Category Archives: the acreage

February photo-a-day

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Day 8: Sun

What a great subject on a sunny February day :) We were running around, picking stuff up for our new puppy, waiting for the breeder to call us to say she was home. With nothing left to do but wait, and two sleepy bugs in my backseat, I pulled off the highway and sat in my car to read for a bit. The long afternoon sunshine was beautiful, out in the country, away from the noise of the city:

Day 9: Front door

We have 3 doors leading into our house: a glass door for the sunporch, a screen door, and our storm door. It’s a lot to bump and shove open when your hands are full and your keys are at the bottom of your purse!

Day 10: Self-portrait

A little puppy had a rough night, and I wanted a nap. I bribed my kids to sleep with a pyjama/movie night so that Gracie and I could do this:

Day 11: Makes you happy

I love to cook. I love to try new recipes and ideas. Some are great, some are disasters. And most of them, my kids won’t eat :(

So, when I find two recipes that turn out fabulously, AND my kids gobble them up? Well, that makes me happy indeed!

Day 11: Inside my closet

With Leith always on the road, there is always a significant absence of clothing in our house. When all the clothes are actually washed, folded and put away (!!) and I see these empty hangers, it makes me miss him even more…

Counting up

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86. Dinner with my parents

87. A full grocery cart

88. Carrying sleeping children from the car to their beds (…although I did smack Kit-kat’s head on the door frame – ouch!)

89. Slow-cooker suppers that make the house smell so delicious!

90. Listening to them recite movie lines while they’re playing

91. Strawberries, blueberries, bananas, almond butter

92. Surprise kisses and hugs

93. Painting our nails together

94. Crazy, grown-up, complex statements coming out of little mouths :)

95. Fuzzy, wiggly puppy kisses

96. Reiki zen self-care time

97. Heartfelt conversations with my husband, being on the same page as each other

98. Hours-long text conversations with my mom :) And goofy dog names

99. Having him home for a couple of nights in a row, in the middle of a two-week single parenting stretch

100. A new puppy to love and learn with!

101. Long rays of afternoon sunshine

102. Cuddling together on the couch

103. Watching them try hard to set a good example for the puppy

104. When they stop being upset long enough to breathe, use words, and try to explain

105. A first night home with no crate accidents :)

106. Watching the sun rise between the trees outside our window

107. Weeknight dinners with mom & dad, and tasty homemade soup

108. Falling asleep between my two girls, texting my husband, with a puppy sleeping on the floor beside us and the furnace humming :)

February photo-a-day: Catching up

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Day 4: A Stranger…in my Bathroom Cabinet?

I missed one day in the challenge: A Stranger. We didn’t go anywhere that we would see a stranger, other than to Bikram…and I felt awkward about snapping photos of my fellow yogis in the change room ;)

Instead, I swapped it out for a later photo in the challenge. We won’t be home for Day 24, so I snapped a photo for that one instead:

When we moved to The Acreage, I swore up and down that we would not have any concealed cupboards in our bathrooms. I was tired of my toiletry-hoarding. Instead, we have an open shelf in each bathroom, and an open shelf with baskets under each sink. All of them are full of stuff I hoard and never use…ah, well.

Day 5: 10am

This one happened  by complete fluke! I hadn’t looked at the day’s challenge, but happened to be taking photos when I was making these delicious banana flatbreads at 10am. Score!

Day 6: Dinner

There is too much yummy food in my life some days! Dinner didn’t even make it to presentation stage – it was so tasty, we just nom’d it right off the pans:

Coconut chicken and, baked zucchini fries with tangy onion dip! Yum, yum, yum!!

Day 7: Button

Because there is always an alternative option in life. Don’t sit there and lament your life when you are in control of it. Push the button; change.

Counting up

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With Leith back to “away” work, you might think it’s a bit harder to count the blessings in a day. I find it’s the opposite – I look harder, so that I can keep perspective in each day when things do get hard. Counting my blessings helps even the toughest times feel manageable :)

66. Family date night – a regular effort we make now when Leith is home, to spend time all together

67. Pull-through parking stalls

68. Waking up to the smell of chocolate chip pancakes

69. Rubbing her back when her tummy is upset

70. Listening to them chatter excitedly about their new babysitter

71. Snowman families and rosy cheeks

72. Speaker-phone calls at bedtime, watching them kiss and hug the phone goodnight

73. Sweaty blonde curls stuck to their foreheads while they sleep

74. Bubble baths

75. Walking through our forest trails

76. When they choose carrot and rep pepper sticks for snack; teaching them healthy habits from an early age

77. Free healthcare

78. Every single day that I get to spend with my bugz, instead of at a job

79. Glitter everywhere – evidence of their playtime ;)

80. Listening to their imaginations run wild all over the house

81. How C-boo “reads” her favourite stories out loud

82. Emails from Sku

83. Hot water

84. Injuries that heal themselves with stretching and movement

85. Mommy-daughters date days!

This n that

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  • Minus 20 and snow. I guess winter came back?
  • The bugz have been playing nicely by themselves for almost 2 hours. I’m not about to step in
  • Coffee. Yes, coffee :)
  • My yoga plans were derailed today because Leith is on call. We blame the weather for that one…
  • No yoga = 90 minutes on the treadmill. Not running though…
  • Two wood stoves means that our furnace isn’t blasting even though it’s frightful outside :)
  • My husband’s bacon pancakes rock.
  • I wish I was lazy enough to get groceries delivered…maybe we can make it a fun, family outing tonight, right??
  • I found a frozen banana in my freezer (obvious place) just when I was mourning how boring my lunch shake was going to be today!
  • I’m down 13lbs in my “What is fat, what is twin-skin” journey! I’m 7lbs from my goal weight, just in time for Mexico!! ¡Arriba!
  • I’m already planning my garden this year. Last year’s “put planted pots in the garden box” was pathetic, so this year I will be churning up a new plot and bringing in good soil and fertilizer! The old plot will become a flower garden…
  • C-boo found my old English riding hat somewhere in the basement. I’m surprised I still have it 18 years later, and wondering where she was that she shouldn’t have been…!
  • Leith went ice climbing yesterday with a stranger he met on the internet. True story. He came back alive and everything.
  • I reeeeeeally need to clean up my office again. There’s an avalanche waiting to happen.
  • Twitter. My tweeps save my sanity sometimes. I love you guys :) :) :)
  • I am slightly REALLY excited to road-trip with Cheryl next weekend to see SKU!!! 
That’s about it for now. Just killin’ time until I can make lunch. And avoid cleaning my house ;)

Spirited Gratitudes

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It’s +5 on Christmas Eve. Really, my entire list of gratitudes should just stop there. The weather is beautiful, the sun is shining (for a few more minutes…), and there is just enough snow on the ground to cover up the mud._uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

Perfect, really :)
But in addition to that, I really must give thanks for:
  • husbands who come home
  • last-minute miracles at Walmart, in the form of Princess flashlights – these have been requested with dire need, and I had no freaking idea where to find them. Then, in a flurry of Christmas Eve shopping for tampons and ribbon at Walmart, I found them: smiling up at me from the bottom rack of the impulse shelves in the checkout line. I may have squee’d a little :)
  • sledding on our hill. I love that we have a hill on our acreage that is perfect for sledding!
  • (most) gifts wrapped and ready to roll
  • honey-roasted peanuts, despite their atrocious calorie count. Why?? Whyyyy?
  • the Glee Christmas album, even though I’m not a big Glee fan…
  • reading about all the people preparing for the real Christmas celebration, and not just some overinflated consumer holiday
  • overcoming the urge to give in to buying things “just because” I have to, and instead only buying things that would be important and appreciated by their receiver
  • snuggling with warm, fuzzy-footed bugz in my bed, or their bed, or on the couch watching movies :)
  • virtual hugs and encouragement
  • lighting candles in the low afternoon light
  • stories before bedtime
  • yoga passes and meditation
  • hot coffee and handsome husbands ;)
  • brown paper packages tied up with string ribbon, waiting for little eyes to close tonight
  • a date booked for Kit-kat’s GI scope and biopsy, even if it’s two months later than we expected – it means we can eat “normally” for a little while longer ;)
  • no one barfing in the past 36 hours…
  • books to read, so many books to read!
  • Christmas humour:
  • friends, family and being together
  • homemade gifts, despite my lack of “crafty”
  • the thought of warm cinnamon buns for breakfast tomorrow…although then I should also be prepared to be grateful for a trip to Superstore, since I just remembered I have no flour…never mind that plan…
  • homemade hot cocoa and little hands gripping mugs
Peace, love and happiness to you and your family this Christmas. May you be blessed with the goodness that you put out into the world in 2011, and get everything your heart deserves.
xoxo

Wishing

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  • like mushrooms and borscht. They both sound so appetizing, yet try as I may, I can’t choke them down :(
  • run outside every day
  • feel inspired to take more pictures
  • take an Italian language class
  • buy a new treadmill, but to justify that, I would need to:
  • enjoy running on a treadmill more. It’s just. so. boring!
  • paint my bedroom grey, but I’m afraid to commit because it would be complete and total redecoration of the whole room…
  • fly to Ottawa to visit and show my bugz where I was born
  • hire a housekeeper to give my mom a break
  • get over my “make do with what’s good” mentality and buy a freaking king-sized bed already
  • find the energy and resources to landscape and create a garden with real soil instead of dirt that is deader than dead
  • win the lottery so that my husband was home all the time
With that being said, I am going to dig out my knitting supplies from years ago and see if I can figure it out again! Hahahahahahaaa…no, seriously, I’m actually going to try.
*gulp*

Starting Friday…

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I will:

  • sleep
  • watch Treehouse
  • do crafts
  • clean my office
  • get the bugz’ passport applications in!
  • bake bread
  • get ready for Erin’s shower and wedding!! (eeee!)
  • snuggle my bugz
  • detox my hair
  • run
  • play outside (note: need winter boots!)
  • teach ballet
  • visit
  • did I mention sleep??
  • Skype with GG
  • blog more
  • visit Sku
  • travel to see Leith
  • work on my 101 in 1001 list
  • read
  • catch up on True Blood ;)
  • plough the snow out of the forest trails (if it ever snows)
  • print photos (hahaha)
  • make Christmas gifts
  • enjoy life_uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();