Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Weekends Away

Recently I posted about what I would consider a perfect weekend.  I mentioned sun and sand or trips to Paris, and concluded that even at home snuggles could constitute a great weekend.  Last weekend I added another item to that list - a girls weekend away.  And I don't mean with my little girls...with girls whose ages were in the double digits!  And OMG it was so much fun!!  I am big believer that sometimes to re-energize you need to just get the hell out of dodge...after this weekend I'm even more convinced!

Not only was I with 3 really amazing women, but I got to shop all weekend.  Need I say more??  Although it may be hard to imagine, I *gasp* had never been to Watertown, Syracuse or Waterloo to do any shopping.  Now that I know what I was missing, I will be returning.  The deals were fantastic!

The shopping was awesome (the fact that we needed a van to bring our wares over the border is a testament to that), but truthfully the best part of the trip was hanging out with some pretty fantastic friends.  I haven't met anyone that I have clicked with so well in a long time. I giggled so much my cheeks hurt (and it wasn't just because they introduced me to vodka and 7up as a drink), I discovered we have lots in common, and I was introduced to some new phrases (a few of which I will not post on my family oriented blog :-) ).

As the saying goes, good friends are hard to find - and I feel lucky to count this crew on my list of good friends.  Needless to say I am already looking forward to the next one (I'm hoping for at least one per year).  Hmmm...maybe I can convince them that girls weekends are even better when we are somewhere sunny.  I'll work on it.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Writing Prompts Rock!!

I recently discovered this awesome blogger who has this cool idea - every week there are writing prompts posted on her site.  Essentially, there are a bunch of ideas/questions/issues that you can use to kick off a blog post.  Why do I think is cool you ask?  Because sometimes the creative juices are just not flowing - and these prompts help to get your mind focussed on an idea.

For anyone interested, the blog is called "Mama's Losin It" and you can get to the writing prompts at
http://www.mamakatslosinit.com/writers-workshop-directions/

Before I tackle this prompt, can I just say how much fun I am having discovering all the cool bloggers - who knew the world of blogging could keep my attention as much as a Twilight movie - well almost as much :-)

This prompt asked:  Write a moment you felt truly relieved.  Here goes...

I will admit there have been a few of these moments in my life.  When I heard my dad had gone to the hospital, but the next sentence was he is fine.  When my mom had a health scare that turned out to be pretty minor in the grand scheme of things.  The first time I heard my healthy children let out a cry.  If I had to pick one, though, it would be the one that centered around my first pregnancy.

Hubby and I were obviously over the moon when we discovered we were expecting.  To say we were excited would have been an understatement.  The "stomach falling through the floor" moment happened at one of my ultrasounds.  Basically, the ultrasound technician told us there was an issue with our little girls' heart.  Instant tears on my part.  If there was a positive, it was that there are some pretty amazing doctors in Ottawa, and I got shipped off for a specialist to have a closer look.

The wait was agonizing.  All I could do was pray that everything would be okay.  The morning we headed to the specialist was bittersweet.  I had convinced myself all was well with the world, but what if I was wrong?  The thought paralyzed me.

We headed in to have the ultrasound.  Here comes the moment where my relief exuded from me - the doc asked me what I was doing there.  Huh????  He looked at my file and informed us that the previous tech had read the scan wrong.  He walked us through all the parts that formed our little miracle, and everything was fine.  Everything.  Was.  Fine.

Relief does not even start to describe how we felt walking out of that room.  I think I actually asked the nurse if I could give her a hug!  From that moment forward, I thanked my lucky stars every time she made me nauseous or kicked the heck out of my ribs...

Our little girl was healthy, and all was right with the world.  My definition of relief was changed forever.


Sunday, February 5, 2012

I *May* Have a Problem

They say the first step to admitting any addiction is to admit you have a problem.  So here goes...I may be addicted to paper.  Not just any paper, but the pretty, scrapbooking kind of paper.  How do I know this is a problem you ask??

Recently, I took inventory of all the paper I had in my craft room.  To say I have alot is an understatement.  That it and of itself is not the issue.  I love to scrapbook and make cards so you would expect that I would have reams of paper at my disposal.  The issue - I actually found myself saying "I can't use that to scrapbook...it's far too pretty".  What??  Why would I buy pretty paper if not to create beautiful books full of memories and cards to give away to my friends?  Because it makes me happy to look at them.  I know...very weird.  Remember I never said I was normal.

Now that I've admitted it, I should be on the road to recovery, right?  I wish I could say yes but I was at the craft store yesterday and could not help myself...there was this SUPER cute girlie paper that made me smile.  Instead of trying to get over it, I plan to find other ways to use it.  Up first, I'm going to create an art display for my craft room.  Beautifully framed paper that will cheer me up whenever I glance over at it. 

As for the "problem" I'm going to try to keep it more under control.  I said try, but I make no promises.