An Old Friend

Today, I'm expecting a visit from an old friend - my first year College roommate, to be exact. It's been just over two years since we last saw each other (if you don't include seeing pictures on facebook). Since then, she's had twin boys (now almost 2 years old), adding to the 2 children she already had. And she's making the drive all the way from Manitoba, with her 4 kiddos, all by herself! Brave woman! I'm not sure I would attempt that with just my 1 child! But I'm happy she's making the trip!!



On to other news... I did manage to plant my peas. Putting up my pea fence and planting took a little longer than I had anticipated. That, coupled with the fact that my baby monitor doesn't seem to hold a charge for longer than about an hour anymore, only allowed me to do my peas. I'm hoping to get more of my garden in this weekend. Luckily, I did get my peas planted before we received just over an inch of much needed rain!



I still have not found the time to return to my scrapbooking. I did, however, manage to sneak in a few minutes to complete the layout that I was working on. I'm not sure I'm pleased with the results - the balance seems off to me. You be the judge...

That's all for now.

Buck Lake Blogger

Time to start planting

Today I'm going to make an effort to get some things planted in the garden. I'm slightly behind schedule, though not too badly. I've just put Emily down for her nap and will soon rush out to see what I can accomplish before she wakes. We had another slight rain yesterday - again probably not even enough to really register on the rain gauge - but it's something. It's overcast again, so maybe we're in store for more. Another reason I should be outside planting! Em and I seeded a whole bunch more flowers this morning into starter packs. Also a little late for some of them (just by a week or two), so we'll see how they grow. She really enjoyed picking up all the tiny seeds and dropping them into place. Perhaps I have a future green thumb in her.

I worked a little on scrapbooking yesterday - not much, as I spent the afternoon catching up on paperwork. :( I have another layout almost complete and will post it as soon as I finish it.

That's about it. I'm heading outside now...

Buck Lake Blogger

It's A Big Day!

Today is kind of a milestone in our house. Emily has gotten her first bike (actually, a tricycle) today, at just under 2.5 years old. We've had it for a long time, brand-new, tucked in a box and today my husband put it together. She's learning to ride it on our deck, which is quite large, rather than our rocky driveway. And after adjusting the seat a little lower to accommodate her little legs, she can reach the peddles easier and is more successful at actually peddling herself. Just another sign that my little baby is growing up.

I've also gained another follower to my blog... for a total of 3 "registered" readers - WELCOME! :) I know there are more of you reading anonymously... and that's okay too. I'm just happy to have you join me here once in awhile. :)

Other than that, I'm happy to report that I did in fact get my garden rototilled and worked on this past Wednesday. After an hour and a half of solid tilling, my hands and arms absolutely ached! The next morning, I managed to replant all my perennials back into the garden just in time for a bit of rain. I was hoping for a solid downpour, but after a short rain followed by a little sleet, our rain gauge only showed 1/10". Better than nothing, I guess. Still praying for more....

The deer have been visiting our yard in greater numbers again this past week. We had nine at one time the other day. We're looking forward to seeing the tiny spotted fawns soon.

I also got in a wee bit of scrapbooking this week, and managed to complete a couple of layouts. I leave you with them now.

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

Lifestyle of the Not-At-All Rich or Famous

I've returned after another extended absence from blogging. What can I say? I've been busy. Nothing really all that exciting has been occupying my time. I'd love to regale you with tales of wonderous adventures and delicious dining, but sadly that is not my life.

I've been spending a great deal of time lately, outdoors, enjoying the summer-like weather we've been having the last number of days. There was even a thought in my mind of hauling out my daughter's wading pool and filling it with water for a refreshing dip. But then, realizing that it was in fact only April, I thought my neighbours might think me a bit premature. So instead I just keep shifting my lawn chair to various spots on the deck, taking advantage of the constantly moving shade.

Not to say that I've just been spending my days lounging around outside. Although sometimes it is rather tempting. No, my life is less about leisure and more about getting things done. I've been working on getting my garden ready for the growing season. My experience with it last year (my first year using it since moving in) was that it needs some work. Correction: needs a lot of work! I have great plans to try to amend the soil, in an attempt to not have it turn into one solid rock when it gets hot out. Easier said then done though, since I planted a number of perennial flowers in it last summer. So this morning I spent my time digging each plant out (with the help of my 2 year old) and storing each one in a plastic bag until I can get it back into the ground. My plan is to get the garden tilled and ready to replant tonight. Yes, even if it means missing a new episode of Criminal Minds tonight. **Sigh**

Other than that, I've been doing some work on my other flower beds, and some general yard work. Oh, and I've spent some time playing in a sandbox this week too. :)

A few of our Lego orders have recently arrived in the mail. New peices = new found creativity. Last night I built a three car train, something Em has been requesting for weeks now. She's still very much into Lego, which I'm happy with. I'm also happy that she no longer ExpressPosts me little brown Lego "poop" in the Lego mailbox. It seems we've moved onto more refined playing. Now she likes to crash things, lol! Oh, and she also has named some favourite Lego mini-figures, namely baby Sam (usually found in a high chair), and Auntie Bev (teaching school) and Amy (sitting at her desk)! We've also got a well-equipped, home-made Lego shop going on (currently servicing a bus and track skidsteer), complete with chain hoists, mechanics, office, lunch room, parts room and various other amenities (all thanks to my husband's influence).

I have yet to get back into my scrapbooking groove, although I did manage to complete one layout. I leave you with that now, as I go to work on some paperwork while Emily naps (a late nap today because we met "daddy" for lunch).




Cheerio!

Buck Lake Blogger

All Is Well Again... Sort of.

After 6 grueling days of my daughter being quite sick, I think she's finally on the road to recovery. This past week has quite possibly been one of the worst in my life. The lowest of lows? Being thrown up on (a lot!!) in a restaurant, by my daughter, 45 minutes away from home. Eeewwwwww!!!! Let's just say I hope I never get the chance to "experience" that again.

But, she seems to be getting better. She's still got some sort of bug in her causing gastrointestinal issues, but she's not napping 10 times a day anymore, and actually has the energy to play again. This past week of hardly eating anything and being sick has caused her to become just skin and bones. And if you know her, you know she's not a big girl to begin with. But she just finished a decent lunch, so hopefully we can put some meat back on her.

The weather outside is gorgeous. The sun is shining brightly and the wind has died down to a slight breeze. I took Emily out for a walk in the stroller this morning, and I actually got a little warm! :) It sure seems like we're in for some nice weather. I only pray that there's some rain in there for us somewhere. People around here are saying it's the driest they've seen things in 60 years! We've had a complete fire ban on since the beginning of April, when there was still lots of snow around. That's not a very promising sign.

Unfortunately, I have yet to get back to my scrapbooking. Emily being sick this past week has literally been all-consuming. It's difficult... almost impossible to scrapbook with a 2 year old hanging from you all day long. Although, I did manage to make a couple of cards - USA bound.

But now that it looks like she's getting back on track, I hope to as well. I have only a limited number of weeks left before my free time is spent outdoors and my scrapbooking sessions become less frequent. The pile of pictures I have printed to scrapbook, however, never seems to grow smaller. Might have something to do with the fact that I keep getting more printed... ;)

Well, I should get on to other things now. I leave you with 2 pictures I took this morning of a deer that walked onto my deck and looked in the window. Gotta love country living! The pictures are quite poor, because I had to stealthily run for my camera before it walked away, and I barely made it before it left.

Until next time...

Buck Lake Blogger

Sick Day

Today is a sick day in my house. My little one woke me up this morning just after 5am with a gut-wrenching scream that I swear took a few years off my life. I jumped out of bed, ran down the hall to her room and flicked on the light to discover my sweet Emily sitting up in bed crying in a pool of vomit at her knees. Without too many details, I have to say that it was even more shocking because of the bright red colour of it. I had to double check to make sure it wasn't blood. But thankfully the colour was only a result of the blackberries "Auntie Bev" had given her for dessert last night.

After a change of sheets and blankets and some additional cleanup, I settled her back down to sleep. That lasted about an hour, before we had to do it all over again.

After waking this morning (and two more vomiting incidences), I forced Emily to spend 2 hours watching a variety of videos from the couch. I say "forced" because she really didn't want to stay there - but I wanted to give her stomach a chance to be still. It seems that it might have worked. Although she's still the colour of a bright white bedsheet, we haven't had any more throwing up since around 9am. I might try giving her a cracker later this afternoon once she wakes from her nap, to see if we really are in the clear. I'm very thankful that we don't usually have to deal with this sort of thing in our house - I couldn't imagine having a bunch of kids that the bug just passes between. I'm ready to be done with it all after just a morning of it, let alone a few days!

On to more pleasant topics...

We had a lovely weekend with family visiting for Easter - and lovely weather to match. After a second Easter egg hunt for Emily put on by her Grandma, lots of snacking on all sorts of chocolate, many a game of Monopoly Deal (which Grandma, btw, kicks butt at) and just good visiting, we said goodbye to our houseguests yesterday morning. It appears they left just in time, because after a weekend of +10 and sunshine, yesterday was anything but. What started out as a cool, windy day quickly turned to a near white-out blizzard by mid-afternoon. It was cold & windy and we now have a 2 cm blanket of snow everwhere again. **Sigh** It's cool and windy again today, but at least the sun is shining and the snow is starting the melting process all over again.

Now that my houseguests have gone home, I will once again be turning my guest room into my scrapbooking space. I don't have any new layouts to show you today, but hopefully soon. I've also had a friend request that I blog about my scrapbooking more - giving details as to the when, where, why and how sort of thing. I'll have to see if I can organize my thoughts enough to do that.

Stay tuned...

Buck Lake Blogger

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter weekend to all!

This last week seems to have been very busy. Lots of preparation for company this weekend. I did manage to get a few layouts finished, though. Here's my recent work - sorry for the spotty shadows - the trees were not cooperating through my windows. ;)

The weather has been B-E-U-TIFUL recently. The snow is making a rapid retreat from our yard - just in time for our Easter egg hunt yesterday. Emily had a very good time looking for all the colourful eggs. It took a lot of reminders on my part that she should just put them in her bucket and we'd open them all when we finished collecting them. She kept wanting to open each one as she found it. :) We would have been there for 2 hours if that had happened. It was great to see how excited she got everytime she saw another egg (even though they were EVERYWHERE!). Oh to be a kid again and find such joy in the simple things.

I have been indulging a little too much in all the Easter chocolate that results from such a good hunt. But who can resist Caramilk eggs, seriously? I think they must put something addictive in their formula, because I can never just eat one... or two... or five! ;)

Well, I'm getting ready for the arrival of my in-laws for the weekend. They should be here any moment. Just enough time to post this blog.

Easter blessings to everyone!

Buck Lake Blogger