I Love You, I Love You Not..

So the concept of the post is stolen from Melissa...The first time I read her post entitled "I Love You, I Love You Not" the scrapbooker in me was flooded with page layouts I could create from this concept.So Melissa thanks for the inspiration!

I Love You...

• Glue Dots! I am addicted to glue dots!!! There are probably groups for people like me...Groups that get 90 day sober chips. Everytime I stop at my favourite scrapping store, I buy more. They can be used for so much besides scrapbooking. Ayla has a sign on her nursery door and it bumped against the door when you'd sneak in the check in on her...So I stuck a glue dot on the bottom and stuck it to the door. Glue dots have solved the occasional wardrobe malfunction. If you don't have body tape to help keep the ta-tas covered, and you're in a hurry...I swear it seemed logical at the moment and it worked! Brandon asked for Christmas ideas for me last year and I told him I wanted my stocking filled with glue dots! The brave man went to my scrapping store and bought glue dots!

• Babies who are learning to wave! Ayla has just started in the last few days and had to wave at everything we saw on our walk today. The squirrels, our neighbour John and a pile of leaves all got the same enthusiastic wave!

• My sister! We talk or at least text once a day and the big/little sister thing is no longer as important as the friend bond! I love the fact that sometimes we just look at each other and start giggling for reasons that make no sense to the peoople around us. We're both moms and we have serious conversations about our kids and their futures. She's my hero in so many ways. She was a pregnant teenager who had dropped out of school and showed her stength by turning her life around. By the time my niece arrived, Tina had finished her high school and got her driver's license. Within a few months, she was working and being a full time mom with no support from the father. In the past year, she moved back home to complete a college course. Now she's ready to take another big step towards a bigger, brighter future...She's moving to find work in a city. So many new things to take on and her beautiful daughter to look after too! Tina I'm so proud of you!!!

I Love You Not...

• Teeth...I have a teething child and we both hate teeth!!! Right now I'd give her all of my teeth if I thought it'd make her feel even a little better!
• Watching the News. I like keeping up on world news, but I wish there was a rule that said every newscast had to start out with a happy story. The world is full of great moments and kind, generous people, yet they get drowned out by men who stab four year olds. Lets try our best to remind people of the good things in life on a daily basis!

Happy Weekend Everybody...

I love to cook and could easily spend days (and thousands) in kitchen supply stores! My husband just shakes his head when he gets dragged along, watching me pick up a skillet and declare it "gorgeous!" I have a wish list of new cookbooks that I can't wait to add to my drawer of recipes. I love my old favourites though... Two are extra special!

Growing up I spent a lot of time down the street at my adopted grandma's house. The majority of the time was spent in the garden or the kitchen. I felt so grown up as she taught me to bake ( and I really loved helping without my siblings). She was a true lady who stopped everything at 4pm to have tea, complete with cookis, cake, cheese, and the list went on. In the last year of her life she began to ask the people close to her what they wanted to remember her by. I told her I wanted her Cranbrook cookbook that she used on a daily basis. She laughed and pulled out her jewelry box instead. After she passed away, her family packed up her things and had an auction sale. The day of the sale, I hunted through boxes of books and it wasn't to be found. I gathered a bunch of my mom's friends and explained what I was looking for. Towards the end of the day, nobody had seen it. I was ready to go home...Auction sales suck when you know the person and the stories attached to items! A box of random items was being auctioned and a neighbour with eagle eyes spotted the cookbook! Its not the prettiest cookbook in my drawer-the cover is ripped and the pages are stained with vanilla and butter. But its the best for winter cooking! Its filled with recipes that smell like winter at grandma's. My favourites are the Christmas Cake and the Maple Syrup Tarts!

My other familiar cookbook is one Mom got me when I got married. Its an old Mennonite cookbook that was always in Mom's cupboard! Tina and I both got a copy when we got our own places. I love the cookbook, but the first time I used it, it felt so wrong...It was odd flipping through it and not seeing notes scribbled in the margins. Mom's copy has notes throughout... "reduce sugar, increase bake time, etc" Now after 5 years, I've started to add my own scribbles. It'll take some time to catch up to Mom though! I'm looking forward to it and I can't wait to see my little girl's opinions added to my book.

BTW if you've never checked out The Naptime Chef's blog, you are missing out!!! I've loved her site for awhile now. Check out her recipe for Dirty Blondies! Its a huge favourite in our house and it gets me through PMS like non-other...Who needs Midol! She's funny and I love that she has a plan for her food and her day! I'm jealous!!!

Is it really like riding a bike?

I love to write or at least I used to love to write. I feel in love with words at a very young age in large part due to my mom! I started writing my feelings before I even remember...A picture from kindergarten proves this...A stick boy with the words "I don't like brothers" scrawled underneath! My writing progressed from there, but suddenly stopped after I got marrried. My career and life took hold.
When my daughter was born two months early, with some big health problems, I was struggling. When she was a week old, she was rushed to a large hospital and we were told Ayla wasn't likely to make it another twenty-four hours. I called my mom crying. When she got to the hospital, she handed me a journal and a pen. When I look back now I realize the wisdom of my mother and the gift I have for my daughter. That journal tells the story of her first 7 weeks of life. Its proof of how strong she is. When we made it home, I stopped writing and then I started to read my husband's cousin's blog. It made me realize just how much I need to write.
So here it goes...I'm about to find out if it really is like riding a bike!