Thank You Notes

Dear staff at Boston Pizza,
Thank you so much for completely ignoring us when we took my MIL out for her birthday dinner. Not even taking a drink order in the first 10 minutes, when the restaurant was only half full, made just the loveliest impression on us. I'm so glad you cared as much for us as we did for you, and decided that not acknowledging us as we left was better than a sad farewell.  Not even airmiles could make that worth it.

Sincerely,
Never coming back.

Miscellany Monday

~ Well, the beautiful weather is on hold, but I took advantage of wearing just about every skirt and pair of shorts in my closet for the last two weeks :)

~ all my t.v. shows have ended for the season, time for some serious exercise to start happening!

~ I'm happy John Rich won Celebrity Apprentice (nothing against Marlie). I'm also glad Star Jones didn't win, yikes what a manipulator. I really don't like it when women will trample all over other women in the name of competition and being a 'strong' woman, yet then is as sweet as sugar when teamed with men. I get that some women think they have to chew people up and spit them out....to keep up with the way males work (so I hear, I don't know any like that), but to only do it to women and then be some sweet woman around men? We had a co-worker like that, feminist at that (go figure) and she found an excuse to fire woman after woman after woman yet the men in equal or superior positions to her really liked her and couldn't see why we wanted to get rid of her. Finally managed though.

~ my seeds and seedlings are all planted, yay! and the weather is not cooperating with my schedule and the ability to spray the weeds, so I hand weeded for many, many hours over the last week. my fingers are perma-dirty and sore.

~ the Muki puppy has gone back to live with his mommy for good, shortened puppy-sitting time by a whole 30 days :( bye-bye Mukster.

~ this cold I've been fighting just keeps changing, fading, coming back, making me exhausted far too often. yuk. go away stupid virus.

~ I just realized that somehow both of my 'My Husband Rocks' shirts have a stain I can't get out. me thinks that's a sign I need a new one, since I need to keep declaring my hubby love via cute t-shirts!

~ my hubby is such a sweetie....hunted down my fav drink for me. has been looking for it for awhile and finally found it, awww thanks hunny!

ummmmmm

I don't know if it's the sickness.

or the busyness.

or work crazyness.

or the sunnyness.

but I'm lacking inspiration.

in my card making.

in my scrapbooking.

in my photography.

in my writing.

in my blogging.

in my pursuit of new creativeness.


Well, everything is cyclical it seems, and relationship priorities do seem to go hand in hand with good weather :) I'll bounce back. Hopefully before fall, lol.

From One Extreme To Another

My last Saturday went from this:

At The Pink Ivy teahouse near Steinbach, with my mom and sisters for a belated mother's day gift.

Menu:
Cream Cheese Asparagus Wrap with side spinach, mango and grape salad

Bohemian Raspberry Green Tea

Strawberry Amaretto Almond Cake

To this:

At Mcdonald's with my adorable neices and a bunch of other kids that weren't so adorable.

Menu:
Angus Mushroom Swiss Burger with a side of fries

Coke Zero

Chocolate smartie McFlurry

My morning couldn't have been more different from my afternoon other than the fact I had a blast at both :) Love my family.

Where does the time go

I noticed it's been 4 days since I last blogged, was trying to keep it to a 3 day gap minimum! :) But it's been so busy, and how did it get to be the middle of May already!

Had a great visit with a friend last Friday, my visits tend to go on for hours, got home late.

Spent almost every moment of sunshine last weekend in the garden, weeding, or walking the dog.  I got my pots for my container gardening, and my tomato, peppers and herb seedlings. I did manage to squeeze in an extended visit with friends after Church while waiting for hubby to finish up his ministry stuff.

Monday was off to Steinbach for my last Stampin' Up! party that I initiate.  I'm still selling and offering parties to those who want to host, but I'm not hosting any more events myself.  And of course, my Steinbach craftin' ladies are all family, or practically family, so we visit into the late hours and got home late as well. Plus Teigon was there, and I of course was caught up in getting kisses from my youngest adorable nephew.  Can you believe he's one in almost 3 weeks!

Then Tuesday and Wednesday I had some household chores to catch up on, and last night I potted the seedlings I bought on the weekend, as well as the potatoes I had already let start growing.

Tonight I'll likely be weeding as my efforts seem to have all been for naught on the weekend, and won't have time until Monday but they'll be far too out of control by then!

Tomorrow night I think I'll have to take a moment to breathe before my busy long weekend :) Enjoy some of the wine our puppy's mom keeps bringing us! (7 bottles we've received already, since April 1st!)

Saturday I have an early start, head out to Steinbach to meet my mom and sisters at 9:30 to take my mom to a tea house for belated mother's day. Then after that I'm spending the afternoon with my neices since we don't get to have a sleepover this weekend after all.  Then I come back to the city just in time for a surprise farewell for a co-worker who is moving to Ottawa.

Sunday I have to get in some grocery shopping so we don't go out to eat the rest of the week. I'll also be divying up some of my crazy oregano plant so I can share it with some friends, I certainly don't need 10 times the oregano I had last year, I didn't even use all that up! This is the pic I posted a few weeks ago, it's easily 1/3 larger now.

Then Sunday evening I'm going to be out for a nice long walk n' talk with my cuz.  I don't think we've had once since last August? There will be a lot to catch up on :) Then I'll watch my pvr'd Wipeout Canada, this is the episode Troy Westwood is finally on! Go Troy!

Monday we've got to stay around the house for a furnace cleaning appointment, but that's ok, I intended on planting the rest of my garden, got some peas and carrots I'm going to be trying out this year, yum! I'll also be making a little potted herb garden, one outside and one smaller one inside using this cool tupperware appliance I previously mentioned I'm getting.

And the busyness doesn't slow down, mother-in-law's birthday next weekend, volunteering with LOVE Winnipeg the next weekend after that, plus St. Norbert Farmer's Market opens June 4th.  Then a certain one year old boy's birthday the weekend after that.  Then Father's day after that.  And then it's almost July long weekend!! WOW! Really, where does the time go that it's in such a hurry?

Stewardship Sunday

Well, it's almost half way through the year, thought it was about time I did a recap on my stewardship goals to see if I'm on track.

Stewardship of my Finances
1. & 3. Still trying to find a way to implement
2. Plan on paying off a loan for our furnace rather than going on vacation this year, will likely be paid off by December.
4. I have capped my Stampin' Up! expenses and have actually spent less than 50% of what I did last year.

Stewardship of my Home
5. After doing all the Fly Lady tactics once I haven't found the need to keep up with doing them all every month, but as needed I work on them and I feel pretty good about my home AND the effort I've had to put into it :)
6. I haven't got around to the rotating staple recipes yet, I feel like the recipes I haven't sorted yet should get done first, but I'm pretty content with the variety I've had in our meals, and my increased amount that are enjoyed by hubby vs. the easy recipes that make it easier to make supper rather than go out.
7. Making food from scratch has been an experiment :) Tried making broth twice before I liked it.  Pizza was made somewhat from scratch, we just used pre-made dough.  I now have a rice cooker and have added spices to rice myself so I can avoid those easy microwavable rice side dishes.
8. Have an inside scoop on a 50% off sale on bricks that happens during the summer, we'll be going out to buy all the brick we need for our patio and sidewalk as soon as we get word on the sale.  We're also going to contact the city to get old sandbags after the flood, so we can use the bags and sand to lay down before we put down the brick.
9. Finish upstairs bathroom decor & storage, done, as seen here.

Stewardship of my Body
10. I kept up with the motivators until lent but they didn't seem to be having much of an impact on my weight loss, and then mid-way through lent we started puppy-sitting which meant walking 2 km a day minimum so I put these on hold.
11. Have lost 5 lbs and 8% body fat
12. Still haven't done a Zumba class, I know of one on Tuesdays but had a prior Tuesday commitment. That commitment is over until September so I am going to check into that class again soon.
13. There are still a few areas I could stand to improve, but I have been increasing my skin care and taking all my vitamins.

Stewardship of my Earth
14. Made compost pile bigger by pulling out the bush in the backyard, buried all my compost saved over the winter. Missed my chance to get a cheap kitchen caddy this weekend, but I will continue to reuse plastic containers from food products for now.
15. Just bought my seedlings, seeds, dirt and planting pots to start my container gardening, hopefully will have those set up this week if the nice weather holds up in the evenings.
16. Haven't been too diligent with this monthly 100 mile meal, but now that the farmer's market is about to open shortly, I intend to make this happen the rest of the year.
17. Still need to find better options that work!
18. Well, there aren't that many left on the Million Acts of Green site that I can do, but here are a few more I've challenged myself to try this year: turn my computer off every night, air dry clothes, conserve more water

Stewardship of my Talents
19. I haven't had a lot of insights like I used to, but I have had a of relationships I have been in prayer for, rather than my own listening prayer for insight....hope to get back to this pronto now that I have had a lot of positive answers in those relationships.
20. I have spent quite a bit of time on the frames I made for my seaside escape bathroom, next I'm working on a bracelet I mentioned here.
21. I've been pulling back from Stampin' Up! so I intend to shift that creative time to getting back to my wedding scrapbook....still got about 10 pages left on that one!
22. Some journals are getting more entries than others, but there is monthly documentation of life going on.

Stewardship of my Communities
23. Sean and I have been walking together with the puppy more frequently, as well as I've been intentionally been trying to do something he likes with him Sunday evenings.
24. Can't donate blood until September because of my tattoo retouch.
25. I have put out a few offers to help people with things but no one has taken me up on them yet.
26. Will be babysitting my nieces this upcoming weekend! YAY!
27. Haven't quite had monthly hangouts with friends, almost....but I intend to make up for that shortly now that my friend the sun is here!
28. I have two couples from Church in mind to invite over....just have to finally get to it.
29. Volunteered as a table facilitator again, this time at the Boundaries course, and will be helping again at the Safe People course. Also contemplating other ministries I can help out.

Stewardship of my Growth
30. Haven't really made note of doing this.
31. Not done yet, first have to tune guitar....a challenge in itself.
32. Have read one of the books but 3 more have been added (at least I didn't buy them, all books borrowed from other people :)
33. Tried out a bunch of settings on a fantastic moonscape but haven't really checked out the results yet.
34. Did March and April but so far that's it.
35. Fell a little behind in Bible reading as my 6 am time was working perfect until dog walking came into the picture, have put NT CDs into the car though so I can now listen to my readings on the way to and from work. Prayer journal has been somewhat on par.

Stewardship of Living my Life
36. Finished one fiction book and started another, with another one on the shelf waiting to be read. Yes, they are all Ted Dekker :)
37. As mentioned in #2, not going to happen this year :(
38. Couple of months away but still looking forward to attending Folklarama.
39. Haven't painted the town red by myself yet.
40. Had a lot of time to myself now that hubby is volunteering too, it has been really nice having even one weekday evening I can think of only me. Like taking up the bathroom for a bubble bath and a good book for a few hours. Like stinking up the living room giving myself a pedicure for a few hours.  Like meandering through the mall, eating at the restaurant I want, spending as much time as I want browsing the stores I like. Makes me appreciate our time together even more.

Not too shabby.

Thank you Notes

Dear God,
Thank you for staying true to your word, that you don't give us more than we can handle.  I was coping but didn't know how much more of this I could handle, as you well know. It isn't going to be easy just because they are no longer around, but it isn't going to be as hard as it was, or as bad as it was going to get.
You have my utmost gratitude.

Luv Lori

Wordless Wednesday - A Wonder-ful Walk

Lori's Addiction

Ok, who do I thank for getting me addicted to Pinterest?  Oh ya, this girly! JK....seriously, why has it taken me this long to find this genius website that allows me to catalogue pretties!

Is that a little geeky that I want to electronically catalogue my addictions? lol.

Seaside Escape

On my list of things I wanted to accomplish some day was to have a beautiful seaside escape, beautiful water, sandy beaches, lovely seashells scattered everywhere, long docks to stroll on, quaint row boats to float in, sigh, that would be nice. Not happening any time soon.

Also on my list of things to accomplish this year was to finally finish decorating my upstairs bathroom, theme - seaside escape :)  To make a little happy place out of a usually not so pleasant place.  I also needed to find better storage, I had products and appliances distributed all over the house, not an efficient use of my time when time to get ready.  Well, it's done and here's just a glimpse of my 'getaway'. 
Note, the seashells frames I made (so I wouldn't have to pay $30 each for the only ones I could find for sale, these were all made for less than $20 total :)

My coconut lime soap, nothing smells more tropical to me than that! Notice my seashell shaped sink :) my house came that way, and I had the seashell theme in mind since the last house....cha-ching, lol

Pic of me and my sisters on a beach in California.

I painted and aged the shelf for the towels. 

I have seashells strewn about, some in some cute, metal sand pails. My shelving above the toilet looks like white-washed wood planks which for some reason always seems beach-housey to me.

My own little seaside escape....now if only my tub was as big as a sea, or at least just big enough for me to fit! lol.

Top Ten Thursday

Top Ten signs of summer....it still over a month away but the signs are starting to arrive (amidst several late snow falls)

1. Hot dog carts are parked across the street from work again, ahh I love that smell.

2. Bubble bottles lining the shelves of Wal-mart, reminding me of moments like this

3. So far, three afternoons of such lovely sunshine I just had to sit on the patio set and bask in the warmth with a good book.

4. The itch I have to get my hands dirty and my thumbs green, the cool dirt mixed with the hot sun on my skin, the call of the colours and the smells of 'playing' out in my yard. The oregano that started regrowing by itself this spring is such a tease.

5. As the days are getting longer so are my puppy walks, my leg muscles are begging for more (especially with my new shape-ups), as well as my shutterbug muscle.

6. I've seen two parking lot fairs and I can't wait for the Ex to get here!

7. Had my first taste of BBQ at a work event yesterday, nothing like food cooked over flames to shout summer!

8. Tis the season of the Season Finale.....a bitter sweet season but in the end I'm grateful for the kick in the butt and off the couch.

9. Frappuccino's are in full promotional swing at Starbucks....you can have them with pretty much any ingredients you want now....so dangerous!

10. The perfect sundress day is so elusive, there have been a few but they've been a pleasant surprise....once I'm already out and dressed for colder temps.  I have a new sundress burning a hole in my closet!

Sigh.  It will come soon I suppose, but not soon enough after the spring we've had.

Who let the Lori loose.....

....in the mall?!?

All I wanted was a book and some new runners (health related stuff - more on those in a bit) but having purposely deprived myself of malls lately my eyes were on 'pretties' overload and the temptations swirled me dizzy!

A book I want....Reshaping It All....didn't get bought while on vacation after all, and was still sold out at Chapters, but I wandered the store looking for it before I asked, and of course stumbled on far too many items I would like to call mine. My preciouses.

My name is Lori and I have a journal addiction.

But I behaved.

And then the home decor section of Chapters. Oh dear. Another addiction, frames. Only really fell in {heart} with this one though.

Yet still refrained!
Then on the way to the shoe store passed one of my fav clothing stores and just loved the new spring/summer line they had...wanted most of it!! These are the ones I put on my mental (and iPhone) wish list.

Finally got to the shoe store and found the next thing on my list, but while in line I had to stand next to these pretties and good thing the price was absurd!! (which was odd, because after a price comparison at several places, this was the store with the best price on my shoes, an expensive brand!)

Sigh. My eyes may have overloaded but at least my credit card did not. I stuck to my list (other than some medicine really cheap at Wal-mart, some of Sean's fav chocolates on sale, and a b-day card) and the only splurge I caved into was this one.

Yes it's empty, I scarfed it down too fast to take a picture of my Chocolate Extreme MINI blizzard ;)

And on that note, my new pair of tools for living a healthier lifestyle.....

Sketcher's Shape-ups!!

Now, I never in my life imagined I would spend more than $30 on a pair of runners, because walking in cheap runners is just as good as walking in expensive ones. Even jogging on the treadmill has been fine in my cheap runners.  But walking 2 km a day with doggy now, and even being able to jog for a significant amount of time on cement with less pain (I've tried for 4 years to do that, but always too much pain to go more than 1/2 block, now I can do almost a full block lap!), I realized I should look into slightly better runners than my current $15 pair.
I'm also not the kind of person to so easily believe hype about a product, and really Shape-ups seemed a little too good to be true.  But then a co-worker got them, described how they worked to me and how they really DID work for her, so I did my usual, I Googled them and found it probable they could enhance my exercising. So I went and tried them on and they have a 15 day guarantee to try them out.  I was sold after 24 hours!
Not only did I immediately find I had to stand with better posture, immediately noticed muscles working that don't normally, but when I tried jogging on cement I had NO joint pain! The shock absorption is amazing! I was thrilled I could jog with minimal pain, now I can jog with NO hip or knee pain.
$60 was soooooooo worth it, I {heart}{heart}{heart}{heart} Shape-ups!!

Now to just get my Reshaping It All book for some more inspiration and motivation and hopefully this 'kicking it up a notch' I've been trying for awhile now will finally work! If only my will power I displayed in the mall transferred easily to exercise and eating!!