Changes

The sun has been hot, the sky blue, the days full. 

I love summer!

 We've been camping, took a week to vacation in BC, worked on our yard, played with our kids outside, hung out with friends - living life and enjoying it.

I seem to have lost my desire to blog. Time and content have just alluded me so my posts are becoming more spread out. Maybe it's the fact that it's summer or maybe this season of my life is over. I am mulling over some ideas regarding Carla's Rumblings and Ruminations and what to do with it, it's just not what it once was for me. 

I know many of you who faithfully read so you can ignore my next request.  For those of you that I have no idea of I would appreciate this: even if you never comment or contact me again I'm asking you to now, just once. Since I'm not sure what is going to happen with this blog I'd like to either thank you if this is the end, or inform you of whatever change(s) I choose to make.  I won't harass you or put you on any mailing list or sell your info or anything.  This is purely personal.  So either comment on this post with a way to contact you, or email me at carlathechief@hotmail.com.  Please.  Thank you.

I am sad because this has been my personal space for over four years.  I am appreciative that anyone would even bother to read my drivel!  So whatever conclusion I come to will not be made lightly.

Outside

After out usual rainy June July dawned nice and sunny and hot this Canada Day long weekend. Although June had to get in one last shower Saturday night to mess things up for us!  Rain and the mud that accompanies it has been hindering yard work greatly.  The back corner of our lot by the trampoline is a low spot and a mud bog.  It takes weeks to dry and was almost there on Saturday and we were anticipating getting it cleaned up on Monday aaaaaannnnddddd - it rained.

Trevor defied the mud and fixed it up anyway. He put 4x6 pressure treated beams along the fence and then filled the area in with the gravel pile that sat where the pool now sits.




 That 8' pool is Sierra's gift from my parents for her birthday and it even has a little filter pump.  It will be great.  Despite the frigid temperature of the water right after we filled it Sierra jumped in and splashed around with glee for a bit.  Sawyer was forced in a little by me and I'm pretty sure if he could speak better he would have cursed me!

I spend four hours (!) weeding my garden on Saturday and making it look nice.  Then I had a sunburn.  

Yeah, it was complete stupidity on my part and I'm a bit tender but not too bad. 

Before

During

 

After

Then on Monday I weeded the back section of dirt along the fence.  I didn't hoe the dirt to make it look as pretty as the garden or my back would never have forgiven me.  I wore sunscreen and did not further the sunburn.

 

 

I hate weeds and weeding.

 

 I also attacked this old church pew with wood filler.  Doesn't it look pretty?

 I had plans of sanding the excess wood filler off on Monday and painting it this lovely green that Trevor selected.  But since I never get as much done as I plan it still looks like the picture below.  This pew is from our former beloved church in Calgary where Trevor was a youth pastor for five years.  Sadly it got left outside to be beaten by the elements (I did cover it in plastic but that didn't hold in our ferocious winds) but I'm bringer it back to life!  It will go in our lower patio which is this close to being done (Trevor has been diligently plugging away at this particular project) and will almost look as good as a Pintrist pin!  

Pics to follow in five years when we actually complete it.

We also pulled our tent trailer out from its storage spot beside our house and worked on packing it up for a camping trip this weekend.  It was in doing this that I realized it's been a long time since we camped on our own.  We only own three camping plates and no bowls or pots so it's off to the thrift store Tuesday.

We wound our weekend up with my parents and sister and a lovely glass of ice cold (because I forgot it in the freezer for two hours!) of traminer-riesling.

This morning....it is raining.  Off to run errands!

At Long Last

Every since I quit nursing Sawyer (by his decision) I have been trying to abolish a stubborn five pounds that he blessed me with.  I always figured that five pounds wasn't that much and should be somewhat simple if I stuck with exercising and eating mostly healthy.  But other than one or two pounds I just couldn't do it.

 

To say I was frustrated was an understatement.

Seriously - it was ONLY FIVE POUNDS!!! 

It became more about figuring out why it wasn't happening and achieving this one measly goal  than being unhappy with myself.  My body isn't perfect and I enjoy eating so not being model thin is okay with me.  Sure, I wasn't completely happy with the weight I was at but I wasn't overweight.

Well, two weeks ago I got on the scale and I finally saw the goal numbers!!!!

It actually was possible.

I achieved this through a combination of things that I won't bore you with. In short, my days included hard core exercise through the Insanity program (nasty curses were said every time I sweated through a workout), being more aware and conscientious about how many calories I was consuming, and drinking protein smoothies.  I still ate sweets and other junk food (of course! life wouldn't be worth living otherwise!) along with the healthy stuff but I tried to incorporated them into a daily calorie count that wasn't through the roof.  I was/am amazed and how quickly and easily I could/can gorge myself on an obscene number of calories.  Some days I just threw the numbers to the wind and ate what I wanted.  You know what? I thoroughly enjoyed ever bite and did not feel guilty about it!

It took me a good three months with this method but it is a real way to live for me and it worked!

A Handful!

(OK, so I'm almost a week late posting this.  Between time and trying to upload the pictures....yeah.)

6:44A.M. June 9, 2012.

Sierra was so excited,  7AM was "just taking too long" to appear on the clock. (the time she is permitted to wake us up!).

Well, okay.  It is her birthday. And the day began.

Five years ago today I became a mother thanks to her.  Trevor and I took a long time before we were ready for even the idea of having a baby but when we were ready - we were ready!

In the first few weeks after she was born we both commented how we had no idea that we would love being parents so much (and still do).

As all parents say, time has zoomed by.  Trevor said to me the other day that we've had Sierra about a quarter of the total time we get to have her living with us.  As much as my heart pangs a little at how quickly she is growing up I am also enjoying the gradual transitions from baby, to toddler, to little girl.  She is quirky, fun, independent but hates being alone, beautiful and 'girly' but not afraid to be dirty or rough-play with her daddy.  Wearing dirty clothes is only an issue to me, as is not brushing her hair or washing the marker off her face!  She certainly likes to push the boundaries and have her share of fits but being a people-pleaser helps balance that.

 I remember being amazed at how much personality she displayed as a newborn; well that hasn't changed! 

I had as much fun planning and anticipating her birthday as she did!  Her love to celebrate is certainly apparent.  (Yay!  I love to party too.) 

Happy 5th Birthday my Sierra Bear!


Her party with three friends Saturday morning.  They made candy necklaces, played "pin-the-crown-on-the-princess" and had a pinata.  Sierra loved it!

As a family (my parents, sister and brother-in-law, and us. Sawyer hung out with my Oma, him and golf would be a disaster!) we went mini-golfing that afternoon.  We all had a great time and the weather co-operated.

We gave her this dress as one of her gifts and it stayed on all day!

We then went to my parents' for Sierra's birthday supper.  She requested rice and a "Barbie" cake.  Granny was happy to comply stating that Sierra is her only granddaughter after all!

Presents! 
The best part.  She got her first "actual Barbie" (to quote Sierra) and absolutely loves it.

Was she spoiled?  Oh yes!  Did she deserve it?  Oh yes!

Cake Popping

I am not a cake decorator type of person.  If a cake or cupcake gets icing that looks half-way nice I'm happy!  Every once in awhile I try something a little more ambitious and I'm always disappointed with my efforts.  I feel like it looks like child's work!  So I don't do fancy cakes/cupcakes.  Since Sierra's second birthday my mom has purchased a beautiful artistic custom cake from a fancy bakery in town.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this year will be Sierra's first birthday party that includes friends.  There will be three little girls coming and I figured that two cakes would be a too much (since there will also be a "family" party) but you can't have a birthday party without cake....so cake pops "popped" into my mind. (hah I'm so funny!).  We had them for Sawyer's birthday and a friend of ours makes them so I figured they would be perfect for this occasion.  However, it didn't work out for my friend to make them for me this time around. 

I decided to try my hand at them.  At first I was just going to make coloured ones that resembled lolly pops because Sierra's party is somewhat candy themed.  I made the mistake of asking her about it and she staunchly refused that option and requested demanded princess cake pops.  Google is a wonderful thing and I came up with a plan, purchased the supplies and off I went.

First step:  Bake a cake from a mix.  Easy enough.  Cake has a funny smell though.  I think it's the PAM spray I used on the pan.

Second step:  Mix icing into crumbled cake.  I have Trevor scrape the entire tub into the bowl and I proceed to mix the cake into a sticky mess.  Funny smell still apparent.  The cake seems to taste okay.

Third step: Form cake balls.  Cake is too sticky.  The balls are not holding their shape.  I put the mixture in the fridge for thirty minutes and the consistency is a bit better.  I just can't get the 'off' smell out of my nose.  I make the balls anyway. They are not holding their shape very well.

Forth step: I finally can't get ignore the smell.  Since I thought it was my PAM spray I wonder if it was the oil used in the cake.  Sure enough.  My oil has gone rancid.  Gross.

Fifth step:  Dump the entire cake into the garbage.

Sixth step:  Go back to step one with a new cake mix!

Insert new step between one and two:  phone the cake pop making expert about the icing/cake ratio.

Repeat steps one through three minus the funny smell and with the balls successfully holding their shape.

I'll spare you the tedium of the next bunch of steps but they included melting chocolate, dipping the balls, rolling the in sprinkles, applying hats, lots of muttering, and finally ending with princess cake pops. 

I'm not sure I'll do this again.

Trevor assisted me.  He cut the sugar cone ice cream cones to make appropriate hat sizes.  He also painted on the faces.

This is probably the best one.

Below is the family.  Don't look too close please!

Goings On

*We had in incredible thunderstorm last night. It pounded the earth with rain for four hours, lit up the sky with lightening, shook the house with thunder (literally!) and tried to blow over some trees.  Oh, and it produced a couple of tornadoes a mere 20km from us.  I was watching the sky pretty intensely for about an hour and had the environment Canada website up and was refreshing it every ten minutes.  I hate tornado weather.  We don't get this close to their likelihood very often thank goodness!

*I am very groggy and feel rather drugged this morning.  More coffee perhaps.

*I am already sick of summer TV - or the lack of it!  

But.....we've been watching America's Got Talent which has been rather entertaining.  Howard Stern is hilarious!  Other than that it's been re-runs of Seinfeld which are quite funny.  I'm ready for hot summer weather where Trevor and I can sit on the deck in the evenings after the kids are in bed and sip wine and chat.  Then TV, or the lack of it won't matter.  I suppose we could always go the library and get books and, you know, read!

*My beautiful Sierra will have made me a mother five years ago this Saturday.  This is the first year I am having a birthday party for her with friends.  There will only be three girls over Saturday morning and I'm not doing anything extravagant.  At first I was a little put off by the whole idea but now I'm totally into it.  Hey - I only have one daughter!  I'm even going to attempt to make princess cake-pops.  Gulp!

  Than a family party will take place late afternoon/evening.

* I've decided that decorating projects in my house are destined to take four months or more from idea to completions.  Our bedroom has been in the works for at least that long and is not really near finished. I still haven't printed and framed family portraits from last fall.  It doesn't help that the nice weather is moving our motivation to work on project to the outdoors and weekends/days to actually accomplish anything are extremely sparse.

*I really need to get to our downstairs computer and start posting pictures for you.

I Don't Know How to Title This So This Is What You Get

Yesterday I was very happy to go to work.  Today I wished I was at work and right now I'm wishing I could go to work tomorrow.  I am at my wits end with my kids!


Last week we suffered through a nasty cold in our household.  There were Kleenex boxes upon Kleenex boxes worth of snot and it sounded like a bunch of seals had taken up residence in our house.  Of course the one who was needed the most also got hit the hardest.  I was climbed on and whined at and cried at and clung to all week.

So we got over that but they still seem extra whiny and clingy and irritating.  I accomplish nothing but I have no idea where the days have gone.  Sawyer refused to nap this afternoon so he's been especially pleasant!  He bawled from supper on until I finally put him out of his misery and to bed.

  Sierra turned on the waterworks at the slightest thing and whined and whined! 

A week and a half ago they were playing nicely together and since the onset of the colds if they can irritate each other and compete for my attention they do.  They fight and screech and whine and cling....

I need a break.