Geo what?...

When my husband first told me about geocaching my first reaction was, 'geo what?'... he explained to me that it was a treasure hunt game literally played on a global field... intriguing to say the least...

A cache, or container, is filled with special trinkets (mainly small knick-knacks, odds and ends, bits and baubles or dollar store fodder), then is hidden in a secret location... the hider tracks the caches' geo location coordinates using a hand-held GPS unit then uploads the information to the Geocaching website...

Geocachers then download coordinates from the geocaching site onto their hand-held units and start looking... it's as simple as that!

The difficulty levels range from 1 being a nice stroll to 5 which could involve rock climbing, canoeing or anything else that's more adventuresome...

As a family of hikers, this just adds a whole new dimension to something we already enjoy doing together...

Check it out... there are literally thousands upon thousands of hidden caches worldwide just waiting to be discovered, who knows, one could be right outside your back door...

This picture is of a dead tree on one of our hikes...

Happy hunting... ;)

Busy, busy us...

We've had lots to do lately... a wedding to attend, visiting with family, re-finishing our kitchen table, opening the pool, errands, errands and more errands... so not a whole lot of crafty-ness going on... I wish I had more to post...I think I'm actually going through crafty withdrawal :(

On a brighter note... in a bid to help conserve energy and be less of a strain on the power grid this summer, I have purchased the niftiest little clothes drying rack... and can I just add, I LOVE IT!!!! When I brought it home yesterday, I tore into it, set it up on the back deck and immediately threw two loads of laundry on it! TWO LOADS!!!! Is it just me who gets this excited over new (or old) advances (or regressions) in laundry technology????

Anyway, this is the major excitement in my life right now... I've found a new appreciation for doing laundry and helping the environment... I'd say it's win-win all around ;)

Have a fantastic afternoon and evening everyone ;)

Drum roll, please....

For my very first giveaway, we had four entries... and those four lovely ladies' names were entered into my very technical, very sophisticated random name drawing thinga-ma-do-dad...


Buttons were pushed, calculations were made, the thinga-ma-do-dad chugged and choked... then gave up a winner... My beautifully handsome little assistant retrieved the entrants name...


And the winner... by random drawing... drum roll... is...



Jane, who said: 'I try to be crafty at times and once I get going I like it, however I am the worst sewer in the world!!!'

Thanks ladies, for entering... me and my little assistant had lots of fun with our little photo shoot this morning... Jane, the pretty little flower pin is on it's way to you!

Have a great day all... ;)

My first giveaway... CLOSED

Recently I discovered this great tutorial for a fabric flower over at Sew Ritzy-Titzy... check her out if you get a chance... her main vice is crochet, but there are some other mediums mixed in here and there as well...

Her flower consists of 16 petals... unfortunately, the fabric I chose was a much heavier weight which meant mine could only be 8 petals, I also didn't follow her tutorial exactly (I am a self-professed lazy crafter, so if I can find a short cut, I will)... anyway, I think it turned out pretty good, I'm happy with the result for my first attempt...

I added a black button to the front and a pin to the back so it can be worn on a jacket, shirt, purse... wherever one sees fit...



So here's where we get to the giveaway... this little gal is up for grabs to one lucky reader... leave me a message, tell me what you're up to crafty-wise or not, just say hi... or whatever... there's no catch except to leave me your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win...

I'll do a randon drawing (which will consist of one of my little monkeys drawing a name from a hat, bowl, box or something container-ish) on Monday, May, 17th, 2010... that's one week from today! Good Luck...

Enjoy your Monday... ;)

The best thing...

On Mother's Day, I am grateful for the beautiful little family my husband and I have created...

I remember a time when I couldn't ever see children in my future... there were many reasons for not wanting them... of course, that all changed when my husband and I started babysitting our nieces... the urge to have our own took over and here we are today with three of the most loving and beautiful children...

There's nothing like hearing a child say they love you... they love you when you're angry, they love you when you're fixing their boo-boos, they love you just for making pancakes for breakfast... what could be more perfect???

My feelings for my children are so overwhelming... when I think of them and the things they've accomplished in their short little lives, I am so overcome with pride that I could cry... That's what it is to be a Mom...

The best thing about my life is being a Mom to my three little monkeys(and of course, being a wife to the best man I know :D )... xoxoxo

L, M and C, my life could never be complete without you... thank you for loving me and allowing me to be the Mommy you so deserve... I will try my very best to make you proud of me...

Things from our Mothers...

On Mother's day, I think we all try to reflect upon the things that we remember most, find most endearing, or have learned from our mothers... I learned several things from my Mother, here are just a few of them...

~ always keep a tidy house, you never know when someone will stop by unexpectedly
~ never say you hate someone, hate is a very strong word
~ smile lots (of course, pull it back a notch when you start looking Joker-psycho)
~ stand up straight
~ my love of baking and cooking... home-cooking is the best, it's the only way to ensure what goes in to our bodies (although, had you asked me as a child if I wanted McDonald's over liver and onions, I'm sure I would have gladly accepted the nutritionally defunct fast food)

and my all-time fave-oh-rit!... drum roll, please...

~ NEVER, NEVER shave above the knee, of course she said it would make me sick, but, as time passed, I knew that wasn't true... and as an adult I am grateful for the initial fear she instilled in me... to this day I have never had the need to shave above the knee... :D

Now... I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge a few of the great Mother's I know... if I forget someone, please accept my apologies and know that I love you...

Tasha... my BFF, I admire you sooo much for raising two well-mannered, handsome young men on your own, and for taking a leap that will forever change your lives in such a positive way - chase all of your dreams and catch them one by one, you deserve the very best that life has to offer... And to your Mom, Diane, for raising such a beautiful, kind-of-heart spirit... and for making me and my family feel like part of yours... you truly are a Mom-to-all...xo

Becky... my beautiful and strong friend... I am by your side and here to lend you my shoulder, hand, heart... foot to kick cancer's butt... you will win this battle and when we are old and gray and sipping on white wine, we'll say "remember when?"...xo

Kim... my generous and gorgeous friend... thank you for embracing me as your friend... you give to everyone around you and expect nothing in return but friendship... I respect you sooo much...xo

Sherry... my friend and neighbour... what took us so long to find each other??? I love laughing with you, and I especially look forward to our morning and afternoon conversations when we're walking the kids back and forth to school... thank you...xo

This weekend, I thank my Mother, Lauren, for giving me life... because it was that beginning that helped set the path for what would be my future... a path that was riddled with highs and many lows... but a path nonetheless, that lead me to becoming the strong and loving person I am today... Thanks, Mom.

And to all of the other Mother's I know...Paula, Jacquie, Laurie, Kristen, Nicole, Jane, Crystal, Rebecca, Sharon, Jamie... the list could go on forever...

Happy Mother's day to all of you and all of the other great Mom's out there... I hope you all enjoy your day... ;)

Great Giveaway...

If you love to create with fabric the way I do then you'll LOVE this wonderful opportunity to win a fantastic book and 2 yards of beautiful fabric...

Check out Create and Delegate's First Giveaway for your chance to win "Weekend Sewing" by Heather Ross and 2 yards of Picnic Bouquet in Lagoon by Heather Bailey...

All you have to do for 1 entry is leave a comment on Create and Delegate's blog...

Good luck you, good luck me!
;)

Hope...

What can you do when a doctor with a very poor bedside manner says that you're body isn't responding the way he had expected???

You pray that your prayers get answered. You expect nothing less than success. You wish for another chance...

You question what it is you did to deserve this kind of servitude. Why were you chosen out of millions to carry the weight of this dreadful disease??? No one should have to deal with this crap.

For the millions of dollars in research, there should be some kind of light that lets you know that you'll be okay...

You get angry, stark-raving mad... you curse and swear... you bang your fists against something (maybe the not-so-compassionate doctor)...

Then you realize that you do have something... you have hope...

You have family, friends and strangers all pulling for you... wishing they could take away your pain if even for a second... I know if I had the power to take it all away, I would without question...

You have strength, more than you realize right now... you are a very powerful woman who deserves nothing but happiness... and that day will come, maybe not today or tomorrow, but it will... I truly believe that this is not your final chapter... there's so much more for you to write in this life...

I'm here for you, Becky... whenever you need me... I love you...

Fight like a girl... Hope ;)

Loveliness...

I woke up this morning to gorgeous blue skies with tiny smudges of wispy clouds and the smell of pretty white lilacs that I cut from the bush in my backyard... this is a picture I took this morning :D ...


Can it get any better than this???

Yes, yes it can... fresh decaf coffee percolated in one of my favourite vintage aluminum percolators... yumm-ee... hey! there I am reflected in the percolator :D


I wish for your day to be as lovely as mine promises to be... ;)

This, that and everything...

Holy mackerel... I have been away from the blog for a little while... let's just say that I've been, a-hem, busy (err... lazy)... with the nice weather upon us, who can blame me????

Lots of little projects going on all at once... a bunch of re-cons for the girl-baby; some dresses for an up-coming mom-to-mom sale; little hip-sacks (cool new name for fanny-packs) for the 2 boy-babies, I mean, 2 little men... and other stufffff that I just can't think of at this particular junk-ture...

Will share some photos of some finished items sooooon.... promise... For now, I will leave you with this little ditty that has been s-t-u-c-k, stuck! in my head since my hunny-man jokingly sang it to the little men this evening at bedtime...

What's new pussycat? Whoa, whoa, whoa
What's new pussycat? Whoa, whoa, whoa-oh-oh

I hope you enjoy this little number as much as I have for the past hour or so... ;)