It's been a while

 I can honestly say I completely forgot about this blog for a bit. Nothing new as this is more a spot for my thoughts, ramblings, and uninteresting life. What has happened in the last five weeks? Not much actually, a few things but nothing major. 

My appointment with the surgeon resulted in an unexpected biopsy due to skin changes, results were negative (I wasn't worried and he was just being cautious) and it is just due to radiation. I have lost twelve pounds and am feeling pretty good about that. My clothes fit better and I am down a size, maybe two depending on brand and style. 

I am feeling better physically and emotionally with all of this, it is a good place to be in. I have had some blips and am back to forcing myself to leave the house. I need to grab my camera and just go but the weather has not been cooperative or conducive to traipsing around with my camera gear. Looking ahead warmer and nicer weather is in the forecast. While I am not looking forward to the hot humid weather or summer I am excited about open windows and sunshine. 

Took some pictures in the backyard and have had fun improving my editing techniques and cropping. I broke down and bought Sharpening AI, pretty impressed with it actually but of course some photos are just beyond and dumped. Went to a coworker's wedding and was asked to bring my camera at the last minute. I stepped in as the hired photographer was late and got photos of the venue, the bride arriving, the attendants, the ceremony, and the first dance. I must say I was pretty impressed with how my photos turned out as was she. She said the one's the photographer took outside weren't great and at least she has some good ones from the day because of mine. Funny enough she asked me to photograph her wedding and I wasn't confident in my abilities and of course nervous about doing it. As it was I did some of it anyway, lol. I am still content with my birds, flowers, and the chocolate wonder.

A few of my recent photos from the backyard.  While I think of it I should create a watermark for my photos, just for fun.

I am hoping (wanting) to delve into the world of tutorials on how to use Adobe Illustrator. . . .wish me luck!

Growing

My son is almost finished his first year of college and first year away from home.  We have both adjusted very well, maybe too well for him :). I am so proud of the young man he has become and the experiences that he has had being away from home. Moving from a small town to a city is one thing but to do it at 17 (late in year baby) and three hours away is a big step. He is loving his freedom, school, all the things to do up there, new friends and even got a position as an RA for the second semester. I just signed as guarantor for a room in an apartment for him for second year. He and three buddies are moving into a four bedroom apartment at a new student complex that comes fully furnished and includes utilities.  Even talking about finding a job and not coming home at all for the summer next, just staying in his apartment. *sniff* *sniff* also proud momma moment that he is that independent and has plans for his future.  I hope he continues to follow his dreams. <3

We are now officially on spring break!!  Woohoo!! Jealous of all the people who went away this week but I decided to get Harlow in February and then bought a new TV last week. I hope the weather stays nice here and I can enjoy outside time with Harlow, work on recall and walking on a loose leash.

Feeling back on track as well, at peace and content for the most part.  Have had a few days of feeling stressed and grumpy but got back on track and still trudging forward. Difference is I'm not giving up and also not putting pressure or feeling that I failed if I have a moment.  Life is good!!

Can't go without sharing a picture of my LoLo girl.

looking innocent

vet visit--13 weeks 6 days and 21 lbs

Been Awhile

I have not posted for a month, I am not good at this blogging thing. Does it count if I thought about posting?  What if you had a really good story in your head but you just couldn't type it out properly. .

Honestly I have been in a funk for many reasons. First being my beloved little pink EHD died and with it went 400GB of my life ( you can cringe or say a bad word now). Now the upside of this is I had all my photos backed up to my new networked drive and some of my digi scrapping stash. It actually died while I was transferring files over. I know a computer guru and quickly contacted him to see if he could resuscitate pinky. Over I went with new portable drive in hand full of hope that he could retrieve my files. . . . . .I waited and waited (patience not my best virtue) but finally I got the news the drive was 'parked', he could see my files but couldn't get to them. . . . . .NO! Next option was sending it away at the minimum of $1500, umm, yeah not happening, if I had that money there would be a new camera or vacation on the horizon.  I managed to get a bunch of my links reset and stuff moved over and decided to let go of stuff I lost as I have ALL of my pictures which is the most important part.

In other news. . . Spring/summer has arrived!  Sun, seventies and open windows makes me so happy. I got all my gardening done and love my little space, the deck is blooming with the colours of yellow, blue, purple and white. Flower beds are looking good both front and back. Thoroughly enjoyed having my coffee and reading on the deck last weekend. Looking forward to more mornings out there.

Happy Easter!!

Oh how I loved this long weekend!  Got some things accomplished around the house inside and out. Also enjoyed the beautiful weather we had, love having my windows open :)

Outside we did a little bit of clean up, the dead leaves out of the garden and the debris left from when they replaced my front window (which was done in November).  We may have pulled up a plant that was supposed to come back but we'll see, lol. In another couple of weeks I will go play in the dirt and get my gardens ready for new plants and a good sweep of the deck. Also have to buy a new cover for my gazebo as a good storm kind of ripped the other one to shreds, thankfully it was October so I was getting ready to take it down for winter anyway.  Of course a new one is $90, but so worth it as I enjoy my little covered space in the shade during the summer.

The inside saw a really good scrubbing of the bathroom.........even the baseboards are shining.  Elbow grease and my ceran top stove looks almost brand new again.  Don't get me wrong I do clean, but I really cleaned.  House smelled like vinegar but not too strong and in a good way with the breeze coming in through the windows.  Also changed out my shower curtain from dark brown to bright white getting ready to kiss winter goodbye!

Celebrated Easter Sunday at my parents for wonderful ham and scalloped potatoes as well as some good laughs.  Of course there was a little chocolate cake for dessert.  Also cheered on Boston beating Detroit in hockey (shhhh! I am surrounded by rapid Red Wings fans in my neck of the woods).  Came home and cheered on Montreal, Go Habs Go!! Watched Game of Thrones, yes I am addicted, yes I have the books, no I haven't read the books yet.  Finished my laundry and settled in for the night happy in the knowledge of not having to set my alarm for Monday.  Did I mention I liked long weekends?

So here we are Monday and another beautiful day.  We hit 80F and the sun was shining, windows were open and it was gorgeous! Got the groceries done and just relaxed.

               Happy Easter!             Meowy wanting his photo taken

On the digi front:
Been pretty quiet this week.  I do have some coupons to spend from winning the Digi Dares the other week.  Need to go shopping I think!

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]

April is Here!

April is here and hopefully that means winter is over, I like many people are ready for spring.  This winter was one of the worse we've had in 30 years.  While the snow was fun to see I was ready for it to go it away.  I do think if I had a little one it would have been a bit more fun as it would mean building snowmen but 16 year old boys don't want to be outside building snowmen with their moms (at least not mine).  We had a really yucky day yesterday, cold and rainy but today the sun is out and things are slowly starting to green up.  That's what I like to see, when Mother Nature starts to paint the landscape with her pretty colours.  Hopefully in a few weeks I will be able to tend to outside and get my deck in order preparing for the warm weather.

Speaking of outside I will be participating in my very first 5K.  The awesome part would be if I was actually running it, but I will be doing mostly walking with maybe a little bit of jogging.  As per usual I *thought* about training but that is as far as I went, lol.  I am a great thinker but not so great as a *doer* when it comes to some things.  If you want me to plan something give me a call, just get someone else to do it :D.  My reason for doing this?  Well my friend and co-worker Amy does run and said 'hey let's do the Cocoa Classic 5K' and I said 'sure, sounds fun' .....truth is I really wanted the touque, hoody, reusable mug and the idea of a free chocolate fondue at the end of the race really sounded good. It was so not about the actual running. Looking forward to a fun day tomorrow in all seriousness, maybe I will meet a cute medic when I fall down because I am so out of shape.

On the digi front:
I am really exploring using more brushes and blending.  Some days I can just throw it all on a page and be so proud of what I created, other days I struggle.  I am definitely a person who needs to be 'in the mood' to create.  I participated in the DigiDares for the first time in a long time and loved the way my page turned out.  Had a proud moment as my page was selected for the GSO blog AND it was selected as the winning page for that Dare.  A very proud moment for me to have my page selected and recognized.  So while I was excited about that I discovered another page I just posted was also selected for the GSO blog :-O.  These things don't typically happen to me so to say I am shocked, happy and proud are understatements.  While I do this for myself I would be lying if I didn't say I was thrilled to have my pages featured.

Speaking of pages, here are the two;

The one on the left titled 'London's Calling' uses products from Captivated Visions and the one on the right is titled 'Go Ahead Be. . . ' and uses product from ViVa Artistry.