[i] LoveLife

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday and its beautiful, beautiful fall weather was topped off with THIS INCREDIBLY COOL surprise visitor on our front doorstep. Holy Pumpkin carvings, Batman! HOW COOL! What an amazing Halloween gift from my friend Mél and her dad the carver. I LOVE IT. Thank you SO MUCH. Actually, I was so busy getting Pilot and the bags out of the car that I wasn't the first person to notice. Pilot was squealing and grunting and pointing very, very excitedly at our VERY, VERY cool new pumpkin head. THANK YOU, Mél and Mél's Dad. Thank you so much!

Yesterday was also one of those roll-with-the-punches kind of days... I got two new Tiny Art Pieces done - but, I broke my scanner so they are NOT YET POSTED NOW UP - OVER HERE. I got all the laundry WASHED, but I ran out of dryer sheets so nothing is dried or put away. Basically, I got a LOT of things started, but nothing finished. Frustrating, but what-the-heck - you DO what you can DO and that's all you can DO that day. RIGHT? Good enough!

Three great things to post next week and a series of GIVE-AWAYS. I am NOT joking. I told you it was time to get serious.

Today: Ooooooooooh, scary Halloween. Pilot and I have some running around to do before I'm going to dress her up in her delightful costume and parade her around like a show poodle. (I'm kidding.) (Visitors are welcome to stop in for some halloween cheer after 3pm.) We're gonna carve pumpkins, make apple cider, light candles, take pictures and enjoy the whole darn day BECAUSE GUESS WHAT - Dan says I can start playing CHRISTMAS CAROLS TOMORROW! Yes! My jingle bells are ready. Sweet.

GREAT coffee this morning, Dan. JUST AWESOME. Time to be spookerific. GO!

The trick's on me, boys.

Alright Thursday. It hit me last night that TOMORROW is Halloween. Trick's on ME this time. I kind of knew it was coming all along. I got very healthy treats to hand out instead of candy. I got Pilot a costume. I got a crap load of pumpkins to decorate our steps. I made a plan for visitors to see US instead of us traipsing around town with Pilot. I'm making yummy apple cider for our visitors. I'm even going to carve up a couple pumpkins to be really, really festive (those of you who know me - might know that Halloween is not all that high on my holiday list).

BUT WHAT I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT HALLOWEEN is that it means there are only two short and very busy months until the year is over. O-VER. Fifty-five days until Christmas. Sixty-some days until 2009. Those two tidbits lit a bit of a fire under my ass and inspired me to make my list of what I want to accomplish before the year is over. Not so much ACCOMPLISH, but what path I want to clear a space for as 2008 closes... Did I do myself proud in 2008? Really? I'm going to be taking the next two or three days to do a SELF-ASSESSMENT of sorts to get back on track and finish with a little bit more focus.

Today: I had time yesterday (while BabaLuba & Pilot were playing noisy band) to organize my TO-DO lists and clear my head a bit... that's going to make attacking the list more productive. I needed that. I also feel like I need to get a little more productive with myself. Pilot is supposed to be with the Nanny today and we're experiencing a little confusion on that front so I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens. The basement needs cleaning up after the construction. The laundry. This, that and the other thing. I'm motivated today to GET ON IT.

The year is slipping away - make it happen. I'm on fire. Let's do this. GO!

Fashion is overrated.

Hi Wednesday. Holy cow. I'm off to a late start today after a late night with Amanda (Aunty Danger) and Grandma Janet at a haute couture fashion show last night and a long happy day hanging and playing with Pilot and Babaluba. GREAT NEWS - we have water again AND (surprise) new sewage pipes so my WAR WITH THE TOILET is a thing of the past. That's the beauty of 100 year old houses - you just never KNOW until they come and dig up your front yard that your sewage pipes are completely collapsed and THAT'S why your toilet appears to HATE YOU. SO, SO, SO excited that things are back on an upswing around here. Tremendously GOOD NEWS. (And so was the surprise delivery of SILVER JEANS - thanks Marsha & Hannah!)

This cute sock painting is for sale today. Price: $150. Email me!

Today: I'm off to have a work-then-pleasure breakfast with Heidi from Botanical PaperWorks. I am looking forward to this. SO MUCH. More goodness brewing on he plantable paper front and that makes me happy. THEN, I'm going to swing back this way and spend some quality time with my mom and Pilot. Hopefully, we will head out on a hump day adventure. I might even flush the toilet a few extra times JUST TO SEE the water swirl away with a smile. (I'm kidding because that wastes a lot of water, but I seriously considered it.)

Goodness abounds. Go!

Tear it up.

This is a less than awesome shot of the hot chocolate I am peacefully sipping on as I wait for the day to get ALL TORN UP. Yesterday - I did a great job getting a bunch of stuff closer to caught up - testicle kicking ACCOIMPLISHED. The cleaning lady was here so I'll have a nice clean floor and tidy mind for about 3 more minutes. 180. That's how many how many seconds until Pilot & Crash come down for breakfast and start spitting (her) and snorting (him) on things. Dan, bless his heart, is already busy mucking up the bathroom. Oh, THEN the excavating contractors are going to tear up a monster hole in our front yard and make MUD. At which point my mom will arrive for a short & sweet visit with Pilot (or 'HI PIE' as she affectionately and rather LOUDLY calls her). AT WHICH POINT chaos in the form of singing Halloween toys and things that light-up and annoy me will ensue (if you know BabaLuba - then you know I am right) and quite frankly I have given up fighting it and hope to just quietly run away with a Honeycrisp apple and the comfort that in three short months I will be able to drink once tequila again...

Today: Survive. ;)

GO!

Winter, water & wandering.

Hi Monday! CUTE. It's definitely time to get out the parkas around here. This weekend was cold and dark and incredibly blustery. Flurries are expected soon and that's pretty normal. We almost always have a little snow to get us into the Halloween mood. I guess I REALLY need to get myself some winter shoes ASAP!

It definitely wasn't my favourite weekend of the whole year. The watermain break  on our property meant that our water was shut off completely. Thanks to the ONE CONTRACTOR out of the half dozen that Dan called - we learned that you can "steal" water from your neighbour by attaching your garden hose to theirs and turning theirs on. Like MAGIC we have water in our taps and toilet again - except it's coming from our neighbour's house instead of from our own. BLOW MY MIND BUT I DON'T CARE I CAN USE THE TOILET AND WASH MY HANDS. Dan would like me to point out that we are not actually "stealing" Larry's water - we got permission from him before attaching our garden hose to his. AND I would like to mention that we HAVE THE BEST NEIGHBOURS EVER. EVER. My baby-squished bladder THANKS you.

The watermain break also meant that we were waiting around for contractors to come quote on digging a giant hole in our front yard. But only ONE out of six showed up and even that one single good person said Saturday, but showed up on Sunday. No matter I guess. Pilot got lots of time to practice her walking. Dan was practicing his pacing. I was feeling under the weather and happily munching on four Honeycrisp apples from RADICAL Paulette and finishing my bookclub read: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I liked it. I recommend it. It was fast and entertaining and left me with a happy feeling. That's all I ask of a good book. I don't think it makes for a terrific discussion book and that's cool with me because I like reading the books more than I like chattering on about them later anyways.

This painting is FOR SALE today. It's part of a cool series of 6. The image is about 8 x 8 inches on a large cardboard square. It's one of the pieces I did for Claudine Hellmuth's latest book. I'll release one per day this week with two on Friday. Price: $150 USD. First come - first served.

Today: High gear. I have a boat load of things to get done and organize before my mom drops in on us tomorrow AS WELL AS THE CONTRACTORS and a million other 'does-it-all-have-to-be-this-week?' things. Baby2 was causing me to see stars all weekend and I think that's NOT SO GOOD so I'm going to take it as easy as possible when I KICK THIS DAY IN THE BIG, FAT, HAIRY TESTICLES. LOTS to do including getting a couple of Tiny Art prints BACK to the printers to be corrected. And groceries. Cleaning lady. Bank. Dry Cleaners. PAINT? SHOES will have to wait until tomorrow when I can make BabaLuba (that's my mom) babysit ALL DAY LONG FOR FREE. Ha.

Good coffee today, Dan. I love it when you do that. Go!

APPLES + waterless living.

[This post was created COMPLETELY WITHOUT WATER.]

ALLELUJAH! Goodness  GREATNESS rained down on me yesterday with a VERY, VERY special delivery of HONEYCRISP APPLES FROM THE SOURCE!!! BEST SURPRISE EVER. Paulette Sarsfield, in all her total awesome and goodness, packed up and shipped me a GIGANTIC box of her very own Honeycrisp apples from her VERY OWN ORCHARD. Thank you SO MUCH Paulette!! It doesn't get better than that...

IT DID GET WORSE, however, because minute after our ultra fantastic delivery of apples - we experienced a pretty big-deal watermain break ON OUR SIDE OF THE BLURRY LINE between what is the City's problem and what is ours. AND THIS IS APPARENTLY OURS. SO. The water to our house has been INDEFINITELY SHUT OFF until we can hire a contractor to dig up our really pretty front yard (and probably Walter) to fix the problem. It might take a whole week! Or more.

In the mean time there is a moderately pregnant lady that has to pee...

Otto-Pilot.

This is Otto. CUTE. And this is a little Friday-bonus-post... and also what happens when you mix a 10 month old who LOVES dogs and a 10 week old Boston Terrier (plus a lot of photo grain). CUTE.  Otto is ADORABLE. (THANKS for the great visit Kristen! Welcome to the world of dogs.) His personality is something I have never come across in a Boston Terrier before... CALM. Awesome. Dan, if we are not here when you get home it's because we've gone in search of a boxer puppy. (The ONLY kind of puppy that will do for me.)
AND THIS JUST IN: If you're a fan of the tv show THE OFFICE - you will soon be watching them take a business trip to Winnipeg. That's right here where the Honeycrisps don't grow. Which is probably the Scranton of Canada. Funny, I always KNEW that Dwight would come for me. (AND we're used to being the punchline of jokes.) STILL COOL.

Happy Friday!

Baby tax.

Hi Friday! Pilot and I dropped in to visit Dan in his new office at his new job for a minute yesterday. He's over at Craig & Ross Chartered Accountants. She had some files to finish up. HA! Actually, Pilot wasn't convinced that Dan was calculating her Registered Education Savings Plan correctly so she gave him a few pointers. And then some tax tips. And then she double checked his work on her Child Tax Benefit. And then she spit cookies on his desk. It looks like we have a little tax-specialist-in-training... WHICH SERIOUSLY EXPLODES MY SMALL MIND. But I guess some of us were meant to be coolcat artists and some of us were just meant to be nerds. ;)

SURPRISE DELIVERY: I got some artwork back in the mail that was used for Claudine Hellmuth's latest book: The Scrapbooker's Creativity Kit. I had SUCH a good time working on these pieces for her - it was an awesome treat to get them back yesterday. Very cool. I am going to post these pieces on Monday morning for sale so watch for them here.

Yesterday was pleasantly terrific (EXCEPT that I still no apples). I think Maui must have been exceptionally good for my ATTITUDE because I've had quite a few days in a row of just loving the SLOW and enjoying the here and now. Pilot has been utterly hilarious - WHICH HELPS IMMENSELY. How can one kid be so cute. I LOVE that she's not really a "baby" anymore. It seems like the days are whizzing by quickly instead of dragging their shaggy asses to 5pm. I've got some exciting stuff coming up to get started on and some IMPORTANT THINGS LIKE CUSTOM TINY ART LADIES to get done (I haven't forgotten, I just needed a serious break after the first 89 of them).

Today: Who doesn't love a Friday? First things FIRST - we are off to visit Otto the new Boston Terrier puppy that is going to push me over the edge and make me want to get another dog. And then we are gonna let the Friday juices take over. Maybe we will head to the mall. Maybe we will head to the zoo. PROBABLY we will head home for naps and cookies and a little internet shopping before Dan and I head to a little party. It's been so long that I don't even REMEMBER HOW TO PARTY.

No coffee again?? Et tu Bruté? GO!

In the house.

Oh my, super fly... Hi Thursday. I got up this morning and decided that INSTEAD of sending Pilot to the nanny for the day - that she and I should spend time together. I will probably KICK MYSELF IN THE HEAD after we have read the same book 3 million times before lunch and I get the itch to paint - but she's just been SO DARN CUTE and I've just been feeling SO DARN EMOTIONAL & GUILTY when I drop her off. Word to the school system: I fully intend to be one of those mom's who pulls her kids out of school just to go to the zoo or a movie or a tea party in a secret garden from time to time. Attendance is OVER RATED.

In the picture strip: It's hard to capture this on Photobooth, but Pilot is not the most cuddly baby. She's more apt to PUSH ME AWAY BY MY THROAT than to snuggle. And that's fine with me. She comes by it honestly and I like her style. She just started a new thing - if we say to her 'Pilot, be CUTE' she will lean her head onto our nearest body part with a heaving sigh. It's too funny.

Yesterday was GREAT. I got a special delivery of SWISS CHOCOLATE in the mail. From a SWISS PERSON and everything. Thanks Regine! I was a happy-snappy chipmunk hiding the good stuff so Dan would not snarfoozle my stash when he got home. I also got our current bookclub pick: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I KNOW. THE WHAT? I had to read the title a couple of times, too - but I'll give it a go. I missed last meeting AND I heard that someone at bookclub tried to say that I recommended this title (that would be Brandi!!) which is not true UNLESS THE BOOK IS REALLY FANTASTIC - then yes it was ALL ME. I rock.

HONEYCRISP APPLES: I got a LOT of emails yesterday with the world-apple-status and apple-sightings around North America. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am feeling the LOVE for sure. I wanted to point out that this is NOT a pregnancy craving even though every single person seems to THINK that's why I'm all aflutter for these apples. This is an old-fashioned and very pure LOVE of the Honeycrisp. PREDICTION: I have a good great feeling about the next 12 hours and what it may bring...

Today: Oh, the world is our oyster, little girl. I have things that I want to chip away at. I always do. But, I'd also like to go for a walk and take some pictures and play some games and just BE. I'll let you know how THAT goes because this place is usually a little unpredictable and we are known to change our plans midstream. AND I LIKE IT LIKE THAT.

Hey Dan - you stiffed me on the coffee this morning. Okay, let's GO!

Odd + tasty.

Aloha Wednesday. Humpday already - look at that. Yesterday was a little more frantic and a little less awesome with racing Pilot to the nanny and making it to some appointments on time. I did a complicated series of all-day errands and then decided it was probably time that Dan had a hearty home-cooked pot of chili instead of living off pineapples and macadamia nut cookies. It was one of those days were I felt like I was trapped in a car going much too fast past the Parade of Interesting. So many things happening and not enough time to sit down and truly enjoy them.

So before I forget...

• One of the strangely interesting things we did on Maui was GO TO COSTCO. That probably sounds lame, but it's fun to distract Pilot and it neat to see what you can get when you're not at your "home store". Like rambutan (from the photo). AND WINE. (No, we did not pick up any wine.)
• Still no HONEYCRISP APPLES at my grocery stores. I get it. They are not coming. I am not even going to pretend that this is not the GREATEST LETDOWN OF 2008 for me - Wall-Street-Schmall-Street. ;) And I would like to point out FOR THE RECORD that I get an email or two a day from people saying that they tried them and HECK THEY REALLY ARE AWESOME. This, I know to be true.
• I picked up what I would call uggs-on-drugs. Old Navy had some cute fall boots for Pilot to cruise around our chilly house in.
  
• One not-at-all strange thing that I picked up yesterday is an Origami Wrap top from Lilla P. Here's the link. It's a wrap-thing that you can wear four thousand different ways and it feels like butter next to your skin. It's awesome. It's a great gift for the pregnant people you love. (If you're in town they can be found at Candie&Dolls in three colours - tell them I sent you.) It's also on TOP of my VERY BEST THINGS FOR PREGNANT PEOPLE list because it always fits and it feels nice and luxurious - like you are a princess AND NOT A COW. It's not maternity - IT'S FOR REGULAR PEOPLE.

Today: Hello cold! It's grey and blustery so I think I will have coffee AND THEN hot chocolate. With marshmallows. Pilot is being very, very sweet, but is off to the nanny. I am thoroughly enjoying Pilot sleeping in until 8am instead of getting up at 4:30am. It's rocking my world, baby girl. I am tempted to get the last bits of my running around done - BUT LOGIC TELLS ME that I'm probably better off to get the laundry done and the last of my work bits sorted out so that I can GET THESE PAINTINGS OUT OF MY HEAD before I go pick up baby P Diddy.

Over and out. Ra Ra Rambutan! Good coffee today, Dan. GO!