Tagged by Samantha

My friend Sam tagged me with this via email but I thought I'd post it here too :)

1. What is your occupation?
photographer (lol kind of)

2. What color is your underwear?
white

3. What are you listening to right now?
children playing

4. What was the last thing you ate?
marmite on toast

5. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
blue

6. How is the weather right now?
too bl**dy cold and too much snow!

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
My Moms answering machine.

8. What do you do in your spare time?
quad bikes, scrapbooking, reading, hiking, photography. BLOGGING!!!!

9. Favorite drink?
Seamoss

10. Favorite sport to watch?
ice skating or skidooing

11. Have you ever dyed your hair?
yes

12. Do you wear contacts or glasses?
neither

13. Pets?
2 golden retrievers,2 rabbits, 27 chickens, a cat and a pot bellied pig.

14. Favorite month?
July

15. What is your favorite day of the year?
my birthday - its all about me :)

16. What do you do to vent anger?
yell and then soak in the bath for a couple of hours until I calm down.

17. What was your favorite toy as a child?
My Amanda Jane doll

18. Fall or spring?
spring - its full of hope

19. Hugs or kisses?
Hugs

20. Cherry or blueberry?
neither - yuck.

21. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?
They'll respond on their blogs - because I'll blog this :)


22. Who is most likely to respond?
not sure...

23. Who is least likely to respond
not sure

24. Living arrangements?
cape cod style house on 16 acres with my Hubby and 5 children


25. When was the last time you cried?
Last week

26. What is on the floor of your closet?
boxes of 'stuff'

27. Who is the friend you have had the longest
Louise in Yeovil - I knew her at school....she'll read it on my blog!

28. What did you do last night?
It was date night - we have date night every Wednesday so we went out for dinner and then went shopping for clothes for our holiday.

29. Who inspires you?
Lloyd, my husband.

30. Favorite smell?
Oscar for men - on Lloyd!

31. What are you afraid of?
not growing old

32. Do you like plain, cheese, or spicy burgers?
I am not keen on any burgers

33. Favorite car?
VW beetle convertible - old style.

34. Favorite dog-breed?
golden retrievers - which is why I have 2 from www.sidekickgoldens.com

35. Number of keys on your key ring?
2

36. How many years at your current job?
a few months

37. Favorite day of the week?
the weekends - because Lloyds home!

38. How many provinces have you lived in?
One but moved here from the UK

39. How many cities have you lived in?
Yeovil, Epsom, Blackburn, Stockport, Edinburgh, Livingston, Sherwood Park,

40. Favorite city?
Edinburgh

41. Favorite noise?
hearing Lloyds car coming up the driveway when he gets home from work :)

Yorkie....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6274775.stm

Cut and paste this link ( still grrr at blogger!!!) to see some fab pictures of the winds and damage in the UK...I LOVE picture 3 of the Yorkie being blown!!!

I've tried to phone my sister and I've tried to phone Mom and Dad and I guess they must have been blown away because its 9pm over there and no one is answering the phone!

Hopper passes......

I just love the Disney Hopper passes we have.....7 day passes to all the Disney parks......and the cards are so cute :)

Living the dream!!

I remember in that list the other week of things you have done....one of the things mentioned was...have you ever felt that you were living the dream?

So that is my question for today...have YOU ever felt you were living the dream? (Whatever 'the dream' is for you.....

I have....I really have....for me it was last summer......the whole summer long....it was just a time when I felt YES! This is it...this is my idea of perfection...it was sheer bliss...

Everything from the flowers and the hummingbirds, the long long summer because the children were homeschooled, the fun in the pool, the thrill of riding the quadbikes, all the datenights with Lloyd.....summer evenings on the porch, fun at the splashpark......everything was wonderful...weather-wise, emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually........it was a great summer and I just felt we had made it...our dream home, our dream family, dream weather, dream health, dream summer!

I remember riding through our woods on the quad, watching Lloyd riding in front of me...seeing the children playing together up on the hill by our house with the dogs.......and I knew we were there......

I hope everyone has felt that at least once - or that that feeling reaches everyone at some point in the near future.

It doesn't mean you have everything materially or there is nothing to aim for in the future...it doesn't mean life is PERFECT......but you know it when you feel it - that feeling that everything is how it is meant to be....

What happened to petite????

I wear petite clothing.......I am NOT tall....never have been and absolutely never will be! I love my height. Lloyd loves my height. My height has never been an issue and has never stopped me doing anything (except maybe reaching the top shelf in the grocery store lol)

The only time my height is an issue is when I want to buy pants (trousers). Stores seem to think that petite is like 5'6!!!!!!

Last night I went to several stores and tried on a LOT of pants and they were all waaaaaay too long. I leave on Monday....I don't have time to hem them or get them altered.

So I ask this lady WHY petite pants these days are NOT petite and she says 'I sooooooo KNOW what you mean!'...and then it clicked that she was actually smaller than me! I hadn't even noticed lol! So if I am 4' 11" then SHE was 4'10 inches - which actually makes her officially small enough to attend the Little People conferences in the US....

This makes Lloyd jealous lol because he really wants to attend a Little People conference...I think he'd chop my feet off if he thought it would get us in! I keep telling him, in a few years I will start shrinking so we may get lucky ;)

But anyway, I did not get any pants.....because to be petite I would have to be about 5'4"......the pants are far too long for anyone who is REALLY petite.......

My other issue with clothes is my BOOBS!!!! I have to buy tops so big to cover my boobs but then they are baggy all around my waist and tummy......I keep telling Lloyd I want them reduced but he just laughs and says NO WAY and he wants them made bigger (picture rolling eyes smiley here!)

So anyway I bought three blouses and three t-shirts and no pants.....

Oh I did buy a pair of red slippers to go with my heavenly robe Lloyd gave me for Christmas...

Lloyd just emailed me to say he's in Sportchek downtown looking for.....brown runners!!!!! lol!

One very happy pig!!!

Charlie LOVES to have her belly rubbed - and as you can see in these pictures...she rolls over just like a fat dog so you can rub it more...and she SMILES!!!!! :)

plans change again....

I work best with a deadline....I am a hopeless procrastinator normally but if I have a deadline that is getting close I can actually get stuff done....so today I have registered the children officially at the school, organized bussing, phoned the neighbours and left contact numbers......sorted my volunteer work out for when I return.....got all the laundry done and sorted all the clothes to take with us.....

Christie can't make it this afternoon so I will pop to her house over the weekend....

I need to call Theresa and confirm for tomorrow.....need to go to the bank with the rolled coins...need to get shoes and jeans for the boys,.......need to get jeans for me.....

so much to do and such little time.....

I am so excited about Monday now......we leave very early and Lloyd has made it very easy for us - we are having valet parking so we just dump the car at the terminal which is so so easy rather than parking and having to then get a shuttle to the terminal.......then we are dropping our coats at the coat check. That means we don't have to lug winter coats with us to Florida......and they will be there for when we get back! And when we get back the valet parking will just go get our car for us and bring it to the door :)

Can you tell I'm excited????

comfort zones.....

Last night Lloyd and I ran out to get a few things for our trip......Lloyd needs some casual summery shoes and he is very specific about the ones he wants...they HAVE to be brown...and he wants them to look like runners but not be runners...

So we headed to the Nike store - thousands of shoes......only one style in brown and they didn't have his size..they did have his size in beige ones (which is almost brown) but they had bits of grey on so they didn't officially count as brown......

Lloyd never wears runners (trainers to you in the UK) - he wears brown lace up shoes...or brown lace up boots.....he likes brown...brown is Lloyds comfort zone.

This is sooooooo Lloyd. And I love him for it. Because it's the way he is. Reliable, secure....comfortable....lovely :)

Lloyd likes long sleeved shirts, in summer he likes polo shirts....they have to have a collar........he hates short sleeved shirts.......he likes beige pants (trousers). He ONLY wears black socks of a certain kind......he ONLY wears labels......He is a snob when it comes to clothes.....I tease him about buying him clothes in Zellers - but I know he wouldn't wear them......

He doesn't wear t-shirts unless they are under a shirt in winter.....he doesn't wear jeans - although he owns about 100 pairs I don't think I've ever seen him in a pair.

So last night was funny...trying to shop with him for a pair of shoes for our trip.....and nothing was quite 'brown enough'.......basically he wants these runners to look like his work shoes......I don't think he's going to find any.....

He was very patient with me though and in three different stores he just sat and waited while I tried on endless clothes.....but thats a subject for another post.

Mr Thorpe - I love you!

Feeling proud........

I was talking to Abigails preschool teacher this morning and I mentioned Abigail may be going to school......the conversation led into the teacher saying that Abigail is way more advanced than her peers - that in just 2 classes they have noticed how good she is at writing and cutting and her alphabet and everything....I explained that we are worried she will be bored in kindergarten next year.....but we don't want to put her into grade one early....

I was very proud of my little girl but this really is a dilemma...she could be in K now but we have kept her back so she won't be the youngest.....

Abigail has thrived from homeschooling......she has always wanted to be doing whatever her siblings were doing which means she has been at the table learning the same as them.....and writing and reading and being busy.....

Will kindergarten be enough for her? I know we can and will do extra things at home but I don't want her to be bored or 'dumb down'......and I think she is beyond JUST playing......

cuddles are a lovely way to wake up....

This morning started so nicely and gently.....Sam was in bed next to me cuddling my arm as he slept...then he stirred and was mumbling 'ah mama' and showing me all his dodo's (soothers)...it was lovely! so calm......it was 8:30am and so we had had a lovely long sleep....

The phone rang and I knew it would be Lloyd saying good morning.....he chatted and I could tell he was smiling as he chatted...he asked what I was doing and was going 'ahhhh'......then he said 'Uh Jane, you do know Abigail has preschool this morning don't you?'

SHIT!!!!!!

I said goodbye as he was laughing! I leapt out of bed, threw on some clothes, called to Abby to eat a banana and come get dressed......did her hair...did our teeth etc etc...washed......

I was very grateful that I had her bag ready the night before - and that preschool is just around the corner - and that Chris was home which meant I didn't have to get Sam ready to go.....

By 8:50 we were out the door and on time for preschool....

After such a calm feeling in bed this morning, it was a bit of a rude awakening!

piggin' lazy.........

Charlies favourite blanket is in the wash today so she is sleeping in her bed....doesn't she look cosy? She prefers her blanket I think because she can burrow into it and hide in the warmth......but she looks happy in the bed too - as you can see I had an accident when I washed the bed and it now has big red splodges of dye in it......she doesn't seem to mind!