25 Things you didn't know about me

25+ Things you didn't know about me I found this on facebook and was officially "tagged" (prompted) to participate... 1. I hate the feeling of running my hand "backwards" on suede. Really, I hate it and can not do it. 2. When I was 9 months pregnant with Atalie I weighed 220 lbs (gasp!! did I just say that?). 3. I pee my pants if I jump on a trampoline without using the facilities first. 4. To this day, I love Kraft Dinner with ketchup, even as leftovers. 5. I've never had (and still don't have) any desire to try pot - I guess I like reality too much. 6. I love dollar stores and have even been known to buy clothing and food from them - I'd like to think I know better now!. 7. I like adrenaline. I ended up severely bruised, nearly breaking my tailbone while cliff jumping into the Kootenay River from 65ft. 8. I took a course for a Level 1 Diving Instructor. 9. I count. My steps, cracks on the road while driving, even my staircase to the basement which I know will have 15 steps every time but still count them anyway (sometimes in odd or even increments). 10. The TV volume has to be set on an even number or in multiples of 5. 11. I like my house to be clean or else I can't function for the rest of the day. If you came over any given day, it would likely be quite clean. 12. I don't like to drink water. I didn't drink any up until a few months ago when I made myself and realized I feel MUCH better and have even lost weight doing so. 13. I like people to know they're appreciated and I try to speak and listen genuinely. 14. When I was in Junior High, one of my best friends and I dressed up as salt and pepper shakers for Halloween and everyone thought we were condoms!! I was mortified! ....lol... 15. When I was in High School I unintentionally jumped my parents Dynasty (the low rider) on the canal road on my way home from bridge jumping and filled the entire underside with rocks. Oops~ 16. When I was about 6 I remember hiding behind the bathroom door crying when our babysitter came over for the evening (she was even really nice!). 17. My knees look like potatoes, even at my skinniest! 18. My girlfriends used to call me banana legs b/c I had awful standing posture with my shoulders slouched, my hips out in front of me and my knees bending in slightly. Nasty:) 19. I can't seem to remember facts which I see in writing - even movie & book titles, in spite of how much I enjoyed them! 20. I tear up easily - from a cheesy TV show (extreme home reno's) to seeing a total stranger cry. 21. I have a little bumb and I like it! (assuming the rest of me is in proportion;)) 22. I have a fake front tooth - when I was in Grade 7 I did an endo off my 10 speed while riding back to school from lunch... smashed my face into the pavement and broke my front tooth, receiving many hours in the dentists' chair, including a root canal. 23. I don't regret any of the paths I've chosen in my life so far. I'm doing the things I want(ed) to be doing, just in a different order than expected! 24. I truly believe that you can accomplish anything you choose to do but think that some things aren't always worth the sacrifices in order to get there. 25. My favourite colour is red! Although most of you probably knew that... it's slightly obvious. 26. The first 3 things that come to mind which I'd LOVE to do successfully would be motocross, mogul freestyle skiing and long boarding (skateboarding). 27. I'm not fond of swimming in the ocean - too many unknown variables which can not be controlled!

Around Home... as always ;)

Well, I definately don't mind being "around" home. I love my home! I love having people over too. Last night I hosted an Epicure party (you know, one of those food sampling parties where you buy lots of spices and whatnot) and we had a good turnout (10 people plus another 2 outside orders). I really didn't care much about the orders themselves, even though I benefit somewhat depending on how much other people buy... I mostly wanted to get to know some new and some familiar people in the town where we live. I met four new faces anyway. It was great to have everyone over! From this event we discovered a perfect furniture layout for out livingroom!! Finally! We assumed that b/c our sectional didn't fit properly, a sofa and loveseat combination would lead to the same problem - either blocking the stairway, the entry or the door to the deck. However, when we replaced the sectional with a different set we had the movers put them directly downstairs, assuming they wouldn't fit properly upstairs, so we didn't really have the opportunity to try arranging them otherwise. This is kinda hard to explain but basically it works. Here's a picture, just because I'm so excited to finally have enough seating for our guests and we can enjoy the fire at the same time. Woohoo:) Anyone want to come over for pie and coffee???? BEFORE: AFTER: The deck door is just to the left of the sofa, behind the curtain. It's about 3-4 feet away from the love seat, but it's plenty of room to get in and out, come summer. Low and behold! We can actually move freely between the entry and the kitchen, without worrying about tripping over the couch and falling to our death down the stairs... that's always nice;)

A little project

Ok so it's actually a rather large project. I've been working on it a couple hours every day for the last week or more. I've decided to do the Invermere Farmers Market again this summer, however I'm going out on a bit of a limb this time. I did great($) last year when I sold baking, however I think I'm going to try my hand at selling my photography this time around. (yikes!) It's a little scary putting yourself out there, for the world judge (like it or not) your developing gifts. I won't be making more than one or two large framed prints, mostly for display and to attract people in. Everybody has a couple bucks in their pockets when they're browsing to buy, but not everyone has a couple hundred... which is why I'll mostly be selling cards - LOTS of cards. I've taken what I consider to be my best photographs and found some scripture/quotes to add to them - to help bring out, or rather focus on, what I saw when capturing the picture. I've got over 100 photos selected, with about half of them complete. I'll also be selling each card blank, without any wording at all. I'm hoping this will help get my name out a little bit, raising the question, "Do you ever take pictures for other people?" ...we'll see. Here's some examples of what I've been working on (you may have to click on some of the photos to read the print - I've still got some details to work out with font size on a 4x6 print).

Kev's new job (again)!

Kevin starts a new job tomorow! Yes, you are remembering correctly that he just began a new job one week ago. That job was with a company from Canmore (ya, the province over - strange I know) who had a contract to put up a few condos in Fairmont, which is a 20 minute drive away. Well, the guy who Kevin really wanted to work for (his name is Pierre) lives about a block away from us in teeny tiny Canal Flats (our home town) and drove by our house today to offer Kevin a job! He has lots of local work in town here too, which is strangely awesome. Believe it or not, last summer there were 100 lots which sold here in our little town, in a new subdivision on the lake - they were in limbo b/c of technicalities but should be picking up in spring. Kevin's new boss will be taking on jobs like those in the subdivision, building his own spec homes to sell and doing the odd reno (both in our town and surrounding area). We're super excited about this b/c he will be paying Kevin either the same or more as his last employers, and we'll be saving $300-$400per month on gas!!! That's HUGE! He even gets to come home for lunch:) - oh wait, does this mean I actually have to MAKE lunch now??? Hmmm, anyway.... We're thankful for this huge answer to prayer, as this job is heading in the right direction for us and is one in a million right now! Thank you Lord and to everyone who has been praying and believing for us:)

Out of wood?!!

Yes, Friday was our last day of tropical temperatures in our house... until last night!!! It's funny how quickly a person gets used to 23 to 27 degrees (C) in their house. I've been used to it since summer began and I had to bake throughout the week and did so without airconditioning - the house would literally be 28 to 32 degrees every day. So when winter came we started heating with wood and it's just continued... I actually start to shiver at 20 degrees in here! Anyhow, we've been using wood heat 24/7 for almost 3 months now and we've burned up 5-6 trees in that time. Yesterday we cut up 2.5 more trees (two of them were smaller deadfalls already and we couldn't quite get at part of one) so I hope they last another month. That kind of sucks in itself b/c we'll have to go out, likely in the snow, again at that time. We've decided that come spring we're going to go nuts getting firewood every weekeend until we know for sure we have enough for the whole winter to come!! Finding a dead tree in winter is near impossible! Unless of course you can find a pine, which are pretty obvious when they're dead. Otherwise you have to look for a good fir b/c there are SO many larch trees around and they all lose their needles in the winter so you just can't tell with them. The trees we got yesterday were all fir, which is great in my opinion b/c they burn nice and slow (hot hot hot!) :) The smaller trees are actually great as well b/c you don't have to chop them after you buck them - just huck em in the fireplace and be done! :) Bucking up our first tree, which was conveniently located beside the road!!! Yay! It's then my job to carry them out as he keeps cutting... And if there are any left (usually I leave the monsterous ones for him but there weren't any this time) he helps;) Done! yay!! That was actually really fun! I highly recommend it for excersize too;)

You know what they say about small things...

...they amuse small minds:) Aiden begun the "sorting" of plastics in the corner cupboard... then Atalie joined in to restore order... but the plastics just began to spread;) Hiding in the curtains is great fun when you jump out and yell "BOO!" Aiden is always discovering some way to entertain himself! This is what I got when I asked him to say cheese - "Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Big but not quite big enough;) VERY interested in what the bread machine was doing! Fighting over window space. Snuggling with Mum for a brief moment:)