Smile.

This small-town girl is loving every single thing about this song and video.

Summer Paradise.

Loving the vibe of this song. Makes me want to spend the day on the beach, havin fun all day and night!

Storm Season.

The past two weeks have been prime tornado watch weather here in our part of Saskatchewan. I have a number of friends who are wonderful photogs as well as two who regular chase storms (as in, professionally. Not stupidly.) and my Facebook wall has been full of amazing photos of nature's tantrums/power lately.

I don't have much knowledge to share about weather. Or storms. Or even really what to do in a storm. While tornado's do happen in our province, it's not a regular occurence. There is no public warning system/siren system, etc... so this recent string of storm action has been novel. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

This is my city. Beautiful, no?

Woah.

Very ominous.

I would love to head out with this crew one time.

Eep!

Our province is known as The Land of the Living Skies.

Clouds after a massive hail onslaught. Very trippy. The sky was full of these streaming globules that looked like something from a Dr. Suess book.

All in all a very interesting start to the summer season.

The New Adventures of Flutterby.

Couch.
To.
5K.

It's happening. I haven't died yet.

Race day is in one month and I'm actually going to do this. I have a team depending on me to participate and there's no turning back.

I totally know that for most people (or many/some/lots... whatever) 5K isn't exactly considered a benchmark run. I know plenty of people who run that distance whilst buffing their nails or doing their taxes or knitting scarves... and they don't even break a sweat. 5K is these people's WARM-UP.

Not me.

But maybe... someday... me.

I will keep y'all posted.

Daydreamin'

This morning -- after a solid week of springtime temperatures and winter thaw -- I woke up to a fresh blanket of snow covering the ground.

But...

Tonight I made it all better by enjoying a great conversation with my bestie; making summertime plans for some lake fun and sunshine.

Suck it, winter. You can't drag me down.

It's hard to believe that summer holidays are halfway done. I had all these plans for how vacation was going to go; things to do... it was going to be the perfect balance of work and play. I was going to get up at the crack of dawn and do my daily stuff before the kiddos got up... They were going to work with me in the yard... I was going to tackle some big projects...

Right.

The truth of the matter is that some projects have been tackled, but there a couple still staring me in the face. And the whole idea of children working with me seems to be nothing more than a pipe dream. The crack of dawn bit? Forgot to take into account the fact that the kiddos are keeping pretty late bedtimes during the holidays and thus Mr. F. and I end up staying up much later, just to enjoy some peace and quiet in the house. And after only falling asleep at 2am; the crack of dawn is not seeing my face anytime soon.

Which basically means that SOMEONE has to take charge, here... and that person should likely be of an adult/parent persuasion.

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Our derby scrimmage was a huge success on all accounts. We pretty much played to a capacity crowd and put on a pretty great show. The score was tied at halftime and the intensity was high! My team won, which was kinda cool. First time I got to skate the victory lap and be congratulated by the other team. I played a pretty good game, in my opinion, and learned a ton from the great girls I was playing with. Three minor penalties, but no majors -- and I didn't really even get slammed by any good hits. Which either means I'm getting good at this, or that I'm not in the action enough. Anyway, it was nice to wake up the next morning only feeling moderately sore. I've got a few bruises to show for my time and effort but nothing huge or picture worthy!

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The next few weeks are going to be busy. A fun week at the lake followed by a not-so-fun week of morning til night renovations on our rental property. A quick trip to play derby in Calgary at the Tattoo Festival and then I'm back to the rental property to finish off the final touches and do an open house. This place REALLY needs to sell. Gah!! After that I've got about a week to get the kiddos ready for school and finish off some of the projects here at home. Namely this ginormous closet organizer that I've got to assemble. It's messing with my head, all sitting there in it's poorly labeled boxes with no instructions. Taunting me with visions of sure failure and dismal assembly scenarios. I will have to find a way to conquer my fear. :)

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The Kid has taken up a new routine of reading each night before bed. I really think it's cause of the Princess' example. She absolutely loves to read and we regularly spend some special time before bed with her reading out loud to me. Well, it seems that the Kid wants to get in on some of that action, too, and I couldn't be happier.

Grade One was kind of a tough year for him; he's a classic little boy who struggled to stay put and stay quiet; the idea of buckling down and actually WORKING at something that didn't come easily was pretty foreign to him. And reading was something that didn't come easily. It's not that he didn't GET IT... he'd just rather not WORK at it. But, somehow... almost miraculously, he has now decided to nail this. And he's tackling it in a pretty big way, reading books at a grade four or five level -- which isn't something I expected at all. He struggles through them and is truly working hard to decipher and decode these words, to make sense of the punctuation and dialogue and I could not be prouder.

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All in all it's been a pretty good summer thus far. I look out my window and see actual, green, growing grass. Our fence is almost done and Mr. F. will be doing the rocked portion of the yard sometime next week while I'm working on renovating the rental. The kids are tanned and enjoying a leisurely summer at home, playing with friends and doing Summertime Kid Stuff (which was something we weren't sure would pan out when I was working full time) and we've got a week of lake time ahead; visiting with beloved family members and enjoying some relaxing sun, sand and water. Hopefully the next four weeks goes as well as the first four.

Summa-Time Fun!

Last weekend we enjoyed a sunny daytrip to visit my sis-in-law, the lovely JJ.

It was a beautiful, hot day and it didn't take long for all four kiddos to hit the pool water to cool off.

For four hours.

Such is the life of a child.



Thanks for a wonderful, relaxing time, JJ.

Stuff.

Today was the Princess' 11th birthday. I had considered doing an all-Princess post today in honor of it, but my Parental Fairness Alert reminded me that I was unable to do the same for the Kid's birthday as we were out of town for it. Thusly... I probably shouldn't do for one what I didn't do for the other.

Oi, the guilt...


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I will say, however, how blessed I am to have both my kiddos be such amazing lil treasures. Daily they surprise and bless me with their humor and uniqueness and perspective on life and the world.


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Friday I decided that the Kid needed a haircut badly. He is famous for seemingly sprouting hair overnight, so that his hair looks passable -- even good -- until the morning he wakes up and it looks like a shaggy blond hedgehog has possessed his skull. Bolstered by the advice of a good friend and mother ("it's so easy..."), I decided to take matters into my own hands. The Kid was game, if only a little wary... and the clippers made their first slip through the hair by his left ear.

I don't know if he moved, or if I just plain old did it wrong but I could immediately tell it wasn't turning out so well. A tentative second attempt confirmed that I should probably just Put Down The Clippers and let the professionals finish things up.

I should mention at this point that the Kid has pretty much the full side quarter of his lil head buzzed, and this after he straight out told me he did not want a buzz-cut.

Good work, Mom.

Seriously? The hardest thing was holding back the giggles as I looked at his mangled hairline and trusting face while trying to make up some excuse (so as not to worry him -- the Kid is a teeny bit shy and prideful about his boyish appearance...) as to why Mommy was not going to finish and we were going to go see Bobbi-Jo The Hairstylist the next day.

Turns out Bobbi-Jo The Hairstylist had the weekend off and I had to phone over six salons before finding an opening somewhere. Thankfully, all was salvaged and the Kid is looking his usual dashing self. However, I was treated to a full day and a half of looking at that partial buzz-line and I can't tell you how entertaining that was.


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Line Of The Day Award goes to the polite hairstylist who looked him over and inquired, "So... *pause. blink* ...What look were we going for here?" Bwaaha haa haaa ha!!!


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My derby name has finally been approved, which thrills me to no end. No really... every time I think of it? Little chills. Sweet, little derby chills. It's probably the closest I'll ever get to having my name up in lights. I mean, the sensible part of my brain totally realizes that it's not even my Real Name and there are no lights involved at all, really, and it's actually not close to that at all if one really thinks about it. But, there's the other part of me that is truly excited and actually honored to see my derby name published amongst some of the greats... the all-stars... the NAMES, you know? So, go check it out, here, if you like. I'm about halfway down the list, swimming along with the deluge of other "Kitty"-type names.


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Tomorrow morning I'm off to my parents' cabin for a few days and then to visit my in-laws at their cabin for the weekend. I know... lucky, lucky girl. :)


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"Houston, we have grass."

Yep. Turf was delivered and conquered and is now being watered obsessively. And it looks soooooooo nice. After two years of looking at dirt and mud in the yard... and two DOG years of looking at it being tracked into my house; grass is looking much like Heaven should.

Forget the streets of gold. Bring me Fescue.


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You know when there's just something about a song? Yeah. For some reason this one is makin me rock, lately. Horns up, Journey. Really. Really? Journey. Huh.

Song starts about 2 mins in.

SUMMATIME!!!

Spent the day at work outside, enjoying the 30 degree heat, the sun on my skin and the humid air. So glad that SUMMER finally decided to appear. YEAH!!!!

Now just for some time off to enjoy it in.

Oh, wait... I GOT THAT TOO!!!

Can you see my grin from There?? Thought so.