A Message from Above - Just What I Needed!!!

Well yesterday was one of "Those" days. My kids didn't have school, the buses had been cancelled. Good behavior was not on the menu for them. They have been doing more than their fair share of fighting, yelling etc and I was having a "I don't want to be a Mom" today days. I'm sure we've all had them.
On top of that, the local paper mill where my husband is employed did their annual "Christmas Cheer" thing and announced the shutting down of a machine and the loss of 125 jobs. Merry freaking Christmas, huh? Thankfully my husband and brother-in-law are not losing their jobs (yet) so we can breathe a little bit, atleast until they make the next announcement.
Well, once again during a dark time for me, my Mom was my savior.
My Dad had called and wanted me to scan a few family layouts for him to send out so I was digging in the linen closet where all the albums are. Onto my head falls my Grade 12 High School yearbook. So, to avoid being hurt again and because I felt a need to look at it, I opened it up.
Staring me directly in the face on the inside front cover were all the inscriptions from friends and classmates, but one jumped out at me immediately.
I had forgotten that I had Mom sign my yearbook and seeing her handwriting and reading her oh so true words were exactly what I needed yesterday to shake away those blues. If you click on the photo you can see a larger view and read the words that changed the whole course of my day. Love you Mom, even though you have been gone for over 15 years now, you are still there for me everyday!


Oh, and to clarify for some who may be confused...many of my friends call me Kat, and in my younger days "Kitty Kat", so my mom was referred to by me and my friends as "Momma Kitty", how cute is that, huh?

Love those Lovebugs

Well, what a bad bad blogger I am.

But I have to show you all the lovely 40th birthday gift I received from my fellow team mates at Lovebug.

Each item was so totally me, I was so touched by the effort and time they put into putting these goodies together. Don't look too closely though, the macadamia shortbread cookie box is empty (I ate them all)!

Thanks Team, I love you all!

And here's a closeup. Aren't these awesome? Anyone who knows me, knows my love for coffee and those mints are the funniest thing I have seen in a long time, I see them coming in very handy to me LOL

Happy Birthday Mom, I Love You

Today would have been Mom's 75th birthday, hard to imagine. This is a photo taken of her about 5 months before she passed away. She hated having her photo taken but Christmas of 1991 she had me take this picture of her "all dolled up" and she gave it to us all in a frame for Christmas that year. A strange coincidence? I don't know, I'm just saying.

Although she has been gone 15 years now, I still feel her here with me almost daily. And how truly blessed I feel that I do. I did a layout about the many times that I have heard her speak to me and felt her with me, I will try to scan it and share it with you all.

Mom passed away of course long before any of my children were born, but you wouldn't know it to talk to them. All 3 of my kids can tell you stories about Grandma Ellen and you would swear they had been there listening to her tell them. I love that. It's one of the things I am proud of, that I have given my kids a sense of who their grandmother was even though they didn't get to meet her (yet).

In the meantime, this morning Carly just cracked me up. She was snuggled up on the couch beside me as always and I told her that it was Grandma Ellen's birthday. So she looked up in the sky and began to sing Happy Birthday to her. It was so funny and so cute. She did it all day though, so by about noon it wasn't quite so funny anymore LOL

Not much else to babble about right now, be back tomorrow (atleast I will try)

Have a great evening everyone, blessings to you.

Sad Day and Happy Memories

Received the sad news last night that my uncle Jim Carter passed away. I am trying hard to focus on the positive in that he is not suffering anymore, but it's hard to hold onto that.


My Uncle Jim was a real card. He and I had an odd way of communicating, I called him "crotchety, cranky old man" and he called me "cheeky bossy little girl". We teased each other unmercilessly but always in fun and we both knew that we loved each other.

Uncle Jim always made me laugh, and many of my best childhood memories took place at his camp near Thunder Bay at One Island Lake. He and Aunt Bev always made sure a good time was had by all and everyone was welcome.

One of the funniest things was when he had us walk the trails by camp and told us that he had seen Snow White and the Seven Dwarves up there earlier. As I walked the path with Megan and Tim (then I think only 3 and 5), he snuck up behind us and starting whistling the "Whistle While You Work" song. Meg and Tim were so excited, they ran all the way back to camp to tell Uncle Jim. Meanwhile poor Uncle Jim had to hustle back to his lawn chair and look non-chalant so they wouldn't catch on. It was so funny and the kids didn't even notice how red in the face and out of breath he was LOL

When I grew up and had my kids, they still loved going to camp or to Uncle Jim's house. They knew that all those cool old toys, ice cream and yummy persians would be brought out. They also knew that Uncle Jim and I would natter at each. Me telling him to quit giving my kids so much junk food, and him telling me not to be so mean to my kids.

He was an amazing man and he will not be forgotten by me.


I love you Uncle Jim, rest in peace you crotchety, cranky old man. ((HUGS))

We can learn alot from Crayons

I saw this quote on Stacy Julian's blog this morning and I just have to share it here. I don't want to forget this one! How true is this!

"We could learn a lot from crayons; some are sharp, some are pretty,some are dull, while others bright, some have weird names, but they all have learned to live together in the same box."
Robert Fulghum (b. 1937)author, pastor

My nephew Tim...my angel!

I have to share with you all about my amazing nephew Tim. Tim will be 18 in December and he is just the best kid around. So sweet and thoughtful and I love him to pieces.
Yesterday he came over to bring me some birthday gifts he had brought for me. I am not a cryer by nature, but he bought me to tears, happy tears.
He brought me an adorable charm for my Italian charm bracelet, it is a slice of pizza. Tim works at Pizza Hut and has for a few years, he has worked his way up from busboy to shift supervisor and I am so proud of him.
But he also brought me something else, an angel. Now you who know me, know that I collect angels and am a fanatic for them. This one is even more special, it plays the song "Wind Beneath My Wings" when you open the box. If you have never heard the song, you can see and hear it here.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTXRzolPzFo
Now I have always loved this song, but it has special meaning to our family now. When we lost our sister Judy on June 29,2003, she had chosen this song to be played at her memorial and she dedicated it to her oldest son Scott. The fact that Tim bought me this beautiful angel and it plays this beautiful song just touched me beyond words.
I love you Tim, don't ever change, don't ever stop being the sensitive caring man that you are. ((HUGS))
Here is my Tim snuggled up with my daughter Carly at her birthday party and also a not too great shot of this most amazing gift.

Happy Birthday to....

ME!!!!!!!!!

A few of my "friends" dared me to post on my blog and announce to you all (the 5 or 6 who actually read this LOL) that today is my 40th birthday!

I'm not sure why that fact doesn't bother me, guess it's just a number after all.

Off to take the kids to school and Logan to the eye doctor and I will come back later with some utter nonsense to tell you all I am sure.

Catch ya on the flipside everyone

Harry Potter fans are you ready?

I know I promised it yesterday, but you know how it goes, life gets in they way LOL

Anyway, here is what would happen if Hagrid and Hermione had children.

Be back later with some more ramblings I am sure.

Have a fantabulous day everyone!

Good morning everyone! Just a quick post to let you all know I am addicted to something for the next 9 days and you might not see me.
If I knew how to add a link I would, but you know how it goes.
Scrap-a-Faire has begun, an online trade show for scrapbooking basically and I can't stay away from it. Classes, shopping, chat, demos, prizes, what more could a girl want, right? Try this link, hopefully it works LOL http://presentations.inxpo.com/Shows/Scrapbooks/Website/home.htm

I am taking a few classes there and of course you know that I am taking both of Leah Fung's, love that girl, she is just as sweet in person as she appears online so you should rush to take her classes and be sure to check out her blog too! http://www.leahfung.typepad.com/

Friday November 9th - Saturday November 10th, we will be having an online crop at Lovebug, so please pop in and play with us, you know you want to! You can find the link to the forum on the right hand side of my blog.

Will come back later and post some funny pics from Hallowe'en again. Want a teaser? Harry Potter fans, have you ever wondered what would happen if Hagrid and Hermione had kids? Check back later and you will find out LOL

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Well another Hallowe'en has come and gone, thank goodness! Have I mentioned how much I dislike Hallowe'en?
Well here are a few shots of my crew from last night. Evan couldn't find his Harry Potter glasses, so he decided to be Ron/Fred or George Weasley with the red hair and the Gryffindor robes. Logan, well not sure what he was, he said he was going "goth" since he wore all black. Carly was the most adorable little witch of course.
For the class party though Evan was YuGiOh, the kid just wanted the spiked hair I'm sure LOL
I think Daddy looks more scary than any of the kids, don't you?
Worst news of the night? Not a single Wagon Wheel or black jelly bean in the stash! WTH is up with that? LOL

My son is a radio star!

My oldest son Logan is going to be on the radio! How exciting is that!

He is in grade 5 (aged 10) and he wrote a radio ad about Anti-Violence. His ad was chosen and yesterday we headed to the local radio station for him to record his ad. It will be played 6 times throughout the month of November and we are so proud of him!

He was a tad nervous at the start but he was very proud of himself at the end of it. Not nearly as proud as we are though!
His ad reads:

Humility, kindness, respect, honesty, bravery, responsibility and wisdom.
These are the New Prospect School Character Traits or the Keys to Anti-Violence.
If you treat everyone with Kindness and Respect as well as live your life Honestly, your life will not be a violent one. You must also remember that is your Responsibility to be Brave and it is Wise to be Humble.
Just remember those very simple rules and you will not live a violent life.
By Logan Waller.

Wonderful Winnipeg Weekend

Well on the weekend of the 12th, I went to Winnipeg for Crop for Kids. What an amazing weekend!

I got to spend some time with my sister Cheryl (2nd photo)which was a hoot.

And I got to meet some of the most amazing people.

I finally met IRL some of my scrapping girls from Lovebug! I met Kathy Murray (top left), Rachel Roberts (3rd from left), Shannon Patterson, Lisa Betke and even a scrap guy Bryan P. I got to spend some time with scrappers I already knew too, like "George" aka Kathy George (3rd photo), my bud from Sioux Lookout

They are great folks and I am so happy to have met them.

I also got to have breakfast and do some scrap shopping with the amazing Leah Fung and her friend, another amazing woman Aubrey Harns. (top photo Leah 2nd from right, Aubrey far right)

Bad, Bad Blogger

I am so bad at this, I forget to blog and then when I think of it, it takes me forever to remind my sign in info, what a loser, huh?
Well, so much has gone on since July, I won't bore you all with it.
I am on my way to take my boy Evan to the dentist and then I promise I will come back and post some of the highlights of the last little bit.
I met some amazing women in October and my oldest son Logan made me so proud again.
Oh my, lots to say...show of hands...who is surprised?

My kids are too funny!

Harry Potter is a big thing in our house, so imagine how amused I was by this picture that my niece Megan sent me. This is from last week when she had my kids for a sleepover and they went to the park. Evan proclaimed it to be Harry Potter Land.

Here are a few shots of him as Harry, performing some spells to make his brother and sister disappear no doubt LOL

So happy to have him home!!!!!!

Logan was away at Camp of the Woods for 5 days, we were all so thrilled to have him home again, as you can see from the smiling faces in the picture.
He got quite a sunburn, but all in all he had a great time!!!!!
Evan hasn't let him get out of view since Friday night, I guess they really do love each other after all.

Let's try this again

Okay, so I'm a big blog dork. This is the second time I tried to start one and promptly forgot how to add to it...duhhhhhhh

So here I sit, thinking why not, let's try it again.

Please say hello once in awhile so I don't feel like I am talking to myself, you all know how I hate that LOL