... funny things are everywhere

blog award

Okay, so I basically suck at blog tags and awards and such because I get tagged or awarded something, leave a nice comment for the friend who named me... and then I forget to pass it along. And this is a super-nice award to have received, so I really must apologize to Barbara, who said such nice things about me here.

So here are the rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.

2. Nominate up to 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude!

3. Be sure to link your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Remember to link the person from whom you received your award.

I know Barbara has already received the award from another friend, but I'd like to nominate her right back, ya know. I met her on a now-defunct scrapbooking site, and when that place closed down, we managed to keep in touch somehow... first through another scrapbook-related forum, which has also shut down, and now through our blogs. She is a busy mom and an awesome scrapbooker, and her oldest son has taught her a lot of lessons in life that she's now passing along to me. I am thankful for her kindness and sound advice.

I'll give my good friend, kanachick, a shout-out because I think she's super funny and smart and she has the bluest eyes EVER. She's one of the group of close friends I met on a parenting forum when I was pregnant and then home on mat leave with James. Hey K, this award comes with lots of non-procrastination vibes, for you and for me... no need to pass it along, just know that I think you rock. :)

I'd also like to give this award to Nathalie. I see her as a more organized, more pulled-together, less-Chinese copy of me. lol. Seriously, she and I met online a few months before meeting in real life at a scrapbooking crop, and it was friendship at first sight. Or maybe friendship at first "may I borrow that scrapbook supply from you, please?" As our friendship grew, we discovered we had so much in common, everything from favourite music from our teenage years to politics, scrapbooking and parenting philosophies. Nathalie is a big part of my everyday life, even if we are separated by 2.5 hours of highway driving.

Okay, I'm going to stop here, not because I can't think of any others, but because I need to go to bed already. *yawn* It's now almost midnight.

Hey, happy Earth Day! And happy Pea Anniversary to me... it's my 4th anniversary over at 2peas!

a PD day, May LOAD and... tagged again.

It's a dreary, grey day here, but I am determined to make the best of this day off with the boys. It's a PD day for the school board, and we are hanging around the house in our pajamas, taking it easy. James is on the computer, and Thomas and I did a little bit of math from a past EQAO test, just to alleviate some of his anxiety over the upcoming standardized tests that all grade 3 students in Ontario will write this spring. He quite enjoyed the math questions, even though they haven't actually covered fractions in class yet. He just seems to have a feel for it. Lucky boy! I was good at math, but I wouldn't go as far as saying it came intuitively for me.

Hmmmm... what will we do for the rest of the day? Thomas has an appointment downtown this afternoon, so we'll eventually have to change out of our pajamas (darn it!). Before that, I'd like to hit my LSS to pick up my new Slice card that Jenn special ordered for me. And then after the appointment, I'm going to abandon the three guys in my house and head over to Chris' place for a night of scrapping! YAY!

Speaking of scrapbooking, remember how I did 28 LOs in 28 days in February? I was hanging out online with a group of fabulously fun scrappers, led by the fearless Lain Ehmann, and I created and posted one page every single day of the month... and I actually enjoyed doing it! Anyone who knows how I have the tendency to spend hours tweaking my LOs, moving things over by several millimetres at a time. UGH! Anyway, I managed to let my obsessive habits go, just a bit... lol. Scrapping everyday was a great creative boost, and I got the better part of a 6x6 gift album done, along with a few LOs for my own albums. Hurray for me!

So here's the deal... Lain's running LOAD again next month. For a very small fee (totally worth every penny!), you'll get to be part of a private Flickr group where members will post their LOs and chat about all things scrappy. Plus Lain sends out a fun daily email with tidbits of scrappy advice and a daily challenge, which you can use for inspiration... or not. It's your choice! She has all the details here on her blog. Go! Read! Sign up! C'mon, all the cool kids are doing it. :P

Hey, I made this last night... love this photo, which has been sitting in my To Scrap pile for months and months. And yes, this is the exact story I wanted to tell when I first printed it out, so I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

I love the Making Memories chipboard letters I bought at Target last summer, and I used some of my all-time favourite patterned paper from KI memories on this page too. The journalling stickers are from Martha Stewart.

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And finally... I was tagged by Lain on her blog. I did this a while ago with the 6th of 6th tag, but this is a 7x7 tag. Go to the place on your computer where all your digital photos are stored. Open the 7th folder and choose the 7th photo in the folder. Post it on your blog and tell the story behind it.

This is a photo from the 2008 National Scrapbook Day crop hosted by Scrapbook Centrale in Montreal. On the left is the lovely Nathalie. lol. She and her friend, Suzanne, are hamming it up for the camera here, oooohing and aaaaahing over the freebies in our goody bags. :P

Okay, that's it. My kids are talking at me, making it hard for any coherent thoughts to make it from my head to my fingertips. I give up. Actually, I'm off to play some made-up Lego Star Wars board game with math questions... apparently, they need me to be the quiz master.

what were you doing one year ago?

I read someone's blog and saw that question... and you're supposed to go back in your photos, however you have them organized, and check to see what you were doing exactly a year ago.

So, on March 15, 2008, it was snowing. Again. We had HUGE amounts of snow piled up everywhere in this city. It had snowed and snowed and snowed... and there were no signs of spring anywhere last March. (Fortunately, that is not the case this year!)

This is a picture of James, going down the toboggan run (aka the path Mike carved in our snowbank to get the snow off our driveway into the middle of the lawn).

Like I said, thank goodness it's not so wintery here right now. It was actually very warm today, and we were out with our spring jackets on when I took the boys to their swimming lessons. YAY!

In celebration of the season, I offer you a glimpse of spring in the eyes of my Jr. Kindergartener, captured in the bold beautiful colours of some fancy-pants Crayola product we were testing for Today's Parent magazine in 2007.

Less than a week to go until the first official day of spring! Yippeee! Let's hope the forecasters are right in their prediction of warm temperatures for the coming days and light  rain later in the week. Good bye, dirty snowbanks! Hello, grass! :)

I've (sort of) been tagged...

Okay, so there's this blog tag going around, and no one specifically tagged me, but it seemed fun, so I'm rising to the challenge anyway. I found this on the blogs of Melanie, Nathalie and Jody. It goes a little something like this:

Go to where your photos are stored on your computer... open the 6th folder and then choose the 6th file in there. Post the picture on your blog, and describe what's going on in there. Tag 6 people to do the same thing on their blog... yadda yadda... you know the blog tag drill, right?!

I'm posting mine, but I'm not going to put anyone else on the spot. I'll do the same as my three friends did and invite you to play along, if you so desire.

First, let me explain to you how my photos are stored. My pre-2006 digital photos are on an external hard drive. My "New Pictures" folder contains, in order, folders named: 2006, 2007, 2008 01, 2008 02, 200803 and the 6th one, 2008 04. The 6th photo in there is... ta-da!

Okay, so not worth the build-up, I know! It's the Monopoly Jr. game we played a few times last spring. I don't know why we didn't play more often, but it probably had something to do with kids arguing over who got to be the banker and then getting upset when they didn't win... and then we'd never finish the game. I should really try again with them because they're getting better... well, not that they're not arguing as much (because there's still a good amount of sibling rivalry in this house!) but really, their attention span is improving, and I think we could actually get through a game of this without too much coercion on my part!

Well, I should be going now. It's Sunday night, and I need to fold some laundry and get lunches made so I can get to sleep at a decent hour so the alarm isn't so alarming on Monday morning. :)

blog award

Okay, so I'm not usually one to fall for these award thingies, you know... but I couldn't resist, since two of my favourite Montreal gals nominated me for this award. To Nathalie and Claude, thank you! You guys are so sweet. :)

And now I need to think of bloggers I can give this award to... preferably people who haven't already played this game because it's fun the first time around, but... you know how it goes with these tag things. :P

Anyway, I love sooooooo many different blogs. Most of them are those of friends I know in real life or through the scrapbooking world. I'll pick three off the top of my head... three gals I know from the first scrapbooking board I joined back when I first started scrapping in 2004.

1. Marlene

2. Barbara

3. Nathalie

To the three of you, thanks for updating your blog regularly and for letting me know how things are in your little part of the world. I love that we can keep in touch this way. :)

flickr fun

Okay, so I'm totally stealing this one from Mel's blog. She posted her mosaic, created by taking this quiz and then doing a search on flickr. All you do is use your answers as the search terms. The one rule... you have to use a photo from the first page of the search results for your mosaic. After you choose your photo, you go to Mosaic Maker, select 3 columns and 4 rows, and enter the URLs into the correct fields. After you've done this 12 times, click "create" and voila! You're done.

Unless you're me, and you try to get pictures that are all matchy-matchy. :P

The questions (and my answers):

1. What is your first name? (Barb)
2. What is your favorite food? (Pad Thai)
3. What high school did you attend? (Digby)
4. What is your favorite color? (red)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Keanu Reeves)
6. Favorite drink? (coffee)
7. Dream vacation? (Hong Kong)
8. Favorite dessert? (cheesecake)
9. What do you want to be when you grew up? (happy)
10. What do you love most in life? (my family)
11. One word to describe you? (outgoing)
12. Your Flickr name? (scrappin-barb, but I typed in scrapping barb)

(oops, I forgot to copy the code to give credit to the photographers who took these pictures. and now the mosaic info gone from my browser's history. Oops!)

Anyway, that's all I have for now. It's been a busy week so far. Too tired to write. Maybe tomorrow.

Mel tagged me...

The fabulous Miss Mel tagged me on her blog a while back, and I'm finally getting around to answering those questions right now. Such is the life of a disorganized blogger...

** Two (nick)names I've gone by: Barbie (only my mom and Mike are allowed to call me that) and Dr. Barb (which is the nickname Nurse Christine gave me).

** Two things I'm wearing right now: pajama pants and a Green Eggs and Ham t-shirt (which I only wear to bed... honestly).

** Two of my favorite things to do: shop (for fun things, not groceries or other necessities) and play games/do crafts with my kids.

** Two favorite drinks: Diet Coke, non-fat latté from Starbucks.

** Two movies I could watch over and over: Bridget Jones' Diary and Love Actually.

** Typically, what time do you wake up? 6:00 am

** On a good night, what time are your kids in bed? 8:00 or 8:30.

** What is your favorite kids show/movie? Cars. Great life lessons to be learned, and I love the soundtrack too.

** What is your favorite chore? Ummmm... grocery shopping. Because sometimes I sneak non-grocery items into my cart, like clothing from Joe fresh at Loblaws. Or maybe a scrapbooking magazine. lol

** What is your favorite quality about your mom? My mom is kind and compassionate, but not to a fault. She knows how to take care of herself and not get taken advantage of.

I will tag Barbara, Jennifer, NathalieK, NathalieV and Rhonda. :)

lists

Well, anyone who reads my blog on a regular basis knows I'm a list freak, so it's only fitting that Jennifer would tag me on this round of blog tag. :)

5 overall favourites
1 Sebastian Laminates gel
2 nacho chips and guacamole
3 Pad Thai
4 my Blundstone boots
5 Diet Coke with Lime

5 favourite movies
1 Love Actually
2 Hunting Red October
3 Star Trek - First Contact
4 Bridget Jones' Diary
5 Hairspray (2007)

baby names you love
(but aren't planning on using)
5 girls names: don't know... we never agreed on any, so I can't remember now.
5 boys names: Gordon, Percy, Henry, Edward and Sir Topham Hatt... to keep Thomas & James company. ;)

5 songs you could listen to over and over
(according to my iTunes most played list)
1 How to Save a Life - The Fray
2 Coffee Spills - Stabilo
3 Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol
4 The Story - Brandi Carlile
5 Crazy for You - Madonna (my addition, iTunes be damned)

5 people who influenced your life in a positive way
1 my mom
2 my dad
3 my Grammy
4 Mike
5 T's speech therapist

5 items that stay in your purse all the time
1 wallet
2 keys (most of the time...)
3 lip gloss (4 of them right now)
4 receipts
5 junk!

5 moments you knew things changed forever
1 when Thomas was born
2 when James was born
3 when I finally moved in with Mike
4 when I got the letter of offer from my current employer
5 when I successfully defended my PhD thesis

5 obsessions you have right now
1 scrapbooking
2 blogging
3 taking pictures
4 letter stickers (see #1 from this category)
5 reorganizing my home (I'm in the "obsessing about it, not quite ready to plan" stage now.)

5 places you would really like to go
1 San Diego
2 Calgary
3 Nova Scotia
4 New Zealand
5 Montreal ;)

5 people you'd like to see do their tops 5's
anyone who's reading who hasn't already been tagged. lol

these are a few of my favourite things

That Jennifer chick keeps tagging me. *smirk*

Okay, okay... here's my list of 10 favourite things.

1. Starbucks non-fat latté
2. Sebastian Laminates gel
3. Grey's Anatomy Soundtrack, Volume 3
4. Old Navy's flannel pajama pants
5. Victoria's Secret bras
6. KI Memories papers and embellishments
7. Godiva chocolates
8. Tetley rooibos herbal tea
9. Eddie Bauer merino wool sweaters
10. Simple Scrapbooks magazine :)

a few questions

My friend, Jennifer, tagged me on her blog. :)

01. Wrapping paper or gift bags? A bit of both, but mostly wrapped gifts under our tree.

02. Real or artificial tree? Real... the scent brings back memories of my own childhood.

03. When do you put up the tree? 7-10 days before Christmas

04. When do you take the tree down? the week after New Year's Day

05. Do you like eggnog? not in the least

06. Favorite gift received as a child? Quick Curl Barbie head

07. Do you have a nativity scene? no

08. Hardest person to buy for? my FIL

09. Easiest person to buy for? myself! rofl

10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? not sure... nothing stands out. Probably clothes that didn't fit.

11. Mail or Email Cards? not email, but not sure if my snail mail cards will make it into the mail this week or not.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Cartoon Grinch... I love the songs.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? usually in the summer, but I don't finish until just before Christmas.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? maybe...

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? shortbread

17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? haven't travelled in ages... not since my eldest was a baby.

19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? yes :D

20. Do you have an Angel on top or a star? angel... my mom gave her to me.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? hearing Christmas songs in stores the day after Halloween! lol

Do I have to tag someone? Ummmm... I'd say Robyn. Because she's a good sport about these things. :P