The Yorkie House

Happy Anniversary!!

2010-08-03T06:41:00.000-07:00

Near the end of June Dave and I celebrated a milestone! It was our 20th Anniversary!
I woke to a beautiful card on the table with a note inside requesting dinner and a movie! My hubby had taken the night off work to spend together!
We went to Red Lobster for supper, had a beautiful dinner and we were set to go to a movie but Casi called and said that one of our goats was having her kids.
Really not wanting anything to happen to the babies, we came and discovered the mom had 2 beautiful babies! It was a nice anniversary present!
Hard to believe 20 years has gone by! I had the girls put together a slide show with pictures from way back to now of us. They added our wedding song and it was really nostalgic! It remains on Casi's computer! If I ever get it on my computer I will post it for sure!
Happy 20 years!

Aint that just Cool!!

2010-07-06T06:02:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago it was discovered by members of my household that Tim Hortons is now selling ICE CREAM!!! Just in time for summer!
So shortly there after we had to try it out!
What we found was absolutely amazing, creative and very VERY good!

My first flavour to try (I'm sure there will be lots more!) was the Peanut Butter Cup Perfection! I just love the taste of Peanut Butter with Ice Cream! Plus the added bonus of Reece's Peanut Cups in the ice cream was enough to hit my taste buds for the day!
I also discovered while there that they are now accepting debit! I don't patronize Tim Hortons too often as I find I never have much change on me so going there was never an option unless I wanted to go to a bank machine first. By that time its just easier to go home and have a coffee there!
Super thrilled with their changes! Keep it up!

Olivia update!

2010-06-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to meet with my yorkie friends and get some nice pictures of Olivia...
She has just turned 8 months old and is growing into quite a pretty young lady!!
I am very pleased with her and can't wait to see how she matures!

She is spunky and fiesty. She is just starting to become sucky with me and some her fiery independence is lessening.... at night she is sure to get top spot right next to my neck. She has even taken over her mother's spot! She is in her first show next week. I don't anticipate any glorious wins but hopefully she will gain some knowledge and experience!

Puppy Update!

2010-06-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

I have been incredibly bad at keeping up with pictures of these guys but really...rather than being on the computer posting pictures of them.... I have been sitting on my floor playing with them!!!

Here are pictures of my babies at their 7 and 8 week dates....the grey is 7 weeks old and red 8 weeks old. This is a super nice litter, they are well adjusted lovable puppies. All are friendly and social. They just went today for their vet check and the vaccinations and everyone passed with flying colours!

The perfect fathers day!!!

2010-06-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the perfect day for a boat ride!!! It happened to also be Father's Day which it is my favourite thing to do on that day! I love taking the boat out to remember my dad... this was his boat and his pride and joy! He loved this boat and loved taking it out on the lake.

We launched onto Balsam Lake, and away we went! The weather was beautiful, the clouds were fluffy white and the sun was shining!
Brittany always good for a pose for a picture! She even looks cute in a PFD!!!

Our captain!

We did some tubing! The kids loved this! They had a blast! We had alot of laughs and alot of dares trying to dump them off!

After the kids were tired of tubing, we did some touring around the lake...did a bit of dreaming...how about a cottage anyone???

All in all we had a fabulous day! We got back just in time for the kids to make dinner! They cooked a homemade fish and chips dinner for Dave for fathers day!
It was so nice to spend the day all together and having fun! That does not happen often with the kids jobs and their social life and our jobs! Some one is usually off somewhere or another!
I'm sure my dad was looking down smiling knowing that his baby is still being used and getting enjoyed by his family!
HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!!

Decoration Day

2010-06-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

Well I don't know if it was the 'official' decoration day but yesterday was my decoration day.
That is the time where I pay tribute at the cemetary to my loved ones.
The official resting place of my mom, dad and sister.

Think of you always and loving you still.....

Prom 2010

2010-06-09T06:25:00.000-07:00

Well he did it! There were days I wasn't sure it was gonna happen but it looks like James is graduating gr 12 and receiving his OSSD diploma!
Honestly...it was sometimes a challenge but he hung in there!
Last Saturday was prom and for the first time ever I got to see James in a tux! So, never one to miss a photo opportunity, I got some pics of him! Much to his dismay of course...he is not a picture fan!

Just for fun I thought I would post some pics of his last graduation (gr 8) and see what a change has occurred over the last 4 years! I remember at the time how big and grown up I thought he looked then, can't imagine how I feel now when he is age of majority!

The rest of the pics I was able get from James' date for night when she so nicely added me on FB so I could steal what I wanted! 'This' lovely lady below we have known for years. She is the daughter of the ball coach that my kids have had pretty much since t-ball days! Shelby is a sweet girl and I love this picture!

This beautiful girl is Stephanie and she was James' date for the evening! She is not only gorgeous but when James was grumbling about pictures she very quickly put him in his place and told him to stuff it...this was photo opp time so get used to it! And...even more surprisingly he did!!!! Notice the look on his face???? Hmmmm...not impressed right??!!!

This is another look back at the gr 8 graduation of James and Scott. They have been a pair since gr 7 when we moved into this school district. Sometimes not always good for each other and goading each other into doing really really stupid things, they have remained good friends and quite likely will for a long time!

And present day....
From what I heard, prom went off with out a hitch and all the graduates had fun! Congrats to James on his accomplishments thus far and many many well wishes for those in the future!
Oh and just a side note....James made me promise I wouldn't post any pictures on FB which I have honoured but he never said anything about my blog!!!!

Remembering a Birthday...

2010-06-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know or may not know that I had 2 sisters. We lost our sister very suddenly at the young age of 32. It is coming up next week to be the 12th anniversary of her passing. Today however would have been her birthday. She would have been 44.

To say that I miss her would be an understatement. I think Linda understood me the most during my teenage years and I valued the friendship that came from that and how close we became in the years following.
I so wish she could have been here to celebrate her birthday, I can imagine how different so many things would be if she hadn't passed away.
Happy Birthday to my sis and remembering her again next week on June 14, the day we tragically lost her.

Tye is a Spazz!!

2010-06-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

Caught this video of Tye being a spazz while trying to attack the water dripping from the eves last night while we had quite a heavy rain fall. I have never seen him do this before. He does have a fettish with water when I backwash the pool, he will try and attack that...but the dripping eves was a new one! ENJOY!

On this cool rainy day...

2010-06-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

I am tucked inside and toasty warm with my oven going. Have a lovely smoked ham cooking and am preparing scalloped potatoes for supper.
It is odd to have the windows shut as we have been enjoying a heat wave! Temps of 40+ the humidex. I love the hot summer weather!
Today is a modest 20 degrees and is cool enough outside to tempt me to close the windows and opt for something to cook in the oven!

Even have a cake baking for lunches! The smells are wonderful circulating in this kitchen! Plus it is nice to have a breather day where the outside work is just going to have to wait as its too wet out there! Our heat wave was gorgeous but did create some dry conditions so the rain is a welcome sight!

Walkin' for a good cause!

2010-06-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend Brittany was asked to walk for the Humane Society Fundraiser. The walk was about 3 hrs along our river and the proceeds of the fundraiser went to fund a new building for our local humane society!

Of course a subject that is near and dear to her heart with her beloved JRT Tye being unwanted before we got him, she willingly agreed!
She and her friend Amanda raised over $70 in sponsors for the walk. The day was beautiful for a walk. The girls along with Tye and Bella on lead, were off!

She packed dog cookies and lots of water. The outing was a fun one for everyone and the canines came back very tired but looking like they had a great time!

Britt said that Tye was very well behaved and greeted everyone which is wonderful for this breed! Bella, well anyone who has met Bella knows that she is just 100 lbs of pure love and would just soak up all the attention she could get!
Very proud of my girl for taking time out to raise money for a great cause and being a wonderful pet owner!

Still workin' at it!

2010-05-31T08:51:00.000-07:00

It is a work in progress still!!!

However it is coming! Just worked the weekend and have to go in for short evenings today but am trying to get the second coat of paint on the walls!! Thought I would snap some pics while I had everything off the countertop and bleaching it!

Ended up choosing 'Surrey Beige' which is like a medium taupe with a hint of olive in it! The colour is in line with the 'soft and elegant' cards and that is exactly how it feels! Quite the contrast to the bright golden wheat that it was before. This gives the kitchen a warm feeling but with an aire of elegance too. I am really pleased with it!

However I am looking forward to getting my kitchen put back together! I can only live with clutter so long before it really starts to irritate me!
So today's project before work is to get the 2nd coat of paint on and put everything back in its place. We have the crown molding to put up and the kick plate to put along the floor.
Some where down the line there will be a new counter top and back splash and the kitchen will be fini!

This does not even feel like the same room! I have done some purging of clutter that was on the top of the cupboards and will do some more. Looking for a clean non clutter environment!
I will continue to post pics as the progess happens!

A work in progress......

2010-05-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

Still at it!!!
The process has been slow but it is getting there! In the past few weeks, the cupboard doors have been painted and the border has come off!

Still a ways to go but I am super thrilled with the kitchen so far! I still have not chosen a paint colour...I am undecided between 2. One is called Surrey Beige...which is more of a brown/olive colour and the other is called Golden Rice which is a gold/olive colour....still, still undecided!!!
We have the back splash chosen and bought...a mosiac natural beige stone. It is going to look great!

Going to change the window treatments as well. We need something to keep the rays of the sun out in the summer so am thinking of some roman shades to update the look a bit...I am so over the mini blinds!!! GONE!

The hardware is coming! So for now we have this classic but functional screws to open the doors!

Overall I am thrilled with how it is coming together! I hope to get the pain this week and get the walls done! Will post updated pics as it happens! Any thoughts on paint colour, would love another opinion??? Let me know! I am over the golden yellow colour...want it GONE too! Was happy to have the sunflower border come down. I liked it at the time, and still like sunflowers but they will look nicer in a vase not on the walls!

Happy Birthday!

2010-05-05T19:25:00.001-07:00

No pics with this post but wanted to wish James a Very Happy 18th Birthday! My boy has become a man!
He is camera shy so wasn't able to get pics of him. He has just gotten himself a job at a landscape company and is almost finished his hours for his 4 credit co-op thus completing his high school diploma. He will graduate in June!
Many congrats!!!

What I've been up to....

2010-05-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

This....

A complete kitchen revamp.
I have pulled off all the cupboard doors, washed them with TSP. Sanded them down to prepare them for spraying.
This is one room in the house that has remained pretty much untouched since we moved here, yes the floor is redone and the walls have been painted but.... Tired of the oak cupboards that were here but still ok with the layout and functionality of the kitchen I wanted an updated look but still in keeping with original doors that we had!
This is the kitchen as it was.....

This is what I am hoping it will look like!!!

The sunflower border is coming off, a fresh coat of paint going on. Also done with the golden wheat colour that was on the walls, this time around I am opting for a sage to olive green to tone things down a bit.
We are shopping this weekend for a backsplash. I am looking for the smaller mirrored squares and eventually we will replace the counter top. I would LOVE marble or granite but we will see how the budget goes for that one! I am hoping that the new freshly painted doors will add the look I am seeking!
I am also changing windows treatments as well....perhaps some roman shades???
Lots of things to do! It is getting there! The doors are at my wonderful B-I-L's furniture factory waiting to be lacquered. All we need to do is remove the pantry for spraying as soon as I can get it up there! Been a little busy with puppies!!! :)
I will keep you updated on my progress! It is certainly gratifying to do this very cost effectively!!! With what we saved recycling the cupboard doors, may go into an upgrade counter top OR an island!!! The measurement have been taken so when we do decide to go ahead with the counter top, will get an island made too! I cannot wait!
It should all come together...at least I hope it will!

Announcing.....

2010-05-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

Our latest babies with Sienna and Cole!!!

This litter arrived without incident on Apr. 27 and are a healthy vibrant week old already!
In just an hour and a half my power house Sienna delivered these babies. 3 boys and 1 girl!
I am so proud of this girl! She was massive for the last 3-4 weeks to the point I was carrying her down the steps and not allowing her to walk much at all.
All went well however and Sienna is a wonderful attentive mom. Babies are doing great and are thriving!
Will keep you posted on their progress!

Gettin' at Gardening!

2010-04-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

Spring Fever must be in the Air! We started ( and finished ) a project this weekend that had been on the 'Hunny Do List' for probably 3 years!!!
The Job??
Organizing the raspberry canes!
Doesn't sound like much right??? This was a 2 man - 2 day operation with heavy equipment involved!
Basically the canes were in a big clump in the garden. When we moved here the grass was so overgrown that we didn't even realize there had been a garden and we found the raspberry patch! So for 5 years we have tried to pick the berries in this clump and for about 3 of those years I have want to dig them ALL up and put them into rows!

So finally this weekend - its DONE! I am really pleased! Doesn't look like much but it is 100% better than it was a couple of days ago!
To the right of the canes, is my strawberry patch which should be a bounty crop this year as I did all the transplanting last year!
Call me a hick but there is something just so natural about going out to your own garden for your produce! With all the big hype on for natural and organic...I tell you folks this is the way to go. With a little hard work and some time it is so much cheaper this way!

Under this dirt (I hope) will be my aparagus. We all love this veggie although it is deathly expensive but a treat for us! We transplanted this as well to have all the permanent crops in one area of the garden.

At the far end is rhubarb and over more left are blueberry plants. We hope to add more of those plants too.

This was the perfect time to do it! The canes are just budding and I imagine they will look fabulous once they start to grow their leaves. Even thing else is just starting grow from the winter too.

So I am extremely pleased that the task is finished. With that job off the list there are several more to follow as the list seems to never be clear around here!

I am tired and scratched and sore but its ALL good knowing that it was a team effort that got the job done!

Upcoming Arrivals!!!

2010-04-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

Also coming up in 3 short weeks (or less) is the arrivals of a new litter of puppies!
This is a repeat breeding that resulted in Cruiser a little more than 19 months ago!
Cole is dad to be again and Sienna is the proud mama!

"Cole"

"Sienna"

Maybe you don't recall (I do) but about a year ago Sienna suffered an anaphalatic reaction to a bee sting outdoors (we think) so I hope I have given her enough time to recover and be strong for this litter.
Sienna is huge, absolutely huge already! Her wee belly cannot expand anymore!
I hope for a healthy delivery and healthy babies! My hope too is to retain a female for an eventual show baby! Time will tell what mother nature has chosen to give us!
Good luck sweet Sienna! Will keep you posted!

The Goats are arriving!!!

2010-04-09T18:14:00.000-07:00

"Peanut"

I vividly recall a year ago how excited we were researching and putting ourselves on a couple of waiting lists, checking websites and selecting kids that would hopefully one day be ours. Well this year we are doing all that in addition to having our very own kids! This past week has been a busy one with several new additions to our little goat family!
Peanut (shown above) was born April 1, a full week sooner than I had calculated. She is tiny but she makes up for it in spunk!

"Chaos"

"Winston"

"

"Romeo"

"Mocha"

"Cleo"

We still have 3 mama's left to kid! We are pretty excited about the wee ones we do have! In turn we are hoping for the addition of a few more new babies this year as well from other farms. These guys are amazingly cool (never thought I would be so excited about goats) and what is even cooler is the way Dave and I are pouring over pictures and talking about who we like and where we'd like to take this venture!
I already have a small waiting list for kids and once all are born we will decide on who we are retaining and who will move on to start someone else's venture!
I love spring with the birth of New Life!!
Will keep you posted on the arrival of the remaining kids!

Cruiser hits the show circuit a Blazin'!!!

2010-04-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago I met my handler Pete at a commuter lot along hwy 400 for him to take my boy Cruiser up to Sudbury for a 6 show series. I would have never dreamed how successful my boy would be!
I honestly had hoped he would pick up some points. There was a total of 4 dogs entered each show and to explain it quickly if Cruiser won best male he would win 1 point, if he then beat the best female he would win another point = 2 points per show (if he did that!)
2 shows per day, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.....
To sum in up quickly Cruiser did win 4 points per day finishing off the weekend as champion with 12 points!
I am amazed and thrilled for my young boy of just 18 months who I was just going to enter here and there until he cleared in the head. I never dreamed he would finish in one weekend! NEVER!!

Cruiser did win a Toy Group 4 as well and I am so proud of this! ANY group placing is terrific! His mom Sienna won a group 4 at the same show 3 years earlier!~
This is the epitome of doing what we do. Love the breed, love the puppies and certainly love when your very own breeding results in such a successful weekend! That is the ultimate satisfaction when 6 judges all agree that your dog is Best of Breed!
I picked Cruiser up late that Sunday evening, I got the greeting of a champion! He was tired but non the worse for wear! I'm sure he did not realize what he had just done!
Pete enjoyed handling him and said he was a 'cool dog to show'.
Cruiser is back in wraps and will stay at home for a while until he clears some. I am told our National Specialty is being held in our town this year so I perhaps will keep the show coat and see how he does there in October!
So SO proud of my boy and his accomplishments!! Way to go buddy!

The Dress!!!

2010-04-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

Brittany has found her grad dress!!! We had done some shopping around for one and she kept coming back to this one after trying several dresses on!

It is cute and perky just like her! She feels like a million bucks in it! Can't believe my baby is graduating this year! High School bound for the fall....geeesh!!!

The new 'do'!

2010-04-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

Feeling the need for a change I decided last week to chop my hair and give it a boost of colour.

This is a chop for me! I have never had my hair this short in many many MANY years! However wanted to step outside my comfort zone and see if this would be something I would actually like I went for it! Then I got a super colour put on. My only requirements to the hair stylist was, "I didn't want black and I didn't want red"!
She chose this perfect chocolate brown.
I have to say I am loving it!

This is the shot of the back. I wanted one of those styles that tapers longer to the front.

Maybe its a spring thing or something but I am really happy with the cut, the style, the colour! I think now and again its good to change it up a bit and step outside the box of our security blanket! Surprisingly you might find something out that you really like!

Girls being girls!

2010-03-27T07:56:00.001-07:00

The remainder of the March break did not slow things down around here either! After Brittany's friends left for home, Casi had a bunch of hers over!
The house was filled with giggles and silliness of this bunch!

They are a great group of girls! They covered the rec room floor with mattresses and blankets and had a pile of disney movies about 3 ' high and and they set themselves up for a disney movie marathon!
They rocked on to Band Hero and Guitar Hero and by the end of 2 days the rec room looked like a cyclone had gone through it!
Not complaining though...I love these girls! They can come and watch movies and hang out and be silly any time....(there are far worse things girls of 15-16 could be doing) so they are welcome any time!

They even brought their own food! How amazing is that! Toaster Strudel, bread, chips, pop, juice, cookies, candy, 3 lbs of bacon and they ate it all!

Their silliness is infectious and I found myself laughing with them and just all around enjoying their being here!
I sincerely hope they keep some of that innocent fun within them for a very long time! All too soon they will grow up and that will be lost!
I am very proud of Casi and the friends that she had chosen and think I had as much fun watching them as much as they fun being girls!

Brittany turns 14!!!!!

2010-03-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

We woke the morning of March 15th to these pink hearts taped around house and kitchen saying Happy Birthday! Casi had spent hours writing on paper and sticking them up around the house in honour of Britt's 14th birthday!
What a sweet gesture!
I made Brittany's favourite breakfast of waffles, whip cream and strawberries and served it to her in bed.
Here she was 10 years ago on her 4th birthday!

Here is the birthday girl today!!!!
Wow! They really say blink and it goes by so quickly and YES it does! It really seems like only yesterday.....*sniff, sniff*.....

We spent the day shopping for her birthday, I bought her some new clothes for summer. We had a great day poking around the mall, what better thing to do with girls!
She invited a few girls over for the night with tonnes of junk food and movies. Ice cream cake for dessert!

The gang...l to r...Brittany, Madison, Emillie,Georgia, Amanda and Shayden...

The cake was a little frozen!

They spent the night staying up, talking, watching movies, eating junk food, hanging out, playing Wii, being silly and just being girls.
The next morning they were super tired but happy and had a great time! It was a great start to their March break!
My baby is growing up so fast! I am very proud of you Britt and know with your determination you will achieve all your hopes and dreams! I know you can do it! Luv you baby!

Flying!!

2010-03-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we had the amazing opportunity to go flying!
This is a sponsored program for young girls to learn about aviation, flying, what is involved in getting their pilots licence and/or becoming a pilot as a career choice!

We met our pilot Leslie at the Oshawa Municipal Airport and she gave us the tour of the plane, its features and how it is controlled.

The controls..the girls had decided ahead of time that Brittany would fly. Casi and I sat in the back.

Don't we all look official with our head sets on!

After take off I got to take some pictures. I was a little nervous, not being a fan of heights and this plane was really really little!
I did manage to over come my panic to get some pictures of the ground below! Here are some of the aerial shots...this is a neighborhood of Oshawa.

Over Lake Scugog, we did some circling and then Brittany took over the plane! EEEEEKKKSS!
No kidding aside, she did really well and held the plane steady and did some turns.

It was a little foggy but we did see the CN tower in the distance.

The gang of the flight! It was incredible!

Our co-pilot! We did find out some interesting facts about getting your pilots licence. One fact that Brittany loved was that she at this age now could get her pilots licence! No drivers licence until 16 but yes she could fly a plane on her on at her age! Also it takes about 100 hrs of in flight training and about $10,000!
Just as we were leaving 2 rescue helicopters landed so we were able to get some close up shots. No rescue happening but we were told they were doing some training.

Very cool day! It meant a day out of school for the girls but really what better education than hands on experience!

Finally!!!

2010-03-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

I am sorry, yes I know its been a month since we arrived back from our trip! I have posted pictures from each day that we were away. These posts were quite long in process as my pictures were so large!
I hope you enjoy seeing our pictures!
Sorry for the delay in getting them up but it is just life and anyone that has a JOB, FAMILY and mulitple other aspects to their lives will understand why it took so long!

Dominican trip ~ Leaving Toronto ~

2010-02-25T08:43:00.000-08:00

We left on a beautiful sunny Saturday in February. It was cold but bright and we were so excited to finally be leaving! Bella thought she should come too and hopped in the van as we were loading our suitcases! Poor Belle, no Dominican trip for her...
We arrived in Toronto just in time to pick up my sister and hubby at the airport. We spent the afternoon in a huge mall just north of Toronto killing time!
We went for dinner at Tuckers Marketplace, this buffet restaurant is amazing! Something for everyone and not your traditional chinese buffet.
After supper we checked in our hotel for the night ( part of the night anyway)...
The DoubleTree Hotel on airport road.

They had a great hot tub and pool area...
Sorry my sis had blink issues!! But we love her anyway....

This slide was awsome!

Then it was off to bed for a short night. We had to be up at 2am to get dressed and check out and catch the shuttle to the airport!
Yep....its 3 am....don't we all look awake!!!!

Our bags are all checked in and waiting to catch the plane...

Timmies a definite plus at this hour of the morning!

Dominican trip ~ Arrival ~ Exploring ~

2010-02-25T08:20:00.002-08:00

Our plane to Puerto Plata, getting all ready to go!!! YEAH!

Boarding.....FINALLY!!!

Just shy of 4 hours we were seeing blue water on the shore of Puerto Plata!!! How wonderful that looks!!!

We've ARRIVED!!!!

Through customs, baggage claim and we were headed out to our bus that would take us to the resort!!
Britt looks sadly out of place with her black pants and winter boots!!!

An hour later we were at our place of destination! Time to kick off the boots and shoes and walk the beach!!!
We had to wait a short time to get into our rooms as we were 2 hrs ahead of check in time! Which was fine, time to explore a bit and just take in the sights, and of course soak up some sun!

I love palm trees!!!

Our room...

Can't believe we are finally here!

Dominican trip ~ Monday ~ Chillin' ~

2010-02-25T08:20:00.001-08:00

Our first full day here, it poured rain, not just showers but it came down in buckets! We were a little worried that this would set the tone for the rest of the week! We had heard other people had 5 days of rain on their vacation...but as luck was with us, it only rained that one day. So that day we had a chance to do some chillin and have some drinks and relax!

The bars were a favourite place and there was no shortage of drinks!

Cheers!!! Its HAPPY hour!!!

We played some cards and walked around the resort again.
These are real!

Dominican trip ~ Tuesday ~ Tanning ~

2010-02-25T08:19:00.002-08:00

Tuesday morning, the clouds parted and we had gorgeous sunny skies!
We were just itching to get some sun!
The pool was amazing! Just thinking about it makes me *sigh*....

Yes crocks were a hit! Nance rocked her pink ones and me, my lime greens!!!

Beach shot! Can't say enough how happy I was to spend the time with these guys! It was nothing short of fantastic, fun and sooo memorable!!!

My hats off to these guys! They would rake the entire beach for hours, only to come back and start all over again with what the waves would bring in....

YAY Dominican!!!!

I so much love my sis!!!!!

I really love U!!! Doesn't she look hot???

Dominican trip ~ Wednesday ~ Dune Buggy's!! ~

2010-02-25T08:19:00.001-08:00

Wednesday we found this tour offering dune buggy's excursions! It promised to be dirty and messy and so much fun!
Well it didn't disappoint!
We start going along the road and up some steep hills and seen some of the local highlights. We went through some small villages and had little children chasing us for candy.
The tour guides were very informative about their local culture and snippits into their every day lives.
At the very end of the tour we came to a muddy road, we were let loose to go through all those puddles! Britt was my driver and she barreled right through them all!
Between laughing so hard and spitting mud out of my mouth, my sides were aching!
We were first to go, so it was a show to watch everyone else go behind us. I think our partners got it worse than it did, they were covered in mud!!
I wish I could post pics but they were put on a slideshow. If I ever do get individual pics I will be sure to post them!
We were able to wash off all the mud at the beach but alas we had to go right through those puddles again to get back.
We must have looked horrid walking back! Wet and covered in mud but in great spirits we washed off at the pool side showers.
I have since thrown out the mud stained clothes...note to self for next time to bring something for that trip that I don't want again..
This is definitely something I would recommend if you don't mind getting dirty but wanna have A LOT of fun!

Dominican trip ~ Thursday ~ Puerto Plata City Tour ~

2010-02-25T08:18:00.000-08:00

We were up bright and early on the Thursday morning to catch our tour bus....6 am is just far too early anytime but especially when we are vacation!
However we were excited to see new and different things so that totally made up for it!
Our first stop was the rum factory in Puerto Plata. Apparently they supply 75% of the worlds rum! Thats ALOT of rum! Personally I think most of it stays in the Dominican for the resorts! We are really THIRSTY vacationers!
Rum is made from sugar cane...never knew that either!
We weren't allowed to take pictures in the actual factory but it was still really cool to watch the bottling, labeling and packaging process.
These pictures outside are of the equipment they used 100 years ago to press the sugar cane to process it into rum!

It is stored in drums to the appropriate age.

There was a sampling bar at the end of tour but given that it was only 8 am...we passed!!!

Next we were off to a cable car to take up to the mountain top. While waiting these men were entertaining us. Some of their instruments were really quite different!

The cable car...
Going way way up there! I am not a fan of heights so at this point I was doing my best not to panic! You can see the fog up there, it came in over the mountain in a span of 15 minutes or so, as when we pulled up with the bus it was clear.

This is going up....I did manage to take a few pics before I didn't want to look down anymore! Dominican countryside is so beautiful!

Looking down on Puerto Plata city and the waterfront...

This was on the top of the mountain....a huge statue of Jesus. Given to the Dominican by Brazil. It was really unfortunate as it was soooo foggy up there and then started to rain really hard!!!! We did a quick walk around up there but there was no chance to take pictures as it was raining too much and the tour was hastened.

After coming down we did some touring of Puerto Plata. Apparently the city was named by Christopher Columbus. The name means Silver Port. As there is a tree that grows with leaves that are silver in colour. When he arrived on the shores of the Dominican all he could see was these mass numbers of silver leaves on the trees.
We arrived a City Hall and we able to get off the bus to take some pictures.Ladies carrying buckets on their heads?

These are some paintings of the local shops in the city. We were prompted everywhere to come in to the stores to shop. They all wanted our business!
These paintings were everywhere on the island with symbols of elements drawn by the early people of the Dominican.

We were able to tour a jewellery factory. They mine one of the few Amber deposits in the world and a rare stone called Larimar only found in the Dominican. The Larimar is the blue stone and is quite pretty!

Here they are making the jewellery..

We were able to tour an old fort that has been restored. I think they said it was built in the 1500's to warn and protect the shores from pirates.

Actual cannons they used!!!

Perfect vantage point to spot intruders!

This is an aerial picture of the fort...

Moving along we were able to go a flea market along the beach. They told us this is the largest flea market in the Carribean. The vendors were unbelievable. We were tugged and pulled into the shops, what was cool is we could haggle and barter for prices. The girls got a kick out doing that! Even if they said they couldn't do those prices, you could be guaranteed a few shops down somewhere would have the exact same thing for the price you wanted...they knew this too!

There was a beautiful beach there! We took some time to enjoy the ocean and take some more pictures and also to get away from the vendors who were non stop at us!!!

This was a tribute to Aunt Nance who wasn't feeling well that day and had to pass on the excursion. We missed you that day!!!

We were able to see the Amber Museum. I also did not know this but the stone Amber is made from tree sap that has solidified of the years. It is incredibly lightweight. They had several pieces where insects had been trapped in the sap and now incased in a stone!

Also we did not know this before but the movie Jurassic Park was filmed in part in the Dominican!!!A tree over a 100 years old! The root system is very different from what we would see here!

All in all we had a great day! We seen alot of new and different things! We learned some facts about the island we were on too!

Dominican trip ~ Friday ~ Safari Adventure around the Countryside ~

2010-02-25T08:17:00.000-08:00

Friday morning we were up not so early as the morning before to board our jeep to take us on a tour of the local countryside. The tour pretty much started as soon as we left the gates of the resort.

These are some of your average houses in Dominican. This was the first small village we came to.

Children everywhere waving and wanting candy! They come running as soon as they hear the engines of the jeeps!

Our first stop was on a hill to visit a church. Primarily the Dominican people are Catholic. The views from us here were amazing!

To me it looks like a staged backdrop...so beautiful!

Awwwwww!!!!

This was a local school. They split the classes up in morning and afternoon sessions to accomodate more kids. They are only required to go to gr.4 and then if they want to go further in their schooling they have to go to a larger town. Most people cannot afford the transportation to the larger towns so many of these kids only get a grade 4 education!

All ages, all grades in 2 rooms!

They must wear a uniform, they will be sent away if they are not in uniform.

Isn't he cute???

We stopped to a drink and our tour guide was explaining the different rums in Dominican.

He lit 151 proof on fire on the floor!

Dancing is also a huge part of their culture. The merenge and salsa is the most popular, They had kids come in and dance for us!

Then we were all allowed to come and take part too!

We stopped a house with a small farm. He explained to us some of the things they were growing there like bananas, aloe vera and pineapple. I didn't know it took a year for a pineapple to grow!

The house......

Inside the house, a little girls room....

I guess you could call this their pig pen??

This little guy was in the chicken coop, he couldn't have been any more than 2 years old, he was helping to catch the chickens.

Some more beautiful Dominican countryside. What an awsome view!

People home mid day. We seen alot of young people home during the day so not sure how they support themselves if they are not working? Certainly different that what goes on here!

House for sale!!!! Any buyers??

We stopped for lunch and the restaurant had this amazing back yard with tropical flowers and scenery...again more palm trees!!! Love em!
We were able to see some locals jumping off a waterfall and then watch them climb back up the slippery rocks. They were obviously seasoned jumpers!
The drop was about 40-50' but the water below was only 7' deep!!!

Another stop at a beautiful beach....the day couldn't have been more perfect! The water was so blue and gorgeous...yep I'd go back in heart beat!

Our last stop for the day was at the Blue Lagoon. A small cave with the bluest fresh water I have ever seen!
The water was very cold but the tour guide said we would feel 10 years younger if we went in...so I was up for it!

Another great day, having fun and learning more about the people! We were so glad we booked this tour!

Dominican trip ~ Saturday ~ Just Relaxin' ~

2010-02-25T08:14:00.002-08:00

After 3 days of being out and about...we decided Saturday was going to be some serious beach/pool tanning time! So that is what we did! It was wonderful to soak up those rays of sunshine knowing that in 24 hrs time we would be home bound!

This is the tree lined entrance to the resort!

The boob shirt...no explanation needed!

The men...chillin....

We called this the Dominican breathalizer test! If you could stand for any length of time with one foot up and touch your nose..you were good to go!
Interestingly enough, there are no drinking and driving laws and where we were basically no speed limit laws.

My camera was doing funky things but these 2 failed the test!!!

Our last night...*sigh*....

Dominican trip ~ Last Day~

2010-02-25T08:14:00.001-08:00

Our last day we had a few minutes to catch some final shots of the resort....loved this pool!! The art work over the bar....

Swim up bar.....
The lobby...
The fam all ready and packed up to leave....

We had such a fabulous time. I so cherish the time spent with my wonderful sister and hubby. These memories will stay with me forever and do hope sometime in the future we can do it again!

We're back!!!!

2010-02-18T06:04:00.000-08:00

Yes, we are back home! We arrived back Sunday evening. We had an amazing week of sun, relaxation, family time and lots of memories to remember.

I am slowly getting back into the swing of things, there has been so much to do!

I had over 200 emails to catch up on (60% junk), laundry, gathering up all my dogs who were scattered in different homes, housework, bill paying etc, etc...the list goes on!

James did an amazing job while we were away and looked after the house, the barn and the critters in it, the wood furnace and Bella, all while going to school still. I am very grateful and very proud! Without him, this trip would not have been possible!

I will get to blogging about our trip shortly as I have over 400 pictures that I want to chose from and share the best with you!

I want to thank my sis and her hubby for agreeing to come with us! We had such a great time and I will always cherish the time we spent together! The subject of a future trip has already come up and I am so ON! In a year or two of course as the budget allows!

Stay tuned!

Another Birthday...

2010-02-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

Almost forgot to mention another birthday that happened over the weeked.
It was Bella's birthday...our lovable Bernese Mountain Dog. She turned 1 on Sunday...
Here she is today all growed up.......

Here are some flash backs of her when she was a baby....

Happy Birthday Bella! Hope we have many years together!!

Keep us in thought...

2010-02-02T18:03:00.000-08:00

A particularly emotionally difficult situation has reared its ugly head again lately. A problem that I had hoped was in the past has reignited itself and again we must face it.
I have struggled as to the why it must be so, and I cannot give any answers to that question.
Please keep us in thought as we attempt to deal with this situation and finally put it to rest.
I reread a post I had done last year about encouragement.
It read something like "If God brings you to it, he will lead you through it"...
I have tried to remember that while I am knee deep in the stress of this situation.
Please keep us in thought as we muddle through this and my hope is that we will arrive on the other side stronger and closer together...

Another year...another birthday!

2010-02-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

Every year exactly 1 month past Christmas is my birthday. This year I was treated to having a 'snow day' with the kids at home...not sure why it was a snow day as it was about 3 degrees and not a drop of snow or rain....however it was nice to have them home to spend the day with me.
As most of you women know, as the years click by we tend to like to 'forget' these occasions as it is a reminder that we are getting older. I was happy to have a quiet day at home. I wasn't really expecting anything as Christmas is just over and I consider myself pretty lucky with the blessings that I already have.
However, Dave blew my socks off when he walked in and very nonchalantly handed me a bag. I had no idea of what to expect. When I looked in the bag I seen this....

This totally took me by complete surprise! I had asked for a simple point and shoot camera for Christmas which didn't happen so I was totally blown away by this camera!
It was pretty cute, Dave had listened intently to the saleperson about this and that camera and told me the differences between this model and other models....he was telling me all the things she had said. All the while I am completely speechless as this was sooo much more than I had ever thought of!
I had said to Casi a couple of days before that I need to get out more and take more pictures. Christmas was over before we knew it and I had not one picture...that is just bad...
So I need a tutorial from Casi about using the new camera but hope to take lots and lots of pictures!

I thought I would feature some of my favourite shots from the day...
Love this one!!!

I don't get too many opportunities to get a picture of James, especially the 2 of us. I love this shot!

I also love this one! He had bent over to pet Bella and just stood up! Gotta laugh!

This is moi, on the phone with my sis who was wishing me a Happy Birthday!

This is classic! I love this shot of Dave! This one to look back on and grin!

Had a wonderful day with my family, went for dinner at a steakhouse in town and had a super meal enjoyed with all.

Another year, I have a little ways to go to hit the 'big' one yet but I am ever thankful for my super family and super friends. Each year, each day is a gift.

I am super blessed and spoiled!

I love you's all!

Extra Expense....

2010-02-02T11:14:00.000-08:00

Happy February everyone!!!

Kind of glad that January is over! It was an unually expensive month for us. We had just booked our trip to Dominican literally within a day or so our outdoor wood furnace gave up the ghost....

Had we planned on shelling out an insane amount of money within days of each other...nope...

However I tried to rationalize that our previous wood boiler was about 10-12 years old. We bought it used back in 1998 and it has been our sole source of heat for that whole length of time. We cleaned up an amazing amount of burnables in our previous wood boiler and it was no different when we moved to the farm. We moved our boiler with us and it heated our house while we cleaned up fence rows and such.

I don't believe that our previous boiler owed us anything. The poor old beast sits abandoned out back behind the shed, its final resting spot will be at the scrap yard.

Our new beast looks something like this...

It is bright blue! Yep...... bright blue!

Hope to get lots of years out of this baby!

Who needs a Door Stop....

2010-01-27T10:44:00.000-08:00

when you have a Bella???........................

Yes, she is alive! I was about to go to bed last night and found Bella in this position fast asleep! She quite often sleeps this way and in front of the door! What a perfect solution for drafts! We think she does this because she is hot and likes the coolness of the door (or its drafty...)
At any rate she is a silly girl and we love her for all her quirks!

Cleaning tip

2010-01-26T10:44:00.000-08:00

If any of you are on a well or have hard or rusty water, this is a post you may want to read.
We are on a well and we do have a rust remover filter but even still, my appliances, the shower, toilets etc, get orangy over time.
I have found this product is amazing!
Stain Free by Whish...
It is recommended for porcelain only but I have tempted other areas and rinsed immediately and what a difference!

It is an acid based so be sure to wear gloves...I found this out the hard way when my hands and fingers started stinging but cannot believe how this stuff works with absolutely no scrubbing at all!
For those of you who have soft water or are on municipal water you probably don't have this issue but if you do....you know the scrubbing I am talking about!

26 days in...

2010-01-26T09:29:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe we are already 26 days into this new year! How fast it has gone already! We have been hibernating of sorts with a cold snap that moved in last week. Still I can't believe January is almost over!

I have made it a personal goal to try new things this year. Not to get stuck in a rut with what I like or like to do. To try new foods or step outside of the box and try new things.

A few weeks ago I thought I would try soy milk and discovered that I actually quite like it! I buy the vanilla flavour and it is great! I have never been a huge milk drinker since I was little but I try to get a glass of this stuff each day. To my amazement I feel really good! This time of year we are all dragging a bit and I find that I have alot more energy, not sure if it is because of the soy milk or a few other 'good for you' food choices I have been trying to make but I sleep well, wake up feeling energized and have the ambition to get through my day.

Another food choice that I have avoided since I was small is brussell sprouts. I have hated them since I can remember. However trying 'new' things I had some at work a few weeks back and discovered again that I actually quite like them too! I made them at home and 3 of the 5 of us like them so it will be served quite often with an alternative of course for the pickier of us!

Also to prepare for our trip I tried tanning a couple of weeks back. I am so pleased at how I have got a healthy glow without getting burned in this very controlled method of tanning. I have never had a tanned abdomen before so this is new for me but it is great and again not sure if it snippits of vit D that I am getting but I feel great!

Lastly another of my firsts that I had wanted to try but have always been too chicken was do dye my hair dark...really dark! So last week I bought a medium brown Loreal hair colour and took the plunge. Again I was pleasantly surprised on how it turned out! I had thoughts of buying the one darker but thought I may try that later. I love it! With the sun kissed glow on my cheeks and the dark hair, I feel amazing! It has lightened up quite a bit so the next time I may try the darker one..will be sure to post pics!

I am finding that trying new things has been really rewarding and stepping outside the box now and again is invigorating and refreshing! I am pretty excited about trying all kinds of new and different things without 'chickening' out or letting the fear of 'what if' get in the way. You all should try it, it is kind of fun!

LOVE it!

2010-01-26T09:10:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was dropping Casi off at CT for her shift and she happened to mention that there was a dyson vacuum cleaner on clearance in their store.
Immediately I was intrigued and thought I should check it out.
I have been whining about my vacuum for ages, it really was horrible and I always felt it was a waste of time vacuuming as I knew it was not getting everything it should, the only time I felt it was doing a good job was when I had just changed the bag, but that is really a pain so I was not liking it at all. I still use the little stick vac for in between jobs but every few days my floor NEEDS a good vacuuming!
With all my furry creatures in the house, not to mention 3 females who continually shed hair, I have a lot of hair issues in my house!
Anyway always on the prowl for a good deal, I parked the van and ran in to see it.
What I found was a Dyson Stowaway.

I had previously been peeking online at the Dyson ball versions trying to find a good used one or doing price comparisons to find one that was cheaper. I had been hesitant of the ball version for the very reason that we have ONLY bare floors. We have no carpet in the house at all but a variety of hardwood, laminant and vinyl. The ball versions only have a plastic head and I wondered if it would be compatible with bare floors with no bristles in their heads? Anyway this stowaway seemed like a great alternative. I have a great vacuum that works just as good as the ball version but with a bristled head for my bare floors. It is amazing, I love it!

Even better yet as it was on clearance, I got $200 off the original price along with Casi's $20 staff discount, I thought it was a fantastic deal! Having just booked a trip to Dominican that very week, I really didn't see myself buying a vacuum too but the savings of over $200 was my motivation. I am super glad I waited and found a great deal, makes me feel even better cleaning knowing that I was able to save money and have a great product!

Olivia, Olivia, Olivia....

2010-01-12T13:06:00.001-08:00

Well my little princess is growing up!!! She is just shy of 3 months old and we love her so much!
She is sassy and full of beans.

I have already had her sire's owners assess her for show and they liked what they seen! I am thrilled! My odds of getting a show puppy were limited with only 1 puppy in the litter! So far so good!

Her and Bella are the best of friends and most often you will find her curled up against Bella for warmth.

She is super smart and will ask to go outside (even in these frigid temps)......

Love, love, love this little girls and am excited to add her to my gang!!!
She will not show until late this year or even into 2011 but she is looking very promising!!

Goin to the Dominican!!!

2010-01-12T12:45:00.000-08:00

Well ......are you drooling yet???

Just this very week we booked a week in February at this resort in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic!

Needless to say we are all pretty excited!

We are staying at the Bahia Principe San Juan, a 3 + or 4 star all inclusive depending on what site you visit.

What is even better is that my sister and her hubby are joining us!!!! I am most excited about this!!!

We are taking both girls with us, James is staying home to get a good start on the 2nd semester and to look out for the critters out in the barn!

I have jimmied my work schedule around and got a dog sitter and someone else to also look after the barn critters.

I think things are pretty much set! All that is left is to plan out what to take and to pack!

Super SUPER excited!

I could not think of a better travelling couple and think it is so important to gain these worldly experiences, something we or the girls will not forget. The memories are priceless!!

Please let me know your Dominican experiences and what would be good to bring along!!!

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-28T10:25:00.000-08:00

Yes I am late on this one!
Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and hopefully all enjoyed a wonderful day with family or friends.

We had our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve day...only because I was working Christmas Day, Boxing Day and the 27th.
Our only opportunity was then and after a family vote, we went with a not so traditional dinner as well. Given the options of turkey or ham, the fam decided they wanted BBQ steak. So thats what we had! We had the usual trimmings of mashed potatoes and vegetables, James made a potato salad and had a yummy blueberry cheesecake and I bought a key lime pie...(which no one even got into as we were so stuffed!!!)
After dinner we went to the Christmas Eve service at church and just enjoyed the carols. There is nothing that brings tears to my eyes faster than Silent Night. I love all the Christmas carols but that one brings my mom's memory to light faster than anything and I usually cannot finish singing the song before I am choked up.
Christmas is a wonderful time full blessings but it does make one look back and remember Christmas' past.
After the service we came home and let the kids open one gift, a tradition going back as long as I can remember having the kids. Off to bed later and Christmas morning we all enjoyed each others company, opened gifts, I made cinnamon buns and just relaxed.
I stayed in my jammies until 130 when I had to get ready for work.
So that was our low key Christmas, (just the way I like it) I hope yours was just as great!

Just to remember...

2009-12-19T12:12:00.000-08:00

As much as I try to make my blog interesting, I also want it to be a journal of sorts to look back on someday and remember events or even just little trivial stuff that I chose to write about.
This post is about a situation that brought goosebumps all over and tears to my eyes and it is something that I want to remember when I think my life is so hard done by.....
Back in the summer we learned that my cousins's son and his girlfriend were expecting twins. Normally very joyous news. However upon further testing of the mom, it was discovered that she had a brain tumour. She chose to give her babies life and postpone any treatment so her tiny twins could reach a viable age outside the womb.
I just learned last week that the babies were delivered back in late September. I am not sure how far along they were but they were delivered by c/section and both babies had died in the womb. In further inspection of the mom's uterus it was determined that the cancer had spread from her brain and was in her uterus and not sure where else....
As far as I know now the doctors have not done any treatment thus the cancer is too far gone.
This young mom was only in her early 20's, a full life ahead or her. She chose to give her babies life and it may have cost her her own life and the babies didn't survive anyway.
How completely selfless and admirable is this young woman, I have never met her but her courage has touched me.
Please think about this young woman and pray for her and her family who must be going through the worst tragedy of their lives especially this holiday season. Also my cousin, and her son who lost 2 grandchildren and 2 children without even knowing them.
There are days when teenagerhood overwhelms me and I think about pulling my hair out but when you hear a story like this, it makes me appreciate my kids, all 3 of them and their teenagerhood as I couldn't imagine life without them.

Quickly addicted.....

2009-12-19T12:04:00.000-08:00

Yes its shameful I know....

The past week I've been a little under the weather so what better time than to pick up a good book. As much as I love to read, I don't usually allow myself the time and everything I had in the house I had read before.....with the exception of Casi's Twilight Collection of books.
So I started with book 1...Twilight. I have seen the movie so had a good scope of what the book was about and knew what was coming. However the book has so much more detail than the movie and I found myself learning things about these characters that wasn't even touched in the movie!
Alas I finished book 1 and am eager for some quiet time to start book 2. I can see why when Casi first got these books that I caught her up well past midnight reading...they are so hard to put down!
These books are definitely worth the read and all the raves everyone talks about....even if we are not all Teens!!!

Olympic Torch Relay arrives in our town!

2009-12-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday the Olympic torch relay made its way to our small town. The schools were let out to see the big event!

Although I was not able to make it there, Brittany did go and got some great shots!

It was evident to me looking at these pics how patriotic we can be! How proud we are to be Canadian! How amazing is the flame has been carried all over the world!

One of the people that ran with the torch has beaten cancer numerous times and he is only in high school. I can't imagine the emotion for his parents watching their son carry the torch!

One of my favourite recipes for Christmas...

2009-12-13T10:28:00.000-08:00

We try to do a little bit of Christmas baking for the holidays and one of our favourites is what we call Egg Drop Cookies.
They are simple to make and relatively low fat but soooo good if you like egg whites.
Thought I would share this tastey but simple recipe!

Egg Drop Cookies

3 lg egg whites

1/2 c white sugar

1/8 tsp Crm Tartar

1/4 tsp salt

1 c Mint Chips

Beat ingredients minus the chips until peaks form.

Add Chips

Spoon onto foil lined cookie sheet and bake @ 250 degrees for 1 hr.

So good!

The chips I don't know what they are called but we can buy them at our local bulk food store. They are white mint chocolate with red and green sprinkles on them.

Because there is not alot in them, I would think they are somewhat low fat especially if you compare it with some of the other goodies that are available during Christmas!

Try and let me know how you like them. I have members of my family that do not like egg whites so if you don't...think is not a recipe for you. Enjoy!

Just some random doggie pics...

2009-12-12T17:44:00.000-08:00

Just bored and playing with my camera...took some random doggie shots about the house!
Here is Tye showing off his sexy new shirt. The boy has not so much hair and we have had a cold snap lately. He is really not a "killer" as his shirt states but Brittany thought the black shirt would be better on him!
Quite comical as we put it on him and he didn't want to move....and for this JRT not to want to move is SOMETHING!!!
This pic is self explanitory...Olivia has figured out that Bella is quite warm and snuggly to curl up against! Actually all of the yorkies have discovered this and more often than not there is at least one or more curled up with her.

My Autumn with her girlie....she has been a fantastic mom...oh how I love these ladies!

Hard to believe but Olivia is 8 weeks old tomorrow!!! She is a sweet girl and full of kisses. I have so much hope in this girl!

Only time will tell!!!

As Olivia is the 3rd generation born to me I have high hopes for her! Her great grandma was Lexi who i bought back in 2000. Lexi was a great gal but with each generation I see how my dogs have improved and gotten more correct to breed standard. As I am hoping that Olivia will be more correct than her mother Autumn (who is just about perfect in my eyes), Autumn is more correct than her mother etc etc. That, to me is what an ethical breeder does, each generation should be better than the last.

Likely in the new year I will get together with the owners of Olivia's father for an extra set of eyes and hands on her for their opinion. I highly respect these people and their opinion and hope they see what I see in my newest little girl!

Keep ya posted!

Loved it!!!

2009-11-27T08:44:00.000-08:00

Amidst all the hype and publicity about the new movie in the Twilight Series, I was able to get in line and view the much talked about movie New Moon.

I had seen Twilight and loved it as it is such a great forbidden love story.
New Moon did not disapoint, it was fabulous! Would it be policitally incorrect to comment on amazing good looks of one of their cast...am I too old for that?? Whatever...anyway..Jacob..aka Taylor Lautner ..WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..nuff said...
Casi went with me and it was a great girlie night out.
I havn't read the books yet, got me thinking to maybe I should...I kept bugging Casi all the way home..."does he bite her, does he do it?"
Interesting ending to the movie...didn't see that coming at all!
If you like love stories, this is one to see. Some action for the guys but really a primarily girlie movie.

Tis the Season!

2009-11-27T08:32:00.001-08:00

Yes the season is upon us! To date I have got NO shopping done...yep..zilch, zip, notta....
I have started decorating a little just here and there. I do love the whole anticipation of Christmas. I also love the season as I am able to buy eggnog!!!
Have I mentioned before that I love eggnog! Well I LOVE EGGNOG!!
This stuff is like a drug to me! Can't get enough of it!
It is really not that healthy and loaded to the hilt with calories but it is such a short season that I throw caution to the wind and drink up!
No need even to add rum, I love it just way it is!

This stuff is the BEST!! How wonderful that it is pretty much made in our back yard too, even Torontoians rave about our Kawartha Dairy products! I was even able to find a Facebook fan club of this stuff! Here is how the group describes this tastey stuff!

FOOD OF THE GODS-KAWARTHA DAIRY EGG NOG

You think you've had egg nog. Meh you say - its ok with about 3 fingers of rum in it. Well here is the worlds finest food in liquid form. Pure ambrosia, it has turned eggnotters into eggnoggers

Yes this stuff is heavenly!! If you love eggnog and are able to get this stuff, I highly recommend trying it!

Olivia at 4 weeks!!!

2009-11-18T16:27:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe that she is already 4 weeks old and hard to believe that she is only 4 week old at the same time!
This puppy is very advanced for her age!!
She is already quite accustomed to being handled and already is used to running around the kitchen!

She was out of her pen this morning and found a sunny spot on the floor under the table and decided to lay out and sun herself!

I just love this little girl! She is super friendly already and gives non stop kisses.

She weighed 1 lb 11 oz at 4 weeks. Which is an awsome weight for a young puppy but seeing as she was a singleton this is normal to have a larger weight. She should slow down as she is getting bigger and moving around more.

This girl holds alot of promise for me. So far so good! Only time will tell!

She is certainly following in her mothers footsteps and is the princess in training! She is already way spoiled!!!!

Martha Stewart needed!!!

2009-11-18T16:15:00.000-08:00

Help!!!!
Any ideas of what can remove ink spots from the dryer??

James did his laundry over the weekend and while on the go, I did hear something clattering in there but really did not pay any attention until he opened the door and went "uh-oh"......
Ya...uh oh is right...the inside of the dryer is spattered with ink.
Trying not to be too upset as it was an accident but it was so preventable if he had taken 5 seconds to check pockets....

However he did try to clean it, we googled some tips on getting ink out of a dryer, like hair spray, nail polish remover, rubbing alcohol etc...but so far nothing has worked???
Anyone else had this problem?? Anything that was sucessful???

Touch wood, so far nothing has tranferred onto clothes that have been in there since but...I would still like to get it off.

We were going to try Mr Clean Magic Eraser and see if that worked.

Oh Martha Stewart..where are you when we need u???

Yes...I know...

2009-11-12T18:19:00.000-08:00

I havn't been here much in the past few weeks. Quite simply there hasn't been a whole lot going on to blog about.
Busy yes but the everyday mundane things that would just bore you....
Things should pick up in the near future!!

Hard to believe....15 years ago...

2009-11-12T18:09:00.000-08:00

My beautiful baby girl came into this world! Born by c/section (not planned) my mom was the first one to see her and I am so proud to have shared that special moment with her.
Casi was 6lbs 5 oz and for the size of her, she certainly gave me a not so typical labour and delivery however....she was totally worth it! Casi was the calming quiet member of our family. She rarely cried and amused herself for hours as a baby with the simplist things.

Yes, I am aware that the cake says Brithday but how was I to know that the girl at DQ didn't know how to spell??? Regardless, the Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard Cake was awsome!

Casi, you are a joy in my life and I am truly honoured to have you as my daughter! I can only imagine what life hold for you and what dreams and goals you will accomplish! The past 15 years have flown by!

I Luvs You So Much!

Abby has my vote!

2009-10-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

If any of you are into "The Biggest Loser" this year and have seen any of the contestants or watched them on their journey to self discovery, you will have seen this lady.

Her name is Abby and like all the contestants on the show, she is overweight. What makes her different that all the other contestants on the show is that she has suffered the most unimaginable tradegy in her life.
2 years ago she lost her entire family. Her husband, her beautiful red headed 5 year old daughter and a gorgeous infant son. They all died in a car crash caused by get hit by another driver who was driving too fast.
Her story came up last night on the show and it was absolutely gut wrenching watching this poor woman relive what had to be the most horrible day in her life.
I just wanted to post about this remarkable woman who not only survived that but came on the show with determination to reclaim her life.
In last nights episode, her team members were called to vote one of their own off. This amazing woman sacrificed her chance to win the prize and asked them to send her home.
2nd prize is the biggest loser who can do it at home and my vote is for this amazing selfless woman.
I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to have your entire family wiped out in an instant, my hat is off to this woman who has managed to come back from that and is now an inspirational speaker to young kids and teachers.

Olivia @ 1 week old!

2009-10-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe the week just flew by!!!
We(I) had a hard time deciding on a name for this show hopeful girl! I wanted something unique but pretty like her mama!!
I was undecided between my top 2 choices of Olivia and Lara....I love them both but in the end I could only go with 1 name and choose Olivia...

As she is a singleton she has no actual litter mates so we improvised with stuffed toys. That way she has something to snuggle up with!

Once she decided to nurse on her own there was no looking back, she had doubled her birth weight by 6 days old and at 1 week she was 285 grams!

So far so good! I love her domey head and the rest will be a wait and see! The big fat tummy is a great site!

They've Arrived!!!

2009-10-27T11:47:00.000-07:00

They've arrived!!! On Saturday we met a truck that had arrived from the west carrying our goats!
Yes, I can't ever imagining being excited about goats but I was plenty excited to get these guys home! These guys are super rare in Canada and the fact that I was able to acquire a herd of mature myotonic goats is just amazing!
I am really stoked about being part of something that will preserve this breed and as I love exploring bloodlines and who goes where ....this is right up my alley!
So these guys were loaded up in Saskatchewan on Thursday afternoon and after spending 48 hrs + on the truck we picked them up in Cookstown!
Meet our new goats!

This is Ember...

Blaze
Cassidy

Daisy

Monica

Fancy

Continued next post...

More Goats!

2009-10-27T11:41:00.000-07:00

These are our new boys!

This is Hershey

The Messenger (Messy)

And more of the girls...This girl met the truck in Manitoba, she is just a doeling (born this spring), this is Cracker..

This is Splash..

I am super excited to get everyone together as right now they are in quarantine pens until I make sure that no one is sick. I will start early December pairing some of the girls up with boys in the hopes of having May babies. My waiting list has already started with requests. This is all very exciting for us. Just to give you an idea of how few breeders there are in Canada, the main registries for these guys list only 12 breeders in all of Canada..(myself now included)...

Stay tuned for news on arrivals of these guys!!

Autumn's princess

2009-10-21T15:49:00.000-07:00

Yes my Autumn is a mama!!! My princess has her own princess!!! This "single" bundle of joy was born Sunday evening at app 8:30 pm via c/section. Autumn started labour about 2 am Sunday morning, and by 6 pm sunday evening her contractions were no closer together and it seemed that they were not strong enough to get things going. I had already done an xray the previous Thursday and knew that there was only 1 puppy and it looked pretty large on the scan and also it was breech......
So not wanting to take any chances with this single puppy I called the vet and by 8 o'clock we were on route to the vet. We arrived and they prepped Autumn and started IV, got her cleaned and reshaved and by 830 pm we had a baby! The vet and her tech were speed demons for sure, I don't think I have ever had a section go that quickly! Hoping that because I hadn't waited too long the puppy would not be compromised I expected baby to fare just as well as mom....
Coming out with a super strong heartbeat, for whatever reason the little princess crashed and her heartrate became dangerously slow. With lots and lots of stimulation, some atripine and epinephrine to jump start her heart again, her heart rate was coming up. It was really tense for a bit.
However, long story short we got her going and by 1030 or so we were home. That night the little princess found her voice and wow...did she use it. She was cranky and irritable and Autumn was not sure what this tiny thing was?
I was up and down most of the night, getting baby to nurse and getting her to pee/poo as Autumn was still not sure what to do with her. By 4 am Autumn figured it out and man did little princess get a bath!
These pics are mom and baby post 15 hrs after surgery...

This is mom and baby at 3 days old. Baby has gained 25 grams in this short time and is doing extremely well. She finally started to look for and latch on the nipple yesterday afternoon, before that I was putting her every chance I could!
It is totally a labour of love, which I do love. Seeing them flourish and thrive before your eyes is an unimaginable feeling and worth all the lack of sleep!

Little princess is unnamed at this point....I am looking for suggestions?? Something pretty and unique?? The vet and the tech wanted to name her Turtle after her sluggish start but I just don't think that is a very elegant name for a show prospect puppy!!!!
So far all I can come up with is Lara or Alia .....
Any help would be great!!!

They're BACK!!!!

2009-10-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

Well the mighty moose hunters are back! Britt and I had a quiet week with 3 members of our family way WAY up north moose hunting.

I had to chuckle when they arrived home and the washing machine was going non stop cleaning up all those hunter orange clothes.

They did bring home some moose this year. Not a total fan of wild meat but a moose steak every now and then is a great change!

Bringin U up to speed

2009-10-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

It certainly has been busy around here. Currently Brittany and I are the only girls of the house as the rest of our crew has made their way up to Thunder Bay for the annual moose hunt. Not my cup of tea but different strokes/different folks I guess.
Our Thanksgiving weekend was a scattered one with those 3 away, Brittany babysitting and myself working so there was not a time that we were all home together to have a meal. I thinks I might plan something for when they get back and I am off!
I am on puppy watch this week....can't believe that 9 weeks has just flown by. Autumn is due on Friday. She has the tiniest of belly and I am fearing that she only has 1. Fearing because it generally makes for a larger puppy thus harder for mom to whelp. Fingers crossed.....I have an xray booked for her on Thursday to confirm exactly how many and what position(s) it or they are presenting. Adding to my stress...I am booked to work Fri,Sat,Sun so there is a huge possibility that she could go into labour any one of those days. Best case scenario, she goes into labour next Monday!!! Will keep you posted there!
We have secured a herd of myotonic goats! I am especially thrilled about this...(who knew..thrilled about goats)! Anyhow yes we have more of these delightful creatures coming to our farm! The biggest downside...they are in Saskatchewan..yep mid west... As these guys are pretty rare and almost impossible to find, the fact that I was able to find so many and adults to boot is pretty cool!
So I am trying to find a hauler that is coming back from the west to bring these babies home. The best part of this is that these guys coming are mature goats and we will be able to have our own babies born here next spring! This venture has taken off faster than we had anticipated but we are excited just the same!
I will post when they arrive and how the whole process goes!

Bestest Friends...

2009-10-10T17:01:00.000-07:00

Just a photo to share.....

I would have never dreamed that these two would become the best of friends. But..they are...
They run and chase and play tirelessly.
Also a big surprise to me is how much I have come to love Ty in the house. He is a silly, quirky boy who is full of action but in the next second will sit with me and loves to get kisses. He will even press his check against mine for more kisses....
I was never a big fan of the JRT but this little guy has definitely changed my opinion! Of course Bella is the biggest baby you could ever want...no question there!

What a visit!!!

2009-10-10T15:09:00.000-07:00

I havn't been around these parts much in the past couple of weeks. I have been spending time with my sis who came to visit! Cleared my work schedule and blogging was put on hold to spend extra quality time!!!
We had a packed visit....did lots of travelling and visiting other family members and friends.
The fall colours are just beautiful right now, which made the driving very enjoyable!
These were taken on our drive from Ottawa.

We spent some time with our Aunt Tina...gosh I love that woman! She was a big part of our childhood growing up. Every Easter my parents would get together with them....I used to look forward to going to Ottawa....my aunt always remembered and gave me an Easter egg!

She is such a special lady...

While in Ottawa, we visited our cousins. This is a rare occasion and to get a picture even...priceless!!!

I had booked Bella's spay and a dental for Sienna which landed smack in the midst of my sis' stay but it worked out excellent as we got to visit with my super friend Esther too! While the dogs were at the clinic we did some shopping in the states. Had a fabulous visit, great company and super good food! Thanks Esther!

This too is a rare shot....been buddies for about 10 years and this may be the only pic we have of the 2 of us!!!

Brittany was trying to prove to Aunt Nance that she was taller than her!!! I think she was on her tippy toes!!!

Love this one!!! Love my sis too!! Do you think we look alike????

We did some walks along our road and there is this gorgeous maple who is brimming with crimson red leaves right now....

Fall is so pretty!!

Bella loved the walks and loved the papillons who also came to visit! She was especially fond of Copper...they played and played!

Me and Bella...(pre spay)...

She is doing good and little sore yet but definitely so relieved that the surgery is over and done! No Bernese heats...I can't even imagine what that would be like...yikes....

This is little Cara...one of my sis' travelling buddies...what a cute little doll! We did nickname her fussy and my Autumn was fussier as they are both spoiled rotten and think that plain ol' dog food is just not good enough for them!

This is Copper, the german import that my sister brought in. He is so full of himself and considered himself an honourary yorkie within the house. Full of beans and loved playing with Cruiser!

In short, had a fabulous visit! As always it is heartbreaking to say good bye ( did that this morning). I treasure these visits and love the time that we spend together. It is worth more than anything in the world! Love you Nance and can't wait to see you again!!!!!

New Seasons begin!!!

2009-09-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

I love the start of fall which means the start of season premieres!!!
Not a huge TV watcher but I did allot some time this week to catch some fav's from last season as they are beginning again!
The Biggest Loser cycle 8....
I think this show is amazing! Am so in awe at some weeks to watch their weight loss. The first week one guy lost an amazing 28 lbs!! That is huge for 1 week! Granted I think he is over 400 lbs to start with but still its pretty amazing! I think what they are doing for these people is great in working with them and giving them the tools to take control of their lives. I super enjoy watching their transformations from week to week!

America's Next Top Model cycle 13
This is another fav for us girlies in the house. I am amazed again at some of the make up they do and how they make these girls look, their photos come out absolutely stunning! Tyra can get a little full of herself now and again and she gets annoying but I suppose its her show and she can do what she wants right???!! This season is a little different as she has chosen candidates that are under 5'7 which seemed to be the minimum if you were looking to model so good for her to give some of these 'petite' girls a shot!

And finally Desperate Housewives.... love to watch these seemingly bored housewives get themselves into hot water by doing stupid thing. On some levels they can be relatable and then on others, not a chance but still like to catch their weekly episodes anyway!

Amazing I actually watched 3 hrs of TV this week! My good ol' stand by soap opera ( Y & R ) I havn't seen in ages. I managed to catch about 15 minutes a week or so ago and there was this whole outdoor scene with a crazy lady with a stuffed cat??? What is that about? I'm sure the writers are getting paid big bucks so I'm sure they can come up with something better than an insane person with a stuffed toy? Whoa....

A different view

2009-09-26T20:16:00.000-07:00

Had my camera out the to get some pics of the horses and took some of the buildings from another angle.

Thought I would share.

And still the barns seem too small, we may need to expand yet!

Too Cool...

2009-09-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

The other day I was driving home and noticed this brown thing in the field. I thought it looked like Dave had dumped a pile of stones. I thought it was strange that he would have dumped stones in the middle of the field so I questioned him and he said that the brown thing was a muskrat house.
This is what I spotted from my van.....

So of course I had to go and investigate and check it out!! We have had an incredible wet summer and I guess the now wet land is ideal conditions for them to buy their houses.

Although I didn't really want to run into the occupant of the house I did find it really interesting and cool how it was built and what the little booger made his house out of. You can see he used roots and grass and mud. His house stand about 5 feet tall and about 3 feet around. Pretty impressive for a 'rat' sized body I'd say.....

Call me simple but I just think it is really cool how nature can take care of itself and how one little 'rat' thingy could build something like this!!! Even though I've never seen a muskrat and I'd like to keep it that way, kuddos to him for his inginuity!!!

Still more pics!

2009-09-24T06:41:00.000-07:00

And here are the some of the rest of the lovely shots that Tracey took that day! I am absolutely thrilled how they turned out!
For ease of viewing and not to give you picture 'overload' I have made collages of everyone. You can click on them to make them larger.

I think this is my favourite shot! I love this with the rail fencing and the barn in the background!

And more Pics!

2009-09-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

And still more pics, Tracey you made us all so relaxed and brought the best photo's out in us!

We had a great day! The guys scampered off to do their thing that day so it was just us girls for the end of the shoot! Brittany and Casi were busy posing for Tracey and loved every minute of it! Think they have watched too many episodes of ANTM!!!

Some teasers...

2009-09-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

A while back on this very blog it was gently 'suggested' to me that my family picture on the right of the screen is quite outdated....(you know who you are, thanks for the nudge!)
It got me to thinking, yes our last family picture was quite outdated (2006)and we should do it again!
I have been seeing on FB this wonderful local photographer's work and decided to track her down and have her do our family shots!
What better place to do a shoot but at our little piece of paradise...our farm.
I wanted very casual and very country shots of us using the cedar rails and barn boards and the wildflowers that are growing.

I have anxiously been awaiting these 'teasers' for weeks! I love what she has done and can't wait to get the rest of the pictures! You will notice that James is not in these...I am only adding what I have so far! Once I get a family shot, I will be updating my family pic on the right of the screen too! I am so thrilled with the teasers, if anyone in my area is interested in using this photographer, she is wonderful! Very calm and put us all at ease really quickly, which was no easy feat considering the 'male' members of my household were less than thrilled with the whole photo shoot idea! Her website is www.tkendallphotography.com

Thanks Tracey for a great day, you are super!

Up and Running....

2009-09-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

For anyone that doesn't know, the free webspace 'geocities' is shutting down the end of October. I have/had 2 websites on geocities both of which are crutial for advertising and selling my puppies and horses.
So with that in mind I had to buy a domain for my 'businesses' so they could remain visible on the web!

So welcome to my new webpage!
It is TimberYork Farm and you can find it at http://www.timberyork.com/
I have the basics up and hope to do some changes to fit the whole grand scheme that I have in my head. I just need to get accustomed to the new page building tools!
Have a look and let me know what you think!

Very proud of..

2009-09-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

Brittany who ventured out and got herself some babysitting jobs! She loves kids and was looking to make some of her own money so she posted an ad on Kijiji. She was approached by 3 different people and had 3 interviews and now she has 3 different families she is babysitting for!

She babysat this little guy here on Saturday. Baby *S* was adorable! He is 21 months old.

She asked her friend Amanda to come over and help and the 2 of them were like little mama's and doted on this little guy all day. I'm sure he never had so much teenage attention ever!

He went home mid afternoon and then she had to babysit at the other place for evening. These were twin 8 year old boys and a 6 year old girl!

She was wiped by Sunday!

I am so very proud that you have taken the initiative Brittany and are doing what you enjoy along with making a few dollars as well.

Some of her free days are booking up if anyone is in need of a 'fun' babysitter. She is amazing with the kids and even helped out with a buddy of mine this summer who has a home day care.

So, so proud of you Brittany!!!

::Congratulations Kattie & Mike::

2009-09-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

We had the priviledge of attending a good friend's wedding over the weekend. We have basically watched Kattie grow up. Her father was in our wedding party...many moons ago so it was great to be there and watch Kattie as she got married herself!
It was an outdoor wedding and the weather could not have been more perfect! Beautiful, sunny but not too hot and not too breezy.

As Mike is a dairy farmer, the tractors were an intrical part of the photos. The tractors were shined up and probably havn't never looked so good.
As we drove up and seen the tractors lined up with their loaders up in an arch, we actually thought they were going to be married under the arch but no, they were just placed there for a good ol "John Deere" photo shot.

Kattie's dress was beautiful and actually had the colour of her girls dresses along the top and bottom of the dress.

Even, their dog was part of ceremony. Kura (the boxer) was the ring bearer and was all dressed up for the occassion too!

I love it!

It was a great day! We seen so many people that we had not seen in ages! It was a fun time! Also great to see Kattie marry her soul mate!

Just friends...

2009-09-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

Just some randoms shots of Brittany and Amanda, friends just chillin'
Rockin' the barn boots!!!

With the barn kitties.... Thomas and Julia....

Model posing...

Just having fun....

Running around on the 4-wheeler...

So nice to see the girls have good simplistic fun! Just hanging out and having fun!!! Good friends are so nice to have!

The Basement Chronicles...final edition...

2009-09-12T08:25:00.000-07:00

This should be my last post on the basement updates. As I am finished painting and thought I would show some before and afters...
The rec room before...

Now.. found some good used furniture off of Kijiji, fits just perfect in there...

Before..
After...

From the rec room looking into the kitchen...

The kitchen before...

and after...we are using the extra space for storage of all those kitchen gadgets that only get used periodically...

from the kitchen looking into the rec room and what is now Brittany's room..

and now....

I am very pleased with the updates! I love the space and although we have not used it too much over the summer, I am anticipating alot of use this winter when we are all cooped up inside. I am onto painting the bathroom upstairs. Will let you all know how that turns out with some before and afters!

Just to let you know...

2009-09-10T20:07:00.001-07:00

that the dental surgery went well. All 4 of the wisdom teeth are now gone. When I came back to pick James up he was still pretty groggy from the anesthetic. He was frozen and actually quite comical. He reminded me of the way he used to be at about age 5, prattling on and on and being quite cute.
His mood quickly changed to grumpy however once the freezing wore off. Luckily we were prescribed some pain meds, quickly got them on board!
So far so good, I did do my short 5 hr shift, came back and James had made a water trough for the goats??? Not sure why but I suppose it was a good project for him for the afternoon.
Not too much of the puffiness that everyone says will happen, however we will see how it looks tomorrow!
I DID get to the apples, never did get a chance to look up any interesting recipes but went with my ol stand by of cinnamon and brown sugar. The apple sauce is quite yummy just like that!
So, all in all its been a full day and slumberland looks pretty good right now!

The Relish

2009-09-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

My first attempt at making relish was a success....I think..(I hope anyway) . As my cucumbers are ripening in droves I was at a loss of what to do with them all. You can only eat so many raw cucumbers before you start to look like one?
So always being game to try something new, I thought I would try my hand at making relish. Brushed off the food processor and away I went!
This BIG bowl of veggies sitting on my counter was really appealing and it smelled really good too!

The recipe said it makes 15 cups of relish.

I gave the taste test to 2 of the kids, got one approval and one not so much...

So I tried it and thought it tasted pretty good! If you are interested you will find the recipe HERE. I want to search through and find something for applesauce that might be interesting as I still have half a milk crate of apples to find something to do with???

Not sure what my day looks like tomorrow, may have time late morning. James has an appt to have all 4 of his wisdom teeth pulled. He has to be put out and not sure how much of a patient he will be afterwards...we'll see if I can pull off applesauce and look after him too??? Working at 4 pm so there is only a small window of time to do it? If I manage to get it done I will post and let ya'll know it turns out.

Oh and by the way...

2009-09-09T07:35:00.000-07:00

Happy 09-09-09!!!
Will never happen again!

Being Present

2009-09-09T06:49:00.000-07:00

This has been on my mind alot lately. "Being Present" in my kids lives. Lately I feel it being so important. With James going off into the world within a year and then the other 2 following close behind how present was I in their lives? When they look back on their childhood what will they remember most?
Where is the balance of building a home and life and a roof over their heads along with putting food on the table without missing out on the important 'little' things in their lives???
We all want our kids to have things, and why is it so important to have the house clean or to get that load of laundry done? Why do we as women put so much pressure on ourselves to be "Super Mom" and do all things for everyone?
As some days are just busy and before I know it the day is over, did I remember to give them a hug or tell them I loved them? What are they going to remember about that day? That the dishes are done or the warmth of a loving hug? Or the floor is swept or conversation over baking or taking the time out to play a game or going for a walk?
Where is that balance of teaching them to be responsible for themselves along the way so that they can look after themselves on their own and have the skills to do so or letting them be kids when they are kids. How do we teach them to be productive members of society but yet allow them to have a childhood?
As a child we were always made to help, in my case it was in the barn as I grew up on a dairy farm. At the time I didn't like it at all but now I see that it instilled a good work ethic within me to try to do a good job in whatever I do. I do hope my kids will have that same ethic as well but how do I teach them that it is not ALL about work?
How do I try to be present in their lives when I feel it is now that they need the guidance the most (even though they don't think so!) along with the daily stresses of bills to pay, housework, farmwork, gardening, work etc?
There is a full time line posted at work, basically yes it would mean a financial boost in my pay but it would also mean that I would rarely be home at the supper hour. Again I have had to struggle with finding that balance of 'yes', the money is always useful but is that more important than dinner conversation with the kids or "being present" when they come home from school and hearing about their days. Even though they don't actually 'need' me to be home how many of those little moments are going to be lost by not being there?
I'm sure most of you moms or dads (especially of teens) out there have had the same thoughts or struggled with these issues, would love to hear how you managed to balance out everything. If not then I just had to get this out there as it has been weighing heavy on my mind lately.

Back to School!

2009-09-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

Seriously???? Already???
I can't belive the summer has just flown by and the kids are back to school already!
There is truth to saying that as you get older time just goes by faster and faster!
This year we have James in his last year of high school, Casi going into gr 10 and Brittany into gr 8. Hard to believe James and Brittany are both seniors in their schools. It will be a big gulp in the spring preparing both of them for graduation!

Got down to going some baking yesterday for lunches. We had attempted to make apple crisp the day before...actually the making was fine but in the cooling process Bella decided that the apple crisp was better than her dog food and ate pretty much ALL of the 2 apple crisps we had made.
She has been a little opportunistic lately....so this is something we have to work on ;(

This was Casi's baking...an apple bar it was called.
Chocolate Zucchinni Cake...man this is REALLY good!

Apple Crisp...attempt #2!! Most of our apple trees are ripe so we had picked 2 crate fulls last week.

We got the apple bar recipe and the chocolate zucchinni cake recipe from THIS site. This blog is amazing (thanks for tip Shawna)!

It is a mennonite recipe site and with recipes like the chocolate zucchinni cake, I can't believe they are not 300 lbs!

I am trying their cucumber relish today, will let you know how it turns out! I may try to find an applesauce recipe too to use up the rest of the apples we picked.

We actually have mennonite neighbors. They are great neighbors to have. I admire their way of life. That being said however, I don't think I could do without the internet!!

The Basement Chronicles...cont'd (from a LONG time ago)!

2009-09-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

Months ago I posted about a fresh look we were giving to our basement. With the onset of summer and life becoming chaotically busy, I didn't get any time to work on it.

However with the nights becoming cool I had the urge last week to paint. As luck would have it, CT had their paint on sale.

I chose "CobbleStone" for the bathroom and kitchen down there. It is kind of a mix between a green and a brown, in different light it looks either.

This is the only before I have.....

And now....

We added a few towel holders and bars.

I really love the new look. This is by all accounts Brittany's bathroom and she wasn't happy with my choice of colour but oh well. We are finding it has really eased up on the traffic on our main bath upstairs!

I also have been decorating mode for the rec room, as it thus far has nothing on the walls, I found a wall hanging that I had done ages ago. Not sure how it is going to work out but we had some bull rushes growing so I sprayed them with a sealer and added some other decorative grasses and voila...a little touch of home'i'ness to the basement.

Its an oldie...but a goodie...back in my cross-stitch phase....

The painting continues...I am working on the kitchen as well, in the same colour as the bathroom. It seems I need about a 36 hr day to get everything that I want to do! It will be a great feeling once everything is all done! Ok...will that ever happen??

It only took us a month or better....

2009-08-31T21:10:00.000-07:00

but the fields are planted....
After several weeks of working the land only to have it just about ready to seed, it would rain and we would have to start over again!
As of last Friday, our 2 back hay fields are seeded, fertilized and rolled.
I knew it would be an undertaking with Dave working full time and everything else that goes on but little by little we managed to git er' done!

Hopefully next spring, our fields will look like this and we will have lots of hay to feed our ever expanding band of animals!

Just to note that we currently had our own hay fields and got our own hay crop but we had a hard winter on our hay last year that killed out most of our fields so we had to replant. We are hoping to buy our own haying equipment within the next year or so, so that we can harvest our own hay instead of paying huge custom work $$$'s for it!

The Goats have arrived!!!

2009-08-31T07:31:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago we made the long trip down to Dalkeith, which is almost to the Quebec border. 5 hrs each way! We did a down and back and wow...was it a long day! We brought our newest members of our farm home. The long awaited fainting goats. For years we had talked about getting these guys and finally now we are owned by 3 of them! We have another little lady coming from Manitoba hopefully the end of September.

They are sweet little girls and already they have captured our hearts! They are inquisitive but shy all at the same time. We have already spent lots of time out there hand feeding them bits and bites of goodies that they love. We were told they like animal crackers or baby cookies and wow...do they ever! It is fun to watch them steal a piece from your hand and back off quickly only to come back and do it again!

From left to right there is Calico Rose, Twinkle Toes and LillyAnna....and yes they were named when we got them!

We have seen them "faint" at different times and it is quite comical. We don't set out to make them faint as that is cruel but sometimes when they get excited or startled over they go! Myself especially have been enjoying learning about them. Even the kids who for the most part do not have any interest in any of the animals in the barn are out there playing with them!

Upcoming Arrivals!!

2009-08-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

In the midst of all the bus'y'ness that has been going on around here, Autumn came into season. As she will be 2 in September and 'just' finished her championship, it was a great time to breed her.
I decided to use an outside male this time around. My hope is that there will be a new show hopeful in the works and would be unrelated to my boys that I have here.

I decided to use this little boy. Marshall is an awsome boy and I loved his conformation and colour. Not to mention that he has a really nice head. He also happens to be grandson of Multi BIS, BISS Am/Can Ch. Durrer's Heirloom who is huge right now in the yorkies. Heirloom is 2008 #1 Toy, #1 Yorkshire Terrier, #8 ranking All Breed and the Highest Scoring Yorkie in History.
I feel very fortunate to be able to acquire these bloodlines which will only better my dogs for the future.

So mid October our 'hopefuls' should arrive! Keep your fingers crossed for healthy mom and healthy babies!!!

What to do with...

2009-08-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

All this zuchini????
Back in the spring knowing how much a zuchini plant would yield, I purposely only planted 1. Only ONE!!!
Still it is bearing 'fruit' like crazy!

Last nights dinner was zuchini, onion cooked in olive oil with garlic and some tomatoes and peppers. Served over noodles or rice, it is fabulous!

I have trying to use it up, we have been having zuchini omelettes and I have been making banana zuchini loaf and muffins....

Still there are tonnes of zuchini coming....eeeks!

Does anyone have a great use for it? Even a great recipe for more loaf or muffins? The one I found off the internet was kind of heavy.

Surprisingly the kids actually like it! Figuring they would turn their noses up it I kind of tried to hide it in things but when I made the zuchini over noodles, they absolutely loved it! Best part too is there is only vegetables in it and pretty healthy ( would have been better if I used Whole Wheat noodles but...)

I have read too that Zuchini is full of Vitamin C so i guess we have been getting our doses lately!

The Deck - Decorated!

2009-08-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

I've been busy trying to 'dress' up our new space outside on the deck. Last week I found this "conversation set" (whatever that means??) on sale at CT. It was $100 off the original price. Actually this time of year has been great for finding deals on outdoor patio stuff!
Anyway....we put up the set, this is where our patio table used to sit. We have found a new spot for that....

I loved these windchimes...which were also on sale...

This is where our patio table sits now!! I am most excited about this change to our deck. A week or so ago I went to Zellers and they had 1 sunshade left, this 10x12. I ended up getting $150 off this baby along with the mosquito netting for $50 off! I felt proud of myself. I love this new area. We have sat outside at night and lit the candles and it is so relaxing just to hear the quiet of the evening with maybe the odd bullfrog. It is the perfect ending to some very busy days we've been having!

In the daytime too, it is nice to sit and watch the dogs play which for me are better entertainment than any ol TV show. Or in the morning having our coffee for a snippit of quiet before the day begins.

I think for now the deck is about perfect! Not too cluttered and just right! We still have to bring some electricity to it and a water tap. However it is looking like these might be next years 'To Do List'..we'll see. Along with the lattice on the bottom and pool deck.

It was definitely worth the 2 years wait (although i didn't agree at the time!) I love the new space, especially where the sunshade is.

Congratulations Sabrina and Eric!

2009-08-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday Dave's niece Sabrina welcomed 2 new additions into her family.

6 weeks early her twin baby girls were born.

Phoenix Elizabeth 5 lbs 14 oz

Essence Ava 4 lbs 10 oz

Congratulations to new mom and dad! We look forward to meeting your new little ones!!

Bella and Chad

2009-08-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

While we were in Darien Lake, we asked our good friend Lori to watch Bella. As Bella did not fare well while we were out in BC with no one at home the majority of the time to be with her, we figured she again would not do well without 100% human companionship in our absence.

Well Bella flourished at Lori's house, especially with her 5 year son Chad. They bonded instantly and Chad much to his delight found out that Bella would do tricks and commands for him!

Lori told me that Bella would not leave his side and when he went to bed she layed in front of his door. She also greeted him every morning with a big jump on his bed.

I am so pleased that she was a good girl. Lori even said that they missed her when we picked her up! Thanks again for looking after her.

(photos courtesty of Lori!)

In Preparation for.....

2009-08-06T06:23:00.000-07:00

These guys..........................

We are in the process of closing in last years attempt at a chicken house, to make a goat shed/barn whatever you want to call it.

We braced it and strapped it and started putting tin on the back of the structure.

Eventually this will house our 4 Myotonic (Fainting) Goats that will be arriving later this month. It really does look better than the picture projects! Will post the finished product when its completed!

We are picking up the 1st three goats pictured from Eastern Ontario later this month and the 4th (black and white girl) will be making her way from Manitoba in September. We have been on a waiting list since February and late spring we made our selections and since then have been waiting for the gals to be weaned from their mommas.

This is a new venture for us and hopefully one that we will enjoy. As the myotonic goat is endandered in Canada I am really looking forward to being part of something that is preserving a breed.

The deck is fini!!!!

2009-08-06T04:59:00.000-07:00

This is one post that I am really excited to share! If you remember the post I wrote last month about the deck building that was going on and I promised to let you know when it was finished so here it is!!!
For 2 long years we have discussed this deck project. As with all projects it is a balance of time and money which there never seems to be enough of. Surprisingly it didn't take too long at all. Basically 2 weekends of puttering on it and its pretty much all done! The deck wood is eastern cedar and Dave did a favour for a guy and got the lumber at a great deal.

We still need to cut lattice and put along the ground and in between the new and pool deck.

We have a temporary make shift gate that is blocking access to the pool, so we have to build a gate here yet too.

I just love the new space! I also think it is cool the way there are different levels and corner angle stairs. Does anyone have any ideas of a stain that works with cedar? Over the years I have tried different stains and treatments and non of them stick? I have resorted to just pressure washing the grey away every year. Any ideas??? Anyone??? You can see the difference in colour between the new and old, I would love to keep it looking the new colour....

We have to move the clothes line yet to the far end of the deck so no one gets strangled.....:((

It remains quite bare yet as we finished the deck and left for Darien Lake within 2 days. All I have managed to do it get a few planters to place on it. If the dogs leave them alone they should look quite nice on there! For now the plan is to put a gazebo (sun shade) on there with our dining patio set underneath.

On a grander scale I would like to get some outdoor furniture at some point, like a wicker set or something along those lines. There are so many cool and interesting outdoor pieces out there! I have been surfing kijiji and craigslist for a good used set but nothing has popped up so far. Even grander yet I would like to a 3-4 person hot tub at some point. This is an item that I probably will not buy new as they are grossly expensive and if patient enough you can find a good used one reasonable. I am looking for one of those ones that is just the 110V that you plug in and use, if anyone knows of one.

There are a few finishing details we need to complete on the deck yet but I was too anxious to wait! This is by all accounts phase 3 of our deck project, the 1st being the deck at the front and 2nd the pool deck. Phase 4 and the final phase is a roof over the deck at the front giving the house that ol' country charm of a front porch. I am excited about this one too but Dave has already warned me not to even mention it until next year!!! Stay tuned!!!

One for the team...

2009-08-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, baseball season wrapped up for the year with a 3 day stretch of tournament games.
The tournament is the highlight of the year for the girls and Brittany was really excited to play! She had been a very versatile player this year. Her positions included all the bases , back catcher and pitcher. I think she enjoyed pitching the most.

However she was not meant to pitch at the tournament. The very 1st game they played, 2nd inning Britt was hit by the ball in the hand.
So instead of spending her tournament games with her teammates battling it out for the win, we spent it at our local emergency department getting xrays for a possible broken thumb. Her thumb had the classic look of being broken, the icky purple colour it quickly changed to and the fact that she had a hard time moving it along with the swelling that wasn't long to appear. However after 2 hours of wating the doc said it wasn't broken just badly sprained. He put a splint on it and off we went.
Brittany was determined to play the following day and was able to at least get up to bat if not anything else.......

The girls ended up finishing A division in 2nd place. They had a great year and as always Britt is looking forward to the season again next year.
The thumb??? Turns out it was broken, a week later we recieved a call from the same doctor who seen us in emerg that yes in fact there was a fracture.
So we have bought another splint for it just to protect it so it can heal hopefully properly...
It was a great year for ball and way to go Britt for taking one for your team!!!! Proud of You!!

Road Trip to Darien Lake!

2009-08-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

Very spur of the moment....and generally we are not very spur of the moment people we took a 3 day trip down to Darien Lake, NY.
Last minute we found out the Dave could get some time off work and it happened to fall when I had my weekend off so we (and when I say "we" I really mean "I") quickly planned a trip to a place that we had talked about for a couple of years now. It was kind of rush rush, making arrangements for all the animals at home as life on a farm does not mean just pick up and go whenever you want!
Darien Lake is basically the NY version of our Canada's Wonderland except there is camping on site. So passports in hand, off we went!
I was quite surprised, that basically in 3.5 to 4 hr drive we were there.

We decided to rent a trailer there instead of bringing ours with us. Dave calculated that the difference in cost would likely be eaten up in fuel of taking our trailer....personally I think he just wanted me to do all the driving as I usually do! (FYI...I don't drive with big trailers on the back)

This was the view from our trailer door....looking right over into the park!!!

Lots of things to do for thrill seekers!!! The girls went on all the rides multiple times. Not I however, I am a bit of chicken when it comes to heights and prefer to have my feet planted firmly on the ground....

It was a great spot, would love to do it again next year. Hopefully this time with James too. (He had summer school and couldn't miss any time) It was quite relaxing as the girls were occupied and I actually got to read and finish a book that I had started on the plane to BC.

Cost wise it was probably cheaper to do this than to buy tickets for Wonderland for 3 days and stay in a campground.

The evenings were great for campfires and they put on a fireworks plus laser show every night. The show was spectacular and very cool to watch. I totally think we made the right decision to rent a trailer versus staying in the hotel at the park. It was more economical as we could cook our own meals plus camping is just way cooler!

After 3 days of fun and tonnes of roller coasters we were ready to head back home. We stopped at a huge mall in Buffalo and did some shopping. I did some BTS (seriously Back To School shopping already?) and got some great deals. I even found a Bath and Body Works store, I have SO wanted to shop there for ages!
We toured up to the American side of Niagara Falls and checked it out. I am such a terrible Canadian.... We live this close to one of the most phenominal natural wonders of the world and I have not seen the Falls since I was 5 or so and don't even remember it.
We debated which side to see and ended up with the US side figuring that we could always see the Canadian side another time without having the hassle of customs or border crossing.
What a beautiful sight it is and so humbling!!!

We toured a wax museum of all the significant people who had anything to do with the Falls and became quite tourist'y' and walked along all the vendors. Brittany was on the hunt for "I 'heart" NY" T-shirts.

We crossed the border early evening and had dinner at a Tuckers Marketplace in Toronto. We made it home just after 10pm, tired but really happy that we did this trip. It was above all nice to spend some downtime together and also see some interesting sight along the way.

It was a cool road trip....

BC was a blast!!!

2009-08-02T20:01:00.000-07:00

This post is sadly over due as it has been almost a month since we were out on our sunny west coast! However I do eventually get around to these things!

For 8 days my ladies and I spent a wonderful time with my sister and her family. We enjoyed each other's company and did a bit of this and that along with my nephews wedding which I DID get around to blogging about!

As I mentioned in my previous post that my aunt and cousin were able to come to the wedding as well which we were all thrilled about! Those times are so precious with them and we thoroughly enjoyed their presence there.

Here I am doing my aunts nails before the wedding. My girls and I had all gotten pedi's and mani's so she wanted her nails to look spiffy too!

My other nephew playing with my sisters papillon puppies.

It was the house of papillons!!! A true change from my house of yorkie!

I really apologize for the lack of pictures but my camera decided to act up and other than the wedding I don't have alot of other pictures. However needless to say that we all had a good time and it was great to reconnect with family again! The first days of our trip were busy, spent travelling back and forth to Victoria for pre wedding functions. We had a bridal shower, and pre-hearsal luncheon and then a post rehersal BBQ, and then was the big day!

After the wedding we had a bit of down time and spent the Monday kayaking along the ocean waterfront. It was beautiful and very relaxing! I had never been kayaking before and had a great time!

The following day we heading off on the ferry to the mainland to do some shopping. We hit the mall and spent the night in a hotel..again it was wonderful to do things with family. My aunt was so amazed and appreciative of the time spent that it brought tears to my eyes. Wednesday we parted ways and they headed back to Alberta. My sister and I went and visited a great yorkie person! I was very much looking forward to this visit and seeing her dogs and just enjoying her company. Kim is a riot and a wealth of information!

After our visit we headed off to Vancouver airport to pick up my sister's awaited new super male, (yes its a papillon!) After a long hour we managed to sneak a peak at him through the crate door. He had travelled from Germany and my sis has high hopes for this boy! Then the little guy had to clear customs and he was hers! After all the paperwork we got to see the long awaited boy and what and personality! I don't think my face has ever been washed quite so well!

These are not pics of the new little guy but of my sis's other puppies.....

We caught the ferry back to the island and one more sleep were home bound. Our flight was delayed and we arrived back in TO at midnight. What a long day it was!

So in a nut shell that was our trip, again wish I could have blogged with pics..i know its so much more exciting...

I am way behind on my blogging...there has been so much happening this summer but i just can't keep up with it all!

Finally "The Wedding"...

2009-07-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

Better late than never right??? I think so....
Finally getting around to sifting through the some odd 600 pictures or so that Casi took at my nephews wedding back in mid July.
The wedding was beautiful, the day was absolutely perfect, the location was breathtaking and the scenery was just stunning!
My nephew tied the knot with his lovely bride Brice at an oceanside property. It was set upon a high cliff with ocean below and mountain views. The gardens and waterfalls were spectacular and just all around a gorgeous setting for a wedding.

Here is some of the clan before the wedding....you can see the ocean below. My aunt and cousin were able to come which we were thrilled about!

The ceremony was lovely and struck tears in many eyes as the bride and groom said their vows.

My sister and her family...growing all the time....

Myself and the girls were able to come and attend. It was nice to have everyone together.

Post ceremony....what a gorgeous couple!

This was the perfect ending to the perfect day. A first dance to a Brad Paisley song..I thought I loved you then...

We had a lovely day and were so thankful we were able to attend. It was wonderful spending time with my sister and her family and also my aunt and cousin.

I'm Back!!!

2009-07-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

Probably didn't miss me much but since Thursday evening we have been without a working computer!
How internet deprived we all were!
My desktop had gone down while we were away and I just hadn't gotten around to taking it in to be fixed so everyone was using my laptop and it decided to die too!
So today we fixed the problem with the laptop (funky adaptor) and took my desktop in to be fixed too!
Soooo happy to have my computer working again!

Spent the better part of the day...

2009-07-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

Doing this....Ok...well I actually wasn't doing this but assisted in a big way! Our sheep were in bad need of their annual hair cut and bright and early this morning our shearer guy showed up!

As Dave was still sleeping from getting home somewhere around 5 am, it was total girl power between the shearer guy and Casi and me... (this actually is not our shearer guy or one of our sheep, woke up too early to remember the camera and really not a fan of taking it to the barn)

We made out pretty good between shoots and gates, had almost 3/4 of them done by the time Dave woke up! It gave us a good opportunity to deworm them and check thier hooves too..

Between Casi and I and the guy we had a good system down! Some of our girls gave us trouble and some more "man" power would have been great but we certainly managed!!

It is a great feeling to get another one of those jobs crossed off the list! I really do not like this job...it is just plain....well stinky....

My sheep look like skinny pigs now!! (again, not one of our sheep but you get the idea! )Also this morning we had our first lamb of the fall season born! The first of many to be born in the coming weeks we hope!!!

Bella - updated!

2009-07-22T16:39:00.000-07:00

Wow...2 posts in one day...things are lookin' up!
Had a good friend of mine stop over yesterday and took some great shots of Bella. My not so wee puppy anymore!
She is a complete love bug and craves hugs and pets and whatever you want to give her ALL the time!
For the most part she is pretty mellow and just loves to be near someone.

She did not fare so well last week with no one home most of the time. By the time we arrived home in wee hours of Friday morning she went crazy to see us. Since then she has not let us out of her sight and I have been trying to make up for all the love she lost in the week we were gone!!

She has just finished puppy obedience and next week will start level 2. She is pretty good at sit and down, she will wait when she is put in a sit/stay. She knows speak and paw. She is learning heel. Her best friend in the house is Ty (JRT) for sure...they play and play! She is probably in the 50-60 lb range and might get up to 100 lbs at full grown. She is just shy of 6 months old!

All in all she is a good girl and I enjoy having her around the house.