Faux Kendra

Ok so I got these lovely little bitty's from a Face Transformer Experiment by University of St. Andrews. I stole the idea from Natasha's blog ~ my curiosity got the best of me... or not. Haha! Regular me. East Asian me. Old me. Modigliani me. Masculine me. BY FAR THE SCARIEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN! A personal favorite...Afro-caribean me. BY FAR THE MOST HILARIOUS THING I'V EVER SEEN:) ha!!

Price Efficient and Private!

We debated again and again as to whether or not we'd drive the long way home for a trip past Ikea on Monday. Last minute, as we were driving past the turnoff to Calgary on Hwy 3, Kevin decides to make a quick exit. He'd say it was all my doing, but my last words were, "I'd like to go of course, but I don't want to make that decision if you don't want to go. You choose." Our purpose for the journey was to look for window coverings which might be cheaper than the ones we found at Home Depot, and to look at bunk beds for the kids. We've been having a heck of a time trying to find window coverings which actually fit our windows in the front of the house. They're about 72" wide and Home Depot is the only store which caries non-custom blinds that big... unless we were to temporarily go with ordinary plastic venetians. However, considering we have nice new wood window jams, we (meaning Kevin) would prefer to put up slightly better quality blinds which we don't have to take down after quick wear and tear, leaving unecessary holes in the jams. We wanted wood/faux wood blinds in a venetian style. Anyways, to sum up this story, we decided that we'd better go for cost-efficiency for the meantime. This lead us to curtains. We spent about half as much as we would have for the wood blinds at Home Depot and b/c they look quite natural/neutral, I think we'll be able to keep them even if/when we can afford wood blinds. Yay! I haven't gotten to hemming the curtains in the door frames right now so the final photo will have to wait another day or so:) Another deal we found while browsing around Ikea was a loft bunk for Atalie!! We wanted a loft so that we could put the crib underneath it for Aiden to sleep in. I felt bad for him sleeping in his playpen every night. He still fits alright but was getting a little big for it and it has no cushion whatsoever. Not really bed material and we needed a new solution. All the loft bunks we'd seen up until this point were around $400 or more. Ikea was only $50 under this mark so we thought we'd leave the bed for another purchase b/c we couldn't afford that much at the time. As we rounded the corner to the "As Is" isle, I prayed that we would find a deal on a loft bunk for Attie. Low and Behold!!! There, right before our eyes stood ONE loft bunk for sale, at $125 off!! WOOHOO!!!! So we began disassembling (which felt a bit backwards) and took it to the checkout an hour later. The next day I couldn't wait for Kevin to come home and help me so I took the initiative to set it up by myself (not easy, wouldn't recommend it). The bed looks gargantuous!!! However, it's somehow still a huge space saver for a play area and I was even able to move our old TV in there so they can watch movies upstairs now. Atalie in her new bed. She had a perma-grin all day! Aiden's new bed (thanks to Atalie).

Family Photos

We all met at the Lethbridge Lodge for some pictures on Saturday. It was a great learning experience for me! The kids did GREAT and we managed to get a shot where all 32 eyes were open ...even though Aiden was looking down:) I now know to bring stepping stools along (I just got a couple stackables which will work great next time). A couple folding bar stools would be ideal as well. We used the Lodge's stools, with permission of course, instead. An extra hand to hold a reflector, would have also been ideal! Future purchases. A person really needs a large vehicle for all this stuff! Whoda thunk? We didn't take a family photo for ourselves b/c 1) we just took family pics in the fall and 2) Aiden missed his naps and was officially at his limit for pictures that day! Indian Battle Park after pictures and before dinner. A MUCH needed break for the kids before telling them to sit still again! Atalie and Papa walk to the park ~ priceless:)

Everything and inbetween.

Well, I'm done my cleanse. No more lemons, no more laxatives! I'm also eternally grateful not to have to drink saltwater anymore!!!!!!! For the first couple days after I'd cringe at first taste of anything salty. Not anymore of course. I'm pretty much back to normal eating habits. Before the cleanse I was making quite an effort to balance the amount of sugar in my diet and trying to replace a few large portions with more small portions throughout the day. So that habit has continued and I find I'm eating about 1/2 - 2/3 of what I used to at meal times. So that's good, as long as I keep it up! So far I've only gained 1/2 lb back and stayed there the whole week. Wooohoo:) We're all excited about the weekend coming up:) We're heading to Lethbridge to spend time with Kevin's entire family. Not that it's ginormous or anything;) but it's been years since we've all been together at the same time. So it should be fun:) I'm taking the family photo on Saturday and then we're heading out for Chinese food afterwards. ...which reminds me, I gotta look into getting a remote for my camera. Christmas feels as though it is literally just around the corner! And I'm very excited about that!!!! I've got a good start on collecting addresses for cards and letters, put in my order for our family C-mas card with an online photo developer and we're making plans for who will visit who and when. We hope to see most our family this Christmas, and maybe even some friends for my birthday or New Years. I can't wait to dig out the tree - or cut down a real one, if we're daring enough to allow Aiden the opportunity to drag the needles all over the house. A real tree seems a bit wasteful, although I enjoy it SO much more than a fake tree. The live ones make the house smell and feel alive at Christmas don't they? Our only issue with any sort of tree is where to place it. We've considered both corners on the NE side of the house, by the fireplace, in which case we'd have to be diligent about watering it in the extreme heat. We've also considered the NW corner of the house, which would mean we'd have to move the table into the centre of the room and that's a bit goofy. Hmmmm.... maybe we should just plunk it right square in the middle of the house:) The vaulted ceiling would allow for a real whopper! But that wouldn't be rediculous at all;) Anyway, I'm getting a good handle on all our gifts already. We're making most of them to save a bit of money, which is scarce since kevin's been in school the last month and a half. But I'm excited about these gifts! I want to keep them for myself;) We (ok, I) hope to stop in Calgary on the way home on Monday so we can pick up a couple things from Ikea and maybe Toys R Us to find a couple C-mas gifts for the kids. Does anybody have suggestions as to where we can find gifts for kids? We really want to get something for Aiden to climb on and through (like a tunnel/tent that used to be at Ikea - or those plastic playgrounds for toddlers) but don't want to pay over $100. Hard to find... As for the kids these days, there's a few new little traits poking their heads into their worlds;) Atalie comes up with the funniest comments. A couple of times she's asked me to do something which I either couldn't at the moment, or just wasn't going to do. Once while eating lunch she said, "Mommy I have an owie on my toe! You kiss it better!?" I said, "No hunny. Mommy doesn't want to kiss your toe while eating lunch. That's yucky." She replied, "Daddy would do it." What??!!! Where did that come from? She used it again later when she asked me to make an elephant out of playdough and I said that it would be pretty difficult with such a small amount of playdough. What a goof. Aiden has been teething like crazy since the weekend. The first night we noticed was when we were staying at our friends' place overnight for a birthday party. Perfect timing. He's been pretty grouchy these last few days and when he can't figure out what he wants he'll collapse on the floor and cry into his hands. Poor little guy! Tylenol works sometimes but not always. Aiden is also at the stage where he tries so hard to tell you what he wants with his actions but gets frusterated with his inability to just say it. There've been a few meltdowns lately. The two of them get along quite well however, unless Atalie feels Aiden is doing something he shouldn't and she tries to enforce the proper action. Otherwise they chase each other around the house giggling and screeching for hours:) So that's the week so far. I probably won't post again until after the coming weekend, seeing as how I've a bit of prep to do for then and can't see anything new and post-worthy happening between now and then. I'll likely have some pics to look forward to posting though. yeah:)

Post-MC Day 2

This morning was fantastic!!! I was planning to stick to OJ, soup, and maybe some fruit and yogurt today. However I've been feeling so good and my digestive system is working very efficiently;) so far so I don't see a problem with small amounts of other foods. I had half a pancake (with leftover organic maple syrup of course), a hardboiled egg and glass of diluted OJ this morning! WOOHOOO!! Food tastes great! Weighed myself this morning, half expecting to have gained a small amount since I began eating yesterday... but instead lost another 1.5 lbs! :) That's 11.5 lbs now. I've moved up 3 notches on my belt that I just bought a few weeks ago... which is great (!) but I don't purchase clothes often and was hoping to be able to use this one for awhile. Good thing I kept a couple pairs of jeans from a few years ago. Last night we wached a movie so I had a few pieces of popcorn and one Reece Peanut Butter cup (I know I know! But come on!!!! Haven't eaten in 10 days!!!). I have to tell you that popcorn has never tasted so amazing. Not only is it nice to be able to eat again, but food actually tastes better than it did before. My tastebuds seem more alert. It's wonderful:)

MC Day 10... sort of.

Well, the day didn't begin as per usual... nor continue as per planned. 6:15am: I wake up to feel pretty weak. Haven't even gotten out of bed and I feel shakey. My first thought, "I knew I should have made myself drink more water yesterday. Arrrg!". I'm terrible when it comes to drinking water. It doesn't taste like anything! Hard to force. However, saltwater is even harder... 6:45am: Up for the day. Can walk to the kitchen and no further b/c I start to black out. Ok. The obvious decision has been made to cut this cleanse short. I wanted to finish, sucky as it is, but don't think it's wise. Screwed up yesterday and am paying for it today. 6:46am: Head straight to the fridge and grab an a-m-a-z-i-n-g glass of orange juice. Mmmmmmmmmmmm! ...followed up by a glass of water. Time to re-hydrate and re-energize! A very exciting day to be done unexpectedly!! Here's my schedule for the following days: Today will technically be Day 1 of Post-cleanse. It will consist of orange juice, water, and if that goes down well I may be able to treat myself to some vegetable soup tonight for super! Yea:) :) :) :) :) I've been eyeing some leftover borscht in the fridge that I made for Kev and the kids earlier this week. Can't WAIT to endulge! Well, it won't so much be "endulging" as it will be "cautiously sipping and chewing just a little bit to ensure good digestion". That's okay though. Also, two doses of acidophilus per day, for the next 3 months. Basically, it is good bacteria which is commonly found in yogurt, but much more concentrated. It aids in digestion and helps to rebuild my digestive system, which has been completely flushed. Day 2 of PMC: OJ for breakfast, vegetable soup for lunch. If that goes well I may include some soft fruit and a small taste of yogurt. Day 3 of PMC: Raw Fruit, vegetables and yogurt. I'm dying to bite into a snowpea and have been this whole time. I could snack on those delicious green pea pods all day long:) One note on the yogurt: It's important to get a quality yogurt which actually contains a decent amount of active bacteria. My daily dose of Dairyland (oh so yummy and affordable) will not cut it I'm afraid. Activia is a good one. But a friend recommended one even better. I hadn't heard of the name (escapes me at this moment) but doubt our local grocery hub in Canal Flats will carry it. I'll also start taking psyllium husks for today, for a few days. It gives the intestine a final "sweep" when expanded in water or juice. Day 4 of PMC: Introducing grains and other dairy. The key during this post-cleanse period is to take it easy, so as not to get bunged-up; and chew very well - more than you usually would. As you may remember from Bio class, our saliva has some fantastic enzymes which aid in digestion. Very important! Day 5 of PMC: Keep with the current program, slowly adding more complex foods, one by one. In a couple of days I'll add some fish to introduce the meat category. By week two my system should be running normally again!