Ahhhhhhh. . . . .In a Good Way

We've had some nice temperatures the last couple of days and boy what a difference it makes to my mood.  I have loved waking up and hearing the birds chirping and anticipating a sunny day.

Officially another hockey season is in the books.  We had the banquet on Tuesday night and as always it's nice to look over and see all the boys sitting together.  Some talking between whipping out their phones, but I will say many times it was three of them around one phone as they shared a funny video or something.  It was a successful year for our hockey association with three teams winning OMHA Championships and the B~man's team making it to the semis, nice to see all acknowledged. Now we wait for baseball.

Recently I have attended a couple of workshops through work that were interesting and intense.  The first was a two day for ASIST, which was about suicide and how to ask the questions we are all scared to ask.  There was a lot of wonderful information and we did some role play that got pretty intense, but so worth it.  I feel better prepared to ask the questions as well as recognizing some clues that I hadn't necessarily thought of.  The other one was about Mental Health and how many of our students are being diagnosed with or experiencing higher incidents of anxiety. Heavy duty topics but very worth my while.

I have another 5K this weekend!  I will be walking it again and no goodies for this one though.  I will be participating in the Run for Rocky on Sunday and it is to benefit GSAs in our local high schools.  A wonderful cause and our school has been the recipient of a Run for Rocky grant for a guest speaker.  Think I will bring my camera and hope to get some pics of the kids in their Bulldog gear.

On the digi front:

Rachel/Captivated Visions has a beautiful new kit in her store over at Scrapbookgraphics I am dying to play with.  It's sitting on my hard drive but have not been in the mood to sit and scrap. Here is a preview of her latest collection, I just love the colours!

Create, Captivate & Inspire: Signature Collection by Captivated Visions

 I think I have only completed one page since my DigiDares entry.  I had some fun with blending and masks and I think I came up with a cool effect.

My credits for this page are; Artful Intentions: Sunshine in my Soul [Value Bundle] | Artified: Cotton Candy [Layered Template]

First Post for March. . . .I Suck!

Here I am writing my first post for the month of March.  One would think I have a lot to share, but alas I do not. 

Life has returned to normal since surrendering my little Dash (still sad about that, add guilt too) in that the Meow-monster has returned to normal living on the main floors of the house, sleeping in his spots and eating (has gained back the weight he lost), although the dog was good for him losing some of the extra he was packing. On a good note Dash has found a new forever home and I really hope they are able to give him a wonderful life. . . . still miss the little guy.

Hockey season has wrapped up, another year in the books.  The team did really well making it to the semi-finals for all Ontario--Go Stars!! Equipment will be used one more time then off to be cleaned and stored until fall.  Now we wait and get ready for baseball season.

We just finished our March Break and it was pretty quiet for us.  I wish we could have gone away, especially since we got another flipping snowstorm (I am so over snow now).  We had a nice gorgeous sunny day and then boom! temps dropped and we woke up to a boatload of snow. I promised the B~man we would update his bedroom during break and we did just that.  Fresh coats of paint, lime green and mid grey, new bed frame, comforter and he has a completely new look that is funky and he loves it (mom points). 

On the digi front I love the look of the sketchy/colour painted on pages and really wanted to do one.  Well I followed the tutorial, How to Create an Artistic Sketch that Ona had done over at the Captivated Visions blog and must say I am very proud of my results. So proud in fact that I did another page today.  There are so many layers and lots of brush work but I really love the results and can see me doing more pages like this.  This look works well for me as I don't take a lot of pictures any more (teen boy) so traditional scrapbook pages aren't something I do. I have grown fond of mixed media and art journaling and would love to learn graphic style as well.  I find these mediums so therapeutic and a great way to learn PS, I push myself to learn new things.

Here are my Artistic Sketch pages:

Both of these pages use digital products from Studio Captivated Visions. For complete credits, they are here in my gallery over at SBG.

Let's see if I can manage to write another post before the end of the month. . . . . . .

So Far So Good

I know we're only three days in but I am doing pretty good in some of the personal goals I have set for myself.  I want to work on 'self' as I stated in previous blog posts, and right now I am trying to work on positive self talk and just generally remaining positive.  No complaining or 'poor me' crap are the goals for January. 

My positives for today; windshield wiper flew off as I tried to bang the ice of it (I might add we were driving down the road when this happened).  I was able to laugh about it, not get stressed but actually laugh.  Looked over at B and we just started cracking up. So after dropping him off a trip to Canadian Tire to buy a new one was in order.  While I was in the parking lot trying to figure out how to put the stupid wiper on (they give you 18 different clips) a gentleman came over and offered to help me, I was so grateful.  It felt so good to smile and be happy. 

Took Dash the Wonder Dog to the groomers today for a bath and nails clipped.  Now he is a wash and wear dog (Boxer mix) but he still had a bit of what I call shelter smell on him and rid of that.  He did very well with the nails she said and also commented on what a sweetie he is, I seem to get that a lot from people who come in contact with him.  More proof of the love a rescue dog can give you, also that hidden beneath outside appearances is a gem waiting to shine.  My Dash is definitely shining, putting on some weight, fur growing back, shiny and soft and what a little ham.  If you're looking please consider a local shelter or rescue.  My PSA for the day.

The snow has stopped with a total accumulation of 35 cm (almost 14") in two days!  The sun was out today and that helped in not seeming as cold as the -12C it was (10F feels like -14F). No walks for us again today, hopefully tomorrow we can get out for at least a short one. 

My pics for today!

Happy New Year!!

A brand new year and we are celebrating with lots of snow.  I mean say WHAT?! It was snowing some last night when I went to bed but when I woke up and looked outside I couldn't believe it.  It has been nonstop all day and looks so pretty out. Granted I didn't have to drive far today only down the road to pick the boy up and that was our venture for the day.

Here I am, the first picture of the year.  One of my goals is to actually appear in more photos....as well as take photos.  I don't think I've used my camera in months and I need to get back in the habit of using it.  I have turned like everyone else, snap them with my phone.

From the DASH-board; our newest family is doing well.  Although he is a notorious counter surfer, proof was Saturday afternoon.  We left and I apparently didn't latch his crate and came home to find he had demolished a Terry's Chocolate Orange....thankfully I was only gone 5-10 minutes.  Let's just say things were a little explosive for a few days, and the one day it was both ends.  Yes I began question why I wanted a dog again.  We have all survived and the leftover Christmas chocolate is kept waaaay high.  Have to find a way to stop my little Dash the Wonder Dog from this behaviour, Dog Whisperer website here I come!

House is de-Christmassed, we watched the Winter Classic--Leafs won in a shoot out and I decided (begrudgingly) that maybe it was time I did some laundry.  Tomorrow is dentist and then dinner with some friends. 

Christmas Past and The Now

Another Christmas is in the books and I would say this one was hard.  While I had the adoption of Dash that really made it special I also had some down moments. 

This was my first Christmas not having my son with me for Christmas dinner, he was with his dad. For six years it has been us and my parents or us and my whole family.  This year it was just me and my family, it hit me harder than I expected.  I contemplated just staying home and putting my jammies on, but after a meltdown and tears I sucked it up and went back out to my brothers.  Glad I did as we had some laughs playing games and such.

Fast forward to the now........

Dash is doing well and we have gone out for a walk every day.  I feel myself being more at peace and calm, animals are amazing creatures aren't they?  The Meow-man is handling a dog in the house very well and is over being angry with me.  Matter of fact I have cat curled up beside me and do is curled up at my feet.....life is good.

Avoidance is in full gear, I have done nothing!!  There is laundry, dusting, vacuuming and sweeping to do as well as a good fridge clean out needed but I am content to sit and watch whatever marathon is playing on the Comedy or Space network as well as catching some World Junior hockey action (still in mourning over Canada's shootout loss yesterday).