Blogitis

And life rolls on

2011-06-22T21:00:00.004-06:00

Front of the house!, a photo by trippykel on Flickr.

A lot has been going on since March. We just bought a house, and take possession in a week. J's mom is coming down for the weekend to help me paint, and I'm really excited for that. Hooray for fresh colors! And for space! I'm really excited about our new home. It has everything we wanted - a bigger dining room for entertaining, a dish washer, a garage, and a nice yard. It's close to the Deerfoot (good for getting to work), and feels great when you walk in. I'm really looking forward to moving our stuff in and getting settled. Plus, I get my own office/hobby room again. It'll be great to have somewhere to store/use all my sewing, painting, reading, computer stuff without being in the curious hands of a 2 year old.

Cade is now 2. He's grown up so much, and is coming home with new words every day. He surprises me sometimes, like when he asked for batteries for his toy or how he knew the word 'pasta' (since I always call them noodles when talking to him). We were in the car the other day and I asked what kind of music he wanted. He said 'Hanson'. That's my boy! We've taken him on a lot of outings in the last few months: the zoo, garage sales, the Calgary tower, a sleepover at a friend's house, swimming and the library. I really like taking him out - it's cool to see what he's interested in. He's big into skateboards, balls of any sort, lego, and ice cream.

My job is going really well, and I'm still enjoying it a lot. I've learned a ton, and am getting some mad web conversion skills. I'm glad to add to my skillset and know I'm producing more useful sites for people. Plus, the sites we've done lately look awesome. Seriously.

Oh, and I read this great book the other day - the Oracle of Stamboul, by Michael David Lukas. It's a novel about a young girl, super smart, who gets thrown into the centre of politics in the declining Ottoman empire. What I like best about it is that it's told in such a real, feeling way instead of being dry history. Plus there are no awkward sex/romantic scenes, which is nice for a change. Refreshing. I definitely recommend this one!

Jer went to Maker Faire with work this year, and had a blast. He's heading out for another one shortly. It's pretty sweet that you can have a job where you get to go to a fun conference instead of a dry one!

Okay, I'm out to watch a movie with my man. Ciao!

Wow, it's been awhile.

2011-03-06T10:01:00.002-07:00

Massage Therapy Site a photo by trippykel on Flickr.

Things have been getting crazier here by the day. In a good way. Our house is officially sold, and the new owners take posession on the 25th. This means that we get to take a weekend sometime soon to drive back to the old homestead to get our things and drive them down to a storage locker.

Mom and Dad are visiting for the weekend, which is pretty cool. They watched Cade for us last night so J and I could head out for a date night. We went to see The Adjustment Bureau, but it was sold out. We ened up watching Just Go With It, and it was really funny. And strangely clean for an Adam Sandler film. Two thumbs up.

In the vein of child-moment sharing, Cade was had a good moment the other night. He's just learning a few words, and I explained that he had peas in his stir fry. He spent the next 15 minutes finding every pea to pick out of the stir fry and said 'pea' for every one. He then pretended to eat them - bringing them up to his mouth, opening/closing, saying 'mmm', and putting the pea back down. Oh, the funny things kids do.

Oh yeah, and the design to the left is one I did a few months back for a massage group site. I'm happy with how it looks :)

Anyway, the 'rents will be here any minute. Oh, speak of the devil!

Calgary at night

2011-01-18T04:10:00.001-07:00

Calgary at night
Originally uploaded by trippykel

This evening was good. Unusual, but good. We had french toast and some fabulous bacon for dinner. I loved it. Cade seemed really tired, so I tried to put him to bed. An hour later he was still having none of it, so I lay down with him in my bed. We both fell asleep until 1am.

I'd meant to get groceries this evening, because we're pretty much out of everything Cade will eat for breakfast - bread, milk, yogurt, oranges. So I figured, why let 1am stop me?

When I went out to my car, the moon was amazing. It was hidden by a cloud, and had this rainbowey light around it. The whole area of sky around the moon was an incredibly bright, deep blue, and covered by scattered clouds. The rabbit that lives in our backyard went bounding through the snow. Mystical and lovely.

It felt like sneaking out of the house to go shopping in the middle of the night. I got to our local 24-hour grocery store to find I pretty much had the place to myself: there were only two other shoppers. I cranked the Kooks' "Inside In/Inside Out" and rocked out while I shopped. Fabulous night.

The recentness

2011-01-08T10:41:00.001-07:00

Me and My Car
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I haven't posted since the new year. Oops!

First of all, we had a great time over the new year. We headed down to my parent's place for 4 days, and spent most of the time visiting, catching up on sleep, and eating. Oh, and we opened presents and did the whole Christmas-ey thing too. We took Cade to a pool I'd gone to as a kid, and was it ever a blast from the past. I had so many vague memories of the place that it was pretty cool to go there again. I ran into a few people I knew in highschool, and it was good to catch up. Cade had a really good time at Grandma and Grandpa's place, and really liked having extra people to play with. He got a Cade-sized chair for Christmas, and spent the first ten minutes after he opened it going in and out and climbing around it. It was pretty fun to watch.

Since then I've had a week of work, and now a Saturday off. Work is still going really well. It's nice to have a job I enjoy, and people I like to work with Two thumbs up for that. I also finally got a haircut, since I'd been wanting one for a good month or so. It's much tidier. I'm not sure if I'm a huge fan of it or not, but it looks pretty good.

And now I'm off to add a few things to my website, as long as Cade stays happy with watching Yo Gabba Gabba while I do so. We're currently watching one of his favorite episodes - Super Mr Superhero. Go Starsky!

'Tron Legacy'

2010-12-29T00:28:00.001-07:00

'Tron Legacy' poster revisited
Originally uploaded by James Whíte

Cade is at his grandparent's for a few days. Jer and I have been having a grand ol' time getting things done and having a chance to hobby, stay up late, and go out on dates.

Last night we ate dinner out (no cooking for once, hooray!) and checked out Tron Legacy in the theatre. I really liked it. I was only so-so on the original, but really enjoyed the effects and artistic treatments in this film. The plot was about what I expected, but it was still a fun little show to go see. And it was great to get out for an evening. How life changes once you're a parent!

Anyway, it's past my bedtime and I'm off to work in the AM. Catch you in the new year!

A noteable experience

2010-12-19T20:46:00.003-07:00

dessert @ NOtaBLE
Photo by VincciWincci

On a side note, we went to NOtaBLE restaurant for our work Christmas party. It was amazing. The decor was lovely, the restrooms well-cared for (a rarity among restaurants, and so worth mentioning). But most importantly, the food. The food was fabulous, mouthwatering, utterly scrumptious. From the entree to dessert, everyone loved their meal. I had steak, since I'm somewhat of a steak lover. It was tenderly grilled with just the right amount of slightly crusty edges, and topped with a dollop of flavored and spiced butter. The sides were nothing to sneeze at either, with roasted potatoes and perfectly done veggies. I was just so impressed. It was gourmet food in a casual atmosphere, which we loved. So the next time Jer and I have a whole bunch of money to blow on dinner, we're definitely going there!

They also have a lovely website. Check it out: http://www.notabletherestaurant.ca/

The work bathroom

2010-12-14T20:14:00.001-07:00

The work bathroom
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I've been pretty bad at blogging lately. Things have been crazy what with Christmas planning, the new job, and a sick kid. He's mostly better, but now I'm the one coughing and grabbing kleenex like a klepto. Oh well. C'est la vie.

My car stereo no longer plays CDs. This is really sad for me, since that was my main music mode. I've been radio-ing it for several weeks now, and am happy to say Jer brought home an FM transmitter for my ipod the other day, and it works great! So although I can't bring CDs along, at least I can load the ipod up with music. It would be so sad not to have Snowed In in my car for the holidays!

Since I've been sick and not sleeping enough, I've been pretty casual about cooking real meals, cleaning the house, doing laundry, and pretty much anything I can avoid in favor of doing almost nothing. I've had to play a bit of catchup yesterday and today, but it's been worth it.

This past weekend Jer asked to go to the mall. This is the first time it's happened in the 6 years I've known him. He wanted to see the clock in the floor in Chinook Centre, so we went Christmas shopping there with Cade on Saturday afternoon. I must say I do enjoy that mall: the food court is pretty, and they have a fairly good selection of stores. There were also people 'statues' dressed up as nonsensical Christmas figures at most of the mallway intersections, which were fun to look at.

I'm also happy this evening because Cade went to bed without a fuss. He asked me for his bottle, snuggled down to drink it, and went to sleep without a peep. It's been weeks since that happened, and I've missed it! I'd almost forgotten what it was like to comfort him for a good hour or so to try to get him to sleep. Those sleepless nights are one part of having a baby I don't miss at all.

We've finally settled on a church to call home. We've been pretty happy with it so far, and Jer made friends with a skater guy our age with a young family, which is good! We're both missing our friends now that we're a few months into the move. It makes me look forward to going home for Christmas just that much more. 2 weeks and counting! And only 2 presents left to buy. Booya.

Cold Cold Day

2010-11-24T21:12:00.001-07:00

Cold Cold Day
Originally uploaded by trippykel

The other day, when I took the photo attached, was freezing: something like -40 degrees with windchill. Brr. The photo is taken out of my car window. When it's that cold, exhaust makes this beautiful fog near stoplights.

I've been staying indoors a lot, due to the weather. I make my daily trek(s) to and from the car to get to work and back, but other than that I try to stay in. Monday night I went to get groceries, and threw on some headphones and my ipod to keep me company while I shopped. I got out of the grocery store, packed the groceries in the trunk, and discovered it was too cold for my car to start. I was in the middle of calling Jer when I tried to start the car again (for the 5th time) and it started. Huzzah! Now we plug our cars in at night.

I whipped up some french onion soup tonight, so tomorrow when I get home from work we can just reheat, add bread/cheese, and serve. It'll be lovely.

We went to a dinner party at the Deane House this past weekend, a murder mystery, for Jer's work Christmas party. We really enjoyed the party, and I had a great little chat with Sarah, Jer's coworker's wife. I hope we'll get to chat again sometime - or maybe hang out. She seems pretty great! We both love reading, and she's easy to talk to. It was nice to meet someone new!

We haven't found a church we're ready to call home yet. This coming weekend we'll check out another new one, or maybe revisit the one we went to last week. We'll have to see how it goes! It would be good to be in a small group again, and to meet some more possible friends. Hopefully we'll find the place we want to settle in soon.

I'm half done my Christmas shopping now - I only have to find the hard presents now. Wish me luck with that!

Kitchen update!

2010-11-15T20:57:00.001-07:00

Kitchen update!
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Wow, things have been busy. I haven't posted in a good 3 weeks! Let's see, what's new...

The photo is of my kitchen update. I got the OK from my landlord to purchase shelves, cupboard handles, and 'stuff hangers' for the suite, and he reimbursed me for said items. After several hours' measuring and installation, we now have some kitchen storage and more light. The kitchen is now a place I can live with - which makes me happy. It's worked really well for us (or as well as can be expected with such a small space) with the extra storage.

I started my job. I am officially a Web Designer again, full time. My first day, today, was pretty good! We'll have to hope it continues on as it started. I found a dayhome for Cade to stay at while I'm working. He seemed to love his first day there - he was cheery and having fun when I went to pick him up, and he just chattered away to me when he saw me. I think it'll work out really well for us.

We just got word from our realtor - we have a potential house viewing this coming weekend, so we're really excited about that. I just know there's someone out there who would love to live in our home. That will very possibly let us buy our own place here, instead of renting - which would also be lovely.

I haven't had time for much other than visiting the fam on weekends and getting everyday things done during the week. So that's it for now!

The new digs

2010-10-23T22:10:00.001-06:00

kitchen
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Things have been crazy busy, what with packing, moving, my birthday, my mom's birthday, updating my portfolio, looking for a job, unpacking in our rental place, trying to sell our house, finishing up some design work, and learning a new city.

We've had no luck on the house-sale front so far, so we're going to lower the price again and see if we can entice someone to buy it. That would be really nice. We've had one viewing in the past month it's been on the market. It's a bit discouraging to not have anyone want our house, since I liked it so much.

I was Ikea shopping for a few pieces to make our basement suite liveable when I ran into a friend I hadn't seen in several years. I now have one friend to hang out with in Calgary, which is much better than none. Huzzah for friends!

Jer's new job is going well. The first week was quite difficult, but it's apparently getting better as he gets used to job expectations and figures out how everything works there. I'm glad it's going well, and hope it continues to get better.

That's all for now. I'm going to have a snack and get all cozy with a book in bed. Mmm. Bed.

Geese take over the pond

2010-10-06T23:21:00.001-06:00

Geese take over the pond
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I was driving home today and saw a flock of geese converging on this pond. Apparently they're resting before the rest of their southern pre-snow flight. I'm sad they're leaving, because it means the cold is coming soon. But it was fun to run home to get my camera and have a quick photo session. You win some, you lose some.

I also went to Jos' baby shower tonight. It was really quite lovely, in a laid-back-visiting sort of way. There was this fabulous light cheesecake, an espresso machine, and a lot of visiting. I just wish I'd remembered to take my camera for a few photos!

crazy but true

2010-10-01T22:16:00.001-06:00

sliding by myself!
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Cade and I were hanging out at the park today. And a moose walked through the playground. Seriously. This massive brown animal with antlers. Or horns. Or whatever they're called on a moose. It was crazy.

Moving?

2010-09-21T14:07:00.001-06:00

frosty mirror
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Our house has been on the market for about a week and a half, and we just had our first viewing. We'll hear back from our realtor on how it went in the next few days. While I don't expect the first person to ask to see our house to buy it, it's encouraging to know someone thinks it's worth checking out.

I've managed to come down with a cold - my first in quite a long time, actually - probably a year. So I have all the joys that go with sinus problems, achiness, fatigue, and a general sore-throat-cough kind of thing. Fabulous.

Jer's got this week off, which is great. He starts his new job next week, so he's using this week to get things done and get packed up. He's also helping me around the house and watching Cade a bit, which is lovely.

We woke up to a thick fog, not so unusual, but it's stuck around most of the day - which is definitely unusual for here. I had fun going to a few spots in town and taking some photos. The fog was starting to lift by the time I had a chance to snap away, but I'm still happy with several of the pictures I got. Huzzah!

I've also been working on a logo for Colin over the past few weeks, as I have time, and as drafts get sent back and forth. I think it's pretty close to finalized, which is great! After that I'll get to fix up the rest of their website and add the logo. It's been really good doing work for him so far. He has a clear picture of what he wants, and was able to give me samples to show me what that is. That makes my job as a designer a lot easier, and also makes him much more likely to be happy with the finished product. I'll post a link once the site is done.

I haven't had a chance to do much else lately, other than prep for moving and watch Cade, so that's about it for this post!

Wowzas. What a lot of work.

2010-09-06T22:21:00.001-06:00

movie watching area
Originally uploaded by trippykel

In the past week I've painted the entryway, cleaned/organized/staged and photographed the whole house, and done a few little upgrades (hardware, removed the glass shower doors) to the upstairs bathroom - with some help from Jeremie and a babysitter, of course. Phew. I'm glad that's done.

Oh, by the way, J got the job he wanted, so were moving to Calgary. That would be why we were getting the house ready this weekend. I meet with the realtor tomorrow, and our house will be on the market ASAP. This whole move seems to have come out of the blue. J found a posting for his dream job about 3 weeks ago and applied. 3 weeks later we're getting ready to sell the house, looking at real estate down south, and throwing our whole lives upside down. But hey, you've got to do a bit of that for a dream job!

That's about all I've had time for lately - working, working, and more working. I think it'll slow down for the next bit though, until we sell the house - at which point packing begins and the work picks right back up. Fabulous, no? But all the work does mean that I don't have much more to blog about. C'est la vie.

computering like crazy

2010-08-30T21:55:00.001-06:00

computering like crazy
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Life has been good over the past month - and a lot going on!

The basement is painted, and the other night Lyndsay came over to help me move furniture around the house. I haven't got all our stuff organized yet (there's still a pile left in one corner of the basement), but once I do I'll be sure to post pictures. It looks great - all I have to do is figure out what to hang on my walls now. It sounds like it's time for me to do some more artsy-paintings!

We headed down to Calgary this past weekend for a quick trip, and managed to visit with my sibs, help Maria move some stuff into her new place, and hang out with my parents for an evening. Jer also had a job interview, which was the original reason for heading down. It seemed to go really well, so we'll have to see what happens from there!

I've been working like crazy on updating/reinventing my portfolio site in case we have to move, and I have to find a job. In the past few weeks I installed wordpress, found a decent portfolio theme, wrote content, took screenshots and added lots of them to my site. I still have a lot more content to add, but at least now my portfolio is worth visiting. http://boulianne.net/design/ - pass it on if you know of any web design companies in Calgary looking for someone ;)

Other than that, I'm mostly just planning out this coming week - I want to mow the lawn, paint the entryway, and add some new hardware to my bathroom. As well as watching Cade, getting groceries, and organizing the rest of the house. Sounds pretty low-key, huh?

Cade's first haircut

2010-08-14T13:19:00.001-06:00

Cade's first haircut
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Cade got his first haircut this week, since the back was getting all scraggly and hard to keep tidy. I buzzed it all to about 1/2" except for the top, which I left long. It just wouldn't be Cade without that almost faux-hawk.

I'm supremely relieved and pleased to say that my work in the basement bathroom is now done. The shower was ripped out, drywall reinstalled, mudded, taped, the bathroom painted, shower reinstalled and siliconed up the wazoo, new hardware put up. I think that's about it. Now I just have to wait for the silicone in the shower to dry, and then it'll be ready to use again. Lovely.

The painting in the basement is coming along nicely. I have one wall and touch-ups left to do. After that I'm on to the stairwell. And then, possibly, trim. Depending on if we decide to stay here or not.

Jer found a posting for his dream job (building robots, what else) at Solarbotics in Calgary. He's applying and will probably have some sort of interview at the end of August. If he gets the job, and it pays enough for us to live on (with or without me getting a job, if necessary) we'll be moving to somewhere around Calgary. It's fun to think about moving and trying on a different lifestyle, whether it happens or not. The biggest challenges will probably be finding a home we can afford, and selling this one (it's a darn slow-moving house market right now).

That's all for now, folks!

Mmm. Meat grinding.

2010-08-03T20:16:00.001-06:00

and more meat grinding
Originally uploaded by trippykel

This past weekend we went up to Prince George to visit some family, they were having a 25th wedding anniversary and vow renewal ceremony. It was pretty much a family reunion, and we had a blast. Cade got passed around a lot, which was nice to give me a break, and we shared the camper with J's parents. It was a great 2 days of catching up and hanging out, and I was really glad we got to go. The drive wasn't even too bad.

Christine and Jeannie came and stayed with us two weekends in a row (before and after horse camp), and it was nice to be able to visit and show off Cade's new feats since Christmas. We had a lovely Sunday of visiting, naps, and Tony Roma's together.

I've had several painting sessions in the basement, some with friends to help, some without. It's going to take longer than I'd hoped it would, but it's definitely coming along nicely. I've done all the easy parts, and am getting close to the point where I'll have to do the harder things: touch-ups on each color transition (why did I pick so many colors?), painting the entryway (I'll need to use a huge ladder, yuck), and re-installing the shower (coming along nicely, but just a lot of picky details left). I guess I can't complain too much, since it's coming along nicely, but it's always easier for me to do the sweeping changes that look like a huge improvement than it is to do the little changes that don't get noticed once they're done properly.

I went to see Eclipse with Lyndsay the other week. It was... about as good as the others, to me. Everyone else I talked to thought this was the best movie of the 3, but I think the novelty of the series is wearing off for me. It does give me a good conversation starter for people I don't have much else in common with, though!

Anyway, Jer's home and I'm heading off to veg for awhile. Ciao!

new paint in the bathroom

2010-07-11T23:14:00.003-06:00

basement bathroom
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Wow, it's been awhile. Another several insanely busy weeks, to be exact. The picture featured is the new colors for our basement bathroom. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, especially since the colors were all gleaned from leftovers from a few rooms I've painted other years. Huzzah for a cheap room facelift!

We spent three days in Tumbler Ridge, BC at the Lions Campground with some old friends and their baby. I felt like I spent most of the time cooking, sleeping, baby watching, and being cold - but we still managed to get in two small hikes, a swim at the rec centre, and several lovely bonfires at our camp site. It was great to get away from the stress and busyness of renovations and such.

As usual, I've put a whole lot on my plate and then get a bit antsy about trying to get it all done. I've felt really energized this summer, what with getting a lot more vitamin D (sunlight) than usual, being relatively fit, and having some great projects Jeremie has OKed after several years of discussing. I've got to take advantage while I can!

I went to the dentist on Wednesday, and now have some lovely-smooth teeth again. I love my annual cleaning and checkup. I also got to try out some cinnamon flavored tooth polish, which is definitely my new favorite. Try it if you get a chance, you won't regret it!

We got a lovely load of new books and media for our church library a few weeks back, and I spent an afternoon with a few ladies at the church cataloging it all. I'm getting excited about the new software we bought for the church library - a digital self-signout system, so that we won't have to mess around with a card catalog system anymore. Hooray for that! Jer is fixing up an old PC this evening, then I'll be installing Windows and the software, before we add all the books, CDs, and movies in the library to it. That's going to be a huge task, but it will be amazing once it's completed.

There was a girls' movie night the other night, and we ended up watching Charade. It was fun to see Audrey Hepburn in something other than Funny Face. Did I like the movie? I don't really know if I'd watch it again, but I did have a good time watching it with the gal pals.

We're having my brother-in-law's mom and her friend crash at our place for a few night at the end of this week, and then again the next weekend. I'm happy they're coming up, but it's making the mudding-sanding-cleanup-painting (before I can move the junk out of the guest room for her to stay in) on a really tight deadline. I'm not sure how we're going to work it now.

And a whole bunch of basement reno news:

I'm of mixed feelings about the guy we've got doing our mudding and taping in the basement. He (and his minions) are doing a good job, and are very friendly... when they show up. He said the job would take a week, maybe two, and we're in on the third week. It's not a big job, but he keeps having things pop up and not coming some days. At first it was an employee in the hospital with a stomach ulcer. Ok, that was fine. These things happen. Then he only made it in once while we were gone, because his other job was busy. Another day I called him at 8:30am and left a voicemail asking for an ETA so I could plan my day out. I stayed home all day and called him again at 4pm for him to say he wouldn't be making it because the home builder needed him there to do touch-ups before they painted. He would come the next day, for sure. Then called me the next morning to say he wouldn't be able to make it, his minion wasn't feeling good (might have drank too much the night before). It's just a few times too many, you know? That being said, he IS doing a good job, and only has 2 sessions left to do - a major sanding & touch-up mudding bits, then a final sanding. So I'll let him finish the job, but it's wreaking havoc with my schedule.

And, before I forget, let's talk about paint for the basement. It's going to be great! I have the colors purchased, and love most all of them. I'm still not quite sure how the green is going to turn out in the hallway, and am hoping it will be a more sedate-apple version instead of a flourescent-eye-popping version of green. We'll see what it turns out like in the lighting. And hey, if worst comes to worst, we'll just paint over it in a better shade. I have three friends booked to come over different days and evenings to help me paint, so that should make the process a lot more fun and speed things along. Huzzah for help!

Oh, and in other reno news - did I mention we had to tear out some of the drywall in our basement bathroom? I had it all prettily painted and ready to go. I was stripping off the old silicone to waterproof the shower when I noticed some water sitting behind the shower wall. I peeled it back to discover a lovely swatch of black mold. And here I thought the bathroom was almost done! So right now the shower is torn out, the drywall removed, the mold bleached away, and it's waiting to dry. I'm hoping to add the drywall tomorrow, and put some corner bead on so I can get the mudding done over this coming week. Then I'll need to sand it, paint it, and re-install the shower. I suppose it's good that we found it while we're doing all this stuff anyways and have the materials to hand, but it is definitely a bit of a pain in the rump. Ah well, c'est la vie.

I think that's about all for now. The next few weeks are full of renos and company. I'll check back in a few weeks to let you know how it's all turning out.

testing the new pool

2010-06-25T17:31:00.001-06:00

testing the new pool
Originally uploaded by trippykel

We've had a busy past few weeks! We finally got a chance to test out Cade's pool, since the weather has been so nice lately. We've had 2 days where we've had his friends over to play in the yard & water, and I've been loving it. J doesn't love it so much that the house is still really hot in the evenings, but I like it. Mmm, heat.

In renovation news, I've bought our paint. We've got a mudder coming hopefully next week, after which point I'll be painting like a madwoman. Well, actually, I already am. I painted for about 3 hours last night after Cade went to bed - I'm repainting J's bathroom. I've always hated the bland butter yellow walls, so I'm re-doing it with leftover paint from a few other rooms we've worked on in the past. I'll post a photo when it's done! Tonight I'm hoping to paint the doors so they'll be dry before the mudders come and easy to clean up after. Mudding drywall is a messy business! Our budget won't stretch to carpet anymore (we spent more on vacation than we thought we would), so we might just have to leave the floors for now. I'll have to figure out some way to raise the funds. I'm not working right now, so it's going to be tricky!

I got the new Hanson album (shout it out) in the mail last week. I'm really happy with it, and am heading over to Robyn's tomorrow night with it to give it a spin at her place!

We're also going camping in a few weekens, so here's to looking forward to that!

framing in the basement

2010-06-15T22:17:00.001-06:00

framing in the basement
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Well, this has been a busy past couple of weeks! We had a 'free' week after our trip to the States to get everything packed away. And by packed away I mean that not only did we unpack our trip items, but we also packed up, recycled, and did away with the old stuff from our basement to make room for.. the renovation!

It could also be called the finishing, depending on how you look at it. My parents came over for a week. Mom cooked and babysat, while Dad and I started in on the reno. We framed in a storage room, did a bit of wiring (outlets, lights, and switches), and drywalled the hallway and family room. I'm really pleased with how it's coming along, and super excited to see it get finished. We can't afford carpeting for now, but we'll get paint up.. and maybe trim if we're lucky. We'll see how the finances go. But either way, it's exciting exciting! I really love design, art, and visual stuff, so getting our home to be 'ours' in style is really a big thing for me. It's going to be great! We'll have more liveable space, which will be great for those winters where we're stuck indoors for months at a time (minus the 'run to the car and back' for groceries and such). Gotta love living in the north!

It was great to see my parents again. It had been about 5 months or so since we'd had a chance to visit, and I really enjoy spending time with them. We chatted, projected, played dice, cooked, and just hung out in each others' general vicinity. There's nothing like spending time with someone who is comfortable enough with the way you are that you don't need to explain why you do things.. because they understand. It's lovely.

Oh yeah, and if anyone can recommend a mud & taper for our drywall, I'd love to find someone!

The anniversary of Two(s)

2010-05-31T23:19:00.001-06:00

We visit the SFMOMA. Amazing.
Originally uploaded by trippykel

We just got back from a week in San Francisco and area. It was a lovely get-away vacation, a great time to revert to 'dating us' instead of 'married with a kid us'. We really enjoyed spending the week together, checking out some of the sights of San Fran.

The trip started out with a visit to Maker Faire. We spent both days there, and J said it was even better than he thought it would be. He got to meet the makers with the online robotics equivalent to rockstar status, and felt encouraged to keep on truckin' with his making. There were some amazing exhibits, from steampunk (I loved it, Jer didn't at all) to a life-sized Mousetrap game, lots of electronics things, a few bands (we missed OK Go, who I would have liked to catch), some awesome cartoons, and a great local crafty-type market. I loved the market, and splurged on an original silkscreen print, a hat, a vintage-look feather headpiece, and some really well-designed cards that I'll keep in my trunk for inspring me on a gloomy day. I got to design and crafted a mini-treehouse, which reminded me strongly and pleasantly of making dioramas as a kid. I also sat out and learned how to knit (of all things) while Jer hit up an electronics session.

We checked out the SF MOMA. I was awed and dazzled and inspired by the architecture of that building. You can just feel the loving craftedness of the whole building, and everything feels like a seamless, planned whole from the benches and elevator buttons to the stairwells. It's an amazing building. That doesn't even get me started on the art, which I really enjoyed checking out & learning about. There were a lot of cool pieces, but my favorite was a photographic one of 101 photos, each of 101 gumboots in different locations, doing different things. It resonates with me because it felt like a grander-scale of the spoon photos I took one evening a few years back.

We checked out some of Golden Gate Park, and went into the Conservatory there. I must say that I think the Muttart had a better exhibition, but the SF building had a lot of lovely character. Plus, it's always fun to take pictures of pretty flowers. It rained while we were in the park, so we didn't check out any more of the exhibits there.

We caught two movies in theatres: How to Train your Dragon (which was really good, even for those not totally enthralled with animation, like me), and Date Night (really funny, and a bit inappropriate)

We went surfing twice. The first time Tommy was our instructor in a private lesson, and showed us the ropes. I found it really hard to do, and was exhausted after an hour of battling incessant waves. J caught on faster, like I thought he would. The next day we went out again for about 45 minutes or so, which I found a lot more fun. I had a general idea of what to do, and was rested enough to show that ocean who was boss. I'd definitely like to try surfing again if I get a chance.

We checked out the redwoods at Muir Woods. They were smaller than I thought, being the 'merely tall' type, rather than the 'drive your car through this' type. That being said, the trees were often too large for me to reach around (read: big compared to what I'm used to) and were quite lovely.

And with that abrupt end, I'll leave you to dream away about your perfect surfing trip, flowers, redwoods, and modern art.

Which reminds me. I had this dream last night where I could fly. It's the first time I've ever had a flying dream, and it was pretty cool. I had this rune of light etched into my hand one day, and I had to open my hand to lift off, or close it to go down. I turned my hand to steer. It's a crazy way to fly, but it worked for me!

My pears!

2010-05-20T16:17:00.001-06:00

My pears!
Originally uploaded by trippykel

It's been a bit too long since my last post. A lot has happened! I've been wanting to creative it up the past while, and have done two paintings and sewn a new duvet cover for our bed which I'm absolutely in love with.

The painting shown here is the first one, of pears. It's the first painting from my Intermediate Oil Painting class. The next is a rooster, which is currently drying downstairs. I'll want to do a few touch-ups, and then can share it with you as well. I'm really happy with how my paintings have been turning out.

Yard Sale day was great, as expected. I didn't really buy that much - just several different toys for Cade, since he grew out of his old ones, and some face wash and such from a BeautiControl host who was selling out all her product for really cheap. I just love going around and looking at possibilities in everyone's stuff, regardless of how much or little you actually take home.

Jer went to the Western Canadian Robot Games last weekend, and won 1st in the innovation category for his metal-detecting robot, built out of an Xbox case. You can check out his youtube if you want to see more.

I got my hair cut recently, it's now short and platinum blonde, with bubblegum pink parts. It's cute and girly, and I'm really loving it.

Today is the 'get everything done before we leave' day. I'm doing laundry and dishes, vacuumed, am working on a 'baby manual' for Cade, who's staying here with Jer's mom while we take off for a week. It's fun to go on a trip, but sometimes it's a lot of work before and after to get ready!

We also went to check out Spring Lake the other day. It's pretty enough, but had some really bumpy gravel roads to get there and not too much in the way of amenities. I don't think we'll head back there, but it was still fun to go check out somewhere local that we hadn't been to before.

Anyway, I'm off to pack my suitcase and get ready to go!

Totally bummed.

2010-05-06T21:44:00.001-06:00

I'm totally bummed. The hosting company I use had a big mail server blowup. And their backups were corrupted. Since I was using IMAP, I lost all of my stored emails. Most of them I don't mind SO so much, but I had saved all the emails Jer and I sent back and forth while we were dating. And those are no more. They were my favorites. :(

Best design book I've read in ages.

2010-04-30T23:10:00.001-06:00

Best design book I've read in ages.
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I read the "more not so big solutions for your home" this evening. I took it out of the library today and only planned on skimming it, but ended up reading 90% of the copy as well. It had a ton of great ideas on how to use the space you have better, how to make rooms that feel 'too big' feel like the right size, and some great suggestions for trim & built-ins. Love it. I just might have to scrounge up the others in the series now, to see if they're as good!

This past week my favorite band, Hanson, has been playing their past 5 studio albums, one per night, at a club in New York. And streaming the shows, live, for the fans who can't travel there. I was impressed with the show I did watch, but sadly enough somehow forgot to tune in tonight to catch the new album. Which hasn't been released yet, so the preview would have been awesome. At least Maria said it was!

On the upside, I'll be checking out some yard sales with Jos in tomorrow's AM, which should be really fun. And to make it that much better, Jer will be watching Cade, so I won't have to drag a 1-year-old in and out of the car every 10 minutes. I'm really looking forward to it!

I booked our surfing lessons yesterday, for when we're in San Fran. It's made me really excited for the trip. Hopefully I can swim some before we go to work out those muscles so I'll be ready to hit the waves. I'm already nervous and excited, all in one!

Transcend coffee. Pretty.

2010-04-23T22:20:00.001-06:00

Transcend coffee. Pretty.
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I wrote a letter for the grandparents tonight, and thought I could re-use some of my typing here, since I don't feel like re-writing what's been going on when I've already written it all out so nicely...

We’ve been having some lovely spring weather here, often with a high of 15-20 degrees celsius. Which is amazing for here. I’ve managed to sneak out a few times once Cade goes to bed to do some yard work: clearing out the flower beds, moving some bulbs, and raking the yard. It's been great.

Cade has been growing up so quickly. He’s walking like a pro, running sometimes, and loves to chatter away at whoever will listen. He’s super friendly, and will smile at anyone who looks his way. He really loves other kids, and tries to give them hugs and trails around after them when he gets a chance. His favorite activities of late are taking everything out of cupboards, drawers, bins, and boxes. I do a lot of putting things back. We’ve just started to teach him about putting things away, and I get him to help me put toys in the toy box before bedtime. Cade also has two teeth (both in the front, one top and one bottom), and is working on the other front top tooth. I’m guessing it will be out in 2 or 3 days. He’s quite clingy when he’s teething, but is otherwise a really content and happy baby. Cade’s birthday is also coming up soon. Should be fun!

At the end of May J and I will be celebrating our anniversary. We're going to fly off to see the sights of San Francisco, sans-kid. We’re hoping to try surfing and visit the Maker Faire, a big showcase of all kinds of home-made things, from electronics to furniture to decorations and bikes. We want to check out the redwoods, too. Is there anywhere we shouldn't miss going while we're down there?

Mom and Dad are coming up for a week in June to help us with some framing, electrical, and drywall work in the basement. I’m hoping to hire a guy to come mud the basement, and get paint and carpet by fall so that we have a safe space for Cade to play inside as he grows. We get a lot of winter up here, and it should hopefully help with the cabin fever to have a bit more livable space in the house. At least that's the plan thus far!

Jonny Lang

2010-04-23T22:16:00.002-06:00

Jonny Lang
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Went to see Jonny Lang at the Jubilee in Edmonton with Maria. Fabulous. I really enjoyed the acoustic version of Lie To Me, and it was fun to see him improvising with Buddy Guy. It was a fun mix of a crowd, a lot of middle-aged men in either black tees and long hair, or in business wear. Maria and I spent the intermission taking stupid pictures of each other, which turned out to be great fun. We missed the tour bus by about a minute after the show. It would have been fun to get an autograph. Ah well, them's the breaks.

My weekend in good ol' E-town just flew by. I managed to visit with all the fam, catch the Jonny show, have a fabulous outdoor meal with Maria, let Cade to play with his little cousin, hit up the Duchess Bakery on 124th (a must-go-to-place), do some yard sale-ing (how the heck do you spell that properly?), catch the Transcend coffee house opening, and do a whole bunch of shopping - some clothes for Cade, fabric for a new duvet cover, and a new light fixture for our entryway. Though I have no idea how I'll install it, since we don't have a ladder that high.

All in all a great weekend. It was good to be home, though.

dressing up for a party

2010-04-13T20:32:00.001-06:00

dressing up for a party
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Cade and I went to a 'retro' party, and did some quick clothes borrowing to suit him out with his 80s gear. I already had all the stuff for my costume in the magic wardrobe, so that worked out really well.

This evening it was so nice that Cade and I went to check out the park behind our house. We tried the swings and slide, but his favorite activity by far was picking up gravel, trying to eat it, and piling it up on the bottom of the slide. Who knew?

I'm also getting excited about my Edmonton trip. I get to see Jonny Lang (wahoo!), meet up with the fam, and do some shopping. Cade is outgrowing his clothes, and I also want to get a few things for the house. Although, I always have a few more things I want for the house. It never ends!

I registered for the intermediate painting class on Mondays, so now I just need to find a sitter for Cade. J is busy that night. But I'm looking forward to the class - more oil painting, yeah!

town at night

2010-04-09T00:16:00.001-06:00

town at night
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Tonight was a baby shower for Izzac at the church. We had a grand ol' time, opening presents and eating snacks. I didn't feel like heading home after said event, so I headed over to Jos' place. On the way there I saw this beautiful sunset going on, and snuck home to grab my tripod and camera. This is the shot I like best. Mmm, sunset.

One week until I go to see Jonny Lang - can't wait! It's going to be great. I'm not really looking forward to all the driving I have to do, but other than that it should be a lovely weekend. I'm hoping to do some shopping for Cade and find some good deals on cute clothes for his next size up. I've also been drooling over a duvet cover from Urban Outfitters, so we'll see if I can squeeze that in my budget too.

Robyn came over last night and we whipped up some awesome curtains for her place, I can't wait to see them in action!

Monday night we went over to Megan's for a baby shower for Britt and Evrest (I know, there are way too many babies around here right now) where we had high tea and a nice intimate gathering and chat. I've had a good week, looking back on it all!

Not much else to say, except that I should probably get to bed. It's something I still haven't learned to be good at. Aah well, there's always tomorrow...

little dunebuggy

2010-04-03T17:53:00.001-06:00

my sunflower
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I've finished my sunflower painting. The edges are still wet, so it'll have to sit for a few weeks to dry. Nonetheless, I'm really happy with the way it turned out. It's a bit edgy, but not too much, and I love the vibrant colors it has. I'm not sure where I'll put it yet, but it's nice to have something done that I'm proud of.

These past few weeks Cade has decided not to nap, so I can hear him chatting to himself in his crib right now. He still goes to bed, he just doesn't sleep. I'm happy that he's chatting right now instead of crying, though. It's just so much easier on the ears!

I tried indoor rock climbing with Lindsay a few nights ago. I haven't gone for years, and it was fun to try again. I still enjoy doing it, so I might have to take Jeremie next time. It's $15 per person for a drop-in fee, including shoe and harness rentals, so it's a pretty good deal.

Last night Cade and I stopped by an art show that Janet, who teaches my class, is putting on. It was neat to see some of her finished work, and also to see all the people who came out to the show.

Jer has been off gallivanting all day, so this evening he's going to watch Cade so I can do some sewing. I've been wanting to get at our living room drapes for ages, so I'm quite excited about that. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Anyway, I'm off to figure out what we should have for dinner. Hmmm...

The sunflower

2010-03-23T00:49:00.001-06:00

The sunflower
Originally uploaded by trippykel

This is the progress on my sunflower painting, from class this evening. I'll hopefully finish it up next week in class. Then it will need a week or so to dry, and I'll add a few embellishments. It's shaping up a lot better than I thought it would - I was worried that I'd end up with your typical 'country sunflower' painting. Huzzah for turnout out all neat and stuff!

Amy's nursing cover

2010-03-15T18:01:00.001-06:00

Amy's nursing cover
Originally uploaded by trippykel

This is a picture of the nursing cover. Pretty, no?

Today has been exhausting, in the best way. I watched Cade for the morning, sewed our area rugs together to make one big one during his nap (it's now downstairs and looks great!), then got him up in time to get a sitter to come hang out with him for 4 hours while I did a thorough clean on the ol' house. It had been too long, and I walked around each day going 'eww' mentally. That's fixed, and I even cleaned the front windows. Huzzah!

I'm off to oil painting class in about 10 minutes, so I need to get Cade up from his nap and bring him along, to drop him off for a visit with Matt & Kate while I paint. I'm a bit apprehensive about the coming class, since I missed last week and will be madly playing catch-up. The last time I was at class my teacher asked me to please be on time, next time. It made me feel like I was in grade 4 and being scolded, which wasn't really cool. Though I was late, which isn't cool either. The next class I missed. I'll let you know how much (or little) I get scolded. I wish I could just not care about it, but it bothers me. Poop.

My grandma turned 80 on saturday, so I called her and had a lovely phone conversation with her yesterday. I need to do that more often! Cade and I also skyped with his grandmaman and grandpapa a few days ago - it's great that they can see him every so often online, that way they don't miss quite as much of his growing up. It would definitely be nice to live closer to the fam!

Anyway, a tired me needs to vamoose. Here I go - roadrunner style!

the sneakers

2010-03-10T22:21:00.001-07:00

the sneakers
Originally uploaded by trippykel

The photo is some size 5 sneakers Cade got for his baby shower. He's still a size 4, so they're a bit big, but they're so cute!

Monday night we threw a shower at the church for Heather and her baby Maddison. I happened to be the MC and games planner, and was happy to say I did pretty well. The games went over just fine, and we had fun getting to know a bit more about Heather and the little one. Who knew that she wants to have 6 kids? Wow! The dessert was lemon pie filling over pie crust with whipped cream. I loved the tangy factor: I think I might have to make that as a dessert sometime at home.

This coming Saturday my grandma turns 80 years old. I have to figure out what to get the lady who has everything and wants nothing! Mom suggested writing her a letter, so I'll definitely be doing that. She saves the letters we write her to pull out and read again and again. Is that a generational thing? This generation seems to rely on facebook and email mostly.

I sewed Amy's nursing cover this evening, and I really like the fabric. It's quite vintagey and cheerful, and I quite enjoy it. Here's to hoping she does too!

I think I'm going to talk to Jeremie about converting our spare room into my own play place. Right now I have to take out & put away any craft/sewing/art/design stuff right after I use it to keep it out of Cade's tiny but determined reach. A lot of it is kept in Cade's room, and so I can only use it when he's awake - which ususally doesn't work. I would just love a room to store it all in and have a workspace handy whenever I need it. That, plus a reading lamp and cooshy chair, would make for my perfect room. We'll now have to see if we can make it happen!

We won!

2010-03-03T22:59:00.001-07:00

We won!
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I've been feeling so ambitious and creative lately. I love it!

This is a sketch I did of a girl who was rooting hardcore for our olympic Hockey team. Jer found a picture and mentioned it would make a great cartoon. I'm really happy with the way it turned out!

I also made the "8 month old" video for Cade this evening (only 1.5 months overdue, oops!) and am uploading it to Facebook right now. Hopefully the 10-month one will be more on time!

Also, Cade is now walking on his own! He tries to take between 3 to 5 steps on his own to get to wherever he wants to get to, the same places he crawled to last week. What a fast learner he is! He's also bored with the main floor and where he's allowed to play, and has started going straight for all the things he's not allowed to touch. When I move him from one, he goes straight to the next. Some days it's enough to make me crazy!

I'm working on my portfolio. Finally.

2010-02-27T23:00:00.003-07:00

So, in 11pm news, I've been a busy bee tonight.

I've been wanting to re-create my portfolio for awhile now, and finally figured out that I wanted to try making it in WordPress. I managed to install WordPress (pretty easy, actually) on my web server, customized the content, and added a few posts. I officially have a new portfolio!

Now comes the fun part: creating my own theme (graphics and layout), then populating the site with all the content I think is worth keeping in my portfolio. I'll be working on this over the next few weeks. Wish me luck!

PS - you can check it out here, though there's not much to see yet: http://www.boulianne.net/design/

Computering together

2010-02-27T20:32:00.001-07:00

Computering together
Originally uploaded by trippykel

The past couple of days have been busy with Cade-ness, since he's decided that naps are for babies. He's also teething and switching to solids, so we've been having a bit of a time keeping him entertained and myself sane. On the upside, I haven't thrown in the towel yet. Hooray for that!

Jeremie is off in Jasper today, snowboarding with the guys. I hope that he has an amazing time - you don't get to head out to the mountains every weekend, so you've got to enjoy it when you can.

In digital news, I made a nice robot logo for Jeremie's robot club last night, and am attempting to install wordpress on my server - both to test out the CMS, and to start (maybe?) a design blog, to be updated mostly when I want to rant about such things or have something new to show off. We'll see how that goes. I do want to see how easy Wordpress is to design for, and to use. So far my favorite is Joomla, though there are a few things I'd like to see made easier for the average joe. And for lazy me.

I bought a ton of groceries today, and also picked out some great fabric for a nursing cover for Amy. I'll let you know how it turns out!

a new blog layout

2010-02-20T22:00:00.001-07:00

a new blog layout
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Hooray for a new background graphic on the good ol' blog! I got the idea from Hot bliggity Blog, who has some lovely backgrounds you can use for free. I decided to customize/redo one of their graphics for my background, and quite like the new look. Huzzah and all that!

visiting the hospital

2010-02-18T17:30:00.001-07:00

visiting the hospital
Originally uploaded by trippykel

There are babies popping up all over the place in the cabbage patch! I know of 3 new babies, and 2 more to come next month. It's baby shower time again! That reminds me, I need to plan some games for an upcoming shower. Any suggestions?

Tomorrow night is our date night - Jeremie and I are hiring a sitter and going out without Cade. It's been quite awhile since we've done so, and I'm looking forward to it.

Cade took 2 steps on his own yesterday for Jeremie. I wasn't paying attention, but I'm sure there will be more steps in the near future! He's crawling now, not all over the house but mostly just to get into the next room or over to the next toy when this one seems less interesting. He loves to play with cords, the toilet paper roll in the bathroom, and garbage cans - in short, what he's not allowed to touch. He's eating 3 meals a day now, but it's hard for me to figure out what to feed him. He's not good with a spoon, and only likes finger food, so he's eating a lot of peanut buttered bread and oranges, plus some of whatever we have for dinner. He's been fussy the past few weeks, and I hope it's just teething, and not a new personality phase! On the upside of that though, he cuddled with me for about 20 minutes after his nap this afternoon. That was great.

Our photo book has arrived!

2010-02-11T13:55:00.001-07:00

Our photo book has arrived!
Originally uploaded by trippykel

The photo book turned out to be lovely, and I'm very happy with it. Hooray for My Publisher!

Last week Gwen came out with me to the church to add all the books donated in the past several months to the church collection. I just got a new order of books in yesterday (hooray!) and so we'll be doing it again this coming Monday. Here's to hoping Cade is in a better mood when we go next. It's hard to get something done when he insists on being played with and held the whole time. Aah, the joys of being a mom.

Jer went to the dentist to get a consulation about his wisdom teeth, and he'll be getting them removed this coming summer. I remember getting mine out. It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't exactly fun either. It's like pulling teeth.

Saturday evening was the birthday party for a two-year old of our acquaintance, so we all bundled up to head out to a local hotel pool for a swim, a chat, and some birthday cake. We had a great time, aside from poor cold Cade. He wasn't a big fan of all the echoey noise, nor did he like the temperature of the big pool. He was abnormally silent and still for most of the swim, until we warmed him up well in the hot tub. I happily took part in a "see how long you can swim underwater" contest with the guys, and was pleased to fair as one of the better contestants. All those swimming lessons finally paid off!

Tonight is my 'night off' from the kid. I'm thinking I'll head into town and do some shopping. Maybe mall shopping, maybe grocery shopping, maybe just a lot of browsing. I don't want to spend much this month since I did end up buying that lovely coat I had my eye on - it was half off and I decided not to pass it up for that price. Thus the window shopping. Window shopping is good for you, right? Wait, I wonder what's on at the movies? I'll have to go check that out as an alternative. I never mind catching a good flick!

Well, I'm off to play with Cade for awhile. His mom has been incommunicado on the computer for long enough!

books and tiles and books

2010-02-07T22:15:00.001-07:00

new 'tiles' in the kitchen. I love it!
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I've read a few stunningly good books in the past few months, and wanted to share my book joy. The first book is called 'The Sweetness at the Bottom of the pie' by Alan Bradley. It has got to have the best first chapter, bar none, that I have ever read. It's just great. The rest of the book is well done too, though not quite to the same level as the first chapter. It's a quirky, amusing light read about an 11 year old chemist and amateur sleuth whose shenanigans keep the whole mystery of 'who killed for the stamp' a pleasure to read. Highly recommended.

I also had the pleasure of picking up one of Terry Pratchett's books on a lark. I haven't read any of his work thus far, and was happily surprised by this book. It's clever, it's witty, and it's a bit ridiculous at the same time. It takes place in a well-orchestrated world where some things are the same as here, and some things are normal there that we don't exactly go in for. Like a wizards' university. A kind orc. And a one crazy game of soccer / kick the can. Suspend your disbelief, put your uptight glasses on the shelf for a more serious read, and enjoy this delightful romp through literature.

PS - the photo attached to this post is the updated tiles in my kitchen. I still love them dearly, though they're now several weeks old and the ultra-new-shine has worn off, replaced by a few kitchen spatters.

Martha is:

2010-01-20T23:08:00.000-07:00

- thrilled that she just bought 2 tickets to see Jonny Lang

- feeling like she'll have to cull a child as she sorts through her photo book looking for the least longed-for page to remove

- super excited that cousin Kate's furniture is finally arriving

- sad that with buying the Jonny Lang tickets, she will no longer be able to afford the beautiful coat she tried on a few weeks ago

- happy to have wasted an hour reading Robin McKinley's site and blog. Her writing never fails to amuse. I also have a love/hate relationship with her need to italicize

- wanting to start about 5 different projects tonight. It's a pity there's only an hour 'til bedtime. And that's stretching it.

- internally laughing that Cafepress has a customized landing page for a design I've never sold a shirt for (and yes, I realize it's just a page populated by tags. But it's still funny!)

- pigging out on cupcakes. They're just that good.

- wasting precious time on Shelfari. Oh, for the love of books!

Monkey Monkey Underpants

2010-01-16T16:24:00.001-07:00

Monkey Monkey Underpants
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I've been designing more logos and pictures for t-shirts again lately, for my cafepress shops. This picture is a Gilmore Girls reference, where Lorelai is talking about her stream of consciousness, and ended up with "Hockey puck, rattlesnakake, monkey monkey underpants". It was really funny at the time.

I had a movie night with the girls on Thursday, we watched Harry Potter 6 and played Scene It. It was good to have some people over again.

I'm also working on our 2009 digital photo album. I'm making it using the MyPublisher.com software again. I've made two albums with them so far, and have been really pleased with both the print quality and the software's ease of use. My mom is trying it out now too, and she's also enjoying the program. Basically you add your photos and text, and get a coffee-table quality book of all your pictures printed off and mailed to you. Hooray for photo books!

Cade is currently sick, with a runny nose, a bit of a fever, and a dry little cough. He's not feeling too bad though, which is nice. It means I still get my sleep! Cade has also discovered that he can push his stand-up toys around the house, and we had to install a child gate at the top of the stairs after I found that he'd gotten himself to the other corner of the house by pushing his piano! He's still a happy kid, and is very clever and brave - he'll figure out how to get places you didn't think he could. He will take chances on moving between his toy and the couch or TV stand, and just kind of lean forward to whichever object he can't quite reach. He falls a lot, but doesn't usually mind too much. I'm happy about that!

Tonight I'm heading off to Jess' birthday party, so hooray for that!

The headband snap

2010-01-06T22:13:00.001-07:00

The headband snap
Originally uploaded by trippykel

It's been a long time since I've bloged. A long time. Close to a month, in fact! I'm trying to remember what's happened.

The biggest thing that happened was, of course, Christmas. We started by heading down to Edmonton to visit J's family - Cade's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and a great-uncle or two as well. It was a busy, enjoyable time. It was great to see everyone again. Grandpapa taught Cade how to play soccer - or at least kick a ball, toddle after it, and kick it again. It's his new favorite game. Cade managed to fuss enough that he also spent about half of each night sleeping with Mom and Dad, which meant that none of us got very much sleep. We got our traditional family photos taken, and are hoping to have our sets of prints by the end of January - a shot of Cade, one of our family (the three of us), and one of the whole family. It was more fun than usual this year trying to get a good photo, since we now have two babies in the mix. We also went to see Avatar, my first 3D movie since Michael Jackson in my teens. Avatar was really well done, and I had a great time watching it. Go James Cameron!

We then stopped by the Elves' for lunch and a little visit, and to show Cade off. He was introduced to the first dogs he'd ever met, and did pretty well - he wasn't scared, but did pull a bit of fur.

We still had an extra four days or so left, and were halfway to the Snips' place, so we figured that we'd drive on down and surprise them. And surprise them we did! Everyone was thrilled to have us visiting, and we managed to get two visits with the now great-grandparents in. I got a chance to buy a new swimsuit and swim some rowdy laps at the pool where I grew up swimming, and had fun trying to teach Maria elementary back. I think she's got the basics down. Now it's just the final product finesse-ing that's left to be done.

Oh, and we all got riotously sick over New Years. It turned out to be a stomach virus, so we all threw up, blew out the other end, and slept several days away. It was gloriously horrible. Thank goodness we're all recovered now!

Well, I'm off to continue working on my digital photo album for 2009 - this will be my third year making one. Great print quality, good price and good service - check out mypublisher.com. And no, this was not an endorsed advertisement. I really do love the product! Huzzah.

Jana the Elf

2009-12-12T14:54:00.001-07:00

Jana the Elf
Originally uploaded by trippykel

The baking exchange went off without a hitch, and I took home a lovely 7 dozen treats. I also kept a dozen of my cookies for us, so we have 8 different kinds of Christmas baking. There are about 3 we really enjoy, and the others I just might have to pawn off on unsuspecting guests. Who knows, they may love it - different tastes for different folks!

Tonight we're having a girls' movie night, and are watching either An Affair to Remember or Home Alone, depending on our mood at the time. I'm looking forward to it!

Jer's work Christmas party was last night, and it was a bit... odd, but not bad per se. We didn't eat dinner, since they were providing one. We showed up at 6pm. There was nothing planned from then until 7pm, and from 7-8 was 'casino nite', if a casino only lets you play blackjack. And that by increments of one 'fake thousand' at a time. It was 8pm before dinner was ready. At 9pm we took off, just before the hypnotist. We picked up Cade from the sitter and had a great rest of the night at home. Yay for home!

Oh, and it's -35 degrees outside right now. Yowch. I think I'll be staying indoors this weekend!

Heather's belly

2009-12-07T23:22:00.001-07:00

Love this shot.
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I did a pregnant photo shoot for my friend Heather yesterday, she's expecting in a few months and wanted some photos to remember her fatness by. This is my second maternity photo shoot, and I was happy to get a few good shots for her. This one is definitely my favorite.

Oops!

2009-12-07T10:10:00.001-07:00

Oops!
Originally uploaded by trippykel

We left the water on this winter, and the plastic timer that was holding the water back broke. It sprayed all over the lawn and my car for awhile before we caught it - hello icicles!

Cade got a picture with Santa this year, but he's not smiling particularly - he spent most of his time with Santa staring at him and grabbing his beard. But I'm happy with how the picture turned out, regardless.

This past Thursday was a night at Original Joe's and a screening of the new twilight movie for Jos' birthday. We had a fabulous dinner (guacamole is great on a burger) and spent the last part of the evening laughing at the movie: it was a great girls' night, and Cade got to stay home with his dad, so it worked out well for everyone!

This week will be a girls' brunch with the kids, a Stella & Dot Jewelry Party, a baking exchange, and a movie night - probably Home Alone. Bring on the fun!

the centerpiece

2009-11-30T20:28:00.001-07:00

the centerpiece
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I just realized that it's been a very long time since I blogged. Let's see what's been new in the past few weeks...

The ladies' Christmas Tea went off really well. The dessert was great, the speaker funny, and the company superb. Plus, I looked amazing. Gotta love it when that happens. My tree turned out ok, lots of papercraft / kids craft stuff, so it was more 'cute' than anticipated. But it worked, and was a nice change from all the elegant trees around it. I'm still really happy with my centrepiece. And now that I mention the centerpiece, bah humbug. Because I forgot to pick it up this evening when I took down the tree and brought it home. I guess I'll just have to go back tomorrow.

I strung multicolored lights across the railing of our front deck, and am quite happy with the festive air it adds to the drive-by factor. I like it. We'll get around to putting up the Christmas tree one evening this week, and then we'll be all decked out (we don't have boughs of holly, though) for Christmas. Bravo.

Cade got his 6 month shots today, and took them incredibly well. He had two shots and only cried for one of them, for a minute or so. He then went back to being his happy self. He's such a fabulous little kid. We stayed in town after the shots to get some Christmas and birthday shopping done. I also bought new ink for our photo printer ($45, ouch!) and foam corners for our sharp coffee table, since Cade has already had one unfortunate bump to the head in our living room.

I'm heading out Thursday night to see Twilight with the girls for Jos' birthday, and we're going to eat out dinner as well - I always love girls' night out. Can't wait!

Guacamole gives great garlic breath

2009-11-17T17:43:00.001-07:00

Cade loves playing with the mirror
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Cade has just fallen asleep in the jolly jumper. Again. I sort of feel bad for the poor kid, bobbing up and down in his sleep. At the same time, I also wish I had a video camera handy, since it's pretty fabulous at the same time.

Mom & dad were up last weekend, and we had a great & relaxing visit. A lot of reading got done, we fixed the dining room chair I hadn't felt good enough about fixing on my own, and Mom and I did some shopping. The 'rents also loved playing with Cade - he's chatty and interactive now, and a real pleasure to have around.

I'm decorating a tree for a Ladies' Christmas Tea production at our work, and have finally decided on a theme: the Starter Christmas. As in, first Christmas tree, dirt poor, and making all your own cheesy decorations. I'm going to cut some out of styrofoam, make some salt-dough ones to paint, and dig up Dad's spraypainted walnuts. It should be good. I'd like to do a berry garland - does anyone know which kind of berries to use for something like that? I'm assuming they have to be dried. Maybe Craisins?

I went to see Where the Wild Things Are with Meg and Jos this past Wednesday, and was quite disappointed. The overall feel of the movie was rather helpless and frightened, and I didn't get that feeling from the book. I also wish that the monsters (who were very well done) had 'monster' voices instead of standard human ones. It kept throwing me off!

I'm off to eat some dinner and get Cade ready - we're heading off to Clairmont this evening to see Craig & Ruthie's presentation (or whatever it is) on their move to Rwanda coming up. Should be exciting!

And Cade is awake. Gotta run!

The white dress

2009-11-04T04:29:00.001-07:00

The white dress
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I finally ordered some prints for my modelling gig at Edmonton Fashion Week. Thought I'd share them with you. Pictures courtesy of Studio-e.ca

Survivor Party

2009-11-01T19:20:00.001-07:00

Survivor Party
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Since my last blog post I have:

- had a Survivor party for my birthday. It was fabulous, the best party I've had in the last several years. Everyone was so involved, and watching the videos afterwards was a hoot. Great food too. Thanks for hosing, Britt!

- Skipped out on dinner with friends. Jer was home sick last weekend, and so wanted to stay home in case he had swine flu. No congregating for at least a week!

- Helped Joss paint her living room. I had to leave when it wasn't complete, and I can't wait to see it! She did a beachy/sandy white with some teal accent walls, and I can't wait to see how her living room looks now. Hooray for painting!

- Hung out with Britt and Eva. Eva was up visiting, and we had a grand ol' visit together. Eva also watched Cade twice: once when shopping for my party, and once during the party. I'm sad to see her go!

- went to a halloween carnival. I went sans costume and shocked everyone since I'm a costume queen. So I went home, put on my Incredibles suit, grabbed Cade and suited him up, and headed back.

- Saw Megan's new place. She's renting a bachelor suite in the basement of a home, and she put it together splendidly. It's so cozy - I'll definitely have to visit again. She also lent me a couple of seasons of Gilmore Girls to watch over the next few months, so that's just peachy as well

- taken photos for the church directory. Every year they do a print version of people's names/addresses/phone numbers with a photo of each family beside it. Guess who the photo taker is? I've only shot about 60 families, so definitely not everyone, but at least there will be a good bunch of names with pictures alongside

- tried eating a black olive. I was not a fan.

How time flies

2009-10-22T20:45:00.001-06:00

the Robot etch-a-sketch
Originally uploaded by trippykel

It's already been a week since I blogged, and I have no new photos - so I thought I'd post an old one. Since the last blog post we've had cousin Kate up to visit, which was lovely - she got to see her nephew once more before she headed up to the great white north. I can't wait for Kate to get her own place so we can have fun with furniture setup and arrangement - she's buying all new stuff since she's led a transient life thus far and everything she owns fits in the back of her station wagon.

I was over at Joss' on Tuesday, and she painted Jill's dresser the most scrumptious sea blue color and added crystal knobs. It looks great, and I can't wait to see the decals she's adding. We were going to watch a movie, but ended up gabbing for the whole visit.

I hired a sitter yesterday for 4 hours during the day so I could have a big block of time to clean our house (cheaper than hiring cleaners). It feels absolutely lovely to have that all taken care of for another while, instead of the lick-and-a-promise it usually gets. It's very relaxing.

Today was shopping with Joss and Britt for my coming up birthday party, and I managed to find Cade a really cute (and affordable) snowsuit at Winners, while Jos found some really fabulous Christmas decorations there. I had several things that tempted me, but I've spent my spending money for the month. Aah, self-discipline is so difficult!

Jer is coming down with something, so he's already off to bed for the night. And the past few nights Cade has gone to bed around 7:30pm. I really like how it gives me some time in the evening to get a few things done!

Next jobs: finishing off a newsletter design, clearing out the dishwasher, sewing a battery pack for J, and trying out a salsa recipe - I've got to use up those garden tomatoes before they go bad!

Cade and Dad game

2009-10-15T19:33:00.001-06:00

Cade and Dad game
Originally uploaded by trippykel

The past few weeks seem to have flown by. Here are the highlights from my calendar:

- Girls' Movie night at Jessica's. Britt, Joss, and Heather game too. We watched Stardust and chowed down on pizza, veggies, and brownies, and had a grand old time

- Dentist appointments. I had my teeth cleaned, which I love - my teeth always feel so smooth and amazing after. I had one cavity to fill, so I went back this morning to get the filling put in. They didn't need to use a rubber dam to block off my mouth, but just squished mouth-tampons on either side of my teeth to soak up anything that might go awry. I'm not sure if it was more or less comfortable than the old way of doing things. Either way my jaw is a bit sore from holding my mouth open for so long.

- My car is all spiffed up. I went in for a type C maintenance, which entails an oil change and tire pressure fixing, as well as break checks and who knows what else. My dear car drives a bit smoother now, which is lovely. I filled 'er up and washed 'er at the same time, so my car is now a dream on wheels. Fabulous.

- Hair cut. My hair was getting too shaggy for even the shaggy-cool factor, so I got a trim today. I'm not sure what I think yet, but it isn't amazing enough for me to go back to that hair dresser again.

- Hung out with Colleen. She has 3 kids and was babysitting 2 more. We had a good time and a good visit, but it was a bit of a nuthouse sometimes. I was glad to get back to the peace and quiet of just Cade. We're going for dinner there in a week or two. Sounds fun!

- Thanksgiving. Erika drove up for the weekend, since Chuck is off on a road trip with the guys. It was great to have her here, and she was a major help with turkey dinner. We even made pies for dessert. And home-made piecrust, which I haven't done often. Everyone can ooh and aah now!

- My birthday (the big two-nine, first time around). Erika was here for my birthday, which was fun. It was the birthday of books, since I got 3 JK Rowling books and 2 Stephenie Meyer books as presents. Not that I'm complaining - I love reading a good escapist novel. The birthday party is still to come, next week. Here we come, Survivor madness. Make sure you aren't voted off the island!

Anyway, dinner is ready and Cade needs a little lovin'. Ciao for now!

We are the incredibles!

2009-10-02T22:56:00.001-06:00

We are the incredibles!
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I love costumes.

I'm an aunt!

2009-10-02T14:40:00.001-06:00

I'm an aunt!
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Cade and I had a good time in Edmonton last week. We drove down Monday, and spent Tuesday during the day on hair, makeup, and modelling rehearsals (thanks Sheleena, for watching Cade!). In the evening I tried out my first modelling gig, I got to catwalk 3 outfits for a local designer. It was all official-feeling, with photographers at the end of the runway, people staring from all sides... Erika came to watch me. It was way more scary than I'd thought: I'd assumed I'd just saunter around and out, but was nervous and spent most of it trying to remember how to walk and pose 'properly'. Aah well, it was fun for something new to try.

Thursday we did a photoshoot with Sheleena to capture her very pregnant belly, and Friday night I headed over to Maria's to spend the next few nights there. It all worked out pretty well, and we even managed to see my new niece Monday morning before we left, although she wasn't due for another two weeks.

This week at home has been mostly catching up: getting the mounds of laundry done (everything and its cat was dirty from our trip), cleaning up, and getting back to more regular sleep schedules. That last one is still a work in progress.

I'll be off shortly to buy Cade a red sleeper and me some tights and a shirt: tonight is Pixar night at youth group, and everyone dresses up as their favorite Pixar character. I'm definitely going with Cade as the Incredibles. He can be Jak-Jak, though he doesn't have enough hair for that sweet little mohawk.

Tomorrow night is girls' movie night at Jessica's, which should be fun too. Lots to look forward to. Oh, and my birthday is only a week and a half away. Yay me!

Playing together

2009-09-20T14:42:00.001-06:00

Playing together
Originally uploaded by trippykel

To start off, Cade and I are no longer sick, though I'm still taking meds for a nasty ear infection that's about 90% gone. I got a new cold this past Tuesday, but it was thankfully short-lived, and we'll hopefully have a good stretch of health for the next while now.

This past week both Cousin Kate and Cade's great grandparents (Nana and GGF) came to visit. It was a full house, but everyone was thrilled to meet and play with Cade, and I was very pleased with having some family visit.

I'm heading out tomorrow for Edmonton with Cade, we're spending a week there: several days with Jesse and Sheleena, plus a few at Maria's new place (can't wait to see it)! Tuesday I've been asked to model in a fashion show for Edmonton Fashion week, so come out at 7:30 to the Transalta Arts Barns if you want to check it out. Sunday evening is Sheleena's baby shower, and she's down to about 3 weeks 'til the due date. I'm looking forward to meeting Cade's cousin!

Anyway, I'm off to nap - it's a long drive tomorrow, and I've got a little munchkin to take care of as well.

Much love!

A note from Cade (he likes to type)

2009-09-11T20:34:00.002-06:00

                    c bhujip;'frscf[poil             nyn
                    nnnnnnnnnnnnnn                     
                n hnbn vx,mn.       om    b  b.....    
           zn   nk                mn                   
      ny                               n7              
                                             n         
                   c                                NB 3

Cade types
Originally uploaded by trippykel

(he's best with the N, the spacebar, and the back button)

Zonked out on the nursing pillow

2009-09-07T01:25:00.003-06:00

Zonked out on the nursing pillow
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Cade and I are still sick - Cade is down to a bit of a cough and a sometimes-runny nose, not so bad. I just developed a whopper of an ear infection and had to go to the doctor for a prescription this morning - I didn't get any sleep last night due to the pain. Lovely. But I've got antibiotics now, so hopefully it will clear up soon!

Because we've been sick, I haven't been doing anything worth blogging about. I've been trying to keep up with the dishes and laundry, and that's about all I've had energy for besides watching Cade. Oh, and a few computer-design projects.

I made a set of logos for our church, so they picked one and now I'm working on a bulletin redesign/reorganization, which I should really finish up tomorrow.

I'm also working on revamping/removing load time and adding more content for http:///www.boulianne.net/skate/ which has been a pretty fun project. The site currently there doesn't have a ton of content, but we have tons more parks to add - all in good time. I'm changing it to CSS/html and streamlining the whole thing - though the flash design was fun, I lost the files and it was a ton of work to make the details screen for each park, so I never got very far with content. I'll post to let you know when the new site is fully populated with all the parks we have info and photos for.

Anyway, I'm off to see if I can sleep. You can't get better without it!

Machinery - the accordion guy

2009-08-27T12:37:00.001-06:00

Machinery - the accordion guy
Originally uploaded by trippykel

The past few weeks have been busy, busy. Since my last post(s), I've had lunch with Heather (who is pregnant, about 12 weeks now - congratulations!), worked on the church library for 2 afternoons, and caught a pretty good concert at the Gaiety theatre. It was one of those 15 bands, 15 bucks, 2 nights-type deals, so we went for the second night and caught several bands, but the best were definitely Machinery and John Reuben - there were a few other good ones, but these were the ones who knew how to work the crowd. And there were a few not-so-good ones that were obviously starting out and were just glad to play to an audience. Which is good, too - for them, if not as much for the audience. That was Friday night. I was already starting to feel a little bit sick.

Saturday afternoon Amy came to visit, and stayed until Tuesday. We went to some garage sales together, watched several movies, played with Cade, took naps, walked around town, cooked dinners, and played board games. By the time she left Tuesday, I was sporting a fever, had gone through 3 boxes of kleenex, and was starting to cough. Lovely.

Tuesday night Cade woke up and cried about once an hour, which meant I was getting up about once an hour to comfort or feed him. By wednesday during the day he had a fever and stuffy sinuses, just like his mom. It's going to be a fun rest of the week!

Cade's Room

2009-08-17T11:04:00.001-06:00

Cade's Room - After
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Cade's room is finally painted, and J and I are both really happy with the result! This has been a long process to get ready, since I've been wanting to paint that room since it was my office, so I'm glad it turned out so well. I bought paint Tuesday, prepped (filled, sanded, washed, taped) on Wednesday, painted the first coats Thursday, the second coats Friday, and taped and painted the stripes and trim Saturday. The room was all back together and looking fabulous by 12am Sunday morning. And tonight will be Cade's first night sleeping in his new room - we had to get the worst of the fresh paint fumes out first. Hooray for having one upstairs room exactly the way we want it!

Our family with Jasper the Bear

2009-08-17T11:01:00.001-06:00

Our family with Jasper the Bear
Originally uploaded by trippykel

We went camping just outside of Jasper the weekend before last, in William Switzer national park. We met up with my parents and sibs, and had a grand ol' time. We didn't pack the weekend too full, but did find time for a guided nature walk, a little tramp around Kelly's Bathtub (a small, warm-for-the-mountains) lake, and a trip to Miette Hot Springs. Cade was really good at the hot springs, and maintained a neutral expression for a half hour while being trucked around in the warm water. The hot springs were great, since it was an outdoor pool - we could enjoy the beauty of the mountains while soaking in some nice warm water.

We tented. It worked out pretty well, actually. The first night was cold, so the next morning Jeremie went out and bought a sleeping bag to zip together with mine, and the next night was wonderfully warm. We bundled Cade up in a winter bear suit, complete with ears and tails, and he was also snug and cozy while he slept. I'm sure glad we didn't see any real bears, though! They have a reportedly can be rather vicious.

We all took turns making one meal for the group while camping, which was nice. It meant that we got to make pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs, and didn't have to worry about the other meals. I wholeheartedly support doing that again.

The only down point in our weekend was that Grandma Jetty and Grandpa Bill decided they couldn't make it, too. They are in their 80s and I definitely understand why they couldn't drive for so long, but it was sad not to see them there!

In other news, I called my optometrist and they should have my new glasses shipped to me this week or next. I'm so excited!

Jeremie at the beach

2009-08-06T12:04:00.001-06:00

Jeremie at the beach
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Jeremie, Cade and I headed out last night to check out some local sights. We walked around Pipestone Creek, then hit up Saskatoon Island Provincial Park on the way home. The creek had an amazing amount of good skipping rocks, and Jeremie got a few good skips in. I didn't try it, using Cade as my excuse - it's hard to skip rocks while wearing a baby. But I'm pretty bad at rock skipping, too, so it wasn't a huge loss.

Saskatoon Island Park had a ton of new playground equipment, a kids' bmx track, a few beach volleyball courts, and some nice picnic spots - I can see us going back there sometime for an afternoon outing. Maybe with Maria, next time she comes up, since she's such a volleyball girl.

Today also happens to be Cade's 3-month birthday, so we're going in to get his 3-month checkup done. He's growing well and is a pretty contented baby. We're happy to have him around!

We're looking forward to camping in Jasper this weekend with my family - it'll be great to see them all, and I'm sure they'll love to see how Cade is growing up. It'll be the first time that Grandma Jetty and Grandpa Bill (now great-grandparents) get to see him, so that's pretty exciting too. We'll have to see how tenting with a baby goes. I'm glad that the forecast is for sun and highs of around 22, lows of around 10. The days won't be too hot for Cade, we'll see if the nights are too cool.

I'm going to try to finish off the apron for Maria today, I'll post a picture when I do!

Cade's room

2009-07-23T21:54:00.001-06:00

Cade's room
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I'm hoping to paint Cade's room in August, and am at the paint-color-picking now. It's always such a conundrum!

Cade smiles a lot now-a-days

2009-07-23T21:53:00.002-06:00

Cade smiles a lot now-a-days
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I wrote a lovely long letter to Aunt Tena, and it was so nice and newsy that I thought I'd post some bits of it here!

Things are going really well here. Jeremie’s work has cut back to more regular hours for the next bit, so he’s often home by 6:30 or 7pm instead of 10-11pm, which is a nice treat. It lets both Cade and I see him more, as well as letting him get a bit more downtime.

Cade is growing like a weed: he is at about 15 lbs and 24 inches, at 2 ½ months old. It’s great to know that he’s eating well and growing like children should. He now ‘talks’ to us a lot, smiles a lot, and enjoys being propped up so he can see the world. He’s a wiggly boy, always ready to try something new and fun. He really is enjoying playing in his exosaucer, as he can sit up on his own in it, and turn around to see whatever he wants to see. We do have a bit of a routine by now: Cade falls asleep around midnight (trying earlier doesn’t work, but I don’t mind), feeds around 5am and 8am (and sometimes once more), and we get up somewhere between 9 and 11am, depending on how tired I am. He’s awake until after lunch, and takes about an hours’ nap then. We go out or get things done around the house in the afternoon, and take a nap around 5pm. We nap until 6 or 7, usually when Jeremie gets home. Then it’s dinner time, and Cade is awake until bedtime. He’s mostly a content baby, and likes to play on his own for half-hour stints before he needs some company, so I am able to get a bit of this and that done around the house between caring for him. He likes going places, and so we go shopping together or visit friends several times a week.

I took over as the church librarian this past April, as the past librarian felt like she needed a break and was looking for someone new. I’ve had a lot of fun rearranging the library and updating the displays, and ordering new products – fiction books, bible CDs, some Christian movies, and children’s materials as well as the more traditional bible study materials. Jeremie watched Cade for me last night for a few hours while I went over to the church to put books away and add some new materials to the shelves. I always love to add new and great things for people to check out!

I’ve also been sewing a bit more than usual lately, and am now starting on some fun aprons for Maria and I.

I still also have fun designing some graphics for the fronts of t-shirts, and have been making a few more of those lately as well (check out my new Twilight shop on cafepress :). I’ve found that I can nurse Cade at the computer by propping him up on my nursing pillow and the desk. We both like it, since I don’t get so bored and he gets to stay with me longer while I work. I’ll have to enjoy this while it lasts, because once he starts crawling I don’t think he’ll just want to sit with Mom anymore!

My garden is doing really well, and I can no longer find the rows in my potato and kale patches – we had a good several days with rain last week, and the garden sure appreciated it! It’s not often that we get a lot of rain in a row, so we’re thankful that we did.

Cade's Mobile

2009-07-22T10:51:00.004-06:00

Cade's Mobile
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I finished Cade's mobile and hung it in his room - I'm so glad to have all the little pieces and tools cleared out of the living room. The clutter made me feel claustrophobic, and it was there for a week or so since it took me awhile to find enough time to finish it. It just wasn't the kind of project I could pick up for five minutes between Cade-needs.

That being said, I'm quite happy with how it turned out. It looks a bit better in person than in the photo, due to the weird flash-shadows on the wall. Hooray for having it done!

The first dance

2009-07-22T10:51:00.001-06:00

The first dance
Originally uploaded by trippykel

This past little while has been busy, but good! We spent this past weekend staying with Jesse & Sheleena in Edmonton: Mom & Dad B were there too, so we got the full family together, which was great! We all attended Jill Sparling's wedding, and were glad that the event went off so well - almost wtihout a hitch! The couple looks really happy together, and I was very impressed with their print materials - invitations, programs, photos on the favor boxes, guest book, and seating chart - Nice font, well laid-out and printed. It added that extra touch of class. I also loved that the reception was in the penthouse ballroom of a hotel downtown - it means that we got a fabulous view of the city as a backdrop for the event.

I did some glasses shopping while in E-town, and ended ordering with a pair of ridiculously expensive frames (at 40% off, or I wouldn't have gotten them at all) that were still at the point where I debated them for quite awhile before deciding to buy them. But I didn't find anything else that I liked half so well. I'll get them in a month or so, and will be sure to post photos!

While in E-town, the family went for a swim at Mill Woods Wave Pool - except for J, who was off skating the new park with Nick. Cade had his first swimming experience, and seemed to be okay with it - not a lot of smiles, but no complaining either - kind of like how he acts in the bath. Hopefully he'll get to like swimming more and more, since I love it so much - I'd like to keep going as our family grows.

There are several movies I'd like to see, and it's hard to choose what to see first. I hear the Star Trek movie is amazing, and I'm also looking forward to the new Harry Potter show. And I also want to see 17 Again, though that one probably on a cheap day or matinee or something of the sort.

I made barbecued chicken last night, for the first time ever, and fell in love with it. I often am not a big fan of chicken, just because it's so bland. But with this marinade.. mmm, mmm good. Check it out here: http://www.boulianne.net/recipes/?id=111

We're almost completely out of fresh groceries. That's on my to-do list for Friday, when I go into town to get Cade his 2-month shots. It's the first set, we'll have to see how it goes!

I'm also looking forward to camping in Jasper in August with the Snip side of the fam. Can't wait!

Oh, and... PS. -

2009-07-12T20:13:00.001-06:00

Cade shows off his new Hanson shirt
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Cade got his first Hanson shirt. I love it.

Fireworks and the weeks ahead

2009-07-12T19:59:00.001-06:00

Fireworks
Originally uploaded by trippykel

We've had another couple of busy weeks. It seems that's just the way of life! This past week I met with a lady from USC about an education savings plan for Cade (we haven't decided for sure yet, but it looks good to me), spent an afternoon at Jana's with Tim and Owen, went for an evening visit at Heather & Dan's, caught their garage sale the next day (great prices!), spent several hours in the church library adding about 40 new items to the collection, and even found time to read Cade his first books - I chose "Hand, Hand, Fingers Thumb", Dr Seuss' Alphabet book, and "There's a Wocket in my Pocket". I also finished seam-ripping some old upholstery and brought it in to get new stuff sewn together (my sewing machine won't do that thickness), and designed a random label for a pop bottle. When I look back on it now, it looks like I had a productive week, even if it didn't feel like it!

In the kidlet realm, Cade has been really gassy. It's nothing new, but I just found out recently that it's not normal for babies to wake up in the middle of the night from gas. I'm suspecting milk products are the cause, and so I've stopped eating & drinking them. It's difficult though, since I like dairy and it's in almost everything! There's some yogurt sitting in my fridge now that I won't get a chance to drink. I'll be trying soy and rice milk next week, but it sounds dreadful. I'll let you know how that goes. It's still growing like a weed. He's about 9.5 weeks old now. And last week, at 2 months he weighed in at 14.5 lbs - a big baby. And he's tall, too. More like Jack Sprat than his wife!

I snuck out for the fireworks on June 31st, and at midnight on Canada day got a lovely fireworks display to watch over Muskoseepi Park. I had to call around to several friends to find someone going, since Jeremie wasn't feeling up to it (more on that later), but found a group of people to go with - Shawn and Justin had brought their new digital SLRs and Darren brought his video camera, so we were a picture-ey bunch! We hung out afterwards for awhile too until the traffic cleared out - it was good to have a bit of a photo romp again, and a bit of time to relax and hang out.

As far as Jeremie goes, this past week he worked the weekend, 'til midnight Monday-Wednesday, 'til 3am Thursday, then worked Friday afternoon. He finally got home to relax Friday evening and we rented a few movies - I really enjoyed Inkheart - and headed to bed on time. He was up that night with the flu, and has been sick all weekend. He's getting a bit better now, but it's still pretty rotten - work 3 weeks more or less straight, then get sick, then have to work again. Blech.

This coming weekend we'll be visiting Jesse & Sheleena, and Mom & Dad B should be there as well - I'm sure they're looking forward to seeing their grandson again! We're also going to Jill & Jeremy's wedding, and really looking forward to that. Hooray for happy couples!

Anyway, Cade nodded off after his gassy-fussy period, so I'm off to get a few things done before he wakes up!

The family walk in the river bottom

2009-06-30T16:38:00.001-06:00

The family walk in the river bottom
Originally uploaded by trippykel

We've started taking Cade out and about - the picture here is from a walk in the Simonette riverbottom. It was a lovely cloudy evening, and the only thing I can complain about is the mosquitoes. They were huge and way too common!

Cade is 8 weeks old tomorrow, and is starting to grow up! He's getting a nice bit of baby pudge, and now speaks to us in goos and gahs when we're with him. He's also become quite the smile pro, and makes my mostly unsentimental heart turn over with a few of them. He's also outgrown all his 0-3 month clothes, and is working hard on outgrowing the 6 month ones. It doesn't help that he has a huge cloth diaper butt, but c'est la vie!

Jeremie just spent 2 weeks away from home for work: the 15th to the 19th in Edson fixing some tools, then off to Houston from the 21st to the 27th for some extra training on fixing more tools. He's going to be a fixing pro soon! He brought me back a metal sherrif's badge for my dressup collection, and I'm quite enamored with it. Jer is very glad to be back home with Cade and myself, but didn't get much of a chance to relax since he had to work part of Sunday as well as attending church and having dinner at Justin and Bobbi's. He's going somewhere tonight (I forget where), so I really hope he doesn't have to work overtime tomorrow (Canada day). He could really use a day off.

I decided after the first week of Jeremie being gone that I didn't really feel like having another week at home alone with Cade, so after I dropped Jeremie off at the airport that sunday morning, I headed on the drive to Edmonton. It was a much different drive than usual, being that I usually drive straight through with a stop or two to pee and pick up some fast food. I can usually do the trip in 5 hours, my house to Erika's, in good weather. This time it took me 9 hours, due to a few naps and a feeding time for Cade. But we made it, safe and sound! The week was a pleasant whirlwind of activity: I managed to visit with Jesse and Sheleena, Jenna, Chuck and Erika, Maria, Melissa, and Coralie and Mike. I stayed at an extra room at Maria's place, and it worked out really well. Cade had the privilege of sleeping in a drawer. We did some fabric shopping, took a browse through Finesse furniture store (love some of their stuff!), tried to reupholster some chair cushions (the darn sewing machine wouldn't go through as many layers of thick material as we needed it to), and cooked a few fun meals. I definitely enjoyed the week, and Cade liked going out as much as we did.

Yesterday Noni came over to return a few of my jewelry display items that I'd lent her for her jewelry sale on chautauqua day, and we had a lovely chat. Chanelle, Cai, and Spyla stopped over to borrow some crazy dressup clothes for their photoshoot - they hired Dara, a professional photographer, to take shots of them for an hour as a birthday treat. I can't wait to see the pictures!

rambo cade

2009-06-16T18:24:00.001-06:00

rambo cade
Originally uploaded by trippykel

The past few weeks have been full, but not overly busy, and not dull. I've gone to the church library a few times to restock the shelves, but haven't had a chance to stay and put out the new (donated) materials yet. It's harder to find a solid block of time now that Cade has made his entrance.

The photo to the right is from a little photoshoot Cade and I had at home this morning. I wanted to get a photo of him laying on a skateboard, as suggested by Kate, but it was just too tricky. I'd found a dark gray shirt to lay over the grip tape so he wouldn't get scratched, but he just fussed when I tried to position him on the board. His legs kept falling off, and he didn't want to face me. So nix that idea. But we still had fun with the ghetto bandanna I made, as well as a few with Jeremie's mini-skateboard and a few more traditional 'naked baby' photos. The ligting wasn't that great though. We might have to try again some other day.

Cade is chilling with me right now, laying on his nursing pillow between me and the keyboard. He needed some face time, and I wanted to type for a bit. It seems to be working out well.

Jeremie got sent out to work in Edson for a few days, so Cade and I were home alone last night. I missed Jeremie most when I went to bed. I seem to have gotten used to his breathing & warmth, and now the bed feels empty without him. He'll be gone next week for awhile too, for some training in the states. We'll have to see how single-parenthood goes.

I'm now on to my next craft for Cade's room. Previously I had made the crib bedding and modded his dresser and change table. Now I'm on to a mobile. I bought some embroidery hoops, spray paint, fishing line, paper lanterns, and some black/dark gray craft flowers from Michaels. I'm hoping to drill some holes, measure some line, and get it all put together sometime this week. We'll see how it goes - I'll be sure to post a picture of it when it's done!

Cade and Mom take pictures

2009-06-04T18:41:00.001-06:00

Cade and Mom take pictures
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Jeremie got home from a skatepark meeting last night, just after I was finished feeding Cade. He was heading out to skate, so Cade and I joined him with the Baby Bjorn. I know you're not supposed to put babies facing outward when they're so young, but he likes to look around.. it worked out pretty well, since I've got some good clevage going on right now and he could rest his head there so it didn't bob around too much. I also took some skate photos, of course. I was going to try skateboarding, but figured I should give it a little bit of a break - I don't want to think about keeping up with tending Cade while I've got something broken or incredibly sore. I do tend to fall poorly when I skate, so it's something to keep in mind.

Jeremie and I are lending Cade out for the evening, and heading out for a drive in the country and an anniversary dinner - our 4th was last week. My, my, how time flies. It'll be nice to get out of the house a bit more, since my schedule currently is 90% either eating or sleeping, feeding or calming Cade. It's a full-time job and a half! This will be the first time leaving Cade with a sitter other than our parents, which seems about right - we've had him for a whole month without sharing at all ;)

The family visit last week was fabulous, we had a really good time and even managed to get a few family photos before Mom & Dad left, so we have some nicer photos of us all - which is good, because to date most of the photos of myself and Cade involved the hospital room we were in when he was born.

Stompede fun

2009-05-30T14:13:00.001-06:00

A blurry me with the clown garbage
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Cade and I have been having a good week. Mom came on Sunday, and Dad and Maria joined us Friday morning. Mom's been a dream, helping with housework, baby tending, yardwork and gardening. I've gotten a chance to sleep more than I would have otherwise, as well as getting things done.

There was a baby shower for Cade on Tuesday night, and I was blown away at how many people came to wish us well. The showering us with baby clothes didn't hurt either. The shower was put together by Joselyn and Britt, and they did a wonderful job - fun games, great snacks (you should have seen the cake!), and a little bit of serious advice to round out the evening.

Last night Jer suggested we hit up the Stompede fair, so Dad, Maria and I joined him on a trip to the Midway. Mom volunteered to watch Cade, so we got a chance to go on some rides. I was quite thrilled with this, since it's been quite a few years since I've gone on any rides. Maria bought mini-donuts, I took horrible pictures with my old camera, and we had a blast in general. Jeremie was happy with his LED fan that he bought, so things were pretty great all around.

Today will be photo day, maybe some games in the evening, then everyone heads out early tomorrow morning. I'll miss the help, but it will be nice to be the three of us again, at the same time.

Cade and grandmama

2009-05-19T21:33:00.001-06:00

Cade and grandmama
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Grandmama (Mom to me) and Grandpapa (Dad) were here this weekend to visit Cade, along with Uncle Jesse and Aunt Sheleena. We were really glad to see the family again, and had a good time catching up and enjoying baby-ness. Mom spent her weekend either cooking for us all, or holding Cade. She just couldn't get enough of him! I didn't mind at all, since it gave me a break - I only had to feed him and pass him off. I think he might have gotten a bit spoiled over the weekend though, since he seems to want to be held more now. Funny kid.

We managed to get in the traditional family game of bocce ball, as well as several rounds of Dice and one of the Farming Game. I feel a bit bad to say I cleaned up at both Dice and Farmer, and perhaps I should have tried less to win, so that our guests could. I'm a bit too competitive for my own good!

And, as lovely as it was to see the family, it was also nice to have the day to myself to do a few chores, finish off a book, and nap without feeling like I'm missing out on what else is going on. I think it will be just about right to have this week to ourselves, then have a week with my family next week. I need a bit of a break between.

I hadn't realized how much time a baby takes up when you go out, but definitely noticed it this evening - I went to the library, got the mail, and returned a movie in about 20 minutes. There was no prep, no diaper-bag checking, no car-seat buckling or baby settling. Just get up and go! I might find myself doing evening shopping more often as Cade gets older, so that I can just leave him with Jeremie.

We've now hit the start of the baby gifts: Mom B made Cade a blanket to play on, Nana B made him a quilt, Maria sent an awesome onesie and soother holder, Jesse and Sheleena got him a toy, Jenna got him a really cute sleeper, Nick gave him a teddy, his first hot wheels car, and some much-needed diapers... the list just seems to go on. It's been really nice though, we're thankful for all the wonderful people who have been so willing to share with us! Next week Tuesday is Cade's shower at church, which I'm starting to look forward to - it gives me another chance to show the little munchkin off!

No non-baby news today. Maybe another time :)

Cade's first picnic

2009-05-14T13:16:00.001-06:00

Cade's first picnic
Originally uploaded by trippykel

My life has become baby stuff. It's funny how fast that happened. But between feeding every 2-4 hours, plus catching up on my sleep, that's about all I have time for.

Britt's been really great lately, helping out and being great company. Today she and her sister Hayley brought Jovi over to our back yard for a picnic lunch with Cade. It was good to hang out with a few adults, as well as getting out of the house and getting some sun. I had a chance to try out the bug screen for Cade's car seat we were given, and it works great! Note the picnic-ish blanket on Cade. We were totally prepared!

This weekend is looking to be a good one: Jeremie's parents are flying in for the weekend, so they'll be here Friday afternoon and stay until Monday afternoon. It will be great to see them, and they're quite excited to meet Cade. Plus Mom is doing all the grocery shopping and cooking, so I won't be worn out - I'm hugely thankful for that. Jesse and Sheleena will also be by for a few days this weekend. I'm sure we'll end up talking kids a lot of the weekend, especially since Sheleena is pregnant!

Heather and Dan are getting married on Saturday, so Jeremie and I are going to sneak away for the wedding service at least, which will be good. They're great together, and I'm really happy for them.

My mom and dad are currently arranging to be here for the last week of May to help out as well. I love getting to see so much of our family!

The usual position

2009-05-10T00:04:00.002-06:00

The induction finally took on Tuesday evening. I managed the contractions at home until about 10pm, when I decided that morphine wasn't an option anymore, and we went in to the hospital. Baby Cade Daniel arrived at 4:30pm the next day, after 2 1/2 hours of pushing. I was exhausted, my eyes were almost swollen shut, and I'd burst some blood vessels in my face. Not a pretty sight. But it was worth it to hear Jeremie's triumphant 'It's a boy!' and know that the work was done, and we had the newest addition to our family. He weighed in at 8lbs, 6 oz, and was 9 days overdue. And, incidentally, was born on Hanson day, as my sister pointed out to me. Sweet.

The only disappointment was that if he'd come a few weeks earlier, I could have gone to check out all the garage sales today - once a year, Sexsmith has a town garage sale day where everyone who wants to sells all their junk. It's fabulous. But, c'est la vie. There's always next year.

We arrived home at about 6:30pm Friday evening, and were happy to be back. We stopped by the comedy night/pie social at church for a minute, but it was just over, so we stayed for a few minutes to show Cade off, then headed home to pack it in for the night.

The usual position
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Being pregnant, and finally not again, has made me thankful for many things. Hugging my husband face-on is one of the top few. At the hospital I was supremely greatful for showers, for Jeremie to help out when I didn't feel like getting out of bed, for the horrifically huge maxi-pads the hospital provides, and for every meal arriving on a tray. Convenience at its best. On arriving home I was thrilled with my own shower (it has everything I need, right there!), sleeping with an un-plasticized pillow, and today when we tidied up all the detrius that had accumulated throughout the hospital time. I always feel so much better with a tidy home. A bit of dirt here and there I can live with, but clutter just isn't right!

I talked to my dad on the phone yesterday, and he was already planning on building a soapbox derby car with Cade and making a trip to the states to compete. He's oldskool. I think this being a grandpa is really going to agree with him!

We've gotten so many wonderful congratulations, comments, offers of help, and gifts. Especially on Facebook. I knew when I posted a few baby photos that I was asking for it... reams of comments. All lovely, of course. But we've had so many people offer congratulations and want to see a picture or two that I couldn't resist. I'm sure I'll be filling up a set in my Flickr account with more photos of our baby than anyone other than family wants to see. It's a great way to keep all the long-distance family updated, though!

Cade is sleeping beautifully right now, so I think I'll take advantage of this moment to eat some dinner and see if I can catch a few winks before the long night begins. Last night was our first night at home, and I got collectively maybe 1/2 an hour of sleep in bed and an hour or two on the couch. Naps just aren't cutting it any more. So... here's to hopes of more sleep tonight!

Today, oh, today

2009-05-05T18:24:00.002-06:00

We were asked to call the hospital today at 7:30am. We did, and they said they had room for me and we should come at 8. We made it around 8:15, being that we had to wake up fully and drive in to town, and played the usual paperwork rigamarole. Once we got to the maternity ward, we were let into triage and set up with a room. They gave me prostoglandin (a hormone that starts labor), then J and I chilled out in the ward for a couple of hours while they monitored contractions and the baby's heart beat. We got sent home until something happened.

I took a shower and a nap this afternoon and did some laundry, while Jeremie's been working on one of his projects down in the robot room. He's taking the LCD monitor off of an old broken mini-DVD player we have to make a portable mini-monitor. We'll see how it turns out!

I've been noticing contractions since about 5:45, but we have to time them for an hour to see if they're consistent, and how far apart they are, and how long they're for. If they keep coming, we get to go back to the hospital for the evening. If they go away, we get to go into the hospital tomorrow morning again for more drugs.

So at the moment I'm surfing online, with the computer clock open on my second monitor so I can note down contraction times and durations. And eating some yummy leftovers. Mmm, leftovers.

And that's how it goes

2009-05-04T17:40:00.002-06:00

The big day is coming soon. Very soon.

We've got to call the hospital tomorrow morning to see if they're too busy to take us, and if they're not we go in and I get some drugs injected into me to make the baby come. If they are too busy, we'll try to go in the day after instead. We're a week overdue as of today, and they don't want the baby getting too big before it comes out. And then, after some pain, hard work, an IV or two, and who knows what else, we'll have a family larger by one! We're both looking forward to having the baby. And so, to celebrate...

We're planning on going out for dinner at the Keg (oh, how I love a good steak), then on to the movie theatre to catch a flick. I'm torn between 17 Again, a quite possibly cheesy chick flick about this guy who wishes to go back to highschool to change his life.. and it happens. Or the Wolverine X-men movie, which Jeremie would probably like more, but I probably won't enjoy as much. He's said he'll see either, for me, but now I have to decide how selfish I want to be. Though I'm guessing that it just depends on when dinner is over as to which one we end up going to.

Jeremie is off at hte skatepark right now, and I still want to get the church key from Shawn and catalog a few books before dinner, since I don't think I'll have another chance to put them away this week.

It's weird to think that next Sunday will be my first Mother's Day where I'm a mom. Aah, how life changes.

the book drop

2009-05-04T07:52:00.003-06:00

the book drop - I'm sure it's one of a kind
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I just wanted to make a quick list of books I've read lately that I've enjoyed. It will help me remember the new authors/books, and maybe give you an idea/some inspiration for something to read! Please note the synopses are borrowed from random places on the internet - no writing credit to me!

Black - Ted Dekker

Fleeing his assailants through deserted alleyways, Thomas Hunter narrowly escapes to the roof of a building. Then a silent bullet from the night clips his head...and his world goes black. From the blackness comes an amazing reality of another world-a world where evil is contained. A world where Thomas Hunter is in love with a beautiful woman. Then he remembers the dream of the chase as he reaches to touch the blood on his head. Where does the dream end and reality begin?

The Host - Stephenie Meyer

Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed. When Melanie, one of the few remaining "wild" humans is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

The Moneylender of Toulouse - Alan Gordon

Theophilos, court jester and secret agent, traveling to the French city of Toulouse in the year 1204. His assignment: convince the bishop to retire so the guild can put in his place someone more sympathetic to the increasingly embattled organization. The complication: when Theophilos arrives on the scene, he discovers that the bishop has been having some trouble with a local moneylender, who soon turns up dead. Now, in order to save the guild, Theophilos must solve the murder.

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow - Jessica Day George

Blessed—or cursed—with an ability to understand animals, the Lass (as she’s known to her family) has always been an oddball. And when an isbjorn (polar bear) seeks her out, and promises that her family will become rich if only the Lass will accompany him to his castle, she doesn’t hesitate. But the bear is not what he seems, nor is his castle, which is made of ice and inhabited by a silent staff of servents. Only a grueling journey on the backs of the four winds will reveal the truth: the bear is really a prince who’s been enchanted by a troll queen, and the Lass must come up with a way to free him before he’s forced to marry a troll princess.

Trickster's Choice - Tamora Pierce

Aly, a strong and resourceful young woman who masters the arts of swordplay and knightly warfare in the magical medieval country of Tortall, masters a delicious sense of humor, which serves her well when she is chosen by the trickster god Kyprioth to serve as his secret agent and a slave for a year in the embattled Copper Isles. There the dark-skinned natives, or raka, have been conquered and crushed by the laurin, light-skinned people from the mainland. The burning raka resentment is fueled by prophecies of a twice royal queen who will free them, aided by the "wise one, the cunning one, the strong one, the warrior, and the crows."

Mystic and Rider - Sharon Shinn

Gillengaria abounds in magic, yet its mystics, the carriers of magic, aren't well regarded. Tolerated in the North by royal order, in the South they're feared, even hated. Lately it appears that organized riders are attacking and murdering mystics. To verify and assess the situation, King Baryn dispatches fire mystic Senneth to the South. With her are foremost King's Rider Tayse; Baryn's shape-changing mystic daughter, Kirra; Kirra's mystic servant, Donnal; scrappy street-urchin-turned-Rider Justin, whose only lost fight was with Tayse; and orphaned Cammon, found serving ale in a tavern, who Senneth suspects is a mystic.

Hatbox Letters - Beth Powning* (must read, this is fabulous)

In this beautiful and deeply moving novel, a young widow struggles to come to terms with her solitary life in the rambling Victorian house she shared until recently with her husband and children in semi-rural New Brunswick.It is in this house, surrounded by heirloom gardens and the gentle sounds of a river, that Kate Harding, 52, faces her second winter since the untimely death of her husband. Her children, now grown, are living away, and Kate is truly on her own. In her living room are several hatboxes filled with letters and other ghostly ephemera, recently brought by her sister from the attic of their grandparents’ 18th-century Connecticut house. Their sweet mustiness tinges the air and makes Kate dream of her childhood and of her beloved grandparents. She remembers the sense of permanence and refuge that she felt in their apple-scented world, as well as, more recently, with her husband. As she begins to read the hatbox letters, she discovers that what to a child seemed a serene and blissful marriage was in fact founded on a tragic event. As Kate’s eyes clear to the truth of the past, a new tragedy unfolds, and her own house, filled with the shared detritus of marriage and motherhood, becomes the refuge where Kate can connect the strands of her unravelled life.

That's all I can remember for now. Happy reading!

getting some air

2009-04-25T19:29:00.001-06:00

getting some air
Originally uploaded by trippykel

The last couple of sunday afternoons we've been hanging out outside. For example, this past Sunday Jeremie was at the skatepark, and I hauled my bulky self over to take photos of his death-defying stunts. Or, at least, they're death-defying to me, since I'd surely break something trying to get this much air, let alone doing a grab at the same time. Scary stuff! We then headed off to the parking lot at the civic centre, where a bunch of our friends head for a few hours of street hockey. I brought my semi-comfortable lawn chair and played spectator for the afternoon. It was good to get some sun and fresh air, and fun to chat with the other girls who came. Skyla was drawing 'tattoos' on our feet with a gel-tipped marker, and I must say that I liked tehm quite a lot.

Tuesday was thrift shopping with Britt, we headed out in the afternoon to $2 Tuesday at the salvation army. I bought several pieces of clothing for the fabric alone - I'm on this apron kick. I haven't sewn any yet, but I've started drawing out ideas on this cute little template I made in Illustrator. I think it would be fun to make a bunch of wacky/creative (and a few prettier for the more normal people) aprons and see how they sell at the farmer's market or some craft show. I'll post pictures if I ever do get around to making them. So if you have a crazy idea, let me know!

I spent another afternoon at the church this past week, adding about 30 books to our collection. I'm glad to see that we have some donations and new items for people to check out - there were even a few that I'd like to check out for myself. I also bought a comedy DVD from the Bananas gang - I saw them in Edmonton once and laughed my head off. So good. Hopefully the DVD is as well!

Last night I went to our local movie store to rent some DVDs. Their older titles rent at 3 for $7 for 4 nights, and I felt like watching some that I hadn't seen in awhile. I watched My Girl last night, Shallow Hal this morning, and still have Stardust left over, which I'm quite looking forward to watching.

I haven't gottten that far on our digital photo album for 2008 - I've got maybe 1/4 of the year done. But I'm not planning on ordering it until I have my next months' spending money anyway, so it's no big rush.

I just received a confirmation from Amazon that my order is being shipped - the latest Jason Mraz album (I hope it's good), the new Tinted Windows album (just came out, I can't wait to get it), and a book - The Host, by Stephenie Meyer. I've read that book before, and quite enjoy it. It was also on sale :)

The baby room is ready, I just bought a nursing pajama for wearing around while we have company over the next month or so, and there's only 2 days left 'til the due date. I'm trying not to be impatient, but we're both ready for our new one to arrive. Our bags are packed and ready, the car seat is installed, and there's really nothing more left to do. We even cleared out all the recycling that's been stacking up in the basement to make more room for our guests. Can't wait!

This one's for you

2009-04-16T00:54:00.001-06:00

All three paintings together
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Shelley, here are all three paintings together, as requested by the always-fabulous you!

Baby news: we're at 38 weeks and a few days, so less than 2 weeks left! The ultrasound last week went well, and it looks like everything's how it should be, which is great. The doctor said that if, for some reason, baby is late, we'd probably induce about 1 week after the due date. So the longest we'll have is 3 weeks until baby is here, and life changes forever... or so I hear.

I spent a lovely half hour this afternoon on a walk with Robyn, who I bumped into halfway through. I ended up at the skatepark, and took some video of Jeremie doing his thing. He just bought a new complete (deck, wheels, bearings, trucks, the whole bit) and so wasn't landing as many tricks as he wanted to, but I'm sure the new board will be worn in & ready to rock in no time.

I'm also happy to say that I'm finishing off my print photo albums this evening, and will never again have to do more than add a few items that are given to me. From now on, we're going digital all the way. Next project: making a digital 2008 album and sending it off to the printer's.

Ciao!

Pregnant (38 weeks)

2009-04-12T21:37:00.001-06:00

Pregnant (38 weeks)
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Not too long left!

Web Design

2009-04-03T18:12:00.009-06:00

Dueck Brothers Website
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I finished the Dueck Brothers website awhile back, and finally got signoff on it. It's officially done. I am happy to say that it turned out fairly well. Most important is that the Duecks love their new site. I created a skin for a CMS called Dot Net Nuke (pain in the butt, after using the software I'm not a big fan), then rewrote/reformatted all the content, added a flash gallery, and just made everything a lot more cohesive. Seems to work fine in Firefox 2 & IE6. Check it out at http://www.dueckbrothers.com/

No matter how often I say that I'm not going to do any more design work for awhile, another little contract always seems to pop up. It seems like spring is working her wiles on me, and sending creativity breezes my way. Just can't say no!

I took a couple of hours 2 weeks ago to evaluate a friend's website and make suggestions for him to implement, so that wasn't a lot of work. I've also been asked how much it would cost for 3 t-shirt mockups / 1 final design for the town fair coming up. It sounds like kind of a fun job, so I've given them a quote. We'll see where it goes from there. I really was trying to stop working though, especially since it's almost to the point where baby could arrive any day and I won't have much design time. Not getting jobs done on time = bad.

Question of the day: why do people still make websites where you have to choose Flash or HTML? You're duplicating your content, which leads to content differences and errors. You're forcing your users to think, instead of just using the website intuitively. You're wasting homepage real estate! Forcing users to choose is such a designer's-way-out option! Grr.

You need options? Run some stats on the browsers surfing your site, and choose either all flash or all HTML, based on your users. Better yet, integrate both: just make sure the navigation isn't flash if you've got a lot of old-browser nonsense going on. You could also do a browser/bandwidth-detect to decide which site to send them to if you absolutely must have the two separate options. Invisible is best! Let people use your website without thinking so hard, and let the code do the work.

Rant over.

Almost.

My other pet peeve of the day: a design company who makes a website and does a shoddy job. Our town spent some dough to get this website, and it's not living up to the task. The WYSIWYG editor control (word-type-editor) isn't saving changes and frustrates the users who have to update the site. They don't get consistent support or timely answers to their emails in response to problems they're having. And to top it off, the site is visually ugly, has poor navigation, lacks content organization in a bad way, and could really do with a ton of UI changes. It looks like a poorly-customized frontend template to me. Joomla backend - at least they did that right! Many bah-humbugs go out to the design company.

Poor websites are just something that gets me up in arms. Can we ban them? Or at least start a TV Show like the home makeover ones. Introducing... *insert drumroll here* Extreme Website Makeover! Watch us peel away those ugly layers of bloated code, heavy graphics, and poor UI. We'll start with surgery, then stitch it all back together and leave it with a gloss not topped by any wax on the market today!

Life and Dick VanDyke

2009-04-03T17:58:00.004-06:00

Dick VanDyke
Originally uploaded by trippykel

The photo to the right is the final painting in the set of 3 that I've been meaning to do for several years. It's now complete, with Dick VanDyke, Audrey Hepburn, and Sean Connery. I'm quite pleased with the way this one turned out. Now one more wall in our house looks a bit less bare! So huzzah for that.

The baby and I are still doing well: we're nearing the end of the 36th week now. At my doctor's appointment this week my stomach was apparently measuring a bit small, so I've got an ultrasound scheduled for next Tuesday afternoon. I'm not too worried though, since baby is moving around a lot and seems to be fine otherwise.

In library news, I seem to be putting in a lot of hours, but it doesn't really feel like work. The shelves have now been re-ordered, due to the help of three lovely ladies, and are labeled, with room on each shelf for new books. We have a few display shelves to show off our newer items, and the music and DVDs are all out and organized to a T. It makes me quite happy. Maybe I'll take pictures sometime. I'm also pleased to note that of the bulk of the books and items I purchased awhile back have been circulating. It's a relief, since this is my first time doing anything like this and I'm not 100% sure what people want.

Jeremie's job isn't stressing him out quite as much these past couple of days. Why might that be? There's an overtime ban, so he gets off around 5:30pm every night. I can definitely see how the extra time off is helping him out. The week before he worked 6 days, and often until 10 or 11pm - so we're quite thankful that he has some more time to chillax, get things done, and have a bit of space.

In novel news, I've also been reading up a storm - I've read about 6 or 7 novels by Ted Dekker, really enjoyed The Host by Stephenie Meyer, tried out some of the Yada Yada novels, was quite impressed with a novel by Sharon Shinn. I think I'll try to track down a few more of her books. I'm also embarking on a 'read my way through the authors in our library' quest. One book per author, just to get a feel for them. And if I don't like the book, I'm not going to force myself to read all the way through it. We'll see how it goes!

J's calculator watch

2009-04-01T19:47:00.001-06:00

J's calculator watch
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I just haven't felt like blogging lately. Maybe someday soon.

the big belly

2009-03-19T11:49:00.001-06:00

the big belly
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I seem to have been falling behind in my blogging. Which is funny, because I thought that not having a job would give me a lot more time to do things like this. I've found that I can fill up as much time as I have, regardless to how much there is. I'm taking a break from swimming laps today due to a busy week - and starting to get too tired doing all the everyday things I normally do. So all I have planned for today is some cataloging/shelving at the church library, and making some dinner. We'll see where my fancy runs for this evening.

On the baby front, the doctor says the measurements of my belly are 'average' and everything seems to be going well - especially since I don't have many complaints. I'm not too waterlogged, my back doesn't ache much, I can still tie my shoes, I'm not feeling sick... all good things, as far as I'm concerned! Monday marked the 34 weeks milestone, so there's a bit less than a month and a half left until baby is born. This week has been the week of sewing crib bedding, and I'm almost done - I just have to sew ties on to the bumper pad to keep it attached to the side of the crib. I've tried to do an item per day this week to divvy out the work, so I feel like I've been sewing all week. And crawling on the floor to cut out the fabric (the table's too small) was a bit tricky at this stage of fatness, since I find it hard to breathe when I'm bending over. Good thing I didn't wait until next month to do the sewing!

This week has been a bit hard on Jeremie, since one of his co-worker friends got laid off the other day, due to the oil industry downturn. It's been happening a lot lately here - the place Jeremie worked at up until January has laid off 2/3 of its staff. The company he's working for has laid off several people this week, which creates an atmosphere of anxiety. I heard from a friend over lunch yesterday that her boyfriend's company has been laying off people every wednesday since January. Talk about not wanting to go in to work! We feel very blessed to have a job for J that's fairly secure (as much as these things ever are), since he's working in a division that's still getting new jobs and has enough work to keep him employed. At the same time, it's a hard climate to live in all the time, and all the people getting laid off stresses Jeremie out - mostly for the sake of all the people without jobs.

My trip to Edmonton a couple of weeks ago went well. I managed to see 90% of the friends I wanted to catch up with, and got to visit with the family in the city as well - Maria, Erika, Jenna, Jesse and Sheleena. It was great to have a chance to do that before we start visiting with baby in-tow, which is sure to change the dynamics. I also spent a lot of money - mostly on eating out with friends, buying some different maternity clothes (shopping here is the pits), and some stuff for the baby - like a car seat, and some diaper accoutrements, since we're doing cloth. I think my favorite meal while there was at Chianti's. They do the best home-made pasta ever. I'll have to try it at home sometime!

Anyway, I'm getting tired again. Time for a nap!

I'm off!

2009-03-05T08:12:00.001-07:00

grabbing a ball
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I've decided to take a little trip to the big city, just like Madeline did. I'll be visiting and catching up with several lovely individuals I haven't been able to see in way too long, and so I'm quite looking forward to the whole thing! That is, if my car will start. Apparently it was cold out last night, and the cord to my block heater is broken. Bah.

On the trip schedule is coffee, shopping, visiting Alby and her new baby, some sister time, and whatever else happens to happen. I think I'll also be looking for some fabulous baby stuff and clothes for myself, since all the shirts that were just a bit snug are now too snug to wear. I never mind an excuse to shop, but staying on budget might prove a bit of a challenge if I fall in love with too many things!

The photo is from our 'nerd bowling' youth group event a couple of weeks ago. Everyone dressed up as nerdily as they could and headed out to a 5-pin lane that reminds me of the '60s. Our 'team' didn't really try very hard, but we did find out that if you bowl two balls in quick succession, they only count as one roll. Three is iffy - it works sometimes, and sometimes not. Oh, and I also got a strike with an under-the-left-leg shot. A total fluke.

In other fun-ness, I received the shipment of books for the church library! I'm still quite excited about the project, and have found that it's quite peaceful to take an hour and shelve/catalog some books. I'm also looking forward to going through all the really old stuff and culling some of what isn't used to make more shelf space, which will lead to a better display of the titles we do keep. And room for more fresh materials! I'm trying to keep in mind that my agenda isn't the only one, and that we have to be careful of other people's needs and opinions as well. Hopefully that will continue to happen.

I'm also happy to say that I should start receiving mat leave benefits this week or next, which should help out the money situation. J and I made a budget (exciting, no?) last week and we both feel better about our finances now, as we can keep track of our own spending and know about how much we can spend on certain things. Like groceries. We also gave ourselves a spending allowance, for whatever we want/need that month, which I look forward to. So far I've spent some of my March allowance on a new scanner (the old one just went bust), some books, and a smashing pair of earrings (dangly ones with the pendant from this neckace) from a jewelry party I went to last night by Stella & Dot. Joselyn also made her Black Bean Dip to Die For. I love that stuff.

I'm off to track down some tunes for the road trip. Wish me luck!

my evening

2009-02-21T21:53:00.001-07:00

my evening
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I've been meaning to sort out and albumize my photos since the last time I did so, which was about early 2001. Thankfully most of my 2005+ photos are digital, but that still means I have a good 4 years' worth of photos to sort and add to albums. I spent this evening sorting. Hopefully it won't take too many more evenings to get them all in albums!

30 weeks

2009-02-21T10:46:00.001-07:00

30 weeks
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I'm officially looking more pregnant every week. I don't really notice so much, except when I look at pictures. Which is good, I think. And my belly-button, which has always been cavernous and would need some serious spelunking to find the bottom of, is almost an outie now. How strange is that?

In other news, I am officially the head librarian of our church library. In celebration of that, I ordered a schwack of books on CD, DVDs, and books. They come in 2-4 weeks, if the shipping times are correct. It should be exciting! Now I'm trying to track down some shelf-sign holders to list what's on a shelf. For example, fiction. Or Children's books. They'd been taping labels onto the shelves thus far, which seems rather time-consuming since they're not easily moveable as the books move. I would also like to get a customer-usable barcode-scanning system set up, so I'll have to research and test a bunch of those to find the right ones. Fun, fun!

I didn't go swimming this past week, so I'll definitely have to go a couple of times next week. No exercise makes Jill a tired girl!

A lack of employment

2009-02-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

The week and a bit I've had off from work so far has been fairly fabulous. I've gotten lots of things done at home, had time for friends and errands, and even helped Amy buy some new living room storage furniture and get some ideas for organizing! Friday night was the Fast Food Formal (see photo to the right) with youth, where we dressed up fancy and ate at McDonald's. Saturday J and I attended the Love and Respect video conference, which was a great way to have a few new things to discuss about how we can grow in our marriage. It's so grown-up of us, no? But to balance that out, I totally forgot about the bowling party we were supposed to go to Sunday after church. And we really wanted to go! But instead we had a gang of guys over for lunch, and then Robyn came over to play the Farming game with me. It was a good day!

I just read Peony in Love by Lisa See last night, and definitely enjoyed it. It was reccomended to me by Joss, and I must agree that it was worth reading! The novel is set in China during the dynastic period where the mongols took over. It's about a young girl who falls in love on sight, talks to her special someone in a shady pagoda a few times, then pines her way to death to avoid a matchmaking marriage. Turns out she was supposed to marry the guy she was mooning over. Oops. The second and third 'acts' of the novel are her journey through the Chinese afterlife, where she wanders the world until she discovers her purpose: to help lover-boy have a happy life and marriage. Crazy, no? Next novel up: the hunger games, by Suzanne Collins.

As far as the baby goes, I continue to get fatter, which is pretty normal. We're waiting to decorate the baby room until after it's born, but will start moving some furniture in in a few weeks so that I can start sewing the crib bedding and other such homey tasks. I'm also starting to have to wiggle my way in and out of chairs and such, which is pretty amusing.

I'm heading off to swim some laps with Joss and Jill, and maybe Britt. Have a splendid rest of your day!

sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

2009-01-29T20:33:00.002-07:00

piggyback
Originally uploaded by trippykel

So. Last weekend was the youth lockin at the church - they stayed all night, and I joined them around 7am for a morning breakfast. I had a good time cooking & chatting. This week the youth are off snowboarding (not such a good idea when pregnant & exhausted, so I'm out), but next week is Fast Food Formal night. I'm looking forward to it, though I'm not sure what to wear - none of my formal clothes fit right now!

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. We went through the usual - blood pressure, weight, baby's heart beat, belly measuring. Sometimes it seems silly to get a checkup when that's all that happens, but I guess it's better safe than sorry.

And I only have 1 day of work left! All the walking/standing was just getting too tiring for me, so I gave my notice for the end of January, instead of the originally-planned February. I'm looking forward to the time off, and am already planning some lane-swimming dates with friends, some scrapbooking, coffee time, and the usual house-projects. I'm hoping that I'll have enough time that I'll be inspired to paint. I'd like to do one of Dick VanDyke to finish off my actors set in the living room, and would also like to figure out what to put on the walls in the baby room - I might paint something for that as well.

The photo to the right is of Heather and Dan - they asked me to take some engagement photos for them. We had a great time romping around town in the cold, and ended up with a few shots we're really happy with. Hooray for that! You never know if you'll be happy with the finished product, so it's always a relief when I am!

I also created a photobook for our year of 2007 using myPublisher.com, and am really impressed with the printing quality and ease of the software. I'm hoping to do years 2005-2008, each in its own book, over the next year. I'd do them sooner, but it's a bit pricey. No pricier than printing out all the photos and scrapbooking them, but still not particularly cheap.

And J is home on Tuesday evening, late-late! I'm quite excited, and it'll be great to be together again.

a goodly amount of snow

2009-01-22T22:14:00.001-07:00

a goodly amount of snow
Originally uploaded by trippykel

It's been snowing up a storm up here. Or at least, it was through December. We also had a lovely little blizzard while I was driving home from GP the other night. It's chilly this evening (-24c), and I had to bundle up to shovel a path around my car and to the door. Brr. I also shoveled out a path to the barbecue, but haven't had a chance to hook it up yet. It looks like it'll be pretty cold through until the middle of next week. I think I'll just stay indoors when I can.

J got a new job working for Haliburton, and is off in Texas for a couple weeks to train. He seems to be enjoying it so far, and I find that I have a lot more time for whatever projects strike my fancy for the day. I do miss him, though - never fear :)

My baby belly grows by the day, but people tend to think I'm not as far along as I acually am. It'll be 6 months on Monday! Time flies when you're having fun, right?

2009-01-14T23:06:00.001-07:00

A typical family pose
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Good Christmas visit in Lethbridge. Stop. Finishing work at the end of January. Stop. Baby due the end of April. Stop. Newsletter on its way out. Stop. I'm still alive and kicking (just like the baby). Stop.

It's Christmas eve...

2008-12-24T14:30:00.001-07:00

our tree!
Originally uploaded by trippykel

and Christmas, here we come!

butcher shop munchies

2008-12-22T10:33:00.004-07:00

my 'mask' for the carnival
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Things are finally slowing down around here, and I'm glad to have a much-needed rest. December has been busy with Christmas-ey events, both of us working full time, youth group, and working on a website in my 'spare' time - on top of all the other things that December brings. Oh, and don't forget the Christmas shopping!

The presents have been laid under the tree with care, received, mailed, wrapped. We're taking most of them with us to Lethbridge for our holiday celebrations, but will open a few from J's family before we go. I'm really looking forward to seeing the family again. It's been much too long, though a phone call every so often at least keeps us in touch.

We had our first ultrasound a few weeks ago (I was 20 weeks pregnant and counting). I found it to be a fairly painless procedure, aside from the pushing on a full bladder with a blunt object for a good half hour. It was quite restful to relax for awhile while the technician worked. After she finished her thing, J came in and we got a preview of our new baby. It was very cool to be able to see it while it was still in my tummy, and I'm glad to report it seems just fine from what I saw: 2 arms, 2 legs, a body and a head. Everything seemed to be there. And no, we didn't ask if it was a boy or girl. Why ruin such a lovely surprise?

the ultra-galumphus-sound
Originally uploaded by trippykel

I've been working full-time for the past several months at the Butcher Shop here in town, making soups and sandwiches and all manner of goodies in their front/deli section. It's getting a bit tiring for me now, and I'm considering cutting back on my hours somewhat for the next few months. There's no point in wearing myself out before the baby arrives!

A week and a bit ago our youth group threw a masked carnival. It was well-decorated and well-received. We would have hoped for a better turnout, but the carnival was unfortunately the same day as the high school dance. There were maybe 30 youth there, plus volunteers. Hopefully we'll get more next year. I was in charge of the Wii - we had some raving bunny game going, which was only 1 token to play. What a deal!

a great read

2008-12-12T00:50:00.010-07:00

This book was simply a fabulous read: incredible writing and depth. A+.

(hatbox letters by beth powning)

More to come soon: notes on the ultrasound procedure, a masked carnival, butcher shop madness, and oh-so-much-more....

the instrument chest

2008-12-03T23:24:00.001-07:00

the instrument chest
Originally uploaded by trippykel

We went down to Edmonton last weekend for a quick surprise 30th birthday trip to see Erika (and Chuck, of course). We drove down Saturday and back Sunday, so we didn't have tons of time, but we're glad we went all the same.

We met up with Chuck, Erika, Charity, and Maria for an evening of jazz at the Yardbird suite. Maria made this wonderful ganache cake-thing, we brought flowers, and it turned out to be a fun event. The band was a bit too hardcore on making the music complex & fast for my taste. I'd forgotten that not all jazz is smooth and slow. The next live jazz that I'd like to see would hopefully be just a vocals/piano/upright bass kind of thing. We'll see how that goes!

This Friday is the Christmas party for Jeremie's work, so we're heading off for a dinner theatre evening. I don't know that we'll stay for the whole thing, since the evening is billed as an adult play and we're not into that kind of thing. But it will be good to meet/re-meet a few of his co-workers and their wives. I'm looking forward more to next weekend, where their work is paying for a ladies' spa day - lunch, facial, and manicure. It sounds fabulous. Don't you agree?

Pregnant.. again

2008-11-28T13:49:00.003-07:00

We're pregnant again. Hooray!

We're currently 18 weeks along, due about April 27th (give or take the usual amount of days or weeks for newborn inconsistencies). We haven't come up with names or anything, though we're considering a few. We do like Judah for a boy, or Avelene for a girl. But it's all up in the air at this point!

I'm not really that fat yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I do, however, need to find some new jeans. I'm beginning to understand why everyone here goes to Edmonton when they want to shop - there's just not much that interests me! But hey, it's probably better on the pocket book this way.

We'll be painting / decorating the baby room (I'll miss having my own office, but we'll figure something out) in January. We're going the el-cheapo secondhand route, and have already bought the crib, change table, and dresser. I'm hoping to have some fun making the crib bedding and painting the room up. Too many possibilities, it's so hard to decide!

some famous skatepark

2008-11-21T17:45:00.001-07:00

some famous skatepark
Originally uploaded by trippykel

It doesn't feel like I've been up to much lately, though my calendar tends to say differently. Let's take a look at the past few weeks:

1. I finished my Christmas shopping and wrapped the presents, at least for my side of the family. I can't take all the credit though, since I've been scouting around since the summer for great deals. We're also doing a gift exchange with J's family, so I'll have one more gift to get there.

2. Mom gave us enough airmiles to fly down for Christmas! We're both quite excited about this.

3. I had a Norwex party. I hardly even like product parties, and yet I hosted one. The presentation was a repeat, so I got a bit bored, but we did have fun afterwards :)

4. I served at the Christmas Ladies' tea, as a waitress/server. It was fun to do for a night, but I'm sure glad that's not my regular job! I'm going to the tea as a guest tomorrow night, so hopefully I'll have some friends at my table so we can eat and be merry.

5. Jeremie took off for a Vancouver skate trip. Too cool. The pic above is one of my more favorite photos from his trip.

6. I found a kindred dressup-clothes spirit in Amy. It's fabulous!

That is all.

costumed bowling and the like

2008-10-28T16:49:00.001-06:00

the girls
Originally uploaded by trippykel

We had a joint costume/birthday party a few Saturdays ago, so I thought I'd share this lovely picture of some of our costumes. Half of us dressed up, and the other half either didn't know or forgot. It made for an interesting mix!

It doesn't feel like much else has been happening. Work is going fine, I'm still enjoying it for the most part. That's the most I can say about any of my past jobs, so I'm fine with how things are going.

Big Christmas news: J got the time off! We'll be heading down to Lethbridge between Christmas and New Years' to visit the family. It'll be great to see everyone together again and have a good ol' family Christmas.

I was looking at our yard today and noticed that I stil haven't pulled the dead plants out of our flowerbeds. I also noticed that this doesn't bother me at all, so I think I'll leave them to pull out in the spring when I've got cabin fever and can't wait to be outside. It also postpones my shivering-gardening combination, since I'm not a big fan of being cold.

I'm happy to say I've gotten most of my favorite recipes populated into my recipe site (http://www.boulianne.net/recipes/), and am now working on making all the recipes so I can take photos to add to my little site. I'm hoping to one day be able to choose what to cook based on a photo. Doesn't that just sound like so much more fun?

That's it for now. Happy trails!

A post with no photo

2008-10-15T20:04:00.003-06:00

This is my first post in a long time without a photo, but I don't have any handily-uploaded ones ready to share!

Working at the butcher shop has turned out pretty good, as long as I don't consider the sore feet. The time passes quickly, it's only a 5 minute drive to work, and I got to have Thanksgiving weekend off. How can that be bad?

I turned the big 2 8 this past Friday. It was pretty low-key, just dinner and a movie with Jer. It was hard to get a good crowd together on Thanksgiving weekend, so I've postponed the life-sized clue nite. I got 3 birthday cards today, which were really nice. Thanks to grandma & grandpa, mom & dad, and C&E! Jeremie gave me a trick gift - I opened a box to find oven mitts. I was a bit disappointed (but trying to hide it, of course) when I felt something heavy in one of them. It was an ipod! I've wanted a real ipod forever, but haven't bought one due to the cost. Yay for husbands who get great deals!

Still no word on what's up with Christmas vacation. We'll see if Jeremie gets it off, or if I'll just have a week to slouch around the house by myself. That sounds fabulous right now, I'm exhausted. I got home from work & found a message on the machine, apparently there's a diesel fuel crisis starting here & there's a chance the grocery trucks won't be getting through, so he wanted me to stock up on imperishables. I drove into the city, bought a big bill's worth of food, and got home just in time to unpack and throw dinner together for company. I've been on the go for about 14 hours, now. It feels like a long day to me!

Here's to hoping all is well with you and yours!

my bananna suit

2008-10-01T22:07:00.001-06:00

my bananna suit
Originally uploaded by trippykel

Our youth group has started up again for the fall. Our second event was Water Balloon Mania, in which hundreds of youth get together, dress in colors to match their team, and water-bomb each other like crazy. We were yellow. I found this out about an hour before I had to be there, and called Jeremie at work. "Can you pick up something yellow?"

This is what he came up with. A bananna costume.

Whatever else I can say for it, it IS very yellow!

In other news, I've started my new job as the soup and sandwich maker at the Butcher Shop in town. So far I've picked up what I need to do quickly, and find that the time goes by quickly. Although I don't get paid a lot, there are a few other things that make it fairly worthwhile: a mostly monday-friday schedule with 7:30-3:30 shifts, pretty nice people to work with, a 3-minute drive to work. It's also a good change from the mind-stress of my web design job. Now it's just the getting-things-done stress, which hasn't bothered me much so far. I can't see this being a permanent job, but it's a nice intermediate step. If only my feet would stop hurting!

My birthday is coming up soon, so I've decided to have a couples life-sized Clue night in our home, using our rooms & taping squares in the hallway for moving around. I'll have to do a fair bit of planning for that, so that's next on my agenda! It will, of course, be a costumed theme night, as are most of my birthday parties. I can't wait! I'll probably design our own clue cards, make up branded instruction pages for everyone, we'll see how crazy my design skills get in the time I have.

Jeremie still hasn't heard back on whether or not he's getting Christmas vacation, but I get the week between Christmas and New Years' off. I'm really happy about that, seeing as how I just started working and wasn't sure what would happen. We'll be spending Thanksgiving here, and hopefully we'll have a few friends over for a nice big dinner. Mmm, turkey!

Like a big pizza pie

2008-09-22T12:02:00.001-06:00

the game
Originally uploaded by trippykel

This past weekend has been good. I remembered on Friday afternoon that I've volunteered to help with Friday night youth until Christmas, so I showed up at 6:00 to head out to the Starfield show in GP. It turned out to be more of a worship service than a concert, but it was well-done and the youth seemed to have a good time. Score.

Robin came over Saturday at 1, we had a lovely chat for a few hours and then headed out to watch Dayton's football game. He'd asked in passing if I was coming to the game, so I'd said yes.. since the field is right behind our yard. Robin and I stayed for the first half of the game, and spent most of our time chatting and playing with J's camera. It was a good, relaxing time. We also ran into Jenaeya, and found out she's going to NAIT to become a mechanic. And she loves it. I'm so glad she found something she likes to do!

Sunday I was all in a scurry, thinking that I had to make a presentation at church about how the Oasis went this summer. Of course, I remembered this about half an hour before church. So I wrote up a speech, slid into my seat a few minutes late, only to find that I wasn't asked to come up. Ah well, the prep will stand me in good stead next week. Jeremie and I spent Sunday afternoon playing Tales of Visperia, a manga video game. Jeremie had rented it earlier in the week, saying that he rented it for 'us', so I figured I should try playing it. It didn't enthrall me, but I do like playing it well enough to do so. Which is good.

Today I'm off to get groceries, and hopefully clean the house/do some laundry when I get home. It all needs to be done at some point, and I did a whole lot of nothing last week while I was recovering from my cold.

Onward and inward!