Double double toil and trouble...

Happy Halloween. Be safe and have fun trick or treating!!

Introducing....

Our newest brown belt!! After a two hour testing cycle, and much MUCH hard work and practicing, Ethan is now a brown belt in Taekwondo!! Yeah!! It was exciting to watch him test and do his stuff. He was confident and powerful. It was very rewarding for everyone. Now our schedule changes, again. He is at the academy longer and more days from now on... Oh well. Such will be our life. And then Miss Izzy B decided yesterday that she was ready to join and started doing some jump kicks and side kicks and punches of her own and caught the attention of the owners who told me she is the "perfect" age to begin... Ya. We shall see.

Ciao all.

My upcoming week in review

I am taking this moment now to apologize to all my blogging buddies - I will not be around at all this week so I won't be lurking sites or posting or anything. And I am afraid that many of my weeks to come, from now until Christmas, will be much like this one. Anyways, here is what I have coming up:

*Today, tomorrow and Wednesday we have extra taekwondo lessons as Ethan tests Thursday for his brown belt. Wish him luck!! This kid has been working sooo hard to memorize his form and his sparring segments. It is a lot of work.

*Wednesday I also have a meeting I am chairing. Have been planning for this meeting for the past week. Will be happy to get it over with.

*Friday I am attending a craft fair and I am super excited about this. It is my most FAVOURITE one and I wait all year for it!! My sis in law is coming with me. Hope I don't scare her with my crafty geekiness. Boy oh boy does it shine when I am this thing!!

*Also Friday we have a Halloween party to attend. We will be late. The fair takes precedence!!

*Thursday night Ethan is giving a presentation at Cubs on a Great Canadian - he chose Terry Fox. We have been hard at work researching.

*Sunday the children have Primary Presentation and they both have speaking parts. Again, we have been hard at work memorizing. Ethan has his down pact. Isabella, well... We will continue to work.

I think there is more, but I can't even keep it all straight. So I am going to say goodnight and go and do more laundry and then watch TV until I fall asleep!!

Ciao

Good Day

J made it through his surgery today and is doing well. Yeah! Thanks for the prayers. Please continue. He has a long road ahead of him.

I did some scrapping yesterday. This is Bella on the first day of school. I like how it turned out. Nothing too spectacular here - good ol' cardstock and just a scrap strip (literally) of patterned paper. Stamps and chipboad and black glitter and some bling and some really bad stitching. Again, if I can't do it from start to finish in an hour, I won't. So those of you out there that don't think you can scrap because you don't have the time, or all the "latest" things - WRONG!! Doesn't have to be "fancy" to be good!!

On another note: yesterday was the one year anniversary of Manj's death. I miss her terribly. That is all I have to say. Just continue to keep her family in your prayers. Not much has been answered/accomplished in this last year...

I am off to have a nice, quiet night with my hubby.

Ciao all.

Say a prayer

One of Marc's young men is going in for major heart surgery. He is only 15 yrs old and has Down's Syndrome. His heart is barely functioning and it does not look good all around. So keep a prayer in your heart that a miracle will happen for this little guy.

Thanks

Just a note: This guy last Thursday night received his Queen Venturer Award. THAT is an amazing accomplishment, and includes service hours to the community in excess of 360 hours!! And J did all of this with the limited body he has been given here on Earth. He is an amazing kid.

Sadness...

The husband of a friend I had as a child/young teen has just passed away. He died of a heart attack, very suddenly, and left behind his gorgeous wife and his two very young children. What a tragic tragic loss. I am sad. There are no other words. Sad. I feel for the wife he has left behind. I feel for the two children who now have to grow up without a father. My heart is broken for them. And I guess to top it off we are coming up on the one year anniversary of Manj's death and now my sister is being called to testify in the custody battle for sweet Maya this week. It has been a stressful week to begin with, and now this news. Sad. I feel sad. And now a bit afraid. These things come in three's... What is next??

Sign of growth??

I am not a patient person. It is fair to say that I almost always get what I want. Almost always. Except for the BMW X5 that still is not in my garage... hee hee I digress. I have been eyeing this apothecary cabinet for almost a year now. Yesterday Marc and I were in the store (my most favourite one on this planet!!), looking for a tall boy for our bedroom, and we came upon the cabinet. It was on sale. Beyond on sale acutally - it was only $729 (original price close to $2000)! I turned to Marc and said that I wanted it. But I never thought Marc would go for it. Next thing I notice, he is sweet talking the manager, and she agrees to drop the price by another $100. So now the cabinet is $629, plus taxes and delivery. I think it came to about $750 with all of that in. I was sweating. Suddenly, I had a decision to make. I really had to stop and think about this. The OLD Carmen would have blazed a trail with credit card in hand to the register. But not the new Carmen. I looked at Marc and I said "no". I thought he was going to faint! The cabinet, although gorgeous, REALLY GORGEOUS, is just a want. It is not a need. It was going in our formal living room to display my stuff. That's all. Just display my stuff. I seem to be coming to a point in my life where the needs are more important than the wants. And I have a long term goal in mind for my needs. The goal has moved beyond building the dream home. The goal is now to be able to build the home and furnish it and live in it and afford it! That is a lot of needs. The cabinet doesn't even place.... So I guess I am FINALLY growing up. Wow. What a light bulb moment. But before y'all celebrate too much, I did go out and buy yet another pair of boots. Hey, those are NEEDS! hee hee

Happy day all.

Ciao

Thanksgiving afterthoughts

You know, I don't really get sentimental about holidays. I have to say, I usually take them for granted. I have lived my entire life with my family here. Well, almost all of my family here. My father's family all live in Italy and I miss them terribly each and every day. But, that is something I don't have control over. My mom's family is all here and have been here and around me since the day I was born. And we seem to get bigger each year - grown in numbers, that is!! hee hee Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, birthdays, and just general dinners are common place for us. And now for my children. They thirve on these get togethers. So I really REALLY have to stop and pay attention to all my blessings, and be aware of them. I have so many. I am not going to list them. They are personal and only for me to be thankful for. But I will say that I am beyond grateful for my family, on all sides. They are amazing, generous, loving people. I need to be reminded of this everyday.

My updated decor

So Marc finally downloaded my pictures off of my camera. Apparently, there is some glitch with the HP software that "they" are working on... Well, work harder! I am annoyed that I have more pics now that I want off the camera and I am going to have to wait, again, for Marc to get them for me. Oh well. A further lesson in patience... Anyways, these are my little treasures I got from that boutique in Walnut Grove. I am thrilled with my little layout. I already had the Eiffel Tower and the glass balls and the candle holders. I bought the large glass ball and the fleur de lis from the shop and then came home and put them all together. My candle holders are from Italy. They are a very heavy cut crystal, and when the sun shines in from the living room window, they sparkle. It is very lovely. I really enjoy putting together these little vingettes. It is fun to go into a shop and find one or two things to bring home and then realize that you have one or two other things that you can add. And Marc did not even say anything! I was waiting for some witty comment on how the kids don't need to eat this week, blah blah blah!! Ha ha. NOTE: I DON'T spend big $$ on these things. On furniture, yes... On knick knacks, no. I do have my limits!! hee hee

Ciao all. Have a happy day.

Creating

I have *actually* fallen behind in my scrapping!! Wow. That is a first. I have not had any "spare" time in a long time. So this morning while listening to Conference, I created. It felt good. These are from our trip to Seattle last month. All supplies and bits and bobs from my scraps. Nothing new here. So now I have Ethan's birthday to do, and the kids' first day of school, and then I will be all caught up again! Whew. So you KNOW that this afternoon I will try to knock out these three layouts. I can't be behind!! My OCD won't let this just sit! hee hee

Have a good day all!!

Brag Session

Okay, my Ethan is totally into Taekwondo. This is no secret. He is preparing for his brown belt and he is really working hard on memorizing his form. He has 48 moves in one form that he must do perfectly and all on his own in order to pass. It is stressful for an 8 year old. So tonight I let him go to sparring classes just for the heck of it. Well, not only was he the only CHILD there, he also totally kicked everyone's butt!! It was hilarious to watch!! Ethan was sparring 2nd and 3rd degree black belts, and actually getting punches and kicks in!! Amazing!! Size truly does not matter - it is all about skill and quickness! I was really impressed with him. And the sparring class was an hour and a half straight. He was exhausted by the end, but not once did he quit or let up or complain or whine that it was too hard, or that he was getting beaten by all the adults. He took everything in stride. He worked the whole class. It is cool when your kid excels in something. Rock on Ethan!!

Annoyed

I cannot download my images from my camera to my computer. I have NO idea what is going on. My HP won't take the images - keep getting an error reading message and lights flashing... I am SOOOOOO not a technology kind of gal!! I hate it when things suddenly don't work. I hate it when I have no clue as to what to do to fix it. I seriously would have been better off being born 50 years ago when life was "simpler". I am going to Taekwondo now where I will encourage Ethan to work off my frustrations!!

Ciao all

MAYBE I will have pictures to post on the totaly cool stuff I got at this totally amazing shop in Walnut Grove called "La Belle Maison" IF my hubby can get the images downloaded for me... Maybe... Otherwise, if you are local, you will have to come over and pay me a visit and see my new display of french country "stuff" that I have decorated my coffee table with in the formal living room. Enough of a tease?? hee hee