Sunshine, Glorious Sunshine!!

After yesterday's dismal weather, I can say I am very pleased with what the good Lord sent our way today. The sun is shining bright and warm (+5C in the shade), and the snow is continuing its melt. I'm starting to see big patches of grass in the yard - what a wonderful sight!

I just came in from an hour and a half of puddle jumping, ball playing, cat petting, rock throwing, leaf kicking fun with Emily outside. And what fun it was!!! She especially had a great time trying to make splashes big enough in the muddy water to get my pants dirty. She did succeed a couple of times... that's what washing machines are for though, right?

Yesterday, we picked up a parcel at the post office - one of the boxes of Lego I had ordered. Since coming home and assembling the car, truck and gas station, Emily has logged a lot of time filling up cars and paying for the gas. She's also been quite interested in the Disney movie club mailing I received yesterday, which included stickers of Mickey Mouse and his friends. I sang her the Mickey Mouse song, and all day today she's been walking around saying "Meemee!" (that's her saying Mickey). Very cute!

I also found out today that my sister living in Ecuador successfully defended her thesis this morning. Kudos to her!! :)

Well, I'm off to fold some laundry before trying to figure out what to make for dinner tonight. Anyone have any suggestions?

Buck Lake Blogger

A Lifetime of Winter

Have I mentioned how tired I am of the snow we having been getting every morning for the last 4 or 5 days? I mean, isn't is supposed to be Spring?? Today it was coming down pretty hard for awhile there... and it's after lunch (the time when the sun is supposed to shine bright and melt it all) and it's STILL snowing. I'm beginning to feel as though nicer weather will never stick around. **Sigh**

And it's cold today too. I think around -8 degrees Celcius. I've started a fire in the fireplace again to get all nice and cozy. I thought I'd be done with making fires for the season too. This snowy weather is just ruining all my plans, lol.

This morning, Emily and I ventured out to go to our Moms & Tots group. We haven't been for a few weeks due to illnesses. We weren't missing much. Sadly, we were the only ones there, besides the staff. I'm going to have to look into going to a different town for a Moms & Tots program, since the main reason I go is for Emily to be able to interact with other kids. Kinda hard for her to do that if she's the only kid there. But she did have fun, despite being by herself. This way she had free reign of all the toys, I guess.

After a quick lunch and playtime, she is now down for a nap. I'm hoping to get a few things done in the meantime. Before I rush off, I'll leave you with pics of the layouts I completed yesterday.

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

All Systems a Go

Well, I'm feeling MUCH better now. I've officially removed the quarantine on myself. I even actually went out this weekend!! It was very nice to feel normal again. I'm very thankful to be up and running, back to my old self. One always seems to forget too quickly how miserable it is to be sick... until the next time comes around.

I'd love to tell you of all the wonderful things I've done since I've been feeling better. I wish I could. The reality is that I haven't done anything spectacular. I am tackling the odd job that has been on my "To Do" list for ages, so that's good I guess.

The weather here right now just can't seem to make up its mind. The last 3 mornings I've woken up to fresh snow on the deck - but by noon the same day it's melting away. It would be nice if Spring could just decide to stay and this snow would just take a hike! I've taught my daughter to say "Go Away!" to the snow, but unless you know what she's saying, it sounds more like she's saying "Dora!"

Lego is still very much an everyday (all day) activity in my house. I've ordered a bunch of stuff from Lego online and we're anxiously awaiting for it to arrive. We can only build so many trains, tow-trucks, and bulldozers with the amount of wheels we currently have. :)

Other than that, I have been busy doing paperwork, housework and the like. I have managed to squeeze in the odd scrapbook session, so I leave you with my latest work.

Well, I'm off to make lunch! Have a great day!

Buck Lake Blogger

Cabin Fever!

Greetings again!

The sun is once again shining after yesterday's snowy day. I'm very thankful for that. I am perhaps on the mend as well. My voice isn't quite as rough sounding today, although my throat is still very sore. I'm hoping this cold is nearing its end.

I have been rather lazy the last few days. Unmotivated. I am also keeping myself under house arrest, so as not to infect the rest of civilization with this nasty bug. I'm starting to get a little stir-crazy! I haven't left the house in 6 days and am longing for a shopping trip, dinner out or anything that involves me leaving the house for awhile. Hopefully I'll be feeling well enough soon to remove my self-imposed quarantine.

That being said, at least I have my scrapbooking to help occupy some time. I've also been playing my share of Lego with my daughter this last week. It's been really fun to see how involved she is in all the things we can build. Although she seems to have a perhaps unhealthy infatuation with making all the little brown Lego into poop for the animals. As I will soon be attempting to start potty training her, I figure it's good for her to play it out.

With Emily down for a nap now, which these days could last anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours (sometimes I fear she's outgrowing her nap), I am going to go scrapbook some more. I received a lovely gift of felties from a friend yesterday, so they might just start to show up on my pages in the near future.

I leave you with the work I completed yesterday.

Have a sunny afternoon!

Buck Lake Blogger

A Happy St. Paddy's Day To You!

Since my husband is part Irish, I feel inclined to wish y'all a Happy St. Patricks Day! May the luck'o'the Irish be with you today!

I could use a bit of that Irish luck myself. I have been battling a cold the last few days and have nearly lost my voice as a result. Nearly. Instead, I sound like a cross between Kermit the frog and Barry White. I've been told it sounds sexy. Somehow, I don't agree. Not fun.

I haven't been tending to my blog this last week, with having my daughter sick (again) and then catching her cold myself. But I'm back for a quick update. Hmmm... what to tell...?

Surprisingly, the seeds that my daughter and I planted only took a couple of days to sprout. It's all very exciting. She has to check on them a couple of times each day to look at the little sprouts barely poking their heads through the soil. She keeps wanting to go plant them outside. I keep reminding her that it will be a long time before that happens - all the snow has to be gone and it has to be nice and warm outside. But it's hard for a little 2 year old to understand what a long time really is - to her it probably means tomorrow.

The weather lately has been quite nice... although it's supposed to get cooler in the next few days... and just minutes ago we had high winds and a freak snow/rainstorm that left as quickly as it came. The deer, as always, continue to visit our house throughout the day... they never fail to be entertaining to watch. This is the view from my kitchen window just the other day...

Other than that, not much else is new. I haven't spent as much time scrapbooking lately as I would have liked. I did manage to get a few layouts completed. I leave you with pictures of them now.

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

First Seeds of "Spring"

After two seemingly very long days of my daughter being sick with a fever, and all the crying, whining and disobedience that seemed to come with it, I'm back!

We spent the morning doing odd jobs around the house, went to the local mall (ie. hardware store) where we bought some refills for my woodpecker suet feeder and some gardening items. We even picked up a couple of small grow kits for kids - one sunflower and one bean. They said for 3 years+, but I knew my not-quite-two-and-a-half year old could handle it. :) Aside from a little spilled water and a getting a bit dirty, piece of cake! She seemed to really enjoy it, although it did take a little too long for her 2 year old patience to wait for the soil pellets to expand. Now we just have to wait a couple of weeks to see the little things start to sprout.

All that planting (yes, those whole 6 seeds!) got me thinking ahead to planting my garden and I went online in search of some foldable pea fence. After a quick call to my sister, I decided to get them from Veseys.com - a company I'd never ordered from before, but whose catalogue I have leafed through enviously while visiting my above mentioned sister. I could buy a lot of frozen peas for the money I just dropped on those pea fences, but nothing quite compares to eating fresh peas straight from the garden.

Other than trying to keep Emily entertained all day - a bit of a chore, since she apparently can't do anything by herself today - that's been my day.

With the delicious smell of my roast cooking in the crockpot wafting through the house, I leave you with a few scrapbooking layouts that I completed yesterday. Again, I apologize for the poor lighting on these photos.

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

Inside my little world

Hi again! This will be a quick entry today as I don't really have much to say.

This morning has not been the best so far. Emily woke up this morning with a slight fever and is a little grumpy. On top of that, I was supposed to take our 2 outside kittens to the vet to get fixed this morning, but was unable to catch one of them. We even fed it a small sedative the vet gave us, but that just resulted in a skittish cat that ran away somewhat like a drunk - legs wobbling and veering off course. I'm not sure what we're going to do, but they NEED to get fixed. I will not be pleased if we have 10 kittens born again this Mother's Day (last year's "gift" was enough).




Unfortunately, we are also in for some cooler weather. Not too bad for the beginning of March, but I've become quite accustomed to the warm afternoon highs of near +10C. Sadly, they're (and by they I am referring to the professional weather folk) calling for SNOW tomorrow! **Sigh**




That's all for now. I thought I'd leave you with pictures of the scrapbook layouts I've done in the last few days. I've received comments that the details are difficult to see on these pictures. I've tried to post larger photos, though I'm not sure there's much of a difference. Hopefully it helps a little.

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

Relaxing in the Sunshine

I'm back after a whirlwind cleaning tour of my house yesterday, an evening filled with Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, and a card class hosted by the lovely Bev at a local church.


Today, so far, has been quite a relaxing one. After spending a good chunk of the morning with my daughter, looking through the latest American Girl catalogue to arrive in the mail (especially the babies), I managed to complete a couple of scrapbooking layouts. I finally dug my sewing machine out again - it's been hiding in a closet for the last two weeks - and finished a layout that's been sitting on my desk for almost a week. Here's my latest work:

And now, I'm off to go play outside in the beautiful sunshine, with my very excited daughter! :)

Enjoy your day!

Buck Lake Blogger

Life's A Rush

I'm back after a fun-filled (or not) day in town, yesterday, running errands and getting groceries. And today I'm tired. It might have something to do with staying up too late last night watching "Million Dollar Listing" on tv. It seemed like a good idea last night.

This morning we (my daughter and I) rushed around the house to get ready to go to our weekly moms & tots group. We got there at 10am - a half hour late. I find it nearly impossible to get out of the house much before 10am, even when Em doesn't sleep in past 8am. Breakfast just never seems to go quickly enough - my daughter is such a S-L-O-W eater! But we made it and after getting our fill of crafts, playdough, a baby dolls, we came home for a relatively quick lunch.

Now Emily's down for a nap and I have a few minutes to sit and relax... ok, time's up! I'm off to outfit our camper with all the lovely things I bought for it yesterday. Hopefully, Em doesn't sleep too long today, as I have a haircut scheduled for 3pm.

Later!

Buck Lake Blogger

Canadian Pride

What a weekend!


Yesterday concluded the winter Olympic games hosted by Vancouver, and what a conclusion! Men's hockey brought home an exciting win over the USA for the gold,



and Canada topped the medal standings with the most gold metals ever won by a country at the winter Olympics! Considering we're typically a nation that doesn't seem to fund their athletes that well, this year being the exception, that's quite an achievement! It's really been amazing to see how these Olympics in particular have swelled Canadian pride. Facebook has been littered with people updating their status' to reflect that. "OH CANADA, Proud to be a Canadian, Well Done Canada" and various others have been a constant status sighting since yesterday's big hockey win. It's been great to see! I sadly have to admit that I didn't watch as much of these Olympics as I would have liked, but even still, find myself drawn together with my fellow Canadians - bonding over the last two weeks events. The closing ceremonies were very well done, I have to say. A little bit of something for everyone with opera singing, Neil Young, William Shatner, Michael Buble, Nickleback and an eclectic mix of other performers. Vancouver can be proud of the games they put on, and we, the Canadian people, can be very proud of our athletes who performed so well. Now, it's back to everyday life while Vancouver spends the next number of years paying for all the infrastructure created for the games. Such is the price to pay for hosting, I guess.




On top of the Olympics coming to an end, this has been an exciting weekend for me for another reason as well. On Saturday we finally picked up our new RV and brought it home. Now I can take cabinet measurements and start shopping for camping items. I'm very excited. It's a small camper, just under 19ft, so that I can tow it comfortably myself. But I'm hoping that it's packed with fun! Summer can't come soon enough....


























It's now 9:15am and amazingly enough, my daughter still seems to be sleeping. I wonder what else I can get done before she wakes. Here's to a good day ahead!


Buck Lake Blogger