Never forget.

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic and we'll change the world."

- Jack Layton, 1950-2011

What have I turned into...

I always said I wouldn't be one of THOSE people.

All I have to say for myself is... Isn't he just soooo cute!

These two projects have decided it for me. I NEED a new sewing machine. This whole, "sew it by hand" thing isn't working out. That and making a quilt would be impossible (for me).

Wordless Wednesday: It's good to be on the East Coast

Cheers!

Tis the season to be scary....

Fa la la la la... la la la la...

Oops, wrong season. Halloween, Easter, Christmas.. same difference..

A wonderful excuse to decorate my house!

I most definitely came back to this and added the rest of the leftover skeleton pieces to make it less put together.

Yup. 

Plated rocks, orange (yes those are orange, not pink) candles and skeleton parts. 

We're classy like that.

You need to have the staple spider webs and jolly scarecrow, don'tcha know.

Even with all that wonderful decor, there was something missing.

I was out & about today and decided it was time for some crafting therapy.

Visiting my love, I got some of these...

Picture borrowed from here.

Along with some glue gun sticks...

Dug out some old fabric I'd cut in strips (original purpose was supposed to be stripes on my curtains)...

And set to work...

My step dad got a good chuckle when he noticed what I did to this guy.

* I don't recommend using glue gun on styrofoam. It doesn't work very well. AT ALL. 

What does work awesomely on styrofoam? 

MASKING TAPE!

Yup. I went there. Masking tape. 

I couldn't find the duct tape.

Cheers!

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Linking over to....

New adventure

I'm embarking on a new journey.

It is, by no means, my area of expertise.

I'm terrified.

I'm nervous.

.. one could say, I'm scared shitless.

If you just shoot a quick glance at me, I may appear to be a closed book.

... but in reality, I love getting to know people. 

I love sitting down and communicating with them, in whatever way.

.. I'll smile my big grin when you seem nervous or unsure.
.. I'll make funny faces when you seem upset.
.. I'll stay strong when you're sad or angry.
.. I'll listen and absolutely adore all your stories.
.. I'll tell you all about my puppy.
.. I'll give you big hugs when you seem to need one.

I am excited.

.. I am ecstatic about the adventure.

.. I am looking forward to the new relationships.
   ... the laughs.
   ... the disagreements.
   ... the problem solving.

.. I am beyond words excited of the prospect of applying restorative justice with a new (to me!) vulnerable population. (I am still a dork with a love for RJ!)



Here's to the new adventure...

Cheers!

Wordless Wednesday

I'll owl the pigeons all the way to Mexico.

The guy across the street & his young daughter feed the birds. pigeons.
(birds are beautiful creatures, pigeons -- not so much).


We used to have a pigeon problem in Regina. By problem, I mean they'd wake us up with their purrrrrrrr.. purr... purrrrrrrr every morning. And it would continue...

The.

Entire.

DAY!

Every. Single. Day.


We contemplated getting some gawdy owl to put on our deck back then (possibility of keeping their annoying purrrrring, feces & nests away? Yes, please.). But that's all we did.


Contemplated.
Discussed.
Found some owls, debated it -- but never actually bought any.




It is odd, I know. But my old roommate scarred me years ago.

She bought this horrible brass owl and hung it our house.

Then waited to see how I'd react.


I'm not entirely sure why it this was such a horrible thing..
Was it gawdy? Sure.
Tacky? Oh most definitely.

But definitely not the worse thing I've seen put on display in a house (probably the worse in any house i've lived in though, :P) 


Since I found & sent her an owl necklace, I've been forgiving her tacky senses and patching over the "scars."


So where am I going with all this?

Oh yes...


Superstore has Halloween decorations out (ALREADY! I know).

One being a super cute Owl.


I liked it when it just served as a cute decoration.

But now I see it as a means of getting rid of the pigeons the neighbor feeds.


Food vs. Predator.

Which will prevail.


I may need to find out.

My bf ~ the zookeeper

The other day, We got tired of being in the city. So we only had two logical choices, since it was andrew deciding the adventure..

Go fishing

Or go to the zooo!

The decision is kinda obvious.. But we did see some fish!

I also got to pet a llama, which was awesome.

I may or may not have wanted to bring home a sad looking, yet awesome goat.

The only real crummy part of the zooo was that ankor couldnt come. Instead, we tired out mom. She may have slept for two days afterwards.

What a wonderful day!

The first step is admitting your problem...

Confession..

---- I've been slacking ----

I know. How dare I.

I miss blogging, -- writing, reading, sharing -- the random ideas.. the sweet comments.. 

I miss it.

So what am I doing about it?

I'm hoppin' around, trying to get back into the groove of things.

And possibly digging out my camera. Blog posts are just no fun without pictures.

But I am le tired. Then go have a nap...

Job hunting sucks.

Job hunting in the city sucks even more.

Job hunting in a city & 2 neighboring cities sucks the most.




Disclaimer: I've been what some would called "spoiled."

I've never had a hard time finding decent jobs. In my past I've been extremely blessed (and thankful!) to have people I know in positions where saying a good word for me basically got me the job. (But do not disregard the charm!).

I've had people personally come tell me to apply for jobs because they wanted me to do it.


Which may be why this "applying for job bit" is extremely frustrating.

- How many of these posted jobs already have their future employee picked out?
- How many of these posted jobs are looking for that name they know? Or that name they've heard through the grapevine?

I do not regret moving to a new city.

But I do regret not being able to bring my contacts! Okay, maybe not possible. But it would be sweet if it were.


All is not completely lost. I quickly found a job in a pub/restaurant/tavern type of establishment within walking distance of the house. Pay is not great, but Nova Scotians are. ;)

It shall pay the bills until I find said dream job (ie: full time, permanent position that pays enough to pay bills, save for down-payment on house, allows me to go visit home every once in a while, allows me to buy wood & fabric and possibly a new sewing machine & is enjoyed by Moi. See I'm not very picky.)




On the bright side, the house is practically a home.

Most of my past projects (spice rack, clock, lamp, jewelry frames, etc.) have found their "permanent until we move again" spots. (pictures? I'm not even sure where the camera is. Hence the half fuzzy twitter pics, courtesy of my phone).


I have several dozen other projects that I want to do. But that's all they currently are. Wants. Most of our furniture received not-so-pretty nicks and dents during the move. Many hand-me-downs were collected from family members, 99.9% of those pieces older than us. My step-dad gave us three old dressers (we didn't have a single one) that were from his parents' (may they RIP) old house - Ie. They hadn't been used in over 30 years. All we've done thus far is clean them and stuck one in each bedroom closet.

To make this stuff & space completely "ours" -- we have lots of work to do.


I've been making curtains for all the windows.

Or I should say, I was making curtains for all the windows. And would be finished another set if the sewing machine hadn't conked out on me last night. Le sigh.


We'll see how that goes today.....

Day.. Shouldn't we be there by now?

Yup, we should have been arriving friday. Were planning on it.

But plans dont always work out as hoped.

We ran into car issues.. Not nice, but luckily nobody got hurt and we got back
On the road within about 30 hours.

A huge thunder storm"chased" us for most of the day yesterday. When we stopped for supper we realized we could no longer outrun it.

I almost left andrew to become a Petawawanite.. Petawawian? Merely so I could call him that. He wanted more sleep so he was okay with it.

Another short day.

But.. We're almost in quebec!! Saw our first irving and ultramar! Hopefully we make it into NB. It'd be sweet.

Sooooo close.....

Are we there yet

Morning 3

16 hours on the road pushes my sanity.

By the end I was  willingly listening to and singing with the band perry.

I wish I would have taken pictures of our 50s style motel room.

I need my coffee fix...

Yup, put himself in the corner for a time out.

Day 2 on the road

Wow ontario is gorgeous.

All this driving gives me lots if time to relax and think.

Even though I feel exhausted, I feel so rested and at peace.

Materialistic & financially, We may not have much..

But these adventures and memories we have and are creating are more than we could ever ask for.

Sure there are days I wish I had a big diamond already.. A home to our name.. And started on our offspring..

But when I actually stop to think about it, I wouldn't trade any aspect of our life right now.

I'm driving across the country with my dog. How awesome is that.

No, we're not perfect.

But we're perfect for each other.

Including this guy..

When in doubt bribe..

I started two awesome posts this morning at 6am.


Then we started packing everything that was left (& finishing, may I add -- yay!)...

.. so the posts, full of pictures, wit & fantastic wonderful'ness are sitting in my drafts.



Instead you get this... !

A pretty picture of a handsome pup.

This guy thinks we're going on a big vacation.. and bringing all our stuff.


He's half right.

It's been a game to him. As I went from upstairs to downstairs, he was right there with me.. tail wagging, tongue hanging out - having a grand 'ol time.. So I egged him on and soon he was passed out.

Easy peasy.

I'm pretty sure I learned this technique babysitting years ago...


I may have to do something similar to have him behave in the car for 4 days.


Oh wait.. that's what rollerblades & leashes are for... Muahaha


oh.. and treats.


So yeah.. posts from me lately and for the next week = slow. boring. not exciting.


Posts from me in a couple weeks after I've moved & settled in = so awesome you won't be able to contain yourself.

So let this be a fair warning.
Or something...

books = happiness.

I have been finding books like mad lately.

All for cheap cheap prices.

1$
0.50$



All is right in my world.

My new favorite DIY bracelet!

With summer finally having come to the prairies, I have been on a huge bracelet and anklet kick. Well.. who am I kidding, I wear & love bracelets yearlong... but now it's summer bracelets now... there's a difference! :)

Needless to say, as soon as I saw this tutorial on Sew.Craft.Create. I absolutely had to make it!

Picture from Sew.Craft.Create

First attempt, I ended up with this beauty..

Not the most "put together" bracelet I've ever made.. let alone seen. But I like it! It's fun and simple!

Another beautiful day I decided to re-tackle this bracelet. (I took a couple more pictures this time).

I've also been on a fabric kick lately, so this bracelet was perfect!

It was so sunny and beautiful that Ankor couldn't look at me without squinting.

This one turned out a bit better than the black one! Different style, I s'pose.. :)

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Gotta party it up!!