Happy New Year!

Despite then lack of postings, 2011 was a good year. A good solid year.

We survived the hormonal surge of our oldest child and accepted that yes, he is getting older and going to be in HIGH SCHOOL(!). We pieced together a healthy summer of cottaging and chilling around the house/pool. We started off the school year with lots of hockey (forget schoolwork) for the youngest two.

I started a new job at The Village Idiot and worked lots of hours, in the store and at home daydreaming about what was going to happen. I love working with an Arbour and Em's Dad has been great to work for. It's been so much fun trying to figure out what to bring in to the storeand the power to buy things has been ego-boosting. (thanks Pat!)

Mike went back to school to become a Master Electrician, and although our bank account suffered with the cost of it once he got his test results it was well worth it. No initial financial gain, but we know it is just around the corner.

Life has been good for us in 2011. I'm grateful. And now, 2012 is overflowing with potential. I'm SO EXCITED with what may happen and I vow that I will try and blog a little more often!

And so, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone. Cheers to a bright & shiny 2012!!

Update

Summer has been busy. Fun, but busy.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I felt like I was juggling work and kids too much. It was a little overwhelming and would not have been do-able without my Mom & Dad taking the kids now & then.

The boys started out the summer doing lots of this:

{a little like lord of the flies, no?}

Finn learned to swim (finally!):

So we spent lots of time in the pool:

{got to love photographic evidence of back-fat}

We had a power-outage, watched soccer, and squeezed in another visit to the cottage (sans cousins, oh the torture we put our boys through):

Even my Dad jumped off the boat! And yes, Dad, your toes were pointed;)

Then we got these in the mail!

Somehow, we're already at the end of the summer and we're going on our big trip! We'll celebrate two birthdays while we're there, ride every ride, eat great dinners, swim with sharks (maybe, if hurricane irene behaves:) and create great family memories! Did I mention my sister and her family are meeting us there? Awesomeness!

Cheers to having a great summer!!

Etsy Fav's

{artfulvintage, oopsIcraftmypants,tuckooandmoocow}

Checking In

My week-end get-away? Why it was great, thanks for asking.

I was able to drive by myself for two hours to my girlfriend's cottage in Quebec. It was a lovely drive, and between you and me there may have a greasy drive-thru pit stop on the way.

I arrived at noon to find the other girls already there having a drink to recuperate from a four hour drive. (road closure, suckage) They were all coming from my old neighbourhood.

The age range of girls was 50ish to 24. Somehow we all met in the middle (Melissa's age?) and had a blast. We kept a steady drink in hand until midnight. Some didn't last as long, one could have kept on going (not me). Despite the crap weather, we were outside all evening and back with our families 24 hours after leaving them. Perfect.

{Melissa getting a cocktail}

{Porch roof at AM's cottage. Love it.}

{Boy the things I learned and want to erase from my brain!}

The week after school ended, and my sister, little brother and families showed up. The cottage was great (same as last year), we had fantastic weather, and even managed to meet up with my older brother & his wife for a night at a pub.

{Canada Fireworks watching on the boat}

{cousins}

Looks like every week-end of the summer is already booked. People visiting, weddings, trips. It will be a fun summer and then I know I'll give a sigh of relief come September when everything falls back into a routine.

Chillaxin'

+

=

a relaxing week-end at a friend's cottage with some girlfriends.

{Only the second time away from ALL my boys in 14 years. I'm a dummy:}

Change

Lots of changes are coming for my family. I like change, as long as I'm in control of them. If I'm thrown a curve ball like my husband breaking his collarbone and being off work for 6 months, I'm not so good.

But that happened 7 years ago. We survived, thanks to so-so company benefits and my amazing parents and family members.

My husband & I made the decision that I would stay home with our kids. I babysat some adorable (and not so adorable) kids while I was home with ours. At one point, when we only had Ty & Ow, I took a 6 month contract with Canada Post @ their head office. (Mike was in school at the time) That was lovely. I took the O Train from our neighbourhood to the office. I drank coffee BY MYSELF, I went to the bathroom BY MYSELF and I read all the Harry Potter books I could get my hands on.

By the end of the 6 months I was pregnant with Finn and ready to be home with my boys again. In fact, when Finn was about 5 months old Canada Post called me to go back for a new accounts management project and I said no. I loved being home with my kids despite it being so hard and financially straining.

I'm rambling.

I was home with the boys for 11 years. (That's 11 years that I did NOT spend building a career, obvs.) When Finn went into school full-time I thought it was time I look for a job and when I started at Blackbird I knew it was a temporary thing. As much as I've always made money and helped support the family in some way, I knew that this wouldn't be enough to take some of the pressure off of Mike.

Em & I have done other things, opened a side company called Handmade Nest. We hosted workshops at the shop for lots and lots of lovely women. Then we organized two amazing Craft Shows.

We're on the cusp of something new and lots of change.

The question is this. Do I go the conservative route? Steady and strong and potentially stifling. Or do I continue with this creative way we've begun to bring income in, which is essentially being self-employed, but without limitations? *Oh change, how you make me nervous*

Reasons I Feel Old Today:

1) Is it just me, or is most of the new music out there about sex and partying? When I was a kid (here it goes..) music was about love, relationships, lost love, pining for someone. You get the picture. Now it's downright all about sex. And getting drunk. How am I supposed to listen to the radio with my kids?

Prime example: Lazy Song by Bruno Mars. It's a great song, kind of along the "Don't Worry, Be Happy" line BUT he has to add a line in about 'meet a really nice girl, have some really nice sex'.

2) I dropped my oldest son off at the school today for the three day grade 8 graduation trip. 3 Days!! Mixed trip. When I was a kid I never would have been allowed to go on a 'mixed' trip. Even in grade 8 when I was all innocent. Just sayin'. Plus he's going to HIGH SCHOOL next year? That can't be possible.

3) My face. A very good reason to feel old.

4) My midsection.

5) Suddenly all the cliches I heard when I was young - make sense!

• 'Youth is wasted on the young'
• 'Your metabolism halts at 40' (is that a cliche? whatever)
• 'Your babies grow up so fast'

There are more cliches but remember I'm old so I can't access them right now.

6) I'm starting to like country music because it's relaxing.

7) I've been married 15 years today.

8) I'm thinking of putting these pictures as my FB profile picture. They are from high school and university. {I stole them from my husband's wallet. He's yet to notice. How do I analyze that?}

**the facebook profile picture thing? that's a whole other post. but first I have to get my hairdryer out for a windswept look, hold my hand under my chin and pose in front of an exotic backdrop for my next profile pic:0

Handmade Goods in Blackbird

There are more handmade items in Blackbird right now than there has ever been. Handmade Harvest has been a great event for us to organize and now Emily is using this resource to help stock the store. I love this stuff!

Adorable owls by Haley by Hand

Soy Jar Candles via Candle by Karen

Yummy smelling soy votives also from Candles by Karen.

{always in abundance at our house!}

Wood toaster tongs, spoons, rolling pins and even back scratchers from The Wooden Snowflake.

Blackbird! styled pottery by Pine Ridge Studio. The prices are so great for this gorgeous pottery I know it'll fly off the shelves!

I love that there's local merchandise coming into the store. It's all funky, fun and made with Canadian hands! Thanks Em for making my shopping habit harder to kick:)

Just poppin' in to say I'm making Sang-a-ria.

I'm loving this sunny day with a cool breeze.

Perfect for hosting an old (young) friend and her two boys.

The 5 boys will be happy playing together while us Moms enjoy homemade Sangria in cute glasses on the deck.

Homemade Sangria Recipe:

Cheapest bottle of red wine (homemade wine works very well!)

Orange juice

Cut up fresh oranges, strawberries. Can also use some frozen berries.

Splash of Peach Schnapps

Let sit in fridge. Even amazing the next day!

My Sister is Funny and Types Really Fast

This is the e-mail I got from my sister at about 3 pm N.S. time today. The subject line read:

:why I drink.

1) I come home from a half-day (of teaching) and clean the remaining part of the day (bathroom, laundry, vacuuming, sweeping, kitchen… you know the drill) only to be sighed at heavily for being so loud cleaning (sorry… me so sorry…. Me try to be quiet for massuh next time)

2) Hannah bawled me out while on the phone at school – as in the Junior High office phone --with the secretary and all the teachers/principals I know around her. She cussed ME out because I dared to bug her at lunch to try to find my Minnie Mouse travel mug (which she did!!! Yay!!!) and make sure it gets brought home TODAY (that thing is me precious)

3) Hannah proceeded to stomp in the door after school, with friend in tow (sleepover here tonight), to then continue to bawl me out, lecture me, etc. Let’s just say my eyes were shooting darts at her and I used my “not nice” voice to get her to stop.

4) Matt keeps saying “I GOT it MOM” when I’m asking him if he’s using the cooked chicken for his take to work dinner (he’s leaving shortly). I don’t give a flying shit if he “has it”, I just want to know either way because I’ll put it in the freezer for another time if he’s not using it i.e. I don’t want to have more than TEN DOLLARS worth of chicken go bad and it’s due to be frozen or used.

5) 'S' shooed me out of his office saying he was too busy to hear me vent, but meanwhile I heard him then skype his business partner and start shooting the shit with him.

6) I drank last night. Obv. Probably 3 glasses of red wine and a rum and juice cocktail. It was nummy. I didn’t feel like crap after (it was spread out over many many hours). However, I did think today that maybe I should try to not have something tonight. WTF? What was I thinking??

7) Dinner? You’re asking meeee? I was going to laze out a dinner of something frozen and processed like chicken wings because Matt’s going to be at work, but now Julia is over with Hannah. Can I still ‘make’ said lazy dinner? Is that kosher?

8) It’s sunny and I’m on our deck looking at potted pansies sipping a DAMN WATER! One of these things is not like the other.

So these are all the reasons why I drink.

Oh, and of course because I am a loud and proud FAULKNER.

I then got this e-mail about 2 hours later:

Two gin and tonics later….

I’m filling my shopping basket on Garden Grocer RIGHT NOW! That’s right – it’s time to get those breakfasts and snacks figured out!

Seeing as though it’s EIGHT nights this time (how awesome were we to add that extra night?) it is NOT going to be a problem filling an order larger enough to get free delivery, eh what?

I know there are so many hidden jokes in there, but what really makes me laugh is that it probably took her all of 1 minute to type the first e-mail and I know that once she sent it off she felt better and therefore could pour herself a drink.

Cheers to my sister!! She can always make me laugh, even at my own expense.