Murder Mystery

One of the nights while we were away, we did a murder mystery party. It was Murder at the Deadwood Saloon. Everyone really got into it and played their characters really well. We laughed so much that I had a hard time keeping my moustache on. It was so much fun.

I was the bartender. Can you believe that? Too funny!

Very funny!

I saw this video at the final programme for National Music Camp. Everyone had tears in their eyes they were laughing so hard.

My family, and friends who are in the Salvation Army will really appreciate this. Enjoy.

I'm back after a very relaxing week away. It's always so nice to get away for a week like that with a group of friends who all enjoy each other. I love it. This year was a little more low-keyed than others as there wasn't a lot of shopping and touristy things to do. I thought it was great because it made for a very relaxing week and lots of scrapping time.

The highlight of the week was definately the zip lining. Three of us went. There were 10 zips, two suspension bridges, and two rapels. The longest zip was 830 feet across the tops of the trees with the mountain side below. It was so cool! I loved every second of it and can't wait to go again.

We took lots of pictures along the way. My friend, Joanne, took some videos too. Check them out! There was one video that showed how long the longest zip was, but the file was too big to upload and I didn't want to post it on youtube.

I'm Here.

I had every intention of posting lots while I was here in Maine, but somehow I just haven't found the time. I don't know why really, because I've had time.

It's quite beautiful here and I'm really enjoying being able to relax and do nothing more than hanging around with a great bunch of girls and scrapbooking. There isn't much to do in the way of tourist stuff in the area (which is a good thing because then I'm not tempted to go off and do other things.)

Tomorrow, three of us (the only brave ones in the group) are going on a three-hour canopy tour with zip lining. I can't wait!

Sorry there aren't any pictures as of yet. They are all still in my camera. I came to bed early to get rid of a headache, and here I am on the computer. Go figure! I will have pictures to share later.

OK, I'd better go to sleep. We have to be up very early to go zip lining.

I'm off!

I'm off this afternoon for my yearly scrapping vacation. I'm exhausted after everything I had to do to get ready, but I'm done and ready to go.

I'm leaving after picking Matt up from the Go Bus (hopefully by 1:30). After meeting with the other girls who are travelling together, we'll drive to Montreal tonight where we'll stay over night. Tomorrow morning we plan on hitting the scrapbook store there before continueing on to Main.

Then we're spending 7 wonderful nights in this nine-bedroom beauty! (poor me, I know. How will I ever manage.)

We will be cropping in the huge pool house.

So, that's it. I'm off with 19 of my scrapping buddies to crop in the mountains. I'll try and blog while I'm there, but I just may be too busy relaxing!

I'm getting there

I've been a little swamped this week with everything that I need to do to get myself, and my family ready for my going on vacation. I know all you moms out there know exactly what I mean. When John travels, all he has to do is pack his bag (usually an hour before leaving), grab his passport, and give everyone a kiss good-bye. I wish I could be so lucky. Not only do I have to get myself ready, but I have to make sure that everything is in place and ready for the family. Here's a list of all that I had or still have to do before I leave tomorrow:

-plan my layouts and get pictures printed

-prepare all the packets with paper and embellishments to go with the layouts and pictures

-pack my scrapbooking stuff

-pack my clothes

-make sure laundry is done for everyone - the older two do their own, but I still need to nag them to get it done

-figure out rides for all the activities and school

-figure out how Matt is going to get to and from the go bus everyday (thank you Mom and Dad for agreeing to come and stay for a week to chaufuer kids around.

-rearrange items on the schedule that I won't be able to attend

-get lots of cat food

-write lots of lists for everyone

-photo copy timetables, and bus schedules

-get groceries (although John will have to replenish every couple of days anyway because somehow it disappears as fast as it comes into the house)

-get Matt's old psyco-educational reports and other reports copied and into an envelope so he can take it to his meeting at the school next Friday

-make sure there is enough perscription medications for the week

-clean the fish tank because there's no way it would last another week ... OK, I actually farmed this job out to Cameron

-get the house somewhat cleaned

-send off an application for a youth retreat that Spencer wants to attend while I'm gone

-get Cameron some new black shoes for Sunday - somehow his feet grew so much in the span of the summer that he can't squeeze them in anymore

-get my indoor plants sprayed and brought back into the house from the backyard incase of frost (gasp!)

-banking - that is if I want any money to spend while I'm away

Sigh! I have a feeling I will be sleeping a lot in the car on the way to Maine.

OK, before I head off to tackle some more of my list, here's a layout that I did earlier in the summer from our day on the catamaran in the DR.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY, September 14th...

Outside my window... it looks like Fall is here. The leaves are starting to change and there's a coolness in the air. I don't mind because Fall is my favourite season.

I am thinking... that so far everyone has settled into school nicely. Matt seems to be enjoying college (although those 6 a.m. mornings are a bit draining for both of us) and Spencer and Cameron are resuming all their activities.

I am thankful for... such good boys. They are truly a blessing and my pride and joy. They are mischieveous as times (OK, a lot of the times) but they don't get into any trouble. They are wonderful!

From the scrap room ... I'm starting to pack up for our week away next week. We're off to Maine this year (for our annual girls scrapping vacation. We have a gorgeous 9 bedroom house overlooking the mountains. What a way to spend a week! I'll be sharing lots of pictures later, I'm sure.

From the kitchen... I'm thinking it will be chicken fried rice tonight.

I am wearing... jeans, a t shirt, and a sweater.

I am creating... a recipie/menu box to sit on my kitchen counter. I saw this idea on Jana Eubank's blog, and just had to make one for myself.

I am going... did I mention that I'm going for a week of scrapping in the mountains in Maine with 19 of my scrapping friends?

I am reading... I just finished reading "If I Did It" ... the murder confession book by OJ Simpson. What a chilling book!

I am hoping... that Matt is able to get all of his textbooks today from the college bookstore.

I am hearing... the bubbling of the fish tank ... the newly cleaned fish tank.

Around the house... the house is slowly getting back into order after a summer of coming and going, and no one to keep it tidy. Yesterday three of us took 2 hours to rearrange Matt's room, sort through everything, and spring clean it.

One of my favorite things... having a room that has just been spring cleaned.

A few plans for the rest of the week: I have so much to do this week.

-groceries (a few times this week)

-I have a costume to get for a murder mystery party

-I have to book driver's ed for two boys

-bring Rick home for a sleep over

-tonnes of emails to write

-to do lists to write for everyone

-go to the apple store in Mississauga for a microphone for my ipod touch

-training session at Cameron's school for his laptop

-cleaning - lots and lots of cleaning

-ditto for laundry

-pack

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

Back to School Report Card

Matt:
Attitude - A
Getting ready on time - D (because he fell back asleep on his bed instead of getting in the shower)
Being Prepared - A - (I think he was getting a little annoyed with me checking that he had everything - but he proved to me that maybe I don't need to do that anymore.)
School Day - A - he made it to all his classes, made it to the book store, and made it home without missing a bus.
Looking ahead - A+ - It looks like he's going to enjoy the programme and do well. I think he's going to enjoy his new environment and love being "grown-up"

Spencer:
Attitude - B - he was rather grumpy
Getting ready on time - A - he made it to school in lots of time
Being Prepared - A+ - he was very organized for the day
School Day - A+ - he's quite happy with his classes and teachers. He has friends in all his classes.
Looking Ahead - A+ - He's going to really enjoy his year as a Senior in High School. He does well with the academics, has lots of friends, and is focussed. Great things ahead.

Cameron:
Attitude - C- -if it wasn't for the fact that every five minutes he was counting down on the clock until his "loss of freedom" he might have scored higher.
Getting Ready on time - A+ - this is huge for this very disorganized young man! He was wanting to leave ten minutes early.
Being Prepared - A+ - this, too is huge. He needed very little help from me to make sure that all his supplies were in order and where they needed to be.
School Day - A+ - he loves his teachers, has a couple of friends in his class and is already talking about music (that's my boy!)
Looking Ahead - A+ - I got a call from the SERT and his lap top should be in next week. We (Cameron and I) start our training sessions next week for the software.

Mom:
Attitude - B - I was a little anxious about how they were doing
Getting ready on time - A+ -I'm giving myself high marks for this one because I got a lot done before even starting the school runs.
Being Prepared - F - can you ever be prepared to send your first born off to college?
School Day - A++ - I went to visit some friends at lunch, I got a lot of errands done, and I got a lot done around the house.
Looking ahead - A+ - It's going to be a great school year for all of us.

5 End of Summer Thoughts:

1. Life in our household is changing for us as we send Matt off to college tomorrow. He seems to be OK with it all. I'm sure the next few weeks will be a huge learning experience for both of us.

2. Between music camp, vacation, and spending time at the trailer, I feel like I've hardly spent any time at home this summer. My house is really suffering because of it. It's a total mess and once the boys are off tomorrow I need to get my butt in gear and get it cleaned up again.

3. I don't think I went swimming once this whole summer. The weather really wasn't hot and I need to have really hot weather to get into the water. OK, I did go once when the twins came to the trailer. I got in with them. How could I resist that!

4. I enjoyed catching up with a lot of friends over the summer months ... many that I only get to see during the summer up at camp. I want to try and do a better job of keeping in contact through the winter months.

5. I need to spend the next couple of weeks getting ready for the annual scrapping vacation that I take each Fall with my scrapping friends. This year - Maine!

To participate in this Meme or to read others who do, go here: http://beccagirlblogspot.blogspot.com/

The last hurrah!

This is it. The last weekend of the summer. It has gone so fast.

We've just spent the last hour or so getting the backpacks ready. My head was all in a fog as I was trying to remember all the things we needed to do. I felt like a drill sargeant firing off instructions left, right, and centre. Matt and I spent a lot of time going over everything from schedule to what he needs to do when he arrives at college tomorrow. He has a whole list of things that he needs to see about tomorrow, from getting paperwork from the college to prove that he is a student there for the Go Bus (to get student fares), to seeing if he can switch a class to a different time slot, to getting a book list and dropping a fortune on books and fees. I just hope I didn't overwhelm him too much.

Anyway, we are laying low today. No one was wanting to leave the house. In fact, no one even wanted to get dressed, but at least we got that far.

Last night we decided to go to the drive in. It's been two or three years since we've done that. It was great. It was a double, double feature (4 movies) but we only made it through two of them. We saw the Time Traveller's Wife. Wow! Great movie! The other one we saw was Inglorious Basterds. Well, Matt enjoyed it, but the rest of us didn't. There were so many fast moving sub-titles that it was very hard to keep up. Poor Cameron probably missed most of what was going on. I ended up grabbing a nap about two-thirds of the way through. Still, it was fun. There's nothing like the experience of laying in the back of the van with the hatch open, in the cool of the night watching movies like that. Why don't we do it more often?

Doing some house cleaning

...not in the house, although it's in desperate need right now after I've been away for most of August. I've been house cleaning on my computer. I've been deleting old things, sorting other things, moving pictures into their right folders, and sorting through older layouts that I've scanned and never did anything.

So, here are a few that I don't think I've shared here, but have been taking up space on my computer for a while:

This is one that I did for an online challenge. You had to come up with 5 things that you like about yourself. Easy? Not so much.

A very quick and easy layout from our trip to Calgary 3 years ago. Yes, 3 years ago!

This one isn't as old. It's from our trip in March. It was a rainy day in the DR so we spent a lot of time in the room. Spencer and Cameron curled up together to watch a movie. How sweet!

I don't think I shared this one yet. It's from the same trip in March. It was inspired from a layout I saw on the internet somewhere, but it's been so long that I can't remember where.

I'm back from the trailer for another year ... except maybe a couple of weekends in the Fall. When I went back up last week, I dragged all three boys with me. Spencer was only there for a couple of days and then he went on Saturday to spend a week at the National Music Camp. Matt went home with John on Sunday, so it was just Cameron and I for a few days.

It was a very pleasant few days, just Cameron and I. We hung out together, he played lots of video games, and I got my scrapping stuff out. It felt really good to be scrapping again.

Now I'm home and have a lot to do to get everyone ready for school next week. I haven't even done back to school shopping yet. Yikes. It's going to ge a busy few days.

Before I leave and try and get to some of the chores around here, I'm uploading a new layout I did this week. It's the first layout from my Virginia Beach trip I took last year with my scrapbooking friends. I figured I'd better get going on some of these pictures because in a couple of weeks we're off on our 4th annual scrapbooking vacation and I will have another trip to scrap.




Ok, off to do some laundry and unpacking. Wish me luck!