[i] LoveLife

Hello Last Day Of The Year. Wow. I can't believe it. Truly awesome. So much to think about and remember. TO BE THANKFUL FOR. This year was brought to us by RADICAL. It was more good than bad, more easy than hard and so much more than I expected. It was hard to carve out a new role for myself - but, at the same time it was strangely rewarding. I think it fits. Thanks blogland for being totally instrumental in helping me figure it out - and for supporting Tiny Art and prints and magnets and LoveLife books. SO VERY, VERY COOL OF YOU ALL. 2008 was very, very good to us and our family - we lost some and gained a few and learned leaps and bounds through it all. So thankful.

SO. That's what we're going to do today. Be THANKFUL. REST. Take a little time to just chill and get ready for the adventure that will be 2009. I'd like to say that we're gonna party like it's 1999 - but, not only would we be a decade too late - it would be the biggest lie of the century. I'm hoping to ring in the New Year IN MY SLEEP.

I'll be back in 2009 with good things to share. Art to make and share. And lots and lots of photos to document life.

Happy New Year, internet. Happy New Year. GO!

A tale of two Wonderfuls.

Hi Tuesday. FIRST - if you've ever traveled anywhere with Pilot IN A CAR you will not recognize this happy looking kid. (Right Tammy?) She HATES being in the car. Especially on long trips. Especially during daylight. Or at night. Based on our last couple of road treks I was NOT looking forward to the drive home. BUT! Our (very kind and VERY THOUGHTFUL) neighbours offered us the use of their portable DVD player. At the last minute we took them up on their offer and I just wanted to know WHY NO ONE TOLD ME IT WOULD BE BETTER THAN A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE???? (Thank you Bonnie & Tim!) Happy, happy, happy baby girl sitting back there watching Baby Einstein over and over and over and over. SOLD. I took some time yesterday to do a little internet research and hook us up with a nice new portable DVD player smooth sailing. Sweet. Three cheers for techology!

SECOND - long before I had a blog a baby or a husband - it was just a single gal and her dog. Crash. A five year old black face brindle boxer. Yes SIREE he is pretty annoying when he coughs his gross breath directly into into your unsuspecting face. AND SURE - he gets on my nerves when he spins around on his bed three thousand times before settling in. And ABSOLUTELY - I curse him everytime he drinks water too fast and then barfs it all over the floor. But, he has these flashes of brilliance: like accidentally introducing me to Dan at the dog park and showing never-ending patience for his clumsy and sometimes a little-too-rough 1-year old roommate...
She adores him. Dan adores him. I definitely adore him. Three cheers for wonderful, wonderful Crash. (Part of my New Years plan is to take him on a few more walks every week - just the two of us.)

Today: MORE OF THE SAME. Returns. Laundry. Coffee. Some thank you notes. A healthy lunch. A walk in the snow. A little internet research and shopping. Picking a new paint colour for the foyer. I have an OBGYN appointment and a date with a hot mug of afternoon tea. And a spinach lasagna to whip up. Doesn't seem like much - but that should about do us in. Still fighting some flu bugs here.

Big happy birthday to Uncle Brad down in Florida. Soft and silent wave to my Gedo today as my family assembles in Saskatoon for his funeral. And a quiet look back at 2008 before welcoming more Wonderful into our 2009...

Let's do this. Go!

Happy + sad.

Hello again, real life. We're back from a long trip around and around and back again. Whew. It was exhausting, but awesome. Easy + hard. It was tiring and terrific. It was happy and sad. Happy + sad. It was definitely fully-caffeinated and heart warming... It was.
A lot of our highway driving looked like this. All 2000kms of it. Which is just how it works around here. Which is scary and comforting at the same time. That's winter. We didn't get outside as much as we normally do around this time because the temperatures where we headed were somewhere around the -45˚C with the wind. CHILLY. Really @#$%@ cold. That meant we spent a lot of time indoors and in cars BUT Dan and I managed to sneak away for a funny afternoon movie. Very nice.
 All of that cold made pretty Saskatoon, Saskatchewan look something like this... even prettier than usual.

I don't have a lot of other things to report. It was good to go home. It was wonderful to see family - especially the ones who hadn't had a chance to meet Pilot yet. It was great to see my Barteski grandparents and Dan's Rudniski grandparents AND it was especially sad to have my Gedo Krepakevich (Ukrainian for grandfather) pass away on Christmas Eve... but the flip side of that was the comfort in knowing he spent Christmas with my Baba (Ukrainian for Grandmother) that passed away last year just days after Pilot was born. We saw him hours before he left us. It was the best Christmas gift ever to see Pilot interact and love the holidays with all the people that I love and spent holidays with growing up (eventhough she never really warmed up to Uncle Don - sorry about that Uncle Don!) We saw country side and country folk and Dan even got a chance to go out with Todd to do some cattle chores.

It was good. It was great. I feel a little mixed coming back home... like a big sigh. Happy + sad. Easy + hard. Ready + not ready. Relieved to be in our own space and gearing to get back into the swing of things... but sad to see such a fun trip ending - knowing that things around here are busy prepping for more change. In all kinds of ways. All kinds. Old hearts leaving us and new hearts on their ways.
Thank you holidays. Thank you winter. Thanks family. Thanks friends. Thanks - that was really, really just what my heart needed.

Today: Well, Pilot is STILL sick so we are going to make two or three things a priority; getting back to the doctor, getting groceries, and getting rested. We have about three zillion new toys to sort. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH ALL OF THESE THINGS??? Laundry to do. A baby room to START organizing. And a whole lot of new things to find homes for. If pregnant people are to fall into a "nesting phase" at some point - I suppose that point is RIGHT NOW for me because I feel like it is URGENT.

And so is coffee this morning. 2009 is right around the corner. Holy crap.

Go!

Joy to all!

 Happy Day! Merry Christmas morning and triple joy. We are on vacation spending time with our families in Saskatchewan. It's VERY, VERY COLD here. Minus 45 degrees. WOWZERS. Dan's been doing farm chores - wrangling cattle. Pilot's been LOVING every minute of being surrounded by so many people to entertain. I've been just loving life and getting fatter.

No need to worry. No need to fret. No need to just assume that Baby2 is in danger of anything other than just getting too many shortbread cookies. Just a lot of eating and laughing and remembering what the holiday season is all about.

YUM. We'll be back in a few a days. Peace. And joy.

AND EGGNOG. Go!

Spread joy.

One of the benefits of being an illustrator is that I can make sure that my own holiday greetings. For instance - this one is called Pilot and a Few Drunk Penguins. Dan and I had a good conversation about the message we send out. SPREAD JOY is the winner this year. That's kind of non-denominational and PRO-LOVE. Not everyone celebrates Christmas or even holidays - but, you can't deny spreading joy, love, peace and DELICIOUS BAKING. And maybe a sparkly star or two. Oh, no you can't.

Today: We are right on track. Early morning car appointment. Nice steady stream of holiday visitors and coffee. I forsee a shower in the late afternoon, too. SWEET. I still have no outfit plans - but, I think it's a fat girl's prerogative to dress a little whacky considering that I'm concealing two people under those ill fitting clothes. OH WHAT I WOULDN'T DO FOR A LITTLE RUM IN MY EGGNOG TODAY.

OH, what I wouldn't do. GO!

I've been everywhere, man.

EVERY. WHERE. Whew! I was literally everywhere today. It's still THURSDAY. But, I promised a few extra shots - so here they are...
The nicest outdoor scenes I saw today that weren't the back of a bus or the exhaust fog from sitting in traffic.

It wasn't the smoothest day (and it's not over) - but, I didn't back into or over anything so that was a plus. Just a lot of running around, picking things up, forgetting things here and there, doubling back, changing my mind and finishing up some details so that I can worry about minimal things tomorrow. LIKE CREATING A HOLIDAY OUTFIT FROM THE BITS AND PIECES OF MY ILL-FITTING WARDROBE for Dan's office Christmas party tomorrow night. Good grief. At this point, I think I might just slather on a bunch of glitter and wear sweats.

I'm out and about first thing in the morning to take the CR-V to be assessed - so no early morning post. Let's change it up. I'm so predictable sometimes. Tomorrow will be an afternoon post. And maybe an afternoon siesta. HOPEFULLY an afternoon shower. Sweet. Ciao.

Smooth.

Thanks Wednesday. Yesterday was smooth as ice. I didn't get a whole lot more accomplished than getting Pilot to the nanny, getting the CR-V out to the dealership for maintenance, editing some photos, doing some laundry, buying Pilot some pants that fit, finishing my Christmas craft design, picking the car up, picking Pilot up and collapsing onto the living room floor to play with the stuffed animals. NO COMPLAINTS. It was SMOOTHER than I imagined the day unfolding and after Tuesday THAT JUST ROCKS MY WORLD. Thank you Wednesday. I love everything about you.

Sweet. HOLD THAT THOUGHT because I am off with intentions to collect some cool photos to post later today. The shot above - a friend and her new little man named Finn. He's so cute. I really like the composition of this shot with his feet in the crook of her elbow. Safe and sounds. Sigh.

Today: I am hoping for another couple of off-without-a-hitch events. Pilot has her last day with the nanny for a couple of week and I have a few last minute things to race around for so that we can GET THESE HOLIDAYS STARTED. Saturday morning is our blast-off in a blaze of jolly glory. Lots to do! I'll post more later. I've got my camera in hand and a bit of a plan. Famous last words, I KNOW.

Get along little doggies. COFFEE. GO!

@#$%#$ Really?

Oh man. Yesterday left a little to be desired in a WHOLE BUNCH of departments. [Hey. This post contains profanities - that's just a warning. I have done my best to make them polite little non-offensive symbols, but that's just so that my nice Grandma doesn't freak. The rest of you - to @#$@ bad.] My TO-DO list got kicked in the junk with force - I was a pre-baby machine. The @#$*! list kicked back. Dan says yesterday was my NASCAR TUESDAY. Everything went left and NOTHING WENT RIGHT. Ha. Almost comedy and I only say almost because IT WASN'T F@$#%N FUNNY.
I thought of the photographers out there when I saw this cool shirt in the window of an equally cool store in the Village. Funny. My third last stop of a kick ass productive errand morning and I should have just turned back when I got the photo. They sold out of what I came for AND as I left - I got myself boxed into a parking lot that was being plowed by some BIG MOTHER @#$@ snow clearing machines. Yikes.

In a panic to get out of the way of the approaching plow that obviously did not see me I BACKED UP a little too quick INTO A LARGE POLE. Yes I did. SO DUMB. I wasn't going fast. In -45 degree weather CR-V plastic just shatters. So - days from a road trip I made a mess and a bunch more complicated items on my TO-DO list. Serious !@#$%. Oh, well. @#$@#$ HAPPENS. I didn't have Pilot with me and I wasn't going faster than a turtle so I guess it's pretty minor - but, it cut my errands short and threw a bit of a wrench in my attitide.
In between errands, smashing cars, 5 loads of laundry, getting groceries, 4 pans of chocolate bark and 2 long calls to our insurance company - Pilot and I ended up back at the pediatrician's because I just wasn't sold that this was a virus. BECAUSE IT'S NOT. It's an ear infection. And bronchitis. And a new tooth! (Not contagious - hurray!) Holy poor little person. Much easier to manage when you know what's happening, I guess - so we are now on the road to recovery. Off we went for antibiotics and the last of our errands in the subarctic temps. I snapped this photo because after a full day of running around, lugging around, running staris, carrying stuff and and smashing things - I HAVE NEVER FELT MORE LIKE DRINKING THINGS. In due time, I guess. In due time. You know what - in due time I will be @$%$ ready for a beer.
This photo doesn't really fit because there's nothing @#$@! about it. It's nice. @#$@#$ NICE. It's tough to get across temperature in a photo. Or the way it feels to take a big gulp of really, really cold air. Or the painful feelings as your feet return to regular temperature. STILL - I love winter. (AND I really LOVE my new BENCH fleece that arrived yesterday from the UK as well because it's TERRIFICALLY warm!)

In between it all - as Pilot and I dashed back to our barfight wheels - I looked up into a perfect blue sky and thought: !@#$#@! Smash-ups and all - my life is still pretty darn good.

Today: is complicated and will require patience and delicate timing in regards to some car appointments, shuttle-buses, nanny schedules and baby whims. I'm not planning anything other than coming out of this one alive.

Okay Wednesday. Bring it. GO!

Barking up the Holiday tree.

Hi Tuesday. The photo above is from last Friday. I'm not even going to PRETEND that we went outside yesterday. NO THANKS. NO WAY. With both Pilot and I under the weather the blisteringly cold -45˚(F and C) was just too much for our little bodies. We cranked the heat, put on our fleece jackets and stayed inside. And drank coffee. And got productive. Well, a little bit.
I don't think it matters how many winters you've weathered - when the thermometer goes below -40 it surprises you every time. Other than pipes freezing or cars not starting - I don't mind it so much. Dan calls it Snuggling Weather. I still love winter.
We did venture out on Sunday to see if we could find Santa to get the traditional (and very cheesy) photo. Dan insisted. I certainly did not expect to be IN the photo, but Pilot freaked when Dan took her to Santa and somehow in our attempts to calm her down she ended up in my arms and I decided to sit with the fat guy to show her that he was okay. (I didn't think Dan wanted to sit on some dude's lap.) SO. I feel kind of bad about being in the shot when it's actually Dan that's the lover-of-traditional Santa snaps... BUT on the other hand since there are very few photos of me and Pilot (or me and SANTA for that matter) I'll take it.

Today: We have our favourite Olympic athlete coming to spend some time with Pilot so that I can escape to the real world and get some errands out of the way. IF THE CAR WILL START. It's Pilot's lucky day because it's Team Canada rower Janine Hanson. And she offered herself up OUT OF THE BLUE to us because she's a good soul (or a kidnapper!). Which totally rocks (not the kidnapping part) - thank you so much Janine! I've got 32 places to go and a fairly long list of out-of-home TO-DO's so that we can GET THE HOLIDAYS STARTED. Holiday craft abound!! We are about to have a 5-different-kinds of chocolate bark making HOE-DOWN party around here! Oooooh, I love this part.

ORDER MAGNETS, BOOKS, PRINT before Friday or you have to wait till 2009.

OKAY. Get serious. Let's do this. GO!

The after-party.

Hi Monday. The whole birthday ordeal came and went too fast. It really did. It was almost as if SHE KNEW that Saturday was her very small party and the whole thing unfolded beautifully. Even on a cold and bitter morning (-45 with the wind!). Warms my heart that so many people love this little girl, too. She was delighted with the guests and the balloons and the gifts and the whole deal. Pilot has been sick for over a week and it was a mystery to me just exactly what kind of spirits she would be in. Turns out - very, very good ones.
It was awesome. Actually, I'd say it was TOTAL BAD ASS (check out that bike and new skull dress!) and she's well on her way to being a little punk chick.

She is however - SICK AGAIN. What started out stomach bugs - went to runny nose and fevers - went to croupe coughing and choking - went to stuffy nose and tears - which all went back to a rotten stomach flu for the poor thing last night. BARF. Bummer. Bummer. Bummer. Poor little bird. I thought she was rounding a corner...

The above photo - that's Dan's infamous line. It cracks me up. He cracks me up. It's been known to stop ill feelings in their tracks. (It's also been known to be the cause of a doomed couple's breakup - whoops!) I thought it made for a nice sentiment on the wall... and I think we might just have to resort to some of that hugging to get us all up and running again.

Couple of things:

1. Magnets. THANKS. THANKS. THANKS. We have been receiving lots of good feedback about the quality of the LoveLife Magnets. The common comment seems to be delight that the magnets are MUCH NICER IN REAL LIFE than people expected. Thank you. It's hard to describe what they look like in person. It's not a flexible magnet with printing on it... it's sort of like a nice little art plaque with a magnet stuck to the back. Either way - it feels good to get something positive - and I THANK YOU very, very much.
2. Books, prints + magnet orders. We will not be shipping from the 20-27th of December because we have some important people to visit and some tastey eggnog to be drinking with our families out of town. ORDER ASAP.
3. Tiny Art Ladies. Oh my... I know. I know. I know. I HAVE ABOUT 32 LEFT TO FINISH. Why are they not done yet? Because I did 82 in a row and lost a little mojo for them. NOT A GOOD EXCUSE. I get that. I think about it often. I also felt like I needed a rest because they were starting to feel forced and not AUTHENTIC. It I'm not being AUTHENTIC - I won't do it. I gave up a long time ago on forcing art. It loses it's magic and I don't think that's cool. I genuinely feel that intentions are felt in every piece and if I'm not into it - it will suck. WILL I GET YOURS DONE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. No. Most likely not and I apologize over and over and over. And over. I am scheduling a week in January to get THE LADIES DONE and on their way for those who are still interested in receiving their orders. (I am not ever taking new orders for these again because I am LADY-ed OUT.)
4. Can you believe that it's almost 2009? I cannot. It hurts me and that is not a joke. This was the fastest year on record of my brain. Painfully fast at times and from those wee hours of 1am - 4am each night - INCREDIBLY, TEDIOUSLY slow. ;)

The above poster is something I made to inspire myself a bit each day...

Today: LAUNDRY. LAUNDRY. LAUNDRY. (A stomach bug will do that to your TO-DO list.) I need some rest. Pilot needs a LOT of rest. We need to get rid of these bugs as soon as possible - and get ourselves on track for a Christmas trip to Saskatchewan. We're counting on the mailman to bring us cheer today. It's RIDICULOUSLY, RIDICULOUSLY, RIDICULOUSLY cold outside this week - so we will busy ourselves with eating oranges and having naps and making lists and trying to get better all while staying indoors where the coffee is hot and our feets are warm.

Alright Monday. Please be gentle. GO!