Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Ten on Tuesday

Wow, just squeaked this one in my the skin on my teeth!

1. From your childhood, what do you miss most about summer vacation?
This one is easy.  My Grandma.  We used to go out to her place at the Lake and stay for the whole summer from when school got out to when it started up again.  We ate cereal out of plastic cups out in the yard in the morning and spent the entire day at the beach .  It was magical.

2. Are you going anywhere on vacation this summer?
I am going to Vancouver to see my family - Sports Day 2011!!!

3. What foods do you like to barbecue?
Yummy.  Steak and Salmon.  Ooo and I make wicked potatoes in foil.

4. How do you celebrate the fourth of July?
I am Canadian.  We celebrate on the 1st!  Usually we go out to a park near by and enjoy music and cake and a small craft fair and the have a BBQ and watch the fire works.  This year though, we are going to a 40th birthday party for one of CH's cousins.

5. What’s your favorite beverage to drink in the summertime?
Hands down, Pepsi Slurpee from 7 Eleven. I have also been known to sip a Grower's Nectarine Cider or two...

6. What movie are you looking forward to seeing this summer?
Water for Elephants - I am a little behind the times. :o)

7. In the car: windows down or AC?
Totally mood dependant. If I am alone or with one of my girlfriends (especially on a road trip) and have the music cranked - windows down.  If I am with my family - AC.

8. Have you ever had a summer fling?
Married him. :o)  I think all the important relationships I have ever had with the opposite sex began in the summer but he is the one worth remembering.

9. Do you wear sunscreen?
I really do not have a choice.  I burn BAD.

10. Do you have any favorite summertime activities?
Swimming.  LOVE LOVE LOVE the water.  I am pieces.

Wow - fast answers.  Pewf, made it in before midnight!

:o)  Tina

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

I am by no means good a taking pictures.  When I get a good shot, it seems to be a fluke BUT, I am trying and I do like to have fun and I am a very visual person sooooo when I stumbled upon the Sunday Scavenger Hunt at Ramblings and Photos (who knows how I got there, I certainly don't), I thought, hmmm.  Perhaps I will give it a try.  My iPhone is my camera - so please bare with me and remember I am doing this for fun and only for fun. I sew for a living - I do not take pictures....

HOT HOT HOT



Finding Form (Exploring with a Camera theme)

Trail, British Columbia, Canada Rock Wall

Trail, British Columbia, Canada, Stairs

Did I mention I am not a photographer.  I was walking to work when I snapped these shots of one of the famous Trail Rock Wall and the West Trail Stairs.

Front Page of the News (upcoming ACoLab theme)
Chore (Brooke's suggestion)
Beads (Brooke's suggestion)

*UPDATE* So, I failed miserably at this project.  I will try again, but want to share the two photos I did post, cause I thought they were okay...

:o)  Tina

Friday, May 27, 2011

Fill in the Blank Friday

fill in the blank friday
The Little Things We Do

Again, it is Friday. I sure wish that my days would slow down just a little bit so that I could enjoy them a little more. They say time flies when you are having fun - that it true. It is also true that it flies when you are busy... and I always seem to be having fun being busy so you can only imagine how quickly it goes for me!

I am feeling very happy and positive and full of energy today. Penelope's dance recital is this weekend, I am looking forward to that but it is something a little more than that... I feel like I am on the cusp of something really great... just don't know what it is yet!

The positivity might be in part to the warm and fuzzy feeling I have from talking to my friend Krista from Twirl about our creative and business plans as well as other more personal stuff. I really do feel like successes is right at my finger tips. :o)


1. If I could get away somewhere for the weekend I would go to  Vancouver to visit my family and I would bring PITA, CH, the Little Man and Penelope and while I was there I would take them to Boundary Bay Beach. PITA and CH have never been there and it is a place where I feel totally at peace and entirely happy just to be.

2. Something I often rant about is ...well, I am not really a huge ranter but when I go off I do a good job of it!  Yesterday I went off because the City of Trail has put up a banner to hide an ugly old gas station lot - which is great - but when so many other things are needed in our struggling downtown core what made them think that was a priority!?  I am sure it cost A LOT of money and I am equally sure that it will be vandalized or ruined by the weather. If they wanted to waist money, they could have given it to me - I could have found lots of things to spend it on that would benefit all of the business owners and not just the egos of a few of them!  GRRR 

3. One item I need to have in my fridge at all time is milk.  Penelope is addicted, CH and the Little Man have cereal almost every night for a snack and I could not live without a little homo in my Tetley!

4. My "life-saving" product is  Noxema.  I have been using it to wash my face since I was about 16.  I think I have naturally good skin and have been luck but I do not feel like I am clean after my shower if I have not used it.  I love the tingly fresh feeling it leaves my skin with - it just feels clean.  And hey, "Noxema Girls get noticed".

5. A friend is someone who you can tell anything too, who loves your faults as much as your good traits  someone who sees through the BS to who you really are, and most importantly a friend is someone who will stand by you NO MATTER WHAT. I find it hard to call someone a friend, having been let down in a really big way by the best one I ever had - I thought. :o(

6. If I could write my own blank it would be  The defining moment of my life was                                because                                                .

7. My favorite kind of art is any kind of fibre art.  Anything made with needle and thread -any kind of need and any kind of thread - and I am guaranteed to love it.  I am also a huge admirer of photography and I also love renaissance and pre-raphaelite art - you know Mona Lisa, Botticelli, Waterhouse, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Sistine Chapel.


So, have a GREAT weekend.  Enjoy the spring weather, your family, whatever it is that makes you happy!

:o)  Tina

Thursday, May 26, 2011

A While Back...

So PITA finally decided to the read this Blog and besides being unhappy about the family BBQ picture I posted of her, she questioned something that I wrote a few posts back.  It was a Fill in the Blank Friday and the blank was "7. I'd like to go to                    ". Well, I suppose I wrote my knee jerk answer - London to see my oldest  friend who I once loved so very very much.  The truth is, I would love to see her but, PITA is right, there are a few people I would love to see more.  I would love to go and spend a significant amount of time with each of my five amazing and wonderful Aunts and a big handful of my equally amazing cousins in Vancouver.  She said I talk about them all the time - and I do - I love them and miss them and look forward to seeing them each time I am in their neighborhood.  Sooo, PITA, you were right and now I have officially made the correction. :p

:o)  Tina

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Ten on Tuesday

Sometimes I wonder why I bother with these things.... I have to admit I don't mind doing it, you know, bathering on about myself.  :o)  Gives me something to Blog about - right?

1. Have you ever used Craigslist?
No, I haven't.  Not sure how it works and always kind of thought it was for big cities - which this is not!

2. Can you sew?
Hell yah! Like crazy. I started my business, Sugar Shack Quilting, based on my love to sew.

3. Do you pour syrup on your pancakes or dip your pancakes in the syrup?
I pour but just a tiny bit with lots of butter.  Yummy!

4. Rain storms: Love them or hate them?
I don't really have a preference either way.  I know I should be either scared of them or think they are really cool (CH and the kids love them - although the Little Man is a little worried, it is in his nature). I do find any power outage a bit of an inconvenience as it interferes with my favorite pastimes of sewing and blogging!

5. Do you like swimming?
LOVE IT! If I could sew and read while swimming with my kids that would be the ultimate.  Too bad I am not much of a multitasker and cannot even chew gum and think about anything else besides chewing - and not swallowing - the stupid gum.

6. What kind of drink do you order at Sonic?
Never been to Sonic and will probably never go. I live in Canada and we do not have them here - and I am not a big cross boarder visitor.  I would prefer to travel were my money stays closer to home and supports my community.  I think this crazy notion comes from being a self employed, struggling, retailer.

7. Are you funny?
I would have to say I am - although I think I am funnier than anyone else thinks I am.  (See my list of 15 Interesting Things About Me.)

8. At what age will your kids get cell phones?
My second from oldest step-son has one, he is 14.  I guess they get them when they have a busy social life that requires that they need one.  My 9 year old niece has one and I do not think that is okay - at all - but my brother works a lot and he is a single parent so they text to keep each other in the loop.
9. What’s your favorite vegetable?
Hands down potatoes.  I am a sucker for white food.  Bad, very bad.

10. Were you a Girl Scout?
I was a Brownie, which I loved, for as many years as you can be a Brownie.  I was a Guide for one year.  It was less than fun.

Gratuitous picture:
Violet - it looks like she wants to eat the fish, maybe she does, but she cannot leave the water alone.  It is like a drug to her.  Fish bowl, bath tub, toilet, it matters not.  She loves the water.  Weird, I know.




Friday, May 20, 2011

Fill in the Blank Friday

fill in the blank Friday
The Little Things We Do
1. People always tell me I look like my parents,  I am apparently an obvious mix of the two of them.  I don't think I look very much like them but I do look a lot like my Mum's youngest sister. When people who do not know my Mum meet her they assume that she is my Mum.  :o) 


2. Friends don't let friends walk around with crap in their teeth, their fly down or hair sticking up in awkward and unfortunate ways. CH often has stuff in his teeth - he gets kind of weird about it when I tell him but I don't care. He needs to know and how he look reflects on me - I gotta take care of my man.

3. A sunny day is perfect for sitting in a comfy lawn chair reading a good book at the beach.

4. My favorite accessory is any hair clip available. Could not, would not, live without them. After that I would have to say my sun glasses. I am quite fond of them as well - not only do they help me see in the brightness, they hold my hair back (in fact they are on my head right now).

5. If I could afford it I would buy a bigger house in a nicer neighborhood and hire a full time housekeeper and yard person to do the things I rarely have time to do the way I like them done.

6. The cure for boredom is ...boredom - who has time to be bored??? I have forgotten the meaning of the word .

7. I am currently "in like" with chocolate covered pretzels (who knew), jumbo yo-yo's, blogging, and the Downtown newsletter I am creating. 

Family BBQ Night

I LOVE having a BBQ at Grandpa's and it is usually my idea.  I had the yummiest steak ever (we all bring our own meat and something else) that had been in marinate since Tuesday night and baked potato with real bacon bits and good old Canadian butter!  Mmmmm so good.

I just learned that the camera on my iPhone has zoom.  Ridiculous, I know.  I am.  No doubt about it. Anyway, I used it to take some nice family pictures - I did not get everyone a good shot of everyone but there were lots of my kids!  I had a really good one of my nephew Jessco but he ate a spider so that I would not take anymore and so I did not post it.  Mature, aren't we?  He is almost 19 so he has an excuse, I on the other hand... it was funny, I love to laugh...

So, for your viewing pleasure...




It was nice to see my handsome nephew Mic join us for a change (he is 21... enough said) and PITA and CH with their best picture taking faces.  LOVE it!

It is fill in the blank Friday today, I think it will be a two post kind of day!  

:o)  Tina



Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Be Yourself, Ten on Tuesday

So I am walking to work this morning and thinking about an online course I am taking and the password - Be Yourself.  Two rather insignificant words alone but together they have so much meaning.  To "be yourself" is much more difficult than you would think. I think back on the last 15 years of my life and how much has changed - how much I have changed - and wonder if 10 years ago I was even close to being myself.  I suppose I was one form of myself, I believe that I was the self that I thought everyone would love, and think was funny, and want to hang out with. I believe that now I am feel more free and confident, now that I can be myself.  Is this the wisdom that comes with age?

Today is Tuesday.  The questions for this week are supposed to be in photos so you will have to bare with me.  I was not going to do it as it seems too personal and like way too much work for my no photographing self... not to mention that my house always looks like a hurricane has gone through it and left the contents of a Toys R' Us store in my living room... BUT in keeping with the spirit of being myself, what choice do I have?  So here, for your viewing pleasure is my disastrous home!

1. Your favorite piece of furniture in your home.
I have a smallish house and two pianos - and don't know how to play, but really want my kids to learn! PITA says that CH plays like an angel but I have only heard him once and it was from memory. I would love to come home to him playing the piano almost as much as I always hope that he is learning to play the guitar in secret as a surprise for me.  This particular piano is about 150 years old, I bought it from my parents' neighbor for less than it cost me to have it delivered! This picture is from Christmas 2009 - when (sigh) we only had one piano (there is a quilt on the bench).

2. Your favorite thing on your wall.
John William Waterhouse, Miranda the Tempest. I have an oil reproduction of this that was bought for me as a gift several years ago on Denman Street in Vancouver. I love John Waterhouse (and of course Botticelli!).

3. Your bed as it looks right now.
So when I got home from the Sugar Shack Quilting, this is how I found my bed. With a nine year old in it! The Little Man had been home sick (I suspect it may have been a ruse) all day and made himself more than comfy in our bed to watch T.V. Sweet little person than he is.

Take note of that fact that our bed is only a double bed.  It usually contains not so little me, not so little CH, Pierre (the small dog), at least one cat, and in spurts Penelope. It is rare to find Dominic in there for any reason other than the above.  :o)

4. Your pantry.


Last night when I was taking pictures of my bed and the disastrous playroom, I forgot entirely about this one.  I will try to remember tonight but we are going to a family BBQ at Grandpa's, so no promises.

Up Date:  I had a great time at the BBQ, I did not remember the picture last night but did this morning.  In the spirit of honesty and, again, being myself - here it is!



5. Your favorite piece of jewelry.
My Mum was always kind of weird about her wedding ring and I guess I am too. For me it is more than just a ring, it is a symbol representative of so much that is important to me.  It represents the unending circle of the love that I feel for CH and not only that but the unbroken commitment and devotion that we have to each other and the life that we have created together.  It is a reminder, that I wear on my finger all day everyday, to be grateful for the blessings that I have been given.

6. Your favorite book.
I read a lot and do not really have a favorite. It seems that every book I read feels like the best book I ever read, unless it isn't.  I have read some really crappy ones in the last couple of years and some that I thought were mediocre and turned out to really stick with me.  If I had to pick one, I would probably go with The Shack.  If you have not read it, even if you are not a reader, you should.  The Shack and The Secret were both life altering books for me, changing they way I thought and the way I looked at things in a positive way.

7. Your most comfortable shirt.

I don't think I have a most comfortable shirt - all of my clothes are pretty comfy. Since becoming a mother I tend to go for comfort over style... my bad, I know but I am a busy woman and I need to be comfortable and be able to move around to get things done. I am not quite a candidate for What Not to Wear but close...

8. Your messiest room.

I am embarrassed to say that, yes, this is a room in my house. Well maybe I am not embarrassed - I am very busy working mother of two kids whose husband has a disability that prevents him from doing a lot in a day...anyway....

This is supposed to be the playroom but it is in fact the toy storage room. And by toy storage, I mean toy piling.  I bought shelves and bins and went online and made labels with the logos for the toys and had them so nice and organized before Thing 1 and Thing 2 came along and did their version of clean up on this sad little room.  Thing 1 (Penelope) and Thing 2 (surprise! it is CH, not the Little Man!) cannot list organization in their list of attributes - although they are two of my four most favorite people in the universe and I love them dearly.

One of the Little Man's friends said it looks like an episode of Hoarders... sadly he is right. I have one day off a week and I am not about to spend it organizing my kids clutter!

9. Your house shoes.
I am not much of a shoe person.  When I was in my 20s and I did not have the financial responsibilities that I have now (children!), I had a lot of shoes and none of them were from the Devil Store a.k.a. Wal-Mart!  I do not have the luxury of lots of shoes now, but the ones I do have are still not from the Devil Store.  Having said that, the closest thing I come to shoes in my house is slippers (made by my Mum) in the winter or plastic wrap and moisturizer in the summer (works great too by the way!).

10. Yourself.
I took this on my walk to work. I look like a cone head. I dislike pictures of me.  It is difficult to maintain the mental image of myself that I have when I am faced with the reality.  Not that I think I am ugly or anything drastic, but I used to be blonde, thin, and worst of all - young!

:o) Tina

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Fill in the Blank Friday on Saturday Afternoon!

Honestly it was just one of those super busy weeks that fly by and then Saturday morning I am having my think time (in the shower) and wham! it hits me I missed Fill in the Blank Friday. SO imagine my surprise when I go to The Little Things We Do only to discover that Blogger was down and so there was a sub for Friday. These are her questions.


1.  If I had to use 3 words to describe why I am undoubtedly a  Davidson (that is my Mum's maiden name and so I am not really one)  they would be creative, slightly neurotic, emotional, and very optimistic (oops that is 4!).

2. Something that happened to me in life that initially seemed bad but turned out to be good was when I got a divorce.  I did not realize while in the relationship how much of myself I held back.  If I had stayed in the relationship - as much as I wanted to, to avoid being "divorced";  I would not be the me I am today and more importantly, I would not have so many of the things that are important to me just to mention a few:  the wonderful supportive husband I have now, my sweet, funny and amazing daughter, and, of course, PITA.

3. Something I inherited from my mom is my fierce loyalty, my creativity and my endless ability to love and support my children.

4. Something I inherited from my dad is my fabulous sense of humor, my determination (that is one word for it!), and my intellect.

5. My goal for this summer is to relax and spend time with my family, to work on my Etsy stuff, to read a vast number of really good books, to loose 20 more pounds doing lots of swimming at the lake.

6. The best thing about this week is that it is over and next week will be slightly less busy!

7. Something I couldn't give up if I tried is my sewing machine.  I cannot imagine not having the escape of creating something beautiful.


On another note, it was PITA's birthday yesterday so I made her a delicious cake that we all ate over at Grandpa's - of course I forgot to take a picture of the cake but I am making the very same one again for Grandpa's birthday on Thursday. I will try to remember to take some pictures then.

And because a post is not a post without a photo, here is the newly redecorated wall at the shop.  Looks great, doesn't it! (Thanks entirely to PITA)

Sugar Shack Quilting!
:o)  Tina



Thursday, May 12, 2011

Compliments and Confusion

Yesterday I received a really nice compliment from a person who is becoming my friend.  She said that I should write a book about my life. She said that I have lots of good ideas about life and lots of interesting things have happened to me.  Wasn't that a nice thing to say?  Funny, I used to think I would write a book about my life but now that my life has become so sedate, this as close as I ever consider.  Perhaps one day I will sit out in my back yard (not my current back yard but the back yard of the bigger, nicer, more interesting house I will live in, in successful future) with my iPad 12 and bang out the my own little autobiography.

But not today, today I do not have time. I know a lot of people talk about not having time to do things and I personally think that is a great big load of who-haw.  If you really want to do something there is always time.  I am a busy girl and but I get a lot done - because I want to. A book, I am not ready for, let's just stick to the blog for now!


"If you think you can, you can.  If you can't, you can't." ~ Henry Ford


So this morning at 9:30 I will be attending court with my little brother. His x-wife wants more access to their daughter.  He has had custody of her since April 2008.  I am feeling a little confused by this, why she thinks she should have more access.  She is the child's mother - granted she is a little unstable and she tends to be very malicious (not to the child), it does not change the fact that she is her mother.

The x-wife is going about this is such a hard nosed way that it is clear to me that she never knew my big soft brother...  I wonder what she hopes to gain by being so mean?  I am going with my brother because I am the strongest one in our family - another indirect compliment - and I can speak my mind, make my point, keep a cool head.... none of these things were voiced but I know from past experience that it is the case.....wish us luck, it is going to be a crazy day!

See you later

:o)  T.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Ten on Tuesday

1. If you could watch only one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?
The Notebook. The Time Traveller's Wife. The Story of Us. Cold Mountain. Any sappy movie about true love that leaves me sobbing and feeling exhausted and breathless at the end.

Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana in The Time Traveler's Wife
~ one of the few movies I have watched that was as good as the book!
Um, I wish!
2. Let’s say someone wrote a screenplay about you; what actor/actress would you choose to play you and why?
I did not know so I asked CH and he said the little girl from Poltergeist, but when I told him she was dead he said Drew Barrymore is not dead.  I guess he meant ET.

3. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in theaters?
101 Dalmatians with my Mum, Dad, and my brother at the drive in in Surrey, and Bambi with my Grandad and my brother at the theater at Park Royal in West Vancouver.

4. Did you ever make out at the back of a movie theater in middle school/high school?
Yes Sir. I have always been a little boy crazy and not afraid of a little PG PDA.

5. Are you a Netflix-er, Blockbuster-er or a Redbox-er? (Or none of the above?)
None of the above. If our kids were not so addicted to cartoons and CH hockey, we might switch to Netflix. We are thinking about giving it a go just for the movies.

Michael Moore
6. Name one actor/actress who you would give anything to have a dinner date with.
Michael Moore. Hands down. he might not be the prettiest face in Hollywood but he would be infinitely interesting. I love the controversial documentaries that he has created and would love love love to talk to him. He narrates his films, so I am going to consider him an actor for my purposes. :o)

7. What’s the worst movie you’ve ever seen?
It is a toss up between Hannibal Rising and the Exorcist. Well, maybe they were not the worst but both of them scared the living crap out of me.

8. Do you sneak snacks into the theater when you go?
I almost never go to the movie theater but I would never even consider sneaking snacks in. Our theater is locally owned, I would feel like I was taking money out of their pockets.

9. Movie theater popcorn: love or hate it?
Love it! How could you not.

10. What is the all-time best Disney movie in your opinion?
Sleeping Beauty is up there for me as it is something I have watched a lot with Penelope. We sing the song and dance and kiss all the time. It is one of those memories that I cherish and will use to help me through the teenage years.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Digital Scrapbooking at WiddlyTinks.com
Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com


I probably should not have random boring posts with ancient pictures of my kids digitally scrap booked but I stumbled upon this website and thought it was too cute not to share.

It is not like you are going to get any other posts out of me during this crazy weekend! I will be spending all of my time for the next few days taking my kids to the carnival and eating really bad food that does not really comply well with the whole diet thing...  oh well there is always tomorrow!

oo Tina

Friday, May 6, 2011

Fill in the Blank Friday

Holy Bologna!  I can honestly say that I am surprised by the fact that it is Friday already.  This week flew by!

fill in the blank friday


1. What I love most about my home is what it stands for. It is so much more than just a house - it is my family's home.

2. I'm excited because, I am meeting my nephew who was given up for adoption in less a month. Something I have wanted to do from the first moment I knew about him.

3. My preferred method for blowing off steam when I'm frustrated is not something I can write about in my G rated blog!

4. Currently I am craving steak and roasted potatoes with HP sauce. We are having a family BBQ on Sunday and I am so looking forward to it. Yummy. In the non-food category, I am really craving a deep deep foot massage, but that is not going to happen. :(

5. The thing I love most about my mom is that she loves me totally unconditionally and I have never doubt that for even one second of my whole entire 38 years.

6. If I was going to write a book about my life, the title would be "Oh Crap! The Day to Day Life of a Way Too Busy Woman".  It would have to be the sequel to my first book "Who Me! The Day to Day Life of a Reckless Teenager and a Fun Loving 20 Something." I am busy now - and tame - but I was once a wild teenager who mellowed somewhat into a fun loving 20 something who mellowed further into the quilt shop owning, Mum that I am now.

7. If I were to eat one thing for the rest of eternity it would be bread, cheese (aged cheddar and parmesan in particular), and pasta - especially my super delicious lasagna.

Something Remarkable

My nephew DJ and his girlfriend Jennifer
On June 4, I will be making a trip with my beloved PITA, her husband and her son, to attend a 4D ultra sound to determine the sex of their baby and to meet her brother.  I am very very excited for both - especially to meet her brother.

DJ is 34 (?) and was given up for adoption when my brother in law was 17.  My mother in law tried very hard to keep him but it was not to be.  I am so very excited to welcome him to our family.  I have thought about him almost everyday since the day I found out about him and have often been brought to tears by thoughts of missing out on him and his missing out on us.

Thank you PITA for giving me two new family members on the same day!!  Amazing, exciting... there are no words for how lucky I feel. Much love to all three of you (and of course Noah and Trevor too), xo Auntie