The magic of Disney

We recently went on our first real family vacation EVER! In the 8 years Limefreckle Jr. has been on this earth, we haven't really travelled too far with him, so this year we had the opportunity to go to Disney. We invited uncle Limefreckle and Grandma and Grandpa Limefreckle along, we were very kindly given the use of a wonderful condo, and it was, by far, one of the best vacations we have ever had! The funniest part about it all? Mr. Limefreckle was the most excited of the whole group!! I'm telling you, his enthusiasm for the place was contagious! We had all been before, but seeing it again was like seeing it for the first time, with my husband and my son. It wasn't what you might call a relaxing vacation, it was ALL DISNEY, ALL THE TIME, but it was a great time!!!!  Disney is such a great place, and they treat you like ROYALTY!  I can't believe how friendly everyone that works there is......

Here at the infirmary....

I haven't posted in FOREVER!!! Now that Limefreckle Jr. is back in school, our drive to school lasts about one hour....when he first started at the school last year, I drove back and forth a LOT, often spending more than 4 hours in the car a day.....but now I spend my days near the school, going to the gym, volunteering there, meeting friends for lunch....I find I fill my days with no problem....the drive doesn't feel like such a big deal, but the drawback is..... I'm never home anymore! Well I've had my fill of home this weekend.....we haven't stepped foot outside since Friday -- Limefreckle Jr. is sick, and so am I! So here's a little something that I found funny from my hours of television viewing this weekend, as no one has the energy to do anything but lay on the couch.....


object width="425" height="344">

Limefreckle Jr's playroom

A while back I painted Limefreckle Jr's playroom, and did a completely HORRIBLE job. The walls of the room had lots of holes in it, and I did NOT do a very good patch job....the satin paint (why I let the salesperson talk me into Satin rather than eggshell I'll never know) really shows off every imperfection. The room is RED, Limefreckle Jr's favourite colour.....

So, rather than repaint, I choose to hide the imperfections with pictures on the wall.....I hung this pic from Ikea


This week, a recent purchase from The Grand Ole Bestiary came in the mail. Aren't these pics adorable?







I've been looking for black and white animal prints for awhile now to add to the room, these are perfect! And only $8.00 a piece!! Limefreckle Jr. asked if these were his ancestors....why yes, a few of them look familiar! I almost would prefer to add them to my "Wall of Shame" rather than put them into the playroom....maybe I need to order more!

The best foot treatment I've ever found

Paula Begoun was on Cityline awhile back, and she had this great treatment for rough, dry, cracked feet and heels -- it WORKS folks, REALLY WORKS!!

First, wipe your feet with medicated acne cleansing pads...

This is the brand I used, but any brand should do the trick.

Next, slather on petroleum jelly, or a very rich lotion -- I used good old Vaseline, everyone has some, and it's cheap!


Finally, cover with cotton socks, and leave on overnight. I used these socks, they were very cozy.


Do this everynight for a week, what a difference it makes!

The kids are back in school!! YIPPEE!!!

Well, it's that time of year again! It was so wonderful to drop off Limefreckle Jr. this year, he was so excited to get back to school, to see his friends. He has a new teacher this year, at least for the first part of the year, one of our teachers is off having back surgery......the supply teacher is a MAN.....and Limefreckle Jr. couldn't be more pleased....he has wanted a man teacher for so long! The teacher came to visit us the week before school started, he spent some time with Limefreckle Jr. getting to know him, we went out for lunch, it was a great way to transistion into the change.

Our school secretary commented on my hair (the extensions are out, and I'm back to the short "flippy" look) and she said there was something else different about me....I looked younger. I'm convinced it's the lack of stress I've been under! There were no sleepless nights this past week, no worry about what was to come at school....I KNOW there will be no phone calls from the school saying that Limefreckle Jr. is misbehaving, won't you please come and pick him up? I always had to laugh at that.....going home was EXACTLY what Limefreckle Jr. wanted, and he knew exactly how to make that happen......the school was always only too happy to oblige....that won't happen anymore. The program manager at the school told me last year that "no problem is too big" and that pretty much sums things up....there is confidence and brainstorming, and problem solving --- not stress, and worry, and uncertainty --- of COURSE I look younger, how could I not, with that kind of weight taken off of my shoulders!

So life gets back to routine.....the long drive to the school is the only drawback, but we enjoy that too, I listen to talk radio, Limefreckle Jr. watches a movie....it's all good!

Back to Reality!

Well, can you believe the summer is over already! This summer was one of the worst weather wise, but one of our busiest! We capped off the whole thing by spending a weekend at Sherkston Shores.....what a great time. It's a beach resort located on Lake Erie, about 20 minutes away from Niagara Falls....we had SO much fun! You can stay in a "cottage" (a trailer) or camp with your RV or tents. The park is huge, lots to see and do. The most fun part about it all was driving around the place in a golf cart.....don't think Limefreckle Jr. didn't love that! It was a beautiful weekend, and a wonderful way to end the summer.

I did it! I really, really did it!

I FINALLY posted some pics of my jewelry for sale! I've only posted on icraft.ca so far, but plan to spread to etsy, and another new site I've joined, called artfire.com I've been wanting to do this ALL SUMMER long, and finally I buckled down, took some pics, and got busy!!! I'm so proud of myself.

Hint to all of you....a few glasses of wine really helps to loosen oneself up. I came up with some great names while under the influence....some of the product names may make no sense to you....but in my altered state of consciousness they seemed pretty frickin' hilarious!!! Anyhoo, hopefully you like my stuff, here is a preview:








You can find the complete listings by clicking "icraft.ca" in my sidebar. And on another note, what do you think of my blow up neckace bust in picture number 1? Limefreckle Jr. kept stealing it to play with.....should I be worried?

I'm going to be like this when I'm old!

I always tell my friends, when I'm old I'm going into the old folks home, and I'm going to HAVE A BLAST!!! I can't expect poor Limefreckle Jr. to take care of me, he's struggling himself to make sure he gets a fair shake in this world.....so I'm going, happily, off to the retirement home.....hope I bump into someone like Joe!!! I can't wait to see this movie!

learning to ride a bike

Limefreckle Jr. has always been a bit late to do things...late to talk, late to potty train, late to ride a bike. He hasn't really shown any interest in his bike the last couple of years -- he usually prefers to ride his scooter, and I haven't really pushed the issue -- I think I've been a bit unsure myself how to go about teaching him to ride a bike. This summer I looked into a program for kids on the spectrum, a 6 week thing that teaches them to ride. We were too late to sign up, it ran during the spring, and I was thinking that I would sign him up next year.

Well, the other day, he announced that he wanted to ride his bike without training wheels. I was so unsure, what should I do....I don't know how to teach someone to ride! Should we go to the park, and practice on the grass? Well, I just decided to go for it, so I got out a wrench, and off came the wheels. Limefreckle Jr. got on the bike, and THAT WAS THAT! Off he went, riding as if he has always ridden a bike! I got on my bike, and had him follow me around, doing circles, then doing figure 8's....then we rode down the street to show our friends. Then off we went around the whole neighbourhood! He has had bike safety courses at school, and clearly he was listening, because he seemed to know all the rules of the road! We stopped in at a friend's house across the neighbourhood to show them what he could do, and off we all went to the park. This kid never ceases to amaze me! He really is the type of kid, that one day, when HE'S READY, he will just do something that we have worried he would never do.....days like this remind me not fret, to let him set the pace....

Where has the summer gone?

I've been so neglectful of my little blog this summer...my apologies if there is anyone out there that actually reads me!!!

This summer has been one of the worst, weather wise, but one of our busiest! Limefreckle Jr. and I have been having a wonderful time traipsing around. We travelled to Northern Ontario twice to visit Grandma and Grandpa Limefreckle, visited the zoo with friends from school and had a sleepover, (in the tent in his room no less). We indulged ourselves in uncle Limefreckle's pool on the few hot days that we have had. Limefreckle Jr. spent a week at the Y day camp, and had fun, while I called up a girlfriend who was also finding herself sans children (hers are older, and at the point that they really don't want to hang out with Mom anymore!) and we visited Uncle Limefreckle's pool ourselves, and floated, and floated, and floated....what bliss, it's been years since I was able to just get onto an air mattress and float, without children trying to tip me off! If I could just talk Mr. Limefreckle into installing a pool in our very own backyard, what heaven that would be! Ah well, thankfully Uncle Limefreckle is so obliging.

I told myself at the beginning of the summer break, that this was the year that I was going to really start actively working on selling my jewellery online. I had 9 weeks to get things photographed and listed. It's such a daunting task, I've continued to procrastinate, or find something "more important" to do...but no more...I only have 1 1/2 weeks left before school starts, I need to get to work! So I decided that if I wrote about it here, if I said it out loud, maybe that would be the push I need to get busy. Today I am pledging to myself to at least get photographs of all of my inventory that I want to list. It may not get onto the computer today, but at least I can do the photography. Everyday I will take one task until I have at the minimum 30 pieces listed. That is my goal, by the time school starts again. I KNOW that once I get the ball rolling, that it won't be so difficult. So wish me luck, and check back here after the 8th (first day of school). The sidebar will contain the sites that I have my jewellery available for sale.