Yippee!! Things happening downstairs!

We have been pretty much WASTING the space in our basement, so I am sooo EXCITED about the way things have been happening down there! We may finally use all of this beautiful space available to us!! So this here is just a pic of behind our bar... I will probably store the preschool supplies back here and I hope it will be a kid-free zone!!



Here are some pics of the walls around the basement... and some of the posters I bought the other day :)










Here is our spare room. It is also going to be used as a quiet work room for Raenen. NO LITTLE KIDS ALLOWED! :D





This will be an office area. I am going to move my computer and my exercise stuff will go in here and the table will be for scrapbooking :D I think I might move the little desks out and move my exercise stuff in... This will hopefully be KID FREE too...at least kid free without adult supervision!



A cool calendar set I bought :) I remember LOVING to watch my teacher go through the calendar and weather each morning!! So I am really excited about this :)



Our rules for getting along poster.. and the new table we bought second hand :)



My favorite thing!! We got all of this shelving for $30 from movie gallery when they went out of business!! I just am soooo happy with this room now!! :D My kids love it because they can see all of their books now and I have made a rule that they can take one book at a time and they have to ask to get books from high up. Hope it isn't too much of a battle! :)

Sigh....

Well I had a lot of goals and high hopes... yet here I am again doing the same old, same old!! What is it with me and ACTION... or should I say LACK of action. I am really good at making plans and setting goals... not so good at taking action.. and following through.

I think I just have so much I want to do and so much I want to improve in my life.. that it is overwhelming. It is hard to have only 3 goals when I WANT a total life makeover!!

So just delete from your mind any previous goals I set for myself on this blog because I have changed my mind yet again! haha :D

The three goals I have chosen are to be fulfilled by May 2011 and I have broken them down into smaller parts.. and who knows .. I might just change my mind again!! hmph... I annoy myself!!! lol!!

The three goals I have chosen are:

1. Pay down some debt and live within my means

2. Become a vegetarian

3. Run 30 min straight

My three goals that are the short term versions of those:

1. do up a budget WITH Clint

2. Read from vegetarian/vegan books (6 pages a day at least)

3. 20 min strength work and 30 min walk, 3 times a week

I don't even know if running is realistic for me.. with the condition of my body right now.. but I really miss running so... I have to at least TRY!!

When I was in college/university, a very loved instructor was leaving us. She bought us all (her students) a small gift. It was a little token of her love. She also gave us cards with special, personalized messages just for us... Mine had the message that it is OK to change my mind. I am not sure exactly why she gave me this message, but I do remember it in times like these when it seems that all I do is change my mind!!

Me, as a runner about 10 years ago: (except for the one that is my kindergarten pic)



Me, now...



I was very tempted to just put a head shot, but it would defeat the purpose of WHY I was putting the picture there. I feel awful that I have let my body get so tired, sore and out of shape. It is a long road to health now...

Michelle S

The mulch we laid over the landscaping fabric the other night (still needs to be levelled and such:




Planting tomatoes and peppers, not sure if they will work this late, but my friend had a couple extra plants so we will see :)




Choosing the lay out.. I don't know if I mentioned it, but the whole project is for schooling purposes.. Raenen is learning all about plants this summer as a part of her junior high science :)









All finished planting both the perennials and the annuals :) I made sure we planted some marigolds in memory of my great grandfather who always made sure to have plenty of flowers in his gardens :)






Still a few more things to do, we will be moving the strawberries, since they are under a tree and searching for sun and we also need to level the ground around the flowers and make everything all pretty :) I am so thankful to my friend for teaching us all of this... I don't know anything about it at all!! I am very pleased with how fast Raenen caught on and how well she is doing! :D I'm one proud mommy :)

Our Canada day :)

We went to Maple Creek for Canada day and the kids had a blast! Well, except for Raenen who was wishing she could be spending the day with her friends:




Kyrina got to colour a rock



and Dakota created his first wood working project :)



and playing bubbles with gramma:




The kids got to dig for prizes

Before we started, but after we got the weeds out and turned the soil:


Raenen learning to garden, and some plants we picked out and planted:









Almost done for the night, after this we spread wood chips over top of the landscaping fabric :) More pics to come! :D



Michelle :)