Pink Be Gone

When I first moved into this house EVERYTHING was pink, and 

not a nice pink by any means. 

Here's what I'm talking about...PINK! 

Needless to say I got to work and have done some (okay a lot of) work

to rid this house of this atrocious color. I'm redoing what once was my 

office (it's now my granddaughters room) and found that I failed to 

paint the closet, it was still pink!

I'll be back once this gets done, not sure how long it's going

to take... but I'll be back! 

February 83rd.

This is what I woke up to, after a beautiful spring weekend 

we got snow AGAIN! At least it's melting fast and it won't last...

I hope! 

When something like this transpires it's hilarious some of the things

which are posted on facebook. For example:

... and one of the comments on this post is: 

"if my calculations are right, it's about February 83rd...enough already!" 

Really what else can one do but laugh? 

Congratulations Ashley!

My great niece completed a one year course through her church; 

she recently returned from Africa where her and her colleagues went

to share and minister to others clear across the world. Ashley, my niece, 

recently turned 19 years old and she's an absolutely amazing young lady.

 She spoke in front of the church's congregation last night and 

delivered a message which brought me to tears! 

What's next for Ashley? She'll be attending university on the fall to pursue a

degree in education. Way to go Ashley, Auntie is extremely proud of you! 

Ashley is Awesome Austin's oldest sister, I haven't updated or posted

about Austin in quite some time now and I'm so happy to have seen him

running around and playing with other children. It's already been

four months since he had his heart transplant and he's doing

astoundingly well! 

This photo starting on the left: Ashley, Hope, Meleah, 

behind Hope is Awesome Austin and Jacubus. 

 These children are my great nieces and great

nephews, a very beautiful family!

Entertainment

I don't have to even leave my home to be entertained, 

tonight Elyssa entertained me! We did all sorts of fun

stuff; fixed a puzzle...

 ...ate popcorn, played with Abbie, read books, sang

along to Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head (Elyssa 

loves that song so we played it at least 6 times) then we

switched over to some classical music for her to listen to.

After that my nephew brought up his guitar and entertained us. 

Tonight was the prefect way to spend an evening

at home, the entertainment was two thumbs up! 

Water and ...

On Facebook I've spotted photos of water with various

 fruits, veggies, or both, added to it. A girlfriend was over visiting

 this week and she mentioned that she's tried one with grapefruit, 

tangerines, cucumber and fresh mint; apparently it's good

 for detoxifying. So what do I do? I jumped on the bandwagon and

 have mine in the fridge waiting to give it a shot tomorrow. 

Who knows, I may even like it! 

Birthday Trip

When I started thinking what I wanted to do to celebrate this 

upcoming milestone birthday I first thought that a trip to Vegas 

would be tons of fun, I've never been there. So I asked around

and nobody is available to go for a week. I rethought where I'd

like to go and the next idea was Mexico to soak up some rays along

a beach as I don't mind doing something like that alone. Somehow the final

decision is Cuba, I have no idea what to expect on the 

other end, but if I leave here with no expectations

I'm sure not to be disappointed. 

I'll be flying out on May 29th, three days after my birthday

and I'll be gone for a week. It's a short trip but a short get 

away is much better than no holiday at all. 

Full Moon

I stepped outside and spotted this beautiful moon, I didn't want to miss 

getting a photo so I grabbed my phone and shot a few photos...

 

Beautiful isn't it?

Lifes Little Problems

I texted my son tonight and said "I have a problem, can you please help me out?" 
I was thinking that he'd text me back and ask what my problem was.
 Nope, he called me instead. I didn't mean to worry him and my being 
funny backfired to a lesser degree. My plan was to send him this
 photo via my phone...

My "problem" being is that I baked too many cookies and I was wondering

if he'd help me out by picking some up to take them home.  
My son laughed and said he'd be over tomorrow to help 
me out with my problem! 

Yup, definitely a third world problem. I'm so blessed to live where I do and have

the freedoms I have. So you see I really have no problems, but can I ever

create them when and if I'm not careful! 

Confusion

"April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks Go."

~Christopher Morley

Finally a bit of green in my backyard planter, it's a 'Go'...

Unfortunately in my front yard it's still saying STOP, not yet! 

I'm starting to get confused, it seems the wonderful feeling of 

Spring fever starts setting in and then just like that the

 feeling will pass; what's up with that? I guess with this lingering 

snow it's to be expected, common spring get here already! Please. :-)

Beautifying My Home

Between painting, yup the painting one wall job that totally got 

carried away, and shopping to change things up a bit I'm exhausted

 tonight! So I'll keep this short and sweet (like me! lol)

I wanted to buy something new for my wall, I scoured the

stores and found something I liked but it was missing something;

the boarder was bland, so I kept on looking. 

After a few hours and plenty of other stores I ended up

going back to where I began my search and looked

at this again... then I found something to spruce it 

up a bit. I added the stars and a bit more trim and found

a few sayings on blocks of wood and this is what happened. 

The bigger picture... 

I'm pleased with the end result. It's funny how this all came about, 

I started with one wall and that was it, I'm beautifying most of 

my humble abode now, but it's looking awesome!

Hopefully I'll have the rest of the painting wrapped up

tomorrow, then I can get started on Elyssa's room. 

Potholes and Clean Streets

We have so many potholes on our city streets that only drunk people drive straight! 

The rest of us have to swerve all over the roads, that or lose a tire or 

something crazy like that. Today I couldn't believe it, I had to go 

out and there were city workers cleaning the medians...

Later as I was sitting at my kitchen table I heard a street cleaner go by, 

I looked up and there wasn't only one, there were two street cleaners.

I guess this city has it's priorities, don't fill the potholes, just

clean the streets so people can see them and swerve to miss them. 

Makes no sense to me whatsoever! 

Little Bit Of Kid In All of Us

Cheryl, my niece who lived with me until December of last 

year, came to visit tonight. She found Elyssa's teddy bear and 

fell in love with it... mind you so have I fallen in love with

 this giant teddy bear! 

The kid in me got into playing with the photos I shot of 

Cheryl with the bear...

I think that life would be so boring if we didn't  allow the kid in us to
 come out to play every now and again, the inner child wants to run and play
 or just have fun every now and again and in my home it's allowed! :-)
 I must admit it was nice seeing Cheryl tonight, she's quite the young lady! 

Home Improvements

Oh the home front, today I was doing more painting and the new colors

 are growing on me.  When I first saw the color I chose for the trim I thought

OMG what have I done now? But because the paint was already mixed I

thought I'd give it a try, here is what's been happening...

The front entrance is finished; I had to change the color of the curtains

to match the new colors and the inside of the door has been painted as well 

to give it the finished look. 

The hallway, trim and door is now finished as well. 

I'm pleased with how this all turned out, there's a nice

flow and warm feeling going on in my home. 

Half of the downstairs stairwell was done today,

tomorrow I hope to have the other half done and then

start on the trim. It's true what I've heard about having your 

own home,there's always work to be done! Now I just hope I still

like this color two years down the road! 

Whyte Ave and Windows 8

Whyte Avenue is one of the busiest streets in Edmonton I'm sure; 

there's all sorts of funky fun shops lining the streets, plenty of 

food choices and ample nightclubs. Quite often I just drive right on 

by without even really noticing what is all on Whyte Ave., I think

this summer it's time to stroll down the avenue, camera in hand,

and really capture the true essence of this area of our city.

For now, this is a drive by shooting of one of the areas, well not 

really drive by, I was stopped briefly. 

Right I almost forgot, I took the plunge and bought a new laptop,

I've been busy transferring files off of my other laptop

and I'm attempting to figure out this silly Windows 8. As tempting as it is

 I'd like to override the Windows 8, but I'm going to try it for at 

least a month, if I still don't like it then I'll override it. 

I'm making progress, I can shut it off now! lol I love the portability 

of this laptop, it's going to be much more convenient to travel with

this 14"

A Busy But Rewarding Sunday

Elyssa spent the night with me last night after a 

wonderful evening out celebrating my son and his wife's

birthdays. Naturally Elyssa got to stay up a bit later 

than her usual bed time.... shhhhh don't tell her Mommy

and Daddy!  We were up by 8am and had a busy day together. 

After breakfast we baked cookies...

Elyssa read for a while, then she got me to read ALL of her

 books to her; she loves her stories. 

Elyssa sang the entire National Anthem for me, she colored, 

played with Abbie, we put together a puzzle, watched a few

of her shows and somehow we even got lunch in on time. 

There was also time for an hour nap, drawing, and visiting time. 

After Elyssa left I almost needed a nap and it was only about 4:30! 

I love this kind of busy though, my heart dances when I get to spend

my days doing what I love to do best... be Grammy to my

beautiful granddaughter! 

Happy Birthday Shayne and Sandy

My oldest son and his wife both have birthdays this month, my son's 

was on April 2nd and his wife's is on the 17th. They chose Japanese 

Village for their birthday dinner, the chef cooks right at the table 

and it's rather enjoyable visiting while someone else puts on a

 show and cooks for you. 

My amazing children; Derek is on the left, 
Michelle my daughter, and the birthday boy Shayne (my oldest son). 

My son, granddaughter and Sandy, Happy Birthday
Shayne and Sandy! 

Elyssa was playing shy but I did manage to capture a photo of her
eating with her chopsticks, she ate her entire meal with them!
At this restaurant they have the chopsticks for children held together
with an elastic band at the top, brilliant I tell ya, just brilliant! 

It was a wonderful evening, I really enjoyed spending time with 
those I love the most, the bonus is Elyssa came to spend the night with me! 

Dadeo's

Tonight I went out to dinner with two wonderful friends, 

we chose Dadeo's which is a New Orleans diner and bar. It's a 

rather small diner, it was busy and the food was alright

but not something I'd rush back for. What made the evening was 

catching and visiting with my friends.

The photo is a bit blurry, taken with my cell phone

with the flash off so as to not disturb others but one

can still get a feel for the atmosphere though this shot I think. 

This was a first for me, trying Jambalaya that is and I've

discovered that it's not for me; the seafood which accompanied it

was delicious though! 

Success By 6

Success By 6 is an organization which is involved in more than 

I thought they are. Their main goal, or mission statement is 

"Helping all children succeed for life."  Today Success By 6 hosted

an informative luncheon, I was in attendance and learned

much more about this organization and what it offers, it was 

extremely interesting and I plan on doing more research

into this organization and learn through or from them, especially

in the area of addictions.

The luncheon was held at the Fairmont Hotel MacDonald,  

this hotel is beautiful! 

This first photo I 'borrowed' from their website,

it's not this green here yet unfortunately. 

I only had my phone with me, no camera today but nonetheless

here's a peek at a bit of the inside of the hotel. 

The banquet room we had the luncheon in, lunch was delicious! 

The hallway leading to the Emerald Room...

This is what it looked like here today, the river is breaking up but

we still have snow, hopefully not for long though. 

Simplicity

Derek, my son, brought me over this cookbook the other day, 

the first edition was printed the same year I was born! 

I was browsing through it and there's a few recipes I'd like to 

try, what I love is the simplicity of the ingredients.

I'm sure back in the day there wasn't half of the junk a lot

of new cookbooks call for, the recipes are not only simple

but some of them sound delicious too! 

One Hole Fixed BUT...

There was one hole in the wall which required patching and

my friend was kind enough to fix it when he came over to

repair the ceiling and wall in my bedroom. I'm not quite sure how 

this happens but I decided to change the color of this one small wall, 

one small wall turned into the hallway and now I'm looking

 at taking this same color up into the stairwell going upstairs and
painting the front entrance. There's also the possibility of doing the 
stairwell which goes into the basement.
 I know what I'm up to for this next while! 

... me and my brilliant ideas. Naturally with changing the color of

the walls  all of the trim will have to repainted as well. Such is life, 

at least some of my Spring cleaning will be out of the way,

I won't have to wash these walls. 

2nd Annual Women's Symposium

Today was the 2nd Annual Women's Symposium which is hosted by

 the city of Edmonton.Our mayor believes in bringing together women,

 he stated that he feels women are strong leaders,basically the

 backbone in communities and I couldn't agree more, thus once 

a year there is this symposium held to collectively bring women together 

to share and learn from one another. This year there was approximately 

300 women at this event, which I found very empowering. 

The story I heard from one lady in particular was powerful,

she was introduced through her sharing a short video. The video addressed

how she arrived in Canada at the mere age of 19 to be with her 

husband. She was in a prearranged marriage and found her young

life changed drastically when she arrived in our city, she came from India. 

After being here for a while, she began to work for her husband in his

store, it wasn't long before he started to abuse her and this young lady

had nobody to turn to, she shared there were times when her mother-in-law

and sister-in-law would hold her down while her husband beat her. What

struck me as astounding is how this lady turned her life around, she found

the courage to leave him and at the close of her video it shows her buckling up

a belt, putting a two way radio on her belt, a billy club (or whatever it's called)

and then they zoom out, this lady became a police officer! 

Needless to say as she walked onto stage she received a standing ovation,

rightfully so in my opinion. 

Up Close and Personal

Spending time with Elyssa is always interesting; today I was snapping

 a few photos with my phone and she wanted to try to take 

some pictures, so I let her. Her subject... 

Abbie. Where Elyssa is Abbie is never too far away, as you can see

in this photo they're often found up close and in each others

personal space. Every dog needs a little girl to love and play with! 

I Love Surprises

Late this afternoon as I was masking off baseboards and sanding 

walls in preparation for painting my phone rang, it was my oldest son. 

He asked me if I wanted to keep Elyssa overnight, well away went 

the painting products, I quickly vacuumed up the mess I was making, 

shoveled the walk and was just finishing up when Shayne, Sandy 

and Elyssa pulled up. We all visited for a while and once Mommy and

Daddy left it was agreed on that we were going to make popcorn

and watch shows together. 

A few kernels of popcorn escaped and landed on the carpet,

no worries though, Abbie does her part in helping out and

cleans up whatever hits the floor. 

Spending time with Elyssa is one of my favorite ways to spend my time,

it's such a welcomed surprise to have her over for a visit. Now I'd 

best get to bed, it could be an early morning in my home. 

Jumping the Gun

It's been beautiful outside this past few weeks, two weeks to the 

day since we had our last huge dump of snow and it's been

melting like crazy. I hope I didn't jump the gun and get my winter

 tires off too soon, the forecast is calling for more snow... 

I sure hope if it snows we don't get too much more,

that's about enough of that nonsense already! 

Stylin'

My son bought a new car today...

I absolutely love it! 

Can't you just feel the excitement? 

Derek, congratulations on the new car... ummm maybe next time 

you do something like this and have your Mom with you who

you know is going to snap a photo or two, maybe skip the

red slurpee! lol 

Going Home

I'm home! Did you miss me? lol 

It was an interesting trip, what began as a trip home

to help out a dear friend turned into so much more. 

Every night, except the last, it was a cozy wood fire and it was heavenly. 

I love wood heat, the smell and sounds brought back memories of when

I was a wee girl. I also tasted elk meat for the first time and

I'm hooked, it's better than any beef, moose, or deer

I've ever tasted. The bonus is I also brought some home with me! 

I love this horse shed, sure the paint is peeling but whomever

painted the mural did a wonderful job. 

 One of my favorite things is being online, I missed it when I wanted

to communicate with others but I soon learned that even when

the local library was shut down I could still access the internet

in their parking lot; truth be told I only did that once and it was

for business purposes (that's my story and I'm sticking

to it!) 

I visited family and friends, I accomplished all I set out to do

and then some. I went shopping in a friends shop which is called 

A Few of Your Favorite Things, I could have gotten

lost in her store for hours...

I settled for new placemats, which I fell in love with!

The time passed way too quickly, before I knew it

I was back on the highway and headed for home. 

The highways were dry and it was smooth sailing all the 

way back to life as I know it in the city. 

Going home was different this time, it's true that home is where the

 heart is and for the past ten days my heart was back in my 

home town. Sure some things have changed, a lot of people 

have moved on and as much as I hate to admit it we've all aged,

 but as is said

"You're not getting older, you're getting better." 

 and I couldn't agree more.