Friday, January 30, 2009

365 ideas

Bear with me, I'm doing a 365 flickr photo a day project. The results can be seen here.

I'd like to keep track of places that I'd like to go to for inspiration, so I'm going to start a list on here. Some people are doing a theme for their 365. I'm more about getting through it. I have had some brief thoughts of inspiration here and there, and I'd like to go back to them.

1. Locke Street
2. Confederation Park
3. at the Movies
4. friends and neighbours
5. junk
6. Re-use store
7. rusted
8. quote me
9. winter wonderland
10. Spencer Smith Park
11. Raymond & Associates
12. Love
13. What a mess
14. Spring has sprung
15. NOTL
16. Creekside
17. Winona Peach Festival
18. At the cottage
19. Cherry blossoms at Puddicombe
20. Frootogo

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The holy grail

...for me is my new D300.

I walked into the camera store today...thank you

Bell Arte Camera, and said that I'm buying that camera. The gentlemen did not even ask me any questions, just took my comparative prices, which, by the way they matched, and sold me the rather heavy and rather expensive box that I have longed for. It's such a sweet feeling and at the same time it's scary. I wonder if I will live up to what this piece of equipment can do.



I have no idea how to fix the font going all wonky because it's late, and frankly I don't care. I just wanted to document the day of my momentous purchase. Now, if I only had a memory card!!!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Defrosting

My sister taught me about 'buy nothing day.' I've recently blogged about my concerns with a full-blown case of shopiitis. Needless to say, it's not cured in a day. I'd like to really keep track this year of the financial end of things, and am inspired by Olga's steps forward with that. So, my (small) resolution will be to keep track of BND's and see where I end up. You see, I have some big dreams. One of them is for my kids not to have to worry about paying for school. That, of course, comes from having to pay for school myself. Still paying for school in fact. It just sets you up for a long long time with a very tight margin. The other dream is to visit some places I've not been to before. That's an awful lot of places. It too takes careful planning, so BND's here were come. Today was one!

I'm defrosting, because we spent the afternoon outside. The four of us, and one very snowy dog. First we burned things in the firepit and then we were trying to build things out of snow that was not cooperating. We took a walk down to the marsh in the knee-deep snow, got separated from Brian and the dog and met a guy that would not go away. He had a flock of kids with him, and no partner, and kept pace with me and wanted to talk. Creepy. He took off when I loudly said that we were looking for Dad + dog. Ugh. Family walk and creepy dude comes by.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Complacency

I must admit that the new year is walloping my ass.

I returned to work after a week's sojourn between Christmas and New Years' to my job that I truly love and that has kept me fascinated for the last five years. I guess I've felt too comfortable lately, because this week I've had to deal with some nerve wrecking things and it's thrown my sense of complacency out the window. I think it's good that most people don't have to deal with situations where kids might be harmed. I wish that I could write about it here, but no such luxury. The people that I work with help, but a lot of the time they are facing the same nightmares. I'm not exactly sure how I deal with it, other than taking the green pills that bring my blood pressure down to where it should be. That, and hug my own little people a bit longer, while they still let me.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

You're not in charge of me

It's so simple when you're five. Today, on the way to dinner, the bickering picked up speed. All of a sudden Ethan said to Leah - "stop bossing me around, you're not in charge of me, God is!" And I thought, how apropos and how simple it is when you're five. No big questions. It is how it is. He's the one in charge. He supersedes all else. I wonder when we lose the kind of big faith that we seem to inherently have. Does it happen quickly, or stealthily over time? It made me think of where I fit within this situation...where is my faith? I know it's there, but it's a bit trampled by everyday life. It's just moments like that snap you back to what's important. If it's as simple as that to a five-year-old, why is it not as simple to us when we get older? What gives, what changes? I haven't got the answers to those questions, but I'm glad that I took a minute today to think about them.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Fresh

It came and went without much pomp and circumstance, but nonetheless, I'm glad that we got to share the last night of the year with the neighbours and their kids. We had a nice dinner and then just hung out. The kids did their thing with watching a movie and coming and going to the bonfire, where the dads stood for about two hours. We, the moms, stayed inside. Duh, it was -17 yesterday evening.

Today, we are taking it easy. Back to work for me tomorrow, so I'm not planning on doing anything, other than making a quiche. That's right, if I were to make any resolutions, and that is a stretch, it would be to be more adventurous in the kitchen. And to get a new kitchen.

There, resolution made!!