New Etsy Purchase

I am lovin' these new earrings that I bought from girl in world (image from her etsy shop). Her shop ROCKS!! Like most of my favorites on Etsy I just happend to find her buried in a treasury somewhere and, wow, her jewelry is amazing. Now don't ya'll rush over there and buy up all the pieces that I've hearted. Well maybe I'm feeling generous, her things are beautiful.

Interviewed by Sara of Sara's Texture Crafts

I am so fortunate to be interviewed by the lovely Sara from Sara's Texture Crafts web site. Sara is an incredibly talented fashion designer from England. Check out the interview and her web site.

I'm in a treasury

I though I was seeing more traffic in my etsy store. And sure enough I'm in a treasury with some other amazing Canadian artists. Check it out.

I can read!

We were at the Concordia art supply store on the weekend, when the wee man said, pointing to a sign, I can read that. And he did (Need a ruler?) I was floored.

We came home and I said, shall we try reading a book? He said, "Sure as long as it isn't as difficult as Harry Potter". So we started slow. We picked up "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus", and he whizzed through it. We then read "No, No Jack" and "Bark George". And he whizzed through those books too.

He can read! He can read. Yes, reading your first book is monumental, but considering that my son has only been taught to read in French, the fact that he picked up an English book and with only a slight accent applied the skills he learned to read in French to another language has floored me. I am so proud of him. It happened so fast.

A friend proclaims that he thinks the best thing that ever happened was the invention of the printing press because reading sets you free. I've seen it first hand. I think I'm more excited than his first step or first word.

new year's resolutions

No, I'm really not a couple of weeks behind, I normally don't make new year's resolutions, but this year we want to make a change to our lives and really wanted a marking point.

This year my family is going to try to sort of go green. I say sort of because even though it is important, it is not really about the environment. It's really more about us and our health. And let's face it going completely green would just not happen for us. I want to do a lot of research and make sure that I'm making the most informed decision I can. There is a lot of conflicting information out there and the decisions we are making are what we determine are best for our family. And there are only so many hours in the day. It also has to allow us to live a normal life without spending every waking hour sorting through garbage or whatever.

Last fall we started using environmentally conscious cleaning products. A small step, albeit important. Now, we are taking a year to see where we can go in terms of not polluting our bodies. Using environmentally friendly cleaning products was not so much for the environment, but to reduce the amount of chemicals that we are exposed to in our home.



We've also started eating more organic fruits, vegetables and grains, cutting down and hoping to eliminate processed foods and chemicals from our diets, paying attention to labels. I've started incorporating vegetable and fruit purees into almost everything we eat. For breakfast we eat blueberry oatmeal breakfast bars (from Deceptively Delicous) that have a mixture of blueberries and spinach puree. You can't even taste the spinach. My son devours it for breakfast every morning.

Are we going to go completely green? I think that is not realistic for us. But we will be making more informed decisions. I am going to try to use cosmetics that don't have so many chemicals, buy more organic cotton clothes (but going completely green on this one would be a serious challenge for me unless cashmere is considered organic), taking less medications.

About a year ago I started going to acupuncture on a regular basis. I can't tell you what a change it has made to my health and general feeling of well being. Several months ago I pulled a muscle in my neck. I've never had this kind of pain. I couldn't move, sit up unless it was so straight as to be unnatural, there was pain running down my arm and a couple of my fingers were numb. The husband was telling me I had to go to the doctor, but I didn't want to. I didn't want someone to look at me and give me a painkiller and tell me to come back in a week or two if it didn't get better.

I am no longer blindly taking medications because someone tells me to. After a few more days of not being able to function, the husband said, why don't you go for acupuncture? Why didn't I? I phoned up James at Sinocare where I go for acupuncture and he said, of course we can help you come in right away.

At my first appointment they had to help me on the table and I couldn't even put my back flat I was in such pain. One hour later I got up off the table by myself and walked out pain free. I had one more treatment that week, 2 more the week after and 1after that. NO MEDICATIONS!!

I'm not saying that there isn't a place for western medicine. There is, but there are other alternatives for certain things. It is a personal choice.

Anyway, over the next year I will be writing every now and then about our quest to live a greener, healthier life.

eating crow

A posting or two ago I was whining about the turquoise color of my basement walls and how I hate them.

Then today on Bungalow 8 I found these turquoise walls (you can call them whatever color you want to me they are turquoise.





My room certainly doesn't look like this one. So I can no longer blame the wall color, but well maybe my decorating abilities or lack thereof. Maybe turquoise just doesn't match my sofa (which I love).

So back to the drawing board. I would like to make my playroom funky since it is a room for kids and hanging out, but I would like it to look more pulled together as well.

cards in the shop

Despite being sick (again) and just wanting to hide under the blankets for about a week, I did manage to add some thank you flats to the etsy shop.

And a few valentine flats.





I'm also getting low on tattoo tees, so looks like I'll have to add some more today.



After that hopefully back under the covers for a well needed sleep.

don't hate me because my basement is turquoise

Really I have nothing against the color turquoise. I love this color, just not on my walls.

I'm sure there are others with turquoise walls that look spectacular. But when we bought our house the walls in one room of the basement were turquoise and in the other rooms - slime lime green.

What were the previous owners thinking? Are they color blind? I don't think so, the house they bought was impeccably decorated, but I guess they liked color in this house. Anyway, last year I finally painted the lime green walls a lovely neutral beige color (it is my office, and I couldn't work with lime green). And this year I think the turquoise walls have got to go.

I was thinking of painting them a nice neutral color. The downstairs bathroom/laundry room is off of this room (we use this room as the playroom) and maybe I could paint the laundry room a nice striking color like red for contrast.

Any advice would be appreciated. Do you think that the 10 cent designer would do a pro bono job?

addicted to flickr

I am totally and completely addicted to flickr. I've met some wonderfully talented people through flickr and am inspired every day to become a better photographer.

It amazes me when someone not only comments on my photographs, but actually makes me a flickr contact.

2008 is the year I become a better photographer. I have the camera, I took the course (thanks Joel), and most importantly, the desire is there.

I love taking pictures of people. To see people come alive through your viewfinder is an incredible feeling.

The above pics are some of my 2007 flickr favorites, but this is the first page of about 100. To start.

-20

That's about the temp today.

No kidding.

So far the coldest day we've had. But did that keep my 2 little snow bunnies inside? Are you kidding? I had to tell them to come in after 2 hours. They had frozen fingers and toes, and bright red cheeks, but nothing that a bowl of chicken noodle soup, sandwiches, veggies, and a hot chocolate in front of the fireplace with hot water bottles couldn't cure.



I decided that it's time to get rid of the Christmas decorations. I took down everything except the glass snowflakes in the window. They will stay up until Feb., but they are more an ode to winter. And the tree is still up. I did remove my snowman bulbs, but the rest can wait until the weekend.



Normally, the husband is the one anxious to get things "back to normal", but this year he seems perfectly content letting things be, so I decided to it was time to get back to our regular viewing schedule. Speaking of which, did anyone watch the new Law and Order last night? Absolutely fabulous.

Working on some valentines for my etsy shop. Will post soon.