we're still in potty training hell (although possibly an end may be in sight). if there's ever a poop smell in the air i'll ask andrew if he needs to poop. the answer is always no. ALWAYS. then i'll ask if he pooped...his answer, 'no mommy. the poo is still in my bum. the poo is in it's home...'

buddy, if you know where your poo is, you know how to get it in the potty. :P

a pictures of the little monkey...

this humble blogger is pledging to make a post a day for the remainder of august.

it's good to be creative. it's good to get things out. it's good to vent. it's good to be funny.

it's good to be.

ps. we're going sans capitales. i hope everyone can deal with that. :P

pps. maybe i'll add more bling to the blog too. they disappeared the last time i tried to change the skin and i never put them back.

So, it happened. I fell off the blogwagon. Things got heavy in real life and it became tough to want to make any posts and writing frivolous or funny ones seemed even more tough.

to recap, in the last month or so:

husband lost his job, in laws visited, husband found 2 other jobs and for various reasons didn't stick with them, went to calgary, sick baby, lost crafty mojo, went camping, i lost weight, i gained weight, i've seriously regretted becoming chair of the board of directors for my kids daycare, husband found a job, husband started job. oh and how could i forget, my family is insane and are driving me coo-coo.

but i'm back, i promise. this new job of hubbys is from noon to 9 PM, so i'll have time in the evenings to be bored and then due to boredom, i'll post more.

promise.

ps. i've got to decide if i'm going to go sans capittals or if i'll do the proper punctuation thing on this blog...i'm sure some people are being driven batty.

Remember this post i made about using solar lights inside?

well, this is the bad news...the lights didn't really work. i was really disappointed actually. the first big problem was that the lights are top heavy b/c they're designed to be stuck in the mud outside so i couldn't really stand them up inside. i balanced them on top of my lamp but then i discovered problem number two. the lights are very dim. incredibly dim. unable to read by dim.

but, it's not a total loss. the lights did provide some mood lighting. they would be good for an evening where you're just watching tv or chatting with friends. i'm thinking about getting a large pot, filling it with mud and having that to stick the lights into in the house.

so, if i could find some stronger lights that could stand on their own inside my house i would be all over the solar lights on the interior.

i've totally lost my mojo. for the last 3 weeks i've been working on a tea cozy...one that should take me two days--three at the most.

come back mojo i miss you.

we are back on the jars. i went today and got our cash out for the week. i've got the money in the jars and our allowances in our wallets. we're even going to put 10 dollars a week into an emergency fund (being caught like that last time really sucked big donkey balls)

i've got my ticker back and we are going to stay OUT OF THE OVERDRAFT!

I remember watching an episode of Morgan Spurlocks 30 Days where two participants agreed to live 'Off The Grid' for 30 Days. They went and lived at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. They left cars behind and recycled everything (including human waste) during their 30 days. The episode is downright cheeky, but it did get me thinking. What could I do though? I'm definitely not leaving my air conditioning and my laptop to go recycle my poo.

There was even a post on Hitched a few months back where someone posted that they knew someone who was so cheap that they brought outdoor solar lights inside at night so they didn't have to pay to turn lights on. Everyone responded with variations of 'OMG, how cheap can someone be???' The idea definitely did not go over well with everyone except...me. I've been thinking about it since then. It seems like a great idea...doesn't it?

I've been told a few people about it and they've all decreed that it won't work...the light will be too dim, it won't charge enough, etc... But I'm going to put it to the test. Today at Canadian Tire they had solar lights on sale for half off so we bought a box. i've put them together and planted them outside and tomorrow the experiment begins!

here's my 4 lights outside all in a row

1 up close

This however, has made me very sad...the amount of packaging that was used for my very small 4 lights

Life after company is Grand. That's right, Grand with a capital G.

My plans? Walk around naked in all parts of the house. Watch porn in the living room. Eat cheese to my hearts content (without having to listen to the cheese diatribe about the evilness of cheese). Eat popcorn for supper. Watch "Till Debt Do Us Part" even though it's 98% the same episode everytime.

& best of all? Not Spend Money. The plan for this week also includes getting back on the Money Matters plan this week.

Just jotting down ideas that i have for children's ministry. Everything is swirling around and around and I'm afraid I'm gong to lose it if I don't see the letters and words.

children in the world. children in the community. children in the congregation. children in the family.

Some random ideas about activities/themes/whatevers to do during the year:

--pen pals with older congregation members. it's a secret. everyone picks a nick and there is a reveal at the end.
--overnight family camping trip @ camp morton group area. short evening service, sleep over, morning service, all ages welcome.
--overnight retreat in the church (?) for the older children
--parent/child activities
--crafts
--volunteering at harvest or equivalent
--hay ride????
--3rd world dinner

This past weekend we went 'camping' at Camp Morton (which is just North of Gimli). It was a rustic cottage but worked well for our purposes. Here's some snaps!


The Mother-In-Law


The Father-In-Law


The Hubster


The All Important Camp Fire


Andrew being Andrew


His Dandelion Creation


I quite liked this picture. I thought I did a very good job. Andrew loves playing with his grandad. (with the always present Retro Star Trek cup in the background)


You might wonder why there are no pictures of me...it's cause I'm the only one that knows how to operate a camera apparently. Do you see my eyes rolling?