) and night-time couch snuggling while we watched evening TV, I spent most of my time redecorating some of our rooms. It took me 5 of…

  • My Favourite Pretty Books

    02/05/2014 - By 

    Let’s talk about things that I love. Books. I love books. Last time I wrote about the children’s books that are rocking our world lately. Now it’s my turn! I have so many graphic novels and coffee table books that I adore. Here are the ones  I own that I keep going back to.   1. City of Glass: Douglas Coupland’s Vancouver. A gorgeous love letter to Vancouver. This is not, I repeat not, a guide-book but a realistic look at  Vancouver’s insides. The writing is genius, of course, and the photos are gorgeous. Worth a read if you want…

  • Children’s Books We Currently Love

    29/04/2014 - By 

    We have started to frequent the library again. The kids love the library! Both of them pick out any books they want and then check them out with their own cards. Here are three we keep going back to….. 1. We have taken this one out twice in a row and my kids don’t want to take it back. Inside this book, the Dinosaur versus everything from spaghetti to talking grown-ups to tooth-brushing.  It is a really fun read and the kids love helping out with the roaring. I have even used this one to convince them to do other…